A value proposition helps people understand what you can do for them. Think of a value prop as the written form of your elevator speech. It’s one of your key messages that helps someone understand very quickly what you’re all about. It will also appear on all your marketing material. A value proposition helps your…
When you are running a business, feedback is crucial to your success. Having real people tell you what’s working, and what’s not, can help you refine your products and services so you are offering things that people really want. Logically most people get that. Unfortunately hearing something negative often triggers an emotional response that throws…
As a small business owner, customer service must be a top priority because all the marketing in the world won’t help your company if people have a bad experience. I sat down with Monika Jansen to talk about customer service for the 5 Business Rules series. Listen in or read on for the tips. #1…
I talk a lot about how websites are one of the best way to bring credibility to a small business. But all websites are not equal, and first impressions count for a lot. So I thought it would be worth covering what makes a website (and business) credible. Appearance is everything Depending on the study…
I realize that I’m a little biased because I work in digital marketing, but here’s one of my truths: I am unlikely to buy from someone that is using a Gmail account as their main business email. I’m not talking about running your account through Gmail or using Google Business Apps. I’m talking about when…
For a small business keeping your website up to date is tough. I get it. In fact, I know it’s a win for a small business to have a website at all, since nearly 50% of business don’t even have a website! So if you are a small business owner and you’ve got a website,…
I’m a huge fan email marketing. Despite the fact that our inboxes can be crippled by spam, I actually believe that small businesses need to do more with email marketing. But there is a right way and a wrong way to send an email campaign. In this case, I’m not talking about spam, as that’s…
Let’s talk about websites. Many of us have them, and most small businesses owners recognize how important they are to business, but not everyone actually understands website structure and the different components. You may be thinking to yourself, “I have someone to manage my website so I don’t have to worry about this.” If you do…
As small business owners trying to survive in the digital world, many of us seem to dance to whatever tune Google is humming. Because of that there has been a lot of discussion lately around whether or not at add SSL security certificates to websites. (Need to get up to speed? Google announced a while…
A question that every small business owner struggles with is when to outsource or do it yourself? The truth is if you own a business you must be good at juggling tasks and mastering new skills. But you can’t be everything to everybody. Believe me I’ve tried. Thus it’s a never-ending battle to decide what…
I read a crazy stat today: only 53% of small businesses have websites. Despite the availability of technologies like WordPress, SquareSpace and Weebly, the number of small business websites has not risen much since 2009 when the count was 45%. This came from the Census Bureau, so say what you want about the government, but…
Some time ago I started to question the direction my business was taking. I had developed Social Light to be an online branding shop, yet it seemed as though we had grown tremendously in the web design and development area. I love to work with clients on how to use their website strategically, but the…