Tips for SMEs to Handle Online Crisis February 20, 2012

Every online company whether big or small have to face an online crisis like situation some or the other time. At such times, what comes to their rescue is a sound crisis communication.

Studies indicate that no matter what kind of an online business you are involved in, when caught in the midst of a crisis situation, the response typically follows a similar path – acknowledgement of the crisis situation, looking for ways to overcome your fears, informing relevant people, taking a decision & implementing it, optimizing the outputs and modifying your business strategies to ensure that the situation doesn’t arise again.

The only problem here is that, not every company can get all of these steps right due to the lack of enough information. As a result, most often they fail to make a worthy & profitable decision. This consequently worsens the situation and there is not much then that the company can do.

For all such companies, here are a few essential tips on how to face a crisis situation:

Take Initiative – A great advantage for online companies is the available access to internet – the fastest information sharing platform. While even a small blunder can instantly instigate negative response from consumers & stakeholders, the trick is to keep a track of these responses and be the first to come up with a rapid positive response. This helps to stop the negative conversations right on their track as well as provides companies with the opportunity to actually own the conversation.

Be Honest – There is no shame in accepting the fact that anyone can make mistakes. However, as responsible entrepreneurs, it is your duty to let your consumers know about the crisis situation as soon as you become aware of it. While most companies fail to do so due to lack of organized communication, it is always advisable to take a transparent approach & be honest about the facts of the crisis. This not just drives in credibility for you but also associates a trust factor with your company.

Be Transparent – A major disadvantage of online medium is that, rumours can spread like wild fire. At such times, consumers are on the lookout for businesses they can trust. For this it is important for you to be absolutely transparent and build credibility to ensure that your consumers trust you. Responses are powerful when they tend to come from a senior official. Thus, take care to call down your topmost official to handle crisis situations.

Finally, the basic aim behind this complete exercise is to not just overcome the crisis situation but also ensure that the same is not repeated in the near future!

Boost your Profits – 5 Interesting Ideas for Free Internet Marketing Promotion January 3, 2012

There are endless advertisements one may find online for free internet marketing promotion. A well-developed & fool-proof internet marketing promotion strategy is sure to drive targeted traffic to your website & boost up your profits within no time.

Research & studies indicate that, employing free advanced website traffic strategies is an excellent means of achieving huge online success without having to spend much. Although, this may initially seem daunting for SMEs, the fact is that a low cost strategy is sure to create a win-win situation for you.

Here are few power ideas that can assist you with free internet marketing promotion:

Write & Submit a Keyword-Rich & Quality Article: There are numerous authority article submission sites like e-zine articles, article base, isnare, etc, where you can submit a high-quality article relevant to your site, mention the name of your website & enjoy hits from curious visitors. The key thing is to get the maximum number of hits, even if that means manually submitting your article to numerous article directories.

Active Participation in Blogs & Forums: The most important thing to do here is to first find a list of forums, blogs, social networking sites & boards that are relevant to your own website. Then try interacting with online friends to make your online presence felt strongly. Though this may take time, it is definitely one of the most cost-effective ways of driving in target traffic free of cost.

Use Advanced Web Tools: The internet world is full of such advanced tools that can churn out impressive results, that too without having to empty your wallets. There are endless free web tools that can be used for monitoring & automating your internet marketing campaign right in the comfort of your home.

Directory Submissions: There is no harm in continuing to submit your website to authority directories. However, before you start doing that, make sure that your website is well-developed because web-directories have a tendency to overlook poorly done websites.

Although it cannot be said for sure that by employing the above mentioned free internet marketing promotion strategies you are sure to generate a good amount of targeted traffic for your website, one thing is for sure that, the traffic generated would be of quality & you would definitely not be ending up shelling your pockets off your hard earned money.

 To avail of any help on internet marketing promotion please write to us on media@smejoinup.com