5 Tips to Making Online Work for You

Over the past few years I have many SMB clients who dream of a successful online presence. To many of them it's still a dream. How many of us have launched a website and wait like the patient 7 virgins for our customers to find us. Well patient waiting might work for death but it does not work for online.
With the growth of social media users now have far better things to do than visit your website. Specially when you don't advertise it the chances are 0. With the fragmentation of the online community it is increasingly difficult to attract their attention. If you don't "click" with them they will never click on your website.

5 simple ways to make your website a success......(I did not say 5 cheap ways).

1 - Search Engine Optimisation

Know if you wait to get it done free it will not work. I am surprised to see many websites still not having the basic tags to make it search engine friendly. Use a professional company to develop a search engine strategy for you. Cost $ 3,000 to $ 8,000.

2 - Pay per click

We all need to agree its Google that people use to search online. Being present on Google will attract a majority of your users. However you need to focus on Google too. If you clients are in the UK target them with google.co.uk. If you want to be serious on this invest a minimum of $ 2,000 per month for at least 6 months. PPC will also drive traffic to your site faster than search engine optimisation. So do both hand in hand

3 - Analyse

Use Google Analytics to monitor your website. Its free! From many analytic software this I would rate the most user friendly

4 - Make it fun make it viral

Use your website to create a connection with your brand. This is the only medium that users can interact with you so make it fun. Offers work.
Look at Skittles which decided to makeover their home page to a social media sponge. It is not how nice Skittles taste it's where you can see all the different social media sites they are on. Few weeks ago it was Twitter, today it's Youtube and when you click who knows.
The other popular one was Maggiano's which ran a $100 gift card promotion on Twitter which has 1000 following them in a few days!
Many clients tell me let's launch the website see how it goes and then do a promotion. This would have been ok two years ago, not anymore. If you cannot make your brand creative don't launch the blooming website and waste money on development.

5 - Be familiar with the internet

Lastly you need to experience the internet and become a user of this terrific tool. Join YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, twitter to name a VERY few to know what your customers are doing online.

Building a loyal customer

I visited Sizzle a restaurant in Colombo some months ago. It had good food, large potions and prices which were reasonable. But it wasn't this which impressed me. They requested us to complete a customer information form as most hotels do. The surprise began after that. First I received a discount coupon, then emails when ever they had a new dish (never felt like spam), got an email and card by post for my birthday and the final straw to make me an follower; a card wishing me for my anniversary!! We decided our next eating out would be at this place.
I have been to many hotels in Sri Lanka and patronised many hotel chains regularly. They all collected my information but never even sent a email.
Many marketers love collecting customer data, but what do you do with it? CRM does not need to be expensive it just needs to be planned well and you got to keep at it. One might not respond to the first direct mailer or coupon you send. Try to keep the heat as in any relationship and you will get rewarded. Need to know how it is done? Don't read the top marketing book on CRM, just pay a visit to Sizzle and fill in the form. You will experience it.
How to get their - 'The Sizzle.',Walukararama Road, Colombo 3

Something different to the usual

Oct 05, 2008

The Norwegian newspaper VG has reported a truly amazing story about a newly-wed trying to get to Norway to be with her husband, and the stranger who helped pay an unexpected luggage surcharge. The blog 'Leisha's Random Thoughts' has translated the story.

It was 1988, and Mary Andersen was at the Miami airport checking in for a long flight to Norway to be with her husband when the airline representative informed her that she wouldn't be able to check her luggage without paying a 100 dollars surcharge:

When it was finally Mary's turn, she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness.

-You'll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway, the man behind the counter said.

Mary had no money. Her new husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway, and she had no one else to call.

-I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without. But I had already made such a careful selection of my most prized possessions, says Mary.

As tears streamed down her face, she heard a 'gentle and friendly voice' behind her saying, 'That's okay, I'll pay for her.'
Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before.

-He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. The first thing I thought was, Who is this man?

Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man.

-He was nicely dressed, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants, says Mary.

She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.

Who was the man?

Barack Obama.

Twenty years later, she is thrilled that the friendly stranger at the airport may be the next President and has voted for him already and donated 100 dollars to his campaign:

-He was my knight in shining armor, says Mary, smiling.

She paid the 103 dollars back to Obama the day after she arrived in Norway. At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker* in Chicago, and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard university.

Mary even convinced her parents to vote for him:

In the spring of 2006 Mary's parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but that he had still not decided. They chose to write a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.

And Obama replied:

In a letter to Mary's parents dated May 4th, 2006 and stamped 'United States Senate,

Washington DC', Barack Obama writes:

'I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me

of what happened at Miami airport. I'm happy I could help back then, and I'm delighted

to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway. Please send her my best wishes.

Sincerely, Barack Obama, United States Senator'.



The parents sent the letter on to Mary.

Mary says that when her friends and associates talk about the election, especially when

race relations is the heated subject, she relates the story of the k ind man who helped out a

stranger-in-need over twenty years ago, years before he had even thought about running for

high office.

Truly a wonderful story, and something that needs to be passed along

I guess the work load has eased

This is super presentation by Dave McClure a real internet Guru. Finally got some time to SURF for fun.

For all who need a fast way to learn the internet

I found this video which is hilarious. Think about this, many are still scammed in real life by people who claim to know the online media. Enjoy but this can happen to you if you rely on people who claim to be internet Gurus!

Update on Google Chrome

And now the marriage begins after a day of surfing in the nothing can be wrong Google Browser. It doesn't work well with AJAX which is a shame as many content websites are using this technology now.


Example - This the weather site on CNN and I want to select Asia. When I select Asia nothing happens.
















Now this is how it's supposed to work. When one clicks on Asia
Example on Firefox -



On selection different forms keep opening.

Updating images to blogger articles also takes time compared to Firefox

Google enters the browser world

On the 2nd of September Google launched Google Chrome in a hope to enter the world of Explorer, Firefox, Safari and many others out there. First impressions; it has some nice toys which makes you wonder why others didn't think of this before. I am still getting used to it but the desktop short cuts are a nice addition. Now when I want to check g mail all I need to do is to click on the shortcut without even opening the browser and presto I am checking e-mail. Google has also tried to be "friendly" by adding some Windows shot cuts on the tool bar. It also "feels" faster but that might be "first love" syndrome as we are easily distracted. One will need to wait and see the dent it creates on the market. Will it crush the hopes for IE and Firefox?