Happy Holidays

The holidays are a time for family and loved ones. Holidays are also great for getting your marketing plan ready for the next year. Building a client list, and keeping in touch. Therefore I decided I will not be posting on this blog, well at least until the 5th of January. So enjoy the rest of the holidays and eat, eat, eat, before you start your new diet.

What type of content should you put on your site?

Congratulations! You are in business, your website is up and running, and traffic is coming in, but they are not staying there. Web visitors are coming to your site, to inquire about a product, find information, or make a purchase decision. So when you put your website up, do you think you should information about your business? Well it depends, for example if you were selling a new health drink, you would want to write articles about the benefits of why your customer should buy your health drink. You can also provide articles on conditions that your health drinks heals and so on. But what if you are a writer? Should you write a whole lot of articles on how to write. Well you can if your target market was "novice writers." But if your target market is businesses, your content should have some useful information that the busy business person can use. For example, I am a writer, and one of my target markets is the hospitality industry. Therefore I will find breaking news or information that is pertinent to the hospitality industry, and write an article about it on my site. Or link to the original article I found, therefore the busy professional doesn't have to surf through loads of information to find a useful article, that may be able to help him and his business.

Asking for help can save you a lot of time.

I was frustrated with my website, I don't know a thing about layout, design or what have you. So I used a site builder, which I was quite pleased with. But over the past few weeks, I came to dislike my website, and I wanted the layout to be a little better. I mean I toyed around with the website for hours. That's my problem, I try to fix things first and then read later, to see if I am right. Anyway I was so annoyed that I even considered transferring my domain name to another site, luckily the other hosting services didn't offer all of the features that my current hosting site does. So I just decided to call my hosting service, and tell them why I was frustrated, and asked them how can they help me fix the problem. And boy it was simple as 1-2-3, my issue was the layout. My current layout was featuring the text where my potential clients had to scroll down, I wanted the text where they didn't have to scroll down. The customer service agent was so helpful, she knew everything I was talking about, and even changed the layout for me. She explained that I just had to play around with my site builder to create the results I was looking for. And I was certainly pleased with all of her help. You see instead of being impatient, I decided to call my provider first, and see what they can do for me, instead of losing me as a client. Even though I was a little upset that they raised their prices to $10.00 extra a month, because they added new features. But after the great encounter with customer service, I can care less about the price increase, because eventually I will be using those cool new features for my business.

How can you be creative with direct mail?

Well I rarely check my mail, because I do a lot of paperless transactions, thanks to the help of various companies going green. Anyway surprisingly enough I still have to empty my mailbox, so the mailman won't get trampled by my pile up of printed paper. Anyway I just opened a mailing, It was addressed to me in hand writing and had no name, I was quite skeptical, but the printed hand writing made me curious. Therefore as I proceeded to open the mail, which the envelope was marked Hallmark, so I thought it must have been a Christmas card or something, it was a greeting card that read " Need a little Balance in your life?" At first I thought it was something from Nightingale Conant, the biggest publishers of self-help. But it wasn't instead it was a handwritten note, from a customer care Representative of my phone company, and inside the insert was a promotion where they are going to give me a $ 10.00 credit on my next bill, in exchange for a free program check-up.

I thought that was a creative little package that was sent to me. I should have been weary because no name was listed on the return address, but I proceeded to open the mailing with caution. But needless to say, I still opened the card and read the promotion. And you already know about what is happening in today's economy, so you better believe I am going to call them, so I can get a $ 10.00 credit off my next bill. Wow I guess the power of direct mail really does work.

Find a Networking Buddy

I attended my first networking event yesterday. I admit I was nervous, I never been to one of those events before, let alone, I was just there to do some research on what kind of writing services businesses may need. I sat at a table with one lady, who seemed to be quite shy herself. But she was friendly, so I continued to sit at her table. Luckily a gentleman approached us, and introduced himself. He told me he was new at networking at the chamber of commerce, I informed him that I was a novice networker as well. So after speaking I found out he was a photographer, which is right up my alley, for the ezine I plan to start. Anyway to make a long story short, we decided to partner up, and approach people together. And it worked out beautifully, it took us a few tries to get our feet wet, but once we met the first business owner, we were on a roll. We collected about 18-20 business cards each, and surprisingly enough, they were all good leads for the both of us. We stayed for about 2 hours, just chatting, getting to know the local businesses, and how we can use their services, and how they can use ours. It was a fun event, and thanks to my networking "wingman" it was a breeze. My new networking buddy and I had so much fun together, that we decided to become networking buddies at every other networking event. It was a great opportunity, and just to think a few weeks before hand I was nervous, and preparing millions of speeches of what I was going to say. Now I know how the networking scene works, I will be attending a lot more events, since networking seems to be an invaluable source to get quality leads. And it helps if you have a support system too, like my new networking buddy.

Do you need a newsletter?

My answer is yes, and read this brief little story to find out why!

I found a specialist that I loved!

I have well, er, let's just say a detox specialist. I absolutely fell in love with her from our first session. She was very knowledgeable about the whole liver cleaning and detoxification process. On top of that she made the not too comfortable procedure a breeze by massaging my feet, and engaging in friendly conversation throughout the one hour session. The first time that I went to see my "special specialist" was at a medical spa in my area, that was slowly going out of business. She informed me that she would be getting a new office and gave me a card to keep in touch. I just have a problem with misplacing cards, it is easier for me to just store a number in a phone, unfortunately I didn't have a cell phone at that time. Well anyway needless to say I misplaced the card. Luckily a colleague went to my specialist a few days after I raved about her, got a procedure and a card for me. Thank Goodness! And sure enough I schedule my second session with her, this time at a temporary office until her office was ready for move-in. And again the second time around was just as pleasant as the first. She did not have a new card yet, since she was getting her own business instead of working in a managed facility. So she mailed me my receipt a few days letter with a new business card with contact information and a address to her new office. And yep, you guessed it, I mean I still have the card, but I just can't find it right now. I really should invest into getting a card holder.

I lost her contact information!

Anyway the other day I realized it was time for another cleansing session. I figured I would just do a google search and find her like I did in the past. The only issue was, is that she worked for a medical spa and was listed with them, unfortunately they went out of business. I know she named her business, and it had nothing to do with her personal name. I did a google search on her name, tried various spellings, typed in her speciality and zip-zero-nada! Sure I can go to any other specialist, but I want her! We had great client/specialist chemistry. And I heard horror stories from colleagues that went to other places.

Out of sight, out of mind

So what does having a newsletter have to do with this story? Well everything! I understand that my specialist is busy running her business. But if she started a newsletter, or had someone help here start a newsletter, she could of had my business. And I refer her to everyone I can. Therefore she could of had a newsletter or even a small blog , or some kind of contact with me, to keep me updated with what was new. Or even notifying me of a special discount or a promotion of some sort. Any other person would take their business elsewhere, and she could have lost a loyal client. However certain things I do not change, therefore I have to start my search until I find her again. But hopefully she is going through her old client files, and reading a lot of Web 2.0 on how to connect with her clients. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will find her again. So you see keeping in touch with your client can build relationships thus creating a lucrative income. Not Bad for a few words on paper, huh?

Lewis Writing Solutions

Hello,

Thank you for stopping by to check out my blog and my website. I am Nina Lewis and I am the owner of Lewis Writing Solutions. My goal is to help Small to Medium size businesses succeed by offering them writing tips and writing services. I look forward to writing for you really soon!