Print
Time To Startup!
Inspiration and Information for Starting Your Business

Archive for the ‘Internet Marketing’ Category

Facebook Launches New Small Business Website

Posted on August 1st, 2011 by The BizFilings Team
Category: Internet Marketing, Small Business, Small Business News, Small Business Trends, Social Media

Many small businesses want to integrate Facebook into their marketing plans, but don’t know how to use it. Aimed at helping more small businesses to use its product, Facebook launched a new site, Facebook for Business.

The website features five tabs that businesses can use to build their Facebook page:

  • How it Works
  • Pages
  • Ads
  • Sponsored Stories
  • Platform

In each tab, users will find steps specific to creating each aspect of their Facebook page.

“While the new page doesn’t tout any new features, it definitely serves as a well-time reminder that unlike Google+, Facebook is all about using its platform for company branding,” wrote Dave Smith on Technology.Inc.com.

Realizing its competition with Google Plus, Facebook continues to attempt to one-up their fellow social media platform.

A Facebook representative told Smith that Facebook is a way for businesses to build social relationships with customers while also taking advantage of word-of-mouth marketing. Facebook.com/business was created to make this process even easier for businesses.

No Comments

5 Tips to Grow Your Small Business

Posted on August 1st, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido
Category: Grow a Business, HR, How To Information, Internet Marketing, Small Business, Small Business News

http://www.bizfilings.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Growth-iStock_000000589354Small.jpgWhether your small business is brand new, thriving or struggling, there are some core strategies that can help your company grow.

  1. Set Goals. The more you can define and clarify your goals, the better chance you have of accomplishing them. If you don’t have a clear destination, how can you possibly set a step-by-step plan of action to get there?
  2. Provide Good Communication. Respect your employees by being honest and transparent with them. Treat them like you would like to be treated, and you’ll find they are more inclined to excel.
  3. Use Social Media. There are plenty of ways to build a social media presence, especially with Facebook, LinkedIn and now Google Plus. In many cases the cost for these services are free, but keep in mind that there is a time investment you must be willing to commit to in order to see meaningful results.
  4. Treat Your Employees Well. Give them a raise if you can. Give them some extra time off. Instead of micromanaging, try empowering your employees with some wiggle room to grow and become better (improving your bottom line in the process).
  5. Know Thy Customer. Do you have a broad customer base, or is it a specific niche? What gets your customers excited? What type of language resonates with them? These are the types of questions that clearly define who you’re selling your services or products to. Without a clear picture, it’s a complete game of chance.

Business Blogs

blog

No Comments

Google Plus and its Effect on Small Business

Posted on August 1st, 2011 by The BizFilings Team
Category: Grow a Business, Internet Business, Internet Marketing, Small Business, Small Business News

Small businesses want to find a way set themselves apart from competitors. One way to stand out is to integrate Google Plus into social media initiatives and become active on the new social media platform.

Konrad Kafarski, CEO of Special K Enterprises, an independent consulting firm, says Google Plus is the best way to gain the attention small businesses need to grow in this economy.

Google Plus’ Circle function gives social media mangers the ability to talk to customers, one-on-one, which allows companies to learn about their customers. The Circle function is also a way for users to interact with others on a personal or private level.

To further inform small businesses on Google Plus, Forbes composed a list of items small businesses must know about Google Plus.

According to the website, Google Plus is Google’ answer to Facebook, but with a much simpler and better privacy management interface. Also akin to Facebook, Google Plus allows users to share links with the +1 button, meaning that the link contains quality information.

Google Plus is poised to impact SEO with the use of the +1 button. Many believe links with more +1 clicks will show up higher in search results.

No Comments

Small Business Growth: Tracking Your Advertising and Marketing

Posted on July 29th, 2011 by The BizFilings Team
Category: Grow a Business, How To Information, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Small Business, Small Business News

Many small business owners are unsure of how well their advertising is working. To shed some light on these issues for small business owners, eBridge Advertising — a leading online ad agency with more than 40,000 customers — surveyed more than 13,000 small business owners on a multitude of business issues.

The survey was created by eBridge to determine the need for what it calls Performance Advertising. Measuring dollars per response to advertising, as well as recording how many calls, walk ins or website visits, are aspects of performance advertising.

The survey found 63 percent of small businesses don’t know how many customers they gain through every $100 worth of advertising. Another 64 percent said customer phone calls are the best way to measure the effectiveness of their advertising.

So, how can small businesses start getting clear, accurate answers? For starters, they can attend BIA/Kelsey’s Summit for Directional Media Strategies 2011 (DMS ‘11), which will discuss the latest forms of small business marketing and advertising.

“SMB marketers now require a complex mix of products and services to drive leads, measure performance, manage customer relationships and engage customers,” said Chairman Charles Laughlin, senior vice president and program director, BIA/Kelsey.

The DMS ‘11 program will give attendees the opportunity to hear from more than 50 senior executives in the small business marketing field.

No Comments

Fantastic Free Cloud Apps, Part 7: InboundWriter

Posted on July 29th, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido
Category: Grow a Business, How To Information, Internet Marketing, Small Business News, Small Business Technology

http://www.bizfilings.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/SEO-iStock_000015118962Small.jpgWelcome to the Fantastic Free Cloud Apps series, where we look at the very best cloud-based apps and how they can be harnessed to help your small business get organized, grow and improve your SEO strategy.

Next up: InboundWriter.

What is InboundWriter?
It’s an application that assists with social media content of all kinds — including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn — as well as search engines like Google. InboundWriter is an easy-to-use SEO strategy tool that helps you reach more people and increase online conversions.

InboundWriter deftly does this by giving you the power to optimize your keywords and keyword phrases, so the overall “strength” of your social media content rises in rank. In the case of a blog, this type of SEO strategy would bring you closer to the top of Google’s natural search results, which will yield more hits.

I actually used the application for this very article, and it helped me double my SEO score.

“Just provide InboundWriter with a few words and websites that relate to the topic you are writing about. InboundWriter then scours major search engines, popular social media sites and specified competitive websites to determine words and phrases directly relevant to your topic of choice.”

In addition to supporting your SEO strategy, this app even has a cool “document score” interface that resembles a car speedometer which instantly shows you if the changes you are making are making a difference.

Like it or not, social media is now a key component to the success of a small business. So what are you waiting for? Sign up for InboundWriter, or learn more about the app, by visiting their homepage.

Thanks for checking out this installment of Fantastic Free Cloud Apps. I hope InboundWriter improves your SEO strategy!

Links to previous Fantastic Free Cloud Apps articles:
Google Docs: Create and edit web documents from anywhere
DropBox: Simplify your life and your business
Survey Monkey: Create smart, professional surveys with ease
Evernote: Capture anything. Access anywhere. Find things fast
Google Calendar: Never forget another event
HootSuite: The social media dashboard

Business Blogs

blog

No Comments

Online Marketing Assistance for Small Businesses

Posted on July 28th, 2011 by The BizFilings Team
Category: Grow a Business, Home Business, Internet Business, Internet Marketing, Small Business, Small Business News, Small Business Technology, Women-Owned Businesses

Search Engine Optimization and social media have become a staple in the marketing schemes of many small businesses. Integrating SEO and social media marketing, Optify — the leading provider of online marketing software and service for the Real Time Web — launched a new Basic Edition designed especially for small and medium-sized businesses.

“We get everything we need for our online marketing campaigns in one single product, no more juggling across different applications,” said Jonathan Saad, president and CEO at BlueCosmo, a sales and rental source for satellite phones, pagers and accessories.

Offering page optimization, link tracking, Twitter for business, and more, the Basic Edition of Optify is able to handle all of the online marketing needs of a small business. Optify also can track 250 keywords and includes one global search engine.

Another great, inexpensive resource is Tom Heatherington’s SEO and Social Media Marketing Guide. Tom is an online marketing consultant, and he’s cut the price the Kindle and online versions of his bookby 75 percent.

Heatherington compares a website that has not been optimized to a business that has an unlisted phone number. The SEO and Social Media Marketing Guide outlines how to utilize SEO and social media marketing in simple terms to help businesses instantly improve its brand.

No Comments

Facebook's Marketing Reach for Small Businesses Continues to Grow

Posted on July 28th, 2011 by The BizFilings Team
Category: Grow a Business, How To Information, Internet Marketing, Small Business, Small Business Technology, Small Business Trends

Social media marketing is moving from “nice-to-have, to must-have for small businesses,” according to Julie Fajgenbaum, vice president of brand and social media, American Express OPEN.

After screening 11,000 entrants, Facebook and American Express OPEN named five winners for the “Facebook Big Break for Small Business” contest. The five winners will head to Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California to become trained on uses of social media for small businesses. The winners will also pocket $20,000 to spark the growth of their social media presence.

“These five businesses have great potential and will make excellent case studies for the millions of small business owners out there who are looking to accelerate their social media marketing efforts in order to grow,” said Fajgenbaum.

Facebook will train the winners in a classroom setting about how to utilize Facebook Pages, Ads, Social Plugin, and how to improve their current Facebook page. Training will also include learning how to maximize the power of Facebook for marketing purposes and how to target new customers.

Adele Cooper, director of global customer marketing and communications at Facebook, says all companies can benefit from Facebook and the marketing prowess its possesses.

One of Facebook’s most useful and successful tools is its Facebook fan pages. Companies want to continue add more and more features to those pages, but it is hard to do that without the help of an IT professional.

Realizing the growth of Facebook marketing, Shortstack, a company that helps small businesses design better Facebook pages for free, launched late last year.

Shortstack created a simple tool for companies to create customizable tabs for their Facebook fans pages, allowing visitors more ways to explore the page, according to the website.

“Fans are able to do more than just comment on a photo or write on a wall,” said Jim Belosic, Shortstack president, in a recent conversation with ITTechDaily. “They can enter contests, sign up for company newsletters and watch videos — all through a very simple user interface.”

According to the website, Shortstack provides its service for free to businesses with Facebook fan pages with fewer than 2,000 “likes.” Shortstack offers rates from $15 to $300 a month depending on the services requested and for companies with larger fan bases.

No Comments

Merchant-friendly Daily Deals from Everybodybuys.com

Posted on July 19th, 2011 by The BizFilings Team
Category: Grow a Business, Internet Business, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Promote My Business, Small Business, Small Business News

Websites like Groupon and Living Social charge small businesses a hefty fee for their daily deals. Everybodybuys.com aims to help merchants by allowing them to keep the full profit on the deal provided.

Instead of charging a fee to small businesses, Everybodybuys.com charges consumers a small fee to purchase a deal. This allows small businesses to keep the full profit when consumers redeem their coupon.

“It’s just not sustainable in a lot of cases to be giving up that much money, which is why we created the ‘Buy Here, Save There’ program,” said Mitch Sibonney, partner of Everybodybuys.com.

Social media plays a huge role for Everybodybuys.com. According to the company’s Web site, they follow a policy similar to Groupon called collective buying. Collective buying means there is a minimum amount of sales Everybodybuys.com must make for a particular deal in order for it to become valid.

Because of collective buying, Everybodybuys.com relies heavily on their consumers to spread the word on social media about a deal they are attempting to purchase. If the minimum amount of sales are not met on a particular deal, no one receives it.

If you’re a small business looking to offer a great deal and spread the word about your company, Everybdybuys.com might be a good fit for your marketing and sales campaign.

No Comments

Fantastic Free Cloud Apps, Part 2: Survey Monkey

Posted on July 13th, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido
Category: How To Information, Internet Business, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Small Business, Small Business News

http://www.bizfilings.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Survey-iStock_000010633777Small.jpg
In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the benefits of DropBox — a free, multi-platform app that lives in “the cloud.” In addition, we defined what the cloud is, and discussed some of the ways it can be harnessed to help your small business.

In this part of the Fantastic Free Apps series, I’d like to introduce you to Survey Monkey — a cloud-based application that can help you gain feedback from existing and potential customers. Like all the apps in this series, Survey Monkey is free for the basic service.

What You Get for Free

  • 10 questions per survey
  • 100 responses per survey
  • Easy-to-use web-based survey tool
  • 31 survey templates
  • 15 types of questions
  • All languages supported (Unicode)
  • Randomize & sort answer choices
  • 15 pre-set visual themes
  • Survey completion progress bar
  • Auto-numbering for pages & questions
  • Validate/require survey responses
  • Fully accessible & 508 compliant

Additional Features

  • Send out your survey via weblink, email, or Twitter
  • Share your survey on Facebook
  • Embed your survey into a page or on your website
  • Deploy your survey via a website pop-up
  • Send your survey using our email manager
  • Real-time results

Ready to learn more? Take a tour to discover more details about Survey Monkey.

Next up: Evernote.

Business Blogs

blog

2 Comments

The Social Media Free-for-all

Posted on July 8th, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido
Category: Grow a Business, How To Information, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Promote My Business, Small Business, Small Business Trends

http://www.bizfilings.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Social-Media-iStock_000016854973Small.jpg

Like us. Follow us. Add us to your network.

Social media is like a huge meet-and-greet, a sea of companies all wanting us to click and pick them as one of our favorites. Only this meet-and-greet is often one sided, with many companies having a single objective on social networking sites — to promote themselves.

Companies that have a successful LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook page understand that building an online following hinges on two things:

  • Connecting with the right audience
  • Giving them something they value

I’m sorry, but just because I love Levis jeans, doesn’t mean I want to join their Facebook page. Unless they’re giving me something I want. In other words, “what’s in it for me?” At first glance, this may seem egotistical, but it’s a fact — without a compelling reason to like a company’s Facebook page, why should I care?

Something as simple as, “Like us and get free shipping on your next order,” or some type of special coupon would be a compelling reason for me to click and like. I’m obviously the right audience for Levis , they’re the only brand of jeans I wear. But they’re not giving me anything of value to convince me to like them. And if I like them, every post published on their Facebook page is going to up on my wall.

Here are a few questions to consider when thinking about social media and the growth of your business:

  • Do you have an organized social media initiative for your small business?
  • Are you connecting with the right audience?
  • If not, how can you connect with them?
  • What can you offer them that will be relevant and have inherent value?

When it comes to marketing — whether it’s a Facebook page, a print ad, or a commercial — the customer always comes first. What’s in it for them?

May your small business always experience abundance, growth and prosperity …

Business Blogs

blog

No Comments
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »