Happy New Year!
I wanted to share this with you as it could pertain to you now or down the road. Google local allows for reviews and, unfortunately, sometimes you'll get a negative one. My advice for all businesses is to ask your best customers to write positive reviews on Google Local Business. Email some friends/trusted clients the direct link so they could post POSITIVE reviews and completely overwhelm any negative ones!
I suggest you do this whether or not you have a negative one showing. Here's a quick video to show you how to do it: http://www.screencast.com/t/ZDYzYjA1ZjEt
So get some positive reviews on your google business listing and protect yourselves from that one bad apple!
your friend,
corey
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Should a small business use Twitter?
Should a Small Business use Twitter?
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Oprah and Ellen say yes! Isn’t that enough? It was for the masses, but you’re a busy business owner who’s a little apprehensive about spending the few precious moments you have tweeting instead of tweeping (that’s sleeping in Twitter-speak).
Well, I have the answer for you! Yes…and no. Allow me to explain.
Small businesses all over the world are using Twitter to boost their business; from local pizzerias to your neighborhood mechanic. Just jump on Google, or use the Twitter search engine, and search the words “Twitter success stories” and you’ll see hundreds of stories about the small-town guy or gal who tweeted their way to a 400% increase in revenue. But for every success story, there are a hundred other stories that can be summed up in three words: waste of time.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s ok for you to fall on either side of the statistic. Just make sure you don’t flounder somewhere in the middle. That’s when Twitter becomes most dangerous – a time-sucking habit that provides no return on your investment (time)! I’ve outlined a plan for you below, and by staying consistent and scrutinizing your results, this should help determine if Twitter is right for you.
So here’s some guidance in giving it the old college try:
- Set up a Twitter account for your business. It’s ok to be the owner that is representing a business. People love knowing the owner is on Twitter!
- Tweet at least once a day. What should you tweet about? Anything that your customers (or potential customers) would find interesting/valuable/amusing about your business. Also, engage people. Don’t make it a one-way tweet. Ask questions and answer questions.
- Use Twitter’s search feature to find conversations to engage in. If you are a florist in Atlanta, Georgia, search for “flowers Atlanta” and see where you can add value to a conversation.
- Use Nearbytweets.com and find local people to follow.
- Offer occasional offers/coupons/discounts to get people from Twitter inside your store or on your Website!
- Measure the results! Ask people where they found you. Allow them to print a coupon that you only put on Twitter so you can track its effectiveness. This is critical to deciding if Twitter is right for you.
- Give it at least three months before making a decision. It takes time to get good at Twitter.
Once you’ve completed the above list, evaluate how Twitter is working for you. Have you seen results? Has it become quick and easy for you to keep up with? Bottom line: is it worth your time? If the answer is no to one or more of those questions, take a break or stop all together. Just like with any other marketing strategy, you have to evaluate and be willing to abort mission if it’s not producing results. And don’t be discouraged to admit that it’s just not for you. That might be the best time-saving decision you’ll ever make.
I hope this has given you some insight as to whether or not Twitter is right for you. I’ll leave you with the three keys that I believe are critical to having success with Twitter: engage people, be consistent, and have fun!
About the Author
Corey Perlman is the author of the #1 Amazon.com bestseller eBoot Camp: Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business. The book provides easy-to-do strategies and techniques to help market your business on the web. It covers topics such as social networking sites, Web site optimization, online articles and press releases. You can follow Corey on Twitter or learn more about how to purchase the book at www.eBootCampBook.com.
|
Oprah and Ellen say yes! Isn’t that enough? It was for the masses, but you’re a busy business owner who’s a little apprehensive about spending the few precious moments you have tweeting instead of tweeping (that’s sleeping in Twitter-speak).
Well, I have the answer for you! Yes…and no. Allow me to explain.
Small businesses all over the world are using Twitter to boost their business; from local pizzerias to your neighborhood mechanic. Just jump on Google, or use the Twitter search engine, and search the words “Twitter success stories” and you’ll see hundreds of stories about the small-town guy or gal who tweeted their way to a 400% increase in revenue. But for every success story, there are a hundred other stories that can be summed up in three words: waste of time.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s ok for you to fall on either side of the statistic. Just make sure you don’t flounder somewhere in the middle. That’s when Twitter becomes most dangerous – a time-sucking habit that provides no return on your investment (time)! I’ve outlined a plan for you below, and by staying consistent and scrutinizing your results, this should help determine if Twitter is right for you.
So here’s some guidance in giving it the old college try:
- Set up a Twitter account for your business. It’s ok to be the owner that is representing a business. People love knowing the owner is on Twitter!
- Tweet at least once a day. What should you tweet about? Anything that your customers (or potential customers) would find interesting/valuable/amusing about your business. Also, engage people. Don’t make it a one-way tweet. Ask questions and answer questions.
- Use Twitter’s search feature to find conversations to engage in. If you are a florist in Atlanta, Georgia, search for “flowers Atlanta” and see where you can add value to a conversation.
- Use Nearbytweets.com and find local people to follow.
- Offer occasional offers/coupons/discounts to get people from Twitter inside your store or on your Website!
- Measure the results! Ask people where they found you. Allow them to print a coupon that you only put on Twitter so you can track its effectiveness. This is critical to deciding if Twitter is right for you.
- Give it at least three months before making a decision. It takes time to get good at Twitter.
Once you’ve completed the above list, evaluate how Twitter is working for you. Have you seen results? Has it become quick and easy for you to keep up with? Bottom line: is it worth your time? If the answer is no to one or more of those questions, take a break or stop all together. Just like with any other marketing strategy, you have to evaluate and be willing to abort mission if it’s not producing results. And don’t be discouraged to admit that it’s just not for you. That might be the best time-saving decision you’ll ever make.
I hope this has given you some insight as to whether or not Twitter is right for you. I’ll leave you with the three keys that I believe are critical to having success with Twitter: engage people, be consistent, and have fun!
About the Author
Corey Perlman is the author of the #1 Amazon.com bestseller eBoot Camp: Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business. The book provides easy-to-do strategies and techniques to help market your business on the web. It covers topics such as social networking sites, Web site optimization, online articles and press releases. You can follow Corey on Twitter or learn more about how to purchase the book at www.eBootCampBook.com.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
my advice to aspiring authors...
Hello everyone,
So it's 2am and I can't sleep - anyone else having this problem?
Anyway, I was just asked by a friend to provide some advice to an aspiring author and thought I'd share my answer for this group as well. Whether you should publish or self-publish is a completely separate conversation, but the below advice assumes you've made the decision that you'd like to be published by a major publisher. Anyway, here it is:
here's my advice:
1. write.
I know it sounds basic, but it's the hardest part. Assign at least 2-3 hrs a week to lock yourself in a room or coffee shop and write. No matter what comes out, you'll be glad you did.
2. Don't write a book - write a book proposal.
It's like a resume for a book. It has a basic overview, chapter titles, a competitive analysis and why your book is better/different than other competing titles, and most importantly, your plan to sell books. Of all the components, publishers will pay most attention to your "platform" or how you intend to sell books, so make sure you think of every possible way and sell them on your ability to sell books!
3. Get an endorsement from the most famous person you know who's relevant to your book topic. It's your attention grabber and I put mine in bold at the top of my book proposal. I think it's one of the reasons Wiley decided to go with me.
Once your book proposal is done, you can send it to an agent (I have a great one if you need a referral) and he/she can shop it to publishers. It's my belief they'd much rather skim through a proposal than an entire manuscript, so you've already put yourself ahead of most aspiring authors. If one bites, they'll send you a proposal to write the manuscript and probably offer an advance to do so. If they don't like it, then you only wasted time on a few pages instead of a few hundred pages :).
ok, I think my very pregnant wife is beginning to get annoyed by my typing, so I'm off to bed!
all the best,
corey
www.eBootCampBook.com
So it's 2am and I can't sleep - anyone else having this problem?
Anyway, I was just asked by a friend to provide some advice to an aspiring author and thought I'd share my answer for this group as well. Whether you should publish or self-publish is a completely separate conversation, but the below advice assumes you've made the decision that you'd like to be published by a major publisher. Anyway, here it is:
here's my advice:
1. write.
I know it sounds basic, but it's the hardest part. Assign at least 2-3 hrs a week to lock yourself in a room or coffee shop and write. No matter what comes out, you'll be glad you did.
2. Don't write a book - write a book proposal.
It's like a resume for a book. It has a basic overview, chapter titles, a competitive analysis and why your book is better/different than other competing titles, and most importantly, your plan to sell books. Of all the components, publishers will pay most attention to your "platform" or how you intend to sell books, so make sure you think of every possible way and sell them on your ability to sell books!
3. Get an endorsement from the most famous person you know who's relevant to your book topic. It's your attention grabber and I put mine in bold at the top of my book proposal. I think it's one of the reasons Wiley decided to go with me.
Once your book proposal is done, you can send it to an agent (I have a great one if you need a referral) and he/she can shop it to publishers. It's my belief they'd much rather skim through a proposal than an entire manuscript, so you've already put yourself ahead of most aspiring authors. If one bites, they'll send you a proposal to write the manuscript and probably offer an advance to do so. If they don't like it, then you only wasted time on a few pages instead of a few hundred pages :).
ok, I think my very pregnant wife is beginning to get annoyed by my typing, so I'm off to bed!
all the best,
corey
www.eBootCampBook.com
wow...an amazing email - and it all started with a blog!
I met Corey as the speaker on EBoot Camp at a BBB networking event in February of 2009. I am writing to tell you some of what has happened since EBoot Camp. In Just 10 months I am writing for my own blog site and 4 others sites including my local news in Ann Arbor, the Alzheimer’s Reading Room, which is the #1 site on Alzheimer’s information, and 3 other sites! My articles went into syndication a couple months ago and are showing up in leading newspapers, such as the Chicago Sun Times http://bit.ly/txqr1, the Herald News http://bit.ly/4CB8fI and international sites, such as Alzheimer’s New Zealand! Many more honors and opportunities have developed since EBoot Camp that would’ve never happened without meeting Corey and following EBoot Camp! Things have had this snowball effect that just keeps getting bigger! I really can’t say enough about how much Corey and his book have impacted my career! If you follow Corey’s advice and direction it will be the best investment you can make for your business, and career.
thanks for the kind words Angel!
corey
thanks for the kind words Angel!
corey
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Radio Interview: Website design and usability tips with Corey Perlman
Hey Folks!
I wanted to share a recent segment I did for Mark Deo and his radio show. I went through some really easy and effective tips you can do for your Website. I hope you enjoy!
http://www.sbanetwork.org/blogs/radio/2009/11/corey-perlman-discusses-website.htm
I wanted to share a recent segment I did for Mark Deo and his radio show. I went through some really easy and effective tips you can do for your Website. I hope you enjoy!
http://www.sbanetwork.org/blogs/radio/2009/11/corey-perlman-discusses-website.htm
Monday, December 7, 2009
eboot camp heads to Sunny Sarasota FL
Sarasota Business Owners Get Serious About Cyberspace
Bestselling Author, Corey Perlman, Brings his Critically Acclaimed eBoot Camp to Sunny
Sarasota, FL – Residents and Small Business Owners around Southwest Florida will have a chance to learn Internet marketing and social media strategies during Perlman’s eBoot Camp workshop on January 7th from 6-8:30pm.
Randy Lorenz, a recent attendee of Perlman’s eBoot Camp said, “Corey's e-boot camp is an affordable well designed course that will reward those that apply his techniques. Our Google page rankings have increased dramatically; better still our phone is ringing and our business is up dramatically. Corey, Thanks a Bunch!”
Perlman blends high value with a layman’s term approach so people leave confident in what they need to do to grow their business via the web.
At press time, Perlman had a few spots remaining for his training. For more information, you can visit www.theebootcamp.com/preview
What: eBoot Camp Workshop
When January 7th, 2010
6:00pm - 8:30pm (Networking from 5:30pm-6:00pm)
Where: Hyatt Place Sarasota
950 University Parkway
Sarasota, FL 34234
Cost: $49
Bestselling Author, Corey Perlman, Brings his Critically Acclaimed eBoot Camp to Sunny
Sarasota, FL – Residents and Small Business Owners around Southwest Florida will have a chance to learn Internet marketing and social media strategies during Perlman’s eBoot Camp workshop on January 7th from 6-8:30pm.
Randy Lorenz, a recent attendee of Perlman’s eBoot Camp said, “Corey's e-boot camp is an affordable well designed course that will reward those that apply his techniques. Our Google page rankings have increased dramatically; better still our phone is ringing and our business is up dramatically. Corey, Thanks a Bunch!”
Perlman blends high value with a layman’s term approach so people leave confident in what they need to do to grow their business via the web.
At press time, Perlman had a few spots remaining for his training. For more information, you can visit www.theebootcamp.com/preview
What: eBoot Camp Workshop
When January 7th, 2010
6:00pm - 8:30pm (Networking from 5:30pm-6:00pm)
Where: Hyatt Place Sarasota
950 University Parkway
Sarasota, FL 34234
Cost: $49
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