local marketing

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

Selling To People Who Want To Buy

Posted on 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


Facebook Deals for Retail Business

Posted on by Karilee in Small Business Marketing 1 Comment

Facebook Deals – New Marketing for Local Business

If you have a local, “bricks and mortar” retail business, you may occasionally curse the competition the web has brought – but Facebook Deals can actually help you bring in more traffic, more new clients to your shop, restaurant, or entertainment venue. And it’s free, for now.

How Facebook Deals Works

As Facebook Director of Local Products Emily White explains in the video, the concept is simple. You can check your iPhone or Android mobile phone, and see a list of nearby retailers, restaurants, or entertainment venues. If a retailer is offering a Deal, you’ll see a yellow square, and can check out that deal instantly. You might find out that your favorite coffee shop is offering a free muffin with the purchase of a coffee, or that an item you’ve been thinking of purchasing is discounted. Read more


What Your Website NEEDS

Posted on by Karilee in Website Creation 4 Comments

There’s a lot of confusion about websites, and every day I see the result of people spending absurd amounts of money on the wrong things. So what does your business website really need… and what doesn’t it need?

Your Website Has 9 Needs:

A Goal

We’ll assume for the rest of this article that your goal is to draw targeted traffic that can convert to a cause or sale, who will find the site useful, informative, helpful or entertaining.

Basic On-Site SEO

You MUST have proper keyword usage, Title Tags, Heading  Tags and Alt Tags for your site to rank well in search engines, and so be found. Read more


Why Word Of Mouth Isn’t Enough

Posted on by Karilee in Small Business Marketing 28 Comments

Where Do You Find Clients?

Find ClientsThere’s a poll up at Freelance Switch, asking Where Do You Find Your Clients? It’s a great question, but the challenge with any poll is that the responses are taken out of context. The poll allows you to choose from the following seven responses about where you find clients:

  • Local Business
  • Professional Website
  • Word of Mouth
  • Cold Calling
  • Pay Per Click ads (Google, Facebook, etc)
  • Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, etc)
  • Off-Line Networking Events Read more