How to Write a Block-Rocking SEO Press Release

You know what a press release is: A press release is the #1 tool in the publicist’s bag of tricks. A press release is what publicists send to media to let the public know what their clients are up to. But what you may not know is that business owners (a.k.a. Those do-it-yourself publicists) rely …

Why Social Media is Important for Small Businesses

I hear this one often: you’ve got a small business, so why even bother with social media? As much as we might like to ignore it, social media has become a major player in today’s internet. As a business owner, it’s not something we can ignore, and with Facebook’s Two Billion+ reach, why would we? Lamenting …

How to Optimize for Local SEO (6 Quick Fixes)

Before we jump into the search engine optimization waters, there’s something that should be clear: there are two types of search engine optimization: There’s Organic Search and Local Search. Organic Search is all about how people find your site in the search engine rankings. Local Search is all about getting your business to rank better in the Google Places …

How to Generate Free Publicity (Part 2)

OK, so you’ve got a great story about your business you want your local media to cover. How do you get their attention? Just like in fishing, we call it The Hook. The Hook is an intriguing email subject line/press release headline that makes readers (and editors are readers) want to know more. Here are …

How to Generate Local Publicity (Part 1)

It’s the holy grail of all small businesses –  Free Publicity. But how do you get it? In this age of information overload, it can be hard for beginning businesses to be heard above the din of more experienced buzz-makers. The good news is that the more media outlets there are–newspapers, e-zines, magazines, social media …

What should you pay for SEO services?

For most businesses today, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the marketing investment that yields the highest return on investment (ROI). The benefits SEO provides far exceed the value of other marketing approaches – print or broadcast advertising, online ads, direct mailing, etc. Businesses no longer decide whether they need SEO services; rather, it’s how much they’re going …

How To Grow Your Readership

“At the ‘Tools of Change’ publishing conference in New York, Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler revealed a remarkably simple, effortless way for authors to sell more eBooks on Amazon… or in fact anywhere eBooks are sold online. In a survey of Goodreads’ 15 million-strong membership, he found that the main driver of eBook purchases was, unsurprisingly, ‘referral by a friend’.”–BESTSELLER …

Why Write a Killer Blogpost

Sure, it seems easy enough – all your friends seem to have started one, so why shouldn’t you? But with the advent of the internet and weblogging, it seems that everyone has become an expert and so it’s hard to separate the good content from dross, the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. There …

How To Harness Social Media to Boost Your Business

You constantly hear that social media is the way to build business, attract friends, fans, and followers, and “go viral” overnight. But as anyone who has waded into the web has quickly discovered, you can easily spend hours caught in this “web” with very little to show for your effort. If only it were as …

Why You Shouldn’t Use Fake Reviews For SEO

Fake reviews, while tempting, aren’t the answer to your lack of site interaction. Aside from being a dishonest way to let your potential customers know about your goods and services, it hurts your engagement and is considered bad SEO practices. It is tempting, however, because we know that Google (but more importantly people) take social indicators and …