Harness the Power of Your Blogs

Blogging is one of the most effective ways for small businesses to communicate with current and prospective customers.  Blogging allows you to communicate your brand message and share valuable information to your readers. It also increases your visibility in online searches and establishes you as an expert in your industry.

Blogging takes time, which is money, so you need to get the most out of your blogging efforts. Your blog should be an integral part of your website. Posting new content on your website raises your rankings with search engines.

Share your blog posts on your other social media channels too. Your posts should appear on your business Facebook page, business LinkedIn page and Twitter accounts. You can even share them on your personal accounts.

Use an online service such as HootSuite to schedule your posts to all your social media platforms. This makes it easy for you to write several posts in advance and schedule them to appear in the feeds when you want them to.

Remember to stick to a schedule when blogging. Your readers expect you to publish on certain days, so don’t disappoint them.

If you need help with your blogging or other social media platforms, Blue Dog Marketing is here to lend you a hand. 

Be not afraid of going slowly. Be afraid only of standing still. – Chinese proverb

Those at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there. – Marcus Washling

4 Tips to Promote Your Re-Brand

You’ve rebranded your small business. When done right, rebranding can help your business gain a competitive edge.

How can your small business effectively implement your rebrand inexpensively? Here are three creative tips to promote your new brand.

Tap influencers in your industry to help raise awareness for your new brand

Reach out to any influencers in your industry whose audience is similar to the audience you are trying to reach.

How do you find these influencers? Check out Twtrland. It is a free tool that helps you identify influencers on social media. Inkybee is a tool that will help you find influential blogs and bloggers.

Ask your followers to spread the word

If you have a strong social media following, ask your followers to get the word out. It can be as simple as announcing your new brand and watching your followers spread the word.

Ask employees to be brand ambassadors

I’m sure you love your new logo. Have some awesome swag created that your employees will actually use – shirts, backpacks, etc. Once you have the great gear that your employees can’t wait to wear and use, host a networking event where you and your staff can show off the new gear.

Put your brand everywhere

Your new logo needs to be on everything – business cards, website, email signature, to name a few. Remember to upload your new logo to your social media sites too.

Your website is your greatest asset. More people view your webpages than anything else. – Amanda Sibley

How to Use Facebook for Business

You know that using Facebook can help grow your business. Facebook has a large user base and it can help you find new customers.

But actually doing marketing on Facebook can be challenging if you don’t know how to navigate Facebook. 

Facebook can help promote your business and attract new visitors to your website. Learn how to make the most out of Facebook for your business with these tips.

Use a recognizable profile picture

Being recognized is important to getting found and Liked. Your profile picture is at the top of your Page and is used as you thumbnail for all of your posts. Choose your image wisely.

Complete your company’s “About” section

Don’t leave your “About” section blank. A preview of your “About” section is shown below your profile and it is one of the first places visitors will look when they are initially viewing your page. Be sure to include relevant and current information about your company in this section.

Don’t post too often

Studies have shown that companies with less than 10,000 fans receive 60% fewer interactions per post when they post 60+ time per month.

Don’t overwhelm your followers by posting more than a few times per day. It is better to have higher-quality posts. This is definitely one time where quality is better than quantity.

Include images

Posts can generate up to 94% more view if you include compelling images. Remember the pictures must relate to your post.

Companies that use graphics in their posts generate 65% more engagement.

Post at the right time

Be sure to publish your posts at strategic times of the day. Research shows that posts published between 1-4 p.m. have the best view and share rates.

Now that you have some tips to make your marketing on Facebook easier and more productive, give them a try.

How do you market your business on Facebook? 

Free Tools That Will Make It Easier to Run Your Small Business

Running your own business takes a lot of hard work and caffeine. With all the things you have to do to keep your business running smoothly, wouldn’t it be nice to have an extra hand or two (or three) to help you out. As a start-up or small business, you aren’t always in a position to hire help.

That’s why I want to share a list of must-have tools for anyone running a small business….any they are all free! You won’t know how you managed without them.

Boomerang

Have you ever wanted to send out an email on a Friday afternoon but didn’t because you know it will be buried at the bottom of the recipient’s mailbox over the weekend. With Boomerang for Gmail, you can write an email and schedule the time you want it sent.

Dropbox

Do you need to share documents, photos, videos, spreadsheets or other files? Dropbox makes it easy for you, and others that you give permission to, to access files from a computer or mobile device when you need to.

Dropbox is a great tool for collaboration and reduces the number of emails you’ll have in your inbox. You can modify a document and others can see the changes you made and when.

Evernote

Have you ever had a great idea hit you and nothing to write it down on? Well Evernote is like a notepad on your phone, tablet or computer. It syncs across all your devices so if you write down your great idea tonight on your phone, it will be on your desk when you fire up your laptop to start working then next day.

Evernote also allows you to snap pictures of business cards. It stores the card and its information in the app. You can access your contact list easily when you’re on the go.

HelloSign

Does your business require you to get signatures? Instead of spending your day tracking down people to sing documents, HelloSign makes it easy for users to sign documents and request e-signatures from up to 20 people. And, once everyone has signed the document, HelloSign will deliver a signed copy right to their inbox.

If you’re worried about security, HelloSign uses SSL encryption during file transfer to keep your documents safe.

HelloSign integrates with Gmail, Google Apps, Dropbox and Evernote making it easy for you to sign legally binding documents in a snap.

Give these free tools a try and see if they help you run your business more smoothly. 

Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you. – William James

Experiencing Writer’s Block?

Are you having trouble coming up with ideas and topics for your next blog? Experiencing writer’s block is a very common experience. Sometimes all you need is a nudge to your imagination to get you started again.

HubSpot has a cool tool that can help inspire you. Do you have any overarching theme or keywords that you want to include in your blog posts? HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator can auto-generate five potential topics for your next blog post. All you do is enter three keywords and click ‘Give Me Blog Topics.’

If you’re not feeling the suggestions you receive you can always click ‘Try Again’ and you’ll receive five more topics.

The best part is this tool is free! Give it a try the next time you have writer’s block.

Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success. - Swami Sivananda

New Year - Fresh Start!

New Year – Fresh Start! 

What are your business resolutions for 2016?