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November 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment

How design affects credibility on the web

I hate ugly websites. I realize that I have a particular bias as a result of what I do so I’m sure that is to be expected. In fact, people often have fun with me by sending me links to ugly websites just to see how much I cringe.

All fun aside, however, how often do we really think about how design affects our credibility as businesses? Do ugly websites hurt business? Turns out, the answer is yes.

Many studies have been done on this topic, including this one from Stanford University. In these studies, we find out that there are a number of design factors that influence how your website visitors perceive your organization.

“Real-world” aspects of your organization. Do you list your physical address? Do you display professional photos of your key team members? In short, does your website reflect the legitimacy of your organization?

Ease of use. A website that is difficult to use damages the credibility of your organization because it gives the appearance you don’t care enough to present a logical, well-designed navigation. If you don’t care about your information infrastructure, how much do you care about your customers?

Markers of expertise. Your corporate or organization website is an opportunity to display credentials and examples of your expertise. Take advantage of this and increase your credibility through case studies and credentials.

Markers of trustworthiness. The Stanford study referenced above found that visitors responded more positively to websites that presented content in a transparent and unbiased fashion. By contrast, websites that crossed the line into being too promotional resulted in decreased levels of trust in visitors. Be honest and factual when presenting your online image to increase trust.

Tailor the user experience. If your site allows customers to log in, give them access to specific data that is relevant to them. Additionally, allow your website visitors to easily find data relevant to their specific needs or markets.

Avoid over-promoting or over-advertising. Advertising elements can sometimes be very effective when implemented tastefully. However, avoid the trap that many newspaper websites fall into when they plaster ads all over their home pages. Too much advertising damages credibility.

Pay attention to design details. Even small glitches like a broken link or misspelled word can damage credibility. Additionally, avoid outdated, amateur design. A professional design goes a long way toward legitimizing your organization and can make the difference between a transaction and a lost customer.

Ultimately, credibility is a significant factor in your bottom line because trust must exist for a sale or a transaction to take place. Does the design of your organization’s website inspire trust?

Filed Under: Design, Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , ,
October 25, 2009 By 4 Comments

How an insurance agency generates business using Facebook

I always enjoy hearing stories of small business owners using social media to generate leads and connect with new clients. As much as I encourage people to give social media a chance, it’s the real-world case studies that speak the loudest.

Jim DeWitt is an owner at DeWitt Insurance Group and is a member of my BNI chapter. Jim’s agency offers life and health insurance (both business and individual), as well as property and casualty insurance. During our BNI meetings, Jim sometimes shares with us how he finds new clients. Frequently his clients come from Facebook as a result of his commitment to staying active in social media. I sat down with him to learn more.

Jim let me know that he started off on Facebook just reconnecting with old friends and used it for keeping in touch. He did not overtly talk about business but when people asked him how he was doing, he would let them know that he was an insurance agent and that he enjoys helping people save money on their insurance. This frequently led to opportunities to provide quotes to his connections and sometimes led to new business. At its most basic level, Facebook allowed Jim to expand his network and engage in business conversations with his connections.

As Jim earned more and more business via Facebook connections, he began to share his stories via the Facebook news feed. One such posting announced that he was able to save someone $1,000 a year on insurance and explained how much he enjoyed his job. It was not a hard sell, but rather an authentic story that displayed his passion for helping others. Following this post, a number of his connections asked him for quotes on their insurance. Jim acquired 3 new clients as a result of that post.

Facebook also helps Jim keep an eye out for opportunities. Sometimes his connections will share their dissatisfaction with their insurance policies. When this happens, Jim politely offers to provide quotes for them to see if he can help. This has also led to new business.

Jim also let me know that not only do his clients frequently come from Facebook, but those same clients also often refer him to other friends and family – sometimes via Facebook.

So far, Jim’s activity on Facebook has led to approximately 20 new business opportunities (some still in progress) and 10 new clients. Not only is he able to find new clients, but Facebook also helps him provide better service to his existing clients. When he notices that his connections announce life changes on Facebook, it gives him the opportunity to proactively offer to update their insurance policies and offer advice on proper coverage. This strengthens the relationship and improves his client retention.

While other insurance agents are struggling to squeeze more business out of offline marketing and cold calling, Jim DeWitt is integrating social media into his business strategy and is achieving great success. By being authentic, helpful, and active on Facebook, Jim is growing his agency and expanding his network.

To learn more about Jim, contact him via his Facebook profile or call him at 317.695.2317… he would love to hear from you!

Filed Under: Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,
September 15, 2009 By 1 Comment

My Tour of Gleaners Food Bank: An Awe-inspiring Example of Giving in Indiana

I had the pleasure of touring Gleaners Food Bank today with Victoria Petersen. Victoria’s title is “Major Gifts Officer” and she is responsible for working with donors to keep Gleaners stocked with enough supplies to feed the hungry in Indiana. Touring the facility was a humbling and awe-inspiring experience and I would like to share it with you.

First, some facts:

  • 83% of IPS students qualify for a free lunch or reduced lunch program
  • Every dollar donated to Gleaner provides 6 meals to a hungry person
  • There are 83,590 children living in poverty in the food bank’s service area
  • There are 225,075 people overall living in poverty in the food bank’s service area
  • Many of the people assisted by Gleaners are living on approximately $500 a month

Some of these figures were very shocking to me and very eye-opening. As I started the tour, I was immediately impressed by the scale and the efficiency of the Gleaners warehouse. Boxes upon boxes and crates of food were stacked floor to ceiling waiting to be categorized, stored, inspected, and processed. Though Gleaners has staff members, much of the day-to-day work is done by volunteers.

As Victoria led me through the vast structure that fills an entire city block, she told me about the programs specifically designed for children and seniors and how everything is carefully organized and accounted for to ensure maximum efficiency. She showed me a doorway in which a board member had supplied a makeshift metal fixture to drain off excess water that was seeping in through a crack in the ceiling so that they would not have to spend money to replace the structure. She also introduced me to many of the staff members and volunteers who make it possible for Gleaners to feed the hungry.

Gleaners Food Bank has been under the stewardship of Pamela Altmeyer, President and CEO, for over 30 years. Victoria had nothing but glowing words of praise and admiration for Pamela and in short, communicated to me in no uncertain terms that Gleaners has been Pamela’s entire life’s work. The respect and awe in her voice was unmistakable.

What also impressed me about Gleaners was the close partnerships that the food bank has with major corporate donors. In particular, Victoria spoke with deep respect when impressing upon me how instrumental Kroger has been in helping Gleaners. Kroger is the largest donor of both food and money to the food bank and has been for nearly three decades, during which the grocer has contributed almost $1 Million in donations to Gleaners. Since learning this, I will be making more of an effort to shop at Kroger whenever possible. I am impressed by the level of generosity displayed by this major grocery chain.

My tour of Gleaners gave me a powerful experience and lifted my spirits. It was a pleasure to see so many people working together to fight hunger in Indiana. I very much appreciate Victoria’s time in telling me the story of Gleaners and giving me a behind the scenes look into how the food bank functions.

Victoria would love to take others on a tour, as well. Anyone who would like to take a tour or is interested in donating time, money, or food to Gleaners should contact:

Victoria Petersen
Major Gifts Officer
(317) 925-0191
vpetersen@gleaners.org

I have also posted photos from my tour on Facebook. Please feel free to browse through them for a behind the scenes look into the daily operations at Gleaners Food Bank. I highly recommend taking a tour.

Now, I’m off to make a donation to Gleaners.

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With:
August 8, 2009 By 3 Comments

Is Indianapolis the Networking Capitol of the U.S.?

I realize this is a pretty bold headline and a rather dramatic statement to make but I’ve been thinking recently about my home city of Indianapolis and how active this community is in networking. My blog post was prompted by a recent whiteboard session I attended with Tony Scelzo in which we covered all the great networking opportunities we have in this city.

For example, we have one of the most active, progressive BNI franchises in the country. Hazel Walker is truly a community leader and a progressive networker and has done great things for BNI in this city. We are also the birthplace of Rainmakers, founded by Tony Scelzo. Rainmakers is growing dramatically every day and offers over 40 networking events each month in Indianapolis. Indianapolis is also home to Smaller Indiana, which started off as an online social network and now offers live events throughout the year. Confluence is another networking startup focused on the enterprise.

Aside from these formal groups, I’ve noticed a very strong culture of active networking in the business community here in Indianapolis. The number of events and organizations available here is staggering.

Additionally, I also see an extremely strong focus on social media among business professionals here in Indy and opportunities to speak and hear speakers are plentiful and the content is high-quality.

My question is: do other cities offer the same level of networking opportunities? From what I can tell, Indianapolis is a networking powerhouse. How does this compare to the networking culture in other cities?

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Marketing, Productivity Tagged With: , , , ,
July 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Use a System for Making Referrals

As a member of networking groups like BNI and Rainmakers, I have a strong commitment to producing quality referrals for members of my network. The “givers gain” philosophy is alive and well and I have seen it work wonders many times over for me and for my referral partners. Staying consistent is tough, however. It’s easy to get busy and distracted and therefore forget to make referrals or even miss opportunities that come up in daily interactions.

For this reason, I am careful to capture referral opportunities in my productivity system just like any other action. It doesn’t take much. All you need is a good todo list and capture mechanism. Personally, I use Things, because it the most GTD-like Mac application I have found and it syncs up with my iPhone. You can use a notepad, Jott, or anything that makes sense for you. The key is to capture opportunities as they occur and then process and actually make the referral later.

For example, let’s say I am talking with someone and learning more about his business and I find out that he is not happy with the way his IT is managed. This immediately prompts me to mention Scott Sells at Zing Technologies (a fantastic IT company, by the way!). It would be very tempting to just say “Scott is great, give him a call!” and maybe give him Scott’s phone number. However, I would want to take it a step further. I would capture an action that says “Do an email introduction between Scott Sells and Bob Smith. Bob is having virus problems on his server.” I might write this down on my todo list or call Jott to speak a note to myself. Now I can forget about it and go on about my day.

Later, when I am reviewing my todo list, I can look at this note and take the time to craft an articulate email introduction between Scott and Bob. I would start off talking about Scott’s credentials and why I trust him. Then, since I gave myself a specific need in the note, I could also write about a specific example in which Scott helped someone else with the exact same problem. I could send a link to Scott’s website. This personalizes the referral and makes it that much stronger.

By capturing referral opportunities as todo items like any other action, I ensure that I don’t miss opportunities to help my referral partners. It also gives me time to properly process and craft high-quality referrals because I am not rushed or distracted.

Whatever your system is, be sure you are using it to capture referral opportunities. Your network will thank you and your credibility and influence will increase.

Filed Under: Marketing, Productivity Tagged With: , , ,
April 28, 2009 By 1 Comment

B2C Company Using Social Media? Follow the Lead of Eventful Florals.

I love seeing our clients do creative things using social media. I noticed Eventful Florals doing something interesting recently that I thought was a great idea. They are offering a 10% discount to anyone who becomes a fan of Eventful Florals on Facebook. This is great because their customers feel great about getting a special deal, while Eventful Florals now has a growing list of permission-based contacts who have opted in to receiving updates via the fan page.

Additionally, Eventful Florals is distributing “daily tips for the modern bride” via Twitter, which is also awesome. Brides-to-be will follow to get wedding planning tips (very valuable info) and Eventful Florals gains a captive audience of potential customers. The updates are also posted to the fan page.

Kudos to Eventful Florals for being innovative and using social media to build value and grow brand awareness with permission marketing.

Oh, and they have a nice web site, too :-)

Filed Under: Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,
April 8, 2009 By 1 Comment

Symmergy Clinic Web Site Launched: Need Chiropractic or Electro-acupuncture?

At SpinWeb, we recently lauched the new web site for the Symmergy Clinic. Dr. Ken Golden opened this clinic a few years ago and I must say it is one of the most awesome medical offices I have ever been in. The interior design is modern, high-tech, and very cool. Various genres of music play throughout the office each time I visit, including jazz, classical, and other ambient blends. The technology is very slick and overall, it feels less like a traditional yucky doctor’s office and more like the sick bay of the Starship Enterprise.

Aside from all that, Dr. Golden is a great chiropractor who uses a blend of traditional chiropractic and electro-acupuncture to treat all sorts of conditions. He did wonders for my tennis elbow.

The new web site allows Dr. Golden to distribute an email newsletter containing health and wellness tips, publish articles to a blog, and post a calendar of seminars complete with online registration.

It’s great to see a local Indianapolis chiropractor embracing the web to grow his practice and provide more value for his patients. Check out the Symmergy Clinic at:

http://www.symmergy.com

Filed Under: Design, Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , ,
March 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Do People Really Still Cold Call?

I had a somewhat annoying experience today that made me pause and scratch my head. A sales person came into our office today unannounced and said she was “our neighbor” from a chiropractor’s office nearby. She was offering “90% off” a massage at their office and wanted to talk to everyone in our office to offer them this great deal. At first, I politely said that sure, I would be happy to ask around and told her to feel free to leave some brochures. She then proceeded to tell me that she couldn’t leave the brochures with us because it was a special offer that had to be an immediate commitment. She then described in rapid-fire detail this complicated process of getting a special code and calling some special number and then writing the code on the brochure and jumping through a few more hoops before actually getting the massage. At this point I was completely confused and getting annoyed.

When I told her that everyone else was at lunch, she seemed irritated and said “well, if we have any left, I’ll try to stop back by later.” She then walked out and I breathed a sigh of relief that the ordeal was over. Did she really think that this was the way to get new clients? She walked in unannounced and interrupted my day, talked at me rather than with me, had a wildly complex sales process for what should have been a simple transaction, tried to pressure me into a sale, and used a classic “you’re missing out” closing line. In all, it was a huge fail. I felt like I was at the receiving end of a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman from 1950.

Here are a few ideas that this chiropractor could have used to build a client base that doesn’t involve annoying, antiquated sales techniques:

  1. Publish a great email newsletter. A bi-weekly email newsletter that contains useful health tips is likely to be forwarded to friends and will create referrals through authority and peer endorsement.
  2. Utilize Google AdWords. Personal services are well-positioned to take advantage of targeted local Google search campaigns to locate and draw in prospective patients who are ready to engage.
  3. Utilize social media. By creating a Facebook Fan page, a LinkedIn profile, and a Twitter account, chiropractors can distribute health tips and educational material to their networks and establish credibility as a health expert. This leads to warm referrals.
  4. Network. Join a BNI chapter or another local networking group. Building a network of referral partners leads to strong referrals based on trust.
  5. Offer seminars. By speaking on health-related topics, chiropractors can position themselves as leaders in their respective fields and can gain an audience of prospective patients through educational seminars. Public speaking helps strengthen your personal brand and reputation.

The difference in these techniques is that they create leads that are based on desire and trust. I would much rather work with someone who actually wants to work with me and is ready to engage. It’s 2009… there are much better ways to build your business than high-pressure cold calling.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: ,
March 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Network of Women in Business Embraces Smart Online Tools

Today, SpinWeb launched a shiny new web site for the Network of Women in Business, also known as NOWIB. The site is located at www.nowib.com. I am thrilled to talk about this client because it was such a pleasure to create this site. The team at NOWIB was great to work with and everyone was always respectful and helpful the whole process truly felt like teamwork.

It’s also very exciting to see a networking organization like NOWIB really take advantage of our tools in a really smart way. For example, NOWIB is using the Membership module to store, manage, and bill members. This allows members to log into the web site and manage profile information, as well as pay bills online. It allows NOWIB to set up paperless recurring billing for members which saves huge amounts of time. They are also using the Events module for online registration, as well as Email Marketing for a great email newsletter. The NOWIB saw the tools that we recommended and embraced the technology to really take the organization to the next level.

The great new design was also fun to do! The new look and feel is cleaner and easier to navigate and helps NOWIB project a much more credible image to prospective members.

We at SpinWeb are grateful for the opportunity to work with NOWIB and I am very happy to see the new site online. Thanks, NOWIB!

Filed Under: Design, Marketing, Productivity, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,
February 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Stop Blasting Out Emails Via Your Chamber Mailing List

Ok, I know I’m somewhat of an idealist here but it really bothers me when I get added to 50 different email lists simply because I joined the Indianapolis Chamber. I realize that as a member, one benefit is that I have access to other members’ contact information and they have access to mine. However, just because you have my email address does NOT mean that I have asked to be on your email list.

I get press releases, poorly-designed newsletters, product promos, and all sorts of messages from companies that I’ve never heard of or have no relationship with. And guess what? Since they’ve spammed me repeatedly, I now have no desire to ever work with them. Many of these newsletters don’t even offer a way for me to unsubscribe!

This is a very impolite and dangerous practice. Spamming a large group of people who have not given you permission is a great way to get your email server blacklisted after enough people flag your message as spam in their email applications.

Try building a permission-based list instead. Invite people to sign up via your web site. Become active in social media. Mention your newsletter as you network. All these activities build a strong permission-based list.

And while you’re at it, make sure your newsletter is interesting and useful!

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