May 21, 2008 Posted by Judith

Is Your Site a Potemkin Village?

What the heck is a Potemkin Village you say? Potemkin village \puh-TEM(P)-kin\, noun: An impressive facade or display that hides an undesirable fact or state; a false front. With all the neato templates and themes available it is relatively easy and inexpensive, compared to a custom design, to have a polished and professional presentation online. However, beyond that presentation, do you have what it... read more

May 20, 2008 Posted by Judith

Company-Customer Pact

I ran across a neat little site that reflects the fact that both companies and customers should share equal responsibility during the business relationship process. All too often now-a-days you run into companies with sub-par customer service, know it and don’t seem to care. On the flip-side there are those customers who are darned right unprofitable and unwilling to even make an effort to be a... read more

May 15, 2008 Posted by Judith

So Business E-mail Etiquette Doesn’t Apply to You?

I take my business e-mails very seriously and personally. See, I understand that those who don’t know me at all or too well will be determining if the want to do business with me. They do this initially by virtue of the level of professionalism displayed in my e-mail communications — which will contribute to how easily it will be to partner, work with or hire me. Once you begin working with... read more

May 14, 2008 Posted by Judith

Preaching to the Blogging Choir

As my clients will attest; I am a Blog pusher. I am always asking them why they aren’t Blogging yet. I love to Blog, have 4 already with another on the way, and Blogging is one of the things I enjoy doing most. Of course, I’ve written here about the benefits of Blogging (see links below) and jump on every opportunity I can to get clients juiced up about how easy it is to Blog about what you... read more

May 12, 2008 Posted by Judith

Trust is Gold Online; So is Going Social

Trust is not something you can launch with a Web site. Just as in the off-line world, trust is built with consistency and over time. You can’t “buy” trust; you have to earn it. Search algorithms have trust factors. For example, Google determines trustworthiness of a site by the number and quality of sites that link to a particular site. Although this isn’t the end all be all,... read more

May 7, 2008 Posted by Judith

Failed Expectations = No Orders

I talk about perceptions all the time. From how new customers will view your site to your e-mails and everything in between. We’re virtual so customers will look at every visual and functional detail to determine if they want to do business with you. Fail their expectations and that’s called lost opportunity. Lost opportunity that can so easily be avoided…. “Failing to meet... read more

May 5, 2008 Posted by Judith

Are You a Time Whiner?

We all have only so much time in a day. How we choose to use it can make a huge difference in our business’ success. One of the most often heard excuses I get from clients or those who ask my advice about doing this or that is “I just don’t have the time…” Oh-oh — online is all about spending time — online. Time is a commodity. I know all about it. I get in... read more

Apr 29, 2008 Posted by Judith

Put on Your Customer Hat!

When I work with clients on their projects, we have to discuss SEO from the start. Search engine optimization is the at the core of and the actual fiber of every site and needs to be seriously considered before a single bit of code is created or modified. I’ve always cautioned clients that when determining and choosing the keyword phrases for their project that they need to put on their customer... read more

Apr 28, 2008 Posted by Judith

Recession? Online, Opportunity is Knocking!

The daily news is dreary — certainly not positive. But when I hear all that doom and gloom stuff, my mind automatically thinks “opportunity is knocking!” With every downturn in the economy, (An eMarketer report indicates that 33% of U.S. adults are more likely to shop online because of high gas prices and that most of them do so because of lower prices and free shipping.) online there... read more