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5 EASY TIPS TO GET AN A+ ON CUSTOMER SERVICE Customer service is the key to success in any business. Want to raise the customer service bar at your business? Check out these tips. Meet with staff daily. It doesn’t have to be a long meeting, but touch base. What went right? What went wrong today? Plan ahead. Give your staff solutions and answers to potential problems. Be prepared. Hire the right people. Customers don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Be friendly. Do not greet anyone on the phone or in person without a “smile.” Train your staff. Have some sort of daily training plan. Don’t kid yourself. Reminders are always necessary. Nancy Friedman is a popular speaker and author of nine books on customer service and sales. Contact her at 314- 291-1012 or nancy@telephonedoctor.com or visit www.nancyfriedman.com 16
3 Major Factors for Search Engine Optimization Success Website Optimization Your website needs to be coded in a way that allows search engines to easily crawl and index your site or you will always struggle to get any lasting SEO results. Failing to do this critical first step is like building a house without a foundation. Make sure your web developer understands the importance of On-Page SEO, or hire an SEO professional to ensure your website code is fully optimized. Content Optimization Does your website have a blog? This is your social media hub and an important part of your SEO strategy. In order to make a sale, prospects need to know, like, and trust you. Blogging can speed up this process to both attract and convert website visitors. When your blog shows up as the answer in a Google search, your prospects get to “know and like” you. At the end of your blog be sure to have a call to action
(CTA) so readers can join your email list. Blogs help you build relationships with new visitors and existing customers. Domain Authority Domain Authority (DA) is a search-engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engines. The score ranges from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank. Basically, the more high-quality sites that link to yours and places your content is mentioned online, the higher your Domain Authority. The long-term goal of your SEO plan should be to grow DA to outperform your top competitors. Michelle Hummel is CEO of www.webstrategyplus.com. Her company helps businesses develop a winning search engine optimization strategy to drive more leads.
