News Flash: PayPal Broken For 13 Days

Browsing around the Net today, I stumbled onto a blog post that literally had my head shaking for two reasons: (1) I wasn’t aware the problem existed and (2) the problem still hasn’t been fixed after 13 days!

If you rely on PayPal to accept payments from your customers, chances are… this current PayPal problem is affecting your business and most likely, costing you a fortune.

The Problem

For the last 12 days, PayPal has a reoccurring problem with their drop down box that doesn’t allows a customer to make payment to another PayPal user unless both parties are from the same country. While it’s hard to conclude just how much money is being lost as a result of this bug… rest assured the heavy sellers of the Internet are feeling the pain in their pocketbooks.

Worse yet… PayPal is aware of the problem since May 15, 2008 – but 13 days later, the problem still exists and PayPal customers are anything but happy.

As a business accepting payments through PayPal, I am not very happy either. I didn’t even know the problem existed until I happened to land on another blog post! As a consumer of this payment processor, I should be one of the first people to be brought up to date – and this update should have arrived in my mailbox directly from PayPal!

No email here… still waiting. But chances are, after 13 days already gone – that email will never arrive.

How can PayPal treat this problem as not being important enough to fix immediately?

While I am no programmer, by any means, I do understand HTML. It’s a drop down box on a web page for crying out loud. In my opinion, this problem could be fixed in a matter of minutes! Why then does it take PayPal 12+ days to remedy the problem? How much more money do consumers have to lose as a result of this bug before PayPal agrees enough is enough?

Here’s the original post that got my heart pumping:
Read from Clicky the Blog

The Solution

Frankly, if this is the type of customer service we can expect from the likes of PayPal, I say RUN to find a new payment processor and never look back!

What do you think?

Building Community: Social Networking Success

Belonging to any networking group (including the web 2.0 social networks) is a simple method for any business professional to increase their visibility, credibility, and sales.

Plus, networking groups provide opportunities to exchange talents between contacts. This not only makes a social media group a great choice for the established business but it also opens doors to the new business owners who might be tight on funds. A community of like-minded professionals will often barter talents in order to achieve what money normally would buy.

Establish Your Profile on Several Social Media Sites

This enables you to be WIDELY transparent and accessible through different outlets. While it may seem a daunting task to visit every media network within a week, a schedule could be maintained giving you the ability to visit each one periodically throughout the month.

The idea is to place a profile within each networking group that will work on your behalf during your absence. Since your profile harbors links to your products, programs, and services - increased exposure is a given!

It’s essential that we understand the true purpose of a social media site: Connecting with your audience, building relationships with new contacts, and gaining an opportunity to pull those contacts BACK to your web site to continue the process. Always remember that the social networking groups are a starting point. The transactions that take place on them should never end there.

What do YOU think? Talk to me. >:)

All good things,
Bonnie Gean

Article Marketing: Publish Your Way To Sales

Copyright © 2008 Bonnie Gean

One of the best ways to solidify your reputation and credibility is by writing articles for print publications such as newsletters, trade journals, and magazines. This in turn creates an influx of sales as people gravitate towards experts and simply put, getting published makes you an expert! We naturally tend to have more confidence in those who get themselves into print. And who doesn’t want to create more confidence, and therefore more sales, from our target audience?

Being published is also free advertising. You can pay for the best, most expensive print ad, but nothing will create more results than the publication of your article. Your audience knows that you didn’t pay for it, you earned it, and that is the significant difference that will explode sales.

It may seem a daunting task to get published but in reality it is not difficult to attain. Many newsletters and trade journals are constantly looking for writers to contribute work. Consider these steps when planning your article marketing strategy:

1. THINK BIG BUT START SMALL

Rather than going for the large mainstream magazines, shoot for small focused publications such as newsletters or trade journals. These publications are more likely to accept your work and even help edit your articles to suitability. To locate these publications visit your nearest University library and ask for reference books that list trade journals or newsletters. Once you have been featured in these publications you can begin to build up to larger mainstream magazines.

2. ASK FOR GUIDELINES

Never submit articles without first understanding what the publication is looking for and will accept. You need to be aware of word count, spacing format, style, and the type of information each publication is looking to include. It is wise to ask for a sample publication to read the articles currently being run. It is a waste of an editor’s time to receive articles that in no way fit the theme of their publication. Consideration will go a long way to creating a good relationship with a particular editor.

3. DON’T WRITE AN AD

The most common mistake a businessperson makes when trying to get published is writing articles that read like ads. You must write articles that contain information that is useful and educational to the audience. You may also write articles that are inspiring or in some way adds to the reader’s understanding of a particular topic. Often giving away little trade secrets will increase your chances of getting published and build your credibility with both the editors and the reading audience.

4. BE PERSISTENT – NOT PUSHY

Article marketing is not for the weak of spirit. Put your pride aside and resist the natural tendency to be hurt when receiving a rejection. You will receive your share of rejections… every writer does. When you receive a rejection write a polite thank you to the editor for considering your work. This paves the way for future submissions. Consider calling and asking politely what you might do to further your chances of being accepted into their publication. Never, ever be rude or pushy with an editor. This will only insure you will never be considered for future opportunities. Editors are often inundated and they select writers willing to be cooperative. Kindness counts. Then keep at it. Set a goal to submit so many articles a week and stick with it.

WHAT IF YOU’RE NOT A NATURAL WRITER?

If you just don’t have the skills or time necessary to develop great articles, consider hiring a ghostwriter to help you achieve your goals. A ghostwriter produces work in your name so that editors see the articles as being your own. This is a common practice among corporations and businesses of all sizes. Sometimes our greatest strength is in understanding our weaknesses. The most successful business people understand this and hire that work out to experts.

Article marketing is not an impossible task and the rewards can be great. Quit paying for expensive ads that get varied results. Give yourself and your business the professional edge by submitting your information articles to the appropriate publication today. Then sit back and watch your credibility rise and your sales soar!

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Talk To Me
Please post your comments and let’s discuss. I’d love to hear what you think. Do you participate in article marketing? If so, how often do you publish new articles and what type of results do you get?

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Bonnie Gean teaches a no-cost, step-by-step article writing system about How To Write Effective Articles to help you learn how to capture the reader’s attention and compel them to click through to your offers.