Former Blog of Eric S. Townsend » free business intelligence

Hard Sell Websites Turn Away Prospects

etownsend — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:04:04 +0000

when you place an animated assistant or other prompt at your website to push someone towards a sale, you risk turning away prospects. imagine you’re at a store. salesperson asks “can i help you?” — and you say “i’m just looking” and move on. pop-ups informing prospects that you know they’re “just browsing” but that you’re “also available to help” demean customers and sell too hard. trust your product. communicate confidence — not fear of inadequacy. customers won through hard sell are rarely as loyal and certain of their purchases as those allowed to buy on their own.

Website Conformity Recalls Auto Market

etownsend — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:01:39 +0000

over the last decade, the world has become “smaller” thanks to the internet. with this, it’s no surprise that its gateways (websites) have also narrowed in form and function. compare with automobiles. chassis’ vary slightly within families of vehicle, but each family is perfectly suited to its audience. same with websites — portfolio, magazine, shop, etc. as with cars, there’s room for innovation in the shared features (wheels, dashboard, seating, etc). same with websites — main banner, sidebar, footer, etc. per main features and share, subscribe, social media, and more.

Bolster Expertise and Credibility with LinkedIn

etownsend — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:21:17 +0000

are you among the 27 million with a profile at linkedin.com? if you’re not, then you should be! forget over-investing in twitter and most other social media websites. time is limited. few websites help to reinforce your expertise and build credibility better than linkedin. here are 10 reasons why: 1. easy way to convey a one-page snapshot of your credentials; 2. recommendations area shows how others value your work — and are written/submitted by the referral (not created by the beneficiary and green-lighted by the referral); 3. your recommendations of others show what you value in others; 4. sync with your blog to broadcast latest posts; 5. higher value linkback(s) to three of your website(s), given linkedin’s solid page rank; 6. each link can include a descriptive tag that boosts seo value; 7. visitors stay an average of 7.3 minutes; 8. “visitors of this profile also visited…” functionality provides a glimpse into visitors’ intentions; 9. groups provide an insight into your interests — and feeds deliver poignant topics by email that keep you on your feet; 10. ability to embed animated presentations of your work.

New York Times Educates on Google Tools

etownsend — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:52:57 +0000

when you’re in the business of providing complex marketing like search engine optimization (seo), it’s easy to overlook the basics — like the fact that many people don’t know even the baseline tricks that google has to offer. thanks to lelei lelaulu for pointing me towards a new york times article that shows off google’s many bells and whistles. if you’re a google newbie or someone who hasn’t fully explored what it can do, then hit the above link!

“An Educated Consumer is Our Best Customer”

etownsend — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:57:18 +0000

i’m not saying you should teach consumers every last detail of your expertise. i’m asking that you be more generous with your knowledge. take the time to show what you know, how you can help, how to avoid a more serious problem than he/she already has, etc. sometimes, this will take the form of free tips for how to resolve problems without your intervention. i know, it may sound counter-intuitive, even a little crazy — but it’s all in how you view your time and expertise! you want consumers who know they have a problem, who have exhausted patchwork solutions or procrastination and who now know that it takes a real expert to save the day. you want consumers who place a high value on your time, talent and offering. a department store chain named syms once sloganed that “an educated consumer is our best customer” — and they are right. a good example of this is a recent “free pre-inspection kit” i provided for a home improvement contractor. featured are topic after helpful topic and many free tips. i even invite the consumer to inspect the problem for his/herself and provide a checklist to aid in the process. those who schedule an appointment behind this kit are educated and ready to fix their problem.

Search Engine Minimization

etownsend — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:31:20 +0000

my phone is blowing up with folks wanting more visitors at their websites. there are a few things to consider as the catch-all “seo” leaves your tongue. 1) everyone wants more online visitors, which makes the marketplace very competitive, which means it’s not silver bullet marketing; 2) the best in seo simply gets you “on the grid” — which means people will find you somewhere along the results returned by google but not in the top 5 positions where over 75% of traffic gravitates; 3) seo can only succeed where real research in engaged — meaning that it takes a smart, intuitive marketer to navigate google data, to separate the real opportunities from millions of searches and to leverage that knowledge for results at your website; 4) seo means search engine optimization, which is misleading — it should be “search engine minimization” since it’s the least you can do for your website to get into the game (too many think it’s ALL they need to do); 5) the real difference is made with search engine marketing (sem) where you commit a budget to an ongoing campaign of measures that raise your optimized website in the rankings. a pro can prioritize which measures bring the greatest return in the near-term.

“Saving” Today Can Cost You Tomorrow

etownsend — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:25:50 +0000

to my small business comrades, it’s time to get real. in fact, to all business owners — listen up! there’s a mantra that i’m asking you to internalize. “saving” today can cost you tomorrow. going d.i.y. almost always costs more than paying specialized experts. there are things you do well and others that you do not. know your limits. understand the risks of under-investing. procrastinating and/or slapping a patch to a problem invites damages to mount or compound. relying on your own perspective, ideas and knowledge of the market can cause you to appear amateur and/or miss opportunities — often by a substantial margin. business leaders often struggle to fully understand consumers. it’s a common trap that prevents what’s possible from being realized. don’t fall into it!

Commercial Speaks to Simplicity, Potential

etownsend — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:49:46 +0000

caught a great commercial today from ameriprise financial. it’s rare that a commercial connects with me in any meaningful way. this one was different. there is a simple, lucid and calming tone — and an acknowledgment that fear prevents dreams from happening.

Authority Marketing

etownsend — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:42:50 +0000

i’m not talking about promoting your local police organization here. authority marketing is walking the walk. marketing without authority is blowing hot air. so, how do you achieve authority? research. writing. publishing. relevance. credibility. consistency. 1) research — don’t jump to conclusions on efforts…circle the subject, learn something new every day, then proceed; 2) writing — putting words to paper helps to form, anchor and mature thoughts; 3) publishing — blogging, article marketing and more put your authority to the test by interacting with audiences and forcing you to defend your ideas and knowledge; 4) relevance — much like the factors that google uses to rank websites, make sure what you’re saying and doing has momentum, is in the news, has significant interest, etc; 5) credibility — search for consensus (especially pros who also speak on your subject matter) and pursue third party endorsements (testimonials, panel invites, etc); 6) consistency — stay on subject(s) for a prolonged period of time (establish longevity, focus, commitment, passion, etc), though it’s not necessary to hold the same perspective(s) and opinions (showing a progression in thought is positive in that it communicates consideration, balance, flexibility, humility, maturity, etc).

Fear Can Lead to Terrible Consequences

etownsend — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:01:21 +0000

just overheard an interesting byte on fear via espn sportscenter. the father of the fallen georgian luger revealed today that his son was overcome by fear upon arriving at the olympic course at whistler that would later claim his life. specifically, he was terrified of the turn where he would eventually lose control of his sled. not sure about you, but this theme comes up consistently over the course of my week — though with far lesser consequences. where you allow fear to take hold, you become unfocused and commit less to the task at hand. the prospects for failure increase significantly. for most of us, what’s at stake is our emotional or financial state of being. we can recover from these. for some, fear’s consequence is far more profound and final.