You need a new website (or maybe it’s your first website), and there are a gazillion options.

First off, depending on how busy you are at this point, you might want to consider building it yourself. It’s not rocket science to build a simple site or blog. I really like SquareSpace . The site offers an awesome interface, cool premade designs, and an incredibly reasonable price. It is a soup-to-nuts solution. It’s worth considering.

If, however, you’re committed to hiring someone to do the work for you, then these tips should help you pick the right someone:

1. Don’t hire someone who specializes in law firm websites. Your site will end up looking like the sites of all the other lawyers. Plus, lawyers generally hire fairly lame vendors, so you won’t be getting the latest and greatest technology or design for your site. Companies selling to lawyers don’t have to be cutting-edge to compete, so they tend to languish way behind the firms doing work in more progressive industries.

2. Hire someone with experience. You don’t want to be the client providing on-the-job training. Make sure the company has been doing exactly what you need for other clients. It should have pertinent experience. If you want a blog, then make sure the company has done blogs. If you want a forum or video or whatever, then make sure it’s done that specific kind of work before.

3. Take a good look at the company’s website. If it’s anything less than excellent, then walk away. Don’t buy the “Cobbler’s children have no shoes” crap. If the company builds good sites, then its site should be outstanding.

4. Look at the work the company has done for others. Dig in and examine it carefully. Don’t skim the homepage and move on. Click around. See whether the sites the company has built are achieving business objectives. If the site has a forum, see whether it’s getting participation. Examine every element of what the company has built and see whether it’s working.

5. Call former clients. Have conversations with the people directly involved in the construction of the site. See whether it was finished on time and on budget. Ask whether the designers provided creative ideas. Ask how the working relationship progressed. Ask whether they would use the firm again. If they’re not using the firm now, ask why.

6. Figure out what team you’re getting. Is the salesperson going to work on your project or sell it to you and disappear? Who will actually do the work? Have you met the people you’ll be dealing with as you move forward?

7. Understand the company’s system for site building. Find out how it approaches building a site. Does it have a systematic approach it can explain to you now? Make notes when the salesperson explains the system and then ask the designer about the system and see how the answers match up. You’ll quickly find out whether there’s a system or a bullshit sales pitch.

8. Find out who owns the code Make sure the contract provides that you’ll own the code and the design. Don’t pay for the construction of a site that you’re actually just renting. Make sure you can leave the web design company and take your site with you.

9. Make sure the price is the price. Check on change orders, add-ons, etc. Find out what you’ll pay for the site over the course of 24 months. Don’t assume that everything is included in the first number you hear. Figure out what you’ll really be paying for the entirety of the project so you can compare apples to apples.

10. Make sure the company works with WordPress. There are lots of content management systems on the market, but I have a strong preference for WordPress. This site and all of our other sites are built on WordPress, and it’s a solid platform with a huge industry built around it. When we need help with our site, it’s easy for us to find excellent assistance. Make sure they have experience building sites on WordPress, and you’ll buy yourself lots of flexibility when you decide to make changes to the site.

Building a website can be an exciting activity. It feels good when you have a site that highlights the advantages of working with you. The process of creating the site forces you to focus on the good things you do for clients. If you work with the right web design company, you’ll enjoy the process and get more than just a website out of the work. Choose the firm carefully, and the end result will achieve your goals and grow your business.

By Lee Rosen

We all know there’s many ways to say “I love you” to your Mom. It could be in person with a giant hug, a greeting card in the mail or a phone call if you’re miles away. Or, you could also text your mother and share a message with her that makes it clear just how much she means to you.

But be forewarned -- there are just some texts that you just shouldn’t send to your Mom on Mother’s Day. She might remember these texts forever, and not for a good reason.

The 5 worst texts you can send to your Mom this Mother’s Day:

5. Sorry Mom. I totally forgot it was Mother’s Day last week. Hope you had a happy day.
Tip: Don’t be late. Send her a text on Mother’s Day which is Sunday, May 13th.

4. Even though you are old and getting gray, I still love you. Happy Mother’s Day!
Tip: It’s never good to remind your Mom of her age. Tell her how beautiful she is instead.

3. Hey Mom- Can I have $20 to buy you a Mother’s Day gift?
Tip: Asking your Mom for money to purchase her a Mother’s Day gift is just wrong. You can always make her a gift. She’ll love that you took the time to make her something special.

2. Hey Mandy, Wanna go out tonight? I’m trying to avoid my Mom for the day.
Tip: Make sure you send the right text to her-- not one meant for someone else. This could be bad- very bad.

1. THX 4 being so gr8. ILY :)

Tip: Stay away from texting her shorthand. She might not understand what you are trying to say. Take the time to write everything out for her.

Now that we’ve covered what not to do, let’s focus on some awesome texts that you should send to your Mom:

5. Thank her for everything that she has done for you.
If I have never said thank you for everything you’ve done for me, I'd like to do that now. Happy Mother’s Day!

4. Thank her for being more than just your mom.
Thanks for being my biggest fan and my best friend. Above all thanks for being my Mom. Happy Mother’s Day!

3. Thank her for all the times she has been there for you.
You've seen me laugh and you've seen me cry. I may not have always said it, but thanks- I love you- Happy Mother's Day.

2. Tell her just how unique and special she is to you.
You're my mother, I would have no other! Happy Mother’s Day!

1. Keep it sweet and simple.
I love you. Happy Mother’s Day!

What will you text your Mom this Mother’s Day?

To all the Moms, Grandmas and Aunts out there- Happy Mother's Day!

-Amy and team textPlus
(and Marsha Collier too)!

 

 

People joke about being addicted to their cell phones, but recent research suggests it's no laughing matter. A recent study found people were more likely to give in to cravings to use social media than they were to give in to satisfy other desires. That little blue bird may seem harmless enough, but are we on the verge of becoming a nation of insatiable Twitter junkies? Learn more about your brain—on Twitter.

You can’t compete in price when you’re starting out. The big players, already established, have greater leverage on pricing. They undercut, lower prices, offer discounts, offer freebies. They can afford it. You can’t. That doesn’t mean you can’t compete.

If there’s one thing successful startups have shown us is that you don’t have to come out of the gates with the lowest price in order to succeed. You have to add value to what’s already available to customers.

From the customer’s point of view, your company or brand exists only to create value for them and to provide them with results.

Having the LOWEST PRICE is the sacrifice you have to make for not having the HIGHEST VALUE.

If your service or product offering adds value to what is already available in the marketplace or if the value is added by offering something that’s not found anywhere, you don’t need to be a low price leader. The lowest price is the last place you want to be in to compete because it’s too vulnerable to too many variables. Supplier costs, shipping costs, and competitor pricing, are dangers lurking and could potentially knock you out of your lowest price leader in a split second. If you’re focused on the greatest value, your main concern isn’t managing the external variables that could affect price, but are focused on adding what matters to your customers to your offering. There’s little to be concerned with price as long as you set it at fair market value.

Loyal customers want value because your offering is an investment to them.

One of the arguments in pricing strategies is that if you don’t have the lowest price, people won’t buy. It’s false. If you don’t have the lowest price SOME people won’t buy. But in the end, who are those customers? Customers who shop solely based on the lowest price can never be loyal to brand customers, because they’re loyal to price first. In the end, there’s always someone out there willing to make some crazy deal, even if it’s just temporary, and when there’s that possibility, those price-only focused customers will always leave for the lower price.

Value-based customers are your prime group for creating long-term loyal customers because value customers realize the potential in your offering. To value customers, your offering is an investment, one that they want to see mature because there’s benefit for them. They’re the ones who take time to give good feedback, work with you on product enhancements, and evangelize for you my marketing through word-of-mouth, one of the greatest (and cheapest) marketing tools startups have available.

When breaking down a single pin, each pin has: an image, a source, a description, an associated board, category for the board, and a time when it was posted. We posted many campaigns over the past week to see what works and doesn't and noticed that our most effective campaigns had some similar traits. The list below outlines each of these in detail:

(1)  Compelling image: A beautiful image just won’t cut it. You’ll need a beautiful image that either elicits value, touches a human emotion, follows a trend, or relates to one of the following basic human needs: makes them happier, richer, healthier, or gets them *cough* =). We noticed that the most “compelling” images are simple (often white background), understandable, and relate to trends or the current season (for example, one of our pins connecting to the recent “hunger games” craze received 196 click-throughs to the final blog!). As humans, we relate the easy understandability of an image to the ease of understanding the overall topic being covered. So it's no surprise that even on Pinterest, simplicity always wins.

(2)  Call-to-action description: After an intriguing image, the user viewing your content refers to the description. We posted similar images, varying the descriptions, and noticed that a call-to-action description received about 80% more clicks than the user's average pins. This means just adding a simple phrase like: “You must see how this is done” or “You should see how well this is …” or “Tutorial on how to …” or “19 ways to …”.

(3)  Post at the right times: One of our Pinterest tips states that the best hours to pin are from 8PM-1AM EST (notice that the hunger games post was done @12AM EST) – and the numbers prove this to be correct. Interestingly, it seems that pins pinned between 2PM to 4PM EST get a lot of hits as well!

(4)  Post to popular boards: This one is obvious, the boards with the most followers have a larger reach and in turn provide a larger potential for re-pins, likes, and click-throughs.

(5)  Trending topics: Lastly, our pins referring to a trending topic (our example of “Hunger Games” above or “Easter”) were extremely popular – receiving 196 click-throughs, 28 re-pins, and 17 likes. This adds to the importance of trending topics and allows you to stay-ahead and ensure that you are constantly staying relevant.

(6)  Feed back to your social networks: Twitter and Facebook are still very powerful tools and this is where your descriptions could add a lot of additional value. Using hashtags in your descriptions allows you to immediately “tag” your content on Twitter (particularly when you are posting around trending topics). We're still playing around with the effects of having hashtags in descriptions so there are no final conclusions here yet.

We’ve put together the infographic below to break down some of these stats into % value:

On a final note, no matter what kind of content you are posting, always always remember your audience. They are mostly well-educated females that are spending time looking for great new content and things to discover.

Online retail rating service StellaService examined the Facebook practices of 20 top retail brands and, for the most part, found their customer service to be lacking.

StellaService posted customer-service questions and comments on the Facebook walls of the 20 retailers, and found that:

• B&H Photo was the fastest to respond, doing so within two minutes.
• Bed Bath & Beyond, Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table, and Foot Locker all responded within 30 minutes.
• B&H, Gap, Bed Bath & Beyond, JackThreads, and Williams-Sonoma were the only five retailers to earn high marks in all of StellaService’s key metrics, responding to questions in wall posts and comments within 48 hours and not deleting any customer questions before 48 hours.
• Eight companies deleted questions posted on their walls, regardless of whether they were answered: Best Buy, Crate and Barrel, Fab.com, Gilt.com, J. Crew, Radio Shack, Rue La La, and Victoria’s Secret.
• 13 companies failed to answer questions posted in the comments section: Best Buy, Bose, Brooks Brothers, Cooking.com, Fab.com, Foot Locker, Gap, Gilt.com, J. Crew, One Kings Lane, Radio Shack, Sur La Table, and Victoria’s Secret.

StellaService also shared the following tips for customers who wish to contact retailers via Facebook:

• Questions are more likely to be answered when posted to walls than when included in comments.
• Check to see if your questions are deleted.
• Avoid offensive language and keep posts precise, but don’t forget to include vital information, such as product numbers and order dates.
• Look for service widgets on the Facebook page.
• Allow 24 hours before moving to plan B, whatever that may be for you.

StellaService Chief Executive Officer Jordy Leiser said:

While retailers have enthusiastically embraced Facebook as a way to engage with consumers, many have yet to fully appreciate social media’s two-way nature when it comes to providing customer service. Retailers need to realize that two days in Facebook time is like two years in real-time. Consumers are used to real-time engagement with friends on Facebook, so it’s unnatural to spend days waiting for any kind of response.

Readers: Have your customer-service experiences with retailers or customers on Facebook mirrored the findings by StellaService?

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Short post.  Big point. Why have some social media stores of big retail brands failed?

Simple.  They had no compelling value proposition – there was no compelling reason to choose to buy from them – mostly because they were simply clones of existing e-commerce sites – selling the same products for the same prices with the same promotions and in the same place (online and one click away from the social media news feed).

If you want to sell successfully in social media, you’ll need one of these 4 key value propositions:

1. Something First – Give social media followers access to new products first (Burberry)
2. Something Unique – Give social media followers something different, only available to them (Oscar de la Renta)
3. Something More – Give social media followers a bonus when they buy (EA)
4. Something For Less – Give social media followers a discount when they buy (Zynga)

What’s your social commerce value proposition – the true, unique and compelling reason to buy from your social media store?