Amy Kunkle had a nice little business going until Groupon called. If you’re not familiar with Groupon, they pretty much invented the “daily deal” online. They’ve become quite popular, but the horror stories are growing fast. Amy Kunkle’s is merely one that I’ve heard about. Here’s the nutshell: Groupon’s salesman talked her into selling a…
Monthly Archives: January 2012
Is Blogging On The Decline?
As someone who has made his living primarily from blog ghostwriting for more than five years now, I’ve got to say that my business has not wavered one bit. OK, to be honest, I did take a slight hit when the economy went south directly after the last presidential election, but it’s held pretty steadily…
Free Coupons – On Your Business Website
Want to increase your sales during a special time of year? Why not try coupons? You can include coupons on your business website, in your e-mail newsletter, or off site (say, on your Facebook page). Coupons are a great way to encourage more purchases and to bring back old customers to your restaurant or retail…
What Is Pinterest?
If you like playing around on social media websites – and who doesn’t? – then you might like playing around on a new up-and-coming site called Pinterest. Here’s a website that is heavily graphic and has quite a bit of potential to provide small businesses with some branding power, reputation management, and search engine optimization…
Content Is SEO
Over my years of being a content provider – both for myself and my clients – I have seen a lot of debate over what constitutes great content and, equally important, what makes great SEO. Many search engine optimizers and content producers are of the opinion that the two are separate. You “create” content and…
3 Google Products That Can Help With Local SEO
If you want your local business website to rank well in Google’s search engine, then there are three Google-owned properties that I would recommend you get familiar with and learn how to use. Two of them have been around a while. The third is less a year old but could be the most important one…
Get Your Own Quora Board
Quora is one of the more popular question & answer websites online. It’s a great social community if you have a body of knowledge you like to share or if you just like playing the Q&A game. Unlike most other Q&A sites, however, they have a system for getting rid of or discouraging spam comments…
Getting To Know Google
Google has added a page to its website called Good To Know. It really does consist of great information that every web user needs to know. And if you plan to use Google’s products and services to market your business, then it’s definitely good to know this stuff. The site is divided into four sections:…
Amazon Winner Of Customer Service Award
An interesting thing about an American Express-sponsored customer service award is that four out of 10 top winners in customer service in 2011 were online businesses. The top winner itself was Amazon, my favorite bookstore. Falling in at No. 3 and 4, respectively, are Zappos and Overstock.com. If you’ve bought anything from any of these…
Conversions: Your Most Important Metric
Conversion is a term used to describe what happens to website traffic as it becomes a sale. It’s the most important metric for small businesses because it tells you how profitable you are. Traffic is a good metric, but if you get a lot of traffic and no sales, what good is it? Unique visitors…