How Your Small Business Can Create Content That Attracts New Customers


How to Create Valuable Content That Attracts New CustomersOnline lead generation is critical to every small business. Our websites–and related properties–need to be constantly attracting new customers. 

Content–valuable content–is what attracts prospects to our website where we can begin the process of turning them into customers.

Since so many of us turn to search engines or our favorite social media platform to answer questions and solve problems, as businesses we need to make sure that we’re there, too, ready to help.

Start by Creating Valuable Content

Value is in the eye of the beholder, and in this case the only beholder that matters is your ideal customer. What are they struggling with that you can help them with?

Let’s imagine you run a dentistry practice, and you’re looking to get new patients for cosmetic dentistry. You might start by brainstorming some questions or concerns that your ideal customer may have:

  • What is cosmetic dentistry?
  • How much does cosmetic dentistry cost?
  • Will my insurance cover teeth bonding? 
  • What’s the difference between teeth bleaching and veneers?
  • What questions should I ask before choosing a dentist for cosmetic dentistry?

These questions can come from your experience, surveys, actual questions people ask you or more. For more ideas on how to come up with great content ideas, check out 13 Ideas for Writing Content Your Audience Wants to Read.  Read the rest of this entry »

Build-A-Biz Teaches Entrepreneurship to Maine Youth


Build-A-Biz: Maine Youth EntrepreneurshipBuild-A-Biz is a youth entrepreneurial education program to kids how to start and operate their own businesses.

I remember the first time I met Kate Krukowski Gooding, the founder and director of Build-A-Biz. I was presenting for the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development and she came up and introduced herself. Half-way through explaining what she did, I interrupted her and said, “I want to be a part of that!”

In Maine, something like 95% of adults are employed by small businesses, so entrepreneurship is a critical skill for Mainers. 

As Kate told me, kids learn at a young age, and it’s up to us to give them experience. It’s important for kids to have the tools and experience that a program like Build-A-Biz offers, whether they start their own companies or work for others. 

Build-A-Biz offers two programs, one for children 5-8 and the other for children 9-15. Both offer four modules:

  • Setting goals
  • Finance
  • Advertising & marketing
  • Running your business.

The only difference is that the younger kids watch instructional videos, while the older group reads the material. There’s also an “elevator pitch” contest for the older kids.

On May 19th, kids across the state of Maine are going to be starting their businesses…a kickoff for running their businesses during the summer.

One of the things I especially like about Build-A-Biz compared to other youth entrepreneurship programs is that this one isn’t just one day…it’s the beginning of a lifetime of entrepreneurship learning. 

Build-A-Biz website was designed by the Via Agency and built by flyte on a responsive platform for optimal viewing on all devices.

Rich Brooks
Responsive WordPress Web Design 

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Should I Hire an SEO Copywriter? | Search Engine Optimization


Do You Need an SEO Copywriter?Is hiring an SEO copywriter a good investment in your business, or are you better off writing your own copy?

In today’s Dear Rich post, I summarize a conversation I’ve been having with a few different clients lately. Although I’m not a copywriter myself, I’m a huge fan of the art, so expect heavy bias ahead.

Dear Rich, 

Should I hire an SEO copywriter or write the copy myself? 
 
You [flyte] have provided me with a keyword matrix for my website. You’ve given me recommended titles, headers, meta-descriptions and keywords for every single page. You’ve even provided suggestions for alt-tags and intrasite links. 
 
This thing could write itself!
 
No one knows my business like I do, so why would I spend money to have someone else write my copy for me? 
 
Why can’t I write my own search engine optimized copy?
 
–Writing in Westbrook  Read the rest of this entry »

5 Financial Planning Tips for Your Small Business


It’s that time of year again: tax season. Lately people have been asking me—me—for financial planning tips.

Me, the guy with the five-dollar latte in his hand.

So, I did what any smart entrepreneur would do: I outsourced to people smarter than me.

I asked five financial planning whizzes for their best tip, then I asked my wife, Cybele, who runs the books here at flyte and at home, to add some additional vetted resources for your researching pleasure.  Read the rest of this entry »

How to Use URL Builder in Google Analytics


URL BuilderIf you want to get better traffic reports, you can enhance Google Analytics with URL Builder. Here’s how.

Rich,

Hope you’re doing well! I recently watched the video of your Google Analytics webinar (thanks for some great info about queries!) and have a burning question:

You explained how to use the URL Builder, but I’m a bit confused about where to input the URL you’ve built to be able to track it. I looked under campaigns, but didn’t see an input window for a URL, am I missing something?

Thanks!

URL Building in Bowdoinham  Read the rest of this entry »

Creating Short Form Video with Vine, Lightt & SnapChat


207-short-form-video

How creative can you be in six seconds or less? New video apps give you the opportunity to find out.

Last night I donned my “tech guru” tiara and did a short segment on 207, Maine’s evening news program.

Of course, it wasn’t as short as some of the video that is appearing on a website or mobile device near you. Thanks to mobile video apps like Vine, Lightt & SnapChat, people are creating incredibly short stories to share with friends, colleagues and even customers.

We take a look at these apps and talk about how they can be used. You can watch it at the 207 website or down below.  Read the rest of this entry »

Back Cove Yachts Reveals New Website


Back Cove Yachts Launches New Website.

Back Cove

Back Cove Yachts, is the sister company of Sabre Yachts whose site was also recently updated. Together these two yards are the largest recreational boat building company in the State of Maine. 

The new site is built on the WordPress platform allowing for Back Cove to have more control over their own site as well as the ability to make changes when necessary. The site also includes Owner’s resources, FAQs on specific Motor Yachts, Employment opportunities and more.

Designed for Mobile

We used mobile platform detection to supply an experience customized for handheld devices. The site also includes some responsive features to make viewing on a smaller screen, such as the iPad, easier. 

The New Site Features… 

Full Background Slideshow: The new site is visually pleasing with a large photo background design that rotates highlighting different yachts. This design flows throughout the site from the home page to the internal pages.

Find A Dealer: The new option allows buyers to find a Back Cove Yachts dealer by boat type, state, zip or even country. Making it easier for the consumer to find a dealer close by.

Boat Show Calendar: This offers customers the ability to know when Back Cove will be at a boat show near them so they can check them out.

Events: Back Cove dealers offer Open Houses and Events at their dealerships where you can go and browse the different models at your leisure. The events page lets you know when these events take place so you can check them out and take advantage of any promos that are offered!

The Back Cove Blog: Learn about the wood shop, check out new motor yacht designs and get an insiders view of the boat yard.

Be sure to check out Back Cove’s beautiful line of power boats if you’re heading for open water, and be sure to check out flyte if you’re looking for a mobile friendly website for your business.

 

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LinkedIn & SlideShare Webinar


If you’re looking to increase your online visibility and generate more leads in the B2B arena, then you’ll want to learn how to use LinkedIn and SlideShare. Good thing we have a free webinar coming up on both.

FACT! Linkedin has over 200 million members.

FACT! Two professionals join LinkedIn…every second!

FACT! SlideShare gets 60 million visits every month.

FACT! Every month over 400,000 presentations get uploaded to SlideShare.

FACT! People love when you scream “FACT!” at them.

If you’re looking to generate more leads through LinkedIn, or have been wondering how you can use SlideShare to increase your reach and improve your online visibility, then you’ll want to check out our free webinar, How to Use LinkedIn and SlideShare to Build Your Business, on 3/28/2013 at 2pm ET.

But why listen to me? Let’s turn our focus to this fine looking gentleman:

Remember: even if you can’t be on the webinar live, you can still watch it on demand at your convenience. However, you do need to register by the 28th, so why not take care of that right now?

Overview:

Even professionals who are on LinkedIn are often only scratching the surface.

In this webinar you’ll see how to setup and optimize your LinkedIn profile and build your network. You’ll learn the ins and outs of setting up a company page. You’ll discover how to use and leverage Slideshare, even if you’ve never presented before.

Attendees will learn:

  • How to setup and maximize your LinkedIn profile 
  • How to build your network quickly and ethically  on LinkedIn 
  • How to use LI Groups to extend your network 
  • How to get started with Slideshare 
  • How to integrate your Slideshare and LinkedIn activity 
  • How to enhance your profile with slideshows, blogs and more 
  • How to integrate LinkedIn and Slideshare into your overall marketing

Register now!

Rich Brooks
LinkedIn & SlideShare Marketing

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Facebook Gives the News Feed a Face Lift


Today Facebook Announced New Uncluttered News Feed!

news feed

You may have heard the rumors swirling around the interwebs about an upcoming change to the Facebook news feed. Well… today Facebook announced that it will be slowly rolling out the newly designed uncluttered news feed.

You will still see everything you saw before…So don’t freak out!

However, you will now see bigger images that are more vibrant and colorful and that really highlight what your friends are sharing. You will even be able to switch your feed to show only images, most recent, only folks that you are following like celebrities and news outlets, etc.

To gain access to the new newsfeed early visit www.facebook.com/newsfeed and add yourself to the waiting list. You can also check out the cool new design and functionality.

What does this mean for your biz? Well for one you will want to make sure that your cover image looks good in the slimmed down version that shows on friends news feeds when they like your page.

By Joan Woodbrey Crocker

 

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How to Create External Links in YouTube Videos


How to Create External Links in YouTubeIf you’ve always wanted to create clickable links from within a YouTube video to an external website, you can now do so. This article will show you how. 

For a long time, YouTube has allowed you to create links to other videos, channels and YouTube-centric actions like voting, commenting or subscribing. Also, using 3rd party software or creating overlay ads, you could create some outbound links, but it was tricky and cumbersome.

Then, a few months back YouTube began to allow external links to fundraiser sites like Kickstarter. Now it seems the floodgates are open. 

You can create clickable links and buttons from within a YouTube video using their annotations tool.

I created a video, How to Create External Links In YouTube, and put together a step-by-step process outlined below.  Read the rest of this entry »

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