Something interesting happened last week when we were recruiting for a web programmer.  We had gone through our interviews and reduced the candidates to 3 and we were getting close to choosing our candidate.  We chose our candidate and he was pleased with our decision and he said that he was excited about working with our team.  He mentioned that he had been following our Twitter account and our blog posts and got a really good feeling for the expertise we had and it made him comfortable in making his decision  to work with us.  Read more... (187 words, 1 image, estimated 45 secs reading time)

I recently met with a prospect and we were reviewing their website in the meeting and he said something to me that stuck in my mind.  He said that when they got their website developed they told the website developer exactly how they wanted the site to be laid out and that is how they setup the website.  I thought to myself that does not make a lot of sense, sure the customer knows what content they want in the website but what does the client know about how to organize the content and provide navigation on the website.  Read more... (313 words, 1 image, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)

We have a competitor in Winnipeg that advertises all over the city for professional websites for $599.  Every time I see this sign I think first of all this is a lost leader if I ever saw one.  I am sure they get you  in there and try to up sell you, they must?  There is just not enough hours to produce a site with quality that actually pays for itself with online sales or leads.  Then I read this article that really hit home on what you need to produce a high quality website.  This article is a little technical but really describes what skills truly go into a professional website that pays for itself and more.  Read more... (1628 words, 1 image, estimated 6:31 mins reading time)

Everyone in business has dealt with an upset customer.  With the introduction of the Internet, dealing with customer complaints has become even more important.  Businesses must understand the severity of what one bad online comment can do to your business.  When dealing with upset customers here are some tips to follow:  Read more... (274 words, 1 image, estimated 1:06 mins reading time)

1. Listen closely to the person and do not overact or get emotional.
2. Be clear and honest at all times. Sincerity will win you a lot of points.
3. Take the criticism as a learning experience and be happy the customer cares enough to tell you.

When we first started our company tweet strategy I was asking myself what am I going to tweet about.  Our strategy called for 1 tweet minimum per business day.  However as I started our strategy it became easier and easier to find the 140 characters of content I needed.  The first tactic I use a lot is tweeting what I read, most of us read a lot on our industry and their is natural knowledge that is tweet able.  When I read a statistic, an announcement or something that I think may be interesting to the people who follow our twitter account I am quick to tweet.  Including a short URL to allow ease to read the full article is effective.  In addition I tweet about our company news – new hires, new clients etc.  Read more... (257 words, 1 image, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)

When I woke up Saturday morning I went to get the Saturday paper and I noticed the new yellow pages, white pages and another small yellow pages book that you can keep in your car had arrived.  So I asked my wife do you want me to put these in the drawer where we normally keep them and she said what? No I don’t want those put them in recycling.  Now she may be a little biased because of what I do for a living but really she is an example of a common breed of consumer.  She has a smart phone (iPhone) which she loves could not live without and if she wants any directory or company information she does not use the yellow pages she uses her smart phone.  So all those advertising dollars spent went in the recycling for my family.  How many others are doing the same.  Read more... (304 words, 1 image, estimated 1:13 mins reading time)

One of the hardest challenges you go through when you are a small business is growing your business and maintaining control of your business.   It is very common in a small business to have the owner(s) control a great deal of the sales and operations.  This is necessary to get the business past the first few years in which most businesses fail.  Once you get through this stage if you want to grow your business, you need to decide to leverage your time.  Read more... (385 words, 1 image, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)