Posts Tagged ‘ UKBF ’

Good Advice – You must give to receive

I am a regular contributor to UK Business Forums, and quite often respond to queries, mostly to people who are having problems with their Sage software or bookkeeping, and then move on and forget about it.

I was really surprised and pleased this weekend to get a thank you message for a post I wrote in 2009, answering a query about the difference between using Sage batch invoicing options or creating order,  invoices and purchase orders in Sage.  The reply I made came up in a Google search 3 years later, in May 2012, and my advice has now helped another Sage user.

I have had direct queries for work as a result of the contributions I have made to the forums on this site before, the answers given seem to rank high in Google searches, meaning you get noticed, and with good contact details in your signature line you can benefit from the advice directly.

So, is there a subject you know a lot about?  Find a suitable forum and see if you can help people too – you never know when you may benefit in the future.  And remember, if you have a question too, you might just find the help you need.

You can see the thread and the advice given by looking at the forum thread.

2012
05/09
CATEGORY
General
Sage
Sage 50
Sage Instant Accounts
1 comment

Guest Blog Posts

How time flies when you are having fun!

Alison at her desk.

The Silicon Bullet Blog is now one month old, and what a month it has been! I have found creating my new blog both interesting and quite addictive. I have to see how many people have looked at the posts every day, and the Google searches used to find it are absolutely fascinating (to me anyway – you are probably yawning already!).

I feel my biggest achievement to date has been being invited by Cath, who looks after the @sageuk twitter account, to do a guest post on the Sage Blog.  I was so pleased to be approached, having only written a handful of my own posts, as Sage has been a big part of my working life for 16 years now – it is good to get the recognition.

So, Cath gave me a subject to work with – “the added value that Business Partners bring to Sage customers; how close you are to your customers, what are the key challenges facing your customers, etc.” and my first guest post was born.

I was then given some hints and tips by Maxine, a moderator on the Uk business forums, for guest posting:

  • Be ready to answer comments and keep checking frequently throughout the day so that the blogger doesn’t have to keep asking you to answer.
  • Don’t leave the promotion of the article up to them alone – see what you can do with sharing in places such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and of course on the business forum.

So if you fancy reading my Sage Guest Blog Post, you can find it here. And please do leave a comment and let me know what you think.

2011
12/04
CATEGORY
Blogging
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How sharing your expertise for free can pay dividends

I had a call this week out of the blue from someone who needed Sage training.  As part of our monitoring of new leads we always ask people how they came to hear about us, as I do quite a lot of networking and social media marketing and it is good to monitor how effective these are at bringing in new business.  This person had done a Google search, and postings I had made on a forum had come up high in the results list so they followed the link in order to contact me at Silicon Bullet.

This seems to be the most common source of our enquiries these days. An IT services provider I met networking also said they had a problem with their Sage instant accounts and Googled “changing your financial year”, and again my advice post came up quite high on the list, even several months after the advice had been given.

The particular forum I contribute to mostly is UK Business Forums where I have been a member since 2009.  I mostly hang out in the Accounting and Finance area, ready to give advice if anyone has a problem with Sage software.  I  have been able to ask for advice too when I have been unsure about something.

So without updating my website, and worrying about search engine optimisation, my name is coming up when people do a Google search, and what is more I am proving my credentials and expertise by the advice I have given. And I can quantify the new business I have had as a direct result.

Also you become known on the forums for the advice you give, so I have also had direct enquiries from other forum users for my Sage software and services, and I have had bookkeeping enquiries passed my way also; so there are two ways I have benefited from membership.

So think about where your expertise lies – is there a forum where you could share some knowledge?  Who knows, it could pay dividends for you too.

UK Business Forum message header

2011
11/15
CATEGORY
General
Networking
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