Marketers, want to save your job and the company? Use real customer service.

Several things happened last week that made me take notice. And since I don’t believe in coincidences, I had to pull it altogether in my mind.
First, an amazing client story.
J.D. Gould Company is a family-owned business.  It’s been around since 1951. They make solenoid valves. It’s really hard to get excited about [...]

Lost in a social media world – what should I be doing online?

Recently, I traveled to NY to visit a client and help them with one of their learning websites. The business I did there was fine if uneventful but what happened on the way back to the LaGuardia really opened my eyes to how lost people can get in an online world.
First thing I blew [...]

Basics in SEO – have you graded your website?

This is going to be a short post but I absolutely loved this tool, www.websitegrader.com.
Check it out, use it and then come back and we’ll go through all the cool stuff that is in it.
There’s also another free tool for ranking your website.
Being found on the net is getting harder and harder – you need [...]

Erasing an online consumer complaint from your search results – Part 2 of Power to the Consumer

So here’s the secret.  You can’t.
You knew that was coming, didn’t you?  But there are ways to push the complaint farther away from your site and out of your search results.
The first thing I would do.  Go after that customer, face to face, and see if you can correct what happened.  Now some people would [...]

Power to the Consumer – dealing with Social Media and Public Complaints

So they got you…one of your customers had a bad experience and now they are online telling the world about it.
In fact, they are so upset that they started a website or blog up and are actively denouncing your company. You went out and did a Google search and they are popping up on [...]

What the heck is Princeton Premier or how Social Media can make or break your company’s internet presence?

So I got this email…
Don Schindler It is my pleasure to inform you that you are being considered for inclusion into the 2008-2009 Princeton Premier Business Leaders and Professionals Honors Edition section of the registry. The 2008-2009 edition of the registry will include biographies of the world’s most accomplished individuals. Recognition of [...]

Finding Consumer Insights in Social Media

So the kids and I went to check out Eagle Creek Reservoir Beach on Sunday afternoon.
I’m very proud of my oldest daughter. She has finally learned to swim (after this summer of swimming lessons). But she’s very particular about her nose. She has to have nose plugs on or she can’t go underwater. So be [...]

Social Media is not advertising nor marketing: it’s about connections

In yesterday’s Online Spin, there was an article Agencies: Reinvented or
Replaced by Joe Marchese.
Joe’s jist was that ad agencies need to change – that they aren’t prepared for the future of advertising within social media. Here’s what he says,
“In the end, social media is nothing more than a mirror of people’s real-world behavior (albeit [...]

Clutter on the Web and my Desk – Siteless Web Presence

My desk is a mess.
Once, in first grade, my teacher – can’t remember the nun’s name – put my entire desk in a box and sent me along with the box to the principal’s office. Then he called my parents in so we could talk about how messy my desk was.
Obviously, the teacher’s plan [...]

Siteless Web Presence Part Two or why not be in all places at once?

So how do you get a siteless web presence?
Your website is one place on the web. One place that Google can direct traffic. When a person does a search for your site then you’ll hopefully pop up. If you have the right kind of URL, Title Tags, Meta Tags, and enough relevant [...]