It really requires your time and your dedication. It requires follow-through and a level of stickwithedness that verges on the obsessive/compulsive. In fact, being obsessive is probably a valuable characteristic in being a blogger.

Of course, there is a difference between those whose sole [...]]]> It’s hard keeping a blog.  Isn’t it?

It really requires your time and your dedication.  It requires follow-through and a level of stickwithedness that verges on the obsessive/compulsive.  In fact, being obsessive is probably a valuable characteristic in being a blogger.

Of course, there is a difference between those whose sole purpose it is to blog about what they know, what they feel, what’s important to them, and those people who should keep a blog in order to maximize their search engine exposure footprint. So, for clarity’s sake, this is about those businesses and individuals whose job it is to sell door knobs, or art, provide a service or a better can opener.

A blog is not a magic bullet (let us remember that there is no magic bullet in SEO), but it is a big ol’ hammer in your SEO toolbox and can be an essential component of your visibility and exposure. Companies with enough money for a social networking department hire people to do their posting for them in order to keep feeding the blog, but for the sole proprietor, small business owner, the author, the artist – sometimes it’s all you, or it seems like it is.

You manage the business, you talk to the customers, you do the books, you get the coffee, you run the advertising campaigns, and if you can find a minute or two somewhere in there, you post to your blog.

In between disasters today, I’ve been writing this post. (I should qualify “disasters.” To me, if it isn’t done 10 minutes ago, I feel the stress. If it isn’t done 10 minutes ago and there’s a glitch in the code?  Well,  there’s a disaster I can get behind.) One of those disasters included losing two fabulously written paragraphs into the ether. Now, what I’ve written is a mere pretender to good blog copy because I’m trying to remember on the fly what I wrote before.

So, how do we find the time and gather the will to post? How do we become a better blogger?

Here are my top 10 ways to become a better blogger

– in no particular order:

1. Stop thinking about it as an internet fad that will go away (and come back, go away, then come back again) along with platform shoes, flares, and “all your base are belong to us.”
2. Start thinking about it as an essential part of the job – as essential as opening the mail.
3. Carve out some alone-time with your business to reflect on things to write about – what you find useful, what the general public and the potential customer will find useful, what your current clientele will find useful, or even what you find helpful or amusing about the world in which you live.
4. Write down everything you think of in #3.  Trust me.  Take notes.
5. Now, carve out a time to actually write.  It is, after all, an essential part of your business (see #2 above), so build this time into your schedule. I find if I forgo food and bathroom breaks, I can work it in.
6. Be firm with yourself about this new addition to your schedule.  Don’t blow it off the way you blow off exercising in the morning because you’re late or too busy to get your heart going on the elliptical.
7. When you do open up that New Post page, don’t try to write War and Peace; brevity is perfectly acceptable – in fact pithiness is a fine quality in a blog post.
8. Be conscious of the fact that people you do business with as well as potential clients are (hopefully) reading your posts.
9. Don’t complain about your customers in your blog.  (See #8.)
10. And finally, blogging can be fun!  Especially for the self-involved. (It’s a great way to make it All About You.)  Make it essential, but don’t make it a chore.

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To my clients, thank you for your continued business, and best wishes to all in the new year!

Warmest regards,

Debbie Monterey Bay Design

Mm hm.

If you’ve studied on it some (I studied on it quite a bit, [...]]]> By the time you’ve learned what PCI compliance means – nevermind learning what’s actually required for your business to become PCI Compliant – you’ve learned more than a human brain is currently capable of holding.

Mm hm.

If you’ve studied on it some (I studied on it quite a bit, mm-hm), then I  feel your pain. If you accept credit cards as a payment option in your business – especially if you accept credit cards online – the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) requirements must be met. These standards protect your customers, and make no mistake, they protect  the merchant, too. Not only does it protect your customers from credit card theft, identity theft – all those nasty things – but it protects the merchant from thousands of dollars in possible penalties, lawsuits and a world way beyond simple aggravation.

The banks themselves are fined for violations, but as stated in the PCI Compliance Guide, “the banks will most likely pass this fine on downstream till it eventually hits the merchant. Furthermore, the bank will also most likely either terminate your relationship or increase transaction fees.” This can be deadly to a small business.

Is it a law? Not strictly speaking.  It’s not federal law – not yet anyway – but there are some state laws already, and your merchant provider or acquiring bank is likely is already requiring it.  Even if you use 3rd party processors (which would include PayPal, WorldPay, 2CheckOut), you are still required to be compliant.  Still,  the work and cost to achieve compliance is much easier to deal with.

Last year, I went through an agonizing week learning about PCI compliance.  Learning that my little business was going to require thousands of dollars in security scans, learning that I was in arguably the worst possible group (meaning, the compliance was hardest to meet), attempting to fill out a form that requires a PhD in Computer Science and Gobbledy-Gook to understand (it is a thank-you-very-much 49 page form), and the worst of it: vacillating back and forth between all this and shutting down my business.

I don’t mind telling you, I was a wreck, but with a lot of perseverance and digging into alternatives, merchant accounts and payment processors, I successfully took steps to insure my own PCI compliance. If you do business with me,  you may rest assured that your data and personal information is absolutely secure.

And I still have the headache to prove it. Mmm hm.

There is a ton of information out there on the internet about PCI compliance, but I recommend you go to the horse’s mouth first. Visit The PCI Security Standards Council at http://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/

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Or how about when you call a business [...]]]> Ever get the feeling when you call and speak to a customer service person that you’ve seriously inconvenienced them, possibly ruined their day, and you get the distinct impression that they think you’re an idiot?  Don’t you hate that? I know I do.

Or how about when you call a business and they don’t get back to you for days – sometimes not at all? Apparently, business is so good for them that they don’t have to give a hoot about their customers.

The worst, I think, is when you are dealing directly with a business already.  They’re supposed to be doing work for you. You might have even paid them money. And what’s worse, your business is experiencing fallout from not being able to talk to the person you need to talk to.  Let’s take, oh, website design as an example.

You’ve hired a designer. They’ve built your site. Now, you’re experiencing some sort of problem – a page won’t load, formatting is odd, a vital piece of data has changed and you need it updated.  You email, you call, you visit their last known address to no avail. So, now you’re stuck.

Or how about the fact that it simply takes them days and days and days to get back to you.  Somehow, that’s even worse.

One can understand to some degree if a web designer has moved on to other things, particularly a freelancer who is only doing it for fun occasionally. But a designer in business who is actively working that won’t return calls or emails in a timely manner, that’s unforgivable. It takes 30 seconds to shoot off an email saying that they’re right in the middle of a job and they’ll get back to you shortly. Any designer that doesn’t have 30 seconds to do that has some serious time management issues.

I think I take particular exception to customer service inconsistencies because I come from a background of customer service. Every previous job I’ve had has entailed some degree of customer service layered in with my other duties.

But let me clarify. It’s not the background in customer service that makes me good at it – and I am good at it – it’s the fact that I’m a nice person. I treat people the way I want to be treated. Do I have bad days? Absolutely, it happens. And if my bad day bleeds out onto a client, I know it, and you can be damn sure that person will get a follow-up call or email apologizing for any bad mood goo that’s been flicked onto them. And every single time they say, “what bad mood?”

The NardDog

I suppose that’s where the customer service training comes in. Learning to deal with a customer without letting a disastrous mood get in the way.

So, there’s my take on customer service – politeness in a nutshell. My philosophy is very much in line with The Nard Dog’s (one of many The Office references you’re likely to get from me), and I quote:

“You give me a gift? Bam! Thank you note.
You invite me somewhere? Pow! RSVP.
You do me a favor? Wham! Favor returned.
Do NOT test my politeness.”

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