Daily Biz Solutions

As a small business owner, it’s likely that you know that it’s important to have an attractive, easy-to-navigate website that highlights your company’s products and services. But, are you aware that simply having a website is not sufficient. You have to make sure that your website is optimized so that people who are looking for the types of products and services that you have to offer – in your local area – can actually find your company when conducting online services.

A beautiful website serves no purpose at all if the right people can’t find it at the right time. That’s why search engine optimization services, also referred to as SEO services are so important for small business online marketing success. SEO is the process of making sure that the content and coding of your website is ideally suited to allow people who are searching for what your company has to offer have the highest possible chance of coming across your website when doing relevant internet searches.

It’s impossible to underestimate just how important search engine optimization really is. Potential customers search for products and services online when they have a specific need. It’s in your best interest to increase the odds that they’ll find out company. After all, that has to happen before online browsers can become customers!

Guest Post by Martha Ciske

Everyone said that you and your business needed to be on Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter, and every other new social media site or service that has made its debut since then. You linked your webpage and your blog and made sure you had the right apps on your mobile devices to post on the go. You have profiles and pages on multiple services and…. now what?

Losing track of where you and your company are online, over-engaging, under-engaging, and inaccessible content can hurt your ability to reach your audience. Hurdle past these issues and get back on track with your social media strategy by taking the time to assess where you are, and form a plan for moving forward.

Issue: Profile Overload. There are scores of online services and sites where you can potentially place your professional or business profile page. As sites develop, you may feel like you are always chasing the next greatest place to create a profile for you or your business. All of those sites may not be neccessary to make an impact with your customers and clients. Worse than not knowing all of where your accounts are is not knowing what your login information is. Without it you wont be able to act, respond, or correct any mis-information.

Solution: Take inventory of where your profiles and pages are and know what those sites are for. Are they equivalent to a phonebook listing or do they require maintenance and interaction? Can you post status messages, photos, or videos? Are they professional or social networking sites? Can they be linked to a networked posting service?  Also make sure you are always in control of your login information. Knowing what each site or service can do for you will help you determine which ones to keep, and which ones to delete. It is far better to have a few well-maintained profiles and services than to stretch your energies across a multitude of poorly created or inactive profile pages.

Issue: Multi-Media Frenzy. Pictures (and videos) might be worth a thousand words, but they might not always be the best vehicle for your business’ message. Let’s take a moment to think about your audience.  If your audience is the 9-5 working professional and you want them to be able access your information while they are at work, put your message into text.  Many office environments do not allow streaming internet media.  Some outright prohibit content from major video hosting sites like YouTube or Vimeo. Other professionals may not feel comfortable watching your video in the workplace due to noise concerns or the perception of not working when accessing media online.

Solution: Make sure your audience can still access your content even if they can’t push play. Consider making content summaries of your video presentations available.  Also vary your postings to include both text and multimedia content.

Issue: Social Media Silence. Several high profile celebrities have gone social media silent in support of various charitable causes, but for the average business or professional seeking to maintain and build their network, silence can spell disaster. Many new social media users go from gung-ho when they begin their online presence to burned-out. You may have intended to keep posting several times a day, seven days a week but the reality is that without help, you just can’t keep up with that kind of effort.  It’s exhausting. However, that two month period where you haven’t posted at all is telling potential customers that you don’t care, that the business isn’t doing well enough to pay attention to your online presence, or that you lack the digital finesse to “get it.”

Solution: Networked posting services to the rescue! Services like HootSuite and Tweetdeck can help you organize your content and schedule out your activity. Have a plan to post general content about you and your business on a regular basis, then supplement with the more spontaneous or timely content you create later.

Issue: Over-posting is Overwhelming. Your posting is out of control. You’ve posted three inspiring business quotes since breakfast and you are just about to re-tweet an article you saw on a newsfeed, then a photo of your newest product, then a video about how your stock is doing and…..  Stop! Don’t. Push. The Button.  Where are you going with all of that activity?  Is it emphasizing your core message? Are you educating and engaging, or just plain annoying your contacts with all of your chatter? Are you revealing more personal information to your business peers than is really appropriate?

Solution: Post what matters when it matters.  Strategic and planned posting services can help over-posters too.  If you are over-posting because several people have access to your accounts and are posting independently, reel it back in and take control. Establish a review process to make sure you are posting for your business or professional persona. That includes putting your personal posts on a personal social media account not your company or professional profile.  It’s ok to re-post content from other reliable and respected sources, especially pertinent news or industry happenings, but make sure your own message is not lost in all the activity.

Even if you haven’t fallen into any of the above issue categories entirely, avoid reaching social media meltdown by taking the time to assess your social media strategy now before you lose patience, control, or sight of your goals. Don’t worry if you haven’t stayed strictly on task with your social media strategy.  The great thing about social media is that it is constantly evolving so you can still get your strategy going and be successful.

About the Author:

Ms. Ciske is a legal information technologist and social media consultant in Orlando, Florida.  She has worked with professionals, businesses, and non-profit organizations to build their online presence and develop social media strategies. Her interests lie in anything geeky and cool. She can be reached at .

By Mary Gormandy White, M.A., SPHR

Are you looking for a convenient way to learn about topics relevant to your business or career from recognized experts without having to travel to a costly seminar?

Consider Audio Conference Training

Audio conferences are an excellent distance learning option that can allow professionals to get the training they need to keep up with the latest industry trends without having to spend time out of the office or incur unnecessary expenses. The Industry Calendar specializes in providing quality audio conference training seminars for busy professionals, who are looking for a business training solution that allows them to fit learning new information into their already hectic schedules.

Convenient Distance Learning Solution

Available training topics include general business, human resource management, finance, workplace safety, and more. Simply visit the Industry Calendar website to see what topics are currently available. You’ll be able to review complete course descriptions and details about the credentials of the expert instructors, as well as find out what type of continuing education credit is available for each title. To register, select the topics that you need to learn more about and complete the online registration process. You’ll receive a confirmation email with instructions for dialing into the training session or downloading the audio conference recording, depending on the option you select.

Live Audio Conferences or Recordings?

You can choose to attend the live audio conference seminar via your telephone or opt to purchase a recording of the session that you – and others in your office – can listen to and learn from when it is convenient to do so. There are advantages to the both the live sessions and the recordings, so it is up to you to decide which option is best for you. Alternately, you may also choose to purchase a training package that allows you to participate in the live session as well as have access to the recordings to use for additional training in the future.

Participating in live audio conference training offers you an opportunity to ask questions of the trainer during the session, which can be very beneficial to help you get answers specific to issues that you may be dealing with in your office. With the recorded version, however, you can listen to the training any time you need a refresher, and you may also share the information with other people in your workplace as needed. This can result in a great savings, as you’ll have access to the recording to use any time training on the particular subject matter might be needed, rather than having to incur the additional expense of sending people in your office to attend future training sessions on the same topic.

Affordable Training Solution

The Industry Calendar’s audio conferences are a very affordable business training option. Typically, the cost of each audio conference is $219, whether you choose to attend the live version or decide to purchase the recording. You can also choose to attend the live event and get a copy of the recording, for a total fee of $299. What could be easier or more convenient?

About the Author

Mary Gormandy White, M.A., SPHR is the Director of Training and Consulting Services for Mobile Technical Institute & MTI Business Solutions, where she specializes in human resources, management, and public relations training and consulting. She teaches business training seminars in Mobile, AL and provides on-site corporate training and conference presentations throughout the U.S., as well as human resource management and public relations consulting services. She is also the author of and in the LifeTips book series.

Are you looking for an affordable way to manage and promote special events for your business or organization? Whether you’re holding a party, seminar, business expo – or any other type of event – using Eventish can help you take the stress out of marketing, promoting and selling tickets at a price you can afford. Eventish provides an affordable, easy-to-use way to handle every just about every aspect of event management. It’s an ideal solution for individuals, charitable organizations, professional associations, businesses and more. Any person or group that schedules events can benefit from the Eventish online event management platform.

The next time you are responsible for organizing and promoting an event, consider doing things a little differently. Rather than dedicating hours of time dealing with fielding RSVP calls and email messages, processing ticket payments by phone or mail and/or sending out tickets to those who register to attend your event, you can let Eventish take care of most of the processing work for you – without the expense of launching your own full-blown e-commerce and event management system. Don’t go through the stress of trying to deal with managing another event solely by telephone or email. You’ll likely be amazed to learn just how much time you can save by using such an affordable system.

This guest post is from Lewis Beck

When my parents decided to open up an ice cream shop when I was 12, I didn’t think much of it other than “free ice cream!” It was really exciting and I loved having somewhere to go as a kid and take my friends for a free scoop. Now here we are, 30 years later and they’re talking about handing off the store to me. I never imagined I would own my own business but after watching them run this place for so long, I have a few ideas for how we could improve it. First, I would go to www.bank-card-processing.com and look into how we could finally accept credit cards. I would also start hiring summer help since that’s obviously when it’s busiest in the store and we really get overwhelmed easily. Lastly, I would talk to the property next door about pruning those darn bushes! I guess time will tell if I’ll one day own an ice cream store but until the I’m happy to help out mom and dad when they need it.