Odin Collie

Twitter was created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey. It has gained extensive notability and popularity worldwide. It is often described as the “SMS of Internet”.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Twitter extremely valuable to any e-commerce site.

Simplicity has played an important role in Twitter’s success. People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that simple.

Online business

Most people shop online for convenience rather than customer service. And while inroads have been made into providing better customer service online, the personal aspect is often still missing. It’s the ability to have conversations with customers that makes Twitter extremely valuable to any e-commerce site.

Ø      Listen to Your Customers

One of the best things about twitter is that it gives you a readymade platform, in which the online business can directly communicate with its customers; listen to their feedback & demands. Brick-and-mortar retailers have the benefit of physical presence of their customers when they are making purchases. But, e-commerce merchants may be unaware of customer problems or questions unless they are contacted directly or worse, if the customer publishes a complaint online. With Twitter, an e-commerce business can monitor what people are saying about its brand and products and respond with assistance.

A Paydex is a score given to a business by Dun & Bradstreet.

Dun & Bradstreet is a businesses credit reporting agency. They collect information on and sell reports and credit scores for every business almost everywhere in the world. The credit score given by Dun & Bradstreet to show how timely a business pays his bills is called a Paydex score.

Dun & Bradstreet collect this information from banks credit agencies and businesses both on the national and local levels. They gather and manipulate this information to compile reports on which businesses pay or don’t pay their vendors on time.

The higher your Paydex score is, the better your payment history is with Dun & Bradstreet. If you’re Paydex is 80 or higher you have a phenomenal business credit score and should have no problem getting approved by vendors for lines of credit, credit cards, loans and equipment for your business. (Age and other factors play a role, but from a computer generated approval for example, on small ticket purchases, you should not have a problem.)

Let’s pick an example.

Say I want a line of credit with the Home Depot. I go to the store or online to their website-and then go to the business credit card tool. I then choose the revolving business credit line. After entering all the information they request someone from Home Depot’s credit department will take a look at my business credit file. While my file might be fairly new or empty or activity, there are certain things they will want to see to make sure that this request for credit is coming from a legitimate business and not from a half hatched, home based, Italian ice selling enterprise.  Read more...

With the recession gathering steam, 2009 looks to be a tough year for small businesses.  Belt-tightening on marketing budgets is a natural reflex in these situations.  However, it would be a huge mistake for small businesses to shut down marketing in a recession because marketing is essential to surviving a downturn.  And fortunately, there are effective marketing activities that can be conducted for little or no cost to help keep your sales alive.

Marketing promotion doesn’t have to cost a bundle to yield results.  Some of the most effective marketing activities are inexpensive and require little more than investing your time to make them work for your business.

Here are five inexpensive marketing activities a small business can perform to keep existing customers coming back while creating new ones:

1.  Fine-tune your Website.  Go over your site from the perspective of a first-time visitor.  Are visitors able to quickly discern what your site is about and why they should do business with your company? You typically have only ten seconds to capture their interest!   Is the site easy to navigate – can visitors readily find what they are looking for?  If your business is selling online, is the purchase process simple to use and fool-proof?  Do you offer complementary items for sale during the checkout stage?  And finally, have you at least performed basic search engine optimization by including meta, alt and header tags, as well as populating your page titles and textual content with keywords relevant to each page?  If that sounds like gibberish to you, check out sites like www.WilsonWeb.com to get helpful non-techie site tuning tips.  Take an hour or so to perform an audit of your Website – it will ultimately yield big returns for your business!  Read more...

Talapia is often a farm-raised fish that is related to the carp. It grows best in water temperatures that exceed 82 degrees (F). For consumer purposes Talapia is generally fed a vegetarian diet high in corn products. Because Talapia is so prolific the fish can be sold cheaply. Consumers who want a healthier food choice will view this fish as a solid alternative. The warning is that this fish is low in Omega 3 fatty acids and high in Omega 6. Health professionals view this as potentially problematic. High levels of Omega 6 can be a source of difficulty for those with heart problems. High levels of Omega 6 can also cause inflammation.

There are a wide variety of pharmaceuticals that are introduced and later pulled from the market or made to carry rather lengthy disclaimers that list side effects – some include death.

This is an article about online marketing so let’s try to put some marketing perspective on the above two scenarios.

Almost every product has a downside. You won’t find many business websites that will concentrate on the real or perceived negatives related to the product being sold. They will bullet point the positives. They will feature testimonials from those who had a positive experience using the product.

If you can’t or won’t point out the positives in your online business then you are essentially pointing your potential customers to the back button. You will need to focus on the quality of the product, the aspects of personal convenience and positive cost comparisons to reach out to customers.  Read more...

Companies may need to bring a consultant on board for an array of different reasons. Maybe they need expertise or specialized knowledge they don’t currently have, or they may have the correct resources, but these resources are busy with other projects, or involved in the day-to-day business operations. Other reasons may be the need for an outside, fresh set of eyes and ears, or the need for objective advice, confidentiality of a particular decision or initiative. The need may also be prompted by an emergency that requires immediate action.

Here are some guidelines for the qualities you should look for in a business consultant:

1. Experience in the particular field or area you need help with: Depending on the nature of the problem and the expected solutions, a consultant with 15-20 years of experience will give you the best chance of success. Ask if the consultant has actually worked in your industry, or in the problem area you are trying to address.

2. After the initial interview with the consultant, you should come away with the distinct belief that the consultant had listened carefully to your problem statement, understood the problem, and was not quick to jump to an answer or a conclusion.

3. Does the consultant have the right chemistry to work with your partners and employees? The last thing you want to do is to choose a god consultant that will cause one or more of your good employees to leave. Did you feel that the consultant cares about your busienss, your people, and your money?  Read more...