How to Build Small Business Credibility Online
May 24, 2011
Below is a reprint of an article by Scott Kindred at Safehouse Web. He took a comment I posted on Facebook and turned it into a blog. I think he did a nice job of expanding on the subject and showing a very tactical view of how it’s done by sharing what he will do to promote his brand.
How to Build Your Business Credibility Online
by Scott Kindred of Safehouse Web
Starting today with small steps to build yourself and your business’ credibility is an easy thing to put off. Right? You may procrastinate as often as I do, but today is a new day! Yes, cliche, but true. This post is simply a quick and powerful way you can give your business a boost – TODAY. And in no more than 15 minutes of your valuable time, I say! 
So does Carloyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company:
“What are you doing to increase exposure for your business? Today, spend 15 minutes promoting your business.: comment on the walls of 5 target customers (especially B2B biz), comment on a blog related to your product or service, write a quick article, or answer a question in an onlne community. These activities boost awareness, increase credibility and lead to more customers!”
The truth is that these small steps, when done regularly and consistently over a period of time – let’s say 6 months for the sake of conversation – will produce measurable results. They will produce more traffic, more visitors to your website. I know because I have tried them myself and have seen a marked increase in website traffic, visitor quality and even a few business leads. Good stuff. I know because I continue to use them today; I want my business to keep growing and becoming more profitable.
Does that sound like something we have in common?
Below are my goals for today. I will accomplish them, and I’ll also do them again on my next appointed “rounds.” Take a look and start thinking about something similar for your business. Posting your ideas and results here is always welcomed!
Comment on the walls of 5 target customers:1. Freelance Switch
2. Pagelines
3. Cartoon Thunder
4. Big Brand System
5. Fortune Marketing Company
[Those are their websites. I will choose to post on their blog, forum, Facebook or Twitter, depending on what subject matter I can make the best contribution on.]
You can view the original post here and more of Safehouse Web’s blogs at: http://safehouseweb.com/exchange/
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!! Leave your comments here.
By the way, if you liked this post, I’d really appreciate your Retweet!!! Thank you. 
About Safehouse Web:
Safehouse Web is a small business focused on providing services to their peers. Building, deploying, managing and maintaining websites for small businesses is their primary purpose. With “service is our salesman” as a motto of their approach, you can be sure your business’ website will receive consistent and timely attention. The level of service they provide, and the reputation they develop with you, is what they stand upon to sell to other businesses like yours. You can visit Safehouse Web at: http://safehouseweb.com/
“I Don’t Have Time” is a Lame Excuse!
May 9, 2011
I don’t understand. Maybe I haven’t been in business long enough or maybe I’m just naïve. Business owners say all the time, “I need more business. My marketing isn’t working.” And then when I engage them to help them build something that will bring them more business and give them a marketing system that will work they say, “I don’t have the time.”
How can that be? How can you need more business if you don’t even have the time to GET more business? What are you going to do IF you ever actu
ally get that business? I don’t’ get it!
I’ve been in business exactly 18 months. I have customers, I have speaking engagements, I have workshops, classes and seminars. I have A/P, A/R, taxes, piles of paper, and all that same stuff that you all have – AND I spend a lot of time marketing my business. After only 18 months in business – and not exactly a millionaire yet, I realized it’s time to hire someone because I simply can’t do it all myself. I want to grow and I realize that in order to grow, I need help.
I started out small – I hired someone on a contractual basis to handle some of the tasks I don’t like doing. Yeah, it’s money out of my pocket (and there isn’t a ton of it right now) but my eye is on the bigger picture – the future of my company. A vision that includes having a few employees executing the day-to-day while I drive the strategic direction and do what I am best at – which has nothing to do with A/R, taxes, booking speaking engagements, etc.
The point is this: if you want more business but can’t even take the necessary steps to either free yourself up or hire someone to do what it takes to GET more business, do you really need more business? You hear it again and again, stop working IN your business and start working ON your business. When are you going to take that step? When are you going to say, “Ok, today is the day, I need to do something different, because what I’ve been doing isn’t working.”? When are you going to stop spinning in circles and start making some of the tough decisions that business owners need to make? You can either make the decision to grow, or you can continue to drown… your call!
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!! Leave your comments here.
By the way, if you liked this post, I’d really appreciate your Retweet!!! Thank you.
Why Small Businesses Need a Marketing Strategy
May 2, 2011
You decide to throw a dinner party. You want it to be the type of dinner party that people remember fondly and talk about for years. Imagine that you will serve an amazing meal and that your guests will rant about the delicious food, the great atmosphere, and the wonderful conversation. Now imagine throwing it all together without a plan. You won’t plan the menu. You
won’t plan the decorations. You won’t even plan the guest list.
Instead, you just go to the grocery store and pick up whatever is on sale that day, hoping that you can somehow throw it all together and make it work. You end up with a box of Fruit Loops, 3 lbs. of chicken fryers, 10 boxes of mac and cheese, Velveeta, and 2 litres of Hawaiian Punch.
For the guest list, you figure you can just tell one or two people and count on them inviting everyone they know – you’re sure a crowd of the most fun, excellent conversationalist dinner-party-guest-types will come.
Given this scenario, I want you to imagine the type of dinner party it will be now! Do you think you’ll be serving a delicious meal? Do you think you’ll have the best guests – and lots of them? Or do you think your menu will consist of some crazy meal made of Fruit Loops and Velveeta with a few mismatched guests including the boisterous lady from your spin class who ends up drinking too much and insulting everyone in the room and the neighbor down the street who hasn’t showered in weeks, shows up just for the free meal, and stands in the corner mumbling to himself all night?
Would you really rely on 1 or 2 of people to get a bunch of the most fun, outgoing, and best dinner party guests to your house? Would you plan a meal without a menu, a recipe or two, and a shopping list? Of course you wouldn’t! So then, why would you run a business this way?
Yet, that is exactly what small business owners do every day. They have a vision for a business: offering the very best product or service, standing out from the competition, and serving lots of happy satisfied customers who talk about their business for years! But instead of mapping out a plan for achieving all of this they go to work every day, work IN their business, deliver the best they can handle, buy whatever advertising is cheap or on sale, attend events because they think they should – all the while hoping to attract the right kind of customers who appreciate their work and are willing to pay a decent price for their product or service. And then they expect those customers to tell anyone and everyone about them, without teaching them how to refer the right kind of customer! (Think dinner party guests!)
Just like a dinner party, you can’t build a successful business without a plan. You need to outline a strategy: Who would make the best customers? Who do you want to invite to do business with you? What will you offer? How will you package it? How will you deliver it? How will you promote it? Buying whatever is easy and cheap and counting on a few people to spread the word might get you some results, but are they the results you want???
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!! Leave your comments here.
By the way – if you like this post, I would REALLY appreciate your ReTweet! Thank you!!!!
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+Carolyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company
- Carolyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company specializes in helping small to medium sized businesses get the customers they need to sell more, increase profits and achieve all of their business and personal goals. We do this by implementing and managing marketing systems based on data and strategy - there is no guess work. For more information visit us at: FortuneMarketingCompany.com. We'd be glad to help!
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