Don’t sweat the small stuff…
Do You Need a Blogging Schedule?
2008
The fact is that because of lack of time, commitment, or a good strategy, the majority of blogs fail. Maybe FAIL is too strong a word because most blogs don’t have a real goal in the first place. However, as a business strategy, blogs do have a purpose… to generate leads that turn into quality customers. If a prospect finds an abandoned blog, (either through a forgotten link on the company’s web site or a search engine result) they’re left with a negative impression of the company.
Don’t let this happen. A blog is a terrible thing to waste. It does take time and commitment, but with a plan in place, your blog will increase your search engine visibility, establish your credibility, and provide more online leads than you can handle.
Here’s a regimented workout that will help jumpstart a new or stalled business blog and prevent your company from being just another amateur in the blogosphere. (Please consult your physician before beginning any new activity regimen, and always remember to stretch prior to the exercise and breathe throughout.)
Write 3 Posts a Week: Once your blog has an established readership you may be able to cut back your frequency, but to begin you should plan on writing three times a week. Schedule recurring blocks of time in your calendar with no distractions. While I have worked up to writing Monday through Friday each week, the most important aspect of writing is consistency… quality of production over a quick blast of effort and then a dead blog.
Posts can be of varying lengths and styles, but I respectfully suggest that brevity is a virtue for a reason. Numbered lists, how-tos, and commentary on your customers’ industries are proven topic winners.
Blog Popular Search Terms: Blog search engines like Icerocket and Technorati often display the most popular current search terms. If you can work a popular topic into a new post you place your blog in front of thousands of potential new readers. Just make sure the topic is relevant to your business. While more visitors are nice, the goal here is to get “viable” prospects reading your blog.
Make it Easy for People to Subscribe and Share: Blogs that don’t offer an RSS feed, or those who relegate it to some little dusty corner of the bottom of the web page, are pointless. One of a blog’s biggest strengths is its ability to syndicate content. People can subscribe and receive new posts to their email whether or not they’re on your blog or not. Feedburner and Feedblitz are two services you can integrate into your blog that allows visitors to subscribe via RSS feed or email.
In a nutshell, an abandoned blog is a black eye for any business. A regularly updated, narrowly focused blog is a powerful magnet for search engines, new business leads, and journalists looking to speak with an industry expert. By dedicating the time necessary to building a strong blog, you’ll have your investment returned to you a hundred times over in search engine visibility, new prospects and lower customer acquisition costs.
Email Subject Lines: 10 Rules to Write them Right, Part 2
2008
And, the final five are:
6. URGENCY DRIVES ACTION: Set a deadline: “Order by midnight tonight;” “Last day to ensure Christmas delivery.” Use urgency and deadlines as part of a planned series of emails as well. For example, on Monday incorporate “5 Days Left…” and then on Thursday follow it with “Only 24 Hours…”.
7. “FREE” IS NOT EVIL: Yes, you can use “free” in a subject line. Just don’t make “free” the first word, use it in conjection with an exclamation point, or spell it in all caps because you could get caught by spam filters. People still respond to “free” so the increase in orders or other actions almost always outweighs the messages lost from filtering.
8. LEAD, BUT DON’T MISLEAD: Don’t stretch the truth in the subject line or promise more than the email can deliver or make grand claims that readers will find hard to comply with in order to get a special offer or benefit. Readers will distrust you if your subject line doesn’t reflect the email’s content.
9. CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION: Sending email more frequently than monthly or quarterly helps you create a conversation with your readers. Your tracking reports should show you what their crucial or hot-button issues are, what kinds of topics get them opening and clicking more vigorously. Feature those keywords or issues prominently in the subject where appropriate- first or second position- to capture readers’ attention.
10. CAN YOU PASS THE MUST-OPEN / MUST-READ TEST? The days when people opened absolutely everything that landed in their inboxes are long gone. Now, you have to intrigue them. Appeal to their need for information, to be an insider who is “in the know.” Go back to Rule 9. If you have created a conversation with your readers, a reference to it in your subject will intrigue them into opening your email to see the next installment.
CONCLUSION: Much to Learn… Much at Stake. Yes, this seems like a lot of fuss over 50 little characters. But, those 50 characters may have a significant impact on you email’s success. Therefore, it pays to get them right.
CRM and eCommerce, Part 3
2008
EMPOWER YOUR AGENTS AND CUSTOMERS WITH KNOWLEDGE: Contact center agents struggle to keep up with their companies’ offerings due to increased product proliferation and business consolidation. Ever-changing processes and government regulations add to this challenge. Businesses must arm agents with knowledge guided interactive processes that are flexible and help them improve first contact resolution.
- Provide flexible access methods such as dynamic FAQs, search, browse, guided interactions, and chatbot interfaces to maximize user adoption and ROI. A broad set of access methods makes it easy for agents and customers to find information based on their own preferences, experience level, problem type, and stage in the customer lifecycle. All the while, these methods also reduce escalations and improve agent and customer experience.
- Do not ignore ongoing content maintenance. Automating content performance management tasks will help sustain content relevance, while increasing customer knowledge and encouraging self service.
Where Do Great Ideas Come From?
2008
To hear some of the Inc. 500 tell it, it’s not from books or market research; it’s from keeping your eyes, ears, and mind open to new ways of doing things.
Back in the mid 1980s, whenever Mike Pratt hit his Salt Lake City health club, he started his workout by wrestling a too-big gym bag into a too-small locker. One day Pratt — a high school graduate working as a car salesman — pried out his bag, drove home, and headed for the drafting table he had acquired to support his design hobby.
Using cardboard, scissors, and tape, the 24-year-old athlete created the model for his dream duffel. He shaped the rectangular bag not only so that it would slide into a standard gym storage unit — measurements he’d obtained that same day by calling several manufacturers — but so that it would easily hold shoes, a water bottle, and toiletries. And unlike most soft-sided bags, Pratt’s prototype surrounded a durable rigid frame that made it easier to access the bag’s contents.
That wasn’t Pratt’s first invention. At 19 he’d designed a cup holder for use in cars and, thanks to a tip from a local businessman, arranged to have it manufactured in Macao. Five years later Pratt again looked to Asia and, based on a recommendation from another entrepreneur, contracted with a factory in Taiwan that he still uses to manufacture his bags.
Back in the States, many retailers were skeptical about Pratt’s Original Locker Bag. “Who’s going to want to carry around a box?” one asked. But Foot Locker agreed to take a batch on consignment; after selling 50 bags in a single weekend, the sporting-goods chain ordered more. Sales soared as Nordstrom and other retailers followed suit. In 1987, Pratt officially launched his company, Ogio International. (The name, pronounced OH-gee-oh, sounds catchy but, Pratt says, means absolutely nothing.) The following year, Pratt recalls, “we had $8.5 million in sales for one bag in three colors.”
These days Ogio employs almost 100 people at a 90,000-square-foot distribution center about 25 miles south of downtown Salt Lake City, plus an international sales force. The company, which had 2001 revenues of more than $47 million, still makes gym bags but now manufactures backpacks and golf bags as well. Pratt, now 41 and the father of four, still works out and, like many of his employees, sky dives, hang glides, and rides snowmobiles. “We’re kind of an extreme company,” he says.
57 % of the Inc 500 CEOs surveyed got the original idea for their business by spotting an opportunity in the industry they worked in.