Thin Air Web & Media

A recent re-design of the website for Lynlake Chiropratic brought new features, including an increased integration of social media. The site demonstrates how rich content (lots of relevant information regarding services and issues around their particular genre) can improve your standings in search engine optimization (SEO).

Regular content updates, true keywords associated with your name and services, and a consistent broadening of your website depth and breadth, will extend your reach and relevence for both site users and search engines. It's a win/win!

One feature of the site is the very active Blog managed at this site. Using CompleteSite, this blog can be followed through an RSS Feed, and also resides as an integral part of the website. Lynlake Chiropractic posts items from their own staff, and also press-worthy items from other sources.

If that much content work is overwhelming to you, thin air has web copy writers available to assist you with creating content that will extend and improve your website. If you are looking for someone to just critique and edit your words, or help you create a new level of detailed content, our writers can help you.

WE PUBLISHED the article below in our January newsletter, and wanted to update you with our progress! For the first quarter of 2011, we have contributed water for another 41 people in a third world country, where clean water wells were previously not present.
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In December 2010, the Terriens, along with other extended family, chose to forego the typical Holiday gift-giving and instead used our gift dollars to help drill a clean water well in a 3rd world country. We raised almost $4,000, donated it to a reputable charity and relaxed on our time off, knowing the impact of our behavior will make a difference for much longer than a few trinkets exchanged amongst ourselves.

We liked the idea so much that in 2011, thin air and the Terriens have decided to continue contributing to drilling clean water wells. SO, for the entire year, if you purchase a new website or an upgrade from thin air, we will donate 1% of your project to one of the two water programs listed below - you can specify which one.

Though it may not seem like much, in reality about $4.80 will pay for one person's portion of a water well drilled in a village of 1,000 people. There should be nothing political about water - it is essential for life.

If you want to go to either site, or find another water program and donate on your own, feel free - or just call us for your next "spruce up" and we will donate 1% in your name!
Water for Life
Charity Water

If you are a businessperson in the world today, you are constantly observing other businesses to glean what you can use to improve your own. That's why I always love it when I am presented with a situation where I can learn something to put into practice in my own business.

Such was the situation today, when I was rushing through the drive-thru at a local fast food establishment. (C'mon now, don't give me a hard time, you know you do it sometimes too!) I quickly ordered a meal-to-go and a soft drink.
Now, for those of you who do not have an addiction to a specific soft drink, you will not truly appreciate the gravity of the situation when I pulled away from the drive-thru, grabbing my drink for a big gulp and discovering - YUK!- I was given a drink of another persuasion than my order.

Oh, before the lecture you are having with me regarding the evils of soft drinks, save your breath - that's not the lesson here. I swung around and got back in the drive-thru and when arriving at the window, explained my situation to the young lady. She apologized and returned a minute later with a new drink --- quite a bit larger than the original order. She again apologized and explained that she upsized the drink as a courtesy.

The young woman probably makes a minimum wage. She didn't have to go above-and-beyond to make the customer happy - she works at a fast food place, for goodness sake. But her gesture kept me as a customer. She provided Over-the-Top Customer Service, even though she wasn't required to do so.

Here's the lesson: How many of us (and our employees), are providing Over-the-Top Customer Service to EVERY customer, not just the ones bringing in the big bucks? Do we treat the customer with a small question or purchase the same? Do we wait until someone complains before we go the extra-mile? I could just have easily driven away from the fast food drive-thru and never visited the establishment again. They wouldn't have known I was gone - really. But I would know - as a customer, I would know. They wouldn't have had the opportunity to even correct the situation.

In business, we must continually remind ourselves and our employees that while the customer might not really be right every time, they deserve the best we can offer them when they have contact with us. One of the few things that separates us as small businesses these days, is our ability to provide over-the-top Customer Service. And, unlike my run back into the drive-thru, most customers don't give us a second chance.

Are you looking for ways to say YES to customers, to provide over-the-top Customer Service? Let us know how you do it!

Thank you for the great feedback to last month's column about 'positive thinking'! If you missed it, we are encouraging all of you to share your quotes, websites, articles, books and other forms of motivation for staying positive and focused in the business world today.

As small business owners, we remind ourselves daily that while we might be "un-employed" at the start of the day, we have the ability to chart our own destiny to unlimited success.

Katherine, Rivendell Retreat, shared this quote: "Each moment of the day has its own beauty, a picture which was never seen before and which shall never be seen again." R.W.Emerson

If you strive to expand your knowledge and possibilities, you should be reading Seth Godin's blog. Godin, (author of "Tribes," "Linchpin" and about a dozen other best-selling books) posts daily tidbits to challenge your thoughts on sales, marketing and general business.

Refresh Leadership, is a blog hosted by Express Employment Professionals, and it posts news and advice for business leaders.

What about you? What keeps you going in business today? Send us your favorite motivational quotes, blogs, or other positive points!

Looking forward to hearing your favorites!