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We’re All A La Carte Baby!

I had a client tell me the other day that I needed to create a web design and AdWords package all rolled into one on top of offering my Quick Launch website pricing with all custom design features for his needs.  Well, packaging sometimes can be good, but every business person should evaluate what packages make sense for their business first.

For us, we are niche suppliers. My firm specializes in organic placement and the creation of Web Authority websites. That means, great website design full of SEO built from the ground up and content rich. You will pay for this kind of website truthfully, but with nearly nine years of experience we know our stuff! Our typical client will spend about $4,000 to $5,500 for the initial website and then continue to add content and enhancements to it over time. At around the end of one year, we typically will have excellent organic placement on Google and a marketing machine built for the client that is propelling their business forward.

Many clients will tie the original design work in with our blogging services, article marketing, and Google AdWords services after the website is launched. However initially rarely do we sell all items as a package together. I really feel that I want to see what is needed after the site is launched before we recommend the next step.

I have long felt that the best approach for businesses is to allow them to “cherry pick” our service offering based on what their needs are and their budget is. I have rarely created big packages as I feel that each client is different and each persons need is different. We want to help the client make great decisions not based on a package we sell, but based on where they can get the most “bang for their buck”.

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Does Arrogance Come With Success

This is a question that I have been pondering. Does arrogance come with success? Possibly arrogance will lead to your downfall. My husband and I have a private joke… we call business arrogance the “Waldorf Mentality”.

We’ve lived in several different states over the years – Ohio, Florida, Texas, and now Maryland. When we moved to Maryland just outside the DC area we were amazed at how unfriendly the people in the area were in comparison to the other places that we have lived. We’ve lived here now over 10 years and our perception has not changed. In fact, as we have chatted with other transplants, we’ve found that they share our viewpoint.

I am not sure whether it is a “clannish” kind of Southern Maryland thing, where natives have never lived anywhere else and feel that the unfriendliness and outright rudeness sometimes is the norm, but it can be shocking to say the least. For the two of us, we call it the “Waldorf Mentality”. That means, “we are so busy and so000 very important that we do not have time for you or for your little need”. Man, I have to say for businesses who embrace this arrogance, this is a real growth crusher.

It is easy to slip into the “Waldorf Mentality” – hey I live here and I see that sometimes I even get that attitude too. When business is great and clients are really rolling in, you can forget your best business model which by the way my husband and I used to call the “Southern Suck Up”. (This one is the opposite extreme where the customer is always right and you do anything to keep a customer.)

Now, I strive to stay humble and focused on what the customer needs. I may not be the best match sometimes for a customer and am not afraid to say so, but when I am a match, I roll out the red carpet and work my best to be the best “partner” for success ever. So what mentality have you embraced? Is success and the arrogance that comes with it becoming your downfall?

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Facebook Vanity URLs

There’s still time, but you should act quickly. You can get an easier URL to remember and share for your Facebook page. Facebook launched the vanity URLs several weeks ago, so many of the best and smallest names are already gone, but there is no time to waste.

Next time you log into your Facebook account you will probably see a list of URLs that Facebook suggests for you. You can even check some of your own selections. If you are like some of our clients, you clicked this closed and now that you want a vanity URL you cannot find where to get one in the Facebook control panel settings.

Here’s how to get your vanity URL:

1. Log into your Facebook account.

2. Enter this URL in your browser: http://www.facebook.com/username/ 

3. This will bring up the Vanity URL screen and allow you to select your vanity URL.

So what’s the big deal? Well my vanity URL is www.Facebook.com/nancy.mccord that is a whole lot easier to remember than what it was before with a huge string of numbers and characters.

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Our New Twitter Executive Program

For those of you who want to get going with Twitter but don’t know where to start or are too busy to tweet (write a Twitter post) we’ve created our Twitter Executive program. Now we know that this program is not for everyone, and that many of you can set up and do Twitter successfully all on your own, but this program is for the person who wants to outsource Twitter.

With our Twitter Executive program you will get:

  • Twitter set up and account configuration
  • Consultation with Nancy McCord to understand your business objectives
  • Integration into your blog, website, and other social networking platforms
  • Personal training on using TweetDeck
  • Training on how to use Twitter effectively
  • One business week of multiple posts per day on Twitter
  • List of our resources to watch for great content to tweet about

If you really don’t want to do your own tweets after set up, for very select group of clients we will ghost Twitter. You can find out more about these two programs and our pricing by visiting our Twitter services page on our website.