This morning, I saw that all of my blogs were stripped of any PR. I mix regular posts with sponsored posts time to time, and I got the big ole slap today. I originally sat at a PR4, then it got bumped to a PR2. This morning, I found a big shiny 0 staring at me. Not a good feeling, but you know what…I’m going to keep doing what I do.

I’m going to keep writing business posts to help those who find use in them. I’m going to continue with the content I’m comfortable writing. It may not have a PR value attached to it, but if what I write helps someone out, then there’s value to me.

Advertising is going in all different directions, and everyone is learning as we go. Because Google hands out PR, they also get to take it away. It’s life, and you can do one of two things.

You can complain and quit, or you can brush off and move forward. Dusts off, stands up…and moves forward.

How do you represent yourself? When you aren’t there, who is representing your company, store or brand for you? Here’s a quick and easy question….how do they look?

Many people have taken the expression business casual and pushed it to the next level. Jeans and a polo may be fine for grocery shopping, but is this the business person and image you want to represent you? What used to be a trend, dressing down at the office, many big companies are tightening their policies once again.

When you dress nicer, often your attitude goes right along with it. Don’t get me wrong, my working style didn’t change when I’d dress down at the office, versus dressing up, but it would be easy for a client to assume it did, had they seen me. I worked in an office where there were no customers with us. I was behind a locked door, and didn’t represent to the clients. It still makes a difference, because when your coworkers look at you, and you have a neat, clean and professional appearance, they also see you projecting yourself differently.

What about at a retail store? If you’re selling trendy clothes, you want your business staff to wear trendy clothes. A suit in this case on your salesperson, is going to look out of place.

When you know how you want to appear, or your staff to appear, you should draw out clear guidelines. Whether people want to believe the clothes we wear make a difference in how people perceive us, they do…and your reputation might be on the line. Before you ever open that door to your business, consider what you want your employees to wear.

Even something as simple as scrubs in a doctor’s office, in your mind, you expect to see them. You expect your doctor to appear a certain way. If you walk in, and he/she is wearing shorts and a tank top, you may be thrown, and subconsciously, your opinion may change. They are only clothes, but the question becomes, do you feel you’re in a professional setting, and do you start to doubt the ability of the person in front of you. It’s a simple thing, dress the part.

Waiter, there’s a bug in my soup!

What do your customers want when they aren’t satisfied?

It’s an interesting question, and one you might want to think about. What do you want when you’re not satisfied with something? Sometimes I want my money back, other times I just want to be acknowledged. What about you? Do you want a refund? Do you want a replacement? Do you want an added bonus, or do you just want to hear “sorry”?

I’ll give you two examples of things that have happened to me:

I mentioned the train experience the other day. I don’t expect my money back, nor do I want it. I would like to be acknowledged and told that they heard my voice when I took the time to write in.

Another situation, I was at a nice restaurant, and while eating a large, green salad, I came across a crawly bug with antennas. It freaked me out to say the least, and I quietly pushed it away. Someone noticed and came over. I explained there was a bug in my salad, showed them, and they apologized profusely. Uh-oh, they wanted to do damage control. Some people want to scream and yell, and let everyone know how wronged they are. I’m not one of those people. I’m happy just to have it resolved quietly and go about my business again.

They removed the price of the salad from the bill, and then the manager came over to patronize me over and over again. I simply said, “I’m aware things happen, thank you for removing the salad from my bill.”….but because he was in “overdrive” mode, he went on and on and on…which really just annoyed me. Enough, I said okay, let’s move on….You need to be able to read someone, and know what is overkill.

Be genuine, simply apologize and make amends. Don’t drool over me, and suddenly try to make me a queen for a day (and if you’re trying, you comp the full meal, not just the salad)…I didn’t eat anything else there at that point. (I haven’t been back to the restaurant, by the way. It will take me awhile…things happen, but I was skeeved, what do you want?)

Genuine concern and acknowledgment go a long way; schmaltzy patronizing has the opposite effect.

We took the Auto Train to Florida, and this shot was snapped just before we arrived at the station. The Auto Train is a unique train that lets you bring your car along. You can only travel on this train if you bring your car. This was my third round trip with this train, and each experience has been good enough that I was willing to rebook for future trips. With three round trips, it means I’ve had the experience 6 times now, once counting each way.

We stayed in a deluxe bedroom on the return ride, which offers a little bigger accommodations and a private bathroom in the room. It offers you a little more breathing room, but it costs a pretty penny to add it to your trip. We take the car because it saves you $150 over taking my SUV. It’s a costly travel trip, but we enjoy it.

As our attendant came to our room the first time to go over things quickly, and ask for our dinnertime, along with when we wanted our beds put down (they were currently seats), my entire opinion changed. I’ve had nothing but polite, friendly and accommodating attendants in the past. On this occasion, I was left with a bad taste, and the next 16 hours of my 17 hour trip were a wee tainted. Imagine having a customer in your store for 17 hours, and in the first hour their opinion of you has started to sour…would you expect them to purchase a lot, or return?

What time would you like me to put your beds down. I asked for 10pm, which is the time we’ve always asked for. We’d done it 5 times previously, and were always met with a great, no problem, and promptly at 10, our beds were made. This time the response is “oh, that’s a little late”.

ME: Excuse me? Is there a problem?

Her: Well, it’s just that it interferes with something I was going to be doing.

ME; Oh, ok, we can be flexible, how about at 9:30.

Her: Oh, can’t I put them down while you’re at dinner?

ME: Dinner is at 5:30, that’s a little early for me.

Her: It’s just, well…

ME: Whenever…(irritated, which is rare for me to get like this)

She came and put our beds down at 7:30, not at my request, but I wasn’t going to make an issue of it, because she obviously didn’t care if I wanted that or not. I will be writing a letter explaining to Amtrak, why I was quite unhappy with this. It put a damper on the entire experience, truly. #1, my son can’t sit up in bed, it’s too close to the ceiling on his bunk, and we have no backrest to lean against to sit and read now with the beds down. Instead of being in the comfort and privacy of our room, we ended up going to the public lounge so we could sit up for awhile. This frustrated me, as we got the larger bedroom for the comfort of quiet, privacy and reading.

5 Great trips in the past, 1 bad experience means they may have lost a future passenger who paid $1000 for round trip accommodations for 2 people and a car. Not good.

What are your employees saying or doing when you aren’t standing over their shoulder?

All work and no play makes Deb a dull girl.
I’m heading out on vacation tomorrow, and wanted to give you a head’s up it’s going to be quiet here this week until Thanksgiving. I’ll check in when I return, have a Happy Thanksgiving.

I’m watching PostieCon live right now, as they hold their conference in Las Vegas. I’m still sitting here in NJ, and love that I can watch the feed. Right now, I’m hearing about their huge new concept of social marketing and the media. They have over 80,0000 bloggers, along with over 10,000 advertisers. PayPerPost, now running under the umbrella of Izea, is launching something called SocialSpark.com. It’s going to turn things around, and make profiles open, let people see what’s available out there.

People’s information will be available for the advertisers to shuffle through, and bloggers will have more detailed information about themselves. You’re no longer a number or a name, but you’ll actually have a profile that shows numbers, stats, and people can be lifted up and down. You can have a social network, add friends and more.

There’s feedback, and you can leave feedback…it’s a back and forth kind of thing. There’s more coming, and it’s fun listening to the live broadcast, but I don’t have all the details yet, since it’s just launching. Keep your eyes set to SocialSpark.com and Izea, there’s more to come!

The November issue of Blogger and Podcaster is here, and I’m about to go through it. As I flipped through the first couple of pages, there was an ad with a audio message. Tricky, this time you can’t turn it off at the top, and if you flip to the next page it DOESN’T stop. You still have to listen to it, or go back and find that “off” button. Don’t like that…don’t make me FIND an Off button…not cool.

Okay, onto the Editor’s Note…it’s about the name of Podcasting. Yawn…lots of words to say something that could be said in about 2 paragraphs. Let me count how many we’ve stretched it out to…ELEVEN. Yeah, not much more to say on this. I guess Podcasters may find this more intriguing, but you lost me about 1/3 of the way into it. Not reading the rest, I get the gist of it.

Shelly Brisbin does write an interesting piece about the news of two groups who are looking to grow, and people are going to be divided between which way to go. Interesting reading here.

You’ll catch some news blurbs about Yahoo and Podcasting, Technorati changes, and some Jaiku news as well on page 8. A gripe about Techmeme’s leaderboard and a few more news stories are dotted on page 9.

Hey! I see a full page ad for Ted Murphy’s Izea on page 12. Way to get the word out Ted. He’s an interesting guy, who knows how to buzz. Some more pod news, products, podcast expo and Zune stuff hits page 13.

Page 15 talks about expanding your reach and syndication, about podcasting that is. Not sure if this is the podcasting and podcasting magazine this month. I’m hoping the blogger isn’t overlooked in this issue. I’m going to keep flipping through it, but so far, I’m feeling like this is totally targeting podcasters, and I’m feeling pretty left out.

Shel Israel always puts up a solid piece and is always a worthy read. This month is no exception, so if you’re looking for a good article, this one may interest you on page 17.

Hey, what a surprise, another podcasting article on page 19. I don’t podcast, and so far, a good portion of this magazine hasn’t held any interest for me this month. Sorry to say guys, but I’ll keep reading. What’s this, another podcasting article on page 21. I feel like I’ve been taken on a podcasting ride, someone whispering to me, yeah, ummm, we’ll talk about blogging too, just stick around.

What’s this? They thought of me, oh my gosh, on page 23, I’ve finally hit a blogging article. Life is good, and yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

I get one more article starting on page 28, then it’s back to the podcasters ladies and gentleman. Look, if your magazine is called Blogger and Podcaster, don’t you want to include me too? I feel like an afterthought, and that sucks. I was excited for a magazine to target my area of interest. I feel like I’d be pretty pissed off about now if I paid for the print subscription fee thinking I’d found a blogging magazine, because this month my friends, it’s a podcasting magazine in disguise, with the cover saying blogger, but let’s be honest…I got crumbs this month, and that just sucks. Glad it’s free….or you’d have just lost a subscriber.

We get a few blog rankings on page 36 and 37 where they look at Milblogs (millitary), food blogs and travel blogs. Then turn the page and we’re back to the podcasting world. Surprise, surprise.

Lastly you can read 10 questions with Airanna Huffington of The Huffington Post.

Oh yeah, don’t forget you get to see Podcast Expo pics on page 46. Why not, it’s Podcast and Podcast magazine…but as Shelly says in the editor’s piece, podcasting is dead…well, maybe the name. It’s alive and well in November’s issue of Blogger and Podcaster. I got 7 pages of blogging, out of a 47 page magazine. Yeah…

If you’re looking for ways to get direct, targeted traffic to your site, think about using Google Adwords. They can be an efficient way to drive traffic, and you pay based on a budget that you create. The problem with Adwords is that they can be fickle. Changing wording can mean the difference to a higher percentage of click-thru traffic. You can either choose to have a professional do your Adwords ads for you, or you can learn to do them yourself. Once you get the hang of it, it’s not that hard. You can even learn to split-test ads to see which works best for you.

If you’re new to the Adwords arena, I’ve got a great resource to tell you about. There’s a Google Adwords Guide written by Adwords Professional Steve Baker just waiting for you to read. It talks about using Google Adwords versus traditional Search Engine Optimization, as well as what Adwords can and can’t do for you. When it comes down to it, we want to drive traffic to our sites, but if that traffic isn’t converting, it isn’t making you any money. Let Steve Baker help you understand the world of Adwords, and take the time to read his Google Adwords Guide. You’ll be glad you did. Whether you’re trying to understand the history of Google Adwords, how it will help you, or you’re just trying to understand how a campaign works, you can find an excellent guide by Steve Baker.

This is a free resource, and one to spread around to others. He takes the information that he understands, and breaks it down so that you, the new user will understand it too. It’s a free resource, read it, spread the word, and learn more. Google Adwords can truly help you drive and target traffic. I’ve used Adwords myself, and found what worked for me. The first step is understanding how it works. The Google Adwords Guide by Steve Baker levels the playing field for you.

*disclosure - sponsored

If you’re looking for graphic help online, I’ve found a neat little site that lets you create your own flowers. With a unique flower, you can add a little extra pizazz. Show a little personality, and have a little fun. Hey, fun? What’s that? That’s right, while you were busy working, you forgot to add a little fun to your site or newsletter.

You can create your own flowers on zefrank.com/flowers and then save it. Check out the community garden while you’re there. You can even send a garden to a friend who is having a rough day!

Sometimes we all need a little zest and color in our days, when we get busy with our noses to the grind and working.

I’ve held many jobs over my 40 years, and the ones I liked the most I was interacting with people. Whether I was bartending, working at a spa, working as an operator at an answering service, or working as a dispatcher for the police department and cable company. I enjoy talking with people and working with them. It’s funny to me that now, years later, here I sit at my desk and work alone. I can’t imagine doing anything else at this point in my life, and it contradicts what I’ve done the last 20 years or so!

One of the jobs I did while pregnant with my first son was working for an answering service. I used to answer calls for numerous companies, as well as many doctors. That was back in the day of beepers, where we paged a doctor with an emergency call. Times sure have changed, haven’t they? Now if you want an Answering Service, you go to a company like 1-800 We Answer. They’ve been an answering service since 1969, and they’ve kept up with the constant changes in technology. They offer call center answering services, medical calls, business calls, along with many other services. Whether you need a virtual office, or extra help, 1-800 We Answer can answer for you. They are staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and that means no missed calls. They are based out of New York City, but can help you regardless of where you are. If you’d like to learn more about 1-800 We Answer, then head to their website now. Let them help you.

*disclosure - sponsored