Free and Powerful Marketing

The Internet is a very powerful, cost-effective marketing tool. As a small business, you can’t afford to turn down such a potentially highly-profitable advertising tool. Since you already pay for the domain and hosting of your website, why not increase its SEO? There are very easy and simple ways to increase the SEO of your website, and Verticalwerks can help you do just that. Doing so can’t hurt, and it will only drive more traffic to your site.

More traffic means more customers means more profit, and your small business wants more profit. In addition, people now use the Internet more than any other source for information. Enhancing your SEO may prove to be a more-cost efficient and effective marketing method than placing an ad in the newspaper or on TV.

Localized Searches

Localized searches are the reason your small business needs SEO. Localized searches make up a high percentage of the searches performed every day on Google and other engines. This means that people are looking for products or services in a specific area. SEO will help you capitalize when people are searching for whatever it is that your business provides.

For example, if someone in Jacksonville, FL wants to find custom tailoring, they will likely search for “custom tailoring in Jacksonville.” Even if they don’t add “in Jacksonville,” Google will identify their location and return search results it thinks are most relevant, which will be for custom tailoring near that location. If you’re a custom tailor in Jacksonville, you’ll want your website to be recommended, and it won’t be if you don’t have SEO.

 Local Directories

With the increasing popularity of location-based search engines, apps, and voice recognition software like Siri for the iPhone 4S, the importance of small business SEO will only continue to rise. Your website needs SEO, but there are other important ways to increase your small business’s visibility for the search engines.

For example, when a search is performed using Siri on the iPhone, Siri looks to local directories and review websites like Yelp and Bing Local for the business that’ll be recommended. She will recommend businesses that are geographically close to the user, as well as those with high ratings.

It’s important to have your small business listed on as many directories as possible. Verticalwerks helps you do this by claiming and verifying your business on directory sites. We fill out as much information as possible, such as business hours and contact information, and try to encourage your customers to review your business online. This will increase your SEO for searches that rely on local directories.

M. Lau shares relevant business information related to online marketing and link building with a focus on executable strategies.

Checkout Helper

$3.99

Checkout Helper is a great app to help you quickly estimate sales totals, tax and shipping costs. It’s very helpful for on-the-go sales or quick calculations in the office. Enter as many item costs as needed, and you can apply discounts to individual items or the entire subtotal if needed. Then, calculate tax and estimate shipping costs with flat-rate or percentage shipping. All settings are customizable to your needs and tax or shipping amounts. You can then save and email transaction reports.

Hours Tracker – Time Sheet

$2.99

For the independent contractor, this Hours Tracker app helps you keep track of all the hours you spend working. You can keep track of hours for multiple jobs or projects at once, and it takes just a quick two taps to “clock in” at anytime. This app will also calculate your earnings with your pay rate, and it will even figure out overtime, all to your specifications. You can also manually enter hours worked, add in breaks, or make notes and comments. You can also set up pay periods and view summary reports of all your jobs and earnings. It’s easy to export or email your time sheets, too.

MiniBooks for FreshBooks

$14.99

While this Minibooks for Freshbooks app is more expensive than most, it’s a wonderful tool for your small business. It is an incredibly convenient way to manage your clients, and create and send invoices and estimates. You can keep track of expenses, hours, and invoice payments. It’s a very detailed app that will help you work with your clients and create professional invoices and estimates. There is also a lite (free) version that is limited to three clients.

Keynote

$9.99

This Apple-designed Keynote app will help you create extremely effective presentations and slideshows. Whether you need to create a sales presentation or hold a meeting, this app will help you to organize your ideas and present them in a professional manner. There are many options to personalize your presentations, and it’s very user-friendly interface will help you create them quickly and easily, no matter your skill level. Presentations are easy to export, email, or share straight from your iPhone.

Quickoffice Pro

$4.99

If you use Microsoft Office Suite for all your small business functions, this Quickoffice Pro app will allow you to easily access and edit all your files via your iPhone. There are even advanced editing options for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You can share files with many cloud storage providers like DropBox or Google Docs. If you use Microsoft Office Suite, this is a must-have app to access your files while on-the-go or away from the office.

Small business need technology too. In order to encourage the use of ad hoc tools Terry Ford a small business owner has implemented the use of Grammarly grammar checker as a key tool of her writing and freelancing studio.

Facebook was the first of the social media sites to include business pages, while Twitter and Google+ were close behind in implementing pages for businesses as well. The site of choice depends on the needs of the business and an in-depth look at the different features for businesses will help small business owners determine the best way to reach out to potential clients.

Twitter Business Pages

Following a redesign to their interface this past week, Twitter has also announced the implementation of enhanced business profile pages as well. With these changes, Twitter has provided businesses the opportunity to add a large header that can include the company logo, slogan or other graphic element. With the added Promoted Tweet feature, favorite tweets can be bumped to the top of the timeline and photos attached to the tweet will be auto-expanded for better viewing by potential clients.

Google+ Company Pages

Google+ is a social networking site that is only beginning to hit its stride since its unveiling earlier this year. With that in mind, Google+ has always been one that has had businesses in mind. With the Google+ Company Pages, it becomes easy to create and manage a new page for you business that provides more opportunity for exposure to new clients. Since Google+ is a relatively new addition to the Google family, all of the offerings may appear to be slightly thin compared to other social media websites, but the plus of Google+ is that it bears the Google name, meaning that there is always room for growth. This means that as the site continues to gain popularity, it will also continue to gain more functionality for businesses alike.

Facebook Versatility for Businesses

One of the biggest positive aspects of designing a website on Facebook for a business is that it is extremely easy. Designing a page on Facebook allows the company much more versatility compared to other social media websites. This includes the ability to deploy custom-made applications, contests and promotions the business may use in order to gain more clients. Ecommerce can also easily be implemented into a Facebook page in order to expedite checkout processes for clients. Another positive of Facebook for businesses is that the potential client base is not only already extremely large, it is also always continually growing.

There are a number of social media websites to choose from nowadays, not just Twitter, Google+, and Facebook. In reality, a functioning business should have their foot in the door in all of these sites if they wish to have their presence felt by the maximum number of clients. Choosing the single right social media website for a business is difficult. Due to this, it is important to explore the different options that are available and find the right option for that business.

Guest post provided by Mountain View Dermatology specializing in skin cancer removal and are cosmetic dermatology experts in Colorado.

With 2012 approaching, I thought it would be fun to share this infographic that compares the internet of 1996 with 2011. The times are a-constantly a-changin’ and this is a great reminder of how technology has increasingly moved businesses forward. Enjoy!

Created by: Online University

Purpose of Reading Facebook Insights

No matter what social media outlet you decide to use, it’s important to be able to track your audience. For Facebook, these elements include:

1. Powerful Content – see what posts and content resonates with your audience (for example, on one of my business pages, it’s the photo of Bacon Roses that I posted for fun – seriously, you just never know what people will like ). The metrics include the following -

• Reach – number of people who saw the post
• Engaged Users – number of people who interacted with the post, including a click on it, a Like or a comment
• Talking About This – people who have spread news about your post, including Liking, commenting on or sharing your post
• Virality – graph representing percentage of interaction with content

2. Your Fans – the age, gender and location of the people who have Liked your page and interact with your business through Facebook. This demographic information provides information on who’s looking at your posts and how to tailor posts and ads to that audience.

3. What People are Saying – keep track of what people are saying about your business, including

• Likes
• Comments
• Sharing page posts
• RSVPing to events

When friends like your content and talk about it, the potential for reaching more people increases dramatically.

Elements of Facebook Insights

The tracking data regarding your audience used by Facebook Insights is in graph form, like the from Verticalwerks Insights below. In the graph at the top of the photo, the dots at the bottom indicate the number of Facebook posts you’ve made over time on your business page. The line above that indicates the number of people talking about your page based on those posts, and the top line is the weekly total reach, which increases the more people talk about your page.

As you can literally see, the general rule is that the more you post, the more your Facebook Fans will be engaged.

At the top of the graph, there are the following categories:

• Total Likes – number of people who Like your page
• Friends of Fans – number of people you have the potential to reach by using your FB page through this kind of word-of-mouth marketing, since people interacting with your page or sharing your content/photos shows up on their newsfeeds
• People Talking About This – number of people who have interacted with your business page, including posted about your page, liked your page, mentioned your page, checking in or recommending your place
• Weekly Total Reach – number of people who have seen content from your page in the last seven days, including ads

A chart appears below the graph that represents the same data, just in a different format.

Let Insights Inform Business Direction

In other words, why should you care about Facebook Insights when it comes to your business page? For these simple and related reasons:

• the more you post, the more potential customers engage
• the more engagement, the greater the potential for reaching more people
• the more people see you, the more trust you build
• the more you see what content people engage with, the more you can post

If I was at all creative when it comes to graphic design, I would have created a nifty infographic with that bullet list (but I’m not). Instead, just imagine it as a circle of the “circle of life” variety for your business. If you use social media – and here’s a strong case regarding why you should use social media regardless of your business – get the most out of it by informing the direction to take in order to engage more fans and their friends.

Remember the business page I mentioned above where the fans loved the Bacon Roses I posted about? Looks like I’ll be posting more about bacon!

Computer Crown

so keeping a connection through Facebook would be great.

But when I say she “refuses” to use Facebook, I might be under-communicating her utmost dislike and ultimate stubbornness against it. With a roll of her eyes and the toss of her hair, she expounds on how she will never use it (NEVER!).

So, in a fit of curiosity, I asked her why. I pointed out that she’s kept up with other technologies; for example, she texts using a cell phone, corresponds via email, and uploads photos to get them developed. After some stuttering, she couldn’t really tell me.

In a recent study of dentists and social media through The Wealthy Dentist,  there were several valid questions and reasons regarding whether or not social media should be used, ranging from not understanding the technology to feeling like there’s no time to manage it. However,  there are some pretty compelling reasons to take advantage of the social media outlets available.

Why Use Social Media?

If you’ve been around awhile like I have, you might be skeptical of the perceived need to use social media outlets for your business. It turns out that even though technology changes often, there are definite benefits for getting involved in a social internet experience:

• building relationships with current and prospective patients
• offering “inside” information to make you more approachable and accessible
• allowing your current clients to share their experiences through word-of-mouth
• data regarding interaction with fans in social media can be tracked
• social media outlets are becoming increasingly important to Google and search engine results

A wide range of strategies work together to create your business presence online and in your community – utilizing social media is definitely an important aspect of interactive marketing.

Social Media Tools Available

There are more social media tools readily available to help market your business, but I included the most popular ones in the list below along with my personal opinion regarding effectiveness:

• Facebook - well-known and fairly easy to use, has Business Pages interface, and users can upload photos and video to share with friends and fans
• Twitter – also well-established, expressing thoughts and ideas in 140 characters makes life more manageable, generally a different audience than Facebook participates in Twitter networking
• Linked In – more of a business-oriented interface to connect with colleagues you may know based on your career, school and general background, not as organically interactive but crosses over with Twitter
• Google+ - Facebook’s main contender in the fight for social media dominance, circles of friends to stay in touch, photos and videos, definitely one to keep an eye on for future effects on Google search rankings

There are more social media outlets, but these four dominate the landscape and tend to be pretty easy to learn and manage.

Getting Started With Social Media

The most important piece of advice I can pass on when it comes to using social media is to GO SLOW. You’ll feel like the tortoise against the hare in a race to the finish, but be aware that even though technology developments seems to spin faster, we don’t have to – and you’ll just feel frustrated if you try.

Instead, choose ONE social media outlet to begin using for your business. We help our clients by setting up and teaching them how to use Facebook as a way to connect with prospective and current patients, as well as helping them maintain their Facebook Places pages.  Assisting clients with how to use just this one social media outlet builds confidence regarding technology and its function within bigger interactive marketing strategies.

As you experiment with your chosen social media, remember to practice patience. Building an audience is like building an investment portfolio – progress comes with consistent input and a lot of time. Consistent posting and patience now will build a loyal audience willing to interact with you and your business even as technology trends change.

Kelly Wilson is a project coordinator for Verticalwerks Interactive Media. What’s your story? Let Verticalwerks help you share it with the world.

Caught up in the excitement of actually being able to cross tasks off my lengthy list, I emailed the necessary person and waited what I imagined was a reasonable amount of time. Within 24 hours, I received two emails in response to my inquiry. The first asked for more information regarding my account, which I could understand. The second one stated that my account had been reinstated with a new password (included in the email) and to thank me for my time on the phone.

I hadn’t spent any time on the phone with anyone from this registration forum, which isn’t to say that somebody else at Verticalwerks hadn’t talked with a representative; however, I hadn’t heard anything to that effect. Plus, when I tried to login, the “correct” password that the email stated was now mine actually didn’t work at all, and when I finally logged in, I received the same error message as before.

So the cycle continues. And I don’t feel confident that it will be resolved anytime soon.

The two divergent emails – and the increase in my blood pressure and frustration levels – led me to reflect on gratitude as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, and not in the usual warm-and-fuzzy way but from the perspective of someone who works in a small business. I think it’s pretty safe to say that practicing an attitude of gratitude all year long with our customers will set us apart from the competition.

Gratitude Protects Perspective

Remember when we could save money in our IRA accounts and see it build over time? So do I.

I think the last time I looked at my account statements and saw significant growth might have been 2007 – since then, it’s been treading water. But you know what? I’m pretty grateful to see that the money I put into my accounts has actually stuck around, not to mention any growth at all at this point.

That’s the thing about life – often we need something negative to happen in order to show gratitude for what we already have. What if we put a grateful attitude first, before anything bad needed to happen?

In the daily grind and rush and worry, it can be easy to forget about the people who form our client base. Instead of worrying so much about growth rates, take some time to appreciate clients who have stuck with you and your business up to this point. Is there a way to invest in these people as you practice gratitude during the course of business?  This change in perspective will help build the relationships with people already in your life, inspiring their confidence and trust in you.

Gratitude Builds Loyalty

I recently received some very positive feedback on a couple of different tasks that I had completed here at work, not necessarily knowing at the time if I had been on the right track. Although I am inherently suspicious (as a rule – it’s a bit of a character flaw), both emails that I received regarding my success made me feel…happy.

They were simple “thank you” emails which probably took a few minutes to write, but this simple, quick investment in gratitude will pay long-term dividends when it comes to my personal and professional loyalty.

What simple acts of thanks can you extend toward your customers to show that you’re grateful for their business? Remember that even though it doesn’t take a lot of time, showing gratitude will help cement your business in the minds of your customers, inspiring loyalty that no price point or advertising message can achieve.

Gratitude Lays a Foundation of Forgiveness

Like the big registration forum and the vicious cycle I’m caught in, mistakes are made sometimes, regardless of the size of your business.

It could be that your response to a mistake won’t matter nearly as much as the foundation you’ve already built with your customers, partly through showing gratitude.

A consistent attitude of gratitude when serving your customers builds patterns of behavior that they will come to expect. When, for whatever reason, a mistake has been made, your clients are more likely to give you that all-important and wildly valuable kind of forgiveness called, “the benefit of the doubt.” This kind of grace grows over time out of a long-term relationship, built partly out of appreciation and gratitude.

Maybe the big registration forum has its wires crossed, and the vicious cycle of logging in and error messages will be cleared up in a couple of days. I will be grateful, but I will also be reminded of the kind of personal attention and gratitude required to build – and keep – relationships with our clients.

Kelly Wilson is a project coordinator for Verticalwerks Interactive Media. What’s your story? Let Verticalwerks help you share it with the world.