Positive Business Reputation: How Reputation Management Affects Business Development

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Positive Business Reputation: How Reputation Management Affects Business Development

How important is the perception of your brand in the eyes of your current or potential customers? We believe it’s immense and can shape your entire business success.

The way customers see you and the emotions, associations, and facts they relate to you are what makes you stand out from your competition. Making sure you keep up a positive business reputation is, therefore, obligatory.
But, how can your business reputation affect your business development? There’s a direct connection between the two and we’re about to break it down. So, if you want to learn about the importance of your business reputation, just keep reading.

Here’s how it can determine the success of your business.

Customer Reviews & Sales

Your online reputation will massively depend on the online reviews you receive from your customers or people who’ve received your services or tried your products.

Consequentially, other potential customers will read the reviews and rely on them more than you expect.

  • According to a study, 86% of people will hesitate to buy from a business with negative online reviews.
  • 90% of customers read online reviews before visiting a business.

Therefore, customer reviews can actually affect your sales and profit.

To ensure you keep your reviews positive, make sure to address every positive and negative review and establish a steady communication with all your customers.

Don’t ignore a negative review or attack the person leaving it. Address the issue and try solving it.

Social Media Feedback

Social media has become one of the major platforms for local and global businesses to improve their brand awareness. In addition, businesses use social media to build a positive business reputation.

On social media, your customers are just a click away from sending you a message or leaving a comment on your post.

It’s your job to:

  • read as many messages and comments as possible
  • respond and follow up
  • keep engaging and show that you are listening (Forbes)
  • learn a lesson from honest comments and messages

It’s not enough that you just read a comment. You need to listen to your customers and respond accordingly.
If you make social media a one-direction platform, you’ll lose your followers and create a negative business reputation.

Organic Traffic

You may not be aware, but search engines love reviews.
The more reviews you have, the better your search engine ranking will be.

Therefore, your business reputation can help you:

  • increase organic traffic
  • beat your competition
  • enable more people finding you on Google

Therefore, you need sure your business is on local review sites such as:

Inspire your customers to leave feedback by simply asking them to. In addition, be transparent with all your reviews.

Employer Brand

Your positive business reputation shouldn’t be seen strictly from the perspective of a customer looking to try your services or buy your product.

It can also be seen from the perspective of a young, talented person, looking into becoming your employee.

Your employer brand is:

  • company’s reputation and popularity from a potential employer’s perspective and describes the values the company gives to its employees (TalentLyft)

This type of business reputation can affect your business development in terms of:

  • finding and hiring talented professionals
  • employee retention
  • employee recruitment

People will refuse to work for you if your employer branding is weak or negative. Retaining top talent might be impossible and you’ll end up with the employees no one else wanted to hire.

Pay attention to your employer brand and don’t let it influence your business development negatively.

Takeaway

Building a strong, positive business reputation should be one of your business’ top priorities. It can leave an impact on your customers, employees, social media followers, and people thinking about trying your business.

Hopefully, the advice above helped you learn about the importance of a positive review, listening to your social media followers, or responding to any type of feedback. Use that advice to build a strong, positive business reputation and use it to improve your business success.

About the Author

Angela Baker is a self-driven specialist who is currently working as a freelance writer at writing services Trust My Paper and Grab My Essay and is trying to improve herself and her blogging career. She is always seeking to discover new ways for personal and professional growth and is convinced that it’s always important to broaden horizons. That’s why Angela develops and improves her skills throughout the writing process to help to inspire people.

The Four P’s – Finding A Web Designer

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Website Design|The Four P’s - Finding A Web DesignerAn effective and easy to use website is something which is of the utmost importance nowadays. After all, having a dominant online presence is vital when it comes to your business excelling. Behind every good website is a credible and high quality website design company that has designed and put together the site. If you can find good website designers then you can ensure that you will have an effective, innovative, eye-catching and easy to use website. The four ‘P’s you need to consider in order to ensure that this is the case are as follows; price, portfolio, practise and previous customers.

First and foremost, price is an important quality because you need to ensure that the service is something that your business can comfortably afford. It is advisable that you search around online and get several quotes. By doing this you can form a general idea on the average price of website design. You can then devise your budget. After all, there are lots of website designers available today and thus you are bound to find something which fits into your financial situation. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that going for the cheapest option is not recommended. After all, this could signal a lack of quality and you could end up with a website which is not competitive.

The second ‘P’ that you need to consider is the design company’s portfolio. Any good company should have a section on their website devoted to work that they have done before so you can make sure they use website design best practices. If a business does not have a portfolio available on their website then it is recommended that you consider somewhere else. After all, a portfolio will display the company’s capabilities and will provide you with a vision for the level of service which you can benefit from.

In addition to this, you should also consider practice – this is the level of experience the company boasts. The more experience the better; it is recommended that you do not opt for a design business which has less than five years in practice. After all, in general experience shows that the company has been successful in order to have survived in the industry for so long. Moreover, it indicates that they have the knowledge, the insight and the expertise to deal with any problem that comes their way. It also means that they are more likely to have dealt with your requirements many times before.

And finally, you should consider previous customer reviews. This is the best way to gain an honest insight into whether the business is credible and provides a high-quality service or not. Have a look on the website to see if you can find any testimonials from previous clients. If a business is happy with the feedback they have received then they are more than likely to display it on their website.

All in all, if you consider the four ‘P’s mentioned in this article then you will give yourself the best chance of finding the best website designers to cater to your online needs.

Why You Should Be Using WordPress for Your Website

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Why You Should Be Using WordPress for Your Website

One of the biggest questions people have is: Why should I use WordPress? If you wonder the same thing, you are in the right place. In today’s article, we share with you five important reasons you should be using WordPress for your website.

Let’s dive deeper into what makes this platform perfect for your business or hobby.

1. WordPress is Free

WordPress is a free and open-source platform. You don’t pay anything to download, install, configure or use it.

Still, you will need to pay for your web hosting and a domain name, but you need to do that anyway. It doesn’t matter what platform you use.

Before we go any further, it’s important to say something. Just because the platform is free isn’t reason enough to use it. It’s only one perk of many.

2. WordPress is Simple to Customize

Most people using WordPress aren’t programmers or web designers; they are just average people like you and me. What makes WordPress ideal for non-techie people is that there are thousands of free themes to choose from.

There’s a theme to fit any business site, online store or blog. These themes come entirely customizable, so you can change the colors, upload your logo and create sliders easily.

Plugins also create additional functionality, and many of them are free. These app-like platforms add features such as backups, analytics contact forms and more.

3. WordPress is SEO Friendly

While there are other platforms to use, nothing is as SEO-complaint as many of the WordPress themes, even if we’re talking about a single page WordPress theme. The platform itself is written with code that utilizes semantic markup. This allows Google to take notice.

4. WordPress is Manageable

You don’t have to worry too much about complex coding when using WordPress (though the option is available). You receive a built-in update management system that makes sure the software and plugins remain updated.

Anytime a new update is available, WordPress notifies you. Then, you click a button and install it.

While this isn’t hard to figure out, we do recommend going through the Green Geeks WordPress Tutorial to learn more about how the platform works. The tips you learn from a small amount of training go a long way to helping you produce a high-quality site.

5. WordPress is Secure & Safe

WordPress puts security first. It’s safe and secure for running any type of website. Let’s face it; the Internet isn’t a safe place. According to WebARX, there’s an attack on a website every 39 seconds.

Intruders seek to get their hands on all of the websites that they can. With a WordPress site, it’s easy to make things secure for additional peace of mind.

As far as the WordPress Core is concerned, an expert team of developers maintains the foundation. They continuously work to keep WordPress safe, which is why you want to perform any updates as they become available.

As far as your themes and plugins, WordPress isn’t responsible for the security of those, yet they still have teams working on it. The regularly check the themes and plugins to look for vulnerabilities. To further protect yourself, make sure you choose plugins and themes from reputable sources. If they offer regular updates, that’s a good sign that it is secure.

How to Use WordPress

Now that you know the WHY you’d want to use WordPress, it’s time to consider the HOW. WordPress is the perfect platform for a variety of websites. You can:

  • Create an eCommerce marketplace
  • Begin a blog
  • Create a business website
  • Construct a membership site
  • Sell your online courses

There are no limits to what your site can accomplish. The key is to begin. Every success has to start somewhere.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Lao Tzu

Spice Up Business Prospecting with Video

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Spice Up Business Prospecting with Video
 
We’re all creatures of habit. We find something that works and tend to stick with it. So long as we’re still seeing growth, why mess with the recipe?

The fact is that no matter your lead generation situation, everyone working with email prospecting can stand to explore some new concepts. If you rely on the same strategies regularly, you run the risk of losing that ability to grab attention, and wind up playing catch up in the funnel.

Video is a fantastic method to layer in some creativity, spicing up your prospecting in the process. It transcends the idea of tactics to encompass an entire new subsection of prospecting that can greatly benefit your efforts. The stats support it: prospecting reps that use video in their prospecting and sales emails get opens at over five times the amount of those that don’t, subsequently generating eight times higher open-to-reply rates.

And sure, video requires a certain amount of proficiency, but you don’t have to be a Hollywood director to get the job done. Most of us have some experience behind the camera without even realizing it, through social media and video chat applications. The reality of 2019 is that this alone represents a large scope of the necessary skill set to get started using video at the sales level. Using these key methods:

  • Drawing Attention to the Video
  • Avoid Overly-Aggressive Sales Call-To-Actions
  • Remind Viewers of Your Partnership
  • Edit in 30 Second Intros to Pre-Existing Videos

…we can tackle the process of incorporating video into our sales prospecting, and see the largest returns on our time investment.

Drawing Attention to the Video

How do you use video to transform the cold prospecting experience? What you need to note is that you’re trying to reach for an audience that, put simply, may not have a clue who you or your company are. Just like we noted in the opener, let them know about video right off the rip. You can do this by something as simple as including “video” in the email subject line, coupled with a thumbnail of the video in the email body. You can also explore embedding video links in email through the thumbnail to generate greater click-through. These methods will focus attention on the video, which is proven to generate a stronger response than plain text.

Avoid Overly-Aggressive Sales Call-To-Actions

Your videos and attached emails should be friendly in nature. Start up a conversation and avoid sales-speak. Remind your prospect that you’re there to introduce and provide education on products that are built to help their business grow. Be natural, use phrasing and terminology in your videos that are more conversational; avoid too much jargon. At the end, present a call-to-action, but there’s no need to be overt. “BUY NOW” can turn a lot of people off, so instead find creative calls-to-action that extend the conversation and foster a relationship that will last.

Remind Viewers of Your Partnership

Whether you have a pre-existing relationship or are building one from the ground up, remind customers that this pursuit is a partnership. If there was a particularly successful venture that you’re aware of in the past that your product assisted with, remind them of it. Make notes and utilize them in videos; feel free to mention particularly complimentary words they’ve shared in the past. Keep your reps consistent in videos as well; often times, people view themselves as working with an individual, not the company as a whole. Use first names when appropriate and leverage your relationship in the video. It’ll show that you’re consider them and their needs with your approach.

Edit in 30 Second Intros to Pre-Existing Videos

Make use of product videos, and feel free to share them with your customers. Go the next step by editing in a 30 second intro to personalize the content. This takes very little time and can be filmed with a camera at your desk. Say hello, tell them you were thinking about them when a new product was released recently and wanted to share it with them. This small touch can make a huge difference in your clientele relationship, and signals yet another way that video can augment the email prospecting experience with a dash of creativity.

About the Author

Sean Gordon has an extensive track record recruiting, hiring, training, and unlocking the talent of people. For 20 years, Sean has been on the front lines of business across North America. He started with AT&T, where he built award-winning teams in sales and operations from coast to coast. He delivered equally stellar results for EMC, Aetna and West Corporation before becoming CEO of a technology company in need of innovation.

Sean founded vidREACH.io to engage candidates, prospects, customers and employees – all on one platform. Sean has created new lines of business, reinvigorated stagnant company cultures, and mentored hundreds of employees who have gone on to do great things.

Connect with Sean Gordon on LinkedIn.

6 Ways To Create Exceptional Content In Your Business

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, 6 Ways To Create Exceptional Content In Your BusinessContent is king in today’s digital age, and every brand needs to consider ways in which they can make exceptional content that will help them to stand out from the crowd and impress their target customer. This is easier said than done, particularly in a time where every company is creating a steady stream of content, but there are a few ways that you can make sure that all of your content is of the highest standard. Many brands make the mistake of believing that it is a case of quantity over quality, but you need to make sure that your content is engaging, valuable, and entertaining.

1. Consider Your Target Audience

You should always keep your target audience in mind when creating any kind of content. Consider what the audience’s wants, needs, and interests are and find ways to solve common problems that they might face in their life. The content should be thought-provoking while providing them with helpful knowledge.

2. Create Original Content

A lot of businesses simply steal ideas from their competitors and rework it, but this will not achieve the desired results and could negatively impact your SEO. Instead, try to come up with original ideas for your content, which will stand out from the crowd.

3. Use A Variety Of Media

People are bombarded with text and image content consistently throughout the day. While this is still a worthwhile form of content, you also need to make sure that you are looking into other forms of media to engage your target audience. Video is the most effective as this is highly engaging and can make it easy for you to communicate your desired message. You need to make sure that you are producing high-quality films with cameras from Choosist.com and professional-standard video editing software.

4. Create Strong Headlines

You will never get hits or communicate your message to your target audience without a strong headline. The headline should catch their attention, evoke emotion, and make them want to know more. Take time when crafting a headline and try a few different options until you find one which will engage the audience.

5. Keep It Concise

People these days have a short attention span, so you need to keep all content concise, pointed, and valuable. Eliminate all fluff and get to the point quickly. People will not spend their time skimming through an enormous blog post when they are looking for information.

6. Add Personality

Nobody wants to consume content which is bland and faceless. Try to get your personality across in the content, whether this is by using humor, sharing a personal story, and/or by using the first-person language. Although you should get your personality across, you must avoid being informal and unprofessional and never post anything which could be divisive or considered offensive.

Most businesses understand the importance of creating content, yet not many know how to create exceptional content that will get them noticed. The above are a few strategies to try and should deliver immediate results and help you to engage your target audience.

7. Hire a Content Writer

As a business owner, you will soon find yourself on the hamster wheel of content creation. Although you may be able to handle this task for a certain amount of time, you may want to outsource it to a professional who can get you the results you’re looking for. With managed marketing solutions you can seek help with content marketing and social media solutions, so that you can put more time and focus into other areas of your business. Expanding your horizons when it comes to creating content will drive more traffic to your business and will help you to build your credentials as an industry leader more quickly.