Small SEO Changes for Dramatically Improved Search Engine Results
This is a guest post by Ben Hook, a search marketer and owner of Navaro, a UK based SEO company helping clients to increase their online visibility.
An increasing amount of small businesses are realizing the benefits that a strong online presence can bring. More and more people are turning away from traditional methods of locating businesses, with search engines fast becoming the primary way that customers locate products or services. Considering this, there are a couple of things that are now vital to the majority of businesses: a website and visibility on the search engines.
With 90% of users never looking past the first page of results, making sure your business is listed is vital. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in the search engine results for the target keywords. Still very much a specialist skill, effective search engine optimization can be very costly and so small businesses tend to avoid this area in favor of more traditional marketing methods.
Fortunately, there a few small changes that small businesses can make to their websites that should result in dramatically improved search engine results. Firstly it’s important to briefly understand how search engines rank pages. There are lots of factors taken into account in the search engines ranking algorithms (Google has over 200!). These can be broken down into two major groups – on page and off page.
On page factors loosely deal with everything on the website itself such as the content, images and navigation. Off page factors are ones that affect the website but are not located on the website. Examples are the text of inbound links or the age of the links to your website.
The search engines look at all these factors and use these to determine how relevant you are to the keyword / search term in question. By optimizing a few of these factors you can make a dramatic difference to your websites listing and help drive more relevant and targeted traffic to your website. In this article we’ll look at the on page factors as these are often the ones businesses will have more control over.
Title Tags
One of the most important on page factors when determining on page relevancy is the title tag. The title tag is the text that appears in the blue bar at the top of the browser and is also the top line of your websites listing in the search engine results. For best results try to keep this below 65 characters and include your most important keywords. Have a look at this article on title tag optimization for more information.
Header Tags
Along with the title tag, the header tags on the page should be targeted to the page specific keywords. A header tag is used to place a header above the content and in between paragraphs. These range from a <h1> tag (largest) to <h6> (smallest). These should be used consecutively on a page starting with the <h1> tag for the header of the page and the most important keyword. Try not to have this exactly the same as title tag.
Content
By adding valuable content to your website you give the search engines something to crawl an index, it is often hard for websites to rank well if they have no index able content such as flash websites or ones that use text in image (search engines can’t see images). By creating valuable content targeted to your specific content you will greatly increase your chance to rank for the target keywords.
Sitemaps
There are two kinds of sitemap generally used for SEO purposes. These are HTML and XML versions. A HTML sitemap is the most common and is generally linked to from every page of the website at the bottom. This kind of sitemap is just list of links to every page on the website. This can help with crawling of the website as it means that no page is more than two clicks away from the homepage.
An XML sitemap is created specifically for search engines to help with crawling websites. Here is an example of a free, easy to use sitemap generator. Once created, these are uploaded to the server and then the search engines should be notified via the webmaster tools.
These quick changes should help businesses to test the water with SEO without getting in too deep providing increased search positions and more relevant targeted traffic.
Photo Credit: Paloma Gómez
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Do Small Businesses Really Need Team Building?
When you think of staff team building or activity days, you most commonly picture large corporate companies, or at least reasonable sized office-based businesses. Indeed team building is often marketed as a way of “re-establishing” communication channels between a growing team, or as a way to build interdepartmental relationships. But how can small start-up businesses also benefit from team building events?
Getting Out of the Office
One of the key things that new businesses have in their favor is their incredible levels of energy and determination. When you have nothing to lose and everything to prove, the drive within a new team can be staggering. However, all this energy needs to go somewhere and staying cooped up in a small office can be highly counterproductive. You start going after every lead possible and exploring every available business avenue all at the same time. What people need in this situation is to gain a bit of perspective and team building events provide this opportunity. Not only do they help staff learn how to channel their energy, but also provide some time for everyone to step back and take a better look at the direction the team needs to go in.
Staff Bonding
Anyone who says that fledgling companies don’t require team bonding is talking rubbish. By the very nature of new businesses, there are often individual members coming together to work with each other for the first time. It would be foolish to think that everyone can just ‘click’ and learn how to work with those around them instantly. These things take time and experience, and team building can help everyone get off on the right foot and act as a catalyst for the bonding process. Staff within small businesses often have better out-of-work relationships as well. That is to say, team members are more likely to spend time with each other outside of work when a company is of a modest size. With this in mind, it is good to build these friendships early on using team building because camaraderie and well-rounded team cohesion can really help small businesses through tough times.
Establishing Hierarchy
There is a natural hierarchy that takes place in every walk of life, from lions on the African savannah to the players on a football field. Despite what some people say, it is both necessary and unavoidable, and it will occur within any workplace environment. Most businesses often implement their own version of a hierarchy in the form of an organizational chart, or responsibility structure, but these are not necessarily representative of true power distribution. If you have structured your business properly it will be natural leaders who have the managerial roles, but there are power struggles that go on between colleges of the same level all the time. What team building events do is facilitate the understanding of where everyone’s position is in the wolf pack. Contrary to what you may think, people are happier when they know where they lie in the pecking order (for want of a better phase). Conflicts occur when there is no clear understanding of how the formal and informal power is distributed. A good organizational chart and regular team building activities help achieve this understanding.
About the Author: Duncan is an internet marketing and business blogger who represents a team building company. He often writes about team cohesion and business structures.
Photo Credit: lumaxart
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The Cure for the Fear of Public Speaking: Shift from Ego to Contribution
If you are like most people, you would rather be sitting in a dentist’s chair getting a root canal than standing up on stage in front of a few hundred people giving a speech.
But, if you get good at public speaking you’ll be seen as confident and it will position you as an expert in your field. You’ll become well respected for your knowledge and, if you have something to sell, you’ll sell more of it. This works for authors, attorneys, doctors and bloggers – any profession.
That’s why so many professionals give lectures at trade shows. It gains them new clients. Six years ago I sat in on a seminar titled Art Licensing 101, given by an attorney. I was so impressed with her knowledge and her friendly personality that I’ve been using her for legal agreements ever since.
Getting good at public speaking is one of the most important things you can do to advance your career, no matter what you do for a living.
The problem for most of us, though, is that we are more afraid of public speaking than we are of death! It’s an irrational fear, but it is one that can be overcome, and I should know, because I overcame it.
I was terrified of public speaking most of my life. It was such a phobia for me that in High School I would rather take a zero instead of giving an oral report. I was extremely shy as a child and didn’t grow out of it until my early 20’s. Just talking to people was painful for me. But I was determined to get over it, because these fears held me back from being who I wanted to be. I wanted to earn more money, feel confident in crowds and feel okay just being myself.
In my late 20’s I was offered a large promotion at the insurance company in which I worked. I was excited because it meant a lot more money and life would suddenly get real easy for me. But there was one problem: it required me to go out and speak to groups of people.
I accepted the promotion, and I had to get good at public speaking, but I had two very big things standing in my way: a paralyzing Fear of Public Speaking and a lack of knowledge of how to deliver a good speech.
I have a love affair with money, so I was determined to get over the fear and do well in my new job. But it wasn’t until ten years later that I truly overcame the fear. It was a strong shift in my thinking that cured me, which I will share with you in this article. I now give seminars and talks to large audiences at trade shows and other events. And it feels great to have this monkey off of my back once and for all.
The trick is to get a handle on your fear and to learn how to give a good speech. These two things can be mastered with practice.
Getting Over the Fear
The real reason for your fear is EGO. Yes, your ego is getting in the way of your public speaking. Your ego says that you should worry more about how you look and what people will think about you than the most important thing: what your message is.
Most speaking fears look like this:
- I’ll look bad
- I hate the sound of my voice
- I shake and my face goes red – everyone will know I’m nervous
- People will discover that I’m not that smart
Fear tends to cause your speeches to come across as weak. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. You’re scared you’ll blow it and because of being scared, you blow it.
If you can get over your bad self just long enough to realize that what you’ve got to share is not about you at all, it’s about your audience, than you can confidently give a speech that will knock their socks off!
The Shift from Being Fearful to Making a Contribution
A few years ago I was asked to moderate a panel of five successful artists for a Business of Art Seminar. I was flattered, but terrified at the same. Being moderator meant that I was the person who opened the seminar with a speech, introduced each speaker, and closed the event by giving a summary to the audience. It was a big responsibility.
In the days before the seminar I was a wreck. I feared that I would get so nervous that my white face would turn red for everyone to see my insecurities. It would be so much easier to fake confidence if it wasn’t written all over my face.
But I knew that this opportunity was a turning point in my life. If I could lick this fear, I could do so much more with my knowledge in the business of art that would help so many others. A few days before the event, after a couple sleepless nights, I was struck with a brilliant shift in thinking that changed everything for me.
It was this: People were coming to the seminar because they want to learn what we’ve got to teach. They needed answers, and we had them. If I could remove the “I” (my ego) from the equation, and focus entirely on “Them” (the audience) and what they will gain, than I could stop worrying about how I look and what will they think of me.
So, I shifted my thinking from “How will I look” to “How can I be a Contribution to them”. The shift was small, but strong. My mental focus moved to what was important and by making that focus shift, I forgot about myself and stopped worrying.
Surprisingly, it worked. Not to say I wasn’t nervous – I still was, but it was manageable because I took my ego out of it. The seminar went so well that I started teaching my own seminars and continue to this day.
I’m still always nervous for the first few minutes of any speech that I give, but after I start talking, I’m okay. I continue to remind myself to focus on how I’m helping them, and it takes the “me” out of it.
Here’s a list of tools you can use to help you:
Ten Tools to Get Over the Fear of Public Speaking
1.)Make a shift in your mental focus from “I” to “Them: Lose your ego and focus on what contribution you can give to the audience to help them. They won’t notice that you have a crooked nose or your voice is funny if you give them good information!
2.)Remember your Purpose: The purpose of your speech may be to inform, to share ideas or to motivate the listeners to action. Remember what your purpose is – it will help you to keep your ego at bay.
3.)Be well prepared: The more prepared you are, the more natural you’ll feel giving your speech. Don’t wait until the last minute – practice it at least a dozen times.
4.)Share your Passion: When you talk about something you’re passionate about, the worlds will flow more naturally from you.
5.)Breathing Exercises: A few minutes of deep breathing or meditation prior to your speech should help ground you and calm you down. This really works – try it.
6.)Acceptance: Accept that you will feel jitters no matter what. Even the best, most seasoned speakers get nervous. Trust that after a few minutes of speaking, you’ll relax into it.
7.)Practice, Practice, Practice: Take on every opportunity to give a talk. You’ll get better each time you do it. Begin with small, forgiving audiences. Volunteer to speak at the local school during career week. I started giving seminars at a local art store to small groups of 20 artists at a time. It’s helped me gain the confidence and practice to handle larger audiences.
8.)Join a Toastmasters Organization: There’s a Toastmasters group in every city in the world. They meet weekly and are an encouraging place to learn public speaking and leadership skills. It’s very affordable and you can join for 6 months at a time.
9.)Use Affirmations: In the days leading up to your speech, spend five minutes each morning repeating affirmations to imbed positive thoughts into your subconscious, such as “I am a confident speaker. My speech will help people. I connect deeply with others through sharing.” Make up your own that will help you.
10.)For the Severely Scared: Try Hypnosis. There are hypnotists that specialize in this fear, and I’ve heard that there can be great success with it.
Make Your Speech Memorable
So, now that you have a handle on your fear, here are a few techniques that will help you give a good, memorable speech:
Memorize a strong beginning: Making a strong statement right when you reach the podium will get the audience excited about hearing the rest of your message.
Memorize a powerful ending: Ending with a powerful statement will allow your speech to end strongly and will avoid an awkward “ummm, thanks, that’s about it.” End your speech with authority.
Speak from the Heart: Try not to use notes. It’s helpful to have a list of bullet points that you want to cover so you don’t forget anything, but don’t read from a script. Speak from the heart instead.
Tell A story: People remember stories and they love to listen to them. Even if you are talking about something boring such as aluminum siding, you can come up with a great story about someone who had bought aluminum siding and how it changed their life! Make sure it’s a short story that is interjected in your speech to prove a point. Your story should have a beginning that draws them in, a middle and an end.
Make them Laugh: People love to laugh. Interject some humor to lighten the mood. I usually poke loving fun at my husband’s bad habits of throwing clothes on the floor like a teenage boy, or at myself for being blonde. I’m not that funny, so that’s the closest I can come to humor!
Be Yourself: People want to know who you are. Show them. Be personal, warm and genuine. You do this by interjecting personal things into the speech.
Use Eye Contact: This takes practice, but proper eye contact draws people in and allows you to connect with them. Take a few seconds to look directly at one person in your audience, as though you are talking directly to them. Then move onto the next person for a few seconds, and so on.
Never Apologize: Never apologize for your clothing, your nervousness, or anything. Your audience is not going to notice unless you point it out to them.
Keep within Time: Usually there’s a time limit for speakers at events. Be sure you are respectful of it. The best way to do this is when you practice your speech at home, time yourself. If it’s too long, shorten it.
I know from my own experience that anyone can learn to be a good public speaker. Just like learning to play the piano, it takes practice. As time goes on you’ll get better and better at it.
Public speaking gives you the freedom to share your ideas and your expertise with the world, while at the same time, earning you great respect in your field. So go on, make a contribution and spread your ideas!
Maria Brophy
Guest post written by Maria Brophy, self-proclaimed Art Marketing Queen, professional artist’s agent and published author. Maria writes a blog that helps creative people to design the lifestyle and career of their dreams at http://www.mariabrophy.com.
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Job Search Best Practices – Keys to Landing Your Next Gig
Okay, folks, it’s true: losing your job can be a devastating experience. You can expect to go through a range of emotions, high and low. Chances are you will cycle through anger, fear, bafflement, acceptance, relief and even exhilaration. All of these will affect your mood.
However, your mood will not help you find a job. So, what will you do? Will you scan through the newspapers every day? Or, do you plan to fire off your CV or resume to prospective employers? Will you try to phone recruitment consultants–who may not even answer–because they are also laying off staff?
Well, guess what? That’s what everybody else is doing, and look where the crowd has landed up–in a limbo. Do you really want to be like them?
Or, will you choose to take a more proactive approach?
Proactive job search methods are different.
They include (but are not limited to):
- Networking for introductions to decision-makers in the company of your choice.
- Approaching employers directly.
- Volunteering for unpaid work experience in the expectation that your value to the company will be discovered and you will be offered a job.
Using a proactive approach to your job search increases the likelihood that you will be one of only a handful of applicants for a job. And the fact that you demonstrated initiative will stand you in good stead. Effective targeting is one of the two essential components of your job search–the other being, well, first-class self-presentation.
Target and Research
You cannot be proactive without targeting accurately, because you won’t know where to target your efforts. In order to target well, you need to know what companies are out there, and what you offer that they need. This means that you need good research.
Whichever industry or sector you are seeking to work in–whether a private company, public company, or voluntary organization–you need to know who the main players are, what is happening in their business or activity at the moment, what weaknesses they have–which you will be able to strengthen–and who their key decision-makers are.
Keys to a Successful Search
A successful job search requires you to carry out several activities simultaneously. Thus, you will need to be adaptable, flexible, imaginative and creative.
There is little doubt that networking is the most effective method for securing a new position. However, many people tend to shy away from it. After all, networking does not appear to be the first thing on your radar screen.
Even so, estimates among career professionals indicate that between 50 to 70 per cent of people get jobs through their contacts, and this figure rises even higher during recession.
By contrast, less than 20 per cent get their jobs using recruitment agencies or responding to advertising.
It is obvious why networking is even more effective during a recession. The very activity of recruiting someone is expensive. So, when times are tough–and firms are not sure whether they really need to fill a position–that can be enough to make them decide against creating a vacancy.
However, if you introduce yourself to them, and you have what they need, there there is a possibility that they will decide to give it a go and take you on a trial basis.
Networking gets you access to vacancies before they are advertised. Possibly, even before they are known. Once the recruitment process is in the hands of the HR department, it becomes much harder to secure an advantage through networking.
Try to establish contact while the recruitment process is still in its earlier stages. Networking is not about asking and taking. Rather, networking is a collaborative activity and it is self-perpetuating.
As you do it more, so your network grows, and this opens up opportunities that would not otherwise have presented themselves. Yes, even those opportunities which arise completely out of the blue.
Crucially, people generally like to help others if they can, especially if they can give advice. This is important to bear in mind. When you network, you are not asking for a job. Rather, you are asking for advice and expertise of a third party.
If you ask for a job, the process can lose steam: if someone can’t offer you a job, well, they can’t help you. So, don’t let fear hold you back. Just go out there, network, and it is only a matter of time before your career takes off.
About the Author: Archan Mehta is a freelance writer, outdoor enthusiast, meditation practitioner, foodie, and hobbyist, but does not maintain a blog yet. However, feel free to write to Archan at: archanm@hotmail.com
Photo Credit: Photomish
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Do You Know How Your Customers Secretly Perceive You Online?
Managing your reputation is not always easy. You work really hard to build a respectable brand and then someone comes in and tries to tear it down. Luckily for you though, here are some great online reputation management tips and tools that can help you stay on top of the game.
Think Domain
The first thing you have to do is buy domain names. Yes, multiple ones. Buy .com, .org, .net, and almost every other domain extension associated with your brand so that no one else can use it against you. If you use an exact match keyword domain name, then it may be hard to get the .net and .org versions, which is fine. But if you are a VA mortgage lender, you best be sure that you own every exact match domain name for your brand. And thanks to Google suggest, things like ‘reviews’, ‘sucks’, and ‘scam’ along with your brand keyword are a lot more prevalent, so buying domains with these keywords in them (ex. brandsucks.com) can help manage your reputation.
Choose Your Tool and Start Monitoring
My favorite tool for monitoring your brand on the web and blogosphere by far is Google Alerts. It’s simple, free, and sent straight to your email. You can have it set up to send an email once-a-week, once-a-day, or whenever something comes up. And since most people use Google to find businesses online, knowing what Google is keeping track of is very important. Set up a Google alert for your brand name and you can even use it to keep track of other keywords (and competitors if you really want).
Content Builds Brands
The biggest thing you can do is be a content creator. The real-time web is now in the search engine results. And the pervasiveness of Facebook and Twitter mean that people will seek you out on these platforms for good or bad. You must participate in them. It would be foolish not to. Set up an account (personal and/or company) and start engaging and creating content. Also, make sure to have a blog that is consistently being updated. Use it to post news, industry trends or whatever fits for your company/brand. This will become valuable if you ever need to respond to a situation.
Manage Your Social Web
Use a program such as HootSuite that allows you to manage all three social networks with one easy to use interface. It allows you to schedule tweets, status updates, and even integrates with Ping.fm. Plus, by keeping your search column open, you can monitor your brand at all times allowing prompt response. And you can post to your WordPress blog through the application. Having an application like this can greatly increase your productivity regarding online reputation management. If you don’t like HootSuite, try CoTweet or something similar but managing a company’s social media platforms cannot be done on twitter.com itself.
Proactive Not Passive
By actively managing your reputation online now, it will make it a lot easier when something bad actually does happen and you need to do damage control, so it’s good to be proactive and not passive about this. If you have a voice, you’re much better positioned against attacks, and will gain credence with the online generation.
About the Author: Kevin Kaiser is a entrepreneur who deals with online marketing and reputation management for start-ups he’s involved in and can be found writing at Startup Biz Blog.
Photo Credit: nicasaurusrex
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4 Tips for Practicing Proper Videoconferencing Etiquette
Small business owners don’t always have the luxury of having an exorbitant budget to spend on travel and lodging expenses related to client presentations.
Luckily, videoconferencing technology has brought the presentation to their front door step.
While videoconferencing has become a fairly standard practice, many small business owners still lack the basic knowledge of proper videoconferencing etiquette. I hope this post can help shed some light on the proper considerations when preparing and engaging in a web conference.
Test, Test, Test
As the old business adage goes, time is money. The last impression you need to be making to your client is that you don’t value their time and by simple deduction, don’t care that you are costing them money.
Significant time should be allocated to setup and testing of all systems prior to the start of the videoconference. Inattention to these details sends the wrong signal and can potentially ruin the possibility of a successful business relationship before it’s had a chance to blossom. Discovering all issues and resolving them in advance to the meeting ensures that the conference starts on the right foot.
Details to consider when setting up include:
- Camera placement – When placing the camera, try and fill the frame as much as possible with people, rather than extraneous room objects such as tables, chairs, etc.
- Camera and TV presets – Check and make sure that your TV’s brightness and contrast is optimally set. This ensures that you can see the client and more importantly, their gestures and reactions to your presentation. Additionally, make sure that your camera is optimally set to make certain that those on the other end of the meeting can properly see you.
- Lighting – Lighting is one of the few variable factors in a videoconference and needs to be considered when setting up. Sunlight from windows can throw off the camera’s exposure, making it difficult for the client to see you. Having drapes or shutters drawn will help mediate this problem.
- Microphone volume – Unless your client is accomplished at reading lips, problems with your microphone could render the videoconference meaningless. Not only should you check and see if the mic is working, but you should verify that the volume is at a sufficient volume.
- Computer Applications – Collaborate with your client’s IT specialist beforehand and make sure that all software applications such as PowerPoint or Word will work successfully.
Dress in Your Sunday’s Best
On the day of the presentation, set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier than normal to make certain that you will allow an adequate amount of time to look your best.
Men should certainly shave/trim all facial hair. Dress attire should be professional, but busy patterns should be avoided.
Cameras seem to have difficulties interpreting these detailed patterns and may create unwanted artifacts in image quality. Believe it or not, pastel or muted colors tend to do best on screen.
Extend Greetings
Once the conference begins, treat it as any other meeting. Just because it’s broadcasted over an Ethernet cable does not mean that introductory formalities should be forgotten.
First, ask if they can hear you. Once sound is confirmed, introduce yourself. Speak in a normal voice and avoid shouting.
Microphones are fragile pieces of equipment and loud sounds can lead to uncomfortable feedback or echo for those on the other end of the call.
Try not to interrupt and/or “double talk”. Not only is it rude, but “double talking” is another source of unwanted feedback/echo. Lastly, when listening or passing the microphone, verify that it is muted.
Consider Learning Styles
All people learn differently. For every person who considers themselves an audible learner, there is another who considers themselves a visual learner.
Best practices would tell us to use both audible and visual sources in our messaging. In fact, studies have shown that hearing AND seeing a message has been shown to increase message recall and message understanding.
I can’t verifiably show that using these steps will help improve your web conference communication, but I’d like to extend it as a challenge. Follow these few tips in your next videoconference and I’ll let you come to your own conclusions. I think you’ll be surprised with the results.
Guest post by DBS>Interactive, a Full-Service Web Design and Internet Marketing company located in Louisville, KY. Pay them a visit at http://dbswebsite.com for more information on how DBS>Interactive can help you with your Internet marketing needs.
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3 Examples of Awful Customer Service Your Biz Won’t Want to Imitate
What constitutes really great customer service? What constitutes really awful customer service? While conducting research on this subject for budget hosting company 34SP.com, I came across a few examples that really stretched some boundaries.
Some Truly Awful Service
Although these are stories of big brands, the lessons learned can be applied to small business customer service as well. Here are a few brief examples – all of them pretty bad.
Verizon’s Callousness
Let’s say that someone in your family dies. It’s a bad time, lots of stress and details to be sorted out. What if you tried to cancel the dead person’s phone service, but the phone company wouldn’t let you? What if you even produced the official death certificate and they still refused to shut the account off? That is precisely what happened to Cynthia Lacy according to a published report at the St. Petersburg Times eEdition.
Ms. Lacy’s father passed away in June of 2009, but since Ms. Lacy didn’t have her father’s PIN number to access the account – Verizon didn’t discontinue the service until March 2010. This is despite the fact that Ms. Lacy sent the company a copy of her father’s death certificate. It took the intervention of the media shining the spotlight on her case to get it resolved. You can read the whole story here.
Kevin Smith “Too Fat to Fly”
Then there is the recent dust up involving Hollywood direct Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines. Mr. Smith is known for directing such films as Clerks, Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and the recently released Cop Out.
During a recent flight, Mr. Smith was asked to leave the plane prior to takeoff for ”being too fat”. Being a media savvy promoter, Mr. Smith proceeded to live-Tweet and fully publicize his ordeal. According to published reports (this story was picked up by numerous large national media outlets including Wall Street Journal, USA Today, ABC, and the Los Angeles Times) Mr. Smith said he was already seated on the flight with armrests down and seatbelt fastened.
The Southwest captain deemed him a ”safety risk” due to his weight and he was ejected from the flight. The ensuing backlash abated somewhat when Southwest issued apologies on Twitter and on the Southwest website.
From the apology post, ”First and foremost, to Mr. Smith; we would like to echo our Tweets and again offer our heartfelt apologies to you. We are sincerely sorry for your travel experience on Southwest Airlines.” So good job by Southwest to admit a mistake and take responsibility. If you’d like to hear a lengthy description of the incident as told by Kevin Smith himself, you’ll find it here.
Toyota’s Fall From Grace
Automobile manufacturer Toyota recently demonstrated that even a firm known for high quality and service can quickly fall from grace.
The short story here is: Toyota began to receive complaints regarding ”sticking accelerator pedals”. Since the problems were first revealed, the company has continued a slow-motion service and communication debacle. In late January the company issued this statement, ”Toyota announced it would recall approximately 2.3 million vehicles to correct sticking accelerator pedals on specific Toyota Division models.
Toyota has investigated isolated reports of sticking accelerator pedal mechanisms in certain vehicles without the presence of floor mats. There is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position.”
Subsequent quality issues arose with the brakes on the Prius as well. Although the company has now taken more aggressive steps to correct these issues, rival car manufacturers have eroded the company’s market share in new car sales. You can follow all of the details via Toyota’s news pages.
So What’s the Key to Great Customer Service?
If there is a common thread of learning that connects these incidents it is: proper communication is key. First, properly communicating and adhering to strict operational rules regarding how the business is run to employees. This means that everyone in the organization knows and understands policies and proper procedures. Second, communicating with the customers and being as transparent as possible in the face of any problems. Companies that excel in communicating often excel in service as well.
Recommended Reading
So how to deliver truly great customer service as a small business? The Ten Commandments of Great Customer Service outlines some salient points in this regard. I suggest that the company’s mentioned above should focus on number 7: ”Know how to apologize”.
Derek Vaughan is a web hosting industry veteran, marketing consultant and writer. Mr. Vaughan has architected the marketing growth of several prominent web hosting success stories leading to acquisition including Affinity Internet, Inc., Aplus.Net and HostMySite.com. Prior to his entry into the web hosting industry, Mr. Vaughan was responsible for online marketing at The Walt Disney Company where he marketed ecommerce for the ESPN.com and NASCAR.com brands. Mr. Vaughan received his M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University and currently serves on the HostingCon Advisory Board.
Photo Credit: B Rosen
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Bartering as a Business Practice – 5 tips to Creating “Profitable” Alliances
Faced with a tough economy, many small biz owners and entrepreneurs are finding it necessary to be creative, flexible and strategic to keep their doors open. To stay “in the black” they must seek ways to both increase their income and reduce their cash output.
For this reason, bartering, the age-old practice of trading services or goods, is experiencing a rebirth.
The Case for Bartering
Many find that this method of doing business allows them to expand their network of associates and vendors, create “profitable alliances” and offer or receive valuable resources they or their peers would not otherwise be availed to, due to budgetary restrictions.
The practice of bartering is said to date back to 6000 B.C. with the tribes of Mesopotamia. Since then, everything imaginable has been exchanged in the form of fair trade—from cattle, to cars, to family heirlooms, to sitting services.
For writers and creative artists, these arrangements can provide a host of benefits and create win-win situations for all parties involved.
Real World Examples
Marcie Hill, President of the Write Design Company states that bartering practices have worked out well for her. She states that keeping the lines of communication open is crucial, and notes that restrictions should be put in place for harmonious relations and repeat business.
In 2009, my “bargaining dollars” allowed me to reap these rewards:
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I got my computer fixed (from virus invasion) and new gadgets installed (valued at a price of $200.00), in exchange for creating a Blog and web content for a computer repair guy.
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My upstairs washroom and kitchen cabinets received a painting “overhaul” for writing services I provided for an interior decorator.
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I got free music C.D.s and some photography work performed for editing a business plan.
I saved a bundle. And you can too.
But, as with any business transaction, there are drawbacks that can cause detriment to the novice negotiator.
Here are a few tips to maximize your “earnings” and your experience
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Get everything in writing. No matter how long or the nature of your relationship, misunderstandings can occur. Putting the terms and conditions in writing helps to provide clarity and accountability.
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Never enter into a bartering relationship with someone you wouldn’t otherwise do business. No matter how convenient this type of set up might be, if the performance is shabby, or the ethics are questionable, then you’ve still netted a loss.
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Determine who is responsible for what deliverables, and set a deadline. I learned this lesson the hard way when a person with whom I entered into a bartering contract didn’t finish her end of the bargain until three months after I honored my end of the deal. Needless to say I won’t be working with her again soon.
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Decide if the value of the services or goods will be assessed by the number of project hours and/or market value. Sometimes perception of what is considered “equal” can vary.
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Agree on conflict resolution measures. In other words, what happens if one person is satisfied with the end product and the other isn’t? Who can terminate the arrangement and how? Will advance notice be required?
Addressing these five issues up front will insure greater odds for success and greater “net profits” in business bartering.
Author Bio: Jennifer Brown-Banks is a professional, veteran freelance writer and Blogger with over 500 publishing credits both online and in print publications. She authors several relationship columns and produce feature pieces on an array of topics. She is the former Senior Editor of Mahogany Magazine.
Photo Credit: Tomás Fano
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Top 5 Online Sources for Free Business Plan Help
A question I get asked frequently, either on Twitter, or here at Small Biz Bee is “Where can I find some free help writing my business plan?” – and I keep replying to those questions with the same 4-5 websites and suggestions.
Which got me thinking – if there are that many people out there taking the time to ask me where they can find some help with their business plans, there must be 100’s more who just haven’t gotten around to emailing me yet. And then I said to myself “That sounds like a pretty helpful blog post”, so here we go…
Top 5 Online Sources for Free Business Plan Help
1. SCORE.org – Free Business Help
SCORE offers a plethora of small business help for free. Much of it can be found online, but if you prefer more personal interaction SCORE counselors are based all across the United States, have a variety of industry expertise, and can help you with your business plan for free.
2. SCORE.org – Templates
That’s right, I’m listing SCORE twice, this time for their wide variety of helpful business plan templates all available for free from there website. If you just need a little bit of a roadmap to get you started thinking about your own plan, these templates are perfect for you. SCORE Template Gallery
3. Bplans.com
Bplans offers expert business plan advice. They have over 500 sample business plans you can review, tips on how to write a business plan, outlines, suggestions, and much more. A great place to start if you ask me.
4. SBA – Business Basics
It seems to me that the SBA gets looked over as a solid online resource for business help. There website is chock full of good information to help you build your business and craft your plan. I’d suggest starting at their Small Business Planner section, you’ll be surprised at all the great stuff you’ll find.
5. Entrepreneur.com
Whether you’re just starting out, need funding or want to monitor the health of your business, creating a business plan is your first step on the path to success. Read the extensive how-to to get started on your plan.
Get Started!
There you have it, five great free resources to get your business plan started today. If I missed a great free business plan resource let me know about it in the comments below.
Photo Credit: xJasonRogersx
Never Underestimate the Power of Hype for Your New Business
These days the word ‘hype’ is frequently given negative connotations. It is true that one interpretation of the term is an excessive or exaggerated claim of a product or service’s importance, but originally the term was used to describe more cleverly worked promotion and fostering of positive word-of-mouth.
The TV Teaser
The latter definition can be seen working extremely well in modern television, where yet-to-be-aired TV shows will play very short adverts or give 5 second snippets of a show, just to get people talking about it.
This, often coupled with poster and viral campaigns promoting messages such as “its coming!”, help to get the rumour mill going into overdrive.
Play on Curiosity
Humans are the most curious animals on earth (perhaps second to cats) and not knowing what something means, especially when we seeing clues all over the place, drives us crazy. We start talking to friends about what it all means, start Googling clues that the ads have given us and even start writing blogs about what we think might be “coming”.
Your new business venture might not have the funds or the reach to carry out a ‘hype’ campaign to the same scale, but you can definitely adopt some of the principles to get your new business venture into people’s consciousness before you even launch.
Here is just one way that you can generate hype with a relatively low budget.
Create a mystery website, and then promote it.
Chances are you will at some stage have a full website built for you business that will outline all your products or services, as well as contact details and news etc. Before you set this live however, why not put a very simple, yet intriguing 1-page site live that just hints at what people can expect soon.
You might want to use interesting imagery, a tag line or even some poetry to get visitors wondering what exactly your business is all about. A great idea is to place 2-3 short video clips on the page that don’t give too much away, but just add to the intrigue.
Videos are a rich media that people like to analyse more than copy and are often distributed better. If you’re really clever you can include subtle messages or website addresses in your videos that will encourage people to dig deeper.
Take a look at this video for Derren Brown’s “The Events” which aired last year in the UK on Channel 4.
The program was all about trickery, illusion and subliminal mind control and the advert alone built up so much hype, Derren received record viewing figures for the show when it aired. Here is another video speculating what the advert’s hidden messages where:
Even if you don’t include video on your website, you can still get one produced pretty cheaply that you can use to create something of a viral campaign.
The video doesn’t need to be professional produced, as an amateurish feel often adds to its draw. Promote the video on YouTube, but also get your messages out on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Reddit and as many other social sites as you can.
If you work the whole process correctly you can generate so much buzz surrounding your business that when it comes to launch time you will hit the ground running, and stand the best chance of making it through the most difficult early stages where most new companies struggle.
BIO: Duncan is an internet marketer and business consultant representing a London-based spa days company. He often blogs about top marketing techniques and getting the best ROI from promotional activities.
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