FourSquare - A Great Way to Get More Loyal Customers

If you own a retail outlet or a location such as an ice cream van or hot dog or burger stand then you can get more loyal customers using this simple to set up social media website - Foursquare.com

Foursquare is a location based social media platform on which users "check-in" to let others know where they are and what they're doing. It uses geo-location on a mobile device such as an Android phone, iPhone, smartphone, iPad, or laptop. So you have to be actually in the venue or very nearby to be able to check in.

Each time you check in you have the option to share the fact with your Foursquare friends and you can also post a message about it to Twitter and Facebook. So it's a great way for retail venues to market themselves, as it increases your exposure on these different social networks each time users check in at your venue.

Earn Rewards
Users can earn points for each check-in and there's a weekly league table of all your friends and also of all the people in the same City as you.

You can also get special deals offered by the different locations you check in at. For example, if you check in regularly, many establishments offer discounts and specials. On the screenshot below you'll see that The Doubletree by Hilton Cadbury House offers a free cookie to anyone who checks in. They also offer 20% discount to the Mayor.

Becoming Mayor
If you check in more often than anyone else over a 60 day period, you become the mayor of the venue. As you can see above I'm the Mayor of Cadbury House and so I get a 20% discount when I buy anything there. This is a great incentive for me, as it's my gym!
Stuart Edmonstone and I are working out regularly as we progress towards our goal of getting a body like Brad Pitt's! See www.bradsbody.com for more details. Stuart and I often pop into the cafe after a workout so it's great to get the discount as mayor.
 
Domino's Pizza
In July 2010, Domino's Pizza attributed strong growth in online sales to its use of promotions on location-based mobile application Foursquare and social media after revealing a 29% surge in pre-tax profits to £17.5m.

In May 2010, Domino's launched a nationwide promotion in the UK on Foursquare that encouraged users to check-in at its outlets. Every Wednesday the mayor of Domino's Pizza gets a FREE small pizza. I know quite a few people in Bristol who love this deal and all compete to be the mayor each Wednesday!

Badges - The Foursquare Trophy Case
As users check in they are awarded badges. These badges are given to users to reward them and motivate them to explore more venues around their location.

Recently Foursquare added The Partner Badge program which allows brands to create their own badges on Foursquare which can then be awarded to their brand advocates. See Everything in its right place: unveiling the new Trophy Case for full details on this.

Start Promoting your Business
So set up your account today and start offering rewards to your loyal customers for coming into your venue. You can find out more at http://foursquare.com/business/venues and if you want to promote your brand to your customers and potential customers go to http://foursquare.com/business/brands. This has details about how you can set up a Foursquare Page to help you connect with your followers on Foursquare.

So get onto Foursquare today and get your business set up so your followers can start checking in with you!

Beware of this Domain Name Renewal SCAM!

Please READ this carefully.

A friend received this letter in the post last week from an outfit called Domain Renewal Group. They were originally called the Domain Registry of America (DRoA).
The Domain Renewal Group have been using this under hand sales tactic for a few years now and it's something which needs to be stopped.

Please click the image below to see large version.

The letter is very clever in the way it's written. It makes the reader assume that their domain name is due for renewal with this company. Most domain names need to be renewed every 2 years and to the less versed on these things it is quite easy to forget who you registered your domain name with. So the assumption is this letter is an invoice which must be paid.


They send the letter out about 3 months prior to the renewal date of the domain before your normal reminder gets sent out by your current domain name registration company.

It is NOT an invoice
It's an attempt by DRoA to get you to pay them for a domain name that they don't even control! Many people and businesses fall for this trap. Make sure you are NOT one of them!

If you get one - DO NOT FILL IT IN!!

Consequences can be disasterous
You need to know what happens when someone does pay this dodgy outfit. The consequences can be disasterous to your business.

When you pay them, they email you telling you to transfer your domain name to them. Most people will ignore this email, thinking it's just a confirmation of payment.
A few months later, you will get a reminder email from your current provider. You'll probably scratch your head at this time wondering why you're getting another reminder when you've already paid to renew!
Most people will ignore the email assuming it's an over sight.

PLEASE NOTE: If you get an email reminder then contact the person or company who sent the email and check to see if your domain name needs to be renewed.
If these reminder emails are ignored your domain name will expire and the first thing you'll know about it is when your email and website stops working.

Remember the look of this Letter
Please click the image above and familiarise yourself with the look of the letter.

If you receive one of these in the post, ignore it and call the person who looks after your domain name and website.

If you have any doubts please get in touch and I will be happy to advise you.

So you want to start Blogging?

I speak to business owners every week who aren't blogging and get frustrated and worried about the fact. Everyone is talking about blogging as the next big thing. Gary Vaynerchuk talked about the personal brand Gold Rush back in 2008 and it still holds true today. It's not too late for you to find your niche and then you should talk about it and blog about it.

So if you want to start blogging - where do you begin?

The 2 main tools for setting up a blog are:

1. Blogger - A blogging website set up by Google
2. WordPress - a hosted software platform available with most mainstream hosting companies.

Blogger is probably your best option if you aren't too technical.

WordPress is much more powerful and with the help from your friendly web designer, it can be used to create very impressive looking blogs and even fully fledged websites.

Blogger is accessible on the Internet via a browser at www.blogger.com There you can set up your account and get going straight away.

You can follow a tour of Blogger via this link http://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g which is great for anyone who is new to blogging.

The other option is WordPress.
As I said, your hosting company will probably support WordPress. You can find out all about it at the WordPress website. http://wordpress.org/

The great thing about Blogger and WordPress is that they are both FREE to use.

If you need help getting either of these set up and working then please get in touch and I can point you in the right direction. I'm sure others who can help will be adding their comments here so keep a look out in the comments section below this article.

What's your Subject?
Once you've got your preferred blogging platform set up you need to write your first blog. I'm not going into the mechanics of each and how they work etc. Both are very intuitive and won't take you long to get to grips with writing, editing and publishing.

What you need to think about is what you are going to blog about? What's your area of expertise? What are you passionate about? What industry are you in?

Have a look at some of the other blogs you like or blogs written by others in your sector. This will give you some good ideas.

Get Writing
But it's important you find your "place"; your vibe for what you want to write about.
Then just go for it. Get writing. By following your passion and writing about stuff you find really interesting, it will be far easier for you to keep going. You'll also find that other like-minded people will also find what you write about interesting.

I keep a list of blog ideas on my Notepad app on my iPad and iPhone and I add to this list constantly. This blog was an idea I got from reading another blog. So make sure you start and keep a list of new ideas for blog articles and add to it as often as you can.

How often?
Once you know what you're going to write about and you've got a few ideas for articles then you need to decide how often you're going to write. I would suggest once or twice a month to begin with. If you're good at writing then you could go for once a week, but remember; once you get an audience - even if it's just an audience of 2 or 3 - they will get used to how often you write your blog and people like consistency. So don't write loads of articles and then stop for a month or two. This will lose you readers, and one of the reasons for you blogging is to increase your audience size.

Marketing
You also need to think about how you let your connections know about your blog. I'd suggest an email to your close friends and family is a good start. They'll help spread the word. You can also drop an email to your customers; if you're writing about your industry then your customers should find it interesting.

Then use the different Social Media networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ecademy etc and before you know it you'll be blogging like a pro and your blog will be gaining in popularity.

Forget Will Power - You Need "Why" Power!

We all make the same mistake over and over again in life - we rely far too much on our will power to help us reach a goal or dream.

Think about it. People are trying to lose weight all over the world. The same people have tried umpteen times before and they have relied on their will power to help them achieve their weight loss goal.

A friend of mine has tried numerous diets and joined Weight Watchers and Slimming World and done loads of different exercise classes. Her last effort was joining a Reiki and Yogo session. She's tried everything and she always tells me how her will power will see her through. And yet she's still over weight and desperate to lose weight.

I've done the same myself and been the victim of my weak will power. I've wanted a six pack for years. I've been a member of a total of 10 different health clubs over the years and yet I've never managed to lose weight and get my six pack.

And that's because I was relying on my will power to see me through.

Instead we should be using our Why Power.

I realise this now. Darren Hardy talks about the Why Power in his brilliant audio CD series The Compound Effect.

We need a big enough reason why. We need to know why we want to do something and it needs to be absolutely clear and strong in your mind. We also need to make sure we are following our own reasons why and not someone else's. You know the sort - when your dad tells you you need to get a proper job, when your partner tells you your family needs stability and a proper job instead of working for yourself.

So think about what your goals and dreams are. Think really hard. Take some time out to think about why you want what you want. Is it what you REALLY want? And if it is; think about the reasons WHY you want it.

I'd always wanted my six pack but never really had a big enough why. I've always kept myself reasonably fit - I swam at school and played football and rugby. I played American Football for the Stock Exchange Stags when I worked in the City. I did triathlons to raise money for Cancer Research UK in memory of my dad, John Armour. I ran the Cardiff Half Marathon in October 2009. But none of this training ever got me close to getting my six pack. Because I didn't have a big enough WHY.

But now, thanks to Stuart Edmonstone, I've got my reason why. We've set up a website about our story and what we are aiming for - www.bradsbody.com
And it's not just one reason. It's a hatful of reasons!

• I was 45 this month so this could be my last chance!
• I WANT a body like Brad Pitt!
  
• We've told everyone so we have to do it now!
  
• I'm now doing public speaking and do 2 or 3 talks each month; I want to look good when stood in front of an audience.
  
• I've always done lots of karting and the weight loss really helps with lap times! ;-)
  
• I'm off on holiday in the summer and I can imagine rubbing in my suntan lotion into my flat stomach instead rolls of fat!
  
• Stuart and I keep each other motivated - it's great having a buddy to keep you on track.
  
• I've always wanted to be really fit and to look good - I've wanted it for years! And at last I can feel it's within my grasp!
  
• I will feel so proud to have achieved this huge goal!

And not only do I now know I'm going to get my body like Brad Pitt; I'll have the 6 pack I've always wanted! And Stuart and I have an even bigger goal - we're raising £20,000 for Marys Meals! A charity that feeds impoverished children all over the world.

And once we've got our bodies - we want to meet Brad Pitt and pose in a photo with him on a beach. I can see it already. Me, Brad Pitt and Stuart, arms round each other, with our shirts open, smiling with our 6 packs on show!

(If you're reading this and you know Brad Pitt - please put us in touch with him!)

So don't just rely on your will power. You'll need it but you'll need a lot more besides. You'll need to know WHY you're doing it; WHY you want to do it and it really helps to visualise yourself already doing whatever it is.

Whatever it is you want to achieve; whether it's personal or something to do with your business - you need WHY power!

Twitter Retweet Advice

For those of you who use Twitter regularly you will most probably know all about this, but please do add your comments to help the newer Twitter users.

I've seen many of my followers make the same mistake when it comes to retweeting. To give yourself the best possible chance of getting others to retweet your tweets you need to make sure you leave enough characters free at the end of every tweet.

You need to allow for their username which gets added along with "RT" at the front of their retweet. If you use all 140 characters there won't be enough room for this and either the end of your tweet gets cropped or the other users will have to precise your original tweet. Worse case, they won't bother with the retweet at all because it's too much hassle.

So make sure you leave enough characters free so there's room for their username.

Also, people use many different apps when tweeting and the apps all use different protocols for how they handle retweets. (RT @, via @, retweet @, r/tweet, "tweet" via, etc) So this obviously affects the number of spare characters needed when retweeting.

I always try to use a margin of 36 spare characters, especially when my tweet is content driven with a link to a useful article. Let me explain why I think the margin of 36 spare characters is the optimum.

The maximum characters which can be used for a username on Twitter is 15. So with the @ included that's 16. I then add an extra 20 spare characters so others can add a few characters of their own for a comment. So this means your tweet with content, article titles and link should be no more than 104 characters.

So remember to leave about 36 spare characters next time you tweet and make it easier for your followers to retweet your content.

It's All About the Traffic

If your blog has low levels of traffic this might mean that the content is not that good. However, there are also instances where a great blog doesn't get much  traffic either. The key in getting traffic is to come up with a strategy and make everyone notice your blog. There are a few things that you need to consider with regards to generating traffic to your blog and these are not that different from planning a regular website.

The only exception is that blogs can generate traffic a lot faster. What you should consider first is your target audience and look at your current stats to see where your blog’s traffic is coming from at the moment.

The Content
The content of your blog is very important. It is the reason why people visit your blog. Try to make your blog interesting and make the content relevant and of high value to your target audience. Find out what your audience wants and don't be afraid to ask them if your past blog posts were interesting.

The content is especially important if you are planning sales from your blog. First, you must become a trustworthy and credible source of information before you start selling your products or services. Blogs are an excellent medium for sales since they allow you to connect and converse through the use of the content. But without great content your blog is unlikely to achieve the following and credibility you aspire to.

In order to grow the audience on your blog, remember you MUST publish frequently and make sure that the entry you are about to publish is meaningful and of high value. When you get comments on any of your blog posts always engage with your audience by replying to these posts. A lot of people I speak to don't think they should be posting comments on their own blog. You should definitely post replies to any comments you get. Lastly, just be yourself; be genuine and don't ever try to be someone you're not.

The Ping
One of the huge benefits of blogging is the blog software ping. The ping updates the servers where your blog is hosted, to notify that your content has been updated. Search engines and blog directories then check these update servers for the latest updates; this is the reason why your blog’s content gets into search engines so quickly.

Pings make blogs excellent search engine optimisation tools. In some cases it only takes a few hours day for your latest blog post to get into the search engines! However, your blog’s content will usually only ever take a few days maximum to get into most search engines.

RSS Feeds
RSS feeds are also important. Not only can you publish your blog posts quickly and get them picked up by the search engines; you can also get your posts seen by a wider audience by using RSS feeds. RSS Feeds allow others to subscribe to and find your content and if they find it of interest they will point their audience to your blog posts.

Social Media
Using social media as a means to promote your blog is incredibly powerful. Now, this doesn't mean just shouting about your latest blog post on Twitter or Facebook. But as in the RSS Feeds mentioned above, if people find your stuff interesting they will tweet about it on Twitter and post about it on their Facebook walls. While people don't like people over selling their businesses on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn it's quite acceptable to most users if you post or tweet to let your followers and friends know about your new blog post.

So make sure you're using social media and that it forms part of your strategy for getting more traffic to your blog.

There are endless ways to promote your blog. Just keep in mind that there is no strategy for quick money when it comes to profitable blogging. It requires dedication, time, a strategy for the content and patience before the vistors start queuing up outside your blog.

Take Action in 2011 - Getting Things Done

Getting things done has been a focus of mine for a while now. You may have seen a couple of older blog posts of mine on the subject:

My Business Timetable

Solve your Problems Overnight

2010 has been a great year for me and one of things I've tried to remain focused on is taking action. So many people talk about doing stuff but then don't follow through with taking the required action.

I love lists; To Do Lists and I write mine the night before each day, so I know what I've got to get on with the very next day. Then, using my Business Timetable I allocate a block of time; perhaps 15 minutes or 30 minutes to a particular task. As you will have seen in my blog post on My Business Timetable I mention an online stopwatch which I used to time these sessions.

This system has been working really well for me but last month I discovered an incredible new piece of software which uses the following simple system. It consists of just 3 simple steps:

1. Write down all the things you want to get done today.
   
   
2. Assign a block of time for each task such as 25 minutes.
   
   
3. Select a task, start the timer and focus on nothing else until that particular task is done.

See, I said it was simple! It's exactly the same in principle as I've been using but this incredible software is the killer difference.

This system, once in place, and as long as you use it, will make you more productive than you could have imagined! I know, because I use the software myself and it's totally transformed my productivity. Just take a look at how my blog post rate has risen towards the end of 2010. I'm also writing 2 eBooks on different aspects of business and I've recently created www.bradsbody.com with a friend.

I always liked my system, but if I'm truly honest, the stopwatch countdown timer was a bit hit and miss and not massively efficient.

This system automates  the 3 simple steps and includes some great reports so you can see where you spend your time and the interface is really clean and intuitive.

I really recommend you watch the video which shows the software in action - just click the link below*:

www.dickiearmour.me.uk/gettingthingsdone

The New Year is the perfect time to get this system up and running in your business.

www.dickiearmour.me.uk/gettingthingsdone

Happy New Year and I hope it's a very prosperous one for you.


*This is an affiliate link. I make just a few quid to add towards my daughter's inheritance! ;-)