December | 2012 | Web.com community

Summary of Our #wgbiz Chat with Nicolette Pizzitola (@nicpiz) on Building a Business That Reflects You

December 18, 2012 in Business, Nicolette Pizzitola, Women In Business

Tags: #wgbiz, build a business that relects you, Nicolette Pizzitola, wgbiz twitter chat, women in business chat monthly No Comments »

Women in Business Want More Fulfilling Careers

Whether we’ve created businesses or climbed the rungs of the corporate ladder, women in business in the WGB community have made it clear: we yearn for our businesses to reflect us.

And so it was just our luck that when our expected chat guest had to reschedule, several synchronous events granted us the miracle of a spot in Nicolette Pizzitola‘s schedule on incredibly short notice.

It used to be that even with planning, we dared not hope for a crowd the size of the one we got when Nicolette joined us. For a chat where we gave barely any notice and no reminders that we’d still be having it, we got an impressive number of both regular attendees and new people.

Our 315 tweets reached 221,716 people with 1,443,831 impressions via 36 contributors. In terms of our participant vs potential lurker ratio, that’s quite a good mix. That’s more than I used to get when I first took over the chat – and that was with much toil and promotion.

Get Nicolette Pizzitola’s Advice For Keeps

I was truly honored to be interviewing Nicolette. She is a wise person with incredible insights about career strategy. If you’ve ever sat and wondered how to get from where your career is now, to a place that seems impossible, she’s the person to talk to – I can attest to that personally.

Here’s the most retweeted thought that Nicolette shared.

A1 Too often ppl build the business they think they should have rather than one they want to work in. #wgbiz

— Nicolette Pizzitola (@NicPiz) December 10, 2012

Goodness me, how true is that? Were you influenced in high school or college by what was “practical” or what your parents said, or what your career counselor thought was the best track for you?

It’s not that these people should be ignored. Just not at the expense of our own life goals. And yet, who ever teaches us that? How many of us think work is something you’re supposed to hate?

She went on to share this gem:

A5 cont All of life is a negotiation. The more you know about yourself, the more you know which trade offs are worth it. #wgbiz

— Nicolette Pizzitola (@NicPiz) December 10, 2012

If you’d like to benefit from the full scope of Nicolette’s wisdom that afternoon, you simply MUST download our free PDF record of the chat. It’s available on the web and in Excel format too, so you can sort the archive in reverse chronological order.

Another fun thing to do is to follow the people whose answers, questions and comments struck you as interesting during the chat. We have a lot of accomplished, intelligent and powerful women in our community, whose humility and kindness may not betray their greatness to you. Take a moment to connect to at least one new person.

Who knows where it might lead.

Attend the Next Women Grow Business Chat, Live

Every second Monday of the month at noon, the Women Grow Business community has a Twitter chat. We usually have a guest expert, announced on our blog prior to the chat. You can subscribe to our blog, our Facebook or Twitter page using the links in the upper right corner of the page, to get the announcement of our next guest delivered to you.

To be reminded when the chat is approaching, you can also sign up for free on our Eventbrite page.

How do you follow The #WgBiz Twitter chats?

Log into Twitter, Tweetchat, Tweetgrid, Tweetdeck, or any other Twitter tool that lets you isolate a hashtag.
Follow our Twitter hashtag #wgbiz. (In Twitter you can use the search at the top of the screen, in Tweetchat or Tweetgrid, once you’re logged in, you’ll see an area for you to enter the hashtag at the top of the screen. In Tweetdeck, you can create a column that searches for that hashtag)
Arrive as early as 11:45 a.m. to introduce yourself, send us a link to your site, and share your latest project, as well as to meet the other chatters.
Make sure you’re following the host, in this case me (@wgbiz is the official channel, while @Tinu is my personal handle), and then featured guest(s). This way, you can easily follow the conversation, send questions during the chat, or follow up later.
Have fun! Our free twitter chats are meant to be educational, sure, but also lighter fare than a teleconference or webinar.

See you next time when our special guests will of course be the guest we were expecting for this month. None other than our outgoing editor and pioneer of our Twitter hashtag and monthly Twitter chat, Shonali Burke.

She really will be here.

I promise this time.

Pinky swear.

We also have still have another unconfirmed guest who we hope will join myself and Shonali live on video! It’s a surprise – the first person to guess correctly in the comments below will win a prize that we’ll give out that day. You have to be present to get your prize though!

Stay tuned to the blog for updates

CNN Leading Women section Wants to Know Your Professional Plans for 2013 #LWresolutions

by Tinu Abayomi-Paul

December 13, 2012 in Business, Events, Women In Business

Tags: career goal setting, career goal setting for women, career goals, cnn leading women, CNN Leading Women Asks: What Are Your Professional New Year's Resolutions?, new year resolutions No Comments »

CNN Leading Women Asks: What Are Your Professional New Year’s Resolutions?

For many people it’s a yearly ritual – new year, better me.

Totally engrossed with this concept, I researched it last year. I found that though there’s a high probability that most of us will break at least one of our resolutions, some research shows that the very act of making them has intrinsic benefits [pdf].

(Although the commonly referenced Harvard/Yale Study is a myth, the university research cited in the PDF from Dominican University suggests that writing down your goals/resolutions does, in fact, have an impact.)

Which makes it the information the CNN Leading Women section is gathering that much more intriguing. From their query yesterday entitled Women: How do you plan to get ahead at work in 2013?:

Career advisers tell women to be more forward in asking for promotions, pay rises and extra responsibility; to find a mentor; to join a networking group and to accept praise more readily.

Will these steps help overhaul your career in 2013? Or do you have a different way of achieving your goals?

Tell us your professional New Year’s resolutions through the comments box below or using the Twitter hashtag #LWresolutions

By participating we can continue this international dialogue that is taking place about women in business and their career goals, whether that refers to the C-level female executive or a woman small business owner. If you’re not familiar with Twitter, here’s how to participate.

How to add to the CNN Leading Women career resolutions hashtag

Sign up for a free Twitter account.
Twitter uses hashtags to help people find information. For this you’ll need to use the Leading Women resolution hashtag- #LWresolutions. If you load that page you’ll see the results of other people including it, exactly as written, in their Twitter posts.
Create a 110 – 120 character sentence that describes your career-related resolution using the #LWresolutions hashtag. (You’ll want to leave 14 spaces for the hashtag and some extra space in case someone else wants to share your statement with other people and reference your Twitter handle.)

I’d also monitor the hashtag to learn what other women in business are saying – they may give you ideas to help your situation that you hadn’t thought of yet. Maybe you’ll inspire someone else to take some action. Or you could connect to someone you can follow up with offline in some mutually beneficial arrangement.

And of course, since writing down your goals may prove to be beneficial, you may have killed two birds with one stone.

Highlights from TEDxWomen Adams Morgan #TEDxAdMo #TEDxWomen [pics &video]

by Tinu Abayomi-Paul

December 11, 2012 in Business, Nicolette Pizzitola, Shonali Burke, Women In Business

Tags: Nicolette Pizzitola, Shonali Burke, tedxwomen, tedxwomen adams morgan, tedxwomenadmo, Women In Business No Comments »

TEDxWomen in Adams Morgan was a wonderful experience.

Of course I have to admit a bias.

We had not one but two Women Grow Business community members represented.

Shonali Burke of Waxing Unlyrical, our out-going editor gave a riveting speech, as did Nicolette Pizzitola. As you probably already know, she was one of the co-sponsors and co-hosts of our last Women Grow Business live event, as well as our most recent guest expert in our monthly Twitter chat series.

(WGB was also represented at the TEDxWomen MassAve event but by the time I realized, tickets were sold out.)

The TEDxWomen Adams Morgan event took place a week ago Saturday, but due to a lack of wifi -and the event taking place in an area of the building with spotty 3g/4G access- there wasn’t as much social activity as one would normally associate with a TEDx event.

Since social media is usually what I use to compile a full view of events of this nature from multiple vantage points, I had to wait to get my own video edited and uploaded, or for enough material to appear to make a post worth your while.

Now that there’s video from every speech made at TedxWomen Adams Morgan available from their YouTube channel, as well as from the main TEDxWomen event, there’s enough of a variety of content for me to compile to Storify document, which I’ve embedded below. If you’re viewing this via syndication or email and can’t view the embed, please click through to the site.

In a way though, the lack of steady web access was refreshing. There are many times when I cover events as I go using social media, or even pen and paper, thinking that I’ll misquote someone or miss something along the way. It’s not like the experience I have when I go just to simply experience an event.

With this I was able to catch the explanation for why TEDxWomen Adams Morgan decided to have men speak that day. It’s a controversial choice apparently, one I found mostly intriguing, but for them, warranted an explanation during the program. A pretty good explanation I might add, as you’ll see from the video coverage below or the included reference to their blog post in the links section.

In addition to the ability to make comments below, if you use Twitter, please share your comments using the #TEDxWomen, #wgbiz, or #TEDxAdmo hashtags so we can expand the discussion beyond our own group. Thanks! Hope you enjoy it.

BOOK REVIEW: Online Reputation Management For Dummies: Lori Randall Stradtman

by Shashi Bellamkonda

December 11, 2012 in internet marketing, small business resources

Tags: reputation management 2 Comments »

I met Lori Randall Stradtman at South by Southwest Interactive for the first time offline, even though I had been following her on Twitter and her blog posts on new media. She shared that this book Online Reputation Management For Dummies was in the works. I had a chance to introduce to her the work Network Solutions (a Web.com service) had done in using new media, and I am excited that our 10 approaches that contributed to our social media success form part of the book. I was also happy to receive a review copy of the book for my collection.

The book Online Reputation Management For Dummies by Lori Randall Stradtman could be a handbook for an enterprise that is beginning to focus on online reputation management and for social media managers who want to correct any gaps.

I fully agree with Randall Stradtman on the concept of “familiarity bias,” probably used more in investing and stocks, but in this case as Randall Stradtman says, “People will feel more comfortable about you and your brand when you make them believe that they have more in common with you,” . . . and on another page, the notion that proximity builds trust, the idea that people in the same community are more comfortable engaging there than elsewhere. I have learned this through several personal experiences. Randall Stradtman advises that all brands claim their name in as many places as possible to prevent squatters from taking advantage.

Chapter 4 on crisis management has important tips on the whole process and the components of a social media policy and the importance of limiting your statements to the immediate problem. The book has tips on tools to use and how to discover brand evangelists. Randall Stradtman definitely targeted this book to both small and large businesses.

Especially with the advent of Google+, the advice in the book is spot-on on maintaining a focus on core topics and keeping content fresh for search engines. I was happy to learn about psychographics—a “set of personality or value-related characteristics shared by a group of people.” The context in the book is about finding your “tribe” or community who come together to talk about a subject or a product.

I am happy Randall Stradtman says in her book that trust building is achieved by small things like helpful content and informational giveaways. I like this book, and hope you will read it as well.

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7 Reasons Being Niche Will Improve Your Small Business’s Marketing Strategy

by Monika Jansen

May 14, 2013 in Customer Service, Home Page Blog, Marketing tips

Tags: branding, marketing, marketing strategy, messaging, seo, small business No Comments »

No matter what industry or field you look at, you will find specialties. There are small animal vets, and there are equine vets. There are fashion designers who specialize in baby ready-to-wear and ones who produce haute couture. There are business coaches who only work with women, and psychologists who only counsel children.

As you can see from the examples above, specializing within an industry or field helps you stand out – and it can help your small business stand out, too. Specializing has many benefits, but for marketing purposes, here are 6 reasons “going niche” will improve your marketing strategy:

1 – Stronger brand

Trying to be everything to everyone is not easy – or feasible. By specializing, you can create a brand that stands out for its focus on doing one or two things well. Your visual identity and content will be stronger as a result, making it easier for customers to connect with you.

2 – Clearer messaging

When you focus on a specific niche, your value proposition and overall messaging will be clearer. You can speak directly to your customers and explain the benefits of working with you in a way that resonates with them. Additionally, by being clear about what you do and for whom, the quality of your leads will increase.

3 – Fewer products or services

I learned in a Forbes article that Starbucks locations in the U.S. serve over 20,000 drink choices – 20,000! While that might sound impressive, it’s not. More choices makes it harder for people to make a decision. When you specialize, you will automatically offer fewer products and services, thus making it easier for your customers to find what they want and buy from you.

4 – Highly developed expertise

When you specialize in a niche area, you will, by default, develop specific expertise around products or services. That expertise can be spun into thought leadership via the content you create and share.

5 – Better SEO

Because of your niche, the keywords that are most applicable to you will have less competition – think “trompe l’oeil fine art interior painter” versus “painter” – making you easier to find online.

6 – Less competition

This is alluded to above, and it may be obvious, but by being specialized, you will have less competition, thus increasing your business’s potential for growth and revenue – as long as there is demand!

7- More focused target market

A vet who specializes in household pets has a much different target market than one who only works on horses. When you specialize, your target market becomes much more specific and smaller, making it easier for you to find them online and reach them through online advertising.

What other ways does being highly specialized, or niche, benefit your business?

Image courtesy of famousbloggers.net

When It Comes to Social Media, Mom Just Can’t Get Enough

by Rieva Lesonsky

May 14, 2013 in Entrepreneurship, Getting Advanced, Home Page Blog, internet marketing, Just Getting Started, Marketing and PR, Marketing tips, social media, Social Media tips

Tags: getting advanced, just getting started, marketing tips, marketing to women, social media No Comments »

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

If you’re marketing to moms, you need to know where Mom is spending her time—and increasingly, that’s on social media, according to BabyCenter’s 2013 Social Mom Report, conducted with comScore.

From new moms to mothers of teens, social media is an essential part of Mom’s day no matter what stage of parenting she’s in. The study found mothers are 20 percent more likely than the general population to use social media, with a whopping 91 percent of moms reporting they use social media regularly–up 20 percent since the prior study was done in 2010. In fact, more than 2 in 10 moms say that friends or family who don’t take part in social media are not as much a part of their lives as those who do.

There are many reasons moms on social media are desirable customers, but a big one is that these moms are more likely to shop online than those who don’t use social media. Overall, moms accounted for 32 percent of total online spending in the last quarter, even though they make up just 18 percent of overall Internet users.

What are moms buying online? Home and garden products, baby supplies and clothing were the most popular items, cited by more than 60 percent of moms.

Moms are relying on social media more than ever, with nearly half of them saying they’re emailing less frequently than in the past because they are communicating via social media instead. When they need information fast, more than 6 in 10 moms turn to social media. Nearly three-fourths say they rely on recommendations from social media when they’re researching products or deciding what brands to buy.

With their busy lives and reliance on social media, it’s no surprise that moms are going mobile when it comes to social media. Nearly 9 in 10 moms who have smartphones use Facebook on their phones. In addition, moms are more likely than the general population to own smartphones (81 percent compared to 54 percent). Moms’ smartphone ownership is growing by 25 percent and tablet ownership is growing by 79 percent year over year.

Of particular interest if you’re trying to attract moms on social media, 61 percent of them use Pinterest—more than twice the percentage of the general population that uses it (30 percent). Moms also care a lot about getting deals—78 percent of them say they’ll like or follow a company on social media in return for discounts or special offers, compared to just 55 percent of the general population that do so.

Image by Flickr user qthomasbower (Creative Commons)

7 Types of Content That Search Engines Love

by Monika Jansen

May 13, 2013 in Entrepreneurship, Getting Advanced, Home Page Blog, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing and PR, Marketing tips

Tags: content marketing, getting advanced, marketing tips, search engine marketing No Comments »

One of my favorite sources of marketing information is MarketingProfs – I learn so much from them. In a recent post, they wrote about the types of content that Google loves the most. I went through the list and pulled out the top 7 types that I thought were most relevant for small businesses – and that you are probably already doing.

Here are the 7 types of content that search engines like and you should be creating (if you’re not already):

1 – Interviews

Search engines like interviews for 4 main reasons: they get read, they get backlinks from the interviewee (bonus if the persons is an expert), backlinks are from trusted sites, and the content is unique.

You don’t need to conduct interviews in person unless you want to tape it and turn it into a video. I conduct most of my interviews via phone, but you can do them via email, too.

2 – Lists

Lists are usually fun, easy to scan, and easy to read – and readers love them. Search engines like them as long as the content is unique, and – bonus for you – they can be really easy to write. You can do lists of your favorite industry books or blogs, best airports for business travelers, best pieces of advice you ever got, top industry best practices – you get the idea.

3 – Resource Centers

Creating a resource center on your website is a new content marketing trend for small businesses. Think of it as a library of your content – ebooks, top blog posts by category, products, services, FAQs, etc. Because people share them, link to them, and spend time on them, search engines love them.

4 – Social

Did you know that Twitter, Facebook, and other social media networks are pulled up when you conduct a search? So, yes, the quality of the content you post on your social media accounts – and the amount of interaction it gets – helps boost your search rankings.

5 – Case Studies

Because case studies built around client success stories are interesting, people read them and share them. Your customers will link back to and share your blog posts, all of which is activity search engines really like – but you know that by now, don’t you?

6 – Predictions

You know the blog posts and articles that always come out around the new year that list industry predictions? People love them, read them, comment on them, and share them, so they tend to great search rankings.

7 – User-Generated Content

Search engines love user-generated content, whether it’s blog posts, images, or videos. Hold a contest that requires entrants to submit original content; if you allow others to comment on and vote for submissions, search engines will go crazy for all of the interaction.

Have you created content that showed up in the top of search results? What drove so much interaction?

Image courtesy of 123rf.com

What You Need to Know About Hispanic Consumers

by Rieva Lesonsky

May 13, 2013 in ecommerce, Entrepreneurship, Getting Advanced, Home Page Blog, internet marketing, Just Getting Started, Marketing, Marketing and PR, Marketing tips

Tags: ecommerce, getting advanced, internet marketing, just getting started, marketing tips No Comments »

By Rieva Lesonsky

The Hispanic population in the U.S. is the nation’s largest minority group, and it’s still growing. Some 16 percent of Americans ages 6 and up were Hispanic in 2012, an increase from 14 percent in 2006, according to a recently released report from Experian Marketing Services. The New American Consumer: Trends in Hispanic Consumer Demographics. Among younger age groups, an even larger percentage is Hispanic, signaling that this demographic will have even more purchasing power in the years ahead. While fewer than 10 percent of Americans age 50-plus are Hispanic, nearly 25 percent of those aged 6-34 are.

Hispanic households have major purchasing power. They account for 10 percent of all discretionary spending in the U.S., or $164.2 billion—an increase from $143.9 billion in 2011. While discretionary spending by non-Hispanic households remained pretty much flat in the past year, discretionary spending by Hispanic households increased by 14 percent.

One reason for the spending could be that overall, Hispanic consumers are more optimistic about both the U.S. economy and their personal financial situation than the average U.S. consumer–5 index points above the average, according to the report.

However, the importance and influence of Hispanic shoppers varies depending on where your business is located. In the South and West, for example, Hispanic households account for a much bigger portion of discretionary spending than in the Northeast and Midwest. Hispanic households in the San Antonio, Texas, area account for 60 percent of the region’s discretionary spending, but Hispanic households in the Washington, DC, area account for a mere 6 percent of discretionary spending.

If you are trying to reach Hispanics—even those who are American-born and/or primarily speak English—it’s important to advertise in Spanish as well as English. Why? Experian found that emotional ties to Spanish create a positive effect for companies that advertise in Spanish. More than half of Spanish-dominant Hispanics and nearly one-third of English-dominant Hispanics agree with the statement, “When I hear a company advertise in Spanish, it makes me feel like they respect my heritage and want my business.”

That means if you have a website or ecommerce site, you need to offer the option to access it in Spanish (especially important if you’re targeting Spanish-dominant Hispanics).

Last, but not least, Experian notes that Hispanic consumers tend to be early adopters of mobile devices, and are heavier users of these devices than the average consumer. That means making your website not only Spanish-accessible but also mobile-friendly is also crucial.

Image by Flickr user moodboardphotography (Creative Commons)

Web.com Small Business Tip of the Day: Social Media Confusion

by Karen Axelton

May 8, 2013 in Home Page Blog, internet marketing, Just Getting Started, Marketing, Marketing tips, social media, Social Media tips

Tags: just getting started, marketing, social media No Comments »

Still muddled about which social media platform you should be spending your marketing efforts on? The easy answer is “All of them,” but if you’re thinking about slacking off on one of them, don’t make it Facebook. According to a new infographic from lab42.com, 87 percent of U.S. consumers who use Facebook have liked a brand on the site. If you want customers to like your brand, you need to give them a reason. Post news about your store or restaurant, success stories from happy customers or winners of an online contest you held. Check in with Facebook often so you can reply to comments and answer questions about your product or service. Don’t make the mistake of getting users to like you, only to disappear from their feeds.

5 Marketing Tricks to Turn a Boring Business Into a Fun One

by Karen Axelton

May 7, 2013 in Getting Advanced, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing and PR, Marketing tips

Tags: getting advanced, marketing and pr, marketing tips No Comments »

By Monika Jansen

Do you think your business is boring? Not fun or easy to make fun? Not very engaging or entertaining? Do you work in logistics? Supply chain management? Network engineering? Sheet metal manufacturing? Underwriting? Government contracting? Bueller?

Unfortunately, we can’t all be Disney World, Target, Bud Light, or [insert sexy company or brand here]. However, there are lots of ways to make your brand approachable and interesting – it just requires a little more creativity. If Dollar Shave Club can do it with razors, you can do it, too.

Here are 5 basic marketing tricks of the trade that can help turn your boring business into a fun one:

1 – Write like a human being.

No one likes to be bored, so don’t be boring. That means writing like a human being – in other words, write the way you talk. Use slang, contractions, and colloquialisms to make your content easy to read and understand. Just because your business might be on the serious side doesn’t mean you need to be super formal.

2 – Be personal.

In your tweets, Facebook updates, and email marketing – or any other message that you send to your customers – be personal and casual. Call your customers by their name, not Sir-or-Madam. Keep track of them in a customer relationship management (CRM) tool so you can add personal messages too (“How is your daughter adjusting to college, Steve?”). Publicly declare how much you like your customers.

3 – Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Be self-deprecating. Acknowledge how boring your business is – and embrace it: “Did you hear the one about the network engineer? Of course not – who wants to talk about a network engineer?” If you have a great company culture and employees with side-splittingly funny senses of humor, shine the light on it and them.

4 – Use Pinterest.

Your business is probably more visual than you think. Let’s go back to the poor beleaguered network engineer. I typed “wires” into Google image search and got back some pretty beautiful images. When I typed in “microchips,” here’s what I got – again, some beautiful images came up in the search results.

5 – Tell stories.

One of the smartest things you can do to make your boring business interesting is to turn customer success stories into blog posts. Have fun with it. You could start your stories with “Once upon a time” and end with “and they lived happily ever after.” Your readers will get to know you better, and they’ll be entertained, too.

Is your business boring? How do you make it fun in your marketing?

Image courtesy of 123rf.com

Turn It Up: Why Radio Advertising Can Deliver for Small Business

by Rieva Lesonsky

May 7, 2013 in current events, Entrepreneurship, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing tips, On Your Way

Tags: internet marketing, marketing, on your way No Comments »

By Karen Axelton

As you’re planning this year’s marketing strategy for your small business, don’t forget to consider radio. Both online and traditional AM/FM radio boast powerful reach, and the number of Americans who regularly listen to online radio is growing rapidly, according to a new national survey by Arbitron and Edison Research. Here’s some of what the study found:

One out of three Americans age 12 and up listen to online radio at least weekly.
Those weekly online radio listeners listened for an average of nearly 12 hours per week—an increase of more than two hours compared to last year.
Much online radio listening takes place on smartphones. More than half of Americans age 12 and up own smartphones; among the 18-to-34 age group, three-fourths own smartphones.
Traditional AM/FM radio has grown to 243 million weekly listeners.
Those weekly traditional radio listeners spend about two hours a day listening.
Nearly six in 10 (58 percent) of Americans age 18 and up say they turn on AM/FM radio in the car “almost all of the time” or “most of the time,” making in-car AM/FM radio far more popular than CD players (15 percent) portable MP3 players (11 percent) or satellite radio (10 percent).

The ubiquity of devices that can allow consumers to listen to radio whenever and wherever they want—in their cars, on the go or on their phones—is a big factor in the growth of online radio, the report states.

What do these trends mean to you?

Cover your bases. If radio is a good o Consumers today don’t want to listen to their favorite stations just in the car—they’re plugging into them on headsets using their smartphones or tablets. If radio is a good option for your business, consider using both online and traditional AM/FM outlets to advertise.
Consider AM/FM music stations as your ad venue of choice. Of the 45 percent of Americans who believe it’s important to stay up-to-date with new music, three-fourths (78 percent) say AM/FM radio is the best way to do so.
Be cognizant of your audience. The most important factor in any online or traditional radio ad campaign is to know where your target customers spend their time. The radio station should be able to tell you their audience demographics and, if the station is a good fit, can direct you to the times and shows that will best target your exact audience–whether that’s the drive-time news hour or the 2 a.m. electronic dance music show.

Image by Flickr user Marcin Wichary (Creative Commons)

Friday Small Business Roundup: Making Money and More

by Rieva Lesonsky

May 3, 2013 in ecommerce, eCommerce tips, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing tips, Mobile/Applications, small business development, social media, social media, Social Media tips

Tags: ecommerce, internet marketing, marketing, online marketing, small business, social media No Comments »

Affluent customers are surprisingly open to advertising, says Rieva Lesonsky in Want to Reach Affluent Consumers? Here’s How.

Everyone feels wealthy when they get their tax refund. Get a piece of the refund pie–read Karen Axelton’s post Help Your Customers Spend Their Tax Refunds—With You.

If you’re seeking VC for your business, bad news: The Venture Capital World Keeps Getting Smaller, as Maria Valdez Haubrich reports.

What’s next in marketing? The Future of Marketing: 3 Big Changes That Are Already Here by Monika Jansen to find out.

Need to hire? Before you post that want ad, be sure to read Rieva Lesonky’s What Kind of Hire Is Right for Your Business?

Who Is Using Social Media, and Where Are They? Read Monika Jansen’s post to find out.

A picture really is worth 1,000 words–at least when it comes to marketing. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s Why Images Matter to Your Content Marketing to learn why.

Is your email newsletter working for you? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s 4 Ways to Get More Subscribers to Your Email Newsletter to pump up its marketing power.

Maybe your content needs improving. Rieva Lesonsky’s post How to Craft Content That Works for Your Content Marketing Campaign will get customers clicking.

You can always learn something new about social media! Check out Monika Jansen’s post 5 Easy Social Media Marketing Tips From the Experts to boost your results.

Are you marketing to women? You should be. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post What Do Women Want When They Shop? to find out how to reach these crucial customers.

U.S. Crowdfunding More Than Doubled Last Year. Could you get in on this hot financing source? Read Maria Valdez Haubrich’s post to find out.

Is a customer driving you crazy? Read Monika Jansen’s advice in 8 Signs It’s Time to Fire a Client to see if it’s time to cut the ties.

There’s a simple way to boost your SEO: Improve your keyword use. How to Find the Best Keywords for Your Business, by Monika Jansen, gives you the scoop.

Are you in the travel industry? Be sure to read Karen Axelton’s post What Luxury Travelers Want in 2013.

It’s tax season. What Are the Best (And Worst) States for Business Taxes? Read Karen Axelton’s post to find out.

Do you get nervous making presentations? Learn how to ace your next one–read Monika Jansen’s 6 Must-Have Elements for a Winning Presentation.

Are you hurting your own reputation without even knowing it? Read Monika Jansen’s series, 10 Online Marketing Mistakes That Are Damaging Your Reputation, Part 1 and Part 2, to find out.

The way consumers search for businesses is changing. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s Why Local Search Matters to Your Business to learn more.

Wondering what all the buzz about content marketing is? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s What Can Content Marketing Do for You? to find out.

Speaking of content marketing, online videos are one type of content that can really boost your ecommerce sales. Read Maria Valdez Haubrich’s How to Use Video in Your Content Marketing Strategy to get the scoop.

Wedding spending is booming again, and Rieva Lesonsky spotlights 5 Industries That Are Benefiting From Wedding Season. Is yours one of them?

Friday Small Business Roundup: Content Marketing and More

by Rieva Lesonsky

April 12, 2013 in current events, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing tips, small business development, social media, social media, Social Media tips

Tags: current events, marketing, sales tips, social media No Comments »

Are you implementing a content marketing strategy? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post What Are the Biggest Content Marketing Hurdles? to learn what to watch out for.

Do you have a business blog? It’s not as hard as you think–read Monika Jansen’s How to Start and Maintain a Blog Without Going Crazy to learn.

Is the economy improving–or are we headed for another recession? Find out in Small Business Optimism Slips by Karen Axelton.

Do you want to get better results from your Facebook page? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post How to Get Fans to Engage With Your Content on Facebook.

Take full advantage of LinkedIn’s marketing potential. Read Monika Jansen’s How to Take Advantage of the New LinkedIn Features to learn about 7 tricks and tips you may be missing out on.

Is your product made in America? “Buy American” Is Still a Selling Point—If You Know How to Sell It, Maria Valdez Haubrich points out.

Content Marketing Is Marketers’ Top Focus for 2013. Is your content marketing strategy up to par? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post to find out.

Friday Small Business Roundup: Changing Demographics and More

by Rieva Lesonsky

March 29, 2013 in current events, ecommerce, eCommerce tips, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing tips, news, small business development, social media, social media, Social Media tips

Tags: ecommerce, marketing, marketing tips, small business, social media No Comments »

Think you know all there is to know about marketing with Facebook? You’ll think again after you read Your Advanced Facebook Page Checklist: 14 Things You Might Not Be Doing, by Monika Jansen.

The American household is changing. Is your marketing keeping pace? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post What the New American Household Means to Your Business to find out.

Are You Making the Wrong Offers on Social Media? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post to find out.

Are you focusing so much on your business’s brand that you’re neglecting your own? Read Monika Jansen’s 6 Tips for Building Your Personal Brand to get up to speed.

If you’re marketing to moms, you’re not reaching all women. Read about the hottest new market in Rieva Lesonsky’s post Hot Market: Indie Women.

Feeling left behind because you can’t afford to offer same-day delivery? You’ll be relieved to read No Same-Day Delivery? No Big Deal, Shoppers Say, by Rieva Lesonsky.

Refresh your energy and get re-inspired with Monika Jansen’s 7 Timeless Pieces of Advice for Small Business Owners

What happens when your technology goes haywire? Learn how much small businesses rely on tech in Maria Valdez Haubrich’s post Healthy Technology Is More Important than Healthy Employees for Today’s Small Businesses.

Friday Small Business Roundup: Event Marketing and More

by Rieva Lesonsky

March 22, 2013 in current events, Marketing, Marketing tips, news, Restaurants, small business development

Tags: current events, marketing, marketing tips, news, small business No Comments »

Get face-to-face with customers and prospects. Read Monika Jansen’s three-part series, Event Marketing for Small Businesses Part 1: Getting Started; Event Marketing for Small Businesses Part 2: Planning and Promoting Your Event; and Event Marketing for Small Businesses Part 3: During and After Your Event.

Affluent consumers are tightening their purse strings. How can you get them to loosen up? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post How Can You Get Affluent Consumers to Spend?

Not all consumers are stopping spending–in fact, tapping into stress can bring your business profits. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post America’s Stressed Out. Here’s How You Can Help (and Profit From It) to learn more.

Speaking of spending, are you wondering when consumers will start spending via mobile payments? Read Maria Valdez Haubrich’s post Retailers Play Wait-and-See Game With Mobile Payments to see what’s going on.

You might be neglecting a rising consumer group. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s What Do Female Breadwinners Mean for Your Business? to find out.

Do you own a restaurant? Then you’ve got rosy times ahead. Read Karen Axelton’s post Restaurant Owners Are Bullish on Their Industry to discover why.

Is your small business fully mobile-ready? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post Does Your Retail Business Need a Mobile App? to find out.

Another element of your website that can help generate leads is landing pages. Read Monika Jansen’s The Anatomy of an Effective B2B Landing Page to learn how landing pages can work for you.

Ready to reach out to a huge spending demographic? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s What You Must Know About Marketing to Baby Boomers.

Are you using LinkedIn to its fullest potential? Monika Jansen’s post A 5-Step LinkedIn Marketing Strategy to Grow Your Business will help.

What Are Small Businesses Spending On, and How Does Your Spending Measure Up? Read Maria Valdez Haubrich’s post to see how your business compares to others.

Speaking of money, if you’re looking for a loan, be sure to read Karen Axelton’s post SBA Proposes Changes to 2 Small Business Loan Programs.

Does your business market B2B? Then you need to be using SlideShare. Read Monika Jansen’s post 8 Ways to Use SlideShare for Content Marketing to get started.

Effectively targeting narrow demographics on social media can be a challenge. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post How to Reach Niche Markets on Social Media to get some tips.

Friday Small Business Roundup: Niche Markets and More

by Rieva Lesonsky

March 8, 2013 in ecommerce, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing tips, news, Restaurants, small business development, social media, social media, Social Media tips

Tags: ecommerce, internet marketing, marketing, small business, social media No Comments »

Are you missing out on a huge potential market? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post Target Market: How to Reach African American Consumers to learn more.

Speaking of niche markets, you know Hispanics are a huge part of the U.S. economy, but Are You Marketing to Hispanic Men? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post to learn why you should be.

Is your business getting left behind by digital marketing? Be sure to check out 5 Key Digital Trends That Matter to to Your Business, by Rieva Lesonsky, so you don’t miss out.

Old-fashioned email marketing still matters, too. Read Monika Jansen’s post 7 Ways to Make Cold Emailing Work For You to power up your sales.

What really works on Facebook? Get it straight from the source in Monika Jansen’s post Facebook Says: These Are the Brand Strategies That Increase Engagement.

You’ve probably dealt with a difficult customer. Get help turning the situation around in Monika Jansen’s post How to Turn Difficult Customers Into Marketing Success Stories.

Things are looking up–but consumers aren’t yet ready to spend. Read Maria Valdez Haubrich’s post Economy Positive, But Consumers’ Outlook Still Negative to learn why.

How will your restaurant fare in 2013? Casual-Dining Trend Means Challenges and Opportunities for Restaurant Owners, by Karen Axelton, offers a look at what’s hot and how to profit from it.

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Is your small business fully mobile-ready? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post Does Your Retail Business Need a Mobile App? to find out.

Another element of your website that can help generate leads is landing pages. Read Monika Jansen’s The Anatomy of an Effective B2B Landing Page to learn how landing pages can work for you.

Ready to reach out to a huge spending demographic? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s What You Must Know About Marketing to Baby Boomers.

Are you using LinkedIn to its fullest potential? Monika Jansen’s post A 5-Step LinkedIn Marketing Strategy to Grow Your Business will help.

What Are Small Businesses Spending On, and How Does Your Spending Measure Up? Read Maria Valdez Haubrich’s post to see how your business compares to others.

Speaking of money, if you’re looking for a loan, be sure to read Karen Axelton’s post SBA Proposes Changes to 2 Small Business Loan Programs.

Does your business market B2B? Then you need to be using SlideShare. Read Monika Jansen’s post 8 Ways to Use SlideShare for Content Marketing to get started.

Effectively targeting narrow demographics on social media can be a challenge. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post How to Reach Niche Markets on Social Media to get some tips.

Friday Small Business Roundup: Niche Markets and More

by Rieva Lesonsky

March 8, 2013 in ecommerce, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing tips, news, Restaurants, small business development, social media, social media, Social Media tips

Tags: ecommerce, internet marketing, marketing, small business, social media No Comments »

Are you missing out on a huge potential market? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post Target Market: How to Reach African American Consumers to learn more.

Speaking of niche markets, you know Hispanics are a huge part of the U.S. economy, but Are You Marketing to Hispanic Men? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post to learn why you should be.

Is your business getting left behind by digital marketing? Be sure to check out 5 Key Digital Trends That Matter to to Your Business, by Rieva Lesonsky, so you don’t miss out.

Old-fashioned email marketing still matters, too. Read Monika Jansen’s post 7 Ways to Make Cold Emailing Work For You to power up your sales.

What really works on Facebook? Get it straight from the source in Monika Jansen’s post Facebook Says: These Are the Brand Strategies That Increase Engagement.

You’ve probably dealt with a difficult customer. Get help turning the situation around in Monika Jansen’s post How to Turn Difficult Customers Into Marketing Success Stories.

Things are looking up–but consumers aren’t yet ready to spend. Read Maria Valdez Haubrich’s post Economy Positive, But Consumers’ Outlook Still Negative to learn why.

How will your restaurant fare in 2013? Casual-Dining Trend Means Challenges and Opportunities for Restaurant Owners, by Karen Axelton, offers a look at what’s hot and how to profit from it.

Friday Small Business Roundup: Hot Markets and More

by Rieva Lesonsky

March 1, 2013 in ecommerce, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing tips, small business development, social media, Social Media tips, website design, women business owners

Tags: ecommerce, marketing, marketing tips, small business, social media, women business owners No Comments »

Want to be memorable for the right reasons? Read Monika Jansen’s post 4 Lessons On How Customer Service Is Your Brand.

Women business owners are growing strong. Want proof? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post More Women Business Owners Pass the $10M Mark.

Content marketing is a hot buzzword, but what about going one step beyond with content curation? Monika Jansen shows you how in 5 Reasons Content Curation Is Important to Your Marketing Strategy.

You know ecommerce is growing, but do you know how much? Etailers Rejoice: Ecommerce Spending Hits New Records by Maria Valdez Haubrich has the skinny.

Maybe Showrooming Isn’t as Scary as You Think. Read Karen Axelton’s post to find out the latest on this retail trend.

Want to know the hottest target markets for mobile marketing? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s posts Women Step Up as Mobile Users, Customers and Meet the Mobile Super-Shoppers.

B2B marketing is a world of its own. Get the latest on what works in that world in Monika Jansen’s post 4 B2B Marketing Blogs From People Who Walk the Walk.

Friday Small Business Roundup: Women Business Owners’ Issues and More

by Rieva Lesonsky

February 22, 2013 in ecommerce, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing tips, news, social media, social media, Social Media tips, women business owners

Tags: internet marketing, marketing, social media, women business owners No Comments »

Learn what a new Web.com study found about the outlook and attitudes of women business owners. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s The State of Women-Owned Businesses, 2013.

Good news for women entrepreneurs: Angel Capital May Get Easier for Women Business Owners to Find. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post to learn more.

Do you want to keep on top of the latest small business marketing trends? Read Monika Jansen’s post 7 Marketing Trends That Benefit Small Businesses.

Wonder why your marketing efforts fall short? To see what you’re doing wrong, read Maria Valdez Haubrich’s post Marketers Are From Mars, Consumers Are From Venus.

Want to make more money? Who doesn’t? Read 6 Easy Ways to Boost Your Revenue This Year by Monika Jansen to get started.

Are you working harder and getting less done? The culprit could be multitasking. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s Is the Multitasking Myth Hurting Your Productivity?

Email’s an effective marketing tool, but are you using it right? Read Monika Jansen’s 7 Quick Fixes for Common Email Marketing Mistakes to find out.

Social shopping is the next big thing…or is it? Read Karen Axelton’s post Social Shopping Isn’t Taking Off Just Yet to get the scoop.

Friday Small Business Roundup: Ecommerce Basics and More

by Rieva Lesonsky

February 15, 2013 in ecommerce, eCommerce tips, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing tips, small business development, social media, social media, Social Media tips, website design, Website Design tips

Tags: ecommerce, small business marketing, social media, website design, women business owners No Comments »

Curious about what Facebook’s Graph Search might mean for the future of business? Read Monika Jansen’s post 5 Ways Facebook’s Graph Search Could Help Your Social Media Marketing.

Are You a Victim of Nice Girl Syndrome? Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post to find out if you’re too nice for your own good.

Does your business website need a tuneup? Read Monika Jansen’s 6 Ways to Improve Your Website and Deliver the Information Your Customers Need.

No, it’s not too early to ask: Are You Ready for Holiday Retail 2013? Read Karen Axelton’s post to find out how online retailers are readying for bigger and better sales.

Then refresh yourself on the basics of ecommerce with Maria Valdez Haubrich’s post 7 Reasons Customers Buy (or Don’t Buy) From Your Business Website.

Is Your Family Really Supporting Your Business? From time to time, you need to take stock of whether your work-life balance is getting out of balance. Read Rieva Lesonsky’s post to learn more.

Boost your profile by writing an ebook. Read Monika Jansen’s 7 Tips for Creating Your First Marketing Ebook to learn how.

Are you trying–and failing–to land government contracts? Learn where to get help in Rieva Lesonsky’s post Women Business Owners Lose Out in Race for Government Contracts.

Tip of the Week: Have an Ecommerce Website For Online Sales

by Sara Toole

February 8, 2013 in eCommerce tips

No Comments »

Ecommerce websites are not just for large companies anymore. And they’re not for computer gurus who need a lot of programming knowledge to be able to build it. Ecommerce sites are inexpensive and fairly easy to build.

If you have a gift shop or specialty boutique, you can generate extra revenue by having an online store. This will open up all sorts of new sales options for you.

You can ship items that customers order for faraway friends.
You can reach customers who have moved or live in other parts of the country, like tourists.
You can become a specialty store for hard-to-find items.
You can help the local customers who need to do holiday shopping late at night or during a time you’re not open.

Of course, you may not have the time or experience to set up an ecommerce site — they’re fairly easy, but not dead simple — so look for a professional who specializes in ecommerce sites. They can get it set up quickly and easily, and troubleshoot any problems that you may have.

It’s also a good idea to have this person provide you with monthly analytics and sales figures so you can see how much money your store is making, which products are big sellers, and which ones either need some promotional help or should just be removed completely.

An ecommerce store is just one more source of revenue your gift shop or boutique can be bringing in. And if you do it well, it could be as big a moneymaker as your regular store.

Blogging to Promote Your Online Store

by Sara Toole

February 8, 2013 in eCommerce tips, Getting Advanced

No Comments »

The secret to promoting your online store is not to continually add new items. It’s blogging and
social media promotion.

Blogging helps you with search engine optimization, so people can find it more easily on the search
engines. But more importantly, if you have an unusual or uncommon product, blogging lets you
demonstrate what the product can do to make people’s lives easier or help them solve a problem.

Let’s imagine you make a sandwich cutter that cuts a child’s sandwich into creative, fun designs.
With a blog, you can explain how the sandwich cutter works, show how to clean it, offer sandwich
recipes that work best with your sandwich cutter, and even create videos of the cutter in use.

There’s usually no place for things like this on an ecommerce site, but a blog lets you publish as
much as you’d like.

A quick check of Google’s keyword analytics tool shows that the phrase “sandwiches for kids” is
getting 6,600 hits per month. So you can blog about “five fun sandwiches for kids” and “five easy
sandwiches for kids, as well as any other topics you can think of that contain the key phrase.

By doing this on a regular basis — twice a week is ideal — you’ll start winning a lot of search results
and getting visitors who are interested in the different articles you’ve written. As people read the
articles, they’ll see the links to your ecommerce site, and purchase the cutter to make some of the
fun recipes, which boost your sales all without any expensive advertising.

Blogging about important topics and keywords can help you boost your ecommerce site’s search
rankings and overall sales.

Three Ecommerce Platforms for the Non-Ecommerce Store

by Sara Toole

February 8, 2013 in eCommerce tips, Getting Advanced

No Comments »

If you want to sell products online, there are any number of ways you can do it. You can take the
direct route and put a shopping cart solution on your website. But if you don’t want to mess with
the time and expense, or you only sell the occasional item out of your brick-and-mortar store, here
are three (nearly) free ecommerce tools you can consider.

1. Etsy

This is a site for artists of all styles. Whether you sell earrings and jewelry or large scupltures,
Etsy.com takes a small percentage of the items you offer for their payment processing. You upload
the photos, write the descriptions, send customers to the individual page, and once they place an
order, you send out the product. Etsy is not only an ecommerce solution, but a community for
artists.

2. Amazon.com

Many people sell ebooks they have written, and it’s a great way to generate some income. People
who don’t want to go through the traditional route of publishing, who want to sell their materials
faster than a publisher can move, or who want a bigger share of the royalty pie, are turning to
Amazon as a way to build their professional network and make money by writing and selling ebooks.

3. eBay

eBay is the original storefront. Just like Etsy, eBay lets you sell anything and everything. Whether
it’s old comic books, new clothing, or even things you have made or purchased for reselling, eBay
handles everything for you — a place to host your sales information, payment processing, and even
a place to build an entire storefront.

Friday Small Business Roundup: How to Spark Sales and More

by Rieva Lesonsky

February 1, 2013 in ecommerce, eCommerce tips, hosting, internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing tips, Mobile/Applications, Retail Shops, search engine optimization, small business development, small business resources

Tags: ecommerce, marketing tips, online marketing, seo, small business development No Comments »

Do you think sales is a mind game? You’re right. Read Monika Jansen’s series, How to Use Psychology to Boost Sales, Part 1 and How to Use Psychology to Boost Sales, Part 2, and learn how to win at the sales game.

Expanding your sales internationally is a great way to grow your business. Read Monika Jansen’s tips to learn How to Get Started With a Global Marketing Strategy.

Is your business website doing all it should to spur sales? If not, check out Maria Valdez Haubrich’s Your 3-Step Plan for a Business Website That Drives Sales.

Email marketing is still a top tool for small business. To make your emails even more effective, read Rieva Lesonsky’s post Why Your Emails Must Be Mobile-Optimized.

Speaking of mobile, make sure you’re on top of mobile payment and m-commerce trends by checking out Rieva Lesonsky’s Mobile Commerce, Mobile Payments: What’s the Future?

Then learn about the hottest mobile market in Rieva Lesonsky’s post Who’s Got Smartphones and Apps? Gen Y.

Taking the home-based office deduction just got easier. Read Karen Axelton’s post Good News for Home-Based Business: IRS Simplifies Home Office Deduction to learn more.

Summary of Our #wgbiz Chat with Nicolette Pizzitola (@nicpiz) on Building a Business That Reflects You

Women in Business Want More Fulfilling Careers

Get Nicolette Pizzitola’s Advice For Keeps

Attend the Next Women Grow Business Chat, Live

How do you follow The #WgBiz Twitter chats?

CNN Leading Women section Wants to Know Your Professional Plans for 2013 #LWresolutions

How to add to the CNN Leading Women career resolutions hashtag

Highlights from TEDxWomen Adams Morgan #TEDxAdMo #TEDxWomen [pics &video]

BOOK REVIEW: Online Reputation Management For Dummies: Lori Randall Stradtman

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7 Reasons Being Niche Will Improve Your Small Business’s Marketing Strategy

7 Types of Content That Search Engines Love

What You Need to Know About Hispanic Consumers

5 Marketing Tricks to Turn a Boring Business Into a Fun One

Turn It Up: Why Radio Advertising Can Deliver for Small Business

Friday Small Business Roundup: Event Marketing and More

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Tip of the Week: Have an Ecommerce Website For Online Sales

Blogging to Promote Your Online Store

Three Ecommerce Platforms for the Non-Ecommerce Store

1. Etsy

2. Amazon.com

3. eBay

Friday Small Business Roundup: How to Spark Sales and More

Recent Web.com members

Explore Web.com

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Women in Business Want More Fulfilling Careers

Get Nicolette Pizzitola’s Advice For Keeps

Attend the Next Women Grow Business Chat, Live

How do you follow The #WgBiz Twitter chats?

How to add to the CNN Leading Women career resolutions hashtag

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1. Start by growing your network.

2. Post photos of your best inventory online.

3. Pin photos directly from your ecommerce store.

Pinterest

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Yelp

1. Etsy

2. Amazon.com

3. eBay

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