Why Customer Reviews Are Crucial on a Business Directory and How to Get Them

Thursday 26 Jan 2012 by Jamie Ritzman | No Comments
Filed under: Business Tags:

Many customers are interested in what you have to offer. They read your marketing messages, and sales materials but take everything you say with a grain of salt. It's not that they don't believe you, but they know they're being sold.

It's different when you have testimonials.

Word of mouth marketing and testimonials are one of the cheapest forms of getting the word about your product or service out on the internet. People tend to believe real testimonials more than any marketing message promised by you. They feel more confident purchasing something with proven success for someone else, than running cold believing what you are promising to deliver.

That's why customer reviews on a business directory are so crucial.

You don't control which testimonials go on a business directory, so you need to find out how to get them in a different way. Not only will having more customer testimonials make your product look more viable, but it will also boost your ranking on the business directory so your listing gets placed further toward the top. And being closer to the top of the listings on a business directory, means you will automatically have more eyes on your offering.

So how do you get these customer reviews?

Simply just ask for them. With social networks exploding in today's world, more people are excited to share their opinion. Not only are they excited to share their opinion, but they are used to the web being a forum to do so. Ask for a review on a specific business directory, and your happy customers will be happy to oblige.

But be careful, because your business directory review will initially only come from very happy, or very angry customers. It probably goes without saying, but a bad review of your business can be detrimental. Be sure you're soliciting reviews from happy customers only. To do this, target repeat customers, and those who have written to you thanking you for your service. You can also target fans on a social network or your followers on Twitter. These people are already invested in your brand and will be more likely to provide you with the review you want.

If you're having trouble getting a response from your customers, try offering them incentive to leave a review. Offer a discount on your service, or a free month. This will make them feel rewarded for their efforts to help your business, and again will help them feel more invested in you. This will also translate to outside of the business directory review, and will make your customers more likely to recommend your brand to their family and friends.

Take control over your listing on a business directory and don't be afraid to reach out and ask for reviews and help from your customers.


Marketing to a World Wide Audience with Internet Marketing

Sunday 22 Jan 2012 by Kelly Kennan | No Comments
Filed under: Internet Marketing Tags: , ,

Internet marketing is a word that sparks up a lot of interest among business people. It isn’t just because of the fact that you are talking about new technology or that you are talking about a completely new way to do business. It’s also about the fact that you are talking about a type of business that can reach billions of people - not just in the United States but all over the world.

The capabilities of marketing online are far beyond anyone’s reach at the moment. Even big scale companies have yet to completely tap into the capabilities of this new and exciting technology because of the fact that it is so new. At the same time, it is so far reaching that it can be a little intimidating to start off with.

It isn’t just in marketing to customers that you can use the internet for though. You are also talking about being able to market to a huge workforce that can work for you all over the world. Think about it. Since everyone is online, why not get yourself a team of people who can carry out administrative tasks, design tasks or other such jobs where all they need is their own computer and an internet connection in order to be able to interact with you.

The possibilities in these two types of marketing alone are huge. Imagine owning a company that does a lot of its business at a lower cost by hiring cheaper labor and at the same time, marketing to a huge range of people who are capable of buying their products. With some good internet business insurance, a little internet savvy and a whole lot of drive, that company could be you. Find out for yourself by setting up your own internet marketing strategy for customers and potential employees.


Do’s and Don'ts of Resume Composition

Monday 9 Jan 2012 by Kelly Kennan | No Comments
Filed under: Employment Tags: , , ,

A well-written resume makes a good impression on the company that an individual is applying for so it is important to make sure that the resume that one prepares will stand out. It will be helpful to make a guideline on how one wishes his or her profile to appear on the hands of the evaluator. Here are 15 do’s and don’ts in writing a resume:

  1. Do write your resume in a clean sheet of letter size paper and make sure that it will be printed neatly in readable font. The last thing you would want is your potential boss struggling to read through your credentials and getting him pissed in the end because of its poorly-written quality.
  2. Do make sure that your name is spelled out larger enough for your employer to read and within good proximity to your photo.
  3. Do make sure that your photo will not overwhelm the size of the letter size paper. A 2x2 photo is enough to make sure that the one reading your resume can easily recognize you from a crowd. The photo that you will choose should make a professional impression in itself and not look as if it is taken from your Facebook profile page.
  4. Do follow a format that will make your resume standout. You can either follow a chronological format or a functional format depending on which one you think would work to your advantage and best showcase your    skills and capabilities as an employee.
  5. Do make sure that your resume is straightforward to keep the hiring manager or recruiter from boredom over reading irrelevant items in your resume.
  6. Don’t include irrelevant work experience, skills, and the likes in your resume as this will only confuse the hiring manager.
  7. Do keep in mind that a reader-friendly resume will most likely be more appealing to the person evaluating your resume. You might want to consider a bulleted style resume as this gives a clear enumeration of your skills.
  8. Do keep the pages of your resume to a maximum of two pages. Apparently, a one-page rule was strictly adhered to but this no longer matters if all your credentials are relevant to the position that you are applying for. Just remember that if you have less than half a page on the second page, it is wiser to condense or fit everything into one full page because a half-filled page is not appealing to look at.
  9. Do present your resume with a sharp focus considering that employers screen resumes in less than a minute, so it is best to show your employer at a glance what you are good at and what exactly you want to do.
  10. Do consider putting your qualifications in a specific section on your resume for clarity and organization. This also helps in going for that resume with a sharp focus.
  11. Don’t use personal pronouns to address yourself like I, me, my, and myself. It should be as narrative as it can.
  12. Do list your job information in order of importance duly accorded to the job that you are applying for. For example, you are applying for a managerial position, put your experience as a management trainee first in line so that the evaluator will immediately recognize your potential.
  13. Do emphasize transferable skills especially if you are going for a career shift.
  14. Don’t list too much experience in your resume. Again, only put the relevant ones. So many shifts in jobs can give an impression that you cannot stay too long in a particular job. It could also give an impression to employers that you are already too expensive to keep because of your credentials in such a short and unproven period of time.
  15. And lastly, don’t ever lie on your resume! It will definitely bring out a can of worms once you get busted.

A Good Marketing Plan Is Key for a Successful Business

Monday 19 Dec 2011 by Elinor Kubala | No Comments
Filed under: Marketing Tags: , ,

Opening up a retail store that sells physical products, such as tools, can be a challenging endeavor. This is especially true when the local area where you plan to open the business already has stores similar to the one that you plan to open. If you have never taken an business classes, then you might want to strongly consider taking a few before opening the business. And if you are limited in the ones that you can take, the marketing classes are one of the best choices for you.

In a marketing class, you can learn about how to create an effective marketing plan for your new business. All new businesses, and even existing businesses, need to have a solid marketing plan and a budget that is able to back up that plan. A marketing plan is key to reaching your target demographic, which is how you build a successful business. If you cannot reach homeowners and gardeners to let them know that you are selling the best weed wacker or best wheelbarrow on the market, then they will go to your competitors to purchase their lawn care and garden tools. And if this happens, your business is pretty much dead in the water.

To recap, here are a few things to keep in mind when deciding on your marketing plan:

  • Target Market
  • Demographics
  • Value to your customers
  • How will you actually advertise
  • Expertise required
  • Types of products and services being offered

The good news is that you can create an implement a marketing plan at any time. So, if you have already started the business with a comprehensive marketing plan in place, it is not too late for you to get started. Sure, you might be missing out on some sales and reaching your customers right now, but you can change all of that once you get a marketing plan nailed down.

When you are creating a marketing plan, you should already know how much money is in your budget to implement it. If you do not have a lot of money, then you need to have a marketing plan that can still work with little money behind it.


Tory Burch – Online Branding Par Excellence

Monday 5 Dec 2011 by Clayton Soja | No Comments
Filed under: Online Branding

To be perfectly honest, up until a couple of years ago, I had never heard to the name or brand Tory Burch. But nowadays even a complete fashion agnostic like me knows of her, her label, her logo and her products. And while I preferably do my clothes shopping at Kohl’s and Macy’s, I can’t escape the omnipresence of the Burch emblem which I run into at least a couple of times every day: for instance, the lady next to me in the cafeteria at work paid for her salad by getting her credit card out of her Tory Burch wallet. My friend Mandy would never leave her house without her handbag made by the California based designer. And of course my 15 year old daughter had to have her new pair of sandals that go by the name “Reva” delivered straight from the Tory Burch Outlet.

Now here is the thing, again, I couldn’t care less about clothing and fashion. Yet, I am so programmed to look for the Tory Burch emblem every where I go. And that’s because this brand managed to successfully establish itself through their online appearance. I’ve never seen a Tory Burch advertisement on TV. We never got a flyer in our mailbox with her products. My TB awareness is solely a product of successful online branding. I might end up buying myself a pair of her sunglasses some day – nah, just kidding.


Business Management - Money First, Insurance Second!

Sunday 4 Dec 2011 by Jamie Ritzman | No Comments
Filed under: Business Management Tags: , , , , ,

In any business, just as in real life it’s important to protect the interests of your company. Let’s be honest, there are plenty of sharks out there waiting for a drop of blood and you want to make sure that when they decide to strike, you’re in a pretty good cage. The same holds true even if you are the one who made the mistake which basically means that you need to protect your company from the sharks and also yourself.

A good method of protection, or a shark cage if you will, is insurance. Regardless of whether you are a big company or a small one, it still helps to have coverage that can repatriate for any unnecessary problems. If you have tried to look up a quote and found it difficult to find cheap public liability insurance, then it would be worthwhile for you to understand what is driving up your premium.

  • Your business type matters-Some businesses are just a bigger risk than others. If you are a high risk business like a diving school, you’re definitely going to feel the cost

  • Number of employees-The more employees you have, the greater the risk of being sued which is why costs rise

  • Turnover-Happy employees stay loyal to their companies, especially in this type of economy. That’s why the higher the turnover the bigger the premium

  • Business capability-It’s easier to trust someone with experience and who can handle a company well.

All the factors above play some sort of role or another in your coverage. Make sure you understand these items to help you decide whether you are being offered the right quotes.


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