Deliver Better Customer Service

Delivering excellent customer service need not tie you up in knots. Here are 6 ways to quickly and easily upgrade your customer service:

Target a Niche

Occupying a niche means you won't be competing with a lot of similar businesses solely on price. And because you will be selling products and services that are customized to the specific needs and predispositions of a select group of people, you can often charge more. Your products and services serve a market that can't easily find alternatives.

Connect with Your Community

Take a page from the original premium ice cream mavens Ben & Jerry. The original scoop shop became a community favorite thanks to its rich ice cream and creative flavors. Ben and Jerry also made it a point to connect with the community, hosting a free film festival and giving away free scoops on the first anniversary of the store, a tradition that still continues. In 1980, the duo began making pints to sell to local grocers. In 1981, they expanded this operation. More inspiration from Ben & Jerry.

Create a "Red Velvet Rope" Policy

The book Book Yourself Solid argues that it's essential for freelancers and consultants to create a "Red Velvet Rope" and be very selective about working with clients. Author Michael Port believes that having only "star clients" that inspire and energize your work will help you do the caliber of work that will help you attract more star clients. The solution is to separate your clients into three groups -- duds, mid-range and stars. Cut loose your dud clients, and decide if you can develop your mid-range clients into stars. Within the book is a series of exercises on deciding what exactly constitutes a "star" client for you.

Understand Your Customer Experience from the Inside

"Hire a secret shopper service to go through your customer experience periodically. Have customers complete surveys about shopping experiences. Have employees identify themselves by name (on the phone) and with badges (in person) so customers can remember them. And don't just spy on your employees. Reward great service and retrain those who aren't delivering it," writes Mitchell York. For other ways to keep customers coming back.

Whip your Employees into Shape

Mitchell York reports the following: "My client's company has two floors in an office building, and reception is on the 3rd floor. His customer decided she'd like to see where her millions of dollars in purchases are going, so she made an appointment to visit. She went directly to the floor my client is on, the 2nd floor. When she arrived, there was no receptionist, because she was on the wrong floor (even though my client instructed her to go to reception on the 3rd floor). She roamed the halls and cubicles. No one got up from their desk to say, "May I help you?" It wasn't their job. Needless to say, this million-dollar customer wasn't very happy when she finally tracked down my client."

Get Digital

Columbia Business School's David Rogers writes: "From smartphones to social networks, today's digital tools are helping your customers connect, create, and interact with each other on a global scale. This is changing your customers' relationships with each other, and with every business, no matter the size or industry. In the past, businesses relied on a broadcast model to influence customers with mass marketing, projected out one-way, to as many consumers as possible. To succeed today, businesses need a network model, one that takes advantage of customers' ability to engage, interact, and even collaborate with your organization and each other."

Niche Market

A niche market is a focused, targetable portion of a market.

By definition, then, a business that focuses on a niche market is addressing a need for a product or service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers. You can think of a niche market as a narrowly defined group of potential customers.

For instance, instead of offering cleaning services, a business might establish a niche market by specializing in blind cleaning services.

Why should you bother to establish a niche market? Because of the great advantage of being alone there; other small businesses may not be aware of your particular niche market, and large businesses won't want to bother with it.

The trick to capitalizing on a niche market is to find or develop a market niche that has customers who are accessible, that is growing fast enough, and that is not owned by one established vendor already. See How to Find and Master a Niche Market for more information.

Bloggers

Most bloggers wish they had more time.

If you've been thinking about launching your first product, creating a newsletter, starting a podcast, or any other big project for your blog, you might be putting it off until you've got more time.

Often, though, you need to make the time life has a way of being busy.

One method I really like is the one Darren Rowse used to create his first product (an ebook for his site Digital Photography School). In How to Make Your Blogging Dreams Come True, he writes:

As I was time poor, I decided to get up 15 minutes earlier every day to create the eBook. I would have rather been able to set aside a week or two to work solidly on it but I had blogs to run and a newborn baby at home. I had some major sleep deprivation already so figured 15 minutes less sleep a day wouldn't hurt! It wasn't the ideal way to write – but it allowed me to start.

15 minutes might not seem like much … but if you focus 100% on your project during that time, you might be surprised what you accomplish.

You could try one (or more!) of these:

    Getting up 15 minutes early, like Darren did.
    Using 15 minutes of your lunch break at work.
    Working for 15 minutes straight after coming home, or before dinner.
    Spending the first 15 minutes of your day on your project at weekends.

I know how tempting it is to wait for a free weekend or several hours to really crack on with your project … but the "little and often" approach often means you actually get faster results, as your project doesn't get put off month after month.

Does Your Blog Make New Visitors Feel Welcome?

If you've been running your blog for a while, especially if you have a loyal following of long-term readers, it's easy not to think much about new visitors.

But of course, if you want your blog to grow, you need to cater for newcomers. They need to feel welcome – not excluded by loads of in-jokes, or confused about what's happening on your blog.

These four tips should help you strike a good balance, so that visitors are able to find their way around quickly, but long-term readers don't feel like you're constantly re-explaining the basics.

1: Have an Up-to-Date About Page

Regular readers aren't likely to visit your About page (unless, perhaps, they're blogging about you and want some extra information). Newcomers, though, will often head there on their first visit.

If your About page is clearly out of date, it's not going to create a good impression. And even if new visitors don't realise that you've not updated it in months (or even years!), old information is unlikely to help them understand your blog and feel at home.

2: Explain Series of Posts

If you're part-way through an ongoing series of posts, it's easy to assume that everyone has read the previous posts in the series and knows what's happening. But if someone comes to your blog for the first time, they may well end up beginning half-way through the series.

This is why it's always a good idea to include an introductory line or two at the top of your series posts (you can see how we did this for each of the Writing Clinic posts).

3: Make it Easy to Subscribe

If someone new enjoys your blog, they may well want to subscribe to read more. Make sure it's as easy as possible for them to do so. This means:

    Including a link to your RSS feed (could be an icon or a link).
    Including the option to subscribe by email – unless your readers are quite techy, you'll find most people prefer this.

Some new visitors may be quite new to blogs in general, so give clear instructions on how to subscribe. You may want to avoid using the word "subscribe" as people might think it means they'll have to pay.

4: Have an Uncluttered Sidebar

Most new visitors will arrive on an individual blog post, not on the home page of your site. So even if you have a static homepage that acts as an introduction to you and your blog, it's important that your sidebar helps them find what they're likely to be looking for.

It's up to you what you include, but you'll at least want to consider:

    A short "About" section.
    A list of blog categories.
    A list of top posts.

Take a look at your blog today. What one thing could you do to make it more welcoming to new visitors? Let us know in the comments.

How to Write Your Last Blog Post

What?! How to write your last blog post?

You've probably read plenty about writing your first blog post or your first guest post, but not that much on writing your last one.

There are hundreds of new blogs being launched every day and an almost equal number of blogs being shut down as well.

This is just the nature of blogging.

There are many reasons why you might want to shut down your blog, and only a handful of them equal failure. We'll go through them briefly, and then we'll focus on what would make a great last post for a blog that is no longer going to be continued.

Why Bloggers Shut Blogs Down

1: Blog Relaunch Under a New Brand

A once very popular blog, Think Traffic, is no longer with us. Some of its content – the top posts with the most impact – have been re-purposed for a new creation – the Sparkline blog – but the main blog is, by all means, nonexistent.

This was a simple relaunch to strengthen the new primary product of Corbett Barr's – Fizzle. Although I have not much insider knowledge here, as far as I can tell, nothing negative caused the move.

2: A New Business Model

One of the more popular career shifts for bloggers is freelancing. You might well enjoy writing for someone else's blog on a freelance basis just as much (or even more!) than having your own blog.

Since many bloggers struggle to monetize their blogs, taking more and more freelance work is a very attractive concept.

Some "A list" bloggers do this too. For example, in an interview at the Bidsketch blog, Kristi Hines of Kikolani reveals that most of her work time is devoted to freelancing for clients. She still posts on Kikolani, but usually only once or twice a month.

3: A Change of Direction

Another reason for waving your blog goodbye is taking an entirely different direction with your offering. This happens a lot with company blogs, and there's no reason to be hush hush about it.

For example, if you go to wibiya.conduit.com  which was one of the more popular marketing blogs by Conduit – you can see that the only thing that's left is a cool graphic celebrating their former blog.

The blog itself, however, not only doesn't exist anymore under the old brand, but from the looks of things, the content hasn't been repurposed anywhere (like with Think Traffic / Sparkline). This is an example of a company taking an entirely different direction with their content marketing and blogging efforts.

4: The Blog Isn't Getting Results

Of course, sometimes a blog gets shut down because the results it brings are not that great. Hopefully you're not in this situation … and to prevent it from happening, make sure to check this list of 33 ways to instant blogging failure.

Now, let's get back to your last post.

Of course, you can simply leave your blog like it is now – abandon it, like panda moms sometimes abandon their cubs – but that's not a great solution. It could confuse or even worry your readers (they might think something terrible's happened to you), and it doesn't help you pave the way for future projects.

Say What's Going On

This is the most intuitive thing to do. Essentially, people love stories, so sharing your own is a good idea. Tell your supportive readers what has led you to shutting down the blog.

Get as deep into this (or not) as you want. Make it comfortable for you. And even more importantly, make it comfortable to read.

The best idea would be to start with a strong headline that indicates what's happening. There are many possibilities, for instance:

Thank You, Goodbye!

My Last Blog Post

It's Been a Hell of a Ride

Final Post at Domain.com

We're Shutting This Joint Down!

Changing Directions, Here's What's Coming

Say Thank You

Since your readers have been with you for some time, it's a nice gesture to thank them for sticking with your blog.

If there are some people in particular you'd like to point out, this is a good moment to do it. They might be guest bloggers, regular commenters, or fellow bloggers who've helped you alogn the way.

Say What's Next

There are many ways to shut down a blog. Some bloggers simply delete the domain, others like to keep it live for a while and others keep it live permanently.

Another thing you'll probably consider is selling the blog on Flippa or trying to pass it on to someone who can get it going and advancing, while you still remain the actual owner.

No matter what you're planning to do, you should explain this to your audience.

Also, say a word or two on what you're going to be doing in the near future. This is the perfect moment to promote any new projects of yours. Unless you're leaving the blogging world completely and for good, there's always something you can share.

Say How to Reach You

Some people will naturally want to remain in contact with you. Link to your social media profiles, new website(s), or give them an email address where they can reach you.

Placing a custom contact form right inside the post isn't a bad idea either.

Summarize Your Blog's Life Cycle

If you feel like it, you can talk about the history of your blog and point out some significant events from the past months or years.

You can list the most important projects you've worked on, mention the times when some major site featured your blog as a case study, or even list your top guest posts (the ones that gave you the most recognition).

This is about talking about all the awesome things that have happened to you and your blog throughout the years, and ending on a positive note.

List Your Best Content

Every blog has its top content. This is a good moment to list it so people can still benefit from it.

You can use whatever benchmark you find suitable. You can look at the traffic the posts have received, the number of comments, or simply pick your favourites.

Listing 10 pieces of content is about right; 20 or 30 is overkill.

Point to Relevant Information Elsewhere

Since your blog is not going to be updated anymore, it's a good idea to point your audience towards other blogs in your niche. This could, of course, include pointing to your own new blog or website if it's going to be on a similar topic.

You can link to your partners, competitors and even relevant YouTube channels, Twitter accounts, etc. This is generous to them and very useful for your readers.

Share One Final Giveaway

This is an interesting thing to do. The goal is to leave people with a good impression of you. And there's no better way of achieving this than by sharing a gift.

It can be anything that makes sense. For instance: coupon codes, your own products, PDF versions of some of your top content, big list of resources in your niche, discounts on your competitors' products (if they agree to provide you with some) and so on.

If you do this right, you'll also get some additional social media publicity. Your readers will naturally share this with their followers … which could provide a great springboard for your next project.

Over to You

The most important takeaway here is that vanishing overnight is not a good way to shut down a blog. You want to quit in style, and end on a high note.

What's your take on this? Be honest, have you ever abandoned a blog just like that overnight? If you close your current blog, what would you do differently? Share your thoughts in the comments…

Bio: Karol K. (@carlosinho) is a blogger, writer, published author, and a team member at Bidsketch. If you do any work as a freelancer (freelance blogger, for example), you can use Bidsketch to send your clients some great looking proposals, which they can review, sign, and send back to you in minutes. Check us out.

 

Google Trends Now Has Email Notifications

First of all if you are not using Google Trends, you should. It's a terrific tool for researching keywords, niches and so on, with the benefit of having a very reliable data source (i.e., Google search).

According to a TechCrunch article now there's one more reason to use the tool: email notifications. Here's a quotation:

However, though Google Trends itself is a real-time data provider, letting you see what people are searching for at this very moment, the subscriptions feature is not always a real-time alerting service. Instead, when you go to create your first subscription for a topic you specify, after selecting the search term and country, you can then set your emails to arrive either "about once a week" or "about once a month." (The company notes that the "how often" designation is only a rough estimate, and will vary between topics and over time.)

In other words, that feature is designed more for keeping up on news you're interested in, by allowing you to more passively receive updates on a fairly regular schedule, but not necessarily getting the information the minute it arrives.

Pretty cool

You basically can subscribe to receive updates about specific topics or keywords, about the update of top charts, to the hot searches and so on.

If nothing else I think you should create some subscriptions for the topics inside your niche to keep up with it.

Is It Realistic to Try to Make Money Blogging?

Many people do make money from blogs, so it's definitely not the case that it can't be done. But of course, there are also a lot of people who start a blog with the hoping of making money  perhaps a full-time income  and who don't succeed. If you're worrying about how realistic your plans are (or if family and friends have raised doubts), here's my take on it.

You Won't Get Something for Nothing

Some people see blogging as a "get rich quick" scheme. They think that they just need to quickly type some content, put it online, promote it on social media, and watch the money roll in.

While some bloggers do appear to succeed overnight, the reality is that you almost always have to work hard to build a successful, money-making blog. (And those "overnight success stories" probably have more to them than you realise.)

You Need Knowledge, Enthusiasm, and Skills

While it's easier than ever to start a blog, that doesn't necessarily mean that just anyone can succeed. I don't want to put you off here  chances are you have everything you need, or can easily acquire it. 

First, you need knowledge about a particular subject or area. Ideally, you'll have at least some of this already  though buying and reading a few good books, and subscribing to four or five top blogs on your topic, will teach you more than most people know.

Second, you need enthusiasm about your chosen subject. Simply picking something you think will make money isn't enough  you really need to be passionate enough to write about this topic for weeks, maybe months, without seeing much reward. 

Third, you need skills related to blogging. During my time as a blogger, I've been surprised just how much I've had to learn in different areas  from technical skills like CSS code to marketing ones like crafting good calls to action.

But Blogs DO Make Money, Every Day

The good news is that your goals are probably realistic. Blogs make money every day  and some make a lot of money.

Every single big name blogger started out where you are. (In fact, you might want to choose one of your favourite bloggers and dig back to some of their earliest posts, or read their story, if they have a page telling you how they got started.) It might take a few months to start making money from your blog, and it could well take a year or more before you're making a full-time income from it  but if you keep learning more about blogging and about your subject area, it's a perfectly realistic idea.

One Clever Guest Posting Trick You Almost Certainly Aren’t Using

Guest posting is a brilliant way to grow your blog.

You'll get new readers (especially when posting on a large blog) and you'll build up a strong relationship with the blog owner.

You may well get invited to guest post again – and you might even end up getting hired to write for the blog, or joining the blogger in a joint venture.

But there's one other big advantage you can get from guest posts … and it's something that a lot of bloggers simply don't know about.

You can strengthen your relationships with your blogging peers (or even with people a little way ahead of you in the blogging world).

Link to other people's content from your guest post. Of course, you're probably already including links to content on the host blog (to make your guest post more attractive to the editor) – and you might be including one or two links to your own content, if it's highly relevant. But not all host blogs will allow links to your own site. Plus, you may well find that you don't have a post that's perfect to link to.This is where blogging peers come in. Chances are, someone else in your niche has written a post that you can quote from or link to in yours.

When your guest post goes live, that blogger will get a pingback about the link. (Or, if you prefer, you could email them to let them know you linked to them.) If you're guest posting on a big blog, this link is great for their SEO – and it may well send them a rush of traffic. It's a fantastic way to lend a hand to a fellow blogger … and start, or build, a great relationship with them.