If you own a company you want to have a successful small business, but the days come and go and you find yourself wondering how to be successful. The key isn't doing more of the "right" stuff. The key is seizing the "right" moments - or letting them seize you.

Have you seen the movie “Boyhood?” Critics are saying it’s making cinematic history. It was filmed over 12 years with the same cast. You watch them age naturally and experience life right before your eyes. It definitely struck a chord with me, so much so that I started to think about how the lessons it taught were even applicable to inbound marketing.

Twitter is a great tool for businesses to share their content on as well as build relationships and generate leads. However, there are certain mistakes that many people are making on Twitter that is negatively affecting their small business! While Twitter can be highly beneficial to your business, it actually hurts you if you make certain mistakes. Keep reading to find out what those are so that you don’t make them, or can stop making them!

Having landing pages on your website is vital to having a successful internet marketing strategy for your business. The best landing pages help to capture your leads and qualify them so that you can deliver the best lead nurturing possible. However, if certain mistakes are made on your landing pages it can do quite the opposite and will cost you leads and money. Read on to find out what those mistakes are so that you don't make them!

You may have heard us, here at Half a Bubble Out, talking about what it means to create a Passion & Provision Company. We understand that building a company is more than just “business” and when it all boils down, people generally start companies for one of two reasons:

They need to “earn a living” or “provide for their family”

They have a passion, an interest, or a talent. They have found something they “enjoy.”

It is an awesome thing when both Passion and Provision are nurtured within a company. It is even more awesome when a company lives out the values it claims to have or the “face” it puts on to the world. These are the stories we don’t seem to hear about as often as some of the stories that hit the news.

Now that the football season has officially started, let’s use one of America’s favorite sports and its fans to get more of an understanding of what inbound marketing is and why you should implement it with your company. Look at football fans as your customers. You want to attract, convert, close and delight your customers to become your company’s biggest fans.

Think of your Monday morning method. The alarm clock goes off at the same time as last week. You eat the same breakfast. You drive the same route. You drink the same coffee. You settle into the same routine at the office. It sets the tone and routine for the week. You like your Monday morning method, the same one that you do every day, but are you passionate about what you’re doing?

When someone asks you what you’re passionate about, you think to yourself and a couple things may come to mind; your family, a hobby, your career, a cause, etc. When you think about it, what exactly is passion? There are two different meanings, although they are often interchanged. If you’re looking to have a successful small business full of passion and provision this is crucial to know so keep on reading!

Inbound 2014 at HubSpot has been a success! One of the great things about connecting with others in the same field as you is all the learning that goes on! Sharing ideas and teaching everything from the basics to the newest strategies, looking at marketing from a different perspective… If you are listening, you will learn something new or at least get a new view of something you didn’t quite see before.

That’s why we want to share a bit from Kieran Flanagan’s “The Art & Science of Content Promotion” presentation at Inbound 2014.

Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author, spoke Wednesday morning at HubSpot’s annual Inbound conference and it was epic. He talked about innovation and change in business. He stressed how reframing our perspective is absolutely critical for creating opportunities, having successful business ideas and taking on new strategies.

Gladwell told a story to start off his keynote. It went a little something like this [this is a long story short kind of thing.] 

Let’s be honest, microwave cooking is insanely fast. I’m hungry now…and in less than three minutes I can have a hot microwaved meal at the ready for consumption. Fast, efficient, hot and ready to go! When I was in graduate school that was a lifesaver!

If you are looking for software that can help market your business and can be as complex as you need it to be but as simple as ever, HubSpot is your jam. As if it wasn't already awesome enough, HubSpot announced Tuesday at the annual Inbound Marketing conference that it has created a sales tool within the software.

Are you done screaming in excitement? Ok, good. Keep reading!

 What do Robin, Jimmy Olsen, Bucky Barnes and HubSpot’s new sales tool have in common? They are great sidekicks that make superheroes the best that they can be. But what does this have to do with you and your inbound marketing strategy? Well HubSpot wants your sales people to be superheroes and what’s better than a sidekick to help them get there. But how do you get that support?

If there was an event that promised you that you would: come together, get inspired, and be remarkable, wouldn’t you want to go? I sure would! And that’s exactly what Inbound 2014, a marketing conference put on by HubSpot in Boston, promises to do. But alas, I will have to settle on living vicariously through my bosses who are representing Half a Bubble Out. Instead, we’re here at The Bubble bringing you the latest tweets, Facebook posts, and blogs about what Mr. & Mrs. Redman are learning about at Inbound.

When you get a lead that comes to your website what do you do to nurture that relationship? Do you send them emails? Do you call them? Does your sales person keep track of their activity? If you’re not doing at least one of these things you’re missing out on potential leads and valuable customers to help you have a successful small business.

There are days when the tasks and to-dos of the day fade away and the important things come into focus. Today is one of those days for Americans. Whatever your age, job, religion, or hometown, we are all stopping to remember today. We are remembering 9-11 and the 2,977 who lost their lives that day, 13 years ago.

You never know when you’re going to get the chance to answer a question about internet marketing. The other day I was picking up a prescription at my local pharmacy. Living where I do, it’s no surprise that I knew the pharmacist from a few different circles I’m in, so naturally we had a short catch-up conversation. You know, “how old is your son now? How’s the family?" Yada. Yada. As she was ringing me up she asked, “So are you still working? What is it again that you do?” I told her yes I am, and I read, write, and edit a lot of content, mainly blogs. Her next question was: “Why blog? What’s the point of blogs anyway? I mean I read them, but otherwise, who cares?”

Running a successful small business seems like an anomaly these days. It is hard to run a company that you love when your basic needs aren’t being met. We know you want to have a company that is full of provision so that there is revenue, and is profitable enough to meet yours and your employees financial needsl. But why would you want a business that is full of provision?

Do you want your small business to be successful? Do you want to be the best in your industry and be a place where people want to work? Do you want to be “that” business that everyone is talking about, choosing to work with and sets the standards for all other businesses?

Thinking about creating a blog, more specifically a quality blog? Are you trying to figure out what needs to go into one? Or are you just looking to make sure yours is top notch enough to earn you visitors? When it comes to creating a truly successful blog, there are some internet marketing best practices that you should definitely be doing.

When you are evaluating your business, do you see that there are major flaws that seem to be out of your control? You might see little change in production, lack of creativity or motivation, financial doom glooming over your shoulders and an environment that is stressful and unhealthy. What do you do?

We don’t get to say we don’t want to work. We all need a job. We all need a salary. You probably started your business for the same reason many do – to make a living doing something you’re good at; to provide for yourself and your family. But you can do better. You can have a more profitable company without adding stress and worry. You need systems that work well and generate the provision you need.