99designs is a pioneer in the field of crowdsourcing. Through 99designs, companies can run design contests for new logos, packaging designs, or any project that requires graphics. The process of running a contest involves an open round where all the graphic artists in the 99designs community have an opportunity to submit, which is followed by…
What Makes a Great Domain Name? An Interview with Mike Mann
Mike Mann has founded or co-founded a number of companies, including DomainMarket.com, SEO.com, and Phone.com. One common theme which all of his businesses share, is an incredible domain name. I had a chance to interview Mike Mann, and the conversation centered primarily on the importance of domain names. The following answers are not Mike’s exact…
PPC: Bidding & Budget For A Local PPC Campaign on Bing & Google
In a recent article, my business partner discussed how to set-up a pay-per-click advertising campaign on Bing Ads. In this article, I am going discuss issues surrounding bidding strategy. This article will again focus on Bing Ads, however, the principles discussed in this article can be applied when using Google Adwords as well. Get $100…
Marketing Advice For A Medical Marijuana Delivery Service?
Company: Mary Gold Delivery Website: www.marygolddelivery.com What it does: Provides medical marijuana to residents of Contra Costa County (San Francisco area). Company’s Goal: To service 10 patients (customers) per day. Right now we average 5-6 per day. Company’s marketing challenge: Our marketing challenge is that we can’t use social media or google to acquire new patients. These are…
Marketing For a “Made In The USA” Rubber Ducky Company?
Company Name: CelibriDucks Website: www.celibriducks.com What it does: Manufactures custom and themed rubber ducks for promotional giveaways and sale to the public. Unique Feature: CelebriDucks is only the company that designs and manufactures rubber ducks in the USA. Marketing Challenge: Their product costs more than its Chinese made competition. “Rubber ducks are normally selling for…
Small Business Brochures – Printing, Prices, Design & More!
It’s easy to think that in such a digital era, brochures are a vestige of the past. With the advent of business websites, social media, and Internet search engines, is paper marketing really a necessity? To answer this question, think back to the last time you were at a hotel on vacation. Somewhere there, perhaps…
How To Respond To Negative Online Reviews
I am going to disagree with a small portion of the advice given in our previous article, Online Reviews – Small Business Owners Guide. Specifically, I don’t like the section on dealing with negative reviews. This section relies on an often quoted article by Mike Blumenthal which gives the following basic advice: Take Responsibility For…
SEO Quiz: Questions & Answers From Top SEO Experts
[slickquiz id=1] Special Thanks To Everyone That Submitted SEO Questions And Answers For The Quiz Including: Andrew Shotland of Local SEO Gude David Mihm of Moz and David Mihm Darren Shaw of whitespark Phil Rozek of Local Visibility System Jay Soriano of Soriano Media Matthew Zajechowski of Digital Third Coast Johnathan Grzybowski Of Dino Enterprise…
The SEO Scholarship
Would You Like to learn SEO and earn a $1,000 scholarship? SEO (also known as search engine optimization) is about getting your articles to rank on the top of organic (non-paid) search results when a person does a search on Google or Bing. To participate in this contest you will need to write an original…
25 Small Business Resources For Handling Online Reviews
Social validation is one of the most necessary components to a successful local business, second only to providing a quality product. Word of mouth can either sell or sink your business. These days, customers turn to the Internet for reviews. Review companies, such as Google+ Local, Yelp!, and Angie’s List, have made it easy for…
Online Reviews – The Small Business Owner’s Guide
It’s clear that online reviews are swaying purchasing decisions. If you need more convincing, check out these stats from a recent local consumer review survey. 52 percent are more likely to use local businesses with positive reviews versus 28 percent who make their decision based on location and convenience. 52 percent trust authentic online reviews…
Grand Opening or Birthday Party? (Cartoon)
What’s the diffference between a grand opening and a birthday party? They have lots in common, including: balloons, banners, party favors / gift bags, entertaiment, and food. A grand opening may not have birthday cake and a birthday party may not have special one-day discounts, but they both should be happy celebrations. One key to…
