Online Reputation – Slow to Build, Fast to Ruin

June 6, 2011 – 12:24 pm

Thanks to Nick Stamoulis of Brick Marketing for this Blog Entry www.brickmarketing.com

Your business’s online reputation may be one of the most important things affecting your long term success. The more trust consumers and search engines have in your brand and your company, the better you are going to rank, the more traffic you should see and the higher your conversion rate will be. Building a strong online reputation is no easy task, and it doesn’t happen overnight. Everything you do for your SEO; link building, article marketing, blog commenting, social networking and more, all affect your online reputation. One misstep could send your carefully managed reputation crashing down.

One of the main components of building a strong online reputation is gaining the loyalty and trust of the online public. Any company who has created a business blog knows that earning a steady stream of loyal readers doesn’t happen right away. It only comes after you spend the time publishing quality, relevant content on a constant basis. Your readers need to learn that your blog is a good place for information and that your blog is worth coming back to. This only happens over time.

But for as long as it takes to build up an online reputation and subsequent base of loyal readers/fans/follows, it can just as quickly be destroyed. One of the quickest ways to damage your online reputation is to stray from your core beliefs. If you diverge from what you’ve traditionally practiced, you could lose a lot of credibility.

For instance, I am a white hat SEO professional all the way. That is the model I’ve built my business on and it is something I don’t waiver on when I handle clients’ SEO. But let’s say I started to dip my toe in the grey hat sandbox by engaging in link exchanges. I create a “links” page on my site that links to a multitude of unrelated sites in exchange for a link back, or even some sort of payment for any traffic I send over. If you look back through the SEO Journal, you’ll see plenty of blog posts where I talk about black hat SEO and what a bad practice it is. All the sudden I’m doing it? What does that say about me and my business practices? If I am willing to do that with my own company, what other grey hat tactics might I be employing on behalf of my clients?

The advent of social media means that news, good and bad, travels around the world and back in a matter of moments. One complaint or pieces of negative press can snowball and turn into a disastrous, reputation destroying avalanche. Don’t give online trolls any ammunition to bring down your brand! Practice what you preach and build a strong reputation that can withstand negative attacks.

Nick Stamoulis of Brick Marketing handles SEO for 1-800-PLUMBING INC. http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/

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How to get in front of your customers

June 6, 2011 – 11:28 am

There was a study done by Perdue University that the average American visits their refrigerator 22 times a day. That figures out to 8,030 times per year. If you use a note grabber, magnetic clip, Magnet, or a dry erase board it is one of the most inexpensive ways to get your business name (or impression) in front of your customers. Just keep it simple Name Phone number, with 1-800-PLUMBING, OH Yes you already have that covered all in one. Then list some of your services.
A magnet for example for a medium grade depending on quantity, avg. $0.35 each is only about 1.6 cents per impression on 22 times a day. Then you look at a product they use all year long and it’s a fraction of a penny.
Mike Grear
Best Exposure Marketing
740 252-7063

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One more reason why the consumer should not fix it themselves

April 21, 2011 – 6:39 pm

Many plumbers report that they are getting some of their business from consumers who try to fix things themselves. Some consumers just don’t see justification for the price a plumber charges, as they have no idea how much training a plumber has to do to learn the trade.

All the licenses, insurance, certifications, continuing education, etc. I had watched this video a while ago and thought it had a good message. Also, I believe that like Readers Digest says: “Laughter is the Best Medicine”


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Networking described by someone using it effectively

April 14, 2011 – 5:25 pm

During a recent 1-800-PLUMBING licensee conference call, one of our licensees had some great comments on the benefits of local networking groups. Thanks to Gery King of BK Plumbing and Bath for the following information. Gery informed us that networking groups provide “VCP” visibility, credibility and profitability. Gery has been going to local networking groups for over 7 years. It takes time to develop and build relationships with other members. He sees the first year as developing your visibility, and years 2 and on you develop credibility. As a result of taking the time to build this strong base, you then get into profitability. Gery indicated that he has gotten more business from networking groups and referrals (approximately 80% of his business can be attributed to what he has developed in the local networking groups he attends) These networking groups are generally a very small investment.
BNI is one of the more costly groups and that is around $50 per month www.bni.com Another group that Gery is involved in is $2 per week. Then there is the local Chamber of Commerce. Look up your local Chamber on line and see what you can contribute to that group. The main philosophy is that “givers gain” If you volunteer to greet new members or be part of a committee, that will help you get more visibility as more people get to know who you are and what you do. Gery also commented that since the yellow pages are going away, a company needs to change their marketing and advertising so the consumers can find them when they search on line using Google or one of many other search engines. When you interact with a variety of people in your local area it will help you learn what strategies are effective and you can compare results and help each other out. If you think about it, when you put a networking group on your schedule everybody in that group could be looked at as part of your salesforce. Once they get to know you, they will think about your company first when the service you offer is needed.

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Networking the old fashioned way

April 7, 2011 – 2:57 pm

It seems like everything revolves around technology these days. Cell phones, email, texting, blogs, etc… but I want to make sure that you remember an old form of networking that is still thriving. The bottom line is that nothing beats meeting a person face to face and networking one on one. This is still one of the most effective way of building business relationships with honesty, integrity and accountability. There are many networking groups all over the country that give business owners an opportunity to get to know other local business owners one on one in real time in person. It may take an hour a week, often before the regular work day starts or over lunch, but the effectiveness of this type of networking can really be a great boost to growing your business. Many of these networking groups are free or charge a very small and reasonable fee to be a member. Members are encouraged to do business with each other and provide referrals. Over time as members get to know one another strong business relationships are created and the referrals start to flow on a regular basis. In our great world of technology, I am glad to see that these groups are very active. Business in your local area is probably still able to be done on a handshake basis. To find a networking group in your local area, try searching the web for networking groups in your city or check out www.meetup.com and you can do a search there.

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