Pure Play

Build Your Own Simple Website - starting next Wednesday in Kilkenny

I do 4 or 5 of these a year and they are always great fun.

We start with a group of small businesses who want to build a simple website for their businesses, introduce them to one of the online tools that can be used for that purpose (in this case www.weebly.com) and get started.

By the end of day 1 they have built out the guts of a site - and start to realise that the challenge is actually around communications and messaging rather than technology.

Day 2 is spent adding content and tweaking and by the end of that day there are a bunch of new websites on the internet.

You can book online here.

Any questions just ask.

Keith

PS - also doing a session next Monday in the Pembroke Hotel where we will explore the options available around selling online - how to decide is it viable, your options, what to look out for. Booking via the link above.

Open for Business - IIA Conference Thursday 12th May

I go to the IIA conference each year but my actual anticipation of them varies. This year is of genuine interest with the following speakers in particular being of interest to me:

Dylan Collins, ex Jolt Gaming - just because :-)

The 11.15am Panel Debate "Have we the smarts?" which includes Colm Greally (Mobile Entrepreneur, DigitalReachGroup)

The afternoon session (after a lunch time address by Minister Richard Bruton, will be interested to see if he actually gets his portfolio) is more geared towards geeks with a strong Open Data theme so I will be taking part in some of the break out sessions.

Say hello if you are there. More here: http://www.iia.ie/events/iia-conference/programme/

Keith

Energy Camp, Kilkenny 19th May 2011

Picking up on the popular format which has been used in everything from technology to general business to food this is Irelands first EnergyCamp - being held to explore the business and employment opportunities which exist in the renewable energy sector.

As with all camp format events it is free to attend and you are also encouraged to grab a speaking slot and share your passion, experience or learnings with others in the sector.

You can find out more and register for the day on the green energy camp website.

It is being run by the Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency in conjunction with the Kilkenny Leader Partnership.

Keith

Vacancy - Social Media Manager. Food Sector

One of my clients is looking for a social media manager - I have put more details up on my website here: www.keithbohanna.com/food.html

If you can pass it onto anyone who might be interested that would be appreciated.

keith

In Business? Want to get more from your site or build a social network presence?

I have a series of training workshops coming up in Kilkenny of which the first two are:

Practical: Business Marketing using Social Media Tools

In this one each participant (max 12) builds out a presence for their business on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

Best practice examples are used to illustrate how each of these different networks operates and the day is highly practical in nature.

You can book online here. Cost is €50

Have an existing website and want to make it more effective?

This one could be for you - we cover:

• A basic guide to good useability;
• Introduce the idea of focusing a website on key messaging;
• Guide to how to write content for the internet and
• Give a simple explanation on the concept of conversions
• Show the basics of Google Analytics.

We also do a quick analysis of each participants website to give constructive feedback and suggest simple changes which could be made.

You can book online here. Cost is €25

Any questions on either of those just ask.

Keith

 

 

Selling Online Event - tomorrow in Dublin

This one is all about Selling Online. Happening tomorrow in the Burlington in Dublin. I am going to be there

Link & booking is here, speakers below.

2pm Introduction
Joan Mulvihill, IIA CEO, "Content and Analysis to Drive Sales"
2.10pm Content

Part 1: Great Content to "capture" customers
Case study: Darren Grant, OrganicSupermarket.ie
Expert Perspective:  Conor O’Neill, Loudervoice

Q&A

3.20pm Analysis
Part 2: Analysis - Know how to "Work it"!
Case Study: Lorna Sixsmith, GarrendennyLane.ie  & Rosey Broderick, WebResults.ie
Expert Perspective: Laurence Veale, iQContent.com

Q&A

4.45pm Part 3: Your Shop Windows
1.      OWJO  - what makes a great Facebook store
2.      Digital Reach Group - what makes a great Mobile store
3.      PeopleLovePresents  - your online store in a virtual mall

5.45pm Part 4: State of the Store  
The future: get ready for your shop in your customers’ pockets - o2 - Mcommerce

Keith

[disclosure: I am a board member of the IIA]

Plan and Deliver a Successful Website - 10th March workshop, Dublin

As part of my work in the consultancy I spend a lot of time with clients working with them through the process of specifying their new websites (or website rebuilds), selecting developers and managing the build.

On 10th March I am delivering a workshop on this topic with the Irish Internet Association. We will cover:

The 4 stages of a successful website build:

• Initial ideas on what you want and what you need - realistic expectations
• Writing a specification document - format and detail
• Running a tender process - selecting developers, shortlisting and interviewing
• Managing the build once a developer is selecting

Any questions let me know - full details and online booking here.

 

Keith

Telling your story - PR and Social Media Masterclass 8th March

One of the areas I find fascinating is how PR is having to evolve to integrate social media. Both offer rich opportunities for small businesses across all sectors in Ireland to get the word out about products and services.

During Savour Kilkenny last year I met Miriam Donohue who was responsible for the PR for the festival and since then we have talked about how to combine our respective fields of work. Together with Noreen D'Arcy we have put together a focused one day workshop for businesses which is being held in the Pembroke Hotel in Kilkenny.

Details here:

Aimed at businesses or organisations, the day will be split into two sessions:-
1)      A DIY PR Workshop in the morning hosted by former Irish Times journalist and owner of MD Media,  Miriam Donohoe, and Noreen D’Arcy, director of D’Arcy Marketing and PR (www.darcymarketingandpr.ie)
2)      A session on how to use Social Media to promote your business or organisation hosted by well known expert on social media and blogger, Keith Bohanna (www.keithbohanna.com)
 
The morning session will cover:
·         What is PR
·         How to use PR to promote your business or organisation
·         Getting started – how to build a media contacts database
·         Five steps to writing a good press release
·         A practical session in press release writing
·         How to make a pitch to the media
·         The importance of using good quality, high res pictures with a press release
 
The afternoon session will cover:
·         What is Social Media
·         Where does it fit in today’s communications world
·         Why social media is now essential in running any PR campaign
·         How to utilise Blogging, Twitter and Facebook when telling your story
·         Dealing with negative feedback on social media
 
(Please note that we will not have time in the social media session in the afternoon to cover the basics of using the various tools.)

To see more and book click here.

Keith

Using Facebook Ads to drive traffic to subscription sites

This is a very focused webinar but for the right businesses could be very effective. I have been at a couple of conferences run by Anne Holland who is behind this series and she knows her space.

  


The blurb: The focus is entirely on Facebook ads targeting, bid management, copywriting, best offers, and landing pages for online publishers.   So we’re not talking about how to get more “fans” or “likes” but rather how to run an ad that gets a good ROI for a subscription offer.   Bottom line subscription sales rather than social media ‘success.’

You can see more at the links below - one I get an affiliate fee from, the other I don't, they both go to same place. Choice is yours :-)

Affiliate link

Same link - non affiliate

keith

 

Silence - it's been quiet around here

I should explain the silence around  here.

For years now I have had my main blog on Typepad and I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that it is a mature and aging platform which I want to leave.

So I am working with Ken McGuire of EventMedia to amalgamate my blog and website and that should be completed in a couple of weeks. The finished job will be hosted at www.keithbohanna.com

In the meantime I have started a new food blog over on www.biabeag.com and a separate food site at www.irishfoodbase.com.

keith

Seedups - beta of new Irish crowdsourcing seed finance startup

via Linkedin:

SEEDUPS Goes Live

Seedups, the new crowd-funding site for entrepreneurs, launched its Beta website in Ireland last week. Seedups uses “wisdom of crowd” applications to match great business ideas and start-ups with a pool of sophisticated high net worth investors. The aim is to enable entrepreneurs to secure funding for start-up businesses faster, as well as offering angel investors access to a wide range of early stage projects to review, follow and invest together in collaboration. The idea is similar to other crowd funding initiatives in the US such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, which fund creative and lifestyle ideas except it funds start-ups.

Seedups is aimed at improving the chances for early stage entrepreneurs match up with potential investors by providing a free platform to pitch their ideas in a secure environment. The Opportunity SnapShot system allows entrepreneurs to build an easily viewed, rich-media profile which is accessible only to the pre-qualified high net worth individuals and angel investors who are interested in that sector or project type and registered with Seedups. Entrepreneurs can be looking for seed money in order to develop a brand new idea or for larger amounts as they develop and grow their start up businesses.

Seedups is Irelands first crowd-funding website, aims to fulfill a role for entrepreneurs looking to raise small amounts of equity capital and provides the social networking tools to pitch ideas securely to qualified investors.

We are now calling on all enterprise development partners to leverage their networks and refer active start-ups seeking seed or start-up capital to Seedups.com

Any links via twitter and linkedin would be much appreciated.

For further information contact Michael Faulkner at:

Michael AT seedups DOT com
www.seedups.com
www.twitter.com/seedups
http://www.linkedin.com/company/seedups

All activity in this space is good and a variety of approaches and models can only help.

Keith

 

Training in Co Wicklow - Exporting and Pricing

via email from Wicklow CEB:

1)  'How to Start Exporting'

2)  'Figuring out your Pricing Strategy'
 
Course details:
*****************************
 
1) 'How to Start Exporting'
Location: Ramada Woodland Court Hotel, Bray
Dates: Friday 19th & 26th November 2010
Duration: 2 days
Time: 9.30am - 5pm
Cost: €100
Trainer: Peadar Tóibín, CEO of realt* Consulting
This course aims to inform and prepare participants for exporting, including: how to approach market research in a new country, assessing the costs of exporting, freight and logistics, getting paid, contracts and state aid available from embassies and trade missions.

 2) 'Figuring out your Pricing Strategy'
Location: Wicklow County Campus, Rathnew
Dates: Thursday 25th November 2010
Duration: 1 day
Time: 9.30am - 5pm
Cost: €50
Trainers: Tessa O'Connell (marketing consultant) & Sean Fleming (accountant)
A fresh approach to determining your pricing strategy, this course uniquely offers two perspectives on pricing - the financial calculation based on costs, and the marketing angle - figuring out what price your target market are willing to pay.

Book both at www.wicklowceb.ie/training

Keith

Email Newsletters - still really effective. Practical workshop in Kilkenny tomorrow

I am looking forward to the training workshop I am doing tomorrow in Kilkenny - working with a variety of small business owner/managers to both explore the theory of email newsletters and then work for the afternoon to write and send a number of email newsletters to each other so they explore the practical aspects of how they work.

As can be seen from the Etsy example email can be highly effective when used correctly to drive traffic to your site with existing customers and people who have given permission for you to send to them.

There are still places left on that and you can book them on the Kilkenny CEB site here. Any questions email me - keithbohanna AT me.com

keith

Early stage and looking for investors - these Open Clinics may interest you

Received by email:

HBAN are delighted to invite you to our Open Clinic
taking place on Wednesday, 3rd November 2010 Dublin & Wednesday 10th November Cork

If you are an early stage company in the knowledge sector looking for funds, we'd like to hear from you. Working with HBAN will ensure you have the best chance of raising finance.  At present we have 5 investor syndicates actively looking for new investment opportunities; in addition we have access to a large pool of private investors.

HBAN can get relevant opportunities access to these investor syndicates who not only have the capital capacity to invest up to €250,000+ per investment but have extensive business acumen and industry experience which can help accelerate the growth of your start up.
 
Our Criteria
 
For the best chance of getting funded your company should meet the following criteria:
 
•       Product ready for commercialisation.
•       Pre-revenue is considered however some early market traction via revenues is preferred.
•       Management team with relevant experience.
•       Identifiable market opportunity.
•       Internationally scalable business model.
 
Companies with all or some of the criteria above will be considered.
 
HBAN Open Clinic - Dublin
HBAN office, 51 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2
9am - 3pm
 
HBAN Open Clinic - Cork
Rubicon Centre, CIT,
Rossa Avenue, Cork
9am - 3pm

To book a 20 minute one on one consultation with a member of the HBAN Team please contact Eva Keenan, eva AT hban.org or 01-665 0421.

keith

 

 

A new batch of websites from Wicklow

www.thecakelady.ie

Meg Geraghty bakes gorgeous cakes for people in Wicklow and around. She has taken the time to put up loads of photos - go enjoy it :-)

www.beautybyaliona.com

Aliona has 10 years experience as a beauty therapist and she works with clients in the Wicklow and Rathnew area. Aliona is the only one who does semi-permanent makeup in the area.

http://www.otmrepairs.com

Peadar does commercial and agricultural machinery repairs. An area about which I k now very little. But we are establishing some gender balance here :-)

www.johnsonscaravanpark.ie

They offer medium to long term spaces for caravans and mobile homes.

www.cosykids.ie

A great creche and Montessori in Kilpeddler.

www.adaptapuzzle.com

Jigsaw puzzles made with your photo's in large sizes which are really useful for both older people and also peeople with special needs as they assist in triggering and retaining memories.

Not yet live:

www.niallglynn.com

Human resources are Niall's thing - he offers a variety of services to small and medium businesses in this area.

http://www.finergy.ie/

Fintan Smyth works with clients who want technical design services for sustainable building

 

Enjoyed working with this group of Wicklow CEB clients

keith

Up to date Foodcamp Kilkenny speaker list out

Over on the Savour Kilkenny website is the current list of speakers for the Foodcamp happening on Friday 22nd October.

Current talk titles are:

• The next generation of farmers – how can they have lifestyles which are rewarding and enjoyable?
• How and why we got the National Carbon Trust cert.
• Health Tips for Foodies
• The Place of Food Safety in Professional Small Food Businesses
• Food bloggers unite!
• Filling the food market gap – a new cuisine?
• Local Food
• Getting a Product to Market
• Round Table Discussion – Food Regulations
• Social Media, the Web and building your Food Business
• "Digging Ireland out of the recession – Artisan produce, Food  Innovation and Guerrilla Marketing": the after lunch panel discussion

Find out who is giving them and other details here: http://www.savourkilkenny.com/web/?page_id=721

keith

New batch of Sitekreator.com sites

Just finishing 2 days of web design work with a group of businesses in Kilkenny, clients of Kilkenny CEB.

Soda Blasting Ireland

Ray Hughes started this environmentally friendly cleaning and coating removal service a couple of months ago. He works with everything from vintage cars through to antiques and also services various industrial customers.

The Stone Yard

This business has been around since 1997 and they produce limestone and building stone which is used for facing existing walls and also for dry stone walling. (site not yet up as the Irish domain is being processed)

Paddy Fitzpatrick

Paddy is an experienced consultant who works in the area of educational. community and rural development. Recent projects have included strategic planning for enterprise creation in conjunction with Kilkenny Partership.

Carmel O'Connor

Carmel runs Tai Chi and Chi Kung (I love that phrase) courses and workshops in Tipperary and surrounding countries. She also works in the area of meditation.

Bernie McCoy - not yet up - she is a photographer and has loads to do with the images she will feature on the site. Roadplan Consulting is in the same boat - will do an update here when they are ready for a go live.

keith

 

 

 

Upcoming Training Days - Dublin and Kilkenny

Food Producers, Selling Online. Tues 12th October, Dublin

If you are a member of the Brand Forum in Bord Bia then you will already have heard about this one. A new half day (5 hours technically!) and free for Forum members workshop which I am doing with Bord Bia exploring a number of the key considerations for you if selling online is a current goal for your business. Includes:

• Different ways to sell online
• Making decisions on what you want from a site
• Choosing and managing a website developer
• Content and product decisions
• Marketing - offline, online, online social media
• Taking money off consumers
• The logistics of tracking and dispatching orders

Contact Paula Donoghue for more information; Paula.Donoghue AT BordBia.IE

Build Your Own Website. Friday 15th Oct (and Friday 28th), Kilkenny

I do at least 4 of these training courses a year and always get a real kick out of them. Reason being that the participants - small sized business owner/managers - really enjoy the process of building a website (using the www.sitekreator.com service) from scratch.

We cover the basics of usability, calls to action, good site design, content for the internet and focusing on key messages.

You can book here: http://www.kceb.ie/online-booking#ict-skills-training

Internet Marketing Using Social Media Tools, Tuesday 19th Oct, Kilkenny

This is a practical day - we do cover the theory of each of the key tools but mostly we actually build a web presence. Blogs, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook are the 4 and the emphasis depends on the participants and what is of relevance/interest to them.

But you leave with each of them started if you want and you will have a good idea of what you want to achieve.

You can book here: http://www.kceb.ie/online-booking#ict-skills-training

Any questions just email me - [email protected]

keith

Bizcamp Galway - wrapup from Elaine Divilly

Looks like this event added a lot to the strength of the Bizcamp brand in the SME business community in Ireland. From her post:

Organising this event was an inspiration in itself. The team of wonderfully creative and intelligent guys; Dave Kelly, Ambient Age; Michael FitzGerald, OnepageCRM; Paul Killoran, Starlight Solutions and Mark Campbell, Pocket Anatomy, and I brought together over three hundred Irish entrepreneurs, innovators and ideas people.

The day was a huge success. We had 33 speakers giving presentations on topics spanning diverse areas of business and innovation from App design to venture capital to work-life balance. Each speaker had twenty minutes to share their knowledge and advice with ten minutes at the end for audience discussion. Being the organiser, I didn’t get to see many speakers but heard chatter of praise for many.

Well done to all. Next Bizcamp scheduled is Belfast on Monday 15th November.

keith

Another short and funny video ad - Kindle V iPad

More stuff that brings a smile to your face (via Crunchgear)

keith

Biabeag - a new food blog by me (artisan and small scale food producers)

A vegan foodie may seem like a contradiction but it is possible apparently and biabeag is my outlet for same.

It is not recipes (they are done really well by so many others - check out the Irish food blogs here) nor is it vegetable growing nor the raising of farm animals. All important, none of which do much for me.

It is about food products from small scale producers - passionate people who take on incredible odds and long hours to bring consumers and foodies foods which are amazing. Biabeag is a reference to scale, not the physical size of the goods ;-)

Budgeting and awareness of cost are important - however really cheap food is compromised somewhere along the line. Every Euro you spend with a small scale food business makes a material impact on their turnover and bottom line - while it will not even register with the multinationals who spew out the majority of the food brands you see around you.

I am still settling into the rhythm and style of the blog so feedback very welcome - I have already adjusted upwards the proportion of Irish producers in there. There will be regular design references - branding and packaging being so important to get right if the public are going to be persuaded to switch their buying habits.

Also if  you know of similiar blogs please let me know - I have struggled to find them.

Hope you enjoy it - http://biabeag.posterous.com/

keith

Creative advertising - watch this very short video!

Very short, very effective, very funny

 

keith

Taking Control: Why your email client may not be the place to run todo lists

'Bull - it has to be. Its where I spend the most time. And where most of my actions come from."

All that is true. However it takes a lot of work to make the structure of a piece of software designed to manage email into a system which is flexible enough to help you control all of your stuff.

A key issue is the actions which arise outside of your email - voice mails, twitter messages, physical paper stuff (remember that?), texts, messaging from online collaboration systems, whereever.

All of those items need to be incorporated into your system. And the emails which are non-action items (for review, for reference, for delegation or just to be deleted) need to be cleared out of it.

As  you move from a basic email client or service (ie Mail on the Mac) to a more featured offering like Outlook then the task becomes easier with discrete areas for tasks and calendar items which are nicely integrated. Addons such as the GTD® Outlook® Add-In by Netcentrics or the Jello dashboard for Outlook.

Ultimately you have to balance the friction which comes from using multiple pieces of software with the compromises around implemention of your system using software not designed for that purpose.

keith

 

Taking Control: Avoiding the mental head wreck of endless to-do lists

I have rarely met anyone who can deal with to-do lists that are hundreds of items long - there is a serious mental challenge to scanning something that long without pulling away and finding something less painful to do.

That is where projects come in. In Getting Things Done terms a project is anything which will take more than one action (remembering that an action is something discrete as opposed to a large and sweeping aspiration statement!).

So for me almost everything falls into the category of projects. And inevitabley some projects are more pressing or more important than others. So the actions contained within those projects are ususally the only ones I consider when deciding what to do on any particular day.

A level above that I group projects into discrete sections - usually operational. So either a larger project which contains several elements (a complex website build for example) or an operational area.

What do you do to make sense of your list?

keith

IIA October 7th Event - 8 Ways to Sell More Stuff

I have been helping with getting this together for a couple of months - inspired by a relative underwhelming (for me) IIA Congress and with the memory of a couple of great conferences in New York which focused on online sales and how to improve them.

So we have a conference on 7th October in which experienced people share their experience of selling online - for an audience of anyone who has physical products (or possibly services) and wants to sell more of them.

You must be spotting the theme here. Its about sales. Revenue. And profit.

Details here: http://www.iia.ie/events/event/297/8-ways-to-sell-more-stuff/

And with tickets at 99.99 they will be snapped up. Can't believe we are able to sell them at that price. Never mind the first 20 at 79.99. You are killing me here - may as well give them away. Easy there.

keith