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4 Proven Online Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business


Building it is not enough - if you want business to arrive, you'll need some proven online marketing strategies to drive it. Here are four to start Read more

4 Simple Ways to Increase Leads On Your WordPress Website


If you want to increase leads on your WordPress website, there's some work involved, but it will repay you with increased rankings on Google, which means increased visits and revenues Read more

Shared Hosting and IP-Based Spam Lists


Shared hosting is inexpensive for small companies starting out on the web, but it has its risks and downsides. Getting blacklisted can be very bad for Read more

A Friday Story, and Blocking Spam


Have you heard the Friday Story? It's about what happens when you consistently give something for free - and every business owner needs to think about it. We talk about blocking spam Read more

Article Keyword Research - Going Where The Traffic Is


Do your Article Keyword Research before you start writing blog posts, and your website traffic will improve fast. It's fast, easy, and it pays Read more

WordPress - Disable Comments


If you find yourself frustrated by spam and searching for wordpress disable comments or turn off comments wordpress, we're happy to help. The Quick Answer To How To Disable Comments In WordPress Log in and go to Settings, Discussion. Uncheck "Allow people Read more

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Webmaster Tools You Can Use – Part 2

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Karilee in Website Creation 4 Comments

Part 1 of Webmaster Tools You Can Use introduced you to four great free Firefox Extensions that I use to make my job of building great websites for businesses easier. Here are four more from my personal webmaster tools experience, all free and all wonderful time and frustration savers.

Webmaster Tools I Recommend, Continued

MeasureIt

MeasureIt is the perfect webmaster tool for those moments when you really want to know how wide an image is, or how much room you have in a sidebar. I use it almost every day. Just click the ruler button, drag over the element you want to measure, and get its size in pixels, instantly. What could be easier? Read more


Add A Privacy Policy To Your Website

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Karilee in Website Creation 3 Comments

privacy policyThere are several reasons to take the time to add a Privacy Policy and and Terms of Service to your website.

Cover Your Ass-ets

Of course there’s the legal coverage they give you – in particular, your Terms of Service can protect you from future litigation. Read more


A Gift For You On My Father’s Birthday

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Karilee in Website Traffic Building 9 Comments

Today is my father’s birthday, and it seemed like a good idea to give a present in his honor – a gift for you!

You see, indirectly, my father got me started in this whole computer-geek thing. How many people do you know who used to crawl around as babies in a mainframe computer room? In the early sixties, he’d occasionally take me in to “the office” with him, or my mother would stop by with me for a visit. He managed a major mainframe data center. Read more


Webmaster Tools You Can Use – Part 1

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Karilee in Website Creation 4 Comments

Anyone who sits looking over my shoulder as I build websites soon asks “How’d you do THAT?” – and often they’re talking about one of the free webmaster tools I use on a daily basis.

My website tools let me work smarter instead of harder, while getting better results for my clients. If you’re working on your own site, they’ll help you understand what’s going on and create better results both visually and in terms of site performance.

I use the Firefox web browser, which I consider the best browser choice for anyone building websites on a PC. These webmaster tools are Firefox Plugins, and while some may be available for other browsers, I’m assuming you’re using Firefox for the purposes of this article.

Webmaster Tools – The Essentials

I lost my main hard drive and had to reinstall everything last week, and these are the Firefox Plugins I installed right after I installed Firefox: Read more


RIP Steve Jobs 1955-2011

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Karilee in Small Business Technology 1 Comment

Steve JobsEvery entrepreneur has moments of struggle – moments when the path is too stony and lonely, and where they just can’t quite see the way to the outcome they dream of. And that’s why today I ask you to remember Steve Jobs. His occupation was listed on his death certificate as “entrepreneur”.

Sometimes the Challenges Are Gifts

Steve dropped out of college because he couldn’t afford it, but that freed him to learn what really intrigued him. Later, he was fired and humiliated by the company he built, and endured to return triumphantly and steer them to new creative heights. Read more


Read a Banned Book This Week

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Karilee in Small Business Marketing 3 Comments

It’s Banned Books Week

Gone with the Wind coverSeptember 24 to October 1 is Banned Books Week, which celebrates the right to read and opposes censorship of books.

Many of My Clients Are Authors

Why do I care? Well, I love reading, I live with thousands of books, I care about your right to read what you choose, and learn what you choose. I’m entertained and educated by books, including books that others have attempted to ban.

I read banned books.

To keep it relevant here, however, a significant number of my marketing and website clients are authors. Read more


Hiding Under My Desk

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Karilee in Small Business Technology 1 Comment

It’s been a rough week, productivity wise. I’ve spent most of my working hours under my desk. At least it’s a big, spacious desk.

Home Office DeskYou see, Monday evening I shut down the computer. Tuesday it didn’t start up. It didn’t even hiccup. I crawled under the desk and started jiggling wires and looking for loose components. I tried removing non-essential components. I moved a jumper to reset the bios. Many times. Nothing worked.

I was spending so much time under the desk I had to improve the environment. I installed a light, and a pillow. Read more


Email Lists: What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Karilee in Small Business Marketing 2 Comments

I’m sure if you’ve been around the internet marketing community at all, you’ve heard the phrase “it’s all in the list”. While this site isn’t aimed at that market precisely, we’ll take lessons that work, from wherever they appear.

Stay In Touch With Clients

Those of us who run “real” businesses and have face-to-face interactions with our clients also need a list. Partly because the lines are blurring. “Real” businesses can often benefit from adding web-based products to their offerings, for example.

It’s Not Enough To Tell Them To Sign Up

As always, it’s not enough to tell them to give you their email. You need to tell them why – WIIFM – What’s In It For Them. You need a bonus, sometimes called a “freemium” or “ethical bribe”, to entice your reader to part with their email. You need to sell the benefits of giving you their email address, so they act right now. Read more


Why I Unfollowed 855 People On Twitter Today

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Karilee in Social Media 21 Comments

I just spent about twenty minutes using a free online tool called ManageFlitter to Unfollow 855 people on Twitter.

Unfollowing_Twitter_Inactives

Unfollowing Twitter Inactives

It easily picked out the Inactives, the folks I Follow who aren’t active on Twitter and haven’t Tweeted in over a month. These are the people I Unfollowed. Many of them had been inactive for eight months or more. Read more


Selling To People Who Want To Buy

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Karilee in Small Business Marketing 2 Comments

So You Sell Stuff…

You sell products.  Or services. And you’d like to sell more, to people who want to buy them. Seems like you’d want to let them know what you sell, particularly in the place that most buyers look first.

Start With Search. Most Buyers Do.

Electric_lawn_mower

Image via Wikipedia

Imagine the perspective of a potential customer, who wants to buy a product or service. If you wanted to buy a product or service, and you didn’t know where to get it, you’d probably start with a web search. Go do one. Notice what you type in as you search. Is it a brand you’re looking for? Is it a phrase describing benefits? Do a local search if that’s appropriate. See if you can find three companies that offer it on the first page of Google (or your favorite search engine).

“Huh?”, you say. “Of course I can!” But for many items purchased regularly, even those that cost hundreds of dollars, you’ll still struggle to find a seller who wants your money.

For example, let’s say I want to buy a lawn mower, and I don’t know what brand. I could search for lawn mower vancouver. Read more


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