Recent Articles
Scaling Your Business From Solo to Team
So you’ve outgrown your one-man (or one-woman) shop. You simply can’t do it all yourself anymore. It’s time to start thinking about bringing on some help, to preserve not only your profits but also your sanity.
One of the most daunting aspects of evolving from solo gig to team effort is finding—and learning how to manage—additional workers. First, hiring “the right” person is an intricate undertaking in itself. Then you have to figure out the most efficient methods of directing and managing your new worker. What to do?
How to Choose Killer Topics for Your Business Blog
Coming up with relevant, interesting, and current blog topics can sometimes be a challenge. This is particularly true if you update your blog often. If you feel like you are running out of ideas or fresh content for your blog, look no further than the Internet, of course!
There are two ways you can go when you are looking for current events or fresh content ideas for your blog.
- You can look for news in your specific industry (i.e. retail, restaurants, cleaning services)
- You can look for general news topics that are related to businesses or marketing topics.
Both of these approaches are great ways to keep your blog generating new ideas and gaining new readers. Using topics that are specific to your industry may drive more industry-specific traffic to your blog. This can be a great way to get more contacts and readers that are interested in what you do, and you can potentially turn them into customers. With more general topics, you’ll get more general traffic, but you also have the chance to catch their eye and get them interested in your industry and subsequently, your business. This blog also has a great article about how developers look at blog posts and how to generate new content.
Here are a few ideas of places to look to get inspiration for your blog posts: Continue Reading
Bringing Your Small Business Online
Over 50 percent of small businesses do not have a website online. In our home state of Ohio a staggering 56 percent of small businesses have no online presence. If you have a small business, you might be asking yourself, why do I need one? Currently, you may be generating new business through direct mail, local newspapers, phone books, etc., and those are all great ways to market your small business. However, did you know that more people get their news from the Internet than from newspapers, and more ad dollars are being spent on online outlets?
You need to have a website so you can expand your business to potential customers that other, more traditional media outlets might not have reached. Having an online presence for your small business can help generate additional revenue, refer new business, and collect new leads every month.
How will a website do this? Continue Reading
Don’t Make Me Think
Don’t Make Me Think
Billboards are rarely compared to websites, and for good reason. However, they do have one thing in common: user/viewer attention span. Twenty-five percent of all users will exit a website if it doesn’t load within 4 seconds, similar to the 2 seconds a viewer has to see a billboard. The book “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug discusses reasons why people will exit out of your website—namely, a lack of engagement.
Do your users “Get It” at first glance?
Your company ID or logo and main message should be the first thing that a visitor to your site sees. It should be so readily visible that it passes the squint test—identifying this information even while squinting. No deducing, guessing, or even thinking should be required by the user.
People are in a hurry
Users are in a hurry when searching the web. Users often scan the information, rather than read large bodies of text. That is why bulleted information and bolded text can be used to your advantage. Also don’t be afraid to Continue Reading
5 Easy Ways to Build Your Business Online
Sometimes, marketing yourself on the internet can seem like a daunting task. With big splashy ads and colorful emails, big companies make it look easy – even though we know they have a whole team of people who do nothing but work on marketing and advertising. So how is a small business owner going to be successful on the web?
The answer is, by creating a presence on the internet that can’t be ignored. It can be easier than it sounds to get your company noticed. Make it a goal to do something to market yourself every time that you get online. Here are some suggestions as to what you can do:
Update your business’ Facebook – update your company’s status. Many people think that they need to be 
advertising or posting photos, etc., on their company page. While this is definitely true, you can also post quick updates as to what is going on around the company. This gets your business on people’s radar.
Check out your own website – make sure that all of the information you have on your company website is up to date. There’s nothing worse than having very outdated information front and center on your site. Make it a habit to check in at least a few times a week.
Check for new LinkedIn connections – new people join LinkedIn every day. Check often for people that you know. Join LinkedIn Groups and make connections with people in your industry. You never know who might have a connection or job that is useful to you. You also may find people who are looking for services that you or your company provides.
