Relationship marketing is a much more effective method of building a business than the typical pushy salesman approach.
Making the sale should not be your immediate goal. Connecting with your prospect and building a relationship is what should be foremost in your marketing strategy. You want to accomplish a long-term relationship with your customer not just a quick sale.
A customer needs to find a business they can feel comfortable with, and trust in, to provide what they need. Building relationships is a crucial step in this process. It may take several interactions, whether by e-mail, phone or in person, with a customer to make a sale. Do not make your customer feel pushed or intimidated into buying. There are many things you can do to show your potential customer you are interested in more than just “making the sale.”
1. Focus on Customer Needs – Don’t make your customer feel that all you want is their money. Take the time to find out what they really need and let them know how you can fulfill those needs. You have to put your customer’s need for problem solution above your need to make the sale.
2. Really Listen to Your Prospects – Listening to your prospect is common sense to us but, unfortunately, in our need to make a sale, we might overlook this. Don’t let outside distractions take away any of your attention. Reserve 100 percent for your customer and really listen to what he or she is saying to you. Do not let your feelings or your ego stand in the way of listening to your customer. Don’t go by the book. Every customer and situation is different and you have to follow the current conversation not a script.
3. Be Available – Always, always have your contact information such as e-mail address, phone number, etc. readily available to give to your prospects and customers. They need to be comfortable in the fact that they can reach you anytime they need you.
4. Offer Information and Resources – Offer free information, reports, resources, etc. on your website, blog, or newsletter. Let your customer know you want to help them with all their needs. Provide a weekly mailing with helpful tips, hints and information. Show them you are willing to go the extra mile to help.
5. Personalized Greetings – Don’t just take the money and vanish. Stay in touch with your customers to help build that lasting long-term relationship. Send out personalized holiday greetings, well wishes etc. with greeting cards, postcards or e-mail. Even just sending a hand-written thank you note will go a long way in forming that lasting relationship.
6. Provide Ongoing Support – Many times after a person purchases something, customers have questions or concerns about that purchase. Make sure you provide ongoing support by e-mail or phone so their questions and their concerns can be addressed. Unfortunately, too many times, companies seem to disappear once the purchase is complete. Don’t let that be you and your company.
7. Be Honest – In our eagerness to make the sale, we sometimes stretch the truth or completely abandon it. Never make promises you cannot fulfill or claims you cannot live up to. If the customer needs something you cannot provide, discuss possible options or alternatives or refer them to someone who can take care of their needs. Never make false claims even if you do have good intentions.
8. Show Respect – This goes without saying, no matter how difficult the customer or situation. There are customers that can certainly try our patience, but you must never lose your temper with a customer. Talk to them calmly and let them know you will do what you can to take care of the problem. Show them that you can work through their crisis and take care of the problem. Your calmness and confidence will help calm them down and reassure them that all will be well again.
9. Customer Appreciation - Offer your customers discounts, incentives, prizes or rewards any time you can to show them you appreciate them. There are companies that have incentives for new customers but nothing for existing customers. This is definitely not right. You need to show your existing customers you appreciate them as well. Send coupons, free gifts, etc. Doing so could mean a lot to your customer and your business.
10. Connect with Your Customer – Make the effort to actually connect with your customer as a person, not just to make a sale. Gone are the old school ways of making sales with pushy sales pitches, intimidation, scare tactics, etc. We now know relationship marketing and mutual respect and trust sets the tone for long-lasting buyer/seller associations.
Even though you are in business for yourself, think of your customer as your boss. You work for your customer. You are there for your customer. You need your customer more than he needs you. Always value your customer and show them they can value you.
Thứ Tư, 31 tháng 10, 2012
Thứ Hai, 29 tháng 10, 2012
80 Holiday 'GameStop Kids' Stores
GameStop is jumping into the holiday pop-up store game with the launch of GameStop Kids, which will focus on offerings for your favorite young gamer.
Call of Duty: Black Ops or Assassin's Creed might not be the most appropriate selection for your second grader, so GameStop Kids will focus on options like Lego and Star Wars. The first of 80 pop-up holiday stores opens today in the Grapevine Mills Mall in Grapevine, Texas.
"From Angry Birds to Hello Kitty, GameStop Kids stores will feature an assortment of this season's most sought after video games and accessories, video game licensed products, popular toy brands and collectibles," the store said in a statement. That includes:
- Skylanders: GameStop exclusive Golden Dragonfire Cannon Battlepack, additional characters, throws, backpacks, carriers, and displays
- Angry Birds: Angry Birds plush with sound effects, splat balls, mash'ems launcher pack, backpack clips, mugs, and coming soon: Angry Birds Star Wars plush
- Lego: Lord of the Rings, Stars Wars, and Harry Potter build sets along with Marvel character build sets
- Star Wars: Two-foot plush talking Chewbacca, key chains, phone cases, banks, and more
- Minecraft: Minecreeper head, LEGO Minecraft Microworld, and foam pick axe
"We are always striving to make the shopping experience better for holiday gift givers," Bob Puzon, GameStop's vice president of merchandising, said in a statement. "GameStop Kids takes that one step further by having the hottest brands and products that people of all ages can love."
Microsoft also has several holiday pop-up stores planned to show off its new operating system, Windows 8, and Surface tablet. One of the stores opened this week in New York's Times Square.
8 Tips for Windows 8
There are a slew of security features in Windows 8 that we like (picture passwords, built-in antivirus, Secure Boot, among others). However, the changes in the graphical user interface, the introduction of the new online app store, and new capabilities raises security concerns.
The following are some tips from the folks at Sophos on how to stay safe on Windows 8.
Which IE? The One in the UI
Internet Explorer has changed in Windows 8. One browser platform, but depending on how you are using it, you get two different experiences. There is the new Internet Explorer in the Windows UI and Internet Explorer for the desktop. While the desktop IE is familiar, IE in Windows UI have plugins disabled by default. Considering that plugins have become a major attack vector for exploit kits such as Blackhole, minimizing the attack surface as much as you can sounds like a great idea.
Exercise Application Control
Application control can help prevent malware from infecting your shiny Windows 8 system. Even if Microsoft is scrutinizing all apps listed in the Windows Store, users should assume that malicious apps may accidentally slip through. All applications in the Windows Store must list what resources they require access to. Review the permission carefully and make sure the apps aren't asking for too much.
Watch Out for AppsUsers should be careful when switching to apps for the new Windows 8 user interface (formerly known as Metro), Sophos recommended. Some applications have been completely re-written for the new user interface, so familiar applications may work differently than they used to. Existing security and management tools may no longer be able to monitor some of your applications.
Can You Detect Malicious Apps?Related to the above point, make sure your security vendor of choice can flag Windows 8 UI apps that are malicious. Your security product should be able to distinguish between regular applications and Windows 8 apps, and be able to flag apps which are malicious, have been modified, or have an invalid license.
"Designed for Windows 8"Make sure any Windows 8 hardware you buy has the "Designed for Windows 8" logo. This logo means the hardware is UEFI compliant, which is the only way users can take advantage of the Secure Boot functionality available in Windows 8. Secure Boot allows only signed code to run during the boot up process to minimize the risk of boot loader attacks.
Don't Encrypt and Hibernate
If possible, disable hard drive encryption hibernation. Encrypting the hard drive is a critical part of data security, and with BitLocker and the option to add self-encrypting drives, Windows 8 makes it even easier to protect data. However, Sophos recommends the hibernation option in Windows 8 be disabled through group policy, as it doesn’t always work well with encryption.
Windows RT is a Mobile Device
Treat Windows RT (the version of Windows 8 that would be installed on ARM hardware) devices as any other mobile device and protect them accordingly. Disable apps that you don't need, and make sure you have the ability to track, control, remote wipe and encrypt them.
Do You Need NFC?If you don't need them, block them. Near-field communications can be cool, but it's better to block the near field communications features you don’t need and don't plan to use.
Driver Windows 8 for All Laptop (Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, e-Machine, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Visio, Microsoft)
Fancy yourself an early adopter, but don't want to shell out the money to buy one of the many new Windows 8 systems offered by Microsoft and other manufacturers? What about those who bought a new PC recently, and find themselves stuck with Windows 7? Well, you're in luck, because Microsoft, in an effort to boost Windows 8 adoption, is offering to upgrade eligible systems on the cheap. For $14.99—15 bucks!—anyone who purchased a qualified Windows 7 laptop after June 2 of this year can purchase a download of Windows 8 Pro. And for those who don't meet those requirements, the full operating system can still be purchased for $39.99 (via download) or $69.99 (on disc).
But not all laptops will be able to make the jump to Windows 8. According to Microsoft, the minimum hardware requirements for running Windows 8 include a processor with a clock speed of 1GHz or more; at least 2GB of RAM for 64-bit systems (or 1GB for 32-bit), 20GB of hard drive space (16GB for 32-bit), and DirectX 9-capable graphics. Most—but not all—PCs running Windows 7 will meet these requirements, but it should be noted that if you purchased Windows 7 Starter Edition, you'll be paying full price.
You should also know that many features integral to getting the full Windows 8 experience require further hardware capabilities. The touch-based navigation that Windows 8 is built around requires a touch screen, though touch-enabled peripherals can make up some of the difference. Purchasing and downloading apps for the Windows Store—which Microsoft expects will be your primary source of apps and software—requires an active Internet connection. And while the operating system will work at resolutions as low as 1,024-by-768, you'll need to bump that up to at least 1366-by-768 in order to use apps side-by-side.
Beyond the basic hardware requirements, you'll also need device drivers to get all of your hardware playing nicely with the new operating system. While most manufacturers are offering driver support for PCs sold over the last year, the cutoff date varies, so check the details for your specific brand below. And if you don't see your brand below, check back over the next few weeks, as we will be updating this story as more information becomes available.
Acer
Acer offers driver support for Windows 7 laptops purchased between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013, as well as offering an upgrade assistant to guide you through the specifics of the upgrade process for dozens of Acer systems.
Apple
Apple is offering no support for Windows 8 at this time.
Asus
Asus offers a free Windows 8 upgradefor qualified systems sold between October 1 through December 31 of this year. It should be noted, however, that the upgrade is only free after a mail-in rebate, and only a handful of systems are eligible.
Dell/Alienware
Dell (and subsidiary Alienware) is supporting upgrades for qualified Windows 7 systems purchased between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. Offers must be redeemed prior to February 28, 2013.
eMachines
Like Dell, eMachines is supporting upgrades for eligible Windows 7 PCs purchased between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. Offers must be redeemed prior to February 28, 2013.
Fujitsu
Fujitsu is supporting upgrades for eligible Windows 7 PCs purchased between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. A list of eligible systems can be found on the offer page.
Gateway
Gateway is supporting upgrades for eligible Windows 7 PCs purchased between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. Offers must be redeemed prior to February 28, 2013. Gateway also offers a support tool for determining whether or not a system is supported—a handful of otherwise eligible systems fail to qualify for support due to hardware incompatibility.
Hewlett-Packard (HP)
HP is providing upgrade instructions and drivers for all Windows 7 systems sold after 1st October 2011, as well as providing a detailed upgrade guide to help you through the process. For a limited number of eligible Windows 7 systems, HP is also offering a $15 refund to cover the cost of upgrade. Refund information can be found here:
Lenovo
Lenovo is supporting upgrades to several laptops, including ThinkPad and Lenovo B, E, K, M and V series as well as IdeaPad models. The promotional upgrade offer only extends to models purchased between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013.
Panasonic
Panasonic is supporting upgrades for ToughBook computers, with detailed download information listed by model number.
Samsung
Samsung is providing upgrade instructions and drivers for several Windows 7 systems, along with a step by step installation guide. Eligible models are listed on the upgrade page.
Sony
Sony is supporting upgrades for eligible Windows 7 PCs purchased between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. A list of eligible systems can be found on the offer page.
Toshiba
Toshiba is supporting upgrades for a wide range of Windows 7 PCs , with an upgrade assistant for installing Windows 8 on systems purchased after June 1, 2012. Toshiba is also supporting upgrades for systems purchased between January 1, 2011 and June 1, 2012, with manual step-by-step instructions.
Vizio
Vizio is supporting upgrades for all Windows 7 Vizio PCs, with both drive updates and a detailed installation guide.
Microsoft
Having trouble finding your manufacturer's upgrade and support page? Microsoft has collected links to the pages of numerous manufacturers.
Referrence: http://www.pcmag.com
How to Get Windows 8
Microsoft's revamped Windows 8 operating system is finally ready for primetime. Redmond started selling digital downloads of the new OS at 12:01 a.m. local time this morning, shortly after it opened up the doors to its holiday pop-up store in New York's Times Square.
But how do you get it? There are a variety of options, from upgrades to entirely new systems. Read on for how to snag Microsoft's latest operating system.
Upgrade your existing PC online: PC users running Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 can upgrade their PCs to Windows 8 Pro via a $39.99 download from now until Jan. 31, 2013. First, Microsoft will run the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant to make sure your computer can handle Windows 8. If you're in the clear, you will be walked through the upgrade process. Those with Windows 7 will have their files, apps, and settings automatically transferred to Windows 8 Pro (though it's always good to have a backup). If you have a PC with XP or Vista, you will have to reinstall apps.
New buyer upgrade: If you purchased a Windows 7 PC after June 2, 2012 you can get a Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $14.99. Microsoft started accepting upgrade registrations in August, but you can sign up now via windowsupgradeoffer.com. Starting today, Microsoft will send out promo codes via email. When you upgrade via Windows.com, Microsoft will display the $39.99 price for general upgrades; enter the promo code on the confirmation page to get the $14.99 price. Users have until Feb. 28, 2013 to use their promo code. For more, see Microsoft's FAQ.
Microsoft Windows 8
Buy a new PC: If your PC is ready for an upgrade, why not kill two birds with one stone and get the new OS and a new computer at once? This time around, there are a few more options when it comes to hardware, though. Do you want a traditional Windows-based laptop, a super-fast ultrabook, a Windows RT tablet, or a convertible tablet/laptop combo? Whatever you choose, Windows 8 will come pre-loaded on the device, so you don't have to worry about upgrading or installing the OS on your machine. To help you make up your mind, check out 5 Windows 8 PCs Worth Waiting For.
If you're still on the fence, check out PCMag's full review of Windows 8, as well as the Microsoft Surface tablet.
Google Authorship May Soon be Automatic
Don’t hold your breath, but Google seems to be connecting the pieces of the authorship puzzle – one social network at a time. I stumbled upon an interesting Search Engine Roundtable article today that indicated this may be the case based upon an example in the SERPs.
The guy that made the discovery first alerted others by way of a Webmaster World forum post. The member, sunnyujjawal, started the thread to alert fellow forum members that Pinterest URLs were displaying
author thumbnails in search results via Google+, and they were not showing up because the author used Google Authorship markup. This promises a range of implications for webmasters.
The Initial Findings
Here’s the original post that sparked all the interest:
“Till now we have heard G+ authorship for personal sites only with email or authorship verification but today I found a Pinterest search result with verified Google Plus authorship photo.
“But I didn’t find any verified URL in this G+ profile even then it’s author pic is in search results.”
Below is the screenshot of what he’s talking about:
Image 1:
![]()
The comments on the thread were chock-full of people who really did their homework. Users researched where Nil Gajjar showed up, where he didn’t, and where his content lived on the Web. One member noted this could be proof of the benefits of having a unique, recognizable name that stays consistent across many different online social networks.
Users discovered that Gajjar is active in more than 20 different social networks and he uses the same name across them all. Although he didn’t set up Google authorship, he links to all his networks in each social profile he sets up – Pinterest in particular – in order to create a very clear roadmap. If you’re a big believer in context clues, you’re in good company. Looks like Big G is, too – and G was certain enough of Gajjar’s identity and trustworthiness to display his picture beside his content without him ever going through the process of setting up authorship.
This doesn’t mean that you should not set up Google authorship, however. At this stage of the game, it would be incredibly beneficial for you to do so. This is especially true given Google’s new emphasis on Author Rank to determine websites’ placement in the SERPs.
Rather, this is proof that Google is shifting focus to your reputation in the online community to determine where to place your content. If you play it right, you can occupy top spots and dominate your niche without spending hours in front of Market Samurai digging for keywords to get there. Let’s look at some further proof of this shift that surfaced in related news recently.
Google’s Authorship Patent Update
Interestingly, the U.S. Patent Office just released an updated version of Google’s Authorship patent on Oct. 18. Google calls this patent Authentication of a Contributor of Online Content No. 20120265755, and it’s worth a read if you have lots of time to kill and a very patient disposition.
If you don’t, that’s OK. On Google+, Brian Ussery of SEO Consultants explains what changed within the patent’s wording:
Image 2:
![]()
So, what does this language boil down to? In a nutshell, Google is ranking content based in part on reputation scores derived from reviews and “status levels” of the authors who publish it. This is even more of a reason to be well known (and well liked) in your niche.
The New Face of Search
But wait, there’s more! If the updated patent isn’t proof enough for you that Google Authorship is the ranking factor of the future, then consider Andre Weyher. He’s an ex-Google employee that worked alongside Matt Cutts fighting webspam for the better part of two years. Weyher recently opened up about Google’s inner workings in an exclusive interview with JamesNorquay.com.
In the piece, Weyher discussed Google’s new turn toward individual authors and the new era of ranking:
“Offsite link building has dramatically changed since the recent updates. Anything that you can do automatically or at scale puts your website at risk. So keep the following in mind; Link building has changed from an almost purely technical process into something that resembles a relationship management campaign. Building a network with owners of sites that are related to yours, for example.”
This explains why Google may be attempting to place authors next to content without said authors ever completing the process of setting up authorship. The search giant is trying to move away from displaying search results based on query relevance alone. Those days have long since passed. Now, it’s all about how much others trust your content and how well known you are in your niche. Do people share what you like? Do they rate it well? Do they link to it often?
If you can answer yes to all these questions, then you’re definitely doing something right. Getting to know your peers is the key to success in the SERPs.
Some other things to help you succeed:
Nell Terry Post from: SiteProNews
The guy that made the discovery first alerted others by way of a Webmaster World forum post. The member, sunnyujjawal, started the thread to alert fellow forum members that Pinterest URLs were displaying
author thumbnails in search results via Google+, and they were not showing up because the author used Google Authorship markup. This promises a range of implications for webmasters.
The Initial Findings
Here’s the original post that sparked all the interest:
“Till now we have heard G+ authorship for personal sites only with email or authorship verification but today I found a Pinterest search result with verified Google Plus authorship photo.
“But I didn’t find any verified URL in this G+ profile even then it’s author pic is in search results.”
Below is the screenshot of what he’s talking about:
Image 1:
The comments on the thread were chock-full of people who really did their homework. Users researched where Nil Gajjar showed up, where he didn’t, and where his content lived on the Web. One member noted this could be proof of the benefits of having a unique, recognizable name that stays consistent across many different online social networks.
Users discovered that Gajjar is active in more than 20 different social networks and he uses the same name across them all. Although he didn’t set up Google authorship, he links to all his networks in each social profile he sets up – Pinterest in particular – in order to create a very clear roadmap. If you’re a big believer in context clues, you’re in good company. Looks like Big G is, too – and G was certain enough of Gajjar’s identity and trustworthiness to display his picture beside his content without him ever going through the process of setting up authorship.
This doesn’t mean that you should not set up Google authorship, however. At this stage of the game, it would be incredibly beneficial for you to do so. This is especially true given Google’s new emphasis on Author Rank to determine websites’ placement in the SERPs.
Rather, this is proof that Google is shifting focus to your reputation in the online community to determine where to place your content. If you play it right, you can occupy top spots and dominate your niche without spending hours in front of Market Samurai digging for keywords to get there. Let’s look at some further proof of this shift that surfaced in related news recently.
Google’s Authorship Patent Update
Interestingly, the U.S. Patent Office just released an updated version of Google’s Authorship patent on Oct. 18. Google calls this patent Authentication of a Contributor of Online Content No. 20120265755, and it’s worth a read if you have lots of time to kill and a very patient disposition.
If you don’t, that’s OK. On Google+, Brian Ussery of SEO Consultants explains what changed within the patent’s wording:
Image 2:
So, what does this language boil down to? In a nutshell, Google is ranking content based in part on reputation scores derived from reviews and “status levels” of the authors who publish it. This is even more of a reason to be well known (and well liked) in your niche.
The New Face of Search
But wait, there’s more! If the updated patent isn’t proof enough for you that Google Authorship is the ranking factor of the future, then consider Andre Weyher. He’s an ex-Google employee that worked alongside Matt Cutts fighting webspam for the better part of two years. Weyher recently opened up about Google’s inner workings in an exclusive interview with JamesNorquay.com.
In the piece, Weyher discussed Google’s new turn toward individual authors and the new era of ranking:
“Offsite link building has dramatically changed since the recent updates. Anything that you can do automatically or at scale puts your website at risk. So keep the following in mind; Link building has changed from an almost purely technical process into something that resembles a relationship management campaign. Building a network with owners of sites that are related to yours, for example.”
This explains why Google may be attempting to place authors next to content without said authors ever completing the process of setting up authorship. The search giant is trying to move away from displaying search results based on query relevance alone. Those days have long since passed. Now, it’s all about how much others trust your content and how well known you are in your niche. Do people share what you like? Do they rate it well? Do they link to it often?
If you can answer yes to all these questions, then you’re definitely doing something right. Getting to know your peers is the key to success in the SERPs.
Some other things to help you succeed:
- Reach out to – and link to – the big names in your niche often.
- Comment on other blogs and forums in your industry and work to get your name out there.
- Adopt a rigorous guest posting routine to get your content in front of as many eyes as possible.
- Set up Google authorship immediately.
- Set up social network profiles using the same name and unify your online presence.
Nell Terry Post from: SiteProNews
Pictures Can Say it All
A picture truly is worth a thousand words, according to video message service Six3 .
The London-based company has launched its new video-sharing app (also named Six3) that allows users to send short video messages in place of a text.
“Our goal is to help people be together, even when they’re apart,” the company website says of the app, which unites the expediency of texting with the intimacy of video.
The service works on iPhones, Macs and PCs and, eventually, will work on all Smartphones, Internet-connected TVs and even games consoles.
Six3 allows users to record a message — as long as it does not exceed 63 seconds — and send it to other people using the app. It can also be e-mailed and sent to Facebook contacts.
The service can be used to send public messages through Facebook and Twitter and offers Instagram-like filters to add color, contrast and other effects to videos.
The creation of Six3 was to address frustration with current video communication services, the website reads.
“We love Skype calls, but they’re a hassle to organize and they rarely work well on mobile. We’ve all e-mailed videos, but the recipients have to download huge files, and they have to switch between e-mail and video player, and video recorder applications to reply. Finally, there’s YouTube, a great way to share video, but only if you want the entire world to see it. So we decided to design the easiest way possible to privately create, send view and reply to video messages.”
Six3 is to release an Android app in the first half of 2013, as well as premium services such as editing tools to monetize the app.
Post from: SiteProNews
The London-based company has launched its new video-sharing app (also named Six3) that allows users to send short video messages in place of a text.
“Our goal is to help people be together, even when they’re apart,” the company website says of the app, which unites the expediency of texting with the intimacy of video.
The service works on iPhones, Macs and PCs and, eventually, will work on all Smartphones, Internet-connected TVs and even games consoles.
Six3 allows users to record a message — as long as it does not exceed 63 seconds — and send it to other people using the app. It can also be e-mailed and sent to Facebook contacts.
The service can be used to send public messages through Facebook and Twitter and offers Instagram-like filters to add color, contrast and other effects to videos.
The creation of Six3 was to address frustration with current video communication services, the website reads.
“We love Skype calls, but they’re a hassle to organize and they rarely work well on mobile. We’ve all e-mailed videos, but the recipients have to download huge files, and they have to switch between e-mail and video player, and video recorder applications to reply. Finally, there’s YouTube, a great way to share video, but only if you want the entire world to see it. So we decided to design the easiest way possible to privately create, send view and reply to video messages.”
Six3 is to release an Android app in the first half of 2013, as well as premium services such as editing tools to monetize the app.
Post from: SiteProNews
Thứ Tư, 24 tháng 10, 2012
How to backup your system on Windows XP, Vista, and 7
Here are some guides for backing up or scheduling to backup your data on Microsoft Windows XP, 7, Vista directly from Microsoft's website.
MAKE SURE YOUR EXTERNAL DEVICE IS CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER AND POWERED ON.
For Windows XP
1. To start Backup, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to system Tools, and then click Backup.
The Backup Utility Wizard starts by default, unless it is disabled.
2. Click the Advanced Mode button in the Backup Utility Wizard.
3. Click the Backup tab, and then, on the Job menu, click New.
4. Select the files and folders you want to back up by clicking the check box to the left of a file or folder under Click to select the check box for any drive, folder or file that you want to back up.
5. Select File or a tape device in Backup destination, and then save the file and folder selections by clicking the Job menu, and then clicking Save Selections.
6. In Backup media or file name, type a path and file name for the backup file, or select a tape.
7. Select any backup options you want, such as the backup type and the log file type, by clicking the Tools menu, and then clicking Options. When you have finished selecting backup options, click OK.
8. Click Start Backup and make any changes you want to the Backup Job Information dialog box.
9. If you want to set advanced backup options such as data verification or hardware compression, click Advanced. When you have finished selecting advanced backup options, click OK.
10. Click Schedule in the Backup Job Information dialog box.
11. In the Set Account Information dialog box, enter the user name and password that you want the scheduled backup to run under.
12. In the Scheduled Job Options dialog box, in Job name, type a name for the scheduled backup job, and then click Properties to set the date, time, and frequency parameters for the scheduled backup. When you have finished, click OK, and then click OK again.
MAKE SURE YOUR EXTERNAL DEVICE IS CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER AND POWERED ON.
1. Open up the Control Panel and click on “Backup your computer” (You can also access it by entering backup into the search field)
2. Click on set up backup
3. Select a drive for the backup
4. Select “Let me choose” and select the files and folders that you want to backup.
What does Windows backup?
Windows will only backup libraries, user settings, your desktop and other system files and will automatically create an image of your Windows partition, so you can always restore your computer when needed. However, this will consume quite a lot of disk space, so deselecting this option can save space for other things.
5. If you don’t want a copy of your main drive, deselect the option “Include a system image of drives (C:)”. Select the files that you want to backup.
6. Click on “Change schedule”: Schedule backup and Select the scheduled time for your backup.
7. Confirm your schedule, save your settings and run the backup.
MAKE SURE YOUR EXTERNAL DEVICE IS CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER AND POWERED ON.
For Windows XP
1. To start Backup, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to system Tools, and then click Backup.
The Backup Utility Wizard starts by default, unless it is disabled.
2. Click the Advanced Mode button in the Backup Utility Wizard.
3. Click the Backup tab, and then, on the Job menu, click New.
4. Select the files and folders you want to back up by clicking the check box to the left of a file or folder under Click to select the check box for any drive, folder or file that you want to back up.
5. Select File or a tape device in Backup destination, and then save the file and folder selections by clicking the Job menu, and then clicking Save Selections.
6. In Backup media or file name, type a path and file name for the backup file, or select a tape.
7. Select any backup options you want, such as the backup type and the log file type, by clicking the Tools menu, and then clicking Options. When you have finished selecting backup options, click OK.
8. Click Start Backup and make any changes you want to the Backup Job Information dialog box.
9. If you want to set advanced backup options such as data verification or hardware compression, click Advanced. When you have finished selecting advanced backup options, click OK.
10. Click Schedule in the Backup Job Information dialog box.
11. In the Set Account Information dialog box, enter the user name and password that you want the scheduled backup to run under.
12. In the Scheduled Job Options dialog box, in Job name, type a name for the scheduled backup job, and then click Properties to set the date, time, and frequency parameters for the scheduled backup. When you have finished, click OK, and then click OK again.
For Windows Vista and Windows 7
MAKE SURE YOUR EXTERNAL DEVICE IS CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER AND POWERED ON.
1. Open up the Control Panel and click on “Backup your computer” (You can also access it by entering backup into the search field)
2. Click on set up backup
3. Select a drive for the backup
4. Select “Let me choose” and select the files and folders that you want to backup.
What does Windows backup?
Windows will only backup libraries, user settings, your desktop and other system files and will automatically create an image of your Windows partition, so you can always restore your computer when needed. However, this will consume quite a lot of disk space, so deselecting this option can save space for other things.
5. If you don’t want a copy of your main drive, deselect the option “Include a system image of drives (C:)”. Select the files that you want to backup.
6. Click on “Change schedule”: Schedule backup and Select the scheduled time for your backup.
7. Confirm your schedule, save your settings and run the backup.
Kids With Electronic Devices in the Bedroom Are More Likely to Be Obese
If your kid spends too much time staring at a TV or another electronic device at night, he's more likely to be obese and suffer from other health issues.
In what might be the first study that connects the dots between sleep, diet and physical activity among kids, Canadian researchers have found that adding just one hour of extra sleep decreases the chances of being overweight or obese by around 30%.
“If you want your kids to sleep better and live a healthier lifestyle, get the technology out of the bedroom,” said Paul Veugelers, a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta in Canada, and a co-author of the paper.
The scientists surveyed around 3,400 students in fifth grade (ages 9 to 11) and found that half of them had at least one electronic device in their bedrooms. Those were 1.47 times more likely to be overweight than kids with no device in their bedrooms.
To find out more about this study, watch the video above. What do you think of this study? Does your kid have access to electronic devices in his or her bedroom? Tell us what you think in the comments.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
Get Google to fall in love with you - in 9 steps
The more often your site gets crawled, the sooner your new content can start appearing in the search results, and bringing in traffic and sales. So here's how, in just nine steps, you can keep Google coming back for more.
The more often your site gets crawled, the more quickly your content will appear in the search results. And that’s the point, right? You wouldn’t create a new product then keep it in the shed, would you? But the things you need to do to get your site crawled more frequently are also best practice SEO and could even improve your position in the search engines - getting even more of that money-making traffic. All this you can do in just nine steps.
If there are legitimate reasons for you to duplicate your content (in your heart of hearts, you know if you’re being naughty or nice), you might want to deploy a redirect or a canonical tag In fact, if you have duplicate content you should. Whether you want to or not.
This feature was designed so that webmasters could tell Google that it is crawling their site too aggressively, ie, it's overloading their servers. So if that’s happening, then by all means turn it down a notch here.
Some people however, use this feature to turn their crawl rate up. Personally, I wouldn’t do this because:
Here, where I've put the arrow, you can see how many of your site's pages have been crawled by Google and Bing. The higher this number, the better. If the number is very low, there might be a problem. (But treat it as a rough guide. There are lots of reasons why Google might not be indexing your site. If only there was an article on crawling and indexing that explained this more fully? I jest, of course there is. It’s the previous link).
And you’ll see a not-very-interesting graph that looks like this:
Most of the time, it will look like this. It will go up a bit and it will go down a bit. Don’t worry about individual movements of the line, but do worry about trends.
If there’s a long term upward trend, that’s all good. Keep doing what you’re doing. If there’s a long term downward trend, re-read this article. Start at one, go down to seven, then lather, rinse, repeat as needed. You’ll not turn the ship around overnight, but you will eventually. We hope.
It’s also worth looking at spikes in the graph. Was there anything you did on these days? Was there a Google algorithm change? Think about the method behind Google’s madness and you’ll soon start understanding how it actually works and what you can do to get in its good books.
Your final top tip to get your site crawled more often is quite simply, to share it on Google+, Google's social network. Remember, one of Google's motivations for creating a social network was to get access to real-time data. So, if you share your new content on Google+, it's likely to get crawled super-fast. Just try it, and you'll see what I mean. (And, if you're not sure how to do this, check out our Google+ guide
The more often your site gets crawled, the more quickly your content will appear in the search results. And that’s the point, right? You wouldn’t create a new product then keep it in the shed, would you? But the things you need to do to get your site crawled more frequently are also best practice SEO and could even improve your position in the search engines - getting even more of that money-making traffic. All this you can do in just nine steps.
1. Create more content
Creating new content is good for a whole range of reasons. Users love it, and so do search engines. Every time Google crawls your site, it looks for stuff it hasn’t seen before. If it can’t find any it might wait a little longer before visiting you again next time. But if it does find new stuff, it’ll probably come back sooner (newspaper websites for example, who update content almost constantly, get crawled several times a day). Try to update your content as often as it makes sense to do so. (Remember though: quality is better than quantity. So don’t just create content for creating content’s sake.)2. But don’t duplicate content
Yes Google likes seeing lots of content, but it doesn’t like seeing the same content over and over. That’s just boring. So don’t duplicate your content.If there are legitimate reasons for you to duplicate your content (in your heart of hearts, you know if you’re being naughty or nice), you might want to deploy a redirect or a canonical tag In fact, if you have duplicate content you should. Whether you want to or not.
3. Make your site speedy
Just like you wouldn’t want to drive your car on a road covered in melted tar, Google doesn’t like sending its spider to crawl slow-loading sites. And users don’t like visiting them. Site speed is also becoming an increasingly important ranking factor so keep yours up to scratch.4. You can also adjust the crawl frequency in Google Webmaster Tools.
Go into ‘Configuration’ then ‘Settings’, and you can go from there:This feature was designed so that webmasters could tell Google that it is crawling their site too aggressively, ie, it's overloading their servers. So if that’s happening, then by all means turn it down a notch here.
Some people however, use this feature to turn their crawl rate up. Personally, I wouldn’t do this because:
- It’s only valid for 90 days (so you’re just creating work for yourself).
- There’s a risk, indeed a temptation, to push the crawl rate higher than necessary so you might inadvertently overwork your servers and crash your site. Oops.
5. Add a sitemap
Google loves them. SEOs have been talking about them for ages. I‘ve written an (amazing) article on how to create one. You have no excuse. Create a sitemap6. Make sure your server is working as it should
The easiest way of checking this is to log into the Wordtracker's Keywords tool. Once you've logged in, just click on the campaigns you're working on, and the first thing you'll see will be the dashboard.Here, where I've put the arrow, you can see how many of your site's pages have been crawled by Google and Bing. The higher this number, the better. If the number is very low, there might be a problem. (But treat it as a rough guide. There are lots of reasons why Google might not be indexing your site. If only there was an article on crawling and indexing that explained this more fully? I jest, of course there is. It’s the previous link).
7. Check your server responses
Google wants your pages to be where it expects them to be. It doesn’t like sites whose server keeps throwing back problems. Is your site like this? Check your server responses by running a site audit in the Keywords tool8. Get links
As well as improving your rank, bringing in more traffic and generally being awesome, links potentially get your website crawled more quickly. Why? Because when Google crawls the web, it will find (hopefully) lots of links to your site littered throughout it. The more times it sees other websites pointing to you with links, the harder it is to stay away.9. Know your crawl rate
Finally you should monitor your crawl rate. After all, that’s what we’re talking about. Google probably won’t crawl your site all at once at regular intervals: it’ll do a few pages one day, a few more the next. But these are just details. You want Google to crawl as much of your site as often as possible. So to find out, log into Webmaster Tools. In the 'Health' section, click ‘Crawl stats’.And you’ll see a not-very-interesting graph that looks like this:
Most of the time, it will look like this. It will go up a bit and it will go down a bit. Don’t worry about individual movements of the line, but do worry about trends.
If there’s a long term upward trend, that’s all good. Keep doing what you’re doing. If there’s a long term downward trend, re-read this article. Start at one, go down to seven, then lather, rinse, repeat as needed. You’ll not turn the ship around overnight, but you will eventually. We hope.
It’s also worth looking at spikes in the graph. Was there anything you did on these days? Was there a Google algorithm change? Think about the method behind Google’s madness and you’ll soon start understanding how it actually works and what you can do to get in its good books.
Bonus tip! Use Google+
OK, so really this is point number 10, but whatever. 10 is such a overused number.Your final top tip to get your site crawled more often is quite simply, to share it on Google+, Google's social network. Remember, one of Google's motivations for creating a social network was to get access to real-time data. So, if you share your new content on Google+, it's likely to get crawled super-fast. Just try it, and you'll see what I mean. (And, if you're not sure how to do this, check out our Google+ guide
How “sticky keys” can make key combinations easier to press
Having a tough time maneuvering your fingertips around multi-key combinations like CONTROL + ALT + DELETE (for launching the Windows Task Master) or COMMAND + SHIFT + N (to create a new Mac desktop folder)? Join the club.Luckily, both Windows and Mac systems come with a handy feature called “sticky keys.” Turn the feature on, and you’ll be able to press individual keys in a two- or three-key combination one at a time, rather than all at once. It’s a clever alternative to playing “Twister” with your fingers.
You can set your Mac to display the sticky keys you’ve just pressed.
For Mac:
- First stop: System Preferences, which you’ll find under the Apple menu in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Under the “System” heading, select the “Accessibility” icon. (If you’re still using “Lion” or an earlier version of the Mac operating system, click the “Universal Icon” instead.)
- On the next screen, click “Keyboard” in the left column, then check the box next to the “Enable Sticky Keys” setting.
- Click the “Options” button to customize how the “sticky keys” features works. For example, you can toggle sticky keys on and off by pressing the shift key five times in a row (recommended), as well as having your Mac make a sound and/or display the label for any “modifier” key (such as shift, control, or command) that you press.
Windows has its own collection of sticky keys settings, which you can find in the Ease of Access control panel.
For Windows:
- Go to the Windows “Ease of Access” control panel; open the Start menu and type “Ease of Access” in the search box, or click Start, All Programs, Ease of Access, and Ease of Access Center.
- Click the “Make the keyboard easier to use” link under “Explore all settings,” then check the “Turn on Sticky Keys” box.
- Next, you can tweak your sticky keys settings by clicking the “Set up Sticky Keys” link. Among the options: turning sticky keys on and off by pressing the shift key five times in a row (same as on the Mac), playing a sound any time a “modifier” key is pressed,” and displaying the sticky keys icon in the Windows task bar.
21 Tips to Build Your Brand on a Shoestring Budget
One of the most common questions I get from friends, clients and strangers alike, is how to build a powerful brand with little to no budget.
There’s a popular saying that you either have to spend time or money to build your business. When you don’t have the budget, you’ll be putting in more time. Thankfully, putting in the time allows you to connect, engage, create and converse – all offering the opportunity to build your brand and your community.
A brand is built through the total experience that it offers – everything from your communications and logos to customer service, the quality of your products and services, and the way you answer the phone. All of these associations with your brand are called touch points.
The good news is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to create effective brand touch points for your clients. In fact, some of the most powerful touch points are simple and inexpensive (when was the last time you paid for a firm handshake and a smile?)
ALWAYS ask yourself, how can I do a better job of creating a total brand experience for my client? What is she experiencing through my brand touch points?
Here are 21 low to no-cost ideas for enhancing your total brand experience for your customers:
There’s a popular saying that you either have to spend time or money to build your business. When you don’t have the budget, you’ll be putting in more time. Thankfully, putting in the time allows you to connect, engage, create and converse – all offering the opportunity to build your brand and your community.
A brand is built through the total experience that it offers – everything from your communications and logos to customer service, the quality of your products and services, and the way you answer the phone. All of these associations with your brand are called touch points.
The good news is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to create effective brand touch points for your clients. In fact, some of the most powerful touch points are simple and inexpensive (when was the last time you paid for a firm handshake and a smile?)
ALWAYS ask yourself, how can I do a better job of creating a total brand experience for my client? What is she experiencing through my brand touch points?
Here are 21 low to no-cost ideas for enhancing your total brand experience for your customers:
- Use the back of your business card for your brand message. Offer something of value that brings people directly to your website.
- Use your email signature for your brand message and link to your website, recent press, blog posts and social media platforms.
- Set up a profile on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and/or Google+ and get busy connecting and engaging. Use Hootsuite to manage your content distribution.
- Set up a Facebook business page to share industry trends, tips and ideas.
- Run a monthly contest through your Facebook business page.
- Use your signature color whenever/wherever possible – tissue paper, note cards, labels, pens, gift boxes etc.
- Purchase the URL (domain) for your name and point it to your business website (if the name of your business is different from your actual name).
- Write a monthly newsletter or weekly tip and send out to all of your past and current clients.
- Create a “signature” talk – a specific topic that you are an expert of, and can give valuable information in a one hour presentation. Offer to give your signature talk to business groups, Chambers of Commerce, non-profits and associations that are aligned with your target market. Make sure you have information about your signature talk on your website, blog, newsletter and the back of your business card.
- Write articles pertaining to your area of expertise and post them to article submission sites online (your author bio for these sites will start showing up on the first page of Google search before your know it!).
- Write guest posts for well-known blogs in your industry. Better yet, write posts for blogs that are complementary to your industry, but not necessarily competing with you.
- Use your outgoing voice mail as a branding opportunity.
- Add your talks, workshops, events etc. to your local news service’s free online calendar of events.
- Stay in touch with your current and prospective clients with cards – birthday, holiday, anniversary etc. Pick a special occasion that you love to celebrate and send a custom card to everyone in your database.
- Reward people for sending referrals. I am a big fan of sending gift cards with a thank you note – Starbucks, Container Store, Barnes & Noble, AMC Theatres etc.
- Join a group – networking, philanthropic, cultural etc. Find one that resonates with you and attend two meetings or events each month.
- Always ask your clients for testimonials – these can be used on your website, in marketing materials and on sales pages.
- Create a testimonials document that consists of 10-20 of your best testimonials, and give to all potential clients and anyone who inquires about your services.
- Develop a simple “Speaker’s Kit” (your bio, photo, one sheeters of signature talks, testimonials) and send it to at least five program chairs, event planners and association heads each month.
- Create a valuable tool in your area of expertise (checklist, e-book, roadmap, MP3 interview, etc.) and give it away for free on your website.
- Host a free monthly call for your community to answer questions about your area of expertise. Use a free service such as freeconferencepro.com.
7 Tips for Picking Content Management Systems for Design Needs
Despite the apparent advancement of HTML-driven websites and old-school methodology of designing Dreamweaver or NetObjects-based websites, programming, designing and editorial preference has shifted almost entirely to content management systems (CMS).
Since frameworks such as cascading style sheets (CSS), Java and other rich PHP classes are designed for easier navigation and compliance with language standards, content management systems have become the epitome of all that is and is to come in the future of the Internet.
Unlike shopping for design software, choosing the appropriate content management system with which to build feature-rich applications, is not about picking the easiest program — it’s about choosing the best program.
We now explore the seven tips for picking content management systems for design needs:
Scalable Architecture
For full support of futuristic marketing, developmental growth and adherence to W3C standards, the architecture of the CMS framework needs scalability without close-loop scripting sequences. Whether platforms use Java or .Net frameworks to build content management systems is secondary to the fact that scalability needs to have impending changes in mind.
If CSS classes, plugin containers and other necessary implementations change, the architecture must support these changes or face certain demise. Our initial investigation has revealed that Joomla should definitely be last on your list if architectural scalability is high on your list of needs.
The Top 5 which offer the most mountable architecture (in any order):
Open Source
The necessity for open source software or Web applications has become critical from the programming perspective because one programmer can simply piggyback off the coding of another. Simply look at the YUI monstrosity that continuously adds CSS framework updates to reapply toward content management systems, plugins and other cloud-based necessities. If your CMS platform is closed, innovating closes with it — it also makes the programmer’s job nightmarish because he or she will have to strip the CSS and PHP apart to propagate the correct sequence of calls, file complements and style sheets. Therefore, without deploying an open-source content management system that is built by all, and works cross-browser, you’ll have little room for growth when future implementations are necessary.
Here are the Top 5 open source platforms currently on the market today (no particular order):
Mobility
Although currently speculation, it’s likely our future will be reliant on complete mobility, even on the content management services platform. With clear navigation, easy to scale front-end CSS templates and properly-interwoven PHP, mobile content management will dominate the blogosphere, business world and, therefore, will be an inevitable need in both the entrepreneurial and programming sectors. With this in mind, and the necessity to have easily accessible SQL scripts, we looked closely at the most technically-sound content management systems for mobile-friendly browsers that won’t snowball the end-user with errors:
Security
Security on both front- and back-end portions of CMS sites is an important programming feature. Code protection prevents hacks and sandbox testing prevents publishing CSS that doesn’t fly with security standards your clients want. To survive the CMS decision-making cut, we disseminated the major content management systems and verified whether they’ve updated, or planned program updates to enhance coding security within CMS frameworks and database programming relevant to end-user needs. Running test suites, updating patches and code reviewing are instrumental in any CMS developmental stage or later enhancement.
Here are the picks of the litter when security is obligatory:
Database Servers
Why would the authenticity of database servers be important when choosing a CMS? Simple: MySQL and Oracle seem to be arm wrestling for speed, reliability and framework compatibility — a fight that seems to favor MySQL considering Google, YouTube, Yahoo and Facebook are all on-board with SQL, leaving many of the non-conforming server-side scripts fighting for crumbs. Since the big dogs rely on SQL, it will be shaping the future of our current Internet as we know it. The decision of which database script will connect your completed CMS to databases, tables and the like, will fall under your choosing, although the top current CMS platforms are using Linux or Unix servers for SQL speed.
Packaged Size
When working with content management files, grid sheets, PHP scripts and plugin containers, your final package needs to be small enough to adhere to speed requirements of browsers, end-users and even your clients. The final packaged size needs to be portable enough to install quickly yet be equally powerful, meaning the code integrity needs to be outstanding. These are the best final package CMS platforms guaranteed to be smaller than competition platforms:
Development Costs Versus Final Value
Although more compulsory for those who develop the actual platform, keep in mind, programmers are vital in all phases of development, open source additions and CSS template creation. Bear in mind, customers want something for nothing. Your programming hours need to be considered, however, because, obviously, you will not spend hours on framing plugins or nifty CSS snippets to make $15,000 on your finished product, unless extremely customized. Considering most CMS platforms are Commons Licensed, these are perhaps the CMS platforms that offer easy and quick scripting updates so both you and your potential clients can come out winners:
Summary
Choose your CMS based on the information above, although it would appear the overall champion is WordPress. You should focus on mobility, security and cost because the perfect culmination of the three from both a programmer and customer standpoint will be key in the future.
Tim Wilson Post from: SiteProNews
Since frameworks such as cascading style sheets (CSS), Java and other rich PHP classes are designed for easier navigation and compliance with language standards, content management systems have become the epitome of all that is and is to come in the future of the Internet.
Unlike shopping for design software, choosing the appropriate content management system with which to build feature-rich applications, is not about picking the easiest program — it’s about choosing the best program.
We now explore the seven tips for picking content management systems for design needs:
Scalable Architecture
For full support of futuristic marketing, developmental growth and adherence to W3C standards, the architecture of the CMS framework needs scalability without close-loop scripting sequences. Whether platforms use Java or .Net frameworks to build content management systems is secondary to the fact that scalability needs to have impending changes in mind.
If CSS classes, plugin containers and other necessary implementations change, the architecture must support these changes or face certain demise. Our initial investigation has revealed that Joomla should definitely be last on your list if architectural scalability is high on your list of needs.
The Top 5 which offer the most mountable architecture (in any order):
Open Source
The necessity for open source software or Web applications has become critical from the programming perspective because one programmer can simply piggyback off the coding of another. Simply look at the YUI monstrosity that continuously adds CSS framework updates to reapply toward content management systems, plugins and other cloud-based necessities. If your CMS platform is closed, innovating closes with it — it also makes the programmer’s job nightmarish because he or she will have to strip the CSS and PHP apart to propagate the correct sequence of calls, file complements and style sheets. Therefore, without deploying an open-source content management system that is built by all, and works cross-browser, you’ll have little room for growth when future implementations are necessary.
Here are the Top 5 open source platforms currently on the market today (no particular order):
Mobility
Although currently speculation, it’s likely our future will be reliant on complete mobility, even on the content management services platform. With clear navigation, easy to scale front-end CSS templates and properly-interwoven PHP, mobile content management will dominate the blogosphere, business world and, therefore, will be an inevitable need in both the entrepreneurial and programming sectors. With this in mind, and the necessity to have easily accessible SQL scripts, we looked closely at the most technically-sound content management systems for mobile-friendly browsers that won’t snowball the end-user with errors:
- Radiant CMS — Built on ROR (Ruby on Rails) with logical CSS integration.
- WordPress — Already the leader in mobile content development of their open-source CMS.
- Contao (formerly know as TYPOlight) — Integrates Ajax and PHP5, which makes static pages and general blog layouts easier to manipulate.
- Frog — Similar to Radiant except uses solely PHP5, offering cleaner coding.
Security
Security on both front- and back-end portions of CMS sites is an important programming feature. Code protection prevents hacks and sandbox testing prevents publishing CSS that doesn’t fly with security standards your clients want. To survive the CMS decision-making cut, we disseminated the major content management systems and verified whether they’ve updated, or planned program updates to enhance coding security within CMS frameworks and database programming relevant to end-user needs. Running test suites, updating patches and code reviewing are instrumental in any CMS developmental stage or later enhancement.
Here are the picks of the litter when security is obligatory:
- WordPress — although presently open source, programming contributors continually make security updates to PHP code and offer easy-to-implement plugin API’s to enhance SSL.
- Joomla — Continually updates program patches and potential coding loopholes to tighten security.
- DotNetNuke — A very large community of active developers assure that current security trends
remain free of security attrition. - Orchard — Microsoft gets its hands dirty in this New BSD License CMS which, backed by a corporation built on secure platforms, should make this an excellent choice for programmers.
- Umbraco — Released in 2004, this relatively new CMS is written in C# which is historically an expandable and secure programming script language.
Database Servers
Why would the authenticity of database servers be important when choosing a CMS? Simple: MySQL and Oracle seem to be arm wrestling for speed, reliability and framework compatibility — a fight that seems to favor MySQL considering Google, YouTube, Yahoo and Facebook are all on-board with SQL, leaving many of the non-conforming server-side scripts fighting for crumbs. Since the big dogs rely on SQL, it will be shaping the future of our current Internet as we know it. The decision of which database script will connect your completed CMS to databases, tables and the like, will fall under your choosing, although the top current CMS platforms are using Linux or Unix servers for SQL speed.
Packaged Size
When working with content management files, grid sheets, PHP scripts and plugin containers, your final package needs to be small enough to adhere to speed requirements of browsers, end-users and even your clients. The final packaged size needs to be portable enough to install quickly yet be equally powerful, meaning the code integrity needs to be outstanding. These are the best final package CMS platforms guaranteed to be smaller than competition platforms:
- Drupal
- WordPress
- Concrete5
- Joomla
- Orchard
Development Costs Versus Final Value
Although more compulsory for those who develop the actual platform, keep in mind, programmers are vital in all phases of development, open source additions and CSS template creation. Bear in mind, customers want something for nothing. Your programming hours need to be considered, however, because, obviously, you will not spend hours on framing plugins or nifty CSS snippets to make $15,000 on your finished product, unless extremely customized. Considering most CMS platforms are Commons Licensed, these are perhaps the CMS platforms that offer easy and quick scripting updates so both you and your potential clients can come out winners:
- WordPress — Since many nifty themes can be programmed to perform balancing acts, this CMS is the long-standing champion of quick updates, integrations and CSS.
- Joomla — Packaged nicely and offers quick PHP, CSS and plugin integrations.
- Drupal — Building impressive websites quickly using gridded CSS sheets makes this CMS programming choice for database-savvy designers.
- DotNetNuke — ASP.Net programmers love this CMS since the scripting is small, meaning the time necessary to update front-end scripts is much quicker.
- Kentico — A newer CMS built on ASP.Net framework and perhaps the newest CMS to integrate quick coding scripts. DevNet gives this CMS a high rating. Kentico has had an impressive 550 percent growth in three short years.
Summary
Choose your CMS based on the information above, although it would appear the overall champion is WordPress. You should focus on mobility, security and cost because the perfect culmination of the three from both a programmer and customer standpoint will be key in the future.
Tim Wilson Post from: SiteProNews
How To Make Your Brand Profile Video
It’s time to create that much-awaited corporate brand video. But how? Video production is a complex beast that entails a lot of preparation and a concrete vision. Without these things, your corporate video may become a costly and stressful undertaking.
If you intend to create your own brand profile video, here are several suggestions for putting together a great product with the least amount of stress:
1. Looking for ideas?
Search your content inventory. Chances are, the seed of an idea can be found in one of your marketing materials or content pieces.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Try looking through your brochures, your case studies and your client testimonials. Perhaps you’d like to share the results of a scientific study that became the basis of a white paper. Or, you may want to capture one of your best customers on video, praising what your company did for them.
2. Unsure how to present your brand?
Capture what your customers can expect. Remember, your brand is not your physical office or even your logo, it is your people, your culture and the promise of an experience that a customer can enjoy.
Your video, therefore, shouldn’t be a historical summary of data points (when the company started, where the first office was, what your products are) because, in all honesty, no one cares about that information except you. Instead, capture the essence of what your organization is about: showcase how excited your employees are to come to work and how satisfied your customers are with the way you solve their problems.
3. Seeing it through to the end?
Create a comprehensive project plan. If you fully intend to produce your brand profile video in-house, then it is important to plot the entire process out from start to finish.
List everything you may need, who is in charge of which aspect of the production, when deliverables are expected and include all materials and costs. Include estimates as well for services that may need to be done by outside contractors.
4. Not sure if you can do it all?
Consider outsourcing the production. The truth is, unless you have some wonderfully talented people in your company who already know the video process, the road ahead may be more of a challenge than it needs to be. After all, there are professionals who create corporate videos for a living.
Find the firms that your peers recommend, or in the absence of that, use some of the many social networking tools to find video companies whose Web reviews are stellar.
If you intend to create your own brand profile video, here are several suggestions for putting together a great product with the least amount of stress:
1. Looking for ideas?
Search your content inventory. Chances are, the seed of an idea can be found in one of your marketing materials or content pieces.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Try looking through your brochures, your case studies and your client testimonials. Perhaps you’d like to share the results of a scientific study that became the basis of a white paper. Or, you may want to capture one of your best customers on video, praising what your company did for them.
2. Unsure how to present your brand?
Capture what your customers can expect. Remember, your brand is not your physical office or even your logo, it is your people, your culture and the promise of an experience that a customer can enjoy.
Your video, therefore, shouldn’t be a historical summary of data points (when the company started, where the first office was, what your products are) because, in all honesty, no one cares about that information except you. Instead, capture the essence of what your organization is about: showcase how excited your employees are to come to work and how satisfied your customers are with the way you solve their problems.
3. Seeing it through to the end?
Create a comprehensive project plan. If you fully intend to produce your brand profile video in-house, then it is important to plot the entire process out from start to finish.
List everything you may need, who is in charge of which aspect of the production, when deliverables are expected and include all materials and costs. Include estimates as well for services that may need to be done by outside contractors.
4. Not sure if you can do it all?
Consider outsourcing the production. The truth is, unless you have some wonderfully talented people in your company who already know the video process, the road ahead may be more of a challenge than it needs to be. After all, there are professionals who create corporate videos for a living.
Find the firms that your peers recommend, or in the absence of that, use some of the many social networking tools to find video companies whose Web reviews are stellar.
5 Great Strategies to Make Your QR Codes More Effective
Been noticing those funky two-dimensional black and white squares that are printed on books, magazines, signs, buses, and nearly anything that a potential customer could come in contact with? Quick response codes, or QR codes, are becoming more and more popular among brands because they take a potential customer from wherever they are to a webpage in the flash of a second. They are a great marketing tool because anyone who has a smart phone can download a code reader application. Consumers find this entertaining and will scan nearly any barcode they come in contact with. It’s like pushing a button and not knowing what will happen. It’s both exciting and engaging. But, there are a few things you should know about them before applying them to your marketing strategy.
Things to Consider Before Placement
Think about the external environment before placing QR codes and whether it’s convenient or even possible for your target audience to take out their phones and scan the code. You know that they’re going to access your content from a mobile device, so make sure that your content is mobile enabled and that Wi-Fi or 3- or 4G connections are accessible. Take airplanes, elevators, and subway platforms for example where there’s no signal. These areas would be poor choices for placing QR codes.
I find it humorous whenever I see a QR code on a billboard. How is someone supposed to drive and scan at the same time? If people are willing to sue McDonald’s for obesity, then they could go after you if they attempt to scan your code from a billboard and have an accident.
Email and Website Strategy
Posting QR codes in an email is poor strategy if not utilized correctly, especially if it only leads them to your website’s homepage. If you’re looking to send a potential customer to a specific landing page from an email, you should provide a link in the form of an enticing call to action. But, if you enable your QR code to add your contact information (address, email, and number) into their phone when the QR code is scanned, this could be beneficial and possibly lead your potential customer to contact you.
Add QR codes for people reading an email or a webpage on their computer who may like to move that information onto their phone. Create a special, mobile-friendly landing page that condenses key information from the computer-based landing page when the code is scanned. Making it mobile-friendly is crucial!
Where They Should Take Users
This should be a fun project for you, but remember that while generating creative content you should implement strategic intelligence. Have the landing page be a place to sign up for your email newsletter. Links to your Twitter and Facebook accounts will gain more followers, check-ins, and fans. Coupons and videos are always a hit with consumers. Blogs are a great way to establish yourself as an authority. Reward your users for scanning. Remember that in this stage of the game users are more than likely not in a buying state of mind (unless you have an awesome coupon offer that will put them in that state of mind), so content should lure them to learn more about you.
Finding Proper Placement
You can place them on nearly anything with which your target audience comes in contact, so get creative. Put one on the back of your cash register, your menus or brochures, T-shirts-shirts, business cards, banners, books, magazines, coffee mugs, napkins, posters, social media sites, and any other promotional product. The list is as infinite as your imagination! Just make sure the placement is in an area that doesn’t make the item unattractive.
QR Code Checklist
When deciding where and how to use scannable graphics, make sure they follow this criteria.
1. Lead your user somewhere new and special. When a potential consumer scans your code they want to view something different than what they’re already viewing. Posting a fun but educational video or a coupon that is only accessible by scanning are great examples of this strategy.
2. The landing page is mobile-friendly. Users will become frustrated if the landing page is difficult to navigate or read. So it’s crucial that the landing page is designed specifically to be viewed from a phone.
3. The code is strategically placed where Wi-Fi or 3G is accessible. As mentioned earlier, if QR codes are placed in areas where internet service is inaccessible, they are rendered useless.
4. The QR code is posted in a friendly and safe environment. Let’s not cause a pile up on the interstate by placing QR codes on the back of trucks or billboards. Instead, consider areas your target audiences frequent and will have the leisure to take out their phones and scan them. Don’t forget that most people enjoy scanning codes. They find the mystery enticing, so make it a fun and stress free experience.
5. The landing page expresses your company, campaign, or product’s pluck and personality. Your landing page should entice users to go to your website. Whether it’s because of a coupon, video, useful information, or a social media platform, your QR code should have them wanting more.
Matt Anderson
Things to Consider Before Placement
Think about the external environment before placing QR codes and whether it’s convenient or even possible for your target audience to take out their phones and scan the code. You know that they’re going to access your content from a mobile device, so make sure that your content is mobile enabled and that Wi-Fi or 3- or 4G connections are accessible. Take airplanes, elevators, and subway platforms for example where there’s no signal. These areas would be poor choices for placing QR codes.
I find it humorous whenever I see a QR code on a billboard. How is someone supposed to drive and scan at the same time? If people are willing to sue McDonald’s for obesity, then they could go after you if they attempt to scan your code from a billboard and have an accident.
Email and Website Strategy
Posting QR codes in an email is poor strategy if not utilized correctly, especially if it only leads them to your website’s homepage. If you’re looking to send a potential customer to a specific landing page from an email, you should provide a link in the form of an enticing call to action. But, if you enable your QR code to add your contact information (address, email, and number) into their phone when the QR code is scanned, this could be beneficial and possibly lead your potential customer to contact you.
Add QR codes for people reading an email or a webpage on their computer who may like to move that information onto their phone. Create a special, mobile-friendly landing page that condenses key information from the computer-based landing page when the code is scanned. Making it mobile-friendly is crucial!
Where They Should Take Users
This should be a fun project for you, but remember that while generating creative content you should implement strategic intelligence. Have the landing page be a place to sign up for your email newsletter. Links to your Twitter and Facebook accounts will gain more followers, check-ins, and fans. Coupons and videos are always a hit with consumers. Blogs are a great way to establish yourself as an authority. Reward your users for scanning. Remember that in this stage of the game users are more than likely not in a buying state of mind (unless you have an awesome coupon offer that will put them in that state of mind), so content should lure them to learn more about you.
Finding Proper Placement
You can place them on nearly anything with which your target audience comes in contact, so get creative. Put one on the back of your cash register, your menus or brochures, T-shirts-shirts, business cards, banners, books, magazines, coffee mugs, napkins, posters, social media sites, and any other promotional product. The list is as infinite as your imagination! Just make sure the placement is in an area that doesn’t make the item unattractive.
QR Code Checklist
When deciding where and how to use scannable graphics, make sure they follow this criteria.
1. Lead your user somewhere new and special. When a potential consumer scans your code they want to view something different than what they’re already viewing. Posting a fun but educational video or a coupon that is only accessible by scanning are great examples of this strategy.
2. The landing page is mobile-friendly. Users will become frustrated if the landing page is difficult to navigate or read. So it’s crucial that the landing page is designed specifically to be viewed from a phone.
3. The code is strategically placed where Wi-Fi or 3G is accessible. As mentioned earlier, if QR codes are placed in areas where internet service is inaccessible, they are rendered useless.
4. The QR code is posted in a friendly and safe environment. Let’s not cause a pile up on the interstate by placing QR codes on the back of trucks or billboards. Instead, consider areas your target audiences frequent and will have the leisure to take out their phones and scan them. Don’t forget that most people enjoy scanning codes. They find the mystery enticing, so make it a fun and stress free experience.
5. The landing page expresses your company, campaign, or product’s pluck and personality. Your landing page should entice users to go to your website. Whether it’s because of a coupon, video, useful information, or a social media platform, your QR code should have them wanting more.
Matt Anderson
Thứ Hai, 22 tháng 10, 2012
25 Effective Tech Tips for the Easily Distracted
One of 21st-century life’s cruelest ironies is that technology has saved us a lot of time, which we then turn around and spend using said technology. American attention spans have dropped to a demoralizing five minutes. Most of us are constantly being bombarded by distractions, from coworkers to texts and emails to enticing Web headlines. The good news is Skynet has not taken over yet; we can still control the machines and manipulate them to not hinder our concentration. If only the same could be said for coworkers …
Install StayFocused:
You don’t necessarily have to be prone to being distracted to sit down to work only to find yourself shopping for pearl snap shirts on eBay and wondering how you got there. StayFocused is a Google Chrome plug-in that lets you decide up front how much time to allow yourself to burn on those time-wasting sites before it cuts you off cold.
Track yourself with RescueTime:
If you’re not quite ready to let StayFocused dictate your web browsing, try RescueTime. It records where you click and how much time you spend there so that you can see the depressing results in all their graphed glory. If and when you decide to make some changes, it also includes the option to start blocking sites altogether.
Set a limit on email checks:
It’s not your fault, checking email is literally addictive. While it’s a great advancement to be able to check email from virtually anywhere, it’s also a productivity killer, so set a max of how many times you’ll check to see if you’ve got mail. If your drug dealer is your smartphone, go in and set the email fetch frequency to manual to rob it of the “slot machine effect.”
Don’t open more than three or four tabs:
The telltale sign of a serially distracted tech user is a computer screen jammed with dozens of viewing tabs, opened by rapid-fire clicking as his attention bounces from one thing to the next. Make it a rule to keep your open tabs to under five and you’ll find your attention is much less divided.
Take distractions to Task:
If you have an Android smartphone, one of the coolest apps you can get is Tasker. It’s a highly customizable scheduling app that can help you deal with distractions in the car (by auto-responding to texts with an “I’m driving” message) or the boardroom (by switching to silent mode).
Filter unimportant emails:
Another way to further limit email distraction is to set up filters that shuttle certain emails past the inbox. If you’re like us, you get 20 Groupon and LivingSocial emails a day, and 95% of them you delete immediately. These will keep perfectly fine in a folder you create called “discount” until the end of the day when you can trash them.
Pare down your email lists:
Speaking of which, deal-of-the-day sites are so yesterday anyway. Do you really want a discount massage or dental X-ray? Go ahead and unsubscribe, chief; your inbox will thank you.
Download a noise blocking program:
If a loud work environment is distracting you, give a program like Chatter Blocker a try. It uses a combination of nature sounds and music to effectively mask background chitchat. Another option (for Macs only) is Noisy, which uses white and “pink” noise (like a waterfall) to accomplish the same thing.
Sign out of chat:
Google and Facebook both have chat features that activate when you log into your account, unless you have them set to be signed off by default. As you’re easily distracted, that’s exactly how you’ll want to have them set. It’s bad enough you’re on Facebook in the first place; the last thing you need is to get sucked into a lengthy conversation with a friend.
Ditch Word:
If you’re writing a blog post, a cover letter, a term paper, or anything else, Microsoft Word seems designed to drain your time, whether by refusing to copy and paste the way you want, autocorrecting words you didn’t mistype, or bothering you with a talking paper clip (OK, so that one is old, but still). Either use Notepad or do yourself a real favor and…
Use Ommwriter instead:
It wouldn’t be very helpful if we didn’t give you a tip on how to replace Word. For distraction-free writing, Ommwriter is great — it blocks out everything else but your text authoring screen. You may hate it at first, but you’ll thank it after you’ve used it to finally get that novel started.
Read it later:
The Pocket app (formerly known as Read It Later) is a great way to come back to distracting articles and videos on your devices when you have more time. Nicknamed “the DVR of the web,” it lets you save links straight from Twitter, Pulse, and elsewhere on all the most popular devices.
Quiet down YouTube:
If your work or research involves any YouTube viewing, you know how easy it is to be enticed by the recommended videos or to read the colorful comments at the bottom. Quietube is a really cool app that hides all the junk so you can focus on just the video you came to watch.
Adjust your update notification settings:
One of the worst annoyances of using a PC is the update notifications that pop up. Choosing to install updates on the spot can be a ticket to lots of wasted time unpacking, installing, and rebooting. Instead, use the steps listed here to restrict updates to installing only when you shut down your computer.
Choose your home page carefully:
If you make your favorite time-killing website your home page, you’re asking for trouble every time you enter the Web. Set it to something bland like Google and you won’t be tempted to read five articles before you get any research done.
Invest in some noise-canceling headphones:
According to the subtle unwritten rules of office politics, headphones are kosher, earplugs are not. Spending $200 on a pair might seem exorbitant, but compared with the money you’ll be out when you’re fired because you can’t get your work done because you’re always distracted in the office, it’s a downright steal.
Pick the medium:
For dealing with niggling text messages, PC World recommends moving the medium to something that works better for your schedule. If someone texts you, instead of immediately responding (and opening yourself up to more distracting messages), call them back during your next break or email them. Either way stretches the dialogue out and buys you more time to work.
Scale back to one monitor:
Having a dual-monitor setup is supposed to be such a productivity booster, but at least one time management expert recommends ditching the second display. More screen real estate is just an invitation to open more windows and programs. Having just one forces you to focus.
Consolidate your feed:
When you do give in to distractions, streamlining the experience will at least cut down on the time you waste on them. Use Tweetdeck to make reading Twitter updates more efficient, and try Flipboard for turning your life into “your personal magazine.”
Block text message spam:
Texts from friends are distracting enough, but spam texts are just the worst, because you’re paying to have your time wasted. Consult with your carrier about options for blocking texts sent from computers, or install an app like iBlacklsit to take handle things yourself.
Cut your cable:
If you work in the same room as your giant flat-screen, the temptation to see what’s on ESPN or the Food Network will always be there, lurking. Streaming TV shows is easy but may give you the willpower to resist turning on the tube if you know what you want to watch will be there whenever you’re ready.
Turn off the clock:
Checking the time on your desktop only takes about half a second in itself; the catch is in the aftermath. You start thinking about how late it is, what you still have left to do today, which affects tomorrow’s workload, and the next day, and the weekend … Save yourself all that thought-time and just hide the clock.
Telecommute:
This one is a bit of a macro-tip, but if you have the option, try telecommuting. The technology is here to make many jobs doable from anywhere, so if the office is too distracting, work from home or the library and Skype or FaceTime in when necessary.
Schedule some breaks:
The chances you’ll give into distraction increase the longer you go without a break. Using an app like Time Out, you’ll get subtle reminders to get up, stretch your legs, and get a sweet dose of Facebook every 60-90 minutes.
Unplug:
If all else fails, flip the slider on your Wi-Fi to off or unplug the Ethernet cable, turn off your phone, lock the door, and close the window. If you’re still finding yourself distracted, it may be time to consider a lobotomy.
A Post from Site Administrator
How to Respond to Negative Reviews Online
Negative reviews don’t feel good but it’s not the end of the world. While the old saying “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” is debatable, it is often true that “no press is bad press.” If your business is not being discussed online at all you’re doing something wrong. So if you’ve received negative reviews, ride the silver lining by recognizing that you’re receiving online press in the first place. Then take it as an
opportunity to keep the online conversation going and staying relevant.
Here are 10 Tips on How to Respond to Negative Online Reviews:
1. Monitor Your Online Presence
Monitor your online presence to be aware of every site and directory where your business is listed and is open to receive customer comments and reviews. In addition to the social networks you have set up for your business and review sites like Yelp, Google yourself regularly and comb through the pages to see what is being said, if anything, about you. If your business has gained enough momentum that it’s reviewed on a regular basis then you may want to sign up with a service like ReviewTrackers. They monitor your online business reviews and report both the good and the bad, allowing you to respond in a timely fashion.
2. Claim Your Business
If public feedback is a big part of growing your customer base then spend the few extra bucks to claim your business (usually involves a small monthly fee) on review sites. Claiming your business allows you better interaction with reviewers and also allows for better control over the account. You can either be in the room when someone is talking about you or you can be outside. Which would you rather?
3. Don’t Ignore It – It Won’t Go Away
“The internet isn’t written in pencil, it’s written in ink.” This quote from The Social Network is one of the all-time greatest quotes about the internet. Once someone puts something about you online, it’s there to stay. If you ignore it, it remains. The only thing you can do is respond and respond well, because that too will remain.
4. To Delete or Not to Delete?
You can delete negative comments from your social networks and some review sites allow you to contact administration if you’ve been unjustly targeted BUT only do so if the review appears to be more of a personal attack or if profanity is used. Otherwise, constructive criticism should be visibly addressed every time.
5. Thank Them
Instead of getting defensive, always begin by thanking the reviewer for bringing the issue to your attention. It sets a positive tone for the rest of the conversation.
6. Be Personable
Form letter responses are a joke and incite aggravation on the part of disgruntled customers. Respond to the reviewer by name, talk about the specifics of the day in question, and encourage them to reply with a follow-up. By responding like an actual person you’re more likely to receive a much more cordial reply. You’ll also develop an ongoing dialogue and you just may create a repeat customer in the process.
7. Be Wise with the Apologies
Here’s a newsflash – in today’s day and age, when the online world is watching, the customer is NOT always right. Don’t immediately jump into “forgive me” mode unless it’s justified. Other viewers may only see the “I’m sorry” and assume you were at fault. Consider the review carefully. If the customer is truly being unreasonable because of expectations that they themselves set, respond with a brief statement that your product /service may not be a good match for them, and consider recommending them to a business that is. That being said, if the issue did come from your camp (product, staff, etc… ) then a heartfelt apology is certainly in order.
8. Take it Easy on the Freebies
Yelp extortion was coined in a recent article in the Sacramento Bee. It refers to when customers threaten a business with bad reviews if they don’t cough up free product/ services. It’s safe to assume that the concept was sparked by businesses publicizing refunds or complementary product/service offers to unhappy online reviewers. While it’s a good idea to invite them back for a better experience, be careful about giving away too much as it sets a standard for everyone else watching. Consider future discounts instead or have the customer contact you offline so you can make the complementary offer there.
9. Friends, Family & Fiction
On many occasions a business will attempt to combat bad reviews by setting up fake accounts and/or have friends, family, and employees post extremely positive reviews as soon as negative ones begin to make an appearance. Sorry, but the public is wise to this tactic. If they see a consistent pattern of less-than-stellar reviews followed by sudden spikes of PERFECT 5 Star raves that talk of a business as if it can do no wrong, they immediately get suspicious and the business looks ridiculous. It’s like snagging a copy of the mid-term in junior high and copying the exact answers word for word onto the test – you have to at least put down a few wrong ones to get away with it.
10. Fix the Issue/s
This final tip should be obvious. If your business is consistently chastised for something (e.g. poor service) then fix it immediately upon receiving the negative review/s. Take complete ownership of the issue and show online reviewers that you take their feedback very seriously. By confronting the issue and rectifying it in the public eye the results can be far more positive (enhanced customer loyalty) than the negative ever were.
Leave a comment below if you thought this article was helpful. If it wasn’t, keep it to yourself. Just kidding – sort of.
opportunity to keep the online conversation going and staying relevant.
Here are 10 Tips on How to Respond to Negative Online Reviews:
1. Monitor Your Online Presence
Monitor your online presence to be aware of every site and directory where your business is listed and is open to receive customer comments and reviews. In addition to the social networks you have set up for your business and review sites like Yelp, Google yourself regularly and comb through the pages to see what is being said, if anything, about you. If your business has gained enough momentum that it’s reviewed on a regular basis then you may want to sign up with a service like ReviewTrackers. They monitor your online business reviews and report both the good and the bad, allowing you to respond in a timely fashion.
2. Claim Your Business
If public feedback is a big part of growing your customer base then spend the few extra bucks to claim your business (usually involves a small monthly fee) on review sites. Claiming your business allows you better interaction with reviewers and also allows for better control over the account. You can either be in the room when someone is talking about you or you can be outside. Which would you rather?
3. Don’t Ignore It – It Won’t Go Away
“The internet isn’t written in pencil, it’s written in ink.” This quote from The Social Network is one of the all-time greatest quotes about the internet. Once someone puts something about you online, it’s there to stay. If you ignore it, it remains. The only thing you can do is respond and respond well, because that too will remain.
4. To Delete or Not to Delete?
You can delete negative comments from your social networks and some review sites allow you to contact administration if you’ve been unjustly targeted BUT only do so if the review appears to be more of a personal attack or if profanity is used. Otherwise, constructive criticism should be visibly addressed every time.
5. Thank Them
Instead of getting defensive, always begin by thanking the reviewer for bringing the issue to your attention. It sets a positive tone for the rest of the conversation.
6. Be Personable
Form letter responses are a joke and incite aggravation on the part of disgruntled customers. Respond to the reviewer by name, talk about the specifics of the day in question, and encourage them to reply with a follow-up. By responding like an actual person you’re more likely to receive a much more cordial reply. You’ll also develop an ongoing dialogue and you just may create a repeat customer in the process.
7. Be Wise with the Apologies
Here’s a newsflash – in today’s day and age, when the online world is watching, the customer is NOT always right. Don’t immediately jump into “forgive me” mode unless it’s justified. Other viewers may only see the “I’m sorry” and assume you were at fault. Consider the review carefully. If the customer is truly being unreasonable because of expectations that they themselves set, respond with a brief statement that your product /service may not be a good match for them, and consider recommending them to a business that is. That being said, if the issue did come from your camp (product, staff, etc… ) then a heartfelt apology is certainly in order.
8. Take it Easy on the Freebies
Yelp extortion was coined in a recent article in the Sacramento Bee. It refers to when customers threaten a business with bad reviews if they don’t cough up free product/ services. It’s safe to assume that the concept was sparked by businesses publicizing refunds or complementary product/service offers to unhappy online reviewers. While it’s a good idea to invite them back for a better experience, be careful about giving away too much as it sets a standard for everyone else watching. Consider future discounts instead or have the customer contact you offline so you can make the complementary offer there.
9. Friends, Family & Fiction
On many occasions a business will attempt to combat bad reviews by setting up fake accounts and/or have friends, family, and employees post extremely positive reviews as soon as negative ones begin to make an appearance. Sorry, but the public is wise to this tactic. If they see a consistent pattern of less-than-stellar reviews followed by sudden spikes of PERFECT 5 Star raves that talk of a business as if it can do no wrong, they immediately get suspicious and the business looks ridiculous. It’s like snagging a copy of the mid-term in junior high and copying the exact answers word for word onto the test – you have to at least put down a few wrong ones to get away with it.
10. Fix the Issue/s
This final tip should be obvious. If your business is consistently chastised for something (e.g. poor service) then fix it immediately upon receiving the negative review/s. Take complete ownership of the issue and show online reviewers that you take their feedback very seriously. By confronting the issue and rectifying it in the public eye the results can be far more positive (enhanced customer loyalty) than the negative ever were.
Leave a comment below if you thought this article was helpful. If it wasn’t, keep it to yourself. Just kidding – sort of.
Thứ Sáu, 19 tháng 10, 2012
How to Promote Your Website Like a Brand
Branding at the individual, small or even medium level is a difficult endeavor. However, there are little excuses for inadequacies these days as Google makes it more difficult to rank with content marketing that isn’t “brand friendly” – that is, tactics that are one-off gray or black hat link building techniques.
Today, we must function as brands, and the reality is that although we imagine companies like Kellogg’s and SeaWorld as the behemoths of brand marketing – companies with lackluster websites but still the ability to generate links eight times quicker than us – we are very capable of reflecting a similar identity online due to benefits of miniature scale we can create for ourselves through the proper marketing channels that brands often experience and build on offline.
What does this mean?
No more one off guest posting for links. Yes I am guest posting here, but I am doing so with the intention of building authority and referrals, and actually, the link matters little to me because I don’t do much SEO for my own blog. Hopefully some of you follow my blog or follow me on Twitter, which will create an audience that will multiply my future efforts online.
If I simply blog for a link, that effort is reduced. If you want to create scale (as you should), you’ll do similar. Yes, the link is valuable, and you should aim for a combinatory effect with your guest posting, but your sole intention should never be the link itself. In the new world of content marketing, it’s no longer a valid excuse.
This comes from deliberate, long practice of developing audience through mechanisms like guest posting in the target markets our audience operates in. Constantly releasing great content online and then creating introductory “sticky” promotion elements will create the brand mechanisms others enjoy. What are these introductory sticky elements?
This creates a negative brand efficiency if they do not, as customers, follow/like/subscribe to content they enjoy – as such an engagement is an introductory buy-in to your brand identity.
So this means your job, as a marketer, is not to initially think about how you might get thousands of sales, but how you will create the snowball promotion effect every time you release something online. Because if you do not generate that snowball, even if you create a viral sale effect, it will eventually become nothing.
Brands have that snowball effect – which is why every Apple event is covered and talked about once one word is leaked out – and why Six Flags can immediately touch thousands of eyeballs on their brand when a press release is opened up. They built it, but they had it bad compared us – they didn’t have the benefit of online, free promotion mechanisms to do it. They had to do it through high cost per acquisition activities like billboard, display and television advertising.
Build the brand snowball by:
It is likely a higher clickthrough rate is a positive signal to Google to actually rank you higher, which then gets you even more clicks – and more links, and so it goes. But that’s not where it stops to create a “snowball effect”. Obviously, hopefully you’ve now established some search result rankings, and some sales. From here, build on that efficiency and “snowball effect” by multiplying effort.
Do this by:
Ross Hudgens is the founder of Siege Media
Today, we must function as brands, and the reality is that although we imagine companies like Kellogg’s and SeaWorld as the behemoths of brand marketing – companies with lackluster websites but still the ability to generate links eight times quicker than us – we are very capable of reflecting a similar identity online due to benefits of miniature scale we can create for ourselves through the proper marketing channels that brands often experience and build on offline.
Link Building with Momentum in Mind
We’ve left behind the term “link building” and must instead focus on identities like “link development” through content marketing. If we build our businesses and link development competencies with the idea that we must build scale, we’ll be a lot more successful with our efforts because we will develop competencies.What does this mean?
No more one off guest posting for links. Yes I am guest posting here, but I am doing so with the intention of building authority and referrals, and actually, the link matters little to me because I don’t do much SEO for my own blog. Hopefully some of you follow my blog or follow me on Twitter, which will create an audience that will multiply my future efforts online.
If I simply blog for a link, that effort is reduced. If you want to create scale (as you should), you’ll do similar. Yes, the link is valuable, and you should aim for a combinatory effect with your guest posting, but your sole intention should never be the link itself. In the new world of content marketing, it’s no longer a valid excuse.
Creating A Snowball Promotion Strategy
Many brands have the benefit of content that serves itself, and only need to release it into the wild to see the benefits it can create online. Us small peons don’t, right? Well, the reality is that we do. We can’t ever be Kellogg’s or SeaWorld, but we can have the “publish” button that sites like SEOmoz enjoy – when thousands of eyeballs view their content all at once.This comes from deliberate, long practice of developing audience through mechanisms like guest posting in the target markets our audience operates in. Constantly releasing great content online and then creating introductory “sticky” promotion elements will create the brand mechanisms others enjoy. What are these introductory sticky elements?
- Twitter accounts – getting potential customers to follow us
- Facebook accounts – getting potential customers to like us
- YouTube accounts – getting potential customers to subscribe to us
- RSS feeds – getting potential customers to subscribe to us
- E-mail marketing – getting potential customers to subscribe to us
This creates a negative brand efficiency if they do not, as customers, follow/like/subscribe to content they enjoy – as such an engagement is an introductory buy-in to your brand identity.
So this means your job, as a marketer, is not to initially think about how you might get thousands of sales, but how you will create the snowball promotion effect every time you release something online. Because if you do not generate that snowball, even if you create a viral sale effect, it will eventually become nothing.
Brands have that snowball effect – which is why every Apple event is covered and talked about once one word is leaked out – and why Six Flags can immediately touch thousands of eyeballs on their brand when a press release is opened up. They built it, but they had it bad compared us – they didn’t have the benefit of online, free promotion mechanisms to do it. They had to do it through high cost per acquisition activities like billboard, display and television advertising.
Build the brand snowball by:
- Leveraging the maximum amount calls to action to social accounts on your sidebar, after blog posts, and occasionally, within blog posts, without appearing spammy
- Most often releasing content to interested markets asymmetrical to your own, such that they might have interest in future relevant content of yours
- Promoting content through all social channels relevant to your own and not to channels where there isn’t much application (such as Pinterest for Daily Blog Tips)
- Creating memorable and brand-identifiable social accounts that are easy to type in, easy to find, and match the company sales mission across all available properties
Creating A Brand Effect in SERP Results
As you build those accounts, you will begin to effect a real change in the search results, depending on your vertical. For example, SEOmoz, a now established “brand” in SEO, has the benefit not just of ranking well that being a brand provides, but also getting a higher clickthrough rate because of it.It is likely a higher clickthrough rate is a positive signal to Google to actually rank you higher, which then gets you even more clicks – and more links, and so it goes. But that’s not where it stops to create a “snowball effect”. Obviously, hopefully you’ve now established some search result rankings, and some sales. From here, build on that efficiency and “snowball effect” by multiplying effort.
Do this by:
- Signing up customers immediately for e-mail newsletters such that they can serve as content promoters even if they can no longer be upsold
- Immediately leverage a secondary call to action such as “follow us on Twitter/like us on Facebook!” after they’ve completed a conversion event
- Creating content that is good enough to be talked about through word of mouth, bringing new customers back to your website to then be pulled into future promotion efforts through social and email campaigns
- Using rel=author where applicable to create brand identity/quick identification when potential customers use your services online
Ross Hudgens is the founder of Siege Media
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