I’ve discussed our philosophy on customer service at my online marketing site, MichelleWatersOnline.com. If you haven’t read the post yet, I recommend you do so. If you have, I love you. LOL!

But seriously, customer service is more than just submitting a support ticket and replying to one. It’s a relationship. You rely on my company, and my company relies on you.

In order for for you to receive — and us to deliver — a great customer service experience, we both need to work together towards one common goal. That goal might be you learning how to use your new website, us repairing a technical issue on your site, or updating billing information, among other things.

Our Goals

Our overall goal is to take care of you as best we can. Sometimes that means repairing a problem with your website or with the server. Other times, it will mean pointing you to a resource we have created that will allow you to learn how to use your site (this works for both of us, in that you don’t have to wait for us just to update your website, you don’t have to pay us for a service, and we can devote our time to taking care of issues that you can’t handle).

We WANT you to learn how to run your business, grow your business, make every sale possible and have your website work for you, instead of making you work. We are here to help work at home moms  and small business owners sell physical products online.

As I discussed in my other post, these goals can’t be reached unless we work together.

On our side, that means:

• We are professional and courteous.
• We ask questions to better understand the issues you are experiencing.
• We send you to the appropriate resources when you are learning.
• We take the necessary time to fully research your issue.

On your side, this means:

• You report issues thoroughly. We can’t help you if you tell us your site is broken, but don’t share the error message you are getting or what you are doing that results in your site being broken
• You are professional and courteous. It is very hard to work with people who treat us like the enemy. We do our best to remain professional and help even the most cantankerous client. But we are human and tend to give our best efforts to those who are working with us, not telling us where to go.
• You report issues immediately. Don’t wait two days to report a problem and then get mad at us because you have been dealing with the problem for two days. Website issues don’t magically fix themselves.
• Remember that most of us are moms with families and that we like to spend time with our families, too. Our hosting and email support department is fully staffed and available 24/7. However, our SKP, Billing, Web Design and Information Product support departments are staffed by one or two WAHM experts just like you. Those departments are closed on the weekends or holidays. Please keep this in mind when you’re working on your site. As always, if you are learning how to use the site, our forums, manuals and video tutorials are always available on the site.
• If you don’t receive an emailed reply notification to your ticket, please login to the helpdesk and view the ticket before assuming we have not replied. It’s very frustrating to try helping someone, asking them questions for more information and not getting replies, only to be yelled at by a client who thinks we haven’t replied to them at all.

Thank you very much for your understanding!

WordPress is a popular blogging software that you can use to create a very professional looking blog on your existing Shop Kit Plus website. Blogs boost your site’s traffic and help you build relationships and trust with your visitors. The more trust your readers’ have for you, the more likely they are to become your customer.

There are two ways to set up a WordPress blog. You can install the blog on your own server. If you’re a Watersweb hosting or Shop Kit Plus customer your cpanel includes Fantastico, which allows you to install your blog with the push of a button. The benefit to this is that you can pick your own, unique blog address. For instance, your blog address can be www.yourdomain.com/blog.

You can also get a free blog at www.wordpress.com and let WordPress host it for you. I don’t recommend this for business blogs, because all of your hard work will benefit the wordpress.com domain name, instead of your own. Under this system, your blog’s URL will have “wordpress” in the domain.

However, if you are new to blogging and do not yet have your own domain, this is a great way to get started with your blog. You simply enter the username you would like and your email. WordPress will create your blog and email you the password.

There are many different themes to choose from, enabling you to create a blog that fits your website and target market. You can further customize your blog by adding widgets, such as a calendar, RSS feed, links and other items to the sidebar. You can also change and customize the entire theme by editing the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) of your blog.

Additionally, if you already have a site design for your Watersweb site, you can ask our resident Wordpress expert, to convert your existing SKP design to a Wordpress template. She’s very good at what she does and very affordable.

If you read my blog or subscribed to my Product Seller’s Tips newsletter, you know that a weblog is an excellent tool for increasing the targeted traffic to your website. Of course, that’s the easy part. Now, you have to figure out how to put the blog on your website.

Blogger is one solutions that’s relatively easy. Blogger helped create the blogging explosion that hit the internet recently. Blogs are a great way to connect with your customers and build relationships.

It is very easy to set up a Blogger blog. Simply go to www.blogger.com and enter in some basic information. Blogger has quite a few different themes to choose from, and you can further customize your blog by choosing the colors and fonts.

Blogger makes it very simple to add page elements to your site, such as RSS feeds, Google Adsense, and other items.

If you want to further customize your blog, Blogger allows you to change your template by editing the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) of your blog.

You can host your blog for free by using Blogger’s host service. Your blog’s URL will have “blogger” in it, for example http://yourblog.blogger.com. While this is great for personal blogs, as a business, you need to have your blog on your domain name, to help increase your site’s popularity in the eyes of the search engines.

You can host your blog on your own web host by changing the ftp settings in your blog. This will allow you to customize your domain, such as www.yourdomain.com/blog.

Blogger will also allow you to write your posts in advance and set them up as drafts. When you are ready to publish them, you simply press a button and your post is on the web.

Inserting pictures and links in your blog posts is also very simple using Blogger’s editor. Blogger’s comment section allows you to control who can post comments and whether or not they can add links to your blog.

Adding audio to your product selling site will make your site more personable to your visitors. It is an interactive experience that will allow your visitors to see you as a real person. This can build trust; once trust is established your visitors are more likely to become customers.

Subscribing to Audio Acrobat is a very easy way to add audio to your site. For about $20 per month, you can create audios and videos, and allow your visitors to listen to them live over the internet or download them to listen to at their convenience.

Audio Acrobat will provide you with a special number that you can dial with your phone. You can create a recording of just yourself, or you can record a phone call if you are interviewing someone.  Another option is to hook a microphone up to your computer and speak directly into it.

When you are finished with your recording, the service will generate a piece of HTML code that you can publish to your site. This will allow your visitors to listen to the audio or download the Mp3.

If you want to increase the traffic that comes to your site, you may want to try your hand at podcasting.  Podcasting is a new phenomenon, and is somewhat similar to blogging. Rather than reading a blog, your listeners will listen to your voice via your podcast.

Your listeners do not need to have an iPod; podcasts can be downloaded to any Mp3 player, and your listeners can listen online, too.

You can set up an RSS feed, so your listeners will always have access to your latest podcast. Audio Acrobat even includes iTunes integration, allowing your listeners to automatically download your podcasts into their iTunes.

You can allow your visitors to listen to your audios for free or you may charge for them. If you are allowing people to listen to them for free, you may want to monetize them by having paid sponsors. This acts in much the same way your local radio stations present commercials. You can simply announce that the podcast is being sponsored by and read the ad that you and the sponsor agree upon.

As a product seller, you can use a podcast as a method of announcing specials, or educating your audience about your product. Think of it as another tool in your arsenal of marketing techniques. And if you have any questions or would like more information about this marketing method, head over to Product Sellers Talk Radio.

Mentor groups, sometimes known as mastermind groups, are a great way to help kick start or improve upon your business. These groups are comprised of various business owners who all have common goals in mind. The particular goals can vary, but the point of most mentoring groups is to bring business owners together to help them grow their businesses.

Here are some of the things to look for when searching for a mentoring group for your business.

1. Look for people with interests the same as yours. As a physical product seller, look for other people who are also selling tangible items.
2. Find a group that offers resources to help you in your business.
3. Look for groups who are constantly updating their resources and not just posting old resources.
4. Research various groups and ask members of different groups about what the group has to offer.
5. Find members who have “grown” since joining the group. This will prove that success is a possibility.
6. Look for members who are willing to share their thoughts, criticisms, and knowledge willingly. You don’t want a group of mentors who refuse to help newer members. Remember it’s called mentoring for a reason.
7. Find a membership that fits in your budget, but remember that price isn’t everything. Your mentoring group is an investment, not an expense.
8. Look for groups that offers lifetime membership. You may find that after a certain amount of time or after you’ve completed certain steps you will be offered a discounted or possibly even free membership.
9. Find a mentoring group whose schedule fits yours.
10. Look for a group who not only allows members to ask questions, but encourages it. However, don’t expect the mentors to always just give you the answers you need, they should also be encouraging you to think for yourself.

If you can’t find a group you feel is right for you or that fits your budget just yet, try following one or two people in your business area or market that you can learn from. Study and more importantly, implement the things you learn from them and ask questions when you have them.

Are you looking for a group of product sellers? Try the Product Seller’s Club at MichelleWatersOnline.com.