Articles

The Power of Testing

Often times, companies either stick with what they’ve always done, or they make haphazard changes without checking to see if they’re helping or hurting their business. […]

Five Ways to Improve Engagement

Many professionals are catching on that having a well planned website and continuous content are an important way to help you brand yourself in the Internet […]

Could You Benefit From a New Domain Extension?

Web.com has recently released 50 new domain extensions, giving business owners and experts a whole slew of new options to choose from when setting up their […]

Back to Basics: Does Your Site Need a Call-To-Action?

The quick answer is: Absolutely! Many clients come to us without any way for people to sign up for something on their site, even a basic […]

5 Email Marketing Best Practices to Remember

Each day, every single one of us is inundated with emails. While a few of these are from family and friends, many are from things we’ve […]

Email Marketing 101: Creating the Perfect Template

While it may seem obvious to just create an email template that looks like your website, that’s actually only part of the solution when solving your email marketing problem. In fact, there are many best practices for creating your ideal Ezine template!

The Online Marketing Year in Review!

As the final day of 2013 winds down, let’s take a few moments to look over some of the biggest stories in the rapidly evolving world of social media and SEO in 2013. From new apps taking the world by storm, to major changes in how we do SEO, it’s been a busy year in online marketing!

Five Online Resolutions to Make for the New Year

Christmas is this week, which of course means that New Year’s is just around the corner! While many people are making resolutions to improve their health, to get organized, or to volunteer more, you shouldn’t neglect making resolutions to improve your company’s online presence in 2014!

Bringing the Joy of Christmas to Social Media

It’s officially the most wonderful time of the year! Life is filled with Christmas carols, sparkly decorations, and spending lots of time with friends and family. As it gets closer to the big day, you’ll want to spend more and more with loved ones, and less time focusing on social media. If you plan now, you can keep sharing your expertise (and Christmas spirit!) with your followers all season long.

What’s Going to Make a Splash in Social Media in 2014?

While 2013 is coming to a close, there’s that much to look forward to in social media in 2014. From new Facebook features that could help […]

Tools to Help You Maintain Social Media Over the Holidays

As it gets closer and closer to the end of the year, you’ll be spending more and more time with your family and friends, and less […]

How to Choose the Right Social Media Sites for Your Business

Unless you’ve hired a social media marketing company or designated staff to handle your profiles, you’re likely trying to figure out where you can get the most bang for your buck. After all, you’ll quickly eat up a large percentage of each day if you try to maintain profiles on all the sites available to you, and even then you might not be building the relationships that will really benefit your business!

Now’s The Time To Start Planning for Thanksgiving

And no, we’re not just talking about planning your menu and décor, and inviting your guests. We mean for social media! Not only is Thanksgiving a […]

Back to the Basics: Why Blogging is Important

Sometimes when people hear the suggestion to create a blog, they just shrink away. They think it will be too time-consuming, they think no one will read it, they think it’s a waste of time … However, it’s none of things, or at least, it doesn’t have to be.

The Link Between Images and SEO

Since Google made the switch to change to their Hummingbird algorithm, things have changed for images used on your site, in addition to your content posts. Luckily, though, the changes aren’t that drastic, and most of them point back to what we always urge: use images and descriptions that clearly reflect your content instead of generic stock images with meaningless descriptions. Here are five tips to help you out.

Basic Tips To Get You Going With SEO

Now that we’ve gone over Google’s Hummingbird algorithm, let’s go over some of the basic things to keep in mind when trying to optimize your site for search engines, both for search engines crawling your site, and the people searching for content!

What Google’s Hummingbird Update Means for Your SEO

Google just recently released it’s Hummingbird algorithm, and those checking the top keywords bringing traffic to their site have likely already noticed a difference: instead of groups of words like "small business organization help," the keywords are suddenly more conversational. Google’s aim is to better determine a searcher’s intent, and then provide the content that best suits that intent.

The Importance of Syndicating Your Content Online

Creating fresh content for your site on a regular basis is an extremely important way to improve your Google Search rankings. Not only does it give you more results, but it also allows you to easily share your expertise with those searching for someone in your field. For example, if someone’s looking for a financial planner in Tulsa, and you’re the only financial planner that’s regularly posting blogs, articles, and press releases, then you’re going to be the financial planner in Tulsa that seems the most credible and trust-worthy.

Is Tumblr the Right Fit For Your Business?

When many people think of Tumblr, they think of it as the domain of teenagers. But while it is popular among teens, over half of users are actually over the age of 35, and most of those users are college-educated, making it a great fit for a variety of businesses.

Using Social Media During Your Events

In celebration of the National Academy of Best-Selling Authors’ Thought Leaders Summit and Golden Gala Awards this week, let’s talk about how you can use social […]

How Embedded Posts Can Help Your Brand

With most social media platforms jumping on the embedded post platform (Google+ being the latest), people are starting to wonder how they can use this new tool to beef up their online presence.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Google+ Local Listing

The world of online marketing is fast-paced, to say the least. I talk to clients every day, and many of them confess that keeping up with […]

Creating and Growing a LinkedIn Group

LinkedIn groups can be a great way to present your expertise and thoroughly engage with potential clients. It can help your increase your influence and your LinkedIn connections. And luckily, starting one is not difficult!

Tools to Make Your Social Media Images Stand Out

With Facebook’s announcement that the site is adding shared photo albums (allowing you to add up to 50 contributors per album), I thought now would be a great time to share some free online tools that will make the images you post on your social profiles stand out from those of your competitors!

Five Things to NEVER Do on Social Media

Lately we’ve been going over all the things you SHOULD do on the various social media sites, but this week I thought we’d go over some […]

Ten Ways to Stand Out on Instagram!

Instagram was launched less than three years ago, but it’s already amassed over 130 million monthly active users, and over 16 billion photos have been shared. As it expands, first by adding video, and then by introducing photo and video embeds, it’s becoming more and more of an asset to businesses.

If you’re looking for ideas of how you can use it for your business, then look no further! Here are ten ways to use Instagram to help your business stand out …

Getting the Most Out of YouTube

Last week, we went over some tips and tricks for Twitter. This week, we’re going to go over how to get the most out of YouTube.

YouTube is the third most popular site in the world, and appeals to almost everyone, making it an optimal place to share your knowledge with the people looking for it. As we covered in this blog, YouTube can work for almost anyone willing to give the site a chance. There’s definitely a niche for you!

Tips and Tricks for Twitter

Twitter is the 12th most popular site in the world, and adds hundreds of thousands of new users each day. It’s important to have a presence […]

Pinterest Do’s and Don’ts

As promised in last week’s article Ten Ways to Use Pinterest, this week we’ll be looking at 5 do’s and 5 don’ts for this social networking site. Don’t feel overwhelmed though: Pinterest is one of the friendliest social networking sites out there, and users pride themselves on keeping the community positive! If you follow these quick tips, you’ll be sure to have a great time using the site.

Let’s start with the do’s:

Is Instagram Video Right for Your Business?

Last week, Facebook announced a major Vine competitor by adding video to Instagram. In general, they’re very similar in that both allows users to share extremely short videos online, but Instagram has a few key differences that may make it easier for businesses to embrace:

Making Hashtags Work for You

Now that hashtags have been added to Facebook, they’re now an important part of all the major social networks. Unfortunately, not everyone is sure of how to use them, which leads to avoidance—and missed opportunities. Here are five ways to make hashtags work for you:

Five Apps to Help You With Your Social Media Presence

Posting on the go is a great way to show your clients what your business is up to in day-to-day life. You can post pictures from […]

Making the Most Out of Online Videos

Many people are afraid to jump into the wide world of online videos, and it’s usually for one of these three reasons:

– they think it will be time-consuming and expensive
– they can’t imagine how their video will have any impact in the massive sea of online videos (YouTube alone is up to 72 hours of new video every minute, and counting)
– they’re stumped for content ideas

Ten Things to Share on Social Media

As I mentioned two weeks ago, diversity is very important to your social media presence. It keeps your audience from getting bored, and helps them learn […]

What Google’s Changes Mean for You

Last week Google introduced several new changes to its various product at Google I/O 2013. While some of these changes don’t apply to social media (or […]

Five Simple Ways To Improve Your Facebook Presence Using EdgeRank

While it’s not new, you may have heard a lot lately about Facebook ‘s EdgeRank and how it’s complicating things for businesses on Facebook.  EdgeRank is […]

Celebrity Branding Online: Bring in New Business by Creating Content That Your Customers Love

You’ve heard me talk about “content marketing” before. In case you’re a bit rusty on your terminology, content marketing is the process of creating relevant content […]

Seven Ways to Create "Sharable" Content

On the internet, content is king. And it always will be. Whether it’s pictures, text, video, tweets, status updates, or whatever… the content you create will […]

Six Common Internet Marketing Mistakes—and How to Fix Them

The field of Internet Marketing is rapidly changing. So, like mine, I’m sure your to-do list is never ending! Thus, spending hours each week reading up […]

Social Media Marketing: 13 Social Media Myths Exposed

Over the last 20 years, the internet has revolutionized just about everything when it comes to business—from communications to data storage to marketing. And over the […]

Build Your Online Celebrity Status: Why Online Reviews Are Essential to Your Success

In today’s high-tech business environment, credibility is more important than ever. There’s an expectation that a business, in almost any industry, will have an online presence. […]

Internet Marketing, Celebrity-Style: How to Overcome 7 Internet Marketing Obstacles

The internet has changed the world of marketing forever. This isn’t news to any of you—every business owner is well aware of the power of the […]

Become an Online CelebrityExpert™: Do You Know Your Audience?

Do you know your audience (your target market)? "Of course," I can hear you all saying. But do you REALLY know your audience? Do you understand […]

Become an Online Celebrity: Five Ways to Inject Some Life Into Your Internet Presence

Five years ago, simply creating a Facebook page or a Twitter profile was enough to qualify your business as engaging, customer-centered, and forward-thinking. But let’s face […]

Use Your Tool Chest: How the Right Social Media Channels Will Turn You Into a CelebrityExpert®

Successfully branding yourself as a "celebrity" is a game-changer when it comes to growing your business. As I have written before, establishing yourself as a CelebrityExpert® […]

Email Marketing… Celebrity Style

Email marketing is a powerful tool. And these days, it’s accessible and affordable for businesses of all sizes. However, there is a big difference between doing […]

Eight Ways to Use Social Media to Boost Your Celebrity Status

When it comes to personal branding, you have probably heard it said that consistency is critical. Since the objective of your branding efforts is to shape […]

Your Celebrity Expert Status Starts on the Web! Seven SEO Mistakes to Avoid!

Like it or not, your Celebrity Status starts on the web. The first thing anybody does before doing business is goes to the web. If they’ve […]

Seven Elements of an Effective Website

Great websites come in different shapes and sizes, but when it comes to creating effective websites that really work (as measured by generating leads and sales), […]

Online Branding Tips: Give Your Audience What They Want

Connecting with your audience is critical if you want to establish a strong brand.  It’s simple: if they aren’t paying attention to your blog, articles, and […]

Google+: What Does it Mean for Your Business (And How to Get Started!)

So I’m sure you have heard the recent buzz about Google+ (whether you have had a chance to get started or not)… but what does it […]

Video-Marketing Quick-Start Guide: How to Set Up Your Video-Marketing System

A couple of months ago Google released its “Panda” update. The update effectively made article syndication worthless and with no SEO value. The many marketers who […]

Stay Connected with LinkedIn

You’ve heard me say it before… LinkedIn can sometimes be thought of as the "redheaded stepchild" of the social media sites. However, with the average household […]

Tweeting for Small Businesses

This article is a little different than the typical article that I write. If you like, you can skip down to the part where I actually […]

11 Myths About Social Media Marketing

Social media has become a very important part of many people’s lives- both personally and in business. The downside of this rapid increase in sites like […]

6 Important Factors to Consider When Creating a Business Blog

Gone are the days where companies are faceless… with the rise of social media consumers are getting smarter and smarter. Whether it’s the middle of July […]

6 Tips To Improved Facebook Marketing

When it comes to social networking there’s little doubt that Facebook is the largest and most influential of the social networks online. It has more than […]

SEO Basics: 20 Tips for Building a Natural-Looking External Link Profile

OK, so, we all know "External link building is essential for improving search engine rank." But, the bigger question is HOW do you get these external […]

Producing Content that Keeps People Coming Back to Your Site

As a result of personalized search, anyone who maintains a website will now have to focus on content more than ever before. In order to remain […]

Increasing Consumer Impatience: Why Businesses Need to Take Notice of Real-Time Updates

The Internet is now faster than ever. With the explosion of social media, and search engine leader Google rolling out its new interface, incorporating real-time updates, […]

Building a website? HTML vs WordPress

So you want to build a website. Should you go with simple HTML or use a platform like WordPress. The ultimate answer lies in the question, […]

6 Steps for a Digital Spring Cleaning

Spring has sprung and closets everywhere are getting a seasonal cleaning, but closets aren’t the only place to de-clutter. No, I am not pointing out the […]

How to Use Facebook as a Branding Strategy for Your Business

If you aren’t already connected to the social media revolution, it is time to get your head out of the sand and harness the power of […]

7 Tips for Making Twitter Work for You and Your Business!

Your ultimate goal when using Twitter should be to network, it’s like an online social hour (or social 140 characters). And like in every networking organization […]

How to Write Content that is Optimized for Search Engines

To me, I always feel like Search Engine Optimization (or SEO as it is known in the industry) is the big elephant standing in the middle […]

Does Your Website Stand up to Design?

I received my copy of The Net Effect this month… by the way, if you do not receive this magazine — GET IT. It will change […]

The Social Media Loop- Are You In It?

Social Media, as defined by Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media), is primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers […]

Is Your Website Deadly?

Websites are designed to sit there and look pretty, right? After all, everyone has a website today and don’t you feel obligated to throw some thing […]

3 Simple Tips to Make Your Website User-Friendly

The one assumption you need to make to follow along with me in this article is "People Buy People." It can be a hard concept for […]

How to write a "How To" Article

First to understand why these types of articles are great, you have to understand why people like them so much. So why do people like them? […]

Top Three Critical Components for a Search Engine-Optimized Website

Everyone wants to know: How can I get my site on the top of the search engines? Although Google doesn’t publish their magical algorithm that will […]

Do Link Building Strategies Work?

People always ask me how the syndication of press releases and book-marking your blog in many of the social book-marking sites can possibly generate traffic for […]

13 Tips to Keep in Mind When Writing Your PPC Ads

Photo Credit:Flickr/Jerry Nihen 1. Heading This is the most important part of your Ad. The heading is what potential visitors see first when looking at various […]

7 Fatal Grammar Mistakes to Avoid in Your Writing

1. Your or You’re? First of all, possessive or contraction? "You’re" is a contraction of "you" and "are" saying that "you are’" something. You’re happy. You’re […]