Are Daily Deal Sites Really so Bad for Small Businesses?

Posted on by July 2, 2013

groupon Are Daily Deal Sites Really So Bad for Small Business?

Like a comet blazing against the night sky, daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial burst onto the scene promising great things for small business. You’d be able to grab new customers easily and quickly using these sites, and without a huge expenditure.

Unfortunately; not so much. This is largely due to several things: stratospheric expectations, poor press and the lack of clear strategy by businesses using this new tool.

All the media can seem to focus on is how much these companies, the two largest players in the space, are bleeding money. While both have suffered through massive growing pains, this was practically inevitable given the fanfare and splash they made coming onto the scene. read more

Simple Automation Tips to help you Re-gain Work/Life Balance

Posted on by June 27, 2013

automation Simple Automation Tips to Help You Regain Your Work-Life Balance

Maybe you’ve bought into the dream of marketing automation, you know, the one where you set it up once and forget it, hit the easy button, and retire to the beach sipping margaritas. Or perhaps your experience is the opposite, where you are simply overwhelmed with all the tasks that need to be addressed with an online business, and can barely breathe.

The reality lies somewhere between these extremes. Unless you truly have gotten it together and are drowning in your own business, you likely need some help with regaining a sensible and profitable work-life balance. Let’s look at ways we can do this. read more

Design is the Killer App

Posted on by June 25, 2013

6-13-importance-of-designConsumers Have Choice – Don’t Let Your Design Make It Easy for Them!

So you don’t feel design plays a part in first impressions? Guess again! A study by researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2012 revealed that it takes two-tenths of a second to form a first impression, give or take a nanosecond. This makes it increasingly important, as the ability to obtain good design is growing, to ensure that we are doing all we can to get that favorable recognition. This is extremely important for small business, as a poor design can often lead to trust issues, an essential factor for smaller enterprises attempting to build their brand. read more

10 Ways to get Customers to Open Email

Posted on by June 20, 2013

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Why Won’t Your Customers Open Your Email?

Are your email open rates a source of embarrassment? Taking steps to improve them is a lot easier to do than you may think. According to Epsilon.com, email open rates sport an industry average of around 27.4 percent, with wide variations for markets. Understanding your email open rates and the way to improve them should be high on your to-do list!

Toward that end, listed below are 10 top tips for boosting your email open rates.

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Easy Jam Poptarts

Posted on by June 19, 2013

cooked poptarts1Looking for something quick and delicious for breakfast, but don’t want to buy junk food from the store? Why not make some super easy and quick homemade poptarts?

1 package all-natural pre-made pie dough, enough for 2 pie crusts

Any flavors of jam you like, I used peach and strawberry. You could also use nutella, or nutbutters mixed with honey, feel free to get creative with your fillings.

1 egg to make an egg wash

sugar and cinnamon

uncooked poptarts

Roll out the pie dough on a well floured surface till 1/8 inch thick, and try to make it as square as you can. Lightly brush the whole thing with egg wash. Mark into equal squares, rectangles or triangles, depending on the shape of your dough. Put 1 Tablespoon of jam in the center, making sure you have 1/2 inch all the way around. once you have little blobs of jam in each center, lay second rolled out pie dough on top and using a knife or pizza cutter and cut into shapes. Use a fork and cold along all the edges, pressing them together with the tines of the fork so that they are sealed. Poke some holes in the top with the fork to let out the steam as they bake. Brush tops lightly with egg wash, and sprinkle on some sugar and cinnamon. Put on parchment covered baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 22 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Let cool on cooling rack, eat warm. Or, pop them in a toaster oven to reheat in the morning. Easy and tasty! read more

Smitten with Content Marketing

Posted on by June 18, 2013

Small Businesses Are Smitten with Content Marketing (For Good Reason)
Java Printing
Content marketing

Content marketing may be a term you’ve heard tossed about lately, and still may not know exactly what it means for your business.

Simply put, content marketing is the practice of creating, collecting, and making available fresh content for your readers. This can come in many forms, such as blog posts, articles, whitepapers, short reports, videos, podcasts, ebooks, social media and more.

We live in an age that treasures information, and the more you can provide your readers the more authority you will carry in their eyes, which can often result in better rankings, more traffic, links, and sales. read more

The Awesome Power of Video Marketing

Posted on by June 13, 2013

The Awesome Power of Video Marketing
video-marketing
Video marketing

Quite often, the biggest challenge we’ll ever face in online marketing is extending the reach we have. One of the fastest and easiest ways to do that in 2013 is by using the immense power of video marketing.

The evidence is staggering: online video has become inextricably woven into the fabric of our daily lives. According to Nielsen, YouTube attracts more than 136 million unique viewers per month. Another very recent accounting done by comScore shows that in November 2012 alone the average viewer enjoyed 1,182 minutes of online video! That’s a lot of watching. read more

Would your Company Benefit from Having a Mobile App?

Posted on by June 11, 2013

5-13-mobile-appsWould Your Business Benefit from Having Its Own Mobile App?

It’s no big secret that mobile has captured the imagination and a lot of market share when it comes to online shopping.

In its early years mobile faced many challenges, such as people not trusting their provider to provide a safe, secure transaction, to the prevailing practice of using mobile only for location.

Mobile has now overcome much of this and is poised to offer so much more to companies willing to go all in.

One thing is abundantly clear: the numbers are staggering. We can’t resist tossing in some revealing statistics: read more

Is a Customer Loyalty Program Right for your Business?

Posted on by June 6, 2013

5-13-customer-loyalty

Is a Customer Loyalty Program Right for Your Business?

Customer loyalty and rewards programs have been around for ages, though their online cousins are a relatively new addition into the mix.

Businesses are always on the lookout for ways to keep loyal customers coming back for more, and increasing the lifetime value of that guest. The good news here is that with few exceptions, a customer loyalty program could be an easy and painless way to do just that for your business. Let’s look at how. read more

Common Social Media Mistakes

Posted on by June 4, 2013

5-13-five-social-media-blunders

5 Common Social Media Blunders and How to Avoid Them

Social media marketing for your business is tough enough without shooting yourself in the foot. Self-induced social faux pas are easy to commit, and difficult to overcome. Social media is not only necessary to include, but crucial to get right! Even though 74 percent of brand marketers saw an increase in website traffic after investing just 6 hours per week on social media, in contrast to another 83 percent have abandoned a purchase after a bad or non-existent customer service incident. (Creotivo.com) read more