The Westlake Leaders Business Networking Group

Franklin Video Productions, Inc. - Marc is coming back... Next week

2009-11-11T08:43:00.001-08:00

My wife and I had a miscommunication, about her taking off from work today to watch the kids who have off today because the pre-school has a "teacher education day" smack in the middle of the week. GRRRRRR

Because my 2yr old won't sit through our meeting best I stay home with them. I'll see you next week!

Franklin Video Productions, Inc. - Marc is coming back... Run!

2009-11-10T23:45:00.000-08:00

Had my casts taken off and my car back today. Left hand is good, right hand needs physical therapy, 3 pins removed, and looks kind of gross, like a boiled and dried up chicken leg, but I won't go into detail. Can not bend it yet but I should be rejoining the group tomorrow.

Due to my expertise on keeping ones company running, while recovering from major health issues (such as brain tumor, open heart surgery, thyroid surgery and now the thumb reconstruction, that I've had in the last 9 years), I've been assigned to write an article for StudioDaily.com. It is on how to keep your video production company going while on the "disabled list" or such. Here are my past articles for Studio:

On fun articles I'm going to be the first person in the world to try out a major new editing product and write a review when it is announced later this month. I'm also going to be continuing a review of special effects software called Boris Continuum Complete 6. BCC 6 does some really cool things for fixing problematic video. I'll be testing both on HP's top of the line Z800 workstation. (8 cores running at 3.2 GHz, hyper-threaded for 16 threads, 12 GB RAM, and an Nvidia FX4800 GPU with 1.5 GB video RAM.)

Real Estate Secrets

2009-11-10T11:47:00.000-08:00

Today at 6 p.m. is the last opportunity for 2009 to attend a FREE real estate seminar to learn all you need to know about buying and/or selling property. Ten professionals will offer their expertise for the various aspects of the process--from qualifying for the loan, finding the property, inspecting, insuring, and decorating it--there is information for everyone. Come on down to the Quality Inn at 12 Conejo Blvd. in Thousand Oaks at 6:00. Lots of FREE information with no obligation whatsoever, FREE refreshments too. For more information, contact Paula Gallegos, 805-373-6080 or paula@paulainsures.com.

How to post a comments using an OpenID

2009-11-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

In case anyone isn't sure how to post a comment to this blog, I will show you how to get an OpenID.

Go to http://www.myopenid.com/ and follow the steps to setting up an account.

Once finished, you'll receive an email to your inbox that you used during the process confirming your OpenID account.

Now anytime you go to a blog, you can use your OpenID (which is your username.myopenid.com) So mine for example is http://adalea.myopenid.com

It's that simple.

Enjoy.

Anna Dalea
ERT Website Solutions
www.ertwebsitesolutions.com
anna@ert2go.com

ROI Marketing: Reach out to YOUR Clients Now!

2009-11-04T08:02:00.000-08:00

Every small business looks for new ways to get new clients and to get old clients to return and purchase their products or services. They do this by advertising, usually. However, besides advertising in a physical paper source (like the newspaper or ad mailers) there are other avenues business owners should use as well to market their business.

For returning customers:
Using a newsletter application to send out tips, promotions or articles that those clients may enjoy is a really great way to keep in front of your clients. Remember, you don't want them to forget about you. Many consumers out there easily forget about things unless they are reminded. Newseletters allow you to remind your clients about the things they liked about your company and allow you to offer better deals or more info that will get that ROI.

Newsletters are also a good way to entice new clients to join your ranks. Allow them to sign up on your site (ie. opt-in) and send out SPECIAL promotions to them to get them into the game. The rule is, once a consumer purchases your products, you know that they are interested. Returning customers should be the EASY target. New customers are a little tougher, but every consumer loves a deal.

Another great way to get clients is to write to them. If you know who your target market is... create a blog written to their tastes. This attracts new clients - those that follow your blogs are interested in what you have to say, and more importantly, will be interested in your products or services. Remember, consumers may not purchase right away. Some may not be financially ready at that moment... but they will follow you, or at the very least, keep you in the back of their mind to use in the future. Those types of consumers will sign up for a newsletter if you are able to offer promotions.

What I find hard to believe is that when given the opportunity to do these things, many people say they want to but then fail to follow through. Time should not be an issue - this only took me a few minutes to write. We live in a world with Facebook and Twitter (among many other community type sites) that have given internet users a "mental change" when using the internet. I refer to it as A.D.D. - or an overload of the senses. Internet users are so used to interacting with websites at lightning speeds, feeding their id (the psychological "I want it now" part of their mind), that they are going to want to interact with your site in some way. You need to give them something... and why not let it be something that is also useful to you?

Stay tuned for more ideas on marketing your business to "the id" consumer.

Anna Dalea
ERT Website Solutions
www.ertwebsitesolutions.com

PERSISTENCE - the KEY to success

2009-10-22T08:22:00.001-07:00

Did you know -

- 80% of all sales are made AFTER the 5th CALL

- 48% of all sales people try ONCE and QUIT

- 25% call TWICE and QUIT

- 12% call THREE times and QUIT

10% KEEP ON CALLING and amke 80% of all the sales

I challenge EVERYONE today to make ONE more phone call to that person you are trying to get a hold of - according to these stats, you WILL BREAK THROUGH!

For more info/sales tips from no, no, no, YES! Inc visit: www.nononoyes.com

Franklin Video Productions, Inc

2009-10-22T00:27:00.000-07:00

Is it bad that I didn't know that the client I worked with yesterday was on NBC's "the Apprentice" and didn't know? I usually check out new clients on the web but I missed that tidbit on her website.
I guess she didn't hold it against me. Today she showed me how to use Skype to see her computer screen to help with trouble shooting on the project I'm helping her with. I was able to show her do how to do some video effects on her computer with out driving out here. It just took a little longer to render on her laptop as my HP workstations were 10x to 20x faster.

Customer Usability Service - New feature

2009-10-21T13:39:00.000-07:00

ERT Website Solutions has just added a new stand-alone service to it's long list of services. Customer Usability is just like Customer Service, but for your website. Basically, you want to make sure that your visitors/customers are happy with your website and find it easy to navigate, use and interact with.

We already provide this service when we build or create a website from scratch for our business clients; however, we now also offer this service as an "a la carte" item. Therefore, you do not have to contract a project with us to use our Customer Usability Service.

What does this service entail? Well, first we have to get an understanding of your audience. YOU, the client, probably already know your audience - so we will be pulling every bit of information that we can from you regarding the types of people you're trying to attract. We will be focusing on the actual NEEDS of your site visitors and not just the message that is being conveyed to them.

Secondly, we need to listen to your customers. Very often, the customers are the window into the inner workings of your website. They may call and ask a simple question about directions, such as, "I went onto your website but couldn't find a map! Do you have one?" Even if you do have a map on your site, this will tell you right away that it is not easy to find. This is just one example of USABILITY that needs to be addressed.

We also need to get your team involved in the process. Many of your employees will have insight as to how they view the company's website. They each see it in a different way. It is important to get their opinions as well.

Then we'll review your content. Your copy needs to 1) give the right impression, 2) show very plainly what the site does, 3) be easy to read and understand, 4) allow the visitors to find what they're looking for, and 5) address their concerns and is it what they want/need/expect?. We also need to look at the images on the site to ensure they are also sending the right message.

Another issue to address is credibility issues. People WANT to trust you - they want to feel safe - and they want to feel GOOD about using your company and its services and products. We make sure that your site contains the proper contact info, security features displayed prominently on your site, photos of your facility and staff, and that all of the copy and images on your site reflect your commitments to quality, integrity, and attention to detail.

We then test EVERYTHING - links, pages, find frustrating or confusing items and correct it - we look at how quickly the page loads - make sure instructions and descriptions are clear - make sure that the contact info is clear and easy to both navigate to and find a map for - in a search, are the results relevant? These are the types of things we look at when we test your site.

We do all of this to ensure proper Customer Usability to keep clients coming back to use your products and services. As always, this is a time consuming task and demands involvement on both you and your employees to assist in this process. Do not look at it as a "daunting task" - you need to view it as a money saver in the long run. It's a good ROI and will surely keep clients rather than drop them. We can help you and look forward to assisting you with this service.

You may contact us during our normal working hours to inquire about this service and pricing.

Anna Dalea
ERT Website Solutions
Email: anna@ert2go.com
Website: www.ERTwebsitesolutions.com
Phone: 805.391.1305

Westlake Leaders Launch of New Blog

2009-10-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

The Westlake Leaders: Business Networking Professionals in the Conejo Valley (and surrounding areas). We are a Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village Chamber Group. Therefore, all of our members must belong to the Chamber of Commerce.

To open this new blog - I would like to mention that all members of our group will be able to post here - adding their contact information at the end of each post by providing links to their website so that viewers of this blog can visit their website as well.

What is our group all about?

Our group meets once a week, every Wednesday, at the Greenhouse Cafe in Thousand Oaks at 11:45am SHARP. We are one of the only Chamber groups that meet for lunch.

The Westlake Leaders offer Quality Leads, not quantity leads like most other networking groups. Instead of practicing lead quotas each month, we allow the flexibility for our members to pass strong leads (or what we refer to as "hot" leads). We also do not enforce any penalty rules that involve payment - for example, some groups penalize you monetarily if your phone goes off at a meeting, or if you show up late or if you DON'T bring a guest.

Our members consist of ONE professional per category. So there is no competition for a lead. We pride ourselves on building relationships with our members to allow us to pass leads with confidence in their ability to complete a job with satisfaction to our referred clients. We do not allow overlapping of services if another member currently provides that service - therefore, if there is any dispute in services of the visitor (if they decide to join the group) the current member has the right to deny entry of the visitor into the group.

Guests to the meetings don't pay anything for their first visit. Lunch is provided from a large menu. We are currently looking to expand our membership and are looking for qualified professionals. Please see our website for a list of category openings. If you would like to come as a guest, please contact our Membership Chair or the President of our Group to inform them of your desire to visit the group.

For more details, contact information or to view a list of current members, please visit our website at http://www.westlakeleaders.com/

Thank you!

Anna Dalea
ERT Website Solutions
http://www.ert2go.com/