Google Places Reviews: Where Did They Go?
If your business has a physical address, coming up as a dot on the Google map is HUGE!
And if you have a Google Places listing, as of this week, some of the reviews associated with that listing may be gone.
What happened? Google ate them!
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I blame Kinko’s!
help entrepreneurs Be Seen and Be Found, I am pulling back the curtain on my own business and letting myself be seen by my readers.
I hope you’ll play along.
The other day I had a speaking engagement in San Diego, which on a Monday morning is a 2-2.5 hour drive from my home in Marina del Rey.
The night before my early morning trip, I made a last-minute decision to update my presentation with some fresh images and data points.
Next, I decided to add a bonus “SEO Action Plan” to hand out to my audience.
Oh and maybe also update my speaker one-sheet.
Before I knew it, it was 1 a.m. and I was breaking my commitment to myself. Actually two commitments: 1) plan for 8 hours of sleep every night, and 2) shut down my computer by 11 pm.
Part of the reason I got sucked into my old habit was that I knew I could send my documents tomy lovely partner as crime formerly knows as Kinko’s, and then pick up my crisp beautiful materials before heading down to San Diego at 7 am the next day.
I can always count on Kinko’s… Ok, it is now called Fedex Office, but calling it Kinko’s brings me back to my college and then startup days, when last-minute was the name of the game.
I can always blame Kinko’s, too. It is feeding my “crack habit” of doing things at the last minute.
On the long drive to San Diego that morning, I had some time to reflect on my processes. After all, as my coach reminds me, “how you do anything is how you do everything.” And I am ready to stop being the last-minute girl.
It’s time to own up to what really happens when I count on Kinko’s round-the-clock service. And honor my commitments.
Can you relate? Is there a “Kinko’s” in your life or business? Who is feeding your “crack habit”?
3 Steps to Successful Partnerships – Part 2: Negotiate Creatively
Got partners? What about vendors or clients? Employees? In my last post, I shared one of my key success principles for business partnerships – communication! Today I’d like to talk to you about creative negotiation.
By creativity, I mean thinking outside the box – the standard partnership terms – in your business relationship.
As a media buyer at my last company, I was responsible for generating the highest return on our multi-million advertising budget. So you may think my job consisted of “squeezing” every last penny out of our advertising partners. Not quite!
Our team succeeded by negotiating creatively: in addition to price, what else can you put on the table? Consider the cost to you and the value to the other party.
- Payment terms is a good one: many vendors will give you a better price if you are able to pay sooner: net 30 instead of net 60? Depending on your cash flow, this may be a win-win.
- Content – maybe you have an article, a white paper, or a training product with low marginal cost (meaning it would cost you next to nothing to product an extra) that would be of value to the other party.
- Event Tickets – it’s no wonder event tickets make popular prizes and giveaway. The marginal cost of adding an attendee at a conference, meeting, or teleclass is usually nominal, while the value to your partner may be high.
- Support and Your Expertise: let’s say you are talking to an advertiser who doesn’t have the right size banner available for your site. What would it cost you to have the banner re-sized? If the cost is low, or the skill is something you have, consider bring this service to the table as well.
By using creative thinking in your negotiations, you can achieve win-win and increase the value for both parties. And that’s one of the keys to a successful partnership!
What are the “cards” you bring to the table when negotiating with your vendors, clients, employees, contractors, or consultants? I’d love to hear from you.
3 Steps to Successful Partnerships – Part 1: Communicate!
In my last corporate job as a media buyer, our team was named Partner Management.
At first I was confused by this title, and as I developed relationships with our publishers, I quickly got the “Partner Management” part.
The lessons I learned in that role are actually universal success principles that apply to any business partnership.
I’ve used them to structure joint ventures, to secure new consulting projects, and to connect businesses with their ideal clients. And today I’d like to share them with you:
Step 1: Communicate With Your Partner!
- Tell your partners about new products, launches, press or kudos you’ve received. Whatever your relationship, your partner will be happy to know they’ve affiliated with a successful business. Don’t we overlook the opportunity to share great news or let our partners, clients, or vendors know about the latest developments in your business. I recommend scheduling a quarterly check-in call or meeting with your key partners to share these updates.
- Share data: if you have access to data or other results from your joint efforts–remember to let your partner know what’s working. In an advertiser-publisher relationship, data is key. Or let’s say you are creating a joint event: tell your partner who has registered so they can be better prepared to address the audience.
- Meet in person: as much as I love the virtual environment, taking the time to meet your partner in person, even as part ofanother trip, is invaluable. When I travel to the San Francisco Bay Area to visit family, I always schedule in a few business meetings with my Silicon Valley colleagues. (Including fellow Savor members - Hi Jenn, Julia!)
- Share your Rolodex: connections are currency, and if you can introduce your partner to another advertiser, vendor, resource, or joint venture partner, you will be making each party more successful and creating a win-win-win. And who doesn’t love that
Stay tuned for Successful Partnership – steps 2 and 3!
Here’s Where the Money is Hiding in Your Website
You’ve worked hard to build your dream website, to get the branding and layout just right and to engage readers with relevant content. Now what?
Is your site or blog generating revenue, or it is an expensive hobby?
Next year, over $100 Billion will be spent on online advertising worldwide. Would you like a piece of that budget?
To help you start monetizing your website, I suggest these 3 steps:
1) Get to know your readers: the benefits of this step are enormous. Once you know who is visiting your site and why, you will be able to create even more reasons for them to come back and engage them with more relevant content or offers.
This step alone will help you increase the rate at which your readers purchase your products or services. This also happens to be the information your advertisers will ask you to share. Here are sample questions to get you started:
- What is the average age of your readers?
- Where do they live?
- How do they find your site?
- What are the issues they care deeply about?
You can obtain most of this information from your analytics package, such as Google Analytics (if you don’t have it on your site, I recommend installing it right away – it’s free and takes about 15 minutes to set up!)
2) Pick your model: which advertiser relationship is best for you? Most people think of website ads as banners, but there are dozens of other ways you can partner with advertisers.
Depending on your site and business model, banners may or may not be right for you.
Banners are a popular option for blogs and online portals. But if you are an online retailer, you probably want to focus your visitors on purchasing from you, rather than click on an ad and leave your site. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- What is my #1 goal for my audience on my site? (purchase, complete a lead form, repeat visit, feedback, referral, etc).
- What is the experience that readers have on my site? Do they click through to more than one page, do they leave comments or feedback, do they share my articles on social media?
- Besides my website, where else can I reach my readers? Do you write an ezine or blog, produce a podcast, host a forum, have active discussions on your Facebook page?
3) Make a list of products and services that are complementary to your business. Now that you know who they are, you can consider what else would appeal to your readers:
- If your readers are primarily women who care deeply about their carbon footprint, complementary categories may range from organic clothing to non-profit organizations to an environmentally-friendly bottled water solution.
- If HR executives from Silicon Valley read your blog for up to 10 minutes per day, I can think of dozens of companies – from HR certification to industry magazines– that would love to have their message show up on your blog.
As with most business decisions, your preparation and strategy is key to your success with monetizing your website. I hope you start by following my 3 steps above, so you can begin making money faster. Your advertisers are waiting to PAY for the connection to your audience! How much? About $100B in 2011!
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