Handling Negative Feedback On The Web
With all the web has to offer these days you have to be willing to take not only the good but the bad.
We have found businesses that have an online presence have not fully embraced the idea of implementing certain forms of user generated content on their site, such as a forum or a blog. Lots of business owners use the excuse that they don’t want to give consumers the ability to leave negative feed back about their products or services. But, Why NOT?
You may not realize this but your buying audience is talking online all the time and they hold all the cards. The online surfers of today are sharing what they like and what they don’t like on message boards, blogs, forums and more. At no other time in history has the consumer had as much power as they do now. The consumer is in control from the first search query to the blurb they left on their blog about how they felt about their experience shopping with you. WOW! Think of the implications of that!
You should know that a person is more likely to go out of their way to let others know about a bad experience they had then they are a good experience. If a customer has a bad experience with a company they are going to talk about it and share it with others.
Word of mouth was the only way individuals could make their displeasure known before the Internet. Now, with the conception of the world wide web word of mouth magnified by millions. Hundreds of thousands of people now have the opportunity to read a negative comment about your services. And from that, they may make a decision on whether or not to purchase your products or the next guy’s.
With that in mind, we have to think carefully about how we are going to react to negative comments that will certainly be left by unhappy customers.
Now, you could:
Ignore the Problem: You could simply not respond at all. However, that’s like taking the ostrich approach and sticking your head in the sand, missing the world because you are too scared to surface and handle confrontation. Not only can this lead to a large loss in business and a damaged reputation but it’s a weak business practice that will most certainly never result in happy repeat customers. And isn’t that what we all want?
Calm Your Angry Customers
The Defense Rests:
Defending your company’s bad business habits or mistakes, whether major or minor, can prove to be a costly mist ake too. Tone is often hard to judge when written and can be taken defensively by the already annoyed customer. The only response you are likely to get is an angry one. Again, this will result in loss of repeat business and a possible bad rep.
The customer is ALWAYS right! We have all heard that before, right. The thing about though is it’s true. The customer is always right and nobody is perfect. So own up to your mistakes and do your best to rectify the situation so you keep them coming back.
Businesses make mistakes all the time and a good shopper knows this. The problem comes when the mistake is handled poorly. If you ignore the issue or become defensive you have lost the sale and probably any repeat business from that customer. You also take a chance on this disgruntled customer sharing their experience with others, and they will. So, why take a chance in today’s connected world?
So, what should you do when faced with negative comments or complaints?
The first thing you should do is apologize or recognize the error! There is nothing wrong with recognizing the mistake and acknowledging it took place.
Next, you should see how you can quickly rectify the situation. Yes, that bad comment is out there for everyone to see but so is your response.
If you handle your response well it can show other potential customers that you care and you have the customer’s best interest at heart. They like it when you care.
Make your customers happy no matter what it takes
It also shows you’re involved with your customer base. Just because you’re doing business online doesn’t mean you can’t see eye to eye. If you make yourself available to your buying public you can’t go wrong. You can achieve this by utilizing some of the social media sites such as MySpace, Facebook, a blog and forums.
If you ask me, the web is just another way to provide great customer service and support for your products. Remember, good customer service keeps people coming back. Just because they are shopping online doesn’t mean you can’t treat them like they were standing right in front of you.
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Want to learn how to find the keywords that are being typed into the search engines to find the products and services you sell?
Here is a video tutorial on how to use Google’s free keyword research tool. It can show you all kinds of helpful data by showing you the keywords that searchers are actually typing in to find you. It can also tell you how many people are searching for those words as well as search trends for the year.
Check out this video tutorial on how to use Google’s free keyword research tool. This video compliments the e-book Market Research on a Dime. So if you don’t have it yet fill out your name and email on the right side of this post so you can get a better look at how to correctly do keyword research.
This is the 3rd post in our series called Title Tag Do’s & Don’ts. In the last post we took a look at the don’ts of title tag optimization.
In part 2 the title tags were completely unfocused, over the 65 character limit, and not at all compelling or written for a human to actually read and click through. Title tags like this will result in your page being penalized for keyword stuffing.
As we discussed in part 1 a better strategy would be to create compelling keyword rich content, under the 65 character limit, using the exact keyword phrase up front and then a variation of that keyword in the middle or towards the end of the tag. We also put the company name at the end of the tag or better yet, left it out all together.
Now, in part 3 we are going to take a look at the best practices for using your keywords in your title tags. The first and most important thing to remember is to focus one keyword per page. Yup, that’s right- One & only one keyword per page with secondary or supporting keywords sprinkled throughout the pages content. Creating unique pages for each of the targeted keyword gives you the opportunity to rank for more pages thus giving you more real estate in the search engines.
For example, a page for dog collars, another page targeting dog leashes, another for dog harnesses and so on—rather than trying to pack everything into a single title tag. Supporting keywords for the dog collars page would be designer dog collars and fashion dog collars. When deciding on whether to target the singular or plural version of the keyword phrase you will need to take a look at your keyword research and focus on the one with the highest search volume.
Avoiding Duplicate Content in Title Tags
Another very and often used title tag mistake is not giving every web page a unique title. If you have duplicate title tags within your site, you risk having your pages banished to Google’s elusive and supposedly non-existent supplemental index. That would be the online equivalent of being sent to search engine nowhere land.
Ok, so you’re probably wondering what is the worst title tag mistake you can make and if not I’m going to tell you any way. The worst title tag mistake you can make is NO TITLE TAG AT ALL. Believe it or not web designers and business owner who have taken it apon themselves to optimize there website still fail to put anything in their title tag.
Not putting any title tag whatsoever will cause “Untitled Document” to be displayed as your page title in the search results. Surprisingly, there are over 34 million pages in the Google index that have “Untitled Document” as their title.
The same can be said for page titles like Welcome to our homepage, Company Name or index. Also, creating unique pages for keyword variations is something you want to avoid. Making different pages using keyword variations like dog collar, dog collars, and collars for dogs will dilute your keyword effectiveness. Besides how much unique content can you come up with for each of those terms. It is best practice to use those keyword variations as supporting keywords rather than creating unique pages for each.
The good thing is if you’ve been making these title tag mistakes it’s not too late to improve them using the SEO tips you’ve learned in these last 3 posts on Title Tag Do’s and Don’t’s
Please feel free to leave comments or ask questions if you need any further help with proper title tag optimization.
In Title Tag Do’s & Don’ts Part 1 we discussed how to properly format your title tags for search engine success. Keeping in mind what you learned in that post, you want experiment a bit with your title tags. This is especially true where your keywords vary slightly in word order such as Dog Collars vs Collars for Your Dog.
According to Search Engine News “Your success with using repetition and variation will be somewhat dependent upon your specific target keywords as well as the degree of competition within your niche.”
Making sure to master these title tag elements correctly is critical to ranking successfully at the top of the SERP’s. Experience shows us that implementing these minor tweaks in the title tag can make the difference between a first and second page listing. So, you should experiment with your title tags (staying within these guidelines) to get the best possible results from this critically important on-page optimization strategy.
Stupid Title Tags Mistakes to Avoid
Ok, now that you know what a good title tag looks like, take a look at some examples of a poorly written title tag.
Bad title tag example
Doggy Word – Best Prices in Collars for Your Dog
The title tags above contains a number of mistakes. First, the company name is placed first, it does not use the exact keyword phrase (Collars for Your Dog is not the same as Dog Collars), it fails to repeat a variation of the keyword, and finally it places the keyword phrase at the end of the title tag. These are common title tag mistakes you should avoid at all times.
Let’s take a look at some other stupid title tag mistakes
Really bad title tag
Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars, Dog Collars
STOP THAT! Repeating keywords over and over can get your web page penalized causing you to loose rankings. While it is acceptable to use slight variations of your targeted keyword phrase and/or even repeat it later in the title tag, never repeat it more than twice… and one repetition usually works just fine.
For more on proper title tag optimization stay tuned for Title Tag Do’s & Don’ts Part 3
Let’s talk about the HTML title element within the source code of your webpage.
This is the on-page source code element that continues to be the primary element that the search engines use to determine what keywords your page is actually about—and ranks your pages accordingly. We are also talking about the descriptive element within the SERPs that people use when choosing which link to click.
So, let’s take a minute to make sure you’re getting this important element of keyword placement correct.
The best title tags focus on three characteristics.
1. They include the exact phrase the page should rank for.
2. They place that exact phrase at the very beginning of the title.
3. They repeat that phrase in some variation within the tag.
Let’s say your goal is a top ranking for the search term Dog Collars. Take a look at a couple of very good title tag examples:
good title tag
Dog Collars – Find the Best Collars for Your Dog – Doggy World
good title tag
Dog Collars – Find the Best dog collar at Doggy World
As you can see both of these title tags place the most important keyword phrase at the very beginning of the title tag. Then you want to strategically reinforce the main keyword with a closely related variation of the keyword. By doing so you are helping to boost the ranking for the closely related keyword-phrase variations. In the first example we repeat the exact phrase while the second uses a slight variation of the phrase to repeat the target keywords. Both strategies are excellent.
When deciding to target a singular or plural version, or to pursue word-order variations, you should consider two factors:
* Your keyword research — How much traffic are those related keywords getting?
* Your competitive analysis — How hard will it be to outrank the competition for those keywords?
Keep in mind that the example title tags above are kept under the 65-character limit Google uses when displaying titles in their search results. While the Google bots will spider (but not display) titles of well over 1000 characters, they will crop longer title tags off mid-sentence when displaying them to users. This will result in unattractive title tags that will lower click-through rates.
As you can also see, the company name—Doggy World is placed at the end of the title where it will interfere less with the importance of your primary keywords. It is debatable as to whether the company name belongs in the title tag at all. It is a fact that the company name does not belong at the beginning of the title unless, for some strange reason, your company name is also your target keyword.
It is usually unnecessary to put your company name in the title tag at all. This is because your company name is not a competitive keyword. Nor should it be difficult to rank for. In general, the only good reason for adding a company name to a title tag is for branding purposes. This is an important title tag fact to keep in mind.
Stay tuned for part 2 of Title Tag Do’s & Don’ts.
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- Before you begin coding an application make sure that the company you have hired has worked with you to clearly architecture the site. Site architecture is one of the most important aspects of your website design. How your site is structured will govern how well your visitors can navigate through your website. This aspect should be clearly mapped out before coding begins.
- Just because you are paying $5 an hour for web development doesn’t mean you are getting a good deal. This leads to the old adage “You get what you pay for”. Yes, we know times are tough, but being cheap is only going to get you cheap work. An old friend said “You can have your work 2 of 3 ways – Fast, Good and Cheap. Your work could be cheap and fast but it won’t be good. Your work could be fast and good but it won’t be cheap. And, you can get the work done good and cheap but it won’t be fast”. Think about that before you farm out the most important part of your website to someone who works for $5 an hour.
- Don’t over pay for applications that you can get through the open source community. There are tons of online resources you can tap into in order to get the applications you need for your website. Don’t be lazy and settle for the first thing to comes along. Take your time and do your research in order to find the best deal going. Ask your web design company for advice. They will be able to save you lots of time, money and frustration.
- Make sure your developer is trained in the art of search engine optimization. It certainly makes your life easier and your online business work seamlessly when your developer understand the principles of internet marketing. If your developer doesn’t understand SEO and internet marketing it can undermine your ability to rank in the major search engines.
- Make sure your are tracking your online efforts by implementing an analytics program. If your an online store or selling products of any kind, make sure to set goals and keep track of conversions. A company or developer who understands this principle is worth their weight in gold.
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- Color: Color is very important to your online success. Color evokes emotion in your visitors that will either turn them on or turn them off. When choosing color it’s important to keep a few things in mind. first you want to keep the continuity going by keeping your website uniform with your traditional marketing material. Your website in nothing more than your online marketing brochure, unless you have a store of course. When designing a site you should keep in mind the acronym CRAP.
That’s right! CRAP – Color – Repetition – Alignment – Proximity. This is the fundamental principle to web design.
If you don’t have a color scheme for your marketing material then here’s a hint: Microsoft and large online companies spend millions of dollars to find out what colors make people want to buy. Let them pay for the research, you can use the researched findings for your own online ventures. Your site should, obviously, be pleasing to the eye. We make sure to choose colors that suit your content and your visitors. Please understand that we will make suggestions based on what our experience has taught us works. So if your website is dull and has no contrast, or the colors don’t blend well together, we will discuss making the necessary changes to make you a more successful website.
- Images: Using images that show people enjoying themselves converts at a much higher rate than just a picture of your product. The right images can make a big difference in how you perform online.
They can make the difference between a person browsing or clicking off your site. Group 5’s expert web designers know these important strategies and has access to thousands of images that can help bring life to your website.
- Call to Action: Call us, e-mail us, get us involved!
When people search for something online they are trying to fulfill a need or want. There is a conversation going on in their mind that you need to tap into. As we build your website we have this in mind. You don’t want to leave your visitors hanging by not telling them what to do after they have reached your site. A strong call to action can make them pick up the phone, fill out a form, or take the time to email you in an effort to fulfill their need. We know this and therefore apply this technique to every website we build for our clients.
- Accessibility: Anyone should be able to access your site, including persons with disabilities. Understanding what it takes to make your website accessible to all your visitors is vital to your online success. We make sure that every page is easy to find by making sure your navigation and inner linking structure is set up in the proper way. Making sure your visors make it to as many pages as possible is our goal for your business.
- Usability: Is it easy to navigate your site? Can visitors understand your navigation? Are you using words and phrases that are unfamiliar to even the most seasoned web user? Keep it simple. Make sure that your navigation and inner linking is understandable so as not to confuse your readers. If your "Contact Us" button says something like "How May I Help You" your visitors may not make the connection. At Group 5 Web we understand these principles and make it easy for your visitors to understand and navigate every page they land on.
Find out more about web design in Tampa – Call Group 5 Web
- UNDERSTANDING SEO SEO starts with research. Picking the right keywords to target your market is key in search engine success. You want your site to pop up on all of the major search engines, you also want to be at the top of the search results for the words and phrases your customers are typing in to find the products and services you sell. By placing the right keywords in the right place on your site and applying other SEOinternet marketing best practices you are assured to get top rankings even in a competitive market. If your niche is a competitive one, it may take more than just the basics. That’s when we will apply advanced SEO tactics to ensure you get found in the top 30 listings. There are over 60 things that need to be done to each page in order to fully optimize it. After the on-site optimization is complete we start with an aggressive off-site marketing campaign or what we like to call push marketing. That’s where we push people to your web by applying proper SEO techniques.
- CONTENT & COPY WRITING According to Google, “content is king”. It’s the single most important thing on your site. Writing copy in an SEO friendly way is important for the search engine and helps you get found at the top. However, no search engine has ever bought any thing from a website. That is why SEO copy writing is so important. You have to write for both the search engines and your visitors. Integrating your keywords where it makes sense is a skill that is not easily learned. Group 5 Web ensures your copy is not only well written, but also written in an SEO friendly way for online success. It is important to work closely with your copywriter to ensure your message is being conveyed correctly.
- LINK BUILDING
If content is king then linking is queen. Links are how sites work together to promote one another. Google loves links. Links are how Google and other search engines determine the importance and relevance of your site. If another site is linking to you then that says to the search engines that what you have to say is important and must be relevant to the content on the site linking to you. Whether you are manually link building, blog commenting, directory link building, article marketing or using social media platforms, we can help you build a successful link building campaign that gives you the extra edge you need to make it to the top of the search engines. - SOCIAL MEDIASocial Networking is one of the biggest internet marketing tools you can take advantage of. With all the competition out there you have to be everywhere possible in order to have true success online. Social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Linked In, Twitter, Digg and more are vital ways of keeping in touch with your customer base. Just like you do traditional networking for your company, social media is the same thing but online. As you may know, people are more likely to do business with companies they know and are familiar with than ones who just try to sell their products. Social media sites solve this issue giving you a valuable connection to your customers wherever they are. Group 5 Web can set up and optimize your social media outlets to ensure long lasting search engine success.
- BLOGGING Blogging creates content, content contains keywords, keywords bring traffic and traffic brings conversions. A lot of people think blogging takes a lot of work. This is a common misconception. Allow me to explain: if all you are doing to make money online is blogging then yes, it’s going to take a lot of work and dedication. But, if you have a website where you offer a product or service then a blog is a wonderful addition to your online success. You see Google likes to see you adding a page a week of new content to your website. A blog is the perfect way to do this. We recommend you use WordPress. Your best bet is to add your blog on your website. Don’t have it hosted separately. That way each new post is considered new content to Google and that will help to raise your search engine rankings.. (The reason I always reference Google is because they now hold over 80% of the search engine market) If you don’t know what to talk about your blog can host your newsletter, events, product reviews, specials and more. Just remember, don’t use selling tactics on your blog. Blogs are for information not selling. But don’t worry, if it’s too much for your to handle we’ll do the blogging while you take care of business.
