Web Content and Social Networking Experts

When you emphase quantity, not quality, your content and social networking campaign lose.

Social networking, like good writing, takes time. time to do it right. And time to get known and followed by your audience. Your content, whether it's words, videos, pictures, must be worth of the time your audience will spend viewing or reading it.

Time

Time is what good writing, and good social networking is all about because the time people will spend with your content means everything. You see, the content in your social networking campaign must compete for people's time. They won't waste one second of it if you don't provide real meaningful value.

Value

Value is not something we can quantify exactly because it is different things to different people and to different needs. Ask what your audience wants and give it to them. Let them tell you what they want. They are telling you what your value is to them. Listen to their needs, be guided by their wants. Provide what they want and need. And don't rush it. you will be using social networking, online and offline, forever. so, there is ho hurry. Just get started and keep going. You won't be sorry.

Copywriter's bible. We all sell something. Whether you write for the Web, for print, or for anything else, read this.

Copywriting marries the technical, aesthetic to motivate someone to do something. Copywriting is not easy, takes as much time as it takes, and when done well is literally worth its weight in gold because if it's not, well, there is no gold.

Here are some ways to make your copywriting better. There are lots of others, of course. Questions are more engaging than statements because people do not like unanswered questions. Also, is is far more powerful and effective when the reader answers the question than when you tell the answer.

Focus on results, not process. Benefits, not features.

1. Tell stories, not concepts
2. Stay in touch with your clients with newsletters, eZines, and invitations to presentations to keep information flowing.
3. Tell people what they will get, not what you do.
4. Talk about the client, not about yourself
5. Do not talk about we do this, we do that, we, we, we. This, marketing consultant Mac McIntosh describes it as "we-we-weing all over yourself.")
6. WIIFM - What's In It for Me? Answer this simple question or you and your copy are toast.
7. Be a solution, a resource to your clients.

Words to use

• yes
• love
• hate (you will hate yourself for .....)
• How much (would you like to one, be, have ... )
• How would you (solve this problem)
• This (is the way)
• Only
• Sale, 2 for 1, 50% off
• FREE is the most powerful word in any language,

Five words never to use

1. Buy. Use, claim or invest.
2. Learn. Use, discover.
3. Tell. Use, reveal.
4. Things. Use, tips, tricks, and techniques
5. Stuff. Use, insider secrets.

Need a job? Looking for work? Help is as close as a can of soup.

You never thought that a can of soup was like a resume and cover letter? Can't imagine why.

Take a look at most any soup can. Campbell's soup comes to mind. On the can's label you will find two things.

1. What soup is in the can, (let's call that your resume)
2. A recipe (think of that as your cover letter) showing you how to use what's in the can.

When you apply for a job never send only a resume. It does the reader little good to see your skills and background without knowing what you can do for the company. your resume and cover letter have a job to do; to get you hired.

Your resume's job is to show your skills, background, expertise, accomplishments, education. To show the reader what you've got to offer.

Your cover letter shows the reader what you can do for the company. Don't force the reader to figure out what you can do for the company. no one knows this but you.

• Your resume; no more than two pages.
• Cover letter short and to the point.
• Make a folder on your computer and keep your resume and cover letter there in text format, Word, and PDF format.
• Without informing the reader of what you can do for that particular company, throws your future to the wind because it forces the reader to determine where you fit in.

               

Sign your blog posts with a signature block. Here's how.

A signature block solves a lot of problems.

1. Is is prewritten and spell checked
2. You don't inadvertently leave out important material
3. It is quick and simple to use

What's in your signature block?

Your name, company, contact information, blog address, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn accounts and your Web address. Don't hesitate to include a few words about what you can do for the reader. something like this:

Here's one that I wrote

Wayne English is a Web content and social networking expert, published author and writer. He is the founder and president of Web Content Rx. His first book Web Content Rx is a Top 5 Business Title in Leadership Books at The Washington Post. Wayne teaches and presents seminars on social networking, writing for the Web, and on how to find a job using social networking and Web search. Download his Nine Steps to Social Networking Success.

Web: WebContentRx.biz
E-mail: info@WebContentRx.biz
Blog: blog.WebContentRx.biz                  

Notes:

• Write out your full e-mail address so it can be copied and pasted into Web mail like Gmail, HotMail, and others.
• Indent your work. Studies show that indented text has a better chance of being read.
• Test and verify that all links work as advertised.

Do you have two markets with different needs? No? Are you sure?

Institute of Technology & Business Development at Central Connecticut State University in downtown New Britain, Connecticut. They had a panel discussion that I was fortunate to be a part of. It was a wonderful experience that I enjoyed very much.

Marketing is an interesting thing and sometimes we can get side tracked into thinking we are marketing our goods to the right people when we aren't. Who do you market to when your product is used by one person by paid for by another? This situation occurs in education, elder care, child care and in other industries as well.

Students need to know about academics, occupational outlook, dormitories, food, and the college experience. Do not neglect that. Kids at top schools speak of 'the - fill in school name - experience."

Yes, they do. They actually talk like that. They know what an opportunity that have before them and enjoy every minute of it. Smart people get that. Yse it to your advantage. Sell the experience. Appeal to the emotions, and the dollars will follow.

Students also want social life, not to be confused with social networking. Parents want a safe place that will prepare their child for success in the world. Mom and dad want a real investment for their money. The education, contacts, job prospects, availability of internships, job market are all important sign posts on the road to somebody's check book.

So, we ask you, who are you marketing to? High school seniors go to college, but mom and dad are the ones likely paying the bill. Private high schools are in the same boat. How about elder care? The consumer of those services is very likely not the one who is paying for those services. There's a message there.

We ask because you have two markets, not one. Market to both groups because the consumer of the product has different needs from who is paying the bill.

Hour homework

Find out what your market, or markets, want. Address their needs with superb content, videos, testimonials from esistin and past clients. Video testimonials are powerful statements when done right.

Social networking offers you an unparralled opportunity to create an around-the-clock marketing machine. Use it to inform your future clients and make them your current clients. Use your current clients to attract future clients. See how this works?

Want a hand?

Down load our Nine Steps to Social Networking Success.

               

 

You're out of you mind. You're crazy. Have you heard that? I hope so.

If there is any one statement that tells you that you are on the right path. that's it. Don't like those words? How's this? You're crazy. Like that better? Means the same thing. You are on the right path. You are creative. You are going where you friends and family have not gone before.

Not going anywhere different? Then you are buying something. In my case it was a camera system. A Hasselblad. Expensive. Very expensive. Very good. One of the best in the world. NASA flies Blas on the shuttle, or they did when there was a shuttle.

When you hear people tell you that you're crazy, smile. You're on the right track. Keep going,

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM with Jeffery Sherman.

Writers use the word correlate all the time, but sometimes, it just doesn't correlate.

 

The definition of correlate at Dictionary.com states: to place in or bring into mutual or reciprocal relation; establish in orderly connection: to correlate expenses and income.

Correlation means that things are related positively (mutual), negatively (reciprocal), or not at all. Writers use the word, correlates, to mean a positive relationship. Meaning that when one thing doing this, it causes the other thing to do that. Using the word "correlates" this way is sort of right. So, it's also sort of wrong.

Why? Well because all things correlate. Correlation is expressed in numbers from minus one (-1) to plus one (+1). That number is a measure of how just related those particular things are.

A Correlation of Minus One (-1)

A correlation of minus one (-1) means that the relationship is reciprocal. If you compare two things X and Y. When X goes up, Y goes down. They move in opposite directions, a reciprocal relationship.

A Correlation of Plus One (+1)

A correlation of (+1) means the correlation is directly related. Here's an example. Let's say that we have two things. We'll call them A and B. When A goes up, B goes up. That's a correlation of (+1) because when A moves B moves in the exact same way.

A Correlation of Zero (0)

Now, consider two other things, totally different from the examples above. Let's use a boat and a teaspoon. When the boat is tied to a dock. The spoon is in ice cream. Correlation is zero. They have absolutely no relationship between them because what the boat does does not affect the spoon and vice versa.

See for Yourself

Correlation = (-1)

Correlation = (0)

Correlation = (+1)

Here are three graphics for you. They are from the Neag School of Education at UCONN on the Follow this link for an interactive Correlation Coefficient graph. At the destination of the link you will see an interactive graph where you can change the correlation coefficient. The three graphics you see here are from that link. There, you can watch the data reorient itself as you change the correlation coefficient. Wow, is that cool or what? From a geek perspective, of course.

This link opens in a new window, so you can keep this post and the graphic on your desktop at the same time. Now, use your mouse to change the correlation number.

• As the correlation number changes the data (the dots) becomes more and more related.
• At (-1) the data runs from upper left to lower right, "downhill."
• At a correlation of zero, the data are scattered. There is no relationship.
• At (+1) the data runs from lower left to upper right, "uphill."

So, when you say that this correlates to that, what are you saying? Not much.

The only correlation that really maters to us writers is the correlation between our words and the understanding of your readers. When that correlation is (+1), you're golden. Yes you are. Factoring in your check book doesn't hurt either.

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM with Jeffery Sherman.

Site search and SEO. Having you own site search capability will do you a lot of good. Here's one we've used for years.

One of the things you can do to make your Web site easier to get around is to provide you own site search capability. Here is a link to a site search engine that we've used for years. So, yes, it's a little old. For newer products Google free web site search.

What we like

This search engine is easy to install. You can update it whenever you wish.

The advantage of using site search capability that is not a major search engine is that you can update it whenever you want to. When you use Google, or another search engine, new material can not appear in a search until the search engine rescanns your Web site. Until, you get rescanned, Web updates can not appear in a search. so, if you updates need to be found after they are made, we suggest having your own search capability.

Site Search capabiity with Fluid Dynamics Software Corporation.

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM with Jeffery Sherman.

The two most important questions in the business world.

1. What are your goals?
2. What are your problems?

Ask the equestions. Learn what the client needs and then help the client. There is no better to find out what the client needs than to ask. Then shut up and listen.

Don't sell, but provide needed services.

That's it. That's all. Do that and you're golden, busy, booked solid. Don't and you're not. what could be simpler?

View our videos at YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM with Jeffery Sherman.

Cheap marketing tricks. And we mean cheap.

The only thing better than marketing is saving money. What say we combine our two favorite things and do some cheap marketing. For this you will use the online world and the offline world. Not much of a surprise there. Here are some things you can do on the cheap.

• Invite your customers over for a free lecture, or a lecture series, at your place of business. Talk about something interesting to them.
• Write and send a press release about the meeting you're having. Send it to every paper within a 50 mile radius. If you do business nationally send it country wide. If you are have national or international clients, do a Webinar series, and look into Web TV, or an Internet Internet radio show. Please don't get all jammed up in the details. The thrust here is to provide a service to your customers that they can take part in.
• Run a contest. Give away something like an iPad, a tablet computer, or other prize of acknowledged value.
• Partner with another company that has complementary products. Think ice cream and the ice cream cone. Those products made money for each inventor and everyone else in the chain of events from manufacturing to sales.
• Write a social networking policy for you employees that tells them what they can do on company time. Do not tell people what they can't do. Smart management takes advantage of all that free training and knowledge. You do that too. Let your people Tweet, Facebook, and blog your products. They know the online world and your products and services. A perfect combination. Think ice cream and cones. Don't waste it the opportunity.
• Have a party. Don't wait for the holidays, but don't neglect them either. Businesses in trouble have used a party to garner enough work to keep them afloat. Have the party at your place of business. It works. Invite us, we love parties.
• Use Cause Marketing. That means you get together with a cause you believe in and work together for each others mutual goals. You now have a joint advertising partner. Each of you now have access to each others customers, contacts, online and offline marketing, and advertising activities. Look around. Pick a cause you believe in. Help each other and work together.
• Give free lectures, programs, seminars at your local library. Speak at networking events, Chambers of Commerce, The Better Business Bureau. This is an excellent way to meet people and make business contacts. We know this from personal experience. Very, very effective.
• Establish yourself an expert in your field by speaking, publishing articles in newspapers, magazines, blogs, and e-zines. Write and give away handouts at all your public appearances. And please, please use both sides of the paper because that wasted space could be marketing for you, selling for you. We do this, in face on November 10, I'm on a panel discussion at Central Connect State University in their Institute of Technology & Business Development. Please attend and say, "Hello."
• Promote community involvement by your employees.
• Promote high quality presentation skills buy joining Toastmasters. Also, attend networking events to keep your 30 second speech sharp.
• Speak at major business events near you. This pays vast dividends as you are seen by thousands of people from hundreds or thousands of businesses. We do this too. In June 2011 I was on a panel discussion at the CT Business Expo in Hartford, Connecticut.
• Put videos on YouTube. As you can see below, we do that too.

View our videos at YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM with Jeffery Sherman.

 

E-mail marketing is copywriting, Web content, and lucrative. Here's how to get it right.

A few things to consider

1. Keep your e-mail subject line short and sweet. Forty characters is plenty. Make it interesting, provocative, use those 40 characters well because they will be largely responsible for your success, or failure.
2. Write to, and for, your specific audience. For more on how to do this see chapter 3 in Web Content Rx. A Quick and Handy Guide for Writers, eBayers, and Business People.
3. Write in a light and upbeat manner that highlights the benefits of ownership. Do not try to sell your products with a listing of their specifications. Let the emotional side of the reader convince the logical side.
4. Write as though the reader has already bought the item.
5. Be sure to tell the reader where your product can be purchased. Best is to include a link that takes the reader to a Web site where your product can be bought and paid for right then and there.
6. If you use a statistic(s) tell the reader what it means in relation to your product and why it is significant. Never use a statistic(s) without telling the reader what it means to them. Do not allow the reader to draw a conclusion. You must tell the reader what you want him or her to know.
7. If you use photographs, be sure that they are critically focused and that your product dominates the picture. Always include a caption, so that the reader knows what the photograph represents and why it's there. Much more on this in Chapter 11, Web Content Rx.
8. Before you send a zillion emails contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and verify that your account can handle the number of e-mails you will be placing on it. Should you find that your ISP can not handle the traffic, look for a service that caters to your needs. There are many to choose from, or , or you can send your e-mail in groups that your ISP can handle.

Good luck.

Facebook is building a server farm in the arctic. Why? It's cold up there.

Facebook's first server farm to be outside the United States may be on the arctic circle to take advantage of the temperature. In the town of Lulea, in northern Sweden a serber farm that will use more power than a town of 50,000 people. Some power will come from sustainable resources on the Lulea river, which makes more power than the Hoover Dam. That's a lot of power, believe me.

Believe it or not, locating server farms near, or in, the arctic is an ongoling trend. Microsoft was rumored to be looking into a server farm in Siberia, but nothing came of it. however, Google began a server farm in Finland in 2009.

Is the future of server farms to be the arctic? Look's like it.

The two most important questions in the business world. And the ultimate follow up.

Ask your clients

"What are your goals?"

"What are your problems?"

And your ultimate follow up? "How can I contribute to your success?"

The client's reply?

"Wow, are you tuned in?"

"This guy/he/she get's it?"

Yes you do "get it" and the client knows it because you are smart enough to ask what their problems are. Then you be quiet and listen. Not many people do that. Do you?

Want more clients? Want more customers? To sell more products and services? Book more time? Grow your business?

Of course you do. We all want that. Heed those questions, and get them answered and you will be known as someone who is "tuned it" to the client's needs.

That's it. That's all. Do that and you're golden, busy, booked solid. Don't and you're not. What could be simpler?

View our videos at YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM with Jeffery Sherman.

An easy way to monitor all of your social networking sites using only your browser.

This is a simple technique that you can use to keep an eye on your social networking sites, news sites, a blog, or anything else running on the Web.

Please bear that in mind that this is not a substitute for tools that watch the net. It is not. This is a quick and simple way to keep all of your accounts active and ready for instant use.

Let's say that you have accounts at Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, a blog, and like to keep CNN active. These sites are only examples, this works for anything running on the Web that is browser accessible.  

1. Open your favorite browser and then open any of your accounts. Let's say that you open Twitter.
2. Now, open another tab in the browser. In ID8 click File then New Tab, or hold down the Control key and press the T key. This will open another Tab.
3. In the Tab you just opened log into another account, let's say LinkedIn.
4. Open a third Tab, and log into Facebook.
5. If you like CNN, you can open another Tab and open CNN there.
6. If you use a blog, open another Tab and bring up your blog.

Now, this will work fine. However, depending on your browser and the sites you have open you may find that after a week or two things get a little crazy. If that happens, simply close the tags giving you trouble and log back into that account. It's just that your cookies, the files that keep track of stuff in the background. They need to be refreshed.

To do your Internet realted tasks, you may want to open a new browser window. There you can surf, search, and play to your heart's content without disturbing the window with your social sites in it. Or, you can just doo all of that in anothe Tab. Up to you.

View our videos at YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM with Jeffery Sherman.

Social Gaming is the second most popular activity behind social networking. What that, and 200 million dollars, means to you.

 

Well, because it shows, in real dollars, that people playing online games is real. Don't hesitate to use a game in your social networking mix because the interest is there.

Here is a quote by Scott Sinclair of Capgemini Consulting. “One of the things that social gaming allows marketers to create is an experience around the brand which is inherently more memorable than simply showing an advert or popping something up on Google AdWords,” he explains. “To actually interact and involve the brand with an experience is almost the ultimate when it comes to marketing.”

To use a game to help power your brand to success makes good sense. Do not confuse this with gambling, what has become known as gaming because it does not sound as bad. No, this is playing a game on a social networking site. Very definitely not to be confused with an online casino.

Read the entire article, How to make social gaming a marketing success.

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM with Jeffery Sherman.

Steve Jobs will be missed.

Steve Jobs was a inventor, thinker, innovator, and true visionary. While his technical and business acumen were superb, perhaps his greatest skill was the  extraordinary ability to bring superb products to market.

Steve will be missed by family, friends, and by many who never even met him. We send our condolences to Steve's family and dear friends who saw him through the illness that took his life.

That's nice, but it's not what I want.

Sure, your content is well written. It's all about what's hot? So, why aren't people reading it?

It's not what your readers want.

Stop writing, start talking. Start finding out what people want, and give it to them.

That's nice, but it's not what I want.

Sure, your content is well written. It's all about what's hot? So, why aren't people reading it?

It's not what your readers want.

Stop writing, start talking. Start finding out what people want, and give it to them.

The quality of your content, your business, your job, your way of life depends on the questions you ask because questions are more powerful than answers.

Questions more powerful than answers? Yes, because if you ask the wrong questions, you have no chance of solving anything, of getting anywhere. That holds true for your Web content, your business, career, your life.

How questions affect your content.

1. Asking questions drives you relentlessly to the knowledge of what your customers want to know and how they want to know it. Is a newsletter best? Video? A blog? You will never know if you don't ask.
2. Questions drive your content to a minimum. You relentlessly burn away the fluff leaving only high quality, pertinent, targeted, content of known viability.
3. You become certain, confident, that the content you create is meaningful. You literally migrate to providing superior service to your customers, employees, contractors, venders. That is the ultimate goal, and the ultimate attractor, for your content.
4. Your content will walk the walk. Talk the talk. It will be dialed in to the world in which your customers live. You will be seen as the expert you are because you display confidence and vast expertise. If that's not the best thing you can do for your business and for your career, let us know what is.

That is the destination of your social networking campaign. On that, I'd say, we all agree.

 

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM with Jeffery Sherman.

The quality of your content, your business, your job, your way of life depends on the questions you ask because questions are more powerful than answers.

Questions more powerful than answers? Yes, because if you ask the wrong questions, you have no chance of solving anything, of getting anywhere. That holds true for your Web content, your business, career, your life.

How questions affect your content.

1. Asking questions drives you relentlessly to the knowledge of what your customers want to know and how they want to know it. Is a newsletter best? Video? A blog? You will never know if you don't ask.
2. Questions drive your content to a minimum. You relentlessly burn away the fluff leaving only high quality, pertinent, targeted, content of known viability.
3. You become certain, confident, that the content you create is meaningful. You literally migrate to providing superior service to your customers, employees, contractors, venders. That is the ultimate goal, and the ultimate attractor, for your content.
4. Your content will walk the walk. Talk the talk. It will be dialed in to the world in which your customers live. You will be seen as the expert you are because you display confidence and vast expertise. If that's not the best thing you can do for your business and for your career, let us know what is.

That is the destination of your social networking campaign. On that, I'd say, we all agree.

 

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM with Jeffery Sherman.

The knowledge economy requires education, insight, and smarts. Want to get employed and stay that way? Stay educated and offer your clients insight.

The world is now a knowledge economy. Does your content, your products, your company reflect that reality?

Do you offer outlier perspective to your clients? That's a view from afar. From there, you can see what those too close to the situation can't see.

To date, I've helped two businesses. One a car dealer and the other a surveyor. Great fun. I developed a new product for the car dealer, and showed the surveyor how to successfully compete with lower cost estimates from his competitors.

The name of the game is this: what can you show, teach, or present to your clients quickly? Answer that question and your customers will love you.

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us the radio most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., with Jeffery Sherman, WESU 88.1 FM.

The knowledge economy requires education, insight, and smarts. Want to get employed and stay that way? Stay educated and offer your clients insight.

The world is now a knowledge economy. Does your content, your products, your company reflect that reality?

Do you offer outlier perspective to your clients? That's a view from afar. From there, you can see what those too close to the situation can't see.

To date, I've helped two businesses. One a car dealer and the other a surveyor. Great fun. I developed a new product for the car dealer, and showed the surveyor how to successfully compete with lower cost estimates from his competitors.

The name of the game is this: what can you show, teach, or present to your clients quickly? Answer that question and your customers will love you.

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us the radio most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., with Jeffery Sherman, WESU 88.1 FM.

What's your job? Is it providing value, saving your clients money? If not, you're in the wrong business.

Today it's all about diversity of thought, opinion, experience, and expertise. It is very much about providing wide ranging and erudite comments, knowledge, and opinion, on diverse topics. Like what?

1. to get a reputation as a problem solver
2. to leave your client knowing that having you on the payroll pays far more than what you cost.

Today it's all about diversity of thought, opinion, experience, and expertise. It is very much about providing wide ranging and erudite comments, knowledge, and opinion, on diverse topics. Like what?

• One of our clients, a land surveyor, was losing clients to lower bids. He did a lot more and his price reflected that. So, what's the problem? His competition did less and charged less. Solution: a two tier price in his proposals. Lower bid to compete with the lower priced competition, and a full service price as well. He liked that, a lot.
• A car dealer. We created a new product for him. What we called, The Student Buy Back Program. Our dealer is located near The University of Connecticut, at Storrs, and Eastern Connecticut State University. With this product, he would sell cars to students and then, when the cars are no longer needed, he buys them back. It worked.

Don't draw lines in the sand. Never say we don't do that. When your clients need a hand, give them good advise. If you don't have the expertise, make inquiries, pickup the phone, send some e-mails and provide leads. You have a wide range of business contacts and acquaintances. Use them to everyone's advantage. Your included.

Be helpful, be an asset that your clients can trust, someone they can discuss problems and opportunities with because you display good sense and intelligence. You'll won't be sorry.

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us the radio most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., with Jeff Sherman, WESU 88.1 FM.

What's your job? Is it providing value, saving your clients money? If not, you're in the wrong business.

Today it's all about diversity of thought, opinion, experience, and expertise. It is very much about providing wide ranging and erudite comments, knowledge, and opinion, on diverse topics. Like what?

1. to get a reputation as a problem solver
2. to leave your client knowing that having you on the payroll pays far more than what you cost.

Today it's all about diversity of thought, opinion, experience, and expertise. It is very much about providing wide ranging and erudite comments, knowledge, and opinion, on diverse topics. Like what?

• One of our clients, a land surveyor, was losing clients to lower bids. He did a lot more and his price reflected that. So, what's the problem? His competition did less and charged less. Solution: a two tier price in his proposals. Lower bid to compete with the lower priced competition, and a full service price as well. He liked that, a lot.
• A car dealer. We created a new product for him. What we called, The Student Buy Back Program. Our dealer is located near The University of Connecticut, at Storrs, and Eastern Connecticut State University. With this product, he would sell cars to students and then, when the cars are no longer needed, he buys them back. It worked.

Don't draw lines in the sand. Never say we don't do that. When your clients need a hand, give them good advise. If you don't have the expertise, make inquiries, pickup the phone, send some e-mails and provide leads. You have a wide range of business contacts and acquaintances. Use them to everyone's advantage. Your included.

Be helpful, be an asset that your clients can trust, someone they can discuss problems and opportunities with because you display good sense and intelligence. You'll won't be sorry.

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ Listen to us the radio most Friday's on The Business Buzz, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., with Jeff Sherman, WESU 88.1 FM.

Negative comments are the dark side of customer feedback. Use them to your advantage. Here's how.

It finally happened. Someone has put a negative comment online about you or your company. If the comment is justified admit it. There is nothing wrong with making a mistake. Admitting it makes you stronger. Trying to cover it up or gloss it over is a big mistake.

Do not ignore this sort of thing. Take these comments on and respond to them. Keep in mind that you are writing for the reader who is only aware of the complaint. Do not write for the complainer. Write to the uninformed third party. That's important because those are the people you want to be informed by your side of this situation.

Certainly consider the complainer, but you must consider your employees, investors, and everyone who sells your products. They people need the ammunition you will provide to deal with the negative comment(s) that will be coming their way. Provide them with the facts necessary to deal with your competition's comments, and those of their customers.

Now, you can see why these comments cannot be ignored. As the man said, "There's a lot of hair on that dog." He was right.

What to do

Have your response approved, or better yet written, by senior management. Do not farm this out to a low level employee or to a paid blogger. This must be written by and approved by management.

Be sure that the response is well written, and addresses the negative comment specifically. Do not, ever, write in a snide, insulting, derogatory, or in a corporate-speak tone of voice.

You must keep the sympathy of the reader. Not the complainer, but the reader of your response. Remember, the reader does not know the situation. Writing as though the response comes from a caring person is mandatory. Companies don't care (they can't they are not human), but people do. Be sure your response cares, or you will end up looking even worse than you do already.

Some things to keep in mind.

1. Always keep the sympathy of the reader.
2. Edit ruthlessly. A typo will make the company look inept. People will forever say, "Did you see their response? Shows how much they care. They can't even spell." And they will be right. Your competition will love it. You won't.
3. Write your response in easy to understood language using simple words, short sentences, and short paragraphs. Write with a minimum of punctuation and without jargon. I know you're smart. I get that. What you need to get is that smart people write so that their message is clear. Show the world how smart you are.
4. Don't make excuses. It is what it is.
5. The reader does not know the situation, only the complaint. So, explain it. The short version, please.
6. Tell the reader, specifically, what you did to address the situation.
7. Stick to the facts. When unfairly maligned, or the victim of an outright lie, explain that dispassionately.
8. If the comment is not justified because the complainer is simply unreasonable and refused everything you did to satisfy him or her. Well then, all you need do is show the reader, not the complainer, what you did to satisfy the complainer. Let what you did, the actions you took, show the reader that it is the complainer who is being unreasonable, not you.
9. One last thing do not e-mail anything to anyone regarding this situation that you do not want to see published in the public domain. Should an e-mail accidentally get out of the company the damage will result in more to explain. Worse, you will now have to explain you very own words. Carve these words on rock, "Don't send anything that I don't want to see in headlines." Whenever you are tempted to violate those 11 words, hit yourself in the head with the rock.

To watch the net for comments, Google Alerts is a good choice.

Negative comments are the dark side of customer feedback. Use them to your advantage. Here's how.

It finally happened. Someone has put a negative comment online about you or your company. If the comment is justified admit it. There is nothing wrong with making a mistake. Admitting it makes you stronger. Trying to cover it up or gloss it over is a big mistake.

Do not ignore this sort of thing. Take these comments on and respond to them. Keep in mind that you are writing for the reader who is only aware of the complaint. Do not write for the complainer. Write to the uninformed third party. That's important because those are the people you want to be informed by your side of this situation.

Certainly consider the complainer, but you must consider your employees, investors, and everyone who sells your products. They people need the ammunition you will provide to deal with the negative comment(s) that will be coming their way. Provide them with the facts necessary to deal with your competition's comments, and those of their customers.

Now, you can see why these comments cannot be ignored. As the man said, "There's a lot of hair on that dog." He was right.

What to do

Have your response approved, or better yet written, by senior management. Do not farm this out to a low level employee or to a paid blogger. This must be written by and approved by management.

Be sure that the response is well written, and addresses the negative comment specifically. Do not, ever, write in a snide, insulting, derogatory, or in a corporate-speak tone of voice.

You must keep the sympathy of the reader. Not the complainer, but the reader of your response. Remember, the reader does not know the situation. Writing as though the response comes from a caring person is mandatory. Companies don't care (they can't they are not human), but people do. Be sure your response cares, or you will end up looking even worse than you do already.

Some things to keep in mind.

1. Always keep the sympathy of the reader.
2. Edit ruthlessly. A typo will make the company look inept. People will forever say, "Did you see their response? Shows how much they care. They can't even spell." And they will be right. Your competition will love it. You won't.
3. Write your response in easy to understood language using simple words, short sentences, and short paragraphs. Write with a minimum of punctuation and without jargon. I know you're smart. I get that. What you need to get is that smart people write so that their message is clear. Show the world how smart you are.
4. Don't make excuses. It is what it is.
5. The reader does not know the situation, only the complaint. So, explain it. The short version, please.
6. Tell the reader, specifically, what you did to address the situation.
7. Stick to the facts. When unfairly maligned, or the victim of an outright lie, explain that dispassionately.
8. If the comment is not justified because the complainer is simply unreasonable and refused everything you did to satisfy him or her. Well then, all you need do is show the reader, not the complainer, what you did to satisfy the complainer. Let what you did, the actions you took, show the reader that it is the complainer who is being unreasonable, not you.
9. One last thing do not e-mail anything to anyone regarding this situation that you do not want to see published in the public domain. Should an e-mail accidentally get out of the company the damage will result in more to explain. Worse, you will now have to explain you very own words. Carve these words on rock, "Don't send anything that I don't want to see in headlines." Whenever you are tempted to violate those 11 words, hit yourself in the head with the rock.

To watch the net for comments, Google Alerts is a good choice.

Do you like pie? Our Marketing Pie is filled with social networking, media releases, personal appearances, and other good things.

online and offline. As our pie shows social networking is definitely encompasses far more than the online world.

Nothing could be farther from the truth because social networking has existed for hundreds of years. In the past people used letters, newspapers, books, pamphlets, and personal appearances, but it was still social networking. It worked then, and it works now.

So, have some pie and see it you like it. I hope it surprises you and motivates you. The pie has been requested by others for their use. always a good sign that your work has merit. If you would like to use it, or refer to it, please do. Knowledge and information are stronger when shared.

View our videos on YouTube.com/WebContentRx/ and listen to us on The Business Buzz radio show, Friday's from 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., WESU 88.1 FM.

Read my article, published today, at SiteProNews. It went from idea, to publication in less than 24 hours.

Here is the power of the online world, of social networking, of the reality that is today. Yesterday morning I visited the SiteProNews Web site and viewed their author guidelines. I then put together an article and author biography and uploaded them.

In the afternoon, I was notified that my article would be published today. Think about that. Article uploaded in the morning. In the afternoon I'm notified that it will be published the following day. That was unheard of ten years ago. Twenty years ago it would have been outlandish to even consider it.

Gone are the days of querying an editor and waiting and waiting for a response. Many times there was no response. Those days are gone.

We are in a new world of communications. Take advantage of it. Make it yours. The benefits are real and here, now, today for your career, your company, your organization, your club. Never in all of human history has the ability to publish unfettered existed. Today it does.

Use these tools. Don't pass up on the advantages that the Web and social networking offer you. The Web and Social networking work, if you have any doubt, follow this link, and read my article Nine Steps to social Networking Success at SiteProNews. Yesterday the article did not exist. Today it's published.

Watch our videos at YouTube.com/WebContentRx/.

 

Read my article, published today, at SiteProNews. It went from idea, to publication in less than 24 hours.

Here is the power of the online world, of social networking, of the reality that is today. Yesterday morning I visited the SiteProNews Web site and viewed their author guidelines. I then put together an article and author biography and uploaded them.

In the afternoon, I was notified that my article would be published today. Think about that. Article uploaded in the morning. In the afternoon I'm notified that it will be published the following day. That was unheard of ten years ago. Twenty years ago it would have been outlandish to even consider it.

Gone are the days of querying an editor and waiting and waiting for a response. Many times there was no response. Those days are gone.

We are in a new world of communications. Take advantage of it. Make it yours. The benefits are real and here, now, today for your career, your company, your organization, your club. Never in all of human history has the ability to publish unfettered existed. Today it does.

Use these tools. Don't pass up on the advantages that the Web and social networking offer you. The Web and Social networking work, if you have any doubt, follow this link, and read my article Nine Steps to social Networking Success at SiteProNews. Yesterday the article did not exist. Today it's published.

Watch our videos at YouTube.com/WebContentRx/.

 

Failure is not the end. It's the beginning. Use failure to your advantage and learn from it.

Ever heard of Hershey Chocolate? They went broke six or seven times. You've likely heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio. His show is one of the top radio programs in the country. Rush, too, went broke more than once. Look at General Motors, the largest corporation in the world, and Chrysler they both went belly up and had to be bailed out.

Business failure hits everyone.

Many successful people, and successful companies, have business failure in their background. It's part of the game. A hard part, but failure can lead to success. So, should your business fail; learn from it. Be instructed by what you did, what you did not do, what you could have known, or should have known. And then do, or don't do, those things next time.

Whatever you do, don't give up. Failure paves the road to success. To your success.

 

View our videos at YouTube.