Year: 2010

E-Newsletters: Keep ‘em Coming Back For More

Newsletters-Keep-Them-Coming-Back-For-MoreThe sad truth of the matter is that many people will come to your store or website and not buy a thing or hire your services.  But that doesn’t mean they won’t in the future.  As long as they don’t forget about you.  Which brings us to the question, how do you keep yourself in front of customers who aren’t ready to buy?

E-Newsletters!  They are a great way to stay fresh in the mind of your audience.  Don’t forget, when your potential customers wake up, the first thing they do is check their email, even before logging onto Facebook or Twitter. …

Five Ways To Engage Your Customers

Excited-Customers-Coming-Back-For-MoreIf you want your blog read on a consistent basis, you need to provide your readers with value.  Assuming you started your blog as an extension of your business, your blog is a way to keep customers informed of your comings and goings and also to grow your online presence.  If you are using your blog as a platform for your business, you want to get as many return readers as possible.  This will grow your online presence and your clientele.  How can you do that?  Listed below are five ways:

1. Tell a story

If you have a new product or service to roll out, turn it into a story. …

Success Stories: Nine Questions With Michael Farah, Owner Of Berry Chill Yogurt

Berry-Chill-LogoWelcome to the first post of a new series: Success Stories. I am interviewing businesses that are using social media as all or part of their marketing plan.  My first interview is with Michael Farah, owner of Berry Chill, an all-natural yogurt store with several Chicago locations.  Berry Chill has a constant social media presence, and exclusively uses social media to market themselves.  Just how does Farah use social media for his business?  Read below to find out.

1.)  How did you begin using social media?

I started out in the social media world through personal use and decided to start using it for my business too. …

Afternoon Delight: Write An About Page To Be Proud Of

Proud-of-my-bio-pageAs a bonus afternoon post, I thought we could discuss a topic that is very important but doesn’t often get a lot of recognition.  Your About page.

As I’ve mentioned before, personality is a big draw when using social media, and your About page is the perfect place to put as much personality into your website as possible.  You can write all about you in your voice and put your picture and make everyone who reads it love you.

But there’s more to the About/Bio page than personality.  This is also the page where you are going to advertise your skills and what makes you more qualified than your competitors. …

Build An Online Presence You Can Be Proud Of

Your-Online-PresenceIn yesterday’s post I mention that one of the basics of SEO is building up an online presence.  Then I proceeded to talk about it for all of 3 sentences.  I think we can all agree that it deserves more than that.

The reason having an online presence is so important is because if you don’t have one you are missing out on a lot of potential customers.  Truthfully, Internet marketing (website, Facebook, Twitter etc.) is no longer an option, it’s a requirement.  Online marketing is a multi-billion dollar business that helps just about every revenue stream that takes advantage of it. …

Eight Beginner Tips For Better SEO

Business Blog SEOWhat exactly is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?  Basically, it’s what Google and other search engines use to find your small business blog.  What is the point of having a blog or business website if when people Google you, they can’t find you?

Here are a few tips you can use in order to help yourself get found which will hopefully bring you more clients and readers.

First, write your blog posts in a text editing program rather than directly online. This way when you go to transfer it to your online presence you’ll be forced to re-read and eliminate typos, and make sure what you’ve written is on point.…

Top Ten Rules for Your Social Media Policy

Top Ten Social Media Policy Rules

Being in charge of a small business means your head is in about fifteen places at once.  Instead of thinking about Twitter, you’re thinking about payroll and inventory.  Using your employees to help keep up with social media is a great way to help manage the time that goes into staying current with technology.  So making sure your employees know how to use social media is imperative.  If you have taken the plunge into blogging, Twitter, and Facebook, you need to feel comfortable when your employees are using these tools, which means taking the time to teach them so they become social media masters.…