1. Is your website search engine friendly? Find out with a free review
2. Is your website listed in the best, free NZ directories? Check the list
3. Have you completed the 8 essential steps for getting a website working for you?
4. Have you tried advertising using Google Adwords? Here’s how its done
5. Have you got a copy of the 2009 ebook “How to Optimise Your New Zealand Website For Search Engines” which is now free?
6. Does your website need a complete overhaul? Get it done for only $1800
7. Does your business need fresh eyes and fresh ideas? 45 minutes of advice with a marketing professional is yours, for free

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Phone: (07) 575 8799

Related posts:

1. Website Design Package There are 2 components to the Website Design Package: Website...
2. Free Marketing and Advertising Review 45 minutes with a marketing and advertising professional… for free....
3. Should You Sell Space On Your NZ Website For Banner Advertising? You might be thinking “hey, we’ve got quite a bit...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I am assuming you already have the following:

1. Business Twitter Account
2. Business Facebook Page

(If you don’t, I can help you set up Twitter and Facebook for your business)

You may be already aware how easy it is to update your personal Facebook Wall from Twitter.  But you don’t really want your tweets about your favourite movies or what you had for lunch appearing on your Facebook business page do you?

So, what do you want?

• Do you want to be able to write a Tweet and for that Tweet to appear on your Business Facebook Page Wall (not on your personal profile)?
• Do you want Retweets to be ignored so only your messages appear?
• Do you want hashtags to be ignored because they wouldn’t work on Facebook anyway?
• Do you want to save time by not having to update 2 platforms every time you have something to say?
• Do you want your Facebook Business Page to look active without extra effort?

Then I have good news. Here’s how I achieved this yesterday.

How to Automatically Update Your Business Facebook Page Wall From Your Business Twitter Account:

1. Go to the “Smart Twitter for Pages” Facebook application
2. Click “Add to my page” (at the top of the left column)
3. Choose the business page you want to add this feature to
4. Login to your Business Twitter Account
5. Authorise the application to access your Twitter account
6. You’re done!

Need more help?

• Ask your questions below
• Or hire me to set up Facebook and Twitter for your business

Related posts:

1. Business Facebook Pages: Simple Tips For Your Business Page on Facebook If you are just about to set up a Business...
2. Social Media For Business Results Q: “Does every New Zealand business need a website?” Yes,...
3. Old News is Bad News – Is The “Latest News” On Your Website Ancient? Have you ever heard this from a web developer? “You...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

After 14 months of trial and error, I’m ready to help you generate results for your business using Social Media.

Find out more about Generating Results For Your Business Using Social Media

Related posts:

1. Social Media For Business Results Q: “Does every New Zealand business need a website?” Yes,...
2. Want Free Media Exposure? What The News Media Values & How You Can Get Your Business In The News Yes, you can buy air time for your TV ads...
3. Search Engine Optimisation Service I can perform a high intensity evaluation and provide you...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you are just about to set up a Business Page on Facebook this short list of tips will save you some time.

#1. How to set a Facebook Business Page up

• You need a personal Facebook account before you can set up a business page. If you’re an employee, that’s fine, you won’t be personally identified on the business page, and you can set up additional admins so that when you leave, you can remove your own access and everything still runs smoothly
• Don’t make the mistake of setting up new Facebook login just for the business. This is a violation of Facebooks Terms (and people would have to “Add as Friend” instead of just clicking “Like” which is a barrier you don’t need)

#2. Ensure your logo is the right size

• Set your logo to 200px by 200px. If you set the width bigger than that Facebook will do a really bad job of resizing it for you.
• You can also increase the height to add some photos or text (but keep the top 200px x 200px just for your logo because this portion will be cropped and resized for the little 50×50 icon that appears beside all your wall posts). Eg: http://www.facebook.com/juicyfruit have done a great job

#3. Add a Facebook widget or “Like Box” to your website

• Not just the Facebook icon and link to your Facebook page, add a whole widget! Facebook calls it the “Like Box“
• Set the widget to show 9 or more followers (randomised). People like to see their own faces on your website
• Turn off the other junk like a stream of message
• This is the easiest way to get Facebook followers

#4. Get a Vanity Url as soon as you can

• A vanity url is a nice clean url like http://www.facebook.com/LoveOneDaySales.co.nz
• You can set your up once you have 25 “Likes”
• Set your Facebook vanity url here

#5. Change the order of your tabs

• If you are logged in, you can just drag the tabs into the order you want (you can’t change the position of “Wall” or “Info”)

#6. Delete the tabs you don’t want to use

• In your settings you can delete the tabs. If you decide you need them later, you can add them back
• Eg delete the “Discussion” tab. Nobody seems to use it and it looks lame being empty

#7. ADVANCED: Add the FBML Application

• FBML is “Facebook Markup Language”
• It simply provides you the ability to create a new tabs, name them whatever you like, and copy and paste html in there.
• Eg, you could create a simple “About Us” page or go crazy with graphics and signup forms (unfortunately you’ll have to host the images on your own website and link to them with absolute references which is a bit annoying)

What else?

• Do you use Facebook Business Pages? Share your tips in the comments below
• Have I made a mistake in my list of tips? Correct me by leaving a message in the comments below

Related posts:

1. B2B Marketing Plans: How To Create A One Page Marketing Plan – Just Answer These 7 Questions Does your marketing plan need to be 10 pages? 20...
2. 62 Ways to Advertise Your Business Cinema 1. Pre-movie Advertisements 2. Product Placement in-movie TV 3....
3. 8 Tips For Getting Better-Than-Average Results From Your First Tradeshow or Expo in New Zealand 1. All the best booths gone? Only a few right...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you run an icecream shop, you MUST copy this idea.

Will it work for any other business? Probably not.

You should have at least some sort of business connection otherwise all you’re doing is slapping scantily clad women on your ad for no good reason.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I faced this decision 4 months ago over on my www.SearchEngineGuide.co.nz website (where I focus on SEO and Google Adwords).

I had just decided to give away the 2009 version of my ebook “How To Optimise Your New Zealand Website For Search Engines” for free.

My choices were to:

1. Ask for a name and email address and email the ebook
2. Hyperlink directly to a downloadable Pdf

I chose option #2: Hyperlink.

The pros and cons were as follows:

• Con: I would have no idea who is reading it because I wasn’t collecting names or email addresses
• Pro: I was setting my content free with the potential to go viral
• Con: I had no way of contacting the people that downloaded it to tell them about my next version, or to make them a special offer on my other services
• Pro: It removed a barrier to trialling my products & services

The pro’s were great but the con’s are very heavy.

And 4 months later I have buckled under their weight.

So 5 days ago I put the sign-up form back in place.

It just asks for first name and email address. That’s it. Pretty easy.

And I already have 7 email addresses in my list that I can work with!

What will I do next time: link directly to the ebook, or require an email address?

I’ll ask for the email address and first name.

And in the ebook itself I’ll encourage these people to pass the ebook on to whoever else they think would be interested.

That way, I get the viral thing happening but I still get to keep in contact to these influencers with my offers!

Related posts:

1. What Email Address Does The IRD Student Loan Newsletter Come From? MajorDomo@ird.govt.nz Of Course! That is so weird. IRD has just stopped publishing their...
2. Generating Revenue By Subscription – Free To Start With And Then Start Charging? Does It Work? Are you tempted to start charging for access to your...
3. Email Newsletters: 10 Tips For Designing & Building Your Email Newsletters Great advice from Smashing Magazine about how to design and...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I just wrote this article on another one of my Website blog. I like it, so I will republish it here.

Do you use a contact form on the “Contact Us” page on your website?

If so, check this list of common mistakes to see if you are making your prospective clients angry or just turning them away.

5 Ways Your Potential Clients May Be Reacting To Your Contact Form (And What You Can Do About It):

1. “That contact form is sooooo long! I feel tired just looking at it!”

• Does everyone type at 60 Words/Minute like you? No. Most people I know type with one finger. A long form looks like half an hour of work to them
• It doesn’t matter if some fields are “not required”. Visitors don’t notice the little asterix, and they feel obliged to fill in every field because of “form momentum”

What you can do:

• Trim back your fields to the absolute bare minimum. Do you really need their postal address, physical address, all their phone numbers and date of birth? No you don’t.

2. “Bah! Another error message: ‘Syntax of field 624 is invald’? WTF?”

• If prospects take the time filling in your form, click submit and they get an error box in their face they will get angry and hate you
• It’s worse if your form validation script doesn’t highlight the field in red and provide helpful guidance so the prospect knows exactly what to do next. They will feel lost and confused
• They will subconsciously ascribe these negative feelings to you. Is that the right way to start a business relationship?

What you can do:

• Keep the form super short. Less fields = less potential error messages
• Lighten up on the validation

3. “Does this contact form even work?”

• This is a fear of the message not being delivered at all
• Sometimes when you click the “submit” button does it feel like you are launching your message into space and you’ll never see it again? That’s because experience tells us that is exactly what we are doing. Sometimes the contact form is broken and no-one find out for months

What you can do:

• Regularly test that the contact form is working

4. “How long will I have to wait before I hear back?”

• Closely related to the fear of the message not being delivered at all is waiting an age for a response
• Perhaps part of the problem is that most contact forms go to generic email addresses like “info@yourdomain.co.nz”. How motivated is the recipient of emails sent to this generic address to respond fast when the message isn’t even addressed to them? If Bob gets these messages, which will he reply to first: Emails addressed to Bob, or emails addressed to “info”?

What you can do:

• Send your contact form messages to a real person not just “info” (yes, it may need updating when your staff change)
• Make a promise in your email receipt “we will respond within 1 normal business day. If you don’t hear from us, please call our tollfree hotline”

5. “What did I say? When? To Who? I can’t remember!”

• When you send a message from your own email system you can always check your “sent” box later to check:
  • That it was actually sent
  • Who it was sent to
  • The date/time
  • and most importantly: what you said
• With a contact form you get nothing. Sometimes you might get an email receipt that says “thanks for your message, we’ll contact you soon” – yeah right.

What you can do:

• Send the prospect a copy of their own message “here’s a copy of your message for your reference”
• Let them just click on your mailto hyperlink so they can send their message from their own email system

What Else You Can Do To Improve Your Contact Form

Double check that you provide a clear “mailto” link for your email address like this: “sheldon@marketingfirst.co.nz“.

If you don’t, you may be forcing your web visitors to use your contact form and face all the problems listed above, or they may just give up and leave, and take their business to your competitors.

Related posts:

1. Contacting a WebSite Owner Via Email? An Easy Way to Get Your Email Message Noticed I’ve just made a discovery that I’d like to share...
2. Contact Us Sheldon Nesdale Marketing First 2009 Ltd 13 The Green, Bayfair,...
3. Should You Sell Space On Your NZ Website For Banner Advertising? You might be thinking “hey, we’ve got quite a bit...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Here is the list of all the NZ Online Auction and Classifieds Websites.

Have I missed your favourite? Add it to the comments below.

List of ALL The NZ Online Auction Websites

1. www.TradeMe.co.nz
2. www.EasyLister.co.nz
3. www.Sella.co.nz
4. www.WeddingAuctions.co.nz
5. www.Up4Sale.co.nz
6. www.MotorBikeParts.co.nz
7. www.WaiTrade.co.nz [Waiheke Island Online Auctions]
8. www.Trade-Exchange.co.nz
9. www.EzyAuctionz.co.nz
10. www.uList.co.nz
11. www.OpenAuction.co.nz
12. www.qBay.co.nz
13. www.TradeFree.net.nz
14. www.GraysOnline.co.nz
15. www.ebay.co.nz
16. www.4TradeIt.co.nz
17. www.Drip.co.nz
18. www.HalfPrice.co.nz
19. www.LocalForSale.co.nz
20. www.iNeed.co.nz
21. www.FoxyHub.co.nz
22. www.nzoab.co.nz
23. www.SellBidAndBuy.co.nz
24. www.SuperBuy.co.nz
25. www.TurnersOnline.co.nz
26. www.KiwiBidz.co.nz
27. www.KiwiTrucker.com
28. www.SoldByMe.co.nz
29. www.AuctionMe.co.nz
30. www.Lixtor.co.nz

CLASSIFIEDS:  Only NZ Online Classified Advertising Websites

1. www.TE.co.nz
2. www.olx.co.nz
3. MyClassifieds.co.nz
4. Gumtree.co.nz Classifieds: [Auckland | Christchurch | Wellington]

CRAP NZ Online Auction Websites

1. www.iWant.co.nz (Website dead because they have crap hosting)
2. www.CollectAndTrade.co.nz (Website dead)
3. www.WeBuy.co.nz (Website dead)
4. www.2TradeIt.co.nz (Website dead)
5. www.BestBids.co.nz (Taken over by shitty ads)
6. www.OneCentBid.co.nz (Website dead)
7. www.Bargains4u.co.nz (Website dead)
8. www.TradeAnything.co.nz (Taken over by a crappy directory)
9. www.TradeKiwi.co.nz (Website dead)
10. www.Kaching.co.nz (Website dead)
11. www.Bid4ItAuctions.co.nz (Website dead)
12. www.SellNZ.com (Almost completely empty)
13. www.Free-Auctions.co.nz (Completely empty)
14. www.FaceOff.co.nz (Died end of June 2010)

Related posts:

1. NZ News: List of ALL New Zealand News Websites The purpose of this page is to list ALL the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The purpose of this page is to list ALL the NZ News websites.

Why? Because we’re New Zealanders and we bloody love the latest news that’s why.

Is your favourite NZ News website missing from the list below? If so, please tell us about it in the comments below.

NATIONAL NZ News Websites

1. www.TVNZ.co.nz/news
2. www.3News.co.nz
3. News.Google.co.nz
4. www.Stuff.co.nz
5. www.Scoop.co.nz
6. www.NZHerald.co.nz
7. News.MSN.co.nz
8. nz.News.Yahoo.com
9. www.StopPress.co.nz
10. www.LiveAndReal.com
11. www.RadioNZ.co.nz
12. www.Listener.co.nz
13. www.NBR.co.nz
14. www.SkyNews.co.nz
15. home.NZCity.co.nz/news/
16. www.Voxy.co.nz
17. Guide2.co.nz | Money | Politics
18. TopNews.net.nz
19. www.DanNews.co.nz
20. www.Police.govt.nz/news Police News Releases
21. www.NewZealandNews.net
22. www.Newsroom.co.nz
23. www.Stuff.co.nz/Sunday-News/
24. www.Stuff.co.nz/Sunday-Star-Times/
25. www.NewsWire.co.nz
26. www.TheNewZealandWeek.co.nz
27. pr.co.nz Press Releases

REGIONAL: NZ News Websites of Regional Newspapers

1. Northland | Northern Advocate
   www.NorthernAdvocate.co.nz
2. Northland | The Northland Age
   www.NorthlandAge.co.nz
3. Northland | Northern Courier
   www.localmedia.co.nz/northerncourier/ [pdf]
4. Petone | Petone Herald
   www.localmedia.co.nz/petoneherald/ [pdf]
5. Wanganui | Wanganui Chronicle
   www.WanganuiChronicle.co.nz
6. Waiheke | Waiheke Gulf News
   www.WaihekeGulfNews.co.nz
7. Auckland | The Aucklander
   www.TheAucklander.co.nz
8. Howick / Pakuranga / Botany | Howick and Pakuranga Times
   www.Times.co.nz
9. Onehunga | Onehunga Community News
   www.Onehunga.co.nz
10. Hamilton, Waikato | Waikato Times
    www.Stuff.co.nz/Waikato-Times/
11. Tauranga | The Sun
    www.SunLive.co.nz
12. Tauranga | Bay of Plenty Times
    www.BayOfPlentyTimes.co.nz
13. Rotorua | Rotorua Daily Post
    www.DailyPost.co.nz
14. Taranaki | Taranaki Daily News
    www.Stuff.co.nz/Taranaki-Daily-News/
15. Gisborne | Gisborne Herald
    www.GisborneHerald.co.nz
16. Wairoa | Wairoa Star
    www.wairoastar.co.nz/FrontPage/ [pdf]
17. Hawkes Bay | Hawkes Bay Today
    www.HBToday.co.nz
18. Napier, Hastings | Napier Mail, Hastings Mail
    www.NapierMail.co.nz
19. Wairarapa | Wairarapa Times-Age
    www.Times-Age.co.nz
20. Manawatu | Manawatu Standard
    www.Stuff.co.nz/Manawatu-Standard/
21. Wellington| Dominion Post
    www.Stuff.co.nz/Dominion-Post/
22. Wellington| Capital Times
    www.CapitalTimes.co.nz
23. Nelson | Nelson Mail
    www.Stuff.co.nz/Nelson-Mail/
24. Marlborough | Marlborough Express
    www.Stuff.co.nz/Marlborough-Express/
25. Fiordland | Fiordland Advocate
    www.FiordlandAdvocate.co.nz
26. Westport | Westport News
    WestportNews.co.nz
27. Canterbury | The Star
    www.StarCanterbury.co.nz
28. Christchurch | The Press
    www.Stuff.co.nz/The-Press/
29. Queenstown | Scene
    www.Scene.co.nz
30. Otago | Otago Daily Times
    www.ODT.co.nz
31. Ashburton | Asburton Guardian
    www.AshburtonGuardian.co.nz
32. Timaru | Timaru Herald
    www.Stuff.co.nz/Timaru-Herald/
33. Southland | Southland Times
    www.Stuff.co.nz/Southland-Times/

NICHE NZ News Websites

1. www.RugbyNews.co.nz Rugby News
2. www.RugbyNews.co.nz/news/ Rugby News
3. www.Throng.co.nz TV Show News
4. www.TechDay.co.nz Technology News
5. www.ComputerWorld.co.nz Technology News
6. www.Aardvark.co.nz Science & Technology News
7. www.MTV.co.nz/news Entertainment News
8. www.Goodday.co.nz/ Korean News | In Korean
9. www.NZKoreaPost.com Korean News | In Korean
10. www.MigrantNews.co.nz Migrant News
11. www.NZCatholic.org.nz Catholic News
12. www.nzNewsUK.co.uk UK
13. www.Pinoy.net.nz Filipino Migrants
14. www.sofaraa.com Arabic | In Arabic
15. www.Tasveer.co.nz Indian News | In Punjabi
16. www.IndianNewsLink.co.nz Indian News
17. IndianWeekender.co.nz Indian News
18. MaoriNews.com/karere/ Maori News
19. www.Stash.co.nz Drug News
20. www.ChineseTown.co.nz Chinese News | In Chinese

CRAP NZ News Websites

1. www.nzsport.co.nz/News/tabid/66/Default.aspx Ugly url, and just delivers content from 3News.co.nz anyway

Related posts:

1. Old News is Bad News – Is The “Latest News” On Your Website Ancient? Have you ever heard this from a web developer? “You...
2. Want Free Media Exposure? What The News Media Values & How You Can Get Your Business In The News Yes, you can buy air time for your TV ads...
3. List of ALL The Food And Wine Festivals In New Zealand Would you like to go to some Food and Wine...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Choose one (and only one) from the following list:

1. Low Price + Low Service = Junk
2. High Price + Low Service = Rip-off
3. Low Price + High Service = Bargain
4. Medium Price + Medium Service = Boring as hell
5. High Price + High Service = Quality

It’s time to get real and decide what you want from your business. There are 2 choices:

1. Retire early with a steady stream of passive income?
2. or Word hard until the day you die, a slave to your own business?

Which of the 5 choices will get you there?

#1 Providing junk?

Maybe.

It worked for The Warehouse for a long time, but even they are growing tired of the junk image and they’re trying hard to shake it off and move into #3 Bargain.

It works pretty well for $2 Shop and all the copy-cats.

But will it work for you?

Probably not.

You need huge economies of scale and you’re too lazy to set that up, right? I don’t blame you.

#2 Ripping people off?

Nope.

It might work for 10 minutes and then you’ll be found out.

Think of the shame!

Think of FairGo knocking on your door!

That’s not you.

#3 Providing Bargains?

No.

Surprised?

Customers love bargains, right?

Sure they do but the margins are too slim and providing such a high level of service for little in return will wear you out (and your staff).

#4 Being Boring As Hell?

That’s what happens when you choose the middle of the road.

Your customers are disloyal. If your competitor has a special on they’ll queue up outside his shop.

Does being boring promote Word of Mouth advertising from your most loyal customers to their friends and family and whoever they meet?

No.

#5 Providing Quality?

This is what business is all about.

Raise your prices so that each transaction provides you with the funds for improving your products and services even more.

Will you lose customers?

Sure you will. You’ll lose the disloyal ones (let them go) and retain the ones that buy from you for the quality.

A few more ideas about how you can provide quality:

• Create a story around your brand (we all love a good story, and we love spreading good stories)
• Take a stand for what you believe in (differentiate yourself, add to your story and uniqueness)
• Be a leader in your industry (declare “We’re heading in this direction, have you got the balls to follow or are you going to be left behind?”)
• Communicate your passion for your business (it’s infectious)

What next?

It’s really hard to move from one category to the next.

But you can do it.

You must do it.

I can help.

Call me: (07) 575 8799

Cheers,
Sheldon.

Related posts:

1. How To Modify Your Advertising Depending On The Customers Usage Level And Loyalty The next time you are writing an advertisement, or an...
2. Is The Contact Form On Your Website Making Your Prospective Clients Angry? I just wrote this article on another one of my...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.