3 Simple and (Extremely) Affordable Website Options
Over the last month I have talked with several business owners who have expressed a need for something different with their website. They have one of two problems: they are paying too much for their website with not enough return, or they currently don't have a functional website.
The good news is that there are some great do-it-yourself website options available today - options that are affordable, beautiful, and easy to use. Honestly, I have seen these DYI drag-and-drop sites look and perform MUCH better than “professionally developed” sites.
While there are numerous website platform builders available, I have chosen three to discuss. These have been chosen based on popularity, functionality, design, and ease of use. You really can’t go wrong with either of these three options though each has...
Read More
What Makes a Business Healthy
When we look at a small business, we can usually tell pretty quickly whether or not a business is healthy. We can tell if the business is mature and strong, right? The parking lot is always full, they always have what we need, and the staff make you feel welcome and leave a desire to return. On the other hand, we can also tell if the business is weak and dying. We have all seen it.
I remember going into a local hardware store for the first time after moving to a new town. Within moments of being in the store, I was asking myself
Read More
How a Business Coach Can Help Your Business
If you are the one on top - the business owner - the buck stops with you. If you want to make money this month, you push harder and make it happen. If you are tired or just not feeling it, you can sit on your butt. It is completely up to you.
The winds of motivation are constantly changing and this is where a business coach can help you stay on course. Here are a few ways to find a business coach without necessarily breaking the bank...
Read More
5 Reasons Why SEO Should Be Important For Your Business
While everyone seems to understand the importance of Search engine optimization (SEO), I am absolutely amazed at how many businesses do not utilize the most basic tactics of SEO.
For example, I have been talking to my son's taekwondo studio for several years about the importance of SEO. For whatever reason, they delayed and delayed implementing basic tactics on their website. When they finally did implement a few SEO tactics, they ended up with so many
Read More
3 Ways to Find Keywords for Your Small Business
As the hack of the week is to incorporate keywords into the website of your small business, I thought it would be important to share with you a few ways to find good keywords to focus on.
After all, if no one is searching for a keyword then what is the point? Here are three ways to find good small business keywords.
Read More
Alternative to Yellow Pages: Using Local Keywords
Just a decade ago, most businesses would purchase a space in the Yellow Pages book and just wait for the phone to ring. They didn’t need an alternative advertising option - Yellow Pages just worked.
Oh how the times have changed. Small businesses can no longer just rely on Yellow Pages because 80% of consumers use the internet when they are trying to find a new product or service. Therefore, small businesses must find an alternative to Yellow Pages.
Read More
Hack of the Week: Using Keywords on Your Website
Let’s face it. We live in a digital world; if you don’t have a presence online then you don’t exist. At least in the eyes of those who are actually searching to buy a product or service that you are offering.
According to Forbes, “consumers report using the internet first (80% of the time) when they need a new product or service, and printed Yellow Pages only second or third (about 50% of the time.)”
This means that if you are a small business owner, you can no longer...
Read More
Hack of the Day: Hold a Facebook Contest
As I was browsing Facebook yesterday, I saw that a friend of mine had shared a post about a jazz vocalist (Diana Krall) coming to the Embassy Therater in Fort Wayne, Indiana where I live.
The post was published on Friday afternoon and said that they would be giving away two free tickets on Monday. To get a chance to win the tickets, all I had to do was to like, comment, and share the post about the ticket giveaway - which I did.
Read More
Hack of the Day: Type With Your Voice
When I was in college in the late 1990s, a friend in mine had a challenge - he was a slow-typer. He’d never learned proper typing technique, so his two-finger method would take hours longer than it needed to.
I remember walking into his room one weekend and seeing him at his computer with a headset. He’d just installed brand-new voice recognition software...
Read More
Hack of the Day: Ask an Existing Customer for a Sale
Could you make a sale today if you wanted to? I'm not talking about customers coming to you, but rather, could you make a sale by going out and finding one?
Finding a sale on a minutes notice is a very challenging task. I know. I used to have a sales job where I had to do that. When we would arrive to work in the morning, our boss would occasionally tell us we had to go out and find a new sale that day. So we would...
Read More
Hack of the Day: Engage Customers Through E-Mail
We all know that it is much easier to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one. Yet so many businesses leave engagement up to the customer. The customer comes in on their own, leaves on their own, and comes back on their own.
But many customers are just looking for an excuse to come back.
They want to be engaged.
Read More
Hack of the Day: Make Fabulous First Impressions
This summer, my wife and I decided to sign-up our twin girls for the dive team at our neighborhood pool. This was only our second year as pool members, but our first experience in working with the dive team.
We really did not know what to expect. To our surprise, we found it fairly difficult to actually sign-up the girls as we had to talk t
Read More
