Content Marketing

What is content marketing? If you’re not familiar with the term, that’s okay. It’s popularity surged with the dawn of the internet. While Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack is the oldest example we can find in United States history of content marketing, I have no doubt that content marketing has been employed by others in the past.

The world of marketing underwent an evolution of sorts when the internet became a vehicle for businesses and consumers to connect with one another. Content marketing became a more prevalent term in the marketing industry. Content marketing is an approach to marketing which happens to be thriving online. The term refers to the creating and sharing of information that’s specifically geared to offer valuable or entertaining information to a business’s target customers.  [Read more…] about SEO Episode Two: Content Marketing and Its Impact on Organic Traffic

SEO Q&A

Would you like to take a survey? Sincerely Me’s followers recently did. Mindy asked followers to post their SEO questions on Sincerely Me’s Facebook Page. The respondents were business owners and professionals from across the country. Then Mindy answered each question with it’s own post on Facebook. Now we’ve put all the questions and answers in one place. Take a look below to see the questions and answers.  [Read more…] about SEO Episode One: A Question and Answer Session

Increasing Your Sales

Business was good in 2016. You had a year of growth, and you’d like to continue the trend. So, how do you do that?

Start by mapping out a very intentional plan. Not sure what should be included in your plan? Well, here are 12 things that I’ve found to be invaluable to my business and those of my clients as well. Give a few (or all) a shot. You’ll know what’s right for you.

[Read more…] about 12 Business Growth Hacks to Implement in 2017

Organic Traffic vs. Paid Traffic

Do you know what organic traffic is? It’s traffic to your site or profile that you didn’t receive through an advertising or paid promotional campaign. It’s those people who stumble across you because so-and-so told them about you, or because they saw something of yours online. That kind of traffic is called organic because it’s all natural—or non-GMO if you’d like—traffic that’s happening without the enticement of an advertising campaign.

What is PPC? That’s short for pay-per-click. It’s become commonplace for businesses to pay for PPC advertising (through Google Adwords, social media, etc.). So, let’s talk about PPC advertising a little bit more. [Read more…] about Organic vs. Paid Traffic: Which Approach is Right for Your Business?

You’re too Expensive

Services industry professionals hardly ever talk about their prices. That includes me. Pricing services is so hard, and talking about prices is even more difficult. It’s personal. It’s not about covering a lot of overhead, product cost, or even location costs in many instances (for those of us who can work from a home office). The number after the dollar sign on a quote is a reflection of our skill, experience, pricing practices, and the value we deliver our clients. Talking about that openly (and especially online) is a terrifying prospect. Why? Because it’s as if I’m attaching a dollar sign to my professional worth. Because it’s similar to an employee talking about their salary in an open forum where anyone can dissect the number and make any assumptions they so choose. It’s really personal.

So, are you ready to get a little personal? Let’s talk about how to deal with customers who haggle or say you’re too expensive. [Read more…] about How to Respond When Someone Says You’re too Expensive

Social Media: Choosing the Right Platform

Have you been wondering if you’re handling your social media marketing the right way? Is there a right and a wrong? How about adding a platform in, because more is better, right?

Let’s talk about choosing the right social media platform for your business. How do you decide? [Read more…] about How to Choose the Right Social Media Platform for Your Business

Annie Hurst from Off-Center Design talks about website redesigns and how to know when it’s time for one. Annie is a graphic and web designer who works with businesses to raise their visual branding to the next level and make their mark on the web with a fabulously designed website that is not only nice to look at but also very functional, mobile responsive, and SEO-friendly. Let’s hear from Annie …

Are you ready for a website redesign?

[Read more…] about Website Redesign: Is It Time?

7 Blog Post Ideas to Reach Your Target Market

I feel like constantly thinking of blog posts to write takes up half my time.

Is that you? That came from a business owner who recently reached out to me to take over her content. Thinking of new, relevant blog posts all the time (and then finding time to write them) was taking up too much of that business owner’s time—time she could have spent working on her business, networking, meeting with clients.

So, for everyone’s sake, here are 7 blog post ideas that will help you reach your target audience. [Read more…] about 7 Blog Post Ideas to Reach Your Target Market

Finding Images for Use Online

If you’ve read anything about creating posts online to market your business, then you know that choosing the right photo or graphic to go with a social media post, a blog post, or on your website is super important (if you’d like to know more about the impact images have on our words, check out this post from Annie Hurst over at Off-Center Design).

Using a compelling photo that illustrates your point means greater understanding. Additionally, it means that you have a better chance of grabbing someone’s attention. On social media, a great photo can even get your post in front of more people. But, you aren’t a photographer and you don’t know where to start. So, what do you do? [Read more…] about Don’t Use That Image from Google

Press Releases

A good press release is worth its weight in gold. Well, it might be worth a little more since a single piece of paper doesn’t usually weigh that much. But, a good press release can result in great publicity for your business.

An added bonus: credibility. Getting a mention in a popular publication or during a well-known broadcast tells the reader or viewer that your business has something interesting to offer. You can’t buy that with ads.

[Read more…] about 10 Reasons to Send Out A Press Release

Search engine optimization. Isn’t that self explanatory?

Yeah, not so much.

Any business owner seeking an online presence has surely heard about SEO. Unfortunately, SEO seems to be this mysterious creature that most people just can’t quite nail down. I would like to take the mystery out of SEO for you.

[Read more…] about What the Heck is SEO?

Engagement on Facebook

Google “Facebook engagement for business.” You’ll see a lot of great tips, and a few unsavory tricks, for increasing Facebook engagement for your business. Social media experts and business owners alike gauge their social media success by the amount of engagement on their pages.

With Facebook in particular, engagement is important because the longer someone spends looking at a post, the more people will see the post. What am I talking about? [Read more…] about How to Increase Engagement on Facebook