Tag: small business

5 Tips for Writing a Successful About Page

5-tips-for-writing-a-successful-about-pageI bet you never thought about the fact that an About Page could be unsuccessful. It was just some facts about you, your business, and what you do. No big deal, nothing to stress out about.

The thing is, humans are naturally curious creatures. That’s why there’s such a gapers delay on the highway when we see flashing lights ahead. It’s why I know things about my next-door neighbor’s grandchild that I don’t care about, but asked about anyway.

Which brings me to the point that when someone is visiting your website they are going to your About page not just for your credentials, but to learn more about you, to assuage their curiosity.…

7 Common Sense Steps To Grow a Blog

7-common-sense-ways-to-grow-a-blogThere are many of you who are thinking about blogging as a way to relate to customers and draw in more business. Kudos to you. That’s exactly why a small business should be blogging.

Every once in awhile I talk to small business owners who want to blog not just for their customers’ sake but because they want to establish a popular blog that is known throughout their community for being interesting and popular.

Depending on the community – that can be easier said than done. Most blogging communities are over saturated at this point, and in order to make a mark, you really need to shine.…

A Week of Opinions: You Need to Hire a Professional Writer

why-you-need-to-hire-a-professional-writerHiring a writer is one of the smartest moves any small business can make.

I’m not just saying that because it’s what I do. I’m saying it because I have seen the toll that bad writing can have on a small business, and I’ve seen the effect of good writing.

For all you out there who know your website needs updating and are thinking about doing it yourself, please read the following analogy.

You need a new computer. You’re not sure what to get. (Although if you have half a brain, you should get a mac and I’m only saying this because it’s opinion week.…

The Follow Up

the-follow-upThe reason so many of us blog and are on social media is to make contacts for our business. Yet so many of us have trouble following up after an initial contact. A colleague may tell us to connect with a person, and so we friend them or connect on LinkedIn, but then forget about the important part — following up with this person.

There are many reasons people don’t follow up:

Don’t have time

Don’t recognize the opportunity

Simply forgot

Don’t think it’s worth the time

Here are some ways follow-up can really help:

It keeps you in the forefront of your customer and potential customers’ minds.…

Use Social Media to Become a Thought Leader in Your Industry

using-social-media-to-position-yourself-as-a-thought-leader-in-your-industryI strongly believe that all small businesses should be using social media to position themselves as thought leaders within their industry.

In fact, as I get deeper and deeper into social media writing and social media consulting, this is the conversation I am having the most.

There are so many ways to effectively use social media to communicate with customers and increase brand recognition and sales. And most small businesses can do it without spending a penny. All you need nowadays is sweat equity.

However, the really smart businesses are not only using social media to communicate and connect, but to position themselves as an expert, as the “guru” of what they do.…

How An Editorial Calendar Will Change Your Blogging Life

blogging-with-an-editorial-calendarThis is my fourth and last post this week on blogging for business. I have covered many topics, from finding inspiration to writing tips to business blog rules. I hope you’ve learned.

But there’s something I haven’t really touched on that I truly believe will change your blogging life. It’s not illegal, it’s not hard to do, and it won’t wake you up in the middle of the night screaming. So what is it you ask? (hint: it’s in the headline). It’s an editorial calendar.

You run a small business. Your life is as full as it can be. There is always something to do, something you should be doing, something you just half-assed in order to accomplish a different task.…

Success Stories: 9 Questions with Alexis Lamster of Postling

success-stories-postlingPostling is a tool small businesses can use to market, listen, and respond to their customers using social media. It launched on August 1, 2009 and recently broke 10,000 users.  I talked with Alexis Lamster, Vice President of Customers, about what Postling has accomplished, what it hopes to accomplish, and why small businesses are their main target customer.

1.) Who is your target customer?

We strictly target small businesses. We are extremely passionate about small business and we really feel we are the only ones with this kind of platform who is targeting the smaller companies.  We have a few customers who aren’t small businesses, but we try to be very, very small business focused.…