Business Beginner

Pinterest has been a popular social media platform for many years now and it has been successfully adopted by hundreds of thousands of businesses and entrepreneurs during this time. But not all marketers have gotten on board or fully utilized this versatile medium.  In fact, Pinterest seems to be one of the platforms that many companies choose to skip in favor of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn , YouTube, and even our mediocre friend Google Plus! I'm not saying you should ditch any of these tried and true platforms (except perhaps the lowly Google+ ... even though I personally use it almost daily to cover my bases), but you should give Pinterest a fair shot and maximize its potential. When most people think of Pinterest they usually think of DIY projects, design ideas, weddings, fashion, and fitness... but that's kind of like thinking  YouTube is just for cat videos, or that Instagram is just for Selfies (wait it's not?). Don't let this close-minded perspective...

How do you get the word out about your new website or digital business? Once you've identified the niche of your digital media business, you'll need to get the ball rolling. In addition to being able to create high quality and unique content that adds value for your audience (a tall order on its own), you need to build an initial content distribution system. You can create the best articles, videos, ebooks, presentations, etc but if nobody views them they are essentially worthless. Most larger businesses will get a new media property going by paying for traditional advertising, spending lavishly on digital advertising , paying Influencers with enormous existing followings, or leveraging plentiful existing assets they already own. If you're frugal like me and don't plan on spending much or any money you'll obviously need a different game plan.  In the beginning a frugal entrepreneur really needs to use every free resource you have available. People don't know abo...

One of the many ways you can leverage your digital media expertise and monetize it is by offering consulting services. Your expertise in a specific niche industry and experience with digital media make you a valuable asset to many businesses. Whether you consult for one company or several at once, your nearly free startup can end up earning you over $100 an hour or a 6 figure annual income.  Analyze the market to determine what services are needed, under-served, and fit your skill set. What can you do better, cheaper, or more creatively than your competition? Chances are that if you've had success with your media startup, you've proven strong skills with social media, content creation, copy writing, video production, thinking outside the box, and being resourceful with a limited or nonexistent budget. These are all incredibly valuable skills that many companies and other entrepreneurs need. Create a separate website, or a separate section of your existing website (and potent...

Having an online business is one of the most popular ideas of the 21st century. The notion of internet has opened a whole new world of possibilities for both small businesses and individuals with great ambitions in their minds. This not only allows them to work from home, cooperate with people all over the world and operate globally, but also makes it a lot more lucrative. Unfortunately, even here it is not all milk and honey. Some people still fear doing business online for more than obvious reasons. However, by applying a proper strategy you can secure your online business .  Keep Your Data Safe  First of all your website as well as your business data will contain a lot of sensitive information that simply cannot fall into the wrong hands. Even some of the world’s largest conglomerates have a hard time recovering from this kind of security breach. For a startup or SMB a failure of this kind can be absolutely devastating. Take care of where you leave sensitive data online,...

Mobile applications that provide customers and clients with a more convenient way to interact with businesses have proven to be a real game changer. While a high-quality professional website is still the cornerstone of any online marketing effort, businesses that lack a professionally designed mobile app could be missing out on several potential advantages. From direct marketing to enhanced customer relationships, the right mobile app is no longer a resource that businesses can afford to overlook.  1. Marketing Opportunities  Mobile apps can do far more than just provide customers with service information and product details. Push notification and other forms of mobile alerts can allow tech savvy businesses to efficiently  inform customers about special sales, promotional events and other opportunities with far greater ease and success. Being able to put their message directly in the hands of their customers and clients can ensure that businesses are able to market th...

Once you have determined the focus of your brand and started to create a significant amount of high quality content , you'll realize how critical it is to be able to amplify your efforts. You need to build up an audience and awareness for the articles, blog posts, presentations, videos, email newsletters , and other digital media that you've created. You might have the best writing and videos in your industry but if nobody reads them it is a wasted effort. Here are some tips to boost your reach. Partner Up Work with friends, family, clients, former clients, associates, or anyone that has a website or social media presence to create a win-win alliance. Offer to assist them with their business efforts and online marketing in return for their help promoting your online brand. Partner with other bloggers or YouTube creators in the same or similar business niche as you. Choose your partners wisely and make sure they reflect positively on your brand but you'll need some business ...

Good marketing is essential for making your ingenious new product or service into a full-fledged success. It’s not just about dishing out a good product, it’s also about convincing people that they need it, and that it is just what they’ve been looking for. It takes quite a bit of thought to develop a marketing strategy that is effective, yet sublime enough so that people won’t see right through it.  Marketing has been around for ages, but with the advance of the Internet it’s grown to a whole new level. Nowadays ads are everywhere, and they’re constantly being developed to be more effective. That being said, there are still a few things you can do to make sure that your marketing strategy is good enough to draw new clients in. Here are a few tips that we’re sure will come in handy when planning your next marketing campaign.  1. Not Frequently Updating Your Blog  If your last blog post is a month ago, Google isn’t going to include it in a lot of searches, because there ...