I was talking to Mirriam of Solas Web Design today (yes talking, on a phone, can you imagine?) and the conversation turned to blogging and who blogs really reach out to.

Mostly it’s peers.

While many blogs are for solution providers (web design, SEO, etc.) they talk to their peers instead of their customers. This is something I’ve noticed here at 14thC. It is my natural inclination to do that because this site started out as a resource for me that I intended to share with my peers. But over the last several months I’ve been shifting it to clients.

Writing for your peers is not a bad thing even if they aren’t your target market. Benefits of writing for your peers include developing an industry reputation, greater likelihood of getting relevant backlinks, and displaying yourself as a professional within the industry to your readers - even the clients.

By developing an industry reputation you may find a niche that you excel in that may get you some referrals or partnership opportunities. For example, Bill Slowski of SEO by the Sea is known for research into search engine patents. This can be very valuable depending on the campaign you are running. Solas Web Design makes beautiful ecommerce sites.

Now I know who to call if I need help with those things.

But should your blog really target your peers? Often there is a lot of jargon that may turn potential prospects away. And from an SEO point of view, jargon is not likely to be the KWs used by your market. It helps to define your terms but that doesn’t get the customers to the site, just educates them once they are there.

So I was thinking about methods to locate your customers online. There are some general tactics that are something of a “broad strokes” way to go like social bookmarking. Getting Dugg will get the word out about you but it will mostly miss the people that actually want your services. Press releases are another “broad” tactic though it can be narrowed down a bit depending on your distributor.

Online advertising through PPC programs like Adsense and link purchasing can help. The links are presumably put on relevant sites but by my observations these systems still have a long way to go. Of course you can do your own link building.

A better metthod might be looking for communities where your customers gather. Blogs and forums are great places for people to get together under a common purpose and share tips, ideas and even links. Try this query for a way to locate these sites. Just swap out the product mentioned (bigscreen tv) for your own product or service. Also, check your logs to see if anyone has linked to you in a post. Once you do find a “hub” of your customers be sure to follow these tips for making friends online.

Of course the best way to discover your customers is by having them discover you! This is where search engine optimization comes in but that can only be effective by writing to your customers.

Posted in Customer Service, Promotion, Marketing

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I’ve covered a lot of ground in a very short period of time. This time last month I didn’t even know how to use WordPress (though I had used other blog solutions) and now there are dozens of posts - some of which are actually useful!

Here are the “top 10″ posts from me so far…

1. What is wrong with sales?
2. 5 questions that will save your business thousands of dollars
3. The ungolden rule: customer relations
4. 10 ways to promote trust with your viewers
5. Listening to negative feedback
6. Marketing online: tips for making friends
7. What is search engine optimization?
8. On web site usability
9. Case for accesibility: Target
10. Keyword cause and effect

I’d also like to give a nod to Liam & Mirriam of Solas Web Design who have also contributed to this blog with:

• Are your fingers still doing the walking?
• Waaaay Cool SEO Tool from Jim Boykin

Posted in Customer Service, Useability, Promotion, Marketing, Web Design

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I just got an email from a client who writes:

Hiya Rand

I just got a call from a client I had 10 years ago … she found my website when she googled my name!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Now this particular time I didn’t really have to do much to make that happen but one of the main goals of SEO is to make sure you come up first for your own name. Part of marketing is “Place” and if you aren’t where your customers are looking you may be in trouble!

Plus I like to spread good news! :)

Posted in Customer Service, Reviews, SEO

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I don’t want this blog to seem negative but I noticed I have slammed some big companies lately for poor customer service. Like this one about Google and this one about Taco Bell and MetroPCS.

I like these companies! I continue to do business with all of them. But I think real-world examples of the big guys dropping the ball can illuminate how the rest of us can do better with our own businesses.

And today I read a great article called Screaming users considered good by Dan Russell of Creating Passionate Users. In it, Dan tells of a time when he was given some very harsh criticism.

She told me that my software, my baby, the thing I’d been working on for the past 2 years was “..the most white male fascist tool I’ve ever had the misfortune to use…”

Sometimes we don’t see negative reviews coming. But we should be grateful for them when they occur.

Negative feedback teaches us how to grow and improve. Negative feedback from your customers is especially important as they are telling you exactly what they want from you so that they will be satisfied.

Some tips for accepting criticism:

• Be open-minded
• Listen
• Don’t respond until they are done talking
• Don’t take it personal
• Give the person talking your full attention
• Don’t apply value-judgments to what they are saying until you have time to think about it
• Be gracious and grateful
• Take it seriously

Your customers don’t have to take the time to let you know where you are slipping. And if you don’t fix the problem eventually your competition will.

Posted in Customer Service, Marketing

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My buddy Ben aka Sktitzzo of SEO Refugee ran into a problem where Google banned his Adsense account. Ben was understandably upset and jumped through Google’s hoops to figure out what happened, how to solve it and get reinstated. The problem was Google just didn’t care.

Google sent an automated email that claimed there was click fraud on the account. At the end of the email was a link for an appeal. Ben clicked the link and made the appeal only to get another automated email stating there was definitely click fraud, that Google would be keeping any money earned on the account and that Ben was pretty much SOL. Repeated attempts to contact Google after this have failed.

As mentioned Ben is a friend of mine. I also know his father. They are both decent and honorable people and click fraud just isn’t in Ben’s character. So how did this happen?

Ben looked into it and he came up with Get ANY Adsense Account Banned. It is so ridiculously easy I can’t believe it hasn’t been a bigger issue up to now.

The problem with the Google Adsense program is that your publisher ID is public just sitting in the source code for anyone to pick up. Then they can use that ID on sites they control and do fraudulent things. Or if that is too much work, just use a proxy and continuously click the ads. Either way, the account gets banned and Google doesn’t offer any help or real recourse to get things straitened out.

Poor customer service is the culprit. Google has not been forthcoming about where or how the fraud occurred and this is not an isolated incident. Google’s policy of “guilty” without recourse is reprehensible. A little transparency would go a long way. At this point a little dialogue would go a long way!

Posted in PPC, Customer Service, SEO

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