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Is Your Business Connected to the Right Web Host Provider?

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As a small business owner, having a sizable and sound presence on the Internet can be the difference between an average business and one that is going places.

In order to achieve such a presence, however, one needs to have put together a solid Web site that is free of gaffes, easy to navigate, and offers the consumer something.

Finding the right web hosting provider is not always the easiest thing to do, given you yourself may not be very adept at what you need. If that is the case, even more time and research should be taken so that your choice does not leave you and your Web site down.

When searching for a web hosting provider, keep the following in mind so that you do not go blindly into the search:

* Know the needed capacity – The percentage of storage capacity your business requires will depend on what kind of site you are putting together. If you are constructing an article directory where your required web space will increase rapidly, decide how much the expense will grow for such needs;
* Understand the required bandwidth – Another key factor is to determine what amount of bandwidth your site will most likely need, especially if you figure on providing the public with things like audio, podcasts, streaming video etc. over time;
* Know if you will face a setup fee – As competition among web hosting providers heats up, that should mean savings for your business. That being said, if a web host provider notes it will be charging you a setup charge for its services, shop around;
* Understand the provider’s thoughts on tech support – The idea should always be to locate a hosting provider that is at your service on a 24-hour basis. Given that server issues occur at all hours of the day, don’t settle on a service provider that can’t meet your potential service needs;
* Check out the company’s history – Lastly, do a background check on the service providers you are looking into working with. See if there is any track record of complaints, if their company proves to be financially solvent, and if they have a history of quality service. Issues in any of these three areas should serve as a red flag.

When it comes to finding the right web host provider for your small business, don’t be left disconnected.

Photo credit: http://www.etamhost.com/tag/web-hosting-provider/

Dave Thomas has more than 20 years’ experience as a writer, covering marketing, SEO, press releases, social media and more. You’ll find Dave at BeeMoreSocial

 

Customers and the Internet Can Be Deadly Combo for Businesses

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With all the good the Internet has brought to both businesses and customers, it also has opened a can of worms that is not too easy to close.

Take the following example:

A customer comes to your restaurant with their significant other for a special evening of fine dining and relaxation. Their waiter/waitress is running behind and is late getting them their orders. When the food does arrive, it is not what they ordered and/or is cold. The restaurant is real noisy and the couple, the ones that were planning on a peaceful dining experience, ends up feeling like they just spent an hour or two at a food court in a busy airport. When all is said and done, they leave your restaurant and haven’t even left a decent tip. Think you will never hear from them again?

In all likelihood, while you may never see them in person again, there is a very good chance you will hear from them, as will countless others.

Internet Has Changed the Ways We Do Business

You see, the ‘old days’ likely meant that you may get a letter in the mail regarding the service, but not much more than that. Okay, while it is never good business to lose a customer or two, losing a few here and there is to be expected.

But wait, what if you now lose hundreds of potential customers because of this one bad experience the couple had? Don’t think it can happen? Well, think again.

After that couple left your eatery the other night, one or both of them took to the Internet and told anyone who would listen about what a bad experience they had at your restaurant. Now, instead of maybe just their family and friends knowing about it, potentially hundreds and even thousands will hear their complaints.

Negative publicity regarding your business is certainly not a positive thing, but do you automatically have to react or does doing so actually open you up to more trouble?

First and foremost determine why the negative publicity originated:

  • Was the customer’s bad experience something that could have been prevented or were you not even aware of it until the fallout?
  • Is it a constructive comment or something that seems personal from a customer you’ve had issues with in the past?
  • Has this customer’s bad experience been something new to your business or is this becoming an unwanted trend (other customers too) as of late?
  • If you have dealt with a similar issue before, what was the outcome?

When it comes to dealing with bad publicity, the advent of the Internet years back has meant business owners now can be dealt a major blow with just a few sentences being banged out on a keyboard.

What once used to be bad publicity spread through word of mouth from one upset customer to maybe a handful of people can now be passed around like a viral wildfire by one click of a mouse. In just minutes, thousands of people can read a bad review of your business and form negative views of it in the process.

If your business believes that bad publicity is better than no publicity at all, then by all means stand back and take your chances. Chances are, however, that many companies don’t feel that way and will take a stand to deal with the matter.

If negative publicity links regarding your business seem to be spreading like wildfire, the best way to eliminate them is by using the correct SEO techniques.

Do You Know and Understand Your Online Reputation?

A positive step is hiring an expert who handles online reputation rebuilding so they can start the cleansing process of removing bad publicity links.

The individual/company you hire to rebuild your company’s reputation can simply demote bad post ranking sites from search engines such as Google, promoting positive posts for the rankings instead. The information is likely still to be on the Internet, but those researching will have a major dig on their hands.

In the event comments are left on your site via a forum or on your company’s Facebook page, it is important that you have already have in place a reader comments policy so customers know the rules up front. Not only does this protect you legally, but it also keeps your reputation in tact that you can take the heat and address the issues at heart. For those customers who leave constructive comments (not involving vulgarity, etc.), by all means leave them up, as censoring them is going to draw the ire of not only the original poster, but likely others.

Business owners can ignore the remarks and let them hopefully die or take them on and deal with those consequences.

The bottom line is trying to determine the potential impact from the comment or comments and how they can impact your wallet.

So, has your business been saddled with negative online comments in the past? If so, what did you do about them?

Photo credit: neighborhoods.redeyechicago.com

Dave Thomas writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

Should Your Company Be Hip to Online Marketing?

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With the different means available to advertise one’s small business, how much if any of a role should online marketing play?

As the economy continues to struggle and companies look to interact with current and potential customers, online marketing can provide a major helping hand in giving consumers valuable information regarding your business.

That being said, many experts of how to go about marketing your company will tell you there are pluses and minuses to online marketing. So, which side do you believe in?

On the positive side for online marketing:

  • You gain increased access to potential customers who are able to view your products and services, thereby enhancing the possibilities of more sales;
  • The cost to promote your business online is less expensive than other forms of marketing like print and television advertisements;
  • Given the 24/7 lifecycle of the Internet, you can talk with your customers and interested individuals in real-time. With a mass e-mailing, you can also reach out to far more people than you could with other mediums;
  • With 24/7 Internet access, you have the availability of instant feedback from your audience. With that in mind, you can make nearly instantaneous corrections etc. if needed to your product/s.

On the negative side for online marketing:

  • Having an Internet presence will also invite additional expenses such as running the company Web site, deciding who will oversee the online marketing efforts, and being able to instantaneously reach out to customers who will go to the competition if they don’t feel like they have received quick assistance;
  • Not everyone flocks to the Internet for their shopping needs. While the Internet presence is important, keep in mind that there are a number of other ways to make sales;
  • With online marketing or anything online for that matter, there is always the possibility of security issues. Fraud is a major issue to deal with online, so you could miss out on potential customers who would otherwise use the Internet to shop with you;
  • Technology mishaps can always lead to glitches in your site, including it being down for an undetermined amount of time. If interested individuals come to your site and are having problems with it, they could go elsewhere to handle their business.

At the end of the day, your company needs to remember that online marketing is not perfect, but it is a rather inexpensive and catchy means by which to reach out to consumers.

When engaging in online marketing, make sure your company checks out all its options, including pay-per-click and banner advertising.

Online marketing can be a great way for your business to get its message out to countless individuals instantaneously and at the right price too.

Photo credit: pinnacle-websolutions.com

Dave Thomas, who covers among other subjects’ vehicle insurance , writes extensively for business.com an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

 

The Effect of the Internet as a Watercooler

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Bob Krumm wrote this week: The water cooler is spreading a virus

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, two events have leapt into America’s consciousness this week. The first was the Tea Party protests involving hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans in hundreds of cities all around the country.

Susan Boyle
Susan Boyle

The second was the sudden and stunning success of previously unknown church choir singer, Susan Boyle, who wowed judges and the audience in an audition for Britain’s Got Talent, the Anglican version of American Idol. Since Saturday night when her first song was broadcast to a British audience, Ms. Boyle’s televised appearance has been viewed by no less than 40 million people, a population eight times that of her native Scotland.

In just the last 24 hours she has been mentioned, complete with a color picture, on the front page of the Washington Post, was interviewed live on the CBS Early Show, and has been booked for an appearance on Oprah.

What these two seemingly unrelated events have in common is the internet.

To riff off of one of the comments, the revolution will not be televised – it will be on YouTube!

In a more serious vein, however, the example of Susan Boyle reveals two important things:

  1. Regular people can now become as famous as any celebrity. The video of Boyle’s performance contained the perfect combination of a stereotypical set-up, a surprising twist, and a heart-warming response. I have a feeling that we are going to be hearing from Ms. Boyle again.
  2. Succumbing to cynicism and “judging a book by its cover” just might put one into a very uncomfortable position. If Simon Cowell were not known for his disdain for most performers on these talent shows he would have looked like a real jerk.

Change the World: Be a Bridge

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Head, Heart, and Meaning!

changetheworld8

I arrived home from nine day journey, thinking about all of the ways we move forward and around in our lives. Some ways are reflective, slow, and private.

horse and carriage by Andrew Dubber

Some take us to a crossroads that require a decision in due time.

Some transport us over calm or troubled waters.
Wacker Bridge by Wendy Piersall

But the best parts of the journey are when we have friends, offering their experiences and insights. They offer hope when we’re on the darkest ride. They’re like human bridges as we move through our careers and through our lives.

Bridges make roads seem more worth traveling. They can shorten a journey or offer a chance to think about where we’re going.

Bridge by xch.hu

Bridges can offer a lighted way to the other side.

After nine days traveling to see people I’ve met here and people who’ve never been to the blogosphere, I look at the Internet with new eyes. The interwoven content, context, and human relationships of the blogging Internet is network of bridges.

We were all new here once . . .

If we could offer an irresistible invitation, a sweet introduction, and a lighted bridge, people who never dreamed of talking might connect in a conversation that was more than meaningful and more than right.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Image sources: Andrew Dubber, bjmccray, Wendy Piersall, xch.hu (see alt tags)

Stop Being Dangerous and Annoying the Blogosphere!

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Adjust Your Senses!

relationships button

I’ve been wondering, watching Internet relationships — how they are virtually the same and different from those in the real world. I’ve found patterns behaviors and looked through my experience to see whether those patterns hold up when I test them out.

My conclusion is that folks bring behaviors to the virtual world that don’t always make sense here. We do the human thing of continuing what we feel has worked for us before — without considering whether, in this new situation, it’s still the sensible thing to do.

Some foolish folks are getting this Internet thing wrong. That’s dangerous and annoying.

Read on if you are one of them. Better yet, read on anyway, we never know when a wave of foolishness has taken over us.

Here are the 5 senses that folks need to adjust to stop being dangerous and annoying the Blogosphere.

  1. Sense of Security Living online is more complicated than living in a real-world community. People here haven’t agreed to one single set of laws. The people can more easily falsify who they are, where they are, whose picture we see. If someone pulls a “fast one,” what you believe and have learned to be your legal right probably won’t mean a thing in this “world with no border.” Either way, it will probably be too expensive to enforce. If you know that, you’ll be more secure.

  2. Sense of Reality I can route my calls through Montana and answer them in Madagascar. I could be 93. You won’t know for certain until we meet. Most importantly, unless you have and have verified my street address, if I go offline, it’s possible you’ll never find me. On the other hand, you might find people who can trace back to my IP and the route my computer took to get to your to your computer’s door.

  3. Sense of Privacy Sitting at home locked in safe doesn’t make what we say secret. Writing in the middle of the night alone can feel personal and private. Remember the Internet is public and always open — forever. There is no eraser. In times of high emotion, stress, or other serious consequence, type into a word processor not your blog. Anything can wait 24 hours.

  4. Sense of Entitlement The woo of a “free” Internet can make us think everyone should serve up what we want — get over that. Re-read the story of “The Golden Goose” again. Or to put it another way, everyone has their own. It’s annoying to be asked or to be told to fulfill a request by folks who can’t bother to be polite or finish a sentence. First impressions last and last . . . and often are the last some folks will want to know of you.

  5. Sense of Humor Words in text don’t have the same context as words shared verbally. Tone is implied and easily goes askew. Here where many cultures meet, sensitivity means we use humor carefully. Make sure that everyone knows when you’re going for a laugh. It’s sad to say something seriously not funny when it was intended to be.

These five senses are critical to a successful experience in the Blogosphere. What other sense can you add to the list to make the Internet less dangerous and less annoying?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!