Six Easy Ways to Keep Clients

I’ve used two web hosts since buying the meryl.net domain around 1995. The first charged a bit, had a lot of problems (email delivery and keeping the site up also known as server uptime) and provided subpar customer service. At the time, the rate was probably standard with fewer web hosting services and it being … Read more

How to Select the Right Credit Card Processing Service: Understanding products and payment security

In a previous post, we started with features to look for in selecting a merchant account provider. This covers payment processing and credit card security options for growing businesses. After selecting your merchant account provider, it’s time to review which credit card processing options and products fit your business, and how these services will prevent … Read more

10 Ways Freelancers and Small Business Can Provide Great Customer Service

I had a whole box of party favors leftover because I overestimated the number of kids attending. I contacted the company to ask if I could return the unopened party favors for a refund. The company said to keep it, and they’ll issue a refund. Sure, it may cost more for me to send it … Read more

7 Traits of Bad Twitter Follows

I hit 2000 “following” on twitter. Yet, I discovered more brilliant people I wanted to follow and couldn’t because I hadn’t reached 2000 “followers”. This compelled me to do way early spring cleaning of my twitter account. Twitter puts this in place to minimize spammy accounts. It would be nice if it would use math … Read more

Hey! What Does Your Business Do?

Ever receive a link to a business web site where you can’t figure out what the company does? The home page sounds like something from the company’s fancy and non-sensical mission statement. Unfortunately, many companies rely on content from their business plan and other internal documents. I had a brief client who did this. The … Read more

Hey! Where's the Contact Info?

I believe I’m a resourceful person. I try to find answers on my own through support pages, FAQ, research, search engines, and other resources. But we can’t find everything we need. We may need to contact people who have the information or the knowledge stored in their brain cells or on the computer’s hard drive. … Read more

Striking Gold without Going to Eldorado

“Gaily bedight A gallant knight, In sunshine and shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado.” — Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe Businesses don’t have to journey long to find Eldorado of marketing. Most companies start right by establishing a Web site. However, some don’t make the most of having a Web … Read more

11 Ways to Play the Name Game

Call me goofy, but I loved singing “The Name Game” as kid: Meryl, Meryl, bo-beryl, Banana-fana fo-feryl Fee-fi-mo-meryl Meryl! Yeah, yeah… I know how some immature kids like to use names like Chuck and Mitch. I’m sure you’ve heard your share. I’ve always been fascinated with names, how they came to be, and their origins. … Read more

Better About Pages

Jakob Nielsen reports seeing a 9 percent improvement on company About pages. I rely on About pages when looking at companies either for research or for buying from them. I still run into the following problems: Struggle to find the About pages when they have one: they shouldn’t be buried or hard to find. “About” … Read more