If you run or manage a business and want to get the best possible results, building and maintaining your reputation is a vital part of the process that you can’t afford to ignore. The way that your prospects view you and the products that you sell will impact your bottom line, so you won’t want to take any chances.

If you would like to frame yourself in a positive light, earning 5-star reviews will do the trick and inspire other people to buy from you. Although getting good reviews can seem like a daunting task if you don’t know what steps to follow, you can do so without trouble when you craft and implement a proven plan.

Seek Feedback

Some business leaders make the mistake of paying too much attention to their companies and don’t focus enough on the needs of their prospects. You will want to understand your potential customers and what they expect from you if you would like to achieve lasting success. After someone buys one of your products or services, encourage that person to provide you with honest feedback.

People value their time and won’t always want to give their opinion to you, but you can incentivize them by offering discounts and coupons. A few shoppers will always give negative feedback and others will always say that they are happy with your service, but you can monitor their feedback over time to get a clear picture of where you stand.

Use Feedback to Improve Your Business

Getting feedback won’t do you much good if you don’t take it into consideration. If a lot of your customers mention something that they don’t like about your business, changing it can improve their experience and show that you value them. For example, you can speak with your staff about being friendly and welcoming if your customers feel as though your staff is too dismissive.

The ability to look at your business objectively is critical if you are interested in making improvements. You will probably get feedback on products or services that your customers would like to buy from you, and adding those items to your inventory can work wonders when it comes to earning 5-star reviews.

Deal With Customer Complaints

No matter the quality of your products or level of dedication, you are not perfect and will encounter unhappy customers on occasion. The way that you respond to them will play a role in the type of reviews that they will write, so knowing how to resolve disputes is essential when you care about your reputation. When people first come to you with a complaint about your products or services, the first step is to show them that you understand and care about the way they feel.

You can then work with your customers to find a viable solution to their problem, and you will want to follow up at a later date to ensure that they are pleased with the outcome. Since most businesses don’t take the time to follow up on customer issues, doing so will make you stand out from the herd.

Show Your Customers That You Care About Them

If you would like to get tons of 5-star reviews, showing people that you care about and appreciate them is one of the top ways to reach your goal. Some business owners wait until their customers are upset to show them that they are concerned about their well-being, but you don’t want to fall into that trap. You can use loyalty programs to reward those who keep buying from you.

Free items, discounts and special offers are just a few of the things that you can use to show your customers how much you care. You will also want your employees to treat each customer with respect at all times, and they will notice the difference. Some business owners offer exclusive discount cards to their long-term customers, and you can do the same when you want to make them feel important.

Encourage Happy Customers to Post Reviews

When you are striving to earn 5-star reviews from people, happy customers are your most valuable resource. By default, a lot of people only go online to write a review when they are unhappy with something about your business, but you can combat that problem by speaking with customers who are pleased with your products or services.

Begin by letting them know you are happy that you were able to meet their needs, and you can then ask them to write an online review highlighting their experience. If you go out of your way to meet the needs of your customers and to ensure that they are thrilled, many of them will be glad to return the favor.

Be Active Online

Since more and more people are using the internet every day, having a strong online presence is a great way to show people that you care about your reputation. You can use social media to stay in touch with your past customers and to reach out to new ones, and you will create a positive impression if you follow the correct path. Post content to see the type of material that gets the best reaction, but you can also use social media to respond to questions and concerns.

If you maintain a positive and upbeat tone online, people will like and trust you, enhancing their odds of writing 5-star reviews. Facebook is also a useful tool for getting feedback and helping people with support issues. Since your answers are online, other users can benefit from them.

Final Thoughts

Since people trust the opinions of other consumers, earning positive feedback is a powerful way to enhance your profitability and attract new customers. Encouraging your customers to come to you with their concerns is a good place from which to start, but you can also improve your results by showing people that you care. When you combine those methods with the other advice in this guide, you will achieve impressive results in no time.

Hello TurnKey friends! If you have been following our recent updates, you already know that things are getting pretty busy around here. We are expanding our data center and have put out some awesome products such as the TurnKey Desk 2.0 and our web-conferencing platform- Voxwire! Within a year we have been able to put forth newer, better and awesomer  (yes, awesomer) products and have also been able to expand due to our dedication and most importantly, you- the customers!

While keeping you ladies and gents happy is always our number one priority, we’ve decided to up our game with our appreciation to our clients.  We will now be posting a “Featured Client” article once a month. This will allow us to introduce you to our clients, show you what they do and how we have worked with them to help build their business! Without further ado, check out all the nice things our client, Nick, had to say about us!

My name is Nick. I am married to the most amazing woman, who is way more understanding than I ever expected.  We have 5 children from 2 to 18. I run a Web/WordPress Development Studio that specializes in small to medium-sized business site development.  I help companies develop their businesses through professional web presences. I make sure that their social media is properly targeting to the right audiences, develop email marketing plans and customization, create or re-create websites to meet the needs of clients’ users, including mobile and responsive designs

I rely on TurnKey to host my websites 24/7/365. TurnKey is essential to my company’s success. I design and develop for a living. I love what I do and I love that the folks at TurnKey do, too. I have been doing business with TurnKey for the past 3 years. I started out with shared hosting for a fantastic price until I outgrew the it and moved right into a dedicated server. I have never looked back. I have recommended Turnkey to several business associates and have heard nothing but awesome experiences.

My business has grown to what it is today because TurnKey has given me the tools that I need to be successful. The help desk is ready to go whether it’s 3 pm or 3 am and believe me, I have used it at both times. Because their responses are almost instant in most cases, they save me so much time so that I can focus my time where it needs to go- to my clients.

A month ago I had a technical difficulty with my server. The tech support guys had a lead to the problem and were working on it within an hour. I got several follow-ups checking in and even the Sales Manager contacted me to make sure I was satisfied; of course I was! Their green initiative is amazing. They have a zero carbon footprint and stellar customer service.

Nick and his wonderful family!

If you are interested in getting to know W5 Designs LLC or would like to talk to Nick Jubrey, swing over to http://w5webdesigns.com/ and get in touch with them or email them at info@w5webdesigns.com.

w5webdesigns.com – Web Design Solutions

Web design, concentrated on small to medium size business and non profitts

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The expansion of our data center is official like a person with a whistle!

And, of course, We want to keep you all up-to-date and continue to share our photos with you. Why? Because you – ladies and gentleman – should be as excited as we are. Our techs are working hard getting everything up, our sales and marketing teams are rolling out great promotions, and everyday brings all new excitement. That’s right. There’s new promotions, people, pool tables and plants.

*Pool tables and plants you say, Dylan?*

Yes, pool tables and plants.

So what’s been going on here? Well, let us just show you.

First off, we want to welcome back Jared (otherwise known as, “Hey, intern!” or “More coffee, please.”) . You might recognize him. He interned here in the winter and has since graduated college! Jared is back finishing up his internship and we are glad to have him back in the Marketing Room.

Here we have Brian (Operations Manager) and Joe (Lead Technician). They have been hooking up a new pod  in the DC and have been kicking butt. Keep up the work, boys!

And how do they stay sane during all those hours of work? Bumpin’ tunes!

Here is what the new pod looks like from the cloud! Or, well, from a ladder…

Before and after. Wires coming into the DC.

Some clamps and cords!

Our new plant, Leaf Ericson!

TurnKey mini pool table.

Last, but not least. We are giving away TurnKeychain Flashlights! If you want to win one, head to our Facebook page and like, comment or share the photo.

Wikipedia states that crowdsourcing is “the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.” While that is a spot on definition, it is not actually “Wikipedia’s “definition.  Wikipedia is just that – a crowdsourcing site. Where you, me, and anyone else can set up an account and submit anything we want, to any article.

I could go on right now and submit that Donald Trump was voted Vogue Magazine’s Sexiest Celebrity of 2013. Or that the Boston Red Sox have the most World Series titles in MLB history. Or, that there have been multiple unicorn sightings just north of Reno, Nevada in the past decade.

The Wikipedia definition of crowdsourcing was actually cited from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Why? Because the majority of the people who take part on this crowdsourcing site said it was.  It is widely accepted that information about a subject coming from 100 people will usually be more thorough, honest and accurate, than when the information is coming from one or two people.

This type of “power of the people” has not only been seen successful on the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, but on other sites where “crowdfunding” is the name of the game. People can now support music, technology, art, film, games, photography, or really anything depending on what they want to see or have succeed in the future.

Investors in businesses, major record labels, film studios, and large corporations shell out tons of cash to create new products and projects. But thousands of startups, independent musicians, and other entities try to get their foot in the door to their industry, and struggle to afford what they need in order to make their idea work.

Sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Crowdfunder are all outlets for people with big ideas, to get the attention of thousands of people who may just want to support them both creatively and financially.

Recently a musician by the name of Kevin Devine was able to fund his project (two albums: one acoustic, and one with his band. “The Goddamn Band”… how can you not support that?) where he raised over $100,000 from over 1,000 people.

Backers could pledge from $1 to $4,000 where each interval of cash would get the pledger a “gift” back. From an acoustic demo of a song, to a “private 60-minute acoustic show at your house, all travel and accommodation included – you pick the setlist.”

Mr. Devine says himself on Kickstarter, “I had a thought-provoking conversation with a friend…about all the pitfalls and dangers of crowd-sourcing/funding ‘the arts,’” He says. “It’s a really easy thing to do badly, or cheesily, or in a way that can feel … compromised, hacky, undignified. “ For an artist, it’s hard to say. It can seem tacky, but over 1,000 fans knew what he was capable of, and he is now fully funded and recording his albums. Independently, Kevin Devine is able to write and record his own piece of art for the fans of his music.

With funding like this comes freedom. No big-wigs looking over your shoulder telling you what to change. The projects and products come straight from the inventors, with the engagement and the help of the backers.

Right now, you can go to Kickstarter and fund projects like a solar panel that can power devices from smartphones to laptops, handmade leather goods, or a 3D printer (almost funded $3,000,000).  You can pick and choose what you support, which products you want, and together the world can begin causing change in areas they want to succeed.

So what do you think? Will sites like Kickstarter push a company to be the next Apple? Will Kevin Devine be the next George Micheal? A boy can dream…

OK, this joke is a stretch, but here it goes anyways….

Paul Mathis is probably happy his name is not Paul Mathe. Why? Because it seems like he’s got it out for the word “the.” While it is the number one used word in the English language, Mr. Mathis is looking to get rid of it… or at least for when we have to type it.

Mathis is an Australian restaurant owner who is hoping to change the way we use the word “the,” by creating a symbol like the “and” ampersand symbol (&).

“The word ‘and’ is only the fifth-most used word in English and it has its own symbol — the ampersand,” Mathis said. “Isn’t it time we accorded the same respect to ‘the’?”

I mean, the man’s got a point, right? Mathis created a little diddly that looks like this:

Simple, sleek, and hey! It even saves you two characters for when you tweet.

“The main functionality of this is in the texting space,” Mathis goes on. “Maybe in 500 years’ time people will be amazed that there was a time when we didn’t use (the symbol)”.

While I think it’s a great idea, Mathis is having a tough time convincing Apple.  After a request for them to change their keyboards, Apple responded saying, “Apps should be engaging and exciting, enabling users to do something they couldn’t do before; or to do something in a way they couldn’t do before or better than they could do it before.”

In 34 words, Apple crushed a man’s dreams and did it all without using the word, “the,” once.

Take that, Paul Mathe, I mean Mathis.

Remember those things called compact discs? Yea, you know- Those flimsy round things that came a few years after the cassette tape, and thousands of years after our parents chiseled sound into “vinyl records” with their cavemen friends? OK, maybe I’m being a little dramatic, but when was the last time you bought a physical CD? How about an entire album on iTunes?

We all know that technology is rapidly changing. Not only has the platform of which we listen to music changed, but the way we listen to music has changed.

Long gone are the days where people sit down and enjoy an album song by song. Album sales have plummeted and the power of the single is rising with every “Call Me Maybe.”

“We don’t have any rules. Everyone’s trying to figure it out. That’s why the Internet is like the Wild West. We need to write the new rules for what’s going on right now,” said rapper and business mogul, Shawn Carter (AKA Jay-Z).

Jay-Z is the new sheriff in town and he is taking over the Wild West of the Internet, and creating a new way to sell his album.

In June, during game five of the NBA Finals, Jay-Z not-so-casually dropped the news to millions of viewers that his new album “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” would be released on the 4^th of July to one million Samsung Galaxy customers via an app. Jay-Z is almost single-handedly turning fans of an artist into customers of a product, while still trying to keep the integrity of the album.

He is here to put a death to auto-tune and a resurrection to the “album,” where realistically he will make millions of dollars somewhere in between. The app is packaged nicely with pictures and lyrics- like a CD or album- but also intertwines videos and a way for Samsung to track your age and location (because not doing that is sooo 2008).

“The whole thing I wanted to do was have that fireplace or that radio moment where everyone’s just sitting in front of the thing listening to an album,” Carter goes on. “I want everyone to hear the album at one time.”

While I think most customers who are targeted to buy this album will have too short of an attention span to do so (especially with cellphone in hand), it is a great marketing scheme and an innovative way to start and push music where it may be heading.

Howdie do TurnKey lovers,

How long has it been? Feels like it’s been ages due to so many new and exciting things happening here at Turnkey Internet! Do you remember when I wrote you the post about progress? The main take away from the article was that progress is progress. Big or small, as long as you’re progressing forward, you will eventually reach your goals.

Well, this has been a very progressive few weeks here at Turnkey Internet. So much so, that every time I walk into the data center, I get a bit of a shocked or surprised look. Why you may ask? Well, we’ve begun receiving parts in for Pod 2. I’m sure you’ve heard about it in earlier posts, but this dream is getting closer to becoming a reality. I mean, it wasn’t too long ago that I remember putting up walls in our data center. I helped to program the switches for each core while watching our senior data center engineer wire all of the racks together. It sometimes feels that it was just last week, but then I think back on all of the progress we’ve made since then. Acquiring Kcnet and bringing on new staff. However, none of this even comes close to the feeling I receive when I walk into our data center and see the foundation of Pod 2 beginning to spring to life. It’s a very exciting, stressful and rewarding time around TurnKey right now. So much hard work from so many people is helping to make this dream of being the best damn data center in the Northeast a reality!

I just feel very fortunate and bless to work here at TurnKey Internet. Sure, there are times that I just want to scream at the top of my lungs (which I do) due to working on a bug/program/technical support matter for hours with very little progress, but once you achieve that goal, it’s very rewarding. It’s one of the best feelings in the world. Now to see that on a much larger scale with new parts being delivered for Pod 2 and vine videos being made on Pod 2, is just very satisfying. I can’t wait until all the parts get here and Pod 2 is fully online.

Inching one Pod closer to getting our data center maxed out with Pods full of servers.

Well, I just wanted to share that with you guys. To share the joy and excitement that I have for this wonderful company!

Until next time.

By now, most of us know what hashtags look like. We may not know exactly what they do, but if you’re on social media, you’ve most certainly seen a hashtag. Or, at least, now you have.
The hashtag functions as a simple way to share content. When a hashtag is used, keywords or phrases become searchable for other users of the same social network, such as Twitter, Instagram, and now Facebook.  You can “hashtag” a word, phrase, person, event, or… really anything you want.  For example, on Twitter, during the past NBA Finals games, I “tweeted”, “yo mama’s as ugly as a Tim Duncan fast break #nbafinals.” Now, anyone who is searching #nbafinals on Twitter can see what I, among thousands of others, was saying before the Heat (unfortunately) won their second title with LeBron.Here is a little background info:

It’s an easy concept as well as a great tool.  It allows users to see what other people are talking about and/or to see what is trending around the world in general. Until now, Facebook had yet to incorporate hashtags into their site. So, what took them so long?

Did they not want to succumb to Twitter’s brilliant idea? Is it a privacy issue? Is everyone who works at Facebook stuck in a Zuckerberg Colony in Silicon Valley where The Zuck, himself, shields his employees from any other form of social communication?!

I’m not sure, but it’s here now and we will just have to wait to see if it’s here to stay!

Your friend,

#Dylan

Hey there, everybody who has been playing our weekly Disaster Recovery Trivia Challenge! Hey, also, everybody who should be! If you’re confused, you should read this article, explaining what the Disaster Recovery Trivia Challenge is. Trust us, it’s not something you’ll want to miss out on. Especially if you like T-shirts and/or United States Dollars in quantities of one hundred.

Now that you’re up to speed and that we’ve gotten the more unfortunate news out of the way, we can proceed to the purpose of this article.

Our Disaster Recovery Trivia Challenge has been such a success, everyone! This is a fact that we are beyond psyched about. However, it’s outgrowing its home on our social sites faster than you can say “Disaster Recovery Trivia Challenge”, so we decided it’s time to relocate it to somewhere it has a little more room to breathe… like our blog, for example.

The game is the same in all other aspects; this is just a relocation of the weekly facts and answer reveals. You can still feel free to chat away on social media, since we–quite obviously–love to.

Here’s a round-up of what has happened so far:

And the winner is… BILL Y.!

And the winner is… DAVID W.!

And the winner is… NICK J.!

And the winner is… ALEX E.!

And the winner is… Russell G.!

And the winner is… Mike H.!

And the winner is… DARREN C.!

And the winner is… Empty Mirror Books!

Now that we are up to speed, here is this week’s TRUE or FALSE question:

So what do you think? Is it TRUE or FALSE? Tell us, and you could win a T-shirt and a shot at the grand prize of $100! You can post your guess here, or continue the conversation on our Facebook and Twitter pages. We don’t care how, we just want to give away T-shirts! Check back here later in the week to see if you’re our new winner! GOOD LUCK!

Even though the Disaster Recovery Trivia Challenge has a new home, you should still follow our social sites. We’re constantly on the look-out for share-worthy content on a vast array of super-cool topics–everything from hosting to gadgets to sustainability–and we’d love to hear your voice in the crowd.

Big news, everyone! Starting Monday, February 25th, 2013–also known as next Monday–we will be holding a contest on our social sites!

After the panic that both Hurricane Sandy and Winter Storm Nemo brought about, it has become clear to us that far too many people are uninformed about the importance of being prepared. Back up your data, guys! Prepare for disaster! It’s so, so imperative in running a business successfully, and ensuring its continuity. You wouldn’t drive a car without insurance, would you? Maybe you would, how would I know? But if you do, cut it out.

With that being said, we decided to take action. Introducing: The Disaster Recovery Trivia Challenge!

HOW TO PLAY:

–   Every Monday morning, stop by our Facebook and/or Twitter page(s). There, among the piles of awesomeness, you’ll find a fact about disaster recovery, or businesses’ lack thereof.

–   Read the fact, and decide if you think it’s “True” or “False”.

–   Once you’ve made up your mind, tell us what you think! You can submit your guess on Facebook in the comment section of the fact post, or tweet it to us on Twitter. Luckily, both “True” AND “False” are 140 characters or less—for all you little blue birdies out there. Phew!

Casting your guess (when and IF—that’s a big “if”, see?—you “like” us on Facebook or “follow” us on Twitter…or both, if you just really like hanging out with us) automatically earns you an entry to win— DRUM-ROLL, PLEASE…

Oooooohhh…

Aaaaaaahhh…

 *

Wooooowww…

—A free shirt! As a proud owner of one of these babies and a lover of all items acquired through winning giveaways, I can confidently tell you that you shouldn’t sit this one out.

At the end of every week, also known as Friday, we will not only be revealing the answer, but choosing a winner at random. Did you see I said “every week”? That means that with every new fact that we present, comes another opportunity for you to win. So, if you play and aren’t selected, bet your bottom dollar that the sun will come out next week.

We have 10 disaster recovery facts to talk to you about, so that means there are 10 chances to win. That also means that there will be 10 winners of TurnKey finery when all is said and done. However, we want to have a grand-prize winner, because, well… why not? At the end of this 10-week period, when we’re done making it rain T-shirts on you all, we will draw one grand-prize winner from the pool of weekly winners. That one, final, lucky winner will receive $100! Don’t spend it all in one place! Unless you’re spending it at TurnKey Internet, that is.

So what do you think? Will you play along? At the very least, check in on Fridays for some valuable information that just might end up saving you.

* Recognize this image, anyone? This T-shirt is the answer to this week’s  “Guess that photo” puzzle! For those of you who haven’t heard yet, “Guess that Photo” is another game we play on our social sites! Tune in every week for a new picture, and see if you can guess what it is.