Appreciation | The Reader Appreciation Project

What is Customer Appreciation All About?

19. Jul, 2010 3 Comments

How are you appreciating your customers?

Every business works hard daily to keep the customers happy. Both existing and new customers are part of the daily operations of all websites and blogs that try to make any money. And this happens for a good reason too: without a happy customer, the future of an income and a business partnership is at jeopardy. We actually appreciate clients so that we can minimize the risk of losing clients or recurring revenue in the long run. Customer appreciation of almost any sort, when done effectively, can help avoid such and other risks.

In its most basic form, customer appreciation is the idea of appreciation a customer so that the customer can be happy or so that the customer can do something that you would like them to do. Otherwise, what is the point of customer appreciation, correct? The best way to appreciate a customer is to do something that your actual specific customers, that you are aware of, may realize and even appreciate in return.

In order to appreciate customers, you have to realize what trends and specific things can define customer appreciation for you. Here are 15 examples of customer appreciation to get you started.

15 Different Forms of Customer Appreciation

Customers

appreciation, business, featured, Questions, Tips

Reach Out to Customers

16. Jul, 2010 3 Comments

Are you reaching out to your customers?

If you work regularly, chances are your work focuses on bringing in a set of services or products that will draw in customers. Your business may be trying regularly to generate interest for customers in order to have the customers inquire and interact with your company. While many customers like interacting with different businesses, many other customers including potential customers usually hesitate before contacting a company for further information. Any competitor who may answer all the questions for a potential customer without having that potential customer ask such questions first may end up winning that customer.

Instead of focusing solely on making the customer come to you, you can also try reaching out to the customers yourself. Surprise them and contact them. Let them know what you have to say directly. Solve their problems before they ask for a solution. Help them out with the issues they are facing. Give them advice about things they may be thinking about on their personal blogs. Offer discounts and specials for services they may be interested in. The more you contact customers before they contact you, the more you show to them that you are there for them and that you are looking out for them.

In order to realize more about customer appreciation and to appreciate both your business and your clients more, you have to reach out to them without waiting for them to reach out to you.

Are You Reaching Out to Customers on Your Own?

Tips

appreciation, business, clients, communication, featured, interaction

Where Does Your Blog Fit in Your Business?

15. Jul, 2010 1 Comment

What role does your blog play in your business?

Do you know the role your blog plays in your business?

Every business should try to regularly review the different components it depends on and uses to figure out their place within the business. From different departments to actual products and services, a business can figure out the importance or shortage of different elements needed for both survival and prosperity. Your exact focus on anything in life in order to make money makes it the equivalent of a business for you. You should try to figure out the roles different elements play in any business for you.

Your blog should go under the same kind of review. Your blog, whether personal or business or both, probably exists to serve some kind of a need. Your blog can either make or break your business. By seeing the wrong tools or articles on your blog, people may avoid taking you seriously and may actually not do any business with you. With the good tools and content, your blog can help you and your business become better and generate more clients and readers. Therefore, you have to figure out the role your blog plays in your business if you want to improve both your business and your blog.

In order to figure out the role your blog may play in your business so that you can appreciate clients and your blog more, regardless of the size or type of business, you may start figuring out the types of roles a blog can play in any business.

5 Different Roles Blogs Can Play in Your Business

Questions

appreciation, blog, business, clients, featured, purpose, readers, roles, Tips

Offer Discounts to Increase Appreciation and Sales

12. Jul, 2010 2 Comments

Are you offering discounts to everyone?

One of the two probably biggest reasons people do not buy anything from you is because they do not feel interested in your products. The other reason is that many people do not see a good value in what you are offering. You can try to convert this second category of potential customers by offering discounts. Discounts are basically a way to offer your same product at a lower price while still making a good profit. It is a win-win situation for both you and the customer.

There are many different ways to offer discounts, though companies like AT&T usually focus on offering discounts and rebates to new clients only. One of the biggest reasons people leave any company is because they find a better value elsewhere. You have to offer discounts and incentives to allow both existing and new clients to benefit from any price reductions.

Here are the 5 general concepts of offering discounts that you can apply to your blog and business practically and immediately.

5 Ways to Offer Discounts

Tips

appreciation, featured, incentives, list, money, sales, Tips

5 Important Types of Blog Comments

03. Jul, 2010 2 Comments

What kind of blog comments do you leave?

Almost every blog that wishes to be successful at one point or another had to come across the question “Do I want comments on my blog?” For many people, the answer to such a question is an easy and powerful “YES!” The consequences of such an answer, however, are not easy to realize in advance.

Once your blog is active, the types of comments others leave you and the types of comments you leave in response to other comments varies greatly. Some comments appear great to you, while other comments in your view are simply spam. How can you figure out what types of comments you should focus on? What types of comments should you simply ignore? What types of comments should you yourself focus on promoting through your own commenting? These and many other questions can easily be answered if you realize some of the different types of blog comments people leave online.

Here are 5 important types of blog comments you should realize exist in the online world. Your own blogging and commenting efforts can improve if you figure out the kind of comments you wish to get on your blog or leave for others.

5 Important Comment Types You Should Remember

Articles, Tips

appreciation, blog, blogger, Blogging, business, clients, commentors, comments, communication, featured, list, spam, types

59% bloggers do not reply to every comment – June 2010

01. Jul, 2010 2 Comments

59 percent readers do not reply to all commentors

Do majority of bloggers reply to every comment on their blog?

The most important trends of today will affect your blog and blogging today and tomorrow. RA Project focuses on figuring out what the online and offline world of readers and customers think, so that your business and blogs can function better in order to both appreciate your clients and your blog readers. Today we have very important and fascinating results for you when it comes to figuring out whether or not you should reply to each and every reader or client who leaves a comment on your blog.

Here are the results of the Poll “Should you reply to every commentor on your blog?” which was open from June 18th,2010 and ended last night, June 30th, 2010.

A total of 1,018 RA Project readers voted in this poll.

Majority of bloggers prefer not replying to every blog comment they get

Case studies, Surveys

appreciation, blog, Blogging, clients, communication, featured, poll, readers, reply, results, survey, time, trends

5 ways to abuse the concept of appreciation through blogging

30. Jun, 2010 2 Comments

Are you abusing the concept of appreciation?

Blogging was a concept considered only for a few people as recent as 5 years ago. Today, not knowing about blogging is considered by many in both the online and the offline world to be a sign of not keeping up with times. With the wide use of blogging comes the fact that many people are abusing the very concept of appreciation through blogging. You do not want to end up being such a person if you want your blog to succeed.

There are many ways you can directly or indirectly abuse the idea of appreciation and respect for your blog visitors through blogging. Whether or not you realize such a thing happening, your blog visitors and customers will surely notice it. Very few things can do more damage to your blog than a bad reputation and vibe that turns away people from your blog.

RA Project refreshes the concept of 5 ways you can abuse the concept of appreciation through blogging. Avoiding these 5 things will make sure your blog heads gains more visitors and loyalty.

5 ways to abuse appreciation through blogging

Articles, Misconceptions

abuse, appreciation, blog, Blogging, business, clients, featured, list, Misconceptions

Readers Don’t Know What You Want Unless You Tell Them

25. Jun, 2010 3 Comments

Are you telling your blog readers what you want?

The reason many blogs exist is to convey a message. Your blog delivers your message to your reader, who are in fact your clients. You spent hours daily trying to get people to come to your blog and participate on different things. People find out about your blog and take use of the different resources you have available for them. They spend time on your site. Judging from their blog traffic, many people think they have done quite well in such cases and that their readers are doing what they are supposed to do.

Wrong! The same way you try to figure out what your readers and clients are looking for, your readers and clients also try to figure out what you are expecting from them. The mere fact that many people are visiting your blog does not mean that they will do what you want them to do. Imagine setting up a bicycle shop in your neighborhood. If you go around telling people “Hey, I rent this space at this address, visit me!“, you may get some curious people to visit you. But it would take extra messages and call to actions to make people inquire about what your shop is about, and to make people actually be interested in buying something from you.

Your blog is the same. Your blog readers do not know what you want from them on your blog unless you tell them what you would like them to do. Call them to action by telling them what you want!

Tell your blog readers what you want

Articles, Tips

appreciation, ask, blog, call to action, clients, communicate, featured, find out, inquire, list, readers, survey, tell, Tips

Do you know why your clients get upset?

24. Jun, 2010 5 Comments

Are your clients upset?

One of the best things about building good relations with your clients and blog readers is to find out what upsets them. Whether it is something related to what you offer or something that people encounter elsewhere, there is probably something online or offline that upsets your clients and blog readers. These external elements can result in any potential clients not actually paying attention to what you have to say, and any existing clients or blog readers to not be convinced by your call to action messages. Some people may even associate your messages with the elements that upset them. You want to make sure that never or rarely happens by ensuring that that your clients and readers are happy with you.

If you want to build good and long term relations with both your clients and blog readers, you have to find out how to convey your message without triggering any of the upsetting elements that you are aware of. A good writing adapts to both the writer and the readers. Good content adapts to both the content producer and the receivers.

Are you adapting enough to figure out why your clients get upset?

10 Elements that can upset your clients

Tips, Writing

appreciation, clients, communication, featured, knowledge, list, mistakes, question, readers, tactics, Tips, upset, Writing

Are Your Potential Readers Better Than Your Current Readers?

23. Jun, 2010 6 Comments

Are your new blog readers better than old ones?

I found myself at the bank last week standing in a line for around 5 minutes waiting for a cashier. While waiting, I turned around and saw several other people sitting on leather seats talking to the bank staff. Why was I standing while they were sitting? They were new customers, of course. The bank already had my money, and already had my account. Leather was too high of a standard for existing customers like me.

Your blog may be acting in a similar fashion. Because of the popularity of the blogosphere, many bloggers focus on luring in readers in order to let them roam free around their blogs. Such blogs fail to create any extra incentives for readers who have already found those blogs. Instead, such blogs focus on getting new readers to come along and join the crowd. The real prize for many blogs, it seems, is the population that lies outside of the growing crowd that exists within the blog.

In this article, we will go through the question: Are your potential readers better than your current readers?