Are you spending more time managing appointments than performing your services?  If so then you are in luck.  With the increasing flexibility of web services, your business could have an online appointment management system set up and fully functional with just a few days.

A recent client of mine signed up to advertise her business using Living Social’s Daily Deal program.  The sales person at Living Social estimate 700-800 deals would be sold during the one day offer.  While this sounds wonderful, my client knew this would create a logistical nightmare and she would not be able to handle the scheduling of so many appointments.  After contacting me, I quickly provided a list of solutions that fit her immediate business needs within her budget.  It took a couple of days to integrate and test the online appointment management software selected.   By the time her daily deal was ready to roll out so were we.

The salesperson was right and just over 750 deals were sold that day and the phone calls started streaming requesting appointments.  Fortunately, the voicemail message was modified to refer people to the website for scheduling appointments and the calendar started filling up quickly.  Within a month, nearly 250 appointments had been scheduled on line.   Many of these were modified and some were cancelled, but in almost all cases, there was no need for my client to contact the customers.  Now everything could be  handled by the customer online. Just one month prior, these were all managed one at a time by the proprietor.

This simple tool created more time for my client to perform her services without the stress of managing appointments.  Furthermore, she no longer worried about missing calls or having to make call backs after hours as her website was always there ready to set up the next appointment.  Adding more value to her business, this tool captured all contact information, which could then be used for future email marketing programs.  As she stated, “this system was a Godsend”.

Online scheduling has proven its value to many and can assist any business that manages appointments.  It can be used for customers and employees.  Some businesses that benefit from online scheduling systems include:

• Spas, Hair Removal Clinics, Massage Therapists
• Fitness Facilities, Personal Trainers, Yoga Studios,
• Tennis Courts, Golf Courses, other athletic fields
• Nail Salons, Beauty Palors, Tanning Centers
• Business Coaches, Tutors, Counselors, Therapists
• Chiropractors, Naturapaths, Holistic Practitioners
• and many more...

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So you've decided to create a FaceBook page for your business but aren't sure how to do this.  Well, you could contact your webmaster or hire Web Primacy to put this together for you, and that is definitely a valid choice if you are extremely busy.  But if you want to do it on your own, it doesn't require much computer skills to do so.  Here are the basic steps to setting up your FaceBook fan page in less than 10 minutes.

First, before you begin you must have a personal FaceBook account.   This is simple to setup. Go to www.facebook.com and complete the form.  That's all you need to do at the moment.  You can add your life details later if you want.

Now, to create your Business FaceBook Page follow these steps.

1. Login to FB under your personal account.
2. Go here to create your Business Page.
3. Select "Local Business or Place" or one of the other selections if more appropriate.
4. After you have created the page you can begin to provide details on your business and upload photos.  Be sure to complete the Description and About information.
5. Don’t forget to publish the page. See down below on how to do this.

If you have a partner or others that you want to contribute to your FaceBook page then you will need to give them the rights to manage the page.  Here are the instructions to do that.

1. Go to your Business page
2. Select the "Edit Page" option in the left column
3. Select "Manage Admins" from the left hand sidebar.
4. Type the name or email of the person you wish to add as an admin.

The friends you select will be able to help you manage your Page. Every admin can manage the Page from their own Facebook account using the Page Manager application.  Note that these individuals will need to have a personal FB account as well.

To give your page that professional touch you’ll want to create a personalized url.  This makes it easier for your to remember and share.  It also gives users an idea of what the site is before they click on the link.  To set up your business username follow these instructions.

1. Go to http://www.facebook.com/username
2. Select a username for your page (e.g. YourBusinessName)
3. Hit enter.  Note that you cannot change your username once it is set, so make it a good one.

Now that everything is setup you need to PUBLISH your page.  While it is unpublished only your adminstrators and you can see the site.  Publishing is easy and requires you only to go to your page and click on the link 'publsh your page' at the top.  This will instantly set your Facebook Page to "published" and allow any users to view the page.  You could also set it to "published" from the Edit Page while you are editing your business page.  If you ever want to unpublish your site you can do this.  Doing so will hide it from all users, including existing fans.   This can be done in the Settings section of the Edit Page.

One last thing to do, get fans!!  Inviting fans begins with your existing friends, family, and business workers.  You can invite them directly from FaceBook or integrate widgets into your existing website.  Adding the widgets is a bit more complicated so you'll probably want to consult your webmaster to handle this piece.

That's it.  You're Business FaceBook page should now be live and you can begin sharing what's new, promote upcoming events, advertise specials, and interact with your fanbase.  So get going and have fun with it!

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Other than making the sale, capturing leads is the most important aspect of an internet marketing campaign.  Captured leads are normally from highly interested people that are near to making a decision.   Once you have their contact information you can now put your sales force into action to close the sale.   You now have a potential client, partner, or referral source.

So how do you capture leads?  There are several techniques for getting leads but the simplest and, in my opinion, most effective lead capture method is the single purpose, call-to-action, landing page.   This page has one goal, to get information on potential customers.  Because the page is focused only on the information that the prospect is interested in, the message is clear.  There is no need for them to wade through or be distracted by other services or offers your business may provide.   In general, a well designed landing page will have the following:

• Short overview of your offer clearly defining the value proposition.  This could be through text, imagery, audio, or video.
• A motivational element, e.g. free e-book, free site evaluation, free consultation, disocunt coupon, etc.
• An input form to capture the information you need

To improve your lead capture rate, consider creating multiple pages and test each one using a method called A/B testing.  Simply put, this is a system of serving up an alternative landing page and then measuring the conversion rate of each.   After a while you will be able to determine which page works best and can then focus on the best one.

If you have questions about how to create an effective landing page for your promotion give us a call or send me an This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Of the major social media sites, it seems Twitter raises the most questions.  Like, what the heck is for? What can I do with it?   Isn’t just a bunch of chatter-heads commenting on the minutia of the day.  In response to these questions I say: creating buzz, promote your brand and learn from others, and the chatter-heads are only a small portion of the users. Of these the most important elements for you might be creating buzz and promoting your brand. How can you do this? Here are some quick tips on how to effectively use Twitter for these purposes.

• First you need to establish yourself as knowledgeable in your area of interest. Be real and engaging. Post relevant original content in addition to commenting on other’s material.
• Search for and follow people in your target market as well as people in your industry. It’s just as important to know what you customers are tweeting about as your competition (or peers). I don’t recommend following everyone. I tend to focus on those that will help you grow your business.
• Retweet and give credit when you see something worth passing along. Thanking others for retweeting your tweets is also good protocol.
• Direct your followers to your website or other social networks with engaging content, pictures, and videos. If you are Blogging, twitter is a great way to announce a new blog post.
• Comment on relevant news in your industry that may have wide-ranging effects on others.
• Use it to promote events and keep your fans up to date in real-time with live tweets during special events. This is great way to provide instantaneous updates and announcements.
• And remember to always be professional and stick to it (but don’t overdo it). Quality is still more important than quantity.

If you have other questions about how to use twitter or social media to promote your business then drop me an This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or comment below. Also, I’d love to hear about your successes using social media. Good luck!

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People are going places and looking for places to go.  And when they get there, many feel the need to share their experience.  Social Applications like Yelp! and Four Square are providing the mechanism to do this, quickly and easily.  These applications (available on iPhone, Blackberry, Droid, Palm and other devices) provide a forum for customers to search for, comment on, rate, and recommend businesses.  In addition, these applications allow for seamless connectivity into other Social Applications, like Facebook and Twitter.  This means that applications like Yelp! and FourSquare aren't islands, but rather launching pads for consumer critics to spread their experiences throughout their social networks.

So what do businesses need to know about these applications, and why should they get involved?  First off, by being present and monitoring the commentary presented, a business owner can make information-based promotional or strategic decisions that improve the customer experience.   At the same time, these applications allow owners, managers, or employees to respond to comments, both negative and positive.  This creates a two-way conversation and builds trust within the community.

Secondly, these applications, because of their availability on mobile devices, integration into mapping software, and no-cost to users, are becoming the de facto local search tools.  This means if your business is not included in the database, it will missing out on a growing marketing channel.

Fortunately, there is no monetary cost to add a business to these applications, as they are currently supported by advertising revenue.  So, at a minimum, it makes sense to add your business.  However, for better results, I recommend checking in periodically, or, better yet, setting up your account to notify you when comments have been posted.

Tools like Yelp! and Four Square offer other benefits to businesses, so I think they are worth adding to a Social Media Marketing strategy.  But the key to any successful Social Media campaign is staying engaged over the long-term.  This will allow you to improve your business and build a loyal following at the same time.

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