Heard of Google Voice? Free Phone Line!

Google Voice Features

Have You Heard of Google Voice?

Great tool for Small Business! 

How to Use "Google Voice"

Step One: Create A Number
Step Two: Making a Phone Call

Google Voice is TOTALLY FREE at the basic usage level. 

• Provides you with your very own number

• Ability to call, text, email, receive voicemail and transcribed messages

How to set it up? 

• Create a Gmail account, or use an existing one.

• Sign in to your account and click on “More” on the top bar with a list of options  provided by Google – click on “VOICE” with the phone icon next to it.  

Google Voice Icon

• Begin to set up the voice account following the prompts. You will have a choice to use  the existing phone number you own with your current voice carrier, OR, you can use a new number that will be provided by Google Voice. 

• If you choose to obtain a new number from Google Voice, you will be asked to enter your current number. Google will then provide you with a code number and will note that they will be calling your phone number once you click “connect.” 

• When you connect, Google will ring your CURRENT cell phone/landline and will ask you to enter the code number provided. They automated voice will prompt you to create a voice message. Once this is done, you will see a note on the screen that says, “Google Voice Number Verified.” 

• You will then have the option to ADD more numbers if you have colleagues, and you can also set up a voice message system. Below you can read instructions on how to place a phone call! 

Download the App and call with your Mobile Phone!

To Place a Call via Google Voice:
·       Click on “call”
·       Change “phone to call with” from Google Talk -> to Mobile
·       Type in the number you want to call
·       Click “connect”
·       Your regular cell phone will ring
·       When you pick up, you will here that your cell phone will automatically be dialing the destination you want to reach. The person you are trying to reach will see your GOOGLE number as the caller ID on their end.
·       If you want to be able to do this via your cell phone – go to the APP store, and download the Google Voice APP
Once you download the Google Voice APP, you will need to dial a specific number (depending on your service provider in order to create your new Voice Message) à This will be if you want to use the Google Voice Message as your message! –you can’t have both unfortunately it seems! If someone knows a suggestion or solution for this, feel free to share! Thanks for viewing! 

Follow the Steps To Call 

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Reputation is KEY!

Grow Your Reputation!

As small business owners, especially those just starting out, we look to build our relationships. The relationships we want to grow are not only with our clients, but with potential clients, and with other business owners and network groups.

How to start working on your reputation Management?

  

      First Step: 

            Research yourself! Search your business name in the top search engines. Conduct an analysis on the results you find. What are consumers saying about you as the business owner and/or your products or service?

a.       Based on the findings you will know where you stand. Note: you may not have any results come up because you are brand new. This is actually not a bad thing because you have a clean slate to work with and can set yourself up for great success.

           Second Step:

      Create a plan! Decide if you are going to focus your outreach on a local market, regional market, or national market. Who is your target audience? What is the demographic? Do you have a specific gender, age group, income level, or perhaps business sector you are trying to reach? If so, you may want to consider geographic-targeting or content-targeting.

a.       Geographic-targeting (geo-targeting) allows you to focus on specific geographic areas even down to the zip codes.

b.      Content-targeting allows you to focus on specific content that people search by keyword or by website, by topic, or by phrase.

c.       Note: you can use these methods of practice via GoogleAd Words, Facebook Adwords, Display Ads, Search Engine Optimization, Content Strategy, Banner Ads, Video Advertising, and even traditional radio/print/television will allow for such specific outreach.
d. Add video to your website - then add the video to Youtube which is owned by Google. This can influence the positioning and ranking of your business on search engines because of the content (a smart investment)! 

3      Third Step:    

      Organize a budget! Come up with a budget that will work over a 3month – 6month period at the minimum in order to start seeing results. You should not expect to create a plan for one or two months. You need time to grow your content and let people start to know who you are.

          Fourth Step:     

           Measure your success! Keep track of what is working, what isn’t and what needs editing. Make changes as you go along. You can edit your keywords, your display ads, and your campaigns. If one campaign is performing much better than another, perhaps you may want to invest more money in that campaign. 

Fifth Step:

            Be Innovative! Never give up. Always strive for better. Continue to connect.

One more thing…

Just in case you checked out your business and you realized you may have some negative reviews or your information isn’t listed accurately:

*I can help you with that! Visit TrendSetter Communications and send and email!
Your Google+ Local listing is VERY IMPORTANT along with the other top 35 directories such as Mapquest, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, YellowPages, Yelp, etc.

You will want to make sure the information on those directories is accurate so that folks can reach you, visit your website, find out about updates, services, coupons, and most of all: YOUR BUSINESS!

Stay tuned for the next blog on how to fix inaccurate data!

Why Use Twitter to Promote Your Brand? 

Twitter is one of the most popular social media networking and information sharing websites available. It is a premier way to share your business updates, latest product designs, breaking news, and immediate offers in a quick and unlimited way. 

Positive Uses of Twitter:

• Twitter is free (as long as you have an email address)
• Business owners, bloggers, writers, entertainment specialists, and digital media specialists alike use Twitter to debut their content. 
• Twitter can be used to market your own self-brand and expertise in a particular field so that employers, members of the media, and key influencers begin to notice you. 
• You can link your webpage, article, or the websites of others to your tweets in order to establish relationships and connections. 
• People can "re-tweet" your tweet. This means, if someone likes what you wrote on twitter, they can decide to re-post the tweet, also known as "re-tweet" on their Twitter page. This will increase your exposure to the crowd of their followers. 
• Through Twitter, you can gain a fan base. You can begin to recognize who is interested in your content and would like to hear more about it! 

How to Succeed on Twitter:

• Choose your Twitter Friends wisely - it is important to select "follow" on brands/companies/individuals that are relevant to your mission and may be interested in the same things you are. This will increase the likeliness of getting in to their conversation on Twitter.
• Read the conversations that your followers and the folks that are following you are talking about. Pay attention to keywords and topics and use those keywords as #hashtags in your tweets.
• Retweet relevant content - then introduce yourself to the person/business via twitter or via another social media outlet by sending a private message. Let them know who you are and that you enjoy their work and appreciate their tweet. 
• Remain engaged. Start conversations, be relevant, post content often. 

You will be successful on Twitter as long as you continue to continue to engage! 

Sometimes Twitter may be a bit frustrating because you are limited to the amount of content you can write. You are only allowed to use a certain number of characters, not words, actual characters (!_+Abcj F ...all characters). Therefore, if you have a lot to say, Twitter forces you to make your statement concise and cohesive. To be quite honest, in a world where most folks have a VERY short attention span, Twitter has become the best way to get news out fast. 

Another part of Twitter that is helpful to someone seeking to gain awareness is the use of #hashtags! Hashtags are keywords that are relevant to the content you are writing about. Hashtags will link to keywords that are generating "topic buzz" and have an actual conversation going on. By putting your hashtag in to your tweet during certain times of day, during certain occurrences, you will gain more exposure for your brand/name because you may become part of the conversation!