Posts

Personally I'd say snippets, you are looking for soundbites, "Rebecca changed my life" kind of rubbish

We have full reviews on one page, then show a few snippets on call to action pages, eg;

Ref contact form, assuming you are either having a web designer build you a site, or you are doing it yourself using wordpress or similar?

If so, contact form is simple and straightforward. No need to display your email in the clear, let visitors fill in a contact form which is then emailed to you. Adding a really simple captcha will stop 99% of spam. Here's what we use on customer pages:

Don't get a complicated one like Googles, it just winds people up

To be honest, we don't even use one on our own contact form and get minimal spam (at least from the contact form!)

What is it with big business these days? Toshiba's CEO and President have quit after some dodgy accounting practices and overstated profits.

At least the Japanese know how to resign with dignity, by bowing to the journalists. I did wonder if someone was going to come along and chop their heads off 

"It has been revealed that there has been inappropriate accounting going on for a long time, and we deeply apologise for causing this serious trouble for shareholders and other stakeholders," the company said in a statement.

Source BBC: Toshiba chief executive resigns over scandal

Maybe we should adopt a similar style in the UK. Can you imagine the bosses of Tesco or RBS bowing to the press and saying sorry?

Great security! Maybe worth seeing if they will give you a nice discount as a reward?

Car wise, all I can tell you about is the merits of a Cortina versus a Granada, or don't buy a Chevette or a Rover SD1. Any thing more modern and I haven't got a clue, they all look the same! 

Now 4x4's is a different story 

Can't believe Yell pulled the negative review, I thought they let anything go.

Fantastic news, all great background evidence for the latest court case. 

Would it be more cost effective for you to retrain as a solicitor? 

I was actually wearing a baseball camp, as I'm bald git, so liable to getting a burnt head. But really got taken by surprise  Photo doesn't show it, but top of my head is white, very embarrassing, hence Jans cartoon.

To try and justify myself, in the morning it was raining and I was wearing a waterproof, then it stopped and went cloudy and cold, so I was wearing a fleece. Then the sub came out and I got savaged 

That's what happens when I go out without the wife and kids! They spent the day on the beach covered in factor 50 

I shall get my own back Mr Jan, just you wait......   

Originally Posted by mrb

“Nearly 6 months in since your first post - any more thoughts/comments/suggestions other than what you've already stated?  ”

Okdokey, latest scores on the doors.

FB 511 likes, up from 467, Twitter 178 followers, up from 139 and Google Plus a spectacular 6, up from 4 

Facebook wise, now we are over 500 likes, the FB page looks and feels established. Most posts generate interaction, and I've not done any boosted posts for months. The initial start with boosting posts achieved it's aim, and the page will now grow organically and act as a strong social media signal for the website.

Twitter has been a bit slower and in hindsight should have tweeted more, but had some good high profile retweets, some quality industry related followers and like FB, should be a strong social signal. 

Google Plus has been a disappointment and confirms the theory that most social media aware tradespeople still see Google Plus as a low priority.

Tom Buckland who is working with us on a SEO strategy has suggested a good rule for Social Media is 5 posts a day across the board. But obviously keep these non spammy and try to be non salesy.

It can be quite a challenge to generate regular, quality, informative or engaging posts, but if it builds strong social signals back to your domain, then it is worthwhile. Plus a lot of customers, visitors expect social media interaction and prefer that as a more informal means of communication.

Summary

The Social Media campaigns have been established, they achieved their initial aims of generating customer leads while we had no website, and established our social media presence. Primary platform was Facebook, which required a small marketing budget which was used on boosting selective posts rather than a formal PPC campaign.

Moving forward, the growth will be organic, but having a plan and strategy of your aims, ie what to post and how often is key. For us it is about generating strong social media awareness and signals, providing a means to interact with customers and visitors, but relying on organic growth.

Hope anyone following this found it useful.

I'll probably leave it a while now, maybe another 6 months and update then, and see how organic growth has panned out, and if we maintained our posting regime 

Work from home?

Thank you Mr Jan! No cartoon for months, and today you decide its cartoon time 

To put it into context, I went to an airshow yesterday, and like an idiot, didn't take any suntan cream (it was thick cloud and raining when I left). 

Walked in the office this morning and have had nothing but mickey take and abuse, so have been keeping a low profile, until now

Originally Posted by mrb

“It didn't quite pass me by as I read about it on the day but I'm not a "prime" customer anyway!  It's an interesting article and I wonder how long the shareholders / investors will accept constant diet of jam tomorrow, which somehow never arrives....  ”

Just reading that, blimey! "Last year its revenues hit $88bn (£56bn) , but it made a loss of $240m (£153m)"

Hi bouncernev

Marketing can be extremely frustrating in the early days, some would argue it never stops!

The key thing to remember is, what your objectives are, the message you are sending out, and how is that message been received?

Most initial objectives are straight forward, ie "I need more customers". Later on it maybe customer retention, special offers for current customers etc.

So assuming its about generating new business, then review what's been done so far.

"advertised in the local newspapers"

That's plural, so how did it work out? How often have you run the advert? Is the advert actually working. Did it work better in one paper than another? It may be that this is the perfect medium for your business, but your advert doesn't work. Have you tried different adverts? Have you asked anyone (other than family!) what they think of it? Honest feedback is invaluable, especially critical.

"handed flyers out"

A very cost effective way to generate new customers. But as above, are the flyers any good? If they are generating no leads then maybe they need some tweaking?

"advertised on all free listing sites"

Not all free listing sites are equal. As long as they are professionally moderated, then this won't hurt you, and is very useful for things such as citation building. In other words telling Google you are a real business and this is your trading address. But you have to be realistic with free business listings, how much effort would you put into free car valeting?

If there is functionality, such as the ability to leave reviews, then use it. Reviews and positive feedback on a variety of sources builds consumer trust, as long as it genuine and not spammy.  

"have a web site"

Having a bad website is worse than having no website. I haven't seen yours, but from experience a lot of new business websites tend to be homemade, or free websites that give little or no customer confidence. Can people order and book your services from your website? If not, what is the purpose of the site? If it's informational, is it well presented and gives potential customers the answers they need, or reassurance that you are the person to go to.

Is the site marketed? If you had a websdesigner build your site, have they optimised it so it's search engine friendly? Do you show up in any related local searches for your service? Do you show up for your business name? If your website does get any traffic, have you analysed to see where the traffic is coming from? Does any of the traffic visit other pages, or does it bounce off the first page? How long are they on your page? You can find out all this by looking at your Google Analytics, a treasure trove of information and it's all free

Then there are other opportunities. Maybe social media is a way forward, or special offers, groupon sort of thing. Cross promotion with other traders, maybe team up with local garages, or offer business services, maybe it would be good for a garage to have someone valet customer cars, or offer the service at local business centres. Plenty of biz owners under 1 roof, you come out and valet the motor while they work.

There's a starter for 10, hope some of its useful. We can look at any points in detail.