Recharge Yourself Offline from Social Medias

We often easily get hooked by these popular Social Media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube & LinkedIn. Mainly because, it seems like everyone you talked to is doing it! Just when you think you’re done from signing up for these popular Social websites, there’s more! Let’s not forget Meetup, Plaxo, Digg, Wordpress, Bebo, Friendster, MySpace, Faves and the list goes on.

It can be addicting and it can consume most of your day. You’re going into it for the right reasons, to get more leads and free advertising for your business! In the economy like this, you tend to be where marketing for your company is free. It’s not a bad thing however the old saying, “Too much of some thing, can hurt you” is true in this case. You should always do things in moderation to give the fullest effect of marketing yourself. I have met people that have Twitter & Facebook synced into their Blackberry or iPhone. They are so attached that they would have to stop their conversation with me and read their Facebook updates because someone had posted on their wall. Or they have to text on their Twitter that they are at the networking group talking to me.

This is nuts! Reboot! & Recharge! When you have reached this point, please ask yourself if it’s worth it?

I recommend recharging yourself offline from Social Media websites. Remember, the goal is to get more sales and leads not taking up time. By recharging yourself; you can visit local community functions, networking groups or even contact your existing clients. Contacting your existing clients is a very good thing and you would be surprised how much of a sales increased by doing this. Local community functions and networking groups are the traditional marketing strategy that still works till this day. Some are free to attend and its fun meeting people at these events. There’s nothing more than selling yourself and gain possible business alliance for your company.

As always, it’s best to allocate your time with the Social Media world and offline traditional marketing.

Enjoy!

Jenny
DotTrend, Inc.

Cheap Shots in Business

Do you think the economy is getting better? No, Not really and especially you hear job layoff every day on the news. It’s the time to cut cost and have better money management when cash flow is low. With that being said, there are some things you can not let go during this economy. Marketing and Advertisements is the last thing you should cut out of your monthly budgets. Why? It’s important to continue to showcase that your business is alive and well.

That’s why here at DotTrend; we believed it should not be a big overhead on your business budget when it comes to your website and Internet marketing. It should be seamless and affordable.

Starting immediately, we are the only technology company in Louisville, Kentucky offering monthly financing for website design and development, online marketing, & print design. With zero percent interests being added to your monthly bill, your business can rest easy and this will allow you to survive and stay up float during this bad economy.

How does this come about? It all started when a brand new church in Los Angeles, California wanted to have a web presence so that the church members could attend Wednesday and Sunday services. Along with that, they can give church updates and upcoming events. Of course the price tag was affordable compared to the competitions, the client wanted to finance it for 6 months.

Needless to say, the client landed up completing the payments faster than agreed upon because we’ve allows them to grow and build.

We call these Cheap Shots in Business! Offering affordable payments over a period of time, we believe it’s great for those who need to build and grow their business.

Jenny
DotTrend, Inc.

Just a Sales Pitch!

Recently, we were asked to speak at a local networking group to discuss a topic that basically would help many business website owners. We talked about Internet marketing companies that would do the classic sales pitch on Search Engine Optimization/Search Engine Top Ranking.

Here are a few popular pitches:

• “We guarantee your website will be on the first page!”
• “Improve sales by getting top rankings in major search engines within weeks!”

I’m sure there are other pitches, but here’s the truth; like any advertising venue; there are no guarantees! Most internet companies would charge you great amount of money and many promises that comes with it, but in the end; they usually cheat by placing you on the Sponsored Links area (which is Pay per Clicks) in the search engines. Oh yes! They did get you on the first page alright. They are banking on the bid of clicks owed don’t out weigh what they had already charged you.

Remember, they are pitching you a guaranteed on behalf of Google, Bing, or even Yahoo! As always, try to be aware of what you are buying into. Ask questions such as “Can you give me references on the performance of your SEO program?” Or even ask “What search engine(s) are you submitting my website to?” These are good main questions to ask simply because when dealing with variety of search engines, they all have different search criteria.

I am not trying to say Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a useless program, in fact I believe it is a much needed service as part of the online marketing for your business website. It is very vital to have a constant online marketing venue if you are interested in having your business exposed to the world.

In a nutshell, Search Engine Optimization is great for regional advertising or even certain event that’s vastly popular. If you’re starting out and you would like to have a national campaign with somewhat of immediate results, I highly recommend the Pay per Click (PPC) program. Although it can get costly, but it might be worth your while.

Wayne
DotTrend, Inc.

Website Design on a Budget

So you need a website for your business that fits your budget. You may begin by calling around for quotes from various website design companies. You find yourself that these quotes are far beyond your budget. This incurs you to move to an alternative direction to seek a college grad or someone who is majoring in Website Design. Lastly, if that doesn’t work then you struggle to find a family member that’s willing to do the website at your price.

Sounds like a lot of work huh?

Here are my recommendations, DO NOT go with a family member. I’ve seen it many times and it never works out. Always remember to separate business from personal. Yes, it just that black and white!

What about a college grad or someone who is still in college majoring in Website Design? Well, my experience when talking to college grads, they are most likely looking for a permanent job with a salary that they were told to be expected. Unless you can meet these requirements, I say you should give them a chance. It could benefit the both of you. And for someone who is still in college getting a degree in Website Design, I think this line sort of answered in itself. Not that I have anything against college students, but in this case you would have to refer to experiences or knowledge skills. If you do decide to go this route, be expecting to have a website that is simple and less functionality. That may not be a bad thing, some time simple is good.

Now, that you have gone through the circuits and decided that none of these worked out, but only a professional website design company can meet your demands. Again, remember the quotes may have exceeded your budget, so the best to do is to re-think of the website design that you had in mind, re-structure the website model to have less functionalities and combine content information to save cost.

Once this has been done, go back to the website design companies and again ask for another quote. I highly recommend going with a Website Design Company that would come closest to your budget. Don’t forget, the Website Design Company’s personality plays a big role in your decision as well. Why? Because the both of you will be working together until the website is done. If you can’t connect or get along with the design company, it could land up costing you more in the end.

Wayne
DotTrend, Inc.

New Year…New Start

It’s always this time of year when people create New Year resolutions and try to make changes from last year mistake. In business, we look forward to these times simply because it’s part of our nature to shift gear when you have to.

How do I shift gear for my business?

Well, you can start shifting by changing your advertisement venue. Try to advertise again in areas that have been working for you in the past. Don’t forget, some time an advertisement piece may have not worked before, but it gives you brand identity. We all know it’s important to have brand identity for online and offline to your business. It’s called, “Stay constantly in front of the potential customers”.

Another would be finding a niche in the market that you can hit. Just recently, I got a chance to catch up with one of my business friends. She is in the business of public relation for major corporations. Of course, the economy made her business almost to a stand-still. She had to shift gear otherwise; her business is dead in the water before last year Thanksgiving. She moved her target audience from major corporations to the local businesses. Not just any local business, she had found a niche to offer her public relation services to the medical industry. This year she is planning to branch out to other industries as well. Again, it’s finding a niche market to gain revenue for your business.

With all these shifting gears, don’t forget to make changes to the most important advertising piece of all; your WEBSITE!

As mentioned, it’s important to re-design the look on your website for the market you are trying to hit. It could be as simple as changing the real estate layout on your website and re-wording a few words catering to that industry. And if your business website look hasn’t changed for a few years, then I highly recommend doing so. Believe it or not, I still see business websites that hasn’t been changed in design or content since the year 2000! Now a decade later with tremendous changes in technology, you could imagine what kind of impression it gives off when potential customers are visiting their business website.

So in closing, it is vital to make the appropriate changes to your business website look and information.

For the New Year…I say give yourself a New Start!

Wayne
DotTrend, Inc.

Customer Support in Today’s Economy

As always, customer support should continued to be great or even top notched!

For today’s economy, customers are considered “GOLD” for all business owners. This should be a no brainer and especially when we need all the business we can get.

You’d asked why blog about something like this when this should’ve been done already. Well, it’s amazing that I am still seeing technology companies are giving unreliable and bad support to their existing customers. I have heard in some cases where they are not returning the phone calls or respond to technical support emails.

It’s rather strange!

Although, I’ve noticed a declining rate in customer service for the past few years. Blame it on the holidays or that we’re just in a bad economy? I think not. Just recently, we got a phone call from a potential customer wondering if they can transfer their website to us. I said sure, not a problem and somewhere along the line I had asked, “May I ask why you are leaving your current provider?” The customer responded, “My email hasn’t worked for 2 months and the website has been down on and off from time to time. I had called my website provider and left many urgent messages. The only thing I got in response was an email stating that we are working on the problem.”

Needless to say, we got the business and the new customer is enjoying a reliable service from DotTrend.

Another example (non technology related), I went shopping at a local department store. I had asked for a price on the particular item since there’s no price shown on the shelves. So, I tracked down a store employee for pricings. Found one and he responded, “Well, what does it say the cost on the shelves?” I looked at him with pure amazement on his response. He sighed and said, “I guess I go find out the price for you.”

Gee, seriously?

I don’t get it, it’s terrible and many of my friends have noticed it as well. It makes you wonder why businesses are complaining about the economy is bad and wants the government to do something about it.

Wayne
DotTrend, Inc.

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