Chris Cardell and marketing
Just had an “interesting” piece of marketing. There is a school of thought that you are more likely to open a letter if it is handwritten. I have lost count of the number of times I have handwritten envelopes and it is true – as to whether it increases response rate, well who knows?
Anyway – the letter was handwritten and inside was an article apparently torn out of a paper with a handwritten note attached.
“Saw this and thought of you. This guy is really good. J”
Now I do know a few people called J. But surely they would use their first name.
Then it dawned on me – they had used my company name with a Ltd at the end and my home address. Any friend of mine would surely have put my normal address down.
They had got the company name from Company House. Is it a scam? Probably not as you are not being asked to sign up for anything without thinking about it. Still at the same time, there is a level of deception involved by trying to make you think that a friend has recommended him.
You have to be very careful with marketing and customer relations because with the power of todays internet, your reputation can be damaged in an instant.
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Skype Customer Services and auto renewal
One of the definite downsides that many people forget about when they order services online is the autorenewal clause. Basically this means that the company will bill you automatically for the service for the next year and only tell you about afterwards (if at all). I have recently been caught out by McAffee, Fasthosts and Skype.
So I decided to see if I could do something about. Trying to find a customer service number for Skype is a bit if a nightmare. In fact you cannot find one on their website. Had a Google search. No joy.
Eventually I found this link for the Customer Services and a live chat agent. The person on the end of the live chat was very helpful and refunded me the money. It should not have taken me over half an hour to find the link but there you go. Live chat is also available on this link.
This episode goes to show several things about websites and E-Commerce. Customer service is paramount – make it easy for customers to contact you and don’t try to take their money without your consent. It only leads to poor customer relations.
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Using Facebook in your business
No doubt many of you will have used (or had children who use) Facebook. It’s a great way of communicating between people. However you can also use it for business as well. You can set up a Facebook group for your business as we have done.Then you can get clients to become friends and keep them updated of developments in your business.
Anything of interest in your business can go up straight away and instantly informs your clients. This can then be forwarded to other people.
Facebook also offers Facebook ads – simply put adverts appear on Facebook pages which are relevant people to your business e.g. 20 – 40 year old engaged people in York. By targeting such a key group, you can generate a lot of sales for yourself.
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How to market your business
Marketing, marketing. It’s what it’s all about. How do you get your site on the front page of Google? York Web Design has plenty of experience in marketing websites and has achieved considerable success in optimising for success in Google.
So what are some of the tips to get your site higher in the rankings?
Keywords
Your site must have enough keywords in the main text. The words must be relevant to your business. However you must be careful to not overdo it – otherwise you could be accused of having a spammy website and get banned by Google.
Links
The more people that link to you the better. Links have to be good links from relevant websites. York Web Design helps by advising you on using sites such as Facebook and Twitter which helps you get more inbound links. We offer a service in search engine optimisation and link building.
Develop a network
There are plenty of ways of building an online network. Facebook is one way as are blogs. A blog is a great way of interacting with customers as you can inform them of new features of your business and any other offers. You can also tell them of new developments in your area.
There are plenty more ways of marketing your site. More will follow in later blogs.
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The York Hub
Need a place to conduct business. Don’t want to have meetings in your own home or maybe you would prefer a hot desk where you can do some work in a quiet atmosphere.
The York Hub is a new concept in offices. It is an office space in the centre of York where you can rent out office space by the day or hour. There is access to meeting space and internet / faxes etc. Plus they even offer a virtual answering service which many self employed people could take advantage of because they are often out and about.
York Web Design aims to promote great ideas for self employed enterpreneurs and small businesses in York. Later on in this series we will be looking at marketing in York, advertising services and other useful business tips.
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Getting your site on Google
How do you get your site on the front page of Google? That is the all important question people want to know. At York Web Design we can help and advise on how to get your website on the front page.
Google works on a range of factors. Text is really important – you have to make sure that you mention the words that are relevant to your business. But don’t go over the top. Links are also necessary – especially those that link to your site. Go to blogs and add comments – put a link into your site from them. Have your own blog and keep it updated.
York Web Design can also provide a service which links your website to others. The more people know about your site the better. We can also advice on local advertising services such as Local Link and the Press. It is essential that you know where your visitors are coming from and we provide a service which lets you monitor how people are finding your site.
A website is an essential business tool – and understanding how people find your site is vital if your site is to succeed.
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