Marketing

How to set and achieve smart goals

You know why your goals aren’t getting met? They’re dumb. You’re probably making a handful of mistakes: not writing them down, not assigning them a home and almost certainly not reviewing them, outside of at the end of the year, when you get all depressed about how little you actually got done this year while…

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Six reasons you need a website and not just a Facebook Page

Since I love working with small businesses and small-town businesses, I get asked a lot about one of the most basic questions to having a website: “Why should I have one? How does it benefit me?” Many folks, because they just don’t understand the concept of online marketing, fail to grasp how important a website is to…

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How To Get More Value From Your Website

When I first started designing and developing websites back in 2001, the web was just kind of coming into it’s own as a marketing tool for businesses and there wasn’t quite yet a URL on every business card. There was no Twitter. No Facebook. No WordPress. The dot-com crash was beginning to settle heavily on…

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Bring Your A-Game to Your Business Facebook Post

Does it seem like everyone is outscoring you online? You talk to your other colleagues or friends who are business owners and they seem to be having a ton of success with Facebook, while you can only get a “Like” on a good day–nevermind a comment! If you’re a local small business struggling to get…

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The No. 1 Way to Stay on Top of Your Goals This Year

This post is publishing the week after Valentine’s Day. Many of you may have already forgotten about your New Year’s Resolutions. By this time, more than 35% of us have abandoned them altogether. Statistically speaking, only 8% of those who set goals for the new year actually reach them.

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How what I do helps you grow your business.

For the first post of 2015, I wanted to take an opportunity to explain what it’s like working with Upward, for those who may be considering a partnership. What follows is a glimpse into the process and methodology we use to help others in their “going upward”.

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Using Images To Make Your Blog Post More Effective

People have figured out that images matter on the web. Nearly every blogger that gets the kind of traffic you only dream about knows how to use images in a way that helps you get past their blog index page to the content. While you’re there, you’re supporting their advertising, and exploring other posts –…

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How to keep from sabotaging your business through email

Most people I know have a love-hate relationship with email. They hate getting spam (who doesn’t?) but they can’t imagine communicating with clients, customers or family members any other way, except perhaps social media. Even in business, email is still king. Email is a primary mode of modern communication for business marketing for several reasons:

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4 things a small business should not say on their website

Author’s note: this post is primarily geared towards super-small businesses, or as I like to call them, “microbusinesses”, or “upstarts”. They generally have 10 or fewer employees and often are just one person selling handmade products. For more on Upstarts, check out the blog series. Part of my job as a consultant is not only…

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How to Use Facebook Ads to Grow Your Business

Mark Zuckerberg, is for me, easily one of the smartest tech minds of the 21st century. Although, he did not create the idea of a social network, he has nonetheless brought it to another level. Businesses realizing the massive and far-reaching impact that Facebook has had on all of our lives are keen on taking…

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