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I've seen a lot more of these over recent months, and it's now starting to wear thin as everyone seems to be doing it

..apologies for the last email, I misspelt xyz, so we'll keep the offer open for another 12 hours...

...it seems some customers missed out on yesterdays offer due a techie problem, don't worry here it is again...

...the last email was sent in error, I do apologise, to make amends, here is a 20% off voucher...

Anyone spot of these or similar, or did you really think it was a genuine error

We all know people rarely buy from the first contact, so this is a good technique to keep your message visible and fresh. But as with most marketing tricks, it works well when it's not mainstream, but it does seem to be getting abused now.

Here's a classic from this morning:


You the jury decide....

We have an expression in the UK, "smoke and mirrors" ie these days it's pretty straight forward to give a credible professional image for a fraction of the cost.

Our offices are in a managed business centre, Minerva Mill, a big old converted industrial mill. There are office sizes from 50 employees down to single 1 man offices.

Then there there is a hot desk centre, where some people like consultants, advisors just touch down irregularly to catch up on admin. Then finally there are the virtual businesses that are registered here, and have their mail sent here.

Any of those businesses are welcome to hire and use meeting rooms, board rooms etc, and the building has a fully manned reception, so anyone arriving for a meeting is none the wiser.

All the businesses have the same physical address, other than the business name, so how can you tell who has a virtual office, who has a hot desk, and who has an office and is getting fleeced for electricity and phone lines

The reality is you can't. Virtual offices are a superb low cost way of giving a credible and professional image, if that's what you need.

I think it's a brilliant idea. The term "blog" these days is very generalised and getting outdated imho. It can be just content on your site, that users have the ability to interact with, via comments, social sharing etc.

Personally I don't think much has actually changed over the years, other than mindsets and link chasing.

The modern marketing era is all about content and quality, a long familiar message. If that content is deemed to be popular, then people will link to it, or share it socially etc, which is what Google has been saying since the year dot.

If you can encourage interaction on your site, and then promote it out via social media, forums etc, then that has to be better than just putting your hard earned content on an article directory, to be spun, and respun, duplicated, and associated with low grade/quality authors, depending on the quality of the article site.

Likewise, using the same question answer tactic on forums, or communities, maybe linked in Groups, Google communities etc, which should drive traffic and make you seen as the go to person.

As you say, this approach can be adopted by just about anyone. Be the person that can answer the question, and provide the service.

Poor old article directories have taken a battering over the last couple of years, and they have been a popular and useful SEO and marketing tool for a lot of people.

But it looks like their use as link building strategy is well and truly over, and Matt Cutts simple message is don't thumbsdown

Google's Matt Cutts: Don't Try To Build Links Through Article Directories

Fascinating article and reminds me of my younger days when we pulled out of Kuwait in 1991, and the amount of kit that got left behind and written off.

BBC News - The mammoth military task of leaving Afghanistan

Looks like little has changed, and now with a business mind you start to realise some of the logistical cost of actually getting military forces and their equipment back home!





Then of course there are all the personnel who won't be coming home...

Lets hope it was all worth it...

This beeb post made me think of this thread, first time I've noticed psychometric tests making the BBC headlines.


So it sounds like the tests carried more weight than actual job experience if the article is to be believed, which I assume is an internal HR misuse of the tests as a tool rather than them being to blame.

Hi Ivan

Hope you don't mind, I've hived you off to a new thread.

I think if you want any specific London address based ones, then you will need to have a Google, but we do have a Virtual Office on the forum, based up North if that's any help?

Cheap Registered Office and Virtual Trading Address for your Business

As Jan comes to a close, everyone should have their marketing plan and business strategy in place for 2014, and be starting to apply it.

But was having a chat with someone recently who works as a sole trader, and a recent forum post made me think of the same subject, and that's accountability and motivation for small business owners.

It's easy to tell yourself that you will get a few more customers, or you have a good plan for the year. But if no one is pressuring you for results because you work for yourself, it's easy for the New Year marketing motivation to go the same way as the January diet and the gym membership

How about nailing your colours to the mast, and making some 2014 predictions that we can come back and analyze in December. Can be nice and high level, or as detailed as you like. If you don't deliver, doesn't matter, as long as you can understand why and not repeat the same mistakes. But at least you know you can't sit back or make excuses for not growing

So I'll go first.

Plan as of 1st Jan: I'm going to grow overall revenue by 20% and increase our Social Media exposure.

Grow Twitter from 1280 followers to 3000
Grow FB page from 420 likes to 2000
Grow G+ page from 84 followers to 500
Increase Forum Interaction and grow membership.

Be interesting to see the results in December, but nothing like a bit of public pressure to add some incentive

So anyone else fancy setting some targets and comparing in 12 months?

Fair enough. A virtual office is a way of having a business address in an area (eg London) without actually having to be there.You can have a phone number, mail forwarding services etc. It's very popular in the UK, and a good way for smaller businesses to give the impression of posh offices and a smart business address, without the cost.

Oh naughty Linda!!

This is why I bowed to the inevitable and closed by blog ages ago As a social media waffler, no problems, but as a blogger, I'm rubbish!