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 people would most likely use (restaurant Plymouth, MI) and whatever showed up at the top is the site we would pay most attention to. Guess what showed up at the top? Yep, map listings of restaurants in the area and their Google Local Business Page.

If you’re a local business, be ALL OVER your Google Local Business Page.

Get positive reviews.
Make sure your info is accurate.
Add the right categories!

Reason #3: Your numbers are low.

When it comes to Facebook fans, LinkediIn connections, Twitter followers or Blog readers, numbers matter.

Let’s say you were thinking of working with a new accountant this year and you stumbled on her LinkedIn page. You noticed she had…

23 connections.

(In my best Dr. Phil Voice) How does that make you feel about this accountant?

Certainly not good. Maybe indifferent, but you’ll most likely start to question her credibility a bit.

Why risk that?

Spend time each week growing the networks you are participating in.

Reasons #4: Save a tree. Say no to endorsement letters.

How many people see your framed testimonial from 1997?

Request only online recommendations in the places that matter most:

• Your LinkedIn Profile
• Google Local Business Page
• Facebook Business Page
• Website

Did you receive a recent written recommendation or endorsement? Call them up and thank them sincerely for taking the time. Let them know you’d like to share it with more people and if they’d be so kind as to post it on ___________. Fill in the place where you’ll get the most exposure.

People make buying decisions off of quality reviews and recommendations. Especially when it’s from someone who is in the same field as them or has the same needs.

Let others sell for you.

Did you know?

During our 2-Day Workshops, you will:

• Claim your Google Local Business Page
• Request reviews to your Google Local Business Page
• Request recommendations on LinkedIn
• Build your connections on LinkedIn
• Meet one of my Web designers who can build your mobile site for you!

What are you waiting for – we have FIVE spots left!

www.ebootcamp.com/seminars

Ps. Watch the 3rd video testimonial toward the bottom of the page. Frank came to our last workshop and said this was the best 2-days he’d ever spent at a seminar. Really powerful.

PPs. And yes, you can still bring a colleague or guest at no additional charge.

Reason #5: Not driving online connections to your sweet spot.

Where do you make sales?

On the phone?

In a person’s home?

At a coffee shop?

Get them there. Engaging them online is a great start, but decisions are typically made in the same places they did before social media existed.

My sweet spot is face-to-face or webinars. That’s where I give away a ton of value and where we typically build the deepest relationships with people.

I’m giving a free webinar next week and plan to go over exactly where businesses should be spending their time online. With sites like Pinterest and Google+ making headlines, I’ll help you understand if they’re worth pursuing or ignoring.

It will be February 23rd from 12pm-1:15pm EST.

Here’s the link to register:
Social Media Webinar: 5 Ways to Maximize Your Efforts

Now go take action and keep me posted on your progress!

Sincerely,

Corey Perlman
eBoot Camp

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 where I was getting the most positive taps. I thought back for a minute. Well, InvestorTeams was fun and people thought it was pretty cool, but I couldn’t think of any times where I felt a significant positive tap. Then I thought about my last few Internet marketing workshops. I had people rush up afterwards to shake my hand and thank me for the information. I did a workshop for the Dale Carnegie Franchise in Michigan and when I was finished, the owner, Ralph Nichols, stood up and walked over to me. The next thing he did I will never forget. He stuffed a $50 bill in my shirt pocket. He said the workshop was worth way more than that, but that’s all he had in his wallet. That, was a positive tap.

I chose eBoot Camp and never looked back.

A more recent example is a story I really enjoy telling. It happened only a week ago, but I’ve told it numerous times already. Jess and I were down in Key West and it was our first time away from Talia, our two-year-old, for more than a day. We took the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company and engage in some ‘adult’ conversation. We talked about our purpose here on earth and what we were both passionate about. We agreed that being parents were #1 for both of those categories, but she was still searching for a bit of her identity that may have been temporarily lost in the all-consuming job of being a mom. So I asked her, “where are your positive taps coming from?” She couldn’t really think of any, but did say that she often gets positive feedback when she makes things. I reminded her of the halloween costumes she always makes for us. They often win us contests at parties and lots of pictures and compliments when we’re out trick or treating. She hadn’t thought of that as a positive tap, but also mentioned she hadn’t really been looking for them. We both agreed it was time she stay more attune to positive taps. Conversation over. Or so we thought…

The next day we went window shopping on and around Duval street in Key West. We wound up in a Tommy Bahama store and I was in tropical, casual attire heaven. There was a very nice woman at the register named Regina who was classic Key West in that she was slightly odd but in a really cool way. She was in the middle of selling me another shirt when something on Jessica caught her eye. She said, “where did you get that?” She pointed directly at Jessica’s neck. Jess felt her neck and remembered that she had on a necklace/scarf that she made out of one of my shirts.

Side note – I liked this shirt and was surprised to see it ripped up to shreds draped over Jessica’s neck. But she swears I said I didn’t want it anymore – oh well, C’est la vie. It looks better on her anyway.

Back to Regina. She was really impressed with this necklace and demanded to know where Jess got it. “I made it,” Jess said. Regina asked Jess to take it off and let her get a closer look and so she did. Then Regina ran out of the store. Jess and I stood there a little puzzled. A few minutes passed and she came back and let us know she ran down the owner who was in her car heading home for the day. “The owner needed to see this,” Regina said. Regina then asked a question that had POSITIVE TAP written all over it. She said, “would you be willing to sell these?” Jess was taken aback and stood puzzled for a second. So I shouted out “YES!” Regina explained that the store was 85% Tommy Bahama, but they had the ability to sell 15% of whatever they want. They were interested in selling Jess’s little necklace/scarf thingy and splitting the proceeds.

Had Jess just been offered a high-end retail deal right there in Key West? For something she…made? What?

We left with a simple commitment that we would send them some samples and go from there. Who knows where it will end up. Maybe nowhere. But for someone who was looking for a sign from the universe, I think she just got hit over the head with it.

Let’s just say Jess’s shoulder was black and blue from the force of this positive tap.

So I’ll end this where I began. Are you following the positive taps? The first step is to start looking for them. Be aware of where you get positive reinforcement. And just keep doing it.

Keep your shoulders open and ready for positive taps. And when you feel one, follow it.

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

Till next week,

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 spend my time, I’ve started focusing on how to create more happy, satisfied clients. Today, we launched a new service for our clients that will roll out in 2012. I contemplated charging extra for it. Why? Because it will take up more of my TIME. Then I thought about my other most precious asset and gave it to them without raising their fee. Creating more happy, satisfied clients was worth way more to me than the time it will take to roll out this service.

How do you create happy, satisfied clients/customers? Is it the primary focus for you and/or your employees? Do you disagree with the above? I welcome your thoughts.

corey

*photo credit: www.pencilbugs.com

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 how you help others. Facebook has recently updated their Insights to give you more data on how people are interacting with your page. Look this info over and see which posts are getting the most engagement. You’ll start seeing some patterns and you can use that info to create more engagement moving forward. You may also want to look over who has admin access to your page and take some folks off who no longer should have access.

Your personal Facebook profile:  Spend some time removing photos or comments that you’re not 100% comfortable with. Especially if you’re connecting with people beyond just friends and family. I understand the drawbacks of mixing your personal page with business. It comes down to personal preference. I do believe there are some great advantages to connecting with clients and customers on Facebook. For example, one of my clients shared on her Facebook page that she was celebrating her one year anniversary of quitting smoking. I sent her a gift certificate to her favorite restaurant and shared how proud I was of her to beat such a difficult habit. This was something she probably would not have shared with me had we not been Facebook friends. So you’ll have to weigh the pros and cons of mixing business with your personal life.

Your LinkedIn profile: connect to at least 500 people. 500??? Yes, 500. This is because once you hit that mark, LinkedIn starts to just show your connections as 500+. So you could have 501 or 5001, it will still say 500+ and it simply looks like you’re established and well connected. I also want you to have at least 10 recommendations. And make sure they are good ones from clients or customers who love you. I get booked for speaking engagements all the time after an organizer reads the recommendations on my LinkedIn page. They are authentic and they are from the right people. That’s the key. And finally, make sure your summary talks about how you help others. The quicker you can get away from talking about yourself and make the reader feel like you’re talking in terms of their interests, the better.

#2:  Get control of your online reputation. 

Typically, when someone uses Google to find a printing business, they will see the map on the right and a list of local businesses they can choose from. This listing also shows reviews. How many do you have? Don’t know? WHY? This is either helping or hindering your chance of winning their business. So go Google your business, city and state. Click on the link that says Reviews or Places Page. How are you doing? Do you have any reviews? Do you have any negative reviews?

If you haven’t claimed this page yet, claim it. Look at the right-hand side of the page toward the top. Does it say ‘Owner-verified Listing’ or ‘Business Owner?” If it says ‘Business Owner?” you need to claim the listing. Click on that link and proceed. Once claimed, you can respond to reviews, change your contact info and get reports from Google on how this page is performing.

But the most important step here is to remind your happy customers that this page is out there and that you’d love for them to write you a review. Don’t wait around for the negative Norm or Nancy to write a nasty review, be proactive and protect your reputation by getting good customers to tell the world why you’re the best in the biz.

Note: Yelp.com is a different animal. They discourage business owners from soliciting reviews from their customers and will attempt to filter them. I’m not a fan of this but it is what it is. So take note of it.

#3 Make sure your Website is doing it’s job: Simply put, your Website should be giving visitors what they’re looking for, have good content so the search engines can rank you, and capturing visitors information so you can stay in touch with them. Is it not meeting all three of these goals? Then do something about it. Make sure your key info like phone number, physical address, or hours of operation are in an obvious spot on your site. Make sure each page has a good paragraph or two of content that explains what that page is about. And get an opt-in box on each page where people can give you their information in exchange for something of value like a white paper, enewsletter, or special coupon.

#4 Be a better interrupter: So now you have emails, friends, fans, followers, etc. What are you doing with them? The whole reason we’re engaging social media is to build better relationships with customers and prospects. I can’t tell you how many Facebook pages I see with no engagement, LinkedIn profiles with no status updates, or blogs with no recent articles.

We have to acknowledge the fact that people aren’t waking up every day thinking about us. So on Monday, after the holiday, what are you going to do on your sites to interrupt me and remind me you’re out there? Keep in mind I might be on LinkedIn, I might be on Facebook. Make sure you’re communicating on all platforms and offering good, valuable info that makes me stop and pay attention. And remember, make it about THEM.

A few months ago, I woke up in a cold sweat freaking out that I didn’t have life insurance yet. Now I’d talked to a few people six or seven months ago, but they had since vanished from my radar. I jumped on my computer and my email was the first screen that opened. It had updates from my LinkedIn account and one of those updates was an article about a local sports team that I love. Although still sweating, I figured a quick detour to that article wouldn’t hurt. Well, when I clicked on the link, it took me to the LinkedIn profile of the guy who wrote the comment. And that guy happened to be the life insurance salesman I spoke to six months ago. That day, he earned my business.

Ok, I’m off to call each of our clients and personally thank them for their business. But before I do, I want to take this opportunity to say how thankful I am to our friends, fans, subscribers and others who have supported eBoot Camp along the way. It’s been a fun ride so far and thanks to folks like you, I truly LOVE MY JOB! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Corey and the eBoot Camp Team

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 neighborhood. Shortly thereafter, I received a few instant messages via facebook. These listed the dogs’ names and address. (Funny how people remember dogs’ names and not their humans’ names.). I called the dogs by name and they responded, so I knew we had a match.

What makes me think you might appreciate this is that the messages were being sent from Germany. It was around 8:30 p.m. there, and my friend logged on one last time after putting her kids to bed. Turns out she used to live in this neighborhood and the dogs’ family lived across the street from her.

When I stopped by the family’s house, the mother answered the door, and neither she nor two of her sons knew the dogs were missing. (Ugh!!) While I was there, her third son was at school and saw the post I made on our organization’s facebook page. He posted his contact information and called home. The mother sent her sons to retrieve the dogs.

While this was going on, the contractors who were working in the back yard (and left the gate open allowing the dogs to roam free) were cruising around the neighborhood. They asked one of my friends if she had seen two black dogs. She said she hadn’t, but she saw the post on our facebook page. One of them pulled out his iPhone, “liked” our organization, saw the post, and identified the dogs. Seems they were trying to get the dogs back before the family found out.

Had we relied on traditional methods, the dogs would probably still be in my neighbors’ back yard. Instead, they were reunited with their family in a very short time. No word on whether the contractors were invited to return.

Tom

Thanks for reminding us of the power of social media Tom! Corey

(photo credit: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images16/NewfoundlandsSatchelJack – not actual dogs)

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

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 job requirements were frowned upon.

I thought about eGM. This was a start-up within a humungous company – General Motors. We had a great leader in Mark Hogan and he let us be entrepreneurs. We sat in conference rooms and thought about how GM could use the web to operate more effectively and efficiently. We came to upper management with new ideas and they said run with it. We once had the idea of securing .gm from the country of Gambia (a country in West Africa) so GM could own the web domains www.chevy.gm, www.buick.gm and so on. We went straight to the top of GM asking permission to explore this possibility. Well, we explored and found it not to be as easy as we thought to lease a country code from a country, but it was fun trying!

This was pre-September 11th. After that, GM (and the rest of the country) took a huge hit and eGM was gone. And quickly I became an employee where risk and creativity were not what the company wanted. It was all about scaling back and freezing spending. And I was out of there.

That experience reminded me that entrepreneurship can live within a company and people can experience the freedom, and fear, that comes with being an entrepreneur.

By the way, I think GM has come back to letting employees be entrepreneurs and that has helped spearhead its resurgence.

So what I took from the conversation with my friends from UM was the assumption I had going in – that you can be both an employee and an entrepreneur. You just need the right place and the right people.

Are you in an environment that encourages you to be an entrepreneur?

If not, is it something you want or are you ok with the status quo?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and perspective – please leave a comment below.

Photo credit: http://www.yourmoneydictionary.com/Entrepreneur.aspx

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 been lazy. Yes I have Talia, a growing social media business and a busy speaking schedule, but I could get up earlier. Seriously, I could. I wouldn’t be killing myself. And even if that were extreme, what about the days I watch football – could I skip a few of those? But I love football. Yeah, but look what the first book did for you. It catapulted your career. Are the sorry Dolphins worth missing out on the next level?

That’s honest. It hurts to even write it. But it’s true. So if I choose to watch those sorry Dolphins this week, it’s my choice. And I’ll know clearly what I’m sacrificing to do it. It feels good to be straight with myself.

I’ve also keyed in on it more with other people. I hear those dreaded words coming out of their mouth on a daily basis. I would but….If only….When I’m able to….

I have a suggestion. Listen really closely to the words that come out of your mouth and your inner thoughts. Are you being real with yourself? Or just rationalizing.

And why do I call it the 8th deadly sin? Well, I believe that word causes more people not to pursue and fulfill their dreams than any other. We rationalize our way right out of being better. Accomplishing our goals. Becoming successful.

And they come in all forms so you have to listen closely. You could even be rationalizing as you read this! Ha, caught you!

I don’t want this to come off as if I’m judging – that’s not my intent. That’s why I pointed the figure at myself first. I do it and I do it often.

But maybe by writing about it, I will help you start to catch yourself doing it. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll stop it and call bullshit on yourself. And at that point, change can happen. You might just redo that resume and get it out there again. Or start the business plan you’ve been putting off for years. Or get your butt in the gym because it’s critical that you stay health for you and your family.

So I’m going to work on it too. I’m going to DVR my game this weekend and make better use of that time (so don’t tell me the score! I’ll watch it  later that night and I’m going to spend time with the family instead. It’s not the writing the book, but it’s a better alternative. I’ll make time for the book on Monday.

Or am I just rationalizing?

The battle continues…

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. We were meeting some friends for brunch at Kruse and Muer in Troy, MI and my wife went to hug a friend she hadn’t seen in awhile. That friend unknowingly had a bee hanging out on her back. My wife’s hand landed right on that spot and WHAM! Jessica did the ‘I got stung by a bee’ dance. I know that dance because I did it last year around this same time. She handled it well and the server immediately got her some ice. Now understand, this bee could have been riding with our friend for some time – who knows where or when it decided to hitch a ride.

So that made the responses from the servers and manager at Kruse and Muer that much more impressive. They had bag of ice in a matter of seconds and people were there to make sure she wasn’t going to have an allergic reaction. Jess is not allergic and so she was going to be just fine – just in a lot of pain for the rest of brunch. Once the staff knew that we weren’t in danger, they just wanted her to have an enjoyable experience. The manager came right over and said, ‘your brunch is on me today and what beverage can I get you? I recommend a mimosa or if it really stings, a long island ice tea.’ We were all taken aback by the generosity. They didn’t need to do that, but got us all smiling and got Jess’s mind off the onset of her hand swelling.

But it didn’t stop there. The manager overheard me trying to figure out where the closest drugstore was so I could grab Jess some Benadryl. He then disappeared for about 15 minutes. Jess had decided she’d be ok till we got home so I went back to overindulging at probably one of the best brunch buffets I’ve had in a long time. All of a sudden the manager, his name is Brent, came back in with a brand new package of Benadryl. I said, ‘hey, that’s ironic, did you guys have some back there?’ He nonchalantly said no, but he knew of a 7-11 down the road. ‘Wait a second, you left the restaurant, drove a mile down the road and bought us Benadryl?’ He responded, ‘well, I wanted to make sure your wife was comfortable.’

What? Holy shit. Sorry, but holy Shit. I couldn’t believe he did that.

He also had no idea who he was messing with. That’s right, he didn’t know that I intend to make sure that thousands upon thousands of people hear this story. I will blog, tweet, google, facebook, check-in – Brent will be a chapter in my next book.  I’m going to stand on the highest virtual mountain and scream at the top of my lungs – Kruse and Muer ROCKS!  Why? Because I just figured out the surefire way to get customers to leaving raving reviews. Do something remarkable. Do something memorable. And in my mind, that’s exactly what this was. Brent, in his own way, did something remarkable that I will never forget and neither will my wife.

And it comes in both gel, cream, and liquid form.