You've Got to be "In It" to Win It Never Applied More #GoGlobal

After I graduated and got in the real world of advertising, my observances of the small business people taught me far more than a classroom ever could. There were those (no matter how great their customer service) who just couldn't make a go of it. Others succeeded in ways which were a mystery to me. Dumb luck, I guess.

But for those who achieved some modicum of success, they found their niche and were able to grow. Their business built jobs for family and others. Some expanded their enterprise to other locations and many, eventually online.

These people took a challenge and grabbed it. They worked out what they knew and studied to learn more of what they didn't. It takes a special kind of entrepreneur to succeed and build a business for a lifetime. It really made no difference whether they chose to stay small or to expand. Their accomplishment spoke volumes.

Now that anyone with a plan and some gumption has access to an international marketplace on the Internet, it brings new challenges. I would have never thought that my small, online business would be shipping product to Moscow, or Buenos Aires or Tokyo. But I have; and now service customers worldwide.

Which brings me to the point of this post. The idea of sending merchandise to customers overseas used to scare the heck out of me. I knew there were customs regulations and I knew it would be ever more expensive (even if the customer paid the shipping).  Who would even care to spend extra to buy from me?

I took the step first by selling action figures and opened up sales to a worldwide audience. Amazingly, even in the early 2000s, there were people willing to buy and pay a premium for my goods!

The first step is getting past that fear. When businesses are growing and succeeding, there always seems to be a similar barrier: expanding globally. I’ve worked with more business owners than I can count who just don’t want to go the extra mile (pun intended) and expand their markets internationally.

There are various reasons entrepreneurs hesitate before taking the global leap. For one, there’s a popular myth that shipping across borders significantly changes the status quo. Yes, no one likes change, but the logistics behind international shipping can be just as easy to navigate as domestic shipments once you know the rules.

An easy way to get your feet wet is to take a single product and start selling on an established international marketplace like eBay. For any ecommerce business, I suggest starting slowly and first deciding which products and countries blend best for your business. Read my article here for tips on how to save money while expanding your business globally.

This week I will go to IRCE (Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition). If you ever intend on stepping into a full-blown ecommerce business, there is no better place to start (once you've read my books - of course). The sessions are most excellent sources of information.

Granted, going to the conference is quite expensive for a small business. So I recommend going for the first time to just the exhibits, where a pass is $75 (when you purchase in advance). The exhibits at IRCE cover a 250,000 square foot show floor and boast over 600 vendors showing off the latest in technologies for the new retail economy. The ideas that will come to your mind when walking the floor will be dazzling. Plenty of ROI to cover your transportation and hotel!

No doubt when you're there, you will see a badge of someone you've met online or a representative for a service you've considered using. Its the perfect place to get recommendations and network with other businesses like yourself.

I will be at IRCE 2015 sharing the experience recording videos (using Periscope too) and doing a book signing in the Pitney Bowes booth (#743) on Wednesday and Thursday.

Pitney Bowes has been around a long time, and as a forward thinking company, has some new ideas for cross-border commerce. Talk to one of the people in their booth and learn how to take the next big step in enterprise level fulfillment. They will have experts who can help you develop and execute your international growth strategy.

It's a big step from shipping First Class International packets to moving your full business online. The Pitney Bowes folks are there to hold your hand to help you succeed. Stop by the booth and say hello. Tweet me @MarshaCollier or @PB_digital during and after the show and we'll be glad to point you in the right direction.

How to Reinvent an Ecommerce Business in Less Than 90 Days

When I first started my mentorship with Pitney Bowes Smallbiz Mentorship Contest winner Julie Wiley, I knew it would be a challenge. Here was a woman with years of entrepreneurial experience moving from a full-time job to a home-based, online business.

Julie had been profitably selling on eBay since 2002 on the side, so a jump to a full ecommerce business was not a big stretch. When deciding about her business plan in 2008, she wanted to select a theme that was fairly recession proof. She reasoned that people were always getting married so she named her eBay store I Do Bridal and Gifts.

She also wanted her business to be unique in the marketplace so she widened her product offerings. Tapping her creative side, she began making varied custom items – such as canvas wall décor, glassware and creative bachelorette favors. These items not only build her bottom line, but require less inventory investment. Smart move.

Thinking further into the bridal idea, Julie came upon the thought that remarriage is almost as popular as first-time marriages, so she felt that second-time brides might enjoy a place of their own. She named her new website Second I Do’s.  Despite doing all that seemed right, she was struggling to turn a profit.

We dug in, and together we addressed many of the issues that face small businesses. Here’s what we changed:

• Mobile–izing the Website. The first thing I did was to check the Second I Do’s website. Although it was chock full of great merchandise, the layout was dated. Although the host told Julie her site was optimized for mobile. It clearly was not. We negotiated for a new template, but the template that was offered up was incredibly basic (but could be seen on mobile). After checking the latest from different providers, we selected a professional Shopify ecommerce website which offered contemporary templates and excellent mobile conversion. This also cut down Julie’s monthly expenses. The new version of the SecondIDos.com website will be live on Shopify by December 1st.
• Getting Centered. They are numerous popular ecommerce portals and Julie was trying hard to do a good job on many of them. It’s a lot of work to keep up to date on changes and relisting and listing the same merchandise on many sites. We looked at her monthly sales on each platform and evaluated the ROI. We narrowed her alternative selling platforms to the ones which performed best: eBay, Etsy and Artfire.

• Sharpening Keywords and SEO. When you have a lot of merchandise up for sale online, the mere act of listing many items makes it easy to let item titles get stale. I went over about a hundred of Julie’s eBay items and made suggestions on new titles based on keywords. In ecommerce, keywords are king. They are the SEO for your items for sale. I recommended she be sure to use words that fully describe the items and fill the entire permissible title space. We also went through and freshened up listing descriptions to answer any question a prospective customer might have.

We visited Google Analytics and checked visits, time on site, average pages viewed and bounce rates (how many people leave your site without visiting other pages). We discussed the factors that needed to be improved. Moving her main site to Shopify, with its open layout, should handily increase sales.

• Cash Flow. Many ecommerce businesses get weighed down in inventory. Unless the inventory is evergreen (and fashion rarely is), it’s time to slash prices and move merchandise. We also looked at monthly costs related to websites, subscriptions and payment providers and compared these to current options. We managed to pare down her monthly output significantly by using many of the lower priced and often free services.

For example, there was a paid store app on the Second I Do’s Facebook page, so we switched from that to Auction Items from eSoftie, a free solution that allowed Julie to send her eBay items to a Facebook store. Setup was simple and took only a few minutes for the entire inventory to populate.

• Social Media Marketing. We went over the best practices that I lay out in my book Social Media Commerce For Dummies and gave her tips on how to better engage and build a community of customers.

Julie had a nominal presence on most of the social sites. Since social media seems to be everywhere these days, we examined the demographics and decided in which sites Julie would put the most effort – and agreed to focus only on those.  We also set up Google Alerts so she could monitor mentions of her brand and industry on the web and take best advantage of sales opportunities (as well as to derive content for sharing).

Setting up a social media plan can take a while and generally done after the ecommerce platforms are mostly complete. So it might be a while before Julie’s Twitter feed ramps up. I suggested Julie use Buffer to better organize the timing, so as not to send out tweets and posts in rapid fire fashion, leaving room for responding and connecting.

In the three months I worked with Julie, we covered more than I can possibly list here (I can’t give away all her secrets)! In doing so, I was reminded that mentoring is a two-way street; a partnership. When mentoring, you always gain a new point of view on many things. A recent post of Julie’s on Facebook signaled to me that we’d been successful:

“I have never been so busy working from home. Part of it is due to my mentor, Marsha Collier who has given me many “tools” I can use to become a better ecommerce business. Unfortunately, with the new tools comes time spent learning and utilizing them and when you are trying to sell to generate income, it can seem like these tools take away from your selling. I am learning that in order to be successful at selling, I need to have the proper foundation laid. Thanks, Marsha. I know next year my business will be positioned so much better for success!”

Thank you Julie. It was a great experience for me as well!

This article originally appeared on the Pitney Bowes blog

5 Tips for Mentor Relationships that Produce Positive Results

Certificates from the County of Los Angeles, California State Assembly, California Legislative Assembly and the City of Los Angeles for "Businessperson of the Year" and "Small Business of the Year"

When I started my business, there was no Internet - to speak of. That is, unless you could call CompuServe (a modified CB simulator chat service), the Internet. It wasn’t until the early 90s and AOL that we could send email. It was a dark, dismal, lonely time.

At the Los Angeles Daily News, I had developed what I called a “renegade revenue” department of the newspaper, the Special Projects Division. There, I could come up with ideas, present them to management along with a business plan. If it was approved, we could run with it. We did some really off the wall projects and were very profitable. I should have known right then that I was an entrepreneur, but the word never resonated with me.

The Tribune Company was forced to sell my employer due to FCC issues and I had to take my fate in my own hands. I had no close relatives who were business kingpins, so I had to search for someone I trusted. This mentor had to be someone who had no skin in the game, a neutral third party who could give me advice. Luckily, I knew of a c-level newspaper executive whom I had met at conferences that just moved to Southern California .

Tip #1: You never know where your mentors will come from or when you will meet them. When networking, always be at the top of your game.

I didn’t know if he would remember me, or even take my call. I called his new office. He did remember me and I explained my situation. He invited me to lunch to talk - I assumed it was because he didn’t know many people in his new city.

Tip #2: Find someone to mentor you who is not a self-proclaimed expert. Find someone who is (or was)  a success in your field and is respected by others in the industry.

We’ll call him Howard. Howard (surprisingly) knew a lot about the work I had been doing and had great advice. He asked me if I wanted to be ‘another small fish in a big ocean, or a big fish in a small pond.” Message received, I decided to strike out on my own.

My background in renegade marketing would pay off. I presented my ideas to several regional shopping centers and I got five big clients. Now all I had to do was start my business. I had no concept of how to start a business.

Tip #3: Get business structure help from licensed professionals; someone who doesn’t have a disclaimer at the bottom of their website.

I went to the EA (EA is an Enrolled Agent - someone licensed by the IRS as an authorized tax practitioner) who did my personal taxes for references. I walked away with her advice, the name of a good accountant and a lawyer. I also found out that I’d have to get a loan to bankroll my exploits.

Many long, lunches later, I had everything in order. My business was set up legally and I had fulfilled all government requirements. Today the Internet would make things much easier.

Tip #4. Finding good mentors, those you can trust and resonate with is not an easy task. Don’t attach to the first person you meet; find someone who “gets” you.

By the way, I did get that bank loan and paid it back. My business powered on and was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine. You can read the actual article here - which gives my 1986 "Formula for Success." I was so successful that, in 1990, my company was named Small Business of the Year by the California State Assembly.

Because I have never been one not to take notice of cultural trends, I researched and devoured books. As the world changed and my business progressed I went deep into the writings of by my favorite futurist, Faith Popcorn. The turning points for my business and career also came from the many mentors I worked with during my career, especially Clay Felker, founder of New York Magazine; advertising and marketing genius, Tom Culligan and the engaging Peter Glen, author and customer service advocate for whom the Retail Advertising & Marketing Association's annual Peter Glen Award is named.

Tip #5: On your way up, you may be lucky enough to meet people who become “the greats” of the future. Be sure you keep in touch with them.

My business has morphed in different directions over the years and I still look to those who succeeded for advice. The fact that they will still get on the phone humbles me.

Which brings me to the point of this post. Through a relationship with Pitney Bowes Small Business, they have invited me to be a part of their latest initiative the Pitney Bowes Smallbiz Mentorship Contest which starts today and runs through September 22, 2014.

Pitney Bowes is the perfect example of a business born through mentorship and partnership. Arthur Pitney needed a mentor when he worked as a clerk in a wallpaper store and invented a machine to imprint envelopes with postage. Luckily, he found Walter Bowes who sold a letter-cancelling machine to the Postal Service. Together, they invented the postage meter. 

You can win a customized, one-on-one mentorship with me or my colleague Brian Moran, a small business expert dedicated to helping small businesses owners run better businesses. I’ll work closely with you to help tackle the biggest obstacles you are experiencing, or ones that are keeping you from the success you imagined. We’ll  review your business plans together. Then, I’ll make some actionable recommendations, and follow through with you until the end of the contest period. Hopefully providing some useful guidance to help you ignite your business.

To enter and win a mentorship, all you need to do is "like" the Pitney Bowes Small Business Facebook page and post a comment of less than 200 words letting us know us why your company would benefit from a mentorship program. Then, tell your friends and co-workers to like your post. Every Like helps your chances. Visit this page for the complete (and official) Terms and Conditions. 

6 Steps to Painless Social Media Self-Promotion

A common topic for discussion is promotion for small businesses and personal brands. When it comes to social media, the responsibility for promotion falls on the shoulders of the owner (chief cook and bottle washer). Even though my books are published by one of the top 10 publishers in the world, I still need to take responsibility for my own brand.

I’ve personally been promoting my work and books in the real world and online for over 15 years and it’s the most difficult task on my plate. Even on the “About” pages of my websites, I am loathe to blow my own horn. I might consider myself an introvert, or I might just feel the mere act is bragging.

To be fair to those who do it well, it takes nerve to think there are thousands of people waiting around to hang on to your latest words or hot new project. We may have products, businesses or books to promote, but not everyone has a similar promotional style.

National Small Business Week. Entrepreneurs are the future!

When I wrote my Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide, I mentioned that small business often has the edge over large. Being able to change quickly and stay closer to customers and employees are a couple of the main advantages. This week is National Small Business week and I'm glad that that small businesses are getting their due.

A few facts have stuck in my mind (these are from the Small Business Administration (SBA):

• Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
• Employ just over half of all private sector employees.
• Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
• Have generated 64 percent of net new jobs over the past 15 years.
• Create more than half of the nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).
• Hire 40 percent of high tech workers (such as scientists, engineers, and computer programmers).
• Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.
• Made up 97.3 percent of all identified exporters and produced 30.2 percent of the known export value in FY 2007.
• Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms; these patents are twice as likely as large firm patents to be among the one percent most cited.

I'm proud to be a small business entrepreneur and it's nice that our nation chooses to salute the backbone of our economy.

Roger Ebert’s 8 Twitter Rules, Social Media For Brands, Social Multitasking - AllTwitter

Need a little weekend reading? We’ve compiled our top ten Twitter stories of the week, which includes the late Roger Ebert’s 8 rules for using Twitter, 5 ways that social media content is evolving for brands, news that men are far more likely that women to use social media whilst on the toilet (or drunk), how small business are using social media (and what they might be doing wrong) and a look at the many hats of a community manager. 

 Here are our top 10 Twitter stories of the week. 

1. Roger Ebert’s 8 Rules For Using Twitter
Much-loved film critic Roger Ebert died on Thursday after a long battle with thyroid cancer. Surgery in 2006 had left him unable to speak, but he continued to be a prominent user of social media, and Twitter was a particular favourite. Indeed, after some initial resistance, with Ebert proclaiming that he would “never become a Twit” and that Twitter represented “the end of civilisation”, he would go on to write more than 30,000 tweets before his death.
2. 5 Ways Social Media Content is Rapidly Evolving For Brands
Anyone working in social media marketing appreciates the unique challenges of attempting to budget and plan for the upcoming year’s social media strategy. How can we know the type and level of resources we’ll need to be successful when the mix of social content is evolving so quickly? And when most social marketers have only recently secured budgets commensurate with the amount of time and resources required to succeed in social media marketing, how do we stay ahead of emerging trends in 2013? Did we know we’d need a Pinterest budget a year ago? Probably. Do we need a Vine budget today? Probably not.
Read More on MediaBistro
(Twitter image via Shutterstock.)

via mediabistro.com

Best Practices: 10 Ways to Avoid Email Overload in 2013

Email is possibly the biggest time-suck for most of us. It's good to remind ourselves of the best practices now and then. I came upon this valuable post from 2011. The recommendations are as valid today as they were then.

Most people I know share a common complaint - too many emails! However, I observe many people creating extra work for themselves in their haste to plow through it all. The results include miscommunication, slow response times, and even more emails!

I'm generally on top of my emails and my inbox only contains the current day's messages. I doubt I'm any less busy than the average person, but I do follow a few simple tips.

1. Think before you "Reply All"
   A boatload of our extra email comes from people hitting the "Reply All" button, even when "All" of us don't need to see the message. Only use this feature when necessary.   
2. CC and BCC cautiously
   A close cousin of the "Reply All" problem is the CC and BCC. Copy someone who doesn't need to be copied and you risk having them add more unnecessary emails to your inbox.
3. Read carefully before responding
   A lot of unnecessary email traffic comes from people sending partial responses to emails. In their haste to reply, they may miss a key detail. For example, I recently emailed a friend who invited me over for dinner to let her know I was available on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I asked her to choose the day that worked best for her and her husband. She replied, "We can't do Friday, but we can do Saturday or Sunday." Ugh - now I have to send a second message and she'll no doubt send a reply. Two additional emails would have been avoided if she had simply selected the day that worked best for her.
4. Write concise but thorough messages
   Think of a question your recipient may have about your email and include the answer in your message. A short, well-written email leads to less back and forth which ultimately reduces your email load.
5. Describe what you want in the first paragraph
   Make it easy for your recipient to understand what you are looking for. Put any request for action or information in the first paragraph of your message so it won't be missed.
6. Email isn't for conversations
   Look at the messages in your inbox and see how many are from the same conversation. Do you need to discuss something with a colleague? Pick up the phone and knock it out.
7. Write descriptive subject lines
   The subject line should give the reader a clear idea of what the message is about so he or she can determine how quickly to read it. A descriptive subject line also reinforces what you are asking the reader to do.
8. Set rules to automate email management
   Outlook and many other popular email programs let you set rules to automatically manage certain types of emails. For example, you can have all your email newsletters automatically routed to a "Reading" folder that you can check once or twice a week. This unclutters your email box and allows you to get to those lower priority items when you have a free moment.
9. Use one program to manage all your email addresses
   Many of us have multiple email addresses, but that doesn't mean we can't get all our messages in one place. This allows you to manage just one email inbox instead of several. I have rules set up in Outlook that route messages sent to my secondary email addresses to special folders so they don't get mixed in with messages sent to my primary account.
10. Check email only a few times per day
    Constantly checking your email every time a message arrives is a huge distraction and productivity drain. Instead, set aside blocks of time to focus on email and power through your messages. Force yourself to make a decision about each message (respond, file, or delete) rather than just leaving it sitting in your inbox for later. You'll find this approach allows you to write better messages, get fewer responses in return, and dramatically reduce the number of emails in your inbox.

via toistersolutions.com

Social Media Policy: Why You Should Have One and What to Consider When Creating One

Post by Marsha Collier

If you intend to promote your brand and interact with customers through social networks and social media channels – and I highly recommend that you do – you must realize your employees will be there as well, with their own personal accounts. There’s no reason not to encourage your employees to explore and engage in social media communities online, but remember, they are also the face of your company to all their friends and associates – as well as to the customers they know. What they say online or the type of photos they post on their personal accounts may reflect, albeit in a roundabout way, on your business. When they directly talk about you or your business, it will have a cause and effect relationship.
It is your job to guide your business’s online culture and protect your brand’s online persona. Provide guidelines for your employees in the form of a Social Media Policy. This written document, similar to other codes of conduct you have for employees, will let them know what type of behavior you expect from them online and any limits as to what business-related information they can share in the public stream.
Here’s how one of our nation’s biggest companies handled it. Back in 2009, before most people thought about setting guidelines, Adam Brown broke ground by developing a 4R social strategy (review, respond, record, redirect) and spearheaded the development of social media guidelines for the Coca-Cola Company. Aside from designating a code of conduct for their official online spokespeople, Coca-Cola also laid out specific principles for their associates. By taking a look at what Coca Cola deemed appropriate, perhaps it will help you forge a set of standards for your own employees. From Coca-Cola’s Online Social Media Principles, the guidelines below with my explanations outline expectations for any online activities – personal or professional – where employees reference the company or have made their association with the company known.

1. “Adhere to the Code of Business Conduct and other applicable policies” – Coca Cola has several policies regarding specific business activities, including general conduct, information protection and insider trading. All employees (from the CEO to interns) are expected to follow these when mentioning online that they are employees of Coca Cola. 
2. “You are responsible for your actions” – This point is a reminder to exercise sound judgment and common sense when posting online because employees will be held responsible if their actions negatively impact the business or its image.
3. “Be a ‘scout’ for compliments and criticism” – This guideline acknowledges that employees are “vital assets for monitoring the social media landscape.” Coca-Cola even supplies an in-house email for forwarding both positive and negative comments employees observe online, so they can feel confident negative situations will be addressed without feeling like they must be the one to take action.  
4. “Let the subject matter experts respond to negative posts” – This point stresses, again, that should employees encounter a potentially damaging post about the business, the post should be referred to those trained and approved as official online spokespeople to handle responding.
5. “Be conscious when mixing your business and personal lives” – This principle recognizes that personal and business personas often intersect online and reminds employees that everything that is posted online – even when channels or profiles are “private” or “protected” – can still ultimately be seen by anyone at any time through sharing, forwarding and general unintentional carelessness. 

via thinkingforward.tumblr.com

Quickly Research Facebook Competition by Checking Fanpage Likes Tab

On Facebook, demographics are everything. Knowing your fan base, and the fan base of your competitors can mean the difference between creating engaging page content or failing to connect with potential fans.

Here is a quick way to get the inside scoop on your Facebook competition to make sure that you’re targeting the right audience with your Facebook page content.

Step 1 – Identify your Facebook competition

Though this is rather self-explanatory, it makes sense to keep an eye on your Facebook competitors. What brands are operating in the same space as you? Identify them and “Like” their pages. Take note of what they post, how they engage, and what kind of content they share with their fans. (To do this you must visit them from your personal Facebook profile, not your business page)

Step 2 – Visit their Facebook Page and Click on the “Likes” tab

On each Facebook page that is timeline enabled, personal users can click on the “Likes” tab at the top of the page to get a quick snapshot of the company’s fans. This is where you gather the data.

Click the Likes tab to view a snapshot of your competition’s fans.

Step 3 – Study Like Data to Determine the Fan Base

After clicking the Like tab, you’ll be presented with a nice summary of your competitor’s fan page data. Take note of it, and compare it to your own page’s analytics. What do you see in common? Are you reaching the same audience? Do you have similar peaks in traffic? Maybe you have nothing in common with your competitor’s page. This could be good or bad, depending on which page has the most engaged users, or those “talking about the page.”

Obviously, Facebook doesn’t reveal all the statistics of other fan pages, but with this limited information, you should at least be able to identify strengths and weaknesses between your page and your competitors’ pages. Use the data to inform your content decisions, and finally, don’t forget to keep checking in on your competitors. Facebook is always changing, and so are page management strategies. By checking your competitors’ Like tabs, you can at least be sure that you’re operating within similar demographics.

Do you know your Facebook competition? What are you doing to stay competitive?

via fanpagetoolkit.com

10 Things You Don't Know About the Seller Community: Happy Birthday eBay!

In honor of eBay's 17th birthday, I thought it'd be fun to recap some memorable moments from the past 17 years since Pierre Omidyar launched the company during Labor Day weekend 1995. While I'm not (and never have been an employee of eBay), I'm thrilled to have been part of the eBay Community since those very early days! (I’ve also included a few tips below to help improve your selling strategies and operations)

During eBay’s Q2 earnings conference call, CEO John Donahoe stated: “This is the strongest performance we’ve seen out of marketplaces since 2006.” eBay is clearly reclaiming its reputation with buyers as the world’s best person-to-person marketplace. If you’ve been on the bench about selling, it’s time to get into gear and start listing!

1. The most popular auction selling format is the 7-day auction, although auctions generally are losing traction with today’s “on-demand” shoppers. (The best use for auctions is still rare and one-of-a-kind items). Fixed price listings represent the highest revenue-generating format on eBay, accounting for 65% of sales by total dollar volume.
2. eBay has 105 million registered users in 39 markets around the world, and international sales volumes in Q2 2012 totaled close to $10 billion, driven by strong growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific. If you are selling as a business versus a hobby, it’s worthwhile to consider shipping to international buyers. DYMO Endicia’s solution helps make this virtually painless.
3. 600,000 new customers made their first purchase via eBay Mobile in Q2 2012, and eBay estimates that for all of 2012 there will be $10 billion in transaction volume through eBay and PayPal mobile, more than double 2011. As a seller, when you create your listings, this means you should make them concise, but still clear and accurate.
4. While mobile is great for buyers, post your listings from your computer using the full-featured listing form so you won’t leave out pertinent details. When complete, view your listing on the eBay Mobile app to be sure it translates well, then go back to your computer to make any necessary modifications. Mobile apps definitely have a purpose, but take time with your listings so you can get the highest price possible for your items.
5. Customer service, not just listing volume, is a key condition for attaining Top Seller status. Accurate and friendly communication, quickly getting packages out the door and free shipping options are all factors buyers consider when making purchases. Top Sellers now represent 50% of eBay’s gross sales volume, and this number grew 22% over last year.

Networking Your Small Business Target Audience in Social Media

Social networking demands the attention of today’s small businesses... right along with online reviews and customer feedback. But, with time at a premium, where should you go to reach your customers and maximize your social media efforts? Articles all over the web tout one site over another, claiming this one is best or that one will draw your customers’ attention. What’s more, there always seems to be another emerging social media platform around the corner. Is it any wonder that small businesses get confused about where to focus their time?

Even before you make your initial foray into social media, defining objectives should be your first step (hint: stating that you want to increase sales is too general). Return on investment (ROI) will be different for each business depending on your goals. Drawing shoppers to eBay, a Facebook store or your website may each take on a slightly different tack.

Before you start utilizing a social media channel, you also need to understand and know your customers. You find them where they spend time on the Web and reach them with content appropriate for the various platforms. Keep in mind that social media channels are designed for “social networking,” not broadcasting – you must interact with fans and followers. Pepper your promotions not more than one in six of your posts on a particular platform.

Here’s a quick overview of the top social media communities you might want to be part of with your business:

• Facebook. Facebook is personal. Here you need to reach customers on a personal level. Sharing information or facts that relate to your business and to customers’ everyday lives will bring you more likes and shares. Graphics and photographs are very appealing to this audience.
• YouTube. YouTube for ecommerce is all about demonstrating your products. If you have a product that would benefit from demonstration, by all means make a short video. Embed or link to that video on your other social media channels.
• Twitter. The short message service that has taken the world by storm is a great way to build your online community. But to be relevant and build trust on Twitter, you need to spend time online meaningfully contributing to the conversation, not just posting links to your website or to items for sale. Respond to questions and re-tweet comments or facts of interest. Your goal is to sell to a community, not to become a spammer.
• Google+. If you deal in technology and deal internationally, Google+ may be ripe to help you find new customers. The site slants highly to men and the bulk of the participants on the site are in technical fields. The number one occupation on the site is Student, and only 32% of users are in the United States. All that said, it is a perfect platform to interact with those who appreciate technology. Engage with long-form posts and video content. Take advantage of Hangouts to build your reputation as an expert in your category.
• Pinterest. The jury is out as to whether Pinterest is truly monetizing for the small business. Post selected items (by no means every item you sell) and be sure the links are updated to direct to the actual item for sale in your online store.

Six Things You Can Do to Better Manage Your Time

Time management is a recurring issue around here. It comes up constantly as one of the great struggles. We’ve got lots to do and insufficient time to do it.

Here are my best time management tips (they work for me).

1. Keep a list. You’ve got to have a comprehensive list of your outstanding obligations. It can be on paper or contained in a fancy task management system. Personally, I use Wunderlist: it falls somewhere between paper and fancy. You’ll find all kinds of systems for organizing the list. It’s essential that you get the list out of your head and into your system. Until you get it all down somewhere, you’ll spend tremendous energy worrying about what you’re forgetting.

2. Delegate. Go through your list weekly and decide what you can give away. Don’t wait until you’re on overload to delegate: do it now. The more time you give your team to do the work, the more likely it is to get done right. The more time you allow, the more likely you are to hand it off since you’ll hesitate to let it go when the deadline looms. Keep a list of the tasks you’ve delegated and set a deadline that gives you time to address the problem if things don’t go as planned. Err on the side of delegating more than you think you should: give it all away if you can. That saves you for the highest value activities for which only you are suited.

3. Take 15 minutes tonight to plan for tomorrow. Go through your list and identify the two or three high priorities for tomorrow. When you get going in the morning, you’ll know exactly where to put your focus. Never start the day by culling the list and identifying priorities: that should all be done before the day starts so you can attack the important issues first thing. Always finish today with a plan for tomorrow.

4. Stop checking. Stop the constant checking of everything that can be checked. I remember the good old days when mail came once a day. Once it arrived, it was pointless to keep opening the box and looking inside, so I didn’t waste time walking back and forth to the mailbox. Now we can check everything all day long: email, voicemail, Facebook, Twitter, and an amazing array of news sources. Do it once, maybe twice per day, and don’t look except at designated times. It’s easy to fill your day doing nothing but checking the inputs. You’ve got to regulate yourself or you’ll find yourself checking one thing after another and then clicking on link after link as you go further down the rabbit hole.

5. Stop all input. Shut down all input while you’re focusing on your task. Be very deliberate and close the door, turn off the ringer, shut down the email program, turn off Skype and instant messenger, and kill Facebook and Twitter. Don’t let anything interfere with your single-minded focus. Don’t allow instant messenger to send you popups, and make the texts stop on your phone. Figure out how to put everything on hold while you do what needs doing. You’ll have time later to check all those inputs when you’re finished.

6. One thing at a time. Forget about multitasking: it doesn’t work. We’d like to believe we’re really good at juggling multiple activities, but we’re not. Our brains are willing to start and stop and shift tasks, but the net effect is that we take more time to do less because we’re constantly starting and stopping. Don’t do more than one thing at a time. Attack your priority and stick with it until you’re done. Don’t take calls when you’re drafting a brief. Don’t talk to your paralegal when you’re on the phone with a client. Focus, focus, focus and finish the task at hand.

Time management is tricky. When we think we need help, it’s usually because we’ve stopped finishing things and we’re seeing our lists get longer and longer while we lose control. The solution is to finish things. You’ll feel better when you’re able to close out tasks and clear up your list. That’s only going to happen when you focus on finishing.

By Lee Rosen

via divorcediscourse.com

 

Google+ vs Facebook: Get Smart with Brand Page Strategy INFOGRAPHIC

I came across this infographic full of good data. But they left out some major points, which tell exactly why Google+ isn't working out for US business right now:

•  Student is the number one occupation of Google+ users. Coming in way behind for second place is Software Engineer, third is Consultant
• Currently, only 32% of users are from the United States

For now, focusing your business on Google+ might not be for you. Remember? Fish where the fish are!

How Pinning on Pinterest Can Benefit Your Business Bottom Line

If you haven’t created a Pinterest account for your online store, it might be time to jump on the bandwagon.

Shopify, a service that provides ecommerce capabilites to 25,000 online stores, assessed whether Pinterest posts were actually leading to sales. The results were surprising and impressive: Pinterest is the 3rd largest referral source to ecommerce sites, behind Facebook and Twitter.

However, customers referred by Pinterest spend an average of $80 per order— that’s twice as much as Facebook users typically spend.

If that’s not enough to get you to sign up, click through to see even more Pinterest statistics. 

Infographic courtesy of Shopify.   

via thinkingforward.tumblr.com

 

Facebook EdgeRank: How it Helps -or Hurts- Your Business Page

You might assume that your Facebook fans see all the posts you make. After all, they like your page, right? Wrong!

Behind the scenes of Facebook, there is a news feed algorithm that determines who sees your posts in the news feed and who doesn’t. It’s called the EdgeRank, and it’s something worth looking into if you want to understand how many different factors play into the success of your Facebook fan page.

As seen in the graphic above, by @ladyxtel, Facebook’s EdgeRank may seem complicated at first glance. Upon further investigation, though, it’s actually only a matter of a few factors (plus some secret code) that make the whole thing work! Essentially, the EdgeRank is an ever-changing “score” for your page and the posts it publishes, and that score determines who sees each post and how far a single post travels through the news feed.

Though the specific algorithm (code) behind the ranking system is kept secret by Facebook, we can break down the three other most important factors in computing the EdgeRank. These factors will have the biggest impact on your Facebook marketing efforts, and should therefore be considered of utmost importance in your marketing plan.

1. The affinity score between the viewer and the creator. Facebook keeps tabs on how frequently a user interacts with a certain friend or brand page. The more a user views a particular brand page or engages with their posts (by liking or commenting), the higher the affinity score between that user and brand. For example, if I always “like” and comment on Fanpage Toolkit’s status updates, Facebook raises the affinity score between Fanpage Tooklit and my personal profile, making it more likely that Fanpage Toolkit posts will continue to show up in my news feed. Basically, this is a positive feed-back loop.

2. The weight of each type of engagement action and post type. Facebook “weighs” each form of engagement with a post (like, comment, share, etc.) and factors this weight into the EdgeRank. We’ve heard that studies have shown a “like” has a smaller engagement weight than a comment, for example, while a “share” has the greatest, most influential weight of all actions. Similarly, the type of post you make as a brand page carries a weight factor. Photo posts, for example, have more weight than a plain text status update or link. Think about the weight of your posts and how your fans engage with the posts when considering your content strategy. With these facts in mind, theoretically, a photo posted from your brand page that is then shared by many fans would create the highest weight in the EdgeRank, exposing your post to the maximum number of users. More on that below.
3. The time of posting (or how old a post is). This is the most logical factor in determining the EdgeRank. Older posts have less of an Edge, simple as that. Just like Twitter, the Facebook news feed is an ever-updating stream of information. As posts get older throughout a day, the less likely they are to appear to users. In the case that a post receives engagement (after it has passed its prime time), users may see the post brought back to the surface of the news feed. But, in general, page admins should keep time of posting in mind when creating content.

So, we see that a clear factor in one’s EdgeRank is the type of content posted from brand pages. Are you taking that content factor into your posting strategy? Do you alternate what types of posts you create for your fans? Some of the most memorable posts by brand pages I can remember are photos, and of those posts, the brands usually get a “like” out of me and their fans. In the best cases, I share their photo. It’s no wonder, then, that photos were found to earn the most engagement per fan in studies of Facebook posting strategies. In a great post by Small Business Search Marketing, the results are clear. Photos earn the most engagement.

The beauty about posting engaging photos is that the more a single user interacts with your content (a photo, for example) the more that future content of yours is likely to show up in their news feed! By making the connection to fans with content such as a photo, in the first place, you set yourself up to increase your page’s EdgeRank.

After learning about what the EdgeRank is, and for those wondering how their page ranks in the scheme of things, you can certainly try out EdgeRank Checker for yourself, as they offer a great, comprehensive service for pages interested in increasing their visibility on Facebook.

Small Business: Lots of Work, Low Pay for Entrepreneurs - but Getting Better

A new Citibank® survey reveals perpetual reinvention rewarded by grateful employees and customers. The surveyed small businesses and found that 23 percent of owners have gone without pay for at least a year as they work to keep their businesses afloat in a tough economy.
Small business owners like myself are struggling to stay afloat, but most that I speak to keep fighting the fight. Small business can turn on a dime if they stay on top of expenses, margins and bottom line. I predict that those of us who continue to morph and change to build our businesses, will do very well. An entrepreneurial spirit combined with good business sense will surely succeed.
I pulled the percentages below, because many I know (including myself) have experienced these issues...

• 78% have taken less profit
• 70% worked more hours than usual
• 69% Used their own money to help the business survive
• 54% say they have gone without a paycheck in order to keep the business running.
• 23% of owners have gone without pay for one year or more.
• 38% said their employees worked overtime without pay
• 18% of owners said employees either missed paychecks or had paychecks delayed.

"Small-business owners risk everything to pursue their dreams and are willing to do what it takes to make it," said Maria Veltre, Managing Director, Citi Small Business. "Their personal sacrifices, passion and ability to adapt have positioned them to capitalize on improving business conditions."

Following are the full results from Citibank:

Increase Small Business Profitability ---> Reduce Churn -----> Compete Better through Social Media

My Parallels Summit 2012 Keynote should give you some quick actionable strategies for improving your marketing, online customer service (connection and engagement) so you can better connect with your SMB customers to sell more.

Attendees were all given copies of my book, The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide, you might also find it helpful.

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

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

 

What's Your Definition of Rude? 15 Mistakes to Avoid in Small Business Customer Service #custserv

Sometimes it seems like rude customer service is the rule rather than the exception. But there's rude — and then there's rude.

When it comes to getting customer service, what's your definition of rude? What unprofessional behavior irritates you the most when, as a consumer, you are interacting by phone with another company?

Sometimes, customer service that is perceived as rude is not intentional and often is the result of absent-mindedness or carelessness on behalf of an employee. Either way, bad customer service can translate into lower sales and lost business, says Nancy Friedman, president and founder of the Telephone Doctor, a St. Louis-based customer service training company.

Based on its own surveys, the Telephone Doctor has compiled the 15 biggest sins of customer service employees today. They are listed below, along with Telephone Doctor's guidelines (in parentheses) on how to do it right.

If your company's customer service managers and front-line employees are guilty of any of these, it's time for some action. Otherwise, you may have an image problem that could sabotage your effort to produce and market great products.

1. Your employees are having a bad day, and their foul mood carries over in conversations with customers. (Everyone has bad days, but customer service employees need to keep theirs to themselves.)

2. Your employees hang up on angry customers. (Ironclad rule: Never hang up on a customer.)

3. Your company doesn't return phone calls or voice-mail messages, despite listing your phone number on your Web site and/or in ads and directories. (Call customers back as soon as you can, or have calls returned on your behalf.)

4. Your employees put callers on hold without asking them first, as a courtesy. (Ask customers politely if you can put them on hold; very few will complain or say "No way!")

5. Your employees put callers on a speaker phone without asking them first if it is OK. (Again: Ask first, as a courtesy.)

6. Your employees eat, drink or chew gum while talking with customers on the phone. (A telephone mouthpiece is like a microphone; noises can easily be picked up. Employees need to eat their meals away from the phone. And save that stick of gum for break time.)

7. You have call-waiting on your business lines, and your employees frequently interrupt existing calls to take new calls. (One interruption in a call might be excusable; beyond that, you are crossing the "rude" threshold. Do your best to be prepared with enough staff for peak calling times.)

8. Your employees refuse or forget to use the words "please," "thank you" or "you're welcome." (Please use these words generously, thank you.)

9. Your employees hold side conversations with friends or each other while talking to customers on the phone, or they make personal calls on cell phones in your call center. (Don't do either of these.)

10. Your employees seem incapable of offering more than one-word answers. (One-word answers come across as rude and uncaring.)

11. Your employees do provide more than one-word answers, but a lot of the words are grounded in company or industry jargon that many customers don't understand. (If you sell tech products, for example, don't casually drop in abbreviations such as APIs, ISVs, SMTP or TCP/IP.)

12. Your employees request that customers call them back when the employees aren't so busy. (Customers should never be told to call back. Request the customer's number instead.)

13. Your employees rush through calls, forcing customers off the phone at the earliest opportunity. (Be a little more discreet. Politely suggest that you've got the information you need and you must move on to other calls.)

14. Your employees obnoxiously bellow "What's this in reference to?" effectively humbling customers and belittling their requests. (Screening techniques can be used with a little more warmth and finesse. If a caller has mistakenly come your way, do your best to point him or her in the right direction.)

15. Your employees freely admit to customers that they hate their jobs. (This simply makes the entire company look bad. And don't think such a moment of candor or lapse in judgment won't get back to the boss.)

In defense of customer service workers, customers can be rude too. And customer service jobs can often be thankless, with little motivation or incentive to do the job right.

But the problem here is that life for customer service employees may not be fair. Customers can be rude and get away with it. Employees cannot — if they want to help their companies to succeed and keep their jobs as well.

via microsoft.com

Holiday Season Small Business Online Customer Service: Just Do It!

The holiday season is upon us. Here are some great trends and tips from Barry Moltz:

1. The time to react to your customer is shrinking. In this 24/7 instant gratification world, the time in which your customer expects you to be able to resolve their problem is getting smaller. Most customers expect to be able to reach you 24/7, and for you to resolve their concern on the very first call (or at least the same day). This is putting increasing stress on companies’ infrastructure and pressuring companies to ensure the profitability of each customer. Look for companies to begin to “fire” customers that don’t meet their profitability metric.
2. Customer service has become the new marketing. Small business owners used to be afraid that a dissatisfied customer would tell 7 people. Now, through social media sites, they can tell 7 million people. On the flip side, “raving fans” can be your biggest source of new business as they tell everyone how great your company is. Consumers believe what their peers say about your company more than they believe any of your own paid advertising.
3. You can find out exactly where your customers are talking about your company. Every business is being talked about on the Internet, but where? New customized software from companies like Flowtown allow the business owner to insert a contact’s name or e-mail address and identify the social networks in which that contact participates. Knowing where your prospects and customers congregate online is critical for engaging your customers where they are.
4. The “social support” experience grows. Consumers now talk and bond directly with each other over using your products. Companies like Get Satisfaction and Feedback 2.0 are building online communities that facilitate conversations between companies and customers. Get Satisfaction states that 46,000 companies use its product to provide a social support experience to listen and talk to their loyal customers.
5. Faster resolution of customer service issues through blog and social media site comments. Calling a company’s customer service number is no longer the fastest way for a customer to get an issue resolved. Since most brands are tracking what is being said about them on all the social media sites, tweeting your concern or posting it on Facebook will often yield quicker results. This has especially been effective for me with my vendors like Comcast, Vonage, American Airlines and Discover Card.
6. Integration of Web customer service and traditional phone support.Customized software now allows integration of what prospects and customers are saying on the Web about your company. More solutions like Parature for Facebook are available to integrate that information with your website and customer service center. Software now enables Facebook users to search their knowledgebase, submit help tickets and chat with customer service agents. Look for online and offline customer input channels to continue to merge in the coming year.
7. More self service: It started with ATMs 40 years ago and now we rarely go to the airport without using a self-service kiosk. This past year, more complicated transactions like renting a car are now being done via kiosks at companies like Hertz. Although it takes a bit longer, it is effective for impatient customers who do not want to wait in lines. Many stores have also implemented self checkout. Can buying a car or house via self serve be far behind?
8. Faux personalization becomes an expectation. With many consumer interactions now happening online or through automated kiosks instead of live people, customers have come to expect the type of “personal service” they get at websites like Amazon. Easily being able to track your current, past and recommended future purchases has become an expectation that is not easily matched in a brick and mortar store. Amazon always remembers who you are, but does your local retail store? As a result, where would you rather shop?
9. Retail stores are now an experience. Successful retail stores like Apple and Brookstone have become demo centers with a lot of service people around to help. On Black Friday, when other stores were struggling to keep up, I was in and out of an Apple store in 5 minutes with my iPad purchase. In order to compete with online shopping, successful stores are now fun places to come out and shop. Gone are the days when you couldn’t find someone to help you at Toys R Us (and I don’t miss it).
10. You need to chat. Helping a customer on your website used to providing an e-mail address or listing the company phone number. Real-time chat is now becoming a requirement in order to help your clients. Can video chat be that far behind for an even more personal touch?
11. Online inventory tracking from your customer’s phone. Your customer will no longer come into your store to see if you have a product. Companies like Milo.com can now tell the customer if a product is on your shelf. The company says it tracks real-time availability of 3 million products in 52,000 stores. Is this the end of “window shopping”?

via smallbiztrends.com

Social Media is NOT a numbers game for small business! Find your customers and engage them!