Do hashtags drive you crazy? They drive my husband insane. I’ve tried explaining to him that hashtags have a purpose, especially when it comes to internet marketing, but he doesn’t believe me. That’s because of all the hashtag abusers out there on social media who are being rude by taking advantage of the little pound sign. People are becoming hashtag happy and using them too much, which makes me think that maybe they just need to be taught some hashtag etiquette and read today’s internet marketing tips.

So we all know there is an array of SEO services for small businesses but do you know which ones you’ll benefit from most? This is the question we will be tackling today to help you understand where your internet marketing efforts need to be focused in regards to SEO services for small business.

Lead generation might sound a little fuzzy to the average business owner. Let’s face it - it’s a new phrase and everyone seems to have a slightly different variation of what it means. So to clear out all the gobbledygook and get down to the facts we are going to open up our internet marketing vault and share 4 key lead generation techniques, we call the 4 horseman.

Trying to generate new leads for your small business?

Want to be found on the internet for your local business?

Tired of feeling like you are competing with businesses across the globe or large corporations that seem to own the online marketing space?

Well, small local businesses, there is hope for you to be found on the internet and get new customers by learning how to add keywords to a website.

On Monday September 23 the announcement came out that Google is now going to be blocking marketers from seeing what keywords people came from when they visited your website. I am a marketer and my first response was “I hate Google.” Mostly that came as an initial reaction and the sense that Google controls too much of the world and wants to just make more money on its AdWords, but it was also because we care a lot about keywords in our internet marketing strategies. A bit of digging by my partner and the voice of reason indicated it isn’t as tragic as it sounds, and we will be publishing a blog about that in a couple of days.

Like it or not, we each have a reputation. We are given a reputation by the people who know us best, those we have just met and even the strangers we pass by on the street. It is the way that others view us as individuals and despite the amount of truth it does or doesn’t contain, it matters. Perhaps your reputation may just be a person’s opinion of you, but you can bet that good, bad or ugly, it’s going to spread. It can make or break you. There is no denying that when it comes to small businesses, reputation is one of most important factors in its success, both on and offline. Internet marketing can help influence this reputation.

With so many words and terms in the world of marketing these days it is hard to keep track of what they all mean! A somewhat newer term, “inbound marketing” seems to be quite the hit in the marketing world today. With social media and the internet being so popular nowadays, it is important to understand how to effectively market to this crowd. So, “what exactly is inbound marketing,” you might ask?

The series finale of Dexter aired last night. True to Dexter form it was unpredictable, unsettling, and strangely satisfying. This blog is a tribute to America’s favorite serial killer, who can actually teach us a few internet marketing tips for your online strategy.

Videos can be a powerful part of what makes a good website. They can help your website quickly inform and entertain visitors, as well as speed up the buying process.

Are you a lazy emailer?  You're not alone. We often meet CEOs and business leaders who confess their lack of diligence when it comes to email marketing. Their body language says it all, a low hung head, arms crossed, and eyes down - they can barely look at us. They all know they have forgotten to do something.  Almost like when your wife or husband asks, “Did you make that doctor's appointment?”

A big part of building your online presence is to have content on your website that is valuable and relevant to people searching online. When search engines see how relevant your content is and how connected or "linked" your website is, your ranking will improve on the search results page.

As marketing and business consultants we have the privilege of meeting with a lot of businesses out there who are doing their best to keep up with the ever changing world of marketing. They recognize the importance of the internet and the fact that they need to increase website conversion to keep their sales funnel moving forward. With so much out there that feels new, where do you begin to make sure that your efforts really do increase website conversion and don’t just become a bunch of activities that make your marketing folks look busy, but don’t really make a difference?

When I was a Droid user (gasp!) I still got excited about Apple’s newest iPhone reveal. Why? Because Apple is cool and I wanted to be informed of the latest coolness. I’ve since crossed over and become an iPhone user, which doesn’t really matter except that now I’m even more aware of Apple iPhone announcements and pay closer attention. But Apple and iPhones are constantly in my world, and might not be in yours. So in case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard about Apple’s big, shiny, new announcement – times two – keep reading today’s internet marketing tips to get brought up to speed.

Double the Fun

As a small business owner, your marketing goals should be to inform people about your message, promote your product or service and engage your customers and audience. Why is social media important to your internet marketing strategy? It is a channel to successfully to just that: inform, promote and engage your business through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+.

Welcome to today’s blog on how to write a press release for an event that attracts views. We all want our press releases to receive a high amount of views and visitors, so here are a few techniques that could give your next press release a little boost.

You’ve probably heard of the term SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the multiple ways you can “SEO your website.” One way to do this is paying for link building services. It’s probably the area that is the most confusing for people and where it’s easiest to fall victim to scams if you aren’t informed.

Have you seen the books titled “_____for Dummies” on every topic you can imagine? Well they‘re the inspiration for this blog post.  As I was thinking through how we feel when we don’t have background knowledge or basic vocabulary on a subject, we tend to feel like a “dummy” even though we are brilliant in other areas. We all have expertise in one area or another, but there are also those topics we know very little about. If you own your own business or are a leader in a small company you may not have much experience with or background knowledge in SEO services for small business and that can make it very hard to follow a conversation or take the next sales call. If this feels familiar, then this post is for you!

I woke up this morning thinking about In-N-Out Burger and how its menu reflects a key piece of what defines good marketing. It’s simple…one thing. One thing, one focus, one piece of information. If you eat at In-N-Out you know what you are getting. Burger and Fries. Simple, straightforward, a single focus. Your only decision is if you want a single or a double, and if cheese and grilled onions should be involved!  While most restaurants go for the broad offering and add new menu items regularly, In-N-Out has chosen a simple, single focus. That might be the single most difficult thing to do in marketing, maybe in communication overall.

Google has once again changed the way it does something and this time it is all about keyword research, which will affect you when deciding how to add keywords to a website.  It has changed the way you and I can search for keywords by taking away the old interface on the Google Keyword Search tool and replacing it with the Keyword Planner Tool.  Change is always a bit annoying and when software is involved you never know if it is a good change or not.

Yee-haw! Your blog is written and you have that ecstatic feeling that’s a mixture of both relief and pure joy that comes after you actually sat down to write your blog and lo and behold, finished it! You might be so dang proud of yourself and confident of the pure genius you just produced that you simply click publish and move on. Whoa there, cowboy! It’s time to pull back the reins a bit because remember that feeling you also get when you don’t see results? It’s time to cowboy up and take a moment to review your blogging checklist before galloping onto the next project.

Today we’re going to talk about what makes a good website completely useless and what you can do to fix it.

Sitting here tonight, watching the first game of the NFL 2013 season, I am reminded at how many aspects of sports can teach us about life and about business. There are so many ways playing on a team and having a common goal relates to our daily lives and (for the purpose of this blog) to our small business internet marketing strategy.

For some strange reason America has become desensitized to the death of large and small businesses. It’s almost like Darwinism, in the strong surival kind of sense. According to the SBA, over 50% of small businesses fail in the first five years. What goes wrong? The death of these businesses is often blamed on a number of reasons including: Lack of experience, insufficient capital, poor location, poor inventory management, and low sales. The scary thing is, a lot of business owners believe their doors will never close and that these outrageous numbers do not apply to them, after all…they are special. Right?

SEO services for small business is a hot topic for business leaders. Sure there are a few businesses that are still holding out and believing that they can be successful without an internet marketing strategy, but most are recognizing that the world has a-changed and there is no going back. If you are one of those CEOs who know that your online efforts are not yielding the results that you need, you may find yourself uncertain of what your next steps are.  

Have you ever written a press release and wondered if you’re doing it right? Don’t be shy - It’s a fair question, and one some people are afraid to ask because they think they should magically know how to write a press release for an event. The good news is that your press release doesn't always have to be about shocking news. It can be about an event in your company, it just has to be written well and formatted right.

As I was sitting in church on this Labor Day weekend I found myself wondering what Labor Day is really about. 

I know I've asked the question a million times and I know I’ve looked it up before but for some reason I couldn't find it in my head. So in a moment of distraction with my cell phone in hand I went to trusty Google and asked for a definition of Labor Day and this is what I got.

Have you ever gotten to the end of the day, knew you had been incredibly busy all day, but been unable to identify exactly what you accomplished?