January 2009
Fraud, stupidity and bad customer service can ruin your day.
Last week I looked on my Discover card online account and found a few $100 charges (four of them) to an online processing company. I also saw three $100 credits. 
Confused, I called the company. I found out that someone was using my credit card to purchase credits at an online casino (I promise Mom, I don’t have a gambling problem). The service rep I talked to indicated that there were 19 total attempts to buy from this online casino and 15 of them were voided before they hit my card. The company recognized that they were fraud.
This company was very nice to work with. I got my last $100 back with no problems or headache. But, I decided to report fraud to Discover Card to be safe.
There were two recurring charges on my credit card that were pretty important to be continued. One was our hosting package from Aplus.net for all the sites that we host… 150+ sites on two servers. We pay good money to keep these sites functioning, backed up and updated. We have had the servers with Aplus.net for sometime now and I wanted to make sure that there were no problems with my service.
Well, this is where the story gets interesting. continue reading...
Use your marketing resources wisely
When you have a platform that gives you an opportunity to reach people, you would be foolish not to use it.
People ask me all the time why they should be willing to give away content for free. They wonder how can they monetize something if they give it away. For example, a record artist makes far more money performing than from royalties from a radio station yet they won’t get a lot of publicity without the radio station playing their music. (So why does a radio station have to pay to play?)
Having a blog or free content, like what I do with the tutorials at www.TributeMedia.com allows you to provide a permission based marketing platform. People can subscribe and then have given you permission to market to them. continue reading...
When Is It Okay To Discount?
With all the talk about the economy being so bad, companies are finding new ways to increase traffic and sales. During the Christmas season, we always see businesses offer discounts (sales) to attract buyers. They are willing to offer discounts in the hopes that it will drive more traffic to their location and sell other products that have not been discounted.
If you are selling a product or a service, the real question is, “How do you know when to discount?”
You might be talking to a customer that is trying to negotiate a better deal or you might be trying to set up a new promotion to drive new traffic.
So, how do you know when a discount is appropriate? continue reading...
Five Ways to Grow Your Business in 2009
I know, we are a few days in to the new year and I am finally getting back to posting. I have been thinking a bit about how I am going to grow my business this year amidst the “recession.”
I believe that the economic downturn right now is due to a series of bad business decisions and not much more. There are certainly outside influences that can cause challenges in business but businesses can weather the storm if their leaders start making good decisions. If Wal-Mart can grow, then why can’t you?
We are on target for triple digit growth and I thought I would share the top five things you can do to experience the same type of success in your business this year.
I’ve talked about growing in a down market before, but what can you do that will specifically help you right now see success? continue reading...
