Your website is crucial to keeping your business alive. Think of it like this—the internet is a big…well, net. Your site is part of this net and allows you to “catch” visitors who might be interested in your services. For local businesses, Miami SEO services (to use my local community as an example) can prevent those little fishies that you catch in virtual space from slipping free. Those fishies are sales, BTW. Conversions. Money coming into your business. Your business can’t live if it don’t eat. But wait, you might be asking, why do I need my business to rank …
Thought Leadership Strategy: How to Influence in 4 Steps
A thought leader is someone who uses their expertise in a given field to help others. But it’s also more complicated than that—having a good thought leadership strategy doesn’t mean you can just decide one day that you are a thought leader because you know a lot about your craft. You must first gain credibility with your audience. You have to be considered a solid source of information within your business niche. The way things used to be before the internet gave everyone a platform if they wanted one, thought leaders had to publish in trade magazines and speak at …
Should I Continue To Use Facebook For My Small Business?
This is the question many small business owners have been asking regarding their presence on Facebook in light of the recent scandal. Last Friday, Facebook came under intense scrutiny regarding the unauthorized sharing of 50 million users’ data with Cambridge Analytica – a political data analysis firm. Since the announcement, people and businesses across the globe have shown great concern about their online security and privacy – and a small subset have opted to delete their Facebook accounts. We understand the magnitude and importance of this issue and wanted to share some perspective about the news. As a business owner, …
Keys to a Successful Startup
A successful startup doesn’t just happen. Of course, no one believes that anyway. But even pouring yourself into making your startup work doesn’t guarantee success. You might be able to limp along for a little while, but sooner rather than later, things will fall apart. Bleak, right? Well, it’s a good thing that I believe that there’s no point to complaining about a problem if you can’t provide a solution. If you want to create a startup that thrives, put these five critical tips into practice today. Find Your Purpose Building a successful startup is a journey—you might not know …
Attention Miami FL CPA Firms! Why Accountants Need to Take SEO Seriously
Attention Miami FL CPA Firms! Why Accountants Need to Take SEO Seriously SEO? What’s That? First thing’s first—what is SEO? Short for search engine optimization, SEO is a process that makes your site more attractive to search engines like Google. But how does the process work? The inner technical aspects of search engines are actually pretty interesting. They’re definitely complex. And they’re also undeniably critical to understand if you want to improve your accounting practice’s online presence. To put it simply, search engine robots (often called spiders or crawlers) are constantly traversing the internet, collecting and indexing information from every …
Net neutrality: What Is It And How It Will Affect Small Business Websites
Everyone knows about net neutrality. Wait, what? We do? Of course not. Up until yesterday, barely anyone had heard of it. The media had no coverage of this vote leading up to it. But with the FCC’s decision less than 24 hours ago to dismantle its regulations on net neutrality, reality has just kicked in. What exactly is net neutrality and why is it so important? Net Neutrality is the ability to communicate openly and freely on the Internet. There are no rules or regulations that hinder a consumer’s usage. We log on, type in a web page, and boom; …
Entrepreneurial Success Advice from the CEO: Dr. Ivan Misner, BNI Founder
Today I had the opportunity to be part of an intimate “ask the founder” question and answer session with BNI founder and the father of networking, Dr. Ivan Misner about his recommendations for entrepreneurial success. Founded in 1985, BNI (Business Networking International) is the largest business networking organization of its kind, with over 200,000 members worldwide and generating over $11 billion in passed business by its members. That’s equivalent to the GDP of a small country! I always enjoy meeting CEOs of large companies to ask about their lessons learned, observe their particular CEO persona, and hear first hand the …
Video Marketing Musts
Video Marketing Musts Video Marketing is often underrated and overlooked. But the video content you post is a crucial part of your brand’s strategy. Video is a powerful tool to use to tell your company’s story and to drive calls to action. Did we mention that YouTube is the number-2-ranked search engine? But you can’t just throw up any ole video and expect to have positive results. In order to successfully market via video and YouTube, your videos must be meaningful. How can they be meaningful? Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating your video. …
How to: Pinterest Marketing
How to: Pinterest Marketing Pinterest marketing is something often overlooked. Pinterest can be used for more than DIY birthday gifts and nifty holiday desserts. If you’ve been using the site already for pinning ideas you think are interesting, you might be surprised to know that marketing with Pinterest doesn’t take much extra. Like other social networks—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram—Pinterest gives you the ability to share things you like. And for a business, it allows for free exposure. Pinterest is all about networking, sharing things, and linking to content, which makes it ideal for driving new customers to your product or service. …
Small Business Mission: Managing As A Map, Not A GPS
A clear mission for a small business is like looking at a map rather than the tiny screen of the GPS on your mobile device. On a GPS, we typically enter an address where we’d like to go, and it gives us turn by turn directions. You know where you are, and you know your next turn, but you can’t quite see your ultimate destination. With a map on the other hand, you get a bird’s eye view of where you are, your destination, and how you will get from one to the other. You predict the turns along the …