Business Beginner

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the continuously evolving process of increasing the quantity and quality of organic website traffic in top search engines. Since Google is by far the most influential search engine, most strategies are focused around those search results. Organic traffic is the lifeblood of businesses and blogs around the world. SEO should always be a top concern for digital marketers and business owners across all industries. Your website's ability to generate organic traffic can be the difference between sweet success and utter failure. Purchasing paid traffic with ads is usually expensive and social media's organic reach has been waning for years. That means organic search engine traffic is even more crucial to driving brand awareness and sales.  SEO and digital marketing overall are constantly changing with continuous tweaks to the Google algorithm and fluctuating PageRanks for a billion websites across the globe. Your search strategy needs to adapt t...

No I didn't hit my head and imagine I was back in 2011. We all know Google+ never materialized into a serious competitor for social media supremacy with its past and current rivals of Facebook , Twitter, or LinkedIn. I'll also admit Google Plus should never be the cornerstone or even a focal point of any sort for any social media marketer. In fact, over the last 6 years I've mostly used G+ as an undiscriminating dumping ground for all of my content. And honestly I could care less about Circles and Google Hangouts.  So why am I writing about using Google Plus marketing to help grow your business? Because it works!! It can help support your digital efforts and it provides a strong ROI (no cost and minimal time). It really comes down to the ease of connecting, minimal time investment, and SEO benefits that G+ can provide. It also fits with my overall theme of using every free weapon at your disposal in an increasingly crowded and competitive social media marketing landscape. ...

When you’re growing a small business , you can use all the help you can get. Whether your small business is office-based or home-based, investing in a few innovative devices can make everyday life a little easier. Here are five of the latest and greatest devices for small businesses.  1. Mr. Coffee Smart Coffee Maker  Mr. Coffee takes the idea of programmable coffee makers to the next level with the smart coffee maker that you can control with an app on your phone. That’s right—you can brew coffee with the touch of a button while you’re still cozy in bed. With the mobile app , you can set a weekly schedule, adjust brew times, and even set reminders so you’re never without a fresh cup and can start your at-home workday off right.  2. Energous WattUp  WattUp from Energous is an amazing business tool sure to be a game changer thanks to its wireless charging capabilities. And we aren’t talking the kind of wireless where it still has to be placed somewhere specific. This...

Reviews from previous customers not only have major impacts on other potential customer’s purchase decisions. They also play an increasingly important role when it comes to your Google rankings . As a result, businesses are looking for ways to leverage customer reviews to drive their brand’s search ranking and performance.  However, many marketers and business owners hoping to manage customer feedback become overwhelmed easily especially when it is difficult for them to prioritize their resources and time. It's especially difficult for small businesses and solopreneurs to handle this ongoing task because they don't have a digital marketing or online reputation management team to take care of it.  This article goes into the importance of reviews for your Google rankings and further explains how review platforms such as Eooro can help your business improve its search ranking.  Online Reviews Have Multiple Benefits  The importance of getting reviews from previous cus...

Here are some of my favorite business quotes from Silicon Valley legend and Google co-founder (with Larry Page ) Sergey Brin: 1)  "Solving big problems is easier than solving small problems." 2)  "We believed we could build a better search. We had a simple idea that not all pages are created equal. Some are more important." 3)  "Obviously everyone wants to be successful , but I want to be looked back on as being very innovative, very trusted and ethical and ultimately making a big difference in the world." 4)  “We have tried to define precisely what it means to be a force for good – always do the right, ethical thing." 5)   "I feel there's an existential angst among young people. I didn't have that. They see enormous mountains, where I only saw one little hill to climb." 6)  "Ultimately you want to have the entire world's knowledge connected directly to your mind." 7)  "We wouldn't survive if people didn'...

I'm constantly asked about social media marketing, digital media, entrepreneurship, search engine optimization, retail sales, social selling, and many other topics through various outlets. These business questions come through my website, social media platforms, forums like Medium / Quora / Reddit / Ask /   Google / Inbound.org, and other outlets. When I have a lot of information to share on a particular subject I'll usually write an in-depth answer in the form of an article here... but I don't always have the time. Sometimes I just give a quick answer, or whatever initially comes to mind without prepping or brainstorming.  This series is reminiscent of  hustling entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk 's book #AskGaryVee (which I'm finishing now before posting a review), but I've actually been doing this for years with previous projects and businesses. My first  Bootstrap Business Blog Blitz  was a big hit so I'm making this a mainstay feature on my site...

I get questions on a daily basis about social media marketing, digital media, entrepreneurship, SEO, retail, and many other topics through various outlets. These questions come through my website, social media platforms, forums like Quora / Reddit / Google / Inbound.org, and other outlets. When I have a lot of information to share on a particular subject I'll usually write an in-depth answer in the form of an article here... but I don't always have the time. Sometimes I just give a quick answer, or whatever comes to mind first without edits.  It's actually ending up feeling a bit like hustling entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk 's book #AskGaryVee (which I'm finishing now before posting a review), but I've actually been doing this for years with previous businesses.  This will be my first installment of Bootstrap Business Blog Blitz, tackling quick questions from readers, viewers, peers, and friends. You'll also see plenty of internal links throughout which bri...

Read PART 1 First Welcome back to the Bootstrap Business complimentary guide to getting certified in Google Analytics. So far it's been a great free certification course with plenty to apply to your daily tasks in digital marketing, website development, and more. You'll come away from this course with more than just an industry recognized certificate. You'll enhance your overall understanding of digital marketing and maximize the ROI of your future campaigns. Creating A Measurement Plan: 1) Record business and marketing goals 2) Determine strategy to support goals 3) Determine metrics to be KPI: Key Performance Indicators 4) Determine how to segment data 5) Choose targets for KPI Create Implementation Plan: 1) Define business needs 2) Record technical environment of your business 3) Create Implement plan specific to your analytics tools. Define code snippets and exact product features needed to track data . 4) Implement Plan 5) Maintain, Review, Analyze, Refine, etc Also ...