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Productivity Tools & Tips for Small Businesses - Get Back on Track in 2018!

Productivity Tools for Small Business Owners

Productivity Tools and Tips for Small Businesses
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Small Business Productivity Tools and Tips

Ever have one of those days (or weeks) where you’re just dragging and can’t muster up the motivation to do anything productive? Ever dream of super helpful productivity tools that could help?

Of course, you have! We’ve all had days like that. Even those (seemingly perfect) people on an unmentionable image sharing platform, get them too.

The problem with the unproductive day(s) when owning a small business is evident. They set us back on projects, which allows other things to pile up and the cycle repeats itself until we get “caught up.”

But are we ever really caught up?

Well, the naysayers say no and to an extent they’re right. However, I like to think that certain things will always be a work in progress, while other smaller time-consuming tasks can be automated.

In other words, there are things we small business … Read More “Productivity Tools for Small Business Owners”

Is your business planning to join a new social network to help with marketing? If so, here are 8 considerations to ponder before you launch.

8 Considerations Before Joining a New Social Network

Joining a new social network for social media marketing isn't an easy decision. Here are 8 things to consider before you launch that new profile.
Ever wonder what else you need to consider before your business joins a new social network? Here’s your chance!

Small Business Challenge vs. Social Network

If you’ve ever had to launch a business profile on a new social network, you know its a bit nerve-wracking.

You want to make sure everything gets set up right. Profiles are complete. Images are sized appropriately. You also need to know if your branding is on par with your messaging and products.

We all know that the advantages of social media can be vast. However, the cons can sometimes outweigh the pros, depending on the social network, your target audience, and tons of other things.

So how do you know what to look out for before you make a new social media profile live?

Well, that’s what this post is all about. I’ll go over some general things that apply to any social network and also delve … Read More “8 Considerations Before Joining a New Social Network”

Writer's Block and Creative block can be your worst nightmare when a deadline is fast approaching. Here are some tips on how to avoid both!

How to Survive Writer’s Block When Blogging

Overcoming writer's block when you're a small business owner is tough. Here are a few tried-and-true tips!
Writer’s block (or any creative block) is frustrating! The good news: they can be overcome!

How To Overcome Writer’s Block When You Have a Small Biz

Writer’s block, content creation, (crying) and blogging go hand-in-hand.

To piece your writing together, you need images, GIFS, graphs, or videos. Also, depending on the type of article, you usually need some combo of those things to convey the right message.

When you have a massive marketing and content team, these projects (usually) move along quite well.

However, when you’re a small business owner, it’s usually your team of YOU (and sometimes a co-founder if you’re lucky!) to brainstorm AND create EVERYTHING…

From. Scratch.

If you’ve ever had to delve into creating content and marketing, then you know that it’s NOT easy. Especially for small businesses! However, it sometimes feels downright impossible when you have a creative block, writer’s block, a lack of inspiration, or a creative slowdown. Call it whatever you want!… Read More “How to Survive Writer’s Block When Blogging”

Do you have "digital marketing block?" If so, here are 4 tips to help you change your mindset, nix unimportant marketing distractions and focus on the more important aspects

Improve Digital Marketing with 4 Fewer Things to Do!

Here are 4 marketing tips to free up time and hone in on the important digital marketing stuff
Spend less time on unnecessary digital marketing distractions and focus more on the important stuff!

The Digital Marketing Puzzle

Digital marketing is either a beauty, a beast, or the bane of a small business’s existence (or a weird mix of the three)!

Plus, digital marketing is difficult for the risk-averse and even more of a struggle for those who think that (things like) social media networks are easy to grasp and similar across the board.

If they were all the same, they’d get merged into one platform! YouTwinstagoopinteresnapcebookedin, for example. (Can you imagine?)

Anyway, digital marketing can be less of a struggle if we believe in the product(s) or brand(s) that we sell! Also, the other bonus of digital marketing comes in the form of data, research, various tactics, inbound marketing strategies, planning, trial, and error (not necessarily in that order).

However, with so many different things on a marketer’s plate at … Read More “Improve Digital Marketing with 4 Fewer Things to Do!”

Common SEO Myths

SEO Myths: Where did it all go wrong?!

SEO Myths
Tread wisely and avoid these nine common SEO myths.

When did SEO turn “bad”?

It never did! SEO myths (and misrepresentations) are a sign of the times! Plus, SEO has been around since the 90s and keeps continually evolving.

Plus, with the rapid change in search engine algorithms, how people search and how much new content gets posted by the second, makes SEO a challenge. It’s no wonder why search engine optimization myths abound!

The negative reputation of SEO is happening due to the spread of outdated information, misinformation, and even the marketing of shady practices. When you mix these things, you get a spoiled tsunami soup of SEO myths spilled all over the interwebs! (Does Bounty make a virtual paper towel?)

Anyway, every year, Google changes search algorithms several hundred times (minor) and rolls out a few significant updates here and there too. While it seems Bing updates as needed to … Read More “SEO Myths: Where did it all go wrong?!”

Inbound Marketing Tips

8 Tips Before Making an Inbound Marketing Plan

8 Tips to Help Your Next Inbound Marketing Plan
If you need help creating an inbound marketing plan, feel free to use the below checklists!

Inbound Marketing Plan vs. Outbound

Did you know that when you go to improve your company’s online visibility (with social media, SEO, blogging, etc.), you’re working in the inbound marketing realm?

Outbound marketing is what marketers (mostly) did pre-internet, but some techniques still exist today. And guess what? They’re typically WAY MORE expensive than inbound strategies!

Inbound Marketing = Think social media marketing, SEO, blogging, etc.

Outbound Marketing = Think trade shows, cold-calling, snail mail, etc.

UGH! Media

Since we focus on small businesses, let’s go with the more cost-effective option — inbound marketing!

In this post, I’ll go over eight tips to consider when creating your next inbound marketing plan! Plus, I’ll include some lists to help break down the many pieces of content into more digestible bits.

Onward!

Creating content for an inbound marketing plan

… Read More “8 Tips Before Making an Inbound Marketing Plan”