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Why Your Business Needs a Business Domain Name

Why need a business domain name All right, so digital marketing is not just an option. Anymore, it’s a necessity for your business to Thrive in today’s world, But what’s a domain, What is a domain Emma One of my favorite ways and my co-host Nealey, you Taught me this to remember one of my favorite ways to Look at it is the domain is like your address, your street address and your website.

That’s, like your house, Yeah, it’s where you live, and it’s where your website lives right. So let’s talk about why your business needs that domain. The domain name is essentially the building block of Your online presence We’ve talked about what a domain name is We’re going to go over Just a few little points of choosing the right domain name and why it really matters to you, Let’s dive in So when thinking about domains.

Thinking about what is That actually going to be, I know it comes up a lot when, speaking to local heroes is SEO search engine optimization Right What words should you use? Because there are keywords, depending on your industry, And your business and there are relevant Words that your customers are going to be searching, So you wan na make sure You’re paying attention to that and including that when thinking about your domain name Yeah and on the flip side, you also don’t want it to Limit your business right Like if you’re a coffee shop and you put coffeeshopchandler.

Com that Chandler is a city. What, if you wanted to expand And now you’re no longer In the Chandler area, So when you’re choosing your domain name figure out, are you going to expand? Do you want to, or are you just going to be in that one little city, It’s up to you And just as important When thinking about the word choice that you’re Using with domain name also be sure to do a similar approach when thinking about your email address.

I know for me when I see an email coming from a business and it’s @ Gmail, not as professional as if it’s @ and then their business name. You need a domain name. To be able to do that, and that’s why it’s super important Your domain name is going to. Let you have that professional email. That’s Going to let you communicate back and forth to your clients And not only let you Look more professional, but it’s going to add credibility.

It’s like you said if I was emailing someone and I got a response back from a Gmail. Anybody can make a Gmail. I don’t know if this person is legitimate. I don’t know if they are Who they say they are. I’m scared. I’m going home. I’m not talking to them Shuttin’ the door, All that fun stuff, So you’re likely not Going to get his business –, None of it With the Gmail I’ll save my money for pizza. You know what I love about websites.

What They’re open 24/7 You got, ta have one You got: ta have one to Be found by customers Without a website, you don’t exist Right and what I always like to say is your website. Is your Hardest working employee Think about it. It never Sleeps never takes a sick day, it’s always there. It’s dependable! You have that website and Really show off your brand And when you don’t have a website – and you don’t have that domain name, it’s really hard to Earn someone’s business? I was in Iowa over the past couple days and literally almost –.

How was that It was fun. I didn’t even ask Yeah it. I had a blast. I’ve never been Iowa, it’s cool, They have some cool bars there. I checked’em out Cool, But I was trying to Find a just a steakhouse to go with the friends I was with and most of the restaurants Did not have a website, They linked me to a Facebook page some of them, if that was at best or There was nothing at all Yikes, It was super frustrating Trying to find a steakhouse, You just wanted a steak.

Imagine me trying to Find a tofu meal in Iowa, Oh I’d, starve You’d be done right And it was super frustrating for me And to think about your customers that are looking for Your type of business now, if they find you on Google, My Business or Yelp or wherever else and there’s nowhere else to Link to to get more information, they’re going to be frustrated and you’re going to lose Their business forever Don’t be at the mercy of Just your customer reviews Get a website Yeah and there are plenty Of places to get that website Now you technically Don’t need a domain name to build a website.

You can have temporary domains like GoDaddy’s Website Builder. You can have yourname.Godaddysites.Com. Wix has yourname.Wix.Com, But it goes back to that professionalism and that credibility Mm-hmm. If you don’t have your own domain name, They’re, pretty cheap Like 20 bucks a year give or take right Yeah Have that there and show your customers that you mean business So Nealey speaking of websites.

Another thing that I want to talk about with our audience: copyright Keeping it protected. Whatever you put on your website, correct me, if I’m wrong, whatever you put on your website, you own, That’s yours, Whatever you put on your Website that you create is yours Thanks for clearing that up What he said Right, so the content you put up, especially if, like you’re A designer or a photographer, or things like that Or a musician Yeah, the content that you Create and put on your website is protected by copyright.

Laws so that your information is safe and it’s yours, So cool little tidbit. You have to have a website. And you have to have a domain name to be able to do that Now. I know social media Is all the rage right now, Everyone’s on Instagram, Everyone’s on Twitter and Facebook, and everyone just wants to be there, But what I’d strongly urge Everyone to really think about is those platforms can come and go.

What happened to Vine, It came, it went, It went and people built Up large large followings and spent a ton of time, On Vine and it’s gone All those subscribers all Those everything it’s gone, But you know what won’t go away. Can you guess? Well, I’m biased. I think social media is here to stay, but I know what he wants me to say: Websites. Yes, so social media is Always going to be here, but the profiles and the Websites themselves may change or they may change In a direction that doesn’t really work with your business anymore Mm-hmm, But your website will always be there.

You control all the content on it. You control what goes on with it. It’s all yours, Another important thing. That I want to bring up that. I often advise with your website is the importance of including Your customer reviews there Now sure they already exist. Over on Yelp and Google, but having them on your website as well acts as social proof, So I’d strongly encourage that And plus think about it.

Let’s say I land on your website first and I’m deciding if I want To use your business to go to to get my car washed, and I see all these great Testimonials from your customers, I might be just a one and done I hit your website. I don’t even need to go anywhere else. I’m going to go to your business. You have won me over with Your social proof on there Absolutely and with your website too, it really makes customers Or potential customers just have an easy way to contact you There’s, usually a contact form there and a phone number or social Handles or everything else that they need to contact you Now when it comes to domain names, let’s give them a couple.

Pro tips on how to really select the right domain name all right. We talked about keywords: Things like that Mm-hmm, But there’s some things: That we should avoid First and foremost, you Should avoid hyphens in domain names right, You don’t want This-Is-A-Really-Long-Dash-Domain-. — — — Yeah Dash You’ll, make your customers dash ( laughing ) Right so avoid those dashes, And I always like to Talk to the local heroes about the radio test.

Mm-Hmm, Do you remember the radio test in one of the earlier articles? Yes, you did enlighten me with that. It was short. I was sweet, How long Yeah. So if I gave you A ten-second radio ad Ten seconds And just to talk about your business and you had to end with a call to action of your domain name. Would that person remember your domain name in that little ad spot Now, if it’s super long or Complicated or they can’t remember how to spell it, Or whatever it might be, — Mm-hmm That’s going to be a bad domain name, So try to keep it short, sweet memorable and something that someone Like us would remember ( laughing ), What do you mean by that We’re millennials we’re everywhere, All right, that’s a wrap, Go ahead and comment.

Below on what you learned for the benefit of your domain, name Also be sure to like This article and subscribe so you’re in tune with all the future Content we’re creating And ring that bell, So you’ll be the first To know what’s next, This is The Journey We’ll see you next time.

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Using Social Media to Build Your Personal Brand

We have an employee Isaac Irvine.

You didn’t tell me this Surprise. Oh my gosh ( laughing ) Isaac Irvine is one of our basically personal Brand gurus at work And we’re going to check out some of the things that he’s doing and how you all can use. It in the real world Ready to get started. Absolutely: let’s do it. Your personal brand is Really just your reputation or what people think about you And we’re going to use Isaac Irvine to kind of demonstrate some of these qualities.

So when we figure out what That personal brand is the most important thing. Is trying to figure out what you wan na be known for What sets you, apart from everyone else, So looking at Isaac’s profile? What do you think he’s all about? What is he trying to? What is he setting himself apart for Okay cool yeah, So I was just glancing at this. I get the very like he’s, deep rooted in being husband and dad 80’s.

Kid also Really proud of his Position over at GoDaddy – And he loves talking about Internal communications And I see a lot of positivity in the posting too – the voice, It’s very uplifting Right. He really talks about his Family is what’s the backbone of all. He does So a lot of the articles he does and things he talks. About is about his family and him being a dad and helping them out and really setting himself apart that way, So, at the end of the day, that’s what he wants to be known for just a rad dad, that’s tattooed up that likes Star Wars and Likes to be with his kids – And I got that impression – When I met him in person too Yeah, So this really lines up the personal brand online lines up offline.

Is that a really big Important thing you think: when it comes to businesses and-, You have to be consistent right, Personal brands. Yeah You got, ta really show the real you. So it’s super important To be consistent with it, So what’s the biggest Part of social media. What do you think the Biggest driving factor is: why do we have social media? Well, one of my favorite things and I think, while it Has existed to this day is that offers us a two way street a two way dialogue Right, So you can give sure Information about your brand, how you wan na, run your business.

What makes you you, But you can also have a conversation, then with your target audience. Yes, absolutely So you build that rapport even before they come into your business, while they’re at your business after they’ve left. Your business, And that to me is what makes Social media so exciting, Yes, Really embrace the social Right. Social media is about being social Like we have to have conversations What I see a lot of people do really with building their personal brand.

They try to make it all. About me me me me me, Oh my gosh tell me about it. They don’t actually just talk to people and say: hey, that’s really cool. I like that shirt or hey. I had ice cream there and start that conversation. If you could look at Isaac, Irvine’s Twitter here you can kind of see all the Things that he’s retweeting and commenting on and liking And really just having that Conversation being engaged, It’s crucial And a common misconception.

About a personal brand, is it’s not all about him? It’s not all about that person. It’s about how he helps the community and those that he’s trying to serve, And you can see that with What he’s retweeting too, on Twitter? It’s also things that are relevant to his personal brand, but it’s not him just pushing This content out there as original content – It’s like hey. I read this super great article that is Relevant to what I’m about, but it’s by this guy named Bob, So that also builds Potential relationships with other people in the industry, which is just a domino effect for potential success.

I love that And it’s really awesome too To build those relationships, because there are people that will help you build that community and that you can compliment This. Also works really. Well, in your personal lives or dating lives Like make it a conversation, If you just sit down for dinner, and you just talk about Yourselves, all the time, you’re not getting that second date, All right, I’m getting Dating advice, I love it So with social media and personal brand like yes, you wan na have Those conversations You also wan na create your own content or just let people into your life, And I love Instagram.

For that reason, Instagram stories is fantastic to just go quick little 10. Second, article of cool: this is my day. Or here’s what I’m doing and help people really relate to you and just open up I’m a huge fan of Instagram stories. It’s all about the gram. I love it Cool, so you have This great understanding of using social media For your personal brand And the next step is Really to just experiment Figure out what you can do and kind of go beyond just Staying in your comfort zone, It’s really easy to just be a thing and just post random.

Pictures of yourself all day But like if you check out Isaac’s Instagram here Yeah, I just pulled that up He’s got a lot of random stuff, There’s a ton of variety. So really what catches your eye! When you look at his profile Well, I instantly wanted To have a good chuckle’cause, I’m seeing him In a Santa Claus, outfit – And I wan na click on this, just because what could that caption possibly be And Santa Claus in April? All right, Oh well, when you Forget your hoodie at home and grab a jacket.

You have lying around to warm up and it fits perfectly. He really is living his best life and showing people how He’s living that best life. Definitely I see that And you’re right about experimentation when it comes to your personal Brand on social media, it’s not like one size fits all. Here’s your guidebook just follow that you’ll do great. No, you have to do trial and error Check the analytics and Metrics and see what works And what works for Isaac may not work for you or whoever else.

With a personal brand, You got ta experiment with Article with captions, with images with storytelling with Instagram Stories, go on and have conversations on Twitter, maybe check out LinkedIn. Whatever is relevant to your brand. Try it out At the end of the day, You’ll figure out it works, awesome, keep going and if it doesn’t scratch that off to not do in the future Yeah exactly.’Cause his audience is unique to him.

It’s personal, Hey! Look! He went to Voodoo Donuts, I’m hungry Justin. Thank you so much for coming in this was super helpful, very personable, And if you want more articles like this subscribe to our blog Look out for what we’ve done and what we’re going to do in the future.

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How to Start a Service Business

Let’s go Hey, I’m Emma your GoDaddy Guide and today, I’m super excited to be joined with my co-host, Justin Nealey, Hey Justin! What’s up What up? How are you, What are we going to talk about today, Starting a service business, Exactly We’re talking about starting Your service business, I’m already dying to Know where do you begin?’Cause there’s a lot of things.

That I’m sure you have to do, but what’s first and foremost, Right and you have to take That first step of really figuring out what you want: You want your business to be Right, You can’t just go. I want to Be a service-based business! Well, what do you want to do If you want it to be something that you’re actually passionate about, because you’re going to Get a lot of the things that you don’t want to do like the admin or just the run-around.

And if it’s not something You’re really passionate about it’s not going to last. I love the passion component To me if you’re doing something that you’re passionate about you’re, going to give it your all your 110 % Right, absolutely You’re going to do the best work Right. It’s your! Why It’s? Why you do what you do Yeah? So what do you need? Where do you start So probably step one just to make sure that you’re productive is to buy a computer If you don’t have one, If you read this on a computer, then just disregard this Move on to step two, but That’s going to be step one.

What about a smartphone, though I feel like I do everything On my smartphone, You can do a lot absolutely, but it’s all about being productive. You can flip to different tabs. Go to different screens. Do a bunch of stuff that You potentially couldn’t do or if you have to go and type everything out on a smartphone. It’s going to take you a lot. Longer than on a computer, It’s good to have both, though That’s a good point.

Okay, so you have a computer got it Then. What’s next, I’m thinking social media, but that’s just’cause. I’m Obsessed with it domain, where do you go from there? So probably the next Step is to figure out what your name is and buy a domain name and get your social media handles. We’ve got a couple of articles. That we talked about really diving into Instagram Twitter and Facebook in the links or descriptions below As soon as you have that Domain then you need a website.

Social media is great, but you can’t always control social media. Do you remember Vine (, laughs, ), Yeah Yeah? It was a super popular platform Right. What happened to Vine Everyone invested all their time and it’s gone So all those followers went with it And with your website, it’s there to help. You generate Leads and you control it and it’s there for as long as you want it, And then you piggyback into social Another thing, I’m so just wrapped up! In the digital world, — Absolutely, But I was at a trade, show recently walking the floor.

Networking and I forgot my business cards And it’s easy to do’cause. I do so much in the digital world Right, But I got by, but I just am curious as a small business owner and the local heroes listening in are business cards still An important thing, Absolutely it’s absolutely relevant. In fact, I got a business card today and it blew my mind. The quality of it Right. Look at that Super cool There’s even a texture with the font It’s something tactile and if you’re on the go, sometimes you may not Remember the domain name or the handle, or things like that, but that business card is just something to really make yourself stand out, Especially if you got a cool one like that.

That’s different It’s a cool one. It helps you out. Did you want it back? I mean I might ( laughter ), We’ll get it later. I didn’t even notice you Put it in your pocket Yeah thanks Some place, you can get business cards. There’s places like Moo.Com, that’s pretty cool, There’s Vista Print They’ve been around forever, We talk about Canva a lot. You can create your own Business card on there They can print it off for you.

What do you use? I use Canva’cause I like to really design every part of it and there’s a couple of templates, but to each their own. Now, when it comes to Getting your actual work done, I imagine you need to have what An office space work space Space in your home, It’s going to vary right. Is that important? It’s somewhat important! It depends on what type Of service you provide, If you don’t ever really Talk to someone face-to-face, you don’t need an office, but if you want to be able To have meetings with people things like that, you don’t have to invest.

In an office space, There are a ton of just co-working spaces popping up all over the country. Some are free, some are Freemiums some are paid, It just depends on what the budget is, but with those co-working spaces. What I love about it is it’s Not only a place to work, but it’s a place to –, Free coffee, There’s, free coffee, too (, laughter, ), There’s coffee and Kick Flips, but it’s a great place to network And you get all these Like-Minded people around you that you can just piggyback ideas off of or find just complimentary businesses That maybe I’m a web designer right And you’re working there and You’re, a graphic designer You start sending me web design leads, I start sending you graphic design leads and your service just builds.

And builds and builds Or work at home Have a little office space. Something that’s just yours, free of distractions. I know I’m like a squirrel. I just get distracted all day, Just I’m working and Then Netflix will pop on and my dog runs by and I get distracted so what I like to do, Is go to a coffee shop and drink coffee, (, laughs, )! I love the working at home, It’s not for everybody, but — Not for everyone.

It is if you like to work in your PJs. That’s how I do my webinars ( laughter, ), Okay! So one more question: for you All right: How do you stay productive doing this? Oh, that’s! Tough! It really depends on the type of service business you provide. There’s not one answer fits all, but I’ll go over. Some of the Things that helps most people First off. You need some Type of productivity suite Most popular out there are Google Suite with all their Google Docs Sheets all that good stuff and then Microsoft Office.

I would almost caution people to have basically get a second number And what I mean by that is not going and getting another phone Right. There’s lots of digital services, where you can basically have Another number on your phone so that way people aren’t Calling you on your mobile line and you’re like is this personal. Is this business And then it gets confusing Separate the two Absolutely and then you Don’t answer like a weirdo like hey, this is Nealey’s Web Design and it’s your mom right.

You want to make it professional, so you have that difference. She’ll be happy to hear That you’re always working and working hard, (, laughs, ), She’s, so proud, (, laughter, ) And just separate your personal Life from your business’cause, otherwise it’s going to Start getting overwhelming, I say the same for social media. If you have a business, go And get a business page, Don’t use your personal page, Yeah Absolutely All right and then let’s Talk about getting paid, You’re a service business right, Oh right, yeah, You want to get paid You’re not doing this — That’s an important part of all this This is not just a hobby, Not just a hobby.

We all got bills, Yeah passion that pays Yes, lots of tools out there If you’re going in person, probably Square or something like that, so you got that little dongle and you can swipe that credit card. Venmo’s, probably my favorite just to read the comments. Personally, that people talk about, but quick and easy way to get paid, otherwise, there’s PayPal and Stripe for your website and things like that Sounds like a lot of options.

We got options All right, that’s a wrap. I want to thank my co-host. Justin for being here, It’s been awesome, You’re the expert, and we learned a lot about how to start your service business. But I’m sure you have questions so go ahead and drop them below and be sure to subscribe to our blog for more articles. Like this See ya, Bye

 

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4 Strategies to Get More Instagram Followers

”, Alright, so you’re on Instagram. You probably got a great Cadence going already with how often you’re posting but you’re, definitely thinking “. How do I get more followers,” right, I know I was asked that Actually, just recently when I was doing a seminar in Orlando And it’s a good thing to think about because the more Followers, the more likes Right, The more likes spread more word of mouth Yeah, the more Conversions to your website, the more you grow.

All these fun things right Yeah, but, as I always get asked “ Well, what are best practices to get more followers on Instagram?”, So we’re going to break it down into four ways to gain more followers, starting with Don’t skip over that bio. Make an awesome! Bio about your business, I know I have a favorite one. There was — What is that? There was this pub in L.A. When I lived there – and they did this really bold move – They decided to go 100 % vegan Interesting for a pub Yeah and in their bio it says: “, Oh kale, yeah ( laughs ) We’re plant based.

”, So to get right to it. [ Nealey ] Love a good pun, [ Emma ], (, laughs ), Oh Kale yeah. We should get shirts. That say: That’s all you Would you wear it? No Just me Just you, Just me All right anyway, so like It’S their announcement that “ hey we’re plant based now.”, It’s also funny, which is their voice, their sense of humor And then from there. They like Have added links, for example, if they wan na direct you to their website or anything that they’re Promoting that month, So when it comes to your bio, that was just one example: “, Oh Kale yeah we’re plant based”, but I also recommend, if You’Ve been in business for a long time whenever you opened up.

Add that that’s always a big one for me, especially when I’m checking Out, like a auto repair shop, I wan na know they’re not just Like the new shop in town, It makes me feel like I can trust them more if they’ve been around a while, So I’d also incorporate Anything that really demonstrates your Personality or your vibe, so if you’re, a restaurant and you’re known for fine dining like Let people know that so you get the right audience versus if you’re super, like divey Hipster vegan crunchy place Exactly right.

I’Ll be there Yep she’ll, be there (, laughs ). I might try it, But with your bio, you Really wan na be strategic about what put out there basically put how you Actually help your followers and what they’re going to get out of it. The more that you describe What’S in it for them, they’re going to read that And go oh cool. That’S me, like I wan na talk about or see vegan pubs or I wan na have help with real estate or I wan na have help with whatever Put “ helping.

You do. Blah”, whatever that is add that in there And what a cool little trick is so in Instagram bio, you can’t Really do those line breaks, it will make it just one giant paragraph, but instead open up Notes like on your phone, add your bios. There add your line. Breaks your emojis, whatever you wan na, do and then copy pasta that over and then it’s like all nice and organized it’s little sentences.

Versus one giant, paragraph Yeah, absolutely and one Thing, I would also include you, mentioned real estate. And then I started thinking about home services and Then I started thinking bout where your service area Might be or areas So, if you only service certain cities, you know spell that out. For your customers as well So at a glance I know, hey It’S worth picking up the phone and calling you to do business with you as a potential customer or not All right now with including the bio is the link that Instagram gives us.

It’S the only place where we Can link to another source? What are some things? That we should basically link to there Yeah. So there’s a lot of options. I know I actually did this Recently for The Journey, I added the YouTube link: For all of our articles, Yeah, I saw that you basically Posted about it and said “, Hey check out the link in the bio”, Yeah yeah And then went right to the article. Did you click on it? I might have ( laughs ) Seven times So, if you wanted to direct People to a YouTube blog that you’re doing or other Social media platforms that you’re on or maybe you’re offering A really exciting discount or a special giveaway and Then you direct them to there And you can do this in Your Instagram stories, “, Hey link in bio” or on your Instagram post “, oh check out the link in our bio”.

So that’s a great. I see that a lot, especially for giveaways or 10 % off really cool shirt Yeah. I dig it And then I think last thing with the bio is the basically display name. What a lot of businesses will do. They’Ll just put their business name there, but if it’s not super apparent About what your business is, maybe that won’t resonate With your audience, but you can add your business name and then that line and Then basically put the services that you offer Whether it’s real estate Investing or vegan pubs, or whatever that looks like So when someone’s going through searching the feed they Can see your business name then cool that industry might entice them to wan na jump in explore.

Your page a bit more All right so that Takes us to number two Infuse, your Instagram with personality, ♪ Ahhhh ♪. What does that actually mean ( laughs, ) Other than your award? Winning personality ♪, Yes ♪, So that means think about What content you’re doing, what you’re putting out there? Don’T try too hard it’s going to come off that You’Re, trying too hard Be authentic, be real and plan ahead’cause.

That’S one thing I notice too, is that when content is just being rushed, personality’s left out completely. So just take the time. Think “, what is really me “? What is my voice “? What is my business about “? Do I have a good sense of humor,?” Yeah and for the most part, people follow your Instagram page, not only just for the services you offer, but they follow it for you right. So, the more that you share you and just share your day to day your struggles, your Wins your opportunities and going on there post about you, the more that you’ll really relate to them and connect with that audience.

The more willing that they’re going to be to just follow you and your presence Yeah as soon as you Come off just sounding like a business or predictable or a robot you’re going to get less engagement, And why would I follow you I’ll, probably unfollow you If you become too salesy or sound too much like a business – And I know that can seem confusing right,?’Cause you’re, like “, I am a business” Right “.

I wan na sell my services.” I’M ( laughs, ) “ I wan na make money like I’m On there to get more business”, So yes, I hear you but consumers, especially millennials. We wan na see a personality, So authenticity for the win And speaking of millennials, I read an interesting stat. The other day it said “ millennials prefer User generated content” so be sure to incorporate That on your Instagram, It’s like the mecca for User generated content, Which, if you don’t know what that is, it’s essentially content that other people have created.

For you about you, like your customers, taking Pictures of their pizza and then mentioning you, You can repurpose that into your own post And there was also another stat that said: 85 % of people when they See user generated content they actually visual User generated content, they actually trust it more than business. What they’re Saying about themselves or brands or colleagues or your family So strangers are pretty powerful, Yeah And there’s many ways to really create that user generated content.

We’Ve got a article for you, To check out up there, But what quick things you can do run a contest create just A personalized hashtag with your business and Tell everyone to hashtag it and then you can go search those hashtags and then all that user. Generated content is there Reach out to them, say “, hey You mind if I post this?” get their permission just in case And then add that Content to your own feed create that user generated content get people to really like you.

And buy into your business and you win and you grow your following. Another awesome way: To infuse personality in your Instagram, it’s actually really quite simple. Ask questions Like what So I saw That was a question That was oh, that was good, (, laughs, ), It’s working It’S working (, both laughing ), So I saw this hotel and they did a post on Instagram and it said “ I feel” I don’t. It was Like “, I feel most at home when I have blank”, So the hotel asking that question was just a really cool way to not only Get their audience engaged,’cause people love to Talk about themselves Right, But they also then Shared what makes them feel most at home.

It was like “ curled up with a book. Cozy with some hot tea” Yeah and another added Benefit with that is now they’re getting basically survey data of their audience. What Makes them feel at home, they collect the — Oh, my gosh Kind of the best examples make sure they include That in their hotel too, I didn’t even think that’s so true, Yeah -‘Cause. What if someones like, really enjoys cucumber water Yeah? They can — Put that in your lobby Makes them feel at home.

So another really Simple and effective way to infuse personality on your Instagram. Besides asking questions, And user generated content showcase your team, I mean what a great way To like be authentic and show who’s behind the scenes, you know Do some BTS. How is that Recipe coming together, who’s underneath the hood of the car. When I get my oil changed Like who makes this business Plus, when you see a familiar face at some of your favorite local Businesses as a customer, sometimes that’s all I need – is just like a little incentive.

To go back and visit, you Yeah absolutely and I Know that we do this a lot at GoDaddy. Our guides are the face of our brand and you can basically do it. The same with your employees like they’re the face of your brand they’re representing Your business everyday So show them off, show tell their story, let the people connect with them, And it should help them just Resonate with your audience and build that loyalty All right, so the third Way that we wan na talk about actually getting more Followers on Instagram we’ve kinda touched on it, but hashtags Other popular hashtags Like just industry wise think about it, and you can google this, You know what industry you’re in let’s say: you’re in retail “ popular hashtags to use If you’re in retail”, You google it right now And one that I love to see, Especially for some inspo, some fashion, inspo hashtag OOTD, You know what that stands for Outfit of the day.

That’S right. Nealey pays Attention to what he wears, I’m hip with the lingo He’S hip And hip with the clothes, So retail you’ll see that a lot OOTD And a lot of people love to use it to just get like. I said, inspiration, For their fashion And it’s going to help you to Get in front of new customers, more followers, which is What this article is all about, But don’t stop there, don’t Stop with just industry, specific hashtags or branded, You can also do neighborhood or local hashtags.

Okay, Yeah So like for in Seattle, Like hashtag, Seattle, coffee, for example, to Yes, Really bring around Seattle, coffee Yeah. That would be A great spot, you know, Branch out outside of Starbucks find a local business to go to where we could get a cup of coffee before we come in and shoot “ The Journey”, And with these hashtags too, it’s not necessarily just For you to post about really join in on the conversation of other people that you see, Talking about these hashtags, What I’d recommend Yes, Spend like ten or 15 minutes a night search, a couple: hashtags And just start adding conversation to other peoples, posts and adding value.

Don’T just put generic comments’cause. Nobody is going to care about that. People are just going to think you’re spam, but if you actually go in and add value continue on the conversation Maybe ask questions: it’s really going to help you Connect with a larger audience and show that you’re an actual person, not just a faceless business, All right Emma did you know That 70 % of people on Instagram read Instagram stories on a daily basis.

No, but I’m not surprised, I definitely spend way more Time on Instagram stories than just like scrolling, Through my Insta news, feed _, I feel the same way. I know I just go into the stories. I love it It’s authentic and it shows personality, Yes, Which tees up our fourth Way to get more followers Incorporate, fan content, Like user generated Okay Into your Instagram stories, So instead of like reposting, it reposting it basically Posting on to your story, Yeah, so, for example, I was, I recently got a new surfboard, it’s my baby.

I love it. Can’T Wait to go home and surf. I recently got this new surfboard and I was curious about the brand and the brand is modern, surfboards and I checked out their Instagram and what really sold me was Their Instagram stories And they are doing an awesome job of repurposing, their fans content, And so this was a really cool way to see people like me, potential customer well, for them it was already a customer and their out there like getting pitted and showing off their Board So I got inspo for like What board I wanted to get? I also just like increased my Hype to go catch some waves, but it’s really cool to see their fans and where they’re surfing and what boards their intrigued by And it got me really excited.

And the good news is Like we mentioned earlier, Instagram is the mecca of fan content, But it is your responsibility. To be paying attention to when people are mentioning, you, like, you were talking about earlier, Yeah you’ll, get a notification And you can go one step further, not only reposting their posts. You can repost their stories Now. The only way to do This is if they mention you in their story, So encourage your fans, your followers, to mention you in their story.

When they talk about you that way, you can repost It on your own blog.’Cause, they don’t do it. You won’t be able to do it And it makes it really easy too, Like Nealey is great about this, when we’re doing “ The Journey” shoot and he’ll mention me. And then it just pops up in my inbox on Instagram And then I’m like “, oh Nealey, mentioned me. Well, do I –” Get a little “. Add this to your story”.

What did what did he capture? What did I do? First, let me check it. Oh this is cool and then I can just click. “, add this to my story” Super quick, add a little Gif, add some conversation say: “, hey thanks for the shout out” or whatever you wan na, do Make it personal. Don’T just Click the mention in my story add your little 2 cents to it. It’Ll really, basically like Resonate with that person, And now they think they’re A little Insta-famous too All right, that’s a wrap.

You just learned four ways to getting more Instagram followers Be sure to like comment and subscribe Ring that bell. If you wan na Get these episodes first, This is “. The Journey” see you next time.

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8 SEO Tips for Your Website

Nowhere And so SEO stands for. Search Engine Optimization and it’s work that you do To make sure that you prove to Google and other search Engines you’re the best So for SEO. I like to use the analogy of all the work that you need to do is like a 1,000 piece puzzle And you and all of your competitors. You all have the same puzzle and we’re trying to prove To Google who’s the best which one of these puzzles Is the most complete My puzzle’s best? Definitely the best Yours is definitely the best.

We know that Does Google know that We shall find out Right But the thing is not Everyone has all 1,000 pieces, Some people are new, Some people have been Doing it for a long time, and Google doesn’t necessarily care that you have all the pieces in The thing that Google cares about is that you have more than the next guy. You could have maybe 10 pieces and if you’re in not a very Competitive space then yeah you’re going to appear on the first page, So these eight tips that We’Re going to talk about are going to help you to Start putting those pieces in to get started on your SEO.

Journey for local businesses Perfect. So, let’s jump into the tips. What’S tip number one Tip number one for local businesses: Everybody needs this. Is you need to create or claim your Google My Business Profile, Google, My Business? Is this Tool that Google has created that allows users to see all Of your business information in one place, We did a article all about This so go check it out, so you can deep dive, but basically, if you don’t have a profile, You need to go, create one and, if you haven’t claimed your profile, meaning that your profile exists.

But you didn’t necessarily do It or some user created that you need to claim it. So that you can update it with all the right information Right, You need to make sure It’S in your control, Don’t let it out to the World for anyone to add It’s yours, So tip number two is that you need to optimize your profiles, It’s great to have it created, but if you don’t have all the information that Google is looking for, then they’re not going to recommend your business over someone else.

So that means having your Business name correct your address: your phone number, your hours of operation, Those are the basics that most people do, but optimizing it really Means going a level below that so adding photographs, adding your logo adding pictures of your building, so that was when people are Actually going to your business, they know what it looks like If you’re a restaurant include pictures of dishes.

And what you’re known for so that way, people have Lots more information when they’re, looking at your Google, My Business page, So those are the key things That you need to do to optimize If there’s reviews that are outstanding, you need to respond to All of those reviews You need to encourage your Customers to go and leave reviews, because that also plays a part In how you’re going to rank against other local business profiles, All right, Morgan What’S tip number three Tip number three: is you Need to add your business to relevant business directories.

These are other sites. That their main business is promoting other Businesses like yourself, and so you need to make Sure that your business, not only is there but the Information is correct and the great thing It’S an easy back link. Absolutely So it really helps with your SEO to make Sure that your business anywhere people are looking At these business directories, your business shows up All right, which brings Us to tip number four Tip number four is to Add your business address to your website.

It sounds pretty plain and simple, but a lot of websites don’t have that So again to increase your rankings. This is one thing that not Only Google is looking for, but your users, if they’re wanting to visit your business, they want to have the address. Very prominently placed So put it in the footer. Have a separate page about your location, Just make sure that it’s there Visible and very prominent All right so should We put a Google Maps thing on the site too.

Yeah that helps That’s. Visual People can click it. They can see exactly where you’re located the cross streets. So that’s Always helpful as well so just make sure that you actually have the address called out. And written out next to that Perfect, which brings us to tip number five, What’s tip number five, Make sure that your NAP is consistent across the web. What’S NAP, Name I like naps, I mean well ( laughter, ) Name address phone number, So you need to make sure That those three things are consistently formatted everywhere, So pick one and then Update it on your website, [ Nealey ], Stick with it, Update it on your Google, My Business and then update it anywhere.

Else where your website appears, If you don’t own those websites, Email, the owner and say: “: Hey: can you update this?” And most likely they will but just make sure it’s Consistent everywhere Perfect To number six, what do we got? You need to update your home, page’s, meta, title and meta description, The meta title and meta Description are things on your website that you control how your website shows Up on the search results, So whatever the meta title, Is that’s what will appear on the search engine results page and then the little description below This is a great opportunity for you to let your clients Know what you’re about So, if you are a coffee shop in Seattle, maybe you should have That, in your meta, title and description Put your location, Put more information about your business.

So that way, your users Know what you’re about Right and most website builders or applications that you use have a section for you. To add a meta title, a meta keyword and meta descriptions. If you don’t know how to go. In the backend and do it, which most of us don’t want to right So if you need help just contact, whoever you’re Hosting your site with They’ll, probably be able to help you get that information there.

Because if you don’t set anything Google will just assume Whatever it wants to put there – and it may not always be relevant to what you want to Invoke to your audience All right Morgan! What do We got for tip number seven Tip number. Seven is just to make sure that all of your other Seo elements are in place Make sure that you have great Content on your website Make sure that your Source code is formatted in the way that Google likes to see it, Make sure that you have a great number of high-quality backlinks that are pointing back to your site.

All of this will help with your local SEO. We actually did an entire article. All about the basics of SEO check it out right here, So it’s super relevant to make sure your site is structured in a Way that Google basically wants so on your site, those H1 Tags, like you mentioned it’s basically, a code On the site that says “, This is my most relevant Tag line,”, if you will So only one H1 tag per site.

Images are super important. Because Google cannot read images, but it can read text. So that’s that little description there Most website, builders or Applications, like Word Press, has a place for you to add those All right. Morgan, we’re On the very last tip, It’s been an incredible Journey # thejourney. What is tip number eight Tip number. Eight is To consider launching paid ads or Google guarantee, So if you’re not getting The results fast enough or the traction that you need Using steps one through seven and appearing in the organic sections, then this is where paid ads and the Google guarantee comes in, So you can consider doing these things Paid ads.

Obviously, it’s pay to play Whoop. You appear right at the Top of the search result, It’s amazing, but once Your ad budget is gone. You no longer appear there, But people click on the ads, They’re very effective. So I love paid ads. It gets you right to the top, but I’m not really familiar. With what Google guarantee is Give us the low down, So the Google guarantee Is basically paid ads supercharged, So you could pay.

Anyone really can pay to have their business. Appear in the paid ads, but the Google guarantee Takes it to the next level, where, if someone purchases the service through the Google guarantee And they’re not happy, they can get their money. Back, which is really awesome, So it’s Google vetting certain businesses and making sure that they Provide a great experience, There’s extra levels, you Have to do to qualify for the Google guarantee, but it’s really great and Stands out in the search results and people love it All right guys.

Those were our eight quick tips to help improve your local SEO. I hope you liked it I liked it Did you like it. Loved it, I thought you would Make sure you like this article Comment below on just Something you learned today Subscribe Ring the bell, so you Know when these articles are coming at your first, This has been The Journey. And we are signing off

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WordPress Design Tips for Beginners

For your website right So when someone comes To visit your website, what are some things? That you want them to do For me. The most important thing is: they need to find all of our fresh new content on the homepage, So we have a lot of Content coming out daily, whether it’s interviews or news articles, So I want them to be able to find that and easily find the thing. That’S most relevant to them Right.

So just kinda Go down the rabbit hole of all your content. Getting the freshest first Yep And then possibly find oh cool. Here’S a related article, [, Morgan, ], Yep, yep, And then here’s another article, So that’s super important Yeah, You have a plan for your visitors, So same thing with you. When you want someone to visit your site, is it just to get information about you? Is it to call you? Is it to contact you? Is it to buy your product Whatever it is? You wan na have an idea of what that is going forward so that way, when you develop your website, that is priority number one, whether you’re designing the site or you have someone designing it for you, Okay, so I have a homepage but other than that.

What other Pages are important to have So homepage. Definitely important. If you don’t have a homepage, you don’t really have a website, so that’s kind of important, But other than that. You Want an About Us page, you want to talk about yourself and really talk about how You you help the visitor, the consumer, the customer right, The About Us, usually in typical fashion. Here’S the company’s history.

[, Morgan, ] Yeah, A lot of people may not care about that With your About page. Have it really about how you help them a Little bit of your history but more important how you help them Have a Products and Services page to really showcase what you do Have a Contact page, because that’s super important. For people to contact you And then lastly, a Testimonials page People love that social proof. You can pull reviews from Like Yelp, Google, My Business Facebook, wherever you’ve got a review plug it on the website.

And really show people that you are who you say, you are Yeah and with those Pages people are either finding you through social Or just going to Google and finding you that way, and so these are the Pages that they wan na do and they’re doing their due diligence. They wan na know who you Are why you’re an expert? What other people say about you? What product and services you offer so yeah having those Main ones are perfect All right so now another thing to really keep in mind with designing your website is you want to keep it simple And what I see a lot? Of first time, people do is they’ll, go in, they have like paragraphs and paragraphs Of their content, They wan na have everything there, Literally everything So they throw everything on their website and it’s Just a giant block of text, that’s super hard to read and I know us millennials don’t really like to Read we like to skim so it’s really tough to Understand where to go, Don’t be afraid of that white space That negative space that Basically has nothing, it helps people just see better, It helps out eyes, breathe and relax cause we’re not straining Yeah Right Yeah, What’s some other things to really keep in mind with the website? I think once you start Putting ads on your site is to limit the number of ads.

Obviously you want to Monetize your website, but if it’s just bombarding you with ads, it’s a really poor user experience. I know that I’ll find A recipe on Pinterest I’ll click on it and It’S just bombarded with ad ad ad ad, where I just say It’s the worst I don’t want to make this casserole anymore and I’m done Those clickbait-type articles right, Yep, You’Re on social media, you click on it. Then it Gives you like a paragraph and I go onto page two and there’s a bunch of ads and it’s like 17 Pages for what could’ve been like half a page, Yeah, Going back to the purpose of your website, the reason you have a website is cause you’re, hoping to turn these users into clients or paying customers.

So if you have too many Conflicting messages they’re just going to go away; And you’re leaving customers sending them away because You have too much going on Absolutely and I think The as a beginner designer or whatever you’re doing, I would shy away from using ads in the first place. Until you’re established, Like you said, it’s About the user experience and if the first thing they See is just a bunch of ads they’re not going to trust you and they’re, not loyal to you.

Yet to understand like okay cool they have ads, I Already love their content, I love them. Let me help them out and maybe I’ll look at these ads, but if you’re not there, Yet shy away from them, And now, with the website too, you also don’t wan na Have just super random, conflicting colors, It stresses out the Eyes, like a yellow text on white background, just doesn’t work. You really wan na stick to Kind of your brand colors there’s a lot of cool little like complementary color wheel.

Calculators out there online just do a quick, Google search and it’ll show you cool Plug in your primary color and it’ll give you some Complementary colors that look good. That’S not Going to be too overwhelming for the end user on your site, Because if you frustrate them, And stress out their eyes: they’re never coming back Now. I know with your website. You have a ton of content, so lots of experience there.

What are some best practices when it comes to content with designing your website. First off, you want Content that is relevant to you and your business And your audience, If you are a dog, groomer and You are writing about plumbing. Then people coming to Your website are not going to find that helpful and They’Re going to go away So make sure that whatever your audience is coming to you for You’Re writing content that you like, and you Can use Google Analytics or just ask your audience what They want to hear from you and you can start writing.

More content about that, so it’s more in line with What they’re looking for, but then also you wan na make Sure that it’s consumable, You can’t just have This giant block of text, because you wan na put everything in there. I won’t read it. No one’s going to read it, so it’s as simple as trimming it down to the core message, but if that content is really important, then Just hit that return bar and add some spaces, so that way, it’s nice and easy on the eyes Right.

It’S not an essay When you were in high school, You wan na break it up. Even if the paragraph is not the perfect form make it easy for the visitor to read. Have nice bolded Headlines or bullet points, or quote boxes, break up that content Make your English teacher mad. Okay, Just make it nice and pretty Yes, we’re going to get Some angry angry emails, but with the website itself, Too, you really wan na think about the structure.

Of the content, as well, especially on the main pages, the blog posts and things like that – definitely have to have structure, but so does like say your homepage. Now you don’t want that. Block of text in your hero, So the hero of a website, is basically that first little banner Header area that you see it usually has some type of text saying here’s how I help you a call-to-action and a nice image on The background, usually Images with your website: They have to match your brand.

You can’t just throw out If you’re a dog groomer some plumbing stuff cause That doesn’t make sense. It’S weird What about corny photos Like corny stock photos? I mean, if you don’t, have any photos. I would say that corny Photos are maybe better than a blurry photo from your phone. It’S true But maybe it’s time to invest in a photo shoot, so you can get really Nice, high-quality content and images that really show and display what your brand and your Products and services are Absolutely My two cents, A professional photographer Will definitely elevate you, especially if you’re a brick-and-mortar having someone coming to your place and take super quality.

Photos that way anyone can actually see it is great Worth the investment And now, if you have To use stock photos you don’t always have to Use the super corny ones, there are some free Resources that I like to use when I’m designing websites for clients, so pexels.Com is probably my favorite one and then unsplash.Com Is also a solid option, Basically photographers Are going on there uploading some of their Best work to get exposure and they’re giving away for free, which is super, awesome and helpful.

You can donate to them if You really like their stuff, but it really elevates your website, so it has some beautiful imagery, especially when it’s on-brand Okay, this is awesome, but what else do I need for my website Right? So with your Website you really want that purpose of it right and we talked about what Is the goal of the website? Part of that goal is Having a call-to-action and not just one call To action up in the hero, you want multiple call-to-actions throughout, So a call-to-action Is a usually a button or a link of some sort that says, learn more get now buy this product Subscribe to my email list.

Yes, Something basically telling The user to take action So again you wan na Have in the hero image, but you also wan na, have it Throughout the website itself, at the end of blog posts, I really like to have it at the top of the navigation bar upper right, just because the way that People’S eyes kind of travel around the website, It’s usually in a Z formation, so they’ll start at the top left, which usually your logo they’ll, move over and have the navigation, but then have a call-to-action right there and then they’ll, kinda scroll down, they’ll, see other content And to the right they’ll Kind of finish off, and especially if that menu Bar kind of scrolls down that call-to-action is Always there for them to see and use and take that action.

Nice Nealey pro tip guys take notes Alright. So now another Aspect of your website when designing is truly have Some sort of social share if you can say that five times fast Social share social share, Social share social share social share, woo got it. I’M impressed Pretty good She’s kind of the best So now, with the social share. I know what you’re thinking right, like that’s, not design, But design is every single Part of your website – and you really need to be Designing with purpose So how is social share? I can only say it one times fast.

How has that really changed your website? Well, for our website. We want people to. We do a lot of blog posts, news articles we wan na share our interviews and so having those buttons at the end of every article is crucial because we will have Article that will go viral and that’s really the goal. If you’re writing content, that is a blog post or whatnot, you want, as many people To see it as possible, so having that option that At the end of the article, they can just click and share it to their favorite.

Social network is key. If you don’t have it you’re missing out on potential new viewers and new users who can find you and your Business and your content With social shares, it can be on, like the left side bar of Like your blog page, you can have it in the widget Area on your right side bar, you can have at the bottom of a blog post. Usually people have it in Either the header or the footer, The more places you can Add it to your website without it being overwhelming the better You wan na, make this as easy as possible for someone to really love your content.

Wan na share it with the world Now another aspect that you Really wan na keep in mind and a lot of again a lot Of people don’t think this as designing the website. Is planning for SEO SEO is all about the website design and what you put into it. What are some things to keep in mind when really designing for SEO Yeah? So you have this Website you want it to be found, and there are certain Things that you have to do when building and designing your website so that way, Google and Other search engines can actually find and read your website.

[ Nealey ] Right So the first one is your source code. There is certain ways that you need to structure your website, so that way the crawlers can find it. An example. Are the image alt tags? Google is not a human It doesn’t really know what your images are. About it’s a robot right, Yep And so you have to go in and put text to describe hey. This is a picture of a dog being groomed. So that way, Google Knows that this picture this website is relevant.

For those search terms, So again, this all goes around. You have to structure your website in a way that Google wants But then also your content, you have to have your key words in there, that’s relevant to you and your business so where you’re located Yes, What your products and Services are your business name, make sure all of that is found in the content of your website, cause that all helps with your SEO And if you want even more Of a deep dive about SEO click this article right here and we can go into it even more Now super important When designing your website is to make sure that It is mobile friendly, Everyone has a mobile phone.

Gone are the days of the early 2000s when literally everyone Was on a desktop Yeah now, not only does Everyone have a mobile phone or a tablet that they’re Using to look at your website, but all the different phones Have different dimensions So all the screens are Different sizes and there’s just a lot so having a mobile, responsive, Site solves for that And most WordPress themes Have some sort of responsiveness that’ll make it look good? No Matter what device you’re using almost all website builders do as well, so you wan na make sure You keep that in mind, cause over half of Searches on search engines are coming through mobile and if your site is not mobile, optimized you make me zoom.

Oh the worst. I am never coming to your website or doing Business with you ever And lastly, you wan na make sure it works, no matter what browser people are on. I know some browsers have Some funky different settings right. So what might look good in Chrome may not look good in Internet Explorer if you’re still using Internet Explorer Edge. Edge Edge now Or if you’re, using Internet Explorer upgrade to Edge Firefox, make sure just test it out.

Just download the browsers. Really quick, go to the website. Go to different pages. You wan na QA these things to make sure that you’re not putting someone else’s experience down because they happen to Have a favorite browser, So these are all really great tips, but where do I go to find What’S new and modern and to see what other people In my industry are doing with their websites, Do you have any tips or ideas Yeah? I have lots of suggestions here.

I know designing website, especially when it’s not your forte or something you do everyday. It’S hard to really get Those design juices flowing So sometimes it’s good To see just inspiration check out other websites and you can go online and just start searching random. Websites, if you want, but I have two recommendations – that these sites really just Highlight kind of the best of the best, The first one is awwwards.

Com and the second one is behance.Com. Now both have all sorts of just graphical design-type aspects, but they do have website just examples and basically sites of the day that you can kinda check out And start picking apart, like cool. I really love this feature or I really like how this looks and mold it into your own site Kind of take the best of everything and make your own Alright Nealey. Thank you so much.

Those were fantastic tips. On how to get started with WordPress, I think if you follow those you’re going to have a killer website Absolutely and you helped out a lot which has helped me so I don’t have to come up with as much content. What can I say, But let us know your favorite Tip in the comments below and while you’re there Smash that like button and subscribe to this blog, so you get all these episodes first.

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How to Boost Your Halloween and Holiday Sales

Everyone Welcome to The Journey Today. We’Re talking about How to boost your sales, this Halloween and since today is Halloween, we’ll be, of course, talking about that. At the same time, these tips Go well for any holiday When you think of Halloween, you think of candy trick-or-treating, spooky outfits Yeah. If you ask us it’s The best smurfin’ holiday there is, But there’s a lot more To it than just that, If you’re a marketer, you can Bank on those Halloween sales – I mean Americans are looking To spend the big bucks Hey, I caught one And this year we’re Expecting 8.

4 billion dollars to be spent on just Halloween season alone, That’s billion with a B, It’s best to actually start Preparing and marketing at least two weeks in advance, That’s correct. I was in PetSmart and I saw they already have Christmas decorations up. And today is Halloween So cute, though, And to get people Excited for that holiday, you could start preparing your inventory, getting your store.

All Ready with those decorations And if you think it’s a little too soon just space it out a little bit Tease’em a little and let ‘Em know when it’s coming So the whole point: Is to be the first thing on your customer’s mind whenever That holiday rolls around Yeah you wan na be top dog. You could have a dog right now. I got that covered (, yawns ). What’S up guys So what’d, I miss A lot weenie catch up.

Okay, We’re talking about how To boost Halloween sales – Oh speaking of that Halloween sales People are wanting to buy right, Buy, buy buy. So why don’t You give them a reason to buy People want sales and deals and promotions around the holidays. Now is a great time for you to create your own promotions. Around the holidays And don’t they have More disposable income, now Yeah you’re right And another thing you Should really think about with just your sales in general, especially for those online sales, is offering some sort of free shipping? Yes, it’s going to be a little Bit in the beginning, you might have some extra Costs associated with that, but maybe put some caveats on it:,’Spend over $ 60.

‘,’Buy 4 get the 5th free’. Whatever that looks like do it right That little bit will really Push people over the edge to buy’cause people like deals; And if they have to go just a little bit further to get there they’re pretty much willing to do it, 60 % of shoppers say They’Re willing to spend more in their cart, so they can Qualify for free shipping – I know I am so much more Likely to actually check out when I’m online shopping, If the shipping is free Yeah, if it’s $ 10, I’m not about it If it’s free shipping, but the product costs 10 more dollars eh There you go Speaking of shipping.

Special delivery, Hey hey! So I’m going to talk! About the importance of investing in shareable Social media content – That’s a key word Shareable! So when it comes to your Facebook, Twitter Instagram really think about how you Can leverage the holidays? I know one of my favorite Ways is through hashtags, So it’s Halloween, so Hashtag Trick or Treat Hashtag, I did it all for the cookies Hashtag Halloween Deals On thanksgiving hashtag Go Cowboys.

Yes, I knew there was another Cowboys fan in the house: Hashtag Turkey, Coma Triptophan. That’S why you get tired, I wouldn’t know I don’t eat. Meat but hashtag tofurkey day, and that is the way to get More shareable content Piggyback off those trending hashtags with your social media, Around the holidays, Also another really great Way because it comes back to content is key. Content is king. You want to make sure to Post shareable content, so one of my favorite things: I see around the holidays is 12 tips for the 12 days of Christmas or people do supporting Local, a lot or giveaways, You talked about discount Codes, for example, Maybe a little free shipping And that’s just a way to celebrate the holidays, But I love the 12 day.

Themed stuff on instagram: That’s my favorite! Whatever you can do to Really piggyback on the holiday and not try to overpower It but play along with it the better Whether it’s the 12 days. Of whatever you want or play on Thanksgiving or Halloween kind of make your own And Twitter has a pretty Cool area called just’trending hashtags’, where You can see what’s trending, especially around holiday time, You can kind of piggyback add those conversations.

Add your two cents or your contests. Another cool way to Get your content, exciting and shareable is have a Contest or do an event I know at our work, we do Best dressed for the costume around Halloween Who’s got the best costume. Let us know in the comments below ( laughing ). You know the pizza is the best one here, No Best smurfin’ costume right here, Top dog right here. Nobody does blue. Like me, ( laughing ).

So definitely think about that. What could you do that would be really fun for your employees, Fun for you To get them jazzed and Excited and not just for the employees who are getting dressed up, but all the customers who get to tune in and they’re like give Them a little teaser article about what you’re going to dress up as Or stuff that you’re going. To do for the holidays, All right, That’s a wrap, Be sure to comment Like Subscribe And ring that bell so that You get these episodes first.

This is The Journey Pizza out.

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How to Use Facebook for Your Online Business

What’S up, How are ya Good, No surprise we’re going to Dive into Facebook today The book face But I also ( laughing ) The face book. It is your favorite right, It is my favorite No well, I don’t like To choose favorites So we’re talking about Facebook for your business – Maybe I just have a personal page and I’ve decided – maybe it’s Time to create a business page for my business right, What are kind of the First, steps that I need to really think about Well you’re, already, Off to a great start, You wan na go to a business page And that’s really important.

Because then, you get the ability to track metrics and analytics So absolutely business. Page over personal page And then from there You wan na make sure you set up your profile. Get that profile photo. Usually your logo works great or maybe, if it’s your personal brand use a great headshot of yourself and then take that cover photo to really showcase your Products or your services and then from there make Sure all your information is up to date And that Is really important? Your hours, your website, Your phone number 100 % And make sure that lines up with your Google And your Yelp listings too Right I went into a coffee shop recently I Was in northern California, You drink a lot of coffee, ( laughing ), It’s true And the cashier was looking At me, like I don’t know like, maybe she wanted to rush me and I’m thinking they’re Open for two more hours, what’s the deal, ( laughing ) Sure enough, they were Closing in five minutes I go, but your Facebook says and I wanted to Go into my spiel like this, but I saved it got a quick Coffee to go fortunately, but that’s the whole point.

I left with a customer experience that wasn’t as ideal And then onto probably one of the largest most impactful components: content Right, always preach Quality over quantity Yeah, so you definitely Want to make sure you vary your content, So mix it up. You know you don’t Wan na become predictable; Okay, And you also don’t want to turn into just a business always talking about yourself right. It becomes so salesy.

When it’s always about me, me me So salesy me me me: yeah, Buy this, buy that Yeah sell, sell, sell; Rather you want to Tell tell tell Exactly ( laughing ) Throw something out there. That’S entertaining I mean social media is escapism. Oh yeah, Throw in a good laugh But also educate me, So I always tell my friends: That I follow my dentist on Facebook and they look At me, like I’m crazy, Why right What And it’s because my dentist Shares really educational tips and tricks like how to whiten my teeth without spending hundreds of dollars.

I saw also my yoga studio was just giving a friendly Reminder to stretch how to maintain the zen, which Is really important in life? Absolutely Also, sharing testimonials that you’ve already Received on Yelp and Google and turning it into a Facebook post Right repurpose that content Take that review. Let’S Say it went on about your your ice cream, you’re an ice cream shop, And the review goes on about How you have the best flavors, but the ultimate flavor Is definitely rocky road, Absolutely Yeah, it’s the best Hands down.

So you have that review that the customer went on About your rocky road ice cream and then use Canva or Something and in the background of that review and select A picture of the rocky road on a nice ice cream cone. It really brings it to life. For those of you that don’t know, Canva is a free website that Has all sorts of templates and kits and graphics For literally all things that you could possibly create Like social media templates, Facebook headers all that Good stuff and it’s free – I use it pretty religiously, Also article, So I’m a huge advocate, Of article I love article Just keep it on the shorter Side, attention spans are short Seems like under two minutes: Or so under three minutes Yeah.

Definitely I would even a minute is good and also doing behind the scenes footage. That’S one of my favorite things about following local businesses is like well, I wan na know how This all comes together And showcase your staff And also repurpose anything your customers take User generated content And I think what gets A lot of people hung up on, creating article is, maybe they don’t have a production set like we do right, (, laughing ) And that’s okay.

Our smart phones are Pretty darn good right, Yeah they’re, pretty smart, Take a article with your phone and even it doesn’t have To be the best quality Go behind the scenes. People like that story like to see the other side of things, and it really helps them. Relate to who you are as a business owner You’re, not just some faceless company. So next up we have these groups. Can you tell us a little Bit about what the Facebook groups are and how I can potentially leverage It as a business owner Yeah, so definitely Encourage you to pay attention to other like-minded Businesses, but also groups to piggy back off the Engagement, you already have, I will say, content is Where you wan na spend most of your time, but Groups can be an advantage to getting your business More exposure for sure, So next up we have advertising.

What do we do with the Paid advertising aspect Yeah, so it’s no secret. Facebook has gone on Record to say organic reach is on ( whistling ) the decline Don’t give up on it. Organic content is still Alive and well and breathing, but I think Facebook posts that you boost has a lot of potential and you Can reach a targeted audience, which is one of favorite things about it? You can start off with like five bucks and you can get in front Of a specific demographic age group, zip codes and That way, you know your post is going to reach the right people And with I would kinda Look at the post that maybe have done the best And then boost those and get those that reach out.

That’S a really good point. Thank you for bringing that up. It’S usually ( laughing ) Wait you’re the expert ( laughing ) I dabble So with Facebook. It’S you wan na go ahead and let the post that you’re Doing hang out organically for a little bit, Let it chill see how it Does garner some reach Now once it garners some Reach then boost it, That’s what we found to work best While a lot of people. I Speak to think, there’s no way to track this to ROI.

That’S a total myth. You can actually go ahead and look at it’s called your insights tab and it breaks down everything. You know what your audience is liking engaging with. Are they Clicking on the links, what time of day they’re doing this, and when you look at all of that and really understand it, the insights you can truly be informed about. Where do I go from here right Like? Where do I go from When it comes to which days work best to post, what Time of day works best Does my audience prefer The entertaining posts more than the educational And on which days And from there you can truly Come up with a great strategy, What happens if I’m not Getting maybe the engagement that I want? Are there any like, like Just great pro tips or boosts that I can do to help me.

Just skyrocket and get in front of those people Yes, Contests: Okay, how so So recently, I saw this cafe that had a special music guest coming in and they encouraged their Audience on the Facebook post, which is like promoting the music, Okay, yeah Comment below and tag a friend and then they’re going to do a random drawing, and it’s like two free Tickets to the show That quick little tag, A friend now becomes just free advertisement for you and it’s costing you a couple tickets or maybe a free, drink or free burger.

Exactly Or whatever you do, You could also ask a question: What is your “ go, to” order when You come into our restaurant Or, what’s you favorite thing on the menu and your favorite person to dine with, And so it’s your customers Spreading word of mouth about what’s great to eat So on Twitter and Instagram Hashtags are super relevant, but I don’t always see It as often on Facebook Are they a thing.

Absolutely I mean here’s the thing when it comes to using hashtags Whether it’s on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, Or if you’re just posting either way you got ta monitor it, because it’s going to be Different for each business, It doesn’t hurt to use Them just be mindful and use relevant, hashtags Perfect and probably only one or two Don’t go overboard. Just a few Yeah, you don’t need to go overboard.

This has been The Journey. Thank you. So much for reading Make sure to like and comment. Below subscribe to know when our next articles are coming atcha and we are signing off

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How to Use Instagram for Your Online Business

Maybe I have a coffee Shop that has a skate park in the back, who knows, What’s kind of the first step. What should I be looking at So think about your audience? I know Instagram is Definitely preferred by teens and Millennials, so that’ll be Great for your business idea, which you stole from me, ( laughing ), But also some cons like a lot Of the platforms out there there’s a pay to play component Right.

It’S important to Think about who are you trying to target before You even get on there Also identify your voice. Because you wan na be on there and be consistent because After all, it’s your brand, So you don’t wan na Be one way on one post then 360 on another post, And it’s hard to follow, Yeah, which I know for small businesses, because they’re doing and juggling a million different things. Sometimes they’ll have Four different people at the business doing the Instagram, And while I see why they’re doing that, it comes off that way.

And it’s too inconsistent from the way the photos Look to the coloring to the captions. It’S just there’s, no consistency there! Absolutely! So what about my profile? I’Ve seen some pretty great profiles. I’M just looking around I’ve seen some bad ones. What are some best practices? And things to avoid So best practices, definitely Starting with the name, you want your name to Be consistent across –, So Coffee and Kickflips Yeah exactly Again stealing my business ( laughing ), So you wan na be consistent.

Across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, with That name that handle Also when it comes to Your photo, I’m sure, because it’s a visual platform there’s so many ideas. You wan na put up there Also stay consistent across the platforms and don’t forget your description. What should I really Put in my description Should, I just say: cool Come buy coffee in my shop or what should I do Just give me essentially Your elevator pitch, What makes you unique, Also feel free to just In a way kind of brag, What makes you cool All right, so Instagram Has posts and it has stories, Can you talk to us About some of the things we should look out for When we’re doing a post versus a story Yeah, so there’s a lot to Say about posting on Instagram One thing that I like to Remind small business owners is that it’s important To come off, authentic, consistent, but also professional, So it’s like a balance.

Those are the ingredients. The one good thing with Instagram is that, although it’s a highly visual platform, you don’t have to hire a photographer And give us a sense of That behind the scenes Who works there, The outside the inside of your business. I love that because you Can really get a sense of I’m already there, But you’re not you’re, maybe On the go or chilling at home on your couch, but you Could feel like you’re already at that business? I’Ve got a great idea.

Should we do behind the scenes? Let’S do a behind the scenes Right now Right now Absolutely So. This is really going to bring to life what we’re doing for All of y’all out there We’ll see if this makes the cut Okay cool, So we got behind the Scenes here of the crew Say: hi, Please, document this Perfect height, Oh, come on man, ( laughing ), All right, diving back in So line ( laughing ) Back to what we’re actually talking about You’re on Instagram, Great Literally all day.

Now what You wan na be active, proactive, So as a business, it’s really important that you’re paying Attention to when a customer or potential customer Comments on your post Let’em know. You heard Like their comment, respond back Also, if they’re tagging your business or mentioning acknowledge that as well And that can help with customer retention. I mentioned a business that I was at and I was traveling and doing My own thing on the road – and I just mentioned them – Because they had amazing soy latte and I was stoked on it Sure enough.

They respond Back with this genuine message of thanks for business, And even though I preach About this all the time and educate business owners on doing this, and it happened to me – I felt truly valuable and it like made my day So I’m more likely to go back. And do business with them Yeah I love it. We have an easy way. Just To actually talk to people, If you go up to a random Stranger and say hi they’re like wait.

What are you doing On Instagram, it’s just the norm Or if you call me don’t call me Who calls It’s 2019, So cool so give us a lowdown On just Instagram search Yeah, so Instagram Search is really helpful if you’re looking to for Example, grow your following: You wan na look for a target. Audience of your own look for people talking About things that pertain to your business Search those hashtags, Yes, search, hashtags So you can find people that are relevant and follow them, so you’re growing, an Organic following right Right, But also you can chime in On conversations with people, So maybe you area vegan restaurant.

Let me know I’ll be there. So if you’re, a vegan restaurant, maybe search for other people, Talking about vegan cooking vegan recipes, maybe you Then follow a vegan, blog or a chef and that way You’Re really cultivating this niche bubble, which Will ultimately help your engagement, which we’ll Talk about engagement right, I mean you brought it up, please Without further ado, So engagement right is really important because you wan na make sure You’Re measuring your success on there.

So engagement rate is your ROI, So you hear me say the word a lot, but what it actually is it’s some math. Are you ready? No, What was your best subject in school? Not math, Not math? Okay. So it’s really simple. Engagement rate is the number of likes divided by your followers times. 100 Carry the three divided by… ( laughing ), All right cool I’ll write it down for you later. Thank you, But that’s going to give you some insight as to hey this post.

It performed well, or it was a flop and Then from there you can even go further because If you’re on Instagram as a business, which you should be as a business page, Then you have insights, You can see what time of Day worked best to post with your audience what Day of the week worked best, and then you look at the engagement rate as well, and it’s just Going to help you to have this approach to posting That’S not so blind Right, it’s not a shot in the dark, It’s more of an educated guess, because it’s not always perfect, but it gets you in the right direction.

Yeah, But again you want to be there and active. So I really can’t stress: The importance of commenting and replying to your Customers as they’re engaging taking the time to engage With your business Literally comment back On every single person, Because they took the time to say something Replay back, Give them that time of day And have fun with the Stories just like we did because that’s truly a live element.

It’S a very organic, authentic element to your personality and your brand, And if you feel like, I don’t have time to do all this, then I Encourage brand ambassadors Get your staff involved in this Also come up with a hashtag. So that way, when your customers Come in they can start getting the content for you. And you can just sit back, use it repurpose it I’m all about efficiency Right. Well, thank you! So much for hashing it out on the Gram.

You’Ve been awesome. Emma Thanks for having me Do it for the Gram. Do it for the Gram Well, this has been The Journey, Make sure you comment and subscribe. So you know when the Articles are coming out next. Thank you again, signing off

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A Beginner’s Guide to Branding Your Business

No one right, So you want to really niche down. Follow your niche to get that rich right. That’S a little little dad joke there! Ooh catchy, When I think about branding your business, obviously there’s a lot of questions.

Where do I start? Where do I begin First thing that comes to mind and I get asked by local heroes. A lot is target audience. Yes, How do you know what that is? How do you define that That is such a tough question right? So when I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs and people just starting off – and I ask them who’s – you, your audience Who do you wan na serve And they’re like “, I want to Have everyone, as my customer.

”, ( laughs, ), Give me all the money All of them. Everyone And that’s such a bad idea, because not only is it super expensive to try to acquire everyone, you become just a generalist, You’re, not really known for anything. I would start by figuring out who you actually like to serve. Who is your most preferred customer or your favorite person? To serve in your business And really make a story around that, So if you were my target audience right, I would say Emma she lives in California.

She really loves to surf and skate. She loves coffee, But she likes to spend a lot. Of her time on social media And really build a story, Around that, so when — He really gets me Right, Soul, mates, But so when I go and create My messaging and my content I create, if, for you and Your story and your pain and what you really want to solve right, Which makes me feel valuable Right and it’s for you, I feel heard Yeah And that doesn’t mean that you can’t help out Jessica or Sally or Billy when they come in and want your services –, Don’t forget John And John and Eddie right, But you can still serve them, but your messaging has to be about Emma.

So that makes a ton of sense to me, But it also just now Another question’s brewing, So that seems like a goal right So goal: one find your target audience, But it’s more than that when it comes to branding your business. So what do you do? Next? With goals in general, What other goals should I be keeping in mind at this stage of my business. Well, you want to define What’S important to you, What is your goal? You should have something That your trying to achieve otherwise you don’t really Know what success is, And I would really focus on small wins So first off get a Website is that first step And then get your first customer, And then you get your first 10 customers And then you kinda, grow and grow and grow, And that kinda snowball effects.

‘Cause a lot of business. We talk to. They get scared of all the Things they have to do Instead start small figure out what that first Small win: you can do and then grow from there. I do the same thing just when I wake up on a Monday morning: ( laughs ). If I think about everything I have to do for the whole week, — You’re goin’ back to bed Yeah Covers over your head, I’d be like “. Let’S this isn’t going to happen today.

.” It’S not actually Monday One of my favorite things about speaking to local businesses. It’S like they’re, so unique Right. Right So I imagine when it comes To branding your business, that’s something you want! To take advantage of right Yep, What is it about? My coffee, Shop or my retail store, that makes me unique. What makes me stand out Is that part of building your brand? Oh absolutely. You have to be unique right.

If you imagine a line and on this line, we have crazy and the middle is mainstream and on the right is prolific or unique. Well, you want to be Basically right there So like with your idea that The business I’m stealing the Coffee and Kickflips — There. He goes again. That’S kind of on ( laughs, ) that unique spectrum right, There’s a lot of just coffee shops, but there’s probably no coffee. And skate park shop right Well now there will be because He’S revealed our secret ( laughs, ) coffeeandkickflips.

Com, But so you want to kind Of make yourself different from the rest,,’cause everyone in the Mainstream, it’s commodity right And that’s why we build a brand. That’S why we try to be unique, is to try, set us apart and really be someone that Someone wants to follow And then kind of following up on that, I’m going to lean on you for a Lot of this is social media. Yes, Your brand, I was waiting for this part That platform is just so phenomenal at growing Your brand and your reach, So if I’m a small business owner, I’m going to lean on you, what are some of the Platforms that I should be on, if I really want to build that brand Yeah, so you want to be on Facebook, Twitter Instagram also don’t forget your Yelp and Google listings: Okay, These are the most important for a local business, But to your point about being unique, you know you already are, but you need to voice that Across your platforms, Super important Your speaking to yeah that specific Ideal customer rather Yep To come into your business and spend money with you And when you’re on social media too, you have to make sure That it’s not about you.

Yes, it’s your company. Yes, it’s your brand, But your brand is there To serve your audience And if you position them As the hero you win Absolutely Let your customers sell you, Let your customers get Your next customer in –, 100 % Because it’s word of mouth, which is social media Yep All right, So that’s a wrap. I want to give a huge thanks. To my co-host Justin, Thanks for having me Yeah, thanks for showing us and teaching us how to Brand, your business, a very hot topic: -‘Cause brand is everything I’m sure you have Questions and comments Be sure to leave them below And also subscribe.

So you Can get more articles like this Cheers, see you soon,

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