Now that Facebook has become almost ubiquitous in our society, it is not only silly but potentially harmful to not use it for your business. With over 750 million active users and growing, Facebook is second only to Google as the most popular website in the world. Simply put: never underestimate the importance of Social Media Marketing. These days if you don’t exist on Facebook you almost don’t exist.

If you’re reading this, chances are you have a facebook profile. Perhaps you use it every day, or maybe you only visit a few times a month, but you’re probably not harnessing the full potential of Facebook for your business, or using it at all. So how do you go about creating and maintaining a successful facebook presence? Read on…

The Facebook “Edge”

In order to understand exactly how effective facebook ads can be, you must understand how they work.

Facebook has an EdgeRank Algorithm which determines which items are displayed on a users’ news feed. Instead of displaying every single piece of activity from every friend a person has, this algorithm determines what to display based on the number of interactions, or “edges” that item has. Edges can be likes, shares, comments, tags, etc. This algorithm compiles frequency of posts, relevance (number of friends interacting with posts) and the user’s history of clicking and messaging within facebook, and uses all of this data to determine what shows up in your news feed.

This means that every little thing you do on facebook helps to determine whether or not your page or group will actually be seen. Having a Like button on your site and blog, asking questions, posing interesting articles, and creating contests can all help you be found.

The Goal…

1. Connect and engage with current and potential customers.
2. Be found by people who are searching for your service or product.
3. Create a community around your business.
4. Promote sales, new products, and content you create including articles, webinars, etc.

Let’s get started.

Your Business Page

You must create a page (or group) specifically for your business, but you cannot do this without first having a profile. Because you most likely have a profile we’ll skip it here, but if you don’t have one, get one now.

It is important to keep your business page separate from your personal profile. Keeping a division between yourself and your business will help to protect your privacy and to maintain a more professional business identity. The bottom line: do not treat your business page like your profile, or vice versa.

Additionally, profiles and pages each have features which make them perfectly suited for their intended purposes, so take advantage of them:

• Pages are capable of allowing multiple administrators, meaning you can have several people maintaining and managing the account, and no one person has total control over the public face of the business.
• Pages are public by default, and are gaining ground in facebook searches, as well as general searches outside of Facebook.
• Pages have categories which help with the relevancy of searches.
• No administrator acceptance is required, meaning anyone can instantly become a fan of a page.

Create a business page

Like just about everything else on Facebook, creating a page involves a cute little wizard which guides you through the process. Go to www.facebook.com/pages/create.php (you must be logged) to get started.

1. Choose a classification. You’ll likely choose one of the top 3 options. Choosing the correct category will help you rank in more relevant searches and provide relevant information fields on your page.
2. Choose a name and category for your page. This should be your company name, or possibly a brand name.
3. Click Get Started to create the page.
4. Set a profile picture. This should be a logo, or possibly a store front. It should be something consistent throughout your business and memorable.

Congratulations, you now have a Facebook business page!
Now, what do you do with it?

Promote your Page

There’s not much of a point in having a page unless people find it. So…

• Create an engaging Page; give users a reason to become a fan your page, and then keep them coming back. there are numerous applications you can use to make your page more engaging such as a discussion board or the YouTube video box.
• Take advantage of the viral nature of social media marketing – the News Feed. Every time there is activity on your page, it is published on your fan’s news feed. Stay on your fan’s minds by frequently posting interesting, relevant information.
• Connect with your existing network in a new way. You probably already have customers and business contacts, and possibly even email or blog subscribers. Let them know that they can now follow you on a site they probably already visit every day. This can be as simple as putting facebook icons with links to your page on your site/blog/newsletters, or as in-depth as writing a blog article about your new page or emailing your subscribers about it.
• Make your Page public and searchable. By default all pages are public, but if for some reason you notice your Page isn’t showing up in searches, make sure you have set it to be publicly indexed. Go to “Edit Page,” click “Manage Permissions” and make sure “Page Visibility” box is un-checked. This will make it publicly visible.

Groups vs. Pages

There are two types of business-friendly profiles which might be beneficial to your business. While all businesses should have pages, some should also have groups. Should yours?:

Overview:

• Groups - Community of people with a common interest
• Pages - Represents a brand or entity of which there are “fans”

If you want to create a group, here’s how:

Create a Group

Go to http://www.facebook.com/groups.php, and click the “Create a New Group” button in the top right corner of the page. You will be led through a wizard similar to the one used to set up a page. Fill out the group information, invite friends, and set the group privacy settings. For a business-related group, you’ll most likely want to set it to “open” to maximize visibility and access.

Advertise on Facebook

As with any ad, Facebook ads allow you to promote your business, get more fans for your business page, and drive more leads for your sales team. Facebook ads allow you to advertise a website or content you manage on Facebook (a group, page, event, etc.). Creating and managing an ad is similar to using Google AdWords.

Types of Ads

There are two different types of paid Facebook advertisements, Ads and Sponsored Stories. While ads have unique content and are fairly similar to any advertisement, sponsored ads take advantage of the user-driven content aspect of Facebook and appear when someone has liked a group or page on that persons’ friends’ news feeds. These two types of advertising are best used together. (for more information on Facebook Ads, see this e-book.)

To create either of these types of ads, go to http://www.facebook.com/advertising, click “Create an Ad”, and follow the setup wizard. (you must be logged in)

Create an Ad

1. Choose your destination tab. This is the landing page that your ad will point to.
2. Choose your ad’s title. Choose an eye-catching, concise title.
3. Create ad copy for the body. Create compelling copy to promote your ad.
4. Choose an image. Images are highly recommended, as they increase your ad‟s click-through rate.
5. Preview your ad. Then make changes as you see fit.

Create a Sponsored Story

1. Choose your story type. You can select a “Page Like Story,” a “Page Post Story,” or a “Page Post Like Story.” Click the question mark icons on Facebook next to each option for further clarification.
2. Preview your story.

Targeting Options

Naturally, your ad is going to perform better and continue to run successfully if it’s being displayed to users who are most likely to be interested in your service or product. This is where targeting options come in. These settings allow you to target users by their location (country and even city), demographics, likes/interests, and connections.

Unfortunately, Facebook ads aren’t free. The final step is to choose your payment type and set a budget for your campaign. This wizard also provides you with the most current information about the bids which are currently winning in the auction among ads similar to yours.

Manage Ads

Once you have reviewed and submitted your ad. Facebook’s built-in analytics (Ad Manager) will start tracking your ad performance in terms of impressions, clicks, and click-through rates. It is recommended that you run multiple variations of an ad at the same time and use the analytics to determine what yields the best results.

So, is it Working?

One of the greatest things about Facebook is that it lets you know exactly how much your efforts are paying off. While it is best used in conjunction with other analytics software like Google Analytics, Facebook provides its own analytical data, called Facebook Insights. Insights will report the number of likes, page views, and engagements with content your page receives. You can also view these points of data in a timeline, allowing you to determine exactly which types of posts and interactions are succeeding in generating page traffic.

Lastly, Insights lets you view the number of un-subscribes which can be very useful in determining exactly what your fans don’t like. Are you posting uninteresting things too often? This handy little function will let you know. Naturally, maintaining and increasing your number of active users can help drive traffic and leads to your business, so once you have generated a fan base, make sure you keep them happy.

Best Practices

Here’s a simple list of the top 10 things you can do to ensure Facebook Marketing Success:

1. Be interactive, fun, and helpful. When people reach your Facebook page, they are looking for some kind of interaction. Don’t disappoint them. It’s important not to let your page become stagnant, or it will simply disappear.
2. Embed videos on your Facebook page. There is no reason to send people to YouTube to watch your videos when you can keep ‘em right on your page!
3. Create a connection between Facebook and the outside world. Promote your sales and events through Facebook updates and photos.
4. Create contests; they are a fun and engaging way to encourage participation from fans and even generate new fans. Have people comment on a post to enter a drawing or create a scrambled frenzy by rewarding the first person to answer a trivia question correctly with a prize. The possibilities are endless.
5. Integrate Facebook into your traditional advertising. Because the Facebook icon/logo is so well known, adding it to your print ads will promote your Facebook presence. Use traditional ads to promote contests that encourage people to sign up on your fan page.
6. Use Facebook to grow your email list, and vice versa. Use your email newsletter to boost awareness of your Facebook page. In addition, promote your email newsletter to your existing Facebook fans. The end result will be growth in your email list and your Facebook fan base.
7. Introduce new products on Facebook first. People who sign up to be fans of your Facebook page are likely your most loyal evangelists and customers. Reward them by giving them information about a new product/service/feature before everyone else. If you do it right, they will help you promote it to others.
8. Welcome new page visitors. This can be as simple as sending a friendly little message to new fans or as intricate as installing an elaborate third party welcome page. HubSpot customers, for example, can install the free Facebook Welcome Application.
9. Integrate social content on your Facebook Page. Facebook is the gateway to the Internet for many people. As much as an eighth of all time spent on the Internet is now spent on Facebook. Extend the life and reach of your page content by incorporating content from other social channels like YouTube and SlideShare to your page.
10. ‘Like’ other businesses’ Facebook Pages. Liking the Pages of business partners, valued vendors, and customers will notify the administrators of those Pages, and often they will appreciate it and like you right back. The reciprocal like is the first step to creating an online community; think of this as leveraging Facebook for co-marketing efforts.

“We want their email to transfer to your server. We also want the transfer to be a seamless so they do not lose any email. Can this be done, and if so, how?”

Bob’s answer was full of important email hosting information, and we’d like to share this information with you:

Point your Domain:

If a client is having a new website created and they have an existing website hosted somewhere with email, the easiest thing for them to do is to point their domain nameservers to NS3.ProFusionWebsites.com and NS4.ProFusionWebsites.com. They do this at their domain registrar.The way this works is you type in a domain name in your browser bar, this name is verified at the Domain Registrar who then tells the user where the website is located. Same thing if you send a domain based email message; the Domain Registrar tells the mail server where the Mail server is located.This is done by sending a request to the Nameservers – effectively asking “Hello, do you know where XYZ.com is located?” – the name servers reply with “Sure, go to this IP adress to get to the website.” Same thing with email.

Modify the MX Record

You can leave your DNS at the Registrar and modify your A record – for the website – and the MX record – for email. This requires a bit more technical knowledge and requires the domain owner to get involved if there are any changes at the hosting company level.If the Domain Name Servers are pointed to our servers at the Registrar level, when that request comes in to the registrar, they respond with “that information is located at “NS3.ProFusionWebsites.com” and a back up is located at “NS4.ProFusionWebsites.com” – go there to get your information.This allows us to control where things are. So if we need to move things around a bit we can do so without involving the domain owner. We are free to make changes as needed.

So…

When the Domain Name Servers are pointed to us, and we have already set up the A record and MX Record, the world immediately knows to get the website from the IP address we have set and get email from the Mail Server we have set. This means that the old location of email will no longer be valid. Any email sitting on that server prior to or during the change over will no longer be available to the email account owner, unless there is a way to access this email via a web service.This is why we have the domian www.safesecurewebmail.com where users can go to check their email. They can do this as long as we have their email set up on our mail server, even if they change mail hosting, they can get to our mail server by going to www.safesecurewebmail.comand entering in their full email address and their password. This give them direct access to our mail server even if their MX record is pointing elsewhere.The problem with this is that if we do not remove their old account in a timely manner, anyone else who is on our mail server that sends an email to this user’s account still located on our server will not get the message unless s/he logs in to the webmail server. This is because mail sent from one mail account on a mail server to another mail account on that server will never have to leave the system to ask “Anyone know where this email account lives?”

How long does the transfer take?

This transition from Old server to New Mail server is generally quick. A matter of minutes to an hour depending on how frequently the hosting company refresehes their DNS. For example, we refresh our DNS every 15 minutes.Email sent during the transition can sometimes bounce around a bit and get delayed, but usually gets delivered sooner or later. If it does not, then the sender will typically get a response that the mail he sent was undeliverable as addressed.

One more thing…

Your client needs to reconfigure his/her Outlook or mail client to pull from the proper server.This can sometimes be a problem when a user has been using web-based Exchange servers as these are not always cleaned out quickly and these IP addresses are likely cached in the user’s system.So you should probably find out what kind of email client your customer is using and how they access their email currently – via web access, POP3, IMAP, etc.

Like…

To “Like” something on Facebook seems pretty simple; if someone is interested in your page, they click “Like”. Despite its simplicity, the effects of this single act are numerous and far-reaching. The “liked” page will be listed on the person’s wall, and will display in the person’s friend’s news feeds. Given that the average Facebook user has around 130 friends, this means a lot of exposure. But it doesn’t stop after that initial “Like”:

The liked item will often show up on the recommended pages area of the person’s friends, and the person who liked the page will be continually reminded of their interest in this page as each new post on the page will show up in their news feed.

By placing a “Like” button on your website, you can allow for all of this ripple-effect advertising and marketing with one simple step.

Share…

“Share” is similar to a “Like”, except with more information. This often creates a greater level of interest to one’s friends because of the increased specificity of the post. “Shares” are able to display a thumbnail, a longer description, and a direct link to the original site. There are also similar functions on Twitter and LinkedIn, allowing for greater social media coverage. Because these posts tend to be more interesting, they are also more likely to generate a greater number of comments which will keep the post at the top of friends’ news feeds.

The most important difference between a “Like” and a “Share” is the sticking power of a shared item. Because they require more time and effort to post (not to mention the fact that the post itself is often twice or three times the size of a “Like” notification), the poster’s friends are much more likely to take the time to check out the original page.

And…

While both “Liking” and “Sharing” require frequently writing and posting interesting, quality content to be effective marketing strategies, it doesn’t necessarily always have to be your content. By building a community of related businesses online, you have the ability to “Share” an interesting article from another website which will build trust, interest, and confidence in your posts in two ways. First, if you can prove that by “Liking” your page a user can expect interesting content, they are more likely to actually pay attention to your posts and to share them with others. And second, this can have the effect of creating goodwill among the people whose content you share. Social media is nothing if not a two-way street, and letting others know that you’re posting their content can lead to them posting yours as well.

So…

There is no magic formula for social media marketing, and simply creating a page is not enough to generate interest. Social Media is an active, ever-changing format which requires continual time and attention, but if done correctly, it can be one of the most effective marketing strategies available today.

1. Login to Hotmail

2. From the upper right hand corner click on the drop down arrow next to your account name

3. Click on Options

4. Then click on the mail tab on the left hand side

5. Under “Writing Email” click on Message Font and Signature

6. In the Personal Signature box, follow these instructions.

1. Change the editor type from “Rich Text” to “Edit in HTML” from the drop down on the right hand side. If there is text in the editor, go ahead and clear it out at this point so you are starting with a blank slate.
2. Type in your name and contact information – the font will not look like the one you selected above, and that is ok. When you are done typing and adding in the icons, you can change from HTML to text mode and change the fonts if you want.
3. Place the cursor below the contact information where you want the icons to appear.
1. Facebook – For the Facebook Icon, type in the code from the image below. Sorry you can’t copy and paste it, if you need to copy and paste – download the PDF of these instructions and copy the code from the PDF.
   
2. Twitter: For the Twitter Icon, type in the code from the image below.
   
3. LinkedIn:  For the LinedIn Icon, type in the code from the image below.
   

Note: Due to WordPress thinking it’s smarter than me, you have to download the pdf: Adding social media icons to Hotmail Signature if you want to actually copy and paste the code. If you don’t mind retyping it, just type carefully the code you see above..

Note (again): the icons may have a blue or purple line around them. I have tested this and the lines show up in your signature when you send an email, but the email recipient does not see these lines. Please also remember to change the page URLs for each of the accounts. You’ll want to put in your actual facebook account URL into the code.

When you are done entering in the information, it should look something like this…

7. You can now use the drop down to switch back from HTML mode to Rich Text Mode to see the work you just did and format the text to look the way you want it to. You may have to enter in line breaks now.

8. Then click save. The next time you send an email, this signature will appear!

This isn’t about getting your site to show up on a vast number of generalized searches; it’s about being found for searches which are likely to actually bring you business. If you’re trying to get traffic to a small, local, or super-specific site, these types of keywords are essential. When you’re part of a specific niche market, even if someone manages to find your site with a general search, it’s much less likely that they’re searching for exactly what your website does. In these types of situations, optimizing only for general search terms wastes both your and your potential customers’ time.

The simple truth is that sites like Amazon.com are always going to snap up the majority of super general searches. Long tail keywords are all about being found for what your site really is and does. If your website is optimized for this keyword, you’re basically guaranteed a website visit an an increased chance of customer conversion.

Let’s look at an example. Say you’re a potential customer trying to figure out where to eat in an unfamiliar city. You could search for “burger restaurant” and receive a few million search results, the first few pages of which will be filled with mega-chains like Red Robbin, McDonalds, and the like. People will often start with more generalized searches and refine them if they don’t find satisfactory results, especially if they’re doing research on the options available to them. This is where those additional details become critical, if you’re looking for a specific product or service, you won’t find applicable sites unless this criteria is reflected in the site’s keywords.

Now, unless you were searching for a massive worldwide burger chain, most search-engine-savvy people will automatically refine their search by adding specific details about what they’re looking for until it looks something like “local burger restaurant in Bellingham, WA”. This long tail keyword search will show nothing but locally owned burger joints in one specific city, filtering out the big chains entirely. This is crucial, especially if your website shows up on the first page of results, because you’ve got about a 1 in 10 chance that the searching person is about to come to your restaurant.

As a last note, it’s important to remember that, as useful as long tail keywords can be, they’re only as good as the content they describe. You can bring in all the potential customers you want with specific keywords, but unless your site actually has the information the customer requires, nothing is going to be able to increase your customer conversion. Great content is, in the long run, vastly more important to the success of a website than any SEO.

The problem is that, quite often, bloggers will continue to generate content for those few who keep up with the blog without actively pursuing new readership. For a business blog especially, this is a huge missed opportunity. If you’re generating quality content, especially if it involves valuable instructions or advice, chances are someone will want to share that advice with someone else… and suddenly you have a large thriving readership!

But it all starts with getting people to read what you post.

As an avid follower of several blogs myself, here are a few of the ways I appreciate blogs keeping in touch (and yes, some of these are going to be pretty basic, please bear with me):

• Include links to any and all social media your blog is associated with. This means that, if you haven’t already, you’re going to have to join a few of those social media outlets (facebook and twitter at least). It’s a simply a necessity now-a-days to crafting your online presence.
• Post about your new posts (how redundant, I know) on those social media sites. This allows your followers to see a link to your new post where they already go regularly. This makes for effortless reading on their part, which makes for more readership on your part. (Just try to post a few things besides blog post announcements; you don’t want to seem too inactive.) Also, if people comment on your post posts, their friends (who may not even know your awesome blog exists) can see those links and perhaps they’ll check it out, too! Yay for expanding audiences!
• Find a way to enable a subscription option on your blog. I’m sure there’s something out there for every blog tool which will at least allow users to subscribe via email. Most of these simply send out your post in the email. How easy is that? However, you will probably encounter some readers who, for whatever reason, don’t like getting their blog updates in emails. Perhaps they subscribe to too many blogs, or maybe you post on your blog too often for it to be convenient. Chances are, these people have found a way to subscribe to your blog via some collective program such as:
• Google Reader (my personal favorite). While you can add any website or blog to this feed by typing in the URL in the right spot, there’s no reason you can’t make it a bit easier on them by adding a handy little button that can do it for them. Google even supplies it themselves: http://www.google.com/webmasters/add.html.

The trick to gathering a large readership is to make following your blog as effortless as possible. Let’s face it, most people are too busy, forgetful, or just plain lazy to keep up with your blog unless you let them know there’s something new. By proclaiming the existence of a new post far and wide and doing everything but clicking the link for them, you’re bound to increase your readership and generate more interest surrounding your blog. (Just don’t forget about the whole quality posts thing)

I frequently get asked how to put the little Twitter and Facebook icons into an email signature with links back to their respective accounts. If you are using Outlook 2007, here are some basic instructions for how you can add these icons to your signature.

1. Open Outlook
2. Click on Tools
3. Click on Options
4. From the tabs, click on “Mail Format”
5. Click on Signatures
6. Click on the New Button
7. Give your signature a name (Company name will do)
8. Then in the Edit Signature section, type out everything you want included in the signature. My signature has my name, title, logo, address, phone, email, web address and Twitter/Facebook icons.
9. To add the images to your signature (we have attached the Facebook/Twitter icons to this post for you to save and use in your own signature) click on the “picture” icon (which is the 2nd icon from the right)
10. After you click on Picture, a browse wizard will pop-up and will allow you to browse your hard drive and add your twitter/Facebook icons to the signature.
11. Once you have the images in the signature, click on one of the images to highlight it. Then click on the “hyperlink” button (it should be the last button on the right)
12. In the address field at the bottom of the hyperlink window, type in your Twitter or Facebook address (depending on which image you are linking)
13. Click ok
14. Repeat that until you have all your images linked to the right web addresses.

It takes a few steps to get all the icons loaded in the way you want, however, not having to type in your signature each and every time will save you lots of time and save your recipients time if they are trying to look up your contact information. Promoting your Facebook Fan Page or Twitter Account in a signature is a great way to get your Social Media efforts in front of everyone that you touch base with via email.

These icons can also be added to your website. Just reduce the size to 30 pixels x 30 pixels and then add them to any page on your site. We added them to the vertical column section on the Net Solutions site. If you are using the ProFusion Ultra Internet Solution as your website provider, you can see how to do this by watching our Introductory Webinar.

Click to Download Social Media Icons

If you’d like to host the twitter and facebook icons on our blog and link them into your site, use the URLs in below in your signature:

Twitter: http://www.snoitulosten.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/twitter-small.jpg
Facebook: http://www.snoitulosten.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/facebook-small.jpg

Here is the corresponding video to this instruction set:

1. Login to Gmail
2. Next to your email address in the upper right hand corner, click on the Options button, then select Mail Settings
3. On the General Settings tab, scroll down to the signature settings.
4. Type in your name, address and other contact information.
5. To add the Facebook Icon, click on the image button (looks like this Then copy and paste this image link into the Image URL Field: http://www.snoitulosten.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/facebook-small.jpg then click ok
6. Repeat this step for Twitter using this image link: http://www.snoitulosten.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/twitter-small.jpg (BTW – here is the link for Linkedin if you want it: http://www.snoitulosten.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/linked.jpg )
7. Now that you have the images inserted, you need to hyperlink them. To do this, first click on the image you want to link to highlight it, then click on the hyperlink button (looks like this:
8. After you click on the link, a dialog box will open. Copy and paste your Facebook or Twitter link into the Web Address field, then click ok.
9. Do this for all images in your signature.

Here is the video instruction set if you’d rather see it in person:

Be sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the screen and save your changes. Then send yourself a test message (or send me one patrice@netsolutionsna.com) and we can verify that the links go to the right place!

We’ll post more image options in the near future so you can add in YouTube, Linkedin, etc.

The simple answer: yes. Coupons are a win-win situation; the customer feels especially good about the purchase they’re making and the seller is more likely to make the sale or even multiple sales. According to research done by Harris Interactive, 34% of web consumers now will wait to make a purchase until they have a coupon, which is up from 30% last year and 27% the year before.

According to AllExperts.com, 5.7% of consumers look for coupons online, 4.4% of them receiving them via email. They found that nearly 22% of respondents want to receive coupons via email. Online coupons can translate to offline activity, they’ve found, and the key to effective online coupons is correct targeting.

They report that “the combined 32% of those who prefer to receive coupons on the Internet and via email jumps to 55%, provided the coupons are specifically tailored to the interests of the consumer. Targeting your audience properly will allow you to deliver greater value, and in turn, a higher open rate of your e-mails.”

According to the Etsy.com seller handbook, discounts and sales can be effective for a wide variety of reasons:

• Coupons can help to introduce and establish new customers who are then likely to become repeat customers.
• Discounts like “buy one get one for $5 off” encourage additional purchases while offers like “10% off total purchase” will often entice customers to buy in greater volume.
• Coupons are an excellent way to reward your best customers and maintain an excellent, mutually beneficial relationship.

In an uncertain economy every little bit helps, and with websites catering specifically to distributing them, it is easier than ever to spread the word about your coupons and by extension your company. These sites work in several different ways:

• Groupon offers amazing deals, often 50% off or more, and consumers have the option of purchasing these deals. This guarantees volume purchases, which are the biggest benefit of offering coupons for the seller, because unless a pre-set number of people purchase the deal it is void.
• SmartSource and RetailMeNot are organized resources for printable coupons for everything from groceries to dental screenings. These sites allow registered users (registration is free) to choose stores, categories, and brands they prefer and to receive email notifications of coupons which fit their preferences. Users can also search using many different criteria including location and percentage of discount in order to find the best deals.

Because they are an easy and relatively cheap way to bring in business, and because the use of online coupons is steadily growing, it is becoming increasingly necessary for businesses to offer at least occasional discounts and coupons. Keeping a continuous flow of time-sensitive discounts can increase the dynamic feel of a business and entice the on-the-fence customers to make purchases.

The basics of the C.R.A.P. principles are:

Contrast – Elements that aren’t supposed to be the same should be very different. Making the only slightly different confuses the eye and causes the reader to see a relationship that doesn’t exist. Using differing elements on a page draws the eyes to appropriately grouped elements and allows for proper scanning.

Repetition – Continuing formatting and styles for the entire document to create and maintain a cohesive feel.

Alignment – Everything on the page needs to be visually connected to something else, nothing should be out of place or distinct from all other design elements. Clean lines create peace.

Proximity – Proximity creates related meaning: elements that are related should be grouped together, whereas separate elements should have enough space in between to be easily distinguishable. Never underestimate the use of white space.

For more information and examples, visit:
http://www.webcredible.co.uk/blog/revive-the-crap-principles
http://thinkvitamin.com/design/how-crap-is-your-site-design/

There are many reasons for the increased reliance on social media, including increased control over which messages you receive, the one-stop-shopping experience of an outlet which includes businesses, groups, clubs, and your entire social circle, and of course, let’s not underestimate the draw that an ever-changing platform like facebook can have for users simply for the sake of flashy new features.

So I have to ask, is email, once the height of information transfer technology, going the way of the pony express?

Email is by no means a perfect system; between spam (whether virus-infected or not), repetition or boringness of information in emails, and the sheer volume of messages that can accumulate when using a free instant digital medium for communication, lots of problems are likely to arise. Most internet-savvy users are able to control the settings of their email programs and personalize them so that they don’t encounter these issues, but for those who don’t know how or just can’t be bothered to do so, email can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help.

One important thing to remember is that the trend of increasing reliance on social media is not, generally speaking, a trend among businesspeople. While some smaller businesses do exist solely on sites like facebook, the vast majority of businesses that have a facebook page also have a main website and the facebook is simply an extra outlet for users who choose to recieve information primarily that way.

Despite the longevity of these predictions, email is still winning out. A study by iModerate Research Technologies found that 86% of consumers who send information over the Internet do so primarily through email. Facebook and Twitter, however, are dragging behind with 49 and 4 percent respectively. One reason for this high number of emails may lie in the age of the users; consumers over 35 are overwhelmingly favoring email at 93% usage, while even among the most Facebook-savvy age group — 18-24 years — 70% of users are still preferring email.

One reason for the continuing dominance of email may be its usefulness in online marketing. 37 percent of shoppers prefer email as the delivery method of promotional offers with only 9 percent favoring social media, according to eMarketer. In fact, social media is dead last on the list with Mailers in second place at 23 percent followed by text messaging and in-store with 18 and 11 percent respectively.

While the numbers will likely continue to grow in the favor of social media as it continues to grow, the fact that email is still by far the dominant form of online information transfer suggests that it will remain so for a long time to come.

Dear CEO,

We are a domain name registrar centre in HongKong which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally, we have an important issue to confirm with you.

1. On the July 14,We received a formal application from a company named ” Honor Overseas, Inc. ” who are applying to register ” netsolutionsna” as domain names and Internet keyword.

2. During our preliminary investigation, we found that these Domain Names’ keyword is identical with your Trade Mark, this is why we inform you.

3. I wonder whether did you consigned ” Honor Overseas, Inc.” to register these Domain Names and Internet Keyword with us? Or is “Honor Overseas, Inc.” your business partner?

4. If you do not have any relationship with this applicant, we assume that they have other purposes to obtain these Domain Names and Internet Keyword.

Currently, we have already postponed this company’s application temporarily. Pls let the relevant principal make a confirmation with me ASAP.

Thanks & Regards,

JoJo Wang

If you get something like this, don’t respond, just trash it. It is a scam. More info on relevant scams can be seen on this blog- http://www.cyveillanceblog.com/domains-icann/domain-registration-scam-picks-up-in-volume

Unfortunately, all did not go well. And one the Windows Apps server did not reboot. Technicians are working on the problem but I do not yet have an ETA for the servers to be back on line. The contingency plan is to install a new server but that will take time to bring on line as all of the sites will need to be restored from backup.

We will let you know as soon as we figure out the failure point.

Sorry for the inconvenience this is causing you.

Please check back here as I will be posting as more information is available.

I wondered if anyone cared about this anymore? If all things were equal and you were making a purchase, would you opt to go with the product that was manufactured by the Family Owned and Operated Company? Does family owned and operated somehow equate to good service and tangible value? I’m not sure it does.

I think the 5 seconds wasted on saying “family owned and operated” could have been better spent on making an actual claim on why you are better/different from your competition. Lean economic times means business owners need to get smarter and their advertising messages need to hit their consumer right in the pain points. Telling me that you are family owned and operated does not help me make a buying decision.

If you disagree with me, and doing business with a family owned and operated company is #1 on your list, then you will be happy to know that Net Solutions is a family owned and operated business.

We get asked these question and ones like it all the time. And the simple fact is that hosting appears to be a commodity until you have a problem. Recently one of the Industry giants was attacked by a virus infecting thousands of WordPress Blogs. Then re-attacked infecting several other open source applications like Joomla and simple HTML sites. According to Eddie Schwartz, chief security officer with NetWitness, hacks like that of [Network Solutions] are all too common. “We see these sorts of attacks – they are basically a very common occurrence. The fact is that there’s a vibrant community of people downloading COTS [commercial off-the-shelf] versions of Zeus and other malware kits, looking for legitimate Websites where they can install iFrame exploits.”

Whether the first and second attacks are related is not clear and information from Network Solutions is not forthcoming for fear of helping the perpetrators. And attacks like these can also cause issues with hosted email system due to “irregular network traffic” according to Network Solutions Twitter feed. Read more about server hacks on Network Solutions.

At Net Solutions North America, LLC we made the decision 6 years ago to build our own proprietary closed system application rather than build websites using one of the many open source applications. Open source means that anyone can get the entire source code of the application for free. Having access to the line by line code of an application is like gold to a hacker wishing to infect a large quantity of sites. WordPress blog is one of the most popular open source applications being commonly used today. In fact, we recommend it to our clients who need and want a blog application.

But we do something that few hosting companies do. We restrict access whenever possible. We place similar products on different servers so that we can identify problems and isolate issues faster. We use both Linux and Windows servers and have various functions and required applications segregated to help insulate a single site attack from infecting others on the same server. We operate our database application for our products on different servers from the applications. We separate our mail server from our applications servers. We have separate servers for our email marketing applications. All this means a significant increase in infrastructure costs and in management costs and systems to manage and maintain all of these servers. But what it also means is a much more secure hosting environment and lower likelihood that a successful attack of one server will spread to other servers.

Because we have had sites that have been successfully attacked in the past, and because we know that our sites are under constant attack we have implemented a number of security functions that some of our users do not like – i.e. locking admin functions after a number of wrong attempts. We will continue to do whatever is feasible to protect our client’s information and the security of their site. Rest assured we understand that there is a fine line between being annoying and providing the security our customers need.

So if you read that Net Solutions sites have been hacked or our systems and applications have been compromised, please make sure that you understand that they are not likely referring to us, but our much larger similar namesake hosting providers using open source applications and advertising low price hosting. But when it comes to hosting, it is hard to tell the difference until your site has been hacked and you are desperate to retrieve your data and minimize disruption to your website, blogs, and email.

A case in point, recently I read a Linked In recommendation from a client of ours who posted a reference for a former employee. When I first read it, my initial reaction was good for the former employee for getting the reference. But the reference included many tasks that were outside the scope of this person’s specific job requirements and abilities. In this case that employee was being lauded for his ability to do things that were done by other employees of the company. And because these employees did not interact directly with the client, they received no credit for the work they had done.

As I pondered, I thought that is really unfair. But unfair or not, that is the way things are. In our marketing efforts, we promote our President as the company spokesperson. And she does a fine job of promoting the company through her involvement in various organizations and community outreach programs. But she is not the company either. People who are the face of the company tend to get credit for the collective work of the employees of the company. Individual rewards are left to the company themselves to dole out to its employees. And this is the way it goes when a company serves it clients well. One or a handful of public facing employees get the lion’s share of the credit.

But what happens when things don’t go right? Then, all of a sudden the person who you deal with is no longer the company. You escalate your issues up the ladder. You demand resolution from the company. You expect the company to step in to make it right. No longer is the individual the center of your attention. That person who in a different situation gets all the credit now takes a backseat to the company’s infrastructure and policies and people. And the funny thing is that the person who gets all the credit when things go well, rarely gets all the blame when things do not go as planned. Why is that?

The reality is that we are humans. Employees are human. Companies are not. We can relate one to one with another human but we cannot relate one to one with a company. In most cases a company is not one. It is many. Doing different things to make sure the company can provide the products and services that warrant a customer’s praise and hopefully, loyalty.

Smart companies empower their employees to make decisions. The more power you give an employee the more human they become and the more a customer can relate to them and identify less with the company. However satisfying this is for the customer, it is a two-edged sword for the company. Empowering employees to keep customers happy is good for immediate business but it may lead to a false sense of security for the customer. In most cases they do not think “Wow! What a great company I am dealing with that cares so much about my well being they allow their employees to make decisions to keep me happy.” But that is really what is happening. What they think is: “Employee X is such a good employee that he goes the extra mile for his clients looking out for their best interests.” Employee X could not do any of these things without the proper company attitude, training and foresight to enable the employee to help in the first place.

When a valued, trusted, empowered employee leaves for whatever reason, customers can become very nervous, in many cases to the point of paranoia. I think that is because as companies, no matter how good we are, fail to communicate all the things the company does to ensure the relationship between the customer and the company remains strong.

In our case few clients know about our Project Management System, our support ticket application, our forum or even our blogs. Most do know how to get in touch with us during business hours on the phone. But many of the issues our clients experience are after normal business hours. So they use the tools they know. They email their primary contact. And then if that goes unanswered for any period of time they phone the next business day. This is a communication problem. A failure of the company to help the client understand all of the support functions it may have instigated to help the client in time of need.

In our case, the same company that has empowered an employee to take care of their clients spends thousands of dollars each year on additional support functions and personnel to monitor these tools – which were put in place not to make life more difficult for our customers but to enhance their relationship and to allow us to improve our ability to serve them better.

An email sent to an employee is read by that employee when s/he gets around to it. No one else has access to that private email. S/he then must decide what to do with it and whom to send the request to if they cannot resolve the issue. Frequently this will entail opening a support ticket on behalf of the customer and assigning the ticket to the appropriate support person to rectify the issue. This can cause delays. Particularly over a weekend or after hours when so many of our clients actually have time to work on their web strategies.

The following scenario is not uncommon: Saturday morning Client “A” gets up to work on their website, email marketing application or blog. They encounter an issue – whether it is a question or an application problem. The pick up the phone and call only to find no one answers. They leave a message to call them back. Then they email their primary contact. Now they are experiencing some frustration as the time they set aside to work on a task has to be put off until they get their question answered. The employee contact is not the company. S/he is an employee who may or may not feel the need to check email on the weekend or while they are away from the office. A couple of days may go by before the employee responds. In some cases, client A cannot even recall what they were working on that they had a question on and by the time we get back to them they no longer have time to work on the task they intended to work on.

So how does Net Solutions North America – the company respond? We have a Project Management System for back-and-forth communications on projects that have not yet gone live. We have a support ticket application that is monitored 24/7 where any number of experts for that particular issue may be assigned the task to respond. And we have a Forum.

Posting a support ticket vs. sending an email means that your problem is likely to be addressed faster. And the issue is captured so that we can monitor whether or not this issue is a problem that needs to be addressed with the application or training or both.
Our Forum can be read by not only NSNA employees but also by users of the Forum. Here you have a chance to review other people’s posts to see if anyone else has had this same issue and how it was resolved. If you do not find your issue you can post it and your chances of getting a response from either a NSNA employee or a knowledgeable user is greatly increased. If you are a visual learner, we have training videos that go over most of the basic functions of our application to answer most questions. And the Ultra IS application has built in Flash video that help users perform tasks that are not done frequently.

Using any or all of these tools will significantly help most of our customers to get quick responses to issues they encounter and will reduce the frustration level of setting time aside to work on a task only to have to set it aside because you cannot get your questions answered.

The point I am trying to make is that our customers are Net Solutions North America customers and not individual employee of Net Solutions customers. It is the company that will support them long after an employee may leave. We should cherish the friendships that employees of companies provide to us, but we should remain aware that it is the company that we actually have the business relationship with. It is the company that will help us solve our problems and resolve our issues. The company is the sum of all of the employees and not just the ones that deal with the public. The company can be rated good or bad based on how it empowers its employees to make decisions that are in its customer’s best interest. Companies are not bad or good. It is the management philosophy, policies and people in the companies that determine whether a company is worth doing business with. If you have had a bad experience with a company, we invite you to give us a try and see what a difference empowered employees and enlightened management can do when coupled with great products.

1. PixResizer (http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm) easily allows you to resize one or multiple images. Please, please use this or http://profusionproducts.com/resizer/ to resize your images before you load them onto your website.

2. TweetDeck – I manage a few Twitter and FaceBook accounts and TweetDeck makes this simple from one interface

3. Pixie – (http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.php) ever wonder what the hex, RGB, or CMYK value of the color on your favorite website is? Well wonder no more, Pixie is a great little tool that will tell you the codes for any color on any website, document or image.

4. PowerPoint – I am a PowerPoint junkie. I don’t just use it for presentations, I use it to do rough schematics and rough mock-ups. I can do amazing things in PowerPoint. Many website designs have started with me and a client sitting down and mocking something up it PowerPoint. I am sure other web designers will laugh, but this works and my clients are happy.

5. I had been using GoTo Webinar for our online training sessions and have been relatively happy with them. They are somewhat pricey ($99/mo). My biggest complaint is that the recordings are not very high quality. I have posted many of them on the NSNA website and they are hard to read. I have been trying out Camtasia and Screencast.com for a couple quick responses to clients (see http://www.screencast.com/t/YTIwZDMzMTkt as an example) but I have not used it enough to make a full review. I’ll let you know.

6. We use IM (instant messenger) like crazy to communicate quickly. Call me lazy, but there are many times I will IM the CEO of our company even if he is sitting in the office right next to me. For me, I like having a written answer to my question. If gives me something to go back and read if I ever forget the answer (which I do a lot… prego brain). I still have two accounts, Yahoo and MSN, and use both messengers. I know there are tools that allow you to consolidate to one IM, but I like having both. Sue me.

7. CutePDF – again, PC users need a free way to make PDFs too. See my earlier post on how to do this.

8. Pandora.com – For me, I work much better with good tunes. Since I can’t hire DJ Maynard to spin in my office all day, I listen to Pandora.

What am I missing? What can’t you live/work without?

Now, for those of you who do not know me directly, I am not short on confidence. My parents told me I could do anything, and I believed them. So when given the opportunity to start a company selling web solutions, I said why not and jumped in with both feet. Unfortunately, the first few meetings I had with potential clients were disasters. I wasn’t prepared to answer their questions, I didn’t know what I was selling, and I couldn’t provide them with any value. I was shell shocked. I had just invested over $60,000 into a business that I didn’t know the first thing about.

My initial reaction… RETREAT, FULL RETREAT! Hide your head in the sand until this passes and then pop back up as a blond and hope no one noticed. Unfortunately that strategy didn’t work. I had to get back on the horse, I had to make my investment work. So then I took on the attitude that I had to learn everything there was about web technologies and websites. The next meeting I went into, I was going to be the biggest web nerd in the room. I started reading books and other websites that I could find. I tried to devour as much information as I could.

But what was happening to my sales and leads while I was doing all this learning? Nothing. I had no sales, I had no income, I had nothing in my pipeline. That was even scarier than being laughed out of a meeting. So I knew I had to find a healthy balance of learning and selling. I took on the attitude that I have now… I may not know everything about technology, but I know we (NSNA) can do just about anything any client wants on the web.

And more importantly, I realized that my potential clients don’t care if I know everything about the web or not. They care about what I know about their business. They care about how I can help them make more money, spend less time at work, manage their own site, learn a new skill, etc. That is the value I provided them. My clients enjoy the fact that I do not speak geek. They like that they are speaking with another business owner that understands that making payroll can be a bitch sometimes and that sometimes at the end of the month there are a lot more bills than cash.

So now the important skill that I bring to the table when meeting a client is that I listen. I listen to what they want, I balance that with what I know works and how our products work, and the result usually is a happy client with a new web solution. The point is, don’t let your fear of not knowing paralyze you into not selling. If you are a ProFusion Dealer, spend time building your website on the tools you were given when you first signed up. Show your clients what you are doing, show them how you can add pictures to your website with a few mouse clicks. Show them how you can turn a boring business website into an Italian Restaurant site in less than an hour. Show them how you can make your new product dance, and I guarantee they will want to do business with you and they will tell their friends about you.

So stop waiting, start selling!

Dollar for dollar when you consider any other advertising money you spend, an effective website will return more on your investment, but you have to have a web strategy in order to achieve this return. We (NSNA) can help you develop and manage that strategy.

The web is the only marketing vehicle that does not cost you more for additional air time, or large content, or adding color. It is the only truly interactive marketing vehicle available and your existing and new prospects are using the web to do their initial research. You need to be visible on the web. Today a company without an effective website is similar to a guy that 10 years ago just scribbled his name and phone number on a scratch paper, because he thought business cards were too expensive. If he was not willing to invest in business cards then how serious is he about being in business, really?

The web is even more critical for small companies with limited marketing budgets than it is for large ones. You sell a technical product in a rapidly evolving marketplace that businesses do not purchase every day. As such, it is even more important that you been seen as “the source” for information on how to buy the products and services you sell.

{deleted proposal specific content} …yet there are few differentiators being discussed when I go to your website vs your competitor’s sites. There must be some compelling reason for me, as a business owner, to want to deal with you rather than a competitor. But I do not see that discussed anywhere on your site. There is nothing to help educate me about the changes in your market.

Take a look at your website… does it give me specific reasons why I should do business with you and not your competition? Is it up to date? Does it stand up against the 8 reasons why most websites fail?

Here are 10 tips we’ve picked up from attending a lot of shows, not only as vendors but participants as well. They may be basic but the best tips usually are pretty basic.

1. Set clear goals of what you want to achieve at the show. Do you expect to sell products, launch a new product or promotion, or possibly meet suppliers? You can set more than one goal but be clear and focused on what your participation will involve. In our business (selling web solutions) we don’t expect to sell a site on the spot. What we do look for is hot leads. At each trade show we attempt to identify 3 – 5 hot leads. We do this by gathering business cards from participants. When someone hands me their card, I quickly look for a web address. I then ask them one of two simple questions. If they don’t have a site listed on their card, I ask why? If they do have a site listed on their card, I ask them how happy they are with the performance of their website. Based on their response, I quickly note on the back of their card how “hot” they are. If they expressed some sort of displeasure or unsatisfaction with their website, I mark them as “hot” and follow up with them right after the show is over.

2. Find out everything you can about your space in advance. There’s nothing more frustrating than showing up to a show only to find that your booth is too big or too small to fit the space. Finding out the location of your booth in advance prevents you lugging around boxes and products in search of the right spot. Finding out everything that is included (table, table cloth, electricity, etc) in advance is a big time and headache saver.

3. Have everything you need, like extension cords; tape etc with you when you arrive to set up your booth. It prevents last minute searching for items needed to set up your booth which, if you’re in a strange town can quickly turn into a nightmare. We have a trade show box that stays with our booth that contains a hammer, thumb tacks, pens, rubber bands, notepads, band aids, extension cords, replacement light bulbs, tape, breath mints and much more in it. It has been used at every trade show we’ve been to and always comes in handy.

4. Make sure your display is appropriate for the group you are targeting. Who is your target market with your trade show display? Different audiences go to trade shows differently and have different needs.

5. Advertise in advance of the show. Let the public know that you are participating in a particular trade show. Invite your clients, customers, suppliers and be sure and give them your booth number. Advertise your attendance to the trade show on your website as well.

6. Stand out! Don’t just be another booth and vendor at the show – find something different and unique and use that to draw visitors to your booth. Arrange your booth strategically so that everything can be seen quickly by visitors. Put larger items in the rear and shorter items up front. A table runner on top of the table cloth is an effective way of making your table stand out. Be creative with your booth, include pictures if possible and be sure your company name and logo are more than obvious.

7. Should you give something away? Most people who attend trade shows are expecting some giveaways and food is always popular. Make sure you package your food in a way that allows you to have your company information on it. Gift Certificates for some of your services are another great Trade Show giveaway – there’s nothing better than getting a deal on your services. And when they redeem their certificate, they will learn how great your services are and come back for more. Offer a drawing for a prize that complements your business and appeals to everyone. Have visitors and guests sign a guestbook, fill out a form or drop their business card in a bowl. You can then use this information later to make a follow up contact. We gave away a Wii last year at a trade show and we were one of the most popular booths at the event! We collected over 300 business cards and have closed 7 deals from that show alone.

8. Arrive early enough to the trade show and make sure everything is set up correctly and that everything works. Wear comfortable clothing and shoes – you’re going to be on your feet!

9. During the show, never turn your back to the crowd and don’t sit down unless you’re having a conversation with a guest and you both are sitting. Stand in front of your booth, if possible, saying “Hi” to those that turn and look toward your or your booth. Have your elevator speech ready. More importantly, is being ready to listen to what your guests have to say, you may learn a lot about them and be able to fill a need that they have.

10. A portfolio or display of your work should be on hand for visitors to see. A digital photo frame is an excellent way of showing your work or placing a Power Point® presentation on a laptop – your visitors will find this visually appealing and it will draw their attention. Offering a brochure with your best work for them to take with them will serve as a reminder once the show is over.

These 10 basic steps to Trade Show exhibiting will make your booth stand out, draw visitors so you can gather their contact information, save you time, money and stress. The most important thing about a trade show is to have fun!

1. Open the document that you want to turn into a PDF

2. Go to File > Print

3. From the printer drop down, instead of printing to your default printer, you will want to print to CutePDF instead.

4. Select where you want to save the PDF, name it and you are all done!

Why most websites don’t work…

The Internet is a huge opportunity for small and medium sized businesses for many reasons.

1. The Internet does not recognize size. If you are a small 2 person accounting firm, the Internet won’t know that, you can compete online with the larger firms and have a better chance of winning the business online.

2. The Internet is flexible. You do not have to pay big bucks each time you want to add a new service offering to your website. You can update information, add promotions, and add full color pictures (ink isn’t extra online) and images for no additional charge.

3. The Internet can extend your geographic reach. If you have a product that is not limited to the immediate Bellingham area, the Internet can help you sell in all other markets.

4. The Internet is cost effective. Having a professional website with necessary functionality does not cost tens of thousands of dollars anymore. In most cases you can see an immediate return on investment by adding information your sales people can refer potential clients to, having an time-saving informative FAQ section to free up your customer service reps, with appointment setting functionality, e-commerce and more.

This opportunity often goes untouched by business owners, even if they have a website. Too often businesses will put up a website with the following problems:

1. The website has no clear objective: when putting up a website you need to question everything. What would a website achieve for my company? Who is my company targeting and why would they visit our site? How will a website impact offline business? Start with a solid marketing objective and strategy.

2. The website is technology focused: Website development is often delegated to IT people. This does not ensure a superior web presence for your company. Your site will likely lose its marketing focus and may not be using technology that is user friendly. Develop a culture of designing customer focused online solutions.

3. The website is poorly written: Online, the written word builds relationships. Writing for the web is different, “corporate” or formal writing can come across stuffy or pompous on the web. Be flexible, but don’t be unprofessional. Always check and re-check your spelling and grammar. Bells and whistles may grab a customer’s attention, but words make the sale.

4. The website has a poor design: The design of a website can make or break a website. CyberAtlas reports that “65% of Internet users surveyed won’t patronize a poorly designed site – even that of a favorite brand.” Take a look at your website, is it easy to navigate (rule of thumb to use here is that no matter where a person is on your site, they can always make it back to the homepage within 2 clicks), are the colors appropriate, does it load quickly?

5. The website has no clear call for action: Do your visitors know what to do on your website? Have you given them a good reason to do it?

6. The website is invisible: 85% of Internet users start their search online with a search engine. If your website is not listed under the appropriate keywords for your industry your website is essentially invisible on the web. Having no traffic on your website is a huge missed opportunity.

7. The website doesn’t work: Choose your hosting environment carefully and test everything. Get other people to check it. Ask your hosting company for site logs to find pages that have errors, and check all of your links and forms regularly. Your reputation is at stake, demonstrate attention to detail.

8. The website has poor maintenance: Does your website say “Last updated September 2001?” Is it filled with under construction and coming soon pages? Your website should reflect your changing business. Update it often.

Having an Online presence is a necessity for any business that wants to be a major player in their industry. There are many ways to market your business online. Through Search Engine Optimization, email newsletters, high-touch relationship marketing and Search Engine Marketing you can make your website an investment that pays you dividends.

Use the 8 common problems above and evaluate your website. If you were a customer of your business, how would you answer the questions? If you are happy with your answers, congratulations, you are maximizing your investment on the web. If not, it might be time to revisit your website to make sure it is working for you and not against you.

After the site went live, she indicated that she did not like the flow of the PayPal system and requested that I change it. I tactfully informed her that I could not change PayPal’s processes even if I wanted to. I am not convinced she believed me. She never did anything with her website, nothing ever changed. After several months she pulled all the products off her site and now she’s canceled her site and her domain name. I feel like I let her down because her site wasn’t as successful as she wanted it to be.

One thought led to another and I thought about many of my clients and the misconception that a lot of small business owners seem to share, “I have a website, where are my customers?”

A website, especially one that’s as easy to use and maintain as a ProFusion Ultra IS website, is a fantastic marketing tool and when used correctly, can bring in new customers to your business, helping it grow and thrive. Unlike a phone book or print ad you can add all the color you want at no additional cost. Add additional pages, video, forms, photos – things to make the website easier for your visitors to interact with your business easily, quickly and often – with no waiting for publication dates.

It doesn’t end there however, to be an effective marketing tool a website must be kept sharp, up to date and fresh. It’s like a garden, it’s never done. Ignore it at your own peril and like this customer did weeds will grow and choke the life out of it. It will languish with the millions of other websites, never found because no time was taken to keep it fresh and updated – no reason for search engines or humans to visit or ever come back. This is the main reason why Search Engine Optimization is so important for your website – it keeps your site from becoming just another pretty face among the millions of other pretty faces in Cyberspace. Use your website like the tool it was designed to be, keep your site sharp and up to date so you can reap the rewards it can offer you for years to come.

Even though I can rationalize why my client canceled her domain and took down her site, I still hate losing her as a customer.

• Lose vs. Loose – you are not going to loose your mind, you are going to lose your mind. And if people keep making the same mistakes over and over again, you may wonder if they have a loose screw. If you lose a screw, don’t worry, just go to Lowes and buy another one.
• Irregardless – this just flat out is not a word. Regardless of what you think, irregardless does not show up in the dictionary (actually it does, though only to tell you it’s nonstandard, improper, wrong)
• Site vs. Sight – we sell websites. So when we refer to the product that we sell, we talk about sites not sights. If you need better sights, you can check out some products from Nikon. If you need a better site, you can call us.
• There vs. Their – this has plagued people since elementary school, but is really quite simple. There is a place, their denotes ownership. If we are going to a meeting together, you will not see me their, you will see me there. And if the meeting is at a friend’s house, we can go over to their place together.
• Your vs. You’re – Anyone ever told you that your the best? It really should be you’re the best. Because you are the best and since you’re is a conjunction of you are, then you’re should be used. If we are going to your best friend’s house, then your should be used.
• To vs. Too – you are invited to a party, can I come too? Both correct usages. Too is usually used as also when adding or including some additional information. Whenever you want to include something else, think of it as adding; therefore you also need to add an extra o.
• Anyways vs. Anyway – Anyways is incorrect, anyway should not have an s on the end. Ever.
• Mute vs. Moot (or Moo) – I can’t type this without thinking of Joey from Friends. If you didn’t see the episode about Joey’s Moo Point, watch it on YouTube. This would all be a moot point if people would use this term correctly.

And while I have you all thinking about the words you are using, be on the lookout for these sneaky words that look very similar when typing a message, but have very different meanings.

• Out and Our – the t and the r are right next to each other on the keyboard, be careful which one you actually hit.
• Now and Not – I have received messages from people that say “this is not a problem” when they actually meant “this is now a problem”. Obviously the words are very similar, but they have very different meanings.
• You and Your – there is nothing technical about this one, just makes you sound less intelligent if you accidentally mistype the word you mean to use.

So take some time to actually read what you write. Read it out loud if you need to. If it is an important email or document, have someone proof read it for you. It never hurts to check your work