Several people asked me about my experience at the Nashville Apple Store, so I thought I’d share how that went. They have what they call a “Genius Bar” where you can go for technical issues, repairs, etc and work directly with an Apple Store employee.

Apple holds a reputation for being a superior company with superior products, and the name Genius Bar alone carries a certain presupposition.

You expect to have an “experience”. Well, I can tell you… my experience was not so hot. I arrived at 3:00 on a Thursday afternoon, and the store was packed and very noisy. There were wall-to-wall people browsing the product demo’s on the sales floor:

It took me several minutes to find an actual employee at the Apple store, to inquire about my appointment at the Genius Bar. It turns out that the Genius Bar is simply a shelf around the edge of the sales floor.

When your name gets called over the noise level on the sales floor, you’re escorted over to a free spot at the shelf to the side of the room. It’s crowded, you’re being bumped into constantly, and it’s incredibly difficult to focus. Not ideal at all, in my opinion for a “Genius Bar”.

My expectations were not over the top. I didn’t expect special treatment, or for them to bend over backwards for me in any way. A little empathy and personal assistance would have been nice.

I was misquoted the price for repair or replacement of my shattered iPad, because they failed to ask about my product specs before giving me an “at the most” quote. There was no apology for that at all, just a blank stare from my rep and a very matter-of-fact attitude about the cost.

I chose to purchase the replacement iPad at $349 plus tax, and the rep proceeded to put it in my original iPad box – which was full of glass. He also insisted that I clear my data from the original iPad, meaning I had to use the shattered touch screen – leaving me pulling tiny shards of glass out of my index finger.

Next I asked for recommendations on an iPad cover or case, and an iPad stand. I had originally purchased the Apple iPad Case, which doubles as a stand, but I was very disappointed with it. He argued with me that he thought it was very stable, even when I set it up in the stand and showed him how it wobbled back and forth. Again, a blank stare.

He stood by as I browsed the iPad cases on the wall and offered little to no help. He finally said the Incase iPad case with stand was probably the closest thing they had to what I was looking for. I wasn’t allowed to unbox it or demo it before making a decision, so I decided to bite the bullet and get one.

Since the registers were so busy with other customers, he offered to email my receipt to me. I have never received that receipt. And with an Apple iPad and the Incase products in hand, I had to ask for a bag to carry out my items.

Not only was it not an exceptional experience, it was a negative experience all the way around. The customer service was seriously lacking from the moment I walked in the store and actually had to locate a rep.

I don’t plan to ever order from Apple.com again, or step foot into an Apple or MacAuthority store. From this point forward I will purchase any Apple Products I want or need from Best Buy, where they offer great customer service and product insurance options. As for repairs, from now on I will look for independent local service providers…

I could have left happy. I expected the 4-hour round trip and a substantial cost for the repair/replacement, but they had an opportunity to make me feel like the brand new Apple customer that I am. They could have easily kept me as a free word-of-mouth marketing machine…

Their loss.

I’ve heard rumor that there is a similar Android product hitting the market soon. I’ll be interested to check that out, as I get excellent customer service (and insurance!) from Verizon.

I do love my Apple iPad. I now have well over $1,000 invested in it, and use it on a daily basis to manage my online business. I’m just sincerely disappointed in the quality of the Apple iPad Case, and the level of service & support they offer their customers.

p.s. In my next post I’ll show you the Apple iPad Case, the case that the guy at the Apple Store recommended as a replacement, and more on my quest to find the perfect case and stand…

Writing content is an integral part of running an online business. From website content to blogging to article marketing, you need a constant flow of various types of content.

Each piece of content should work together to walk your visitor in and through the process, and each is an opportunity to make a positive impression and begin building a relationship.

Your goal is to turn your visitor into a loyal reader or a lifetime customer.

With that in mind, every piece of web content you create must have a clear objective. Knowing exactly what you want to accomplish – or what you want the reader to do – will help you create content in a specific order and with a clear purpose.

Let’s start by looking at an obvious example:

This example is not your typical web content writing – it’s about setting up a simple squeeze page to build an opt-in mailing list. It makes for a good example though, as there are a number of little pieces of content that go into that process.

You need content on the actual offer page, on the redirect page, the confirmation page, in the confirmation email and the follow up message, for the autoresponder series, etc:

That is, of course, my own simplified legal pad version of content mapping

How you map out your web content writing plan is not as important as the fact that you do. It allows you to see each element of the process, and focus on the specific purpose for each of those individual elements.

Last week we talked about Improving the Customer Experience. I used the example of going out to dinner, and all of the elements that make up that experience – the atmosphere, the noise level, the service, quality of food.

But online, the elements of your visitors’ experience are made up of various pieces of content.

Content is your biggest asset in an online business. It helps you rank well in the major search engines, get links from other websites, attract your target market, and convert those visitors into buyers or subscribers.

Good content keeps your list warm, keeps people opening your emails, or keeps people reading your blog – and it’s also going to keep the search engines coming back and give you more and more exposure to new visitors in the search results.

Your content is ultimately what makes the sale.

When you get ready to write, consider your objective upfront. A lot of people will say that their objective is to write content so they’ll get more traffic – you know, that whole thing about fresh content being “spider food” or attracting the search engine spiders?

Just getting traffic is fine if you have large advertisers that pay per impression, but for most of us traffic in general is completely pointless. Our real objective is conversions – whether that be to build our list, sell our products, or sell products as an affiliate.

So figure out your objective upfront – which means: know what you want your visitor to do when they visit your page, or after they’ve read your content. That way you can write in such a way that your web content leads into that specific call-to-action.

Now if you blog, and you’re writing daily for your blog, every single post may not be written for selling. Sometimes your call-to-action can be as simple as asking your readers’ thoughts and engaging them in a discussion through the comments section.

Or you might write a blog post or send an email to your list between promotions that is specifically for relationship building, or keeping that connection warm – and that’s okay too. It’s a necessary part of the process.

On the topic of web content writing, the question I get asked most is how to know what to write, and how to know what to publish where. Should this go on my blog, on my website, or should it be submitted to an article directory? Should I email this content to my subscribers, or put it on my blog and then email them a link to the blog post?

The answer to all of these questions lies in your objective, and in the specific purpose of each piece of content that you write. The best advice that I can offer is that you step back and get a birds-eye view of your business model. Look at it like a map – and look at each piece of content as a segment of that map.

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Find your ideal visitor. Connect with them where they are. Lead them in a specific direction. Communicate with them on their level at every step. Introduce your solution or offer. Answer their objections or concerns. Show them how or where to order. Follow-up with interest and support. Help them make the most of their purchase. Offer them additional resources or products to achieve their objective.

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That’s just one simple example of a basic online selling process. Take a close look at your business model, and your overall objective, and consider ways you can improve on your process.

The best way to do that is to create a web content mindmap. It doesn’t matter if you use mindmapping software, a whiteboard, or a plain old legal pad. Map out the content you need to write, and where it needs to be published, in what order… to achieve your specific objective.

Best,

p.s. Stay tuned as I have more web content writing tips in this series, including tips for sending emails your subscribers will love, answers to common content writing questions… and an a-ha moment when I reveal my own purpose for writing this series – and the unexpected source where this series began.

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In a previous post we discussed the buying decision, and how to know when you should or shouldn’t buy a product online.

Now we’ll look at it from the flip side, and discuss your website and products – and your visitors’ experience and buying decision.

Let’s start by looking at an example outside of Internet Marketing that we can all relate to: the restaurant experience.

Going out to dinner is not just about eating food. It’s about the experience. Consider all of the elements of that experience – the atmosphere, noise level, service, anticipation, expectation, quality of food, etc.

If even one element is “off” it can easily ruin the customer experience. In Internet Marketing that equals abandoned shopping carts, unsubscribes, or your visitor clicking the back button…

The Customer Experience

The customer experience is directly related to the customer’s expectation. If you meet or exceed that expectation, they have a positive experience. If you fail to meet that expectation, they have a negative experience.

One of the easiest ways you can improve the customer experience is to influence their expectation. The more information you give them about your offer upfront, the more likely their expectation will match their buying experience.

Post-Sale Experience

The customer experience goes way beyond the point of sale. Your goal is to create a relationship with that buyer and turn them into a lifetime customer. A positive experience leads to repeat sales and word-of-mouth referrals.

A positive post-sale experience begins with delivery, quality of product, your follow-up material, and your customer service/support.

Unfortunately many merchants stop at the point of sale, ending the relationship with cash in hand. Implementing a simple follow-up series can dramatically improve both customer experience and profit potential.

As a merchant your job is to design your funnel, start to finish, for the best possible customer experience. This begins with first contact, and continues for the life of the customer.

As an affiliate your job is to add value to that process. For you, happy customers equal more commissions, and in some cases recurring or repeat commissions.

On the front end, affiliates have the power to influence the customer’s expectations and answer any lingering questions that affect the buying decision. This can be as simple as how you frame your product reviews.

On the back end, affiliates can offer how-to content or communities to keep customers engaged and buying product.

Take a good look at your online business, and search for opportunities to improve the customer experience. As a good starting point, I recommend reading these tips on how to treat your customers:

The Ten Commandments of Great Customer Service

In the 10th tip, the word “employees” can be interchanged with “affiliates”.

Consider your own experiences as a customer when you set up your systems or your online promotions. Walk through your funnel as if you were your ideal buyer and look for ways to add more value to their experience.

Best,