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Coming in August: great IT advice for businesses
May 25, 2010
I’m pleased to report that the wraps are off: The IT Donut, a new website for small businesses, will be launching the week of 23 August.
The IT Donut will be the fourth in a family of websites. You might already have seen the Marketing, Law and Start-Up Donuts. Its aim will be to demystify every aspect of business technology.
Expect heaps of advice about choosing, using and generally not getting totally frustrated with IT in your business.
I’ve taken on the role of editor (the next few months are looking to be very busy), but thankfully there’s a whole team of great people from BHP Information Solutions working hard on the site too. And because you can’t substitute for first-hand knowledge and experience, we’re on the hunt for experts who know all about IT at the sharp end of business.
You see, when businesses use IT, there’s an ideal world, and there’s what actually happens. The two often differ quite considerably.
The IT Donut isn’t going to live in the plain sailing, smooth running and largely theoretical ideal world. It will acknowledge the situations and challenges businesses face every day with their IT.
Although the team behind the website is packed with experience (I’ve been writing about small businesses and IT for years now), we need people who’ve been there and done it to help us cover every area. These IT experts are the people who’ll really bring the site to life.
So if you know a bit about IT in business, I want to hear from you. You might be an expert in web hosting, networking or accounting software. Or you might be a business that’s experimented with cloud computing, open source software – or gained some other knowledge that you’d like to share.
Whatever your expertise, give me a shout. It’s your chance to be involved in one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever worked on – and to get some great PR while you’re at it.
John McGarvey is the editor of the forthcoming IT Donut and is happy to discuss ideas and opportunities with you.
A slice of cake, a celebration and some kind words from you
April 20, 2010
As you might have gathered, it’s our first birthday. The Donut MD Rory MccGwire has already written about why we set up the Donut websites and what we’re planning to do next - so I won’t talk about that.
Instead, I’d like to thank you - our readers, experts, colleagues and friends - for your fantastic support over the last 12 months. It’s been challenging; it’s been a steep learning curve; but it’s been fun.
I’d also like to publicly thank my colleagues at BHP, who have been brilliant. From the moment the Donut project got under way, it’s involved a massive amount of work and the guys here have all done their bit to help make these the best sites they can be.
So thank you, readers. Thank you, UK small businesses. Thank you, experts. Thank you, colleagues. Here’s a cake we made ourselves (in the style of a donut, naturally) and some nice words from three of the businesses who have featured on the site over the past year. We don’t usually blow our own trumpet, but what the hell!
“Marketing Donut has proved to be a fabulous resource for businesses such as ours with its clear advice and inspirational case studies - including ours! Naked Wines launched in the midst of recession and has gone from strength to strength thanks to our ethos of championing small winemakers and working closely with our customers and partners.” Rowan Gormley, founder, NakedWines
Read how Rowan set up his online wine business
“As the owner of a small business, you need to have a good understanding of many business disciplines. The Marketing Donut is a great help when you want ideas and inspiration about any areas of marketing. The articles are practical, to-the-point and well written. Half an hour spent on the site will pay great dividends.” Andrew Jardine, founder, Atlantic Trampolines
Read how Atlantic Trampolines uses Google AdWords to sell online
“I think the Marketing Donut is brilliant and it gives me lots of new ideas. I follow every day and would highly recommend.” Neil Westwood, managing director, Magic Whiteboard Limited
Read how Magic Whiteboard grew through investment from Dragons’ Den
Show time
March 27, 2009
Well, we’re nearly there. The team has been working flat out to meet our content deadline of 31 March and it looks like we’re going to make it.
Producing 100 web pages of practical, high quality, search engine optimised copy and sourcing some 300 online tools and other resources in less than three months is no mean feat.
Loading the content will start in earnest on 1 April (who chose that date?!), before we launch on 20 April. But that’s just the start. Post-launch, our challenge is to create a constantly evolving, dynamic and truly interactive site. You can help us to make it happen.
We want small business owners to use the Marketing Donut regularly, so we need to ensure a fresh stream of new material and ongoing dialogue. But this doesn’t mean throwing anything and everything related to marketing up there. Continually, we ask ourselves: ‘Is this really relevant to SMEs?’ and ‘Is it practical?’
If it’s textbook marketing theory you’re after, best go elsewhere. The aim of the Marketing Donut is to tell busy SME owner-managers what they need to know, when they need to know it. Hopefully, this will help them overcome their challenges quickly and effectively.
Your feedback is vital to the success of the site, so please let us know what you think on 20 April.
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Small business marketing - free advice, tools and resources | Marketing Donut
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