Writing exclusively for YHP, Brian Hughes, CEO of KILTR, shares the secrets of successfully growing an online community…

Know your niche – It may seem obvious, but it’s important that you know exactly the community of users that you’re looking to attract – and how to reach them. Take the time to identify key online influencers (e.g. bloggers and niche media channels) among your target community and try to get them onside at the earliest opportunity. This will ensure that your initial marketing activity is focused and cost-effective in driving up membership.

Take it from the top – In the age of LinkedIn and Facebook, you need to convince potential community members that it’s worth their while to sign-up to yet another social network. Be sure that you can explain your proposition clearly and succinctly.

When you are at the coalface of an organisation, it can become difficult to offer a precise description of the business without over-loading the summary with confusing details and sidenotes. If you can’t come up with a one-sentence summary of what your community is and what it does, get help from a communications professional.

It’s all about Content – Online networks devour content at an incredible rate so, where possible, find ways to attract external content producers to your community. Every day thousands of media outlets, industry commentators, bloggers and freelance producers are distributing content that your community would be interested in. Convince as many as possible that your community is a good place for them to share their content and promote their own offerings.

Respond, respond, respond – If you successfully attract members, it’s vital that you respond to any queries or comments about the community quickly and professionally. If you look after your members, they will spread the word and the community will grow. If you take too long to respond to your community, however, they will abandon you, never to return and, what’s more, they will share their negative experience of your community among their contacts.

Keep it coming – It’s important for all online communities to continuously evolve in line with the needs and wishes of their membership. Keep members coming back for more by providing new content, new features, new functionality on a continuous basis.

Roll with it – Having established an online community, the way that community members then choose to use the platform will sometimes surprise you and, perhaps, lead you in a direction you hadn’t considered before. Keep an eye on trends within user behaviour and adjust your strategy and/or offering accordingly.

The Human Factor – Don’t forget that an online community, however large it may become, is simply a collection of individual human beings who, having joined your community, will react in a human, emotional way to any changes that you choose to make. Try to imagine how an individual member of your community – rather than the community as a whole – will respond to the introduction of new functionality or changes to your existing set-up. Don’t be afraid to ask yourself, “Would I like this?” rather than “Would the community like this?” and be brave enough to trust your own instincts.

Speak up – Raising awareness of your new online community is vital. Get comfortable with the idea of being a spokesperson for your community. This means actively networking as well as embracing other nerve-wracking activities such as making presentations and speaking to journalists – if you want your online community to grow, it’s part of the deal whether you’re shy or not!

Brian Hughes is the CEO of KILTR, a professional social network for everyone with an interest in Scotland.

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Regulations abound for health and safety at work, and in some occupations there are obvious hazards connected with specific environments. A factory floor or a construction site are two examples where workers often need to deal with heavy machinery and equipment, and where protective clothing or other safety gear has to be worn. In large offices there may be issues around how rooms are laid out and where equipment is placed, and normally a risk assessment or audit will establish key areas where certain precautions need to be taken.

For both large and smaller companies, including those whose workers sometimes work from home, it may be that few people give any thought to health and safety issues when employees are spending most of their time simply working at their computer or at a desk. In fact, employers and employees alike ignore these issues at their peril. It is possible to sustain harmful injuries as a result of long-term deskwork and, as employers can be held liable even when employees work from home, it makes sense to take advantage of health and safety at work training to ensure preventable injuries simply do not happen.

What could go wrong?

The kinds of injuries that are frequently sustained include pain in the hands or arms from repetitive use of a keyboard or mouse; eye strain, headaches or pains in the neck or lower back. This often occurs because the worker has adopted a poor posture, their seating arrangement or screen height is wrong, or when computer use is uninterrupted for a long time. There are some basic tips that help to ensure these injuries are avoided.

Seating

An adjustable chair enables employees to select the right height for their desk or computer. Wrists and forearms should be straight and parallel to the floor, not stretched upwards or bending downwards to reach the keyboard. The chair should support the lower back and supports for the feet may also be needed, so that the hips are level with the knees, and the legs are not crossed, which can affect circulation.

Computer screen and keyboard

Monitors should be at eye level and at arm’s length to avoid eyestrain and prevent computer users from having to bend their necks into uncomfortable positions. Use a stand if necessary to change the height of a screen. Reduce unwanted glare from a screen by changing position or adjusting brightness levels. Keep wrists straight when using a keyboard and use a wrist rest if necessary between typing sessions. The rest might be attached to a mouse mat, and the mouse should be kept close to hand to minimise stretching and strain.

Desk accessories

Keep frequently used items, such as telephone, paper, or pens close by, so they can be reached easily. Do not stretch or twist to retrieve objects, and if a telephone is used a great deal, opt for a headset.

These are a few pointers, but there is no substitute for a good health and safety training course which will provide comprehensive information on staying healthy and avoiding injury, and this is a good investment for employers and employees alike.

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It was back in the Summer of 2010 when I had just finished the first year of my BA Hons degree in Media and Communications at Birmingham City University, that I had the idea for my business. As a vegetarian I and had become increasingly concerned by some of the ingredients in many well know High Street beauty products and cosmetics. Animal fats, crushed beetles and pig placenta are common ingredients as well as harsh alcohols. These ingredients are used predominantly because they’re cheap and they’re used as fillers but are clearly not ethical or good for the skin.

Over the summer I started to research halal products as I found their stringent criteria matched my own beliefs. I then found that actually there was a demand for these products not only from the Muslim community but also from vegetarians and vegans. In Islam, ‘halal’ means permissible or what is allowed in the Muslim faith. Where beauty products are concerned animal ingredients, animal testing and haram alcohol is forbidden. Halal certification is a strict process whereby the products are tested and certified halal meaning they comply with Islamic law. I was convinced that there would be a demand for these type of products.

Initially I was going to run the business online and thought that maybe I would be able to combine business and studies. One day whilst shopping, I came across a very small but perfectly usable unit in The Pavilions Shopping Centre in Birmingham. The unit had been empty for many years basically because it was too small for most businesses. I managed to get the unit at a very good price and with the help of friends and family painted it and did it up myself to keep costs as low. I soon realised that I had created something very special and was determined to dedicate all my time and energy into the business in order to give it a chance to grow.

There’s no way I could have combined both the business and studies so I made a choice and put my degree on hold. I believe I made the right decision and I found that I had learnt many useful things on my degree course that were very much transferable to the world of business, so my studies were certainly not a waste of time. At first there were so many new things that I had to get to grips with. Everything seemed so confusing; corporate tax, vat, rent and business rates, importation duties, my head used to spin with it all. As time went on though, I did plenty of research and sought advice from people like business link and my local chamber of commerce and things became a lot clearer. Everything in business is a learning curve and every day presents new challenges and obstacles to overcome. Pure Halal Beauty is a unique concept and the first store of its kind that sells solely halal certified beauty products.

When our store first opened in December 2010, we received a lot press features and articles from around the world from national press, international press, local press, bloggers and we were even on television.

As the months went by I realised that some products although they are halal are not particularly natural with regards to their ingredients. I knew we could improve on the products that were available which is when I decided I wanted to create my own natural, halal collection that was completely ethical and eco-friendly.

In the Autumn of 2011, just before we reached our 1st birthday, we launched The PHB Collection- the worlds’ largest range of natural, halal and vegan beauty products. The collection includes, skincare, body care, hair care, cosmetics and men’s and baby products also. Most of the collection is made by hand in the UK, and our packaging is 100% recyclable.

I am incredibly proud of the PHB collection and we have had some amazing reviews and feedback about the quality and efficacy of the products. We did a lot of research before finding a manufacturer that we were happy with and who could offer us what we needed with regards to the ingredients and ethical stance of the products. I didn’t want to use any chemicals, parabens or petro chemicals which are common ingredients in many beauty products, mainly because they’re cheap. We researched and selected ingredients that are gentle, natural and effective. For example rosewood, gardenia and rosehip have some fabulous anti-aging properties, so we use these in our Elixir of Youth range. Whilst ingredients like grape-seed, rose and aloe-vera are used in our Pure & Natural range for Very Sensitive skin because they’re incredibly kind to skin. Also it is important to me that none of our products or ingredients are ever tested on animals or contain any animal ingredients. The halal certification and vegan society registration serve to add extra assurances to my customers.

Since the release of the PHB collection we’ve been inundated with interest from around the world and had a number of exciting opportunities. We’ve had a lot of enquiries about potential distribution and franchise opportunities in the UK and Internationally – so this is something exciting that we are exploring. We hope to expand our number of store in the future also, as we are constantly getting calls from customers who can’t wait for us to open up shops in London, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford etc. So overall 2012 looks like being a very busy and exciting year for Pure Halal Beauty!

For more information visit: http://www.purehalalbeautyproducts.co.uk/
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Skip has pioneered territory on the digital frontier for nearly 20 years. All told, he has brought a dozen new media models to market for startups and giants alike. As a college student, he started the first Super Bowl website, selling out sponsorships in two weeks. He raised more than $10 million to build the first educational network (ASPIN), founded top Southwest web development firm Rhino, and launched one of the country’s first broadband networks at Cox Communications. He ran and sold SimpleDevices, headed sales and business development for JiWire, and helped establish, Excite@Home. On the corporate side, Skip ran the Yahoo! Global Alliances organization, introducing several media innovations for the company’s top 50 accounts multi-million dollar accounts. Simply put, he’s always running something. When it’s not a company, it’s endurace races: more than 50 marathons, 10 Ironman Triathlons and too many adventure races to count.

Hey Skip, great to have you on YHP today!

First of all what is Martini Media?

Martini Media is the digital media and content platform for engaging the richest audience with the most money and influence online. With more than 1,000 publishers organized across multiple lifestyle and business verticals, Martini Media has helped the world’s leading brands reach more than 90 million consumers across the globe that invest in their passions at work and play. Martini Media’s full-service marketing capabilities encompass display, video, mobile, social and audience targeting to effectively engage the most valuable audience online at scale.

And so when did you come up with this idea and what were you doing at the time?

The more money an audience makes, the more digitally savvy they are. In addition, this affluent audience is projected to overtake other demographics to become the most engaged group on the web. In my mind, when a consumer group moves from the least to the most engaged, this provides a great business opportunity and Martini Media was created to take advantage of that opportunity.

Prior to Martini Media, I worked at a start-up company, JiWire, which connects advertisers to the mobile audience, using the world’s largest location-based interactive media channel.

Had you started a company before and if so, what did you find was your biggest challenge when starting your first company?

I started my first company in college. The start-up I created, Rhino, focused on the movement from sports teams and engaging content to the web. Rhino still exists and is profitable. However, that start-up has the same challenge I face today, which is educating and proving to the marketplace that digital, whether it is in web development or in advertising in the case of Martini, is the right area to shift traditional dollars into.

What was been you’re biggest challenge at Martini media and how did you overcome it?

The top challenge for Martini is finding the best talent who can devote a considerable amount of resources and effort to ensure that Martini Media not only achieves its goals but disrupts the status quo in B2B, B2C and the lifestyle space. Talent is required to innovate and that innovation is required to achieve market share.

You recently raised $13 million in venture capital, how will you use this to help Martini media grow?

We plan to use the capital to ensure our company can horizontally scale in the U.S. and in Europe, resulting in more products and revenue per head based on technology and product investments.

How did you fund the company initially?

Venrock allowed me to work inside of its incubator called “The Quarry” and take advantage of the existing resources Venrock provided, as well as the sister and brother companies that were born there.

What would be your tip for aspiring entrepreneurs?

You need to have pig-headed determination, persistence and discipline. Professionally, you need to make sure your company can answer the 4 T’s:

• Do you have the right team?
• Are you seeing traction?
• Do you have technology?
• Is the timing right for your company in the marketplace?

So you are a pretty active guy, having run marathons and completed ironman triathlons, how important do you feel it is to have a real passion outside of work, to maybe help improve you while you are working?

It’s very important to be a well-rounded person. If you do not have passions outside the workplace it makes it very difficult for you to draw on other non-work experiences that will ensure you are constantly invigorated, interesting to engage and testing yourself/balancing yourself outside the workplace.

What do you hope to achieve over the next 3 years?

I hope to continue to be able to scale Martini Media vertically, horizontally, geographically and culturally, begin to establish myself and my company as a technology leader and lastly, run the Western States 100 mile race.

Thanks Skip, some great tips there and good luck for the future!

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Search Engine Optimization is the way for businesses to be found online. Search engines use complex algorithms to determine what websites should correspond to the search queries users type in. Cracking the search engine code is extremely difficult, however, the whole idea is that the most relevant website always wins. If a company can become the most relevant website in its field, then it doesn’t really need to crack the code. Here are some powerful tips to help boost a company’s website’s relevancy.

Social Media & Buzz Generating

Social media/online marketing (finding an online/social presence and also branding a name for your company through marketing) provides a business with an approachable voice. It’s difficult for a company to get conversation going on a website. But conversation is easily created on a social media platform. In fact, that’s the point of social media. In respect to Search Engine Optimization, social media helps a company extend its reach. By reaching out and eventually funneling users to their sites, companies are carving out a bigger presence for themselves on the Internet. Social media also creates buzz. You want your brand to be discussed as many times as possible across the Internet.

Community Building & Traffic

Connecting directly to other, relevant places is extremely beneficial for Search Engine Optimization. When you link to powerful places on the web, then you get some kickback from their success. The deals website Tanga.com is a good example. They have an affiliate program. If users promote and link to Tanga, then they can benefit from Tanga’s page ranking as a deals and online coupon website. Users should also be interested in guest posts. If a blog owner gets to post somewhere else then they will surely put a link on their blog. This creates a bridge between the two sites and they can share relevant traffic. Having a popular site will boost your reputation with search engines and help your page’s ranking.

Clout Creation & Focus

No website can be relevant for everything. It’s necessary to focus your content so that a search engine can easily identify how to rank it for certain topics. Instead of a myriad of words, make sure you limit your work to a few themes. If your goal is to show-up when someone searches for “pocket watches” then topics surrounding pocket watches, links to pocket watch-relevant websites and the phrase “pocket watches” should all appear on your site very frequently. Use social media and strategic linking to further build your reputation as an expert on your subject matter.

Putting a lot of energy in one direction should help your website to drift from the pack as an authority on the topic. If a particular page seems to be the hub for all things “hub caps” then it will turn up at the top of the page when someone searches “hub caps.” It can sometimes seem repetitive to continually push the same idea, but brand consistency will only help your reputation as an expert.

Combining all three of these techniques will help a business to harness a relevant website. If a business chooses what it wants to rank for, and really pursues becoming an authority in that niche, then it can certainly boost the company’s ranking on search engines. There are also many SEO firms that can provide this service.

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Written by Holly Watson

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Looking for a job? Why not work at a startup?

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One thing I’ve noticed since leaving uni is the lack of other graduates that have gone into startup jobs. Having done a business degree and knowing many on computer science courses as well I found that many who didn’t have a job 6-12 months on hadn’t applied for jobs in startups. I think this is mainly because the mentality seems to be go for a ‘safe’ job in a big company (what about the mass job losses in many corporates?) or to go for a grad scheme, which few startups offer.

I think this is because of the lack of startup jobs on the major job sites and the lack of awareness about startup jobs. They are also often as being less well paid. Well it’s true it often does pay less but you also often get more job satisfaction, share options & more responsibility.

There are many job sites now that specifically advertise startup jobs such as Enternships (UK) & CoNotes (US). As many startups grow bigger they are offering proper graduate schemes.

Silicon Milkroundabout brings together 100+ UK startups offering 500+ technical jobs. It is organized by the startup Songkick and the companies which are attending or have attended include the likes of Shazam, Last.FM, MindCandy, Moo & Huddle.

The next event is taking place near London’s tech scene in the east of London on Sunday the 30th of October.

The Startup community in the UK is growing rapidly and so are the number of jobs on offer, with the lack of jobs and high competition for jobs in mainstream positions it might be worth considering jobs at smaller startups where your likely to gain more experience and have better career progression opportunities.

Especially in the tech jobs there is an abundance of job roles ready to be filled by hungry graduates, they just need to know where to look.

Here is a nifty infographic detailing the 2011 tech job trends and comparing working in startups vs banks by Adzuna and Silicon Milkroundabout. All the data was collated by Adzuna, a comprehensive search engine for job ads used by hundreds of thousands of jobseekers every month. Adzuna was founded by Andrew Hunter and Doug Monro, who I interviewed a couple months ago.

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Wahanda, a health, beauty and wellness community & marketplace that connects consumers, wellness businesses and professionals through content, community ratings & reviews and commerce.

Basically Wahanda partners with spas, salons and health centres across the world to offer the best deals around and they also have mob deals which follows the Groupon model, where the large number of buyers brings the price right down.

Founded in 2008 by Lopo Champalimaud and Salim Mitha, on Valentines day no less, Wahanda has grown to a point where the site receives over 10 million hits a year and lists 250,000 businesses offering over 5,000 exclusive deals.

“Our vision is to do for health, beauty and wellness what Amazon did for books,”

……………………………………………………………… Lopo Champalimaud

The two young entrepreneurs set up Wahanda because they were frustrated with the lack of online resources to help consumers make informed buying decisions.

Wahanda allows consumer the ability to learn about treatments, read and contribute ratings & reviews, and ultimately transact by booking online with businesses and independent therapists.

Lopo and Salim started Wahanda just before the economic downturn hit, but saw that many people affected didn’t want to give up on luxuries, such as spa days, but couldn’t afford to go anymore as the recession hit. They took advantage of this, and not in a bad way, they are offering great value and service to customers while helping businesses attract more customers, but they were able to make the most of an opportunity during the economic crisis.

In 2008 they secured £1.5 million in seed funding which helped the duo rapidly grow business and just last week they announced that they had secured another round of funding of £3.5million, which will help fuel growth further and also help in expanding overseas as Lopo and Salim look to take their UK startup global.

The two young entrepreneurs sum up the name of the company, Wahanda, which is native American for ‘great spirit and creator.’

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In 2007 a 31 year old Jay Parkinson started Hello Health,  a web-based patient communication, management service and electronic health record. What does that mean? Well it helps bring patients and healthcare providers closer together. Practices which implement the solution can better help patients contact their doctors while also access information better online.

As the world moves more and more toward online based services, it was only a matter of time before the world of healthcare was given a refreshing modernisation.  He started the service at his own practice that he set up in 2007. He knew he had to put it online so the tool could be used by doctors across the US.

It only cost him $1,500 to set up and he hopes now that this will change the face of  a stale industry.

“What I’ve done isn’t rocket science, it’s just business basics applied to an overly complicated industry,” he says.

Jay left Hello Health in 2010 to start his second company. Considering his background as a medical practitioner it is no surprise his second startup is also based in the medical field.

Jays whole ethos is about helping streamline the healthcare industry, an industry well known for being inefficient and notoriously out of date.

The Future Well is a design consultancy focused on improving healthcare services. “So we work with them to come up with a new product or service, reach out to our network to hire the best team we can imagine to build it, and then build it for the client,” Jay explains.

A lot has been said about Jay, he has been called “The Doctor of the Future” and one of the “Top Ten Most Creative People in Healthcare” by Fast Company.

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As a freelance writer, I built my business and clientele from the ground up. Most aspiring entrepreneurs are familiar with this time-consuming and wearisome process. How do you market yourself in such a way that you can earn a living without having to walk around wearing a sandwich board or shamelessly passing your resume out to strangers on the street?

Quick survey: How many of you have an account on a social networking site? My guess would be more than 90% of readers have at least one account, either on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or a similar site. In fact, a requirement during the final semester of my senior year in college was to create a LinkedIn profile; that college professors would (essentially) make this a requirement for graduation is indicative of the importance social media had gained over the years.

When I started my own business, I had the problem of not having a personal brand. No one knew me or the quality of my work. All of the sites I visited for advice and tips were frustratingly vague. Some said to offer my work for free and rely on word-of-mouth, while others advocated advertising and endless dissemination of my portfolio and resume.

On the advice of a former classmate, I opened a deviantART page and posted a lot of my work there. Very few people visited my page, however, because you have to have an account in order to view others’ work. This site is for artists who want to post their work, and if potential clients don’t fit into that category – and many don’t –it is unlikely they will go to the trouble of opening an account to view writing samples.

I also started a public blog and posted my work there, and several people started following my posts and offering feedback on my writing. However, none of my readers were in need of my services. While I valued the input and encouragement I received in this forum, I still felt as if I was nowhere closer to my goal than I had been when I started.

I opened a Twitter account and start sending out tweets about my business: services offered, credentials, etc. I started following random people, and I got a few writing contracts this way. I charged low prices in exchange for my customers’ promise to recommend me to their friends, colleagues, etc., but this only yielded a couple of additional writing gigs.

My next step was to open a Facebook page specifically for my business. In the biography section, I posted a brief version of my resume. I planned to post writing samples as notes, but business pages don’t offer that option. However, I had a separate (regular) page as administrator, and I not only posted writing samples there, but linked both pages.

Facebook offers advertising for businesses, as well. Businesses can choose between Pay Per Click (CPC), which only charges when someone clicks on the ad; and Pay Per Impression (CPM), which charges for every 1,000 times that the ad is viewed, regardless of whether it is clicked on or not. Facebook recommends CPM “to increase brand, product or service awareness” and CPC “to drive online conversions through their ads (e.g. sales of t-shirts or subscribers to a newsletter).”

Facebook begins the advertising process with bidding for what the advertiser is willing to pay. Once a price is settled upon, a daily budget, daily spend limit (which increases with every successful payment, regardless of daily budget), and a lifetime budget are set. You choose the target demographic, and Facebook offers viewers of your ad the choice to “Like” it or click on it for additional information, or to dismiss it as either uninteresting, misleading, sexually explicit, against their views, offensive, repetitive, or “other” (at which time you type your reason); this narrows your pool of potential clients.

Google recently launched its own social networking site, Google Plus. While this site does not yet offer business pages, Google offers AdWords and AdSense. AdWords offers both CPC and CPM options, and requires a $5 start-up fee; advertisers choose keywords, and the ad is displayed alongside relevant Google searches. AdSense places advertisements on participating websites, and pays the website owner every time an ad is clicked. Because these websites already target a specific audience, this increases the effectiveness of the ad.

Due to my limited finances, I opted against advertising, although I will undoubtedly revisit this decision at a later time. My work was posted on deviantART, my personal blog, Twitter, and Facebook. My final step was to tie all of these sites together by updating my LinkedIn profile. Whereas I initially left many fields blank, I added links to all of my sites, a copy of my resume, and a professional-looking photo.

I immediately noticed increased traffic to all of my sites. My personal blog, which had not yielded much success before then, started gaining readers, and I revamped it to be more of an Internet marketing blog, in which I not only posted writing samples and my resume, but also writing and marketing tips and tricks that I learned while researching the branding and marketing process. My Facebook page slowly gained fans.

It’s been six months since I started the branding process, and my client list is slowly growing. I still offer reduced rates to some clients in exchange for word-of-mouth advertising and referrals, but I am now able to fully support myself with my writing, thanks to my clever use of social media. Social media is here to stay, so why not use it to your advantage?

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