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Social Media Etiquette: how to respond to negative feedback

Social Media Etiquette: how to respond to negative feedback

Social media is a powerful tool for engaging your customers, but it can also be a double-edged sword. It has largely put the fate of businesses’ reputations in the hands of the consumers. Take some notes, so that you know what not to do in response to negative social media feedback.

What NOT to Do

Never reply in all caps

This is basic online etiquette and should go without saying, but on the internet, typing in all caps is considered shouting. Not only that, but readers don’t take you seriously when you do it. You don’t need to add extra emphasis to your message. Let the words carry themselves.

Do not reply to everyone

Not all negative comments warrant a response.

Do not name call

Don’t call your customers names. Even if they insult your product, insult your wife, and question your parenting abilities, just don’t do it.

Leave out your personal views

Your goal should be to resolve the problem, not to have a rousing debate or convince others of your beliefs. Even if the customer is the one trying to engage you in discussions about religion or politics, stick to the issue at hand.

Do not engage in public arguments

You don’t want your customers to see you as unprofessional and combative. Avoid hashing out disagreements for all of your followers to see.

Do not blame the customer

Don’t blame the customer. You don’t want to come off as a business owner who responds to criticism by avoiding responsibility.

 

 

What to Do Instead

Reply with empathy

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and try to understand why they’re upset. Try to imagine how you would want a business owner to respond in that situation.

Ask questions

Instead of being defensive, try to clarify on the situation and why the customer is unhappy. This also shows that you’re serious about getting the issue resolved.

Stay professional

Avoid injecting your personal opinions and beliefs into the conversation. Make the goal to resolve the conflict at hand, not to win an argument.

Hold conversations privately

Instead of handling the negative mention in the comments section, invite the customer to call or email your customer support department. If necessary, encourage them to contact you directly.

Moderate your social media

Trolls do exist. Just because someone is dissatisfied with your business doesn’t give them permission to post spam and flame your Facebook page. Create a social media policy, make it available to the public, and boot those who violate it.

Take advantage of constructive criticism

Sometimes a customer’s negative social mention can help you to improve your products and services for the future. Use feedback to your advantage when it is constructive instead of dismissing it.

Apologize when needed

Never act too big to apologize if the problem was on your end. A simple apology can do a lot to diffuse the situation.

 

For the most part, social media is meant to yield positive results for businesses. However, as in the real world, businesses should be prepared to deal with unhappy customers from time to time. This isn’t always a bad thing. Constructive feedback can help you improve your business in the future. As for destructive feedback, you can always hit the block button.

How To Start An Online Business

How To Start An Online Business

In the past, all businesses needed real estate – a storefront or office space. Many still do, but the growth of online business means it’s not the necessity it once was. Budding entrepreneurs can now start businesses without having to make as big of an investment or take on as much risk – which is great. All you need is a good idea, some money and time to get started with, and you can start an online business. To be clear, the risk is still there, but the barriers to entry are lower than they once were. If you’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur, starting with an online business is one of the easiest ways to get your foot in the door. And online businesses, when run well, can be extremely profitable.

1. Identify a need.

You can do everything else exactly right, but if you’re trying to sell something no one wants, your online business will fail anyway. Your first order of business has to be figuring out a product or service that people actually want or need. If you have an idea that you think people will be interested in, confirm that with market research. If you have enough money, you can hire a firm to do market research for you. If you really don’t have that much money, you can get creative and do it yourself.

2. Develop a business plan.

Once you know your idea has a realistic customer base, you need to start working on your business plan. If you have any interest in attracting investors, then a business plan will be one of the most important tools you have for convincing them to buy in. Even if you aren’t explicitly looking for investors, creating a business plan will help you clarify your goals and figure out the specific steps you need to take to achieve them. Make sure your business plan includes an analysis of the competition and a clear positioning statement of where you fit within the market. It should also include information on your target audience, which your market research should have given you a nice head start on collecting. All of that gives you the information you need to make sure your approach is solid. With that in place, you’ll have an easier time working out the chronology of what to do when and what finances and resources you’ll need to complete each step. In short, your business plan should do two key things:

  • Make a case for why your business idea is a good one, and
  • Provide the roadmap to turn your a good idea into something actionable.

    3. Create your brand.

    Picking a name for your business is hard, but I don’t have to tell you how important it is. The name is the biggest decision to make as you work on your brand, but it’s one of many. You need a logo, a style, and a clearly defined positioning that communicates just what makes your product so worthwhile to your audience.

    4. Build your website.

    If you do hire marketing professionals to help you develop your company’s brand, then creating the website should be part of what they help you do. You’ll need to purchase a domain name that’s close enough to your business name to be intuitive for users. If your business name is unique enough, you can go straight for the most obvious choice: YourBrandName.com. If the most obvious domain is already taken, then you may have to get a little creative.  You can either go with one of the other domain extensions like .net or .me, use a hyphen or underscore between words to change things up, or add a minor addition to the name, like a go at the beginning or a word that clarifies the industry afterward. Another option is to switch steps 3 and 4. You can avoid running into the problems stated above, by choosing your company name based on what domain names are available. Use our domain registration tool to see what’s available. Make sure the website design matches with your overall visual branding and your website copy effectively communicates your brand positioning. The work you did defining your brand should shine through in the website you create. For an online business, your website is everything. You need it to look good, be intuitive to navigate, and make a clear case to visitors why they should buy.  Take time to get it right, and run the finished product by some other people (ideally people in your target audience) to get their take.

    5. Create (and start executing) your marketing plan.

    Before you actually get going, you should establish your marketing plan. Your market research and branding work should have already helped you clarify your positioning and audience. Use that information to determine which marketing channels to pursue and the messaging to use for them.

    6. Launch!

    Launch day will be a big day for your company. If your website isn’t already live, then you’ll definitely want it up and running on launch day. Your first day in business is a big day, but your success will depend on what you do for every day that comes after.  Be prepared to work hard, learn as you go, and make a point of providing great customer service.  Running an online business isn’t easy, but if you take the right steps and do the work, the rewards can be great.

Branding Strategies for Freelancers

Branding Strategies for Freelancers

As a freelancer, your success depends on your personal brand.

You may very well have the skills to get the job done. But without effective branding, clients won’t trust you.

Develop a personal brand that stands out. Become familiar with the client’s needs. And set yourself apart from the competition.

Deliver on your promises
Above all else, deliver on your promises.

You can’t build brand credibility based on words—only actions. Clients have high expectations. And when you commit to certain standards, they will hold you accountable.

Completing your commitments is a sign of professionalism. It shows people you can be trusted.

Be mindful of quality when fulfilling your clients’ promises. Subpar work will only diminish your brand’s value. Create a quality control checklist to ensure you’re producing excellent work.

Consistency is the ultimate brand-builder. Clients don’t want freelancers who deliver good work sometimes. They desire individuals who will provide quality every single time.

To remain consistent, never stop improving. Invest time in learning new skills, as well as honing your old ones.

Differentiate yourself from the competition by understanding your clients’ goals. Learn the reasoning behind their projects. This will help you provide a better work product.

Personal branding hinges on you delivering quality work in a consistent manner. Be prepared to make the commitment.

Build a website or portfolio
Show clients who you are and what you do. Create a website or portfolio to promote your brand.

A personal website is an effective tool to give clients an inside perspective. It provides a visual representation of your brand’s values and your work experience.

Develop a website that will showcase your talents. Add case studies about previous clients. Mention notable awards and recognitions. And highlight how your work makes a difference.

Moreover, focus your website on how you can solve your client’s problems: Don’t use your website to tell people what YOU do, use it to tell people what you can do for THEM.

Create a website that exudes professionalism and makes a good first impression. Based on eye-tracking research conducted at Missouri University of Science and Technology, “when viewing a website, it takes [visitors] less than two-tenths of a second to form a first impression.”

So, avoid adding a multitude of colors, splashed with various stock photos. Clients will leave and go to your competitors.

Develop a website worth visiting. Give prospective clients a reason to contact you.

Maintain a social media presence
We live in a tech-savvy society. And social media is helping individuals connect with people all over the world.

Expand your reach. Use social media to gain more exposure for your freelance services. A big part of being recognized as a distinctive, successful brand is the ability to reach consumers through multiple channels.

Research where your clients hang out online. Is it Facebook? Twitter? Or, maybe Instagram?

Then, start creating content on those social networks. Follow your clients’ profiles. Comment on their posts. And curate helpful information under your account.

Your online presence matters. Start building connections on social media.

Get Noticed
Every freelancer needs a personal brand that works for them. It will attract clients to your business, in return increasing your revenue.

Create quality work. Build an amazing website (Hostaculous can help with this part). Interact with clients on social media. Network with leaders in your industry. And develop a brand personality.

Be seen. Be heard. Build your personal brand.

Drupal vs WordPress – Choose the Best CMS for Your Business

Drupal vs WordPress – Choose the Best CMS for Your Business

There are several content management systems (CMS) to choose from when considering your business needs.  The two giants that spring to mind are Drupal and WordPress.  Each platform takes up a huge chunk in the market share of CMS and are perfectly reasonable choices for most websites.

But what distinguishes one from the other?  Which one is better?  Easier?  More functional?  Efficient?  What are the advantages and disadvantages to using one versus the other?

Although both systems allow users to create and manage content over one or multiple websites, there are major differences between the two. Understanding how these platforms work, what their strong points are and their unique benefits will help you to become confident in your final choice.  The goal here is to provide you with a complete overview giving you insight into the good, bad and the ugly so you can make an informed decision on which route to select for your website. 

WordPress

WordPress is perhaps the easiest and most powerful blogging and website CMS on the Internet.  It has 10 times the amount of users than Drupal strictly due to its popularity and simplicity.  Starting out simply as a blogging system, it’s evolution to a fully-functional content management system has positioned WordPress to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, currently powering more than a whopping 24% of the web!

Using the WordPress platform is ideal for beginner blogger/website creators yet advanced techies and web developers can have lots of fun with all the creative ways to customize.

Here are the benefits along with the disadvantages and ugly side to using WordPress:

The Good

  • Highly flexible, with uses of websites, blogs, complex portals and enterprise websites, and even apps
  • Easy to learn without having to know HTML
  • Search engines love WordPress, making it great for SEO
  • Huge community support for Q&A
  • 100% customizable
  • Thousands of free (and paid) themes, plugins and tools
  • Upgrades completed automatically without owners having to do anything
  • Gives owners complete control of their site without having to wait for web developers
  • Manage your site from any computer/mobile device
  • Set up for multiple authors, each having their own access and capabilities
  • Feasible for any type of marketing content

The Bad

  • Due to frequent updates, some plugins may not adapt as quickly, preventing them from working efficiently if at all
  • Graphic changes do require knowledge of CSS and HTML
  • Permalinks are numeric until user knowingly activates the SEO friendly feature
  • Slower experience at times when handling large volume of content

Now…the Ugly

  • Extremely vulnerable to plugin viruses that can wipe content and pages.

Who Actually Uses WordPress?

Here are some well-known brands that leverage the power of WordPress and its benefits…

  • The Official Star Wars Blog
  • SONY Music
  • MTV News
  • New York Times
  • Best Buy
  • eBay
  • Yahoo
  • CNN
  • Ford
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Fortune
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Hostaculous

Drupal

Drupal is favored amongst government, higher education institutions, NGO’s, and global enterprises proudly serving sites like The White House website.  It is an incredibly powerful framework that can serve as a solid foundation for virtually any type of website. 

The beauty of Drupal is that it was especially designed for search engine optimization.  It also places high value in security, reliability, and flexibility.  Although not boasting as many users as WordPress, Drupal indeed has a large friendly community that is highly active and responsive to inquiries.

This CMS is definitely for the advanced with developer expertise…it is not for all users like WordPress.  If you do not have an experienced web developer on staff, you may have to contract one for this project.  However, it is a webmaster’s dream because of its unique customization features. 

Using Drupal is indeed a great choice with the ability to create fantastic looking sites. Let’s examine the advantages as well as the not so good features of Drupal:

The Good

  • Advanced control over URL structure
  • Top notch enterprise-level security
  • Features countless modules, themes, and extensions.
  • Ideal for community platform sites that require complex data organization with multiple users
  • Great ability to handle large amounts of content
  • Supports multiple site stakeholders (admin, editors, logged in users requiring customized content, private groups, etc.)
  • Clean look, built for high performance
  • More robust features for complex jobs
  • Pages tend to load faster due to its defaulting caching features
  • Flexible with lots of versatility

The Bad

  • Requires technical expertise
  • Hiring a web developer to install is more expensive than WordPress installation
  • Upgrades need to be completed with developer knowledge
  • Premium themes and plugins (modules) cost a lot more than WordPress

And…the Ugly

  • It is difficult to install

Who Actually Uses Drupal?

  • The White House
  • The Weather Channel
  • Turner Broadcasting
  • Australian Government
  • Verizon
  • Popular Science
  • Fox
  • Dallas Cowboys
  • NBC
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Warner Music Group
  • BBC
  • University of Oxford
  • gov.uk
  • Forbes

How to Choose the Best CMS for Your Business

The first step towards choosing which CMS will work better for you is to assess your current and future business goals and how can your website take you there.  If you foresee your site growing to hold lots of data (especially sensitive information), Drupal is a better choice because of it’s security and page load speeds.  If you plan to have multiple authors and want a platform that is simple to use (particularly for a team that may not be as tech savvy), WordPress is it.

Knowing which CMS is right for your business will ultimately save you time and money…both now and in the future! 

Drupal vs Joomla: In Search of the Best CMS

Drupal vs Joomla: In Search of the Best CMS

Drupal and Joomla web hosting in Uganda

While WordPress powers a whopping 24% of all websites on the Internet, it’s certainly not the only open source content management system (CMS) available. In fact, there are two highly effective software platforms, Joomla and Drupal, that warrant great attention when considering a CMS for your website. 

With Joomla raking in over nearly 50 million downloads and Drupal housing more than 1,000,000 elite websites, these powerhouses are worth investing the time to see which platform will best serve your business and site goals.

Although each CMS provides the basic functions of adding, deleting, publishing, and storing various types of content, each tool has different strong points and weaknesses which should be explored prior to making your final decision.  The purpose here is to provide a comprehensive overview of Drupal vs Joomla to give you clarity for your next (or current) business website.   

Joomla

Joomla is becoming an increasingly popular content management system.   Actually, after WordPress, it’s considered the world’s most accepted CMS, currently supporting over 3 million websites.  Joomla has the power of being extended to provide state of the art functionalities. It has been presented with the Packt Open Source Awards multiple years in a row, making it highly credible to be used as a CMS for your web application.

When it comes to complexity, Joomla places somewhere between simple WordPress and comprehensive and advanced Drupal.  Using Joomla means that there may be a slight learning curve particularly for beginners, yet webmasters are usually very happy with the features it incorporates. 

There are many advantages including better architecture as compared to other content management systems.

The Advantages:

  • Simple to install
  • Knowledge of CSS, PHP, or HTML is not required
  • Manage users with various permission levels without switching tabs
  • E-commerce made easy
  • Several thousands of free extensions available for increased functionality and interaction for your site
  • Amazing support with programmer tools and tutorials for users
  • Advanced administration panel offers many functions for complete optimization
  • URLs generated are SEO friendly thus better positioning in search
  • Update installs are easily done through web browser
  • Application framework makes it effortless for developers to create sophisticated add-ons
  • Highly strong and active community support

The Disadvantages:

  • Although simple to use, beginners may initially be intimidated by the multitude of functions and possibilities…there is some learning involved
  • Some of the plugins and modules are paid
  • Limited adjustment options particularly for advanced users
  • May experience compatibility issues with some of the plugins, requiring some PHP knowledge to get the functions to work properly
  • Limited access control list (ACL) support

The Challenge:

The structure may seem complicated and you may have to go through a learning curve before you master the layout system.

Brands that Use Joomla:

  • IKEA
  • Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs
  • IHOP
  • Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
  • University of Notre Dame – Alliance for Catholic Education

If you have some experience with CMS systems and you’re looking for something more than WordPress, but you’re still intimidated by Drupal, Joomla might be a solid option.

Drupal

Currently over 1 million websites run on Drupal, widely known to service entities like governments, higher education institutions, NGO’s, and global enterprises.  This CMS proudly services The White House and prides itself on its top-notch security element.  Its incredibly powerful and comprehensive framework is suitable to house virtually any type of website.

The beauty about Drupal is that it was designed especially for search engine optimization.  Placing high value in security, reliability, and flexibility, this CMS is indeed the cream of the crop.  Its large robust community is also highly responsive to inquiries and concerns.

This CMS is definitely for the advanced with developer expertise…it is not for all users like Joomla.  Installing Drupal for your next project will require an experienced web developer on staff (or a contracted one).  Using Drupal is indeed a great choice with the ability to create amazing looking sites.

Here are the advantages, the disadvantages as well as the challenges users may experience with Drupal:

The Advantages:

  • Top notch enterprise-level security
  • Great ability to handle large amounts of content and data
  • Lots of functionalities including advanced menu management, polls management, graphics modification tool, and users management
  • Built for high performance
  • Advanced control over URL structure
  • Pages load faster because of its defaulting caching features
  • Features countless modules, themes, and extensions
  • Ideal for community platform sites that require complex data organization with multiple users
  • Supports multiple site stakeholders (admin, editors, logged in users requiring customized content, private groups, etc.)
  • Very clean, professional look
  • Flexible with lots of versatility
  • Stable and scalable
  • Downright powerful platform!

The Disadvantages:

  • Upgrades need to be completed with developer knowledge
  • Not user friendly
  • High learning curve
  • Requires technical expertise
  • Hiring a web developer to install is more expensive than a Joomla installation
  • Premium themes and plugins (modules) cost a lot more than WordPress

The Challenge:

It is very difficult to install…you will likely need an expert.

Brands that Use Drupal:

  • The White House
  • University of Oxford
  • The Weather Channel
  • Bruno Mars
  • Verizon
  • The Economist
  • Fox
  • Forbes
  • New England Patriots
  • NBC
  • Rutgers University
  • Twitter
  • Australian Government

Drupal is an advanced CMS system offering plenty of functions that make it possible to create simple or advanced websites, blogs, discussion boards, social networking pages, etc. However, it does require experienced knowledge of PHP and HTML languages as well as CSS.  For those with at least basic knowledge of these languages, there’s a very good technical support to guide them through the process.

How to Choose the BEST CMS for Your Business

Being clear on your business goals, objectives, and intentions is the first step towards selecting a CMS that is optimal for your business.  This clarity will guide you as to what type of website is congruent to your needs while better serving your unique target audience. 

Joomla is also a good option for small to mid-tier e-commerce stores or for building a community or a network with a membership features, newsroom, forums, articles, input from external authors. If you want something more powerful for large projects in which stability, scalability, and power are essential, or for more enterprise use, then consider Drupal.

Choosing the right CMS for your project will save you a great deal of headaches later.  A reliable web host also saves you from headaches. Fortunately, with Hostaculous you can get both reliable hosting and the CMS of your choice, be it Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, or Magento.

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Why Small Businesses Should Budget For Social Media Marketing

Why Small Businesses Should Budget For Social Media Marketing

It’s never been a secret that in order to run a successful business, you need to invest in marketing to ensure your brand is visible among the noise. While SEO and content creation are huge aspects to focus on, ignoring social media is no longer an option. People have come to expect finding all sorts of brands online, and your business is no exception.

Social media can provide benefits the best advertisements and email lists cannot compete with on their own. While it’s entirely possible to use your own time to run a commanding social media campaign, it’s often easier and a better investment to budget for social media opposed to using your valuable hours of the day.

What are some effective ways to spend on social media?

Spending money on social media marketing boils down to a few different strategies, all or one of which may work best for your small business:

  • Use your budget to boost and purchase advertisements.
  • Hire an additional employee(s) to be your official social media marketer.
  • Pay someone to create photo/written/video content for your brand.

Here are six reasons why creating a budget for social media is an excellent decision.

1. High ROI Potential

Over the last two decades the world of advertisements and marketing strategies have rapidly shifted towards focusing on the Internet.

And where do people spend most of their time online? Social Media.

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram know this better than anyone and have provided incentives for businesses to purchase advertisements for less than you would pay for most other advertisements based on potential reach. Due to social media’s targeted approach, you’re much more likely to have the right potential customers viewing your ads.

2. It Gives Your Business Direction

The best businesses take the needs of people, however large, and fulfill them on a regular basis. The best advertisements figure out who these people are, and send them directly to your business. As previously mentioned, social media excels in targeting by seeking out audiences based on data patterns, or as we call it in the tech world, analytics.

As your business ages, you can use analytics to determine which products, services, and advertising strategies are (and aren’t) working for you. Paying for ads or hiring a social media analyst will be key in being able to use the data beneficially.

3. Unlimited Reach

The thing about social media ads is they don’t have a specified limit for how many people can view them. Since ads are integrated right into the social platform there’s an unlimited potential for people to share, tag, and re-post your content all over the Internet.

This is why companies create advertisements that often have nothing to do with their product until the last few seconds. If you can engage people for 15-30 seconds with something memorable, no matter how ridiculous, the amount of people who will see it can be endless, and for years after the time it’s released. If your business doesn’t have any team members capable of creating dynamic content, this might be an area where you should focus spending your budget: hiring creative content creators.

4. One Click Away

Printed advertisements have been on the decline for a number of reasons:

  • Tracking ROI is difficult and usually comes down to word of mouth.
  • The expected reach for print ads is more finite, and can be capped at how many copies are printed.
  • Print ads lack in-depth analytics about who is seeing them, and where viewers are coming from.

Internet ads, however, don’t have to deal with any of those pitfalls. Best of all, if someone feels the need to take action on your advertisement they’re only a single click away.

5. Developing A Customer Relationship

Have you ever left a comment on an advertisement you saw in a magazine? Me neither, an artfully-drawn mustache perhaps, but never a comment I would expect someone might reply to.

With social media you have the unique opportunity of creating advertisements that also develop a personal relationship with your customers. If anyone has a question, or something to compliment you on, you can answer it on the spot and thank them personally for using your service.

6. Looking Towards Permission

Even though this whole article has been discussing the benefits of ads, I have to talk about advertising as a whole. People are sick of ads.

With things like Netflix, subscription music services like Pandora, and the option to skip ads on YouTube it’s very apparent people are over having sales pitches thrown at them, and will even pay to have ads turned off. Nowadays we want to define ourselves through the brands we spend money on, and that means looking at choice.

On social media people choose to like your page. People choose to say “I find this ad annoying.” Instead of paying to have it crammed down peoples’ throats, pay to have your ads put where people are actually looking, their social networks.

Benefits of Keyword Less Domain Names

Benefits of Keyword Less Domain Names

Selecting a domain name is a huge task and one of the most critical part of getting your business online. When we are just starting a blog or Website for specific topic or business, having  Keyword in domain name has its own benefits, but in 2012-2013 when SEO is moving from Keywords to Social media and algo like EMD targeting low quality Keyword rich domain name, is it good idea to go for Keyword or Keyword less domain name?

 

Honestly, both of them have their own pros and cons and if done right, Keyword rich domain could be profitable for better ranking but same could be achieved with a quality content niche domain.  This is one of my favourite topic because Hostaculous is akeyword less domain name and I always encourage people to go for keyword less domains because:

When are Keyword less domain more Useful?

Branding and uniqueness:

The first and foremost reason which I give and share with my friends to select a word as a domain name which is not used widely. If I would have used something like techkro or anything like this probably Google could have given lots of results on the basis of first keyword Tech. But keeping a domain name which is personal or never been used I will always have my unique identity in search result.

Your Options are open:

By selecting a Keyword domain name, you are binding your present and future, where as with a branded or keyword-less name, you stay flexible in future.

Domain name availability:

One of the problem with keyword rich domain name is most of the good domain names (.com and .org) are already taken and I will never suggest to go for .info domain names. (Now there are new gTLD’s that you can use and sign up for) Instead of going for a long domain name, it’s better to have a small domain name which can help you in branding.

Competition :

For domain name with keywords, you will have lots of competition for the same niche, but with your own personalize non keyword domain name, you can rank much better.

Long domain name:

Instead of going for long ugly domain name just for the sake of keyword richness, it’s better to go for a small memorable domain name.

Desktop Email Client vs Cloud-Based Email

Desktop Email Client vs Cloud-Based Email

Everyone knows there’s been a never-ending dilemma about whether to choose “a desktop email client vs. web-based email,” so let’s explore the pros and cons of desktop email programs to see why people stick with them for years.

Pros:

  • You can track multiple email accounts all in one place, without signing in and signing out of accounts
  • A desktop email client is not dependant on Internet connectivity and bandwidth
  • With a desktop email client, you can access pre-downloaded emails offline
  • If you track multiple email accounts, replying to a message puts the proper From: email address on it automatically
  • You can back up your mail database as often as you wish and store it in place you wish, e.g. your hard drive
  • You don’t have to pay for cloud storage to back up and store large email database files
  • With a good desktop email client, you’ll have a broader scope of features and settings than with Webmail
  • You will be focused on emails rather than on websites under browser tabs

Cons:

  • You are tied to an OS such as Windows, Linux or Mac
  • It might take some time to install and configure a desktop email client
  • Syncing between multiple computers and devices can be problematic
  • You might not want to keep your mail data on the computer you are using
  • For those who prefer simplicity, it can be a pain to learn how to use one more software program
  • It might not be worth installing a desktop email client in order to track one email account

As you see, there are both pros and cons of using a desktop email client. According to theAbout.com’s Readers Choice Awards 2012, the best Windows email clients suggested by the readers are Mozilla Thunderbird, MS Outlook, EmailTray, IncrediMail and The Bat! All these email programs offer a rich set of features and configurable settings which has accounted for thousands of users being devoted to these software products for years.

It surely takes much more time to install a desktop email client, fine-tune email rules and customize your email program’s look and feel according to your taste. The presence of customizable options in complicated email programs keeps heavy email users away from simpler yet less effective online solutions. If you prefer simplicity – you’ll probably have to sacrifice advanced functionality.

 

Cloud-Based Email: Pros and Cons

The most popular web-based email services are Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Windows Live Hotmail and AOL. If you don’t need to manage multiple email accounts, Gmail is probably the best cloud-based email option for you. It provides 10GB of free hosted space for your emails, including attachments, and offers a number of configurable options.

The obvious drawbacks of free Webmail solutions are annoying ads occupying some part of the screen space and no guarantee that your mail database will always survive. For the large corporations that plan on moving to secure cloud-based email solutions, Hosted Microsoft Exchange might be a good way to go.

Pros:

  • No installation is required because cloud applications are rendered in the browser
  • With a web-based email client, you are not tied to any platform such as Windows, Linux or Mac
  • You can use a cloud-based email service across devices without worrying about conflicts and synchronization
  • Cloud applications are easier to update or are updated automatically by a provider
  • You can log in to your web-based email account from anywhere
  • You can keep all your email data off your computer

Cons:

  • Cloud-based email services rely upon the internet infrastructure for data transport and content rendering
  • Free Webmail puts contextual advertising next to the emails you read
  • You can only be signed in under one Gmail account at a time in one browser, so using an online service attached to another Google account is impossible
  • A cloud version of a popular software product will often provide fewer features than the desktop version
  • There is no guarantee that your free web-based account will always be accessible
  • It’s not very convenient to click through new browser tabs and switch back and forth
  • When you use a browser, you may feel tempted to browse the websites under the other tabs

For those who run one email account and don’t use it heavily, there is obviously no need to install a desktop email client; Webmail will cover their needs in most cases.

If you do have to manage multiple email accounts but prefer web-based email, you have two solutions available. First, you can create one primary Gmail account and have emails from the other email accounts forwarded to it. Another way is to open multiple browsers, each one dedicated to a specific email account. However this practice may end up in overloading your CPU.

 

Which Way Is Best For Me?

There is a wide-spread opinion stating that web-based email is great for personal email communications while a desktop email client is perfect for work, especially if you have to manage multiple email accounts. I’s true that professionals often tend to choose more complicated yet feature-rich solutions which offer a variety of options and an ability to track multiple email accounts and manage email contacts with ease.

If you run one email account and don’t need all those bells and whistles – choose Gmail, a popular Webmail service which offers many features similar to those in a good desktop email client, plus lots of cloud storage for free.

If you heavily depend on email in your daily work and run multiple email accounts – a good desktop email client like Mozilla Thunderbird, MS Outlook or EmailTray will cover your needs. Even if you use email occasionally – you may still want to try the EmailTray email client, as it is lightweight and easier-to-use when compared to the other desktop email programs. Plus EmailTray has a smart algorithm that sorts mail into 4 priority folders and synchronizes what it learns across devices. The good news is that EmailTray is free to use and is coupled with a free email app for Android. That means you will enjoy a similar interface across all your Windows-based and Android-based devices.

Why you need a professional email address!

Why you need a professional email address!

When running a business, your most common form of communication will be through email. In this blog I’ll show you how easy it is to get yourname@yourbusiness.com email address and why your business will benefit from having one.

To give a real example – of approximately 130 professionals in private practice we recently contacted, over 75% had “free” email addresses. The majority of these emails featured underscores, numbers, hyphens and names that have no relevance to who they are and what they do. A fictional example would be: claire_mmukasa1976@yahoo.com

So what’s the problem with that?

Well here are a few points…

1. Communication – Can you imagine trying to communicate that to a potential client over the phone? There is an extremely high likelihood that your email would “bounce” and you may never hear from that potential client again.

2. Trust – Ask yourself if you would be more likely to trust a service provider with an address like claire@clairemukasa.com or claire_mmukasa1976(@yahoo.com? (fictional example)

3. Security – Have a look at the spam folder in your free email program. You will probably notice a huge amount of heartfelt requests from disposed African leaders or a range of pills and remedies for afflictions you may never have heard of! Spammers target this medium on a regular basis and indirectly you may be placing your customers at risk as well.

4. Professionalism – You spent many years of your life (and a small fortune) investing in your professional development. Why have an email address that does not reflect that?

5. Brand presence – A professional email address adds another identity to your business. Every email you send puts your brand in front of your customers, prospective customers and suppliers. Having a branded signature is a great way to increase your brand recognition. Many companies and local authorities now refuse to send any communication to a supplier without a professional email. Don’t miss out on potential opportunities.

6. Separation – Keep your freemail address for your personal life and your business address for just that.

So what should I do?

The good news is that arranging a professional email address is easy. If you have a website, ask your web hosting company to create a new email address for you. If you don’t, no problem, you can still secure a domain name or identity one that is unique to you and have this set up very easily whilst you develop your website (another must but that’s for another day).

 

5 online marketing strategies for small businesses that work

5 online marketing strategies for small businesses that work

Online marketing strategies are no different from traditional marketing strategies when it comes to goals and purpose. Both types aim to increase brand awareness and find more customers for the particular company.

Online marketing or digital marketing as it is more widely known, has a number of components that cover every aspect of online promotion from content creation to delivery and sales. These components can be combined together and form 5 basic strategies that can be used by any type of online business to get more traffic and customers online.

1. Search engine marketing

Search engine marketing (SEM) is the first online marketing strategy you can use and it has two major components. First is SEO (Search engine optimization) and second is PSA (Paid Search Advertising). In simple words SEO will help you get more organic visits from search engines for free while PSA can get you visits from search traffic but you will have to pay for them.

What is your goal with SEM? Your goal with SEM is clear: get more visits from search engines either from organic search or through carefully designed and targeted PPC campaigns

How: To get more visits from search engines you need to make sure that your website is optimized for search. Things like your page titles, descriptions, web page speed, Google authorship, design and structure, incoming links, content freshness, ALT text for images and many more are important.

Tools: There are many SEO guidelines you can follow and although each rule is important on its own, if you apply a number of rules together, that would produce better results. You can use these 2 articles (5 on page SEO techniques and SEO tips for beginners) to guide you through the process and once you are done, you can perform an SEO Audit of your website to ensure that it is in good shape before continuing with the rest of the online marketing strategies.

Tip: When you make changes to your website to improve SEO, these changes will not be immediately taken into account by Google or other search engines. You have to be patient and monitor your pages for improvements in their ranking through google webmaster tools (search queries report).

2. Mobile Marketing

Normally after search engine marketing you can expect to find social media marketing or content marketing as the next online marketing strategy for small businesses but the increase in the number of mobile searches raises the importance of mobile marketing. As stated by Google, mobile marketing isn’t an option but it’s an imperative for every business. Some recent statistics about mobile usage re-enforce this statement:

What is your goal with mobile marketing? To provide your users with the best possible experience when browsing your website using their mobile devices.

How: How can you achieve the ‘best possible experience’? First you need to make sure that your website looks good and usable when viewed through a mobile browser i.e. you need to have a mobile friendly version of your website. Second, you can also offer your users native apps to download (from the itunes store, Google play, amazon store, windows store) and install on their devices.

Tools: If you are using wordpress you can easily create a mobile friendly version by either changing to a responsive theme or by using a plugin.

If you are not using wordpress you can use services like conduit to create mobile friendly versions of your website.

Make sure that you understand the difference between a mobile friendly version of your website and a native app. A native app is different than a mobile website and you need to hire a mobile developer to build an application for the specific platform. For example if you want to create an application for your website and have this application published on the Apple Store then you need to hire an apple developer to code the application and prepare it for submission to iTunes.

3. Content marketing

Content marketing is the heart of every digital marketing campaign. Once you have a good foundation (that’s search engine marketing) and a good delivery platform that can cover all your user needs (that’s mobile marketing) then the next step is to take all actions needed to create content that rocks!

Content is what will create loyal visitors, comments, social media shares and most important of all sales.

What is your goal with content marketing? To put it simply, your goal is to create high quality content that your readers want to read and try to convince readers to become customers or execute a call-to-action process (register to a newsletter, follow on social media, vote for a poll etc.).

How: Before even creating content, whether it is an article, a video, a table or image, try to think how that particular content will benefit your readers or customers. Don’t just create and publish content for the sake of keeping a publishing schedule or to satisfy your desire to have something to publish.

In the past this technique of publishing mass amounts of content to trick search engines used to work but not anymore. It is more important to have less published pages but with good content rather than lots of published pages with low quality content.

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4. Social Media marketing

Social media marketing is naturally the next marketing strategy for your business. You managed to have in your hands great content (from the previous strategy) so now it’s time to spread the word out and the best way to do that is through a well-designed social media marketing strategy.

What is your goal with social media marketing? Your social media campaigns should serve two purposes. First is to gain as many targeted followers so that your content and brand gets as much attention possible and second to get visits from social networks that will eventually convert into customers.

How: You need to establish a good presence in all major social networks (Facebook, google+, twitter, Pinterest) by sharing useful related content on a regular basis and by engaging with people interested in your website, products or brand. Have a look at these 3 articles to get started: 10 social media marketing tips for beginners, social media mistakes to avoid, how to get more followers on facebook.

I know that it’s not an easy process to follow and it is rather time consuming to run campaigns on many networks at the same time but this is how online marketing works for small businesses these days and you have to do it too.

The good news is that social media traffic does convert (despite the initial believes a few years back that visitors from social media don’t become customers) and if you don’t have the time or knowledge to manage your social media presence, there are professionals that can do it for you.

5. Local SEO strategy

Since we are talking about small businesses, I thought that it is more appropriate to have local SEO listed as a separate strategy because it is very important for them. Local SEO is a must for every company that has a physical address. Whether you are a doctor or florist, a mechanic or retailer, local seo can help you find more customers online.

What is your goal from local seo?      The goal from local seo is more than clear: to get high rankings for searches related to your area. When people search for long tail keywords with the addition of location in the query (for example: “Web hosting companies in Uganda”) you want your website to be listed in the top positions.

How: There is no straightforward answer for that, as with any other SEO related question. What you can do is follow Google SEO best practices to ensure that Google will not penalize you for trying to cheat on their algorithm and optimize your website for local SEO.

Think outside the box

While the 5 online marketing strategies explained above are great and can generate fantastic results, you need to also think outside of the box for even better results. For example besides search engines, mobiles and social media what are some other ways to increase traffic coming to your small business website? To be more precise here are some ideas that worked for some of my clients:

Chrome web store: Registering your website as a web app in the chrome store can generate an additional flow of quality traffic coming to your site.

Direct Advertising on other websites: Besides running PPC campaigns on Adwords and Facebook you can also try to ‘rent’ advertising space per month on other related websites. You can easily find related websites in your niche that offer advertising and contact the webmasters directly and ask for their rates. It will cost you less than PPC and with proper tracking you can evaluate the results and ROI.

Guest posting on high traffic websites: Guest posting for traffic (and not for links) is a good way to increase your online reputation but also gain traffic from other websites. If the website you are guest posting on has a good social media presence then the benefits are even more.

Conclusion

Small businesses can succeed online if they follow proven techniques and practices. When you build your website the first thing that you should look at is search engine optimization. Once you get this right then you need to enhance your delivery channels by going mobile. After that you need to revisit your content strategy and ensure that you have content that matters and makes sense. Next in line is social media marketing that will help you to push your content to the world.

 

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