We all know what the end of a year means … New Year’s Resolutions! I recall my personal resolution last year was to drink more water. I succeeded in my quest and am now a happy water drinker. A happy, happy water drinker.

But my challenge to you this year is to not only make resolutions for yourself, but make them for your business. After all, our business is our livelihood. We need to make sure that it is just as “healthy” and “happy” as it can be.

So, here are some ideas to start 2010 with gusto!

A. Get that website redesign that you’ve been thinking about! It’s time and it really does make a difference.

B. Try Social Media Marketing. That’s right … Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr. It cannot be denied that Social Media is a powerful tool in marketing your brand. Start slowly by creating one account. Get used to how it works and how you can use it for marketing purposes. Put it on your daily schedule for updating and work on building your fan base and followers. Once you are comfortable with the one account, you are ready to add another.

Make sure that you are maximizing your opportunities with social marketing. The conversation starts online, but the conversion happens in the real world.

C. Embrace one new “function” on your website. Try adding something new and creative to your website. After all, your website is your vehicle to promote your business. Explore videos. Add a Newsletter Sign up and try Email Marketing. Try blogging. Add related articles or expand your content by adding a new section altogether. Keep your website moving forward!

D. Set marketing goals. With all these new marketing strategies, make sure you track your efforts. You’ll easily be able to see the difference your new strategies are making by analyzing your statistics. Continue doing whichever avenues have made a positive impact.

E. Get involved. Read related blogs and leave comments. Become fans of Facebook pages. Send Direct Messages on Twitter. In a word … participate. Your effort will be rewarded.

F. Cross your t’s and dot your i’s. Make sure your online profiles are fully complete. If you can add 10 pictures, add 10 pictures. Fill out all descriptions and added info sections. Don’t forget about the reviews! Make sure you have enough reviews by soliciting happy clients for them. It’s a good idea to go and check all accounts. You may have thought you would go back to finish one or more of them but forgot about it.

G. Manage your reputation. With the introduction to real time search, it is more important than ever to be aware of what is being said. Use Twitter Search to track any mention of your name, your keywords, your location and your competitors’ name. Use Google Alerts to have an email update sent directly to your inbox. Based on your choice of query or topic, Google will send an email of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.). This is very handy indeed.

Above all, have a happy and healthy New Year!

So….you’ve worked hard to garner a bevy of Facebook fans and Twitter followers. You are blogging, Tweeting, Digging, gaining friends and fans and linking everywhere. These online social media environments can create a vibrant, relevant, active platform that will benefit your business in any number of ways. As your network grows, however, you may find that the maintenance of these has become incredibly time consuming and complex to the point that you are experiencing some anxiety. You may be suffering from social media fatigue! (more…)

Just starting out on a blog? Need advice and a clear strategy to generate more interest and traffic?

Below are 7 tips I have learned that can help you create and maintain a successful blog. I have many more ideas on the topic, so I will write a follow-up post in the upcoming days so stay tuned. Please share your blog secrets and tips with me too. I would love to hear them!

1. Have a Clear Topic
Before you even begin to jump into the ‘blog circuit’, put together a road-map of what you feel your blog will be all about. Have a clear direction in your mind before you begin – A) What is your Topic, B) What are your Categories and C) What would be some of your posts in your Categories). (see map below courtesy of ProBlogger) The best blogs have a specific focus that really connects with a specific target audience. If you fill out the map, you will already have pre-planned a large chunk of your initial blog posts! Also, keep a list of 10-20 post ideas you want to write about so you never get stumped. View the map after the jump (more…)

The Google Ten Pack is considered “prime real estate”. But what is it that those ten sites have that your site might not have? Today we’ll explore some simple changes that will help catapult your site into this section. If these simple changes don’t do the trick, give us a call and we can provide a deeper analysis for you.

In this image, you can see where the Ten Pack is located on the Google Search Results Page. If your site is not listed, it is worth the effort to make some adjustments to your Google Local account to try to get it there. (more…)

[For those that have been reading our blog for a few months, this entry is a hybrid of our SEO Expectations post and our How To on Blogging.]

We’ve recently seen an increase in customers coming to us and asking us to help set up a blog for them on their websites. As Internet marketers we love to see our clients become more involved on the Internet, learning to use the resources at their disposal and providing additional services to their own customers. Having the ability to control the message their customers see is such a powerful tool that they should inherently understand its importance. But do they?
(more…)