The Web Authority – Page 56 – Smart Digital Marketing, Real Business Results

August 6, 2018August 4, 2018

Working With Teams

Nancy McCord a Google Partner and Bing Partner

My firm employs a number of staff to assist with Google Ads consulting, social media, and blog writing. Not all staff is located on-site.

Here are a few tips on how to communicate and keep staff on track and accountable as well as focused.

Use Technology to Communicate
Most of our staff is under the age of 30. I have found that assuring that they have mobile access to tasking is key. We use TeamUp for our online tasking and scheduling app. Each staff member has a smartphone with enough data monthly to access work. I require that when projects are completed that they mark the item done or drag that item to the day they will work on it.

Use Video to Show How
When I have complicated tasks, I do a video explanation followed up by an email. Some of my staff like to closely follow the steps in the email and others get the gist of what to do by watching the video. As a good boss I know which of my staff members needs what and I try to supply the information in the way that I know will be the easiest for them to get and understand. My videos are typically 4 to 10 minutes long and show as a hands on what to do. The emails are detailed so staff can print it out and follow step by step.

Teach Accountability
Although work gets done, assuring that they note that something has been completed in TeamUp or doing the required follow-up email or text can be a challenge. I use SMS Scheduler to send out reminder text messages on an automated schedule to keep staff on notice that they need to do the final step which is to let me know what they have done. I have found that text is the best way to get the attention of younger staff and email the best way to get the attention of older staff. The automation of the text messages allows me to set the reminders up once but to send out on a repeating schedule.

Working with remote staff does have its own special challenges. We do try to get together periodically face to face to celebrate and train on more intensive subjects, but I have found that these several tactics have really helped my business to be effective and grow.

August 1, 2018July 28, 2018

Who Owns Your Google My Business Page?

Who owns your Google My Business Page? Well, of course it should be you, the business owner. But, did you know that many times your webmaster or internet marketing firm actually owns it?

Here’s just one scenario I saw last week. We did an AdWords set up for a doctor, the AdWords account already existed. The original marketing firm had set up their own business as a location tied to the client’s Google My Business page, so it looked like the client had two business locations. The Google My Business was linked to the client’s AdWords account.

What I found out was that the search marketing firm was getting free clicks to their business at the client’s expense. $35 of clicks just in two days! All without the client’s knowledge.

It is very important that you have all items for your business set up in your name and with your email. You should be the admin and never your marketing firm. Google is very persnickety about ownership of Google My Business pages and it is very, very difficult to break a connection once established, especially if you are not the account owner.

How will this issue for the AdWords client be resolved? First, the marketing firm needs to pass ownership or give admin rights to the real business owner. The owner needs to try to separate the two business locations and if all else fails get with a consultant such as myself to call Google and try to have Google do the separation.

Separation will most likely require a site revalidation by regular mail and may or may not be successful. For this client, for the time being, clicks cannot even be stopped to the other business as there is no way to select business locations once the Google My Business Page is connected to AdWords from within the AdWords control panel.

Be aware that this is a difficult issue to resolve. If this cannot be resolved, we may have to disconnect location extensions from the client’s AdWords account which would be a huge negative in our location specific search world for this doctors ad serving.

To find out more about our services, please visit us as www.McCordWeb.com.

July 30, 2018July 28, 2018

Buying a Business Requires an Online Review by an Experienced Expert

Be on target and knowledgeable before you buy.

The digital age has complicated what to review before buying a business. I have one entrepreneur client who bought a business and found out later that the website had no valid logins and is infected with malware.

Additionally, the webmaster was trying to sell the business without the real business owner’s knowledge. Contracts for domain transfer and hosting had already been signed with the webmaster before the real owner stepped in.

A review of statistics, source code, and logins for social media, the web server, and the website should all be validated before a final price is negotiated. If you know that the website has malware, has been banned on Google, and that there is no way to login or transfer the domain to you will definitely impact the price you decide to offer for an online business.

Make sure that you know before you buy! My firm does offer expert review services by the hour at a rate of $90 per hour to review these important items before you make a purchase. Contact us for more information.