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Restaurants must have a tasty site

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The internet has made discriminating shoppers out of all of us. From clothing boutiques to preschools to restaurants, we are making decisions based on a web experience. A subpar experience on a restaurant website translates into lost reservations and lost dollars. Every industry has specific needs that dictate what components must be included on their website. For restaurants, it’s simple. Your website must include FIVE specific details to in order convert visitors into real reservations.

1. Hours of Operation
2. Contact Info or a Reservation link
3. Menus – be sure they are current.
4. Photos – beautiful photos are crucial and will tell your story.
5. Customer Reviews – The proof is in the pudding. Links to social media sites such as YELP and UrbanSpoon.

Must-Have WordPress Plugins

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WordPress has become the website platform of choice for many small businesses. In fact, take a look at these 31 WordPress products that can help improve the performance of your website! WordPress is an open-source content management system that is free but priceless. One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is that it can be customized with a multitude of plugins from third-party developers that can enhance your website. From photo galleries to shopping carts, to password-protected areas, to SEO packages; the list of available goes on and on. Some are useful, others not so much and few are indispensable. I put together a list of the plugins that make will enhance your WordPress experience – a few of the suggestions from Megan Totka of Small Business Trends who had some great ideas.

Online Backup for WordPress

The thought of losing the content on my website keeps me up at night but a good back plugin that backup the database is a source of comfort. This free, easy-to-use plug-in allows you to schedule automated daily or weekly backups, perform manual backups, and more.

Akismet

If you are going to allow comments on your blog posts you will need to install Akismet to avoid spam. This plugin will delete unwanted comments before they get posted, sparing visitors from having to read through oodles of bogus comments.

All in One SEO Pack

The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps, and much more.

Visual Form Builder

While I usually use Custom Contact Forms by Talor Lovett I was just introduced to Visual Form Builder and it is very cool. Using a simple drag and drop concept you can create all sorts of forms with ease. It’s easy to do this with the Visual Form Builder plugin which lets you create all kinds of forms for your site with no coding required.

Google Analytics for WordPress

Sure, WordPress gives you a way to insert a tracking code from Google Analytics directly into your theme, so why add yet another plugin to your site?
Because with the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin, you get extra features: Automatic tracking for site speed, outbound links, downloads, custom variable support, link tagging, debug mode, login and registration form tracking, and more.

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is the highest-rated and most complete WordPress performance plugin. Dramatically improve the speed and user experience of your site as well as your ranking on Google which now considers speed as a factor. The plugin adds browser, page, object, and database caching to WordPress.

Relevanssi

The default search feature for WordPress is not the best as results are ranked according to publication date, rather than relevance to the search term. Relevanssi is a WordPress plugin that fixes the search. You get the best results first, with highlights showing the exact part of the document that matched the query.

After the Deadline

Get a personal proofreader for your content that catches more errors than the native WordPress spell check. This plugin comes with basic spelling and grammar and includes contextual spell checking, advanced style checking, and intelligent grammar checking to virtually wipe out mistakes in your posts.

WP Social Share

Social Networks are very popular these days and are a great source to get readers for your blog. WP Social Share plugin helps you and your users to share blog posts directly from your blog to social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Social Media 101

LinkedIn, FaceBook, YOUTube, Twitter & Pinterest are the top FREE online marketing tools for businesses. We have all heard about how valuable, even necessary, it is to engage on social media however, that is easier said than done. Each of the platforms mentioned are more complex than they initially appear and what’s worse they evolve daily.

Diving in without understanding the individual platform can be overwhelming. Also, it takes knowledge and a bit of marketing savvy to see results. But never fear, there is plenty of information out there to help small business owners be successful.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network with 238 million users with 2 new members added every second. The platform allows colleagues and business associates to connect with each other and businesses can connect with current and potential employees. At the same time community development, thought leadership and content sharing is promoted. The platform offers tremendous referral potential, particularly for B2B leads.

How are people using it?

  • Individual profiles are essentially online resumes
  • People can connect with each other and make recommendations
  • It is a great place to search for a job or an employee
  • It is a valuable publishing platform where professionals can establish themselves as an authority in their field.

Personal Page: Leslie DiNanno

Company Page: Coca Cola

Facebook

Facebook started in 2004 with the primary purpose of connecting college students. Twelve years later it has more than 1.65 billion users. It is the most widely used of the social media sites and has essentially shaped the way we interact online. Facebook connects friends and families as well as brands and consumers. For businesses, it is great for community building with current, past and potential clients, Search Engine Optimization, insight into a market niche (through analytics), communication and viral opportunities.

How are people using it?

  • Groups – whether they are private or public, professional, community or special interest related.
  • Events – users can organize around a point in time. Again, security can be customized and the event can be exported to other calendars which is a valuable feature.
  • Business Pages – these fan pages have evolved over the years and now offer quite a bit of functionality including review capability, shopping carts, calendar syncing and more.
  • Messenger – combines email, instant messenger and Facebook messages.
  • Content, post timing and moderation are all factors that must be considered for business and personal use.

Boxford Parents FB Page: Boxford Parents

Twitter:

Did you know that the Twitter bird logo known as Larry was fashioned after Larry Bird from the Boston Celtics? Twitter was established in 2006 and allows users 140-characters to share appetizer bits of information. The interface is simple and conducive to sharing breaking news in any arena. Users choose areas of interest and there are 400 million tweets sent daily. Using Twitter you can find people interested in your marketing niche, stay abreast of the latest news and trends in your field, to market your product, drive traffic to your website, to stay in touch with your clients, build a reputation as an authority in your field & network with others.

How are people using it?

  • Everyone is using Twitter – from Brands to Government officials, to athletes, to Hollywood stars stirring up drama.

Remember: Be aware of your brand and your voice. Be interesting and add value

Donald Trump Twitter Page: The Real Donald Trump

YouTube

has emerged as the second largest search engine after Google – 6 billion hours of video are watched monthly on YouTube. This means that people are not only going to find the answers to their questions but they will be able to see a demonstration which is preferred. You Tube has launched many to internet fame.

How are people using it?

  • Consumers watch content and share it with others.
  • Much of the content is helpful and much is in a how-to format.
  • There is a lot of incentive participation – that is, brands asking users to create video’s and share it on behalf of the brand using hashtags for promotional purposes.

SixPackShortCuts: https://www.youtube.com/user/sixpackshortcuts
GoPro: https://www.youtube.com/user/GoProCamera
FoodHeaven: https://www.youtube.com/user/FoodHeavenShow

Pinterest

Demographics are a large part of the success of Pinterest whose client base is largely female. Many ‘pin’ items found on the web including clothing, home décor and recipes. It is a terrific platform for brands with emotionally charged products that can rely on beautiful images for “pinning”.

How are people using it?

  • Brands use Pinterest to engage their audience with picture sharing … it is simply visual.

WholeFoods: Whole Foods on Pinterest

Are you legally using online photos?

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Clever monkeys are just copycats: Animals learn skills by imitating others.
Clever monkeys are just copycats: Animals learn skills by imitating others.

This week I was contacted by a local realtor who questioning an image that appeared on one of my client’s websites. A quick Google search told me that the image of a nearby town waterfront had originated from the realtor’s online portfolio. After apologizing to the woman, I removed the image and decided to do a little research on copyright laws as they relate to sharing and using online images.

The social networking age is largely driven by the sharing of online images and, as you can imagine, US Copyright laws are struggling to keep pace with technology.

When is it legal to use another person’s photo or image? Here are a few simple rules.

Did you take the photo or graphic?

Unless you did the work for a client in which case it belongs to the client it is safe to assume that if you created the work then you likely own the copyright and can use it however you like.

Plagiarism VS Copyright

While plagiarism can be avoided by giving credit to parties in question the same rules do not apply to copyright infringement.

My best advice to avoid problems is to use Public Domain Images which are free of known copyright. Here are the links to a few of my favorite sites.

http://www.freenaturepictures.com
http://www.morguefile.com/
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/

Social Media 101

by

LinkedIn, Facebook, YOUTube, Twitter & Pinterest are the top FREE online marketing tools for businesses. We have all heard about how valuable, even necessary, it is to engage on social media however, that is easier said than done. Each of the platforms mentioned is more complex than they initially appear and what’s worse they evolve daily.

Diving in without understanding the individual platform can be overwhelming. Also, it takes knowledge and a bit of marketing savvy to see results. But never fear, there is plenty of information out there to help small business owners be successful.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network with 238 million users with 2 new members added every second. The platform allows colleagues and business associates to connect with each other and businesses can connect with current and potential employees. At the same time, community development thought leadership, and content sharing are promoted. The platform offers tremendous referral potential, particularly for B2B leads.

How are people using it?

  • Individual profiles are essentially online resumes
  • People can connect with each other and make recommendations
  • It is a great place to search for a job or an employee
  • It is a valuable publishing platform where professionals can establish themselves as an authority in their field.

Personal Page: Leslie DiNanno

Company Page: Coca Cola

Facebook

Facebook started in 2004 with the primary purpose of connecting college students. Twelve years later it has more than 1.65 billion users. It is the most widely used of the social media sites and has essentially shaped the way we interact online. Facebook connects friends and families as well as brands and consumers. For businesses, it is great for community building with current, past and potential clients, Search Engine Optimization, insight into a market niche (through analytics), communication, and viral opportunities.

How are people using it?

  • Groups – whether they are private or public, professional, community or special interest related.
  • Events – users can organize around a point in time. Again, security can be customized and the event can be exported to other calendars which is a valuable feature.
  • Business Pages – these fan pages have evolved over the years and now offer quite a bit of functionality including review capability, shopping carts, calendar syncing, and more.
  • Messenger – combines email, instant messenger, and Facebook messages.
  • Content, post timing, and moderation are all factors that must be considered for business and personal use.

Twitter:

Did you know that the Twitter bird logo known as Larry was fashioned after Larry Bird from the Boston Celtics? Twitter was established in 2006 and allows users 140-characters to share appetizer bits of information. The interface is simple and conducive to sharing breaking news in any arena. Users choose areas of interest and there are 400 million tweets sent daily. Using Twitter you can find people interested in your marketing niche, stay abreast of the latest news and trends in your field, to market your product, drive traffic to your website, to stay in touch with your clients, build a reputation as an authority in your field & network with others.

How are people using it?

  • Everyone is using Twitter – from Brands to Government officials, to athletes, to Hollywood stars stirring up drama.

Remember: Be aware of your brand and your voice. Be interesting and add value

Donald Trump Twitter Page: The Real Donald Trump

YouTube

has emerged as the second-largest search engine after Google – 6 billion hours of video are watched monthly on YouTube. This means that people are not only going to find the answers to their questions but they will be able to see a demonstration which is preferred. YouTube has launched many to internet fame.

How are people using it?

  • Consumers watch content and share it with others.
  • Much of the content is helpful and much is in a how-to format.
  • There is a lot of incentive participation – that is, brands asking users to create videos and share them on behalf of the brand using hashtags for promotional purposes.

SixPackShortCuts: https://www.youtube.com/user/sixpackshortcuts
GoPro: https://www.youtube.com/user/GoProCamera
FoodHeaven: https://www.youtube.com/user/FoodHeavenShow

Pinterest

Demographics are a large part of the success of Pinterest whose client base is largely female. Many ‘pin’ items found on the web including clothing, home décor, and recipes. It is a terrific platform for brands with emotionally charged products that can rely on beautiful images for “pinning”.

How are people using it?

  • Brands use Pinterest to engage their audience with picture sharing … it is simply visual.

WholeFoods: Whole Foods on Pinterest

Social Media Trends in 2017

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Are you struggling to keep up with changes in social media? Don’t blink! The internet and more specifically social media continue to be one of the fastest-changing industries in the world today. Here are a few trends that promise to dominate in 2017.

Social Messaging

Social messaging sometimes takes a backseat to all the chatter about social networking but the truth is that messaging apps have always been a preferred method of communication among millennials and this year, messaging will find its way into business as brands start to be part of the conversation in these channels.

Cracking Down on Fake News

The 2016 presidential election spotlighted the worst of what was termed “fake news”. As a result, social media networks are taking a stance against the guilty news outlets that regularly circulate bogus information and shutting them out. In 2017, there will be new standards put into place to regulate “news” and its validity. If some news outlets are not careful, they could find themselves in the middle of a defamation lawsuit. They would need some help from a California defamation lawyer or someone similar depending on their state. Fake news can have a serious impact on the publically perceived character of the individual, which can hurt the earning potential of entities affected by the misinformation.

Live Video Streaming

Unfiltered live video continues to be all the rage. Live streaming video first appeared on Twitter. It was recently launched on Facebook and Instagram is in the wings testing its own live video option. The trend will certainly continue through 2017.

Filtered Reality

We are all familiar with Snapchat’s filtered lenses which have become commonplace across generations. Other social media platforms are poised to offer copycat apps that can be applied to photos and live video. With more than 75% of millennials enamored by virtual reality, we can expect more on that realm as the year unfolds.

Chatbots

The opportunity to have a conversation with a chatbot in the customer service capacity has become more and more commonplace on websites today. The tool has brought with it improved customer service reviews and companies are starting to find out how to make a bot themselves as well, which means that we can expect to see more of this technology in the future. It is no doubt easier to have a text conversation with a computer on a social media site than to navigate through an automated phone. We are slowly be trained to function in our future world.

Mobile vs. Responsive

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I’m often asked about the difference between a mobile website and a responsive website. A mobile website is designed to function exclusively on a mobile device – typically a smartphone. The site runs parallel to a desktop site meaning that a business must have two sites for twice the investment. On the other hand, a responsive website adjusts itself to provide an optimal viewing experience across a wide range of devices and browsers.

I can think of a few good reasons why a business might invest in two websites, such as a restaurant site, where desktop users will likely want to see the menu and mobile users will likely want directions to the business. Mobile sites are typically offering something specific as opposed to an overall experience. For most small businesses, the one-size-fits-all mentality of responsive design is the more cost-effective and efficient approach. Regardless of whether or not a business launches two sites, it is imperative today that all websites be responsive.

Mobile Responsive Design: Fluid and Flexible

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The word mobile-friendly or responsive is now part of our daily vocabulary – but what exactly does it mean?

A website that is ‘mobile responsive’ is designed to provide an optimal viewing experience in all browsers. This means that rather than simply re-sizing the entire site to fit proportionately into a browser window, a responsive site will creatively reorganize the elements in a way that promotes easy reading, navigation, and scrolling in order to optimize the user experience. All of the elements are placed on a flexible grid and simultaneously resize accordingly as the browser window changes. Photos, for example, may realign themselves from a row to a column for a better viewing experience. To witness the effect, try dragging the handlebars on the browser window on your desktop computer or just compare the difference in the appearance of a website as it appears on different devices.

With more than 50% of online traffic coming from mobile devices – mobile responsiveness is a trend that is not going away. In fact, Google is penalizing those websites that have not adopted a responsive theme. I have included images below from a site that I recently upgraded from a WordPress theme that was not behaving well on mobile platforms. Open Meadow Homes now has a thumbs up from Google.

A view of the homepage of Open Meadow Homes on a desktop computer. Notice that the navigation menu spans across the width of the page. As the user scrolls down the page the next section features three widgets side by each.

omh_pc

omh_pc_2

A view of the home page of Open Meadow Homes on an iPad displays the navigation menu in a minimized form. The widgets too, re-position themselves for optimal viewing. If they simply resized to fit in the window the content would be too small to read without forcing the user to zoom in.

omh_3

IMG_00072

Lastly, here’s an example of a view of the home page of Open Meadow Homes as seen on an iPhone 6 plus. Virtually all of the items have moved to a vertical position on the grid.

homepage_mobile

widget_mobile

Get Five Stars on Negative Reviews

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5stars

Are you frustrated by negative business reviews on websites such as Google, YELP, and Open Table?

Handling those objections with exemplary customer service can have a positive effect on your business. The first instinct of most business owners is to delete or hide the nasty comments. However, the truth is that every company has unhappy customers at some point.

Did you know that 72% of customers have more faith in business that show negative reviews? It is simply more realistic and believable. What’s more, 95% of unhappy customers will return if the issue has a positive resolution.

What should you do when that glaring negative review land in your inbox, or worse, pops up online for all the world to see?

  1. Don’t panic! What happens next is your opportunity to shine. Remember that good customer service promotes loyalty and repeat business.
  2. Reply publicly and know that your target audience is paying attention to how you treat others.
  3. Take a closer look at that negative feedback, what can you learn from it? What can be changed to avoid the same situation in the future? It may be a simple fix.
  4. Follow up with the disgruntled customer. Remember the old phrase that The Customer is King which means that your business is ultimately determined by its customers.

4 No-No’s in Online Marketing

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Small businesses are certainly on overload when it comes to learning the ins and outs of effective online marketing. To avoid a bad rap, stay clear of these 4 no-nos in your marketing campaigns.

DON’T send blanket email blasts that ignore customer preferences. For example, if a client signed up to receive emails about wine tastings do not include them in general interest email blasts. It will be perceived as discourteous and poor customer relations.

DON’T ignore local listing optimization. 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine and “near me” mobile searches have grown over 500% over the last two years, according to Google. So that you don’t miss out on all these potential customers, you should ensure your business locations are updated and accurate and you should look at other aspects like business hours, phone numbers, and latest offers. Alternatively, you could use a company like LeadJig who will take care of the local listing optimization for financial advisors.

DON’T be a no-show or a wallflower on social media. Avoiding exposure on social media for fear that disgruntled customers might air their complaints online is a technique of avoidance that is not lost on customers, particularly when a company already has a reputation for poor customer service. Smart brands use social media platforms as an opportunity to improve customer service by staying in touch with their target audience.

DON’T serve customers low-quality content or continuous feeds and retweets by other businesses. While it is certainly acceptable to share valuable content that is posted by others in the industry, the majority of posts should be with original content in order to become a trusted authority in a particular industry or profession.

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