Bad Customer Reviews Could Boost Your Biz

In the past we’ve written about online review sites like Yelp, and how you should not only pay attention to them, but interact with the customers on them to effectively handle complaints and gain valuable feedback about your business.

But what about actually allowing customers to review your products and services on your site, or better yet, soliciting reviews to be seen on your site by everyone who visits?  Amazon pioneered this practice over a decade ago, but since then many others have mimicked the behavior with impressive results.  But is it possible that even not so positive reviews can help your sales? Continue Reading…

Are Small Business Lines of Credit Shrinking?

There is no question that the country has been mired in economic turmoil over the past year.  Despite the conditions, the market is still filled with entrepreneurs looking to launch a business and small business owners looking for a way to get ahead. Many of these individuals (including some of our readers) will be looking for assistance in the form of loans to get off the ground or expand.

In the past, the logical source for these funds would be to turn to the country’s banking institutions; however the loan market for small businesses is quickly drying up. According to a recent CNN Money article, the Small Business Administration’s primary loan program has seen an 80% decrease in loans from 6,100 in FY 2008 to 1,250 during the 2009 fiscal calendar (see lending chart on the right). Continue Reading…

Look Into linkedIn, It Could Help

We’ve talked a lot about different social media sites and what they can do for your small business, but I wanted to highlight one that often goes overlooked: LinkedIn. LinkedIn is an organized network of professionals from around the globe and over 170 industries. Using LinkedIn allows individuals to find, be introduced to, and collaborate with other qualified professionals that they need to work with to accomplish their goals. Today LinkedIn has over 50 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world. Continue Reading…

Sales Referrals With Great Customer Service

This guest post is part of our ongoing Small Business Perspective series, and is written by Monique Wakefield, owner of Paws-n-Tails in Dallas, TX.

Some people are reluctant to go to someone new without having some information about them first. Putting yourself in the customer’s shoes, ask yourself if you would you rather go with a brand you know a lot about or one that you have never heard of. If you think about it, all the great brands have had at least two things going for them: 1) a great ad campaign; and 2) people generally say good things about, or otherwise endorse the brand. Continue Reading…

Don’t Believe the Rumors… eBay is Still a Great Place to Sell

The following guest post is brought to us by the Internet Marketing Center,  which can be found at: www.internetmarketing.com

If you’re active on eBay you’ve undoubtedly seen a bunch of changes over the last couple of years, and if you’re new to the site, you might be wondering what all the eBay furor is about!

Well, it all comes down to eBay wanting to keep its policies and methods current to ensure ongoing profitability and growth. eBay recognizes that their success centers around keeping their customers (buyers AND sellers) happy, so recent changes to how the marketplace runs has been an attempt to balance satisfaction between both buyers and sellers (no small feat!). Continue Reading…