"Solutions Out Loud - Network Solutions Podcast for SolutionsArePower" - 3 new articles
Followup: What People Want From Business Web SitesHere’s a followup to my entry about what small businesses should have on their Web sites (”An Average Consumer Looks at Small Business Web Sites“). It comes by way of Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema’s column last week, and I consider it something of a validation of my previous statements:
Also telling is the stuff they don’t want to see: Flash, animations, and music. (Especially when the music “makes my co-workers think I’m on a porn site when I’m just trying to find a menu.”) For my part, I did cover many of the mentioned items, but I didn’t really weigh the importance of accessibility or special-needs considerations. The quoted poster is absolutely right, especially since people with special requirements probably also participate in the relevant niche communities online, the impact of which I mentioned in my first “everbody’s a reviewer” entry.” Another important thing to mention is the absolute necessity of keeping current and always showing the most up-to-date information. This goes for things that change rarely (phone numbers, parking info, etc.), but more crucially, for things that change frequently (like menu items). Not coincidentally, this is another strike against using an all-Flash Web site, or anything else that you can’t quickly and easily update by yourself (like PDF files of your menus). In the case of something that changes really frequently — like daily specials — consider a blog: The new stuff is always on top, so it’s tailor-made for stuff that updates and expires quickly. Plus, if your specials are part of a larger blog for your business, it always gives you something to write about, and you can use them as a hook to talk about other important elements of your business. In short, for a restaurant, nothing should be stale — not even the info on the Web site. Now, although this particular topic is pretty restaurant-centric, a lot of the basics apply to any other type of brick-and-mortar business. Have your own tips or pet peeves? Leave a comment below. Avoid Problems When Blogging About Your CustomersSo you’re ready to do it: You’re ready to start blogging for your small business. You’ve done your homework, read a lot of blogs (especially blogs in your specific field), participated in those blogs, and generally think that having your own blog will help get your message out. And you have a clear-eyed look at the time and resource commitments that goes into a good blog, and still think it’ll be a good use of your time. What are you going to say? I talked a little bit before about what small business owners should say when they blog. But you know that Tolstoy quote about happy families? “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Small business blogging is kind of the flip side of that: The things you should write about will vary according to you and your business, but the things that you shouldn’t write about are pretty similar. Most of the blogging best practices truisms for regular folk apply to business bloggers, only more so: Don’t steal content (instead, excerpt and link to the source, and add original thoughts). Don’t be a sockpuppet (posting comments to your own blog using fake names, to make yourself look better). Don’t post while you’re angry or chemically altered. Looking to business-specific advice, a good primer is the article, “Corporate Blogging: Pitfalls and Guidelines” (it’s all over the place on the Web). It’s geared towards larger companies that need employee blogging policies, though — it’s hard to pull off the good old employee disclaimer (e.g. “I don’t speak for my employer”) when you’re the employer. A few more business-specific blogging truisms: * Don’t post trade secrets — yours, or anyone elses. * Don’t talk trash about your competitors. Just tell the truth about yourself. That’s the easy stuff. Then things start getting interesting. Talking About Your Customers — Should You? What’s your business about? Your customers. That’s where the interesting interactions happen. So how can you talk about your business without talking about your customers? You can’t… but what you can do is avoid violating their privacy (and just as important, their expectations of privacy). There are some explicit red lines you must not cross. For example, if you’re in the medical field, you can’t reveal Protected Health Information (outlined in HIPAA) — it’s basically stuff you can use to identify specific people: names, full-face photos, etc. However, there’s a thriving medblogging community out there (including nurses, pharmacists, and yes, even doctors), and they manage to stay out of trouble by anonymizing data, and applying good judgment. But removing personally identifying information is just one part of it. No matter how much the lingo changes, talking about a patient is still different than talking about a customer. The next part goes to intent and expectations. Say you post an anonymized “dumb customer” story. If you’re posting the story for the sole purpose of mockery, not education, will your other customers think, “What are they going to say about me?” A good gut-check guideline when writing about a customer (even an anonymized one) is, “How would I feel if the person I’m writing about knew I was writing about them?” Call it sensitivity or self-censorship, but I know it helps temper my own acid pen. Or flip it around, and let people know you’re going to write about them (”You mind if I mention this in my blog?”); they can express any preferences, they might enjoy the recognition, and they might help you get some word of mouth. So maybe you leave out customer mockery and tawdry gossip. What’s that leave? Plenty: Trends you’re seeing among customers; challenges and solutions; lessons you’ve learned; customer success stories; and advice of all sorts. Have you run into problems with your small business blog? How do you blog about your customer interactions? Leave a comment (but only if you feel like it). Upcoming Event: If You Build It, Will They Come? An exploration of social networks, including what's working now and how to build and nurture a communityOn January 14, 2009, at Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus in Rockville, MD there is going to be an awesome event sponsored by Network Solutions that you all should attend if you are going to be in the area. What’s it called? The event is called: “If You Build It, Will They Come?” and it is an exploration of social networks, including what's working now and how to build and nurture a community. Why Should I Attend? Hear their story on how they succeeded… What Social Media tools they used for their success… What worked and what didn’t… And learn how communities are created. About Frank Warren Frank Warren is among the top 20 bloggers in the world and is a inspirational speaker and author of 4 books, including A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book. About Rohit Bhargava Rohit is Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy & Marketing, Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence. He is the author of “Personality Not Included” and among the top 50 marketing bloggers in the world. How do I sign up? Go to eventbrite to this page to sign up. Admission is free and so is the parking. More Recent Articles
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