5 Online Pitfalls that Could Be Hurting Your Business

Reason #1: Your Website is not mobile-friendly.

Smartphone traffic will grow 50-fold by 2016

In 2014, Mobile Internet usage will overtake desktop usage.

Are you ready? More importantly, is your Website ready?

If people visit your site on their phone and can’t easily get where they want to go, they will leave and seek out your competition.

You get a B- if your site shrinks down to size of the screen that is displaying it. Yes, we can see everything, but it’s still hard to get our large fingers to click on those tiny links.

Earn an A+ by migrating to a site that uses icons so the user can surf your site with his thumbs. To best illustrate this, go to www.chazzanocoffee.mobi and you’ll see what I mean.

Reason #2: Your Google Local Business is weak.

I had a phone conversation with a new restaurant client yesterday and we were talking about what 3rd party sites they should be focusing on. In the restaurant business, there are literally hundreds of sites vying for their attention and money!

So I did the same experiment with them that I’ve been doing for 10 years. We all agreed on the search phrase … READ MORE

Are you Following the Positive Taps?

A few years ago, I read something in a business book that really stood out to me. It read: Are you following the positive taps? At first I couldn’t figure out what the heck that meant, but as I read further the author explained that positive taps are taps on your shoulder from the universe. These taps are supposed to help lead you in the direction you’re supposed to go in life. They’re often not obvious, so you have to pay close attention to when these positive taps occur.

A few years ago, I had two business hobbies that were taking up most of my free time. I call them hobbies because I wasn’t making any money from either venture, I just enjoyed doing them. One was a Website called Investorteams.com where we paired real estate investors with specialists like real estate agents, mortgage brokers, etc. The other was a course I taught on Internet marketing called eBoot Camp. I soon realized that doing both was not going to be an option. So I spoke with a friend about it and he’d read the same book I had. He asked me … READ MORE

Be a Geek for an Hour-a-Week

I’m really excited about a new product we’re putting together called Be a Geek for an Hour-a-Week. It’s a 1-hour assignment that will be emailed to our clients each week. This idea came from two challenges that our clients face:

1. Time

2. And if they had time, they’re not sure where to spend it.

I wanted to give our blog readers a sneak peak into Week #1 – here it is:

Note: COPs stands for Customers or Prospects

Week #1: Getting Started
Assignment #1: Spend some time thinking and researching where your COPs are spending time online.
Time: 20 Minutes

Overview: You don’t have to be on every social media site. There should be a legitimate business reason for you to spend time on any one site. Doing some quick Google searches, you can start to see some key demographics for each of the major social networks. For example, this link will give you some great info on Facebook users: http://www.kenburbary.com/2011/03/facebook-demographics-revisited-2011-statistics-2/ - and there are similar stats for all the major sites. The goal is to get a sense of where your COPs are spending time online. Then all you have to do is meet them there.
Go to … READ MORE

Time is not our most precious asset

As a business owner, I’ve always been of the opinion that time is indeed our most precious asset. What we do with our time directly impacts everything – our results, the bottom line, etc. But lately another challenger has surged into the lead for me. It goes by the name of Happy, satisfied clients (or customers). Happy, satisfied clients always pay on time. They believe the value they’re receiving far outweighs the cost. They are our biggest advocates and sell us better than we could ever sell yourself. They brag about us like they do their kids. They send thank you notes all the time.

Happy, satisfied clients are our #1 asset because they are responsible for our current cash flow and future cash flow. They happily pay and they happily sell our services to others.

In fact, I can honestly say that the last five businesses we brought on were a direct result from a conversation with a happy, satisfied client. One of our clients printed flyers of our services and shared them with colleagues at her annual convention. It doesn’t get any better than that.

So instead of focusing on where to … READ MORE

4 Social Media To-do’s during the holiday

Friends,

First let me wish all of our US readers a happy Thanksgiving. I love this holiday because we get to spend it with family and focus on what we’re thankful for.

I also love it because I get to slow down for a few days and focus on the important/not urgent box (http://www.orgcoach.net/timematrix.html) that often gets overlooked.

So if you’ll also be spending a bit of your holiday at the coffee shop or on the computer before the kids get up, I wanted to offer a few social media action items that go beyond just updating your sites and responding to comments.

#1 Be proud of your profiles. 

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. And these days that first impression could be your Facebook page or LinkedIn profile. So let’s make sure these sites are strengthening your credibility instead of diminishing it.

Your Facebook Business Page: Read over your company info and make updates or changes. This is the place people come for the fist time to learn about you or your business, so take the time to make sure it highlights who you are and … READ MORE

Social Media helps two Newfoundlands find their way home

Over the past few years, I’ve received many emails from readers sharing cool stories of how social media has had a positive impact on their business. But social media helping a couple of Newfoundlands find their way back home? That was a first. Enjoy.

Corey,

I thought you might appreciate a social media story with a few unexpected twists.

As I was returning home from a six mile run yesterday, I noticed my neighbor walking over to her baby stroller. Turns out she left it in our other neighbors’ front yard while she frantically tried to corral two grown Newfoundlands that were roaming the neighborhood. With the assistance of the UPS driver who happened to be there, she put the dogs in the neighbors’ fenced-in back yard.

Eager to reunite the dogs with their family, we started to call our friends to see if anyone knew who the dogs belonged to as they didn’t have any tags. Phone calls, emails, and other traditional methods yielded no real leads.

Within minutes after listing the dogs’ picture on two social media pages, I received some solid leads. The first narrowed it down to a specific block in the … READ MORE

Google Plus is open for BUSINESS – Finally!

Google announced this week the launch of Google Plus Pages for Business. My recommendation is to go secure your business page now.

Click HERE to get started. Just an FYI, they will ask you to sign in to your personal Google Plus account first. If you don’t have one, sign up for one first. Once signed in, they’ll let you create your business page.

Also, here’s a great article on the pros/cons of Google Plus Business pages. READ ARTICLE

The jury is still out on where Google Plus is going and if it will be a viable resource for your business, but I’d rather you secure your site than wait and fall behind your competition. Google is still the #1 search engine for products and services in the world and you better believe they will make Google Plus Business Pages very SEARCHABLE.

We did ours this past week: https://plus.google.com/b/116409197315162547078/

Enjoy your day,

Corey

 

Can an employee be an entrepreneur?

I had a great meeting yesterday with three Directors from the University of Michigan College of Business and our topic of discussion was entrepreneurship. Their passion is helping students learn the necessary skills to becoming a successful entrepreneur in whichever field they choose. They teach courses on business, leadership, accounting, and other skills I wished I would have learned back in college.  Instead, I’m still trying to figure out what Mitochondria means and why General Custer lost the Battle of Little Big Horn.

But that’s neither here nor there. The point of this post is not my college education or lack there of, it’s the question that I asked the group regarding entrepreneurship. I asked them if they believed employees could be entrepreneurs or if you had to own your own business.

The answer I got was it depends. It depends on the type of culture the company has and the type of boss you have.

And that got me thinking back to my employment history and the places where I was allowed to be an entrepreneur and the places where taking risks and thinking beyond your … READ MORE

Is rationalizing the 8th deadly sin?

According to the DSM-IV, rationalization occurs “when the individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by concealing the true motivations for his or her own thoughts, actions, or feelings through the elaboration of reassuring or self serving but incorrect explanations.”

We all do it. Everyday. It lives in us and comes out in all forms.

‘Long day at work today, I deserve a day off from ____________.’

‘She doesn’t have three kids, no wonder she’s able to_________.’

‘I’ve got a million things on my plate, that’s why I didn’t get _________ done.’

Are they true? Maybe. But are there times that we are just rationalizing because we are lazy, unmotivated, scared, or something else?

I have a book to write. It’s long overdue. Now, I can list a thousand reasons why I haven’t got it done and thousand more why it should wait. But I’ve suddenly become attune to my rationalizing. No, lots of people write books with toddlers. No, you do have something to say. No, it hasn’t already been written. Shut up Corey and carve out time to write.

It’s time to be honest with myself.

I’ve … READ MORE

Customer Service comes in all forms – even anti-itch cream.

It’s rare that I spend a beautiful sunday afternoon in front of the computer blogging, but I had to get something off my chest. There’s no doubt that every industry has been greatly impacted by social media in some way, and the restaurant industry is no exception. Business is won or lost by customer feedback and now we have multiple tools at our disposal to give our opinion on the food, service, experience, and whatnot.

During my seminars and workshops, I often encourage businesses to ask for reviews from happy customers. It’s human nature to be a bit more motivated when we feel mistreated or disrespected than when we are pleased with an experience. Take yours truly. I’ve meant to write a good review about Kruse and Muer for sometime because they are really kid-friendly and go out of their way to make our experience enjoyable. But sadly, I’ve always forgotten.

But not today.

It’s a perfect Michigan day. It’s 80 degrees, the sun is shining and we have a million things to do. But nothing is getting in the way of this blog or my review. Not a chance. Because what happened was simply mind-blowing.

And it all started with a simple hug. … READ MORE