Three more businesses are now featured in the Spotlight section of the JumpUp.com community website.
I want to point them out to you, because each overcame a business challenge similar to one you may be facing: how do you attract new customers?
Read their stories:
- Integra Global Solutions, an outsourced bookkeeping service, is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with offices in the U.K. and India. Ganesh Ranganathan, the owner, faced a challenge that millions of small business owners face: how to improve in the search rankings and get traffic to his website. His solution? He taught himself about search engine optimization and search engine marketing, and put that knowledge to work. “Ganesh started by taking a class and attending SEO forums to learn the vocabulary of SEO terms and understand the methods for improving his results.” View the Integra Global Solutions Spotlight.
- Construction Deal, Inc., a matchmaker for contractors and construction projects based in Sherman Oaks, California, also faced the challenge of getting traffic to its website. The approach of Tim Clark, the owner, focused on building strategic partnerships and link relationships with partners serving a similar target audience. “… [H]is big win was recognizing the value of building links to and from his site with adjacent businesses also focusing on remodel and repair opportunities.” Take a look at the Construction Deal Spotlight.
- Gina’s Tax Service, of Bullard, Texas, faced a similar challenge: getting new customers. Gina Gwozdz, CPA turned to the Web, set up a free Blogger blog, and managed to draw on new clients from outside her small town. “Gina’s blog now attracts readers from all over the country which has translated into a 30 percent increase in clients.” View the Gina’s Tax Service Spotlight. And visit Gina’s Tax Blog, too.
Back in October and November 2006, the JumpUp.com site put out a call for entries to tell your story and be profiled in a New Business Spotlight. Ganesh, Tim and Gina all applied via Small Business Trends, and I assisted Intuit in judging the entries.
I was struck by the fact that each of these business owners faced challenges that were not exotic or all that unusual. Rather, they boil down to a single issue that I know business owners everywhere have to deal with all the time: how do you attract more customers? For that reason, I felt the experiences of Ganesh, Tim and Gina would be inspiring.
While you are over at the JumpUp.com site, take a look at the HUGE amount of Web real estate each of the Spotlighted businesses gets — each Spotlight must take up half of the JumpUp.com home page. That’s the way to do it, Intuit.