Even if all you have is one hour a day, you can do a lot to increase traffic to your website. The best way to get more traffic to your website quickly is to add more targeted content, promote that content, and keep repeating that. Many things on this list will not even take you an hour. If you start at the top of the list and work your way down the list over a day or two, spending one hour each day, you can dramatically increase your website traffic. 1. Add “alt” tags to images on your website 2. Add a plugin like Inline Tweet Sharer Link – https://wordpress.org/plugins/inline-tweet-sharer/…

The worst business decision you can ever make is to roll out a huge grand opening without being ready. It’s like planning your wedding without a groom. It’s like having a baby shower before announcing the pregnancy. It’s just not done. Well, at least it should not be. If you want to really impress your readers, take the time to ensure that your website is ready for them. Responsive and User Friendly Web Design A site that is easy to search and browse will win points immediately. People don’t want to click around and get confused about how to buy something or wonder exactly what they’re supposed to do on…

If you’re a trend watcher in your industry (and you should be), you’ll notice that times are changing when it comes to online marketing. Gone are the impersonal days of the past where you could be anonymous and still rake in six figures. Today, your customers want to know you even more. Here are some additional trends that are changing the way we market. 1. Changes to Google Google updates are supposed to help fight against spam better. This is good news for you as a marketer since many good business owners were being punished under the old version of Penguin. The good news is that if you were hit…

To build a well-running, attractive website you need a content management system (CMS) that allows you to develop an “all-in-one” online presence. You need a place to host your blog, your articles, and other information about your products and/or services. The very best CMS that is available today is simple to use, easy to update, and used widely by small and large businesses alike. That platform is self-hosted WordPress. First, let’s differentiate between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com runs on the WordPress software but is not what we are discussing. To build a great website, the platform you need is from WordPress.org which is installed on your own server space, and…

Defining your ideal client can happen in a variety of ways. The best way is to decide who they are prior to inventing a product or developing your services. But, many people do it the other way successfully; it’s just a little more difficult. As you are working toward defining your ideal client, ask and answer the following questions. Who do you really want to work with? It’s important to know the type of people you want work with. Write down your ideal candidate and leave nothing out. You want this to be your perfect, ideal customer that would exist in a perfect world. Do you want to work with…

Some people say video marketing is the “new” marketing of the future but if you think about it, we’ve really come full circle. First marketing started out as print material, then we started adding images, and then we used sound on the radio. When television came about, we started putting our pictures and text via the sound of voiceovers on the television in the form of advertisements. The internet started out largely text based. Then we started experiencing audio through audio files like .wav files, and finally the technology allowed for images. And now due to fast internet speeds and upgraded technology like tablets and smartphones, we can watch streaming…

As a small business owner it is imperative that you study the supply and demand of any particular niche for which you feel you want to be involved. In addition, choosing a smaller niche market can allow your business to avoid competing with huge businesses that can afford to put out less expensive items. As a smaller business owner you can charge higher prices for specialized and differentiated products or services that you promote to smaller audiences, giving higher profitability. In contrast, a larger business isn’t going to touch the smaller niches because they want to make much larger profits than the smaller niches will allow. The trick is to…

Deciding on which analytics matter most is an important step in helping you determine if the marketing strategy you have is producing the results you want. You’ll need to understand why you exist, what your goals are, and what data to collect to determine success or failure. Understand What Your Goals Are Whatever your marketing strategy is – whether content marketing, or social media marketing, it’s important to know why you’re doing it. Are you creating products to make the lives of your target market easier? Do you want more newsletter members? Are you trying to get sign-ups for a webinar? What exactly do you do, and why do you…

Most people think of content marketing as producing text-based content, writing words and sentences to sell a product or convey an idea. While that is true, that’s not all content is. Content also consists of images, infographics, logos, and other visual elements of your business, such as your website’s or blog’s look and feel. All these visual elements matter when it comes to marketing. You’ve probably noticed that so many things are more visual on the internet today than they used to be. People create photographic memes to pass around an idea or thought, they share pictures, and due to the advent of social media like Pinterest, marketing is more…

A great way to promote your business is to become an expert locally. Becoming a local expert in your field of expertise will boost your business in ways that you cannot imagine. It doesn’t matter whether you have an online business or a bricks and mortar business; being seen as a local go-to expert will increase your share of business. Start a Locally-Inspired Blog Create a blog that is focused on your local area within your niche. Use a lot of locally-focused keywords and talk directly to your local audience about your subject. You can use your blog as a repository for interviewing local people, writing information about your niche,…