MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE – ECOMMERCE, PASSWORDS & MORE

MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE – ECOMMERCE, PASSWORDS & MORE

by | Apr 10, 2021 | Blog, SEO, Social Media, Tech Tips, Website Design

Hey marketers, how’s 2021 going so far? It’s tough out there… people are just trying to get a vaccine at this point. The good news is, they are all online trying to get an appointment, even 80-year-olds, so you’re more than likely to get in front of someone with your marketing! My main focus lately has been installing shopping carts on my client’s websites. Whether you have digital downloads to sell, flower delivery, or an out-of-this-world, delicious crunchy chili oil (so good 🔥) that you’ve been cookin’ up in your Seattle kitchen, now is a great time to get your store up and running and market it to the world.

My recommendations for an ecommerce website are as follows;

If you do decide to sell online you need to learn more about how to help your customers find you. Entrepreneur.com has 4 Things You Need To Know About SEO

How are you managing your passwords? I use LastPass and starting March 16th their free version will restrict how many different types of devices you can save your passwords on. If this is a problem for you, here are some alternatives – 5 Password Managers to Replace LastPass on Mashable (please change your website admin password frequently)

Security is VIP when you have an eCommerce website. The amount of hacking is off the rails these days! I install Wordfence security on all the WordPress websites I maintain and it catches just about every breach. Whether you use Paypal, bank credit card processing, Square or any other payment processor you need to protect your website.

Google Analytics is essential to your new online shopping site… you need to know where customers are finding you, as well as where they are not. If you are constantly posting a link to a product on your LinkedIn business profile but not a single click comes from LinkedIn, focus your marketing efforts elsewhere!

Marketing your online store and products will look a little different than marketing services. Keywords, metadata, and on-page content will need to be updated on your website to reflect the products you are selling. Blogging and email marketing will need to be more sales-focused… not pushy, but “helpful”. Why do they need your product, what are the benefits of using your products, tell them what people are saying about your products. Depending on what your selling and who your target demographic is, you may need to try out a new social platform. TIK-TOK is on fire, and easier to use than you think… and it’s SO fun!

Now get out there and sell something! xo-Katie

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Good Riddance 2020 – New Year, New Attitude

Good Riddance 2020 – New Year, New Attitude

by | Jan 3, 2021 | Blog, SEO, Social Media, Tech Tips, Website Design

Phew… we made it! 2020 just about took us ALL down. Some have suffered more than others… and to those of you that lost a loved one to COVID, suffered job loss, sickness, financial difficulty or any other fallout due to the pandemic, my heart goes out to you. I am truly grateful that I am still working and healthy, and my husband is still employed and healthy, and our children are safe, healthy and thriving.

Life is different now… and anyone that thinks life will just automatically go back to the way it was before December 2019, and after we all get vaccinated, is living in “la la land”. We will never be the same! BLM, COVID, Government antics and all the other craptastic happenings in 2020, changed the way we live, forever. Some of 2020’s craziness will hopefully make change for the good and push us forward to an inclusive society and a kinder better, humane community. I know I will do my part to listen, support and learn how to do and be better.

Moving forward in 2021, it’s important to acknowledge the new norm in your business. Perhaps you have employees working from home, maybe business has decreased, you may have some products stacking up in the warehouse and/or countless other worrisome aspects… this too shall pass, so don’t let your online presence suffer. Here is what you need to be doing to ensure your online business presence stays fresh, gets found and works for you!

“Must-do” list to keep or make your online business presence awesome;
  • Keep your website updated (WP-plugins, add new services and products, add to your portfolio, add a cookie consent banner, OH! and change your footer copyright date to 2021)
  • Write and schedule blog posts (twice a month is optimal)
  • Post on social media (news, team updates, fun stuff, and send followers to your website/blog)
  • Keep your Google Business Listing updated (new hours, post content, post links to your website/blog)
  • Assess your service contracts and business overhead (perhaps it ‘s time to change your website hosting if it’s not serving you. I recently left GoDaddy for a local hosting company and I am encouraging all of my clients to move there too)
  • Clean-up your inbox! Un-subscribe from email lists you no longer need, want or read and subscribe to something new… ones that bring you joy, news, help, etc.
  • Last but not least, start a new business! You wouldn’t think so… but now is a great time! read more here>>>

Now… let’s all grab our laptops and improve our online business presence by updating our websites, doing more marketing, improving our search results… because YOUR business IS essential and the economy needs you to keep going!

xo, Katie

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Marketing Your Business Online – May 2020 Link Roundup

Marketing Your Business Online – May 2020 Link Roundup

by | May 8, 2020 | Blog, Social Media, Website Design

Hello friends! Hope you are staying home and staying healthy. These are unusual times… try to stay positive and try to make the most of any down time you might have. If your business is temporarily closed or just not as busy as usual, I have some ideas on how you can utilize this time to work on your business!

First; take a good look at your website. Start on the homepage, make notes as you go. Perhaps you haven’t updated your content in a while, maybe you’ve added new services or you have never really liked that top banner image. Go through your website page-by-page and make notes of what you need and want changed, even you can’t afford to do it now, you will have the notes for when you can afford to make these changes.

Second; pull up all your other business online presence platforms. Update your LinkedIn profile, reach out to new connections, post an update (you should already be doing this weekly, if not more often) maybe post an uplifting meme or image, share a connections post, like and comment on your connections posts. Get on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and your Google Business Listing and do the same. Add a new banner image, change your hours, update your followers on the status of your business during Covid-19, and above all, try to show positive fibes, your clients and customers need to see that you are expecting to and are ready and raring to get back to business as usual as soon as you can.

Third; Now’s the time to learn a new platform or app that supports your business. Maybe you’ve been putting it off because you’ve been too busy working IN your business. You’re probably using ZOOM, so that’s done! What about SLACK for communicating with your team or the Hootsuite posting dashboard? If you follow me, you know I love Hootsuite and have been using it for scheduling clients and my own, social media posts for 10+ years. It really is the best! I load it up with posts and then I know good content is going out on all my channels and I can interact on each platform at my leisure from my phone. I use hashtags on the appropriate platforms, Twitter & Instagram, no one follows hashtags on Facebook, and I doubt people follow them on LinkedIn either, but they give no stats, so think about only using them there as good subject indicators ??‍♀️

Fourth; Try to stay positive and keep busy. Cook more, bake, start a jigsaw puzzle, clean-out your closet or kitchen drawers, schedule Zoom happy hour or coffee dates with friends and family, get outside and enjoy your fur-babies.

And now for this month’s link round-up!

Speaking of staying busy! Learn or teach a new skill. Skillshare is COOL. They have a myriad of experts teaching really rad, creative stuff. Hey… you could teach your special skill! Join Skillshare to watch, play, learn, make, and discover. (that’s their tagline, they NAILED IT!) https://www.skillshare.com/

Are you selling online? Man, I hope so! Now’s the time if there was any. Instagram is STILL hot and it’s a great place to shop, I should know, I buy something off The Gram gram at least once a week. ??‍♀️ Learn how to sell the right way… check-out “How to Use Instagram Shopping to Make it Easier for People to Shop” via Business Instagram here: https://business.instagram.com/blog/how-customers-can-shop-through-covid19/

Always wanted to start a business? It may not seem like it, but now is a great time to start one! There are many things to think about when launching a new business… it takes time, research and all the right steps in all the right order. Do you know what they are? If no… I got you, check-out, How to Start a Business: A Step-by-Step Guide by the good people at FINIMPACT here; https://www.finimpact.com/starting-a-business/

Podcasts… you listen to them, you love them, should you start one? Hells yes! As I said above, now is a great time to start something new. Not sure where to begin? Go to the experts! The people at CALL FOR CONTENT have a playbook for all things Podcast. Check it out here: https://www.callforcontent.com/playbooks

Be well, xoxo Katie

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Marketing Your Business Online – February 2020 Link Roundup

Marketing Your Business Online – February 2020 Link Roundup

by | Feb 13, 2020 | Blog, SEO, Social Media, Tech Tips, Website Design

Welcome to February 2020! What the what? 2020 sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it? But… here it is, so LET’S GO!

So… what changes and new ideas can you expect for online marketing and improving your website traffic in 2020? Here are a few tips and article links to help you make 2020 your best year ever!

Blogging and Website Traffic:

“What’s the point of blogging, nobody ever reads it!”… sound familiar? I’ve said it! Breath life back into your blog and increase traffic to your website… read “How Social Media Can Be Magic For Your Blog” – https://pegfitzpatrick.com/how-social-media-can-be-magic-for-your-blog/ by Peg Fitzpatrick

Are you reading this on your phone? Looks good, right?! Responsive website design is THE most important thing you can do for your website… right now! Check out this easy-to-read article, The Importance of Responsive Design and help the 2 billion smartphone users view your website with ease and interest.

Education and Growth:

January/February are typically bleak months for me… I suffer from holiday burnout, the weather in Seattle is dark & dreary (a maj issue for this sun worshiper) yearly goals are looming and I just want to crawl under a blanket and binge Netflix. To help me get new biz ideas and get motivated to set goals, I choose a new book to read or a podcast to listen to.

I freaking LOVE Mel Robbins... her advice, her no-nonsense attitude, her voice, AND… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, f’ing works, man! Check out KICK ASS, TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE, and Mel’s Daytime TV Show and more. Listen to Mel’s books on Audible and watch her on Video, she’s got an awesome delivery and voice… I’m obsessed!

My other business guru is Marie Forleo. If you haven’t heard of Marie… get ready to enjoy the hell outta yoself! She’s a hip-hop dancer, an entrepreneur, a teacher, a mentor and the real-deal!  I am reading her new book Everything is Figureoutable, I get her weekly emails that include a new MarieTV interview with a great guest, she has B-School for entrepreneurs, a Podcast and so much more! Check out all of Marie’s great content here: Queen Marie.

Social Media Marketing:

What will the trend be in 2020? While TikTok is cool and showed a huge surge when it first started… it is showing a slight decline in brand marketing. What should you concentrate on? Take a look at Social Media Today’s article “20 Predictions for Social Media Marketing in 2020”.

Video… Video… Video… Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. With 3 billion searches per month, YouTube’s search volume is larger than that of Bing, Yahoo, AOL and Ask.com combined. Do you have a YouTube channel? Launch your channel today and start creating and uploading videos for your business, NOW!

Obtaining New Clients and Networking:

It’s hard out there for an entrepreneur! Finding and retaining clients is NOT easy… I have relied on referrals for new business most of the 10 years I’ve been in business, however… I recently transitioned away from social media marketing services and I am now only offering website design, re-design, updates and maintenance and I need to add clients. I’m going to visit my local Chamber of Commerce this month and see of it’s a good fit. In the past I have joined different groups and stayed with them for 2-5 years, but I think it’s good to mix it up and try new sources of business building. What networking group or system works best for you? Leave a comment below.

Happy marketing!

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Marketing Your Business Online – August Link Roundup

Marketing Your Business Online – August Link Roundup

by | Aug 27, 2019 | Blog, Social Media, Tech Tips

How’s your digital marketing and website presence looking? I know there’s a lot to keep-up with, so here’s some tips and helpful information I’ve come across to help you focus on some specific tasks to further your progress in positioning your business online for great success!

It’s all about the photo! Visual is very important when it comes to web presence, but did you know that search engines do not see images, they read the text added to your images? (title, alt and description) Now we learn that there’s even more you can do! Check out this easy to follow infographic and use the 19 actionable image SEO tips to optimize your images for search – https://seosherpa.com/image-seo/ by SEO Sherpa

Remember vision boards? Maybe some of you still create them… visual goals and written goal lists will never go out of style, they work! Take a look at Rebekah Radice’s article, 5 Simple Ways to Make Your Social Media Goals Stick – https://rebekahradice.com/social-media-goals/

I’ve talked about claiming your Google business listing before, and making sure you post on it regularly to boost your business in search… here’s an article that talks about using it for “Google Maps Marketing” to boost your businesses local shopping in search – https://pixelcutlabs.com/blog/google-maps-marketing/ from Pixel Cut Labs

Get more traffic to your blog posts! Sounds simple, but it’s not, it’s hard work. Take a look at this article featuring a unique method to increase reads and shares on your posts – https://growthbadger.com/double-survey-technique/ from GrowthBadger

Most importantly… make sure your blog posts look great on mobile! I have seen some really good looking websites, and then checked them out on mobile and UGH! what the what? Their web developer forgot that mobile is now in the high 60% for browsing.

Keep up the great work perfecting your online presence!

 

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Marketing Your Business Online – April 2019 Roundup

Marketing Your Business Online – April 2019 Roundup

by | Apr 22, 2019 | Blog, Social Media, Tech Tips

Marketing your business online is pretty much a second job for most entrepreneurs… I hope this roundup of marketing tip links from the experts help!

Hashtags! am I right? Which ones? How many? Where do I use them? Well… for sure use them on Instagram, duh! Here’s help – Bullet Journal Hashtags: My Complete Instagram Guide (2019) – https://lifebywhitney.com/bullet-journal-hashtags/ by Whitney

Facebook Ads… mo money, mo money, mo money, UGH! I struggle with getting them to perform… do you? Here’s help – 5 Rookie Facebook Ads Mistakes to Avoid – https://kimgarst.com/5-rookie-facebook-ads-mistakes-to-avoid/ by Kim Garst

Don’t have the swipe-up feature? CURSES Instagram! (well really… curses ZUCK!) You can still sell on Insta… here’s help – How Small Businesses Can Use Instagram to Sell Your Services – http://ow.ly/XJHm50r0yCH by Mari Smith

LinkedIn… it’s not just for the unemployed anymore! Download your – 5 Best Practices for Your LinkedIn Page https://hootsuite.com/resources/five-steps-to-a-winning-linkedin-strategy from Hootsuite

And now for my tip! Are you selling products or have a visual business? USE PINTEREST! Pinterest is the one platform that allows you to link your photos back to your website… by pinning photos from your your website and blog. Even if you’ve already pinned all your website photos, not possible if you’re blogging regularly (sarcasm), go through and pin them again. Pin a few a week, please don’t pin them all in one sitting, UGH, your photos need to pop-up in the pinfeed randomly and often.  Use hashtags, and plenty, just like you do on Instagram. Have fun pinning!

 

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