Where to find your Web site links

We’re sure you’ve heard over and over again how people linking to your site can help increase your Web traffic.  However, there is a limit to the links.  You really don’t want to go overboard.  Better for you to have quality links over quantity.  It’s equally important for the links you post on your site.  According to this MSN article, “I’ve seen sites with 25 high-quality links outperform those with a thousand or more low-quality links,” professes Shari Thurow, a Chicago-area search marketer and the author of “Search Engine Visibility,” a 2003 book with a second edition published in August 2007. “Small businesses should focus on getting 20 high-quality links — all relevant to your business,” says Elisabeth Osmeloski, a former SearchEngineWatch.com editor who is now director of online media at travel site Zonder.com. 

So here’s some tips on getting those quality links!

1. Take your time in finding links.  Don’t add all the links in one day.  Spread them out over a period of time because it gives you time to do your research and find those that are high quality.

2. Don’t feel forced to reciprocate to a site that has posted your site on theirs.  If you don’t feel the quality is there, don’t add it. 

3. Check what links your competitors have.  And always check to see what other links a site features.

4. If you’re not sure, add the nofollow tag to the link.  By including the code rel=”nofollow” after a URL in any “href” link you include, you’re telling a search engine that you can’t vouch for the quality of that site.  Otherwise, the search engines hold you responsible for that link.

Some good places to obtain links include:

• Trade and professional organizations.  These have a lot of important content relating to your company’s business and industry.  If you are a paid member to a group, most often a link should be included from the organization’s page.  Make sure to contact them if not.
• Social networking sites in your industry.  If you have a Facebook fan page or LinkedIn profile, you can link to it.  But avoid the general social networking sites.  If you find a good one for your industry (more and more are popping up daily), try to contribute an article or information and include a link back to your site.  And think outside the box.  Real estate sites like Zillow and Trulia count as social networking for the real estate industry.
• Noncompeting sites in your industry.  Mortgage lenders should link to Realtors, real estate attorneys, home inspectors, etc.  And the same is true for those other small businesses. 

Some not-so-good places for links:

• Web rings
• Generic, free directories.  Oftentimes your e-mail address will be spammed and it’s not a reputable site for your industry
• Guestbooks

Just make sure to do your research prior to adding links or having your link appear on another’s site.  If you don’t trust the company, you can ask for your link to be removed, too.

Visit us online to get your Web site up and running!

Prepare your marketing for the holidays

Now could not be a better time to do your research and figure out what your customers are looking for this holiday season.  If you want it to be a successful season for your business, you’ll want to plan your marketing prior to the holidays.  It’s great to take advantage of this down time before the storm hits.  You’ll want to define your goals for this holiday season.  Is it to make more money?  Get past customers to spend more?  Obtain new customers?  That will also help you determine what kind of marketing you want to do.  Here are some tips from this article to use your e-mail marketing to your advantage this season.

1. Get a fresh lead on your market.  Go to your customers directly to find out what their plans are this holiday season.  If you’re a social networker, great.  Post questions on Facebook or Twitter for your customers to respond to.  Ask them what they’re planning on spending.  Ask them if they’re looking for specific gift ideas.  This will help you stock your items and know what a good price point is.  This is a great reason to get on Twitter and Facebook, too.  If you’re not, make sure to send out an e-mail to some past customers to find out these answers.  Send it via a survey for them to fill out.

2. Re-engage your current customers.  This is just a great way to get back in the minds of current/past customers.  You want them to make sure they remember you this season for their holiday shopping.  Ask customers what they use your products/services for or the best way they incorporated it into their business.  Publish the best ones in your next newsletter and award the “winner” with a free gift.  Ask them what they’re doing in their business, given the current economy.  Maybe you can work out a joint venture between your two businesses to be more profitable during the holidays. 

3. Refresh and expand your mailing list.  If you do have some down time, you might want to remove those addresses that are no longer valid.  Make sure that you’re still doing everything to gather new e-mails, whether it be from a Web site sign-up button or handing out your business card at networking events.  Have fans/friends sign up on your Facebook page.  That’s another way to drive business back to your Web site. 

With these tips, you’ll be sure to have a successful holiday season.  And always remember to reward referrals with handwritten thank you notes to the sender along with a small gift. 

If you’re ready to get your holiday marketing out, we can help!  Visit us online at http://www.completeresourceschicago.com

To Tweet or not to Tweet? What’s good for your business?

Can you believe that it’s only since the beginning of this year that Twitter has grown increasingly popular?  People were using it to update their friends and family members with 140-word messages (tweets) about what was going on.  A tweet is basically an instant message being broadcast publicly.  Now businesses have moved more to the Twitter mainstream.  According to this article, Starbucks posts new incentives and offers, Whole Foods invites customers to events and asks customers what they think.  So is Twitter right for your business?

First of all, you have to commit.  You can’t just tweet once every 5 months and hope for the best.  If you want to have active conversations with customers and they follow you, they’re going to expect to hear from you.  You don’t have to tweet multiple times a day, but a few times a week makes sense. If you’re billing clients for time and you’re tweeting all day long, you can have problems for that, too.

Twitter can be an easy way to broadcast a message about your company that followers, friends, and fans can replicate on other sites.  So word can get out a lot faster than just by you sending an e-mail message.  In fact, the application TweetLater lets you schedules tweets in the future like you would schedule an e-mail to go out at a certain time.  If you’re on Facebook, you can set Twitter up so that your tweets automatically appear as status updates on your Facebook page.  Now you’ve just killed two birds with one stone.

Author Chris Brogan wrote this article on 50 ideas of using Twitter for your business. Some of his great suggestions include using TwitterSearch to listen for your name or those of your competitor to find out what’s going on in your industry.  You could gain valuable insight that way.

Don’t oversell your business or yourself.  People get bored of that very quickly.  Instead, provide links to other useful sites.  Give tips on when to check back when you’ll post information on sales or how to earn something free.  Talk about non-business activities.  But don’t talk about how drunk you got at that last kegger.  Too much information for your customers.  Mention a charity event you attended instead.

Chris also recommends asking questions.  He thinks Twitter can be great for obtaining opinions.  Instead of tweeting about what you’re doing now, tweet about what you’re thinking about or what’s in the news.  He also mentions that Twitter and other social media sites do not replace direct marketing.  You could use a piece to publish your name or how to access you on those sites, but you still have to do direct marketing pieces for all of those people who don’t use Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.  Definitely view his article for more great tips.

So if you need help coming up with a direct marketing piece, be sure to visit us online.

Get over your fear of sales calls

So many Realtors and other sales professionals get into a bind when it comes time to making sales calls.  Whether you’re afraid of objection handling or have a fear of being told “No” or anything else, now is not the market to ease off these calls.  In order to keep your business income steady and possibly get more referrals, you still need to continue to make your sales calls.

Dirk Zeller, a real estate trainer, offers a step-by-step strategy to get over your fear in this article. We’ll go over the basics. 

Step 1: Be more confident.  So many people in the sales industry focus on their weaknesses, rather than their strengths.  Before even beginning a phone call to a new prospect, you have to know what it is you’re going to provide to that new prospect.  Write down a list of the benefits you will provide that prospect before picking up the phone.  That way you’ll never get stuck when they ask you what you’re going to do for them.

Step 2: Set realistic goals.  So many people think that in order to make money they have to make 100+ calls a day.  So not true.  It’s better to have made 5 quality calls than 300 calls that yield no results.  Obviously, the more people you call, the better chance of getting business.  Just make sure you set aside time every day to do your prospecting.  Even a goal of 10 calls or as many calls as needed to speak to at least 4 people can be a realistic goal.  Once you’ve hit your number for the day, you’re all set to be guilt-free.

Step 3: Get rid of those voices in your head… telling you that you can’t do it.  Of course you can.  And what’s the worst that’s going to happen?  You’ll be turned down.  These are not life or death calls.  They’re sales pitches.  If it will set your day right, call a past client that you’ve had a friendly relationship with.  That will put you in the right mindset to continue your prospecting.

Step 4: Before picking up the phone, visualize how a perfect call will go.  Think about how confident you are going to sound.  Think about obtaining a new client.  Think about what that money in the bank will mean to you.  That will get all those negative thoughts out of your head.

It can be scary to make those calls.  But if you do it every day, you’ll be so used to it that it will become second nature.  And in this economy, you probably need all the business you can get.  Enlist another Realtor in the office to make calls with you so you’re accountable to one another.  You never know – that next phone call could be your next client.

Once you’ve gotten your new business, or if you need marketing materials to send out to your prospects, be sure to visit us online to get quotes on how we can help!

E-mail marketing tips for new subscribers

 

It’s always great news when you get someone new to sign up for one of your e-newsletters online.  Whether it was a referral, someone who came across your Web site, or a friend or past client, you’re thrilled for the opportunity to sell your products or services to a new customer.  Now is your opportunity to nurture this relationship and make sure the customer is getting everything that he expects.  You don’t want to bombard him with e-mails, either.  Here are some tips for new subscribers, auto responders, and when you have to say good-bye.

New subscribers:

You definitely want to make a good first impression when you get someone new interested in your e-newsletter.  Once you have the new prospect’s e-mail address, send them a welcome e-mail with a personalized note.  You’ll also want to set the stage for what’s to come.  Tell them how often they’ll be hearing from you, the type of information you’ll be sending (coupons, newsletters, etc.), and who it’s going to be coming from so they can add it to their address book.  Otherwise, it could end up in their spam box or junk mail folder.

Send them the last e-mail that went out to customers so they’re not waiting a month (if that’s your frequency) for the next one.  And in your e-mail, include a link to past newsletters they can view online or other online discounts for subscribers.

Auto responders:

All auto responders should have a call to action without asking for someone’s business.  You can have a link in the e-mail for an online discount or free consultation with you about purchasing a home.  Some readers aren’t ready for the whole enchilada when they give you your e-mail address.  Keep these messages less frequent than those you send to your regular subscribers.  You don’t want to bombard them with information and prevent them from signing up.  A monthly e-mail is a good starting point. 

Opt-outs:

To make it easy for all your readers, make sure that every e-mail does offer the option of them being able to unsubscribe.  Make it as easy for them as possible so they don’t get frustrated.  If you get a few of these, use the information to help you determine what future customers are looking for from you.  Here are some tips on these.

1. You have 10 days by law remove an e-mail address from your list if it’s requested.  It’s best to do it as soon as possible, however.

2. Send them a friendly note that their unsubscribe request has been received.  Something along the lines of “We’re sorry to see you go but hope to see you again in the future.”  You can always leave a note on how to resubscribe when the time is right or if they unsubscribed by mistake.

3. Give these customers an opportunity to write why they unsubscribed.  You will learn so much from their comments.  If it’s because they were receiving too many e-mails from you, you might think about toning down the frequency.  If they didn’t feel your information was valuable, consider replacing some of your newsletter content. 

More tips for e-mail marketing can be found in this article.

If you’re ready to get your e-mail marketing messages out there, let us help! Visit our Web site to get started.

Learn from Martha Stewart’s success

It’s always great to get tips from those in the industry who are successful.  Just a few years ago, Martha Stewart was ranked in Forbes Magazine as being worth over $970 million.  Her self-made business, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, started from scratch.  She now does television commercials, has her own television show, as well as home furnishing products throughout multiple department stores. 

While Martha was incarcerated for insider trading, Martha had met with other prisoners interesting in starting their own businesses.  They asked her advice on how to start your own business.  Talking with them inspired her book, “The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Grow, or Manage a Business.”  We wanted to share some of her tips.

1. Build your business and your success around something you love.  If you find something that you think is going to make you a ton of money but you aren’t very interested in it, it won’t motivate you to continue.  Start with something that you’re passionate about and grow from there.

2. Start with the basics.  Think of things that people need.  Once you have that established, you can work on creatively improving your ideas. 

3. Create a business plan.  It’s hard to get started if you don’t have everything written out to help guide you along.  Make sure your plan focuses on your end goals but also allows you to focus in on the details to help make that happen.  Allow yourself to modify your plan as you get started as change occurs.

4. Have quality in mind over quantity.  While you want to sell as much as possible to make money, customers will keep coming back because of the quality of your products or service.  Quality is always what you should consider first.

5. Use cost-effective techniques that promote yourself by tugging at the heart of the consumers and also are pleasing to the eye.  You will want to convey what is special and unique about you and your business when doing your marketing.

6. Hire the best team.  Make sure they have the same goals as you and that they will work hard for you to achieve your goals.  Only hire those that have a positive energy and are optimistic.  You don’t want someone on your staff acting gloomy all the time and bringing your enthusiasm and optimism down.  If someone you initially hired isn’t acting like they used to, find someone new that does work with your goals in mind.

For more of Martha’s tips for starting a successful business, click here. You can purchase this book at Amazon.com.

If you’re ready to get out some promotional materials for your new business, completeREsources Chicago can help! Visit our Web site here.

Make your Web site easy to find

As we’ve mentioned several times in the past, it’s so important these days to have a Web site that your clients have the ability to access. Whether you’re a Realtor or a small business owner, you want potential prospects and customers to be able to find out information about you online, and even order directly through it if they’re not local to your area.  However, these days, having a site isn’t enough.  You need to make it easy for your customers to find.  Don’t get lost in the “needle in the haystack” of all online postings.  Here are some tips to help make you stand out.

1. Make your site easy to find online.  You want your site to come to the top of the list when someone searches on a search engine.  This is called SEO, or search engine optimization.  You will come higher up on the list if the searches have keywords that match a lot of what is on your site.  This Google tool will help you choose popular keywords based on your site content.  Also look at keywords that your competitor uses. 

The other way you’re ranked is by having a lot of traffic through your site.  One way for the search engines to pick this up is if you have a lot of people with your site linked to theirs and vice versa.  Contact your affiliates to see if you can add their links on your site.  Make sure they agree to put yours on theirs, too. 

2. Register as many similar sites as possible.  You want to help your customers out who misspell your company name or put the wrong ending (.biz, .net, .org at the end of your Web address).  Try to register as many sites that are similar to yours as possible.  Try to obtain ones that are off by one letter or two.  That way, if somebody inputs the wrong information, they’ll still be directed back to your site.

3. Market your site offline.  Make sure it’s visible on everything you do, including in your e-mail signature, your letterhead, return address labels, etc.  Have you ever seen a commercial or an ad where they direct you back to the site for more info?  That’s what you want to do.  If you can afford to market it in the weekly paper or on the radio, by all means, do.  If not, make sure you find every free way to get it out there.  And remember, word of mouth is great free publicity!

4. Set up a fan page on Facebook or MySpace.  You can put your site information on there as well as advertise to all your friends and fans when a new product has come in, you have a new listing, or there’s important news in your industry.  This is also a great way to find out what your customers are looking for from you and reach hundreds or thousands of people at once with new information.

More tips on how to stand out can be found in this article. If you need help developing your Web site, or making it rank higher on the search engines, please visit us online.

New marketing experiment by UPS

Starting today, the United Parcel Service (UPS) will begin a test program to determine whether they want to get involved in direct marketing campaigns.  Running all this week through Friday, in 5 test markets (including Chicago!) UPS will try out a new service called Direct to Door.  This will give advertisers, retailers, small business owners, and others a chance to market directly to UPS customers.  The test will come in addition to products already ordered by consumers and can include offers and free samples. 

The test is going to be used to determine whether UPS offers an alternative to marketing efforts done by the USPS or even coupon companies like Valpak.  The test is also going to be used to see if customers would welcome these packages that they didn’t order or expect or if they would dismiss them as if they were a new form of junk mail.

Lisa Lynn, the marketing  director for new product research at UPS in Atlanta says that given the current state of the economy, many customers are very open to receiving offers right now.  We know plenty of people who scrounge the Web weekly or even daily for free samples, reduced prices, and free shipping on products ordered over the Internet.  UPS is trying to get customers to see that if it’s delivered from them, a huge package delivery company, customers won’t consider it junk.

The packages going out this week will not have addresses of the customer.  They will have phrases such as “Inside are premium offers from some of America’s best-known brands.”  They’ll also say “Delivered to you by U.P.S.”  While Chicago is one of the test markets, you’re likely to receive this new package if you are a frequent receiver of packages delivered by UPS.  They want to test it with people familiar with their local drivers and drivers familiar with these customers and addresses.

More information on this experiment can be found in this NY Times article.

If this new program works, it could be a new and very interesting way to advertise offers to customers in a way that hasn’t been done before. Small business owners can reach out to a sector of customers that they would never get the chance to otherwise. It just shows how important it is to have a Web site for your business that people can order from.

What are your thoughts on this experiment? Will it work or won’t it? We’d love to hear your comments below. Or visit us online at Complete REsources.

When to fire a customer

We’ve all heard the saying “The customer is always right.”  While that philosophy may help when it comes to disputes or disagreements, it’s not ALWAYS true.  There are plenty of times when it’s wise to break off a relationship with a customer.  Some examples are when a customer . . .

• Never pays on time.
• Threatens to jump ship if you don’t constantly throw in a freebie or an extra.  An example, threatening to take their business somewhere else unless you reduce the price for them or give them a bonus item.
• Asks you to do something unethical or against your morals.
• Complaining to others about your services.  If there’s a genuine problem, definitely address it first.  If it’s someone who will never be happy no matter what you do to fix it, they are most likely complaining to others about you and therefore, hurting your reputation.
• Is extremely rude, belligerent, or aggressive to yourself or someone who works for/with you.

Consider the customer’s monetary worth to your business.  Are they your number one account?  If that’s the case, it might be worth discussing the problems between you to see if you can get it resolved.  Are they someone who doesn’t affect your bottom line?  Then let them go.  It will be easier in the long run.  It’s hard to consider letting go of potential sources of income in this economy, but think about the pros.  Your employees not having to deal with constant abuse or yelling from a customer can boost their morale.  It will increase their productivity.  Plus, it’s almost a guarantee that your most demanding customers are not the ones that bring you the most money.  They’re usually the ones who you work hardest for for the least reward.

So how should you go about it? 

1.  Be professional.  Don’t send an e-mail or leave a voice mail message unless that’s how you usually communicate with them.  It’s like a regular relationship.  It’s best done in person.

2. Don’t vent and get emotional.  That’s the first thing they’ll go complain to your competition about.  Let them know your reasoning in a straightforward manner.

3. Offer referrals.  Let them know of other people from whom they can obtain similar services or products.  It will help steer them in the right direction.

Firing a customer is not always an easy or black-and-white decision.  It’s important that you do your research on whether saving the relationship is worth it to your business.  But don’t let your customers run the show. 

For more resources on this topic, you should view this article or this one.

For help with your real estate or small business marketing needs, visit us online.

Why blogging your business is worthwhile

As we’ve mentioned in the past, social networking is extremely important in this day and age to obtain new business and keep current clients.  With the onset of new technology, you want to reach the tech-savvy customers.  Another great marketing initiative is to start a blog for your business.  It’s estimated there are about 15.5 million active blogs (those updated within the past 90 days) with 1.3 to 1.5 million new active posts daily. 

What can this mean to you?  How can this benefit your business? 

1. Blogs are free!  What another great way to market your business at no cost to you (except for your time).  A lot of blogging sites are free (take WordPress for example).  It’s very easy to follow the tutorial to get started.  Consider devoting one or two days a week to writing your blog.  Make sure you schedule time for it.

2. You can engage your customers in a no-obligation, no-pressure way.  Talk about the best new products in your industry, trends, advice from industry experts, or even advertise your promotions through your blog.  Traditional marketing cannot be kept this up-to-date.  The other benefit is that you can post pictures and videos and even sound clips in your blog.  If you’re talking about new products, include photos.  If a recent industry leader gave a great presentation, include a clip.

3. You can learn of customers’ interests, needs, and wants by their comments to your blog.  This can help you develop new promotional ideas or products. 

4. Get an advantage over your competitors who don’t blog.  Lots of Realtors and small businesses say they don’t have the time to devote.  This will only put you ahead of everyone else.  If you don’t have time, hire someone to blog for you or ask a family member or employee. 

Use your blog to offer tips and links to other useful information.  Link them to products that you don’t sell but can make your product work better.  Offer them tips to get the most out of the products they buy from you.  Read a book that talks about the importance of your industry?  Review and recommend it on your blog.  Hopefully this can get other bloggers to link to your blog, giving it even more exposure and developing new business. 

Again, try to devote time at least weekly to your blog.  You want to make sure your information is relevant.  If you’re in the real estate industry, the market is constantly changing.  Readers won’t want to return if you only update every 6 months.  Let them know what’s happening now.

More great information on blogging for your business can be found here.

CompleteREsources Chicagois here to help you. We can create and update your blogs, put together your marketing pieces, handle your client invoicing, and even develop PowerPoint presentations. Send us an email at susan.kraut@sbcglobal.net for a quote!