Recently I was driving through the campus of our local university and noticed a striking similarity between the majority of students walking to and from class. What was that similarity you ask? They were all walking with their eyes focused firmly on their smart phones.

I have no idea if they were texting, Tweeting, updating Facebook, surfing the web, or simply looking for a friend’s number to call, but the fact remains that everyone (and I mean EVERYONE!) under the age of 25 is on a mobile device constantly.

Have you sat at a traffic light and glanced over at the car in the lane next to you recently? If so, more than likely you’ve noticed the driver (and passengers) in the car typing away on their phone.

Mobile is here to stay. It’s no longer the next big thing, it’s here now, and growing exponentially. The latest predictions are that by next year (2014), more people will be accessing the internet on a mobile device than on a traditional desktop computer!

According to Google, over 50% of all local searches (e.g., Bowling Green, Ky Electrician) are performed on a mobile device. And on top of that, 62% of companies that have a mobile optimized website see an increase in sales, according to Econsultancy.

So what does this mean for your business and how does it affect your marketing? Don’t worry, we’re getting to that.

If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re in trouble. Have you taken a look at your site on a mobile device recently? How does it look? Is it easy to read, or do you have to pinch and zoom in order to read it? If your customers, clients, or potential customers & clients are using a phone or tablet to search for your business, look up directions, read your content, or to purchase your products and services online, your site HAS TO BE mobile friendly. If it’s not, they’re going to purchase from a competitor whose site is optimized for the mobile web.

When using Google Analytics or another analytics tracking software, I would recommend checking to see what percentage of your site visitors are accessing your website on a mobile device.

If you want a quick way to test your website and see how it looks across all types of mobile devices, we’ve recently put together a tool that will enable you to do just that. It’s a mobile website tester, and I’d encourage you to check it out right now.

Ok. How did your site look? Good, bad, in between? That’s the litmus test. What you saw using that tool is what your customers are seeing as well. If you don’t like the way your site currently looks and behaves on a mobile device, you have three options to improve it. They are: build a mobile website, install a mobile site plugin, or have your site rebuilt using mobile responsive design.

Mobile Options

1. Mobile Website

Pros: Detects when a mobile device is used to view site and serves up a separate mobile site. Better for e-commerce and content heavy sites.
Cons: It is a 2nd website you have to manage and update. It will cost more long term. There can be negative search engine ramifications since you’re splitting your content onto two websites.

2. Mobile Plugin

Pros: It is usually simple and easy to set up. Typically the least expensive option. Only one website to manage.
Cons: It is extremely unattractive and looks nothing like the desktop version of your site. Can be hard to navigate. Not a good long-term solution.

3. Mobile Responsive Design

Pros: Only one website to manage. Keeps the same look and feel of your regular site. All content remains the same, only the format changes. It’s the most Google-friendly of the 3 options. Will “respond” to any device size by automatically displaying a version optimized for the specific device a user is on. Less cost long term than a separate mobile site.
Cons: Typically requires a complete website redesign. Initial development is slightly more expensive. For huge websites with hundreds of pages it can be hard to navigate.

Our Preference

My preferred method for mobile friendly websites is mobile responsive design. In fact, SpearsMarketing.com is built using this technology. If you’re on a desktop computer, shrink your browser window down to see the content “respond” to change in size.

Who knows what new and advanced technology will come down the road in the future. But for now, mobile responsive design appears to be the most “future-proof” of the available options.

Two other excellent examples of popular websites using mobile responsive design are the Boston Globe and Starbucks.

So what are you going to do to improve the mobile presence of your business website?

Image Credit Ed Yourdon

2013 is upon us. It’s a time to review the past and look towards the future. Most people set new year’s resolutions in order to better themselves, their life, and their business or career. And yet, how many fall into the same old habits just weeks into the new year?

If there is one thing you should focus on this year in order to improve your business, it is this: Maximizing your time.

Time. It’s the most valuable asset we have. Anyone can make more money. But no one can create more time.

As a business owner, are you trying to “do it all” in order to save as much money as possible? Or, are you focusing your time and attention on those activities which you’re best at (and in turn will help your business to grow and generate the most revenue, long term)?

In other words, are you spending your time working in your business, or working on your business?

Example: If you hate accounting (or aren’t good at it), are you doing it yourself, or hiring it out?

How is your time spent? Are you spending 5 hours on a task in order to save $100? If so, your time must only be worth $20 per hour…right?

Are you spending your time on those things that only you can do to grow your business? Or is the majority of your business day spent on those tasks that could be hired out for pennies on the dollar of what your time is actually worth?

Calculate what your time is worth. If you charge $200.00 an hour for consulting, then why would you spend 5 hours on a task that could be hired out for $20.00 per hour by someone who is an expert in that field and can complete the task in less time than you, and do a better job of it?

Warning: there is a trade-off in the time vs. money game. You can’t hire out everything or you’ll spend all your money. On the flip side, you can’t do everything either, or you’ll have no time.

Boot-strapping a business is important, especially when starting out. However, there comes a point when the value of your time far outweighs the need to be overly frugal with your hard earned dollars.

What are you spending your time on? Are you penny wise but pound foolish?

Time = Money

We’ve heard it a million times. But do we ever stop to think what it means and how it actually affects us?

“Waste your money and you’re only out of money, but waste your time and you’ve lost a part of your life.” -Michael Leboeuf

How many people camp out in front of a store to get the best deal or latest item, first? How much (or little!) is their time worth?

How many people will drive across town to save $0.05 a gallon on gas, yet waste an hour doing so? Isn’t the time spent driving (and using additional gas!) more valuable than the $0.05 saved?

In business, as in life, there are only three things that can be spent, each one important, and each fulfilling a specific need. These three things are:

• Money
• Energy
• Time

No matter what we do, these are the only 3 things that can be spent.

As a small business owner, it’s quite likely that you have more time and energy to spend than you do money. Although it may be easy to justify spending all your time and energy on a task, you could be wasting your most valuable resource: your time.

Time is More Valuable than Money

You can always make more money. If every last cent was taken from you, it’s always possible to make more. The same is true with energy. No matter how much energy you exert, after resting for a period of time, you’ll have rejuvenated your energy.

The same cannot be said about time. Each of us is given a finite amount of time on this earth. Although some are given more years, each of us has the same 24 hours in a day that has to be spent. How we use that time is what is most important, and what separates the truly successful from the unsuccessful.

Human beings are funny creatures. We place value on things which are easy to replace, and yet, neglect to find value at all in that which is priceless.

Finding the work/life balance is tough. Trust me. I know. I struggle with it every day. But one thing I do know is that one day you’re going to wake up and wish you had more time, and that you’d spent more time with your loved ones while you could, instead of working non-stop.

If you can maximize your time, you will automatically maximize your profits. How many people are content to waste time? And at the end of their life, how many of those will wish they had more of it?

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of” -Benjamin Franklin

So, I raise the question again. What are you spending?

Several weeks ago in conjunction with the Western Kentucky Small Business Development Center and the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce I had the pleasure of presenting to a group of small business owners on “How to Attract Customers Using Digital Marketing.”

It was a diverse group of attendees who had lots of questions and were in all stages of their business and marketing journey. From the feedback received, everyone gained a much better understanding of what works, and what doesn’t in today’s digital landscape.

One of the things I tried to hammer home is the correct definition of marketing:

“Marketing is delivering a product or service to the right market, through the right message, using the right medium.” (Click here to tweet this quote.)

The strategies and topics covered were:

• Recent changes in marketing
• Outbound vs. Inbound Marketing
• Blogging, WordPress, & owning your platform
• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Local Search & Map Options
• Email Marketing
• Online Advertising
• Pay-Per-Click
• Mobile Marketing

A few of the highlights touched on:

Content Marketing: Own your platform. Focus on design, structure, & content.
SEO: Focus on content and use the “SEO Sandwich.”
Social Media: 4 piece pie. All 4 pieces must be in place to work.
Email: Permission based. Focus on the customer, not on your business!
Online Ads: Landing pages are imperative. Test, test, test.
Mobile: The future of digital marketing and what to do today.

The majority of questions were in regards to digital marketing resources, as there are so many options out there to choose from.

It was such a fun and informative presentation, that I decided to post the slides to Slide Share so you could download them and benefit as well!

I’d love to hear your feedback. What other digital marketing topics would you like to see covered?

WordPress is a fantastic website platform for the small business owner. It’s extremely easy to use, has a huge community of developers and designers due to it’s open source code, and is the most search engine friendly platform on the market.

Originally created as blogging software, it has grown into a full-featured content management system that can rival many enterprise level CMS.

Not only is WordPress the most popular blogging software in the world, it also powers 15% of every website online!

One of the reasons WordPress has grown so quickly is because of the addition of plugins, a simple way for users to add and extend functionality to their website without having to know any code. There are over 21,000 plugins available to download for free from the WordPress repository.

Since we use WordPress for practically every small business website we build, we’ve learned a little about which plugins to use, and which ones to avoid. Not all plugins are created equal. With over 20,000 options to choose from, you can bet that there is a huge diversity in quality.

Since we’re constantly asked which plugins should be used for small business websites, we thought it might be a good idea to dedicate a blog post to this very topic.

Top 15 WordPress Plugins for Small Business

Here are a few of our favorite WordPress plugins that help extend the base platform functionality, increase search engine optimization, social media distribution, and site security.

(Note, these are not listed in order of importance, but grouped together by category.)

My Content Management

By default WordPress comes with 2 types of content, posts and pages. That’s great if you’ve got a small site with just static content and blog posts, but when you need more content types, you can either code it in, or install My Content Management. This plugin creates multiple types of content that many small businesses need. For example, it can automatically add sections for FAQs, Testimonials, Resources, Locations, Portfolio, and more. It saves lots of development time, and is super easy for the end user add content into.

My Calendar

If your business has events and activities throughout the year that need to be displayed on your website in a calendar format, this is the plugin to get. It is a full-featured calendar plugin that can create recurring events, show location information and directions, can be downloaded and added to the user’s phone or home computer, and much more.

Gravity Forms

This is one of those plugins that we install on EVERY site we build. If you need a form, no matter how complex, Gravity Forms can do it! We use it for everything from a simple email form on the contact page, to ultra complex applications and conditional forms. There isn’t a website we’ve built that Gravity forms wasn’t one of the first plugins we installed.

WordPress SEO

WordPress SEO is the ultimate search engine optimization plugin for WordPress. It includes XML Sitemaps, RSS optimization, custom title and meta description options, social media integration, and much more. If you want Google to rank your website higher, you need this plugin!

Scribe

Technical SEO is important, but not more important than writing good content. Scribe helps you do both. It will analyze your written content for keywords, offer suggestions, remind you to write a custom title and meta description, and much more. This plugin alone has made a HUGE difference in the search ranking for several clients.

Premise

When doing any type of off-line advertising, it’s important to have ad-specific landing pages set up on your website to drive traffic to, so you can track the ad’s effectiveness. Premise is a plugin that creates beautiful landing pages and helps you write out a call-to-action on each one. It is also a full on membership plugin that allows you to add a closed, members only area to your site.

Simple Social Icons

If you want to display links to your social media profiles across the web in a simple but elegant fashion, Simple Social Icons is the plugin to use. It’s easy to customize the size, shape, and colors for your brand, and it has options for all the most popular social media sites.

Digg Digg

You want site visitors to share your content with their friends, family, and professional network via social media, right? Well the Digg Digg plugin helps them to do just that. It is a robust social media sharing tool that has options for all the top social media sites and can be configured to display in multiple locations on your site.

Social Metrics Pro

If you want to see how much traction your content is getting across the social media landscape, then you need Social Metrics Pro. It’s a social media analytics plugin that shows you how many times your individual posts and pages have been shared across all the primary networks. You can even submit and share yourself, right from within the plugin dashboard!

Jetpack

Jetpack is built by the creators of WordPress, so you know it should be good. It’s a single plugin with a suite of options to extend the functionality of your site. It can do everything from display your site analytics, spell check your writing, create photo galleries, and more. You probably won’t use all the options it has, but it’s nice to know they are there.

Cart66

If you want to sell products or services on your website, you need an e-commerce solution, and Cart66 is just that. It integrates with most payment gateways, including Paypal and Authorize.net, so selling your wares and collecting payment is a breeze. It also allows you to track inventory, sell digital goods, and download reports.

Akismet

Since WordPress was initially created for bloggers, the ability to comment on posts comes standard. However, that can lead to spam. Akismet is a spam blocker that is built by WordPress, and it comes bundled when you install the software. If you want to keep the comment spammers at bay, you need Akismet.

WP Optimize

Websites are a series of files that live in a database on a server. After a while, the database can become jumbled and disorganized, causing your site to load slowly and decrease performance. WP Optimize allows you to optimize your database and delete the unnecessary files that gradually accumulate there. Think of it as a defragmenter for your website.

Wordfence

Wordfence is a complete security suite for WordPress. It provides real time monitoring, a firewall, brute force and IP blocking, anti-virus scanning, and even checks your theme and plugins for possible malware injections. If there’s ever a problem, Wordfence will automatically email you about it.

Backup Buddy

Backup Buddy is one of those plugins that you hope you won’t need, but will regret not installing if anything ever goes wrong with your site. It is an automated backup solution that will back up your content, theme files, plugins, and database, all on the schedule that you set. It can email you a copy, or sync with Dropbox to automatically upload your backup. This is another plugin that we install on every site, and it’s saved our neck on a couple occasions.

There you have it. Our top 15 WordPress plugins for small business websites. Now it’s your turn. What plugin(s) can’t you live without?

So what should you do to get a website up and running on the cheap? You need WordPress. The content creation and management platform for small business owners.

The infographic below walks you through the exact steps to take to get a small business WordPress website online.

Now that you’ve read through the infographic, here are the resources you’ll need to use when following the steps listed above.

Step 1. Purchase a domain name
Step 2. Set up a web hosting account
Step 3. Connect your domain name to your web host
Step 4. Install WordPress
Step 5. Choose a theme
Step 6. Create quality content

Prefer a video tutorial walkthrough of how to use WordPress? Check out WP101. It does just that.

Still have questions or need something a little more advanced? Give us shout. We’ll be glad to help.

Thanks to Copyblogger for the great infographic they’ve allowed us to share with you.

The world and business have gone mobile. Never before has it been so easy to manage and operate a business while on the go. If you’ve got an iPhone, you know how convenient mobile apps can be. But do you know which are the best ones to use for business and productivity?

Although they may not be applicable to every business owner, the following is a list of our favorite business and productivity apps for the iPhone.

Dropbox:
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, documents, and videos anywhere. Once you install Dropbox on your computer, any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, iPhone, iPad and even the Dropbox website. Dropbox is a one of those tools that we can’t imagine living without.

Evernote:
Evernote is a productivity app that helps you remember everything across all of the devices you use. Evernote lets you take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders, and makes these notes completely searchable from any device. Never again lose notes that you’ve jotted down. Evernote is a huge time saver, and helps us stay organized no matter where we are.

Qrafter Pro:
Qrafter Pro is the best QR code scanner and generator on the market. Period. It works on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Qrafter will scan QR codes up to 40% smaller than others. It also scans QR Codes which have less contrast between foreground and background. Qrafter Pro can create QR Codes from scratch, customize colors, save to your photo library, email QR codes as PNG and SVG image files, share on social media sites, and print them if your device is compatible with the AirPrint feature of iOS.

Business Card Reader:
When out networking, you probably get dozens of business cards. Now you can save them to your contact list with this instant business card recognition app, right on the iPhone and the iPad. Import contact information from a business card directly to your iOS address book. Easy integration with existing CRM systems. It also has native LinkedIn integration: contact creation, contact information, picture import and convenient LinkedIn search.

Scan Pages:
Scan Pages lets you convert your iPhone into a mobile scanner. It will transform your scanned documents into a PDF, organizes and cleans your mobile images using an advanced image processing technology, and allows you to combine them in a PDF file and store in GoogleDocs, Evernote, Dropbox or share via E-mail. And the best part…it’s free!

Hootsuite:
Hootsuite is the premier desktop social media management tool. Now you can continue keep track of all your social media profiles on the go. Just like the desktop version, the HootSuite iPhone app allows you to manage all your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Foursquare accounts in one app. Compose and converse on the go. HootSuite for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch allows you to manage your social media profiles, like Facebook, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, & Twitter, from almost anywhere.

WordPress:
Your website is running on WordPress, right? If so, then the WordPress mobile app makes it easy to manage your site from any iOS device. With WordPress for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch,  you can moderate comments, create or edit posts and pages, add images or videos with ease, and keep track of your site statistics.

Skype:
Skype was the original free online phone service. While no longer completely free, you can still call, video call and instant message anyone else on Skype for free with Skype for your desktop, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. You can also call and text your contacts (or any other number) at Skype’s (very) low rates. Skype works over 3G or Wi-Fi, and can be used on all your devices.

Feeddler Pro RSS Reader:
As a business owner, you need to stay on top of the latest news and changes within your industry. Thats where a good RSS reader comes in. Feeddler is a fast and highly customizable Google Reader client that syncs perfectly with Google and presents RSS stories in an easy-to-read interface. Feeddler is a universal app that supports iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads.

Wunderlist:
Everyone needs a good to-do list, and one that syncs across all your devices is even better! The Wunderlist mobile app will boost your productivity. Organize your to-do lists on the go and synchronize them with a free Wunderlist account. View and modify your tasks on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and the Web.

Quickbooks:
You’re probably already using Quickbooks for your business, but did you know they have a mobile app which you can use on the go? The one drawback to the app is you have to be subscribed to Quickbooks online, but if you’re already using it, the app is a no brainer! Create invoices & get customer information on the Go. Create & view estimates, invoices, and sales receipts. Convert estimates to invoices. Email estimates, invoices, and sales receipts.

Paypal:
If you use Paypal to purchase items online or to bill clients, you know how convenient it is. Now you can manage your PayPal account directly from you iPhone. Send money to pay bills, check your balance, withdraw funds, or view past transactions. You can even take a photo of a check to add money to your PayPal account. The new ‘Local’ feature allows you to find local merchants who are using the “PayPal Here” service and pay them with PayPal. If you’re a merchant, Paypal Here will allow you to get paid directly with your smart phone.

Join.Me:
Join.me allows you to conference call on the go. With the join.me viewer, you can join an online meeting no matter where you are. View someone’s screen, share ideas and collaborate in real time, for free! Optimized for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, join.me is fast, free and nimble, and makes attending an online meeting as easy as touching your screen.

Kayak Pro:
For business travelers, the Kayak Pro app is an essential tool. Compare flight, hotel and car rental deals. Book your hotel, right in the app. Track your flight status, view and manage your trip itinerary, look up baggage fees, access airline numbers and airport info. Includes flight and car search, hotel search and booking, flight tracker and My Trips, so you have your full itinerary at your fingertips.

Well, that’s our list of favorite iPhone apps for business & productivity. What’s on yours? Which ones did we miss that you can’t live without? Let us know in the comments below.

Want to see even more great apps? Check out the App Store for the complete list of business and productivity apps!

We’ve written before about how important it is to claim and optimize your local places page in order to get ranked at the top of The Google. If you took that advice and claimed your Google Places page, good for you. For the time being, you will still be able to access and manage your local listing information via Google Places for Business.

If you haven’t claimed your Places page, well, now you won’t have to, instead, you’ll have to hop on over to Google+ for business and create a Google Plus Local page for your business. That is, if you want it to show up in the local maps and search results listings.

From the horse’s mouth:

Today, we’re rolling out Google+ Local, a simple way to discover and share local information featuring Zagat scores and recommendations from people you trust in Google+. …It’s integrated into Search, Maps and mobile and available as a new tab in Google+—creating one simple experience across Google.

You can read the rest of Google’s official announcement here.

How Do Google+ Local Pages Affect The Small Business Owner?

• All Google Places pages (profiles) become Google+ Local pages
• Reviews are now completely handled through Google+, in conjunction with Zagat (which Google acquired last September)
• You can now review other businesses thorough your Google+ Local page
• There is a new “local” tab within Google+ making it a local search destination
• Google Plus Local pages will be available across Google search, maps, & mobile
• Local search now takes on more social features, especially on Google+
• Google+ circles have been integrated to filter and find reviews/recommendations from friends, family, & colleagues

Here’s what the new “Local” tab looks like within Google+:

Here’s What You REALLY Need to Know

The new pages are inherently social. Google is more fully integrating “social signals” to influence the rankings. For instance, if someone is a connection of yours through your Google+ account (circles), and they have +1 a business page or left a review, it’s going to rank higher when you perform a search for a similar product or service.

Google is hoping that with this Places change, business owners will be more likely to keep their information current, and provide more dynamic “social” content, instead of the traditional Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP) info.

Unlike Facebook pages for business, Google+ Local pages will be indexed in local search results, which makes them imperative for all small business owners with a local presence.

Google+ Local is integrating with all the other Google products, such as local search and maps, so your Google+ Local page is what will display, instead of the old Places page.

If you already claimed your Local Places page, (for now) you’ll continue to manage your Google+ Local page through Google Places for Business, although this will most likely change in the next few months.

If you have already created a Google+ page for your business, it doesn’t appear that the old Places Page will be merged into it, but a new Google+ Local Page is created automatically….for now. Since it is Google, this could very well change in the not so distant future.

Google+ Local pages are more visually interesting than the traditional Places pages, and they will allow local merchants to develop followers and message them, similar to the kinds of social interactions now available on Facebook and Twitter.

Here’s what the old Places Page looked like:

Here’s the newly converted Google+ Local Page:

And finally, here’s the standard Google+ Business Page:

Several months back, Google purchased rating and review service Zagat. This is to directly compete with Yelp reviews and listings. Since the switch-over, Google has converted all its ratings/reviews over to Zagat’s 30-point scale, instead of the old 5 star rating system.

Also, in order for customers to leave reviews of your business, they’ll need a Google+ account to do so.

In my opinion, Google’s goal with this whole move is to get more people onto Google+, and away from Facebook. Also, it’s inevitable that social signals, ie. +1s, shares, likes, mentions, tweets, reviews, etc. will be playing a much larger role in search engine rankings.

Like it or not, business owners are being forced to adopt social into their search engine marketing mix. To ignore Google+ is a potential ranking suicide.

You can learn more about the Google+ Local service offerings here and here.

You’ve probably seen them around town, in stores, on products, in magazines, and wondered “what are those black and white square barcodes?” Let me break it down for you.

Those funny looking black & white square barcodes are called “Quick Response Codes”, or “QR Code” for short. They’re a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) originally designed in Japan for the automotive industry.

Traditional one-dimensional (UPC) bar codes can only hold up to 20 numerical digets, but since QR codes are two-dimensional, they can hold thousands of alphanumeric characters of information. This ability and ease of use makes them a practical tool for the small business owner.

QR codes are designed to be scanned with a QR reader, typically on your smart phone, i.e. iPhone, Android, or other mobile device. Once scanned, the code will display further information, or perform an action which has been programmed into it. The most utilized QR code feature is linking to a website URL to learn more about a product or service.

QR Code Uses

Here’s a list of some of the most popular functions that can be utilized within a QR code for business mobile marketing campaign:

• browse to your website
• bookmark your website
• call your business
• send you a text message
• send you an email
• create an address book entry with your contact info
• download your contact info
• create a calendar event
• display a map
• give directions to your business
• display your latest coupon
• download your business app
• perform a Google search
• send a tweet about your business
• “like” your Facebook page
• “check in” to your location
• watch your company video
• listen to your business jingle
• …and much more

Are you starting to see how these funky little squares can benefit your business?

QR codes don’t have to be boring black and white squares. You can have multiple colors, and even include an image within them. There are companies who specialize in custom QR code creation that will place your logo directly in the code!

QR Code Mistakes

Now, just because QR codes have the ability to perform all these functions doesn’t mean you should try to use all of them. In fact, I see more businesses misusing QR codes than I see them being used properly.

One of the biggest offenders of QR code misuse is directing a user to a non-mobile optimized website. If your company website is Flash based, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users won’t be able to view it. Also, if your site doesn’t have a mobile version or utilize a responsive or fluid layout, the site will require pinching and zooming, which can be rather annoying to most mobile users.

Another common mistake is directing users to your business Facebook page or Twitter account. The reason this is a mistake is that most users don’t use their phone’s web browser to access social media sites, they use a native smart phone app to interact there. Because of this, they most likely won’t be logged into their account, so it makes it difficult and annoying to try and engage with you.

So you’re probably asking, “how do I create a QR code for my business” and “Where do I get a QR code scanner?” Glad you asked.

Probably the best and most standards compliant option is Qrafter. It’s super easy to use, and there is an iPhone app for it as well, so you can create QR Codes on the fly. (If you’re an Android phone user, it has a built in QR code reader.)

QR Code Best Practices

Here’s quick list of some of the best practices that you should consider using QR codes for in your own business.

Business Cards
Place your content info in a QR code to be scanned and automatically downloaded to the user’s address book.

Shirts
This is something we’ve been using for the past year. A QR code on the back of your shirt that takes someone to a custom landing page on your site with a call to action.

Menu Items
If you have a restaurant, placing a QR code next to each menu item so that it can be scanned for nutrition information, pictures, etc. is a great way to upsell your items.

Realtor Signs
If you’re a realtor, each flyer and for home sale sign should have a QR code that takes someone to a landing page with property details, photo gallery, price, terms, etc. It’s a great way to leverage your time and weed out lookers.

Instruction Sheets
Link your product instruction sheet to a video explaining how to setup or use the product. Will save phone and customer service time.

Print Ads
If you’re running a coupon or limited time special, have a QR code link to download the coupon that has to be presented in store. This can also be tracked to see the effectiveness of the ad.

Loyalty Program
Set up a QR code that has to be scanned whenever someone purchases a product or checks out at your store. After x amount of scans, they get a coupon or gift certificate.

Click to Call
Place in a yellow pages ad so that someone finding your business there can scan the code and call you automatically.

Direct Mail Campaign
Create a direct mail campaign that has a QR code that when scanned plays a video of you addressing them personally. Talk about increasing response rate!

Promote an Event
Create a QR code that when scanned adds the event to the user’s calendar.

Automatically Send a Tweet
Create a QR code that when scanned will automatically send a tweet about your business and follow your Twitter account. A great way to gain Twitter mentions and increase followers.

Other Considerations

You may not have experienced it yet, but you’ll probably try to scan a QR code in the future and it won’t scan. This can happen for several reasons.

First, the code may be too small for your scanner to read. This usually happens when the amount of data included in the QR code causes it to become so detailed that the size is not scannable unless enlarged greatly. A good way to help reduce the size of your QR codes when linking to website is to use a link shortening service such as Bit.ly.

Second, the QR code may not scan if it’s distorted or pixelated. Each code has an error correction level where it will still scan even if a certain percentage is damaged or removed. If this threshold is reached, then the code will not be readable by the scanner.

Finally, just because a QR code can be used for something doesn’t mean it should. If there’s a more effective or efficient way to get the same information across, then use it. Don’t use a QR code simply for the novelty of it. Use them to give a better experience to your customers, and in turn, your engagement level, usage, and conversion will all increase instead of flop.

Your turn. Are you currently using QR codes in your marketing or customer service offerings? How’s the response? Let us know in the comments below.

We’ve spent so much time helping clients establish an attractive web presence, that we had neglected our own site for too long. Well, that has now changed (Not the part about helping clients:) )

Remember this old design?

While still a work in progress, and other than the VERY obvious design change, here’s a few of the new features that we’re really excited about.

Responsive Design

One of the biggest changes is the new responsive design layout. If you’re reading this on a desktop or laptop computer, you won’t notice this feature unless your browser is shrunk down to less than 960 pixels. Check out how the site looks on your iPad, iPhone, or other mobile device. You’ll see that all the content, text, graphics, video, etc., will “respond” to your browser size and adjust accordingly. So no matter what device you use to access SpearsMarketing.com, you’ll get the same user experience. All the content stays the same, but the display of the content adjusts to your specific browser size and dimensions.

Updated Portfolio

Our original portfolio page was looking kind of bland, so we’ve improved the look and layout of the new page to better represent our work. Not only is it more visually appealing, but it’s a better showcase of our most recent projects. We’ll be updating this further as time goes on, including short write-ups about each individual project. Go ahead, check it out. I’ll wait.

Core Services

We’ve narrowed down our core services to better serve our clients. As we’re always telling our consulting clients, you can’t be all things to all people. Focus on your strengths, and get rid of the superfluous. We’ll, we’ve taken our own advice and have reduced our core services to those which we’re REALLY good at. While we’ll still be providing some of the old ones for current clients still using them, we’ll only be focusing on our primary ones going forward:

• Strategic Marketing Consulting
• WordPress Website Design
• Local Search Engine Optimization
• Social Media Marketing & Consulting
• Small Business Mobile App Development
• Digital Marketing Audits

Still to Come

We’ve got a lot more updates to come, many of which we’re still working on. A few of these are:

Updated Resources Page
-We’ll be updating and improving our digital marketing resources page, with more info and resources to help you grow your business online.

Reviews
-We’re going to begin reviewing products and services that can help you leverage your time and dollars. You’ll get the good, bad, and the ugly.

Regular Blogging
-We’ll be blogging more regularly, with more tips, tools, and digital marketing advice to help you grow your business.

Please leave us a comment below about the new site design. Likes, dislikes, suggestions, etc. are all fair game. And stay tuned. The best is yet to come!

I recently had the unfortunate privilege of undergoing an emergency appendectomy, and as anyone who has had the surgery can attest to, it is not a pleasant experience.

While recovering in the hospital, and through subsequent followup doctor’s appointments, I experienced numerous example of both good and bad customer service, and had plenty of time to think on how this experience relates to customer service in business.

Customer Empathy

You must have empathy for your customers. They come to you to fulfill a need; to increase their pleasure or to decrease their pain. Are you able to understand their needs and deliver a better service because of it? The best doctors and nurses are the ones I could tell really cared, not just acted empathetically because their job requires it.

Customer Priority

Treat each customer as if they are your only customer, and your business depends upon them buying from you. Go out of your way to make each customer feel special. Whether it’s a follow-up phone call, a complimentary widget, or an unexpected thank you note, surprise each customer by going above and beyond what is considered typical customer service in your industry. A couple nurses went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable, and they’re the ones I remember.

Punctuality & Consistency

I actually walked out of a doctors office after waiting for an hour and a half for a scheduled appointment. Time is the most valuable asset you have. Respect your customers time, and they will respect yours. If you tell a client you’ll do something by a certain time, do it. If you have a meeting or phone appointment scheduled, keep it and be punctual, never late. No one likes waiting, and if your customers have to wait on you, or you’re not consistant with them, they’ll replace you.

Just to summarize. Try to walk in your clients shoes. Treat your customers as you’d want to be treated, and always follow the Golden Rule.