You saw the money tree analogy coming—after all, money is usually the end goal of a startup company. This got me to thinking about the many ways a company can try to yield a profit. I found that people are constantly discussing the importance of content on a company website, but what people are not constantly discussing is the idea that this content does not always equal revenue. I will admit that I frequent many company websites simply to read their blog, yet I have no intention of ever buying their product. The point is, you first want to drive traffic to your webpage, but you cannot stop there. There are many things you can do to make sure that when people are visiting your website, they are tempted to buy. Consider a few of the things your startup company can do to make sure you are attracting the right kinds of visitors and keeping them interested: How to Bring – Read the full article
It’s easier than ever to make promotional videos. A few years ago, if you wanted to have an advert made, then you would have had to search for an affordable company offering video production in Nottingham or another major city near where your company was based. The production process would require regular meetings, intense discussion, several edits, and quite a large bill at the end. Now that even personal computers are capable of video editing, it’s starting to make more sense to do the work in house. A short video production training course may not bring your work up to the standard of a professional outfit doing video production, but if you’re producing short advertisements or viral videos then you most likely won’t need the sophisticated equipment of a professional video lab. What can you learn from video production training? One mistake that many people make is to get carried away playing with fancy settings and effects with their video – Read the full article
There have been changes to the services being offered by Google and, more notably, Facebook in the recent days, each trying to amalgamate the service they offer with one similar to Twitter, in that you can subscribe to individuals status updates and posts, regardless of being their friend or not. Facebook Facebook’s introduction of the subscribe feature allows users to follow celebrities and people they have an interest in, introducing a whole new range of settings allowing control over who can see your posts and whose posts you are exposed to on your own news feed. Twitter found itself introducing accessibility to the lives of celebrities when it started in 2006 and had many celebrity endorsements, most notably Stephen Fry. This is the kind of publicity that Facebook and Google can’t possibly replicate. So far, the celebrities I’m suggested to subscribe to consist of Mark Hoppus and Jared Leto, probably due to the lack of take-up from the celebrity world. – Read the full article
To build an effective, profitable, and customer-driven site, you need to dedicate more time and effort to information gathering and planning. The following are some guidelines that will help you build a successful website. What are your specific goals? Do you want a brochure site? Do you intend to sell services and/or products? Are you focused on branding and company awareness? Information and content? Social network communities? You need to think through this aspect since it will form the foundation of your overall strategy. Find websites within your industry which you can emulate. It is okay to borrow ideas, as long as you personalize them. Measure of success Usually, businesses succeed when specific goals are imposed on them. By having a clear goal, be it generating online income or attracting a certain number of visitors to your site, you enhance your chances of success. Take time to list down your goals. Remember that this list could change as your site – Read the full article
SEO isn’t for banal and unpopular niches—this is what some business owners believed when I first introduced them to search engine optimization. They thought SEO was only for popular businesses that people regularly search. So I explained that this notion was one big fallacy. I even elaborated that banal and unpopular niches were the ones that needed SEO the most. So you heard it right. SEO is for banal and unpopular niches. Actually, one of the reasons why SEO was created was to promote businesses that were still unheard and unpopular to people. During the early years of search engine optimization, it was actually the businesses and companies from the not-so-popular industries that made use of SEO’s capability to rule the then-uncrowded search engines. SEO Methods to Promote your Unheard Niche: Keyword research Through extensive and proper keyword research, banal niches can find their market with ease. Keywords are like map pins on search engines: they give you an idea – Read the full article
Sometimes, here at Lakeshore Branding we get some odd requests. We have had clients that ask us for help on wedding blogs and where to go for some online wedding themes. In response to these requests, we created WordPress Wedding Themes, a blog dedicated to showing you some of our favorite WordPress wedding themes. First, here’s our take on a few crucial attributes to What makes a good wedding blog. Follow the link for a more in depth take on the criteria. 1. Photography- Good photography is essential. In an ever advancing world of High Definition, Bush League photography is unacceptable 2. Content- Nothing professional required here. Genuine, from the heart diction will make a wedding blog stand out. 3. Wedding Site- We’ve all seen the outdated web sites that look like they’re still hosted by Angelfire or Geocities. While you also don’t need the most cutting edge web page, don’t settle. WordPress is the white knight of DIY websites. 4. Have Fun!- Call Captain – Read the full article
We’ve probably all seen these captivating Old Spice ads. Male or female there’s a certain je ne sais quoi about Isaiah Mustafa, who appeared in these commercials in 2010 and became part of the fastest-ever growing viral media marketing campaign. Isaiah is depicted as the perfect boyfriend in a series of fantasy situations, all because he chose Old Spice products. The narrative of the original advert (the one which ends with “I’m on a horse”) is quirky and takes place in a single, CGI-assisted shot. Isaiah Mustafa’s graceful, smug patter and charismatic movements make for exciting viewing, and the slick nature of the “storyline” keeps the viewer wanting more – precisely what we want from a viral advertisement. There was a shorter, “stinger” ad released, and one which showed him in a rowing boat removing a fake moustache to reveal another fake moustache below. Finally, Isaiah Mustafa starred in a second long advert. This time, the transitions were far 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
