#2015-7-22

[ysbadvisor]

10 Words to Increase the Value of Your Business Relationships

There are words to get your email read and words that ensure your subject line gets read, but what are the things you need to say in order to increase the value of your business relationships?

No matter how powerful and effective your product is, the way you frame your product to your clients makes all the difference. To add value to your product, you need to focus on what words you use for promotion and how you can best drive value in the relationships you cultivate with whatever service, platform, or tool you are selling. Your words should reflect how you want to convey the product to the client, and hook them into wanting to buy or continue building a relationship with you.

So, what should you say? What words are the best to use? We’ve got you covered.

Here are 10 Words to Increase the Value of Your Business Relationships:

1. Get:

Your prospects are coming to your website or reading your messages because they want something. It is up to you to determine how to convince them to buy your product or service over others. Much like limiting clicks to get to the final goal, clients want to give the least they to receive more from your company.

Changing your CTA to use the word ‘get’ rather than “Buy”, “Order”, “Click”, or “Sign-up”. By using the word ‘get’ you are describing what they will be receiving rather than what they are giving up to receive your product. If your CTA shows more value for the customer, then you will increase the amount of conversions from your content. The word ‘get’ helps the customer answer the question of “what do I get from this?”

2. Describe and Specify:

When your words are vague and general, people tend not to respond well to them. Your words should accurately describe and promote your product. The client may seek you out with some previous knowledge, but that knowledge is not guaranteed.

Making you description more focused on the value you can provide rather than giving an over the top sales pitch style promotion, will attract more customers and set you apart for your authenticity. You should aim to make your product something the prospect will want and buy rather than something they window shop for. By describing specific features and what makes the product worthwhile, you are increasing the individuality and making your product stand out above others.

You can be as creative as you want with your description. If you notice a product is not selling as well as another type of similar product in your product mix, then try changing up how your promote your lesser valued product. This might mean promoting a feature that can be found in both products, but concentrating on it more with one product above the other. By tweaking your words, you can alter the perception of your product. By making your words more specific, you can increase conversion by 16%.

3. New/Upgraded:

Show your clients why your product is better than the rest. If they are looking for an improved model over what they had previously, then they are seeking an upgrade. So, give them what they want. Tell them why your product is a step up from what they had previously. How will this ‘upgrade make their life better? According to the Zillow blog, “lower-priced listings with the word “upgraded” sold for 1.8 percent more than expected”. Describing what has been improved to a home, product, service, or application allows transparency for your clients and gives them proper expectations.

Image via Lifehacker

Much like ‘upgraded’ the word ‘new’ gives us the same fresh and exciting picture in our minds. When we see ‘new’, we automatically jump to thoughts of improvement and have a greater desire to obtain the product. Take the example from cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Bianca Wittmann, when you go to the store and want to buy your favorite candy, you are likely to see some new and different type of candy and feel intrigued to try that one for a change and stray from the usual choice.

4. Imagine:

Allow the customer to picture what your product can do for them if they decide to continue with your services. By using this word the client can look towards the future to realize what their life will be like with your product.

5. Because/Benefits:

Using ‘because’ allows you to elaborate on what sets you apart. It gives you a way to explain yourself and add value in a less discrete way. You can explicitly state why your product will improve the life of your customer, or how it can better aid them in the future.

Much like the word ‘get’, ‘benefits’ shows the customer what they will receive with your product. You can describe how they will be better off if they convert to your product and what they will gain rather than focusing on what they need to give up.

6. Let’s:

Using ‘let’s’ gives the perception of working together. With this word you create the idea of cooperation and partnership. Rather than the client feeling like they are alone in their purchase, they will feel like you are backing them up while they make a decision and use your product. This word makes you be a part of the same team

7. Free:

According to Gregory Ciotti, the founder of Sparring Mind, humans try to be adverse to loss. It is a common economic principle: we will try our hardest not to give up what we have earned; therefore free stuff gives us heaps of excitement because we usually don’t have to do much more than reach out our hand and smile.

Who doesn’t love free things? Whether it is a sample in the grocery store, or a pen from a conference, we love to receive things that we don’t have to pay for. Despite this, ‘free’ sometimes gets a bad reputation. Many times when you put ‘free’ in the subject line of an email, the spam filters will mark it and send it to a different folder, but subject lines with the word ‘free’ tend to get high amounts of opens. Because of this, use the word ‘free’ at your own risk.

8. Emotional Words:

These words pack a real punch with your audience. ‘Power’, ‘assault’, ‘hazardous’, are examples of power words that you can use to draw out strong emotions from your clients. If you are careful in how you use these words, you can have a strong effect on your customers. Intense words will lead to more trust in your company. Words like ‘guarantee’ give a feeling of comfort and can lead to a positive emotional response among your clients.

9. Sensory:

Create a full experience for your clients by describing your product in a way that appeals to their senses. Much like emotional words, they can lead to a mighty impact with your client.

10. You/Their Name:

Personalization is the name of the game. The goal is to focus on your client, not yourself. By taking the light and shining it on your client you make them feel important. Your client will feel like they are being directly spoken to rather than trying to extract meaning from your words.

People like hearing their name. Repeating it and making sure the client knows you are aware of them and that they are important will make you stand out above the competition. The interactions you have with them will feel more personal. With these words, you will create a powerful subconscious connection with the client.

Turning your attention to the way your product is framed helps you gain more conversion. If you want to be more successful with your clients pay attention to how you describe your product.

This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: 10 Words to Increase the Value of Your Business Relationships

More Business & Finance articles from Business 2 Community:

4 Ways Twitter Can Help Your Small Business

11 Signs You Don’t Have a Strategy

7 Secrets To Boost Your Productivity

Smart Tips For A Successful Business Lunch

3 Lessons Children Can Teach You About Networking In A New Workplace

Author Rachel Silver

Type article

Image https://s2.yimg.com/lm/ysbp/img/rgpJQtJFL3XPadTsGPbEj2lhF5VCMR9oMRoNM8JzU68tPW14Wj1Y_RrI_U4dKsvn.png

Provider business2community

[ysbadvisor]

6 Essential Elements Of A Modern Website

New technologies, tools, advancements in mobile, and the power of social media have altered the online landscape over the past decade. Businesses who have kept their websites up to date with emerging trends and technologies have seen their efforts rewarded through increased opportunities for traffic and exposure. However, those that have allowed their websites to become outdated are not only missing out on the latest features, but may even be penalized for lacking them.

This article has been written for those who understands that their website may benefit from a modern redesign. The following list will describe the 6 of the essential elements of a modern website redesign, based upon the most successful and established brands and trends currently dominating the online arena.

Design and Navigation

Most web users (myself included) have a small amount of patience when looking for specific information on the internet. Visitors are not going to hang around a site very long if they can’t find their way around. I believe that it is important to keep in mind that recent generations will have been raised with the internet from a young age, and these users will be incredibly efficient browsers. I believe that their knowledge of the internet coupled with their comfort level and speed will cause them to have an even lower patience threshold when looking for information, on average, than we do now. We need to begin designing our websites in preparation for this by providing the most efficient user experience possible.

Your navigation menu should be the primary gateway into different sections of content on your site. It should be very easy to find, have obvious section names, and be consistent across every page of the website. Aside from the navigation menu, links can be strategically placed on pages to help lead the viewer into other content that might interest them. For example, on an eCommerce site, customers should be able to easily find the shopping cart and links to complete a purchase. By keeping visitors interested and moving throughout your site, you gain more page views, better customer perception of your brand, and more conversions.

There are many reasons why a well-designed website will attract more visitors. It’s important to have the best possible SEO (Search Engine Optimization) utilized for your website, and the content you choose to provide with your design should reflect this. Great aesthetics and organization will give users the impression that your site is modern and professional (if that is your goal). Try to keep logos consistent across all pages and platforms to help reinforce your brand so that it is more memorable.

A great design with efficient navigation will guide visitors to take action with ease. While most navigation and design decisions may be made before the website goes live, the work does not stop there. The next step is to monitor the analytics of the website to determine where improvements may be made. By analyzing metrics such as bounce rate and average pages viewed, we can gain an idea of where users are losing interest and leaving the website. We can then make changes based on this data to improve the user experience. We’ll touch more on analytics later in this article.

Content

The goal with content is to provide the information and products that visitors to your website are looking for. Having great content on your site can improve the reputation of your brand and result in increased visitors, sales, and possible SEO benefits as well. Content is what gives your website substance. Your website needs to feature the content that visitors are assuming they will find when they visit your page. Otherwise, visitors will leave your site before viewing more content, which may result in the loss of a sale or ad revenue.

In this case, “content” can mean a number of things. For example, let’s imagine that a car hobbyist is looking for aftermarket car parts online. They visit two websites that sell car parts. The first site they visit has an impressive quantity of aftermarket and other parts available. They see articles about the industry, a blog, and a sidebar that shows the latest mentions of their brand on social media. The second site, on the other hand, has the part they are looking for but contains a simple store layout and does not have any other content to reinforce the reputation of the company. Chances are better than not that a customer will return to the first site when looking to make another purchase because of the amount of content that reinforces a positive reputation in the mind of the consumer, as opposed to the second site that appears outdated and stale.

As you read further, you’ll see how by having quality content can also benefit other factors such as SEO and social media exposure.

Mobile-Friendly

Over the past decade, web users have shifted from the desktop to mobile devices, and the internet is responding. Mobile users deserve a rich experience that functions seamlessly between the desktop and mobile device, and when they visit a webpage it should be formatted to fit on the phone and tablet appropriately. Google, who holds some of the largest influence over all things internet-related, has been at the forefront of advancing the way the internet performs for people on mobile devices. As a result, they’ve been rolling out updates to their algorithms and they’ve boosted the search rankings of mobile-friendly websites on search results. Another way of stating this is that your site may be penalized for not being mobile-friendly, which means you lose potential visitors to your website because of lower rankings in organic search results.

“While the mobile-friendly change is important, we still use a variety of signals to rank search results.” Says Google. “The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal — so even if a page with high quality content is not mobile-friendly, it could still rank high if it has great content for the query. ” You can check the status of your site through the Mobile Usability report in Webmaster Tools. If your site’s pages aren’t mobile-friendly, there may be a significant decrease in mobile traffic from Google Search.

To summarize, we want to make sure our sites are mobile-friendly so that we can avoid the loss of potential web traffic and penalization as a result of poor mobile functionality.

Social Media Integration

Social media is a very hot and evolving topic. Countless other articles have been written to describe the importance of having a social media page setup for your company. We’re going to discuss the ways in which social media can be integrated into your website.

Incorporating social media into your website may allow you to reach potential customers and interact with them in more ways than you can through your website alone. Adding share and “like” buttons to content and graphics allows visitors to share such content with others in their social circle. This results in free promotion and marketing for your brand at no cost to you. For example, let’s imagine that John visits a website that sells artwork. He doesn’t purchase anything, but he “likes” an image on the website and shares it on Facebook. On Facebook, John’s friend Jane sees that John liked the artwork, and she likes it too, so she heads to the website to look at other art on the page. Jane likes a piece of artwork on the website enough that she makes a purchase and “likes” the page too. In this scenario, not only did the art page gain a sale off of John’s share, the process could potentially be repeated by one of Jane’s friends who sees that she liked the page.

You may also incorporate social logins into your site. Social logins allow visitors to avoid a lengthy registration process by allowing them to login to a website using the credentials on their social media account. This may reduce the rate that visitors leave your site before registration because you turned the registration process from a form to a simple one-click signup. Social logins may also allow users to feel more comfortable during the sign-up process because the user does not have to share information with a site they aren’t very familiar with.

Additional benefits include allowing a more individualized user experience, reduced failed login attempts, spam protection, and additional analytical data.

Speed and Performance

People can be impatient, and waiting for a website or other media to load can cause visitors to leave your site before they’ve viewed your content. Do you remember all of the talk about Net Neutrality? One of the major issues (among many) was the idea of bandwidth throttling, which is the intentional slowing of internet services by an internet service provider (such as Comcast). In this case, ISPs wanted to charge companies more to have their sites load faster, essentially segregating the internet based on who paid for faster bandwidth. The reason I bring up this issue is because companies spent a lot of money and resources fighting this proposal because of the negative impact that it would have to their business if their sites slowed down, especially if their competitor could afford to pay to have their site load faster.

It’s important that your bandwidth limits and storage space are appropriate for your site. Bandwidth caps limit the amount of data that can be transferred over a period of time. Typically you pay for a certain amount of bandwidth per month. If this is exceeded, users will not be able to load your page unless the limit is raised or the limit period passes into the next. The “slashdot” effect, or what’s known on Reddit as “hug of death,” is when a large popular site links to a smaller site, which causes a massive increase in traffic to the smaller site. This overloads the smaller site, causing it to slow down or even become unavailable. If you owned the smaller site in this case, you’d be overjoyed to know that so many new people viewed your site, and then you would feel emotionally crushed when you realize your site went down and was unable to handle the visits to the page. While it’s uncommon to have a “hug of death,” it’s quite common for sites to underestimate how and in what ways their bandwidth limits get used up.

Space is another factor. If you host videos and media, you’ll need more space on your website than if you only had text. Once this space is filled, you will not be able to add more content until more space is freed or the total amount of space is increased. If you do have videos, you can host them on sites such as YouTube to take the bandwidth load off of your own site. Bandwidth caps and storage space should be monitored to determine if limits should be adjusted.

Tracking and Analytics

Web analytics deliver data about your website’s performance, and you can analyze this data to assist with continual improvement of the online experience that your visitors have.

According to Google, “One of the most important steps of digital analytics is determining what your ultimate business objectives or outcomes are and how you expect to measure those outcomes. In the online world, there are five common business objectives:

For eCommerce sites, an obvious objective is selling products or services.

For lead generation sites, the goal is to collect user information for sales teams to connect with potential leads.

For content publishers, the goal is to encourage engagement and frequent visitation.

For online informational or support sites, helping users find the information they need at the right time is of primary importance.

For branding, the main objective is to drive awareness, engagement and loyalty.”

Once you have an idea of what your goal is, you can begin analyzing the habits of your visitors and web traffic to help understand what actions and experiences are driving your visitors towards that goal. You’ll be able to review data on your audience and their behavior such as how many visits you’ve had, how many users return to your site, and demographic data such as what country they are visiting from. If you recently invested a new form of advertising such as paid search, you can use analytics to track its performance and determine where optimization can be made and whether you should continue investing in that campaign.

Don’t let the size and scope of analytics intimidate you. If you want to learn more, Google offers a fantastic help center and training program to get you started with Google Analytics.

Conclusion

If you’re currently working on a redesign of your website or are thinking of going through the process, be sure to speak openly with your designer about the needs and goals of your business, and ask how they are implementing these essentials into your website. Each of these topics have been covered in great detail by others, and with a simple Google search you can find many more resources on a specific topic if you would like to read further.

If you’re interested in redesigning your website, you can contact the team at Zuma Technology, and follow and engage with me on Twitter.

Have you recently redesigned your website? Do you have anything to add to this list? Want to correct a mistake I made? If so, please share in the comments section below!

This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: 6 Essential Elements Of A Modern Website

More Digital & Social articles from Business 2 Community:

How to Utilize Social Media to Improve Sales

3 Social Media Marketing Basics To Review Constantly

3 Great Solutions to Increase Onsite Conversions

4 Elements for a Successful Influencer Campaign

10 Methods To Become A More Successful Blogger

Author Kyle Jasinski

Type article

Image https://s1.yimg.com/lm/ysbp/img/BNpeKbsBau7zClOABQtuLRflJpWvbccaOx4k__C4KjSj5_6oq_aT_65gEhHieA_Y.jpg

Provider business2community

[ysbadvisor]

5 Ways To Turn Email Feedback Into A Two Way Conversation

When it comes to email marketing, treat your readers like you would your date. Don’t spend your whole time talking and telling stories. Take the time to listen to them! There’s a wealth of information you can find from your customers and prospects that can help increase sales, lead generation or simply engagement.

I know what some of you must be thinking: “Well, we’re doing a good job with our email already”. You very well may be, but there’s always room to improve even more. Why not solidify your rapport with your contact list so they stay engaged for longer and take more action?

Here are a few simple, creative ways you can engage your customers and get their feedback to improve future communication or help develop your product.

Support Feedback

One example is an automated customer survey sent after a customer uses a company’s support system. This is a great way to start a new chapter in the relationship with your customers, as they would usually contact your support team when they’re having a problem with your product or service. Here’s a good example of just that in action when I bought some new headphones online but my order never arrived:

Customer Survey

From time to time, you should look to engage your customers through a survey to hear what they have to say about your product or service. To collect a greater sample of replies and make your customers feel special to be heard, , try including a number of raffle prizes to incentivize your customers to give feedback. Here’s a great example by Three, the mobile network company:

User Interaction

Have a look at the bottom of this email feedback campaign. Here, Uber is asking the user to provide feedback “What’s your next destination?”, right within the email. Obviously this is just an animated GIF which links to an external site, however it’s a very clever to receive feedback and drive a click-through:

Simple Customer Referendum

You may want to use a “Yes” or “No” based question to receive feedback from your customers. Answers collected from these campaigns can be stored and used to segment customers by behavior and preferences. In this case, British Gas would be segmenting their data based on their customers showing their loyalty to the brand. The segment of customers who choose ‘No’ would potentially receive new email marketing material so British Gas could win them back.

Product & Services Review

Finally, you can use email feedback to prompt users to leave feedback on websites based on their purchases or use of services. Customer reviews are extremely valuable, and online businesses are looking even closer on how they can engage with customers to leave quality reviews more often. Here’s how Airbnb and eBay engage customers through triggered emails after their purchase:

Try using one or two of the methods demonstrated here to listen more closely to your customers. Not only will you get valuable data, you’ll also win over customer trust by providing value and showing you care.

Have you tried some of these methods already? Which has worked best for you?

This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: 5 Ways To Turn Email Feedback Into A Two Way Conversation

More Sales & Marketing articles from Business 2 Community:

5 Ways Live Video Can Rock Your Content Marketing

Why You Need Marketing Automation

17 Excellent Email and Mobile Marketing Stats and Facts

10 Inbound Marketing Tactics to Improve Your Brand’s Image

What Does “Community” Mean for B2B Digital Marketing?

Author Amir Jirbandey

Type article

Image https://s3.yimg.com/lm/ysbp/img/db7YzpKxebbm7B3COh6cvSz8J17jnZgEesFhuzlejQHdaB_2sW9CnrabVE_AsGqb.png

Provider business2community

[ysbadvisor]

The New Editor’s Guide to Newsroom Management

Congratulations! Since you’re reading this post, chances are you’re a new manager. Perhaps you’re taking an editorial position on your student media staff in the fall, or you assumed an editorial post this summer and are anticipating what will happen when the bulk of your student body returns to campus. Either way, you should be excited about your new post. You also should be aware of some of the challenges ahead.

I know you’ve got a lot going on, so I read a ton, added my own insights and collected this list of tips for new managers. If you haven’t experienced or thought about these issues yet, now is the time!

My new editor-in-chief leading her first staff meeting.

Be friendly, not friends

It’s important for you to have a strong working relationship with all members of your newsroom staff. This means you are equally friendly with everyone in a professional way that creates a strong team environment. It doesn’t mean that you have to be friends with everyone or anyone in your newsroom. If you are friends with some staffers, which certainly makes work more fun, don’t let those friendships taint your relationships with others.

Avoid office politics/gossip

There will be people in your newsroom who are just cynical, for one reason or another. Don’t allow them alter your views. Form your own opinions about the workplace without being jaded by people who just want to complain.

Also, avoid gossiping about or among coworkers. This results in cliques being formed, may make employees wonder what you’re saying about them behind their backs and just makes you look unprofessional.

Learn first

Don’t come in on the first day and immediately start making big announcements, decisions and changes. Instead, give yourself time to learn from others within your newsroom and really listen to their wants, needs and wishes before you start changing things up.

Retain this concept of learning first throughout your time as a manager. Ask employees what they think, really listen to their answers and determine how/if you can help. Learn from your staff.

Take ownership

While you need to learn first, newsrooms are fast-paced places. Don’t be afraid to take on your leadership role quickly and start making informed decisions. Take ownership of your role as an editor. It means you have the knowledge and ability to manage others.

Ask for help

I frequently am surprised by student journalists who say they “think they should know” things they don’t. Never be afraid to ask for help. If you knew everything there was to know about working in a newsroom, you wouldn’t still be a student or a staffer, you’d be running the joint. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It shows you are intelligent enough to understand your limitations.

Don’t boss

People don’t like being told what to do. They like to be directed and inspired. Do not assume that being a manager means you bark orders and everyone does exactly what you want them to do. This management style will result in distrust, unhappiness and an empty newsroom. Instead, earn your team’s respect by listening to their ideas, engaging in discussions about the best ways to do work and communicating openly to help your team embrace your goals.

Be organized

No one wants to work for a scatter brain. Create an organization system that works for you and stick with it. Always be on time and prepared. Set the tone for your staff.

Of course, we all have our days. If you find yourself showing signs of disorganization, take a few minutes to regroup.

My new EIC moves into the editor-in-chief desk.

Don’t over promise

I know you want to help your staff, but be wary of promising things you can’t actually do. If you make promises you can’t fulfill, it will make your staff feel like they can’t trust you or that you’re lying to them.

If you’re uncertain about whether you can make something happen, say so. Tell the staffer you’ll check into their need, then actually do some research and get back with them. If you can accomplish the task, great. If not, explain to the staffer why it can’t happen or can’t happen at this time. It might be difficult to do, but this will build your staff’s trust and respect.

If you know you can make something happen, but don’t think it’s best for the staff or your publications, explain why and listen to counterpoints from your staff.

If you know you can make something happen and you think it’s a good idea, go ahead and do it.

Delegate

The fastest way to burn out in any management role is to try to do it all. You cannot function as a team of one. You must learn to hire well, delegate to those with the knowledge and skills to do the work, then step back and let them do it. Your staff, products and audience all suffer when you try to do everything. Oh, and you suffer too because you’ll be miserable and hate your job, having set yourself up for failure.

Learn productivity

I don’t know a single person who doesn’t struggle with productivity. Even the most productive people wish they could do more. The truth is that we all have the same 24 hours in a day. Learn how to make those hours as productive as they can be for you. Being in a management role is a wonderful opportunity for you. Get as much out of it as you can and leave a positive legacy for future staffs.

Cut excuses

Excuses are one of my biggest pet peeves as a supervisor. We can always find a reason why we can’t do something or why a mistake was unavoidable. Excuses undermine your credibility and make you look weak and lazy.

It’s ok to explain processes or ways of thinking, but don’t try to shuck responsibility. As I tell my student editors, shit rolls up hill when you reach the top. You’re ultimately responsible for whatever happens in your newsroom. That’s what being the boss is about.

Ship it

This is a management trait I have to work at myself. It’s easy to get bogged down in all of the details of a task or by trying to make things perfect. Instead, do the best you can on a project or task in the time you have, then ship it! If you wait for perfection, you’ll never get anything accomplished. Focus on completing the task to a level you can be proud of, knowing there’s always room for improvement or expansion later.

Communicate vision

Why do you do the things you do? Be able to articulate your organization’s vision and communicate it frequently with your staff. Once you help them buy in to your organization’s mission, they will become focused on helping you meet your mutual goals.

Know your employees

Knowing your employees is not just about relationships. It’s also about situational leadership, which means figuring out how to manage each of your employees individually in a way that’s best for him/her. Using situational leadership is the best way to become a great leader who employees respect and remember fondly. Start studying up on this concept today.

Have difficult conversations

No one likes having difficult conversations like those about poor employee performance, missed deadlines or conflicts in the newsroom, but addressing these issues in a timely, calm and respectful way is part of what makes managers leaders and helps organizations function at their best. The quickest way to lose the respect of your best employees is to avoid addressing issues.

Be flexible

One of the great things about working in a newsroom is having flexibility in your schedule. As long as your staffers meet their deadlines, don’t put a lot of rules on when they are physically in the newsroom. Require them to be there only when they’re actually working. Show that you are respectful of their time. As a manager, you likely will spend more time in the newsroom than most other staffers. That’s ok. Just because you’re there doesn’t mean they have to be.

Give feedback

Everyone loves to know how they’re doing. Give staffers specific feedback on things they’re doing well. Praise them in front of others. Avoid correcting staffers in front of others. Instead, give them constructive advice in private.

Be happy

I know this sounds cliché, but you have to love what you do to do it well. Unhappy managers breed unhappy staffs and create poor products. If you hate being a manager, don’t be one. You always have a choice. But do not get trapped in a management role and make everyone around you miserable. You set the tone (whether you realize it or not) in your organization. Make it a positive one.

Do great work

You do not have to do every job your staff does (in fact, you shouldn’t), but you must be able to perform every role in your newsroom well.

Also, not only should you be a great manager, you should do great work yourself. Write big stories (but don’t save them all for yourself), create strong training programs, organize important projects… lead your staff by example by doing great work yourself.

Find your safe place

Managers need help too. Find a person (perhaps your adviser) to mentor you through the management process. Go to him or her for advice and discussion, but remember that it still is a professional relationship. Don’t gripe to your mentor about your job or gossip about others. Find a friend or partner outside of the newsroom who you can “vent” to.

Understand the lifestyle

Being a journalist is a lifestyle, not just a job. If you’re in a newsroom management position, you already know that. However, being a manager is even more so. You don’t get to stop being a manager. It is a change in the way you think and behave, always. Make yourself available to your team. Set the standard of how you want them to treat each other and their future employees.

Work on it

Your real goal during your time as a manager is to work toward becoming a leader. You cannot name yourself a leader and make it so. Leader is a title others give you after you’ve earned it. Learning to be a better leader doesn’t stop. It’s something I work on every day. Some days I’m good at it. Others, I need improvement, but the payoff for being a strong leader truly is a happier, more fulfilled life.

Congratulations again on your new position. I know you’ve got a lot to think about and so much to do. Let’s get to work!

Let’s Talk Nerdy!

What is the best advice you can give new managers about what they should or should not do?

This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: The New Editor’s Guide to Newsroom Management

More Sales & Marketing articles from Business 2 Community:

5 Ways Live Video Can Rock Your Content Marketing

Why You Need Marketing Automation

17 Excellent Email and Mobile Marketing Stats and Facts

10 Inbound Marketing Tactics to Improve Your Brand’s Image

What Does “Community” Mean for B2B Digital Marketing?

Author Kenna Griffin

Type article

Image https://s2.yimg.com/lm/ysbp/img/5L_bjjIuKc2kDGO46hDzFpNfgn4_vcjVCGuCXWQIlaevmje7u_W85yTX50UCphCA.jpg

Provider business2community

[ysbadvisor]

What Are Links: Are Yours In a Fresh and Social Neighborhood?

Links are the connections between websites. Inbound links come to you from other sites and outbound links are what you create to link your site to others.

Without links search engines would be less effective at giving you the information you’re looking for.

Using complex algorithms, links are measured by search engines in different ways to ensure you get the most accurate information available. Link building is a huge part of search engine optimisation. It helps to understand the different types of links available and how they can benefit your website.

Search engines tend to keep their algorithms for rating and organising links a secret. But by analysing patent applications and by doing some hands on testing of your own, you’ll see signs of which links effectively improve search results. The link signals below are proven to help improve your websites visibility on search engine results pages (often referred to as SERPs)

Global popularity links

Think of links between websites as friendships between people. If you have a famous friend, their popularity can pull you up the social ladder. In the same way, if search engines see that your website has links to popular and prominent websites, those links can help pull your site up the SERPs ladder.

Local/Topic Specific links

Local and topic specific websites are sites that are similar to your own – much like two friends who share the same interests. If your website is about handcrafted chairs, then building links to sites that involve tables or other handcrafted items creates a relevant link that search engines will recognise.

Anchor Text

Anchor text refers to the words you click on that take you to an outbound linked website. It’s important to have anchor text that is relevant to the content on both websites. Subject relevant anchor text can be a phrase someone would search for making it much better than a simple HTML address or using the out-dated ‘click here’ instruction. For example, if a woodworking blog uses the phrase ‘quality handmade chairs’ when linking to your hand crafted chair website, this tells search engines your website is worth greater visibility when handmade chairs are searched for.

Trustrank

As well as being irritating, spam websites have little trustworthiness in the eyes of search engines. But authoritative institutions like government bodies and educational websites have lots of trust. If you link to government policies on deforestation from your handcrafted chairs website, some of that trust will eventually rub off on you and therefore improve your visibility.

Link neighbourhood

Search engines see websites as grouped together because of the links they share. If several websites are sharing multiple links throughout their group then they’ve built a link neighbourhood making each site relevant for shared search terms. This also works for avoiding spam seeing as spam sites tend to link to each other forming their own neighbourhoods. During your link building, be cautious of who links to your site and who you link to if you want to avoid search engines seeing you with the wrong crowd.

Freshness

Websites, pages and their links fade as they age. Search engines do not want to turn up stale and out-dated information. They prefer content that is fresh and up to date. Because of this, it’s important to continuously build new links and new pages to help keep your website high on search results pages.

Social Network Links

With the increased use of social media, search engines have been adapted to recognise shared links as important ones. Even though a lot of people debate how much importance and trust search engines actually give to social media links, logically speaking, if content is being shared then it’s probably more relevant than content that isn’t being shared and should therefore be given greater visibility in future searches.

Power of Social Media Sharing

In recent years, it’s become the standard for companies to create social media accounts for themselves and to promote their services and products. If you don’t have social accounts for your company, you are way behind the trend and are probably losing out to your competition. With social media accounts for your business, you can gather a following to share your content and products with. Having more followers means more potential for your content to be shared even further afield. If your content is popular, sharing can continue through many different social circles therefore creating thousands of links in a short period of time. A recent deal between Google and Twitter now means that your tweets can be indexed by the search engine which, in turn, means more exposure for your products and services.

Have you taken advantage of all the different types of links available to your site? Consider using this as a starting point to get the visibility you deserve.

This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: What Are Links: Are Yours In a Fresh and Social Neighborhood?

More Digital & Social articles from Business 2 Community:

How to Utilize Social Media to Improve Sales

3 Social Media Marketing Basics To Review Constantly

3 Great Solutions to Increase Onsite Conversions

4 Elements for a Successful Influencer Campaign

10 Methods To Become A More Successful Blogger

Author Paul Morris

Type article

Image https://s2.yimg.com/lm/ysbp/img/VvloY5IAuiD6xbuyd0bcmiqBPwgEC8GklyfohA_mMwphmOqt3ALVa_dYFiAFdpA7.jpg

Provider business2community

[ysbadvisor]

7 Ways To WOW Your Customers

At a recent outing in San Francisco, I stopped at Burberry to shop. Most experiences I’ve had shopping at places have been okay, some great; but rarely do I have an experience where I need to tell the world just how spectacular it was.

By providing over the top, knock your socks off service to your customers, you’ll be able to show why your product is worth it.

Here are 7 ways you can WOW your customers by going above and beyond.

Greetings: When I walked into the building, I was greeted by a big smile and a genuine hello. The sales representative asked what I was looking for. As we headed to the third floor, she made small talk genuinely, taking note of details (my other shopping bag.) She was warm, welcoming, and genuine in her approach. I felt important and comfortable from the start. Takeaway: Be genuine. It’s not difficult to be observant and to use your observations to connect.

Be inquisitive: Iris, the salesperson, asked me questions from the moment I walked in to the close of the sale. She wanted to understand my needs. She asked specific questions (and only a few each time) to determine what to show me. Is this your first time to Burberry? Do you have a particular jacket in mind? Takeaway: Listen to your customer’s needs, and react accordingly. This may seem silly, but it’s actually that easy. If you’re going to make an extended sale, your customer will lead you to new opportunity. If you ask the right questions, your customer will tell you what they want, making the sale much easier.

Be knowledgeable: Based on my answers to her precise questions, she showed me three jackets. It was clear she was knowledgeable, clearly describing what made each special. She informed the what the key holes are for; an homage to jackets designed to hold grenades! Takeaway: Know your product. Know the fun facts and the uniqueness to them. Bring those unique facts to light in your conversations.

Use teamwork: While she was grabbing an outfit for me to try the coats on with (because she wanted to make sure it looked the way I wanted it, too) her team gave me water, provided me shoes, and made sure I was OK. They even hung around to see the finished product and gave their own opinions, each complimenting me in a different way. Takeaway: Make sure your teammates know to help when you’re busy and vice versa. The overall experience you give a customer includes everyone they come in contact with.

Presentation: She decked out the fitting room, making it effortless for me to try on the outfit. Everything was hand-selected and put together. When I walked out, she was waiting and ready to price the look I wanted (over the shoulder jacket). Takeaway: Give the experience they want! Go above and beyond in showing your customer why your price is as high as it is. It’s quality product and quality service. People will pay for that experience. Make your customer know you’re always the person they can count on to make it happen and make it effortless for them to do business with you.

Closing the sale: She taught me how to tie the belt in different stylish ways. We practiced together until I had it down. She asked me if I have any occasion to wear the new outfit and showed she genuinely cared. Yes, even after the sale was done, she continued to make me feel valued. Her eyes never left my sight the entire time. I felt like I was the only one in the room.Takeaway: During the close, add a special gesture. Can you show them how to use the product like Iris did? Can you educate them on something else that pertains to the product? It may take additional time, but it is time well spent.

Follow up: Two days later, I received a personalized email from her. She cited specific items from our conversation and included a video on tying the perfect belt. Overall, she was the perfect salesperson, and a dream to work with. Takeaway: Don’t stop after the sale is done. Show them why they want to continue to do business with you and again, that you really care.

If you’re in SF, please stop into Burberry and see Iris! I highly recommend her.

This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: 7 Ways To WOW Your Customers

More Sales & Marketing articles from Business 2 Community:

5 Ways Live Video Can Rock Your Content Marketing

Why You Need Marketing Automation

17 Excellent Email and Mobile Marketing Stats and Facts

10 Inbound Marketing Tactics to Improve Your Brand’s Image

What Does “Community” Mean for B2B Digital Marketing?

Author Nicole Smartt

Type article

Image https://s1.yimg.com/lm/ysbp/img/tKI_gmn_uem_XmPk4glAagBRaD25sNgpWJSadbzjdY_wXMCNEeMQKIlad8XsdhqW.jpg

Provider business2community

[ysbadvisor]

The Correct Way To Use LinkedIn’s Blogging Feature

Question: How does a professional networking site like LinkedIn drum up repeat visitors?

Answer: Give them a reason to check back in.

LinkedIn released its blogging feature to the public in February of 2014 in hopes that users would take advantage of posting new and engaging content to keep people coming back to the site. Here are some learnings:

Beware of Duplicate Content

The biggest hangup people have about blogging on LinkedIn is the possibility of duplicate content. Duplicate content exists when a blog post is featured on two different domains (i.e. your website and LinkedIn). Google’s search algorithm tends to lowly rank or even disregard duplicate content.

Duplicate content could also hurt your own website’s ranking. Unless you’re a major player, chances are LinkedIn has more domain authority than your site. This means when you post duplicate content, the LinkedIn domain will outrank and crowd out your website.

If you’re going to re-post blogs from your site, it would be best to re-word the content so it’s not recognized as an exact duplicate. If you don’t have time to write original content or re-word previously written posts, try to limit how often you publish duplicate content. Make it a personal rule to only re-publish one out of five blog posts and only if you’re adding value by reaching out to a new audience.

Maximize Your Blog’s Reach

Knowing your target audience will help guide your blog writing with purpose and intent. If you’re looking to appeal to a certain demographic or niche audience, it’s important that you write content that speaks to them.

It’s also important to write “good” content. A term like “good” is extremely subjective when it comes to writing but there are a few things you can do to make sure your content is up to par:

Write to your intended audience

Capitalize off of time-sensitive topics

Include keywords that are commonly searched in your industry

You can extend your blog’s reach by participating in LinkedIn Group conversations and linking your posts to comments. This is also a great way to find new topics to write about. Your blog posts could provide real answers to real questions.

Cross-Pollinate to Other Social Platforms

To make sure your LinkedIn Blog is getting as much exposure as possible, be sure to cross-promote your blog post on any other social networks you may be on. Cross-posting to social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ can help bring users, who may not be on LinkedIn to your company page.

There are also ways to promote your blog posts within LinkedIn. Be sure to often visit and participate in any LinkedIn Groups you may be a part of. This is a great way to network and engage in conversations that could behoove your business.

Always Use Best Practices

LinkedIn has included some great tips on how to write engaging blog posts. It’s also important to note that company pages cannot currently publish the blog posts. They must be published by an individual and can then be shared or linked by the company page.

When writing content, don’t be afraid to express your opinion (it will help differentiate your brand’s voice) but be sure to keep voice appropriate for LinkedIn audiences. Also, try limiting your blogs to one, focused topic. It may be hard for a reader to follow your writing if you’re jumping all over the place.

Word count is also important. LinkedIn recommends that a long-form blog post should be at least 3 paragraphs. Other bloggers recommend anywhere from 350-1000 words. You may want to split up a post into a series if it’s over 1,000 words. We recommend that you try posting both shorter and longer blogs to see what works best for your company’s audience.

Have you had any success with blogging on LinkedIn? If so, feel free to share some your strategies with us in the comments below.

This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: The Correct Way To Use LinkedIn’s Blogging Feature

More Digital & Social articles from Business 2 Community:

How to Utilize Social Media to Improve Sales

3 Social Media Marketing Basics To Review Constantly

3 Great Solutions to Increase Onsite Conversions

4 Elements for a Successful Influencer Campaign

10 Methods To Become A More Successful Blogger

Author Katie Cooper

Type article

Image https://s.yimg.com/lm/ysbp/img/PJfvA_r5jz2XCHfOOZN1O_rhgu1YaFPEOIq4wNT5MXf2FhBtb_q3yq0JDQsRNML6.jpg

Provider business2community

[ysbadvisor]

We Love Listicles, But Do They Make Good Ad Copy?

Origin of the word: List + (art)icle. Are listicles worthy of advertising? It’s a question that needs to be asked simply because they resonate so well with people and that’s what we want for our advertising messages. We want them to resonate? We want them to promote action, but we also want them to be high quality content. Do listicles fit the bill?

Listicles are everywhere: in print, on the Internet, they show up in news feeds, although some argue they’re ‘masquerading’ as journalism. If you see an article headed: ‘The 10 Best …’ or ‘The 5 Most’ … it’s a listicle. The 10 Best Behinds in Hollywood, The 5 Best Orange Veggies For Radiant Skin, 22 Reasons Your Ex-Mother-in-Law Still Hates You: we all know listicles. Most of us have read a few, maybe shared a few. Buzzfeed.com, land of listicles, offers some truly bizarre ones. This morning’s was: 13 Photos of Terrifying Shark Eggs! I didn’t read it; wasn’t sure I could handle seeing an egg with the power to terrify me so early in the day. But is this form of content creation credible. Is it serious?

Easy to digest, light on cerebral calories Webster’s defines a listicle (yes, the word has made it to the dictionary, online at least) as “an article structured in the from of a list, typically having some additional content relating to each item.” Listicles are like popsicles for the soul: guilt-free treats. Colourful, easy to digest, available in a variety of flavours, light on cerebral calories and consumed with no effort. Mostly, they’re just plain fun. You get sucked in because you’ve been wanting to lose weight and the canny listicle language got you: “10 easy ways to lose that last 10 pounds”. The point is, though, it got to you.

My newspaper, a relatively conservative one, also seems to be big on listicles lately. In the last few months, I’ve seen:

3 ways to benefit now from historically low interest rates.

How to shake a dynasty in 10 easy steps: the Alberta election and why it all went wrong for the Progressive Conservatives.

10 ways to make people really like you at work

We’re busy. We like reading short, snappy bites that make their point quickly The jury is probably going to be out forever on listicles, particularly in the realm of journalism. But we love lists and listicles are essentially expanded lists. We’re busy. We like reading short, snappy bites that make their point quickly. (Think bullet points: there’s a reason we use them. They deliver key points quickly and succinctly.)

The venerable New Yorker sums up our attraction to listicles perfectly: “The article-as-numbered-list has several features that make it inherently captivating: the headline catches our eye in a stream of content; it positions its subject within a preexisting category and classification system … it spatially organizes the information; and it promises a story that’s finite, whose length has been qualified up front. Together, these create an easy reading experience, in which the heavy mental lifting of conceptualization, categorization, and analysis is completed well in advance of actual consumption …”

Hmm! That sounds a lot like advertising’s job. So do listicles have a role to play in advertising? Some say they do!

Listicles are “a great tool to reach consumers” From an Advertising Age guest post: “… news syndication company Mobiles Republic showed that consumers are “news snacking.” The study showed that while new consumption is increasing, consumers are checking the news for a shorter amount of time. They’re hungry for news but “snack” throughout the day. Listicles can help feed their appetite. It appears listicles are here to stay and advertisers should take note. They’re a great tool to reach consumers.” Why?

I’m summarizing the author here, but I’ve linked to the entire article farther below:

Listicles …

Are social in nature and easily shared.

Engage consumers, typically with something that resonates.

Can reach the right consumer at the right time with the right message

Allow advertisers to be creative.

Can work across platforms.

Listicles are here to stay, and advertisers should take note Chances are, now you’re thinking about them, you’ll see listicles in places you hadn’t noticed them before. Or at least, you’ll recognize them as such. What’s your take? Listicles have a place in advertising?

This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: We Love Listicles, But Do They Make Good Ad Copy?

More Sales & Marketing articles from Business 2 Community:

5 Ways Live Video Can Rock Your Content Marketing

Why You Need Marketing Automation

17 Excellent Email and Mobile Marketing Stats and Facts

10 Inbound Marketing Tactics to Improve Your Brand’s Image

What Does “Community” Mean for B2B Digital Marketing?

Author Miriam Hara

Type article

Image https://s1.yimg.com/lm/ysbp/img/E2F93FcgKcYxDqn1IQr_ZePiCQbMoNn_5Ls6dwQU_IGWsGJ2SH0__E_cCBPxtQWP.jpg

Provider business2community