Congratulations, blogosphere. It seems that we have reached the point where 90% of the blogs out there have put either an E-mail address or a contact form onto the site. Gone, finally, are the days where readers or media would spend hours scouring the site to find out how to contact the writer or blog editor. A contact form isn’t enough, though. You need to offer readers a bigger glimpse into who you are and give them a few different ways to contact you. Bloggers are starting to realize this and you’re seeing more and more buttons and links to profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, About.Me, Facebook, and other sites. No, you don’t have to stick a link in your “about” page to your old photo album from Greek Week, but letting others know where to find you elsewhere online is a great way to promote your blog and personal brand. The communication barrier is a lot less significant in the – Read the full article
With all of the commotion that goes along with a business, sometimes the easiest things are forgotten. Even worse, sometimes the easiest things can become complicated because after all—is anything about your company really easy? As it turns out, creating a logo is one of those rare things about your company that will turn out great results without a ton of work. Just ask Google. A logo is part of your company’s branding, which consists of everything a company does and everything a company is involved with including mission statements, customer guarantees, Internet marketing efforts, and taglines. If you have creative people on your side, you should be able to come up with a logo or tagline that is ready to hit the Internet in successful, viral fashion. I dare you to try and think of a major company that does not have a logo. Everyone is reaping the benefits of logos because they have proven to be potentially very – Read the full article
Every website owner engaged in e-commerce knows how critical it is to get more visitors to become customers. Getting the visitors to come to the site is one thing, but persuading them to convert to customers is another. E-commerce is a rapidly growing sector of the business world, projected to overtake traditional retail outlets sooner rather than later. Running a business website is a lot like running a store, with several obvious differences, one being that visitors arrive virtually instead of in person. An e-commerce website has to monitor and track its visitors very carefully to generate key statistics. One of these key statistics is the conversion rate, which is generated by dividing the number of customers by the number of visitors. It tells the website owner how many visitors are being persuaded to become customers. The conversion rate spells the difference between success and failure for a website. Websites can take advantage of several tools to improve the conversion – Read the full article
If you’re planning an online business or e-Commerce site that will sell products or services, or require membership fees to access content through the website, you must have a way to accept credit cards. You simply won’t be successful if you expect your customers to stop using your site, write and mail a check, and wait for it to clear before they can buy something from your website or access content in membership areas. Indeed, consumers have come to expect instant access and ordering through the use of their credit and debit cards. But how can a small online business or startup company accept credit cards affordably and securely? Two Credit Card Processing Options for Small Businesses With an Internet-based business, you have the option of getting a merchant account or working with a third-party processor. For most new businesses, particularly those selling exclusively online, a third-party processor is the ideal method for getting started. Once your business is more – Read the full article
We have witnessed a dramatic evolution in media in the past few years – the media elite matter less every day, everyone is the media, and everyone matters. Reaching the big media gatekeepers of yesterday is no longer the challenge. Now the challenge is effectively reaching the audience that will be interested in hearing your story and engaging with you. Fortunately this new media environment has had great benefits for small business PR, giving small business owners more power to disseminate their message and reach their target audiences. Here we offer some of our best, cost-effective PR tips for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Create a Press Release There are several cheap and free options these days for issuing a press release. Platforms such as PR Web offer business owners access to a large network of media outlets and bloggers on the cheap, while giving them the ability to target specific and relevant audiences. You may also want to consider submitting your press release to the editors of specific news outlets you are trying – Read the full article
The face of one of the most innovative companies in history is their ever-changing, extremely memorable logo. While Google leads innovation in many verticals and constantly “brands” that simplistic colorful logo in our brains, there is a lot behind this work of art and its purpose is not merely to line the walls or logo mats of the Google complex. Way back in 1998, Google created the basis for what we still see today: a simple wordmark logo utilizing 3 main colors and the oddball green on the “l”. The rebellious green goes against the pattern of the main colors in a symbolic gesture that “Google doesn’t always follow the rules.” Since 1998, the main logo has only changed twice with simple changes to the gradient and letter shadowing. The colors and the font are still recognizable across all three with the Google Logo font coming from the German designer, Gustav Jaeger, entitled “Catull BQ”. What is truly inspiring about – Read the full article
Google+ is gaining immense popularity and everyone’s talking about it right now. Forget for a second about its “competition” with Facebook and other social media sites; in and by itself Google Plus is receiving fast and wide acclaim, at a global level, and many even say that soon it is going to act as a channel to get people to patronize your business. A channel, in other words, for Internet marketing and social media marketing. Currently, there are no Google Plus profiles exclusively for businesses, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the social networking site to help your work gain more visibility. Here are some tips on leveraging Google+ in order to advance your business objectives: If you already have a Google+ profile, you are halfway to generating, well, more business buzz. Not yet a member? Well, first you have to create a Gmail account (if you don’t already have one). Then you have to get an invitation. For – Read the full article
Starting an online marketing campaign can be a difficult and confusing proposition for many small companies. Which sites should you have a presence on? Is a “group” better than a “page”? Should you take support requests via social networking sites, or keep them all funneled through your website? These questions could be answered easily if you were to enlist the help of an online marketing company or social media agency. It’s easy to make the mistake of assuming that all an online marketing company does is throw up a few pages and produce flow charts with pretty buzz-words on them. In truth, an Internet marketing company or social media agency does a lot more than that, and can help you to make sure that your promotion efforts are not wasted. What will an online marketing company do that I can’t do myself? While it’s true that setting up accounts and making a few friends on social networking sites is easy – Read the full article
