Benefits of getting testimonials:

• You might find a great tagline – a local branding expert received a testimonial from a client who dubbed him the “brand whisperer”. The tag stuck and now his is known as The Brand Whisperer.
• Helps build credibility – Social proof makes a difference: if you have a choice of two businesses, with no clear differentiator, and the first one has several glowing recommendations and the second one has none, chances are you will pick the first business.
• It’s good for your customer’s too – Don’t forget to remind your customers that giving a testimonial can help them increase their own visibility because you will post their testimonial on your website with a backlink to their site.

Rules for asking:

• Timing. Ask for endorsements during the first 30-60 days of you working together, or as soon as the project is complete.
• Keep it short. Remind them the testimonial doesn’t need to be long – one to two paragraphs are sufficient.
• Disclosure. Be sure to tell your customers you plan to use the testimonial on your website or other promotion material.

What to ask for:

It’s okay to give your customer specific guidance, in fact it makes the task of writing the testimonial easier. Help them out by asking your customer to:

• Talk about the quality of your work
• State how much they enjoy working with you
• If you do a variety of things, ask them to describe the benefits of a particular offering
• Talk about what they like best about your product/service
• Describe why they do business with you instead of your competitors

If your customer is comfortable using internet tools ask them to post your testimonial on either your LinkedIn page or your Google places page (be sure to give them the link); from there you can copy and paste it onto your website. If they are less techy then ask for a testimonial written on their letterhead.

Get into the habit of asking for testimonials; if you are uncomfortable doing this, practice asking for a recommendation in the mirror. If you want to ask via email write your request out and have a friend proof it for tone and style.

Remember the best way to get a testimonial is to give a testimonial! Be sure to check out my post on How to write a testimonial.

If you write the testimonial on a service provider’s LinkedIn profile, or a business owner’s Google Places listing, your name and business will be displayed online thereby increasing your online exposure. If they post your recommendation on their website ask them to give you a back-link to your website or blog (a great tactic for boosting your Google PageRank^®)

More good news – your testimonial doesn’t need to be long to get the job done – three to six sentences are enough. Follow my proven formula for writing recommendations and you will be amazed at how quickly you can crank out a sincere and valuable testimonial for your favorite businesses.

Introduction:

Feel free to start the testimonial with a sentence about yourself and why you hired them or purchased from them. For example, “I’ve been in the tree trimming and removal business for over 10 years and desperately needed a website. I hired another company do my first Web site, and they did a terrible job and charged me a fortune. Then I tried XYZ Company….”

Body:

To make the task of writing the testimonial easier, try answering two or more of these questions.

• Talk about the quality of their work
• State how much you enjoy working with them
• Describe the benefits of their product or service
• State what you like best about their product/service
• Describe why you do business with them instead of their competitors
• State how long you have known or worked with the company

Conclusion:

A great closing for the testimonial is to say who you would recommend them to and why. For example, “I highly recommend XYZ Company to other small business owners who need a new website because they really listen to your needs and always do what they say they are going to do.”

Get into the habit of giving testimonials to businesses you value. Remember, the more testimonials your give (especially on LinkedIn) the more you’ll receive in return, because people enjoy reciprocity.

Be sure to check out my post on How to get more testimonials.

Achieve top ranking on Google for FREE!

Get found on Google for free!

Google Places is the most effective FREE tool for getting your business found on Google! 97% of consumers search for local businesses online and 40% of all searches are location based; yet only 2% of all business owners have claimed their Google Places listing and even fewer have strategically optimized their listing.

• Learn insider tips and tactics to enhance your listing for maximum effectiveness
• Learn how to add photos, videos and promotional offers to your listing to help you stand out from the crowd
• Learn how to collect positive customer reviews in Google Places and manage your Online Reputation
• Discover insights about your business and what keywords your customers used to find you

This seminar will give you the tools and strategies you need achieve premium exposure and visibility using Google Places!

DATE/TIME: Tuesday, September 27th, 5:30 to 6:30 pm

PRICE: $10; Registration required for attendance – no walk-ins.

LOCATION: Knowledge For Success (near TCU)

It takes the same amount of work to build an unsuccessful business as it does to build a successful business.”

Unfortunately many people rush into business and start marketing without doing any research and simply how for the best. Unfortunately hoping for the best won’t get you ranked on Google. And if you don’t have rank, chances are people won’t click on your link. Studies show 90% of the time searchers will only click on the natural listings on the first page of Google AND 60% of those click-throughs come from the first three listings! If you want to rank high on Google, it’s critical you know the right keywords for your business and optimize for them.
However, conducting keyword research alone isn’t enough -
You also need to look at what your competitors and the leaders in your industry are doing. The process of analyzing which online marketing tactics the most successful businesses in your industry are employing will save you countless hours of frustration and a lot of money in ineffective marketing.
 
This month I’m teaching a class at Knowledge for Success on how to conduct your own keyword and competitor market research. This is a service I provide my clients and they tell me they find the information in these reports INVALUABLE and I’m sure you will too.

The Google algorithm, which is used to determine relevancy, considers 500 million variables and two billion terms. That’s way to much information for the average small business owner to keep up with. Instead try focusing on these top five factors influencing SEO:

1. Content & Keyword Relevancy
2. Traffic Levels
3. Quality back-links to your site
4. Fresh and unique content
5. Domain age

SEO Defined:

“SEO is the process of designing and modifying websites, as well as updating on-site content in order to gain top positions in the Search Engines for specific keyword searches.”

SEO basics include:

• Adding and improving website content to ensure it is targeting the right audience and keywords.
• Improving site structure and navigation to make it ‘Google Spider’ friendly.
• Optimizing the HTML source code
• Link Building

 Link building defined:

“Link Building refers to the process of getting high quality in-bound (one-way) links to your website in order to improve your search rankings and listings.”

Link building involves: 

• Creating and distributing relevant content (ie. articles, blog posts, wikis and press releases) to press release networks, article banks, social bookmarking sites and other Social Media channels.
• Researching and sending link requests to quality, relevant sites. (ie. Blog rolls)
• Using Social Media and Blogs to ignite search listings and build one-way links back to your site.

Want to learn more?

Come to my seminar at Knowledge for Success on July 26th, form 5:30 to 6:30 pm. The cost is only $10.

• Help you build great visibility on the Internet
• Get top listings in Google
• Protect your Online Reputation (ORM)
• Grow your website traffic and business.

This month I will give an overview of Organic SEO principles and how they impact your online reputation at Michelle Martin’s, C3 for Women’s July Success Event. Later in the month I dive deeper into this topic at Knowledge For Success.

Some of the topics I cover include:

• The definition of: SEO, SERP, SEM, Pay-Per-Click and ORM
• Easy and safe tactics to promote your website online
• Common, yet costly, mistakes to avoid
• How to avoid “Black Hat” or disreputable SEO con-artists
• How to pick a “White Hat” or reputable SEO consultant
• How to use SEO to protect your online reputation

Hope to see you at one of these events. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Unfortunately, saying you don’t have time to do any online marketing is like saying, “I don’t have time to save a ton of money on advertising.” While saying you don’t have time for social media says, “I don’t have time to listen to what any of my customers have to say.”

Online marketing and social media are some of the greatest tools to come along for small business in decades. But just like the other business tools available, you need to choose the right mix for your industry and business.

Foursquare, for example, is a fun FREE tool for business owners who want to encourage loyalty and repeat business. It’s tailor made for restaurants and many retail outlets, but a poor choice law firms or oncologists.

Some of the online tools YOU might want to consider are:

• Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (a.k.a “The Big Three”)
• Email Marketing (with an avg. ROI of $46 for every $1 spent you can’t beat it for cost and efficiency)
• Foursquare, Yelp, Groupon, Google Places (good choices for location-based businesses)
• Blogging and Article Marketing (to establish credibility in your niche and increase your search engine ranking)
• Banner Advertising & Pay Per Click Marketing (via Google OR Facebook)
• Web Based Events
• Video Marketing

…and the list just keeps on growing in the wild and wonderful world of online marketing.

But how do you choose the right mix for your business? Before you can answer this question you first have to:

1) Know your USP (unique selling proposition). What makes your business special and what “messages” would you like your potential customers to hear from you?

2) Know your Customers. Where do they “hang out” online? Where do they go for information and what do they consider valuable?

3) Know your Competition. Who are they? What promotions are they running? Is there an unfulfilled need in the marketplace you can meet?

4) Know your Keywords. Spending the time to do keyword research for your business will help you target the right customers and rank well on Google.

By defining these four items FIRST you will learn:

1. What you should be talking about online with your potential clients
2. Which online mediums your clients use to find businesses like yours
3. Which social media outlets your competition are utilizing
4. Which keywords potential clients use to find businesses like yours & which keywords your competition is trying to rank for.

As a certified social media specialist & certified internet marketing specialist I develop online and social media marketing strategies that integrate with your offline marketing world and help you to achieve your marketing goals. I show you how to measure your success and track results in terms that matter to your company.

This month I will be speaking in-depth about Online Marketing on 6/23 for Action Coach’s, “Feed Your Business” series, and more generally about online marketing on 6/28 at Knowledge for Success from 5:30 to 7:00. Come check it out and learn how you too can become an Internet Rock Star!