The May edition of In Touch In Business magazine is out now, with a great photo of Mario and Matthew Calanna of Calanna Pharmacy on the cover.

This edition contains a number of great articles about current issues we face in small business. Grab a copy if you’re located in Cairns, or read it online. Here’s a shortlist of my favourite articles:

• Love The One’s You’re With - Andrew Griffiths
• Meetings With a Meaning - Denise Olholm
• Money on the E-Market - Helen Bairstow

And of course… Realities of the Online Entrepreneur, by Nicky Jurd.

The anonymity of the internet allows businesses to easily hide behind a professional design and snappy text. Sometimes this can be a disadvantage though, with businesses coming across as stuffy, or bigger than they actually are.

It’s easy to forget that contact with small business is one the of the major advantages of eCommerce. I love buying from boutique and niche operators from places far away, and many others do too.

I am subscribed to a highly enjoyable eNewsletter written by Carol Dorman of Quill Writing Services. Carol’s newsletter is aimed at small-medium businesses and tackles communication and marketing issues. This article is extracted from a recent newsletter, I encourage you to subscribe.

Ever had a touch of the ‘bureaucracies’? A twinge of ‘official-itis’? You may not have heard of these conditions but, as a small business owner, perhaps you’ll recognise some of the symptoms:

A web page that tells visitors everything that the business does and how it does it using only words with a minimum of three syllables to demonstrate that it is sophisticated, knowledgeable about almost everything and will always know more than them even if it’s not in the business’ field of expertise.

Your web page should:

• Be friendly
• Make visitors feel welcome
• Be easy to understand while illustrating expertise
• Use bullet points and appropriate punctuation to enhance the reader’s experience.

These are pretty extreme examples but there is often the tendency to keep our selves out of our written communications with customers and prospects.

Why is this? Could it be that we’re afraid of being seen as less than professional if our customers see the human side of our business?

Perhaps it feels safer to hide behind: “Our office is obliged to remind you that payment is due” rather than: “I’d like to remind you that your payment is due.”

After all, isn’t it better if a client gets mad at The Office instead of me?

Let’s look at it another way. One thing that’s nice about living in a small hamlet is that business is always personal. The Post Office lady knows me by name, and I know her. The same with the couple who run the General Store. It’s never just about milk, bread and pop-rivets; there’s always a chat and a laugh as well.

What about you? Do you prefer a recorded message asking for your customer code when phoning a business or a real human being with a friendly welcome who asks how he can help?

It’s time to appreciate how great you are for your business. After all, it wouldn’t exist without you. So, let your customers in. Let them see who you are - the living, breathing, marvellous and fabulous being behind all the marvellous and fabulous things that you do.

Start with your letters. Write them from you instead of your office. Think of your customer as a living, breathing human sitting in a chair, holding your letter. Imagine her wearing glasses and reading by the light of an art-deco lamp. She loves that lamp; it’s been in the family for years.

Now write - to her.

You are the heart of your business. So let that heart shine through!

A call to action encourages someone to do something. Your website visitors need calls to action so they will do the things on your website you want them to do. Calls to action are extremely important for the success of your website.

Great websites use calls to action throughout their text to tell visitors what they should do next. This is especially important at the end of a page when you’re at the most risk of your visitor heading back to the search engine to further refine what they’re looking for.

You will recognise these calls to action from television:

• Call now for 12 free steak knives
• Vote for Danielle McKay to win Australian Idol
• Email a question to the ROSwall

Your website needs to emulate the calls to action of traditional marketing styled toward the goals you’re trying to achieve. Here’s some examples:

• Subscribe to our newsletter
• Learn more about fly fishing in Far North Queensland
• Contact us for a free quote
• Take a charter flight over the Great Barrier Reef
• Book today to receive your free bottle of wine

I’ve italicised the parts of these calls to action that should be linked. By linking to the content people expect to receive on the next page you increase the chance of them completing this action. It’s also very helpful for your search engine rankings to include good keywords within these links.

This guest star article is written by cityofcairns.com’s lead graphic designer, Belinda Vere. Belinda is an outspoken supporter of businesses having a strong brand kit and lifting the professionalism of small business with a functional and attractive website design.

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One of the most under-valued aspects of a business is its brand and identity. A business’ brand is a tool to increase customer familiarity and recognition and prove your worth as a professional, reliable business. It should be just as important as the appearance of your staff and the quality of the product and service you produce. Some things to remember when you are starting a new business or re-evaluating your identity are:

1. Don’t give up your day job

Are you a whiz on the computer? Did everybody love your kid’s birthday invitations that you created in Word Art? Don’t be fooled! This does not qualify you as a Graphic Designer and the identity you produce will look amateurish and therefore can not be taken seriously. Hiring a Graphic Designer to do a professional identity package for your business saves you time and creates a trustworthy, professional image for your company.

2. Hit the target

A professionally designed logo should appeal to your target market and reflect your product or service. Your target market determines your identity and should be a major influence on your brand. If you are trying to sell children’s clothing your brand will be bright, colourful and fun however if you are an accountant your target market are looking for somebody who is professional, efficient and approachable. Try not to let your own personal style influence your branding if you are not the target market.

3. Squish the rainbow

A succint choice of colours will help increase the familiarity of your brand. When we think purple we think Cadbury (or Darryl Lea depending on whose side you are on), yellow reminds us of the Golden Arches and red makes us thirsty for Coca Cola. Keep your colour palette to one or two key colours and stick with them throughout your branding.

4. Use it!

Use your brand in everything you do but keep it consistent. Print business cards, get a website, send emails with a signature and splash your brand everywhere just don’t confuse people by having a green car, a red website and purple decor. Remember to maintain your image, colours, logo and style throughout every aspect of your marketing.

1. Start a blog.
2. Tell people about your website.
3. Put your web address in your email signature.
4. Start a Google AdWords campaign.
5. Give a testimonial to a business you’ve recently dealt with.
6. Write an article for someone else’s website.
7. Start an eNewsletter.
8. Write more keywords into your web copy.
9. Ask other websites to link to you. Ask nicely.
10. Post comments on other people’s blogs.
11. Participate in online forum discussions.
12. Find relevent directories to post your website to.
13. Ask you customers to tell other people about your website.
14. Provide unique content people want to read.
15. Create a Facebook profile for your business.
16. Become a twitter.
17. Invent a gimmick that people will talk about.
18. Approach a business to link to your website.

Do you have any ideas to add to this list?