Many companies have been offering continuity programs for years. Proactive does it with face cleanser. Leeza Gibbons does it with Sheer Cover makeup. Doubleday does it with books. Columbia House does it with DVDs. Each of these companies offers an option in which subscribers pay a set fee each month and receive something new in return (books, DVDs, etc.). I’ve belonged to all of these continuity programs at some point in my life, and chances are, you have, as well. How can you incorporate this recurring revenue model into your business?

Here are the 5 most effective online continuity program models to consider for your online business:

1. Retainer. Attorneys and accountants have done this for years — their clients go on a regular retainer and the client can contact the attorney/accountant whenever needed as defined by the parameters of the retainer. Consultants, coaches, and virtual assistants offer this option, as well, as a way of providing services over an extended period of time. While having this in place makes for less client turnover, this model is the most time-intensive model of all of these models, as the model requires trading time for dollars. Most retainers offer x number of hours of work or x projects to be completed in return for a set monetary amount.

2. Subscription Membership. In this model, you are providing new content regularly to your members via a membership web site. Members log in and access new articles, audio, checklists, ebooks, discussion forum posts, etc. This is a content-driven model, as you need to continue to provide new content for your returning members as well as to attract new members. The upside of this model is that many members retain their membership for a year or longer, especially if offered the option of a reduced annual membership fee.

3. Fixed-term membership. In this model, you are providing new content on a weekly basis to your members for a fixed period of time. While initially time-intensive to set up, this model runs fairly seamlessly once all of your program modules are written. As long as your topic isn’t one that needs continual updating, you can create this once and resell this again and again. However, unlike the other models, you keep your members only for a limited time (3 months, 6 months, 12 months) and then need to boost your marketing to continually replace members for this program.

4. Club or Inner Circle or VIP Program. This is a model that coaches, consultants, and speakers often use and may be marketed as a group coaching program. Typically the participant gets access to the program leader or an expert via a teleclass, and a printed teleclass transcript and CD are mailed to the participant each month. The program leader may also include open Q&A/coaching sessions, sporadic 1:1 coaching mini-sessions, and access to various resources and contacts to further help the participants. As long as members feel they are receiving value, they’ll generally remain a participant in this type of program.

5. Association. Becoming the founder or president of a national or international association offers the kind of leverage not found in any other model. Because associations connote expertise, being the leader of an association automatically makes you the expert in a particular area. Reporters and writers often look to leaders of associations to comment on trends in an industry, which will result in much media attention for your business. Membership benefits and membership packages are the key offerings here, whether that’s a monthly teleclass, access to specific downloadable content, networking opportunities, direct mail membership welcome packets, etc. This model is generally the least time-intensive, as 80% of your members will receive their membership package and not be heard from again until it’s dues renewal time.

Why continue to trade time for dollars? Take a look at these continuity program models and see which one(s) make sense for your online business. If you pick the right target market at the right time, one of these models may become your full-time business.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

5 Most Effective Online Continuity Program Models

What am I talking about?

No, it’s not the headline. It’s not being emotional. It’s not benefits. And it’s not split-testing, either. In fact, my opening paragraph gave you a clue.

Sure, the headline, the benefits, and all those things are important. Very important. But the one element I’m referring to, the one element that can transform flimsy, “yeah-right” copy into a sales-inducing powerhouse, is…

… Proof.

Other than poor targeting and shoddy copy, the lack of proof in your copy is what probably (and most likely) causes it to fail. But when I talk about “proof,” I’m not just talking about one or two types, but seven. Yes, seven different types of proof!

Not only are people more educated, they’re also more cynical and skeptical than ever.

They never believe anything - at least, not at first. Today, I believe persuasion has much less to do with selling than it has to do with building believability and trust.

Blame it on the proliferation of scams and snake oils. Or blame it on the profusion of aggressive, hype-filled, carnival-barking salesletters.

But the reality is, everything readers see is suspect right from the get-go. It gives new meaning to the word “conversion.” People never believe anything the moment they read your copy, so you need to “convert” them not into buyers but into believers.

You need to prove your case - and not just tell it or, worse yet, sell it. You need to provide proof. As much proof as you can muster. Any kind. Every kind.

For instance, criminal cases win in court because of a preponderance of proof, and not just a little. Conversely, they also lose if there’s reasonable doubt. That’s all that’s needed, and often it’s not that much - O.J. Simpson’s case being a perfect example.

Well, it’s the same with sales copy.

If there’s reasonable doubt, you’re going to lose the sale. Even if it’s just a little. Or at best, you will only get a tiny fraction of what’s possible in terms of sales, if any.

Here’s what happened in my life recently that proves this point.

My wife is a breast cancer survivor. A while back, she started a personal blog at BreastCancerVictory.com that journals her courageous journey into healing.

She started this blog for personal reasons. It’s part therapy, part education.

(Awareness and prevention are incredibly important to her. She wanted to clear up a lot of the misconceptions out there - a common one being that breast cancer only affects older women. Sylvie was only 36 years old when she was diagnosed.)

Nevertheless, here’s what happened.

Sylvie started posting openly about her cancer and discussed the many visits, tests, and scans she had to undergo, from mammograms and ultrasounds, to MRIs and biopsies.

She even talked about her pain, grief, and bouts of sadness that naturally followed the surgical removal of her entire left breast, also known as a ”mastectomy.”

So to show my support, I emailed my lists to notify them of her new blog. I did it several times to maximize exposure. And the resulting outpouring of affection, compassion, and support as people commented on her blog was simply amazing.

Some posts received as many as 10-20 comments. Some received as many as 50. Others got nothing at all. But keep in mind, this was a brand-new blog, with no search engine exposure, no traffic, no advertising of any kind.

Then, something completely unexpected happened.

It blew me - and Sylvie - away!

Soon after she started her blog, my wife visited her surgeon who, after sending the excised breast tissue to the pathology lab for a complete analysis, needed to discuss the report’s findings with her - as well as the necessary treatments.

“You have breast cancer,” the doctor said. We all knew that.

She also underwent six months of chemotherapy and three months of radiation therapy to prevent the cancer from spreading. Again, we all expected that, too.

But here’s what happened and what we didn’t expect.

Sylvie posted the results of the complete diagnosis to her blog. With a copy of the report in hand, she posted some of the medical terms discussed in the report, and what they meant - what they meant in general, as well as to her, personally.

She included medical terms like “Intraductal Carcinoma in Situ,” “Multicentric Central Carcinoma,” “Lymphatic/Vascular Invasion,” “Invasive Tumor Necrosis,” “Modified Scarff Bloom Richardson Grade,” and more. She explained what each of them meant.

But to show how big this cancerous lump had grown, rather than writing the dimensions she created an actual-sized graphic replica, based on the dimensions described in the report, visually demonstrating how big the tumor was.

Now, let me backtrack a little.

In that post, she provided not one but three types of proof.

First, she provided factual proof. That is, she included actual medical terms, data, and numbers taken straight out of the pathology report.

Then, she provided evidential proof. That is, she included laboratory test results proving not only that she did have cancer, but also how big and advanced it was, and the fact that it has metastasized to her lymphnodes.

Finally, she provided perceptual proof. You see, facts and data are powerful proof elements. But with every one, she translated what those terms meant. For example, creating a graphic that demonstrated the actual size of the tumor was a part of it.

And more importantly, she related what these figures and terms meant to her - how she perceived and felt about them, even at the moment they were being disclosed.

Because of the fact that these findings used technical jargon, they are easily left to interpretation. Plus, they can make the person feel distant and removed from them.

But by making them more real and personal, Sylvie translated what these terms meant to her. This, in turn, provided proof and increased the perceived quality of that proof.

This proof made it more, for a lack of a better word, credible. It made the terminology easier to understand and internalize. And it made her story more concrete and real.

OK, back to my point.

After she posted this one post, I emailed my list one more time. Same thing as before: the same lists with the exact same number of people emailed on the previous occasions. But what happened next was absolutely incredible…

… That one post alone received over 150 comments in 48 hours!

Even now, two years later after that fateful day, comments are still pouring in every week - close to 200 at the time of this writing. See the blog post for yourself.

The bottom line is, once my wife provided proof the response rate shot up dramatically. It compelled people to respond. This doesn’t mean they didn’t believe her in her previous posts. But it did reduce if not eradicate any reasonable doubt.

And for those who already believed her, it made them believe more.

This entire event gave me an idea. I thought about all the elements of proof that can add more credibility and believability to your copy. So I came up with a formula.

With a little help from Sylvie, I came up with the term ”FORCEPS.”

Think of a pair of forceps, which is commonly used by surgeons for extracting. In this case, think of it as a way to “surgically extract” as much doubt as possible from your copy! FORCEPS is an acronym that stands for:

• factual
• optical
• reversal
• credential
• evidential
• perceptual
• And social

Let’s take a look at what each one means.

1. Factual Proof

In my wife’s example above, you were just given some examples of factual proof, such as medical terms culled from the pathology report. Statistics, data, factoids, numbers, test results, dimensions, and so on all fall in the factual proof category.

Facts of any kind about either the problem (i.e., anything that makes the problem more real and urgent in the mind of the reader) or the solution are powerful proof elements.

2. Optical Proof

In a court case, lawyers will argue that the best and strongest evidence is an eyewitness account. Similarly, optical proof (or visual proof) is one of the most powerful.

As the adage goes, “Seeing is believing.” Anything that can visually represent the product, the business, the person, the quality, the claims, or more importantly, the benefits of the product or service, gives your copy a strong advantage.

For example, if you sell a moneymaking infoproduct, these proof elements include scans of checks and bank deposits, screenshots of website traffic logs, pictures of the author leaning against his brand-new 2007 Mercedes-Benz S-Class S550, etc.

You get the picture. Literally.

eBay reported that auctions with pictures have 400% more bids than ones without pictures. That’s why adding a picture of your product in your copy works so well. Including a graphic cover of your digital product, even if it’s not in physical form.

If you sell a physical product, take a picture of it. Better yet, show it in action. (That’s why videos are better.) Or take a picture of the product as you would, for example, with an online auction. Use different angles and lights, even with its original wrapping.

But nothing beats before-and-after pictures. Even video, if possible. For the more vivid the proof is and the more senses they engage, the more believable the proof will be.

When I was writing copy for cosmetic surgeons in my early career, the most effective form of proof was showing before-and-after pictures of patients. You also see this in weightloss programs, bodybuilding equipment, diet programs, etc.

That’s why adding before-and-after pictures show not only the results but also the extent and measurability of those results through the element of contrast.

However, before-and-after pictures are not restricted to the cosmetic industry.

One of my former clients sells special lighting fixtures. These lights were not your usual lightbulbs. They were using a special type of halogen that was twice as intense as a normal, high-wattage incandescent lightbulb, but with only a third of the power.

What did he do? He took a picture of a someone’s living room with normal lighting in it, and then took a picture of the room with his special lights. Both unretouched pictures were placed, side by side, on his sales copy.

The contrast was obvious. The proof, astounding. The sales, significant.

3. Reverse Proof

Speaking of comparisons, comparisons with other types of products or services is another powerful proof element. You often see this in competitive analyses, when your product is compared to other products in its class or category.

(You’ve probably seen this with lists of features and benefits of various products, often in a tabular format, with checkmarks, where you can instantly see that the product in question had more features and benefits than its competitors.)

But don’t limit yourself to direct competitors. This can apply to indirect competitors, too. For example, an airline’s direct competitor is another airline. But an indirect competitor can be the train, automobile rental, bus, ship, etc.

But I prefer to call it “reverse proof” because the comparison doesn’t have to from product to product. It can also be from purchase to non-purchase. Anything that shows what can happen if they don’t buy the product is reverse proof.

In other words, if you can provide proof of any potential downside if the prospect buys a competitor’s product or, more importantly, fails to buy at all, is just as powerful. Because in reality, their non-purchase is an indirect competitor as well.

Some people call this comparing apples to oranges.

You compare the price of your offer, not against the price of a competitor’s product (i.e., apples to apples), but against the ultimate cost of not buying yours.

For example, let’s say you know someone who spent over $20,000 advertising a poorly written ad that had little to no response. If you sell a copywriting course for, say, $1,000, then you compare the price of your course to the cost of not knowing how to write copy.

In this case, you compare a small $1,000 investment to a potential $20,000 mistake.

4. Credentializing Proof

Credentializing proof is anything that helps to credentialize - i.e., demonstrate, highlight, or bring attention to the credentials of - the product, business, or person behind it.

What kind of education or expertise does the author have? How many years has the business been around for? How many clients did they serve? What kind of degrees, accreditation, certifications, or awards have they won?

If the product or author in question has appeared in the media, don’t be shy in adding these in your copy, including: newspaper and magazine articles, media reports on the product or business, appearance in trade journals, writeups in consumer reports, etc.

If you can namedrop someone who’s a recognized authority in their field or even a celebrity, and do it in an ethical and logical way, do so. Or let them do the talking for you.

In court cases, one of the most commonly subpoenaed witnesses are “expert witnesses.” Similarly, reviews from industry authorities, even endorsements from celebrities, though biased, also give your copy perceived objectivity.

If you were talked about on TV or radio shows, or in publications, drop those names, too. Some copywriters even add graphics or logos of those media in which they appeared.

For example, some of my clients have added scanned magazine covers to their copy - magazines in which articles by or about them appeared. Some even add the words “As Seen In…” This provides both credentializing and optical proof.

But nothing beats authoritative endorsements, both direct and even indirect ones.

Ostensibly, a direct one is one in which an authority directly endorses the product. But an indirect one is one in which there is perceived authority, or that the authority is implied, such as “9 out of 10 dentists agree.”

Another example of an indirect authoritative endorsement was once used by master copywriter Gary Bencivenga, who discussed a headline that said, “When doctors have a headache, here’s what they do.” You can read that article here.

5. Evidential Proof

Evidential proof is evidence or an argument that compels the mind to accept an assertion as true. In fact, in the dictionary one of the many definitions of “proof” states:

“1. The validation of a proposition by application of induction or deduction to derived conclusions; a statement or argument used in such a validation. 2. Convincing or persuasive demonstration; determination of the quality of something by testing or trial.”

Therefore, anything that can prove the validity of a claim, result, or promise, and anything that can justify, backup, or support a claim, in any way, is evidential proof.

For example, some of them include product demonstrations, samples, independent studies, clinical trials, controlled tests, etc. Even events and challenges work well, which is a blend of credentializing proof and evidential proof.

As the author of “Nothing Down,” a book on how to buy property with no upfront money or collateral, Robert Allen was challenged by the media to prove his claim.

The challenge was to drop him in the middle of nowhere with only $100 for food and water, and within 24 hours he had to buy a property with nothing down.

Not only did he buy one but also ended up buying several.

He took the challenge to put his claims to the test and won. But more importantly, he got the media involved, which provided a lot of publicity. Those are the kinds of results you certainly want to discuss if not showcase in your sale copy.

This is similar to “controlled tests.” I’m not talking about the marketing kind. I mean tests that actually validate the process, the product, the results, the claims, etc.

You can do hard tests or soft tests.

Hard tests are where you actually put your product to the test to measure its quality or validate its claims. Soft tests are tests that do not directly validate the product, but used to drive home a certain point or prove an important benefit.

In the infomercial for a synthetic car oil called “DuraLube,” they had cars put up on cinder blocks, drained them completely of oil, and had the motor run until it seized. To fix the engine, one would have to invest in costly mechanical work.

Then they added one small bottle of DuraLube, drained it once more, and started the car, which was running on DuraLube’s residue only. Not only did the car start without any problems, but an elapsed timer showed the motor ran for hours without fail.

While DuraLube is an example of a hard test, a soft one is like the commercial for Oreck vacuum cleaners. The goal was to prove that their vacuum, which was incredibly lightweight, could have unbelievable “hurricane force” suction for such a light machine.

So they had the vacuum literally suck up a bowling ball. That’s somewhat of a hard test.

The soft test was when they showed how the vacuum, placed on one end of a large scale against the same bowling ball on the other, weighed less the ball itself. You saw the bowling ball plummet while the vacuum raised up in the air like a feather.

6. Perceptual Proof

Also called “persuasive proof,” perceptual proof helps to increase the perceived quality of the evidence, and strengthens how someone appreciates that evidence.

We all know that facts and figures can mean different things. But how did one arrive at these conclusions? Against what can they be measured to understand their importance? And what do they mean at an intimate level, particularly to the reader?

That’s where stories, analogies, anecdotes, examples, metaphors, and real-life accounts help to not only expand on and solidify the proof given, but also relate them to the reader and increase their level of appreciation.

Just like my wife who, in her blog post, related what those medical terms meant to her.

She didn’t just list all the medical details and what they meant. She also told them in the form of a story, and included a few metaphors to help us understand and appreciate what was happening to her. It made the proof more real and concrete.

7. Social Proof

Lastly but not the least, social proof is proof by modeling. In other words, we tend to give more credence to an idea or behavior when we see the masses approving or doing it.

Also known as “informational social influence,” social proof occurs in social situations when people make the assumption that others, especially by their numbers, possess more knowledge and therefore deem their behavior as appropriate.

They tend to assume an idea is valid not by its objective evidence but by its popularity, following, or acceptance by others. The more people talk about it, endorse it, or buy it, the assumption is the more valid and relevant it must be.

For example, forms of social proof include testimonials, case studies, sales numbers, clientele size, number of endorsements, fan base size, and so forth.

The more real you make them, the more believable they are (such as testimonials with audio, video, pictures, signatures, screenshots, graphs, etc). Even blogs, forums, and social media are widely recognized and used as effective forms of social proof.

So, there you have it.

These are just some ideas. The bottom line is, the more proof you provide, and the more you backup your claims with proof of any kind, whether they are hard or soft, or objective or subjective, the more believable - and profitable - your copy will be.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How to Extract Doubt From Your Sales Copy

True, SEO is no science, but it can have a scientific approach. The results are not instantaneous like PPC but results should be visible after 3 months onto a program. Okay… give and take a few months for the vagaries of Search Engines who like to alter their algorithms just when your site is all set to take off!

The problem with SEO is that it is too vague a field. We can only guess what works and what does not. Broadly there are five factors that are said to do 70% of the work.

1. A well optimized code
2. Well Optimized Metatags
3. Header Tags, Alt tags
4. Keywords in the URL
5. Backlinks to the site

If your SEO company is smart enough to integrate all these together chances are that by the fourth month your SERPs should be somewhere around rank 10-12 for moderately competitive keywords. Competitive keywords take much longer and the effort for increasing the positions in page 1 increases proportionally with every position.

There are two ways in which you can check if your company is really working on your website.

1. Set up Google Alert on your company’s name. Once an alert is set up, every time a directory picks up your link or a blog picks up your article or the company does a press release Google will pick it up and deliver it into your mailbox. The larger the number of alerts the more your SEO company is working.
2. Use a tracking account. Google Analytics is free and is improving with feedback. Ask you SEO company to set up a tracking in analytics and get your account id and password so that you can check occasionally.

SEO is unfortunately a long drawn process. How long should one wait before deciding that the SEO company is taking you for a ride? When you are six months into an SEO program and you face any of the following scenarios it’s time to fire your SEO company.

Scenario #1: Six months into the campaign there is no increase in search traffic

Scenario #2: Your traffic has increased but you are not getting any conversions.

Scenario #3: You have not even made it to page 2 for your targeted keyword.

Scenario #4: The company’s report shows a lot of increased links but there is hardly any increase in ranks.

Scenario #5: Your keywords are stagnated where they were.

Scenario #1: Six months into the campaign there is no increase in search traffic Why is it so? Maybe they are not working at all OR Maybe they are targeting all the wrong keywords. Very competitive keywords may bring in more traffic volume but they take longer (read upto 12-24 months) to optimize. To maximize your ROI professional SEO companies choose a mix and match of low competition, moderate competition and high competition keywords. If your SEO company did not take this approach it’s time to fire them.

How to Check: Insist upon adding Google Analytics (a free tool) to your site and visit it regularly.

Scenario #2: Your traffic has increased but you are not getting conversions Maybe it’s a genuine mistake which can be rectified OR Maybe you are getting a lot of spam traffic because the company has posted the site at improper places just to show stats of increase in traffic. Believe me this happens quite a lot with unprofessional companies who want to gain SEO credibility. The unknowledgeable client gets taken in.

How to Check: Visit analytics. Click on traffic sources. Check all the traffic types- Referral, search engine and direct. Check the type of sites the referral traffic is sending, check the type of keywords. If all of these are okay, then you need some serious website marketing not just SEO

Scenario #3: You have not even made it to page 2 for your targeted keyword Maybe the targeted keywords are too competitive ORMaybe all the aspects of SEO are not being covered by your company. This is a tricky issue. If you are satisfied with your keyword movement over the months maybe just a push is needed. Otherwise you need to check what the company is doing.

How to Check: Simply type your keyword in the search bar. Check page #1 for your URL. If it’s not on page #1 it should be on page #2 after 6 months of campaign for at least some of the keywords. It should show up. If it isn’t there call up the SEO company and demand an explanation.

Scenario #4: The company’s report shows a lot of increased links but there is hardly any increase in ranks. Maybe the ranking will improve gradually OR Maybe the company is trying to impress upon you that it has increased your links. This is false reporting and not genuine SEO. In the long run these links will harm your site. Keep away from the company.

How to Check: Occasionally, in the Google toolbar type the following to see the number of links to your website- links:www.domainname.com Analyze the relevancy of the site linking back to your website. If the links are from spam sites fire the company.

Scenario #5: Your keywords are stagnated where they were. Suppose you were already on page #3 or page #2 for the keywords and approached a company to take you to page #1. But you haven’t moved. Maybe the company’s taking you for a ride

OR There is no other reason. Just fire the company. They are showing no results

There may be other scenarios which have not been covered in this article. It’s very difficult to know if the company is working hard enough to get you on page #1. Keeping constant contact with the company is a good idea. Ask for a monthly comparative report and track the increase in links, traffic and keyword positions. Get an action plan of the month by the company. Track the action plan. You will see results soon enough!

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Should You Fire Your SEO Company?

Currently there are over 2 billion monthly search engine queries with local commercial intent, and the number is growing tremendously. Over 82% of local searches contacted a local business and 60% of these made a purchase. That is a phenomenal conversion rate. Statistics show that a trillion dollars is currently being affected by local internet searches, and that number is increasing rapidly.

If you are in business and not using the internet to find and keep customers, you will find it difficult to survive, let alone prosper. You need an online presence that really works for you.

Shotgun Marketing

Historically businesses have used ineffective and expensive “shotgun” marketing strategies because that is the way it has always been done.

Members of the existing advertising industry don’t want change. They don’t care if you waste money so long as they get paid for helping you do it.

Traditional Shotgun Marketing Doesn’t Work Anymore

If you want to hit your targets with a minimum expenditure of time and money, you have to put away the shotgun and take out the rifle. And you’d better learn how to use it really well.

Consumers are also too far away and protected from your message for you to hit them with traditional shotguns approaches. There’s TIVO, Do Not Call, news websites, etc.

Even if your advertising does get through to some, you have no idea whether or not those people are interested in hearing your marketing and sales message. Traditional marketing methods are becoming less effective every single day. We need a new approach, and right away.

Luckily there is a solution for those who take positive action before it’s too late. This solution uses new technology and the internet to focus sales efforts like a laser.

But this article is really not about the internet. It’s about profits. You must use the internet to find profitable new customers and clients. For the small business, that is all that matters right now.

The Profit Formula

The Sniper approach to Local Internet Marketing will have a huge impact on the bottom line. This can be shown using a simple math formula

R - C = P which means Revenue minus Costs equals Profits.

To show the impact of Local Internet Marketing on Profits we need a new equation:

[#C x R/PC] - [FC + VC] = P

Where FC = Fixed Costs, VC = Variable Costs, #C = Number of Customers or Clients, and R/PC = Revenue Per Customer (or Per Client).

Total Revenue is “revenue per customer” times the number of customers. Total Cost is the sum of fixed costs and variable costs.

With Local Internet Marketing there is: 1.an increase in the number of customers, 2.an increase in revenue per customer (R/PC), 3. a decrease in variable costs of sales (VC),and 4. a decrease in fixed costs (overhead).

By impacting positively all four components of the Profit Formula local internet marketing can multiply the profits of a small business.

The great thing about Local Internet Marketing and the Sniper approach is that it allows small businesses to rapidly increase gross income while at the same time reducing both variable and fixed costs. For some businesses this will be the difference between survival and failure.

When you’re in the battlefield, survival is all there is. — Samuel Fuller

How Local Search Engines are Creating a New Era of Marketing

I believe that any small business can multiply its profits within a 12 month period after adopting the Sniper approach. But not every business will actually make this happen. Far from it. There are just too many variables and things that can go wrong.

To be honest, the majority of businesses — and business owners — are not prepared for this kind of exploding growth.

Winning in business often comes down to intangibles like attitude. mental preparedness, level of energy and enthusiasm.

Failure is more frequently from want of energy than want of capital. — Daniel Webster

A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm. — Charles Schwab

Winners and Losers

Those who step forward right now to establish a competitive advantage for their local business and do what it takes to keep it will become dominant. The risks and the rewards have never been greater for local businesses.

If you thoroughly prepare yourself and your business and if you make the necessary changes, then you have an excellent chance to winthis race, and by huge margin.

The basic premise is that the internet requires an entirely new way of marketing small businesses.

The reality of the current economic slowdown is that more businesses are going to face difficult times. We can see the handwriting on the wall, but few have yet to hit the wall. But the wall is there waiting.

But there is a clear solution for those who can see the opportunity provided by the internet, and follow it quickly, right now.

Already most small business customers find that business on the internet first. And the winners will be those who are most ready to greet them.

Google

What does this word mean to you? Thanks to Google, nothing will ever be the same again. We all got Googled before we even knew what hit us.

Thanks to Google, consumers go online before making a decision to buy almost anything now (as well as do a lot of other things). Other companies have been important too. Ebay is the largest seller of cars in the country. Craigslist publishes more ads than any other company.

No matter what business you are in on a local level, you can rest assured that before stepping into your office or store any new customer or client you get will have been online beforehand.

And this is your opportunity. You can attract the right consumers and through a good first impression gain a customer for life.

This is not a theory, but a fact of what happens over two billion times per month. That’s how many local internet business searches there are each month. (And that number is growing at an estimated rate of 50% per year.)

But there is another reality of the internet: there is not room for everyone to be seen on those tiny web pages and internet screens.

The truth is that when people search for a product or service to buy, most of the time they will only see the first few search engine results that appear on their screens.

There may be 100,000,000 results but the searchers only click on the first three about 80% of the time.

In fact, over 40% of the time the company that shows up in the #1 position on any search engine will be the one “clicked on” by the web seeker. The number two position gets about 25% of the action, and the third position roughly 12%. The other 99% of businesses share the remaining 20% of the clicks from searches, and most of these are others on the first or second page.

So even if there are a thousand pages of search results, you must be on the first one or your chances of being seen — and chosen by a potential customer or client — dwindle to almost nothing.

DoYou Want to Be #1?

Maybe you have figured out where this is going. The message here is that you had better be on the first page of Google when consumers use it to search for what you sell. Better yet, try to be in the top three if possible.

And if you are in the coveted #1 position of Google for search terms that matter to your business, if there are enough searches, and if you handle it right, you will no doubt see an expansion in your customer base beyond your wildest dreams.

The Right Way to Do Local Internet Marketing

So how do you figure out the right way to do internet marketing, and how do you become #1 in the search engines? That’s a topic for my next article but let me say this: there is no magic, and there is no chance, and there is very little luck involved.

You just have to know what to do, and then do it well. And you must do it consistently over an extended time period.

There is a way to make sure your business gets to the #1 and stays there in your specific marketplace. The detailed plan for your type of business and for your local geography will be unique to you, probably created by someone you hire.

Even though every situation is different, there are basic rules and strategies that apply across the board. These rules and strategies are revealed in my next article, “The Top Ten Strategies of Local Internet Marketing — How to Make Your Website #1 in Google and Dominate Your Local Marketplace.”

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Local Internet Marketing: Take the Sniper Approach

In order to be found online by your target market, you need insight about the terms that they are using to search for a business like yours. The quickest way to gain that insight is by conducting research on possible keywords they use. However, so many of my clients conduct only very basic keyword research and miss many keywords because they don’t really delve into the problems and needs of their target market, which contain prime, keyword-rich topics they can use to be found online.

Here are 7 secrets to a successful keyword research campaign:

1. Define your target topic or interest. Use 1-2 words to describe your topic. In this case, let’s say our interest is pest control businesses because you’re seeking to target owners of this type of company.
2. Define synonyms for your topic area. Use an online thesaurus or Google Sets to help you brainstorm synonyms for your topic. In this example, similar terms for pest control business might be exterminating business, rodent control, insect control, bug business, and pest control company.
3. Use “how” to help define problems in your topic area. When people search online, many times they’re seeking answers to their problems, and they seek answers to these problems by asking “how” questions. I use Google’s free Keyword Tool to help me define some of the problems of a pest control business. I plug in the synonyms brainstormed in step 2 to help me come up with this list. In this case, common questions might be things like how to do one of the following in a pest control business: start, grow, train employees, find employees, market, advertise, price services, bill customers, bid for contracts, buy, insure, find supplies, and write a business plan.
4. Record your action terms. Note the action terms that were used found in this example — starting, buying, growing, marketing, training, advertising, billing, bidding, etc. These are terms that people use to help them solve the problems they have with their pest control businesses. Create a list for each of these terms and brainstorm synonyms for these terms, as well.
5. Group and research. Now, return to your keyword tool and enter your action term combined with your target topic and see what people interested in this topic are actually searching on. For example, for the term “how to start a pest control business,” you would see results like: mosquito control, electronic pest control, ant extermination, roach extermination, how to kill fleas, pest control software, pest control license, etc. Organize the keywords into groups according to the problem being solved or action being taken.
6. Count the searches. Look for the largest clusters in your groups and count the searches on the terms in the groups. A large cluster with lots of searches will contain the initial terms on which you will want to focus. However, don’t overlook the groups with smaller searches, as many times these contain keywords that are less competitive and thus become easier for you to use to rise to the top of the search engines, rather than being one of millions competing for a very competitive term. These keywords with smaller searches are referred to as “long-tail keywords,” and I believe that the traffic you get from high rankings on numerous long-tail keywords is equivalent to and quicker and easier to achieve than entering the contest for very competitive keywords.
7. Use the keywords. With this research you can write articles on these topics, create blog posts about these topics, upload web pages on these topics, update the meta tags on your web pages, make videos on podcasts about these topics, create information products, write pay-per-click campaigns, and design classified ads, to name just a few of the uses for this research.

Have you conducted thorough keyword research for your target market? If you haven’t, you may be missing key opportunities for your target market to find you online. Set aside 2-3 hours one day and discover all the other options at your disposal to help your target market solve their problems.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

7 Secrets to Successful Keyword Research

It takes time and talent to do this but it will be worth it. Google receives 3,000 search inquiries a second. That’s 180,000 per minute. If you want your share of this avalanche of free business, you will need to work hard and work smart.

Back links are simply a link from somewhere else to your site. It sounds easy to create them and it is easy, but you will need thousands of these links and you will need new ones every month. They may only take a minute to create but to create hundreds or thousands take lots of time and talent.

How Many Links Do You Need?

Lots and lots. You need more than the competitor that is ranked number one with Google. If you do that, you will be number one. Let’s take a look at a few areas and see how many we would need to dominate that field. - Top company in “search engine optimization” had 52,100 links - Top company in “web site design” had 54,200 links - Top Company in “custom T-shirts” had 72,000 links - Top Company in “Tiffany Lamps” had 825

As you can see, the more competitive the area, the more links it takes to be number one. Plan to add as many links as you can every month for as long as you stay in business. Remember that your competitors are adding new links every month too, so the number of links you need keeps growing.

Beware Of Short Cuts To Success

As you surf the web, you will see sites that advertise short cuts to link creation. They offer to sell you hundreds of links. As you evaluate these services, realize that the quality of your links is important to your success. The sites you link to must concern themselves with similar topics to your site or they may be disregarded by the search engines. Also, the quality of the linking site is important. If the site is known for spam or porn, you may be seriously penalized search engine rankings just for being associated with it. Buying back links is fraught with danger. You will be far more successful if you actually chose the sites you want to link to.

Using Articles To Create Links

Writing informative articles is a great way to create back links. You can use these articles on your site to sell visitors and publish them to article directories. Every site that publishes your article will create a back link to your site. Other sites may pick up your article and publish it creating “viral” publishing and more links. Someone in your organization should be responsible for creating this content every month or you can hire an outside firm to do this work for you.

Using Video To Create Links

Another great way to create links and sell as well is to create video clips that tell your story or sell your product in an interesting way. You can use these clips to sell on your site and you can publish them to video sites like youtube.com, metacafe.com, viddler.com and many others. These get great rankings in the search engines. Someone in your organization should be responsible for creating this content every month or you can hire an outside firm to do this work for you.

Using Social Networks To Create Links

Social networks like myspace.com are the best ways to create qulaity links from poular sites. Myspace is one of the most visited sites on the web, so links from it make your site rank as very popular. To create links from social sites, open an account , link to others with similar interests, and make comments that include a link to your site.

Using Blogs To Create Links Blogs want comments from readers. Visit blogs on similar topics to yours and on any popular blogs, leave a comment on a posting. Your comment should have a link to your site. This should not be just self serving but should continue the dialog. For example, if your site deals with web marketing and you see a blog article on meta tags, you might make a comment like, “excellent article with good points. I also found good meta tag tools at www.yoursite.com” One great way to find good blogs is to set up a Google alert for all keywords you use and you will be notified anytime a post is made with those key words. Next, simply go to the blog and make a comment.

That Sounds Like A Lot Of Work

It is a huge amount of work but just keep remembering those 180,000 inquiries per second. If you do not have time to do this, don’t despair. You can outsource the work to companies like ours and get the job done. Outsourcing this work is very cost effective as it allows you to keep selling and managing while someone else creates the links that drive your site to the top of the inquiry list.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How To Create Profitable Back Links For More Web Traffic

No matter what market you are in or plan to be in, you will find these free tools provided by Google very useful when researching your market. You should be researching your market constantly, NOT just when your setting up your site. The internet is ever changing and if you’re not keeping up with those changes you will be left behind.

Market Research Tool 1 - Related Searches And Wonder Wheel

When you start typing in the main Google search box you should see a drop down box appear giving you some alternative search terms related to the word you typed. Note these phrases down in a notepad file or write them on a piece of paper. They will be useful as you part of your keyword list used in the next tool. You will also see more related search phrases after you click search, scroll to the bottom of the results page you will see “searches related to:” note down any new phrases shown there.

Recently Google has released Wonder Wheel which is also a related keywords tool but is shown in a mind map format. You can also click on the related phrases to find more useful search terms. To access wonder wheel: enter your keyword in the standard search screen, then at the top of the results on the left you should see a show options link. Select that and it will reveal a menu, near the bottom of the menu you should see wonder wheel.

Market Research Tool 2 - Adwords Keyword Tool

We all know how important keywords and search phrases are, let’s face it it’s what drives the internet. Google have provided us with a tool that tells you what keywords and phrases people are using to find what they are looking for. You are able to search an individual country, more than one if you hold down the ctrl key on your keyboard as you select or all countries.

The adwords tool is now more valuable due to the fact it shows actual search numbers. Previously you only had a green bar to indicate how much traffic the search term received. You can also see how competitive each keyword is amongst adword advertisers, showing us which keywords are commercially viable.

Market Research Tool 3 - Google Trends

Now we have an idea what keywords our market are using you can use the trends tool to check the history of that keyword / phrase. Google trends supplies data for the last 5 years giving you an idea if the search term is consistent. We can also see if the search term is popular at a certain times of year also known as a seasonal keywords.

Another important function of trends is the section that tells us what countries, cities and language the keyword is most popular, very useful if we are targeting particular countries or even cities. Market Research Tool 4 - Google Alerts

Alerts is underused by webmasters. If you want to stay in touch with what’s hot in your market you can, by using Google alerts. All you have to do is enter the most popular phrases in your market Google will then send you links via email depending on what type you select.

The types are news, web, blogs, video and groups if you would like a mix of all you can select comprehensive. You can decide how often you want to be updated by selecting either: as it happens, once a day or once a week. I hope you can see how powerful this is if you want to be seen as an authority in your market. Market Research Tool 5 - Google Websearch

Last we have Googles standard web search which is not standard in my eyes it tells us lots of information if we know what to look for. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important part of running a website. By performing a search of your market keywords Google will tell you what type of content it sees as important.

If you see videos, blogs or images this gives us another way to reach the top 10 of Google. If you see web 2.0 style sites such as digg that could be another avenue. If there are adword ads on the right side of the screen that tells us the market is commercially viable and more importantly that the keyword we entered is good enough to pay for especially if there are 10 ads or more.

As you can see even if you don’t have money to buy the latest tools. I have shown you there is a way to get some very important information using free tools from google, are you starting to love them now.

Thanks for reading.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

5 Google Tools For Researching Your Market

Pay-Per-Click is a simple type of paid advertising that most search engines, including some of the largest ones, now offer. It requires a bid for a “per-click” basis, which translates to your company paying the bid amount every time the search engine directs a visitor to your site. There is the added bonus that when a per-click site sends your website traffic, your site often appears in the results of other prevalent search engines.

As with all marketing campaigns, there are advantages and disadvantages. If you understand the process and monitor your pay-per-click campaign frequently, it can be very effective. One of the greatest advantages is that you never have to tweak your web pages to change your position in search engine results, as you must do in a typical SEO campaign. What you do have to do in a pay-per-click campaign is pay a fee.

Another advantage is the simplicity of the pay-per-click process. You just bid and you’re up and running. It doesn’t demand any specific technical knowledge, though the more you know about search engines and keywords, the easier–and more effective–the process will be.

The downside is that pay-per-click is essentially a bidding war. A higher bid than yours will lower your position on search engine results. This means that you will have to raise your bid to regain your position–which can obviously become quite expensive, especially if you are bidding on a popular keyword.

In order to determine if pay-per-click is a cost-effective form of marketing for your business, you must do some computing to figure out how much each visitor to your site is worth. You can compute this value by dividing the profit you make on your website over a given period of time by the total number of visitors for that same time period. For example, if your site made $5,000 in profits and there were 25,000 hits, each visitor would be theoretically worth 50 cents. The basic formula is profits divided by visitors.

The figure of 50 cents per visitor is the point at which your business breaks even. The idea, of course, is to show a profit, not to merely cover your costs. Therefore, you are aiming at a figure less than 50 cents per click.

Be aware that the most popular keywords often cost considerably more than 50 cents a click. The only way around this is to bid less for these phrases or you will be paying too much for each individual hit.

The key (pun intended) to success is to learn everything you can about search engine keyword research. The good news is there isn’t a limit to the amount of keywords you can add to your bid because additional keywords do not add additional cost. This translates into a lot less hassle for you because there is no need to optimize your site to index a particular set of keywords.

Obviously, some keywords are much more effective than others are, but they will not cost you anything except time to set-up your account in your pay-per-click bid. Of the popular search engines that offer pay-per-click, one called Overture provides an online tool that will give you the data on how often particular keywords are entered into their search engine. They also offer suggestions for keywords after you enter a description of your site.

In pay-per-click, this written description is crucial. You must understand that the object of your description is not to generally attract visitors, but to be as specific as possible so that only those visitors who are likely to buy your service or product go to your site. You must use expert marketing copy to guarantee that your description is both precise and enticing to attract the most ideal candidates to your site. This description is your most powerful tool to insure that your bid is profitable.

Another essential element of pay-per-click advertising is that you constantly monitor your bid. It is very important that you bear in mind that the results of the top search engines providing pay-per-click advertising, which are Overture and AdWords Select, usually appear on other popular search engines. Because of this, the competition for top ranking is intense, and very often you will find that the bidding price balloons too high for pay-per-click to yield a profit.

If this happens, it is advisable to withdraw your bid on that particular keyword and try another one. Remember: when you pay too much per click to make a profit, you are in essence losing the bidding war.

Since losing is not acceptable, you must have a plan in place to closely track the effectiveness of your keyword. It is advisable to monitor your keywords on at least a monthly basis.

Not only is careful monitoring important, but the analysis of visitor behavior can produce invaluable knowledge about consumer motivation, habits, and trends. Expert monitoring and consumer analysis is essential to your overall business needs, and will also insure that your pay-per-click campaign is a success.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How To Profit From Your Pay-Per-Click Advertising Campaigns

How can you make the best use of Twitter in your business? It all starts with having followers in your target market. No doubt you’ve been inundated with email offers of things like “10,000 Twitter followers in 60 seconds for only $19.95!” Trust me — 1000 followers that are members of your target market are much more useful to the growth of your business via social networking than 10,000 followers that come from anywhere.

How do you find members of your target market on Twitter? Here are my top 7 strategies:

1. Add people you know in your industry. Twitter permits people to use fictitious names or business names as their Twitter identity, rather than their given name. So, it may be difficult at times to find the person you’re seeking, especially if she goes by “ShoeDiva” on Twitter and you know her as Miranda Smith. Try Twitter Search, http://search.twitter.com or Advanced Search, http://search.twitter.com/advanced to help you in your quest.

2. Find others with the same interests or serving the same target market. The online yellow pages of Twitter users, Twellow.com, permits users to list themselves by industry and interests. If your business isn’t currently listed on Twellow, take a few minutes to do that right away.

3. Follow those in the same geographic region. If marketing to your local area is an important part of your business, find local members of your target market by using Twellowhood.com or TwitterLocal.com and find the top movers and shakers in your region, as well as some members of your target market. If you want to meet fellow Tweeps face-to-face, search local Tweetups at TwtVite,com, or create your own gathering.

4. Get relevant recommendations. The free service, MrTweet.com, will provide you with info on recommended people to follow based on your current Twitter profile. You do have to follow MrTweet in order to participate. Once you’re logged in, you can see your recommendations, along with how these recommendations are connected to your list of followers. You can evaluate your recommendations, and MrTweet will make changes in your recommended list accordingly.

5. Follow those who follow you. It’s considered good Twitter etiquette to follow those people who’ve chosen to follow you. And, to prevent being labeled a Twitter snob, ideally you should be following more people than are following you. I have automated my ability to follow my followers by using a free version of TweetLater.com.

6. Look for keywords. Another way to find relevant followers is to keep track of people mentioning certain keywords in their Tweets. I do that through the free version of TweetLater.com. I use this same service to keep track of any mentions of me or my company on Twitter in the very same way I use Google Alerts.

7. Find groups. Twibes.com permits you to find groups by industry and interest and join them and/or see the members of each group. And, if you so inclined, you can create your own Twitter group, as well.

Remember, finding your target market is just the beginning. Once you’ve found them, you need to begin to build relationships with them. This means paying attention to what they say so that you can respond when appropriate either with a direct message (DM) or an @ reply that is public or retweeting (RT) their message to your followers when you feel someone has great info that would be useful to those who follow you. Take 10-15 minutes per day to keep yourself informed about what’s happening with your Tweeps and watch your business grow!

Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com

Permalink: http://www.submityourarticle.com/a.php?a=60468

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

7 Strategies to Finding Your Target Market on Twitter

Industry pundits and bitter journalists regularly diss Twitter as a time-wasting, “look at me” fad, destined for Forgottensville in 2 years. In fact New York Times reporter Maureen Dowd is quoted as saying to Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone:

“I would rather be tied up to stakes in the Kalahari Desert, have honey poured over me and red ants eat out my eyes than open a Twitter account.”

So is Twitter really just an emergency beacon and “a toy for bored celebrities and high-school girls” as Dowd gleefully claims?

Thankfully, no. The latest wave of Twitter users are business executives. They range from home business owners, SME’s, middle and upper management, marketing executives, brand evangelists and CEOs. Take a look at ExecuTweets and you’ll see some well-known names with very active Twitter accounts: Richard Branson of Virgin, Lisa Stone Co-founder of BlogHer, Tony Hsieh CEO of Zappos and Steve Case Co-founder of AOL, to name a few.

It’s not just individuals either. Some of the world’s most recognized brands are Twittering. I found a number of super brands on Twitter and asked my followers which of these they were following:

POLL QUESTION: Which of the following US companies do you follow on Twitter?

• Amazon 19%
• BestBuy 2%
• Dell 7%
• DunkinDonuts 2%
• Etsy 4%
• Motorola 0%
• Overstock 5%
• Starbucks 12%
• Threadless 16%
• UrbanOutfitters 2%
• WholeFoods14%
• Zappos 18%]

Other major brands with Twitter accounts include:

• JetBlue
• ComCast
• Vodafone
• TheHomeDepot
• H&R Block
• Qantas
• Virgin
• Forrester Research
• Ford
• Samsung
• Kodak

Twitter as a Business Tool

So why would companies be interested in Twitter? Because they know that conversation is a powerful, persuasive business tool and right now, Twitter is where the conversation is happening.

Here are some recent stats about the micro-blogging site from Nielsen:

• Twitter is fastest growing community site on web
• Twitter experienced 1,382% growth in the 12 months to Feb 09
• The largest user group on Twitter is 35-49 year olds

As the Internet morphs from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, conversation has quietly ousted content and taken the throne as King. The Web has always enabled businesses to reach new markets. But Twitter allows them to engage directly with customers and potential customers in real time in front of an impressionable public. The opportunity this provides is unparalleled. As an effective advertising tool, the dusty old Yellow Pages seems positively prehistoric in comparison.

So just how are companies using Twitter as a business tool? To find out, I set up a poll and tweeted the question:

POLL QUESTION: If you represent a business using Twitter, what is your/their *main* reason for doing so?

The results were quite interesting:

• Branding 7%
• Driving traffic 23%
• Reputation management 7%
• SEO 0%
• Internal communications 0%
• News / product announcements 11%
• Service status updates 2%
• Customer interaction 37%
• Fun 5%
• Other 9%

A couple of things stood out for me here. Firstly, the majority of companies who took this poll are using Twitter primarily to interact with their customers and drive traffic. That’s understandable. But very few are using it for reputation management and none of them are yet using it for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) reasons. It was also interesting to see that a few businesses are using Twitter purely for fun.

Asked why he thinks Twitter is a good fit for business, Overstock’s Social Media Manager Josh Austin says:

“Twitter allows for a personal, real-life brand presence, while fostering better communication, engagement and attention to our customers.”

Customer Interaction on Twitter

So just how do customers interact with businesses on Twitter? I wanted to find out, so I launched another poll:

POLL QUESTION: Have you ever communicated directly with a company using Twitter? What was your main reason for doing so?

• Yes to resolve an issue 25%
• Yes to give positive feedback 18%
• Yes to give negative feedback 6%
• Yes for another reason 16%
• No 35%

It was encouraging to see that 65% of poll respondents have conversed with a company using Twitter. When you consider that nearly half of those people had an issue to resolve with the company they communicated with, the potential for customer loss and retention is lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree. Then there’s the number of respondents giving companies direct feedback via tweets. That’s enough to get any PR Department salivating!

Meg Geddes, a Search Marketing expert and power Twitter user related her recent positive experience with a business on the micro-blogging site:

“At the end of December, there was a special one-day only promotion through Intuit and Staples (an office supply) for buying Quickbooks Pro where you’d get a full rebate. I ordered it and filled in my rebate paperwork but it was illegible and had to be refaxed. The date on the revised paperwork sent by Intuit didn’t match my order date (and I didn’t notice) so my rebate was denied. I was bitching about it on Twitter and within half an hour, someone from Intuit sent me a tweet asking if she could help. I laid it all out for her, and she got it approved; I got my rebate very shortly after that. I was very happy, as I had been expecting to have to sit on the phone for hours with Intuit and/or Staples.”

But they’re not all positive experiences. Below is an exchange I witnessed on Twitter between a company representative (V) and an unhappy customer (J) who was Twittering while on hold with a Call Center.

J - What the hell is happening with our countries [industry removed]? Are they actually all run by turkeys?

V - Can I help?

J - I officially ban the V Twitterati from this conversation.

V - You seem to be having a problem with a V product. As I’ve said, can I help? If not, why are you bringing it up?

J - This is Twitter. I can bring up whatever I want. If you don’t like the rants and discussions, feel welcome to party elsewhere

V - Oooh, sensitive! Well, good luck with it. I’m sure it’ll be just fine.

J - No you cannot help. I am already dealing with V muppets.

J - [@somebody else] I’m polite to customers. I never harass them. But this discussion is about frustration with V - and all justified.

V - I really don’t understand what it is you hope to achieve. you say you have a problem but refuse to accept any help.

J - Pull the cottonballs out of your ears. Please join another discussion.

V - then you say you wish more companies use Twitter while refusing to accept my help, through Twitter.

J - I’m not rejecting help. Only help from you. As mentioned 5 times now!! I’m already talking to V to resolve

V - J, if you want some help with your problem, if you ACTUALLY WANT TO SORT IT OUT, let me know

J - Ok (non listener) for the 6th time today. I’m already resolving it with V. So I don’t need YOUR help.

V - so you’re resolving the problem. Good. So why are you whinging about it?

J - DO NOT try to tell me what I am and am not allowed to talk about. I can discuss whatever I want.

V - I saw you asking for help on Twitter, so I responded on Twitter. How is that a bad thing? Seriously, I’m keen to know.

V - If Twitter can’t be used for support then I guess I should stop trying to help anyone who wants help via Twitter.

J - As you have the right to hijack conversations, I have the right to vent. That’s Twitter…

V - Sorry everyone, I just wanted to know… I guess I really can’t help

Clearly, this issue could have had a positive outcome, but mistakes were made on both sides. The customer shouldn’t have been so quick to reject help when it was offered and the company representative should have let the issue go instead of pushing it and trying to publicly humiliate the customer into accepting help. But the exchange gives you an idea of the opportunities there are for customer communication and retention.

Open a Dialogue, Silly

Kaila Colbin runs the Social Marketing agency Missing Link in Christchurch New Zealand. She says that businesses can be transformed by simply opening a dialogue with their customers using blogs, emails and Twitter.

“For businesses looking to build a direct connection with their customers, Twitter can’t be beat, but it only works if you’ve got the right mindset and are prepared to invest in relationships”, she says.

“Unlike traditional advertising, a Twitter presence requires constant two-way communication to be effective. It also requires a level of transparency and selflessness that most companies aren’t used to employing in their marketing efforts. You can’t pretend to be perfect, and you can’t talk only about yourself.”

Colbin can generally convince companies to hire her by asking a single question: “Would you like to be the one having that conversation with your customers, or would you rather your competition do it?”

The Pizza Meal Win

It’s not just super brands that can benefit from using Twitter. Small businesses can gain from it too. Take Silicon Valley pizza chain Tony & Alba. By using keyword tracking and the Twitter Search tool, they monitored conversations on Twitter involving the keyword *pizza*.

Seeing a tweet from local man Ryan Kuder to his buddy suggesting a rival pizza place as their venue for dinner that night, Tony & Alba tweeted Ryan directly suggesting their pizza restaurant instead. It was further away for Ryan and his family, but a quick offer by Tony & Alba to reserve a table and throw in free soft drinks clinched the deal. A positive meal experience and a single tweet won the respect and future business from 3 happy families.

The Free Burrito Fail

But if you’re going to use Twitter to promote your products, make sure you’re prepared for the potential rush of business. In February this year, Utah-based Mexican restaurant chain Costa Vida sent a one-day-only offer for a free sweet pork burrito to its 80 followers on Twitter. As part of the promotion, Costa Vida required customers to have an electronic coupon on their mobile phone.

The Sweet Pork Burrito promotion was designed to test the effectiveness of leveraging social media Web sites like Twitter and Facebook in brand building and in driving restaurant traffic. However Costa Vida customers tweeted about the promotion and forwarded the offer to friends via mobile phone. Their followers told THEIR followers and so on, until more than 2,500 people inundated one of Costa Vida’s stores looking for their free burrito.

Costa Vida had to send multiple Twitter updates with instructions for how new Costa Vida Fans could redeem their coupon on a future date for the (now sold-out) burritos.

Reputation management

Savvy companies already understand the power of Twitter. Companies with shareholders monitoring their every move can’t afford to have their brand sullied at the virtual water cooler. These companies have employed staff whose only job is to send out short bursts of 140 characters every hour or so.

Handbooks on Twettiquette are being distributed to their marketing teams. They’ve created TweetBeep accounts to monitor how their brand is being talked about by Twitter users and they’re actively engaging with those people. They’re already at the water cooler and they’re handing out the cups.

Think your business can be a Twitter success story? Then here’s one last piece of advice, courtesy of Michael Martine:

“If you’re on twitter to market your business, the best thing you can do is shut up about your business and help people.”

Article by Kalena Jordan who writes a daily Search Engine Advice Column, and is Co-Founder of Search Engine College - an online training institution offering online instructor-led and self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects. Follow Kalena on Twitter.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How Twitter is Teaching Business the Lost Art of Conversation