Pretend you are opening a store in a busy shopping mall. As a savvy business owner you will budget for the monthly rent, utilities, security, signage, advertising, marketing, fixtures and inventory. Will you expect to begin making money the minute your doors are open for business?
As a website owner, let’s use the retail store analogy – you invest money in the building of the website or the retail storefront. Next, you open your doors for business or your website goes “live”. The thinking is that once the website is built, the search engines should find you immediately and the cash register will start ringing. Is this realistic? Why are online expectations so drastically unrealistic from offline expectations?
1. Easy – Let the visitor know it is easy to do business with you. Easy to order, easy to buy, easy to subscribe, easy to phone, easy, easy, easy. Don’t we all want everything to be easy? This is a buzzword for sure.
What online newsletters aka ezines are worth reading? I like newsletters that provide valuable information, resources and do-it-now action tips. I unsubscribe quickly from newsletters that continually try to push their products or services on me. Since I spend a great deal of time online, I print the newsletters and read offline later. However, stats show that the majority of people DO read online. Here are the top five newsletters that I read faithfully. I will often share information and resources from them with our clients.
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According to recent web statistics there are one trillion websites. Keeping this number in mind, how will your website rise to the top and stand out among the masses? Why should or would your website appear on the first page of Google? In other words, what makes YOU special? 
I read and process about 150 business emails on a daily basis and look at over 80 websites. Adding any social media activities to this already heavily multitasking type schedule is overwhelming. I feel first and foremost I need to be responding to clients and scheduling projects with our team. I tried delegating this social media aspect to my assistant and that just didn’t work. I think social media is something one personally needs to do. It’s kind of like sending my assistant to a networking meeting – it’s not the same as me being there in person.
It’s pretty easy and user-friendly. Since I already use Gmail – I installed the Google app so a mini calendar shows up on the left sidebar below my labels. The Quick Add feature allows you to type in something like: 3pm 7/19 Meeting with Client Name, location, phone. It can be typed in any order that makes sense to you. Then Google Calendar automatically places it on that date with a default of 1 hour. If I type in the time frame like 3-5 pm then it blocks out that time on the calendar. I put everything on one calendar – both business and personal. There is the option of creating several calendars though and that may make sense for your activities.
Are you a creative type? Me too! Having a creative mind can be both a curse and a gift. With so many ideas and business offerings buzzing inside our heads, we often experience headaches and euphoria simultaneously. We want to tell or show everyone all the many things we do.
2. Listen to me. Can you hear me now? Are they really listening to what you want/need? OR immediately writing out a prescription like a bad doctor based upon what they think you need. If it is the latter – run-Forest-run.
