There are hundreds of challenges in running a business. If you are a startup or an early stage company, it just multiplies by many fold. Among all the challenges of running your day to day business, the biggest challenge is to find prospects who is actually looking to hire a service provider in your verticals or industry.

Unless you have a very established marketing team who constantly work to improve the visibility of your business in front of the potential customers, you got to find a quick fix to say in business.

Today, most of the business happens online. Thanks to the growing availability of the Internet. Its even available on simple low-cost mobile phones these too. You can’t ask for more. I am sure, you will agree that among all the advertising channels, Internet is gaining popularity everyday.

The best part of using Internet to promote your business and offering is it is much cheaper than the usual print or visual media. There is google local search, facebook, twitter, google plus and much more.

All you need to understand is find out the platforms where your potential customers are actually searching for you and pitch your business there.

We can help you do that. We own and operate local search platforms where you can create your business profile and get connected with your prospects.

Utilize the power of Internet and the social channels that you have today and pitch your services and offering to grab some cost effective prospects and business leads.

What is your mantra of success for 2013, do share with us.

Every body want to appear on top of the search results on popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. But you have to agree there is hell lots of competition between business and websites who are competing with each other to appear on top of the search results. Although appearing on top of search results depends on several parameters that have been set by these search engines, there are a few basics. If the basics of your search engine optimization process are right, you may expect great results.

On every HTML page, you have Meta title, Meta description and Keywords tag.  Keywords tag is not that popular, but the Title and Meta description tag is very vital. Unless you hire a professional SEO company, it may be hard, but if you keep optimizing, measuring, tweaking you can also do better.

Lets take an example. You are Packers and Movers Company located in Bangalore and say name of your company is “ABC Moving and Relocation Company Pvt. Ltd” and you offer moving and relocation services in Bangalore, India.

Lets take a look at how to write Title tag

A typical title tag might look like “Welcome to ABC Moving and Relocation Company Pvt. Ltd” or “ABC Moving and Relocation Company Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore” or “ABC Moving and Relocation Company Pvt. Ltd welcomes you” or “welcome to our website”

Correct way to right the same title tag could be
“Packers and Movers in Bangalore- call for Household and Car Shifting” or
“Packers and Movers Bangalore – Local and Domestic Packing & Moving Company”

Which title tag makes more sense to you? of course the second one. Why? Because it directly tells about your services and that’s how people will search a moving company. They are not going to search it by your name, and chances are your company name is already a part of your domain name. So having brand name in the Title tag is not necessary and you should avoid it specifically if it’s a long name (more than 1word)

Same way Meta description should have a valid description something like “Need Packers and Movers in Bangalore. Call us for a free estimates for Local or Domestic Household or Car Shifting Services”

Why meta title and meta description is so important?
Because when some one is searching for a product or service, the first thing that appears on search results is the title and the description. So it must be relevant to the user’s search and should make sense for the users to take action i.e. click on your link to go to your website. Read full post

Having a website does not mean you will be getting lots of enquiries for your product or services. No matter how nice your website is designed, but unless people find it and come to your website, its not going to do any good to your business. And I am sure you will agree, that if you can pitch your product/service to your customer where they are actually looking for it, they are more likely to buy it from you. So if some one is searching for a product or service, that you offer and he find your website there, then half the battle is won.

Search Engine Optimization

So how you can bring your website on the search results of google? Well there is no magic to do so, but a little bit of on page and off-page optimization can really help you make your website appear in the search results on major search engines like google, bing, yahoo etc. You may also hire an expert SEO service provider who can help you, you can start learning and optimizing your website.

There are many paid online and offline channel like Pay Per Click advertising on most of the popular search engines. But that’s only possible if you have funds. But if you pay a little attention to the basic of Search Engine optimization or SEO, its going to be long term and you are not paying anything for this. Also people tend to click on usual search results than the sponsored advertisements and if done properly SEO can bring lots of advantages to your business.

There are several techniques used these days while performing SEO or Search Engine optimization on a website, but I am going to talk abut the basic rules that can help you make your website suitable for google, yahoo, bing and other search engine to start crawling your website.

1. First thing first, you need to find the best keywords and key Phrase for your products/business. Here are several tools available for keyword research. Like google keywords tool. Try and use 2-3 letters keywords to begin with like if you offer Interior design services then your keywords could be ‘home interior design” or interior designer in Kolkata, if you offer your services in Kolkata.
2. Place at least 2 keywords or key phrase in the title text, followed by your brand name (specially if your brand is new) like “Interior design services in kolkata by ABC interior, Call for a free quote”. Ideally title should not be more than 70 characters.
3. Another important place where you must have some keywords are Meta Description, that google and other search engines displays in their search results. Use this to explain about your products/service in little more detail than the title. Use keywords here too like you used in the title. Meta description should be under 150 characters
4. You may use keywords tag; goggle won’t read it, but many other sites uses it. Again be specific and put right keywords and key phrases.
5. Other things that you must pay attention to is, proper uses of HTML tags, use alt tags in image, title tags for all the links and finally ensure there is no broken link in your website. Must have link to privacy policy and terms page on your website home page.
6. Create a Sitemap.xml file. There are many free tools that you can use to generate xml sitemap page.
7. Register on google webmasters and other webmaster tools (bing etc) and submit your website, as well as xml sitemaps

That’s all you need to begin with. You may also hire professional SEO companies who can help you optimize your website. Its an ongoing process and must be done regularly to stay on top of the search results.

Wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.  We hope this new year bring lots of joy, cheer and success at work and home.

Merry Christmas

Have fun and enjoy the Holidays.

Cheers!!

Pleasing a customer is very simple and not that complex. All that you need to understand is people like to do business with people. You’re are not a vending machine or an automated EPBAX that speaks pre-recorded voices. It takes more than automation to please your customers. A customer does not always want a good GUI or very cheap deals. What matters most for them is old-fashioned customer service by human (read team). That’s according to Smashing Magazine, which cites the Graph below from the Rockefeller Corporation. Read the rest of this entry »

There are a number of yellow page and business directory websites on the Internet offering business listing for local services. But when it comes to actually streamlining the process of hiring them, most of the time consumers have to call the service professionals and ask for rates and estimates and go through the same hassle to find out some of them not picking the phone or the number is out of service.

ServiceSutra is a new startup that is trying to solve this problem and building a better connection between consumers and the Local Service Providers. Initially it is being launched for the service providers to list their services and build their profile, and within 2 weeks, it will be open for public to post service request.

The best part is as a consumer you don’t need to find and contact the local service providers, rather the service providers will call back the customers in no time. Also each and every service provider on ServiceSutra is hand picked and verified to ensure consumers get the best service at a very competent rate.

So if you are a Service Provider and willing to get connected to thousand of consumers who are looking for your services register your services and build your service profile now or call 033-3257 7711 or SMS SP to 033 3257 7711.

Join our facebook page or follow us on twitter to get more updates.

There are a number of yellow page and business directory websites on the Internet offering business listing for local services. But when it comes to actually streamlining the process of hiring them, mostly consumers have to call the service professionals and ask for rates and estimates and go through the hassle of some of them not picking the phone or the number is out of service.  ServiceSutra is a new startup that is trying to solve this problem and building a better connection between consumers and the Local Service Providers. Initially it is being launched for the service providers to list their services and build their profile, and after 2 weeks, it will be open for public to post service request.

The best part is As a consumer you don’t need to find and contact the local service providers, but the service providers will call you back. Also each and every service provider on ServiceSutra is hand picked and verified to ensure you get the best service at a very competent rate.

So if you are a Service provider and willing to get connected to thousand of consumers who are looking for your services, call 033-3257 7711 or SMS SP to 033 3257 7711

Like our Facebook page or follow us on twitter to get more updates

We connect consumers to the best and human verified service providers instantly. No need to make search, and keep calling. Just post your requirements and within minutes, get call back from the service providers.

Why you should use ServiceSutra to hire Service Professionals in India

• Compare rates and profile of three providers and make a well-informed decision
• Since Service providers know that 3 SPs are competing, they will offer the best competent rates to the consumers
• SPs know that the customer will share review after completion of job and any bad review will ruin their business, so they will try their best to please the customer.
• Since Service Providers call the consumers, it gives them a little edge
• They are helping themselves and building a better community for other users

ServiceSutra is more than those traditional yellow pages and business directory or classified websites. We are trying to create a better platform for consumers and Professional service providers in India so that both can connect in a better way.

We are working towards making ServiceSutra a place where only trust worthy and highly competent service providers will be able to offer their services to the consumers and consumers will be sharing their genuine review and rating to build a better community.

After completion of the job, Consumers will be sharing their reviews for the Service providers. This will help us  build a better community as well as make service providers more competent both in terms of the services that they are offering and in terms of pricing.

Lets build a better a better service planet

BTW we have just completed setting up ServiceSutra Blog where we will be posting about all the happening and updates, tips and resource about how to hire different  Service Providers in India

ServiceSutra is a community of local service professionals where we connect consumers to the best service professionals in the city. ServiceSutra isn’t like those typical yellow pages and local search directories that simply show you business listings with contact information, leaving you to keep on calling and sorting through dozens of service professionals.

Instead, we connect you to the best service professionals in your area who compete to give you the best rate quotes for your job. ServiceSutra gives you the liberty to compare rates from multiple service professionals and hire the best among them. We help you save your precious time, money and efforts.

Why is using ServiceSutra better than hiring the old-fashioned way?
Besides being faster and easier, using ServiceSutra helps you get the most competent rates, because up to three service professionals will be competing for your job. It helps you make a well-informed decision. After completion of job, you get the opportunity to rate the service provider. Service provider will go that extra mile to ensure that you’re pleased with their work and you will share a good review about their services. We all know, world is social today, any bad review ruin the business and good review help get more business.

How do I know I’m getting matched to the right service professional?
Service professionals at ServiceSutra are thoroughly screened before getting included in our community. You can also check detailed profile, Ratings and Reviews from past customers and decide who is best suited to take your job based on those inputs and after face-to-face discussion with professionals in most cases.

When ServiceSutra will be launched?
ServiceSutra will be launched by the end of August 2011. Till then if you are service professional and wan to offer services to our community then get in touch with us by calling +91 983 132 9628