Is Your Blog Or Web Site Really Ready For Traffic?
One of the pleasures of writing this blog is scouring other blogs and web sites for marketing news and information that will be useful to you, my readers. Eager to find the “good stuff,” each week I end up reading dozens of blog posts and visit as many web sites.
Now and then I run into a blog that tries to get it right but stumbles here and there. “Stumbling here and there” is what we humans do. To err is human, right?
Most of us with blogs have had this experience: we edit, proofread, spell check, read it again, and feeling we’ve covered all the bases push that “publish” button. Only then do we see the mistake, the name we didn’t get right, the link that isn’t working, etc. So, back we go, hoping we can correct our errors before anyone sees it.
Today I found a blog post that seemed perfect to discuss on Marketing Taxi: “The Important Rules of Business Coaching.” We all want to know what the rules are, how they might complement whatever “rules” we currently follow, or if — as some might suggest — there are no rules.
Here’s the link– the actual blog post is useful. I don’t know if it is original material, but that’s not why I mention it. The problem is that the blog itself is not ready for prime time. In the header it reads, “Let us healp you Earn Some Wealth.” Beneath the blog name, “Earned Wealth,” we have those ubiquitous Latin fill-ins “Lorem/Ipsum/Dolorem.” Not exactly the way to build confidence in the author or the wisdom he/she is trying to share with us.
Certainly this is an egregious example of not being ready for one’s readers. However, it makes a point worth making: sometimes the most glaring mistakes are the ones we miss.
For several weeks I had a blog sidebar that was getting pushed down to the bottom of the page. I never saw it because I always used my main desktop computer to work on the blog. Only when I loaded the blog into my laptop did the error show up. Goodness knows how many readers also saw it. So now I review all my web sites and blogs on both computers, each with a different OS and web browser.
In the spirit of ”what are friends for,” perhaps it would be proper to drop a friend a carefully-worded note if we do see something out of kilter on their blog or web site. Besides being a good reason to touch base, your friend will appreciate your thoughtfulness — after the initial embarrassment wears off.
How Social Networking Can Kill a Business.
Most of us take for granted the power of social networking to expand our contacts and gently promote our businesses. We need to remember, however, that there is also a downside to this “empowerment.” The same tools that can be used in a positive way can also be used to damage our reputations and destroy our businesses.
The comment below about a restaurant was posted to a widely read forum in the community where I live. Most people are guessing that a disgruntled employee made the comment. Nevertheless, reading it certainly gives me some reservations (pun intended) about wanting to eat there.
The same types of things certainly were said by unhappy customers or employees years ago, but the number of people who heard it was very limited. Now, in almost an instant, the same comments have a worldwide audience. Because this restaurant operates in a tourist area, visitors doing informational searches about where to eat will very likely run into this “review.”
So what does this mean for consultants, small business owners, and other reputation-based enterprises like ours?
First, we need to stay alert to what is being written about us. Just as you might check your credit report on a regular basis, you need to do a “reputation report” on your name and your business. You can purchase services that will monitor your business name and alert you whenever it is mentioned on the Web. You should also do your own frequent searches using the major search engines. By “frequent,” I mean at least twice a month.
Second, be proactive. That means staying in touch with your market and providing positive and helpful information via your blogs, press releases, Web forums, trade and business Web sites, etc. Stinging negative comments are less credible when they are read in the context of a positive news environment.
Third, react. In the case of this restaurant “review,” there’s a chance that by complaining to the webmaster the comment might be removed. If that is not possible, get third party endorsements — and your own — on the site as soon as possible. Don’t let the mud hang there on the wall with no counter-response. Otherwise, readers will assume it is true.
So here’s how one person damaged the reputation of a local business –
Top Ten Reasons Not to Go to XYZ Restaurant
10. Drink are priced way to high even if they are doubles
9. Lyn and Bob no longer own the place
8. They have the same 12 specials on rotation all the time
7. That peppercorn encrusted tenderloin special they sell for $25 is select grade beef not prime or even choice meat.
6. The owners treat their long term employees as if they worthless
5. Seafood that comes in on Friday will be either frozen and used the next weekend or packed in ice in hopes that they use it, they never throw anything away!
4. I’ve seen rotting lamb chops that are green and smell like a horses a** be cooked and served to customers
3. If you send something back there and it needs to be cooked it def. gets cooked in the microwave. The owner insists on it
2. The walk-in cooler in the kitchen looks like the inside of a dumpster, its disgusting and should not be a place where food is stored
1. The new ownership is clearly out to take advantage of the consumer and its employees. The food at best is mediocre, the management is rude, and it is just not the what the XYZ was or ever will be again. Lyn made that place her baby and these people are ruining a great local tradition!
Still hungry?
Great Reasons To Market With Newsletters.
With unlimited advertising options and very limited marketing budgets, small businesses have some tough choices to make. Here are ten great reasons why small businesses should consider using newsletters and email newsletters.
1. Increase sales from your current clients. 80 percent of your sales come from the top 20 percent of your clients. A marketing newsletter is an effective way to reach top buyers in a non-intrusive style and inform all clients of any new services your offer.
2. Keep current business coming in. This is the “bathtub” theory. While expanding your customer base — filling the tub with new clients — you want to make sure that existing clients don’t escape down the drain. A newsletter shows people that you value their business.
3. Add value to your services. In a rapidly changing world, newsletters are a vital part of keeping people up to speed. Make getting the newsletter a prime benefit of using your services from you. Give clients “subscriptions.” Place a cover price on the newsletter but send it free to top customers.
4. Lock down your niche. Most businesses survive because they offer specialized products and services not provided elsewhere. A newsletter with specialized content locks in your expertise.
5. Educate prospects. Newsletters work well when people must be educated about your products or services before they will buy from you.
6. Establish expertise and credibility. New companies find newsletters a great way to overcome first-time buyer resistance.
7. Save selling time. People who respond to your newsletter are better informed because they already know more about what you offer than someone coming in from other advertising.
8. Spur word-of-mouth referrals. Newsletters have pass-along value. A good newsletter will be shared with an average of three other people.
9. Network though news. Keep in touch with everyone who can help your business — your local government, the press, recruits, and peers within a related industry.
10. Draw readers to your web site. A helpful newsletter can do double-duty as content for a web site. Or, the newsletter can advertise additional information available only on your web site, pulling in online traffic.
Let the world know who you are!
