Blog Posts

As more consumers grow environmentally conscious, the pressure on businesses to be more sustainable and socially responsible is...

You’re pouring your heart and soul into your small business, yet audience growth seems to be dormant. You’ve also tried various...

Content marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for local businesses that want to establish thought leadership, build brand...

Do you ever find yourself putting the greater business goals and objectives on the back burner? During the day-to-day, it is...

There is a lot of puzzled anxiety surfacing in recent phone conversations with small business owners. “I don’t know why this is...

There’s an intriguing story about World War 2 bombers that ties into problems I'm hearing today from small business owners.

The...

Video content is not just the wave of the future in marketing. It’s one of the most effective strategies to consider right now....

When planning financially for your small business, it’s important to focus on the necessary costs that keep your business...

You’ve picked a name, written your business plan, and done the necessary paperwork to start your business. You even have a...

Marketing videos don’t only live on YouTube or business websites anymore. Now more than ever, videos are filmed and posted on...

The COVID-19 pandemic changed many things, from our personal daily routines to many small business processes to the way the...

YouTube is the second largest social media network, and being active on YouTube is a proven way to increase brand knowledge of...

Remember the days when YouTube was just for music and funny cat videos?

In the vast majority of sectors, 2020 was just a bad year. 2021 will be different in the sense that alongside the pitfalls,...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth a thousand pictures when it comes to revenue-boosting...

A recent McKinsey survey, shown in the chart below, found that 56% of shoppers use both online and offline marketing channels -...

Setting up an ecommerce business is a fairly simple process that many are capable of doing, given the right products and...

Not all customers are equal. In fact, there’s a natural law or guiding principle that categorizes customers and prospects in...

You’ve probably heard the phrase “seeing is believing.”

Wouldn’t it be ideal if hiring quality employees for your business were as simple as creating an ad and waiting for the perfect...

Do you know the conversion rate for your e-commerce shop? If you don’t, simply divide your number of sales by the number of...

Though many would title 2020 “The Year That Ruined Everything,” that isn’t quite accurate.

How many decisions have you made so far today? Have you been keeping track?

Getting a loan for any purpose could be simplified into the idea of receiving money and promising to pay it back with a bit...

As if online shopping wasn’t already a popular activity for millions of Americans, the recent shutdown spawned by the COVID-19...

The gig economy was growing long before the pandemic hit. Since then, so much of the work that was typically done in an office...

Lead generation. 77% of businesses say it’s their top marketing priority according to one recent study. Yet companies that...

Women around the world are increasingly turning to entrepreneurship to follow their passions and take control of their careers....

A business owner was telling me this story about how a local contractor failed to show up and plow their driveway after a light...

With the pandemic, these may be the worst of times for your small business. You may have been suffering before it hit, and now...

As I’m writing this article, we’re in the midst of the pandemic. Your business may have been hit hard and struggling to recover.

No doubt about it, sales is the make-or-break lifeblood of any business. Without sales growth, the business goes under.

Publishing content you've written online is a good way to demonstrate your subject matter expertise and increase visibility,...

These days, it’s hard to escape being inundated with ads everywhere you go. Though you expect an ad blitz every time you log...

Successful entrepreneurs are relentless in their pursuit of productivity. Research shows that being selective about when we do...

I started my first business in high school, typing (with a typewriter) student papers and small business correspondence. My...

It's not news that small businesses are struggling now. Unless you're in one of the hot sectors, like certain technology...

Wouldn't it be great to launch your business with the certainty that it will work? Let me tell you something, there is nothing...

Instagram has become a key channel to drive both online and offline traffic to small businesses. Sure, enterprise-sized...

In these uncertain COVID-19 times, local businesses are struggling to stay afloat, and wondering how and when they'll be able...

Are you a local business owner or manager? In other words, do your customers come from a defined geographic radius in relation...

It’s one thing to have a LinkedIn profile. It’s another to have a robust LinkedIn profile.

Why should a small business owner care about a list of the best workplaces in the world? Because such a list reveals those...

LinkedIn differs from other social networks in that you have to request to connect with members – and they have to accept your...

You probably remember a few famous product failures from equally famous companies. Google Glass, the New Coke, and the Ford...

Businesses incur significant costs from employee turnover: From 50% of an employee’s salary for an entry level position to 200%...

So, you made the crazy decision to become an entrepreneur.

LinkedIn Groups are one aspect of LinkedIn marketing that many small business owners overlook or leverage poorly.

Is your return policy an afterthought, something you cobbled together years ago in response to your first returned product?...

Are you on the fence about using video at all, let alone using video on LinkedIn?

Despite using video for years, I still feel like a kid unwrapping a present when I see the speed with which video gets results....

When I write about LinkedIn for small business here, I mostly focus on how to create and use a personal LinkedIn profile as...

What’s your guess as to the age of the oldest business in the world? Which industry do you think it serves? I was surprised by...

Are you looking for a way to turn prospects into customers faster and with more precision? LinkedIn Sales Navigator may be just...

No question, the user experience (UX) or customer experience (CX) is the most important component in business. If you don’t...

Although there are still plenty of companies that keep their branding efforts entirely offline, your products or services will...

As entrepreneurs and small business owners, we all look to find more ways to build our network, to get the word out about our...

If you conduct any portion of your business online, this ecommerce infographic offers dozens of pieces of insight on ecommerce...

Years ago, before video marketing was the hot topic is today, I began creating B2B marketing videos for our company. The...

You’d have to have been off the grid a while to not know that we’re in the midst of “Industry 4.0.” In this phase of the...

The headline on your personal LinkedIn profile is the text that sits directly below your name in the top section, or...

Just as a character in a folk tale might do, giants should be approached with caution. Amazon is a giant of e-commerce and not...

Many small business owners wisely stay active on social media. They’re busy on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others. But...

Why should businesses use videos for content marketing? Is the time and effort of hiring content creators, copywriters, and...

How low can you go? No industry is exempt from intense price competition. A brief scan of business news stories today shows...

Are you like all too many small business owners when it comes to LinkedIn?

A powerful way to propel your marketing strategy is to develop consistent content. It has proven to be extremely cost-effective...

A fascinating list of marketing statistics from Hubspot reports that 65% of all businesses say that generating leads is their...

A business process is any series of related tasks that ends with the company delivering a product or service to a customer or...

Data-driven marketing has been a boon to e-commerce and the retail industry. It gives companies large and small a better...

Okay, so you’ve got an awesome product idea. Chances are it won’t go anywhere if it isn’t marketed to the right audience....

Local SEO is an overwhelming topic for the average small business owner who is just trying to get more customers through the...

If you're at the helm of any kind of business today, then you know just how important all your team members are. The...

Businesses on the brink of foreclosure might feel like they’ve exhausted all of their options. At the end of the rope, the...

The other day I walked into a hardware store and stopped dead in my tracks. I knew exactly what I wanted but I had no idea...

Email marketing is a complicated field, and effective email campaigns require complex strategies that contribute to your...

E-commerce has been growing steadily over the last ten years. If you have a business selling products and services, an...

From the start of our day to the end, we’re bombarded by marketing. What to eat, what to wear, what to watch. Many potential...

When a Coca-Cola businessman created the first coupons in the late 1880s, he didn’t expect them to transform the retail...

When it comes to social media marketing, Facebook is one of the best advertising platforms in the market, with over 2 billion...

All too often we hear of people getting burned with their online marketing efforts.

Email marketing is an important tool for every small business, generating great ROI and allowing you to communicate with your...

Have you ever felt like your office had wasted space?

Hiring can seem like an overwhelming task for employers. There are several steps in the hiring process, and it can be quite...

For e-commerce businesses it’s not always easy to engage with customers and encourage them to buy your product. There are...

As a small business owner, you want your potential customers to see good reviews and informative blog posts whenever they...

The decisions that you make as a small business owner play a big role in your company’s growth. One of the most important...

Often small businesses tend to focus their marketing efforts on the digital world, with their website, SEO, and social media...

Businesses that ship products to customers face challenges in today’s competitive e-commerce industry.

Learning from other people's experiences is the best way to learn from mistakes. It's safer and doesn't come with damage to...

Digital marketing has grown in popularity in the past decade, to such an extent that startups need to have an efficient digital...

Hiring a candidate who can manage multiple social media platforms, writes well, and understands your brand voice might not be...

While mass marketing sounds like a great strategy to find more potential customers, target marketing is a better choice for...

Generally, a meeting is considered successful if it achieves tangible results. Is it time to stop focusing on the outcome and...

According to new research by The Manifest¹, the majority of people from every generation are now using social media daily.

As a small business owner you have to do a lot with little. And when you’re starting out you basically need to do everything...

Countless small businesses create and upload blog posts each day in an attempt to attract newer audiences with quality content....

The purpose of a landing page is to attract readers’ attention, keep them hooked until the end of the sales copy, and drive...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already taking the marketing industry by storm. From transforming jobs to enhancing...

Small business owners should begin the trademark process as soon as possible. Start by selecting a unique name. It is important...

The vision you have of running your own business shows you all the positives that come with such a step. You're your own boss,...

Are you concerned about spending time and money walking down a path with the wrong software development company? There are...

Hosting a corporate event, whether it’s one for customers to attend or something fun to show appreciation for your employees,...

Congratulations! You just received the funds you have been after. Now you have some wiggle room. But even though the deposit...

Good brand awareness is vital for the health of any business. With a well-known name and reputation, customers will know they...

If you are looking to increase your conversion rates, boost engagement, rank higher in organic search results, and enhance your...

Do you equate marketing psychology with “dirty tricks?” Certainly, the tactics used by infamous “snake oil” salesman through...

Small business marketing has certainly changed over the years. And to be perfectly honest, it will continue to change and...

Having good customer service skills is crucial to having a successful business. It ranks right up there with having a useful...

Undertaking an IT project can be costly. While many business owners and project managers always aim to finish the project on...

It’s a competitive world out there, and your brand needs to stand its ground – even when it means changing to evolve with the...

Social media is a key tool for driving traffic and sales to any e-commerce site. Small e-commerce businesses in particular can...

My clients are respected business leaders and experts who come to me because they know there are many people throughout the...

Improving product quality is one of the most important things for achieving long term sales growth and profitability. And...

Print marketing is still a viable way to market your small business. Why? You are marketing your small company to people in...

Influencer marketing is more popular than ever, and it continues to grow as more and more businesses utilize influencers to...

In a small business, you have an opportunity larger companies don’t always have. Large, long-established supply chains can be...

The holiday season is a time when shoppers are in a happy mood, looking for gifts for their loved ones and shopping around for...

The success of going global with your business lies in its ability to deliver goods and materials in a timely manner.

Let’s be honest: local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a nightmare for multi-location businesses.

No one can appreciate the importance of consistently achieving peak productivity better than startup founders and small...

With technology advancements today, just having a website is no longer enough to attract visitors. In order to convert your...

It doesn't matter if you have a storefront in a newly revitalized downtown area, if you're an e-commerce website, or if you're...

Legacy marketing and sales tactics often rely on focusing on the features of products and how they stack up against the...

Whether for a brand new start up or a redesign of a long standing brand, a logo is always an exciting project for the client...

Starting a search optimization campaign is often an exciting venture. Even if you’re outsourcing it to an agency, you’ll still...

Small businesses are on the constant lookout for ways to make themselves stand out in a busy market. We live in a...

Although the phrase “content is king” has worn out, it’s still as true as ever. In the early days of the Internet, content was...

You probably spend hours creating your Twitter content. Then you storm through with your tweets. That’s your daily drill. Or,...

Maybe you are not familiar with SaaS (subscription-based software as a service), but it’s highly likely that you are using a...

According to the cartoonist Jen Sorensen, a solopreneur is a "captain of an extremely tiny dinghy." He or she has to cross a...

Content marketing is often considered the holy grail of online marketing. It’s one of the most effective methods for obtaining...

More businesses have been expanding their workforce with work-at-home employees. Remote employees allow a company to grow...

Link building is a hotly debated topic by e-commerce SEO service providers, with the main point of contention centering around...

If you create your own online programs and courses or sell a service online, there are plenty of common mistakes entrepreneurs...

Let me ask you a question. As a small business owner, how many times throughout the day do you tell yourself: “If you want...

You might read a lot these days about the death of email marketing. Yet it’s a mistake to discount any media channel simply...

Word-of-mouth (WOM), which is usually attributed to buzz marketing, is a traditional method of spreading information and news...

Most small business owners think about backups and data recovery by asking themselves one simple question:

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’ve heard how important it is to have a brand. A brand is what we think...

Video is turning up in some unusual ways at small businesses everywhere. I reached out to owners in over thirty industries to...

If you’ve ever operated a SME, you’ve probably heard of local SEO and how it’s one of the most powerful tools of digital...

The era of monopoly is over. Today’s market belongs to those who know what their consumers want and work to fulfill those...

Since starting to work with businesses and brands using online marketing techniques, I’ve learned a lot about the various video...

In today’s hyper-connected world, businesses need to be able to pass vital information to customers and stakeholders in a swift...

When small businesses struggle to keep up with the number of customers calling their business, they may consider implementing...

Similar to conducting audience research to gain a better understanding of your target consumers, a SWOT analysis gives you a...

If your primary product is one that many people do not understand or have preconceived notions about, you’re fighting an uphill...

According to one recent study, about two quintillion new bytes of data are created every single day. In the past two years...

Many offices jumped on board when the open office trend started to catch fire, demolishing walls, trashing their cubicles, and...

According to the Small Business Administration, 50% of small businesses fail within five years and approximately one-third of...

Customer experience is usually the responsibility of employees who deal directly with the customer (such as a salesperson). It...

You’re a small business or an entrepreneur. And you know how important it is for you to network.

When it comes to ‘gamifying' an event, you may have already experienced it without even realizing it. Take your rewards card,...

When it comes to effective marketing strategies, in terms of cost and performance, there are very few tactics as effective as...

The first time I attended an international trade show was a real education for me as a small business owner. I didn’t realize...

While it may not seem like it at the moment (particularly if this is your first time hosting one), planning a product launch...

Staying relevant in today’s hyper-connected world is growing increasingly difficult as users become more segmented and niche: 

If you ask a small business owner to compile a list of the challenges they face, you’re most likely to hear about employee...

In a perfect world, your customer would not need to look for your logo or slogan to recognize your marketing content.

Mobile-first indexing has been grabbing the attention of SEO professionals for the last two years. And talk has intensified...

Aside from what business you actually plan to do, arguably the most important decision you have to make about your start-up...

With landfills overflowing and our oceans choked with plastic, environmental responsibility has become a more pressing concern...

It’s likely there are many ways customers can contact you, particularly if you’re focused on enabling them to do so in ways...

Having a stellar customer service department is the key to keeping customers happy and your small business in business....

Ensuring the health and safety of your employees is on one of your obligations as a business owner. It is not only recommended...

Have you ever bought a pair of shoes because everyone around you was wearing them? Or started watching Game of Thrones because...

Office walls are essentially a blank canvas. There are endless possibilities for what you can do with them to help your...

No matter if you run a small local office or a major corporation, the financial strategizing and accounting that goes into...

It doesn’t matter how impenetrable your security infrastructure is if you haven’t also taken steps to safeguard the human...

How clean is your business? I’m not talking about whether or not you employ cleaning staff at your office. I’m speaking about...

Considering the demands of running a business, it’s a chore to keep up with the breakneck pace of technology development. But...

Technology is changing much of the world we know. From medicine to industry to military, technological applications are taking...

You came up with a great idea that is sure to captivate your target audience. This is your opportunity to jump right in. But...

If your business sells physical products, then you know how important it is for consumers to have clear and concise information...

My parents have followed the same Saturday morning routine for decades. They drive to the local Walmart to pick up their weekly...

More businesses these days are using Facebook Messenger for their marketing, and they're yielding amazing results.

It is no hidden fact that catalogs are used as marketing tools by businesses to attract new clients and boost their overall...

In the excitement of introducing a new product, custom product packaging might almost be an afterthought. After all, it’s all...

Have you ever thought about how you will market the business you just set up? Or how will you handle complex websites,...

When I was in my 20’s, I always had this mild anxiety lurking in my belly. My first job out of college brought me to the...

Companies like Amazon, Google, and Tesla are using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their products and services. The...

Long form content is an article that is made up of over a thousand words that’s been optimized for search engines. Many purists...

What’s the best way to drive sales for a business? For many business owners, a variety of factors may come to mind: Location,...

Quick…how would you feel if I said you had no choice but to raise prices on all your products by 20% today? Write down your...

Content marketing is set to continue as a leading trend for online businesses. With so many websites getting in on the action,...

When it comes to running a business, cash flow is vitally important. It is basically the inflow and outflow of money through...

Customers, patients, and clients are turning to the internet in ever greater numbers when seeking all kinds of products and...

Did you know that training and development programs are among the benefits that young professionals value most? In order to...

Perhaps you’ve made the leap into freelancing or you’ve just established your first small business. Congratulations! This is a...

Relatively overlooked by many businesses, but making all the difference when used right, branded merchandise can be a...

As a small business, you probably wouldn’t be blamed for completely ignoring many of the analytics tools that are out there....

When discussing SEO and strategies for increasing website traffic, what often gets lost in the shuffle is the fundamental...

One of the foundations of business success is great customer relationships. When customers, clients, and followers feel like...

Getting started with a B2B inbound digital marketing campaign isn’t easy by any yardstick.

As small business owners, one of the most productive things we can do is keep our employees happy and productive. It’s no...

Dubai is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Not a day goes by without news of a new start-up or new development....