Week #4 Defining a Target Market for My Business

The business that I’m using is my own.  I've just recently started it and it’s call SoCal Computer Pro.

My target market is any residential PC user, male or female above the age of 30, and small business owners that may work out of their home or in a small office.  The small business can range between 1 to 30 PCs and run on a small network or standalone workstations.  It can be a server-client network or a peer to peer network, with as many as 30 printers and 15 servers.  I've supported more than this on my own, but any network much larger than this gets cumbersome for 1 person to support.  Income level should be above $45,000 a year.

The type of business can range between a home business, real estate office, law office, CPA firm, engineering firm, marketing firm, and several others.  I would prefer to stay in the North San Diego Coastal area, but I would go anywhere in San Diego County if it was the right situation.  Depending on the size of the organization, I would only be able to support 8 to 15 businesses.

Psycho-graphic information doesn't necessarily play into my target market other than the fact I would want to work for people that have high moral standards and are generally nice people.  I think that my business will be built over time as it takes a while to build a trusting relationship with people and their business.  As I build these relationships, my business will grow by word of mouth as my clients will refer me to their friends and clients.

Week #3 Two Websites I Visit Frequently

www.amazon.com

Amazon is effective because they have everything that you could ever want as a consumer.  They are a one stop shop.

They display their logo at the top left, and all of their navigation is at the top, with a large search bar.  The typography and hierarchy are easy to follow.

I keep coming back because they make it very easy to compare prices and offer good reviews of products all on 1 website.  They always seem to have what I’m looking for.

The only thing I could improve on is I don’t like all of their promotions hitting me on the home page when I first log into the site.  I understand it, I just don’t have to like it.

www.google.com

Google is effective because they are my go to website when I want answers to just about anything.  I understand they are a search engine as well, and probably the best search engine.

Google keeps it simple for their design.  However, for some of their apps, they are not intuitive at all.  They have bought or created apps that use differing approaches to how they operate, which makes them very confusing.

When I use them, I always get an answer.  I may have to restate my question a few times to find what I’m looking for, but I usually get there.

Like I stated above, some of their apps need some help with consistency in how they operate.

Week #3 Aesthetics, Design and Branding

2 Websites with potential problems

http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp

This site is way too busy.  It should be broken down into separate pages or sections.  It doesn't give you a sense of direction or flow.  How about at least a back to top link.  Where’s the branding?  How about a logo?  It just looks like a newsletter was thrown up on a website.  It doesn't make me want to come back and visit the site again.

http://www.gforceracecars.com

This site has some potential.  But their home page looks just like their news page, with the same info.  It appears like their home page is one large blog.  Nice pictures, but you have to scroll forever.  How about a back to top link, or maybe breaking it down by months.  Why are they not using the whole screen?  Too much wasted space, with everything stuck in the middle of the page in small print.  Do they use social media?  I didn’t see any links.  Their logo stands out though.  This site just needs to be cleaned up, utilizing the whole screen, and the home page or blog needs to be better organized.

2 websites that have done it right

http://apple.com

Apple obviously knows what they are doing when it comes to design.  Everything they do reflects that, from their website to their products to their commercials.  The design and branding is very consistent.  They keep it simple, yet elegant.  They are even trying to do this with their new operating system and the icons.  Less is more.  The website makes you want to explore it completely.  What else is in here?  They have a great site map, however, I couldn't find any social media links.  Apple is a bit arrogant in that they think their way is the only way, and if they don’t have it, you don’t need it type of philosophy.

http://swagelok.com

I like the layout of the Swagelok site.  It’s easy to find things, they keep their home page simple but with enough info and links to get you where you need to go.  They have a call to action to sign up for an account to receive pricing and quotes.  Their site is designed to do exactly what they want it to do.  I think the printing could be a little larger, but that’s the only fault I see.

Week #2 5 Business Websites and Their Social Media Sites

5 Business Websites and Their Social Media Sites

1.      Trek Superstores

            www.trekbicyclesuperstore.com

 https://www.facebook.com/trekbicyclesuperstore

https://twitter.com/TrekSuperstore

 

2.  Garmin

http://www8.garmin.com/contact-us/

 

https://twitter.com/garmin

https://www.facebook.com/Garmin

https://www.youtube.com/garmin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/garmin/

http://garmin.blogs.com/

http://instagram.com/garmin_pics

http://www.pinterest.com/garmingps/

 

3.  Home Depot

http://www.homedepot.com/

 

https://www.facebook.com/homedepot

https://twitter.com/HomeDepot

http://www.pinterest.com/homedepot/

http://ext.homedepot.com/community/blog/

https://www.youtube.com/user/homedepot

 

4.  San Diego County Credit Union

https://www.sdccu.com/

 

https://www.facebook.com/SDCCU

https://twitter.com/sdccu

https://plus.google.com/+sdccu/posts

https://www.youtube.com/user/SanDiegoCountyCU

 

5.  Target

http://www.target.com/

 

https://www.facebook.com/target

https://twitter.com/target

http://instagram.com/target

https://www.pinterest.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/Target

https://plus.google.com/+target/posts

Week #2 Communication: Business & Consumer

I have not personally used social media to communicate with a business, I've only used it for personal communication.  I'm sure that will change in the coming weeks as I get more comfortable with using social media.  If, however, you consider websites as social media, then yes I have used them several times in communicating with a business.

During the past several years, I have been buying more and more items online.  I love the ability to shop without getting in my car and wasting gas to go to a brick and mortar store, only to find out that they are out of stock on the item I wanted to purchase, or that the price was too high.  I can shop and compare prices from several vendors all from the comforts of my own home, and many times get the purchased item shipped to me for free!

On a couple of occasions, the item purchased was either broken when received or it developed a defect or problem after a couple of months of use. In these occasions, I have contacted the company through their website and email system.  To this point, I've had nothing but successful results with doing business this way.  Whenever I've contacted a company about a problem with their product, they have been more than accommodating in making it right, and have been very nice about it.  It's almost surprising, because I've had a number of bad experiences when returning a product to a storefront, generally with a bad attitude from the person I was dealing with thrown in for good measure.  Like I was the problem, not their product.  I always try to be nice to people because I've been in their position and have always believed that people will go the extra mile for you if you treat them nicely and with respect.

The last time I had a problem with a product was this past year when I had bought 2 bike mounts for my truck.  I bought a new truck last year and was looking for a better way of securing my bikes in the bed of the truck.  I found these mounts on the web and they were getting great reviews, partially because they fit securely right into the tracks of my Toyota Tacoma bed liner, and partially because the price was great.  So I ordered them.  A couple of months after using them, the securing system was getting very difficult to lock down.  I went on their website and they said that they should be lubricated periodically, so that's what I did, but to no avail.  So, I went back to their site and contacted them explaining my problem.  They told me that that had had a few issues with these mounts that had been manufactured and sold during the time frame that I bought mine.  They said keep the mounts that you have and we will send you two new mounts right away, no charge.  They were sorry for any inconvenience that it might have caused.  They couldn't have been nicer.  I received the new mounts a couple of days later, and they've been working great ever since.  A very positive experience!

Week #1 Personal or Business Social Media

So, since I haven't been into social media all that much, I'm not real familiar with all of the different sites.  I know the most popular ones and I can speak on those without sounding too stupid.  I would say Facebook is by far the most popular social media outlet for both personal and business use.  It originally started for just personal use but savvy business people picked it up quickly as a way to reach out and grow their customer base to prospective clients that may not be using their goods or services.  They were going after a relatively new market, since most of the people using Facebook were younger consumers.  With the maturation of Facebook, it's now the older generations, (50 yrs old and up), that is the fastest growing segment of Facebook.  That is the reason that so many businesses are now finding a need to have a presence on Facebook.  the traditional means of marketing are losing their value, such as print advertising.  A business has to have a presence on the internet in order to survive and grow.  I think we will see an increase of businesses using what was traditionally personal social media and finding a way to work it into their marketing plans.  Social sites such as instagram and Twitter are now becoming business used sites as well.

LinkedIn was created as a business site for people to network with their peers and even do some job hunting.  Although it is still a primary business site, I feel it is expanding into personal use areas as well.  lets face it, all of social media is about establishing and building relationships, whether they are personal or for business.  But there is a fine line between building a business relationship with someone and continuing that relationship on a personal level.  I think they go hand in hand.  I've been hesitant about setting up a LinkedIn account, mainly because I don't want to get a bunch of junk mail from others on the site.  I do have to set up an account soon thou, I just hope there is a way for me to filter out all of the crap that may come my way.

Week #1 first post

Hi all!
This is my first post and I feel like a fish out of water.  I've never really had a desire to do my own blog, I guess because I never felt I had anything very interesting to say.  I've read other people's blogs and found them mostly interesting and useful, probably because I was looking for some information that they were sharing.  I hope that I won't be too boring!

I've just chosen a simple template because I'm not really sure where this is heading and what I may want to add in the future.  I'm sure I will make changes along the way as I find new tips and tricks to try.  I'm not much of a picture taker, but that may also change as I find new things to add to my blog.  I'm going to wrap up now, and hope that this suffices for my first attempt at what I hope will become a first rate blog.