The first thing to ask yourself when you think you want a website for your business is “why?” Maybe you just want another point of contact for clients with your basic information on a home page. But if you want to sell your services or products, your website needs more detail.

Many entrepreneurs and businesses put up websites without considering the look, feel, and ease of use for the customer. Even if you have an established internet presence, it’s worthwhile to examine your website from a customer’s view.

• What does my design say about my business – do I look professional or “home made”?
• Is my site overloaded with graphics and takes a long time to come up?
• Do I look like a blaring advertising billboard for other businesses?
• Is it easy to find out who I am and what I do?
• Can my customer easily contact me for more information?
• Are there action prompts that seamlessly direct a customer to click and buy my service or product?
• Is my site visually appealing, fresh, and compelling so my customer will keep coming back?

Remember the last time you were window shopping and something caught your eye? It could be the shop itself or an item on display but you just had to stop and take a closer look. You were hooked. You may even go into that store and buy it. The same thing happens when we’re browsing the web; attractive design and a hint of boldness in words and color draws us in to see more.

Bring buyers in by striving for simple but elegant; be colorful without glare and entice their curiosity. Here are some easy ways to entice them in and keep them wanting more:

• Your home page should load quickly and showcase the best of you. If clients have to wait for flashing banners and big graphics to come up first, they’re likely to move on to faster pastures.
• Put your best design foot forward. Your bio and company information should be prominent with your branding and attractive colors. Be sure your palette is appropriate for your business – a rock band needs bright and bold while a meditation studio should have soothing shades.
• Make it easy for your customers to order from you right now. You may have had them at “hello”, so don’t hold them up. Always make a purchase just a click away.
• New, new, new! Refresh your content frequently so you are always generating value and buying buzz. Increase sales by giving your customers cutting-edge information they can use.
• Offer coupons, discounts, and incentives when buyers refer their friends and colleagues. Keep them informed of money-saving deals and breaking news via a blog or occasional emails. Your name and brand should always be in front of them.
• Edit your content – this is crucial! You can have the best layout with the most expensive design, but it’s surprisingly easy to ruin your credibility with poorly written text. Even an obvious typo or misspelling can send some clients running for the hills. If you’re unsure of yourself in this area, consider hiring an editor or copy writer. It’s cheap insurance that pays big dividends.

Finally, take a tour of your completed website when you think it’s ready to go. Remember to view it as a buyer of your wares by referring to the above checklist of questions to ask yourself. With a little thought and attention, your new dynamic website will hook those window shoppers and they’ll reel themselves in.

NEXT: I’ll show you proven methods to get more window shoppers to your website and how to turn more of those lookers into buyers. Better sales results will make you more money. Stay tuned!

The most profitable companies in the world all have a distinct thing in common. They have established themselves as a leader in their particular industry by creating a strong brand presence. These companies know that building a powerful brand increases a company’s value, it provides direction and motivation for employees, and it enables customers to easily make a building a relationship with their company a must.

Developing a relevant brand is a pertinent part of building your small business for a number of reasons. Knowing where to start, however, may pose some questions. For the sake of assisting you with a brand that will draw attention to your business and bring you the desired market, I want to look at 5 key basics for branding…

• Know Your Brand Target. This starts with knowing your perfect customer, their wants, needs and desires and how your product or service helps them to solve their needs.

• Develop a Brand Strategy. How will you convey your brand to your market? It is important that you create a strategic plan on the various ways you will communicate your solution to your customers. How will you advertise? What social media strategies do you need to put in place?

• Create a Consistent Brand Identity. Your brand identity is the visual aspect of your company. This includes your name, logo, tagline, literature, website, color, and so much more. Design your marketing materials so they easily identify your company. This consistency will lead to strong brand equity through sparking an emotional response and perceived quality.

•  Stay True to Your Brand. Give your customer what you promised. Don’t provide lousy customer service and limited ways for your market to connect with you. Stick with the identity that you build and make sure that you are fluid all the way through to the end.

• Your Personal Brand.  Did you know that you need to brand YOU? Your personal brand is every bit as important to your overall corporate brand in that it too must be consistent with what your brand stands for. The brand values you possess should be a part of your personal brand as well. In the day-to-day operation of your company, how you are perceived also impacts the overall brand experience for your customers. Whether they trust you, enjoy your company or look to you for advice speaks to how successfully you’ve grown your brand. Since you are your brand, it benefits you stay on top of every touch point of brand.

Your business brand will help you to create a path that is unique to you and your market. It is the foundation of how you communicate your solution to your potential customers. If you want to see your profit margins grow, you need to be sure to build a solid brand for your small business.

OK, so you have a WordPress site and decide to add a couple new plugins, or move some content around or even update to the latest version of WordPress… and all of a sudden you find that your site is not working and showing errors.  HELP!

Well the first thing you should do, rather than panic of course, is either hire a professional or if you are feeling daring enough then work through checklist below to try and pinpoint the problem.

There are all different kinds of errors that can occur with WordPress – Internal Server Errors, Parsing Errors, Memory Errors, and more…

I think almost everyone who has a WordPress site has run into some kind of error or problem along the way.  It happens.  But your WordPress site CAN be fixed.  It is just a matter of finding and resolving the problem.

WordPress sites have 4 different layers:

• Plugins
• Theme
• WordPress Core
• Database

I always begin the troubleshooting process by looking at the plugins FIRST.  80-90% of system crashes are caused by plugin issues. There are so many plugins available out there and some of the code might not be up to par. Combining these plugins with other plugins, themes, and WordPress itself creates an untested mix that can easily crash a website.
 

Backup Site First

Even if your site has crashed, it is important to stop and back up your site (both the site files and database). God forbid you wind up screwing something up in the process so it is important to have your site files saved so that you can restore your site if need be.
 

Plugin Troubleshooting

1. Disable all plugins and then check to see if the problem has been resolved.  If it has, you know that you have an issue at the plugin layer.
2. Re-activate plugins one at a time.
3. Test your site after each reactivation. You can usually pinpoint the problem plugin this way.
4. Disable that plugin.
5. Re-activate the other plugins to ensure you don’t have multiple plugin problems (it could be more than one plugins causing problems).

For those of you that cannot even get into your WP dashboard to disable plugins, you will need to access your site files via FTP and navigate to the wp-content folder. If you rename the plugins directory, to plugins_temp for example, WordPress no longer knows where the plugin files are, and stops running them so you will most likely be able to access your admin panel again.

In the plugins section of the WordPress dashboard, you will see an error message that the plugin files cannot be found and have been disabled. Rename the plugins file via FTP back to “plugins” and your plugin files will be available again. You can then go back to the steps above and work through and find the problem plugin.
 

Theme Troubleshooting

Once you have ruled out the plugins being the problem, the next step will be to check the themes.

1. Disable your current theme.
2. Activate a default theme such as Twenty ten.
3. Test. If the problem has gone, you know the theme is causing the issue.
4. Re-activate all of the plugins individually. If the problem doesn’t recur, you’ve isolated the theme as the problem area.
5. Rule out recent theme changes.

• Code Changes – if you have recently added or updated any theme code then you should remove that or go back to the way it was before the changes (this is where a backup would be very important to be able to use – always backup a site before making any code changes)
• Theme Update – If a theme was recently updated then you should go back to the previous version.
• Widgets – If you have added a new widget, then remove it or check the code, etc

This process is all about back-tracking so you really need to be aware of any changes that you make to your site.

Again, if you cannot log into the dashboard you will need to access your site via FTP, and navigate to the wp-content/themes directory. Rename the current theme that you are using to “theme_temp”.  Same as what we did above with the plugins, WordPress won’t know where the theme files are. All you’ll see at the front end is a white screen, but the dashboard will be available. You can then go through the steps above.
 

WordPress Core Files Troubleshooting

The last place to check (if nothing above helped to resolve the problem) are your WordPress core files. It is normally the least problematic but files can become corrupt and stop WordPress from working correctly.

1. Download a clean version of  WordPress
2. Connect to your site via FTP (I use Filezilla)
3. Rename wp-admin and wp-includes to ensure you are uploading clean copies of these directories.
4. Back up wp-config.php. This files holds your database connection details.
5. Upload your clean version of WordPress.
6. Test. Is your issue fixed? If so, you have isolated the problem to be at the WordPress core.  If not, then it is time to hire a professional.
7. If you found the problem then re-activate your theme and test it.
8. Re-activate your plugins and test them.

At this point, you have hopefully isolated the cause of your problem.  But here are some other great options in helping with troubleshooting WordPress errors:

• Plugin / Theme Support – Visit the plugin or theme developers’ site and check to see if they have a support forum where you can  search or request support. Premium plugins and themes should provide top-class support as part of your fee.  If it is a “free” theme or plugin then be sure to be nice to them and don’t expect an immediate response.

• Find a Replacement – There are usually multiple options for plugins so if one plugin is causing a problem try replacing it with another one.

• WordPress Support – Request support from WordPress.  You can find many answers concerning specific WordPress errors and other things.

• Use Social Media – Send out a tweet or post on Facebook.  Us your network to find answers.  You might be surprised to find that someone else has had the same issue and has a solution or they can lead you in the right direction.

The key is to methodically work through the layers, eliminating as you go, until you find the root cause. Then, fix that issue. Remember to constantly test because sometimes there are composite problems with multiple plugins, or the theme and a plugin.
 

Hire a Professional

When worse comes to worse and you are not able to figure things out on your own or you are nervous about trying the steps above, then be sure to hire a professional who has experience with WordPress and troubleshooting.

If you have come across this article and need this type of assistance, we would be happy to help you.  We charge $75 per hour and though we normally cannot tell how LONG the troubleshooting will take, we often can pinpoint a problem in just an hour or 2.  Feel free to Contact Us today!

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.

For that reason it makes sense to know that branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but it is about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their dilemma. It is about building a brand-presence!

A Good Branding Perspective…

• Delivers the message clearly
• Validates your credibility
• Emotionally engages your target prospects
• Inspires the buyer
• Solidifies customer loyalty

In knowing how to deliver these objectives you must first understand the components necessary for building a strong brand; and not just any brand, but a brand-presence that speaks your message with power. Each of the following components will help you with developing and maintaining brand consistency. Brand consistency will help you to retain customers and will remind others who you are and what you are all about.

Create Your Brand Message

Having a mission statement is pertinent to your brand’s success. A great business tagline makes your mission simple for your market to remember the main message of your mission statement. Therefore your mission statement and tagline are the core components that make your overall message SHINE! It is what your clients and potential clients will remember you by.

Visual Branding Components

Believe it or not the visual aspects of your brand are also important to your success. Think of the Golden Arches, that infamous Pepsi Blue; or what about Target’s Bull’s Eye Red. There is no mistaking the power of color visuals for these companies. Just like the colors are important so are other visual aspects. From the logo design to the colors you choose, to your website and marketing materials, your brand must be consistent and relevant to your message.

When you think about Nike, you think about that famous swoosh on the side and you know that Nike is intended to give you value and high performance.  When it comes to companies like JC Penney’s who just changed their brand you get the sense of value at a great price. Even their new logo speaks volumes about their brand: SIMPLE!

Personal Connection

Have you noticed how personable companies are becoming when it comes to marketing? There is a reason for that! We live in a society now where social media rules and consumer thoughts really matter because of global power through the airwaves.

Your message needs to be as authentic as your service or product. There is no other way to put it. Without a message that is real and filled with truth, you will not create the effect you desire for long term consumer relationships.

In order for your message to be authentic, you should KNOW the following elements:

• Know who you are
• Know what your product or service is about
• Know how your product can solve a problem
• Know your market
• Know your expected ROI (Return on Investment)

If you get a handle on these elements of an authentic message, you will find more success and a higher profit margin when it comes to sharing your message!

Branding isn’t a one shot deal, it’s an on-going juggling act of marketing, research and conversation. If you’re not tapping into those conversations with your audience, how do you know what their real impression of you is?

Guest Post by Jon Loomer (a Facebook Expert)

Facebook Timeline is an amazing tool if utilized properly, so small businesses need to get on board to reap the benefits.

Reports have shown that Timeline increases the engagement window from about one hour to two and a half hours. Additionally, my own studies have revealed an increase in participation on custom tabs.

If you are frustrated that your engagement, likes and revenue haven’t all magically gone up since the change was made, you probably do not have a basic understanding of how Timeline can benefit you. The purpose of this post is to explain the four things that you as a small business owner should focus on to get the most out of Facebook Timeline.

Imagery

This one should be obvious. The new Facebook Timeline utilizes a 851×315 cover photo and a new 160×160 profile photo. You need to be strategic about your imagery. If the images you pick are boring or unprofessional, you will lose first time visitors.

This is a big deal. Before, all pages were largely equally as boring visually. The emphasis was on your content. Other than going to a default landing page, people decided whether or not to like your page based on what you wrote — and based on how your fans interacted.

Content is still important for retention of fans, but the main thing driving new fans will be how you present yourself visually. Consider your company’s branding. Show your personality. Take the time and possible investment to make a good first impression!

Custom Tabs

I’ll be the first to admit that tabs in the former format on my Facebook page went largely ignored. According to my Insights, people went to one of my tabs, but only because they had no choice (it was a default landing page). Overall, people really didn’t care about those links on the left hand side.

But that’s completely changed now. There are three tabs (in addition to photos) that are featured with 111×74 icons immediately below the cover photo. And while there is no longer a default landing page, fans and non-fans are visiting these tabs more than ever before.

It’s important that you be strategic about this. Don’t just convert the old tabs to new ones and think that your job is done. Do the following…

1. Make a list of goals and priorities of your company and Facebook page
2. Make a list of things that your fans and potential fans may be looking for
3. Collect assets (photos, videos, forms) that you can use for these tabs
4. Determine which three are most important to your company
5. Create tab icons that are consistent with your brand

Let’s say that your goal is to increase newsletter subscribers. Well, one of your tabs should highlight the benefits of your newsletter and provide an opt-in form.

Maybe you are a service company. One of your tabs should be a visual portfolio or highlight the services and packages that you can provide, complete with a contact form.

Or if you have a specific product or piece of content that you know your customers are looking for, feature that in a tab.

This is something that should take significant thought. Once you’ve developed your tabs, you should then consider order. You can always swap tabs in and out of the featured area to put more emphasis where necessary.

The hardest part for small businesses, of course, is actually creating the tab. I use ShortStack to create my tabs, and they have more than 60 templates to choose from to make the process a whole lot easier. You can read my review of ShortStack here.

Tell Your Story with Milestones

Facebook Timeline also allows brands to tell the story of their company in an interesting way with Milestones. Help fans get to know what you’re about and where you’ve come from by mapping out the many landmarks of your journey. When did your store open its doors? When did you hire your first employee, and who was it? When did you release that exciting product? Create Milestones to highlight these exciting things and provide images to help tell the story.

Pinning and Highlighting

One issue with the old Facebook format was that within hours or days of creating a post, it was buried forever. This was particularly the case with busy walls.

But now you can pick and choose posts that you want to emphasize and “pin” them to the top for up to seven consecutive days. That post then would always live at the top of your Timeline on the left side below your cover photo. This is particularly helpful for new product releases and contests, or anything which you want fans and non-fans to see first when coming to your page.

Additionally, you can “Highlight” a post for greater emphasis, making it stretch across two columns instead of the normal one. This is particularly useful for sharing engaging photos that are wider than they are tall. It also adds variation to the format of your Timeline, making it much more interesting to the eye.

Your Turn

What tips do you have for small businesses struggling to successfully utilize Facebook Timeline? Or if you’re one of those struggling, what are your questions?

About Jon Loomer
Jon is a digital marketing consultant with a unique perspective on social media. He was introduced to Facebook in 2007 while with the NBA (back before Pages) and has been using Facebook for business ever since. Stay in touch by reading his blog on JonLoomer.com, liking his Facebook Page (Jon Loomer Digital) or following along on Twitter (@JonLoomer) or Google+.

Selecting the appropriate colors for your site is as vital as choosing content and graphics. People are often not aware of the impact of COLOR and the influence that it has on the human state of mind. The color scheme that you choose for your web site can entice the visitor to engage or cause them to leave after the first few seconds. A poor selection of colors and other visual elements of your website can have a negative impact on your business and turn potential clients away.

The background color of your website, the color of your header, the color of your text, headlines and sub-headlines etc. can all have a psychological impact on your visitors.

When thinking about site color selection, you must take some things into consideration…

• Who is Your Audience?  

There are certain color preferences for certain groups of people.  For instance male and female, ethnic groups, or even specific target markets.  If you have a site that you know only attracts male visitors, then you will not want to go with a pink color scheme., instead you will want to use strong, bold colors.  Choose colors that are appropriate for your Web site’s topic.

• What is the PURPOSE of your Site?

Ask yourself these questions…

- Who are your site’s potential visitors?
- What products or services are you offering?
- What are your site’s key objectives?

Are people going to your site as a place of reference?  Are you selling a specific product or service?  If the aim of your site is to sell something, then the colors you choose will need to inspire the right kind of emotion in people.  So that brings me to my next point…

• Meanings of Colors

Just as you use words to express yourself, colors can be used as an expression as well. Different colors can evoke different emotions.

Red is the color of heat, passion and excitement. It grabs attention and evokes energy and speed. 

Orange is the color of warmth and vitality. It’s also associated with reliability and playfulness.

Yellow is the color of optimism and creativity. Bright yellows represent sunshine, cheer and happiness.

Green is the color of serenity and health. It connotes growth, nature and freshness.

Blue is the color of security, truth and stability. It implies loyalty, reliability and an open communication.

Purple is the color of spirituality, intelligence and wealth. It can also mean royal, sentimental, creative and sophisticated.

Pink is the color of youthful intensity. It conveys energy, fun and excitement.

Brown is the color of durability and class. It could represent age, stability and relaxation.

Black is the color of power and drama. It’s serious, bold and strong.

White is the color of simplicity and cleanliness. It’s message is youthful, mild and pure.

• Color Preferences

There was a Color Study done on the favorite color options between male and female as well as different age groups, and demographics.   People of different ages have different reactions to color. Older people prefer more relaxing colors that are easy on the eye. But young people tend to like bright and more vivid colors.  Here is an example, from the study, of the color choices for all people in general.

As you can see, blue is the top color and that is actually the #1 color used for websites today.

• Color Harmony

A basic rule when using color in any area of design (including interior design) is to stick with 3-4 colors.  Chromatic harmony is one of the most important criteria in order to create a pleasant experience for the visitors.  Using too many colors creates an inconsistency and can cause people to glance over important areas of your site.

Another color rule in design is the 60 – 30 – 10 rule. The rule specifies that you should pick three different colors and use them in ratios of 60%, 30% and 10%.  The 60% is the primary color which would set the overall tone of your site.  Then the 30% would contrast the main color and the 10% would be the accent color.

Also, keep in mind that it is safer to incorporate a ‘neutral’ color (white, gray, beige, black and so on) as either the 60% or 30%. This gives you the maximum number of options when choosing your other two colors, because neutral elements will generally “go with anything.

• Image Integration

Photos can be a great source of inspiration when it comes to choosing your color scheme.

Many sites will actually start with an image as the focal point.  This can be anything from a product, location photo, headshot, stock image, original photography or even a pre-made graphic design element.  It is important to coordinate the colors between them and the layout of the site. This will create a unity in the design. We can then borrow color inspiration from the image instead of the other way around.  Our eyes recognize the color relation, which in turn provides a strong connection for the viewer. When you borrow a smaller amount of color inspiration from a photo, additional parts of the layout are brought to our attention.

In many cases when I start on a site design, the client will already have a logo and I will have to build the site around that.  In that case, you will have to tie in those colors for branding purposes and be consistent on all platforms.

• Color Consistency

Being consistent in your color choices can be the difference between a professional and a ‘not-so-professional’ website. If you use a different shade of purple for your logo, every time you print, post, or upload it, you run the risk of making your brand seem inconsistent and undefined. This is why it’s important to understand some basics about color and use hexadecimal color codes to make sure the colors you use on your website (and elsewhere) consistently represent the personality of your brand.

• Color Palette Tools

Now that you know the basics about choosing colors for your website design, here are some helpful online tools that can assist you in coming up with the best color palette and color combinations.

Kuler - Kuler is a community based web app that lets your look through color palettes created by others. You can also create your own palette by using the color wheel, harmony rules, and color sliders.

Color Blender – Color Blender let’s you select a preferred color and then it generates a six color blend based on that color and from there you can tweak each individual color.

Color Wizard – With Color Wizard you can submit a base color and it generates color schemes based on your color’s complementary color, split complementary colors, analogous colors and other variations.  I used the Tetradic color option which displays 4 colors that supposedly work well together.  It is fun to play around with it.

Coposa – Copaso is another color palette generating tool. It allows you to save colors to a scratch pad, extract colors from a photo, and publish a palette for other people to see.  Here is an example of extracting colors from a photo.

The sidebar is the narrow vertical column on a website.   It is usually placed on the right or left-hand side of a web page, though in some cases, a site will feature two sidebars, one on each side of the main content.

Many of my clients ask me what they should include in their website sidebar and this does vary between different sites and businesses.

A sidebar shouldn’t be random clutter that you use to fill up space just because you think something “might work”.  I have seen websites that are filled with STUFF and it winds up being super confusing, distracting, and hard to navigate.  You really need to think it through.

One of the most important things on a website is the content, so a good amount of time and planning will go into that when setting up a new site.  But planning what to include in your sidebar can actually  be just as important. 

So I would like to share some of the options that you might want to consider for your sidebar when planning your site design.

Items to include on a WordPress Website Sidebar:

• Owner Bio – All you have to do is add a short blurb from your About page with a photo and a link to “read more” that links to your About page.  Super easy, but often has a big impact because people want to know who you are and what you are about.

• Testimonials – It has a huge impact for people to see what OTHERS are saying about you and your business.  And if you are interested in learning about What Makes a Good Website Testimonial, be sure to read my recent article on the subject.

• Search box – Gives your visitors the ability to search your site for what they’re looking for. If they can easily find the information they need, they won’t go somewhere else to find it.

• Optin Box – Communicating with your visitors is a good way to keep your business in front of them. The best way to do this is to use a newsletter platform like Aweber, Mailchimp, Constant Contact or others and have them optin to receive your emails. This is one of the most important things you can do for your business, so it really needs to be the first thing on your side bar below your search box.  If you are interested in learning more about about How to Use an Optin to Grow Your Business List, be sure to read my recent article on the subject.

• Social Icons / Links – Adding your social icons and links to your social networks gives your visitors another way to connect with you. The more ways you provide to them, the better chance you’ll have of staying connected with them. These social icons can include Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Youtube, and RSS (just to name a few).

• Facebook Followers – Listing your Facebook followers will encourage others to request to follow you as well.

• Twitter Feed – Twitter is one of the most popular social networking sites online right now and it’s also one of the most valuable ones to use. When you post tips, articles, and other helpful information your visitors will see that and hopefully follow you so that they can see what else you can help them with.

• Recent Posts – Using a blog for your business is a great tool because it gives you the ability to post about your business and what you offer. It’s an easy way to advertise your business and share information that’s helpful to your market. When you post your recent posts on your sidebar they’ll be easy for your visitors to see and they’ll have even more help than before when it comes to discussing how you can help them.

• Video - A welcome video is a great way to create a “personal” connection with your visitors.  Allow your visitors to have control over whether or not they want to watch the video, so don’t have the video on auto-start. When you create your video be sure to include what they can expect from your business and how you can help them.

• Contact Information – I always tell clients that if they don’t have much to include in the sidebar, then it is a good idea to include contact info or even a small form that allows for visitors to send a message to them right from their sidebar.

Additional Sidebar Items:

• List of Categories
• List of Comments
• Tag Cloud
• Blogroll
• Ads and Promotions
• Events Calendar
• As Seen On Logos
• Image Slideshow

A website sidebar is valuable real estate.  You may even want to consider having different sidebars on different pages if you find that things are getting too cluttered.

A sidebar is a space where you can share valuable information with your visitors.  It is a place where they can learn more about who you are and why they should choose to purchase your product or service.  It is a place where you can provide different means of communication through social media.  It is a space where you can gather information that will help you to stay in contact with your visitors on an ongoing basis.

And like I said in the beginning of this article – you really have to think things through and figure out what to include and what NOT to include.

Your website is your storefront, especially when you work solely online. You may not have the ability to walk up and talk to someone when they visit, but do have the ability to bring clarity and keep a person coming back for more.

What is a Testimonial?

A testimonial (in business) is a written affirmation, recommendation, or statement made by a customer that demonstrates satisfaction with your services or product.

Testimonials are word-of-mouth marketing, and they work wonderfully in adding credibility for your business.  It’s hard to sing your own praises.  If you do, it could be considered bragging.  But if someone else says it, then it must be true!

They can provide the much-needed encouragement for clients who are on the fence about hiring you to then actually making the decision to become a paying customer.

What Makes a Great Testimonial?

• Need Specifics.  A great testimonial needs to explain exactly WHY the service was exceptional or HOW the product made a difference.  Just saying that a company did a good job or that the customer service was good is not enough.

• Needs to be Believable.  If a testimonial sounds fake, then this can cause distrust.  It is important to include personal details such as person’s full name, business name, and photo.  This will add credibility.

• Needs to be Relevant.  If customers buy Product A and your testimonials are about Product B, people will notice that being incorrect.  Be sure to include the specific testimonials for the specific product or service.

• Don’t over-edit. Testimonials work best when they are in “real” language. Those small grammar and language quirks help the reader connect and demonstrate they are real.

• Don’t keep them hidden away.  Be sure to take the time to post any testimonials that you receive on your website, on your social networks, and anywhere else that they would be visible to potential clients.

• Ask for Specifics. Here are some example questions…

- What is the one thing you liked best about working with me?

- Before you bought our service/product, what did you think of the company or the product?

- How did your perception of the service/product change after you became a happy customer?

- What benefits did you or your company see after becoming a customer?

- Would you recommend a friend or colleague?

• Don’t Make Them Up. While testimonials are crucial, it’s not worth the risk to fake them. Most people have well-trained BS detectors that can smell a fake a mile away.

What to include in a Testimonial:

• Name
• Business Name
• Job Title
• Website Address
• Testimonial
• Headshot Photo or Logo

Website Testimonials

The testimonials section of your website can turn a lot of visitors into paying customers.  This is one of the first things I look for on a website.  I like to be able to read what other people are saying about a particular business, service, or product.  So, having a page dedicated to client testimonials on your website and / or blog is key.

There are many different ways to incorporate testimonials into your website or blog.  In WordPress, I am a big fan of the LTW Testimonial Plugin.  You can see it in action on my Testimonials Page.  I also have a place at the bottom of the page where clients can submit a testimonial right from my site.  I set that up through the Gravity Forms plugin.  Whenever I close out a client project, I send them an email with a link to my testimonials page and ask them if they would be so kind and submit a testimonial.  I then get an email with all of their info and I can easily copy and paste it into the plugin so it will display on the page.  Easy Peasy.

Another testimonial option for WordPress is to incorporate things that your Twitter followers say via Twitter Favorites or you can even copy and paste your LinkedIn Recommendations.

Placement of testimonials on a website is also important.  Having a dedicated testimonials page is great, but how about adding them to your About page or to your site’s sidebar?  Even adding one or 2 after the content on a product info page would be beneficial.

Well, I am definitely sad to see the old format go for Facebook fanpages.  But… In with the new and out with the old…  Life goes one.

Anyway, I have had several clients request for me to design their cover photo graphics to replace the previous vertical profile banners.  And in spite of the many restrictions for the graphics, I was still able to be creative and provide my clients with some fun and inspiring ideas that they love.

Here are a couple screenshots, starting with my favorite…  Check out the matching app tab button graphics…

Those are just a few of my designs.  If you would like to learn more about the recent changes to the Facebook fanpages, read my recent article on the topic: Facebook Fanpage Changes – What you need to Know

And if you are interested in updating your graphics on Facebook, contact me and I would be happy to help you.  The cost for a Facebook cover photo is $85.

If you don’t have people interested in your business and what you do, how can you grow your business?   It is important to be able to have the ability to continually provide your clients or even potential clients with information on what you have to offer and how you can help them. You can do all the specials you want and create new products and services, but if you don’t have people seeing what you do, you might as well forget about building and growing your business. List building is one of the best ways to grow your business

Here are some helpful tips to use as you are getting started…

How to Build your List

Building your list first consists of signing up for an email marketing service such as Aweber, Mailxhimp, 1ShoppingCart, iContact, Constant Contact, and many more.  And then people need to know you HAVE a list for them to join by having an optin box on your website to gather names and emails.  You can also market your list by posting on your social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and Facebook.  Another option is to pay for ad space using Facebook ads, Google Adsense, or even on other sites and blogs within your target market.  These options usually have a fee associated with them, but work well because of the abilities you have with them.

Sharing with others is another way to build your list. You can do this through guest blog posts, list sharing with others that have the same market as you, email signature lines, solo ads offered by others, and offering something for free when they join. These ways are usually free of charge or they cost very little, but they work well. You must continually promote your list in order to build your business.

Benefits of List Building

The people that join your list will be truly interested and want to know more about what you offer.  You will have the benefit of sharing information to those who will listen.  Each time you have a special offer or add something new you’ll be able to share it with your list.  Oftentimes, people will either make a purchase or spread the word to those who they come in contact with you might be in need of whatever it is you have to offer.

If you don’t have a list you are missing out on the opportunity to expand your  reach.  to continually share your offerings with other techniques and you’ll find they aren’t coming. You can market in the same place each time, but if you’re not reaching out to the same people, they won’t see your future posts and miss out on the most valuable thing for them. This is the main reason why it’s important to build your list every day.

List Building Tips / Ideas

There are countless things you can do with your list but you may find you can’t do them all and that’s ok. You need to find two or three strategies that you think will work and then focus on those.

• Freebie – What are you planning to offer in exchange for a persons name and email?  Give away something that would be useful. Write an ebook or a PDF report then give it away to your subscribers once they sign up for your list.

• Opt-in Form – Needs to be  eye-catching and on every page of your site and in a prominent place (normally above the fold).  Using an Optin Box to Grow Your Business List.

• Monetize – figure out how you plan to make money from your list.  (product, services, affiliate products, etc.)

• Set up Autoresponder – Depending on what you offer you may be able to create autoresponders that keep your business in front of new and existing list members without doing a thing. This will be beneficial when it comes to those new people that you really want to encourage.

• Provide useful, relevant and unique content. Your visitors will not stay subscribed to your list if you don’t provide unique and valuable information that will be useful for your subscribers.  You can also utilize your blog and then set it up so that your subscribers receive an email with the article each time you publish a new post.

• Privacy Statement – Address your subscribers privacy concerns. Most people are worried that they may receive spam after giving out their contact info. Be sure to share that you respect their privacy and link this statement to a privacy policy page.

• Word of Mouth – Ask that your subscribers or clients spread the word.  If you are are providing informative information and content, then people will be more likely to spread the word about you and your business.

The ultimate path to building an active list of subscribers is creating long-term relationships with them.  Keeping your business in front of your market is valuable and priceless, but it’s something so many business owners neglect every day. If you’re new to list building or you need help understanding how it works or how to do it, these suggestions will help. You’ll find they explain what’s necessary and how to get it done. When you do you’ll be able to grow your business and be happy with the results.