“Make sure you’re ready to answer the door” my husband said. “Huh?” I replied, clueless as to why I would answer the door when his office is on the 1st floor and mine on the 3rd.

A few hours later I heard a voice calling out and descended the stairs to discover a man holding a lovely bouquet of flowers. A gorgeous arrangement in yellow and white. With a bow. And a card. A wonderful surprise delivered by our local florist.

Have you ever received flowers-by-mail? I did, once. I happened to be out of town on my birthday and my daughter decided to order flowers from one of the flowers-by-mail companies. She meant well, and I love her dearly, but this is not the way to show someone you care.

Rather than receiving a lovely arrangement, I received a do-it-yourself-project-in-a-box. The first challenge was figuring out how I was going to remove the contents since they were secured with tie wraps — not the twisty kind, but the kind you need to cut with a scissors or very sharp knife. Such things are not typically part of my travel kit. The nice person at the front desk found some scissors for me and back to my room I went. I was still puzzled, however. There were some flowers, a small basket, and a tiny vase. There was no picture to show me what my DIY project was supposed to look like when completed, and the vase didn’t actually stand up when placed in the basket. What was supposed to be a wonderful surprise turned into a frustrating experience.

Sure, I was in a town that neither or us were really familiar with but with one call to the hotel she could have asked about a recommended local florist or two. And I would have received an instant bit of cheer to brighten my day and the rest of my stay.

When we owned our restaurant we would frequently order flowers from our local florist for our staff and special customers. As the economy started to go south, so did our florist, and within a few months we were without a vital member of our business community — one that we could always rely on to put together just the right arrangement for the person and the occasion. I’m not saying you should buy more flowers (although you definitely should if you can afford it!) but when you do buy flowers, buy local.

Be sure to check out the 3/50 Project for more information on supporting locally-owned businesses.

… your website’s home page, that is.

Take a look at your website home page (if you have one). I don’t mean your blog; while a blog may be part of your overall website, I’m talking about the first thing someone sees when they click on your website URL. Hopefully it’s not a blog. Read on and you’ll discover why.

Does your home page look warm and inviting? Does it represent the atmosphere one would feel in your brick & mortar establishment?

Can you easily find on the home page — and clearly read — the following:

• business name and logo,
• location,
• phone number,
• hours,
• newsletter sign-up form, and
• email address?

You see, your website home page should be a static page, consistently displaying the same information you’d place in a newspaper or yellow pages advertisement. If someone is trying to find you, they don’t want to have to wander around your site, clicking links here and there, to try to find the information they need. They’ll give up, and move on to the next site.

Once you’ve gotten the prerequisites down, the next step is to incorporate a picture. One. If you’ve got a great designer, maybe two or three artfully placed, but the goal is not to distract the viewer from the main content. It should capture the essence of your establishment. If possible, put yourself in the picture. Let your personality shine through. It’s all about building relationships.

You might also want to have an area on the home page where you feature a current event of some sort. If you’re using a CMS like WordPress, it’s easy to incorporate a ‘widget’ that can pull in dynamic content. Just make sure it only takes up a small portion of your home page and doesn’t distract from the core information.

Make sure your home page isn’t cluttered, with lots of different elements fighting for the viewer’s attention. Keep it to two or three typefaces at the most; you don’t want your site looking like a ransom note. Same goes for colors. They can bright and bold, subtle and subdued, or anything in between. Just don’t use too many. Pick a palette and stick with it. If you must put music on your site, make sure that it doesn’t start playing automatically.

Now, check your home page. What do you see? Be honest with yourself. Do you pass with flying colors? Congratulations! You’re further along than 70% of the small business websites I’ve visited recently. If you’re not happy with what you’re seeing (or don’t have a website at all) there’s a number of options available to you.

If you’re not happy with your current site but don’t know exactly what needs to be fixed or how to fix it: feel free to drop us a line. We’ll have a peek and give you an idea or two.

If you’re comfortable making changes to your website: Get busy! Make a list of the changes you want to make and schedule a block of time to get them completed. You might need a couple of blocks, depending on the number of changes and the amount of time you have available. Focus on the most important tasks first.

If you have a webmaster: Send them the list of changes.

If you don’t have a website: Get one! BlogArtisans offers an eCourse that will walk you through the entire process, as well as SetUp and Hosting Services.

Now sit back, relax, and enjoy your new home!

Landing Pages, to be more specific. And pineapples? What do landing pages have to do with pineapples?

If you’re from one of the original 13 colonies it’s almost impossible to travel to any historic site and not see pineapples everywhere. From table decorations to weathervanes, carved door lintels, fence posts and furniture, pineapples became the symbol of hospitality throughout Colonial America.

A pineapple symbolizes “welcome.” It shows visitors that you’re glad they came. Which is just what you need to do when someone happens upon your website. Rather than sending them to your website’s home page, you want to give them a special greeting and show them around a bit; just as you would a first-time visitor to your home.

So exactly what is a landing page? It’s any page on your website where you send traffic to, typically for some specific purpose. In this instance it’s to introduce yourself, to make the visitor feel welcome and want to learn more about you and your establishment. To encourage them to sign up for your newsletter. And to make them want to come back.

And where would that traffic be coming from? Likely candidates might be your Twitter profile, your Facebook page, or Google Local.

To get started, create a new page on your site. If you’re using WordPress, be sure to create a new Page rather than a Post. You won’t want this showing up in your date, tag, or category archives. Be sure to give your page a meaningful title; you’ll be including this in your link.

Not sure what to write? Try this:

• Thank them for stopping by
• Include a brief overview of who you are and what your business is about
• Highlight a few of your product offerings, particularly any that are unique
• Point to two or three interesting articles on your website or blog (recipes, tutorials, etc.)
• Explain how to sign up for your newsletter, follow you on twitter, become a fan on Facebook
• If they came from your Twitter profile page, tell them what you tweet about and how often you tweet
• If they came from Google Local, remind them about the coupon (you do have a coupon on your Google Local page, right?)

Don’t make it too long; you don’t want to scare them away! Since this page isn’t intended to be ‘found’ by the search engines — it won’t actually be linked from anywhere within your site — you don’t need to worry about keywords and meta descriptions.

There’s no reason to exclude your common website navigation elements; you want your visitors to be able to freely explore the rest of your site.

Once you’re happy with your page, copy the URL to your Twitter, Facebook, or Google Local profile.

NOTE: Do not use a shortened URL (bit.ly, su.pr, is.gd, etc.) in your profiles. These are typically seen as spam. Let your visitors know exactly where they’ll be going when they click on the link.

To see a Twitter landing page example, visit the BlogArtisans custom landing page by clicking on the link.

What goals have you set for your business in 2010?

How will you attain those goals?

Build Customer Relationships Online

As a small, independent brick & mortar establishment nearly every hour is spent focusing on the core needs of your business. You don’t have time — or money — to waste; you have to make every moment count.

Many brick & mortar businesses remain skeptical about using social media; they see it as a time-waster rather than a way to reach out to potential new customers or clients. They think it’s just about ‘what are you doing?’ rather than providing a valuable service to your existing customers.

And they’re right — if your approach to Twitter isn’t focused and targeted on your specific objectives. As the owner of a small business you don’t have time (or money) to waste; you have to make every moment count. Twitter enables you to do just that. Even if you’re a horrible typist, it shouldn’t take you more than a minute — 60 seconds — to send a single 140-character message.

I’ve put together a series of video presentations, a transcript / eBook, and an accompanying MindMap that will introduce you to Twitter, get you started, and provide you with an action plan to keep the momentum going.

Click on the link to access the Twitter for Brick & Mortar Businesses eCourse.

And be sure to sign up for our mailing list to get up-to-date information about the latest articles and offerings from the team at BlogArtisans.

Like many terms associated with Web 2.0 (whatever that is!), you’re likely to get a different answer from each person that you ask. Here at BlogArtisans we think of social media as the collection of applications, tools and techniques that help you grow your business by building customer relationships online. As the owner of a small, customer-focused business, I’m pretty sure you’ve got the social part — building customer relationships — under control.

Yarn • Quilt • Stamping • Scrapbooking • Craft Shops

You greet your customers as they way in the door, offer them assistance, tell them about the new goodies that arrived last week and the upcoming class schedule. You invite them to your sitting area where they can work on their current project and chat with fellow crafters. Maybe even enjoy a latte or a cup of tea. You socialize and begin (or continue) to build a relationship.

Cafés • Bistros • Espresso Bars • Boutique Restaurants

You greet your customers as they walk in the door, offer them a seat, and tell them about the daily features and the scones fresh from the oven. You explain that a shot of espresso actually has less caffeine than drip coffee. You socialize and begin (or continue) to build a relationship.

Art • Artisan • Fine Craft Galleries

You greet your customers as they walk in the door, offer them your assistance, tell them about the new pieces that arrived last week and the upcoming artist’s reception. You invite them to take their time and to feel free to ask whatever questions they might have. You invite them to enjoy a latte or cup of tea. You socialize and begin (or continue) to build a relationship.

No matter what type of small business you have, the scenarios are very similar. And the goal is always the same: to have the customer or client or patron return to your establishment rather than going someplace else.

The use of media extends the notion of community beyond our physical neighborhood through the use of the internet. Why should you care?

• Because there are potential customers out there who do not yet know that you exist.
• Because your competition does, and is actively pursuing your customers.
• Because the more methods you employ to build and maintain your customer relationships, the more loyal your customers will be.

Where Do I Start?

While there are dozens of sites and applications all competing for your atention, there are four key areas to focus on:

• eMail Marketing,
• your Website,
• your Blog, and
• Twitter.

The links above will take you to articles on the particular topic. Start with one, get comfortable, and when you’re ready, add another. Sure, there are lots of others. But if you want to maximize your return on your investment (how much is your time worth?), concentrate on these four and start reaping the benefits of building customer relationships online.

Have questions? We’d love to hear from you. You can fill out the contact form or email me directly at mary (at) blogartisans (dot) com.

If you’re using an eMail marketing application such as MailChimp or aWeber (and if you’re not, you should be!) you can take advantage of what’s known as an AutoResponder.

An autoresponder is simply a method that makes it easy to write a message in advance and have it sent automatically on a particular date or at some predetermined interval. For instance, if you’ve signed up for the Demystifying Social Media for Yarn Shops eCourse you’ll receive an email every Tuesday between 9am – noon your local time. Or, your email provider may allow you to set up a vacation autoresponder — for each message that arrives in your inbox while the autoresponder is activated, a reply that you have written in advance will automatically be sent.

After someone has confirmed their subscription to your mailing list it’s a great idea to have an autoresponder message sent to them that provides some useful information, such as:

• how often they can anticipate receiving mailings,
• the types of content typically included,
• a list of links they might want to keep handy,
• instructions for contacting you directly should they encounter any problems, and
• instructions for unsubscribing should they choose to do so at some future date.

You’ll also want to thank them for subscribing to your list.

Beyond the initial communication, you may want to set up a series of emails that are sent on consecutive days, or every 3rd day, or once a week, or any other sequence that is appropriate for the information you’re delivering. In this way, it doesn’t matter when someone signs up; they’ll receive the same set of messages in the same pre-determined sequence that you’ve already defined.

Everyone is overwhelmed with spam these days. If you use email to communicate with your prospects and clients (and you definitely should be!) the last thing you want is to get flagged as a spammer. One of the best ways to prevent this from happening is to use a double opt-in sign-up.

Double opt-in simply means that after someone signs up for your list — whether you’ve captured their email address in a notebook and enter it into your email marketing application or they complete a signup form on your website — they are sent an email message that asks them to confirm their subscription request. This is most often done by clicking on a link or by replying to the confirmation message itself. This prevents someone from arbitrarily adding email addresses that are either invalid or belong to someone other than the person completing the form.

The confirmation message also serves another purpose: it lets people know the name of the list, who it will be coming from, and usually contains instructions on how to add your address to their whitelist so that it won’t inadvertently end up in their spam folder.

As a courtesy, make sure all emails you send to your list include unsubscribe instructions. Should someone decide that they no longer want to be on your list, give them an easy way to opt-out. Otherwise, they just might start marking your emails as spam.

If your business email address ends with ‘@gmail.com’, ‘@hotmail.com’, ‘@yahoo.com’, ‘@aol.com’, or @{insert your internet service provider’s address here} you’re not only not building your own brand, it’s possible that your messages may not be reaching your valued customers.

Over 85% of all email sent is spam, and internet service providers are doing everything they can to keep as much of it as possible out of their customers’ inboxes. Providers will oftentimes block all emails from a particular domain (such as hotmail.com or even gmail.com) if any single address is suspected of sending spam. Even worse, they may not even tell you. You won’t know your message didn’t get through, and your customers won’t know you were trying to reach them.

Thankfully there are two steps you can take to ensure both your individual emails and your newsletters or other broadcast messages reach your loyal customers:

1. Use your own domain name for your email. You have one, right? Your website host will typically provide email support as part of your hosting package, as well as easy-to-use tools to create and manage the accounts. Their site should also contain instructions on how to set up popular email clients such as Outlook, Thunderbird or Apple Mail.
2. Use an email marketing application such as MailChimp or aWeber to manage your shop’s email list. These companies do everything in their power to make sure your messages are delivered to their intended recipients and are not flagged as spam.

Besides, it’s just good business practice. You want to get all the name recognition you can; using a gmail or other address gives the impression that you’re not really all that serious about your business.

… the Google map, that is.

It’s hard to beat Google Local for getting your brick & mortar establishment found. You don’t even need a website to take advantage of this service, and it comes at absolutely no cost to you.

What you’ll need: a Google account.

What to do:

1. Point your browser to Google Local Business Center.
2. Enter your login information in the box on the right.
3. Fill out the form.
4. Before submitting your entry, double-check the map on the right. If the marker isn’t in the right place you can reposition it to more accurately reflect your exact location.
5. Verify your submission by mail or phone.

It’s that easy! Follow these tips as you fill out the form to reap the greatest rewards.

website: what if you don’t have a website? Hurry on over to here or here to get yourself one! In the meantime if you have a blog you can enter that URL instead.

description: juicy, mouth-watering, and irresistible

category: take advantage of all 5 categories; you aren’t limited to the pre-configured categories although you should include at least one or two

hours of operation: list your hours for each day of the week and be sure to note which days you’re closed (if any). The last thing you want is someone making a trip to your shop only to discover you’re not open.

photos: be sure to include a great photo or two; an exterior shot can be helpful when someone is trying to locate you. If it’s not a great photo, don’t use it.

videos: it’s easy to create a very short video with a flip or other digital video camera. Include some people in your video. You don’t need to capture conversations but you want to show that your establishment is a thriving, vibrant business.

additional details: be sure to note anything that makes you stand out from the crowd.

HOT TIP: Create a coupon!

As an added incentive to visit your business, include a coupon. It could be a discount on a certain item, a small gift with purchase (you might want to set a minimum amount), or any other creative approach you dream up. To make it even more valuable, update the coupon offer frequently with a short-term expiration date (one week to one month). Just remember to update your offer so you always have a valid coupon on display.

I’m sure you’ve heard it before — relationships don’t just happen; you have to work at them. Let’s face it. People are fickle. If they feel like they’re being neglected they’re likely to go elsewhere. A steady, consistent approach to your relationships means that your customers will anticipate — and look forward to — hearing from you.

Make a Plan

Sit down with a calendar and think about the ebb and flow of your business. Are there certain days or dates that tend to be busier than others? Be realistic. Don’t overcommit. Your shop has a rhythm to it and you want to capitalize on it, not place it in jeopardy.

Website: Your website content should be reviewed and updated on a monthly basis. Remove — or move to an archive location — notices of past events, sales, or other dated material. Make sure current and upcoming events are displayed prominently. If your business hours change seasonally make sure the current hours are listed.

Newsletter: Your newsletter should be sent out at least once a month; if you have a lot to say it may make more sense to send shorter newsletters twice a month or even weekly. Let your subscribers know how often the newsletter is sent; it’s a great idea to always send it on the same day and time — for example, the 3rd Wednesday of the month, the 2nd and 4th Monday, or every Thursday.

Blogging: You should post to your shop blog at least once a week to keep your readers’ — and just as important, Google’s — attention. Google loves blogs, but make sure your content is related to your business.

Twitter: Tweets tend to be more spontaneous, but this doesn’t prohibit you from planning. Decide the best days/times to post your tweets based on your audience, and make sure to post at least several times over the course of a week.

It’s easy to make an ambitious plan and then fail to make your targets. Instead, be conservative in your planning. Once you get a rhythm established you may choose to increase the frequency of your updates, but be careful not to overwhelm your audience. Smothering can be just as detrimental to a relationship as neglect.

Show your customers that you care about them and they will become fiercely loyal. Not only will they remain your customer, they’ll tell their friends. And anyone else who happens to ask. They’ll write great things about you on their blog. And word-of-mouth advertising is the best kind of advertising there is.