How are you using the world wide web?

Several years ago, one of my clients decided to upgrade their web site. They own an automotive service station - a business most wouldn't expect to get a lot of traffic from the web. He didn't change the look of the site too much, but he did concentrate his efforts on re-writing text, adding new meta descriptions and keywords, including descriptions for photos, etc. The idea was to increase the SEO score for his site.

A team of three different companies worked on the site... Mainstay was responsible for optimizing the text with the proper frequency of keywords. In addition to getting the site up to snuff with SEO text, our client focused on marketing its web site to various search engines and directories. I must say, the response has been phenomenal.

Once a quarter we track the marketing results for this client and I was shocked to see how much business was coming from the internet leads. I knew he was getting a good response from the internet, but when we actually looked at the data, we found that his web site was now accounting for at least 25% of new business coming into his shop. No longer were people looking in the yellow pages to find their mechanic... they were turning to the internet.

A recent article in "internet retailer" highlighted the findings of a study done by CSO Insights (a copy of this article can be accessed by clicking on the link at the end of this post). This report notes that many retailers are turning to web-based marketing strategies because it is with these strategies they get their best return on investment.

If the internet isn't a big part of your marketing plan, perhaps you should reconsider how you use the internet and web-based marketing strategies in your business. It's quite obvious... people are now turning to the web. When they do, make sure they find your company.

To view this article, click HERE.

What was this business owner thinking?!

I must share a story of how I was recently treated by a business owner. My desire is that business owners will read this on NOT follow this person's example.

A little over a month ago, my parents and I had an appointment with a Naturopathic Doctor. I won't go into details on how the appointment was arranged, but I will say that this ND was not from the area.

During this appointment, certain testing was done to identify problems with organs within the body. After the appointment was over, the ND suggested the use of certain homeopathic remedies and supplements. Although the products were not available to us at the visit, we paid in cash and assumed the items would be shipped to us as soon as this ND returned to her office.

Several days after the appointment, my mother called the ND's office to order several more bottles of one of the remedies. At the time, she gave her credit card number and was under the assumption the products would be shipped right away. A week later, we received only a partial order.

Several weeks later, we still had not received the additional products so we called to follow-up on the status. We were first told they did not have the items or my mother's credit card information. We were then later told they did have the order and the items were on back order. At the same time, my mother checked her credit card and found that $41 was charged to the card. We were not sure why the card would have been charged because we had not received any of the products.

Now, here's where it gets dicey for this business owner. Over a month went by and we still had not received anything. I was given the email address for the ND, so I proceeded to inquire by email. At the same time I sent the email, I asked the ND for some very basic information on the treatments she had originally suggested.

What happened next is still a shock to me. I was treated with extreme rudeness and contempt. The ND kept insisting we had received products during our visit. She also had all the billing information wrong. She even went as far as to insinuate that my mother must be losing her mind because she never called to place the order and give her credit card information.

She finally ended her discourse by telling me she did not have time to deal with this and that if I bothered her more regarding the billing and shipment of items, she would charge me a consultation fee. She also refused to give me any clarification on treatment because she didn't getting paid what she normally would for the initial consultation. The sad part was that I didn't negotiate the price for the initial consultation; she did.

I'm sorry folks, but her behavior was unprofessional AND unethical. We found that her office staff charged my mother's credit card for items that we had already paid for. Shouldn't she care about how her office staff is handling orders for customers? I also did not feel it was appropriate for her to refuse to answer questions on treatment. She negotiated the original price and should be honoring that commitment.

Why would a business owner treat any customer the way we were treated? Some may assume it is because she doesn't know any better. I say it is because she cares more about what she is getting than what she is giving... a very bad attitude to have when you are running a business.

Surveys are a great way to solicit customer feedback

In the past, if you had a product or service and someone had a need for what you were selling, they bought. These days every business is trying to customize their products and services to the wants and needs of the "individual." A great way to facilitate this customization is through a survey. Creating your own script for a survey can be quite tedious, and quite frankly, who really has the time.

Constant Contact, the #1 provider of on-demand e-mail marketing solutions, now has the capability of generating surveys. Their surveys will help you gain insight into what motivates your customer. You can add a survey to any e-mail campaign which will generate powerful results for your business.

If you are not already using Constant Contact to manage the e-marketing component of your business, you really must take a look at what they offer. We've provided a link to their site below.

Time to start planning for 2008

When did you last sit down to take a hard look at how your business was progressing and strategize for the upcoming year? Sad to say, many small business owners often overlook this essential element of operating a business. We hope you are not one of them and will take the time to plan for 2008. To guide you in this process, here are some things to consider:

1. Make an honest assessment of your achievements and shortfalls for the year. Looking at the achievements will help give you a sense of accomplishment and encourage you for the year to come. However, you must also look at what didn't work so well during the year and thoroughly assess what could have caused the breakdown. Were you short on staff? Did you cut back on your marketing? Were there any industry-related problems that affected your sales? Once you identify the problem areas, you can create solutions for the coming year.
2. Look at your Return on Investment (ROI) for marketing. We hope you've been tracking the results you've been getting from your marketing efforts. If you are not already asking every new customer how they heard about you, start now. If you have been tracking, evaluate what marketing and advertising campaigns are working and cut out the ones that are not giving you great results.
3. Identify what you would like to accomplish in 2008. Where would you like to take your business? Are there new products and services you would like to introduce? Set reasonable goals for 2008 and delineate all the action steps that need to be taken to meet those goals.
4. Create a marketing budget. Once you have identified all your action steps, you will be able to set up a marketing budget for the year.
   
5. Pat yourself on the back. Once your plan for 2008 is complete, take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back - you've accomplished something that many small business owners won't do.
   

If you don't have the time for or you need help with your planning, retain the services of a professional. Spending a little bit of money on a marketing consultant to help you plan will reap you great benefits in the long run.