Tag: social media

A Week of Opinions: Why Your Thoughts Matter

A-Week-of-Opinions-Why-Your-Thoughts-MatterI was talking with a friend the other day about how I come up with my blog posts. Any blogger knows that it’s not an easy feat to put out many posts a week. My friend is thinking of starting a blog and her biggest concern is whether or not she would be able to come up with enough topics to sustain a 3-5 posts a week schedule.

I understood her apprehension and didn’t sugar coat things. It’s difficult. At times it’s a task that seems impossible, but I gave her a piece of advice that I am sharing with you now.…

Don’t Bore your Blog Visitors – Give them What they’re looking for!

don't-bore-your-blog-readersToday I’m very excited to have my first guest post!  Kiesha from We Blog Better is here to tell us how, as blogger, we can stop boring our visitors.  I hope you enjoy, and without further ado….

Don’t Bore your Blog Visitors – Give them What they’re looking for!

Just because your blog supports your business doesn’t mean it has to be full of dry information, facts and product specs.

A lot of times business owners make the mistake of using their blog as an online advertising platform. After all, business owners want to reduce their ad expense account – why pay for what you can get for free?…

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.…

Social Media Blitz = Full of Delicious Chili

social-media-blitz-=-full-of-delicious-chiliMoonshine is a restaurant a block away from my apartment in Chicago. Sunday, November 14th they hosted a chili cook-off. However, if it weren’t for social media, I would have had no idea they were holding such a remarkable event, and as I write this, I wouldn’t be chocked full of 15 different types of delicious chili. That would be a crime against humanity.

I am going to take you through the steps that got me to the chili cook-off and my blessed out state of fullness.

Step One: My husband, Ryan, was reading The Chicago Tribune food blog, The Stew, and saw a mention of a chili cook-off.…

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.…

Social Media Gurus, Cont’d

social-media-gurusSo it’s been awhile since I did my social media guru post. I’ve found a few other blogs that I really enjoy and thought you might want to know about them. Without further ado, here are my social media guru updates. I still love the first 12, but here are another 5:

Site Sketch 101: A site all about the interwebs from blogging to websites to Facebook. Great article topics that are well written and informative.

We Blog Better: And not just because I’m a regular guest blogger! But because they have smart articles that are helpful and well researched.…

Is Today The Day You Take Action?

is-today-the-day-you-take-actionTake a moment to close your eyes and visualize your to-do list.  Is it long and overwhelming?  If so, today, you’re going to take action.

I am going to let you in on a secret. Almost every email I get requesting my writing services has this line embedded in it: “I’ve been putting this off for months now.”

I have issued a challenge before, and it actually worked out quite well for a few of you. So here I go again. Today I challenge you to pick the one line on your to-do list that you’ve been meaning to work on, and make some progress on it.…