Before the Internet, businesses used to include their listings in local business directories. Remember the Yellow Pages or the Blue Book? You might think they’re old-fashioned now, but actually this process of finding local businesses simply evolved into online local business listings. Search engines are showing local business results that specify industry specialties with a geographic focus, which are getting more and more precise every single day. And you know what? Local search is poised to become even bigger, thanks to the continued growth of online maps, mobile browsing, local search engines, city guides, online review sites, and geo-location services (like Facebook Check-Ins, Foursquare, Google Places, etc.). Local Search and Local SEO All these make local search or local business SEO a must for your business. Whether you like it or not, you have to get listed. Lakeshore Branding is ready to help. Our team optimizes your local search information and listings, so that when customers conduct a local search, – Read the full article
We all know that in this modern world, online marketing is growing at a rapid rate. We are the information generation and have it all at our fingertips. This has been further advanced by having smartphones at our disposal, all day every day. Hence, the growth of mobile marketing has been very evident over the past few years and there is every indication that it will continue to grow. On the Rise This year, mobile marketing spending is expected to increase by over 75% with mobile ad spending reaching over $1.1 billion; it is expected to reach $2.3 billion in 2013: a staggering amount to say the least, and a clear indication that the trend is only just beginning. There are more than 370,000,000 iOS and Android devices floating around out there with over a million activated every day. And to top this off a study has shown that by 2013, 80% of major U.S. brands will be using mobile – Read the full article
A big part of running a successful business is making sure that everyone knows about it. Unfortunately, though, that can be a lot easier said than done! If you want to make your business more visible, tap into the power of social media marketing and take advantage of these expert tips: Offer specials to your social media contacts If people know that they’re going to get extra discounts and perks by “liking” you on Facebook or following you on Twitter, they’re going to do it! And, in return, they’ll give you things that you would have a real hard time getting otherwise, like solid word-of-mouth advertising and repeat business. Show people that you’re genuinely excited A big problem that people have in social media marketing is posting something because they feel like they “have to”. Guess what? That lack of enthusiasm shines through, and it’s not a good way to get people talking about your business. Instead, make sure that – Read the full article
If you are the proud owner of a new website, then you know how confusing and downright difficult the process of designing and building a website can be. It’s not uncommon to go through the trouble of finding a hosting service and choosing a domain name, only to get stuck when it comes to actually putting a site together and making it presentable for viewers. Fortunately, there are some very basic things, even for newbies, that can make the process much easier. Here are some simple web design tips for new website owners: Templates. One of the fastest and easiest ways to design an effective website is to choose a customizable template. Customizable templates are easy to find. Simply search online, load them to your site, and make whatever changes you want to make the design your own. If you use a blog hosting service like WordPress to build your website, you will be pleased to find that you automatically have – Read the full article
UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who participated in the Lakeshore Branding Happy New Year 2012 Giveaway that we organized with UPrinting.com. You all posted awesome responses! Unfortunately, there can only be one winner. And we’ve chosen Andi Luther-Philippe of WeLoveSoap.com as the recipient of a custom set of 250 business cards from UPrinting. Congratulations, Andi! We certainly hope that the cards help you jumpstart your new handmade artisan soap company. (Hey, we might order ourselves some, too.) Again, thank you so much to everyone who participated. We’re liekly going to run more promos soon, so stay in touch and please do keep visiting our blog regularly for updates. *** We here at Lakeshore Branding would like to thank our clients and readers for a great year. Thank you! The year 2011 was an absolute blast, but 2012 is going to be even more fun. To celebrate the transition, we’re going to do something cool here. We’re going to run a contest – Read the full article
In light of the current recession and housing market downturn, real estate agents have to turn to new ways of creating and running their businesses. Social media marketing is one of the best, if not THE best way to do just that. The National Association of Realtors has a whole section of their website focused on social media for the real estate professional. The Field Guide to Social Networking for REALTORS® has eBooks, videos, and a ton of other resources to help you along the way. Facebook Ask around and you will be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of Facebook. Even if they don’t use it, they probably saw the movie last year about it! And it’s likely that most people you know are using Facebook and have hundreds of friends. A word of caution on catapulting yourself into this too quickly: mixing personal and professional can be a very slippery road. Keep your personal Facebook profile and create a Fan Page – Read the full article
More and more entrepreneurs are beginning to take advantage of all the Internet has to offer. For most companies, the Internet is a huge player in whether or not they will be successful. For others, it is the only player. In other words, many entrepreneurs are starting a small business that is online-only. If you run a blog or a website designed to help consumers, chances are that most of your business can be done through this online website. Before you know it, advertisers are interested and vendors want to be a part of the action. Eventually, you can have yourself a very profitable online business. Other online companies, however, get blindsided by the dollar signs and forget about the legal steps they must take in order to keep that money. After all, an online company takes a long time to turn profitable. When it finally happens, it’s exciting. But it’s important to put that excitement on hold and consider – Read the full article
Every business shares a common goal – to survive, grow and prosper. In today’s fast-track competitive world, businesses large and small must turn to new measures in order to evolve, grow or simply stay afloat. Ecommerce website development can offer growth opportunities of enormous proportion for businesses from all sectors. This is mostly due to the advent of highly improved and user friendly web services (Ed’s note: services like our favorite, Magento) available across the web that have literally carved a place in the hearts of online users. As an online business owner, the employment of technological advances in e-Commerce website design can mean the difference between the success and failure of your business objectives. Accordingly, it is important to understand exactly what an ecommerce website is and how to get started with one. Basically, an ecommerce website is a virtual representation of your physical business. Interestingly, most business owners grow to learn that the biggest difference between an ecommerce – Read the full article
