Name: Turek Design
Address: Westborough, MA, 01581, US
Telephone: +17742856916
Price range: $$

How not to lose your domain name?

My post ideas comes from issues that my web design clients encountered over the years and they needed help to resolve it.

Website domain name

You buy a domain name once, which you hopefully pay for an extended period of time, say 5 years. You have your website done, your business is growing, the website brings new clients every month and you’re really happy. Then suddenly one day the website is down, not just down but disappeared completely.
This could affect your business in a big way. Even one day of your website being down could mean hundreds of customers lost if you have an online store, or perhaps a handful of prospective clients lost if you are in a service business.

How to lose your domain name?

This is a true story, as my posts are always based off of, that happened not once, but a couple of time with different clients. Web design clients paid for the domain for 5 years, and when after 5 years the renewal email was sent from the hosting company, and it ended up in the spam folder, which not many of us check regularly.
The result was the loss of their precious domain name.

It is a shock.

It is really bad for any small business online marketing.
You built your business around this domain name, it is everywhere.
On the business card, brochure, on all the social media accounts, newsletters, online lead generation program depend on it. It is life-line for a business to reach new customers.

When you realize that your domain is not paid, what do you do?

If your domain name is expired, you should immaditaly contact the registrar that provided you domain for possible renewal options available to you.

Not remember where was the domain registered?
You may conduct a WHOIS search.

(Good to know that all the registrars have a couple of days grace period. In this period, the domain is reserved for you and you as the previous owner, can renew it up to 10 years.
After that most domain names have a redemption period. This period can last from two weeks to 30 days, and, during this time, the current registrant can renew the domain name by paying a redemption fee along with the domain name’s renewal fee.
If the redemption period is over, the domain is open for anybody to buy.)

Now, you head back to your domain registration company to renew it, then comes the shock.
Somebody already bought the domain you had for 5, 10 or even 15 years!
Somebody else now owns your domain!

Previously you paid around $15 a year for the domain, and now you could buy it back for $400 or $3000. What happened?

Recently some companies are jumping to buy used domain names that were not renewed, they just grab it and wait for companies to wake up and ask to buy it back their previous domain name.

But at what price?

Most of the times 10 or 20 times more than the original price was, or even higher depending on how the domain is ranked on Google. There were thousands of visitors per month on your site, then you will be desperate to buy it back for thousands of dollars.

This is what these companies want, don’t let it happen to you and your business.

What should you do so it won’t happen to you?

When you buy your domain name add your domain name renewal in your business calendar. Yes, plan ahead for 5 years, it’s really worth it!
In this case, you will be waiting for that renewal email, or just head to the registration website and renew it.

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7 Small Business Marketing Ideas on a Limited Budget

Who can blame solopreneurs, entrepreneurs and small business owners for looking thoroughly at where they spend their marketing dollars? The options seem countless, and some strategies work better than others. Below, I gathered seven free and low-cost ideas for budget-conscious people running their own business that are worth considering.

Cross-promote your products and services with other local businesses

Teaming up with other small businesses provides an opportunity to get bigger exposure to your potential clients. You can combine your resources for promotional materials before an event. Add each other’s logos and send info out to your client list for an extended reach. Successful cross-promotion opportunities can include a co-branded resource booklet, a co-produced informational video, a shared booth at a local fair, and even shared coworking space.

Ask for referrals

Once you’ve been able to show your skills, or sold products and have satisfied customers, it’s time to ask for referrals. Referrals are free to ask and give, so don’t be shy, and take advantage of this resource. People trust other people’s recommendations, and word of mouth is the best marketing.

Start a contest and promote it in all your online and offline groups

Most of us love playing games or enter challenges, so why not make it fun, and create a contest. You can offer a gift basket of your products, provide tickets to an upcoming event, or raffle a gift card.

Sign up for the Help a Reporter Out (HARO) email list

It’s a less known resource, but it can be a valuable one for you and your business. HARO collects reporter requests from a number of newspapers, magazines, and online media outlets. They’re looking for experts in different topics to quote and contribute. Imagine what it would mean to your business if you get exposed in a national magazine. It might require some due diligence to keep your eyes out for the opportunity in your area of expertise, and several submissions before yours gets accepted.

Add or claim your business on Google My Business

This is an untapped marketing opportunity for many still. Even though Google + went away, claiming your business and filling out as many details as you can will get you visibility on Google. You can also post here on a regular basis to increase traffic on your website, or on Google Maps. There are rumors that Google My Business will become a paying option, so take advantage of it while it’s free.

Plan a local business workshop

Depending on your marketing goal, you can offer it free, or charge a small fee. At the very least, you can collect contact info from people new to you. You may want to use this opportunity to talk up another event or promote your products or services.

Advertise on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram

You can expect more engagement and brand recognition if you include paid campaigns in your social media efforts. A well-designed and targeted ad is still very reasonable compared to magazine or TV ads. Choose the appropriate platform depending on the type of your business. You can expect most success on LinkedIn if you serve other businesses, Instagram if you run a creative business, like jewelry, and other art. Facebook ads target most other potential clients.

Even if you run a small business or a part-time side business, there are countless opportunities to market what you have to offer. Explore some of these options or find your own perfect fit.

Monika Anderson is an entrepreneur and a small business marketing specialist based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. She started her own digital marketing agency in 2016, called Kameleon Digital Marketing. She serves clients in the IT, travel, health and wellness, finance, and banking industries. She enjoys exploring new marketing ideas and has a passion to guide small business owners through the intricacies of online marketing.

Get more online reviews for your business

Amazon, eBay, Angie’s List, Google, Facebook …. So many opportunities where customers can talk about your businesses and their positive or negative experiences with your services, products or customer care.
We live in a world where online reviews are a significant influence as to where we spend our money and whom we trust with our wallet. Ninety percent of customers say they check online reviews and their decisions are influenced by what they read.

Have a place where you can be reviewed

First things first. If you want to generate online reviews you must provide at least one platform to send customers where they can post their opinions. If you want to generate Google reviews, you have to have a Google Business Panel for your business.

Check to see if you already have one or create one, if needed. If you have one that Google automatically generated, “claim it” and that will give your access to many different business tools, including one to ask for and receive (and answer) reviews.

Many 3tr party review websites generate their own records automatically. You must claim the account to make ensure you have the ability to edit the address, phone number, service descriptions, and answer the reviews, etc.

Among the best review sites are: Google, Yelp, Merchant Circle, YellowPages, LinkedIn, TripAdvisor, BBB, Manta.

Where do you want to collect your reviews?

This is the key question for your business. You have to determine where your prospective clients are looking for your service. For a local gift shop probably the best option is Google, but for an adventure park TripAdvisor would be the best.

Once you have identified where you want your reviews to be left, copy the link to your account. This way, you will be able to provide this link when asking for a new review, reducing the time and effort of your clients to find the correct account in order to provide you with great feedback.

How to get more reviews?

If somebody had a bad experience, it is highly likely they will complain about that service. Unfortunately, if they receive great service, they are less inclined to have a shout out for that business. Sadly – this is our society.

It is key to ask for reviews, not just wait for good reviews to happen.
Some businesses have an automated way to collect online reviews but most do not.
If you are in a business where you are able to collect your client’s email addresses, you should send an email with the link to seek their feedback. Like this: Turek Design Review Link
The easier you make it for people to leave customer reviews, the more likely they are to leave one.
The best time to ask for a review is when the value of what you’ve delivered to the customer is at the top of their mind, making it easy for them to write a timely and honest review.

That could mean:

When the project hit a milestone
When you send your invoice and reinforce the value of doing business with you
When they’ve contacted you with positive feedback

What is a really good review?

The best reviews are not generic, like ”Great service, I will be back next month”.

The best ones are detailed and specific.
”Monika came to our home to help my husband and I improve website optimization for our individual companies. I wanted to get her opinion about what I could do better on my website to get more visibility online. We met and she taught me what to change, and how to make my site more google friendly. In a 90-minute session, there was a lot of great information and clarification on how I could manage my website better. It was convenient, very specific to our needs and was just want we needed. I would recommend her highly! „

Dealing with negative reviews

The flip side of asking people to provide an online review?
The possibility of receiving negative feedback. In most cases, you shouldn’t be surprised at occasional negative reviews, as you simply can’t please everyone. Don’t be afraid. Consider them an opportunity to show more of your business.
When a negative review come in, you should handle it as you would handle the person face to face.

As soon as you read the negative review answer it. Be prompt.
Be polite and professional.
Let the customer tell their story.
Figure out who this person is and what the complaint is about. You or your coworker might remember the situation.
You should acknowledge that you read the comment and you are ready to do something about it.
Try to resolve the issue quickly, if possible.
Get to the bottom of why the mistake occurred; focus on fixing the process so that it does not happen again.
Your interaction below a negative comment can show your customer service and can be a great opportunity to gain more clients.

Don’t forget to also acknowledge the positive feedback and thank the reviewer.

Google Business Listing is very important for reviews and also for showing up in the searches. GMB is getting more and more complicated and offer more features than ever before. We help business owners to optimize and verify they business listings.

Summary

Getting people to provide an online review of your business may be challenging but it is a rewarding process.

GMB verification can be complicated

A client needed a Google verification, because she moved her business to a different town. Google business listing still showed the old location, and for a small business it is really important that it shows the correct info. We went through the process how to ask google for a new mail verification. And we waited, 1 week, 2 weeks, nothing. We requested a second post card verification and nothing arrived. It was weird, never happened to any of my clients before. So I suggested to contact the GMB ( Google My Business) and request a Video Verification to show her location is not fake.

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5 Website Essentials

Is your website making the grade?

As a Website Designer, I’ve evaluated number of websites over the years; and while no two websites are exactly alike, there are a number of recurring website errors.

I’d like to share with you the 5 most common website mistakes.