Marsha Collier

Parallels Cloud Summit INFOGRAPHIC of Tweets

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:43:00 -0800

via mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com

The Creatve minds at Banyan Branch designed this amazing Tweet cloud of my Twitter followers who tweeted during my keynote at the Summit. Pretty interesting!

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Celebrating and Remembering Presidents: Their Contributions to Technology, Innovation

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:29:00 -0800

George Washington 1789-1797

The first president of the United States has been credited as being the “inventor” of our nation. On April, 1790, President Washington signed the bill (U.S. Constitution Article 1, Section 8) that laid the foundations for the modern American patent system. The U.S. patent system was unique in that for the first time in history the intrinsic right of an inventor to profit from their invention was recognized by law.

Later in 1790, Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont was granted the first U.S. patent, for an improvement in the making of potash, a plant byproduct used in the making of soap. The reviewer of this patent was Thomas Jefferson, the then Secretary of State and himself an inventor, Jefferson next passed the document to the Secretary of War for his review and then obtained signatures from the Attorney General and, finally, from President Washington.

The Patent office had issued nearly 10,000 patents by December of 1836 when a fire destroyed many of the original records.

President’s Day originally celebrated Washington’s birthday. So, we join American inventors in wishing President Washington a Happy Birthday and thanking him for the foundation of the nation’s innovation and technology leadership.

"Congress shall have the power...to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." - U.S. Constitution Article 1. Section 8.

Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809

President Jefferson is by far the most inventive leader this nation has ever voted in office. He wrote the Declaration of Independence, founded the University of Virginia, and he’s credited with having created and improving dozens of inventions.

"The fact is, that one new idea leads to another, that to a third, and so on through a course of time until someone, with whom no one of these ideas was original, combines all together, and produces what is justly called a new invention." -Thomas Jefferson

A few of his inventions are as follows: personal plow, macaroni machine, portable desk, a dumbwaiter for wine bottles; a polygraph machine that enabled him to make exact copies of letters as he was writing them; Venetian blinds, an achromatic telescope, the Great Clock, hideaway bed, the pedometer, a revolving bookstand, spherical sundial, an improved swivel chair, the wheel cipher .

During his presidency innovations such as the battery, gas lighting, the first steam-powered locomotive and the first electric light were invented. President Jefferson’s contribution to thought, invention and technology is its own study and is strongly encouraged.

Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865

While much of President Lincoln’s time in office was spent in a time of Civil War, for most technologists, he’s known as the only U.S. president to hold a patent. Patent number 6469 was issued to President Lincoln in 1849 for his “floating drydock” for a “manner of buoying vessels” and which was never manufactured.

Lincoln called the development of patent laws one of the most important developments "in the world's history." He thought it "added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius."

The American railroad was by far the greatest innovation and technology of the time Lincoln served as president. The railroad combined with a “small” invention, the tin can, with key opener, maybe had the most profound advancement for American society. The two technologies enabled food to be preserved and shipped far distances. This helped the expansion west. In addition, there were many technological advancements in weaponry during his time in office like the machine gun, dynamite and the torpedo.

Other key technologies developed during Lincoln’s presidency were the elevator, the cotton gin, the telegraph, the bicycle, the lock, new surgical instruments and procedures including using antiseptic, the coffee percolator, refined sugar, the chronograph, plastic and the first gas auto engine.

Teddy Roosevelt 1901-1909

Theodore Roosevelt is best known for his innovation in public policy and diplomacy, but his curiosity and determination left quite a mark on the United States. He coined the name, The White House. He was the first US president to ride in a car, to own a car and to ride in an airplane.

The turn of the century brought many innovations and technology achievements that still shape America’s culture. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, the radio receiver, sonar, the electronic amplifying tube (a precursor to the television), color photography, the helicopter, windshield wipers, the Model T, and maybe most importantly, instant coffee.

President Roosevelt’s plan to build the Panama Canal enable America to conduct commerce on both coasts and defined his contributions to American policy. While President Roosevelt “spoke softly and carried a big stick”, it was his softness during a hunting trip that left a lasting impression on every young American. While on a hunting trip Pres. Roosevelt couldn’t “bear” to shoot a black bear cub that was provided for him. After a cartoonist depicted the satirical scene, a Brooklyn toy store owner created a stuffed bear. With Theodore Roosevelt’s permission, the bear was named “Teddy” and the cute, loveable Teddy Bear took its place in American homes and hearts.

This President's Day Trivia is a guest post by Matt Ceniceros PR Director, Applied Materials

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Facts About eBay and E-commerce You Probably Didn't Know: I Won it on eBay [Infographic}

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:10:00 -0800

via blog.hunch.com

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5 Ways For Your Customers to Find You Online: Dominate Local Search

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:07:00 -0800

If you are a business owner that would like to dominate local search, there are some items of importance you’ll want to consider. A lot of the local search results in many areas have undergone a complete overhaul within the search engine results pages or (SERPS). These changes have happened across the board with all major search engines. So in this post, you will discover 5 ways to dominate local search, and do it in a way that is extremely effective in capturing new and relevant targeted traffic.

1.)    Google Places listing

Claim your Google Places listing and make sure it is completely optimized. Setting up this listing is not difficult; however, to optimize your Google Places listing may prove to be a bit more difficult. You may want to hire a professional service to make sure your listing is optimized for your local area, which in turn will bring more targeted traffic.

2.)    Local business directories

Submitting your business information to local directories is extremely important. You will want to submit your information to places like LinkedIn, Google, Yahoo, Yelp, Local.com, Yellowbook, Yellowpages, and Merchant Circle, as well as a variety of others. The more listings you have, the better it will be for total domination.

3.)    Article marketing that targets local keywords

Article marketing is very effective, but using it for the local search domination will require a few tweaks. You will need to target a few specific local keywords in order for your articles to drive traffic to that respective area. City names, local business names, local addresses, local phone numbers, or anything local will help your articles get seen by local searches. Make sure you have relevant links in your articles that point back to your web presence.

4.)    Use local phone numbers

Many do not realize but this is a powerful tool when it comes to local search domination. Instead of using phone numbers such as 800, 866, 877, or the like, use local numbers. Use the area code for your local area because many people will search businesses by the local area code.

5.)    Citation gathering

When people talk about your business on the web, Google considers this a citation. When many of these citations are found, they tell Google that your web presence has become popular, which translates into indexing your site higher in the rankings. Social networking sites, bookmarks, groups, and forums are all ways to create citations and these will help with total domination.

Using the 5 ways to dominate local search will help your business with exposure, visibility, and getting targeted traffic to your web presence.

via virtualsocialmedia.com

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Facebook Files S-1 for $5 Billion IPO - Know the risks (revealing stats & revenue)

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:30:00 -0800

Brian Solis is updating as this plays out with deeper analysis and links…

Just a few moments ago, Facebook officially filed an S-1 for an initial public offering seeking to raise $5 billion. Here are a few key findings…

- 845 million monthly active users, year over year growth of 39%

- 483 million daily active users as of December, year over year growth of 48%

- 425 million monthly mobile users

- 100 billion friend connections as of December 31, 2011

- 2.7 billion Likes and comments per day during the last quarter of 2011

- $1 billion in profits in 2011

- $3.7 billion in revenues in 2011, soaring 88% between 2010 – 2011

- Profits grew 65% from $606 million in 2010

- Zynga makes up 12% of overall Facebook revenue

More data available at SEC.gov.

For press seeking analyst commentary, please contact Altimeter Group at 650-212-2282 or via email.

UPDATE 1: The Hacker Way

Really appreciate the culture of Facebook as mentioned in the S-1 under the heading “The Hacker Way.” Here’s an excerpt:

The Hacker Way

As part of building a strong company, we work hard at making Facebook the best place for great people to have a big impact on the world and learn from other great people. We have cultivated a unique culture and management approach that we call the Hacker Way.

The word “hacker” has an unfairly negative connotation from being portrayed in the media as people who break into computers. In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad, but the vast majority of hackers I’ve met tend to be idealistic people who want to have a positive impact on the world.

The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it — often in the face of people who say it’s impossible or are content with the status quo.

Hackers try to build the best services over the long term by quickly releasing and learning from smaller iterations rather than trying to get everything right all at once. To support this, we have built a testing framework that at any given time can try out thousands of versions of Facebook. We have the words “Done is better than perfect” painted on our walls to remind ourselves to always keep shipping.

Hacking is also an inherently hands-on and active discipline. Instead of debating for days whether a new idea is possible or what the best way to build something is, hackers would rather just prototype something and see what works. There’s a hacker mantra that you’ll hear a lot around Facebook offices: “Code wins arguments.”

Hacker culture is also extremely open and meritocratic. Hackers believe that the best idea and implementation should always win — not the person who is best at lobbying for an idea or the person who manages the most people.

UPDATE 2: Risks

As a matter of disclosure, Facebook must release risks to caution investors against buying blindly. Here is the full list as pulled from the S-1. I share it here with you to learn from Facebook’s diligence in constant innovation or as they say “shipping.” It’s a healthy form of inspiration to always compete for the moment and for relevance over time.

1. users increasingly engage with competing products;

2. we fail to introduce new and improved products or if we introduce new products or services that are not favorably received;

3. we are unable to successfully balance our efforts to provide a compelling user experience with the decisions we make with respect to the frequency, prominence, and size of ads and other commercial content that we display;

4. we are unable to continue to develop products for mobile devices that users find engaging, that work with a variety of mobile operating systems and networks, and that achieve a high level of market acceptance;

5. there are changes in user sentiment about the quality or usefulness of our products or concerns related to privacy and sharing, safety, security, or other factors;

6. we are unable to manage and prioritize information to ensure users are presented with content that is interesting, useful, and relevant to them;

7. there are adverse changes in our products that are mandated by legislation, regulatory authorities, or litigation, including settlements or consent decrees;

8. technical or other problems prevent us from delivering our products in a rapid and reliable manner or otherwise affect the user experience;

9. we adopt policies or procedures related to areas such as sharing or user data that are perceived negatively by our users or the general public;

10. we fail to provide adequate customer service to users, developers, or advertisers;

11. we, our Platform developers, or other companies in our industry are the subject of adverse media reports or other negative publicity; or

12. our current or future products, such as the Facebook Platform, reduce user activity on Facebook by making it easier for our users to interact and share on third-party websites.

via briansolis.com

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9 Super Insider Secrets of Puppy Bowl VIII +Kitten Half-Time Video

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:15:00 -0800

On the heels of my last post about the Puppy Bowl - thought you'd like to see a preview of half-time!

Featuring fan favorites like the Water Bowl Cam, tail-gating fans, and the Ice Breakers blimp, this year's big game is sure to be a tail-wagger.

Fifty-eight canine athletes will face off in a miniature stadium filled with chew toys, water bowls and mini footballs.
Puppy Bowl competitors are no more than 10 weeks old (but what they lack in experience, they make up for in enthusiasm) and are rescues. According to the International Business Times most have been adopted by the time the show airs.
Live tweeting the play-by-play action for this years Puppy Bowl will be @MeepTheBird.
The ever-popular Kitty Half-Time show is back with 20 kittens dancing and playing with lights, laser pens, balls of yarn, a scratching posts and more.
Hamming it up will be 5 piglet cheerleaders: the "Piggy Pep Squad".
The infamous hamster crew will fly over the Puppy Bowl in a Goodyear-style blimp to get the best live-action shots.
The show is filmed in a mini stadium that is 19 feet long and 10 feet wide.
It takes about 3 three days to film and generates over 50 hours of unedited footage. Almost 30 staffers produce the show.
Unlike the Super Bowl XLVI, the Puppy Bowl will not be live. It is filmed in advance a few months prior to airing.

Don't miss it! Tune in Sunday, Feb. 5, beginning at 3 PM E/P! Visit the Puppy Bowl site for more breaking news!

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Keynote: "Online Strategies for Improving Marketing & Customer Service" (Free Reg code)!

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:15:00 -0800

If you’re interested in launching or building your business in the hot cloud and web hosting space, or just want to learn more about the cloud, you can’t afford to miss Parallels Summit 2012, February 14-16 in Orlando. Parallels Summit will feature cloud industry leaders and successful service providers, addressing how not to get left behind the cloud, and how you can profit from the explosive growth of cloud services for small and medium businesses.

I'm honored and excited to be presenting a keynote entitled “Online Strategies for Improving your Marketing and Customer Service.” All attendees at Parallels Summit 2012 will receive a copy of my latest book, “The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide: How to Connect with Your Customers to Sell More!”

Guy Kawasaki, the foremost authority on technology adoption, was the original chief evangelist at Apple. In his second act, Kawasaki’s excelled at being a serial entrepreneur and networker, social media guru, best-selling author and featured columnist for American Express OPEN Forum for small business on his blog, Powering Small Business Success. In his keynote, Kawasaki will share insights from his life experiences on how to tap into the potential of customer “Enchantment” — the Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions, as chronicled in his recent book of the same title. Regardless of your company’s size or how you deliver services, Kawasaki will explore why enchanting your customers is the key for service providers (or any entrepreneur) to build a business — it’s the path to differentiate yourself in the marketplace as you earn likability and trustworthiness.

Tiffani Bova, Vice President, Gartner Research, is a 15-year IT veteran, who cover IT Sales and Channel Strategies. Bova's area of specialization includes the development of comprehensive indirect channel programs, the impact of alternative models on the traditional channel, and trends in IT distribution. Bova will provide insight for channel partners and the requirements they need and should expect from their vendor partners to be successful in today's market in her keynote session, “The Role of Cloud Services Marketplaces in Your Value Chain Strategy.”

For more info and to register, go to : www.parallels .com/summit/2012 and use the code #NU3MC2for your free registration.

See you there!

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Puppy Bowl VIII vs Super Bowl - What's your choice?

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:27:00 -0800

If the best part of the Super Bowl for you is watching the commercials - you might find more amusing entertainment over at Animal Planet. February 5th - 3 pm E-P

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HTTP vs HTTPS and How it Affects Your Online Security

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:51:00 -0800

Those of you who have shopped online, use online banking, or have used Facebook may have see a padlock icon appear in your address bar, and may have noticed the address bar has turned green. This happens when your browser is using a secure or safe connection (HTTPS) to communicate with whatever site you are on. Whats the difference?

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol and its used for a majority of websites. Its safe and secure for your day to day browsing like surfing the web, reading blogs, checking your on your favorite sports team or watching videos. The extra “S” in HTTPS stands for “secure” and websites that use HTTPS want to ensure that the information you enter on their site remains private.

Tips and Hints:

HTTPS should always be used when entering credit card, or financial information.

HHTPS should be used when you are saving a passwords or entering personal information like your name, address, telephone number…etc

HTTPS webpages might take a little longer to load, but the safety is worth it

Just because your on a site that uses HTTPS, doesn’t mean their links or applications do (Be wary of your social media apps!)

Share these tips and hints, protect your family and friends!

For more internet safety tips you can visit: www.uknowkids.com/communityprogram

via uknowkids.com

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Get Free Yowza Location Based Coupon App & Discount for Stores

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:10:00 -0800

I'm a fervent user of all things tech and mobile. While I was at CES I learned about (and downloaded) a new free app, Yowza! It's the brainchild of actor Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Felicity and Alias). It allows you to connect with shoppers in your area and let them know about your best deals via mobile coupons. Also, sweet analytics show you how your offers are doing!

This app is an inexpensive way for small business to get a hold on the mobile market. Here's a deal for my readers, use the coupon code CES2012 at their site and you get 2 free months for your brick and mortar store's coupon offers - and then $79 a month for the first year. Sweet.

* I have no involvement in this company whatsoever - just think it's worthwile

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Make Your Online Sales Grow: Build Your Brand on eBay - new For Dummies!

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:20:00 -0800

The latest (seventh) edition of 'eBay For Dummies" just came out for 2012. In this video, discuss how to make your listings stand out from the others and building your brand on eBay!

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5 Website Resolutions to Put on Your List for 2012

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:00:00 -0800

By Shashi Bellamkonda

We’re in the New Year and the time for making resolutions about health, wealth, family and oddball bucket lists. Don’t forget about making resolutions about your online presence as well. Your website 2012 resolutions should include content, communications, community, conversations and conversion. The secret of successful small business owners is that they spend more time “on the business” than “in the business.” One of the tools for spending on your business is your web presence.Small businesses are great at customer service and realize that their next customer will come from a current customer – Word of Mouth. In the digital world word of mouth is “word of mouse” a powerful tool to gain new customers. A new era of marketing is unfolding and digital marketing helps you in your objective to influence behavior to change positively towards you. The audience who need your product and services are increasingly searching for them online. It is interesting to see how the communication tools are coming together.

We hope you are convinced that even your brick and mortar business needs to be on the web. Guess what - “92% of online adults use search engines to find information on the Web” according to a May 2011 Pew Internet Survey (PDF).

Without further adieu, here are some 2012 resolutions you should include in your business list. Five “C” online resolutions for small business:

Content

Not having a website for your business is not an option anymore. A website or a blog all count as establishing your web presence.

Resolve to update it constantly. Once a day, week or even a month as long as you are consistent.

Show your thought leadership through content. Publish your thoughts on your industry, peers, products, good news about your community.

Education through content – provide tips to your customers, answer the most asked questions on your website or blog.

Fresh and updated content is a good way to ensure search engines are indexing your site often and your chances of appearing in search results will be better.

Communications

Email Marketing is still a top performing marketing channel for businesses. Embrace it and use it to flourish.

It is important for you to get email branded with your business name showing consistency and credibility.

Communicate with your customers to solve their problems with your product rather than selling your product.

If you are sending an email newsletter you should try to use software like Constant Contact, Exact Target, MailChimp or other professional tools. Many of these tools make it easy for you and also guide you to succeed in email marketing.

Establish communications with customers using popular social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. Before you decide on setting up your social profiles, asking your customers where they would like to connect with you is a good idea.

Food trucks use this medium very well to let customers know their location.

Last minute availability of appointments at doctors, saloons.

Your website should have the components of a Web 2.0 site – ability for your web visitors to comment, share your content and bookmark it.

Your blog, social media tools are all communication tools and working together with email make great marketing tools.

Community

Every business should nurture their customer communities by providing them with tools to spread word of mouth.

Customer appreciation days

Special offers for regular customers

Formal or informal meetings with customer advisory boards

Asking customers for ideas to improve products or suggest new product features

Provide easy ways to give you feedback or review your business

Face to face networking is important

Attend local events

Business networking and educational events

Set aside time and budget to attend and learn ways to increase your business

Sponsoring local community events – get involved in local community events, PTA organizations, schools , scout groups.

Cutting edge Technology

While investing in technology evaluate the benefit to your organization and avoid any impulse buys.

Upgrade your Internet speeds if you feel it will increase the speed of your customer transactions.

Get a new smartphone if you are away from your computer a lot and your business depends on emails and orders from customers through the web.

Invest in a tablet if you would like to carry an electronic portfolio to show customers.

Attend trade shows or subscribe to trade magazines to see what new technology can help make your business more efficient.

Consider having an advisory board of people you know who can advise you on new technology.

Conversion: All your resolutions should lead to your objective of growing your business.

Make sure you spend your time on activities that help your business grow.

Social tools can be distracting. Consider them as communication tools and allot enough time to nurture your communities there.

While only talking about sales in a social context is sometimes in poor taste, look for opportunities where you answer peoples questions and offer to help.

Definitely use analytics programs to see where your traffic is coming from and which keywords they are using to find your business online.

If you are a brick and mortar business like a restaurant, try to ask your customers where they found you.

Remember you don’t have to do all these tasks yourself. Weigh the time you would spend with the cost of hiring people to tell your story and concentrate on what you do best – working on your business. What did you add to your New Year business resolution?

New Year Resolutions List Photo via Shutterstock

Shashi Bellamkonda is Sr. Director of Social Media, AKA "Social Media Swami," at Network Solutions. Visit Shashi Bellamkonda's blog. He is also an adjunct faculty at Georgetown University. Shashi is a regular contributor to the Washington Business Journal, DC Examiner and other tech blogs like Smallbiztechnology and Techcocktail.

via smallbiztrends.com

Shashi is literally the "swami" of Social Media - and ecommerce. We can all learn a lot from him as technology advances. He never forgets the basics!

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Ho! Ho! Ho! Track Santa with His Crew at Norad - Merry Christmas!

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:52:00 -0800

Track Santa with me? The NORAD Tracks Santa (NTS) program has been around for a long time; since 1955 to be exact! While NORAD has the history and the necessary technology to track Santa, the NTS program spends only minimal government funds.

So, how do they do it? The NTS program is funded through generous contributions from corporate contributors. Everything from computer servers, web site design, video imaging, Santa's tracking map, and telephone services are donated.

Based on historical data and more than 50 years of NORAD tracking information, we believe that Santa Claus is alive and well in the hearts of children throughout the world. Santa Claus is known by many names, including Saint Nick. Historians claim that the history of Santa starts with the tradition of Saint Nicholas, a 4th century Christian priest who lived in the Middle East in an area of present-day Turkey who became famous for his kindness. He was known for giving gifts to the less fortunate, sprinkling gifts of gold down people's chimneys and hiding surprises in their stockings. It may be that the Santa we know today emerged from the legacy of Saint Nicholas. Clearly, Santa's basic approach to gift giving is strikingly similar. Could they be the same person? Only Santa Claus knows for sure. Virginia's letter Long before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane or the Montgolfier brothers launched the first hot air balloon, Santa had to find a way to travel from house to house at great speed. We know from our Santa cam images that Santa’s choice for quick transportation was a herd of flying reindeer. Detailed information on these reindeer remains elusive; however, we do know, that Santa enlisted the reindeer to help him with his worldwide mission of gift-giving. A veil of sweet mystery hides the rest. Virginia’s letter, written in December 1897, is the most famous example of a child wanting to know about Santa.

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50 Good Customer Service & Marketing Strategies For 2012

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:10:00 -0800

It's good to know others mirror the thoughts I've written in my books over the years. I'm not sure if Andrew had read anything I've written, but his guest post below make me feel secure that the drum I've been beating for close to a decade is being heard by someone!

This comprehensive guide on ecommerce customer service will teach you how to improve your customer service strategy without altering the structure of your business. It also helps illustrate just how much money you can make from your existing customer base with great customer service.

50 Good Ecommerce Customer Service Strategies

1. Offer a monthly product giveaway to customers that sign up for your newsletter.

2. Offer coupons to your customers for writing a seller review.

3. Add coupons & promotions in your e-mail marketing. Don't have an e-mail marketing strategy set up? You need one.

4. If possible, work to offer same day shipping for customers that need their items in a hurry.

5. Increase your call center hours to take into account extremely early and late orders.

6. Offer free return shipping for a limited time to see if that added feature builds confidence in your customers and leads to more conversions.

7. Give customers the ability to have their items sent gift wrapped, or to purchase their item with gift wrapping for them to wrap themselves.

8. Offer gift cards to your customers so they can easily share your website with others.

9. Implement live chat. Live chat can greatly decrease the number of abandoned carts at your webstore.

10. Give a coupon to each customer that signs up for your weekly newsletter.

11. Let customers apply to become a ‘product tester’ where they get your products for free in exchange for writing about them on blogs and linking back to your website.

12. Throwing a video-submission contest using your products and rewarding the winner, then use those videos for your own marketing.

13. Provide product recommendations or similar items to customers below the items they're interested in to make it easier for customers to find items that work well in sets, and to increase average order volume. Sweetwater does a great job of this:

14. Be upfront with shipping and tax costs. No one likes hidden charges.

15. Invest into your site navigation and search functions. Customers who can't find an item they're looking for quickly is one of the major causes of a high bounce rate.

16. Start a review contest. Whoever writes a review gets entered to win a drawing of $1,000. Roots Canada has a great example below:17. Create a blog where you show off your expertise about your products and interact with your customers.

18. Start a Twitter & Facebook page and promote it on site to share deals and listen to your customers.

19. Throw a Holiday-inspired contest where a winner receives a gift package or makeover of their house with your products. To be entered into your contest you can have users sign up for your newsletter or fill out a short questionnaire.

20. Display McAfee, Better Business Bureau or VeriSign secure badges.

21. Include a personable About Us page. Here’s a great example:

22. Lower shopping cart confusion. Use one of these tools for help: http://www.getelastic.com/8-quick-n-dirty-tools-to-beat-site-abandonment-this-holiday/

23. Increase your return policy time table to increase customer confidence.

24. Give coupons to customers that share their purchases on Facebook. Shopon.com provides a tool to help you do just that.

25. Display positive seller reviews and testimonials on your home page.

26. Personalize your brand beyond your About Us page with interviews and op-eds from your staff. Show off your expertise of your products.

27. Offer delivery estimates so your customers can know when to expect their order.

28. Add additional payment methods like Paypal, Google Checkout, and Amazon Checkout so your customers can checkout with ease.

29. Open a forum where your customers can talk openly about your products. You’ll be surprised by how much you can learn from them.

30. Ask for product reviews in exchange for coupons. You can then use these product reviews as valuable SEO on your website.

31. Create a ‘deal of the day’ or ‘deal of the week’ for your customers.

32. Offer a deals section to your customers. Offer quarterly or yearly clearance sales to clear out old inventory. Wetsuit Warehouse does a great job of this:33. Give your customers free samples of products for signing up to your newsletter.

34. Donate generously to a charity and promote it on your website.

35. Run a special promotion where a certain % of proceeds goes to charity.

36. Offer a ‘best sellers’ or 'popular products' section to your customers.

37. Add a coupon section to your website for easy access. You’d rather keep your customers on your website while they look for coupons instead of on Google, right? Macy's does a great job of it: http://www.macys.com/campaign/social?campaign_id=61&channel_id=138. Offer freebies / coupons for customers that share your products on social networks.

39. Reach out to bloggers with a strong community and let them write about your products. They don't even have to be in your industry – do they have a hobby that your products can service?

40. Give coupons and deals to users who invite their friends to shop at your store. Have them e-mail you a copy of their invetation for a coupon.

41. Have great phone support? Connect consumers directly to a phone representative from a search engine. More: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2120364/Phone-Through-Rate-is-new-AdWords-Ranking-Factor (Make sure to read the comments- some good insight there).

42. Include any retailer awards on your home page.

43. Host a blog-a-thon where you invite regional bloggers interested in your products to a big party where they are the theme, in exchange for a blog post. Lucky Gunner does a great job of this: http://www.luckygunner.com/2011-blogger-shoot

44. Listen to your customer and talk about it. Offer an easy ‘submit feedback’ button on your website, then talk about any changes you make that take into account customer suggestions on your website or blog.

45. If all of your products are made by people in America, show it off on your About Us and home page.

46. Offer discounts if customers buy in bulk? Let it be known, clearly!

47. Have a list of charities to donate to? Share that list on your website.

48. Offer multiple language phone support for your products? Show it off clearly on your home and product pages. Don't have multiple language phone support? Depending on your products it might make sense to add new language support to your customer service team. Talk with your current team to see approximately how many non-English speaking calls, or calls where the caller cannot speak English very well, happen.

49. List your contact info clearly, including a mailing address, on your Contact Us page. I hate it when I find retail stores that only include a customer inquiry form to fill out on those pages without any information about the company.

50. Advertise your top customer service employees on site to show off your good customer service skills and promote good customer service within your company.

via cpcstrategy.com

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Commerce of Christmas: How Much Are We Spending & Where Does it Go?

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:10:00 -0800

How do the numbers really add up? We’ve all seen the Black Friday rush and the news reports of skyrocketing Cyber Monday sales and felt the pressure to spend, spend, spend over the holidays. In this brand new infographic, It's easy to see when people shop for the holidays, where they spend their money, and perhaps most importantly of all, where on the globe is the world’s most expensive Christmas tree?

via outright.com

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12 Most Stupendous Ways to ROCK Customer Service

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:20:00 -0800

by Ted Coiné

I wrote my first book, Five-Star Customer Service, with one simple premise in mind: you don’t have to charge Ritz-Carlton prices to give Ritz-Carlton service! After all, a sincere smile costs you nothing, but that alone can build you an empire – just ask Chick Fil-A how that type of warmth is working for them as they compete for customers with McWendy King.

No matter what business you’re in, you can make Five-Star Customer Service your calling card as well. Begin with some of the “12 Quick Tips” I share with each of my Five-Star audiences.

Everyone else out there is making the same sloppy mistakes, treating their customers poorly – and setting expectations low. Follow these suggestions and lock your customers in for life.

Remember, Spoiled = Loyal. Spoil your customers with your outstanding customer service.

1. Make your company a H.I.T.

Hire for attitude. Inspire through pride. Train in skills.

In. That. Order.

Remember: you can teach job-skills to anyone with half a brain, as long as their mind is open to learning. Attitude is key. When hiring, start there or suffer the consequences.

2. “It’s not my fault, but it is my problem” – Disney

Don’t take complaints personally. …But do solve them. The buck stops with you, no matter where you land on the org chart.

3. You are always on a job interview

Who’s to say that your client’s dorky intern won’t be your biggest customer three years from now, or your next boss? Give the same unrivaled level of customer service to everyone you meet, all week long.

4. If it works for Stew…

This one is written in stone outside Stew Leonard’s, “The World’s Largest Dairy Store.” If it works for Stew… I’d at least give it a try if I were you.

Rule #1 – The customer is always right
Rule #2 – If the customer is ever wrong, reread Rule #1

Of course customers make mistakes: they’re people, too! But you’ve got to stop thinking like that, or you’ll never provide Five-Star Customer Service. If the customer wants it, your only desire should be to provide it.

5.You are never fully dressed without a smile

Down? Cranky? That’s for amateurs; your competition. Can’t smile? Call in sick.

6. Replies to “thank you”

2-star answer: “No problem.”
3-star answer: “You’re welcome.”
5-star answer: “My pleasure.”

Be the 5-star “My Pleasure” Guy… or Gal. People will love doing business with you.

7. Don’t fuss at your customer

Compare:

(A) “We aren’t really supposed to do that, but I’ll make an exception this once, as a courtesy.”
(B) “I’d be more than happy to help you with that. What else can I do for you? Really; what else?”

8. “My job is to make your job easier”

This should be the mantra of every member of your company – and no one should take it more seriously than the top brass. Leap tall buildings to make your workers’ jobs easier. Encourage them to make your customers’ jobs easier. Then buy your own island.

9. Act as if your customer’s business were your own

Always start a sale by asking yourself, “If I were in my customer’s shoes, would I really benefit from this?” Keep that attitude throughout your relationship. Serve your customer ahead of yourself; your customer will take care of you, so you won’t have to.

10. Give conservative estimates of time and money required for any project

Your clients expect projects to get off schedule and run over budget; it makes them tense, and they’ll resent you for it before you even start your work. Stun them by completing projects early and coming in under-budget. Earn residual sales and referrals.

11. President/CEO: call your clients “just to check in”

A sincere and unexpected “How are we doing?” call from #1 will blow your clients away – and that moment-of-truth experience will lock them in for life. Watch your referrals multiply, and enjoy the share of your clients’ wallets you gain as a result.

12. C.A.R.E.

Communicate. Appreciate. Respect. Encourage.

Demonstrate through your every action that you C.A.R.E., a stupendous movement started by Al Smith. And you can start by practicing The 15/5 Rule, which I spell out in my recent post on the C.A.R.E. site. I hope you check it out!

…And if customer service is your thing, I can’t recommend the #custserv twitter chat group enough. The conversation is active and awesome all week long. Every Tuesday at 9 pm Eastern (that’s New York time), dive into one of the most active, fastest chats ever! It is chock-full of authors and CEOs mixing it up with front-line CSRs and small business professionals. It’s as egalitarian as it is stupendously educational… and the friendships you build will last a lifetime!

Ted Coiné

http://www.tedcoine.com/

Ted Coiné is the business heretic at the helm of the Catalyst blog. Author and speaker, futurist, and happily-former CEO, Ted is currently writing his third book, Catalyst, about how business will be done in this exciting new century. Follow him on Twitter and join the conversation on #leadbiz.

via 12most.com

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Seniors Mastered the Art of Friending & Likes at my Microsoft / AARP Get Connected Workshop

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 12:25:00 -0800

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Mastering the art of social media - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube - is something many have conquered, but now more and more seniors are jumping on the social bandwagon as well.

For seniors "liking", commenting and defriending are foreign concepts but at AARP's Get Connected event held in Spokane Thursday, 350 seniors took the plunge to learn how to master social media.

Nancy Pritt was among those who wanted to take the plunge online. "I want to learn more, I want to get involved and do it," she said. "I'm pretty empowered about the whole thing ... I'm ready to start."

She, along with other seniors like her, are getting some help from Marsha Collier, the author of "Facebook And Twitter For Seniors For Dummies."

"It's a great way to build your life as you get older it doesn't have to get smaller it can get bigger," Collier said.

While it might be scary at first, Collier says it's time to dive in

"They just need that little extra push to get people online, stalk your children thing, I stalk my daughter all the time," she said.

A study recently found people 65 and older are the fastest growing age group in the State of Washington joining Facebook. And while Nancy Pritt might not have a Facebook account yet, she already knows the lingo.

"A comment would be I saw you on at the AARP session of Get Connected ... you look great and I'd go "like" it," she said.

Then there's friend requests …

"That means you want to ask them to be invited into your program."

… and of course a "Like."

"To like something means you agree with that comment or statement it's a thumbs up."

With the lingo down, now Nancy is ready to get connected on her own online.

"I've got some shopping to do so … right after this I'm looking forward to get going with it," she said.

via kxly.com

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Help Mom & Dad Get Connected at my Free Microsoft/AARP Workshop in Spokane 12/1

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:49:00 -0800

Do you want your parents to know more about social networking, what it is and how to use it safely?

Join AARP, Microsoft and Marsha Collier, author of “Facebook and Twitter for Seniors for Dummies”, at the Spokane Convention Center for a free workshop on Facebook, Twitter, Video Chat and Safer Socializing on the Internet.

The event is designed for new or experienced computer users and will be held on Dec. 1, from 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. at the Spokane Convention Center (334 West Spokane Falls Boulevard – Ballroom 100A). Doors will open at 9 a.m. for refreshments and resource information.

This workshop will show you how to connect with old friends, make new ones, get connected with AARP and communicate with the grandkids. You’ll get tips on safer socializing on the Internet and learn how to make your computer easier to see, hear and use.

“While some people may shy away from new technologies, our members have been clamoring for information on how to log in to the social media world,” said AARP Communications Director Jason Erskine. “”We’re excited to offer this opportunity with Microsoft on Dec. 1.”

Attendees on Dec. 1 will also get a continental breakfast, lunch and plenty of free information and resources. The event is free, but space is limited. Register by calling toll-free 1-877-926-8300.

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How to monitor social media mentions in five minutes a day

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 10:01:00 -0800

One of social media’s biggest obstacles is the amount of time required to do it properly. But it is an obstacle that can be overcome if you put some simple and effective processes in place.

In this tutorial I’m going to walk you through a system that will help you stay on top of the bulk of your social media mentions. The best part? Once set up, you only need five minutes a day to make it work for you.

Step One: Set up a ‘monitoring’ folder

The system I’m going to show you makes the most of the bookmark folders function within all major browsers. Head to your bookmarks bar and create a new folder.

In this example I’ve called it ‘Monitoring’ and this is where I’ll store my tools and pre-set searches (the reason for this will become more apparent later in this post).

Step Two: Gathering your tools

Now that our folder is set up, we can start to pull in the various tools we’ll use for monitoring purposes.

The tools you’ll need include:

Addictomatic – a multi-platform buzz dashboard

Social Mention – a slightly more sophisticated multi-platform buzz dashboard

Samepoint - another dashboard that includes some additional platforms the others don’t offer

Twazzup – a real-time news dashboard (with a bias towards Twitter)

BackTweets – a tool which tells you who has been sharing your content on Twitter

Blogpulse – a tool that searches blog posts for specific mentions

Google (weekly in date order) – this will take you to the advanced search box but we’ll make this even more useful during the next phase

You’ll notice that some of these tools overlap – this is intentional to provide the best possible opportunity of capturing the right information without it getting overwhelming.

We’re after relevant data, not data for the sake of it.

Step Three: Tailoring your search parameters

This is where we bring the ‘storage system’ and tools together.

Let’s start with Addictomatic.

Type your search item into the bar and hit create.

Make sure you enclose your query in quotes as this will give you the most relevant results.

Once you get your results back, you want to save this search (in this case I’ve used the bookmarks star) and save the search into the monitoring folder.

While this might seem a little laborious at first, you only need to do it once. I now have access to that saved search whenever I want at the click of a button.

Addictomatic updates the results as they appear so I’ll always have access to the latest results. Repeat this process with the next tool.

Before we get to the final product which is where the magic happens, let’s set up one more search that will become an invaluable part of your toolkit.

Head over to Google and run your search.

When your results are returned, they’ll automatically come back from ‘any time’ and in order of relevance.

We want to drill this down in more detail by activating two variables.

Go to the left menu bar and click on ‘more search tools’

Another menu will drop down – select the ‘past week’ option

Another menu will appear – select ‘sorted by date’

This will give you results like the example to the right.

Note: When you are setting up your BackTweets search, enter the URL you are interested in monitoring as opposed to the brand or keyword.

Step Four: The finished product

Now, if you’ve followed this templated process for each tool, you’ll end up with a folder that looks like this.

Step Five: Making it work for you every day

By this point you will have set up your folder with all your pre-set searches. This means that you can scan all your searches from the one organised location.

A routine you might want to follow could involve a check of each preset search in the morning, at lunch and then in the evening.

This system will give you a free and easy way of staying on top of your mentions all over the social web.

via thenextweb.com

Some good tips and new tools. Well worth the read!

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2011 Los Angeles Metrolink Holiday Toy Express Santa Train

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:44:00 -0800

via youtube.com

Santa’s glittering train, the Metrolink Holiday Toy Express, once again travels from city to city to entertain families and help to collect toys for the less fortunate. This year’s 32-city tour, which passes through six counties (San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, Orange County, Los Angeles and San Diego counties) brings a brightly packaged gift – a 450-ton train decorated with holiday displays, a musical performance and 50,000 twinkling lights – and of course, Santa!.

Families who come to the station to enjoy this special holiday treat are encouraged to bring new unwrapped toys. Local firefighters typically collect more than 100,000 toys for the ABC7/Spark of Love Toy Drive during the season on nights the Holiday Toy Express is in town. These toys are distributed in their local communities to families who may not be able to provide gifts this holiday season.

You can check the schedule here: http://www.metrolinktrains.com/news/?id=7144

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