Did you know that in January 2016, Instagram surpassed Twitter with over 300 million users? So what does that mean for you? Maybe this means rethinking your social media marketing campaign. Let’s say you already use Instagram. Are you taking full advantage of all the marketing potential it has to offer?  Whether or not Instagram is a current part of your social marketing arsenal, you might be able to benefit from these top 5 Instagram tips for supercharging your marketing plan. Continue reading →

Starting a business takes a lot of work and is often a huge learning process. It’s normal to make a few mistakes along the way. Sometimes these mistakes can help you improve, or teach you lessons that prevent you from making larger mistakes down the road. Other times, business owners make mistakes that could cripple their business, or at the very least make a mess that takes a lot of work and time to clean up.

To help you avoid common small business mishaps, we’ve put together a list of the top 5 most common and detrimental mistakes small business owners make. Continue reading →

Owning a business is no easy task. You’ve invested a lot of passion, time, and dedication into realizing your dream, and you look to the future with hope and expectation of success. To make that happen, there are some steps you can take with digital marketing to substantially grow your business using nothing but your computer. Continue reading →

As a business owner, you undoubtedly understand the importance of great marketing. In a time where everything has “gone digital,” tech-savvy marketing is crucial; even the smallest business owner is expected to have a website these days. With that comes a seemingly endless to-do list that can confuse even the most seasoned business owner. You can easily become overwhelmed by all the search engine marketing jargon out there. SEO, SMM, SEM, CPC, PPC — what does it all mean? Do I need it, and if so… how do I do it?

Delving into the what and hows of every form of digital marketing takes time, dedication, and experience. For our purposes here, let’s take a look at one of the most critical forms of digital marketing. One that guarantees effective, fast results — search engine marketing aka, SEM. Continue reading →

Like dog years, websites seem to age must faster than other things. A shirt you bought four years ago may still look ok (maybe), but the website you had designed just as long ago looks extremely dated. Here’s why: Continue reading →

I hear these words pretty often, by business owners – mostly baby boomers – who are unsure, confused, maybe even a bit scared about Facebook. “All people do is post pictures of the food they are eating! How will that help my business?” Another common comment I get is, “Facebook is social! Why should I promote my business there?” I certainly understand these sentiments, but I am here to tell you that it is still in your best interest to have a business presence on Facebook. Continue reading →

Recently I found myself day dreaming about what I would do if I had to start all over again. If for whatever reason my business closed, or I sold it, and I found myself having to start from scratch, what would I do? I would start another business – that much I know. But what type of business? How would I get the word out? How would I get it off the ground? Continue reading →

One of the most important  factors for your site’s search engine ranking is the number of links pointing to your site from external websites. In essence, Google and other search engines feel that the more links a site has, the more established, relevant, and important it must be, therefore it should rank higher. Since having links has become very important, therefore attaining links, otherwise known as “link building,” has become a basic practice of SEO work.  Continue reading →

I have a client who has recently been swept up in a social media frenzy. She spends hours, sometimes full days, posting to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social sites. Her Twitter feed often shows several posts per hour. She is engaging people, posting interesting items, and has definitely leveraged social media to create buzz and brand.  Recently, Amy (let’s call her Amy) confided in me that despite all this, she hardly gets any business from it, and that it has taken time away from other marketing.  Continue reading →

SEO content on the cheap

Nothing is more important for SEO than good content, and there are many options for getting content written cheaply. I use the word “cheap” for a reason, because it’s worse than inexpensive – this SEO content is downright cheap, or even free, and should be avoided.

One such option is the use of article spinning software, where you enter several keywords you’d like your article to have, and then a program produces an article, usually by scouring the web for content. Another one allows you to enter an original article and then rewrites it, using synonyms for words. In both cases, the result is pure garbage, and usually has grammatical errors and doesn’t read well. Continue reading →