Why your online business should offer a no-hassle money-back guarantee and avoid chargebacks

Posted on Leave a commentPosted in business advice, COO, Foundation, free business advice, Getting Started, Marketing

I work with lots of startup companies that sell goods or services to consumers online. Every company believes they are providing a great product but, the fact is, not every customer will be satisfied. So, the question becomes, if and when should a customer get their money back? I believe the correct answer is, when they ask for it. Here’s why…

If you’re selling a physical product that can be returned in “as new” condition, I think it’s pretty clear the customer should get their money back when the merchandise is returned. However, should the shipping be free in both directions? Should your company charge a restocking fee? Should only a partial refund be given if the merchandise is difficult to resell as new? What if your physical product is consumed or perishable? You don’t want the product back or it simply may be impossible to get it back. Should the consumer be out their money if they are not happy? I say no. Give them a full refund and eat the return shipping cost if you want the product returned.

 
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If your company is selling information or e-products you may be thinking, “I can’t un-ring a bell”. The consumer has received the information or could easily make an e-copy that may be of continued benefit to a customer even if they claim they are not satisfied. If the customer claims to be unhappy, is it reasonable to charge the customer a full or even a partial fee? I say no, if a customer wants their money back, I think it’s best to make a full refund upon request.

Read more…

Special follow-up edition Part 1 with Christopher Farm of Tenjin and Dave McLean of Magnolia Brewing

Posted on Leave a commentPosted in Business, Marketing

In this, the first of two special follow-up editions of Bay Area Ventures, we check in with guests from the first three seasons of the show.

Christopher Farm /><br /><img decoding= In this episode, we speak with Christopher Farm, Co-Founder and CEO of Tenjin, Inc. Christopher first appeared on Bay Area Ventures in April of 2016. Back then, Tenjin was a young company, recently graduated from the Y-Combinator incubator. How has Tenjin grown in the past year? What are some of the biggest challenges and surprises that Christopher and his team have had to deal with? We will cover it all and see what is next in store for his company.

Chris takes calls from listeners and talks about how they have manage to find technical talent for their team at a time when competition for programmers and engineers in the San Francisco Bay Area has been fierce.

In the second half of the show we’ll check in with Dave McLean, Founder of Magnolia Brewing. Dave was my first guest on Bay Area Ventures in March of 2014. Back then, Magnolia Brewing had its sole location, Magnolia Gastropub on Haight Street in San Francisco. They were just building out a new restaurant and brewing facility. We’ll find out when those projects were completed and how they have fared. We’ll also talk about Magnolia’s recent entry into retail sales with their new line of canned beers.
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<p>Dave Mclaean is one of the leaders of the modern San Francisco Bay Area craft brewing industry.  He is also the founder of the San Francisco Brewer’s Guild and helped grow the membership to hundreds of craft brewers throughout the Bay Area.  The Guild also hosts dozens of major community events each year including San Francisco Beer Week and their annual Brews by the Bay festival.</p>
<p>McLean is passionate business man and brewer.  He has built a thriving enterprise with thousands of devoted fans in a city whose roots as a brewer’s haven go back to the gold rush days of the 1800’s.  That’s no small feat and Dave will tell you how he’s done it.</p>
<p>This is a jam-packed show with a lot of great takeaways for your business.</p>
<p>Recorded on April 24, 2017, on SiriusXM Channel 111, Business Radio Powered by the Wharton School.  Bay Area Ventures airs live on Mondays at 4:00pm Pacific Time, 7:00pm Eastern Time.  </p>
<p>For a list of upcoming and past guest information click on the Show link above.</p>
		
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How to increase online sales with 4-Tell

Posted on Leave a commentPosted in Marketing, Outsourcing IT

Ken Levy, Co-Founder and CEO of 4-Tell, a Portland, Oregon based start-ups reveals secrets on how to increase online sales and boost all metrics of your ecommerce site. With 4-Tell’s Boost recommendation engine and services for online shopping carts, email and newsletters, merchants can realize up to 67% increase in online sales.

For more information on 4-Tell or to reach Ken Levy go to: www.4-tell.com

PPCIan shares the latest advice on SEM

Posted on 2 CommentsPosted in Advertising, business advice, Marketing

Ian Lopuch, VP, Search Marketing of eHealthInsurance and author of PPCIan returns to The Free COO to offer incredible advice for entrepreneurs.

Learn about online marketing technologies, search engine trends for 2012 and 2013, careers in online marketing and top 3 tips for online marketers.

Ian is The Free COO’s first repeat guest and for good reason. He is always an exciting speaker and in this 90 minute interview you’ll get so many great actionable takeaways for your company that it will more than compensate you for your time spent listening. This is a must hear interview.

Be sure to follow Ian’s frequent posts on www.PPCIan.com

And be sure to catch The Free COO Thursdays at 4:00pm Pacific Time live on Spreaker, Facebook and right here.

Expert PPC tips from David Rodnitzky

Posted on Leave a commentPosted in Advertising, Marketing

David Rodnitzky is CEO of 3Q Digital of San Mateo, California (formerly PPC Associates). 3Q Digital is a professional services firm offering internet marketing help in the areas of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click advertising (PPC), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and more. They cover traditional advertising on Google, Microsoft AdCenter (Bing and Yahoo!) plus many other search engines. Plus, 3Q Digital can help with social marketing strategies and execution for platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more.

David is a expert in the field of SEO and SEM having worked at companies like Aderactive and Merchantila prior to founding 3Q Digital. He is also on the advisory board of Marin Software, MediaBoost and Mediacause.

He is a regular speaker at major SEM conferences and has contributed to numerous influential publications, including Venture Capital Journal, CNN Radio, Newsweek, Advertising Age, and Search Marketing Standard. I believe you can catch David and SMX east in a couple weeks in New York.

Learn about all things PPC and why long tail marketing is giving way to wide tail marketing.

The Free COO airs live on Thursdays at 4:00pm Pacific Time

Also check out 3Q Digitals blog.

Eliminate the chaos from your affiliate marketing

Posted on Leave a commentPosted in business advice, Marketing

SmarterChaos is an affiliate management agency based in Castle Rock Colorado that can help you find partners who will drive traffic and customers to your website. Matt Frary, founder and CEO of SmarterChaos discusses affiliate marketing, trends in internet marketing and offers lots of solid advice for driving and building traffic for your website.

Any entrepreneur and startup needs to build brand awareness, SEO rank and sales. Affiliate marketing is part of a three pronged marketing approach along with Pay-Per-Click advertising and organic search (SEO). Learn from an expert about how outsource your marketing expense to independent affiliates who assume your risk in exchange for commissions based on sales.

Update 2/12/2023 Smarter Chaos was acquired by Digital Media Solutions. For more information go to  digitalmediasolutions.com.  For information on Matt Frary visit Matt’s LinkedIn Page.

Interview with Ian Lopuch of PPCIan.com

Posted on Leave a commentPosted in Marketing

If you need to use the internet to market your business, and who doesn’t, then this episode of the Free COO is a “must listen to”. Our guest is Ian Lopuch of PPCIan.com. Ian discusses SEM or, Search Engine Marketing, including Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization (PPC and SEO).

Ian discusses the career opportunities for SEM specialists and his outstanding rise to becoming a top SEO specialist and Director of Search Engine Marketing for a multi-million dollar public company.

Be sure to join me each Thursday at 4:00pm Pacific Time for The Free COO live on Spreaker. Also be sure to check out our Facebook Fan Page and join the Free COO community.

The Free COO, now available as a podcast on iTunes, is the #1 business program on Spreaker!

Using search engine optimization for generating new customers

Posted on Leave a commentPosted in Marketing

Driving new customers to a company by the internet requires a three-pronged approach of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and affiliates. Of the three approaches, SEO can be the most cost effective means of generating a sustainable long-term flow of new customers for any business.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization
SEO is the art of creating content on the internet that, when indexed by search engines, will show up at or near the top of the results page for a given search keyword or phrase. To show up near the top of a results page the content needs to be rich in relevant keywords, readable by search engine robots and referred to by links from external websites. Read more…