Marketing Your Business

First Impressions

2007-10-30T20:13:00.000-05:00

You've all heard the expression, "You only get one chance to make a first impression." Well, that couldn't be more true in the online world!

When people think of first impressions, they usually think about the way a person speaks or dresses. These things are important if you're meeting a potential client face to face. But what if you're not?

Today's world is driven by technology. There's a chance that your potential client will be profiling you or your business before they even meet you face to face! What will they be looking at? Your website of course!

If I met with a client in my pajamas and curlers what do you think they would think about me? What type of impression would I be giving them? Would they take me seriously? Would they want to give me their money? Probably not. If I want to be taken seriously, I have to be professional in my appearance and my speaking. Doesn't it make sense to carry that over to your website?

If the first impression a prospect has of your company is your web page and it looks like it was designed by someone in their pajamas and curlers, do you think they will take you seriously? Would they want to give you their money? Probably not.

The Internet is full of thousands of "you". Often times if a person clicks on a website and feels overwhelmed, confused or uncomfortable, they'll move on to the next "you", that quick.

But wait you say..."they didn't even read my great marketing copy or see how low my prices are!" That's because they've already formed their first impression.

Celebrating Your Independence - Domain Names

2007-07-11T20:30:00.000-05:00

I hoped to get this post out earlier this month, but no luck. Even though the 4th of July has passed, its never too late to talk about independence!

Whether you're thinking about getting a website or have just setup your website, it's important to have complete control of your domain name. Most people don't realize how important it is, until something goes wrong.

At least once a month I have a conversation with someone who wants to do something with their website but has trouble because they don't have any control over their domain name.

Your domain name is probably just as important as your website. It is the address that people type to find your website, your company. Not sure that's important? Ask yourself, "If I were to lose that name, what would that mean to my business?"

Sure you may have to re-print signs, business cards and brochures but what about your email? How critical is that to you? If you lose your domain name, you lose your email address. Do I have your attention now?

So, how would you lose a domain name? Most of the time its because:

1: It expires. Domain names are most often registered every year. Miss that renewal date and you may lose that name forever!

2: You really don't own it! That's right, its not really your domain name, its registered to the designer who bought it on your behalf. Your name is nowhere on the registration. That means if you cant get in touch with the designer, you lose. You have no proof it belonged to you.

Scary huh?

What you can do to protect yourself:

1: Look up your domain name: http://www.internic.net/whois.html. Search the whois database to ensure your name is listed as the owner of the domain name.

2: If you're name is not on the registration, contact the person who set it up and ask them to change it. It could just be an oversight.

3: If possible, ask for a username and password where you can login to your account and take control. Many times webmasters have one account they just add domains to. There isn't anything wrong with doing that but if you're worried, you could request it to be moved. You may need to pay a small transfer fee to accomplish this.

4: If you have tried all of the above and cannot get control of your domain name, you can contact ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) www.icann.org. ICANN is an agency responsible for the global coordination of domain names. You can file a complaint with them.

It's always important to know how to control your domain name and hosting account. Without this information you must always depend on the designer or webmaster. As a business owner, you want to be prepared to be totally independent!

5 FREE Cool Tools for your Website

2007-06-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of my favorite cool web tools. Give them a try!

StatCounter: This is a free tool that I install on most of my client's websites. It's more than just a hit counter, its an analytics program. That means it can actually tell you where your traffic is coming from, referring sites, keywords, etc.

Google Rankings: This free tool will require an API key from Google (also free) but thats it! Look up any keyphase for you or your competition, and see where it ranks on Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.

Blogger: This blog is absolutley free! It does have its limitations but... hey...you read it!

Google AdSense: Earn money from relevant ads on your website. Approval is easy and its free to sign up.

Glowig.com: File too big to email? This free service will transfer large files to anyone, anywhere.

The Value of Customer Service

2007-05-19T15:40:00.000-05:00

Over the last couple months I have had my share of bad customer service experiences.
From salons to technology providers, I just don't think some business realize the true value of a customer.

My web design company runs on customer service! From the moment we receive a call, email or question, that customer is treated as if they are the only customer we have. We spend as much time with them as we need to, even if we don't close a deal. Why? Because even if that person isn't a client today, they could be tomorrow. Or, even if they can't use our service, they wouldn't think twice about referring us to someone we can help. And that will help me grow my business.

On the other hand, if I do something bad...that customer is going to tell everyone they meet about it! And that could mean trouble.

Here are the top 3 customer service complaints:

1: I never get a response from the company: Always respond to a client immediately. Even if its just to say, you need a little more time to look into their question. If not. they will take their business elsewhere.

2: I don't feel important. Remember how many times your phone rang before the sale? What about after the sale, when you need help? Always make your client feel important by keeping in touch. Its often more expensive to lose a client then it is to gain one.

3: Making promises you can't keep. Reliability is important factor in customer service. Nothing annoys customers more than missing a deadline. Of course things happen from time to time and you get delayed but always keep the client informed. Never commit to anything you know is not feasible.

If you find yourself doing any of these things, you could be losing a lot of business. I'm happy to pay more for the same product, if I it means I get GREAT customer service. And I'm sure a lot of others feel that way too. They won't hesitate to go elsewhere.

So when you think of growing your business, remember, marketing is only one part of growing your business. Retaining your clients, is another. Over time, good customer service will bring in more new customers than promotions ever will!

What You Can Learn About Relationship Marketing From A Smootie Shop

2007-04-06T19:06:00.001-05:00

My daughter introduced me to a great smoothie shop a few months ago. I'm not a big health nut and normally wouldn't visit these kind of places but I'm hooked on the pineapple splash! So... after a light day of shopping...we worked up a thirst. So, we headed over to get our favorite smoothies!

While we were waiting on for our favorite concoctions, I couldn't help but notice the different displays on the counter. To my right were business cards for a tanning salon, a contest to win a membership to a local gym and brochures for botox, laser hair removal and skin care products from a local medspa.

So why do you think these businesses have their displays in my favorite smoothie shop? And more importantly, why would this smoothie shop want to have these business displayed at their location? The answers are really simple. Its all about relationship marketing.

The tanning salon, gym and medspa all have something in common. Their audience. You see, the people who tan, go to a gym, get cosmetic surgery and eat healthy, are most likely people who are concerned with their appearance. So it makes sense that each could potentially help the other, and more importantly, the consumer.

If these type of people are in your target market, a smoothie shop is a great place to get your name out! In fact, I bet if I went over to that tanning salon, or gym, I might just find the smoothie shop's info there. Hmmm...

Now, if it doesn't make sense for your business to run right out and put your brochures in a related shop, or you just don't want to, you can still take advantage of relationship marketing through technology, the Internet.

For example, if you're a home inspector, you would probably get little return from having your brochure in one of these places or maybe even any place. Sure, most people who drink smoothies have homes, but that's not exactly the targeted relationship marketing we're talking about.

It's more likely that a home inspector would share the same type of client base as landscapers, handymen, real estate agents, and lenders. But most of the time these companies get their clients from yellow page ads or the Internet, not from people walking through their door, like the smoothie shop. The yellow pages wont allow you to utilize relationship marketing but a website sure will!

Contact the webmaster or company, ask them if you can exchange links to each other's website. Why? Because the relationship is obvious. Their clients may have an interest in your product and vice-versa. Its a win-win for everyone, even the customer, and a no-cost way for you to market your business!

Give it a try.

Just Another Pretty Face?

2007-03-12T21:42:00.000-05:00

What are you thinking when you hear the term web design? Do you think of pretty images and flashy graphics? Most people don't think about anything more than that.

When you decide to hire a designer, its usually because you have most of the other stuff figured out and now you're just looking for someone to put it together. You want a pretty picture. Although there is nothing wrong with that, you should know that web design is so much more then just a pretty face.

Beyond the graphic artist/web designer's talents lies an enormous opportunity. Its called MONEY. If you expect to receive a return on your investment, listen up!

A good web design company will talk to you about more then just the look and feel of the site. He/She will explain the marketing side, helpful suggestions on what you can do to increase your conversions, and discuss continuous improvements. You do want to make money from the website right? An experienced team can help you do that.

Don't get me wrong, your website's appearance is very important, but last I checked Google wasn't holding a beauty contest! Making a website pretty and making it get results are two different things.

You Get What You Pay For

If you just want a web presence and no results, thats exactly what you'll get when you start shopping around for price. A web designer's responsibilities only go as far as making your website look great. Nothing more. If you want a great website and a marketing plan, you'll need to be prepared to pay for it. But what do you do when you're just starting out and simply cant afford it?

I tell my clients they should plan for continious improvements. What does that mean exactly? I wont hold them to an agreement, but I do encourage them to at least get some of the keyword research done with their design. This will at least give us an idea of where they stand and I can make suggestions on their future marketing plans.

Search Engine Submissions - Don't be a Sucker!

2007-02-10T17:26:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you guys but for me, it's not always easy to come up with a fresh new topic to discuss for my blog. I feel like my brain is on overload sometimes and there is just so much information packed up there that I don't know where to begin. We'll, just as I was preparing select a topic for this month's blog, I got a phone call from a concerned client.

"Cindy, I received an invoice today for an annual search engine listing for my website", said the client, "Does this mean that my website won't be listed in the search engines anymore if I don't pay this invoice?

"Invoice?", I replied. "Can you please send me the document you're referring to? I'll have to take a look at it".

Now, I know that The Web Decorators do not send our clients invoices for search engine submissions or listings; so I knew whatever the client was looking at certainly didn't come from us, however, I had to see what she was talking about.

As soon as that document was in my hand, I knew... This was a scam and a new blog topic was born!

I swear right after 1 customer called me about this, I received
3 more phone calls and then a few days later, I received an invoice myself. All
of the invoices that I saw varied slightly. Not all were from the same
company and the amounts were anywhere from $35 to almost $200!

The services clients were being "invoiced" for included domain renewals, search engine submissions and search engine listings.

Now don't get me wrong, it's certainly not a scam to charge someone for services but the invoice is very misleading. As I explained in the phone call below, my client was under the impression that her website would be pulled from the search engines if she did not pay this invoice. When you intentionally mislead someone for the purposes of making a profit, that is a scam!

Here are the facts:

1: The only authority in the search engine world is the search engine themselves. Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc do not have partnerships with any company to get you on top of the rankings or on the bottom of the rankings. You are never "removed" from a search engine because you don't pay a bill.

2: Simply "submitting" your website to a search engine doesn't have anything to do with "ranking" in a search engine. Submitting is exactly what it is, submitting. Search engines rank a website based on certain criteria found within its web pages.

3: One of the letters said something like "we will submit your website to 1000 search engines". The truth is, that is either a lie or a waste of time. The major search engines deliver results to a lot of smaller search engines. So being listed in one, could automatically put you in others. You can learn more about the search engine family tree here in this Search Engine Watch article.

The moral of this blog entry is, don't be tricked into paying for services you don't need. Educate yourself, ask questions. In all of the invoices my clients received there was an important note:

"THIS IS A SOLICITATION..."

Be sure to document who you have purchased your domain name, hosting and web design from. If you receive one of these "invoices" and it does not come from one of the companies you are doing business with, its probably a scam.

The Power of a Website

2007-01-02T22:14:00.000-05:00

A New Year is upon us. Time to reflect on the past year and resolve to make the coming year even better than the last.

What have you resolved to do for your business this year? For most business owners, the focus is on increased sales. Many have ideas on how to do that but one piece that is often neglected is the website.

Printed brochures, promotional items and newspaper ads are all great ways to get the word out about your business but when you add a website in the mix, you give all of those marketing tools more power.

Think about this:

You come across an ad in the local newspaper for a product or service you need. You see 2 ads that have similar offers. One has a website, one doesn't. What do you do next? Most people will go to the internet and look up the website in the ad. Why? A consumer feels more comfortable calling a company after they've checked out their website vs "calling a stranger", who has no website.

Remember seeing that company truck pass you by on the interstate? You may have said, "oh I have to remember to call them about my..." By the time you get back home, you can't remember the phone number BUT you can remember their name. You go right to the internet to find the number.

Regardless of which method you use to target your customers never pass on the opportunity to list your website. It could infulence the behavior of your audience. You can list your website on just about anything:

Signs
Yellow Page Ads
T-Shirts
Invoices

Don't under estimate the power of your website. When combined with the right marketing tools, you can increase your sales in this new year and the years to come!

When its Time to Hire a Web Designer

2006-12-01T21:01:00.000-05:00

Some web designers may be shocked at what I'm saying, but building a website isn't an exact science! Today, there are so many web building tools available, even a caveman can do it :)

So what keeps people like me in business? I mean, why would you need a web designer when you can just do it yourself with one of those thingies?

Think about this. Most people, know basic things about their vehicles. You may know how to check the oil, change a light or maybe even fix a flat tire. But what happens when you need to change real parts under the hood? Do you fix it yourself? Sure, there are those who can (or think they can) but the majority of people know that if they want to depend on their vehicle to get them from point A to point B, they'll need to ask the professionals for assistance.

The same is true in the web design business. Those quick and easy website builders are designed so that people with basic knowledge, can build a website for their business. But smart business owners know, if they want to depend on their website to help increase sales, they'll need to ask the professionals for assistance.

There are many reasons a business may require the expertise of a web designer. One reason is just that "expertise". Great web designers have a creative side that can capture the attention of an audience through visual appearance, and pull them in further with persuasive marketing content.

Then there is the programming. Sure most people can figure out how to link from one page to the next but what if you need to add more impressive features to your website like Flash, dynamic data or even web forms? Most website today offer their visitor much more than a simple hyperlink.

Think about this, if you're asking for someone to invest their money in your company, but it looks like you haven't invested any of your own money in it, what does that say about your business? Serious buyers are reluctant to do business with a company that they don't have confidence in.

You see, building a simple website may not be an exact science, but designing a website that works for your business requires the help of a web designer.

Understanding "why" you need a website will help your website be more successful.

2006-11-20T12:13:00.000-05:00

At The Web Decorators, we always say, "websites designed with success in mind". But what does that mean?

Having a terrific looking website, isn't enough to make it a success, but planning and understanding the true need for your website, can make all the difference!

A successful website should act as a marketing tool for your business. Its purpose is to communicate a message to an intended audience. This seems easy to accomplish, but when you consider there are over 8 billon websites on the internet, you need to be sure you're giving your visitors what they want, or they'll move on to your competitor!

Start by asking and yourself these questions BEFORE you start your new web design.

What is the message? What do you want to say?
Who is your audience and why will they come to your website?
What would you like your visitors to do as a result of your message? What is your call to action?

At The Web Decorators, we work closely with our clients to help them uncover what their visitors are searching for and translate that message in the form of a professional website.