Articles about Online Business

Please enjoy these articles by Heather Floyd, and use them to improve your internet presence and benefit your business.

  • Why You Are Probably Wasting Your Time on Social MediaPosted:  Tuesday, February 23, 2010You won’t make money on your Facebook profile. Not a dime will enter your account with just a Tweet, and unless you are running ads on your blog, you aren’t going to make any money there either. So I’ve said it – the dirty truth about social media. If you are going to spend your precious time approving friend requests and updating your various “statuses” you’d better know exactly how that is going to improve your bottom line. Social media is worthless without a clear strategy.  Read the Article
  • How to Make Sure Your Website is Complying with the New FTC GuidelinesPosted:  Tuesday, February 16, 2010At the end of 2009, the FTC announced new laws governing endorsements of products and services online. These new regulations apply to blogs, websites, email, etc., so if you are using any of those, you need to pay attention to how the laws will affect you.  Read the Article
  • Reduce Stress in Your Business – Go with the FlowPosted:  Tuesday, February 2, 2010When you are running your own business, and it seems that the only thing standing between you and starvation is your personal productivity – your ability to “do” what needs to be done, stress can be high and even minor set-backs in efficiency can feel like the end of the world. What I have learned is that counter-intuitively, sometimes you need to give up the death-grip you have on your business and have some trust in order to really see the success you crave, along with a more relaxed state of being.  Read the Article
  • How to Plan Your E-zinePosted:  Tuesday, January 26, 2010An e-zine sent regularly to your clients is a great way to stay top-of-mind and continue to educate your clients about you, your products, and your services. The key to having an effective e-zine is to make it appeal to your potential and current clients while it increases your reputation and guides prospects to your sales process.  Read the Article
  • How To Get More Traffic Using Other People’s BlogsPosted:  Tuesday, January 12, 2010If you are looking for a way to get more links to your website or blog, as well as gain exposure with potential clients, one thing you can start very easily is commenting on other people’s blog posts. There are a few things you should consider when undertaking this sort of campaign, though.  Read the Article
  • End-of-the-Year Planning Made Easy – Part 2Posted:  Tuesday, December 22, 2009The end of the year is busy, both personally and in your business, but you should still set aside some time to review and plan for next year. In Part 1, I shared the first 3 steps in a simple end-of-the-year planning process. This article concludes with the final 2 steps.  Read the Article
  • End-of-the-Year Planning Made Easy – Part 1Posted:  Tuesday, December 15, 2009December is a great time to look back at the previous year and plan for the next. Unfortunately, it is also pretty busy. On the business side, you might be trying to finish up some projects or close out your fiscal year. At home, there are holiday preparations and kids home from school. You might also be traveling to spend time with family, or hosting visitors. What you need is a quick and simple way to take care of this vital business visioning. Here are 5 simple steps to plan for next year.  Read the Article
  • Simple Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — Part 2Posted:  Tuesday, November 24, 2009In Part 1 of this article, I discussed some on-site SEO tactics that can help your website get properly indexed by the search-engines and show up for relevant searches. This week I will continue with an explanation of off-site factors — namely inbound links, and give some recommendations about hiring an SEO company.  Read the Article
  • Simple Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — Part 1Posted:  Tuesday, November 17, 2009Many of my clients ask me about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for their websites. SEO is both simple and complicated. The complicated part is keeping up with all the latest “tricks” and constantly researching what the search engines are up to, which are the dominant players in the market, current analytical test results, the best strategies (for this week, at least), determining the difference between “white-hat” and “black-hat” techniques, and deciding whether to risk employing “black-hat” ones. These sorts of activities are what most “SEO Professionals” occupy themselves with. To implement this sort of complicated SEO on your website requires one of these dedicated people, generally charging a hefty monthly fee. The simple SEO is what I generally advise my clients about, because it is something they can easily understand and handle themselves. It's safe (all “white-hat”), and instead of using techniques designed to “trick” the search engines, follows recommendations from the search engines themselves about what they want. There are basically three pieces to this “simple SEO.” Part 1 will cover the first two. Part 2 will cover the last one and discuss hiring a professional SEO Company.  Read the Article
  • Keep Your Website FreshPosted:  Tuesday, November 10, 2009One of the biggest problems with most small business websites is that they were launched, and then seemingly abandoned. They have a lovely design, snappy content, and haven’t been touched since 1999. Yikes! You need to “freshen” the content on your website on a regular basis. How you freshen is up to you. Here are some options.  Read the Article
  • Being a Conscious - Yet Driven - EntrepreneurPosted:  Tuesday, November 3, 2009As a “spiritual” businessperson, I sometimes feel what appears to be a competition between my extreme focus on my work and balance in my broader life. I imagine I am not alone in feeling this type of inner conflict. Work/life balance is nothing new, but something that continues to challenge those of us working in modern, “Western” society. Especially for the entrepreneur/solopreneur who runs her own business and frequently works from home, the generally understood “lines” between work and personal life are continually being blurred to the point of complete obscurity.  Read the Article
  • Good and Bad Reasons to Procrastinate Your Website ProjectPosted:  Tuesday, October 13, 2009There are many possible reasons you have been procrastinating getting your new website project underway. Some of those potential reasons are valid – based on an accurate view of where your business is right now and what your next steps are, and many of them aren’t so good – based on some confusion about the process of getting a website, perfectionism, fear, and other limiting beliefs. Which of these are your reasons?  Read the Article
  • Why You Need to Get Your Website Launched – And SoonPosted:  Tuesday, October 6, 2009I have been noticing a trend among some people who I have spoken to about launching their business website. Many are interested in delaying their web development project. This is especially the case with people who are just launching, or relaunching their business. The truth is, there are several compelling reasons why your website is the last thing you should be delaying.  Read the Article
  • How to Use Landing Pages to Get More BusinessPosted:  Tuesday, September 29, 2009A “landing page” is a webpage on your site created to achieve a specific result by using a focused message. An example of a desired result would be to have someone join your email list, request some sort of free information, or purchase a product or service online. Proper use of landing pages can increase conversions and help you track the effectiveness of advertising and marketing campaigns.  Read the Article
  • How to Have a Brand that Speaks to Your CustomersPosted:  Tuesday, September 22, 2009

    When creating a brand, it’s best to start with the intangibles of your business – the mission, culture and promise, then develop the overall “feeling” of your brand (via words, images, and colors) to convey this information to your prospects in a quick and intuitive way. It’s important to have a clear vision of your brand before you have a website or blog designed, since their visual effectiveness depends directly on having the brand nailed down. There is a simple process I use with clients to help them create or refine their brand, if it isn’t distinct enough when we begin working together.

          Read the Article
  • Which Do You Need – a Website or Blog?Posted:  Tuesday, September 15, 2009I am frequently asked – ¬What is the difference between a website and a blog? Are they the same thing? Which do I need for my business? Traditional business websites and blogs serve different purposes with a different format. Which you should have for your business depends on a few factors.  Read the Article
  • How to Have Marketing Success Quickly or CheaplyPosted:  Tuesday, September 8, 2009Marketing and sales are a top priority for your business, but when you are the one running everything, especially as a sole-proprietor, resources can be scarce. It's frequently a "catch-22" - you need marketing to get clients, you need clients to have a viable business and the resources to market with. The truth is - you will have to do some marketing, and it's your choice how to do it. At some points you will have more time available and less cash on hand, and at other times, you will be busy with your clients and have more money available. These periods might even alternate in waves throughout the development of your business.  Read the Article
  • What You Need BEFORE Your WebsitePosted:  Tuesday, August 25, 2009When you are starting a new business venture, or relaunching a new version of your current business, your first instinct will likely be - "I need a new website!" And though an up-to-date web presence should be near the top of your list of priorities, there are actually a few fundamentals you should take care of before your web developer starts coding pages for you.  Read the Article
  • Re-imagining Your Business - and WebsitePosted:  Tuesday, August 18, 2009Being in business involves a constant process of evaluation and course-correction, and sometimes that means a total re-imagining of your business. This might mean a shift towards a new business model, the introduction of a new line of products or services, refocusing towards a new target market, or even a total brand overhaul. This sort of work can be exciting, and very scary. Changing the way things are done, or the way you present your business to the world can bring up a lot of fear - of failure, of overwhelming success, or just of change itself. Though I can hardly promise anyone that this process could be free of "growing pains", there are a few things I have found helpful during my own re-imaginings.  Read the Article
  • The Number 1 Thing That Will Delay Your Website LaunchPosted:  Tuesday, August 4, 2009There is one thing that will undoubtedly delay the launch of your website (or blog). It's something I haven been guilty of for my own websites, and it's something I have seen my clients and other business owners struggle with. No, it's not having too little money to spend on design & development, or ending up with a "lemon" of a web company. In fact, it usually has little to do with the technical aspects of the project. The culprit is usually Perfectionism.  Read the Article
  • Systematize Your Online MarketingPosted:  Tuesday, July 28, 2009Once you've got your website and blog online, your next tasks are to keep updating your content and publicizing your business to drive traffic to your site and blog. This can quickly become an overwhelming project. The key to keeping a consistent output of messages, without experiencing a total online burn-out is to schedule and systematize your efforts.  Read the Article
  • Blog Basics : A Glossary of TermsPosted:  Tuesday, July 21, 2009If you are new to online marketing, this glossary of blogging terms should help you understand what everyone is talking about - and get more from information about how to use blogging to boost your business.  Read the Article
  • Creating a Multi-Lingual Business WebsitePosted:  Tuesday, July 7, 2009The very nature of the internet is world-wide, and multi-lingualism is becoming more common in most countries. Does it make sense for your business website to become multi-lingual?  Read the Article
  • The Basics of Meta-Tags: What They Are and Why You Need ThemPosted:  Tuesday, June 23, 2009If you have done any reading about website best-practices you are probably at least vaguely familiar with the term "meta tags". And if you aren't aware, this is a very simple thing to learn about, and it's important for you, as a website owner, to understand.  Read the Article
  • Where’s the Business? - Part 2Posted:  Tuesday, June 9, 2009Last week I started a 2-part article about reasons your website might not be getting you the business you desire. This week I will talk about two additional, related problems.  Read the Article
  • Where’s the Business? - Part 1Posted:  Tuesday, June 2, 2009Most solopreneurs and independent professionals out there have some sort of website, but still they are struggling to increase their business from it. If you are in this predicament you probably feel disappointed and frustrated. You might have paid a pretty penny to get your website built, or perhaps you spent a lot of time learning how to do it yourself. Either way, it seems to be an investment which just didn’t pay off. Or maybe you didn’t expect to get much from your website, and just built one because you know that to be taken seriously as a legitimate business you needed to have a domain name on your business card.   Read the Article
  • What is a Squeeze Page?Posted:  Tuesday, May 19, 2009If you have studied a bit about online marketing strategies, you may have come across the term “squeeze page” or “landing page” (which are essentially the same thing), but you might not be totally clear on what a squeeze page is or what it is supposed to do for your business. If you haven’t heard of a squeeze page, this information will clue you in to how valuable this tool is for your online business.   Read the Article
  • Coordinating Your Online Marketing MaterialsPosted:  Monday, May 11, 2009So, what comes first – the website design or the stationery? How about the blog banner or the e-zine layout? If you are just starting a new business, or maybe just doing some new branding, it can seem like a lot of stuff to get designed. The key is to keep it all coordinated with your brand image.   Read the Article
  • How Many Websites Do You Need?Posted:  Monday, May 4, 2009“What!?!” – You might be thinking. “I need more than ONE?” Well…maybe. It all depends on your business and what products and services you are planning to offer. You see, websites are like other types of media, different formats exist for different purposes. A company might publish a brochure, a newsletter, and a display ad for a magazine. Each would have a different type of content, and certainly a different layout, size, complexity, etc. Similarly, you might decide that you need a few different formats for your “online media”. I will explorer a few common formats for businesses.   Read the Article
  • When Do You Know it’s Time for a Redesign?Posted:  Tuesday, April 28, 2009After you have had your website up for awhile you might be thinking about changes you want to make – new content, new sections or features, additional functionality, maybe changes to the visual design… and the question might arise: Should I just add-on to my current site – or is it time to start fresh? There are some easy ways to figure out the right answer.  Read the Article
  • Warning Signs from your Web DeveloperPosted:  Monday, April 27, 2009There is a very sad situation that is all too common in the world of website development. Since I count myself as a member of this industry, it is with some resignation that I write about this issue. It’s just that I have heard from and worked with too many people who have been burned by the web professionals they have hired. There are some red flags you can observe which could indicate that the person you are working with might result in a less-than-stellar experience – either now or down the line.   Read the Article
  • Clearing Up Social Media ConfusionPosted:  Monday, April 13, 2009If you are paying any attention to online marketing technology these days I’m sure you are at least somewhat familiar with the terms “social media” or “social networking,” but you might not be completely sure what it means. There are other buzzwords associated with this: blog, Twitter, wiki, Facebook, Web 2.0, YouTube… which you may or may not also understand. What IS all this stuff? Do you really need to be fluent in it? Do you need to actually USE any of it?   Read the Article
  • Getting Started with E-CommercePosted:  Tuesday, April 7, 2009If you are thinking about using your website to collect payments from your customers, you will be entering the world of e-commerce. There are different ways to accept online payments and set up your “online cash register.” It’s a good idea to think about what you are planning on selling online, and how, before you start signing up with payment processing services.   Read the Article
  • Choosing an Email Service ProviderPosted:  Tuesday, March 31, 2009You probably know that you need to have an easy way to broadcast communications to your prospects and customers. But what might be less clear is how best to go about that. Right now you may be communicating using your regular email program, sending mass emails to your list with all your customers’ email addresses in the BCC field (or, GASP!, in the TO field) of a standard email message. If the limitations of this approach haven’t yet become clear to you, I promise they soon will. The real solution is to use a dedicated Email Service Provider to handle your broadcast messages.   Read the Article
  • A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Choosing & Preparing Images for Your WebsitePosted:  Tuesday, March 24, 2009If you’ve got a website, blog, or e-zine, I’m sure you are interested in making it exciting and compelling to your visitors. A snazzy graphic design is certainly one easy way to dress up your text content, but another way is to add illustrative images to your online materials. This might be a no-brainer to you, but you might also feel unsure about the proper use of images and their preparation – enough that you don’t really utilize them regularly.   Read the Article
  • Writing Your WebsitePosted:  Tuesday, March 17, 2009When creating or redoing your website, though your website’s graphic design might be the thing you are focused on and excited about, you should definitely spend some time considering how you structure the true work-horse of your site: the content.   Read the Article
  • E-mail Marketing or SPAM : Make sure you are doing the right thing!Posted:  Tuesday, March 10, 2009A lot of my clients when just getting started with their websites and “online marketing” are confused about the appropriate use of e-mail marketing. It is really important to become clear about who, what, when, and how often you should be emailing prospects – not only to effectively get your message across in the right way, but also to avoid getting into legal trouble because you are accused of SPAMMING people.   Read the Article
  • How to Set Up Your BlogPosted:  Tuesday, March 3, 2009You know you need a blog, and you’re ready to commit to it, so now what? Well, the simplest thing to do is to get your web developer to get it all set up for you, but what if you don’t have a trustworthy web developer, or are more a “DIY” type? Getting a blog these days is one of the easiest things to do online, and you have several options. You can use a free service, where your blog is hosted on their servers, or you can have your blog pages on your own website domain. I have a clear preference, but will talk about both options.   Read the Article
  • Luring Subscribers with a GiveawayPosted:  Tuesday, February 24, 2009If you have an e-zine or autoresponder or other list to communicate with your prospects, you will need to entice your website visitors to sign up for it.  Read the Article
  • Launching Video on Your WebsitePosted:  Tuesday, February 3, 2009Once you have your site up, you might be looking for ways to add some pizzazz. One option is to put some video up on your site. Only five years ago, video wasn’t very common online, but since then the spread of broadband internet (cable, DSL, and FIOS) and the rise of video-sharing sites such as YouTube have caused an explosion of video on websites.   Read the Article
  • Adding Interactivity to Your SitePosted:  Tuesday, January 27, 2009Interactivity is the essence of “web 2.0” technologies; a dialog taking place between the site owner and the site visitors, and among the site visitors. If appropriate, you might want to explore possibilities for interactivity on your website. There are as many possibilities for interactivity as you can imagine, but I will address just a few common ones for our discussion: Blog comments, On-site chat, and Forums.   Read the Article
  • Developing a Killer Keyword List for Your WebsitePosted:  Tuesday, January 20, 2009Basically, if you have a website, you want potential customers to visit it, right? Thinking about search-engines and keywords is a good idea then. You see, when people are searching for what YOU offer, and they type keyword phrases into a search engine, you want to show up in those results.  Read the Article
  • What Should be on Your Homepage?Posted:  Tuesday, March 2, 2010You know your homepage is an important part of your website – after all in most cases it will be the first page viewed by visitors on your site, as well as the most frequently viewed page. So, what should be on this valuable piece of web real estate?  Read the Article
  • Put Yourself Into Your BrandPosted:  Tuesday, December 9, 2008As a sole-proprietor, you are actually part of your product/service offering. This is especially true if you offer consulting, counseling, or coaching. When a client hires you, they are really hiring YOU – your knowledge, talents, expertise, and personality. This is why it’s important to feel that your branding reflects the real you – and the way you want your clients to perceive you.   Read the Article
  • POP, IMAP, and Web - Oh My! : An Email PrimerPosted:  Tuesday, December 2, 2008I’m sure you use email almost everyday, but you might not understand much beyond how to open up Outlook or your web browser to send and receive messages. Generally this is all you need to understand to function perfectly well for your general correspondence. If you’re a business person, however, knowing a little bit more can help you make the right decisions about how to have email set up to support your work.  Read the Article
  • Use a Blog to Boost Your VisibilityPosted:  Tuesday, November 25, 2008You are probably familiar with the concept of a “blog” – a chronological collection of essays, musings, and whatever else the author feels like publishing on any given day. What you might not be completely sure of, though, is how a blog can support your business goals. If you have the time and desire to write somewhat regularly on whatever topic catches your fancy, a blog can be a great asset to your marketing portfolio.   Read the Article
  • The Problem with FlashPosted:  Tuesday, November 18, 2008Flash is a great technology, but only if used appropriately. When used inappropriately, it will sacrifice most of the advantages of having a website. A skilled HTML/CSS developer can create a site almost identical to one created wholly in Flash – but with so many additional advantages.  Read the Article
  • What the Heck is a “Content Management System” and Why Should You Have One?Posted:  Tuesday, November 11, 2008What happens after your web designer “launches” your website? Well, if it is a basic website built with “static” (non-changing) HTML files, not much – Unless you email your web designer changes that he makes for you on the site. Or maybe you take a class about using “Dreamweaver” or “FrontPage” software and struggle with changing your own pages. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to add pages to your site, change your contact info or bio whenever you want, have content constantly looking fresh on your site – without having to know HTML? The good news is that you can have this great functionality – if you use a content management system (CMS).   Read the Article
  • Should You Have a Blog or a "News" Section?Posted:  Tuesday, December 1, 2009In order to have a website that looks fresh to visitors – and search engines, adding some type of frequently updated content is a great idea. But what is the best approach? Like most things, it depends. Having a blog is one excellent and popular option. Having a simple “News & Announcements” section on your site is another option. Which should you consider adding to your web business strategy or should you have both?  Read the Article
  • Get Yourself Out TherePosted:  Tuesday, October 7, 2008Once you’ve got a fantastic website up for your business, the next step is to get people to come visit it. A few simple things can be done to make sure that those people you come into contact with will become aware of your site and possibly check it out, but what about those people you won’t meet? There is a big world outside of your sphere of networking and acquaintances. To reach those people, you need to work on link building.   Read the Article
  • How to Gather Prospects to Build Relationships and Make SalesPosted:  Tuesday, September 1, 2009It doesn’t matter how much traffic your website is getting – if you aren’t converting that traffic to customers. Especially for first time visitors, people are most often not quite ready to buy when they first encounter your website – but that doesn’t mean they won’t ever be ready to buy from you. The question is whether when they are ready to buy, they will remember you.  Read the Article
  • Your Business Website v1.0Posted:  Tuesday, September 16, 2008You have probably thought of a bunch of things you want for your website – or maybe you have no idea what should be on your website. Both of these possibilities could cause your website launch to stall, since not knowing what to put up can cause confusion and procrastination, and having too many things to implement can cause long delays in “going live”.   Read the Article
  • What Your Website Should Look LikePosted:  Tuesday, September 9, 2008Besides for being one of the most obvious aspects of your site, the visual design plays an important role in your marketing message – either supporting it or detracting from it. The look of your website will quickly (and sometimes unconsciously) affect your visitors' perceptions of you and your business.   Read the Article
  • Where You Are and Where You're GoingPosted:  Tuesday, September 2, 2008Maybe you have a website, or maybe you need one. When you are considering growing your business online, you need a solid plan to guide you.   Read the Article

 

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