Should You Use Free Stock Photos For Your Business?
At one time any business serious about their image and branding pretty much had to purchase stock photos for some if not all of their...
5 LinkedIn Profile Areas You Shouldn’t Ignore
(This article is updated to reflect recent changes to LinkedIn’s profile layout.) LinkedIn is an important social network for professionals, business owners and job seekers alike. It can help: introduce us to new people reconnect us with people we may have lost touch...
Create Your Custom LinkedIn Web Address In 4 Easy Steps
(This article is updated to reflect recent changes to LinkedIn's profile layout.) Creating an easy to remember custom LinkedIn web address, called a public profile URL on your LinkedIn profile, is an important part of making it easy for people to find you online. And...
How To Get A Verified Badge For Your Facebook Page
Facebook displays the Verified Badge on verified Facebook Pages to tell visitors that it has confirmed the Page is authentic. According to Facebook, Verified Pages show up higher in search results to attract more visitors. Having a verified badge also lets visitors...
Setting Up Free Local Pickup As An Option In WooCommerce
One of our clients has moved away from the free Jigoshop eCommerce plugin and to the free WooCommerce plugin for their online store, built on WordPress. As part of the move, we needed to setup product shipping. WooCommerce shipping setup is amazingly simple. Although,...
How To Change Your Facebook Page Username (Web Address)
If you've had a Facebook Page for a year or more, you may not realize that you can now change your Facebook Page Username (Web Address) more than once or twice. As is typical with Facebook, this change in their policy simply happened in 2016. I won't bore you with the...
9 Social Media Basics for Small Business
Data from Pew Research shows how social networks have grown dramatically in the last decade! It helps us see why it is important for business owners (and salespeople, artisans, educators, theologians, etc.) to take social media seriously. Taking social media seriously...
How To Create A Google+ Web Address For Your Page Or Profile
Do you have a custom URL or Google+ web address for your Google+ personal profile or business page? For instance, plus.google.com/+SueCockburn (personal profile) or plus.google.com/+GrowingSocialBiz (business page or listing)? If you haven't yet created a Google+ web...
How Important Is Branding To Your Business?
Have you ever wondered what branding is, and how important branding is to your business? For many businesses, when they hear the term branding, they think of logos, taglines, key images and business colours. But branding is so much more! The term 'branding' is talked...
Title Case to Help Your Name Standout – Online & In Print
Title case your words to help your target audience, consciously and subconsciously, easily recognize your brand or name in print or online. What is Title Casing? Title casing, for the purpose of this article, is capitalizing the first letter of each word (small or...
Facebook For Small Business: Is It Worth It?
Many small businesses struggle with the question: "Is Facebook really worth it?" They struggle before they create their Facebook Page and shortly after they create one, once the reality of the challenges of reaching potential customers on Facebook sinks in! Before...
To Increase Revenue Stop Selling
In 2012 Mike Myatt wrote an article titled To Increase Revenue Stop Selling for Forbes. The article is as relevant today as it was then, maybe more so. Essentially, the article points out that "creating or expanding business relationships is not about selling – it’s...
How To Add A Facebook Like Box To Your Website
Adding a Facebook Like Box to your website is easy! Particularly if your website is built on a Content Management System like WordPress. It's a matter of deciding what you would like to appear on your website along with your most recent post/posts. Photos of your...
Should A Website Be The Hub Of Your Online Presence?
With all the talk about social media, it can be easy to question whether or not a website should be the hub of your online presence. After all, with 1.7 billion worldwide users on Facebook, won't a business Facebook Page work just as well? A Facebook Page Is A Lot...
Brands Are Fragile: Your Reputation Determines How Fragile
Brands are fragile. Everything we do and say strengthens or undermines the reputation of our brand in the marketplace. It's not just everything we do and say that influences our business and our brand reputation. Everything our staff do and say has...
How To Know Whose Liked Your Facebook Page
Facebook provides an easy way for you to see the details of all of those who have liked your Facebook Page. But, it's not obvious unless you know where to look. This article shows you how to know whose liked your Facebook Page by showing you how to find the...
To Keep Visitors On Your Site Set External Links To Open In A New Tab
Quite often when I'm visiting a business website I'll check out the 'design by ... ' info. Probably because I'm in the business of designing websites, and also because I'm curious by nature. What I'm surprised to see is how often these links when clicked will take...
Small Business: How A Private Health Services Plan Can Save You Money In Canada
Late last year I discovered that I could enrol my business (Canada) in a Private Health Services Plan and reduce the amount of income tax I was paying. I'm not a big company. Essentially, it's just me on the payroll. Although I've been a small business owner for five...
Twitter Announces Important Changes
Twitter made the following announcement today on their blog, confirming anticipated changes to the Twitter social network are on their way in the coming months. In particular, the changes remove from the 140-character count @name replies and media attachments. This...
Growing Business: Is Customer Loyalty Dead?
How does your business rate on the customer service scale? And, how important do you think customer service is to your organization’s success? According to a 2011 Consumer Reports’ survey, 65 percent of people are “tremendously annoyed” by rude salespeople and 64 percent of respondents said that they had left a store in the previous 12 months because of poor service. Not the best way to build your business and certainly not customer loyalty.
6 Ways To Establish Brand Continuity In Social Media
[Brand continuity: The practice of maintaining consistent branding methods across all channels including personal websites, social media advertising, printed advertising, etc.] Brand continuity is an important concept, because as a business owner, you could seriously...
Word-of-Mouth: It’s About More Than Your Customers
In an online world, word-of-mouth advertising is about much more than your customers! In an online world, how you and your employees treat (attitudes, words, facial expressions, tones of voice, behaviours) customers, prospective customers and those who have no hope...
Contact Form 7 Problems With Your WordPress Website?
Do you have a website built on the WordPress Content Management System that uses the Contact Form 7 plugin? If so, recent updates to the plugin by the plugin developer may be resulting in you NOT receiving contact forms filled out by visitors to your website. Visitors...
Attracting Customers For Your Business In 2016
"Once entrepreneurs have correctly identified who their target customers are, it's time to get down to work attracting them to your business," says an Inc article written by Infusionsoft CEO, Clate Mask. The article "5 Must-Know Ways To Attract Interest For Your...
How Well Do You Handle Change?
As a business owner being responsive to change plays an important role in our long-term success. Change is not always easy, but resisting change simply because "it's always been done this way" or because we are struggling to learn new skills and ways of doing things,...
How To Run A Successful Facebook Contest (17 Tips)
Excellent article on Social Media Examiner about Facebook Contests! The article, written by Shortstack CEO, Jim Belosic, provides 17 Tips for Successful Facebook Contests. Facebook contests can be highly valuable in helping to build and engage fans on...
5-Step Social Media Strategy Guide
With an estimated 68% of North American Internet users on Facebook and 59% social network penetration in North America, social media offers businesses the opportunity to build brand awareness and reputation, earn consumer trust, showcase expertise and meet potential...
7 Tips For Thriving In Business
In the article titled "I'm most effective when I'm swamped" the author, Ernestina Hall, head of Campaigns at Virgin and owner of recently launched Milk Tooth jewellery, identifies 7 tips for thriving in business when you're busy. (You don't need to feel or be swamped...
Important Facebook Engagement Data For Business Pages
BuzzSumo shared the following 8 Facebook Engagement Data core findings recently in their article How To Improve Facebook Engagement: Insights From 1bn Posts. The findings come from an analysis they conducted in January, of 1 billion posts from 30 million brand pages...
Delivering Strong Customer Service Consistently
"It's not what you do once in a while but what you do on a daily basis that makes a difference." - Anthony Robbins This quote applies to building our business too, and in particular, the important role delivering strong customer service plays. It's important, critical...