[wecando.biz]

Originally Posted by Indizine

Ive registered on your site Ian, very nice indeed. What can I expect to happen from now on?

Thanks Sandra. We say that WeCanDo.BIZ is where your customers do your networking for you - but this means we need to get you connected with your customers first. If you go to My Contacts and then select to "Add more contacts", it will enable you to connect with existing customers so they are encouraged to come and endorse you.

As an alternative to this, if you use that same page to send an invitation to your own e-mail address, this will give you the link you should use to put in a personal e-mail you send to them from your Outlook (or whatever).

As they join you'll see the endorsements coming in - you'll get told as soon as you log in - and this will start your networking AND start to get you placed higher on a search. It also gets you listed on our home page for as long as you are in the most recent ten business endorsements.

Beyond that, keep on top of your existing customers to make sure they come and say nice words about you and the site should do the rest! Do make sure you regulary log in to keep an eye on your Biz Feeds however, as this tells you who has been looking you up.

Let me know how you get on!

Best regards

IH

[Indizine]

but im not about to bring my customers to eveyone elses attention! lol why would I do that?

secondly, some people have a quicker turnover of product or service to accumulate endorsements so such as us where a web project takes an average 4 weeks say, to complete, whereas someone like Ray doing printing orders daily which are delivered next day, is bound to acquire endorsements much quicker and more of them, hence those types of businesses will always being showing in the top ten (apart from whilst its empty when its new of course).

[wecando.biz]

Originally Posted by Indizine

but im not about to bring my customers to eveyone elses attention! lol why would I do that?

To add credibility to your business. Endorsements/testimonials are a core part of building confidence in prospective new customers. The clients section is often one of the most visited parts of any company's website as prospective customers look to see who else you do work for. If you can build that confidence early in the sales cycle then you start to take a lead over the other companies your prospect may be assessing. Note that no one else can see your contact list and you can choose not to share an endorsement on your profile if you wish. So you can remain secretive if you so desire - the endorsements still count towards your ratings though.

Originally Posted by Indizine

secondly, some people have a quicker turnover of product or service to accumulate endorsements so such as us where a web project takes an average 4 weeks say, to complete, whereas someone like Ray doing printing orders daily which are delivered next day, is bound to acquire endorsements much quicker and more of them, hence those types of businesses will always being showing in the top ten (apart from whilst its empty when its new of course).

That is true. But people don't CHOOSE a business to deal with based on the Top 10 list - they'll use the search and if they search on "web design" then the list they get back will be headed by those web design companies with the most endorsements. You aren't really competing with the others in the Top 10 list as they won't necessarily offer what you offer. It is just there to give some extra exposure to those who are really getting behind the endorsement system.

I look forward to you and Ray competing for exposure though!

Best regards

IH

[Indizine]

so how busy is this website? how many businesses are registered to date, and what SEO/SEM are you doing to increase the site's poularity?

[wecando.biz]

Originally Posted by Indizine

so how busy is this website? how many businesses are registered to date, and what SEO/SEM are you doing to increase the site's poularity?

The site went live last week and we are currently monitoring the site to see how it is used so that we can tweak it ahead of a formal launch next month. We will be working with a number of organisations already working with UK businesses to ensure we get rapid membership expansion early on. You guys are being treated to an early presentation of the site as you are all net savvy and already understand the benefits of internet networking.

SEO is part of our plans for coverage of course, but we are not going to leave our success in the hands of Google! There are many standard things we'll be doing but some of the most exciting plans are for the public endorsement view to be available from your own website and also for you to be able to include buttons and links on your website and in e-mails to encourage more people to endorse you and read your endorsments. We'll also soon be adding to what you can show when you give an endorsement so this could also include a link to our own website to help with your SE rankings and directly drive traffic.

By the way Sandra I see you are in Doncaster. I went to watch Rovers play at the Keepmoat 3 weeks ago - my girlfriend's from Donny (raised behind the white church!).

Best regards

IH

[Indizine]

its all based around endorsements as I can see that we have to collect them and this is what effectively, makes it work - is that corrtect?

[wecando.biz]

Originally Posted by Indizine

its all based around endorsements as I can see that we have to collect them and this is what effectively, makes it work - is that corrtect?

We believe the value in what we offer is endorsements - collecting them from happy customers, sharing them with prospective customers and using teh network you build to get your name out there further. We aim, as one of our goals, to present an alternative to people having to pro-actively chase details of, say, a printing company that people they know may deal with. With your network built they need only type "printers" into our search and they'll get a list of all we have, headed by those their contacts endorse. It saves them having to contact each to ask for recommendations,

But our greatest aim is for you to benefit by using the endorsement system with your customers and their contacts to win YOU more business.

As an aside, thinking further about your earlier question about the merits of sharing your customer endorsements with others, I see this as only good. As I said before, it can be pivotal in helping you to win the confidence of new prospect customers. Is there a risk your competition will go through the list? They can do it, but in 20+ years of sales management I have never EVER advised my sales team waste time trying to win business from my rival's happiest customers - they have no reason to buy.

Best regards

IH

[Petnanny]

Hiya, welcome to the madhouse