Summer is right around the corner and that means summer vacation!

The children are home from school… vacation plans are pending…  and even your customers are beginning to alter their schedules (and budgets) too!

Its often a time of change and uncertainty but don’t fret! You can take steps now to prepare your business for the summer months.

Here’s what you need to do…

Step #1: Take A Look At Your History

What happened last summer?

- Did sales go up?

- Did profits decline?

- Did you have trouble relying on contractors?

- Did you have way too much free time on your hands?

History often repeats itself!

If you can document what occurred last year by looking at the data and your analytics then you may be able to use that information to plan ahead.

For example, a copywriter may find that their business increases during the spring months and then declines during the middle months of summer.

Knowing this information, a copywriter can then plan ahead.

They might launch a special offer during the slow months, or use that downtime to create an information product or take a vacation.

Step #2: Schedule Ahead And Automate

If you’re busy during the summer months then scheduling ahead is extremely important!

And there are many things you can do right now so your summer is relaxed and easy.

For example, you can write your blog posts now and schedule them for the summer.

You can do the same for your email messages.

In fact, you can plan a product launch and automate all of the processes so that the product launches automatically several months from now so that you don’t have to lift a finger!

Step #3: Get Help

You can also simply schedule downtime. Many sole proprietors simply take a hiatus or time away from their businesses.

If you’re a blogger or service provider this is certainly an option.

A better option may be to ask a guest blogger to step in and help while you’re away.

You run the risk of losing clients and readers if you’re gone too long.

Virtual assistants, interns and partnerships can all help you take time away during the summer and if you are swamped during the summer, then additional help can make our bigger workload easier to manage!

Summer will be here before you know it so taking steps now will help you enjoy the warmer months while still growing and managing your business.

It’s smart business and it’ll save you future stress and anxiety.

Do you have a plan in place to help you manage your business during the summer?

There are few platforms on this planet with demographic data as accurate as Facebook’s.

Unlike data from other sites, like Google or Advertising.com, Facebook’s users actually provide all their demographic information and as a marketer – that’s a treasure trove!

A lot of money that’s spent on branding is wasted and ads are seen by people who aren’t in your target market.

How many times have you seen a commercial on TV for a product you didn’t care about?

But guess what? Facebook is different!

Facebook allows you to hone your branding in to only your target market.

Your brand will be constantly exposed to the right people, without you having to spend money on the wrong people.

Not sure how to go about doing this? Well here’s 3 ways you can use Facebook ads to help you brand your business.

Way # 1: Find Out How Much CPM Advertising Cost

Your CPM cost can vary widely based on a number of different factors.

Generally, to advertise to a first world country with a moderate amount of demographic filters, you can expect to pay anywhere between $0.30 to $1 CPM.

Advertising in other countries will have vastly different rates.

It’s generally not a good idea to lump different countries into the same campaign or you’ll have skewed results and costs.

Just because Canada, Australia, the USA and the UK all speak English doesn’t mean they belong in the same campaign.

The number of filters you put on will also have an impact. Much like any other free market, the more competition there is to advertise to a certain demographic the more you’ll pay.

Note that if you’re bidding CPM on Facebook you’ll probably get fewer clicks than if you spent the same amount of money while bidding CPC.

Once you know then you can begin using it accorningly.

Way # 2: Target The Right People

Start with the basics: What age, gender and location is your target market in?

You can then narrow down your demographic further by earning power, political leanings and education.

You can further narrow down your target market by targeting specific interests and make sure to type in related interests as well.

Don’t just type in “branding,” but also “marketing” and “promotions” for example.

Way # 3: Drive Traffic To Your Facebook Page

One powerful way to use Facebook to improve your brand is to drive traffic to your Facebook page rather than your home page.

Give people a freebie in exchange for them clicking “Like”. For example give them a 20% discount coupon or give them a free video.

Once someone has liked your post you’ll show up in their feed. Now you can get your brand in front of them time and again – for free.

You can also use connection targeting to advertise only to people who’ve already “liked” your page.

You’ll usually get a much higher ROI this way.

In addition to highly effective targeting tools, Facebook also has stellar tracking tools.

You can track exactly how many people have seen your ads and how often they’ve seen your ads.

When it comes to targeted branding, there are few tools as powerful as Facebook.

Are you currently using Facebook to brand your business?

If so I’d love to know what methods you’re using so chime in below!

With the ability to instantly publish a press release online, the world of PR has changed.

Press releases now have the power to both attract media attention and drive traffic.

This change in accessibility has also changed how businesses write press releases.

Here are a few tips to help you write effective online press releases.

Attention-Grabbing Headline

The headline of your press release has two jobs and it needs to be newsworthy.

That is, it needs to demonstrate to a journalist that you’re up to something important.

It also needs to grab the attention of prospects.

The best way to accomplish both is to focus on a benefit of your product, service or event.

If you’re launching a new information product, what problem does the product solve?

How does it provide value and how is that newsworthy?

Pull Them Into Your Press Release

Assuming you have their attention with the headline, you now want to pull them into your press release.

That’s accomplished by writing a compelling first paragraph.

Your first sentence needs to concisely state what the press release is about.

It should expand on the headline and offer a bit of credibility.

For example, if your information product is about how to lose weight, you might cite a relevant statistic and share how your book will help reverse this data.

Remember The Basics

When you write a press release there are basic questions you need to answer.

They’re called the five W’s: Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

- Who is the story about?

- What is the actual news?

- Where is the story?

- When is it happening?

- Why is this news?

Provide your readers with compelling information however, make sure it is fact.

You want your press release to be interesting and to position you and your business as credible and authoritative.

Stick to the facts and don’t make claims or promises.

Show how your product can change lives and offer benefits.

Practice Writing

Use an active voice, strong verbs, and avoid jargon, adverbs, and descriptive words.

Use short sentences which are succinct and to the point.

Always spell check your press release and ask someone to read it for clarity, grammar, and spelling.

Self-editing is difficult so have someone else read it to make sure you didn’t miss anything.

Wrapping It Up

Include information about your company, including website link and contact information.

This is typically included at the close of the release.

Try to include a call to action in your release.

What do you want readers to do with the information?

Finally, track your results: how many visitors did you get from your press release?

Some publishing sites offer analytics and ranking information.

They tell you if people are reading your release and visiting your website and this is valuable information make use of it.

Have you ever used press releases to market your business?

Social media is one of the most powerful branding mediums in today’s digital age.

When social media first came on the scene both major brands and small businesses were hesitant to get in the game.

However today just about everyone is leveraging this powerful tool.

Social media allows you to follow up with people while also gaining access to their friends.

And it allows you to leverage social proof as well as build a two-way street of communication.

So if you’d like to use social media to help brand your business, here are five important rules you must follow:

Rule #1: Post Consistently

The whole idea of branding is to keep your brand in front of people all the time.

When you post regularly, you’ll be seen regularly.

When you post regularly, your posts will frequently be on people’s walls or feeds when they log in.

This keeps your brand fresh in their minds at all times.

Rule #2: Be Personable And Real

Nobody wants a corporation in their Facebook feed… but a CEO with a sense of humor? Absolutely!

Don’t try to appear professional -instead, try to appear like a real human being.

Share your personal thoughts, share your real personality and let your customers connect with the real you.

Rule #3: Bring Value To The Table

Don’t just use social media as a venue to sell – use it as a venue to give.

You know the old saying:

Give first and you shall receive.

- Use social media to give away free content.

- Use it to reference other people’s great content.

- Use it to give away free products.

Make people look forward to reading your tweets and updates.

Rule #4: Use Multiple Media

Don’t just share text, consider sharing videos, podcasts, infographics and teleseminars too.

Share in as many different kinds of media as you can.

Social media has a very multi-media audience.

The more different kinds of media you can use, the more likely you are to get viewers and shares.

Rule #5: Share Other People’s Posts

Don’t be selfish in social media.

It’s common for marketers to want to keep their traffic to themselves.

In social media, however, this will drastically reduce your reach.

When you regularly retweet other people’s content, others will in return regularly retweet your content.

When you share other people’s content, they’ll share your content.

It’s not just an “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” arrangement.

It’s also a way of delivering more value to your followers.

Instead of only sending your content, you also share the best of everyone else’s content.

These five rules will help you navigate the world of social media branding.

Social media is here to stay and given the many hundreds of millions of hours spent on social media every day, it’s a branding platform you can’t afford to ignore.

How do you use social media to brand YOUR business?

Hiring an SEO consultant is tricky business because on the one hand, getting ranked well in the search engines is one of the highest ROI investments you could possibly make.

And on the other hand, the halls of business are littered with people who’ve paid thousands to SEO consultants with nothing to show for it!

So how do you pick an SEO consultant and make sure that every penny you spend results in more traffic and more sales?

Here are a few of the most important things to consider.

#1: What Results Have They Gotten In The Past?

This is perhaps the most important gauge. Do they have references from other clients who are willing to vouch for them?

Perhaps they have samples from past clients where they can show you screen shots of where they first started out and where they ended up by the time they finished their work with the client.

Try to get a sense for what kind of real experience the consultant has.

# 2: Where Does Their Personal Or Company Site Rank?

If you’re hiring someone to help you with your rankings, you probably want to make sure that their own rankings are in order.

Ask them what kind of keyword(s) they’re trying to rank for and then do a Google search and see where they come up.

Are they up to par?

Note that while this factor can help a determination, it shouldn’t be your only or your main factor.

Many great SEO consultants just don’t spend that much time on their site because they’re so busy working with clients.

# 3:  What Kind Of Tactics Do They Use?

How do they achieve the rankings they promise?

Try to get them to walk you through as much detail as possible.

The most important thing here is to determine whether or not they’re using black-hat tactics.

Black-hat tactics are shortcuts to gain backlinks that could end up undermining your website in the future.

Try to work only with companies that use white-hat, above board tactics.

That’ll set your website up with solid fundamentals from the ground up.

# 4: Their Pricing Structure

Finally, price.

If at all possible, try to work with an SEO consultant whose results are somehow tied to their performance.

Usually this is done with a part up-front payment, with the majority of the payment due upon delivery of the results.

For example, for a low to moderate competition keyword, you might pay $1,000 up front and pay an additional $10,000 if you got #1, $6,000 if you got #2 and so on.

This puts the onus to deliver squarely on the SEO consultant, instead of you having to bear the brunt of the risk by paying up front.

Some SEO consultants, such as our firm, simply do not work with this type of pricing schedule, and instead focus more on long term organic SEO practices.

But let me tell you upfront – many SEO firms do.

If you find an SEO consultant who has a strong portfolio, who’s ranked well them selves, and who uses legitimate tactics, who charges a competitive contingency-based rate, then there’s a good chance that you’ve found a great consultant to work with!

What’s been your experience working with SEO consultants?

According to news sites and reports, more than 4.6 billion people have mobile devices.

Part of that may be due to the fact that some people have more than one mobile device or cell phone.

Still, that’s a large number. As a business owner this number may get those creative juices flowing.

You start thinking, “How can I use this technology to grow my business?”

There are actually many ways you can reach your potential customers through smartphones and other mobile devices.

# 1: Social Networking

Social networking isn’t just for the laptop or desktop computer anymore.

You can connect with your prospects whether you’re out and about or they are.

In fact, consider creating interactions where you encourage your prospects to connect with you from their mobile devices.

Ask them to upload photos or to post status updates when they’re out.

# 2: Group Texting

Instead of, or in addition to, asking people to subscribe to your email list, ask them to sign up to receive text messages.

You then have their permission to connect via text.

Consider your audience and the type of message subscription service you can create.

For example, if you’re a personal coach you might send motivational or inspirational quotes to your subscribers each morning.

# 3: Make Your Website Mobile Ready

Have you ever noticed that some websites look terrible on your smartphone and others look excellent?

This is because of the technology they’re using.

You can make a few small changes and have a mobile ready website or blog.

Once it’s ready to go promote it. Ask people to view your site on their mobile device and share their experience.

# 4: Blog

You can record video posts from your mobile device and instantly post on your blog and/or YouTube.

You can also write blog posts using a blogging application for your smartphone.

# 5: Games And Downloads

Consider offering mobile technology to your prospects.

You can create an application or a game that they can download for free.

Ringtones are one type of download. However, you can also offer documents and videos.

In addition to the many ways you can reach your audience through mobile devices and smartphones, there are ways you can monetize the experience too – for example by using AdSense for Mobile.

As the technology continues to grow and improve, there’s no doubt that more opportunities to market via mobile devices will continue too!

Facebook is here to stay and people from all age groups and walks of life are posting and interacting.

It’s a great place to help build your business brand, increase awareness and drive traffic.

Yet many business owners just don’t know how to use Facebook effectively.

Just like in face to face interactions you only get one chance to make a good first impression on Facebook.

So here are some tips to help you out.

Tip #1: Make Sure Your Profile Is Correct

Facebook has rules and one of them is that you shouldn’t use your personal profile to market a business.

That’s what Facebook Fan Pages are for and with that being said many people still use their public profile to market their business.

Breaking Facebook rules isn’t the problem with this tactic.

The problem is that many people combine their personal and their business interactions.

They post personal information on the same wall that they publish business information.

This doesn’t give your followers a consistent voice or brand and it’s confusing.

And you probably don’t want a potential customer’s first impression to be, “Ugh – Drank too much at TGI Friday’s tonight.”

Tip #2: Don’t Give Too Much Information Out

Separating purposes for your Facebook profile is the first way to make a good impression.

Create a separate business profile and a separate personal profile for interacting with friends and family.

On your business profile make sure to keep it strictly business.

Anything and everything you post online is there to stay.

Post something personal or share too much information and you could offend people turn people off and lose potential customers.

Make sure you’re not sharing too much personal information with your business followers.

Instead, focus on providing the type of information your readers and prospects will find valuable.

The more value you provide them the better impression they’ll have of you.

Now that doesn’t mean you can’t share personal information however, it needs to be related to your business.

For example, “I just tried out a new cookie recipe. Received rave reviews from the PTA. Pictures and details are on my blog.”

This is a great personal post for someone who owns a cooking website or blog.

It’s personal but it also provides information and drives traffic to their site.

Tip #3: Stay Positive And Upbeat

Unfortunately, many people use Facebook as their personal complaint board.

They complain about clients, about other marketers, and about situations.

This isn’t a great way to make a first impression.

Nor is it a good way to keep followers interested.

If you must vent, then call a friend or write in a journal.

Don’t vent online! Stay positive and you’ll always make a good first impression.

Facebook is an exceptional business building tool.

Create a plan for using Facebook that includes a personal voice, brand, and content strategy.

Before posting anything ask yourself this one final question – “How does this benefit my audience?”

And if there’s no benefit then simply don’t post it!

Twitter is a useful tool for both personal and business needs.

If you are new to Twitter, it may be helpful to learn how to use it to your best advantage.

Here are a few do’s and don’ts to get you started.

Twitter was revolutionary when it started.

It’s a platform that uses short messages to communicate with others.

It could be up-to-the-minute information about you or communication with clients and co-workers on projects and the like.

And you can follow others just like on other social networks.

With Twitter there are very few established rules.

Most of the advice given on how to use Twitter is about etiquette and using the service to connect with other business professionals, clients and the like.

The Do’s On Twitter

So, let’s take a look at some of the positive things to do on Twitter.

Follow Others

It is not just about you – it’s also about connecting with people so get involved in what is going on in your area of expertise.

Follow people with similar interests because  this gives you a higher visibility and can help establish you in that niche on Twitter.

If you see something interesting, retweet it so others can follow too.

Tweet

It’s just like posting on Facebook so leave meaningful information for others.

You can talk about yourself but not too much. Intermingle some useful content with your conversational pieces.

Create A Compelling Biography

Use your bio to its utmost! You have just a few characters so use keywords that are searchable to describe yourself and help others to search for you and find you.

Be Professional

This includes using proper grammar in your tweets.

Abbreviations don’t lend themselves to professionalism.

The Don’ts On Twitter

Don’t Tweet Every Second

You often hear about people who tweet about eating dinner, going to the bathroom and every other thing they do all day.

This is not what people want to hear from you and in fact, it is one way to lose your ranking and current audience.

It just clogs up the works for those following you.

Be Careful What You Say

Once you have entered something on the internet, it will be there forever.

Inflammatory tweets reflect negatively on you and can come back to haunt you later.

Don’t Be Too Negative

People who are always looking on the downside crash the party. Misery loves company but you will lose yours if you persist.

Learn To Use Hashtags Properly

Hashtags can help you and others to follow a conversation more easily.

So use them the right way and don’t put a hashtag on each word in your tweet and don’t hashtag a run-on tweet.

Using Twitter doesn’t have to be complicated or hard.

Be yourself and use the above advice to make the most of your time there.

Do you tweet on a regular basis for business?

Knowing how to build rock-solid profiles online is a valuable skill in many ways.

Websites like LinkedIn for example can help you make career-launching contacts.

On websites where you do business deals online like buying and selling links, websites or domains, you usually need some sort of profile as well.

Really just about any online network involves having some sort of profile.

Knowing how to create a compelling and professional profile will help you establish trust, get more clients as a provider or get better service as a buyer.

Here are a few of the most important things that go into creating an online profile.

A High Quality, Professional Photo

People do judge a book by its cover.

Before they’ve read your profile and before they’ve read anything you say, people are already going to be forming impressions of you based on how you look in your photo.

Aim to have a high quality, professional, high resolution photo for online profiles.

Ideally you should be wearing a suit and tie or for women a suit jacket or blazer.

The image should be crisp and it should be color corrected.

If you don’t have such a photo yet, go out of your way to take one. It makes a difference.

Focus On References

Your references will make or break you.

Each social network’s referencing system works slightly differently, but by and large most communities have some sort of referencing system.

On LinkedIn for example, the references are called “recommendations.”

The more positive recommendations you have, the more solid your LinkedIn profile looks.

On the other hand, on the domain buying and selling forum NamePros, they use a system called iTrader.

ITrader allows users to record feedback for one another for every transaction conducted.

No matter what the reference system looks like, do everything in your power to get as many compelling references as you can.

People lend a lot more weight to these references than what someone says about themselves.

Your Personal Description

Finally, your description is where you really get the chance to come out and make your case.

Try to touch on the most compelling things about you and what you have to offer.

Use credibility-enhancing statements such as talking about how many satisfied clients you have or any news outlets that you’ve been featured in.

Try to make your profile sound as professionally compelling as possible however, try to also drop in just one or two little personal tidbits.

This will help humanize you and set you out from the crowd.

These are the three most important elements of creating a compelling online profile on any website or online community.

If you have a professional-looking photo, overwhelmingly positive references and a credibility-building description with a hint of personality, then you’ve nailed the online profile!

Repeat customers are the lifeblood of any business.

They say that it costs five times more to find a new customer than to keep the one you have.

Multiply that across your customer list and you know that acquiring loyal customers is good business.

Here are a few ideas to help you acquire repeat customers for your business.

Have A Reputation For Excellence

In addition to providing an exceptional product or service, spend time focusing on building a reputation for excellent customer service as well.

Your reputation will precede you and your business will be highly reviewed and you’ll be referred to others.

New customers who find their way to you by word of mouth are often your best customers and the ones who will be with you for life.

Always look for ways to improve your product or service and your customer experience.

You can’t be everything to everyone, so focus on doing a few things exceptionally well.

Connect Personally

One of the best ways to attract and acquire good customers who will frequent your business is to build your connections.

Reach out to people online and off because people enjoy doing business with people they know and like.

Networking online and off are great ways to build your reach.

Always Provide Value

Value comes in many shapes and sizes and one such instance could be by tweeting a link for an article through your Twitter page.

Value can also be a “How To” blog that demonstrates accomplishing a task.

Value can be a checklist that ensures you don’t miss a step or an informative blog post or article.

Value is getting more for your money, and online value often comes in the form of free content.

To acquire customers who will do business with you more than once, part of the process is setting the stage.

You want to establish yourself as a credible, reliable and authoritative expert in your industry.

This can of course be done by word of mouth and by connecting with them personally.

It can be reinforced or established by providing consistent value online and off.

Repeat customers aren’t generally acquired, they’re earned.

Earn them with a strong knowledge of who your customer is and what they want.

Ensure that your product or service is the best it can be and always strive to improve it.

Finally focus on giving your customers the best experience you can.

Mistakes happen and you cannot satisfy everyone.

However, you can work hard to satisfy the customers you want to keep.