Interesting article in The Age about the changing face of advertising:
The advertising universe is being turned on its head with the explosion of the online world, creating the highest levels of choice and fragmentation of audiences we’ve seen.
It’s a good read although not particularly surprising for many - heck we’ve been saying this for years. 
At some stage it is likely you will come across a bad review of your website somewhere online. I say likely as the proliferation of review websites has become big business.
So what do you do if a bad review happens to you? Firstly, don’t panic. For all the positive ways the internet allows you to promote your business it also allows people to tell others about their experiences with your business - both good and bad. This doesn’t have to be bad. Remember you can’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time and a business that just has glowing reviews might make a prospective customer wary. However the way you handle those bad reviews will say a lot about you and your business.
So what to do?
To start most sites have a feature that allows management to respond to a review. Take advantage of this by responding to all the relevant reviews. Address the issues raised and make sure your replies are courteous and well thought out. Believe it or not I’ve seen responses where the management bags the customer which only makes them look worse.
You may also want to encourage happy customers to leave positive reviews for you. Make it easy for them by having a computer set-up where they can review you quickly and easily. It might also be worth offering them something in return - obviously letting them know that what they write is up to them.
A bad review won’t be the end of you as long as you take the initiative to attract positive reviews as well. I don’t believe this type of services is going away so it’s better you address it head on rather than just hope they disappear over time.
Bienalto, an online marketing consultancy, are running the 2007 Australian Web Analytics Survey. It doesn’t take long to complete and all participants will be emailed the full survey details.
Web analytics is still not widely adopted in Australia so this is a great way to contribute and get an idea of the current state of play. It’s running until the 19 October 2007 so hop on over there.
I’ve been building websites for a long time. Over 12 years in fact. In the early days it was relatively easy to put up a site, let a few search engines know about it and voila - success! This was at a time when the web was new and the competition was lacking. It was a great time but not one I expected to last. And it didn’t.
These days having a website is no guarantee of success. It takes blood, sweat and… yep you guess it marketing to make your online venture a success. Unfortunately too many people still think if they put a site online the masses will flock to them. And then wonder why they don’t. It’s also a myth that people like to perpetuate. Put a site online and you’ll be making millions within days.
In reality your website needs to be carefully planned, built and marketed just like any other business venture. Start by defining your strategy and determining how you want to make money from your website. Make sure you choose a web designer who understands good design principles, usability, SEO and internet marketing. And last but not least develop your marketing strategy.
I’ll go over some of these strategies in future posts but for now at least consider:
This list is by no means exhaustive but it’s a good start. By creating a marketing strategy and working on it steadily you’ll achieve the online success you’ve been searching for. Good luck!
My Business magazine just published my third article: The Essential Guide to Business Blogging. Again it’s in PDF format but I thought I’d post it anyway. We’re currently re-designing this site (yes I know it’s taking a while) and I plan to include an article section but for now I figure PDF is better than nothing. Hope you enjoy it. 
My next article is due soon and I’d love some topic suggestions. Anyone?
