Archive for March, 2010

How To Handle Bad Reviews And Lies

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 12:16 am  
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By Mike Moran -

When my friend called me, there was a little panic in his voice. He owned a successful, customer-friendly small business, and was generally an easygoing person. But he didn’t know what to do. A long-time and loyal customer alerted him to a savage review of his business on an Internet Yellow Pages site. And so now he was turning to me to find out what he could do about it.

I asked him for the details and he ruefully related the story. When he read the review, he immediately knew who the unhappy client was, recognizing some details in the story. He told me that this client had been impossible, constantly changing her mind about what she wanted with no notice, and although he did his best to satisfy her, at the end he had to tell her that he had done all he could for what he had been paid.

Image representing Yelp as depicted in CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBase

He would have understood if she had honestly expressed her disappointment in him in the review (even though he felt she was expecting way too much), but what irked him no end was that her review attributed egregious bits of behavior to him that were completely made up from whole cloth. He had objective proof that some of her comments were lies.
This isn’t an isolated case. Although most reviews are factual, and some small businesses have it coming, there’s nothing stopping dissatisfied customers from responding in extreme ways. And the services that post such reviews, such as Yahoo! Yellow Pages and Yelp, don’t want to be in the position of having to discern who’s telling the truth, letting the “wisdom of crowds” sort things out.

So, what’s a small business to do? First, treat your customers well, remembering that they have more power than you think. Encourage your happy customers to post reviews online, so that the wisdom of your crowd is in evidence–that will dilute the power of any one negative review.

When someone posts a bad review, consider engaging that person online to try to make amends.

Unfortunately, it might require that you develop a thicker skin, because the rudeness of some online reviews might be more than you can bear. One San Francisco bookstore owner was arrested for battery after responding to a Yelp reviewer.

But that’s no reason to accept outright lies. When it clearly goes beyond a difference of opinion, and you can prove you’ve been wronged, go to the review site and plead your case. Show them that it’s a lie and ask them to remove it.

That’s what my friend did, and Yahoo! Yellow Pages, to their credit, did remove the dishonest review. But my friend learned form the situation. Now, he solicits good reviews and he works harder to satisfy even the nut jobs. It’s a different world out there, so make sure you know how to make your way through it.


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Do You Understand The Differences Between Design and Development?

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 at 12:07 am  
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By Stacy Karacostas -

You may see the words design and development used interchangeably, however, technically, they are two very different but integral parts of a website.

Website Design is the process in which a designer creates the visual aesthetic of your site using colors, fonts, images, proportion, etc.  This can be done by the web designer or by a graphic designer.

Website Development is the coding of a website in order for it to be displayed properly on the web.  Also, coding for the functionality and usability like navigation and links, a back-end database, or viewing of a flash movie, and for adding tags for search engine optimization.

Some graphic designers may say that they provide web design services, but most will say that web development is not their strong suit and that they actually prefer to just create the design and layout.  Some web designers are not strong in the design side either and will sometimes use pre-designed templates and content management systems to create their sites.

When searching for a web specialist to hire, be sure you understand the difference and make sure they do as well to assure that your website is created correctly and completely.



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AdWords Advertisers Get A New Tool For Conversion Tracking

Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 1:48 pm  
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By Chris Crum
Thursday, March 25, 2010

If you run an online business, there is a good chance you’re using paid search in your marketing strategy. If that’s the case, there’s also a good chance you use Google AdWords, and if that is the case, you may be interested to know that Google is offering a new AdWords tool called Search Funnels. Do you think Search Funnels will be helpful?

“Conversions in AdWords are attributed to the last ad clicked before the conversion happened, but how many other ads of yours did customers click or see that preceded that final search and click? How much time past from the first time they saw your ad and that final conversion?” asks Google. The Search Funnels tool is designed to help answer questions like these.

The tool is also designed to help advertisers make “informed decisions bout their keywords, ad groups, and campaigns,” according to Miles Johnson on Google’s Inside AdWords blog.

“By showing which ads your customers clicked on before ultimately converting, Search Funnels give a more complete picture of the value of your keywords, ad groups and campaigns,” says Johnson. For an example, read this.

Conversions reported in the Search Funnels tool are tracked by the AdWords Conversion Tracking tag or are imported from Google Analytics after linking your AdWords and Analytics accounts.

The tool provides users with a Top Conversions report, as well as Assisted Conversions, First and Last Click Analysis, Time Lag, and Path Length reports.

The Search Funnels tool is currently in beta status, and will be rolled out gradually over the next few weeks to AdWords users in the “Conversions” section under the reporting tab.

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How Important are Domains to Your Online Strategy?

Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 3:25 am  
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

WebProNews had a couple of interesting conversations about domains at the Search Marketing Expo – one with Moniker Founder and President Monte Cahn, and one with Senior Vice President, Client Services at Performics, Michael Kahn.

Do you use domains to drive traffic?

Cahn talked specifically about how your domain relates to your brand, and the importance of making sure the right one is available when coming up with a name for you brand. Products have their own brands, and this way of thinking can be applied to those in many cases. Cahn noted that even the big companies make mistakes in this area. For example, you would expect Apple to own iPad.com, but someone else has that domain.

He also talked about the importance of covering your brand in terms of domain names. This means getting all variations possible. Get typos, different extensions and country codes, etc. Use 301 redirects on misspells of key brands (including singular/plural versions). However, when it comes to domain names for different products, he says it’s best to build sub-sites around those with their own content, which can help drive link juice, SEO value, and traffic.

Kahn talked more about the fact that people are still going directly to domains through direct navigation.
“Direct nav and domaining is one of the oldest practices you can have in the Internet and web space,” he said. “I think it’s been forgotten with all that’s happening in search and social, but this is the strategy where you are going out and buying domain names that can be feeder sources of traffic into your main site or because of consumer use of those domains and then typing those into the browser box, you can set up content, and use those to drive consumer engagement with your brand through other means besides your own primary URL.”

“Someone could build out a hundred domains driving towards their main domain, in many instances you might do a 301 redirect, if it’s a small domain, with not a lot of traffic,” he said. “With the bigger ones, let’s say you’re in the insurance category, and you’re Allstate Insurance Company, and you end up with freeinsurancequotes.com as a domain you want to have, you’re probably going to want to build out content on that, optimize that for both paid search and SEO, and use it as a traffic driver that also ends up with traffic back for Allstate.”

The video of the discussion with Kahn had a couple of good comments:

“Simplifying the name in the domain will help people remember your brand is a positive thing.”

“Generic domain names especially command a huge amount of traffic, both directly in type-in traffic and indirectly in the huge SEO benefit an exact term matching generic domain grants for the search term.”

It’s a good idea for businesses to keep in mind that domains should be easy to remember, not too long, easy to spell, relevant to the brand, and avoid complicating characters such as hyphens. Though there are exceptions, simplicity is key.

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    Keep Learning To Keep Growing Your Business

    Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 11:27 am  
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    Stacy KaracostasBy Stacy Karacostas – Mon, 03/08/2010 -

    One of the keys to growing any business is to keep learning and stay open to new ideas. That’s why, every so often, I like to share a few of the books that have most recently topped my must-read list. Some of are non-fiction and specific to your business, and a couple simply inspired and entertained me in special ways that make them worth sharing.

    Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

    My new favorite read…This book is right up there with Cialdini’s Influence, and a must read for anyone interested in the psychology of why we buy what we buy, or why we make some of the clearly illogical decisions we’re all prone to make. Author Ariely, a professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT, is clearly fascinated with this subject and his fascination quickly rubs off. He believes that most of our irrational is totally predictable. And though he’s often discussing his own research studies, the writing is anything but dull or academic. Ariely’s delivery is informative and entertaining—sometimes even laugh out loud funny (people do make the darndest choicest!). Entrepreneurs, salespeople, and anyone who ever buys anything will benefit from reading this book.

    Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori and Rom Brafman

    While not quite as good as Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational—perhaps because they rely on secondhand studies while Dan is writing about the results of his own research—if you’re at all fascinated by Behavioral Economics, and why we make the choices we make, this is a worthwhile read. If you’re an entrepreneur or a salesperson, it will give you insight into what might sway a prospect into buying from you. For everyone else, it’s an illuminating look at how irrational we humans can be.

    Riches in Niches: How to Make it BIG in a Small Market by Susan Friedmann

    As more and more business start taking advantage of the marketing power of the Internet, competition grows. The solution is to become known as an expert in a particular niche! But how do you do this without losing out on all that “other” business? Friedmann breaks it all down into simple, manageable steps in this helpful book. Regardless of the size of your business, there are big lessons to be learned here. And while the small type and pages jammed with text can seem a little daunting at first, she does a terrific job of breaking everything down it bullets, numbered lists and bit sized pieces. If you want to make your business stand out from the competition read this now!

    Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo

    This is by far my favorite fiction book of the year…So much so that I keep feeling compelled to give it as a gift. If you’re looking for a good read that’ll make you laugh and think…This is a winner! Given to me by a friend before a long plane flight, I had few expectations when I cracked the cover. I was more than pleasantly surprised by what I found on its pages. Merullo is a skillful wordsmith; painting vivid pictures with surprising turns-of phrase that stick with you long after the page has turned. And he takes you along on an often amusing journey across the country, and into one man’s exploration of spirituality. Light reading with a deeper context—you can enjoy it as the often hilarious page-turner it is, or spend time contemplating the subtext. Either way you’re sure to enjoy it.

    Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

    Read this book, and you’ll never again be able to deny the power any one person has to change the world. This is a true account of mountain climber Greg Mortenson’s quest to provide education to impoverished boys and girls in Afghanistan…Something he never set out to do. But after losing his way on the way down from an aborted summit attempt on K2, he spent time recovering in a tiny mountain village in Afghanistan. To pay back the villages hospitality he promised to return and build a school. Today Greg is co-founder of the Central Asia Institute, and has built more than 130 schools in the most remote areas of the Afghanistan and Pakistan. If you need a solid dose of inspiration, look no further.

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