If you have spent years building your brand or you successfully outperformed your competitors you will need to monitor the correspondence concerning your company. It only takes one “sour” customer to complain and send your business in a downward spiral. Some nasty competitors may also smear your name in more ways than one. What can you do to stay on top of the communication?
Subscribe to Google alerts for any name that has to do with your company. Google will send you an email when your brand is mentioned anywhere on the web. Submit your blog to Technorati. It is the largest blog search engine on the internet. Technorati tracks user reactions or blogs that link to yours. You can subscribe to RSS alerts so you are notified when someone blogs about you.
There are many tools that will alert you when your company name is posted in blog comments or the social media space. If people cite your name on blog posts, you will know immediately and be able to combat the message, if need be. Friendfeed is an aggregation tool that will allow you to pool all of the social media websites together into a single feed and search based on your inputted keywords.
I cannot stress to you enough the importance of preserving your brand. One poor comment can do a lot of damage. Whether you hire someone or do the tasks yourself, reputation monitoring is a must if you want to keep your brand message alive.
How impressive is your website?
When your website pops up in an internet user’s window, what comes to their mind? Are they surprised, endeared or compelled to leave? You will need to know the answers to these questions and adjust your design as needed to compel visitors to stay and look around. The first impression is the most important. If your visitor is not impressed, they will visit the millions of other websites just like yours on the web.
What makes your website stand out from the other ones? You must develop a unique design or personal message. I personally like SEOmoz. Their blog has a simple design but their buttons and logos are catchy and they do not change throughout the site. There is not a lot of distraction to confuse people. Streamline your site so that all modules are evident and your message is clear. Do not clog your site with chaotic advertisements or flashy banners. They are a turnoff and users will not stay as a result.
Include a personal picture or logo on the template of your site so people will see it regardless of the page in which they land. Inject an emotional feel so they will relate to your words and desire to find out more about you and your company. Offer a method of contact which is easy to see so visitors know you are a real person.
Remember that quality and excellence will take your website a long way. Focus your effort on streamlining your site for the minds of your visitors and watch your bounce rate go down and your return on investment go way up.