Naming Your Domain: Make It Easier for Clients to Find You Online

If you didn’t know Google’s website address, could you guess it? What about Netflix? Or Mediator Tech? You sure could, and these domain names make finding these service organizations’ website a whole lot easier. That’s what your domain name should do for you.

Perhaps a prospective client met you at a gathering and recalls your name. Or maybe they read a press release about your ADR business and want to read more about what you have to offer. Or maybe a friend mentioned you to them and now they want to track you down.

They could Google you, of course. The risk is that their search might yield other ADR providers that catch their attention, or that they don’t find you at all. Ideally, your domain name (the name that somone types to find your website, like www.mediatortech.com) should be guessable and memorable.

The growth of the ‘net means more competition for eyeball time and a whole lot more domains out there with potentially similar names for similar services. To walk you through the important considerations behind naming your website, I’m starting a short series on the subject today and will continue with it over the next two weeks.

Already have a domain name and are thinking, “It’s too late to change it”? Not to worry! There are strategies for managing this and I’ll cover those in the series. The next article is Name Your Mediation Domain: Why ADR Practices Should Have Their Own.

Tags: marketing mediation, adr website advice

Easy Invoicing by Email or Web: PayPal Merchant Tools

Still [tag]invoicing[/tag] by paper or asking for a check at the start or end of your [tag]mediation[/tag] session? Online invoicing is a simple alternative if you want to automate your process and receive payments in advance or more promptly.

I’ve been using PayPal’s merchant tools for several years and have been very satisfied with the service and ease of use, both for my clients and me. I’ve used these tools to bill clients and receive payments I can then just have transferred directly to my business bank account. My clients benefit by being able to pay by credit/debit card or direct bank transfer simply and securely.

Here are some of the ways you can streamline and automate your invoicing via PayPal, with or without a website. Your clients do not need PayPal accounts to pay you using a credit or debit card with any of these tools:

• PayPal Invoicing. This free tool walks you through the creation of a professional-looking invoice containing a PayPal payment button. The invoice is emailed to your client, who simply clicks the button and follows the online instructions to pay you instantly.
• Request Money. A little less formal than the invoicing tool, you can use this free tool to send a simple email with the amount you’re requesting. Your client clicks on a link to make a payment instantly.
• Payment Request Wizard for QuickBooks. If you’re a QuickBooks user, you can automatically convert your invoices into emails that contain payment buttons. Like the others, this is a free tool. The invoice is emailed to your client, who clicks the button to pay securely online.
• Payment Request Wizard for Outlook. This free download automatically inserts a button into your Microsoft Outlook program. When you want to generate an invoice, you enter your customer’s email address and the transaction amount, and the Wizard automatically creates a button to insert in an email to the client.
• Website Payments. If you have one or more [tag]websites[/tag], you can create a PayPal payment button or link to receive payments without having a separate shopping cart service. There are no fees for this tool, nor any annual contract.

If you set up a PayPal account that accepts credit or debit cards, there is a transaction fee. For a schedule of those fees, visit PayPal’s US Transactions page; there’s a link on the page to view cross-border fees.

On a side note: If you do have a [tag]PayPal[/tag] account, never login to your account via an email you receive that looks like it came from PayPal. Fake PayPal emails are common phishing schemes and you could end up providing your login information to a scammer. If you get an email that seems legit, just open your browser, type in the PayPal URL (do not copy and paste) and login from there. Phishing emails are looking more and more legitimate with every passing day.

Interested in more Tech Tools for Mediators? Join my complimentary membership group and receive a downloadable handout with more tech resources.

Marketing a Mediation Practice: Your Hidden Remarkable Benefit

If you’ve read books on marketing, you’re probably familiar with the acronym “USP” or the term “unique selling proposition.” Your USP is a concise statement of your mediation practice’s most compelling offer to potential clients, one that conveys a specific benefit that your competitors do not offer.

A little while back I came across a Copyblogger post that puts a creative and helpful spin on the old USP notion. In Discover Your Hidden Remarkable Benefit, author Brian Clark asks,

What if you’ve got something going for you so remarkable that it literally guarantees your success? What if you are just failing to see it?..The fact is, often that extraordinary element will be something you take for granted.

It’s a great little article and I recommend it if you’re working to clarify and hone your own hidden remarkable benefit.

NIACR Nod: Mediator Tech a Top Blog

I was delighted to open my email yesterday and find a note from the National Institute for Advanced Conflict Resolution, telling me that Mediator Tech has been named one of the top five mediation blogs in their Annual Mediation Blog Roundup. As the rain poured (as it has for more days than I can count) and the wind roared here in New Hampshire, there was a bit of brightness in an otherwise dreary day. Thanks, NIACR—it’s a treat to be recognized, especially given the company I’m in on your list.

Update: Here’s NIACR’s press release.

Photos on your website: are they too stock?

If I had $1 for every mediation website that features stock photos of people sitting around a table or shaking hands, I’d be hanging out in my seaside cottage in Scotland with a wee dram of single malt in my hand right now (I know, Lenski doesn’t suggest Scottish, but my mum was a MacDonald).

I have, no doubt, wounded a few of you with this opening sentence. Sorry for the pain, but not sorry for getting your attention and breaking the news: Stock photos used in a stock-y kind of way scream "vanilla" to your site’s visitors. They convey lack of distinction.

This isn’t what you want to suggest with your site and the photos in it. Your website marketing should convey how you’re unique, and that you’re professional and approachable.

You also want to convey that you work with the kinds of clients you’re trying to target with your site. One ADR website I visited recently claimed to focus on construction mediation and all the photos were of people in pinstriped suits with briefcases in their hands. Sure, builders wear pinstripes and own briefcases. And I’m guessing that some builders wear other kinds of professionally appropriate garb, probably with a little more frequency than pinstripes. Now, if this site was only targeting construction company owners who wear a suit to work everyday, maybe this would work. But nothing else about the site suggested this was the case.

What to do?

• Get a professionally done ditigal headshot, not from a passport-photo kind of place but from a portrait photographer who will help you figure out how to have your uniqueness come out in photo form. It’s worth the small investment because you can use the photo on your site, in your print literature and in press releases.
• Think about how to convey the emotion of successful dispute resolution more than the canned image of hand-shaking. What other kinds of photos would convey that emotion?
• As I say often, think carefully about your target market and the way people in that market dress, look and convey themselves. If you want photos that show people doing something, make sure those photos look like the people in your target market.

Copyright © 2006 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.

Above the Fold: Put Your Most Important Website Content at Top

In newspapers, “above the fold” refers to the content that’s on the top half of the front page. That’s the material the editors deemed important enough that they want it visible to entice people to buy a copy of that edition. Websites have an above-the-fold area too. It’s the part of a webpage that’s visible to a viewer without any scrolling. And as with a newspaper, your website’s above-the-fold area is prime real estate.

What do you most want your website visitors to see immediately? Keep in mind that studies show you have about 1/20 of a second for a visitor to decide whether or not to stay.

For mediation websites, above-the-fold content you might choose include:

• Your business name and your name.
• A professional-quality photo of you. Forget the stock photos of people shaking hands–it’s been overdone on ADR websites and screams vanilla. I’ll be writing more about this in a coming article.
• A sign-up form for your e-zine or blog. If you don’t know how to do this, check out my article series on autoresponders.
• Links to content you believe will be most compelling to the kinds of clients you’re trying to attract (your niche) with your online marketing.

If you use one of those huge flat-screen monitors, keep in mind that “above the fold” means different things to different monitors. My sole computer is a little 2-lb. Dell Latitude X1 that I take with me like some of you might take your current paperback. What I see when I first visit a website is different, then, than someone using a 17″ or 19″ monitor, and you should aim for the what the smallest screen is able to see.

Copyright © 2006 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.

Skype Update: Free Calls to Landline Phones within US and Canada

Earlier today I wrote about Skype. Here’s a hot-off-the cyber-presses Skype announcement made today:

If you’re in the US or Canada, you can use SkypeOut to call any landline or mobile number in both the USA and Canada for free.

Is it really free? What are the strings attached? Yes. It is really very, very free. There’s no prepayment, no minimum use, no subscription, no monthly fee, no nothing. You just download and install Skype and then you start calling. Both the caller and the number called must be in either the US or Canada. There are no strings attached.

The only condition is that we have said free SkypeOut within the US and Canada is guaranteed to last until the end of this year — that is, until December 31, 2006. We’re not quite sure yet what we will do after that. Maybe we extend the free period, maybe not. You’ll hear more about this towards the end of the year.

Until then, happy calling.

Happy calling indeed! This may be just the thing to encourage you to try [tag]Skype[/tag] if you haven’t already. (And no, I don’t get anything from Skype for recommending their service.)

Skype: Make Free Calls from Your Computer

I’ve been experimenting with Skype for about a month and thought I’d let you know about my experience so far.

[tag]Skype[/tag] is “a little program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype. It’s free and easy to download and use, and works with most computers.” That pretty much sums it up. It downloaded and installed with ease, and I made my first call about 15 minutes after getting started. All I needed was my USB headset (you can buy them at RadioShack or find links from the Skype website).

Calls from one computer to another are free, from anywhere to anywhere in the world, and they take place via Internet connection. [Read more]

Fun with Fake News Generator

This is so much fun I couldn’t resist sharing it. Imagine you could create any news headline and see it in print. Now you can…sort of.

This little newspaper snippet generator, now making the rounds among bloggers, gives you the chance to dream up your own fake newspaper story and save an image of it.

The potential for some smiles is endless. In addition to this one, I created one for my husband about our little dog, Luigi, who worships my husband’s every breath. You could send them as special thank-you notes. Or post something on your site or blog that grabs attention.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see a real headline and story like this someday?

Marketing Mediation and the New Media

I’ve written before about the up-and-coming ways (well, they’re actually already here) of [tag]marketing[/tag] [tag]mediation[/tag] online. Now, in his article 8 Reasons Why New Media is Growing, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger has outlined several compelling reasons to catch the wave, including:

Participation: Expertise and knowledge are still valued but there seems to be a move towards an understanding that true expertise lies in the collective rather than the individual. As a result, conversation and a sense of belonging are central in many forms of new media.

Suspicion of institution: I don’t have figures to back it up but anecdotal evidence among my friendship groups seems to indicate a growing sense of disillusionment and suspicion of mainstream media outlets.

Relationality: [N]ew media is at its best when it involves conversations, collective learning and being a part of things that are bigger than just yourself.

As you consider how to market mediation or [tag]ADR[/tag] most effectively, these trends are powerful reasons for tapping into new [tag]technology[/tag] to promote and build your practice.

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