10 Essentials Every Small Business Website Needs | John Simensky | johnsimensky.ca.st

 
For any small business, your website is often the heart of your online marketing. But is your website really doing all it can to help attract and convert prospects into customers?
Or, are you losing visitors – and leads – because your website is missing important information or features? Make sure your site includes these 10 elements of a successful small business website.
1. Clearly Visible Contact Information
What is the primary action you want website visitors to take when they visit your site? If you want them to call, request more information, or visit your location, it’s absolutely critical to list accurate, updated contact information in a visible location on your website. This may seem like an obvious tip, but this is a big problem for many small business websites In fact, 60% of small- to medium-size businesses in the U.S. are missing a contact number on their home page, and roughly 75% of websites don’t list an email address!
To make sure your website visitors aren’t sent on a wild goose chase looking for contact information, make sure to at least include a phone number on each page of your website. If you don’t want to place your contact information on each page, consider this solution: build a web page that provides all of your important contact information, including phone number, email address, location with a map, and hours of operation. Then add a “Contact Us” button as part of your website design template or footer to make sure this is included on every page. At the very least, include your contact information on every landing page consumers visit after they click on your search ads or display ads. The more ways consumers can contact you, the better your chance of winning their business.
2. Contact Forms
Contact forms are the online data forms that prospects fill out in order to request information from you. They also serve as a lead-generation tool. But, according to research firm BIA/Kelsey, 66% of small- to medium-size businesses websites in the U.S. don’t have a form available for potential customers to submit. Website forms are a great way to collect important lead-qualifying data. Plus, they also provide your prospects with a place to express detailed questions about the information they’re seeking about your business.
3. Live Chat
Live chat is another contact method that can help you convert a website visitor into a customer. With this lead-generation tool, prospects can ask questions and learn more about your business during their visit to your site. By interacting with visitors and answering their questions, live chats build rapport with prospects at this important touch point in the buying cycle. When your prospect has the information they need and a positive rapport has been established, you’re another step closer to converting a visitor into a customer.
4. Social Media Icons
Social media is crucial in today’s connected business environment. Consumers expect to be able to communicate with businesses through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (to name a few). However, according to BIA/Kelsey, less than 20% of SMB websites link to their Facebook page, with even fewer linking to Twitter and LinkedIn. Social media is an excellent way for customers to learn more about you, connect with other fans, and get the information they need in order to decide to do business with you. If you're not on social media, it’s important to consider adding this as a regular business marketing process – and then add links to your accounts on your website!
5. Engaging Video
By including videos on your website, you can build credibility and attract visitors who might not want to read large amounts of detail about your products and/or services. Prospects will appreciate the convenience that videos provide during their visit to your site. Videos are also a great way to communicate the personality of both you and your business to your audience.
6. Balanced and Accurate Content
 Avoid cramming too much information onto one page; rather than being helpful, information overload is just that – overload. Visitors will not spend precious time reading a webpage with too much information. If you’re unsure how to best arrange your website information, a professional Web designer can help you.
Also, make sure consumers don’t gather inaccurate information about your business. For example, remove information about products or services you no longer offer or profiles of employees who no longer work for you.
7. Modern, Simple Design
Leave the bad website design in the ’90s. Garish color combinations (think neon yellow against bright green, bright red against black, etc.), type in bolded all caps, multiple underlining of words, blinking or swirling of text, and other dated design elements all portray the image that your business is behind the times. And even if you aren’t an expert in design or website development, there are many services available to help you create an effective and pleasant-looking website.
8. Professional, Polished Logo
Your logo is an important part of your brand, so make sure it’s located prominently on your site. Use a high-resolution image on your webpage and consider featuring it in the upper left corner of each of your pages. Also, it’s a good rule-of-thumb to link your logo back to your home page so that visitors can easily navigate to it.
9. User-Friendly Functionality
It’s important to make sure the functionality of your website is a great experience. How long does it take for your page to load? Are all the links working and not broken? Is the formatting of your site up to date? For example, although it can create an interesting experience, using Flash may detract from your site’s effectiveness. Flash is not SEO-friendly because of how the format treats content. Also, using lots of Flash on your website can slow your website’s load time, which may cause visitors to abandon your site altogether. And, Flash does not display on some smartphones, so by using it, you may be alienating some of your mobile visitors.
10.  Mobile-Friendly Experience
Consumers search and surf the Web using mobile technology (smartphones and tablets) now more than ever. In fact, at the end of 2012, nearly a quarter of Web traffic was from mobile devices. But the majority of small- and medium-size business websites still aren't optimized for mobile devices. As mobile technology continues to rise in popularity among consumers, the need for mobile-compatible websites also rises. Have you ever checked out how your website looks on a tablet or smartphone? If so, what was your impression? Was it easy to call you, find your business location, or other information like your hours of operation? If your site isn’t mobile-compatible, consider creating a mobile site that contains 5-10 essential pages from your website to help visitors find information and more importantly, contact you. Mobile technology is only going to grow in use among consumers during the buying cycle, so make sure your website is ready and mobile-friendly.
How does your small business website stack up when it comes to these important features? If you’re not sure, take some time to audit your current site using this post as a checklist so you can see what areas you may need to improve. By equipping your website with the essential features that your prospects need to make an informed decision about you and your business, you can build a more effective website and ultimately increase your rate of consumer conversion.
Which features of your website have turned your website visitors into active customers? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Amy Neeley helps small- and medium-size businesses navigate the online marketing world with insights and information featured on the ReachLocal blog.
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Is Your Website Working? The Trick that Gets You More Calls | John Simensky

 

Go to the home page of your business website. Do it. Yes, right now.
How long does it take you to locate your phone number?
Okay, now, look at an interior page, like a product page or “About” page. How long did it take you to find your phone number then?
Last test: find a smartphone or tablet and pull your website up. You guessed it – how long did it take to find your phone number here?
If it takes you more than five seconds to locate your phone number in any of these scenarios, your website has a serious problem.
Like many other small business owners, you might believe a phone call from prospects is the Holy Grail of your marketing efforts, because it’s one of the easiest lines of communication between you and potential customers. You wouldn’t put up a billboard or place an ad in the local paper without a prominent phone number, so why should your website be any different? So, if you want more calls from your website, the answer is simple: make your phone number easy to find. Here are a few amazingly simple tips to make your phone number stand out.
1. Put it at the top of every page.
Yes, on every page. Not just on your home page or “Contact us” page. Every. Single. Page. Why? Because people are visiting them. Consumers who are serious about contacting you to learn more about your products or services, getting quotes, and booking an appointment with you won’t just look at your home page – they’ll jump around your website to look at product information, customer reviews, videos, photos, and more.  You never know at what point they’ll make the choice to pick up the phone and call you, so don’t make it hard for them; put your number at the top of every page, in an easy-to-see font and color. Remember: the easier your number is to locate, the quicker prospects will call you.
2. Give it a call to action.
Every effective website page has a clear call to action for a visitor to take. In this case, direct potential customers to call you. It’s always best to pair your specific action with a compelling benefit – essentially, what they’ll get out of contacting you. Additionally, this provides a visual cue for prospects to locate your phone number and helps persuade them take the action you want them to. A few examples of a call to action for your site could include:

• Call Now for a Free In-Home Estimate! 555-0122
• Call Today to Book Your Appointment: 555-0122. Space is Limited!
• Plumbing Emergency? Call our 24-Hour Hotline at 555-0122 

3. Mobile-optimize it.
Did you know that now 46% of consumers have relied solely on smartphones or tablets to find local businesses? And, one-third of those consumers are specifically looking for – you guessed it – your phone number. So, if you don’t have a mobile-optimized site, or your site does not have a quick click-to-call feature, just think of all the mobile leads that may be passing you by. Having a mobile-friendly site for your advertising and organic marketing is imperative in today’s mobile world. So, it’s time to invest in, at minimum, a mobile landing page with click-to-call functionality that you can drive your online prospects to. You don’t want to miss out any more potential customers!
Bonus Tip: Designate someone to answer the calls – and to return them.
Maybe you're already getting a lot of calls- and that's great. But, the quickest way to lose a hot lead from your website is to keep them from becoming a lead at all. And, one of the terrible things a consumer can experience is eagerly calling a local business and listening to the phone ring and ring for what seems like an eternity. Or worse, leaving a detailed voicemail, but never receiving a call back. If you’ve experienced this when contacting another business, then you know what it feels like if a consumer has this experience with yours. If you really want more business from potential customers who call you, consider using a call recording system that alerts you when you receive a new contact, so you have a means to review calls that are answered (either by a human or by a voicemail system) and promptly call back any prospects that aren’t taken care of immediately. Studies have shown that 50% of consumers will go with the business that responds to them first – so make sure it’s yours!
What other tricks have you tried to get more calls from your website? Do you have an effective system in place to handle the calls you do get? Let us know in a comment.

About the Author
Tamara Weintraub helps equip small business owners with information about local online advertising, social media, and content marketing as a writer for the ReachLocal blog.

Are Customers Choosing Your Competitors Over You? | John Simensky

 
“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” – Sam Walton
As a business owner, you know that attracting prospects and turning them into customers is the lifeblood of any company. But have you ever thought about why someone would choose a competitor over you? If you’ve ever lost a prospect to a competitor (it happens to the best of them), there are several likely culprits. Check out five reasons you’re losing business to your competitors and what you can do to win back the hearts of your prospects.
1. Poor Search Rankings
Do you know which search terms your prospects use to find local businesses like yours on popular search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo? Are you landing on the first page of these search engines after a prospect types in a search term? If you don’t know which search terms to use for your industry in order to be found online, or if your competitors rank higher on a search engine page than you, you’re probably losing business to your competition. That’s because most consumers don’t look at search results past a search engine’s first page. And, according to BIA Kelsey and ConStat, 97% of consumers use online media to shop locally. The best strategy to high search engine rankings uses both organic search engine optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click campaigns. So make sure you have an online strategy in place so you can be found in search engine results before prospects find your competitors.
2. Poor Online Reputation
Do you know what people are saying about you and your business online? Do you know how your reputation compares to your competitors? Managing your online reputation is critical in today’s connected world. That’s because prospects will often check online review sites and your social media pages as part of their research during the buying process. In fact, 90% of respondents in a 2013 survey said online reviews influenced their buying decisions. No matter how good your products or services are, if past customers have left negative online reviews or posted negative comments on your social media pages, you’re most likely losing business to your competitors. The good news is that there are proactive strategies you can use to address poor online reviews and negative comments on social media. And, you can work to build a positive reputation online to help provide a more balanced view of your company. There are also services that can save you time by monitoring your online reputation for you.
3. Website Quality/Features
Your website is your calling card to the world. It’s often the first place prospects visit to learn more about you and your business. But if your website has poor design, lacks crucial information like an easy-to-find phone number, or is difficult to navigate, your prospects will simply leave your site to check out competitor websites. There are many features you can add to your website to help make it more appealing and helpful to your prospects – features that can help convert a prospect into a customer. The time and money you invest to ensure your website is the best it can be will pay off by attracting and keeping your visitors on your site, which in turn can lead to new business.
4. Slow Response Times
When prospects contact multiple companies via an online contact form or leave messages after business hours, you want to be the first business to follow up. That’s because up to half of all sales goes to the company who contacts the prospect back first. Your prospect is a warm lead because they have already reached out to you either online or over the phone. So don’t waste this opportunity to win new business simply due to a slow response time. By being the first one to follow up with your prospects, you’re demonstrating that you’re proactive and professional. It’s your opportunity to establish rapport, answer their questions, and perhaps even set an appointment or schedule a visit.
5. Customer Service
A brand loyalty survey by ClickFox noted that 56% of respondents said their “first purchase or first customer service interaction with a brand” is the deciding factor in determining long-term brand loyalty. Quality customer service is essential at both the prospect stage as well as the customer stage. Think about yourself as the customer of other businesses and the interactions you’ve had. How were you treated? If you called a company, did the person speaking sound professional and courteous? If you visited a business, were you greeted warmly and given the attention you needed? If you contacted a company by email, did you receive a prompt and articulate response? These are just a few examples where excellent customer service comes into play in the earliest stages of the sales cycle. If you’re providing poor customer service to your prospects, they’re more likely to take their business to your competitors. So take the time to do an honest assessment of how prospects are being treated once they contact you. If you can win a prospect’s heart early on, you have a better chance of converting them into a customer later on.
What strategies do you use to attract new prospects to your business? Let us know in the comments section.
About the Author
Amy Neeley helps small- and medium-size businesses navigate the online marketing world with insights and information featured on the ReachLocal blog.
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4 Signs You Are Making Your Customers Angry & What To Do About It | John Simensky

Your online reputation helps build a strong foundation when it comes to potential customers choosing your business over competitors. In fact, according to one survey, 88% of respondents’ purchasing decisions were affected by the positive or negative reviews they read. But if you aren’t doing everything you can to ensure that what’s being said about you online is positive, then you could possibly upset potential customers before they even get to experience your business for themselves.
Here are four telling signs that you need to take a hard look at your business’ reputation before it’s too late.




You haven’t addressed customers’ questions or comments online, ever.
Hopefully, this isn’t the case for your business, and you have addressed critical issues in the past. But in order to maintain a good reputation for your business, you should at least try to acknowledge comments and questions as soon as you see them online, even if you don’t have a complete resolution. A recent survey indicates that of consumers who leave comments for businesses online, 42% expect to get a response at least within an hour. So, in order to show these customers that you are listening, consider setting up alerts for your business name and critical keywords like “complaints” and “reviews” so that you are up to date on any new mentions that matter for your reputation.
You address your online feedback, but you’re never to blame.
Chances are if nearly every comment about your business online is negative, blaming customers for their own negative experience will only result in more negative feedback, and very bad PR. There are many examples of business owners who cyber-attacked reviewers who by all means had legitimate frustrations about the business, on online review sites. These attempts at justifying bad customer service and bad business practices resulted in more negative reviews from people who would likely never become a customer. So if there’s one thing you should remember about these incidents, it’s that you can’t erase what you write online. The lesson to be learned here is to keep your cool when you see negative reviews, and respond only when you can do so with professionalism and a clear head.
You have a lot of one-time customers.
There are different reasons why customers may do business with you once and not return: for example, if they aren’t from your local area. But if your business doesn’t have loyal customers, then you might have a larger issue at hand. As a business owner, you might not always know the various problems your business is having. But by inspecting your online reputation, you may be able to identify problems that you didn’t know existed. Maybe your online advertisements are dated, creating a false representation of your business. Perhaps your customer service is not up to par. Whatever the case may be, customers are very likely to share negative experiences online, so make sure you know what they are saying and do what you can to fix it.
You have one mad customer whose goal in life is to bring you down.
The saying “one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch” can often be applicable to your online reputation. And if you have that one unhappy customer who consistently rants about you online, then you probably understand the phrase a little better. While their continuous complaints may stem from actual problems, the fact that they continue to scorn you online may be a sign that they just really want to be heard. If you have a reviewer like this, ask about the details of their experience and do your best to right the wrong. If anything, this will show other potential customers that you are listening and attempting to make up for any less-than-satisfactory experiences. And remember, while a timely response is important, a professional response is critical.
Have you dealt with any of these situations? What did you do to resolve them? Let us know in a comment!

About the Author
Tara Banda writes about how small business owners can reach local customers through online marketing for the ReachLocal blog. You can connect with her on Twitter.

5 Types of Images That Enhance Your Online Marketing | John Simensky

 

 With the rise in popularity of sites like Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest, and the emphasis on photo- sharing on sites like Facebook, creating and sharing attractive, interesting, informative, and entertaining images is quickly becoming an important component to any online marketing strategy. Not only can sharing images help you generate engagement from social media fans and followers on sites like Instagram and Facebook, but posting great images on your blog or website can encourage users to link to your content from sites like Pinterest or Tumblr.
But, what kinds of images should your local business share in order to engage potential customers, boost site traffic, and build your brand? Here are five popular image types to consider:
1) High-Quality Product or Service Photos
Own a bakery that creates gorgeous goodies or a home improvement business that transforms ordinary rooms into extraordinary spaces? Have a signature look to your products, packaging, or events? Businesses with visually-appealing products or services like these should be creating high-quality images of them and sharing them online. Not only does this showcase to current and potential customers the awesome work you do, but it can also help you visually build your brand online.
Even if you have a small budget, you can generate high-quality  images by batching your requests. For example, consider hiring a professional photographer or recruiting a friend or family member with photography skills to create product or service photographs for your business once a quarter, and then share the photos over time until you have new ones made.
2) Infographics
An infographic is a long-form image that illustrates a concept or groups of information visually. Infographics are very popular on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and blogs. Users frequently share these informational images, and often, other bloggers will repost them, linking back to your site as the original source. If you have someone create a custom infographic for your business, make sure they include the URL to your website and your business name at the bottom of the image so your company can get the online credit for originating it. Then, post the infographic to your blog and share links to that post on your social media pages. Spread the word about your infographic to local influencers who may be interested in the topic, too.
3) “Snackable” Images 
Facebook’s Timeline redesign puts more emphasis on images in a user's news feed stream, and sites like Pinterest also feature images prominently in an aggregated feed. For both of these formats, small or “snackable” images tend to perform well. These images tend to be informational or illustration-based, but they are typically in a smaller or square format as opposed to the large, long-form images format used for infographics. Some include photos and text in the form of a miniature tutorial, while others include short quotes or share an interesting stat. These small informational images can be a great way to generate engagement, and businesses that create custom images like these can generate lots of likes and shares from this content type.
4) Meme-Related Images
Memes are extremely popular on social media sites and blogs, and one of the more popular formats for memes today is the image. Chances are, if you use Facebook, Pinterest, or Tumblr personally, you have seen people re-sharing popular meme-related images of all types. Your business may want to create meme-related images to share with your online community, or you could even create a meme of your own. In fact, the Google+ platform allows you to easily add text onto the images you share there, so you can use your own photos to create a unique meme. Or, consider sharing a photo and asking your fans or followers to “caption” the photo or add their own meme tagline.
5) Inside-Your-Business Photos
Is your business involved in your community? Do you have a unique culture or tradition or business “mascot” such as the owner’s beloved pet that customers love? Photos that illustrate and share the life of your business with fans and followers can generate a lot of engagement, especially on sites like Facebook and your blog. You might showcase a day in the life of an employee in the form of photos once a month. Or, take photos of the Little League team your business sponsors and share them in a Facebook album. Make sure to get permission from employees or customers you include in your photographs. Sharing these photos can bring your business to life online and help differentiate you from competitors.
These are just five types of images that you can use in your online marketing for your local business. You can find inspiration for images for your online marketing just by using sites where image sharing is popular. So, try sharing some of these image types to help build your brand and boost engagement.
Are you using images in your online marketing or social media efforts? What sites are you using to share images? Share your thoughts about the role of images in local online marketing in a comment!


About the Author
Tiffany Monhollon shares practical tips and insights about reaching consumers across the web as a blogger for ReachLocal. Follow her on Twitter and Google+

Types of Images You Should Be Posting Now | John Simensky

Visit any website, blog, or social media site today and you will see images as an important part of the content and layout. No matter where you go, images are now an integral part of the stories we tell online.  Because images are such an important part of today’s online landscape, it’s important to create and use the right kinds of photos across your entire Web presence. Effective images can help drive action and engagement from customers and prospects on photo-sharing sites, directories, blogs, and social media pages. Check out the types of photos you should be using to market your business online.

Product Images

There are many types of product images you can use across your Web presence to drive clicks to your website, build engagement from current and prospective customers, and grow awareness for your type of business in your local area. Here are a few types and examples of product images you should consider sharing.

• Best-Selling Products – Do you have products that fans and current customers rave about? Highlight them on your social media profiles, website, and local directories with a small description on what makes them top sellers.
• Before-and-After Shots – Sharing side-by-side before and after photos of the results of your products or services can be a great way to help potential customers visualize the value of your business. These illustrate the benefits of you what you have to offer in a way that words may not be able to fully demonstrate. Plus, there are many iPhone apps and Android apps that allow you to easily arrange side-by-side photos using images from your smartphone’s photo album.  
• Happy Customers and Their Comments – If your business has customer feedback cards, or if you have received special handwritten notes from your satisfied customers, snap a picture of them and use them to show positive feedback about your business. Make sure to ask the customer who wrote the feedback for permission to use their comments, and make sure to hide any personal information such as phone numbers or email addresses. You can also ask happy customers to provide their photo to post along with a written review, which can humanize your brand. 

Infographics

An infographic may take longer to put together than a photograph, but when done correctly, it can be a great tool for sharing information about your business or industry or to educate others about your types of products or services. For example, a sushi restaurant could create an infographic about the etiquette of eating sushi. Or, an orthodontist could share an infographic illustrating the top 10 foods to avoid when wearing braces and why. When you decide what content to feature in your infographic, there are several online infographic generator tools to help you develop your infographic, or you can hire a talented designer to help you create something shareable. Then, post your infographic on your blog and image-driven social media sites like Pinterest to get the word out.

Quote Images

Quotes are great pieces of content you use in “snackable” images, and they are simple to make with photo editing programs or easy-to-use quote graphic tools. Consider using inspirational quotes that relate to your business or that your fans will appreciate,  quotes from leaders of your company, or short messages from happy customers. Make sure to cite the quote’s author in the image itself. Also, creating a quote image with an attention-getting line from a blog post is a simple way to share your blog post on your social media sites. Just make sure to include a link back to your original post in the photo description.

Memes

From Grumpy Cat to Success Baby, you’ve probably seen many different memes posted on your social media sites. But, have you thought of using these as part of your business’ content marketing? For instance, GE has taken the Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” meme and turned it on its head, creating industry-related memes starring Thomas Edison. There are many different types of memes to choose from, but if you decide to use one as part of your content marketing, make sure it’s not offensive or crude. You can also upload your own image to start your own meme.

Culture Images

Posting images featuring your company’s culture is a great way to demonstrate your commitment to your employees and to your community. Do your employees volunteer at community events? Does your business sponsor a local animal shelter or youth sports team? If so, make sure you share photos of these events and goodwill on your website, blog, and social media pages. You may discover that you have even more in common with your fans and create new advocates within your online community. 

These are just some of the many types of images that you can post online to boost engagement with your brand and build your overall Web presence. What other types of images do you use as part of your content marketing strategy? Let us know in a comment! 

About the Author:

Tara Banda writes about how small business owners can reach local customers through online marketing for the ReachLocal blog. You can connect with her on Twitter.

7 Popular Types of Social Media Fans | John Simensky

What do all of your social media fans and followers have in common? They follow you on your social media sites. Aside from that, your social media fans can range dramatically – from the fans who like, retweet, or repin every one of your updates seconds after you post it to the angry “fans” who follow you only to share their bad customer experience.

However, by understanding the different types of consumers on social media, you can determine the best type of engaging content to post in order to get them to take action and share your content. This infographic features seven of the most common types of fans, and what they mean for your business on social media. 

About the Author:
Tara Banda writes about how small business owners can reach local customers through online marketing for the ReachLocal blog. You can connect with her on Twitter.

7 Tips for Recovering from a Bad Customer Experience | John Simensky

As much as every business would love for each of its customers to have an excellent experience each time they do business with them, in the real world, that’s not always how it works. Even the best brands and businesses have customers who, from time to time, have a less-than-positive experience – for a variety of reasons. So, here are seven tips for how to recover when a customer has a bad experience with your business.
1) Address the Complaint Quickly
Today, a customer may complain at the time of service or wait to make a phone call or email the business. Whenever and however a customer contacts you about a negative customer experience, it’s important to resolve their issue directly and as quickly as possible, for a number of reasons. First, you want the customer to know you care about their business and want them to return, so being quick to resolve their problems helps them feel more positive about your company while they are most concerned about their experience. Also, quickly resolving customer issues is critical in helping keep negative reviews about your company from showing up online. That’s because often, customers turn to review sites, social media outlets, or even blogs to express their frustration about a bad customer experience. So, not only does quickly resolving their issues help make the customer happier – it can also help nip negative reviews in the bud, protecting your online reputation.
2) Identify the Root of their Complaint
When a customer complains about a bad experience, they may mention a variety of issues when they speak with you. They may wander off topic and also share about their overall bad day, or an awful experience with a competitor, or anything else that’s on their mind. But, it’s important to respectfully listen to what they have to say, paying careful attention to the specifics they mention pertaining to your business. Did you miss your appointment window? Were your products or services below the level of quality the customer anticipated? Were they overcharged for their purchase? Did your staff or partners provide poor customer service? There are many potential issues that can arise, but it’s important to identify the root of the problem so you can respond to their specific issue and not just offer a blanket response to any and all complaints.
3) Offer a Resolution Immediately
If a customer is unhappy with your products or services, try to solve their problem and make sure their anger is resolved as soon as you hear about it, before they ever leave your business or, for service companies, before you leave them. The longer it takes for their issue to be resolved, the more upset they are likely to become. To make sure you can consistently offer immediate resolutions to customer complaints, create a system, procedure, or policy for each of the different types of bad customer experiences your business has faced so that you’ll have a go-to way to handle issues as soon as they arise.
4) Take Responsibility for their Experience
Is every customer complaint your fault? Probably not, but it’s important to take responsibility for whatever contribution you have had in the issue. Don’t blame the customer, because that is likely only going to make them more upset. Instead, identify the parts of the issue that your business played a part in, and let the customer know you are aware of your responsibility in the matter.
5) Offer a Heartfelt Apology
Next, make sure to apologize for the customer’s bad experience. Be sincere and genuine, and stay professional in your response. Let the customer know you appreciate their business and are sorry for any inconvenience caused. Don’t be snarky, frustrated, or terse in your conversation with the customer. Instead, put yourself in their shoes and let them know you care. A heartfelt apology can go a long way in helping ameliorate any animosity the customer may have and in keeping a negative review at bay.
6) Provide a Tangible Resolution 
In most cases, an apology alone, while nice, is not enough to truly recover from a bad customer experience. In order to fully resolve the issue with the customer, it’s usually best to offer a tangible resolution. For example, many businesses offer a discount, refund, or complimentary future product or service package, depending on the severity of the issue. If your business has caused harm to a customer or their property in some way, you may need to seek expert counsel on how to resolve the issue to avoid potential legal action.
7) Empower Your Team to Resolve Bad Experiences
“May I speak with a manager?” This is often one of the telltale questions that a customer has a complaint about your business. But often, the chain of command, authority, and approvals to get customer complaints resolved can make the process take more time and ultimately make the customer feel more frustrated instead of pleased at the outcome. So, to the best of your ability, empower your team to be a part of the complaint resolution process so that issues are handled at the front line instead of having to escalate them up for a true resolution. Of course, some situations are more severe than others, and due to the varying nature of customer complaints, they are ultimately handled on a case-by-case basis. But by getting your entire team trained on how to provide great customer service and finding consistent resolutions you can offer for the most common customer complaints, you can help reduce the number of customer complaints that you or your management has to deal with – and help ensure that your customers are happier as well.
How does your business handle customer complaints? Do you have a system or process in place to address bad customer experiences? What do you expect from businesses when you have a poor experience?
Share your thoughts in a comment!
Need help overcoming negative reviews customers have posted about your business online after a bad customer experience? Get our free ebook to learn how.
About the Author
Tiffany Monhollon shares practical tips and insights about reaching consumers across the web as a blogger for ReachLocal.

How Your Business Can Use the New Facebook Cover Photos | John Simensky

Are you familiar with the new Facebook cover photo rules?  You are now able to put calls to action and your website or address information in your Facebook cover photo, but there are still text restrictions.
Would you like some inspiration for what your business can do with a cover photo?
Many people have not updated their cover photos to be in compliance.
In this article I’ll tell you what’s changed and show you 9 examples and how you can leverage the new rules to boost your business.

Facebook’s New Rules

As of March 6, Facebook’s rules state that cover photos may not include more than 20% text. But the previous restrictions that were in place were removed (i.e., no calls to action, no websites and no address information).
The maximum 20% text rule also applies to any photo in a Facebook ad as well, so keep that in mind with your next ad campaign.
There was some initial confusion about how the 20% text area was measured, so Facebook came out with a post that clarified how this area was calculated and what was acceptable.

Check your Facebook cover photo with the Cover Compliance Tool.

Facebook Cover-Photo Compliance Tool
Use this tool by Paavo to help you see if your cover photo is in compliance. All you need to do is to put the link to your Facebook Page (or your Fan Page ID, whichever is easier for you) in the box labeled Fanpage ID and click the blue check mark. Then select the boxes that have text in them.

For cover photos, they have a grid of 25 blocks (5 x 5) over the photo. If there is text in more than 5 of those boxes, your photo is out of compliance.
One thing that is confusing in the example provided by Facebook is that there are a couple of boxes that have text extending slightly into the box and Facebook did not mark them as having text. Hmmm.
Also worth noting is that the 20% text policy doesn’t apply to pictures of products that include text on the actual product. But Facebook goes on to say that they aren’t allowing images that are edited to include text as a “loophole to policy.”
Some of these 9 examples may have a little text that appears in one other box (similar to Facebook’s own examples). The examples are for your inspiration and we recommend you comply with the 5-box maximum guideline to avoid any problems.

#1: Mari Smith – Facebook Marketing Expert

As usual, Mari does a great job with her Facebook marketing and is on top of the trends. Her cover photo does apply the fact that the image of the Facebook Marketing report shown is a product photo and therefore is not included in the 20% text allowance.

You can now have calls to action such as “Click Like!” with an arrow.

#2: Intuit – Small Business Products and Services

Even though it’s a little busy, I like the Intuit cover photo. It showcases some of the good things they are doing, as well as the members of the community. Your Facebook Page is always about your audience and how you can serve.

A good example of a brand showcasing their audience.

#3: Qlixite – Marketing Solutions

Qlixite does a great job with drawing your attention to the freebie that they have every month. The photo is simple and the graphics are eye-catching.

A simple photo with a big attention shift to the Apps space.

#4: James Haydon Coach Realtors

James Haydon Coach Realtors’ cover photo looks nice and is easy to create with Pagemodo. The free version will have the attribution in the lower right corner but if you sign up for their monthly subscription (with more capabilities), you can have the photo without the attribution.
As the new rules state, you can have your phone number on the cover photo and that is a smart idea for local businesses like realtors.

This cover photo was easily created with Pagemodo.

You can also use a free tool like Timeline Cover Banner or iPiccy to create a cool cover photo.

#5: Harvard Business Review

You may just want to keep things simple with an engaging picture. The Harvard Business Review chose an artistic shot from their current magazine.

Keep it simple with an interesting photo and no text.

Make sure you caption the photo to tell more about it and possibly include a link to your website to which you want to direct traffic.

#6: Through a Dog’s Ear

Through a Dog’s Ear has a great example of a cute picture (which is a little easier to do if your business involves dogs) and their tagline and website all in one cover photo.

Add your tagline and your website.

#7: Realty Austin

If your business revolves around your website, have it on your cover photo. Realty Austin has a simple, clean cover photo and their website address stands out.

Add your website prominently.

#8: Inbound Zombie

Talk about minimalist cover photos! Inbound Zombie has a very clear call to action on their cover photo and all within the new guidelines. Once you click on the tab clearly marked Free Webinar, you can then sign up right on Facebook.

No mistaking the call to action in this cover photo.

#9: Lawyers.com

This one may be outside the 20% rule, but I had to share it because it’s cool and it could easily be made compliant with some shifting of some text.

Feature something new.

Lawyers.com uploads a new cover photo that features their latest blog post. When you click on the picture, you get the link to the blog post in the description. Great way to showcase new content!
Final Thoughts
As the Facebook news feed changes start rolling out, it will become even more important to have an engaging and interesting cover photo.
Facebook is putting greater emphasis on cover photos when people interact with your Page. And if you have a Page that is noncompliant, it’s a good idea to fix that as soon as possible.

About the Author, Andrea Vahl

Andrea Vahl is the Community Manager for Social Media Examiner and the co-author Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies. She is also a social media coach, speaker and strategist. Other posts by Andrea Vahl »

I'm Doing Search Advertising, Now What? 5 Campaign Must-Dos

Now that you’ve started a search engine advertising campaign for your business, you’re probably wondering what you can do to get the most out of it. You may be wondering how to maximize campaign performance. Or how to drive down cost-per-clicks while reaching more targeted consumers. In the first part of this series, we’ll take a look at five ways you can boost your campaign performance to improve the return on your search advertising investment.
1. Test Text Ads
Text ads are the backbone of your search engine advertising campaign, so it’s crucial that they are compelling enough for someone to want to click on them and visit your site. You should already have one text ad, but running multiple ads at once can tell you which elements of your ads are the most effective so you can maximize their performance on the search engines.
When writing your ads, take the time to think about the kinds of things that will get potential customers to click, like a descriptive headline, special offer, or a great call to action. You could also try dynamic keywords – a technology that automatically replaces your text ad headline with the exact keyword phrase that was typed into the search engine – which can be effective way to drive more clicks from your campaign. Then, when you know which ads work best for your business (it may take a few weeks or months to really tell), you can use only the ones that bring the most people to your business. And if you’re running search advertising with ReachLocal, our technology will do this for you automatically.
2. Bid On Your Business Name
You’re probably already bidding on top business keywords such as the products and services you offer along with geographic modifiers, like “kitchen cabinet installation Orlando,” to reach consumers in your local area. But have you thought about bidding on your own business name? It might seem counterintuitive, but this practice is actually very common among big brands. Plus, not only does it help you own more real estate in the search results at a relatively low cost, but it also helps prevent your competitors – who may also be bidding on your business name – from showing up when someone searches specifically for your business.
3. Review Your Quality Score
Knowing your quality score can help you make changes that can improve the performance of your search advertising campaign. Your quality score is influenced by the how well your keywords generate clicks, the relevance of your text ad to the terms you are bidding on, and the content on your landing page. But most importantly, your quality score is affected by how effectively all these elements relate to one another, because they can directly influence the user’s experience with your brand.
One way to do improve your quality score if you are running your own search advertising is to make sure you’re bidding on relevant keywords for your brand. For instance, using long-tail, geo-targeted keywords can be much more effective for  your search campaign than broad keywords. That’s because less-specific terms like “braces” can quickly use up your budget without producing great results, since your ad may be showing up for searchers who are not really interested in your business. So, something like “where to get braces Plano” might be a better option.
When it comes to your quality score, it’s also important to make sure your text ads and landing page copy align with one another in order to create a consistent experience for both consumers and search engines. By making these tweaks to your, keywords, text ads, and landing page content, you may start to see an improvement in campaign metrics like cost per click, minimum bid amount, frequency at which your ad is shown, and the position of your ad on the search engine results page.
4. Segment Your Ads
If you’re running multiple, disparate text ads (for different products or services), you can use ad groups to segment the them into smaller, more specific groups – such as one group for an A/C tune-up and one for general handyman services. This way, the ad being displayed for a specific product or service-related search is more relevant to the business-related keywords entered into the search bar.
You can use ad groups to create different ads for specific products and services, seasonal offers, deals and discounts, or events. When it comes to running multiple ad groups, it’s important that the keywords you are bidding on, the text ad copy, and the landing page you’re sending traffic to are all focused on the same topic, which can improve the user experience as well as your quality score.
5. Use Sitelinks
Sitelinks are a type of ad extension that search engines like Google use to display additional content about your business within your text ad. In addition to your website or landing page, your text ad can also show up to six links for additional Web pages you want to drive consumers to, such as a store locator page, deals page, or specific product page. This can be especially useful for driving conversions, because it gives you a larger presence on the search engines.
In addition, sitelinks also give consumers more flexibility over what information they see from your business website, driving more clicks and reducing bounce rates once they land on your site. Remember that each landing page you send consumers to from your text ad should be optimized for conversions, including information like your business hours, location, and a call to action and phone number so that prospects can easily contact you.
What other tactics have you used to improve the performance of your search ads? In the next part of this series, we’ll cover five ways to drive more conversions from your search advertising landing page.

Related Articles

• Why SEO Isn't Enough: 6 No-Brainer Reasons to Use Search Advertising
• Ways to Freshen Your Brand in 2013
• 5 Types of Online Marketing You Should Be Doing By Now

About the Author
Tamara Weintraub helps equip small business owners with information about local online advertising, social media, and content marketing as a writer for the ReachLocal blog.

John Simensky | ReachLocal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH7Ofw0thp4

Is Your Reputation Helping or Hurting Your Business? Get the Ebook

Is your online reputation helping you win more business or causing you to lose potential customers? You may think you know the answer, but how can you be sure?

It’s time to evaluate what your reputation looks like, because your online reputation matters to your potential customers. That’s because today, 97% of consumers use online media when researching products in their local area, according to BIA/Kelsey.

Let that sink in – 97%.

What do your potential customers see when they search for your business online? What do they discover about your business when they visit review sites? What about social media, blogs, and other websites? What are customers saying about your company online, and what can you do about it?

It’s important to know the answers to these critical questions. Our latest ebook, Navigating Your Online Reputation: Your Complete Guide, will help you navigate the tricky process of reputation management so that you can identify any potential reputation issues your business may have on search engines, reviews sites, and the rest of the Web. It also helps you understand how to monitor your reputation and address any issues that you discover. Plus, it offers practical tips and advice you can use to build your reputation and help consumers find great content, reviews, and testimonials about your business.

Get started learning how to manage your reputation online by downloading the free ebook today. 

Source: http://blog.reachlocal.com/692904/2013/05/06/is-your-reputation-helping-or-hurting-your-business-get-the-ebook.html

How to Shift From Guest Posting to Content Marketing in 6 Basic Steps

Eric Enge, May 5, 20137 Comments

•SEO Evolution: Sell, Discover, Deliver & Report on Highly Converting Keywords by Krista LaRiviere, gShift Labs

Perhaps you have been doing guest posting for a while. Regardless of what you may have read about the next major release of Google's Penguin algo, fundamentally, guest posting remains a sound concept. In fact, link building is still legal (the referenced post was +1'ed by Google's John Mueller), you just have to go about it the right way.

This may mean you need to make some changes. If you've been guest posting solely to obtain links, without regard to any other benefit, here's how to make the shift into a high value content marketing campaign.

1. Aim High

You can keep guest posting, honest you can. But, you may need to pick your targets differently.

Major media/blog sites are always hungry for content. Some of these sites do accept guest posting content. It is easy to check to see if they do, with a search query such as: [site:nytimes.com "guest post"] (without the []):

The big key to this is to find sites where the editorial policy is highly respected and the search engine trust for the site is likely to be very high. If you historically pursued guest posts solely for purposes of getting links, most probably with rich anchor text, than chances are that the sites you posted on don't have that high a level of trust with the search engines.

In fact, rejoice when you find a site that won't allow rich anchor text in the post or the attribution. This by itself is a decent signal of a strong editorial policy.

2. Think About a Column

If you are locked into the world of PageRank and rich anchor text, chances are that you would view publishing multiple articles with the same site as a waste of time. Classical PageRank thinking would lead one to believe that repeat posts at the same site would have diminishing value. However, it is time to invert that thinking.

Let's get human for a minute. Imagine I told you I got an article published in the New York Times (I haven't, but that is why I said "imagine"). You would be impressed, right? Now, imagine I told you I had a column with the New York Times. Which one impresses you more? No question that it is the column that creates the greatest human impression.

Let's draw the analogy out a little further. Imagine I told you that I had published articles in 15 different newspapers, including one in the New York Times, and one in the Washington Post, along with 13 other decent quality sites. Which impresses you (as a human) more, this shotgun blast approach, or the idea that I had a New York Times column.

I still vote for the column, as it is a much stronger indicator of a very high level of trust to hae a column than to get one placement. And, trust me (pun intended), the search engines are likely to look at it the same way as they want to understand how people value things as a basis for their algos.

Oh, and if you have a column in the New York Times, it's probably far easier to get other people on other sites interested in publishing your articles than if you don't.

3. Establish Authority

Where you publish is one component of this, but the other major component is what you publish. It has to be new and interesting and help people understand something they didn't understand before.

In general, you won't become famous for writing a new article on "mortage tips":

However, the topic doesn't always need to be totally new. Suze Orman has made a career of making information that has been published thousands of times before more digestable and understandable for the many. But, she still achieved prominence through unique packaging of the content and her personality.

How can you measure your progress in developing authority? Here are a few metrics to look at:

1. Where are you publishing and how often? This is one of the reasons to Aim High and Think About a Column.
2. Are you getting the tweets/+1s/shares/Likes/comments? I don't believe that any of these metrics is the "new link", but, they provide an excellent way to for measuring audience engagement, and hence the authority of an author.
3. Are you getting speaking engagements? This may not seem like a search engine measurable metric, but you can measure it, and you should. Do people want to hear what you have to say? If they do, then the social sharing and high quality writing opportunities will likely follow.

4. Build Strong Social Media Presences

This is just basic common sense PR. Sharing your published content through your social channels can provide a beautiful virtuous circle like this one:

Many people think that the size of your social channel is another way you can measure the development of your authority over time. Don't try to artificially inflate your followings though, as that is a false indicator.

Any social media site or search engine can see the number of interactions you get per follower, or measure the ratio of you many followers to following you have. Strong social media presences are more about the engagement that takes place with your content than it is the volume of followers and friends.

5. Influence Influencers

Relationships with influencers can add a great deal to your overall content marketing campaign. For one thing, they act as accelerators for the virtuous circle we spoke of in the previous point:

The key here is to do more than just meet them, you have to bring enough to the table so they see value in the communication with you. Perhaps like Suze Orman you simplify complex concepts. Or, you may be valued for your analytical skills, or you may conduct groundbreaking research.

It is particularly useful if you can help them solve problems that the influencers have. These may be simple questions they ask in their blog articles or on social media, but anything you can do to attract their attention is great.

One you get to the point where you begin to help or influence them, your social share rate by them is likely to increase. Be aware that these relationships require maintenance. You need to keep influencing them, and if that influence fades, so does their response.

6. Relate

Learn the secrets of creating amazing content at SES Toronto 2013:

• Content Marketing Tactics from the Trenches: How to Execute a Blog & Social Strategy
• SEO Driving Impactful Content

See the full agenda.

It is great to work on developing your connections with influencers, but there has to be more to it and than that. You have to help others. To use a Twitter example, someone with 600 followers may not be a major influencer, but the community will notice if you help them out, and you will create a very powerful fan in the process.

Your efforts shouldn't only be about you or about the influencers (though both are important), but how you play a role in the larger community. Find a way to relate to the community as a whole, and this is a sure way to grow your overall authority.

Summary

There is a lot more that goes into a fully built out content marketing strategy, but there are the major foundation components. From an SEO perspective, all this work relates to making yourself an organic link magnet. As an authority, with great visibility, and publishing great content, you will get links.

Your content will be the stuff that everyone wants to reference, and these are the type of links that Google wants you to get. Organic. Citations. Pure as gold.