How do you measure quality?
Is it measured in new sales? More traffic to your website or blog?

Controversy
Can you use controversy to increase your sales? This is actually used quite frequently, especially in titles, to draw attention to the intended product or service. Books, magazines, websites, forums and blogs are great at tapping into controversy. Right way – wrong way. What it can do – what it can’t do. What’s expected – what’s not expected. What works -  what doesn’t work.

Marketing vehicles
An example: For blogs to be an effective marketing vehicle, should they be relatively free of sales hype? My take is that even if prospects are searching to buy, they don’t necessarily want to be sold to. Does that make any sense? Prospects are searching for information, about you and your services as they relate to their specific needs. When they take that leap to buy, from you or your competition, what will tip the scale your way?

Content, and lots of it. First and foremost, your content has to be readable. If you write marketing material in long, unbroken blocks of text, 99.9% of your prospects will either fall asleep halfway through your presentation or move on to your competition. And color contrast is HUGE!! Who designs marketing materials with blue text on a purple background?!! Or uses 13 different fonts and point sizes on the same page?

Clarity
I think clarity varies by whatever marketing vehicle you pursue, but there should be a common thread that ties your campaign – rather it’s in terms of ROI, branding or whatever. Marketing campaigns should be a blend of persuasion, advertising, marketing, writing and knowledge in a manner that prompts a CALL TO ACTION.

Does it surprise anyone that over one-fourth of search results – for the world’s largest brands are links to USER generated content? Peer recommendations are the know, like and trust factors that have catapulted social media into mainstream commerce.

In fact, over 75% of consumers trust – peer recommendations while less than 15% trust advertisements. Is it any wonder so many companies have jumped on the bandwagon, branding themselves via Facebook, Twitter and corporate blogs?

To be truly successful in Social Media ventures – you need to ENGAGE your potential customers. It isn’t enough to simply set up a corporate blog and allow comments to your posts. I know I read quite a few blogs and their ensuing comments, and I’m amazed how many readers ask questions that are never answered by the publisher. Where’s the engagement? Not only does your blog need fresh content – you need to field questions in the comments. It’s called dialog. In marketing circles, it’s called MONEY TALKS.

Social Media strategies – are akin to networking strategies. It’s about building your friends’ networks and keeping your profile status updated. It encompasses more than allowing others to write on your Facebook wall – it’s contributing to their success as well. There are potential clients on your friends sites (their sphere of influence) that you could or would never be able to reach on your own.

Quantity versus quality – what works, what doesn’t? Reading Tweets from a user every 30 seconds gets annoying. I’d rather see quality versus quantity, and I bet I’m not alone. I believe social media pays best via meaningful engagement.

You cannot manage what you cannot measure
I stumbled across this phrase as I was reading about managing power consumption in data centers, and it occurred to me that this applies to all facets of business. Of course, some companies take measuring to extremes, right down to how many times their employees visit the restrooms. Yipes! My sister worked for a well known firm in St. Louis that allowed six recorded incidents per year before automatic termination, of those being one minute late punching into the time clock – didn’t matter if you were 20 minutes early 4 of 5 days each week.

What is measureable in business?
In a simple answer – everything is measureable. How you manage those measurements often determine the success of your business.

How does measuring relate to the web hosting industry?
Analytical programs reflect the strengths and weaknesses of our websites. The value we present to our prospects can be reflected in the average length of time visitors remain on our sites, how many unique visitors we attract, the keywords or phrases they used to find our sites, what they clicked through to, whether they bookmarked our site, and countless other measureable queries.

Measurements are done in:

• Customer Satisfaction Surveys
• Profit and Loss Statements
• Balance Sheets
• CPU and RAM Performance
• Network Saturation
• Firewall Analysis
• eCommerce Conversion Ratios

Where I see a need for more attention to measurement in many buinesses

Shows
Analyzing show results and following up (promptly) with everyone who visited your booth. What was their interest – what drew them to you? If there’s any match for your service, set up an appointment to visit their business first (not yours). Let them open up opportunities for you. Showing interest in their business increases the odds that they’ll reciprocate.

Networking Events
Analyzing networking events – instead of just going for the meal and exchange of business cards, work on spreading the word. This essentially means to break away from your group and introduce yourself to other groups at these events. Log every business card and send them a personal, “I’m glad we had the opportunity to meet” postcard or memo. Meet them again for lunch, one-on-one. You’d be amazed how many business decisions are made over lunch.

Everything about your business is measureable
I’ve only scratched the surface here. We could go on about how measurements relate to disaster recovery, network monitoring, load balancing, power consumption, space and bandwidth allotments, and so much more.

WHAT’S A QR CODE?

A QR Code (“Quick Response”) is a cell phone readable bar code that can store website URL’s, plain text, phone numbers, email addresses and pretty much any other alphanumeric data.

Storing up to 4296 characters, QR codes are internationally standardised under ISO 18004. They’ve been big in Japan forever, broke into Europe and the UK a few years back, and are now getting real traction in USA.

I’ve been noticing QR codes on places like Yahoo Sports, local newspapers, magazines, business cards and billboards.

QR codes are printable mobile phone ready two dimensional barcodes that can contain a website URL, an email address, a phone number, a pre-formatted SMS (text) message or just plain text.

I have a Sprint EVO and simply downloaded QR Droid (a FREE application). Scanning a QR code is as simple as centering the code on the camera cross hairs and clicking to save.

What I love is the link between static ads and digital capabilities. For example, if the QR code contains a link to a URL, you can click through and view that site right from the QR code.

Need directions? An address placed on a QR code will bring up a map and directions. Place a call? Phone numbers on QR codes allow you to place a call directly from a scanned code.

I watch and participate in a ton of webinars, but the latest one I tuned into talked about automating stuff like distributing your YouTube videos to different video sites, and the same with PodCasts and on and on. The one site they discussed that caught my attention was Fiverr.com, “The world’s largest marketplace for small services, starting at $5.”

Then this morning, one of the threads I read posted a number of other sites similar to fiverr, which I’ve listed below.

Each of these were highly recommended, but to be honest, I haven’t used any of them quite yet. I am leaning toward contacting Fiverr first, then if that works, possibly trying some of the others. Which of these would YOU recommend?

Every successful business has its niche -  (a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fit). Marketing materials are carefully written to emphasize a business’s strengths and their competitor’s weaknesses. A great example that comes to mind was one brand of typesetter which was capable of producing point sizes in tenths of an inch (unique to that brand).

Another was capable of zooming horizontally independent of vertical - in one percent increments (great for Rx labels). When the time came to upgrade or renew leases, thousands of existing documents had been produced using their unique parameters. To maintain uniformity, all new bids had to confirm to those same standards – effectively locking that client into their brand. In document imaging, one brand of copier can produce banner advertisements. Another can direct print PDF documents without opening them first. My point? There is a niche unique to your industry. Have you identified your niche, and are you marketing what makes your products and services unique?

The niche doesn’t have to be technical in nature
A niche could be how fast you deliver, the quality of your work, the level of support you provide, your pre-sales advertising venues, and any number of other things – anything that sets you apart from your competition. In web hosting, most niches relate to more bang for the buck – in bandwidth, RAM, disk space, add-ons and so forth.

The Web Hosting Industry
The web hosting industry is fiercely competitive, just as in many other industries. Web hosting continues to be a mystery to most new entrepreneurs though, even as prospects are rapidly becoming more computer and Internet savvy.  My own grandchildren are extremely Internet savvy, but couldn’t tell you the difference between Linux and Windows, or ASP and PHP.  Most prospects understand the need for an online presence, but are lost when it comes to how to select a decent provider.

Branding
In terms of mass appeal, branding is paramount. Here again, an integral piece of branding is your niche.  I can think of a few web hosting providers who own their niche, not financially, but in the mindset of prospects, just as Kleenex and Xerox own their niche.  If I were to ask someone if they’ve heard of your company, would they be like, “Yeah, they’re highly recommended,” or “Never heard of them.”  Getting from Point ‘Unknown” to Point “Highly Recommended” requires more than competing with similar packages, which I see a lot of online. When prospects compare your website against all the other sites they’ve just visited, is there anything that definitively sets you apart?

I’m constantly amazed at how technically advanced my grandchildren have become - I think because of their early exposure to TV and other visual medias. We’ve evolved into a visually rich society – actually a global community. It begins in the early learning and development years of our children. It imprints their thought processes.

Online Video Providers
Enter YouTube and other providers offering video channels, enabling small business to ramp up their marketing venues, giving them the ability to reach global markets, whereas only mega-businesses once ventured. Text is text, and a picture is worth a thousand words, but videos can propel your business to new levels.

Only a few short years ago - television commercials were financially out of the reach for the bulk of small businesses. With the development of high speed broadband networks, TV-like advertising via YouTube suddenly became affordable.

YouTube is a video sharing website - allowing its members to upload, share and comment on an expansive database of videos. While you may be struggling to increase page views to your website, YouTube registers billions of page views monthly. Why? Video sells! It’s RED HOT!

What’s the impact of online video?
I’ve seen studies that projected 3 of 4 adults have watched online videos and on average, nearly 20% do so daily – and just not by themselves. Nearly two-thirds of those shared that experience with someone else or a group. Online video ad spending is approaching $1 Billion annually, if not already there.

Why Use Online Video Marketing?

• They’re practical for businesses wanting to show demonstrations of products or services.
• They’re great for introducing your staff or doing a virtual tour of your facilities.
• They can drive prospects to your website, jumpstarting sales.
• It’s extremely cost effective compared to other advertising venues.

What is everyone watching?
News captures attention across all generations, followed by comedy or humorous videos. Still over 20% view educational videos, and all markets continue to grow exponentially as broadband expands its reach.

Some Tips

• Be Entertaining: To maximize your reach for market penetration, your video must be entertaining and have perceived value to the prospects you’re targeting.
• Be Professional: Presently, over 60% of viewers prefer professionally developed videos versus those developed by amateurs. That gap diminishes with the younger generation, but still holds true.
• Focus on the core product or service you’re featuring: If you’re featuring dedicated servers, save shared hosting for another clip. Spreading your message across multiple platforms distracts your viewers.
• Be Consistent: Branding is important. We all know IBM, HP and Dell, but their marketing campaigns drive home their respective messages with regularity. Consistency is KEY to growing traffic.

My Recommendation
Have some fun. Be creative. Think out of the box. Break out of the direct mail, phone tag day-after-day routine of driving business. Video works! Like every other advertising venue, measure its results, then tweak your presentation and re-measure your results. Practice may not make perfect, but it will improve sales and your bottom line. And that’s where I want to be, right along with you.

Know, like and trust are terms relative to - sales, not just face-to-face with a sales representative, but also the Internet. Billions of dollars are spent online every year, much of that with businesses we’ve never heard of – so if you’re missing the know, the like and trust need to be that much more compelling.

Social media sites – most noticeably Facebook, use the “like” button to convey trust, but most business websites rely on professional design, solutions content and competitive pricing to carry the day. And this is where online buyers can sometimes get into trouble.

The ‘lock’ icon and https: lend credibility - to the security of financial transactions, but even fraudulent (or less than honest) businesses can obtain SSL certificates. There are things to look for on sites that imply trust, like a brick and mortar address and phone number. It’s amazing how many ecommerce sites have NO contact information other than a general email address, or contact form. Plus, some use Domain Privacy to hide ownership information about the site itself.

Testimonials convey trust – but not so much if only first names are used, or if the hyperlink points to the site you’re presently visiting.

I once visited a site where the owner was inquiring - how to improve his ranking on Google. One of the first things I noticed on his site was that it had two testimonials from different individuals, but listing the same URL for each.

The first testimonial raved about a service they didn’t even offer on their site, which immediately seemed strange.

The second raved about their customer support. I was curious, so I did a WHOIS on the URL that was listed on the testimonials, and it turns out that domain has never been registered, and the site I was on has only been online for four months.

Would I trust my credit card with that business – not in a million years, and not because the site itself wasn’t professionally designed, or offered solutions that matched my specific requirements, or were even attractively priced. Their trust factor had been compromised.

Beware of red flags when – pondering whether to share your credit card info with businesses online. The Internet is littered with scammers like a minefield .. be careful where you step.

Have you ever heard the term - “Sell the Sizzle, not the Steak”? Buying means making a decision, and that decision making process begins with a need to ease some pain, then logically progresses (in person) through stages of talking, thinking and actions toward closing the sale.

Online though, there are no body clues – no sales representative to nod their head up and down, looking for a yes response, cueing the prospect to follow suit. Online, compelling landing & checkout pages are vital to your success.

Buying anything is an emotional process – for some much more so than others, like me. Using the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell to evoke an emotion (tied to your offer) helps reinforce your solution in the eyes of your prospect.

Closing the sale – isn’t simply a yes or a no. It’s a logical progression from a search query to the point “Add to Cart. “ The term, “Always Be Closing,” applies to each and every page the prospect touches until the order is completed, and really should continue beyond that, with either a survey or recommendations for other products and services based on what they just purchased.

Giving your prospect too many choices – or making the navigation from Point “Search” to Point “Buy’ difficult, is just as bad.

I read this morning that an idea without execution is worthless – meaning that you can have the latest greatest widget in development, but until you build it, ship it and let the idea see the light of day, it has NO value. On some fronts I would agree, but value is really about perception. Research and development has real value whether the original idea ever sees the light of day.

A common icon for fresh ideas – is the light bulb (I see the light), but commercially available light bulbs were the accumulation of hundreds of failed experiments. And then you have offshoots that spawn billion dollar industries, like a popular ED medication that was initially being tested for hair restoration.

Should you wait – for perfect market conditions, or until each and every bug is worked out? Of course not! Real world testing is essential. Virtually all major vendors do test marketing, to sort out what works from what doesn’t.  Once you settle on what works, do that over and over and over until the market dictates otherwise.

Whether you’re designing websites – or formulating search engine strategies, you can never really measure your efforts until your work is out there.  Development doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Sometimes, there’s a competitive advantage to being on the ‘bleeding edge’ or ‘leading edge’ of ideas, products or services.

I was talking to one of my friends a few weeks back - just before she was to give a business presentation about paper. I know – exciting stuff. Anyway, she was a little apprehensive, as a lot of us are just prior to addressing large groups of prospects.

This was a presentation to a local IAAP (administrative assistant professionals) meeting addressing how to keep costs down, new products, workplace wellness, and how her company could help them. I knew she’d be fine because she’s a pro.

After the presentation, she wrote, “I have to tell you, the “No matter what kind of job you have, we have the paper for it” and the toilet paper has been a big hit and icebreaker.  I’ve had to leave it for people who weren’t in – I’ve gotten phone calls from people that heard about it.  I tell them it’s the sample of the month and their smile for the day!

I don’t know if she used a story board to compile her main point of view, but she did have hand-outs that definitely broke the ice – the tension between her prospects and herself. And those hand-outs were relevant to her business.

She engaged her audience and made them part of the experience.

Involve your prospects in the process - A large part of giving successful business presentations is involving your prospects in the process – asking questions, looking for a show of hands or positive response. Get out from behind the podium and move about – be accessible, make periodic eye contact, pause for effect and emphasis – take command so that all eyes are upon you.

Pattern your presentation to resemble a conversation. Look at your audience as you would in normal conversation, pausing at the end of your points to allow your audience to process what you’ve just said.

My wife is an instructor and excellent communicator. She’s always telling me to touch my prospects senses of sight, smell, taste, feel and hearing. Appealing to their senses engages their emotions. Give your presentation so that your audience will see, smell, taste, feel and hear what you’re saying.

The presentation itself - In the body of your presentation, tell them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them. And know what you’re telling them – have it down cold, meaning don’t read – let your words flow naturally. And smile – be excited.

Way way back, in the ’80s, I had to give a four hour presentation to a prospect in a bid situation. I knew the content inside out, but dragged my wife into the living room the night before and rehearsed the entire presentation with her. I still believe that preparation helped me win the bid – for a whopping $152,000.00 (including service).

What to avoid - This is a touchy subject. Have you ever filmed yourself giving a presentation? You won’t believe it’s really you on the playback.

• Avoid fillers – ahs, uhs and extended silence.
• Avoid nervous habits like scratching your head.
• Avoid concentrating on one section of your audience – spread the wealth around.
• Avoid excessive hand gestures.
• And don’t turn your back on your audience.

Call to action - Every successful marketing campaign has a ‘call to action.” That could be an offer that’s exclusive to your presentation, or to a deadline set by upper management. Combining value and urgency drives sales campaigns. A  call to action can be as simple as moving the sale forward by setting up appointments, up to signing contracts for immediate discounts or freebies.

Revised Oct 13, 2011

As a rule of thumb – broad markets invite fierce competiton. Search queries that return in the tens of millions of results are going to be hard to rank on page one of any search engine. Why is that important even if you actually are selling to a broad market?

Online buyers are spending billions of dollars annually – and if not with you, certainly with your competition. The good news is that broad markets can be broken down into niches, with each niche targeted to draw buyers to your site. The key here is to do keyword research to determine the exact niche prospects are (currently) searching for, then optimize your site (using those keyword phrases) to increase your conversions.

Tweaking your site – to take advantage of current trends can be as simple as adding a URL and title description to exactly match the extended keyword phrases that are ranking highest (today).

As an example, I just this morning did keyword research  – on fitness equipment, which is a fairly broad market. Apparently, fitness equipment is searched for 82,000 times per month on Google. Drilling down, I saw that the extended keyword phrase of home fitness equipment drew 4,400 queries. If my site targeted fitness equipment, I could create a page with the URL of www.(yourdomain).com/home_fitness_equipment/  and include “home fitness equipment” in its title tag. Time and time again, I’ve seen this SEO strategy help sites with low (or ZERO) PageRank and minimal backlinks outrank sites with high PR and thousands of backlinks.

If you’re running a WordPress site – beware. The default for creating URLs looks something like ?p=1237. Sure your site may be indexed, but how many buyers are searching for 1237? By simply changing the default to Month/Name, the URL could look like /2010/08/home-fitness-equipment. If you’re searching for a custom title tag plug-in for WordPress, read the comments first and check it’s compatibility with the current WordPress version.

Increasing traffic is key – but great content and compelling calls-to-action take the reigns once your site is found. To optimize your conversions, you need all three ingredients.

Image certainly impacts other’s perception - of your business. When you offer solutions, do your prospects actively listen?

Your company’s style of communication - can influence how prospects view your products and services, and can enhance or adversely lend to any long term partnership (alliance) possibilities.

Sales Diplomacy - When your sales department is challenged, overwhelmed or put on the spot, are they thoughtful and diplomatic in their interactions? Do they respond in a professional manner, even when clearly outside their comfort zone? How well they communicate directly relates to their close ratios. Closing  percentages need to be measured against your Return On Investment (ROI).

Professional image impacts sales - How prospects read your company impacts their perception of your credibility, and ability to deliver solutions. Your sales department needs to know when and how to use diplomacy, when and how to be tactful … and they need to understand the concept of credibility.

Your image as a company – to be perceived as professional, should be addressed in your business plan, measured and tweaked frequently.

Always provide value - The psychology of selling transcends to the psychology of writing online content for revenue producing websites. Essentially, every prospect is searching for what’s important to them and their organization.

Whereas in person, you can tailor - your pitch to their personality traits, like number crunchers or socialites – online it’s impossible to know who has found your site. The common denominator is always VALUE to the end user.

Tell them what’s in it for them - Reaching across a broad spectrum of personality types means touching as many of their senses as possible; sound, taste, touch, sight and smell (or the perception of those). Rarely does selling on price alone work.

Ok, so we can’t taste a dedicated server or smell shared hosting - but wording can sway a prospect’s motivation. Conor Treacy gave a great example in a thread on Hosting Discussion – instead of, “we sell lawn mowers,” use “buy a mower that will make your neighbour @#*^ themselves with envy.” Be descriptive without going over the top, addressing the basics of how, who, why and what. Show how your solution has helped other businesses or organizations just like theirs. Tell them what’s in it for them.

Marketing is critically important - to jump-start any new business. Broad access to cutting edge technology has made it increasingly possible for start-ups to compete with established brick and mortar establishments.

Understanding your market - What niche do your competitors own? Would you fare better competing for that niche or creating your own? What will make you remember-able in your prospects eyes? What value could you add to entice them to go with your firm or organization?

Constantly refine your strategy - Once you’ve settled on your initial marketing strategy, tracking and measuring its success is essential. You can’t grow your business on a marginally successful strategy. Marketing strategies need to be refined, to eliminate what doesn’t work from what shows promise.

New businesses are created every day – that could use your products or service - Every new business has to procure products and services somewhere, and if not from you, certainly from your competitor. If you’re not reaching out to every newly registered business in your local community, you’re missing out on a huge sector of the market. And it’s so easy to find them. Every new business in the U.S. has to register with their respective Secretary of State. These registrations are farmed by local chambers of commerce and directory services. I’ve seen lists that sell for as low as fourteen cents per contact. In many cases, one new client from that list could pay for an entire campaign.

Once you’ve established your niche - tweak your approach and close techniques, identify what works and repeat that over and over and over and over. Persistence is key.

Is your in-house IT department prepared – for brown outs, black outs, personnel shortages, ISP issues, internal and external sabotage, equipment failures, new regulations (email retention) and a whole host of other issues?

Recently, an Internet forum with – thousands of members was hacked, and in the process the criminals deleted their backups, stole email and credit card information, then disseminated it across the Internet. Could this happen to your in-house network? Hackers are constantly on the prowl looking for openings to exploit internal networks as well. Is yours protected?

How would you as an owner know if your IT department was prepared? Do you have disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place? Are they routinely reviewed and updated? Do you strategize with your IT personnel, or do they basically run the show? If they said you needed to be PCI DSS compliant, would you know what they were talking about?

Managing IT for multiple departments requires some give and take - Is your IT department empowered to make smart decisions? Not all IT geeks are business savvy, so my question to you would be, “Do your departments talk to each other?” HR certainly has unique requirements, as do Sales, Customer Support and Admin. Do they operate in a vacuum or together as a cohesive unit? An appropriate amount of give and take between departments increases awareness of your business’s core focus and mission.

I read a lot – of articles everyday. Some strike home harder than others. I read something this afternoon that took me back to the ’80′s and my fist formal sales training in Chicago. It reminded me that you can’t be everywhere at the same time, but you do have to be on your prospects mind, in some manner, when they’re ready to buy. How that happens is what separates average sales reps from sales champions.

Prospects more often buy – from a sales rep or company they know, like and trust. Even though it seems that everyone buys on price alone, many successful reps and businesses sell on value, offering business class solutions that fill a void, resolve issues or provide a growth opportunity.

I’ve heard that sales is simply a numbers game – spread the word, maximize appointments, make the appropriate number of proposals, then statistically expect a resulting number of closed deals. If only it were that easy. There is a psychology to sales. Certainly, getting yourself out there is important. Keeping yourself out there is so much more important. By that, I mean when the time comes for that prospect to pull the trigger, will you be in their sights? If they’ve opt’d in to your monthly email broadcast or have a scratch pad with your picture and contact info on it sitting on their desk, would that help put you on their short list? Being in the right place at the right time should not be an accident. It should be a strategic component in your overall plan to augment your sales efforts.

Drive business with social networking

Social networks are essentially online communities. Their success has translated into business opportunites, and have rapidly become a vital ingredient in diverse marketing strategies. So what are some of the reasons businesses have taken this plunge?

Increased Customer Loyalty: Loyalty and sales increase tenfold (as churn nose dives) if you consistently share quality knowledge base information in a format your clients can relate to. It allows for dynamic colaboration with prospects and clients beyond the scope of your corporate website.

Additional Revenue Streams: Social networking sites can be monetized in a variety of fashions, e.g., micropayments or partnerships, but social networks tend to be more content focused, diverting drift from the distraction of ads.

Branding Opportunities: Design your network to be customer-facing and customer-centric, thus expanding opportunities to promote your goods and services.

Enhance Customer Support: Are you looking to raise the bar from satisfied customers to ‘Raving Fans’ – clients who will advocate your products and services in the industry? Social networks are a great support resource. Raving fans invite their friends, share their stories and promote your business for you. Peer-to-peer recommendations on social media platforms are worth their weight in gold.

Certainly it’s the long term goal of every business to - minimize customer churn. The expense to sign on new clients way exceeds the cost to retain and resell existing clients. Every interaction with your clients, from warehouse, sales and service, to the accounting department shares a responsibility to exceed your clients expectations, by going that extra one percent – everytime.

Fix the Client and Not Your Product or Service. When I was employed as a technician by Varityper, our titles were tech rep 1, tech rep 2 and so on. That was changed to Customer Engineer. When you troubleshoot a client’s problem, you’re not fixing their typesetter, printer, broadband connection, website or whatever your business provides – you’re fixing the client. And in doing so – you need to give at least the perception of value.

Providing Value - Can this be done on the fly? Sure, but not with great results. Good customer support reps go through extensive training for the sole purpose of maximizing the client’s perception of their business. They offer benefits and solutions. This pays off in reduced advertising cost, minimized churn, customer loyalty and “branding.”

Are you rememberable? Are you rememberable in your clients eyes? Do you ‘own’ your business niche? Or are your customers simply satisfied clients? A certain level of support is expected from every vendor. On your customer surveys, do you ask the question, “Have we exceeded your expectations?”

Set yourself apart from the masses - Customer support encompasses so much more than simply responding to a service ticket, fixing the issue and closing it out without explanation. I see so many entrepreneurs asking how to develop a niche that sets them apart from the masses. Of course, the offer is KING, but great customer support keeps you on your throne.

Optimizing your firm or organization’s social media strategies - ties directly in to your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy. I think most entrepreneurs recognize the acronym SEO, but few have ever seen or heard the term SMO (Social Media Optimization). Earlier today, I stumbled across an article written by Angie Schottmuller, entitled “How to Apply Social Media Optimization to Your Blog in 33 Steps.”

Social media and peer-to-peer recommendations - are HUGE, which makes Angie’s guide a MUST read.

Angie is an interactive Jedi who specializes in - defining digital media road maps for multi-channel strategy. She’s been running successful online marketing campaigns since 1998 for small and large B2B and B2C companies including Johnson Controls, Imation, and Taylor Corporation. In 2001 she founded Interactive Artisan, a strategic consultancy that specializes in leveraging emerging technologies to improve user engagement, optimize conversion, and continually enhance the customer experience. Her projects range from global intranets and e-commerce sites to social media integration and mobile marketing with QR codes. She recently defined the new online marketing university curriculum for The Art Institutes and often speaks at schools and conferences about cutting edge new media principles. She has a BBA in management information systems from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and currently resides in the Twin Cities, MN.

Lots of affiliate marketing offers can appear tempting - but beware, while sounding like incredible offers, many are simply very slick marketing pieces with ZERO substance.

First up, offers that promise $$$$$ of dollars in return for very little work – well, good luck with them. If you work hard for your money, recognize these offers for what they are, and that’s pie in the sky. Don’t go there without a parachute.

Next, many of these offers serve up validation - in the form of earnings statements. I recall one such video where the presenter went on and on how he was broke and had to move in with his parents, then was miraculously introduced to some secret society guy at a poker game who turned his world upside down. Seems this (insider) took him under his wings and shared with him how to make boat loads of money online. He even offered earnings statements to validate the entire scenario – BUT smart prospects noticed the timeline on the statements didn’t match when he said he moved in with his parents, negating everything he said.

Just last week, a member on a popular web hosting forum recommended a video - from an affiliate marketer selling bongs. He had reportedly made over $250,000 selling these things – even offering an earnings statement as proof. But wait, seems the site he referenced had only been online for nine days!

If you want straight scoop on affiliate marketing - I recommend frequenting ABestWeb, Affiliates4U or AssociatePrograms. Do your homework before impulsively buying into what could be a money pit. A simple Google search works wonders.

Here’s a networking tip for when you’re – out and about at Chamber or networking luncheons  spreading the word about your business. Instead of chatting briefly and exchanging business cards, ask this, “If I were talking to someone who needed your services, what should I say to them?” This gives them the opportunity to give you their 30 second commercial touting their business. Everyone loves to talk about themselves and their business. Then ask them for 10 of their business cards instead of one. Why? Because it says to them that you’re interested in networking with them, instead of just marketing to them directly – like every other sales rep they’ve ever met. It sets you apart.

When you think about it, everyone has – a sphere of influence. When you say word of mouth is the best way to grow your business, how do you get that prospect or client to spread the word about your business? It all starts by showing an interest in their business, providing solutions that help them, and above all – great customer service. You’ll never be able to reach their sphere of influence on your own. Ask them for referrals (their sphere of influence) immediately after the sale. They’ve just said YES to your product or service. They know, like and trust you. Take it one step further. Ask them to let the person they just referred to you know that you’ll be calling.

All sales reps know that you have to ask for the sale. The same principle applies in networking – you have to ask for the referral.

Hiring is an essential ingredient to – administering Human Resources, but at a very costly expense if done incorrectly. A few years ago, I went to a management seminar in WestPort that primarily focused on hiring – pre and post. The consultant who conducted this seminar contended that ‘bad’ hires amounted to a ‘$50,000′ mistake. As a brick and mortar business owner myself, I’ve hired and fired more than I ever imagined. I think we all hope that new hires will exceed our expectations, but suspect very few businesses have ‘structured’ plans to maximize their success.

Will the new hire fit the team?
Sometimes, new hires appear to be a perfect fit, possessing the exact job requirements – coming aboard with great recommendations. But will they fit the team or department in their new position? How would you know without some method to thoroughly evaluate your candidate?

Behavioral Evaluations
Per the consultant, a new hire’s overall job performance is determined by whether or not that individual can and will use his/her skills, capacities and aptitudes to his/her best advantage in a given job. You can predict how a person will use his/her skills, capacities and aptitudes in a particular job from the presence of absence of three controlling factors – drive & ambition, behavior pattern and behavioral energy.  This directly relates to their level of comfort on the job.

What to train managers to look for in candidates

Drive and Ambition- the attitude an individual brings to the job regarding personal achievement which determine his level of drive and ambition. How strong is his need to gain the rewards of success and how hard will he work for these benefits? Does he take things as they come? Is he complacent? Does he feel a real need for higher income or greater recognition?

Behavior pattern- People tend to behave much the same way day in and day out. Everyone’s behavior pattern is based upon the attitudes acquired toward himself and toward life. It becomes almost impossible to alter your behavior pattern for any length of time and remain comfortable after you have adopted your life’s attitudes and thus your behavior pattern.

Aggressiveness- the individual’s need to take charge and be a controlling influence on his surroundings. Is he reluctant to take initiative? Would he rather follow than lead? Is he easily discouraged? Is he decisive and oriented toward direct action? Is he assertive, forceful and compulsive? Does he enjoy having authority?

Sociability- the individual’s desire to be involved with people. Social ability is a vital part of a person’s ability to interrelate with others in the job situation. Is he a poor mixer, shy and bashful? Is he helpful only when asked? Does he have a tendency to be bold, outspoken and direct? Is it natural for him to be congenial, fluent and easy to like? Does he actively seek to meet people? Is he normally a good mixer who is influential and enthusiastic?

Ability to overcome resistance- the attitude of persistence and self-confidence a person has concerning objectives. Is the individual likely to procrastinate or give in easily? Is he overly sympathetic to another’s viewpoint? Does he avoid controversy? Will he stick to his own convictions and be convincing? Does he have a natural desire to be persuasive and influential?

Behavioral energy- the individual’s level of vitality, intensity and overall behavioral energy. The intrinsic guide to how much behavior can be projected into the work situation and for what period of time. A person cannot role play uncomfortable behavior indefinitely. Depending upon his level of behavioral energy, he can do so for a short period, i.e., during an interview and for a minimum time after job acceptance. The higher the behavioral energy, the longer he can project different kinds of behavior. An individual simply cannot keep up the pace required for the job unless his natural vitality and endurance correspond to the degree of behavioral energy required for the job. High behavioral energy also gives the individual the ability to cope with frustration for longer periods of time without it affecting his work.

Motivation- an individual’s needs and values. All people are not motivated to reach the same kinds of goals. Does the person have a strong money motive? Does he seek influence and independence? Is he primarily concerned with security and social approval? Will his motives help or hinder him on the job?

I pay a lot of attention to affiliate marketers - because their livelihood depends on accurately analyzing and predicting market trends, then tweaking their marketing and SEO strategies to match. The problem with an awful lot of affiliate marketers is that they’re stuck in 2000-2004 strategies – that worked like clockwork then, but “Mom and Pop” e-commerce has transitioned over the last few years … becoming exceedingly difficult. Market share for small to medium sized companies on the Internet is shrinking, while the top 10% of web sites on the Internet continue to grab more audience, leaving scraps for the rest of us.

To complicate matters - the trend to mobile apps has caused an overall decrease in Internet use – with mobile content predicted to double within a year. This results in a smaller piece of a smaller pie for entrepreneurs just entering the Internet with e-commerce strategies – and dreams of working from home instead of fighting rush hour traffic to and from work.

I suspect an alarming number of Mom and Pop shops will – go under or at least by the wayside on the Internet – in as little as one to two years down the road – if they don’t transition with the industry. Let’s be honest here – how many of you understand how to market on Facebook or Twitter, or use any number of hundreds of social media platforms to advance your business – while the future of your business rides on the fence. Your competition isn’t sitting back waiting for you to fail – they’re accelerating the process by incorporating Internet strategies that work TODAY – pushing you further back in organic SERPS (search engine results pages).

My recommendation – follow the guidelines that the major search engines put out there – so you can succeed. Do split testing to determine what works from what doesn’t work, then repeat what works over and over and over. Be open to change.

One of my favorite quotes - “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” — by Aristotle, applies to business across the board. Typically, one or two individuals in an organization will be assigned to develop and follow up on Internet strategies, but I contend that each and every employee in businesses of every size, can add intrinsic value to their business (online). In a world that is trending toward peer-to-peer evaluation, each employee brings with them intellectual assets and their own sphere of influence. Encourage each of them to share what makes them special and your business special – on your corporate blog, industry forums, social media platforms – and the list goes on forever.

How would you like to reduce your advertising cost - on Google AdWords or Facebook, yet improve your click through rate (CTR)? Without going real deep into how and why this works, price per click or impression is a factor of a quality score – and that score is determined by how well your ad performs. Essentially the lower your click through rate, the lower your quality score and the higher your resulting cost per click or impression.

Combining poorly performing - keywords, keyword phrases or interests with those that perform well lowers your overall click through rate and also your quality score. It’s far better to create multiple separate campaigns with fewer keywords or interests, first to sort out what works from what doesn’t work and second, to create better performing keywords and interests campaigns to improve your click through rate, thus improving your quality score and reducing the resulting cost per click or impression. Sometimes this means reducing the keywords, keyword phrases or interests in your campaigns to as few as two or three top performers.

Often, a poorly performing – keyword, keyword phrase or interest is simply a bad match with its associated advertisement. You’ll never know this though if you lump sum all your keywords or interests into one campaign. In Facebook, it’s easy to create multiple similar campaigns and simply change out interests. Stop paying for interests that perform poorly and focus on those that do perform well. Click through will improve, quality score will improve and the corresponding cost of your campaigns will decrease.

A while back, I was introduced to HARO, which stands for Help A Reporter Out. From their website:

For Sources

No such thing as free PR?

From The New York Times, to ABC News, to HuffingtonPost.com and everyone in between, nearly 30,000 members of the media have quoted HARO sources in their stories. Everyone’s an expert at something. Sharing your expertise may land you that big media opportunity you’ve been looking for.

For Reporters

Qualified sources when you need them!

Tap into the largest source repository in the world with over 80,000 mainstreet and expert sources who will respond directly to your query on your terms. No more flipping through your rolodex; searching out-of-date databases, or being bothered by unsolicited sources with off-topic pitches. Submit your query and let HARO deliver the perfect sources right to your inbox.

• - No registration required
• - 100% free to use

I’ve been subscribing to HARO for some time now, and wholeheartedly endorse their services. When they say everyone is an expert at something – that rings true cross industry. Getting the word out about your products and services entails more than just tweaking content on your website – it’s about getting other folks to point back to your site. When you have something interesting to say, pretty much about anything, there are people interested in listening, or reading your thoughts. In helping out a reporter, you essentially help yourself out – with links back to your site, which improves your ranking with search engines. Higher SERPS means more visitors, which in turn translates into more sales. It’s one of those GOOD vicious cycles.

There are a number of entry level services under – the umbrella of webhosting – shared hosting, reseller programs, VPS, dedicated, collocation and cloud hosting. Each of these carries with it a level of capital investment necessary to substain operations until the business can support itself.

Determining financials starts with – a well researched and comprehensive business plan that takes into account operating expenses, industry trends, revenue expectations, forecasts and capital resources. Across the board, the financial investment compares favorably to brick and mortar start-ups. Instead of thousands of dollars to secure leases, business licenses, liability insurance, security systems and the like, webhosting ventures can be kickstarted with hundreds of dollars. That’s one reason we see so many underage webhosting providers – and that’s not necessarily all bad. The risk to the end client is certainly elevated though. A large number of webhost start-ups lack the financial resources to build out their business, instead trying to survive on initial sales. This is a risky business strategy, as webhosting is an extremely competitive industry, and initial sales may take weeks or months to develop.

Over the years, we’ve seen quite a few ISPs and webhosts fall – by the wayside. I can personally recall over 30 ISPs biting the dust just between 1999 and 2001.

I think if you’re a brick and mortar business, and you’re searching – for a host to entrust with your website and business data, you need to evaluate the risks of going cheap - buying into questionable plans versus going with a reputable firm with established clientele who can and will attest to their level of expertise and support. Managing expectations is huge in business. As a brick and mortar business owner myself, I want to know that my web host provider will be right there with me – two, three or five years down the road.

POCCAD stands for People, Organization, Current System, Current Vendor, Application and Decision Maker. When I was with a local copier dealership, their sales management team gave us all a pop quiz on the meaning of POCCAD. I had no clue at the time, but very quickly came to realize its importance in closing deals.

Each of these renders specific value to successfully negiotiating solutions resulting in long term business relationships.

People

Would understanding whether your contact was a number cruncher, socialite or gatekeeper guide your interaction with them? How long have they been there? What’s their responsibility? Are they motivated or just putting in their time? Are they just soliciting information or is there a real interest? Do they smile when they see you? Ask them, “If you could change anything about your current product or service, what would that be?” And then listen to their answer. Let them carry 80 percent of the conversation. They’ll walk away thinking you’re a fascinating rep, when actually they’ve done all the talking – and you’ve now gleamed their hot buttons.

Organization

How long have they been in business? Do they have multiple locations? Who are their competitors? Are they growing? Is this a family business? How many employees do they have? What’s their employees average tenure? Do they have a website? Do they do business online? What is their core focus? What’s their mission statement?

Current System

Do they use a mainframe, or rack mounted servers? Are they colocated? How long have they been using their current system? Have they incurred any recent issues with it? Are they under a contract? Is their system leased or owned outright? Has it been fully depreciated? Do they have upgrade plans in place? What is their current systems projected end-of-life?

Current Vendor

Who are their vendors? Why did they select them? This factors directly into why they should select you. Are they under contract? Do their current vendors exceed their expectations? How long have they used them? Is there a special connection to the business (relative, friend or other)? Do they select their vendors as the result of RFQs and bids?

Application

What are their applications? Do your products or services offer competitive or enhanced features and benefits that may resolve a need based on how they get from A to B currently?

Decision Maker

I understand you aren’t always afforded the opportunity to propose your solution to the decision maker directly, so it’s exceptionally important to understand who the influencers are, and their relationship to the decision maker. By all means, attempt to deal with the decision maker as translations often get lost or diluted. If that decision maker is a number cruncher, your proposal will need to be very different than one prepared for a socialite. Understanding the difference, and using that to your advantage helps close deals.

In Summary

Oblivously, this is very generic, but it can be revised and amended to address sales strategies across most industries. Part of your sales team effort should be to collaborate on refining the process and questions to gain this insight into your prospects motivation to change providers.

Exposing Pain
What are some of the fundamentals that drive higher conversion ratios? The first, I think, is to reinforce your prospect’s existing pain. Here’s the catch. When you’re designing an online campaign, how would you know your prospect’s specific pain?

In one-on-one meetings, it’s relatively easy – you ask questions, lots of them. Here, I recommend the POCCAD approach, asking questions related to personnel, their organization, their current system, their current vendors, what applications they’re using, and who their decision makers are. Find their hot buttons and drill deeper.

Online, these tactics don’t convert well. Here, pain is relative to industry trends, and measuring that pain requires some research. I start with the search engines, typically Bing, Google and Yahoo, followed by industry specific forums. Pain can cover everything from slow Internet connections to issues related to their current provider.

Showing Value
Value is perceived. You may not have the best product or service, but the perception of those can be vastly improved with effective copywriting. Here, professional presentation is key. You need to capture your prospect’s attention, then emotionally motivate them to action.

Minimize their Risk
Trust is key to minimizing their risk. There are a number of ways to convey trust. One of those is via testimonials, while another is a guarantee. Testimonials lend considerable credence, especially if that business or organization is well known. Guarantees won’t completely ease the pain of making a bad decision, but it does give the prospect a way out, should the relationship sour.

Cap the Offer
By that, I mean make your offer limited in some fashion, either by time, event or availability. We see these tactics everyday in retail – when they’re gone, they’re gone. Don’t miss this chance to own this once in a lifetime deal.

Have an Exit Strategy
Either offer other related products (I see this all the time on sites like Amazon), offer a discounted price or offer some consolation for visiting your site – either a discount on future purchases or possibly a free report.

I believe that consistently posting quality original content on  your website, on forums, on article submission sites, and so on is absolutely critical to your marketing and SEO strategies. As search engines revamp their algorithms to emphasize relevancy, and as prospects become more computer and Internet savvy, content lays the foundation for every other strategy – from SEO to PPC to social media marketing.

Branding is about consistency in your message, your logo, your mission statement and your site. I search everyday for clues on how other firms have successfully marketed their firms, to emulate what works, or what I perceive to work.

My perception
Publishing great content builds credibility. This is simply common sense. The Internet has grown to become a global resource for information. Why? Because it’s users are there searching for what? Information!! If not yours, then your competitor’s!

I love walking into shops that don’t have computers or Internet connections. They do still exist. Most of them come to agree that having an online presence is like mining for gold online with an offline shovel. See Mining Online Gold with an Offline Shovel by Joel Christopher (Author) and George McKenzie (Author). Add to that, prospects do business with firms or reps they know, like and trust, so building credibility enhances business relationships over the long haul.

Internet Marketing Guru, John Reese, once wrote that content is not king – it’s Kong. Content levels the playing field on the Internet. The web has made it easy for small businesses to reach more people than ever before, opening up a variety of avenues to provide great content, and thus, solidify their business’s success.

Ok, I admit that – I didn’t jump on the Twitter bandwagon right away. I didn’t perceive a great deal of value with a lot of tweets I read. Twitter has evolved though, and I now realize there are plenty of super ways to leverage Twitter to grow your business.

Brand awareness – is huge on Twitter. The key to branding is keeping your business in the public eye, using promotions to increase conversions for your products and services.

Engagement with your target audience – lends to a heightened perception of know, like and trust, a crucial element in the sale of ANYTHING. And you don’t have to be the originator – simply show an interest in their tweets by reposting them or commenting on them.

Listening to tweets can identify market trends – What are people interested in today – RIGHT NOW?

Gain a competitive advantage – by monitoring your competition’s tweets. Are they coming out with a new product or service? Or are they using Twitter in a way you haven’t thought of yet?

Reputation management – is another critical app for Twitter as it allows you to know what’s being said about your brand in real-time. Quite often, simply by responding that you’re working on an issue helps quell any negativity.

Directing tweets to landing pages – can help with conversions, especially if the offer is so compelling that your tweet gets reposted. A significant side effect would be higher ranking in SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) leading to increased organic conversions.

Participating in industry discussions – may help others perceive your business as EXPERTS in the field.

Set up your corporate blog – to feed Twitter your URLs automatically. WordPress plug-ins are great for this.

Don’t forget mobile apps – for people on the move. Twitter is ideal as a mobile communications tool.

Just issued a Press Release – and want to get your announcement out quickly? Spread the word by Tweeting it.

Think about all the advertisements you’ve ever seen. Do they share any common ingredients? Successful ads focus on a specific niche, revolving around an emotion. Why? – Because sales are extremely emotional transactions. I know when I have to pull my wallet out to buy anything, I cry.

What kinds of emotions work in advertising?

Here’s where your creative juices need to start flowing. The range of positive and negative emotions is endless, but I’ve included a few to consider.

On the positive side:

• Comfort
• Excited
• Glamorous
• Inspired
• Superior
• Interested
• Thrilled

On the negative side:

• Annoyed
• Exasperated
• Frustrated
• Anxiety
• Impatient
• Apprehensive
• Concerned
• Pressured
• Stress
• Disappointed

Analyze the emotions your competitors are marketing to

As you browse the Internet, start looking for indicators of emotions that your competitors are using to target prospects. What emotion would “No contracts or hidden fees” target? What about “100% Uptime Guarantee?” Or “Self Healing Technology?”

I see ads all the time touting Internet speed, broadband versus DSL. The emotion targeted there is frustration – over sloooooooooooooooooow downloads. I know if I have to wait too long for a site to download, I move on, and I’m on a 10 Meg connection.

Advertisements, proposals and quotes devoid of emotion rarely perform as well as those that do. Even CFO’s have SOME sense of emotion.

I shop the Internet comparing plans all the time – and I read a ton of reviews about a trillion different providers. It seems there are plans and services by the gazillion, enough to satisfy every client.

Which provider is the best for you then? Do you look for the big established host or do you prefer the small newer hosts? On web hosting forums, some providers contend that plans are black and white, and are very much focused on definitions – this is that and there are no grey areas or exceptions. I contend that the defining difference is the client’s specific requirements.

Someone with a personal website – about their Elvis collection might not be overly concerned with uptime or bandwidth, but may require lots of disk space for their high definition pictures.

Conversely, a corporate site may not be – as concerned with bandwidth and disk space as they are uptime. I read threads every day from OPs (original posters) on various forums complaining about losing thousands of dollars because their provider suffered numerous outages. These types of clients require an elevated level of infrastructure redundancy from their providers.

It’s not even the package that matches – your requirements, as much as it is the people and infrastructure supporting what you want – your specific requirements. Unlimited this, caps on that, we respond to tickets before you even submit them, we do offsite backups every evening, or we guarantee five 9’s – what does that all equate to if you’re the exception to the definition?

There are always exceptions to the rule – and every client’s needs and requirements are different. So how do you match your requirements to your provider? If they offer pre-sales live chat, go online and ask lots of questions. If they have a phone number (unfortunately, many don’t), call them – and ask lots of questions. The key here is – do they listen to your questions and offer solutions, or do they simply guide you to packages – trying to fit you into their definition of a client?

My recommendation is to – find a provider that is willing to work with you – to match their products, services and expertise to your specific requirements.

Updated Dec 28 2011

Smaller businesses are driving content marketing initiatives – by double that of large businesses. Over two-thirds attribute social media as their primary marketing venue. Why? Because it works and it’s far less expensive than direct mail or print/TV advertising.

Corporate Blogs
Small business blogs can increase website viewership by over 50%.  In today’s business climate of shrinking budgets, blogs have become a low cost viable online marketing strategy. A recent search on Bing for ‘corporate blogs’ returned over 504,000,000 results (up 470 million from last March!). As higher and higher percentages of shoppers search the Internet to research products and services, well designed and maintained corporate blogs frequently add real value to the mix.

The Challenge of Providing Valuable Content
While content has to be relevant to the company, it needs to provide value to the visitor as well. Simply creating posts that promote your products or services will have diminished results. Typically, blog posts should add value to the visitor – offering creative solutions.

The Real Goal?
What are we are looking for on our websites? I’ll venture “recurring traffic.”  Why? Because return visitors are considerably more likely to respond to a call to action. Successful blogs build regular readership that, over time, foster a business relationship of know, like and trust. Prospects don’t buy products or services – they buy from people or businesses they know, like and trust.

Content marketing requires a commitment of time
Posts need to be frequent, and contain a consistent source of useful information. Building a readership takes time – sometimes months before users recognize your blog as worth following, and recommending to others.

Corporate blogs should engage your entire organization
If you’re responsible for your company’s blog, look for ways to engage others within your organization to contribute. The collective knowledge of everyone in your company shapes who you are. Connecting with your visitors on multiple levels leverages and sustains your marketing efforts, and ultimately, your return-on-investment (ROI).

Designing your site for e-commerce – begins with keyword research, matching keywords and phrases that most closely match today’s search queries. Why? Because designing a site with keywords or phrases that no one searches for makes conversions very very difficult (lack of traffic). Of course you can still advertise via article, blog and forum posting, or micro-sites, which should provide some very targeted leads, but you lose the viral power of organic search results.

I’ve seen sites that dominate –  SERPS (search engine results pages) for their particular niche, but can’t convert a prospect. Frequently, keyword research reveals that NO ONE is searching for that niche. In simple terms, if you’re getting 6 pageviews/month, it doesn’t matter if you have the best design, intuitive navigation and a kick a** shopping cart, your ROI (return on investment) will suffer.

Taking keywords one step further - selling anything is about the perception of providing value & solutions, and this applies to everything from selling toothpaste to cloud hosting – which leads us to Landing Pages and relevancy, and on to compelling calls-to-action. The words you use cross-site and intra-site need to be relevant to the search query. Getting traffic from a search query that leads to a product or service that’s either in conflict with the search, unreadable (poor theme or contrast), not compelling or out of alignment with the rest of the industry won’t convert well.

My recommendation - absolutely use keyword research tools to match the products and services you want to sell – with the keywords and keyword phrases currently entered into search queries – that will produce sufficient traffic to sustain and grow your business.

I just read an interesting article about going International – by Anne F. Kennedy, who is an international search strategist, and the found of US-based Beyond Ink. She raises some very good points about moving toward an International customer base.

Anne contends that globalization in web marketing  – has made country borders irrelevant. Why? In huge contrast to just a few years back, over 85% of the people using the Internet around the world are outside the United States. Europe, in fact, is home to more of the world’s online population than all of the Americas combined. Does this mean the best opportunities for website marketing are OUTSIDE the United States?

Consider these stats – while US search engine searches expanded only 18% last year, China’s grew by 32%, Korea 34%, Brazil 38% and the Russian Federation 92%.

Here’s the catch. When I was young, my Mom gave me a book of idioms. Until then, I always knew other countries spoke different languages, but thought their language was the same as ours (just different words for the same thing). If we said it was raining dogs and cats, I imagined that translated directly into whatever language they were using – and everyone would understand what we meant. There are cultural divides though, even within countries, from region to region. Even the color of your website theme is interpreted differently from country to country. My point? When business takes you beyond country borders, you need to adapt your marketing strategy to your targeted audience, and that goes beyond simple word translation.

Do you need a separate website to – do business in another country? Anne says, ideally, yes. Marketing is about communicating value. If your audience can’t communicate with you, through language or culturally, you’ll never maximize your global reach. Let’s face it, a confused prospect never buys.

My recommendation – design & write to their language and culture, using top level domain names specific to their region. Keyword research is critical too, because not every word translates directly (or is used one for one). Then market to the search engines that dominate that region. In the United States, no questions asked – it’s Google, but that’s not true elsewhere.

What is click fraud? I just did a quick Bing search for click fraud which returned over 40 million results. It’s actually a cybercrime dating back years that occurs with PPC advertising when a spammer or some program or script imitates a real user clicking on an ad for the purpose of generating an actual charge per click, even though they have no interest in the target of that ad’s link.

Have you ever noticed in your PPC advertising campaigns, the same IP address clicking on your ad, spending one or two seconds on your website and then leaving? And coming back again within seconds? If you’re spending $3.00 per click, that adds up quickly.

From SearchEngineWatch.com 19 Dec 2010 - “A recent Click Forensics report showed that fraud for online advertisements rose to 22.3 percent, up from 14.1 percent during the same period last year.” And “With increased marketing spend during the holiday season, it’s more important than ever that online advertisers pay attention to their traffic and ensure that they are protected from fraudulent clicks.”

What’s the Motivation?

One motivator is competitor click fraud.  The motivation of the perpetrator here is to simply obtain higher-placed ad positions for lower bid amounts by depleting the advertising budget of their competitors. Other motivators of click fraud include financial gain, revenge and blackmail.

What can you do to detect and prevent click fraud?

This starts with being proactive – measuring your advertising results, analyzing trends in click volumes with or without accompanying increases in your website’s traffic or sales.

There are also anti-fraud softwares to protect your advertising dollars. A quick check on Google just now for FREE click fraud software returned over 361,000 results.

I’ve always heard that you need to believe in yourself first, if you expect others to believe in you. Scott Ginsberg, aka “The Nametag Guy” said, “When you believe in your value, they believe in your value.” I believe that self-confident people have qualities that everyone admires. When you’re self-confident, you inspire confidence in others, in turn finding success. On the other hand, low self confidence manifests negativity and self destruction.

Competence
Without an underlying competence, I don’t believe you can really achieve true self confidence. Rather, you lean to a sort of shallow overconfidence. Competency needs to be tied closely to reality. The reality is that you can’t be everything to everybody, and you can’t be an expert without logging appreciable hours learning your industry, and specifically your job, in achievable steps.

Perception
Confidence is a perceived value. How do your clients and prospects perceive you or your company’s products, services, ability to deliver, customer support and so on, as a solution that will ease their pain, or help their bottom line? Your confidence inspires the confidence of your clients and prospects, either positively or negatively.

Visualization
When I attended Victory 2000, one of the things I took away from Tony Robbins presentation was how dynamic “visualization” can be as a weapon in your arsenal to achieving success. Visualizing yourself as self confident will do wonders for your career. Think positive. Think – I can do it.

My Recommendation
To become truly self confident in a way that leads to ongoing success, first set some achievable goals – small battles that you can win, then build on those. Then celebrate your victories. Hold your head high and answer questions with assurance, and those you can’t answer, admit straight up that you can’t, but promise to get them an answer (and then do it).

I just read a post on Seth’s Blog about embracing lifetime values, and was immediately able to relate this to any number of industries. When I was selling security systems in Miami, my employer had years of data highlighting the lifetime value of every new client. Think about it – who changes alarm vendors once the system is installed? Their monitoring ran $24.95/month, but clients routinely stayed with them from six to seven years. Value adds were additional motion sensors, control panels, remotes and door contacts. 

I wonder how many sales or support reps understand the real value of each shared, dedicated or colo sale, and how that drives the business as a whole? In the post, the lifetime value of new cell phone clients (on two year contracts) was estimated at $2000.00. I’ve been with my cell phone provider since 1997, and have grown from one to four phones.

Is there a lifetime value in web hosting?
What do you estimate the lifetime value is (on average) of a month-to-month dedicated server client? What about the new 2U colo client, who someday grows to a full rack, or a cage?

Could you increase your client’s lifetime value?
The answer is, absolutely – under promise and over deliver. Empower your staff, from sales reps to the billing and support departments, to go that extra one percent in every contact they have with each client. Your goal should be to exceed your client’s expectations. This is the stuff of long term business relationships.

Bottom Line
If one of your clients left in a huff, would you surmise, ‘there goes a $20 client’ or ‘we just let $2000 walk out the door.

If you’re in a competitive industry (like web hosting), the content on your website needs to be distinguishable from the crowd. You must be willing  to do what’s needed to stand out, whether that means adding to or refining your content, pricing, backlinks or marketing strategies. Most prospects realize they can purchase similar products or services from hundreds of providers.

Why should they choose yours?
Given the multitude of competing websites, plus the reality that the major search engines have to rank one of you as Number 1 and another Number 29 and another Number 6,145,009 – which number would you prefer? In many instances, the differences will be minute.  Has Number 1 been in business longer than six months, or are they just great at developing websites that perform well on the search engines?

A search engine result, or SERP, is not a measure of the quality of a provider.
Perhaps, Number 1 employs strategies to develop good backlinks, possesses great social networking skills, successfully tweaks keywords to maximize keyword density and thousands of members follow them on Twitter. Does that speak to their level of customer support? Hmmm, it probably does. LOL. My point is that there are plenty of companies that stand apart from the crowd that aren’t ranked high in the search engines.

Standing apart
Standing apart can be a good thing or a bad thing. You want to be rememberable for all the right reasons. The providers that stand out for me are those that are honest. You can’t please everyone, so its always best to manage your prospect’s expectations. They’ll appreciate your honesty. Don’t be fooled by the economy. There are plenty of folks out there looking to buy, but very few looking to be sold to. Integrity goes a long way in any industry – helping to build long lasting business partnerships that survive the ups and downs of the market.

Branding – how important is it to your business?
I think most businesses would love to have the kind of brand awareness that Coke, Pepsi, Hershey, Xerox, Kleenex, GoDaddy and Monster enjoy. If you look closely at most successful businesses, you’ll probably discover an entrepreneur that evolved over time, developing a specific impression in their client’s minds when they thought of their company, product or service. If you want something copied, do you Xerox it, or do you Konica it? Could you Xerox a document on a Konica? And is there another word that comfortably compares to Kleenex?

Is it possible to mold the perception of your service or product?
How do you get someone to link ‘ownership” of your brand? If I thought ‘domain name,’ would GoDaddy stand apart from Enom or Namecheap? If I asked my wife this question, she’d say Enom and Namecheap ‘WHO?” But she saw GoDaddy’s SuperBowl commercial, and now automatically links domain names to them. She’s transferred ownership in her mind to GoDaddy. I think deliberately carving your niche is one of the most important marketing strategies you should develop, to influence how your clients and prospects think of your business. But what happens when someone has already branded your niche?

Internalizing your Brand
What is the core focus of your business? I know in the image solutions industry, service revenue draws the lion’s share of profit, whereas sales may only pull ten percent. Great service drives sales. If your support department went an extra 1% in every interaction with your clients, could they evolve from simply satisfied clients – to Raving Fans? Branding is a team effort. It starts and ends with every interaction you have with prospects and clients.

Promote a Consistent Message
Branding encompasses reinforcing everything from your logo to your mission statement. It has to build personality. It has to tell the same story consistently in order to strengthen it in your clients and prospects minds. I think this directly relates to short and long term memory. I’ve always heard short term memory transfers to long term memory the sixth time around. Don’t know how true that is. If I’m not interested, I’ll forget your name in the same conversation. LOL. Direct marketing organizations have validated the success of branding though, and one can’t argue the success of companies like Energizer or Heinz, or thousands similar to them.

Branding works better than competing on price alone
Again, what is the core focus of your business? Is it colocation or shared hosting? Do you offer everything under the sun? Where is the best return on your investment (ROI)? By focusing on your core product or service, you’ll maximize interactions with your clients and prospects – building customer loyalty.

It’s All About Choice
Is your brand memorable? Or is your business just another commodity? In the hosting industry, competition is formidable. What are prospective clients searching for? I suspect price drives a large percentage of searches. This is where a strong brand will unify your efforts, be memorable, be a value-add, build loyalty and attract your best clients. Branding helps make that choice be your business.

What are Raving Fans? According to Ken Blanchard, “Having raving fans means that you have achieved the kind of service excellence that turns a customer into a lifetime customer. A raving fan is an advocate of your products or services in the marketplace.” Ken and Sheldon Bowles co-authored “Raving Fans,” A Revoluntionary Approach to Customer Service. This book is so revoluntionary that one local business in Saint Louis required all of its employees, from sales to warehouse delivery, to read and pass a test about its content.

The core focus of their book is going that extra 1% in everything you do, to ensure each contact with every client is memorable.

If You Don’t Take Care of Your Customers, Someone Else Will
We’ve all heard this phrase before, because it’s so true. In contrast, according to Bain & Company, companies can boost profits as much as 255% by retaining merely 5% more of their existing customers.

In business, we’re all looking for that strategic advantage
Prospects and clients are demanding more than ever, expecting to get what they want, when they want it, and customized to their requirements – at the least expense possible. In the web hosting industry, many providers have resorted to offers of unlimited space and bandwidth at ridiculously low prices (an overselling marketing strategy) to give them a strategic advantage of perception. In the industry, we all realize that “unlimited” is not possible for space and bandwidth, but the perception to the general public is quite different. At odds to these offers are clauses in their respective Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policies that, in fact, prohibit certain types of services, or place ‘real” limits on their offers – but who reads TOS and AUP statements? At odds with the Raving Fans theory, their strategy is to get the prospect in the door, sell them, then deal with overages in space and bandwidth on the backside. It’s no wonder I see so many complaints in forums on the Internet from users who thought they were buying into a fabulous deal, only to have their ‘budget’ host terminate their services.

What is the better strategy?
Is it better to employ strategies to convert prospects at the cost of higher churn, or is it better to manage your prospects expectations, in a manner that makes sense to both their business and yours – that provides a solution to their needs?

Are cold leads or warm leads more profitable?
That’s an easy question to answer. I’m not aware of any sales rep who doesn’t prefer warm leads. Clients who have already bought into your services and products need to be your Raving Fans. They need to be your advocate in the industry. When you improve your client’s satisfaction, you drive repeat business.

Customer Support
Its simply not enough to receive a support ticket, fix the issue on your side, then close the ticket. Why? Support tickets are created by clients who have some issue with your product or service. That specific issue may be very minor or could be critical to their operation. When you’re working on a support ticket, do you make an assumption of revelance, or do you communicate with your client to gain a comprehensive understanding of the issue, from their point of view. Are you professional in those communications? Do you accept responsibility if the problem is on your end? Do you go that extra 1% to assure them that their business is important to you?

Do you want to boost your profit by retaining a larger percentage of your existing clients?
Yes?! It starts by creating a culture of ‘I Care.” I strongly recommend reading “Raving Fans.” Its a little quirky, but very insightful. What do you have to lose – except a few clients? We all want our businesses to boom, in spite of our current state of the nation. Align your business to ensure seamless customer service is delivered consistently. Manage your prospects expectations – don’t promise the world, then pull the rug from beneath their feet.  And empower your employees to know when and where they can make a difference.

It makes no difference  – what your background is, whether you have any technical skills or if you’re starting from scratch. The key is motivation. Your unique knowledge of sports, fashion, religion, psychology, vacation spots or whatever – can be converted into an online business.

That first step – is crucial. I always always recommend writing a business plan as that first step. Why? The majority of new businesses fail because they lack process, and your business plan is like a map – establishing direction and expectations. It spells out process.

One key ingredient – is research within your niche. Seek out the most profitable topics to monetize, then deliver relevant and compelling content. Put your personality into your site. Give it style. If you have quality, in-demand information, you will be pleasantly surprised how well your site performs.

Take something you know and love – and monetize it. It starts with passion, which is then converted into content on your site. There are a zillion ways to drive traffic to your site and a gazillion more ways to monetize that traffic.

Is it easy - NO. Will success happen overnight? NO. But the Internet has truly spawned it’s share of millionaires, many of them with ZERO brick and mortar presence.

Are information based sites sustainable – ABSOLUTELY. Diversification is crucial, establishing multiple streams of income. These could be via Google AdSense, affiliate programs, writing and selling e-books or simply lead generation.

“Venture nothing, and life is less than it should be.”
Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990)

A lot of work goes into shaping a business, but the shaping doesn’t end when you open your doors to the public. Businesses that survive and strive are those that abandon what doesn’t work and use that knowledge to reshape their business going forward. With online businesses, this could be as simple as changing domain names.

I just read an interesting article this morning about one online business that changed their web site five times in five years. This particular business was launched with an investment of  $100,000, but now grosses nearly $3 million in revenue. What I found interesting was that, over the years, they abandoned 60 percent of what they originally came up with. That’s huge, but it reshaped their business into the success they enjoy today.

Why would changing your domain name make any difference?
I think there are two angles to changing domain names. The first is perception. The second deals with Search Engine Optimization.

The Trust Factor
In the first (perception), the key is TRUST. Successful eCommerce ventures start and end with a strong trust factor. Let’s face it – what do prospects see when they search for info on Google, Bing and Yahoo? They essentially see two things – your domain name and a short description of your site. For example, which domain name conveys more (global) trust to you - Steve’sAirTransport.com or AviationTransportationServicesInc.com? Seems obvious to me. The second has a corporate, global feel to it that lends favorably to the perception of trust.

The SEO Factor
Although Google doesn’t disclose its search algorithms, it’s widely perceived in SEO circles that targeted keywords in your domain name weigh heavily on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS).  When searching for Aviation Transportation Services, two of the top four results have the targeted keywords, aviation and trasnsportation, in their domain names. Would being in the top four results help drive targeted traffic and potential clients to your site? Absolutely!

The Real Challenge
Reevaluatiing your domain name is a starting point, but the real challenge entails staying current with ever evolving technologies like Twitter and Facebook, AND keeping up to date with search engine trends and changes in their algorithms.

I’m reasonably sure most of us have heard the term, “Sell the SIZZLE, not the steak.” It’s well documented that prospects don’t buy products and services – they buy BENEFITS from reps or businesses they know, like and trust. The best sales reps search out their prospect’s pain (by asking questions and LISTENING), and then structure their proposed solution to SIZZLE (to address that pain in a way that excites and compels the prospect to buy).

Some examples of SIZZLE 

   1. If I’m selling Internet bandwidth (data transfer), which has more sizzle? Simply listing bandwidth at 2TB/month OR adding an example of a benefit like:

If the average page size on your site is 40 kilobytes (includes the html file & graphics), with 2TB of bandwidth your pages could be downloaded 262,144,000 times per month! 

   2. What about email accounts – seems pretty straight forward? Which has more sizzle? Simply listing how many emails you get with each plan OR adding a benefit like: 

Tired of spam?! Our real time spam filter saves you and your employees time and money? Our system monitors a very large portion of the Internet’s email traffic to target sources of spam and tags that spam if it comes into our network. This FREES you to focus on REAL email. 

   3. I see hosting packages all the time featuring MySQL accounts, but why would you be interested in MySQL? Instead of simply listing the number of MySQL accounts with each plan, how about adding a benefit with some SIZZLE like: 

Based on the Linux operating system, MySQL is a multi-user, multi-threaded Structured Query Language (SQL) standardized database that simplifies storing, updating and accessing information such as customer or product data. Its flexibility and speed allow you to also store logs and pictures. Designed to scale well under heavy traffic conditions, it’s IDEAL for database-intensive or ecommerce enabled websites. 

What’s your SIZZLE? 

There’s a benefit to every product or service. The key is to find the SIZZLE that addresses your prospects pain, whether it’s the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the cars they drive or whatever. In person, it’s the reps body language and tone that carries the conversation, with a scant 7% left to his/her words. Online, there is no body language or tone, except what the prospect perceives. This is why design and relevant content is so important. SIZZLE is the catalyst that will put you over the top.

Small Business Rocks!
As I drive in to work, I pass by hundreds of small businesses and I wonder how they all got their start, how long they’ve been in business, what their plans are for the future, will they survive …? Being in sales, quite often I get to talk to the owners and decision makers in these businesses, and as a small business owner myself, I cherish these opportunities to gain insight into their business.

I Love the Entrepreneurial Spirit of Small Business
While I primarily write articles about the finer aspects of web hosting, I’m drawn to marketing and sales, and general business tips because it’s equally relevant. Web sites can be the great equalizer for small business in their quest to compete on a Global or even local marketplace, so when I talk to owners about their websites (or lack thereof), more often than not, I take with me a renewed sense that the entrepreneurial spirit this country was founded upon is alive and well.

Small Business Drives Business
I could do a Google search and find literally millions of articles related to small business driving business, but it’s widely understood that small business is the backbone of our economy. As small business goes, so goes our economy. Competing as a small business forces you to think outside of the box, driving innovation.

TESS stands for Trademark Electronic Search System. It provides for on-line searching of existing trademark application and registration information. TESS provides public access to the same text and image database of trademarks as is currently provided to examining attorneys at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Before you pay for that domain name
Not every name has a domain or website associated with it, yet that name may be trademarked, and that could spell BIG problems for you down the line should you register  and brand your online business around that.

What are the differences between patents, trademarks and copyrights?

Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights are three types of intellectual property protection

Patents protect inventions, and improvements to existing inventions.

Trademarks include any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from goods manufactured or sold by others, and to indicate the source of the goods. Service marks include any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce, to identify and distinguish the services of one provider from services provided by others, and to indicate the source of the services. 

Copyrights protect literary, artistic, and musical works.

Protect Yourself
I remember a conversation I had in a chat room years ago about trying to come up with a name for a hosting chamber of commerce or accreditation site. Fortunately, I had the United States Patent and Trademark Office website bookmarked. It seems that every name proposed was already registered. I do know that in Missouri, business aliases are registered but those names are not protected. More than one business can legally DBA (do business as) under the same name.

For example, I typed in the name of a popular soft drink under their New User Form Search (Basic). It returned 339 results, but only a portion of those were live registrations. This search form does offer the ability to search for both live and dead, or live or dead independently.

Why Trademark?
Here are some specific benefits of having a federally registered trademark:

1. Constructive notice nationwide of the trademark owner’s claim.
2. Evidence of ownership of the trademark.
3. Jurisdiction of federal courts may be invoked.
4. Registration can be used as a basis for obtaining registration in foreign countries.
5. Registration may be filed with U.S. Customs Service to prevent importation of infringing foreign goods

Of course you don’t know what you don’t know, but how important is it to know what you don’t know? Personally, I don’t know a lot about astrophysics, but that’s not really important to me. LOL. My wife and I own a hair salon, so understanding beauty products is essential. Knowing the difference between hi-lites and lo-lites, or how to apply color is a must.

Making assumptions
In most industries, vendors take knowledge for granted – and by that I mean they assume most clients know more than they really do. Here’s an example. Most of us have dealt with printers, specifically replacing toner cartridges, but how many of us understand toner yields – how many pages you can reasonably expect to print from that new cartridge. Vendors use terms like yields 250 pages at 6% coverage. They don’t tell you that if you use any shading whatsoever on your prints, coverage jumps over 12%, cutting the yield of that cartridge in half – to just 125 pages!

Not knowing what you don’t know could put your online business at risk
In web hosting, an awful lot of prospects buy on price. Hey, the economy is tough – we’re all trying to stretch our dollars. When a few of the larger providers started offering unlimited disk space and bandwidth on their shared webhosting plans, it raised some eyebrows because everyone in the industry knew unlimited was unrealistic. Of course, there were limitations on their unlimited plans, buried in their Terms and Conditions, but how many of us really read Terms and Conditions? In this instance, not knowing what you don’t know could put your online business at risk. 

Don’t have a clue?
In the web hosting industry, there are shared hosting plans, virtual plans, semi-dedicated, reseller plans, VPS, clouds, dedicated servers and colocation. If I asked my wife to tell me the difference between them, she’d be like, “What?” Most small business owners realize on some level that they need a website, but probably more than a few are just like my wife. They know they need an online presence, would love to sell their product or service online, but have no idea how to go about doing that – so they do what most of us do now. We search the Internet for info, and try to decipher what makes one provider, developer or vendor more appealing than the next.

Would not knowing what you don’t know hinder your ability to select a new vendor?
A common theme I hear from business owners is, “I have a website, and I need or want to make some changes, but the firm or person who designed my site went out of business and now I’m stuck and need help.” Would not knowing what you don’t know hinder your ability to select a new vendor? How would you know what questions to ask? If I were to tell you that your landing page size was 1.03 megabytes, could you relate that to return traffic or conversion ratios? If you reduced that page size to under 60 kilobytes, would that increase your sales?

We can’t be expected to know everything
Of course none of us can be expected to know everything. That’s why we leave certain things to the experts, like brain surgery. In web hosting, stuff like bandwidth and disk space are important, but so is the stability and expertise of the provider you host with. I’ve always heard that the measure of a great company is not so much what they offer, but how they respond under pressure or stress. How do they treat their customers? Companies that survive the test of time are those that understand the lifetime value of their clients.

What separates web hosting providers?
Aside from the obvious like plans and pricing, why would you select one web hosting provider over another? If I’m a growing mom and pop shop or even a small business with thousands of dollars tied into IT infrastructure and online marketing strategies, there is a common thread – the need to know what you don’t know.  I always recommend asking lots of questions in your search, but equally important are the questions your prospective provider asks you. Do they genuinely show an interest in your business, and offer solutions based on your specific requirements and growth projections, or do they simply offer packages. As you grow, can you upgrade your plan – for example from shared to dedicated? And is knowing that important? It’s important for your provider to know what you don’t know, and that they help by partnering to grow your business and theirs.

A lot of sites I visit regularly are either business, technical or detail oriented. If your goal is to drive traffic geared to specific marketing campaigns, going viral to a consumer audience may be a viable option.

What are consumers looking for?
As a consumer myself, it’s no secret that most of us are looking to cut costs. An increasing percentage of consumers are also searching for environmentally safe solutions (Going Green). In contrast to detail oriented sites, viral websites work best with a lighter, benefits-focused design.

Going Viral Tip
Going viral follows basic networking guidelines. Referrals of any kind work best when the person on the receiving end of that link knows, likes and trusts the sender. I just recently became aware of campaigns that allow uploads of sender’s faces with those links – graphically reinforcing your message.

Measuring for Success
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Monitoring traffic driven to your site is paramount. Viral websites should drive those measurement s thru the roof.

What I mean by value add is your company’s unique blend of products and services, and how those are perceived by your prospects and clients.  You may be the absolute best at what you offer, yet aren’t growing as expected. This often happens when you don’t effectively communicate your expertise. 

Communication is key 

What’s behind your value add? If you don’t spell out everything you do, starting with your estimates and proposals – to invoices, your value add could be overlooked.  What does it take to provide your business solution? Infrastructure, research, surveys, reports, travel time, understanding the competition, proof reading, editing, revisions,  design work, interviews, phone calls, industry schooling and licensing? The list goes on and on, but are these communicated to your prospects and clients? If not, your value add will be negatively impacted.

Expertise is a business value add

Why do I pay my automotive dealer $95+/hour for labor? When I was repairing typesetters, our first hour labor rate was $180.00, and that was 25 years ago. Hair coloring and styling can run $100.00+. And these rates are invoiced and paid routinely because there’s a perception of value associated with each service.  The perception of your value can be elevated via marketing campaigns, blogs, case studies, testimonials and so on.

Web hosting value adds

Among the value adds I envision as important for a web hosting provider, infrastructure, 24×7 support and hands-on expertise rank high. Every provider, it seems, has bronze, silver and gold plans. For providers, if your value add is ecommerce, disaster recovery or managed services, how do you communicate what makes your service unique, and worth the price you advertise? If you offer collocation, how do your plans differ from your competition?  Would two 20AMP circuits per rack be a value add, or simply norm? If you offer business class shared web hosting plans, would that be a value add? Certainly, value adds are competition driven.  Do your prospects and clients know how you differ from your competition?  Telling them, or not, will impact your business.