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May 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Does Your Commute Suck? Go ROWE!

Today’s blog from Cali and Jody was awesome. It is titled “Does Your Commute Suck?” and touches on some things that are extremely broken about today’s traditional workplace. We migrated to a ROWE at SpinWeb last year and we have been very happy with the results. We no longer talk about hours or work schedules or “making up time”. We focus on the work. We focus on making our clients happy. We focus on the things that are important.

After some recent meetings with Cali and Jody and some great discussions about bringing ROWE to the masses, I am now authorized to facilitate ROWE migrations for businesses that would like to take the plunge. So many companies and their employees could benefit from this adaptive change and it’s a wonderful thing to be able to help others through a migration.

ROWE is not telecommuting, flex hours, or working from home. ROWE is an adaptive, cultural change. Did I mention that ROWE increases productivity?

If you are interested in migrating your business to a ROWE and enjoying the benefits it brings, I would love to hear from you.

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Productivity Tagged With: ,
May 21, 2009 By 4 Comments

Social Media Will Not Fix Your Marketing Strategy

I had a great group of people in my Twitter class yesterday and we had some awesome discussion about how to use it for business. One theme that was recurring was how it leads to sales. It’s a great topic and I think there are some misconceptions out there.

Social media will not fix your marketing strategy. It should not replace your current efforts or cause you to shift all of your time onto Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. If your marketing strategy is broken, you must fix that first – social media will not save it. At the same time, it is a mistake to ignore it and continue the status quo.

Social media is a set of tools that augment, supplement, and assist as a component of your marketing strategy. It can give you a competitive edge. Social media can give you more effective ways to build relationships with your customers, prospective customers, and networking partners.

Remember that social media is not a magic bullet. However, ignoring it is also a mistake. Find the most appropriate ways to augment and supplement your marketing strategy with social media and enjoy the benefits of a more full-featured marketing toolbox.

Filed Under: Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,
May 18, 2009 By 2 Comments

12 Tips for a Great Chamber / Economic Development Alliance Website Design

At SpinWeb, we have a particular interest in helping local communities thrive and flourish using the Internet.  For this reason, we love working with municipalities and agencies within, which includes chambers and economic development alliances. I have been researching both chambers and economic development alliances recently in preparation for an upcoming project and I’ve noticed that though they have different objectives, the two entities can often co-exist in the same website and be very complementary. So what are some ways a website for a chamber and economic development alliance can serve the community?

1. Publish a user-friendly online sites and buildings database. Make sure it is easy for interested businesses to research locations in your community via your website. You want to attract new business, so be easy to work with by giving businesses the tools they need to get information fast and allow them to search on detailed attributes.

2. Invest in a high-quality image. Your website represents your community and should be attractive and modern. Chambers and economic development alliances with beautiful websites make the community look like an attractive place to live and do business.

3. Offer educational and networking events with online registration. By offering events and classes, you not only promote networking in your community, but also increase the skill level of your local work force. Be sure your website clearly lists your calendar of events and offers online registration, which increases attendance.

4. Offer an online Chamber Marketplace to promote commerce. Allow chamber members to create online profiles and place projects out for bit to other chamber members. Then, allow members to submit bids on those projects via your website. This encourages commerce between chamber members, as well as increases the value of a chamber membership.

5. Include social media links to make information sharing easy. Make sure that your sites and buildings, jobs, news, projects for bid, and events all include a “share” option to make it easy for site visitors to post your web site information to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social networks. The easier it is to distribute your content, the more likely it is to be seen.

6. Publish an online employment database. Stimulating employment in the community sh0uld be a strong objective for your website and one great way to do this is to offer an online employment database. Allow chamber and/or community members to post job openings on your employment database and offer candidates the ability to apply online for those jobs. This creates an easier way to connect jobs with candidates and increases the value of your site. Don’t forget to include a “share” button to make it easy for site visitors to post jobs to their social networks.

7. Invest in search engine marketing to attract businesses. A great chamber and/or economic development alliance website is only useful when someone finds it. Be sure your community is found by creating targeted keyword campaigns that attract the right visitors to your site.

8. Promote notable local businesses via an active press room. Recognize your local businesses via your website by publishing regular articles that feature local businesses. This keeps your website full of fresh content which has a positive impact on your search engine rankings and helps your local businesses get more visibility.

9. Publish a video podcast featuring local businesses. A podcast is easy and inexpensive to set up and is a great way to promote members of your community. Send an intern from your local university out with a video camera once a week to a local business to do a 5-minute “spotlight”. This gives local businesses a chance to get exposure when they might not otherwise be able to afford advertising. It’s also a recruiting tool to help attract businesses to your community since it shows that you are committed to supporting them once they arrive.

10. Sell products online. Many businesses in your community would like to sell their products online but don’t have the resources to do so. Help them out by offering to sell their products online for them via your website. Additionally, you can also sell city/community-branded merchandise online, such as clothing and other items. Build your community’s brand while adding revenue!

11. Auto-bill your members via self-serve online tools. Make it easier for chamber members to renew and submit payments by allowing them to log in and manage their accounts via your website. Be sure you accept credit cards and e-checks. This not only reduces barriers to renewals, but reduces administrative expenses in your office.

12. Publish a great e-mail newsletter. Send out your email newsletter on a regular schedule and highlight community events to increase attendance.

Whether your chamber and economic development alliances are using separate web sites or integrated into one site, these tips will help add value to your online presence, attract new businesses to the community, and help local businesses grow and flourish.

Filed Under: Design, Lifestyle, Marketing, Productivity, Technology Tagged With: , , ,
May 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Top 10 Information Architecture Mistakes (Jakob Nielsen)

Every now and then, Jakob Nielsen publishes a great article that really hits home and embodies all the rules we are trying to explain every day as we create web sites for our clients. Take a moment to read this one:

Top 10 Information Architecture Mistakes

It’s a great review of some of the little details that can make the difference between a mediocre website and a great web site.

Filed Under: Design, Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , ,
May 10, 2009 By 2 Comments

Rediscovering Non-technology

As I get more and more attached to digital tools and communication mediums, I’ve recently begun to appreciate the non-technology elements of life more and more. Those who know me know the running joke about how much I hate paper and it’s true – I do hate the unneccesary use of paper. However, there is only so much technology that I can take before I start to yearn for something different to bring harmony to my life and so I am enjoying a re-discovery of some of the non-electronic things that bring me satisfaction. For those of you as uber-connected as I am and are looking for some ways to unplug, here are some things I recommend.

  • Read a book (on paper, not a Kindle)
  • Call an old friend just to catch up
  • Write a letter (with pen a paper using nice stationary)
  • Take a walk in the park
  • Buy a Moleskine and use it for meeting notes
  • Send handwritten thank-you notes to client and prospects
  • Go out with friends and turn your phone off during dinner
  • Attend a live classical music performance
  • Attend a meeting at work without your laptop or a mobile device
  • Play board games with friends instead of watching TV or a movie
  • Go to the zoo, art museum, or local nature spot and just observe

It’s amazing how rich some of these simple experiences can be after being so plugged-in for so long. Maybe this is obvious to everyone else but I sometimes feel so engrossed in an online world that I find myself needing balance. What do you do to keep from losing yourself in technology?

Filed Under: Lifestyle
May 9, 2009 By 1 Comment

10 Customer Service Details that Matter to your Customers

Every company talks about how great their customer service is. Put 5 business owners in a room and ask them how they are different and they will probably all say “we provide great customer service”. Great customer service is critical to building a great company but how many of us take the time to quantify what that means? Here are 10 little details that matter to your customers.

1. Do you keep your promises? Do you speak in absolutes and follow through or do you say that you will finish your customers project “in about 3 weeks”? Even if the time line is longer than expected, customers appreciate knowing what to expect. Delivering on time strengthens trust.

2. Do you double-check (and triple-check) your work? Few things are more frustrating and embarrassing than a customer pointing out mistakes in your work. As a customer, this irritates me a great deal because it creates extra work for me and weakens trust.

3. Do you answer your phone? Is your receptionist friendly and knowledgeable? Does every employee answer the phone with a positive attitude? I’m amazed at how many times I call a company the phone is answered by someone who sounds like he or she is annoyed at the interruption. It’s even more annoying when I get an auto-attendant. Your customers want to talk to a person, not a machine.

4. Do you ask questions? Too often we get caught up in all the great things we are doing that we forget that our customers have needs, which is why they have hired us in the first place. How often do you call your customers and ask them what challenges they are facing right now? Not only does it show that you care, but it might also open the door for you to find opportunities to solve more of their problems with your products and services.

5. Do you keep up with the latest best practices? When your customer comes to you and says “XYZ Company is doing this, should we do this, too?”, it erodes trust if you don’t have an answer or appear to be uninterested in evolving.

6. Do you gracefully help customers leave? No company has a 100% retention rate. Occasionally customers leave. When this happens, do you become uncooperative and belligerent or do you politely ask for feedback on how you can improve in the future? Do you assist them during the transition? By behaving in a professional manner when customers leave, you leave the door open for them to remember you favorably when their new vendor drops the ball. Besides, it’s just the right thing to do.

7. Do you send referrals to your customers? Few things will please your customers more than if you send business their way. I love being on the lookout for referrals for my customers. I feel strongly that I should do everything I can do help my customers succeed.

8. Do you believe in your product or service? Your customers (and prospective customers) can tell whether you believe in what you are selling. You must truly believe that your company provides the best solution possible for your customers. You must get excited about what you do.

9. Are you on time for appointments? We are all busy and time is valuable. Your customers will appreciate it when you respect their time and will certainly notice when you are consistently late.

10. Do you admit when you are wrong? Do you make it right? Nobody’s perfect and we all drop the ball at some point. The important thing is that we admit when we are wrong, own up to it, and make it right. Whatever it takes, make sure your customer remembers how you solved the problem with integrity.

When someone asks you about your customer service or how you are different, how specific can you be? Do you know what matters to your customers?

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Marketing, Productivity Tagged With:
May 3, 2009 By 1 Comment

7 Ways Manufacturing Companies Can Increase Sales with a Great Website Design

At SpinWeb, we love working with manufacturing companies. So much opportunity exists to help them utilize their websites more effectively to facilitate growth. Many of today’s manufacturers, however, are facing significant challenges in utilizing the Internet to increase sales. So what are some things that make a difference?

1. Invest in a great design. Image matters. Companies that make great products need to present a strong image and the corporate web site is the place to do it. A great image can make the difference in lost or closed sales when prospective customers are performing the “sniff test” on your company to see if you can deliver.

2. Present your catalog online. I’m not just talking about a PDF download. I’m talking about having a full-fledged interactive product catalog that allows your customers to search, browse, and research your products online. Products should not simply be listed on a page, but should be part of a true product database so that individual product listings can be sent to prospective customers electronically as a link or via social media. This speeds up the sales cycle and gives your sales team better support as they present products. If possible, include video demos.

3. Collect leads. Manufacturing websites should be asking site visitors for names and email addresses so that email communications on new and updated products can be delivered. This keeps prospective customers in your funnel and improves your chances of reaching them when it comes time to buy.

4. Facilitate an ecosystem. Manufacturing companies can benefit a great deal from creating online communities that their customers can use to communicate with each other and share knowledge. This helps build value around your company’s brand and improves retention. An ecosystem can be an online forum, an extranet, or even a Facebook Group.

5. Utilize search engine marketing. Most manufacturing companies are not investing very heavily in search engine marketing. This opens up a huge opportunity for those who do. By investing in targeted search engine marketing, smart manufacturing companies can ensure that their products show up at the top of the list when prospective customers are doing reasearch online. This can make the difference between lost business or closed business.

6. Distribute documentation. If your products come with documentation that helps your customers better understand how to use or implement your products, post it on your website – all of it. By driving your customers back to your website, you are reinforcing the value of your brand. It also allows you to eliminate or reduce printed documentation, which saves money. Online documentation can also be updated in minutes – a huge advantage over printed documentation. I’m not referring to PDF downloads, I’m referring to an online database of documentation that your customers can search and sort easily to find what they need. This makes you easy to do business with and improves retention. It’s also a great sales tool because prospective customers can see how easy it is to get the supporting information they need about your products which reduces anxiety.

7. Increase your PR efforts using Social Media. Manufacturing companies should be investing in PR to increase brand awareness and tell a story. Social Media is a great way to extend your PR efforts. Press releases should be listed on your company website and then distributed via Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. This improves your search engine rankings and encourages others to re-distribute your content for you. Make sure your website content includes “share this” buttons to facilitate easy distribution by site visitors.

Many manufacturing companies are not taking full advantage of their company websites to leap ahead of the competition which means that the ones who do will have a significant advantage. Support your sales team and your customers with a great website and enjoy greater customer loyalty and increased sales.

Filed Under: Design, Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , , ,