Unclog your sales funnel with a RevenueDriver/MarketCapture integration

*This post is a spec piece only. It was strictly written for my portfolio and has no commercial value.*

Sales and marketing are two rungs on the same ladder. After all, both share the singular goal of driving revenue. However, in too many companies, the two departments are thorns in each other’s sides. Sales resents marketing for providing low-quality leads, and marketing resents sales for failing to capitalize on their hard work.

Sales and marketing rivalries are so common that the Harvard Business Review wrote about the phenomenon more than 15 years ago. Little has changed. Sure, the problem could be conflicting personalities or unfriendly company culture, but it’s just as likely a case of dueling CRMs.

Of course, you know that RevenueDriver is robust, feature-rich, enterprise-ready, and the heavyweight champion in the SaaS (software as a service) arena, but MarketCapture is no slouch. It may not be as robust as RevenueDriver, but it’s user-friendly and has a host of tools to help companies of all sizes reach their revenue goals.

So what’s the problem?

Instead of finger-pointing, it might be time to see if the issue is caused by the company’s siloed structure and the related, seemingly-incompatible CRM structures. For example, a marketing team is more likely to use MarketCapture while the sales team manages customer interactions with RevenueDriver.

In business jargon, we call that sort of separation a “silo mentality.” Friendly competition can be great, but a siloed business structure goes far beyond friendly competition. Siloing prevents teams from accessing relevant information, negatively affects workflow, creates information gaps or duplicate information across channels, and damages the customer experience.

A siloed business structure has separate datasets for each department. For example, a survey of business leaders found that 57 percent of organizations reported their CRMs were fragmented, and many said that some departments — such as sales and marketing — had their own CRMs.

When a company’s data lives in separate ecosystems, it’s no wonder employees follow suit. It’s also no surprise that customers lose respect for a company when it’s clear that two customer-oriented departments have completely different transactional records.

A RevenueDriver/MarketCapture integration can bridge the divide, enhance customer experience, improve data quality, and provide sales departments the tools to close deals.

Benefits of de-siloing sales and marketing

IBM addressed its silo problem by integrating its sales and marketing teams. The result was a lower cost of sales, lower costs to market entry, and shorter sales cycles.

Two years ago, LinkedIn surveyed sales and marketing decision-makers in financial services, technology, and professional services. Their responses were similar to IBM’s.

85 percent replied that aligning their sales and marketing departments provides the best opportunity for improving business
90 percent of respondents answered that customers are positively impacted when sales and marketing are aligned
87 percent said integrating sales and marketing enabled business growth

However:

90 percent of respondents admitted that their sales and marketing departments were misaligned
97 percent state that poorly aligned CRMs are at least partly to blame
In North America, collaboration and communication silos take up 15 percent (or 350 hours per year) of customer contact agents’ time
U.S. companies lose $537 billion per year because of negative customer experiences
U.S. companies lose more than $600 billion per year because of duplicate, and low-quality data cost U.S. companies more than $600 billion per year

Thankfully, siloed companies don’t have to experience a complete organizational shift as IBM did. Instead, they only have to have their CRMs make friends, which means a RevenueDriver/MarketCapture integration. Integration follows customers through the sales cycle and promotes collaboration. In addition, company leaders can log in at any time to gain a complete picture of both departments’ wins and losses.

How are MarketCapture and RevenueDriver different?

Individually, both CRMs are powerhouses. Both offer tools for marketing and sales, but MarketCapture is the go-to for marketing departments and offers several small business tools. Additionally, the platform provides email marketing, lead generation, website building, content marketing tools, and lead generation.

As we said earlier, RevenueDriver is the heavyweight among CRMs. Because the platform is so robust, the learning curve is longer, but nothing can compare when it comes to contact and lead management.

Five steps to optimize your RevenueDriver/MarketCapture integration

Before you integrate your sales and marketing CRMs, sit down with your sales, marketing, and IT departments to ensure that the systems are compatible with your existing tech stack.

Map the entire sales funnel

The first step is for the sales and marketing teams to familiarize themselves with each other’s processes. Next, map the complete sales funnel and determine when MarketCapture should transfer leads to RevenueDriver and what’s critical to convey between departments.

For example, you may find that sales and marketing define “qualified lead” very differently. Learn the definitions and determine what sales needs from marketing before turning the data over to RevenueDriver and what marketing needs from sales.

Familiarize yourself with each platform’s jargon

Unsurprisingly, MarketCapture speaks marketing, while RevenueDriver is most fluent in sales jargon. For example, MarketCapture labels its contacts as “non-marketing” and “marketing,” while Revenue Driver calls them “contacts” and “leads.”

MarketCapture sends marketing (not sales) contacts through eight lifecycle stages, which are:

Subscriber – Any contact who agreed to receive updates
Lead – Any contact that has had direct communication or interaction with the company
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) – A contact that is qualified and ready for the sales department
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) – Any lead that needs for one of your company’s products or services
Opportunity – A potential customer that has expressed interest
Customer – A person or organization that has a purchase history with your company
Evangelist – A happy customer who refers business or leaves positive reviews
Other – Everyone else

In RevenueDriver, the stages are:

Prospecting – Prospecting is about the long game. The designation refers to people or businesses targeted through marketing campaigns
Qualifying – The customer has a need, and your product/service is a good fit
Demo or Meeting – The time to schedule a meeting with the potential customer to describe the company’s products or services
Proposal – This is the time to pitch to the customer and provide a proposal
Negotiation and Commitment
Opportunity won – A sale
Post-Purchase – A time to follow up with the customer to gauge satisfaction, future need, attempt to get referrals

Isolate the inclusion list and sync data

Databases are notoriously bulky. As much as 30 percent of marketing data are duplicates. Think of integration as a Spring cleaning for your duplicates. This isn’t just good data hygiene; it dramatically improves the integration process. If you haven’t done so already, determine how to score leads by their value.

You also want to figure out at which stage you want to integrate. For example, sales might only want to see leads that are at least in the qualifying stage, and marketing might only need to see Customers and beyond.

Additionally, you can set your sync in multiple directions:

One-way: From MarketCapture to RevenueDriver
One-way: From the MarketCapture inclusion list to RevenueDriver
Two-way: From MarketCapture to RevenueDriver and from RevenueDriver to MarketCapture
Two-way: From the MarketCapture inclusion list to RevenueDriver and from RevenueDriver to MarketCapture

MarketCapture’s inclusion smart list simplifies the process by letting you populate data using a predetermined set of criteria to sync to RevenueDriver.

Create and map custom fields

Both CRMs are rarely an ideal fit for an organization right out of the box, which is why many fields are customizable.

Challenges with native integrations

Many organizations struggle with native integrations, a term for integration tools native to the software. Native integrations appeal to many organizations because the tools are free. However, they aren’t without their challenges, including:

Only allow 1:1 integrations
Limited scalability
Lack of flexibility
Erratic support

Before engaging our help, most of our clients tried to cut costs by attempting to integrate in-house, only to hit snag after snag. In-house integrations are time-consuming and take resources from already strapped IT departments.

Contact us if you’re looking to keep your sales funnel running smoothly. We’ll conduct a thorough analysis of your needs and help you determine whether a RevenueDriver/MarketCapture integration will convert more people from “qualifying” to “evangelist.”

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How the Pontiac Aztek is a Cautionary Tale for Agile Teams

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Sometimes, no matter how well-intentioned, no matter how well designed, and no matter how well a team orchestrates a product release – it fails.

A brief history of the Aztek

In the case of the Aztek, a new car added to Pontiac’s line in 2001, all the signs pointed to success, but it ended going down in history as one of the great automotive rollout failures of all time.

At the time, GM had a reputation for being staid or not taking chances, and they were ready to make some changes. That year, GM was set to make 40 percent of their new vehicles “innovative,” meaning 40% of their vehicles were designed to look a little weird.

The Aztek was first introduced as a concept car in 1999, and it was well-received on paper, but somewhere between concept and market, it became the joke of the automotive market.

Why was the Aztek a colossal failure?

The Aztek scored dead last in market research. People hated it, but GM didn’t listen. The team involved in developing and bringing the Aztek to market was uncomfortable giving any sort of negative feedback. Bob Lutz, who was GM’s vice chairman of product development at the time, wrote about the debacle in Road and Track.

“The guy in charge of product development was Don Hackworth, an old-school guy from the tradition of shouts, browbeating, and by-God-I-want-it-done. He said, “Look. We’ve all made up our minds that the Aztek is gonna be a winner. It’s gonna astound the world. I don’t want any negative comments about this vehicle. None. Anybody who has bad opinions about it, I want them off the team.” As if the public is gonna give a sh** about team spirit. Obviously, the industry is trying to get away from that approach.

The danger with the totalitarian management style is that people won’t speak up when there’s a problem. They’ll get their heads cut off, or the messenger gets shot.”

To understand the failure of the Aztek, you only need to take one look at projections versus sales. From 2001 to 2005, Pontiac forecasted that they would sell 75,000 Azteks per year. Thirty thousand would have spelled a break-even scenario for Pontiac, but they could only sell 27,322 cars in their best year.

There were many complaints about the Aztek from the get-go. Consumers said it was too expensive. It was marketed as a sport utility vehicle but lacked the 4x wheel drive that nearly every competitor boasted. It was also dull to drive.

The biggest complaint was, of course, the aesthetics. Time Magazine called it “deformed and scary.” Ironically, though, the people who did buy the car seem to have been quite happy with it, scary looks and all.

Maybe the Aztek was ahead of its time, at least in appearance. After all, it looks surprisingly similar to many cars on the road today.

While the Aztek had an insurgence several years ago, thanks in part to the fact that it was a character, of sorts, in the show “Breaking Bad.” Sill, the car is partially credited with the downfall of the Pontiac brand.

One blogger disagrees with the idea that Hackworth was a tyrant, and he sees it as a cautionary tale of design by committee. He holds up the example of Steve Jobs as a tyrannical boss who made his company wildly successful.

Perhaps with the Aztek, they were trying to be design-by-committee, but tyranny won.

Regardless of whether Aztek’s development was a tale of a tyrannical dictator or a not tyrannical enough CEO, there are lessons to learn for any agile team.

Team leaders should have a goal in mind, and while they shouldn’t switch gears as the team is cruising along, they should refrain from dismissing team members and their ideas.

Team leaders should always listen and attempt to understand complaints without judging. If the team leader disagrees with team members, they should explain why with facts and put egos to the side. Leaders should be willing to alter the epic, or even the theme, as new facts emerge.

That said, agile teams need a clear leader. Mutual respect is important, but a team should not be a democracy. Ultimate responsibility must lie in the hands of one person. Still, that person needs to remember that their only goal is for the product development to succeed, not to bring their personal vision to fruition.

As for Steve Jobs, I suppose he could have been a tyrant, but he always put the needs and wants of the buying public even before his pride. Perhaps that’s why when Jobs stepped down from Apple, it was the most valuable company in the world.

The takeaway to this cautionary tale is that an agile team should always have clear goals, but open communication is key to preventing future Azteks.

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Is Your Website Losing Business For You?

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Some time ago, I approached a friend of mine, suggesting he update his website. My friend is brilliant. He’s in the financial industry and is consistently written up in national publications as one of the best in the country. His clients love him and he is at the enviable point in his career where he lives off of repeat business and referrals.

Unfortunately, his website, which hasn’t changed since sometime in the late 20th Century (I’m not exaggerating), doesn’t reflect the successful, savvy financial advisor that he is. Instead, it paints a picture of a dusty old office and of someone who puts little effort or creativity into their work, which is quite the opposite of the kind of businessman he is. Since my friend does get all of his business from referrals and repeats, he saw no need whatsoever to update. I didn’t push the matter any further, but I do wonder how much business he’s lost by not having a better website.

Not every business earns business from its website. Not every company has need for search engine optimization, but even for those companies, a website is like a business card, only a good one offers so much more.

When a customer is given a referral, one of the first things many do is head to the company’s website. They might not even be sure what they’re looking for, other than that first personal connection. Of course, a nice head shot can be important, but so is information. Customers want to know that you are expert at your field.

A good website will include the latest in information. An updated blog, full of market trends and legal changes will help prompt potential clients into picking up the phone.

A dated or pedestrian website, on the other hand, might not turn off all potential clients, but it will some. The loss of business will be silent; you won’t know that they were ever looking at your site, you won’t know they turned your business down, but nonetheless, it will be business lost. An investment in an updated website and an hour or so a week set aside for writing about your expertise will mean the world to potential, and current, clients.

What Are The Most Effective Social Media Platforms For Your Business?

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If you are over 40, social media might seem like a minefield. The news is filled with social media gaffes and blunders. If it’s not gaffes and blunders, you hear about the latest controversies sparked by celebrities and politicians. Behind all of that, though, is a remarkable opportunity to grow your business — one that shouldn’t be ignored.

While new social media platforms are popping up every single day, for this article, we’ll talk about the top seven, and each of those seven are distinct and should be used very differently. Not only do the main social media platforms have varying and specific purposes, they have very different demographics, and to ignore that could mean wasting a lot of time and even money.

Before venturing into social media, determine your goals. Are you looking to grow your business or stay in touch with existing clients? Do you want reviews, or perhaps you just want to show your expertise. Your goals will determine how much you post and what you post to what platforms.

Facebook

In many ways, Facebook is the Grandmommy of all social media platforms. It’s not the oldest, but it’s perhaps the best known. Its users span the generations, although young people have begun an exodus. Still, Facebook’s 1.5 billion daily users are spread out over a large age range. They do skew female more than male.

Unless you advertise, Facebook is arguably best for maintaining relationships, since your content will target your existing followers.

You should post on your Facebook business page a couple of times a day. Aim for sharable content that might go beyond your followers. While you absolutely want to share things related to your business, like pictures or blog posts, you should also share links that appeal to your customers. For example, if you run a furniture store, post links about design trends. Whatever you share, make sure the headline and featured picture are compelling.

Facebook is growing as a review site. Watch your Facebook page like a hawk and answer any questions or reviews within the same day.

Twitter

Thanks to our President, Twitter now has the reputation of being the epicenter for political spats and quick one-liners. While that is true, it’s also younger and more male-oriented than Facebook and it’s a great place to cultivate relationships and to prove your expertise.

Twitter is fast-paced, so tweet often throughout the day. Draw relevant followers by following social media influencers in your industry.

Despite the fact that Twitter moves very quickly, its reach is generally higher than Facebook’s, often twice as high. Use Twitter to help build your business.

Most social media platforms are geared toward B2C companies, but LinkedIn is best for B2B, although both can benefit. You should post a few times a week, but LinkedIn is more about who you know than what you post. If you are a Realtor, for example, you should connect with mortgage brokers in your area. All of your social media efforts should reflect your expertise, but LinkedIn perhaps more than all.

Instagram

Instagram’s demographic is young, and its visual format makes it a good platform for those in design, fashion, restaurants and any industry that appeals to aesthetics. Post a couple of times a day and build a following.

YouTube

Of all the social media platforms, YouTube is by far the most time-intensive. To build an effective YouTube channel, you want to stick to original videos, ideally less than two minutes long. Look at YouTube videos as a way to share your expertise. It’s also a great way to build content to share on other platforms. While engagement is critical on social media, you might want to make a exception of YouTube. YouTube comment sections are notorious troll havens. Opt for turning comments off.

Like Instagram, Pinterest is a visual, photo-oriented platform. Unlike Instagram, Pinterest’s demographic is a bit older and female. Pinterest is good for those in design, travel, the food industry, etc. Post frequently. Pinterest is ideal for nurturing existing relationships.

Yelp

Yelp may not fit some people’s definitions of social media, but if you are in a B2C business, you will have a Yelp account whether you want one or not. Take control of your Yelp account by posting a lot of pictures and with inviting business descriptions. Keep control of your Yelp account by answering every review, whether positive or negative. Note: while you should always encourage reviews, Yelp has strict rules against specifically soliciting Yelp reviews.

Featured image via Jason Howie/Flickr.

10 Ways to Get People to Open Your Emails

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Like most people, I receive hundreds of emails a day. Most are from businesses trying to sell me something. Typically, of the few that get past my spam filter, only a handful a day attract my interest enough for me to open them. An even smaller amount will prompt me to take action by clicking on a link in the email (clicking through).

Depending on your industry, it’s estimated that between 20% and 30% of recipients will open an email blast. Smaller companies do better than larger, simply because people often feel they have relationships with the smaller companies. About a quarter of that number are interested enough to actually click through.

Done right, an email blast is an inexpensive but effective advertising campaign. Done poorly, an email blast is like throwing darts while blindfolded. Done very poorly, you could even lose customers.

Here are tips to help ensure that your next email will be opened:

1. The first time you meet or speak with your customers, send them an email – Do this immediately and tell them to expect it. If an email is opened and not reported as spam, it should flag your email address as safe with the server.

There is nothing more important than the subject line. It’s like the headline of a news article. The fact is, people are inundated with digital information. You have to be sending them something really intriguing for them to even bother.

2. Be direct and specific – Tell your customers why they want to click on your email. Your customers don’t care if you are just saying “hi” or if you’re checking in. You’d better have a reason for emailing them and you’d better announce it in the subject line, or you’re wasting your time.

3. Don’t be cute – This week, I’ve received at least two email blasts where the sender tried to go cute. They did get my attention, but with juvenile sounding words like “squeeeaaal!” and “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” (yes, these were both real) in the subject line, I only rolled my eyes and hit the “delete” button. The flip side of that same coin is that unless you are emailing a group of writers or English lit majors, literary references are likely to fall flat. Obscurity is unlikely to win you business.

4. If possible, personalize the email – include the name of someone they know in the company along with the recipient’s name in the subject line. Customize the email so the “from” line is an address where they’ve already had correspondence. For example, the email should come from the sales rep or customer service rep’s email, not from a generic company email. This can easily be done with most third party email companies and with some email software.

5. Don’t use all caps or lots of punctuation – Spam filters are programmed to look for things like caps and exclamation points. Words like “save,” “sale,” “pre approved,” “mortgage” and even “business” can be red flags.

6. Keep it clean – By that, I mean the standard meaning, but I also mean keep your emails free from fancy fonts, lots of graphics or extra links. Not only do spam filters tend to look for emails that look like brochures, customers appreciate a more professional approach.

7. You don’t always have to be selling – Sometimes the most effective way to a customer’s heart is to win them over slowly. Send them information that might interest them. Demonstrate your expertise.

8. Time it right – The best time to send an email is at about 6:00 in the morning. You can also get a little creative. An email can stand out on a Sunday, when there isn’t much competition and when people are usually a bit less busy than on a Saturday.

9. Don’t send too many – A bunch of emails, especially of the same emails, will trigger the spam filter, but they’ll also annoy your customers. Only send emails when you have something to say. If you don’t have something worth emailing at least once a month, think of something. Don’t send your customers something more than once a week.

10. Be courteous – If you are asked to take someone off an email list, do it. Always include an “opt out” option in the body of the email. In some states, it’s the law and it’s always good form.

When Do You Spend Money On Your Business? (VIDEO)

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When your business is still in the startup phase, and even when it’s not, the most tempting thing to do is save money for that proverbial rainy day. Of course, having a reserve is always recommended, but in my 20+ years in the business world, the number one reason I have seen for business failure is not failing to set aside enough money. The number one reason I have seen for business failure is a refusal to spend money.

Of course, that’s not to say that you should spend your money indiscriminately. In fact, regardless of the level of your success, every dollar spent should be seen as an investment. If you are not getting a return for your money, it is simply not worth it.

So, how does one calculate ROI? It’s not always as simple as one might think. The basic formula is Gains – Costs/Costs. The video below uses an example of $1,000 in advertising bringing in $2,000 in sales. Based on the formula, the ROI would be 100%. Not bad until you start to calculate other factors in, such as the company’s manpower.

So what should you spend money on?

Marketing

When times are tough, cutting costs is important, but a more important strategy is marketing. Make sure your website is search engine optimized. Advertise intelligently. Now is not the time for a risky new advertising campaign. It is a good time to kill campaigns that are not working. While full rebranding might not be in the cards, if your logo looks dated, you could be losing sales – same with your website.

Your Office

Do you regularly entertain clients in your office? If so, do not cut back on the cleaning team. Ragged and dirty carpet says a lot about a business. So does old furniture. You don’t have to invest in top-of-the-line, but make sure everything is clean and not chintzy. A fountain in the waiting room might be a bit extravagant, but a comfortable place for a client to sit is not.

Employees

There was a time when employees were the last to go. Today, it seems they are often the first. Before cutting back, calculate each employee’s ROI. You may find that hiring more sales people could help bring you out of a slump. You may find that more office people, not fewer, will free you up to do what you do best.

Computer Hardware and Software

This can be a tough one. If a computer or piece of software can dramatically save you time, it might be worth it. If not, you might wait till times are a little better. Outside sales people should have relatively new equipment and reasonably fast software.

Green Investments

Green investments have both a tangible ROI (savings in utility bills and potential tax savings) and intangible. Many customers, especially in the Bay Area, prefer to spend their money with green businesses.

Clearly, if you have an immediate cash flow crisis and credit isn’t in the cards (no pun intended), cuts sometimes have to be made which could hurt the future of the business. However, if it’s not an immediate crisis, a healthy business is built with increasing revenue, which often involves spending.

Are Keywords Still Relevant?

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Featured image via eSocialMediaShop on Flickr.

In the prehistoric days of search engine optimization (SEO), keywords were, well, the keyword. Writers scrambled to make their content fit with a predetermined set of words.

When used right, keywords were an excellent tool to help guide content. When used badly, the content was an obvious afterthought and keywords looked like puzzle pieces, with obvious seams.

Fortunately, keywords don’t have quite the same hold over writers that they did in the past. Google, being Google, is always a step or six ahead of us, so that could change, but for now, Google’s bots search far more comprehensively and they look for good content, not just a cheap attempt to fill in all the keywords.

That being said, Google isn’t psychic. Your site still needs to tell it and your customers what you do, you just don’t have to repeat it. In fact, Google frowns on repetition.

Google’s first focus is going to be on the body of your homepage. If you own a furniture store, “furniture store” should be in the body of the homepage, but you already knew that. If furniture delivery is a big part of your business, your delivery area might be important as might the main lines of furniture that you carry. Don’t save those crucial bits of information for the subpages.

You should also mention other search terms. You might, for example, mention “sofas” or “tables” but you can do that on subpages.

Google also does something these days called “semantic search,” which basically means that Google’s gotten a lot smarter. With semantic search, instead of searching for keywords, it’s searching for meaning within your website. For example, if you own a Subaru repair shop and a user searches “oil change Outback” your shop should show up, even if your website doesn’t mention oil changes.

The site is just as important

Google ranks sites that are good and popular higher than sites that are bad and unpopular. A quick loading site will rank higher than a slow one. Easy navigation is key. Run your site by a 3rd party or two before releasing it to the public. Does the layout make sense? Is the navigation bar intuitive? Take advantage of headers, footers and sidebars.

Fortunately, though, gone are the days when writers are slaves to keywords. Google can pretty much figure out that if you’re an art supply store, you probably sell stencils. If your content is accurate and relevant and your site offers a positive user experience, you will see your ranking climb.

My Experience With Buying Twitter Followers And With Fiverr

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A few months ago, I wrote about the boom industry of fake Twitter followers. Since then, the practice has become even more mainstream – so much so, that I thought I would try it out for myself.

Very recently, I began a personal side project (no clients involved) with a brand new website and a brand new corresponding Twitter feed. There’s nothing more discouraging than looking at a Twitter page with a single digit number of followers, even if you know that that number will grow fairly quickly. So, I thought about buying some Twitter followers.

I didn’t want my new Twitter page to explode overnight, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the experiment, so I turned to the site, Fiverr – where people do any number of things (from singing Happy Birthday in a Marilyn Monore voice to SEO) for starting at around $5.00.

After doing my due diligence and reading reviews, I settled on a “seller” named “everythinggirl,” who promised me 1,000 “real” (as opposed to bot) Twitter followers within seven days. I approved the $5.00 charge through my PayPal account and reluctantly gave everythinggirl my Twitter password, which she said she needed because my account needed to follow people to get followers.

It didn’t take long. Within hours, Twitter followers started dribbling in. After around 24 hours, and a couple hundred Twitter followers, I logged into my new Twitter account to see what was happening, only to find that Twitter had suspended my account for following people too aggressively.

I checked the box promising to never do it again, changed my password and immediately instructed everythinggirl to stop the campaign.

Everythinggirl responded with a curt message blaming me for the suspension – saying it was because I was unfollowing her followers. Even after I explained that I didn’t start unfollowing people until after the account had been suspended, everythinggirl continued to blame me. She also continued to correspond with me, even after I left her several messages asking her to cease.

Eventually, she offered me a refund, which I refused, saying that I’d rather review her services. I have also taken the matter up with Fiverr and their response, thus far, is that I cannot review her services because she didn’t complete her services – despite the fact that she didn’t complete her services because I wasn’t happy with her services. Quite the Catch-22, huh?

In all sincerity, I didn’t want a refund of my $5.00. I learned several valuable lessons, including a how-to in the relatively seedy world of fake Twitter followers. If you so desire, you can gather fake followers with a simple search. Today’s fake follower thread is #follobackinstantly. If you follow the person posting that hashtag, they will, presumably follow you back. Interestingly, all of the followers everythinggirl provided had similar hashtags.

I also learned that the reviews on Fiverr are rather suspect because if a buyer does get a bad service, the service has to be complete before it can be reviewed. If a buyer cancels before completion, their opinions will not be registered. If the seller fails to complete the service, the buyer can’t register a review – they can only get their money back.

Twitter seems to be on to the scam of fake Twitter followers. There are more “legitimate” companies who provide fake followers, and presumably not through the various “I’ll follow you back” users. Of course, they do cost more money.

As a business owner, you have to ask yourself if fake followers are worth the risk. Even if they get by Twitter, your feed will be loaded with “people” who seem very out of context with the rest of your Twitter page. It will be clear to any Twitter savvy real followers that the others are fake.

My new fake Twitter followers are now gone. Within a bit over a week, I have almost 100 real Twitter followers. Sure, that number is still very low, but it’s growing on a daily basis.

The Absolute Best Way To Build Your Facebook Page

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If you’ve spent much time on Facebook in the last year or so, you’ve probably noticed that the vast majority of what gets shared is in the form of a meme (an image that is passed around via social networks). That fact hasn’t gone unnoticed among Facebook statisticians.

According to a media analytics company called, SocialBakers, a staggering 93% of shared posts are images. Only about 2% of shares come from links like this article and 3% of the shares are status updates. Perhaps most surprising is that only 2% are video shares.

Of course, for Facebook page holders, especially Facebook business page holders, this poses a bit of a conundrum. How do you find compelling photographs that are free to share and that will draw attention to your Facebook page?

In theory, Facebook is designed with the idea that people should share and share away. The problem, when you are trying to build a page, is that when you hit the “share” link on a picture and post it to your page, your page will get lost in the shuffle when it’s re-shared. Credit will still be given to the source that you shared from.

If you want your page to show in the shares, you have to post the photo yourself. You can’t share it to your site. Obviously, if you have your own photos, that’s the best. If you have simple meme generator software or if you have something like PhotoShop, you can add inspirational sayings to pretty pictures and, voila! You have a very sharable image. If you are unfamiliar with how to upload photos, here’s an easy step by step. It’s not advisable to choose watermarked photos or copyrighted photos from the internet.

If you do want to post a link, make sure you post a photo with the link. Sometimes, the link automatically posts a great photo. Sometimes it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, I recommend posting an image you like with an excerpt and a link to the article in the comment field.

There are three kinds of things you want to post. The first are things that are directly relevant to your business…for example, a blog post written by you or for you. You can also post things that you’ve accomplished or any sort of community activities. In an ideal world, these are the posts that will drive people to your page – and that’s a very compelling reason to make your blog posts interesting to more than just your customer base – but in the shallow Facebook world, they probably won’t drive a lot of people to your page.

The second type are things that are indirectly related to your business. For example, I have one client who is in the home improvement business. I post a variety of home improvement related items on their Facebook page. I also post pictures of beautiful home decor and of beautiful homes.

The third type are simply images. You can create inspirational or motivational memes or you can post pretty pictures. If you want to share from another page, there is a way to do that that should make everyone happy. First, click on the link. The picture should increase in size. Right click on the image and save it to your computer. Then, you can post it to your page. Before you hit “post,” thank the page you are sharing it from by saying something like “Thanks to @____________ for this share with @The Word Strategist.” The @ symbol will simply bring up a drop down list of pages once you start typing the name. Choose that page and the @ symbol will go away and Facebook will insert a link to the page. The page will receive a notification that you linked to them. Well, they might. Facebook isn’t real consistent with that.

Supposedly, images that are on Facebook are free for people to share, but anecdotally, I have seen accounts suspended when someone claims that they own a particular image. I can’t stress strongly enough that it’s best if you post your own images, but I also recognize that it’s not always possible.

The images are what likely will draw people to your site. Once they are there, they can see all that you have to offer and they will hopefully feel compelled to hit the “like” button. The more newsfeeds your page appears on, the more exposure you will have and the more “likes” you will have.

Unless your business is explicitly political, I recommend staying away from controversy. And, please, be a good sport. If one of your competitors is doing poorly – for whatever reason – give good wishes if they are appropriate. Otherwise, leave it alone.

Your page won’t grow overnight and like a garden, it needs constant attention, but you will see results. With time and work, a good small business page can grow to over 10,000 followers.

Why Write a Business Blog?

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Keeping up with a weekly or bi-weekly blog is tough – I know. Sometimes I have trouble following even my own advice. Once I’m done writing my clients’ blogs, websites and other needs, I have little time to dedicate to my own business, which as any first year business student will tell you, is the biggest mistake you can make. A blog is one of the easiest ways to separate you from your competition and to boost your search engine ranking. It also provides your clients and customers with an easy reference library – without having to leave your site.

Your website, no matter how well written, is most likely just an overview of the wealth of your knowledge. A blog provides you with the opportunity to address a specific topic that might be of interest to your customers.

This can benefit you in a number of ways. A well-written blog will be keyword heavy, which means that when a person is looking for information, a search engine might point them to your website.

If someone is thinking of using your services or buying your products, they can scan through your blog posts and have questions answered quickly and efficiently. A well-done blog will show them that you have the chops to do the job. It can also be fun to peruse – almost like a magazine.

Search engines hate static websites. If you don’t regularly update your content, the search engine “crawlers” will eventually start passing you by and your rank will start going down and down. Updating and optimizing your regular web pages can be expensive and time consuming. Writing a blog post, on the other hand, can give you the freshness that search engines seek and the time/cost investment is a fraction of what an optimized web page costs.

In the days of social media, it’s often tough to find things worthy of sharing. A captivating blog post can help increase your social media viability.

What exactly is a blog?

In short, a blog is about 300-700 words on a topic that would specifically be of interest to your clientele. It should be written in a way that is casual and conversational. It should not be an overt sales tool. You want your customers to view your blog as information, not as an advertisement. Sure, you can mention your company, but like the rest of the blog, make it casual.

A blog can be a great way to showcase some of the work you’ve done, whether it be through video or through images. You can demonstrate a point with videos that are available to share on YouTube. It will be better read with compelling images and video, but don’t force it. If it doesn’t make sense to include a video, it will come off as desperate.

You don’t have to be an expert writer to have an expert blog. If you are a fairly good writer, the casual style of blogging might suit you well. However, a blog should still be well-written. You want it to flow and to be free from errors. Once someone starts reading, you want them to want to continue.

If writing is not your forte, that’s okay. If you simply don’t have time, that’s okay too. Hiring someone to blog for you is typically not that expensive. You can provide the expertise and the writer can put it to words. In most cases, the writer will envision a topic and research it. All you would need to offer is input.