Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Your Online Presence is Important (but Overwhelming)

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Your Online Presence Is Important - but overwhelmingThinking about your online presence is overwhelming and can be confusing. Where do you start? You want me to spend how much on what? What sites are reputable? How do you spot a scam versus legitimate help?

I know, it daunting. And, being found online is important! You started your business and spent a lot of money on a website and design – people should be able to find you! But where do you start? What do you need to do? And what if something changes?

Relax, I have you covered!

My recommendation is a handy tool from the fabulous SEO firm Moz. Their local search tool tells you exactly how great (or not) your online presence is.

Go do it right now.

I’ll wait…

So…what was your score?

8%? 42%? 78%? There’s almost always room for improvement. I like Moz because everything is all in one place. Their job is knowing SEO and where you need to be listed online. I don’t question if I need to be listed on City Search – Moz says I do, and they’ll handle it for me.

You know your score,

now what do you do?

I signed up for Moz Local – it’s not expensive and it’s  totally worth it. You input all your info and then check in every few days (for a couple of months, depending on how many edits and changes need to happen) and over time your ranking goes up and your online presence is in place and ready to go. Moz takes care of all the logistics with the key reputable search sites online. This way you don’t have to decipher what’s worth your time and what might be a scam.

Just like that. If your score is high enough that you don’t want to deal with it right now, that’s up to you. But, here are 3 times when it’s important that you consider confirming your online presence…

When You Have a Name Change

(Personally or for your Business)

I was talking with a client recently about their online presence. They went through a name change recently and it was time to get their name consistent online. Making sure that your website says what Google says and what Bing says (hey, it’s the Pacific Northwest, not everyone is allowed by their employer to use Google. If you get married or divorced you should make sure your online presence isn’t screwing things up. Likewise, if your business changes names. Maybe you become an LLC, or you incorporate, or add or slightly modify your business name. Time to check in and make the change.

When your address changes

True story – I know someone who only changed their address on Google when they moved and clients consistently went to their old addresses thanks to other GPS services that hadn’t been notified. If you move, don’t trust that everything everywhere is going to get updated. I’m working with a client right now who changed addresses and we’re still fighting with a couple of search sites to get the address fixed. It’s tedious, but worth while.

When you want to get serious about getting online reviews

If you want people to leave you reviews on Google, Yelp, Facebook, Bing, etc., you need to claim your profile on these channels. Last month someone called me because they had received a nasty Yelp review and needed help. They had gone through all the proper channels but Yelp was taking too long to respond. We discussed cleaning up and confirming their online presence so that they’re not undermined by someone out to get them. I don’t want to unnecessarily scare you, you make good choices in the clients you work with, but it IS possible that someone out to get you could claim your profile on your behalf and really mess with your brand. Just claim that profile so you can sleep at night.

Clients often ask me for help with their online presence because it’s a pretty tedious task. If it’s not on your list of fun things to do while running a business, we should talk.

What are Your 2018 Marketing Goals?

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2018 marketing goalsDecember always has us thinking about the end of the year and what we’re going to do in the coming year. Or it means racing to the finish and you’ll figure out the next year when it gets here.

Either way, I wanted to put a few nuggets into the back of your head to start to consider for 2018…

  1. Stop Blogging – You hate it and so you don’t do it consistently. What if instead of blogging each week (which means really once or twice a month) you take that content and turn it into a great newsletter each month along with a few other tips and resources?
  2. Start Blogging – You love to write, you’re frequently sending a long ass email to a potential client about the SAME THING, you might as well put it in a blog post so you can save the time and effort. Start blogging – it’s a great way for potential clients to get to know your voice and your expertise.
  3. Streamline Your Social Media – Is your target market on Instagram and you’re spending too much time on Twitter? You don’t have to do everything, but whatever you do, you have to do it.
  4. Build a Relationship Before You Sell – If you have a new product or service or class you’re offering in 2018 I better not hear about it for the first time when you’re asking for my money to buy it. If you have a book coming out in the spring I want to start hearing from you now, along with little teasers of info that I will fall in love with so I’ll gladly buy the book when it comes out. If you have a workshop or group you’re starting next year, start sharing content and resources and teasers of what’s in store. You can’t just sell to me, you have to earn that right by educating me and connecting with me along the way.
  5. Be Consistent with Your Newsletter – You knew I couldn’t write a blog post without including this! You may know you need a newsletter, but let’s make sure it’s consistent. Please. And again, don’t just sell to me when I hear from you.

What are your 2018 marketing goals? What do you need to do in 2018? Who do you need to setup meetings with NOW so you can start off January with a BANG?

One thing you can do? Grab my Free Marketing Calendar to help give you action items each week!

How Often Do Service Providers Waste Your Time?

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How Often Do Service Providers Waste Your Time?As a service provider my job is to make my clients happy and to not stress them out or overwhelm them. As a business owner, my biggest pet peeve are service providers who waste my time and make unnecessary busy work for me.

Today’s a good example. I had a call with a service provider. It was a video call scheduled for a half hour. I was on the link sent to me on time. About 8 minutes later I received a phone call from the person I was scheduled to talk to. And I mentioned I only had the 30 minutes so now only had 20, so we need to be efficient with our time. And then we spoke for about 15 minutes and it was to tell me 3 things that very easily could have been in an email (I need a credit card on file, pick a template you like from this link, anything specific we should focus on?) Needless to say I left the call annoyed and wishing they were more respectful of my time.

What processes should you have in place that could make your clients time more efficient?

I have a few checklists that I use for clients, including my Newsletter Setup Checklist where I ask my clients for everything I need to get their newsletter setup. Once I have it, I can get started. After about a week I check in and let them know what I’m missing. And, sometimes if they seem to not want to do it or are dragging their feet I will offer to setup a call to walk them through it. I don’t mind spending a half hour or hour on the phone to walk through my checklist if it’s easier for them. But my job is to make their life easier not stress them out or annoy them with unnecessary meetings.

The next time you schedule a meeting or call, make sure that everyone has what they need up front and that the meeting is necessary. YES you should have face time with your clients and talk to them regularly. But don’t annoy them before the ink dries!