Recently there was an SEO company that made an announcement that they would not accept clients that were affiliated with the Republicans. Overnight he went from a 5 star rating to a 1 star rating.
Every year there is a story of a company that makes a misjudges public perception and goes from 5 stars to 1 star. While this is the exception and not the rule the big takeaway is that a good reputation takes effort and time to build but losing that status can happen overnight.
Most business owners don’t understand the value of a positive review online and they believe that the old fashion word of mouth is a bigger factor than online reviews. The truth is that personal recommendations are still powerful but can be reversed if your potential customer sees a negative review, or your only review is 3 stars or lower you need help.
Don’t think that people don’t read online reviews because they do. The latest survey from Bright Local reinforces the reality that online reviews are important when it comes to word of mouth opportunities. Plus the big takeaways are this:
84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation
7 out of 10 consumers will leave a review for a business if they’re asked to
90% of consumers read less than 10 reviews before forming an opinion about a business
54% of people will visit the website after reading positive reviews
73% of consumers think that reviews older than 3 months are no longer relevant
74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more
58% of consumers say that the star rating of a business is most important
People with excellent reviews understand these principles and they pay alot of money to get reviews. If they have had a set of negative reviews in the past a smart company will set up a system to keep getting reviews, and they will also know that to remove a negative review you need to drown it with positive reviews.
With that said there are solutions available that are expensive and those that are affordable. If you know who to go to and they have a good strategy and system for the right price you can fix a bad reputation online and you can defend your company from future negative reviews.
For an affordable solution see what your reputation score is at reputationfeedback.com for free. Because just knowing your reputation score is a starting point to keep those personal recommendations and strengthen your current marketing efforts.
Did you know the FTC is taking a serious look these days at online businesses? Small businesses, like yours and mine. The fact is, they are, and you don’t want to be in the cross-hairs, and…when it comes to the FTC, unless you happen to be an Internet attorney…
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
Play along with me, take this quick quiz… Take out a pen and paper and answer a simple YES or NO for each of the following:
Are you a digital publisher?
Do you market to, or offer products or services to consumers in the US? (FYI: People who work from home are considered consumers in the eyes of the FTC)
Do you provide coaching services?
Do you have a membership site?
Do you make “free” offers on Facebook or other social media platforms?
Do you use squeeze pages or have some type of optin page somewhere?
Do you use Click Funnels, Lead Pages, or *any* of these type systems?
Do you do *any* advertising online?
Do you own a blog?
Are you a publisher?
Do you hire outsourcers?
Do you have images on your website?
If you answered yes to even ONE of these, you are potentially in real danger… No BS!
I’d like you to meet my friend and 4-time NAMS instructor, Chip Cooper, Internet Attorney.
He’s been practicing Internet Law since the beginning of the Internet, and was even an adjunct professor at Wake Forest Law School specializing in Internet Law for many, many years. He is also the attorney for, and the CEO of FTC Guardian, an online training company.
Don’t stay in the dark on this, your business and personal
assets could depend on it…
Online business owners like you and I simply can’t
afford to keep our heads in the sand on this and I
want to protect you, your business and your livelihood.
Don’t stay in the dark on this, your business and
personal assets could depend on it…
Visit his site here or click on the banner and you can be compliant for 2017
Connecting with your target market is the second step in a great marketing campaign. The first obviously is knowing your target market, and your customer avatar. In this post my goal is to talk about the four best ways to connect with your target market. In another post we can go into detail on the best ways to identify and find your customer avatar.
STORIES –
People will remember a story far longer than facts because we are emotional beings and a good story will relate more and deeper if it is told to the right audience.
There is a lot of information about how to tell a good story that you can find online. One place that keeps the process simple is theartofcharm.com. They posted an article that helped me narrow down the four areas of good storytelling here.
Inject emotion into your stories
Know your narrative
Create rapport
Practice what you preach
Putting a story together in order can mean the difference between quality or crap. A story that is in a logical sequence of events is easier to understand. So by crafting your message with a timeline or purpose (more specifically a call to action or lesson) the reaction will result in a more clear and concise result.
Examples of good narratives can be found at this website. literarydevices.net.
POSITION –
Knowing what point of view your audience has helps when you are looking for a reaction. Telling your story using the language of your audience makes a big difference. Especially when the story is short or you have a limited outlet such as just a picture or a few words to express your message.
A few years back a savy marketer named Graeme Newell revealed seven story plots that can change a brand from an impersonal pitch to a transcendent human drama. Feel free to watch this short video to get a better idea and examples of how to position better.
PURPOSE –
Stephen Covey coined the phrase “keep the end in mind” many years ago. When the result of your story is clearly defined you will be able to craft the story around the result. This is critical in marketing because it helps to set expectations subconsciously and prepare themselves to make a choice and react to your call to action.
A great example of a company that is built around defining their purpose upfront consistently is HSN. This company is pitching products 24 hours a day. If you watch the video below you can see this how they are focused on the end result of the story they are telling. There is a fine line between begging and asking. Look for this if you decide to watch the live feed below.
One of the pet peeves of marketing is seeing a local business owner with an outdated site. I don’t know why most business owners can’t get a website built that’s functional or they spend an arm and a leg getting one designed.
While we try and avoid designing websites there is a science to making a website functional at a reasonable price. The three main factors that 90% of business owners miss are 1. Be straight forward 2. Be mobile friendly 3. Be SEO friendly. With eCommerce sites the simple thing a business owners will miss is using an updated simpler system to collect money.
While our team will focus on designing landing pages for ad campaigns we get requests all the time on what the best solution for selling stuff. Based on our research and feedback Shopify is the best solution. In the past a custom solution was the best, but with all of the new security standards and requirements for receiving money using an all in one solution is the least expensive and easiest to manage.
Shopify is helps you be 1. Be straight forward 2. Be mobile friendly 3. Be SEO friendly. and for an affordable price. Now while this post is not intended to be just about endorsing Shopify. The goal is to help identify a common issue in web design that is missed by most local business owners.
To keep us on point going over a few key points of these three principles should help you if you are considering a website remodel or the key points of a landing page.
1. Be straight forward
When making a website or landing page for a local business including the About Page, Phone, Location, Services, and FAQ. Everything else is a bonus for a visitor of a page.
2. Be mobile friendly
While many local business owners have not updated their website in years and it doesn’t load right on mobile devices the problem is that 50% plus of web browsing is done through a mobile device. Also in the near future google will index all websites based on being mobile friendly. Making the change is easy depending on if you have a wordpress site or html site. Plus redesigning a new modern website isn’t as expensive as most business owners think when they shop around.
3. Be SEO friendly
From experience and testing 70% of SEO success is setting up your site the way google wants you too. There are posts that go into detail on how to do this.
For more info on improving your website download this free report from this link
Learn the 7 magic Facebook marketing tricks, finding customers will be a easier with this information. Facebook allows for very specific, highly targeted marketing… IF you know how to do it. Enjoy this FREE training on how to get more free traffic, leads and sales through Facebook marketing. Watch the video from this all star marketing expert.
This site is not a part of the Facebook website or Facebook Inc. Additionally, This site is NOT endorsed by Facebook in any way. FACEBOOK is a trademark of Facebook, Inc.
