Tag Archives: Small Business Owners

Google+ Local Listing

Posted on by March 7, 2013
Reply

2-13-seven-tips-for-google-plus

 

 

How to ignite your Google+ listing the simple way

Google+ has so far not been taken overly serious by businesses looking to promote their products and services. This is quickly changing! Google+ has positioned itself nicely to challenge Facebook as a primary social network for business. Websites using the +1 Button increase page traffic by 350%, and over 925,000 people join Google+ every day! Put together all of the functionality of your Google account, and massive search engine benefits, you’ve got something we can get serious about.

Seven Tips for Utilizing Your Google+ Page

Here are seven techniques for getting your Google+ page to help your small business.

  1. Your Google+ profile – Complete it. Do this with some thought. Be sure you use compelling photos and images, and link out to your other social media profiles.
  2. List your key information – Particularly hours of operation, contact details, as well as maps and directions.
  3. Link to your sites – be sure you link to your main business blog or site. This is a must!
  4. Create a business page – Showcase your small business where it counts. This has direct benefits for search engine results as well as for people who find you on Google+.
  5. Link out to your content –This will have a number of benefits, first of all getting them indexed nearly instantly, along with a several other search engine advantages. You can also use your Google+ page to create posts, including multimedia that can link out to your posts elsewhere.
  6. Utilize Direct Connect – Utilize this feature in Google+ to allow visitors to add you to circles when they find you in search. Think of this as a Facebook “Like”.
  7. Use video chat in Google+ Hangouts – This tool is incredibly useful. Any time you conduct a video chat, Google+ streams it, records it, and sends you the recording via email. Then you’re able to upload to YouTube, thus creating more useful content. One terrific method to use these is to make impromptu product demos.

This barely scratches the surface of what’s possible with Google+. To discover even more strategies along with a cool infographic on the subject see this post on CopyBlogger.

 

Mobile Marketing For Business

Posted on by March 5, 2013
Reply

2-13-five-mobile-marketing-tips-wont-break-budget

 

5 Big Business Marketing Tips that Won’t Bust a Small Business Budget

Mobile marking can be a goldmine!

But you wouldn’t know it looking at the marketing activities of many local businesses…

While it’s true that the mobile revolution is here, local business owners are still struggling to catch up with changing consumer behavior. In a Web.com survey of 500 small-business owners, only 26 percent of respondents said they’ve invested time and money in making sure their site was optimized for mobile devices. What does this mean to you? It means you’ve got a great chance to get noticed as a leader among local businesses—and poach competitors’ customers in the process!

More than half of all searches are being done on a mobile device and you being a small business owner can take advantage of that. Even a small business on a tight budget can use these five ways to market to mobile users.

  1. Optimize the website for Mobile Users – Google did a survey and found that 61 percent of consumers will leave a website if it is not properly optimized for mobile users. Without a mobile optimized site, everything else falls by the wayside. The site needs to be mobile friendly and available on all platforms.
  2. Look into Mobile Ads – Mobile ads are cheap and effective. This might sound surprising but at the moment lots of the inventory goes unsold every month and this keeps the prices down. This makes it a prime time to jump in and explore the concept of mobile advertising.
  3. SMS and Push Notifications – SMS messages have a number of advantages. First and foremost; they get opened. A lot. According to Frost and Sullivan, SMS messages offer an astounding 95 percent open rate! Push notifications are a terrific way to connect with your subscriber base.
  4. Combining Mobile and Your Social Media – Nothing says social media like real-time connections with your customer base. This is the latest trend and even the smallest of companies can get in on the trend by combining their social media site with a mobile devices. Combine specials, events, coupons or just link a YouTube video to create buzz. Then Tweets and traffic will soon start coming your way. Next thing you know your site’s search engine ranking will begin climbing and so will your Google . However, the best part is, you will be connecting with your client base in a real-time way and they will provide you with valuable feedback.
  5. Location Based Marketing and Passbook – Your small business has to be found on the web. Up to now, it meant Foursquare and Yelp. Although this still applies, you also have to begin looking into new technology like Passbook as well. Passbook is a great new app that enables its user to save all kinds of things like boarding passes, gift cards, coupons, store cards, coupons and all sorts of mobile payments.

Using mobile marketing in local business doesn’t have to be either complicated or expensive. The secret is to collect knowledge first, and add pieces as you go.

Five Essential Steps for Small Business Marketing

Posted on by February 28, 2013
Reply

2-13-Five-essential-steps-for-small-biz-mktg

 

 

 

5 Essentials of Small Business Marketing to Keep You Ahead of the Competition

Small business marketing isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you’ve been in marketing for more than two seconds, you already know that. Marketing your business is dependent upon doing some key factors well and these things will make or break a small business in this dog eat dog world we live in. Competition is fierce and understanding how to get the most from your web pages is tricky.

Here are five crucial steps to get ahead of the game!

  1. Create a Marketing Plan – Don’t leave anything to chance. Create a well-thought out, to the point plan that maps out each of your marketing elements and what you need to do to accomplish it. Make it as detailed as possible. At the very least fill in the broad strokes.
  2. Social Media Marketing – 91 percent of experiences social marketers generate improved website traffic and 79 percent generate more quality leads according to MediaBistro.com. Just how do they do this? They do not waste time with their social media marketing. Map out a strategy for social media and stick to it.
  3. Build a Mailing List – Countless businesses make the mistake of not collecting client and prospect emails from the start. Email is far from dead. MarketingProfs.com tells us that email averages a return on investment of $40 for every $1 spent, far outstripping banner ads ($2) and keyword ads ($17). If you decide to neglect it, you’re leaving a big part of your potential profits up for grabs!
  4. Video Marketing – Connect with all the local traffic that’s out there trying to find your business. Video marketing in this space is a relatively untapped vein, and having a quick video advertising your wares on page one of Google can result in tons of traffic and authority coming to your web site! According to the research company Forrester, any given video stands about a 50x better chance of appearing on the first page of Google than any given text page.
  5. Have a Mobile Presence – Be sure your website is optimized for mobile, as more than half of all searches now are emanating from some sort of mobile device. Microsoft reports that mobile browsing is projected to overtake desktop browsing by 2014. Having your pages mobile optimized can help improve your reach, and also corral impulse buyers.

Don’t Make the Mistake of Going It Alone!

None of us can do it all, especially when it comes to the constantly changing world of online marketing. Find out what’s working now, learn from the best you can afford, and hire the best outsourcing you can find. It’ll pay off handsomely in the long run!

 

Show Your Company A Little LOVE This Month

Posted on by February 4, 2013
Reply

2-13-show-company-love

 

As this month is Valentine’s day, a holiday dedicated to showing the ones you care about how much you love them, why not show a little to your company?

It’s been more than a month since the holidays ended, and now that we are in the second month of the new year, and some of us may be starting to lag behind on the resolutions we made at the beginning of January. Don’t let yourself get caught in the lull of winter, stay engaged and continue working on your goals and resolutions you made for yourself.

Why not take this holiday to show a little love for yourself, and for your business?? Take this time to keep your Minutes current so that you don’t have to catch up later in the year. You’ll save lots of time that you can spend with the most important people in your life, your family and friends. It will also save you stress, so you can have peace of mind all year knowing you are caught up.

Need Minutes service? Get it HERE, and let us take care of them for you! Then you can spend even more time with the ones you love the most, knowing that your business is taken care of and on top of things, and always protected.

 

 

 

 

October Client Giveaway

Posted on by October 19, 2010
Reply

Hey JAM clients!  We’re starting something new and fun for you!   We’ve developed a Monthly Giveaway to show you our appreciation all year long.

So long as you’re a part of JAM, you’ll be receiving tips, gifts, and prizes! Check your email during the middle of the month to get your goodie from Just A Minute, LLC.

Gift #1:

Check your email today for a special downloadable version of “Bulletproof your Business from Lawsuits and IRS Audits”.

In this book, created by Kari VanNoy, co-owner of Just A Minute, LLC, you’ll find lots of information about the 13 documents you must have in your minute book.

Because you’re JAM clients, we know that you are awesome with keeping your minute books up to date, but do you know anything about the other documents that are in there?  Find out now and stay out of the dark!

Let us know what you think of “Bulletproof”.  Comment below!

Are you Horizontal or Vertical?

Posted on by October 6, 2010
1

Are You A Vertical or a Horizontal Thinker? The Way You Think Can Make All the Difference…

Funny the things you remember…

Many many years ago while in college, I learn this concept. And it has stuck with me all these years.

My professor asked, “Are you a vertical or horizontal thinker?”

Huh????

Let me explain what each is…..then you can decide.

Vertical Thinkers

A vertical thinker thinks of business — and life for that matter — as a ladder you climb. There is only room for one at the top. In order to get to the top, you have to climb over others and push others down.

If you are a vertical thinker, back biting and back stabbing are common. Pointing blame at others, filing lawsuits to bring others down, and making yourself look good at other’s expense are the norm.

Just recently it was election time. The mud slinging was rampant….a sure sign of vertical thinking.

Me. Me. Me. I must make it to the top. That’s all that is important.

Horizontal Thinkers

Horizontal thinkers on the other hand see the world as a vast space where everyone can be at the top together. Everyone can grab hands and reach the summit, helping one person along here and another person along there. The important thing is for everyone to make it to the top.

Everyone helps everyone.

How do YOU think?

Comment below and tell us about your encounters with Vertical Thinkers.

Top 5 Reasons Company Minutes are Important for Small Business Owners

Posted on by September 29, 2010
Reply
  1. Find More Deductions! – When you follow our memory-jogging questionnaire, you may just find some more deductions you didn’t think about. Be sure to share these with your CPA for maximum savings!
  2. Save Your Sanity By Keeping Current! – It is so much harder to catchup than to keep up! When you use our simple online system each month, you actually save yourself time and energy, no need to search back through old documents and bank statements to find what needs to be documented. It will all be fresh in your mind! That’s why we created this system: to Save Small Business Owners Time and Money, while still getting the paperwork done right!
  3. To Protect Your Business and Personal Assets in Case of Lawsuit! – the first things and opposing attorney will ask for is business records. If you don’t have any, or you don’t have the correct documents done, forget about saving your personal assets too from scrutiny and the prosecutor. It’s too late!
  4. Save Your Deductions from an IRS Audit! – One of the great things about documenting all business decisions and expenses is that you have PROOF. Proof not only that your expenses were really expenses, but that your business is actually running as a business and not just a hobby.
  5. Save YOU Time! – This may be similar to #2 , but saving time is so important to a small business owner (it is to me!) that it bears mentioning in its own spot. All you have to do each month is take a few minutes to do your reporting, that’s all you have to do.. and we do the rest! You don’t have to worry about when to hold your Annual Meeting (we do that for you), you don’t have to worry about which form, out of the 600+ to choose or how to correctly word your business actions… We do that for you, too!

To find out more about Minutes for your company Click Here.

Comment below and tell us how important minutes have been to your company? Have they saved your personal or business assets? Have you found more deductions?

Are you neglecting your business?

Posted on by September 22, 2010
Reply

Are you neglecting your business?…

Right now MOST business owners ARE neglecting their business! I’m sure you are thinking… How can I be neglecting my business when I basically eat and sleep there?

Yes you may spend many hours working on the growth of your company, but do you have a solid foundation?

A solid foundation is crucial in protecting your corporate veil and keeping your personal and company assets protected.

You are probably wondering what that solid foundation is….Well your solid foundation is PROPER LEGAL documentation!

Did you know there are 13 documents you must have in order to have this sturdy foundation?

Without these 13 documents your company’s corporate veil could be pierced, your tax deductions disallowed, and thousands of dollars and hard work down the drain.

Now again I ask you, Are you neglecting your business?

Click here to find out what 13 documents you MUST have to Bullet-Proof Your Company from Lawsuits and IRS Audits.

Stop neglecting your business today!

Share this on Facebook and Twitter and warn others Business Owners to Bullet-proof their business!

Also, Comment below and tell us what you found interesting/shocking!

News Flash

Posted on by September 17, 2010
Reply

Just A Minute, LLC is featured in the Arizona Republic!

Linda, co-owner of JAM was asked to read and review, Conquer the Chaos, a book about overcoming the struggles of developing a business from the ground up, written by the founders of Infusionsoft.

Infusionsoft is an email marketing 2.0 and CRM Company created for entrepreneurs.       We’ve been using the program for over a year and love it!

Just A Minute, LLC takes part in “extra-curriculars” provided by their company (mastermind calls, success courses, and conferences).

We were so pleased when we were asked to be a part of their AZ Republic interview.  Check out Linda’s wise words here!

Let us know what you think about the book.  Leave your comments below.