Jeffrey Kirk

Getting Customer Feedback

Nov 192009

What kind of products, services, or information does your customer want? Are you regularly asking them?

Sometimes getting your customers and prospects to open up about what they want is difficult at best. You call them up and they haven’t thought about it, so you don’t get good information. Or you send them a survey in the mail, it sits on their desk for a while until they finally decide it’s junk and it makes its way into the recycle bin.

To get good information you have to reach your prospect when they are thinking, “wouldn’t it be really great if company X provided this service!” Of course you represent company X.

When they come to this realization it might be when they are reading your email. Or it might be when they are visiting your blog. Or it might be when they are on your site looking to make a purchase. Or, if you really planned things well, it will be when they are getting a regular email communication from you.

However it is that your customer or prospect is thinking about you is not relevant to this article. What is important is that when they are thinking about you, that you provide them a way to give you the feedback you need.

How about using an online survey tool? We often use Survey Monkey. It’s quite easy to create small surveys and there’s no cost for the basic level of service. To see an example of a free survey, here’s one I created that has only a single question…

Click here to take survey.

Go ahead, click on the link. As long as you’re there you might as well complete the survey. I’m looking for additional blog topics you might be interested in. Contribute your ideas and see them come to life right here!

Besides collecting new ideas your survey could ask about a user’s experience on your site, what do they like or dislike? It could introduce them to a new service and help you refine some preferences before you release it. It could even allow you to discover what people think of certain price points. How you use a survey is only limited by your own imagination.

(ignore this text: VAWKF4G8J2KG)

“Natural” Linking to Your Website?

Website Tips, Website Traffic 6 Responses »

Oct 292009

When discussing methods of driving traffic to your website someone will undoubtedly say that you need to build “natural links” to your site. What are natural links? And is natural linking really natural?

Let’s start by taking a look at what natural linking is. Basically it is linking to your site that occurs naturally. Duh, pretty straight forward. But consider that to capture those natural links your website will have to have has some really great content. It’s got to be buzz-worthy enough that other people will want to create links from their site to your site. As search engines visit those sites they see the links to your site. This can help give your site a boost in rankings.

Does that mean there is only one way to get natural links? Pretty much, yes. You must create really good, or at least desirable, content! Your website has to be something that others will want to share. If it is an amazing site, and it stands out among the others, you might have a winner that generates natural linking in a natural way.

Consider for a moment what natural linking looks like. The best type of example may be obtained by looking at a rather popular website such as Twitter. As I am writing this article a search at Yahoo reveals that there are nearly 6 million pages linking to twitter.com, just the home page, not all the user pages. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the actual results page. Near the top you will see a button with “Inlinks” shown. This is the number of pages that Yahoo says are pointing to the site.

So there are, quite literally, millions of links coming into Twitter’s website. You can imagine all of those links creating a high quality, very broad, natural linking system. People set up the links because they find value in Twitter, not because Twitter is enticing anyone to do so. That’s natural linking.

The problem is that most website content is not good enough for natural linking to occur. When people start to realize that their site sucks then they start to talk about “getting more natural linking.” Unfortunately, an intentional act to capture search engine attention will never look like natural linking. Whether they use link exchanges, link farms, or circular linking, it won’t look natural to the search engines which have algorithms to detect such methods.

What does this mean for you? What if you truly do need more incoming links for your site. Well, do the second best thing: start promoting your site. See if you can find some other sites that will link directly to your site without a link in return. Perhaps comment on blogs in your industry.

Also, when you do link to your site don’t always go to the home page. There must be something valuable elsewhere on your site. Back in the Twitter example, if you look at the links coming to any page within their site, there are over 166 million. That means less than 4% of the links to twitter.com actually go to the home page. You can learn from this too!

But the most important lesson remains… create great content! If you do that, then your linking efforts will result in other people seeing your site and deciding to link to yours “naturally.”

By the way, you can follow Jeff on Twitter too. Oops, now’s there’s another link going to twitter.com.

Drive Traffic with Your Corporate Blog

Website Traffic No Responses »

Oct 162009

“Why don’t I get good website traffic?” “Is something wrong with my website?” “Do I have to spend more money?” “Is there something I can do that won’t cost much?” “I know that if people actually got to our website, it would sell for us.”

Maybe you’ve had some of these thoughts regarding the poor performance of your own website. You wouldn’t be the only one thinking this way.

So what is a good next step to help improve your results?

Having been in the internet business for nearly 15 years, it’s quite normal to see business owners and executives floundering to understand what to do. So don’t feel bad. After-all the internet is not your business. Your business is your business! You shouldn’t be expected to keep up like those of us on the inside.

It’s interesting now though. A number of pieces have come together which make the next step more obvious than ever before. If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to get a blog!

In the past I have suggested that blogging would be a waste of time for a serious business. Who would want to read the rantings of your business? And, perhaps more importantly, who in your business would have the time to post blog articles that aren’t getting read? It all seemed so worthless.

Well, times have changed! Now, blogs are generally accepted. People like the casual nature of the information provided. Even search engines love the information (hey, it’s mostly text so it’s easy for them) and therefore look quite favorably on blog sites.

What can you expect if you jump on the blog bandwagon? You’ll discover 3 solid benefits:

Higher Organic Search Rankings!
When you post articles on a regular basis and you use relevant search keywords, the search engines will reward your blog with higher positions in natural search engine results.
Drive Traffic with More Page Views!
When web surfers find your blog, you’ll get more traffic to your sales site as well. Increased traffic to your website translates to increased awareness and increased sales!
Additional Credibility with Both Prospects and Customers!
As your site visitors read your blog they will become more aware that you are an expert in your field. As a result, your prospects and existing customers will consider you, your products, and your services as highly credible. All that is left is for you to close the deal.

These are not the only benefits, but you’ll probably agree that if we stop here we’ve already got some good reasons in support of blogs.

So what do you do next? I recommend you get a corporate blog. Just click that link to get started. Our “Start My New Blog” offering is designed with the quality you expect from Comstar along with a price that is very economical!

Let’s get some more traffic to your site…

Solving a Form Security Issue

Website Tips No Responses »

Oct 092009

You may or may not realize that we develop websites and host them for our clients. What I’m about to tell you comes from that expertise.

Over the past few months we’ve noticed a security issue that has become a major concern. If you have your own website, you should be aware that SPAM Bots and Form Bots have been developed that are intended to compromise your site.

What am I talking about? What are SPAM Bots and Form Bots? What do they do?

Well, let me define what these bots are. SPAM Bots and Form Bots are automated computer programs that exploit website vulnerabilities.

Spambots have been around the longest. They search for text email addresses within your site. They are attempting to harvest the data and add those addresses to their catalogs so they can send you more junk!

Formbots look for forms within your site, often found on Contact Us, Request-a-Quote, or Blog Posting pages of your website. They typically use automated means to fill in your forms and submit them so that you get junk messages.

Once a spambot has your email address you are likely to get a deluge of spam email sent to every address listed within your website. Over the past few years spam filters have gotten better at blocking this type of junk. Formbots on the other hand are starting to become a greater nuisance.

Since formbots are filling out the forms on your website, and the data that comes from those forms is likely to be delivered directly to you without being filtered, the perpetrators have found a way to create a flood of messages that can clog your inbox. The spam is actually being generated on your own site!

In November 2008 a major SPAM network was shut down. Yet from January 2009 through June 2009, SPAM volumes have risen over 60%. Yikes, the junk just continues to grow! Interestingly over 75% of SPAM originates from only five major Bot Networks.

So, let’s say you’ve already got your email spam filtering in place (if you don’t, we can help with that too), now what? How can you stop spam coming from your website? The answer is actually rather simple. Make sure every form includes a CAPTCHA code!

A what??? CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. By installing CAPTCHA on your website it will:

Perform and grade a test that only humans can pass, not automated Form Bots
Verify that a submitted form is from a human or disallow submission
Remove vulnerabilities to manipulation by automated software
Reduce the number of “false-leads” generated by your website
Keep your company’s inquiry inbox from being flooded by fake submissions

Take a look to the right. I’ve posted an example of a CAPTCHA code inserted into a form:

The goal of this is to assure that only humans can successfully submit forms. A formbot can try. It can fill out the rest of the form. But when it gets to the code, it will fill this field with junk too. The junk won’t match the code so the programming can prevent the form delivery. Nice!

At Comstar we recommend that you install CAPTCHA code on all of your online forms. If you can do it, great. If you need help, let us know. Even if we did not create your site we might be able to help fix it. If we originally developed your site we can retrofit it with CAPTCHA for a low cost.

Click here for Comstar’ s contact information.

List Building Club – Review

Product Recommendations No Responses »

Sep 242009

Whether your business is online or offline, virtual or brick and mortar, one of your biggest assets is your customer and prospect list. Don’t get me wrong, simply having a list does not create value. Copying names out of a phone book doesn’t create value. Buying a list from a list broker doesn’t create value.

Having a list of people who have already responded to you and your business by their request, in a positive manner is priceless. These are the people to whom you can sell your products or services, perhaps over and over again!

In the offline world, prospect lists can be created by advertising to get people to call or visit your business. When they appear, it’s important to keep track of who they are. In the online world, the process is similar, but if structured correctly your prospects identify themselves and make themselves open to your offers. How exciting is that!

So how can you learn about building a solid prospect list online? Join the ListBuilding Club.

The ListBuilding Club includes a course that provides excellent instruction and growth for new, intermediate, and even advanced internet marketers. Learning is provided in step-by-step videos, written articles, and audios. Whatever your learning style, there’s something for you.

Even new internet marketers who don’t have a business idea will benefit because training begins with assistance in finding a niche, buying a domain name, and setting up a hosting account. From here the lessons move into building blog to help enhance your prospect list. You’re setup and ready to go within the first 5 lessons!

Besides access to the lessons you can also take part in a “Marathon” call every month where staff members answer questions about nagging issues you might be experiencing in your businesses. Every member of the ListBuilding Club, regardless of their membership level, is invited to join in this call.

Members can also ask questions in a web-based discussion forum. There your questions will be answered by other members and Listbuilding Club ambassadors. This is especially exciting for me since I am one of the LBC ambassadors. So, by joining the listbuilding club you’ll get personal access to me and my nearly 15 years of internet experience! This, in addition to all the other ListBuilding Club benefits.

For intermediate marketers, there are tutorials on different forms of traffic, on creating a product, and on using social media to its best advantage. There are also “Website Spotlight” calls where three to five club members’ websites are critiqued by members of the staff.

If you’re an experienced marketer, needing more specific advice from those with the greatest level of experience, you might enjoy ListBuilding 4-1-1. With this premium level of service you get all the other benefits plus access to an exclusive video discussion forum. You can ask a question every day and, within 24 hours, you’ll have an answer in video format from a member of the staff.

The ListBuilding Club memberships start at a mere $97 per month (but you can sample it for free, read on). With all of the materials available, the calls, the forums, and access to other experts (myself included), it’s quite a bargain.

There is so much helpful information available to you as a member, that a potential downside is information overload. I always recommend that new members start with lesson 1 and follow in order. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Of course if you’re stuck you can always post a message on the discussion forum and we’ll be there to help you out.

The ListBuilding Club is well worth the money. You could certainly spend a lot more on several different products and never get the quality or quantity available inside the club. If you’re looking to move your business forward online, consider the ListBuilding Club.

Click the banner below for a free trial…

I look forward to seeing you on the other side.

Business Blog Questions

Website Traffic 1 Response »

Aug 142009

I’d like to take a few minutes to answer some questions about blogs. I received a number of questions since my post on blogs as well as to a blog-related email we recently sent out to our contact list.

1. “Jeff, haven’t you previously said that blogs are not for serious business?”

Well, yes I did. I even mentioned that mentality in the earlier blog article. Back in the day, a blog was seemingly and overhyped way for people to express themselves. Why would any business need such a thing unless someone just needed to have their ego stroked? “Hey look I wrote this great article that anyone can see!” Since no one would really care, there would be no point.

But, like many things in the internet industry, times change. Blogs became mainstream. People who are researching businesses like to read what is being said. Search engines love to have good content to work with so rankings can be pretty high. Without a corporate blog, your business is at a disadvantage.

Heck for some businesses it might make sense for a blog to be the primary website. For new businesses, a blog can also be a low-cost method of entry into the web.

Keep in mind that a blog does require updates. Unlike a static website, people do expect blogs to change, for new information to appear. That means someone has to be willing and able to update. Fortunately the process is easy, technically. So all that is really needed is an ability and desire to write.

2. “Why is the cost of a blog so inexpensive?”

You know Comstar for custom website solutions and you have probably realized that we’re rarely the low cost provider. (Designing a site with your business in mind takes more effort than can be accomplished cheaply.) However, we can keep our blog pricing low for several reasons:

We can use a lot of tools and templates that already exist to speed up the development process.
The design of the blog is less important than the content so we can reduce design effort.
You are providing the content on your schedule.
We believe it is so important to have a blog that we are lowering the barriers to entry, helping to make it a no-brainer decision for you.
We don’t want you to wait until the price goes up, we want you to get started now.

3. “What’s more important, SEO or a blog?”

Well, that depends. They can really work well together. Search Engine Optimization of a website helps make that site appear more favorable to the search engines. A blog creates another entry point to your business. Assuming you already have a “sales site” you would want the blog to point to it. That creates additional links to your site. Search engines like this too. And, if you can provide interesting information in your blog you might attract others to link to your blog, thus more incoming links for the search engines to follow. So, ideally you would consider both.

If you say that you can only do one things, SEO or have a blog, then consider budget and time. At Comstar our blog price is less than the cost of SEO. But with a blog we set it up and train you to do the work. With SEO we are doing the work month after month. Got money and no time, go with SEO. Have time, but less money, go with the blog. Want to give your business the best benefit, do both! And also consider SEO for your blog.

4. “How soon can the blog be up and running?”

How fast are you willing to go? Generally we can have the site up within a week, sometimes less. While we’re putting the site up you should take some time to think about blog articles. They don’t have to be complex. Pretend you are having a conversation with a client or prospect. What would they want to know? What would you like them to know? Answer those questions with a paragraph or two and you’re all set!

Now that I’ve answered your questions, are you ready to get started? If so, go on over to www.startmynewblog.com.

Improve Your Site Traffic and Conversion

Website Conversion, Website Tips, Website Traffic No Responses »

Jul 302009

What does it take to increase your online success? Traffic to your site? Sure, that’s part of it. But it doesn’t guarantee success. What if your site sucks? You could get more traffic than any other site in the world, but if the site doesn’t convert it’s not doing you any good!

OK, then it must be conversion. Well, that’s part of it too. What if you have the best converting site in the world, but no one ever goes there? It still doesn’t do you any good!

So, to get more business you actually need more traffic and more conversions.

We just published a new page to our blog today. It has 10 free traffic and conversion tips for you to review right now. But don’t stop there. To the right of our blog articles you’ll find a sign-up form. You can sign up for additional emails from me. I’ll immediately send you a report of 21 Traffic and Conversion Tips, expanding greatly on the 10 shown here in the blog. You’ll get good action steps to take to start improving your results right away.

Then I’ll follow up with another report about a day later. After that I’ll keep you up-to-date with other information related to traffic and conversion. I think you’ll enjoy the quality of information you’ll receive. Try it out. It’s free. If you don’t like what I have to say, then simply click the cancel link that I include in every message.

Start a Business Blog

Website Tips, Website Traffic No Responses »

Jul 202009

It seems that there is a lot of talk about blogs these days. Like many other topics in the internet realm, the buzz changes over time.

In the beginning of this phase, the blog was seen as a way for people to express themselves. This gave them an opportunity to stroke their own egos whether or not anyone else was paying attention.

For a long time at our company we recommended businesses not pursue blogs. Afterall, they do require updates so some thought had to be given to how this would be handled. And who would really want to read the blogs anyway? Why take up time if no one is looking?

Well, times have changes. There is still a buzz about blogs, but the importance has shifted, and for good reason. It turns out that “someone” is reading blogs. That “someone” is a search engine. In general, search engines consider blog content to be quality content. Since it’s mostly text, it is easy for search engines to figure out the subject matter and index appropriately.

As the search engines rank blogs high, the links on the blog are rated well too. If you have a link to your sales site on a blog site, you can get traffic from the blog visitors as well as a boost in rankings at the search engine.

Now we recommend blogs for most businesses. The benefits outweigh the effort involved. Want to know how to get started quickly and easily, without needing technical knowledge, and for not much money?

Here’s my best tip of the day… Visit www.startmynewblog.com. Within a few days you can have your own business blog up and running and driving traffic to your sales site.

Welcome to Comstar’s first blog

Website Tools No Responses »

Oct 162008

Hello,

Thanks for visiting Comstar’s blog. Check back as we provide good information about website design, internet marketing, search engine optimization, and other topics that help move your business forward online.

Newer Entries

Jeffrey Kirk

Getting Customer Feedback

“Natural” Linking to Your Website?

Drive Traffic with Your Corporate Blog

Solving a Form Security Issue

Business Blog Questions

Improve Your Site Traffic and Conversion

Start a Business Blog

Welcome to Comstar’s first blog

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Jeffrey Kirk

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