Black History

If you’ve ever wanted to dip your toe into the world of rougher sex and BDSM but feel like it could be a potentially awkward convo, don’t worry. Having a sit-down talk with your partner beforehand is not only essential, it also actually makes it much easier in the moment when you are experimenting with said rougher sex, because you know you have limits and boundaries in place that you’ll both respect. That peace of mind can make it way easier to enjoy yourself in the moment, giving more of your attention to your pleasure and satisfaction.

Asking for rougher sex really does just boil down to having an actual Grown Ups Using Potentially Formal-Sounding Words discussion with your partner. It’s not as simple as just saying, “Be rougher!” because that could mean 40 different things and odds are, you’ll only want it to mean a very specific 10 things. Here’s how to do that.




1. Discuss limits beforehand.

What’s on the table and what’s off the table for you? Don’t be afraid to ask specifically for what you would like to try, and see what your partner thinks. “If you are planning to try something new, such as spanking, impact play, biting, or scratching, make sure to discuss your intentions first with your partner,” says Candice Smith, cofounder of The KinkKit and resident sex expert for My First Blush. You’ll also want to set up a safe word ahead of time, so you both have an out if things go too far. Using stoplight codes can also be handy during rougher sex, says Smith. Saying “green” means you’re good, “yellow” is a warning to slow down, and “red” means stop.

2. Start off with some impact calibration.

Have your partner begin with some pressure and rate the feeling on a scale of 1 to 5 so you can let them know how much harder or softer to get, says Smith. After all, “harder” or “softer” can have a bajillion levels in between (not to mention different meanings for each person), so this is a good way of quantifying exactly where the sweet spot you’re looking for is. And don’t forget to do the same for them if you’re dominating them at some point!

3. Gear up on the extra lube
.
Just because it’s “rougher” sex doesn’t mean it has to be physically rougher like you’re grinding on sandpaper. Rough sex is always made better with extra lube, adds Smith. If you don’t know where to start on the lube front: This is a good beginner’s primer on exactly what kind of lube you can and can’t use with condoms and toys.

As noted here last week, ranking highly in search requires writing great content, making smart use of Google Webmaster Tools, and building or earning high-authority backlinks.

keyword ideas tool

Image credit: Small Business Ideas Blog

But there’s more involved in generating high, and highly relevant, organic search traffic.

At its core, search still relies on words, whether typed or spoken. How can you identify the highest-value keywords for your content? Which keyword research and other SEO tools are most effective? What tactics are most valuable for local SEO success?

Find those answers and more here in 10 expert SEO posts.



SEO Keyword Guides and Tools

How to Find Keywords Your Competitors Don’t Know About by Feldman Creative

Barry FeldmanWriting that “By strategically implementing long tail keywords, you’re far more likely to rank high, attract the audience you desire, and show motivated prospects the way to your website” but “Your challenge is to identify the right long tail keywords,” Barry Feldman outlines six sources for finding those valuable-but-undertargeted phrases, including tables of contents on Wikipedia and common questions on forums.

Fast SEO Competitive Analysis by Search Engine Watch

Ben GoodsellBen Goodsell explains how to identify top competitors in search, how to use SEMrush to discover how people are finding competitors in search, and how to use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool along with Excel to identify search trends and quantify search volume.

Google Didn’t Want Us To Use The Keyword Planner This Way. But It Works Nicely. by Advanced Web Ranking
***** 5 STARS

1. "I think porn, like anything else, can be enjoyed. It can be productive for both men and women." —Scarlett Johansson

2. "I am the new generation of the masturbator. I've seen it all. Before I make coffee, I've seen more butt holes than a proctologist does in a week." —John Mayer

3. "I love porn! You know what I love about hotels? How discreet they are. They always give you that little thing at the bottom — 'Your room will be charged the same as any other room, no titles will be used.'" —Cameron Diaz

4. "You can't put a ban on [porn]. I mean, kids under age are still drinking. It just makes it that much more powerful. It's freedom. You should be free to watch it whenever you want." —Amanda Seyfried



5. "Pornography is a huge, huge part of our media culture. The message Don Jon is trying to bring to light — and make fun of — is reducing people, especially women, to nothing but sex objects. It happens in music videos, TV shows, movies, and magazines, and so many commercials. Whether it's rated X or approved by the FCC to sell Doritos, the message is the same." —Joseph Gordon-Levitt, on Don Jon

6. "A lot of men take porn as not that important, not that serious, whereas women tend to take it personally. It's like, 'How can he make love to me after watching something like this?' I think the first time I was aware that [a partner was using porn] I was really shocked because I didn't understand it. Lovemaking for me is related to feelings, and sensations with feelings, and so when you don't have the feelings it becomes animal-like because you're not in touch with your heart. There's a sad and pathetic side to it." Juliette Binoche

7. "Guys watch too much porn. Those girls don't exist. They're not real girls. And that's like us watching romance movies. That's girl porn, because, like, those guys do not exist." —Miley Cyrus

8. "I like my porn like my comedy: Done by professionals, women who are at the top of their game. So, I like professional ladies who are enjoying themselves. I'm not an amateur person. I want everybody to look good and be good at their jobs." —Amy Poehler

9. "When I travel around the world, there often isn't anything to watch on TV, especially when they don't speak English. But watching porn is fine as it doesn't need words. It's sort of universal. I watch a lot of it." —Lily Allen

10. "You shouldn't be getting to the porn conversations until well into the relationship until you feel like you want to spice things up and discover more about each other and talk more about your taste ... I once dated someone who asked, 'What kind of porn do you like?' Then I told him, and he was totally put off by it. If you're going to go there, you have to decide that your fantasies are a safe space to go wherever you want. And just because you like watching a certain type of porn doesn't mean you want to do it. And I think men, especially young men, can be quite insecure about those types of things." —Dita Von Teese

Have you read sales pages that scream, “You don’t need to know SEO! Our software does it all!”

Solving your SEO writing woes with software sounds so easy. You wouldn’t have to worry about keyphrase usage, penning the perfect title length, or structuring links. Just feed in your copy and poof! instant optimization help! In fact, the sales copy for one SEO plug-in even says, “We walk you through every step: no need to hire or be an SEO expert.”

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Here’s the question: do you even need to know SEO if a plug-in can do it all? In other words—can you trust SEO writing tools, or do writers still need to know SEO? Here’s how to think about it.



Machines can’t replace humans (yet!)

SEO tools are extremely helpful and save marketers time. We rely on them every day. But their recommendations are just that: recommendations. The writer (or SEO) makes the final optimization call. Sometimes, it makes sense to follow the recommendations, and sometimes, it doesn’t.

For instance, I’ve received emails from my writing students asking, “The Yoast SEO for WordPress plug-in is telling me to [fill in the blank]. Should I do it even if it doesn’t quite work with the page?” The plug-in was telling them one thing, while their writing experience was telling them another.

Please know that I love and highly recommend Yoast’s SEO for WordPress plug-in and many other SEO experts do too. It’s a nice plug-in that handles a lot of the geeky SEO stuff behind-the-scenes. Plus, it allows you to preview the title and description, check your readability, and more. Heck, I use it on my own site!

But other than a quick check, I don’t follow Yoast’s checklist recommendations as gospel. Why? Sometimes, following the recommendations would mess with the copywriting flow. There may be a reason that I’m not using the focus keyword in the title or that I don’t include the focus keyword in the first paragraph. Or I choose to link a certain way.

I may not follow every recommendation, but I know the page’s SEO strategy is still sound.

At the end of the day, good SEO writing connects with the reader and converts. It’s not because it ticks off various “here’s how to optimize everything perfectly” boxes. Even Yoast admits it’s “nearly impossible” to get a “green bullet” for every checklist item.

One of the best places to learn about the Web is on the Web.But, with all the great information that you will find online, you are going to find a lot of misinformation as well.You can set yourself up for success when learning about SEO on the Web because there are tools that you can use to avoid misinformation. And, you can learn from authoritative sources, and these may help you write and argue about topics you come across in the industry. When you find SEO arguments on the Web, there are certain things that you should keep in mind, about how people argue and inform.

I consider myself a life-long learner, and I try to avoid sharing information that is just wrong or misleading.I have found several tools to use to arm myself with. I will start this article describing those tools and providing some examples for them. I will include some resources about credibility, fact-checking, and making arguments, and supporting those arguments with evidence.



I will then talk about some of the topics we have seen in SEO that several myths have grown around. Hopefully, this article will help you learn better from the information that you see on the web and avoid learning from sources that may be sharing misinformation. I keep these tools in mind when I write about patents and papers and refer to other pages on the web, and try to inform and present some SEO arguments of my own.

Two Sides to Every Story

When I was growing up, my folks subscribed to two local newspapers, which I found to be a lot of fun.They contained news about where I lived, but one paper would tell a story one way, and the other paper would cover the same story in ways that sometimes didn’t resemble the first story at all.

Sometimes the people involved differ, or the politics or the history did. Often the facts remained the same, but sometimes they were a little different. Reading those local stories from two different perspectives allowed me to appreciate the different viewpoints that people would bring to facts. It is something I still try to do today – looking for the same story from two different sources.

Sometimes that involves more than news and politics, and it is a lesson that has stuck with me to this day. For example, I like to read User Experience articles from well known and respected researchers Jared Spool and articles from Jacob Nielsen which sometimes disagree with each other, but are well supported, reasoned and worth reading. Both authors have written about whether visitors to web pages will scroll down pages. Nielsen said they wouldn’t, and Spool said they would in certain circumstances. Nielsen updated his research years later to say that web page visitors have learned how to scroll down pages on the web. 

BILLY GoBeyond, Law Firm Marketing, Lead Generation, Marketing, PPC, SEO Services lawyer marketing, lead gen, lead generation, local business marketing, local seo, online lead generation, online marketing, optimize your online presence, small business marketing, small business seo, Social Media, social media marketing

The shift of the customer journey to digital platforms has irreversibly changed the way that firms interact with their clients. Mobile traffic drives most markets, and many companies are resistant to this change, lacking an understanding of how important it really is to have a strong SEO and online strategy. Having positive interactions with clients on their preferred platform not only grants a competitive edge to businesses willing to take the time, but it also demonstrates a level of care that can’t be found with most firms.

Armed with this knowledge, a wealth of experience, and a commitment to our clients, we have set out to establish ourselves as a trusted digital partner. We are always taking steps to improve our work and better serve our clients, and we are excited to share one of those steps with you. We are featured on the B2B ratings and reviews platform, Clutch. Clutch conducts in-depth research on firms, considering factors such as marketing presence, social media efforts, and verified client reviews to identify top service providers around the world. We can be found on their directory of SEO companies in Charlotte, keeping company with some of the best B2B service providers in the country.



Our presence on Clutch grants us the opportunity to be evaluated by industry analysts, but it also provides us with an even greater source of feedback. Clutch’s main function is to collect verified client reviews and help firms find the best service providers to fit their needs. The first review we have on our profile has been tremendously helpful for our team to learn more about what we do well and where we can grow. Take a look at a quote from that review:

In addition to our presence on Clutch, we have also been recognized as one of the best social media marketing agencies in 2019 by The Manifest. The Manifest is a resource for small to midsize firms, offering industry insights, how-to guides, and recommendations of top service providers. Our presence and high ratings on both Clutch and The Manifest help cement our reputation as a top digital service provider. Although our reputation has been bolstered by industry praise, we believe in letting our work speak for itself. We have submitted a portfolio of some of our best work to Visual Objects, a space for web designers and digital marketing agencies to showcase their work to prospective clients. Online presence is everything, and we are grateful for the recent opportunities we had to bolster ours.


We are proud of everything that we have achieved, but more than anything we are thankful. Thank you to all of our amazing clients; we could not have done this without you. It has been a pleasure working with you, and we cannot wait to see what else is in store for the GoBeyond SEO team.

SEO has a lot of moving parts. Successfully getting your content to rank highly and stand out from the vast ocean of blog posts, articles, website content, videos, infographics, and other types of informative and persuasive marketing pieces being produced requires making sure no component is missing and everything is working together.

Best all-in-one SEO tool suites

Optimizing all of the factors that can impact search ranking can be approached in different ways. One is to assemble a collection of best of breed tools; previous posts here have covered tools for competitive intelligence, content planning, keyword research, rank tracking, and special-purpose SEO tools for functions like technical SEO, link research, and video SEO.



Another approach is to implement an all-in-one SEO tools suite, which covers most if not all the bases in a single package. Which approach is best for your organization depends on a variety of factors. Generally, best-of-breed tools offer greater functional depth, while all-in-one suites simplify management and integration.

If the latter approach sounds potentially attractive, check out these two-dozen-plus tools for managing on-page optimization, rank checking, backlink and keyword research, competitive benchmarking, and reporting in a single package.

1) BrightLocal

Google Review Count: 330

Top all-in-one suite for local SEOThe top all-in-one reporting platform for local SEO. Provides organic, maps & mobile search rankings; citations, reviews, and backlinks; competitor benchmarking; and integration with Google Analytics, Facebook, and Twitter accounts.

Sample review: “Get a complete local SEO report in just 15 minutes. This (BrightLocal) audit tool runs over 300 simultaneous checks and presents these findings in a clear and professional PDF report. Each report covers 6 areas of local SEO including Google+ Local, Local Directory listings, on-site SEO and social media. Add your own branding to these reports and share with customers and prospects.”

SEO is dead…

It’s obviously a strategy that some marketers use to get a higher clickthrough on their content, however, it’s worth asking the question…

Is local SEO dead?


SHORT ANSWER = NO, LOCAL SEO IS NOT DEAD

Local SEO is still a valid focus for small to medium businesses that operate a brick-and-mortar store or service a specific geographical area. Let’s take a look at three reasons why I believe local SEO is still relevant to your marketing mix.

#1: THERE HAS BEEN A 900% GROWTH OF “NEAR ME” SEARCHES IN RECENT YEARS
Statistics collected between 2015 to 2017 show that searches including “near me” has increased by 900% (source: Chatmeter).



This isn’t a trend that is going away.

With the emergence of voice-activated search queries (think Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or Apple HomePod) more and more people are using their voice to search for local businesses. Local SEO improves the online presence of your business so that if someone is local to your business and looking for your product or service with a search query including “near me” then you improve your chance of being found.

#2: 97% OF SEARCH ENGINE USERS HAVE SEARCHED ONLINE FOR A LOCAL BUSINESS
It’s no secret that most people rely heavily on technology (including search engines) to find information about local products and services. Statistics have shown that 97% of all search engine users have searched online for a local business (source: Social Media Today).

The high percentage of search engines users searching for local businesses online is a strong indicator that local SEO is far from dead.

#3: 92% OF SEARCH ENGINE USERS CHOOSE BUSINESSES ON THE FIRST PAGE OF LOCAL GOOGLE RESULTS
HubSpot has found that more than nine out of every 10 search engine users will choose businesses on the first page of local Google results. So, what happens to the businesses on page 2 and above? Well, they rarely get chosen.

Although there are numerous blogs and websites dedicated to SEO, sometimes the best way to learn in-depth is by finding an expertly-written book that can explain the intricacies of SEO strategy and tactics.

These are interesting times for books. Books now come in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, Kindle Unlimited (free with subscription), PDF, and audio formats. After experiencing consistent growth for the previous 5 years, ebook sales were actually down about 20% 3 years ago, while analog books were up 7%. Analog books are back, especially with young children. Sales of e-readers declined steeply by more than 40% between 2011 and 2016 as more people use smartphones to read ebooks, according to consumer research group Euromonitor International.


REQUEST A DEMO OF BRIGHTEDGE

However, you want to read them, here are the best SEO books that we have found for marketers from beginners to experts looking to improve their SEO techniques and results.

Learn how to organize and operate an SEO team in SEO Management. Discover a succinct 4-step SEO methodology in How to Maximize SEO ROI. Check out our blog on 10 Steps to Becoming an SEO Expert.

Best SEO Books 2018
SEO for Dummies, 6th EditionSEO for Dummies
By Peter Kent
5.0 stars on Amazon
$15.99, 2016

If you are serious about learning a subject, then you should probably have a textbook in your lineup. Textbooks cover a subject with breadth and provide an index and a reference. The downside of textbooks is that they are a little bit difficult to read cover to cover. Textbooks tend to take a tactical approach to the topic instead of an abstract or strategic one.

If you run a service-based or brick-and-mortar local business then you need to have an understanding of local SEO. It’s all very good to know what it is, but let’s take a look at how local SEO works. But first, a bit of revision.

Local SEO is the process of optimizing your online presence so your business will show in local online searches. It helps search engines to display your business at the very moment that local people are searching online for your product or service.

While local SEO works well alongside a broader SEO strategy, there are some specific considerations that will affect your local results.



HOW DOES LOCAL SEO WORK?

Local search engine optimization improves your businesses rankings across a number of local search functions – including the map pack, knowledge graph, and Google Maps.

In order to improve these local search rankings, you’ll need to optimize a few specific sections of your online properties.

OPTIMISE YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PROFILE

If you haven’t done so already, claim your Google My Business profile immediately. Take the time to completely fill out your GMB profile and try to collect some reviews from customers and clients.

Google prefers to share information that it can verify, and since every GMB profile is verified, it can drive your local SEO efforts.

Once you’re all set up:

Respond authentically to all reviews

Post regularly (similar to how you’d post on a Facebook business page)

Claim your Google My Business short name & URL

Make sure your information is updated if you make any changes

Create multiple locations in GMB if you have more than one location

Considering more than  90% of online purchases start with a search engine, and nearly 60% of B2B marketers say organic search generates more leads than any other marketing tactics, your number one digital marketing goal should be getting your site onto the front page of search engines.

7 tips for hiring an SEO consultant people should be able to find your blog or website with just a few clicks. Search engine optimization (SEO) practices have changed significantly over the years, but remain at the core of digital strategy.

Between Google’s history of algorithm updates and increased competition, running an SEO campaign by yourself can be harder than you think. That’s why many people seek the help of an SEO expert. But finding an SEO specialist with the right mix of writing ability, technical skill, and industry knowledge to get your website on the front page may not be easy.



You have to make sure you are on the same page (so to speak) and share the same view. Marketing agencies bring a diverse mix of talent, though they can end up charging a small fortune. If you run or manage marketing for a small to midsized business, an SEO freelancer might be the best answer for you.

But with the abundance of freelancers on the market, how can you make sure you find the right fit? Here are seven tips that can help you make the right decision.

Be Specific with Your Requests and Deadlines

Before beginning your search for the perfect SEO match, get as specific as possible about what you are looking for. Coming up with a description for your project will help the freelancer build a proposal for discussion.

Most freelance websites that connect employers with specialists allow you to put together a description of the project and let freelancers submit proposals you can choose from. A description should give information about your business, expectations, and deadline. Drawing up a clear description of your request will ease the communication between you and the freelancer and help you find the best match.

New research suggests that marketers are continuing to utilize social media as a tactic, but they remain unsure of how to measure its overall effectiveness.

Buffer recently published its “State of Social” report, which found that the overwhelming majority of marketers (58.8 percent) claim that social media is “very important” to their overall marketing strategy. However, 19.1 percent of marketers are “uncertain” of how effective social media marketing as been for their business.

The majority of respondents (50.9 percent) claimed that they do not have a documented social media strategy. When it comes to gauging effectiveness, most marketers (66.4 percent) said they rely on likes/shares/comments. About 59.5 percent look at interaction with their brand, while 50.8 percent weigh discussion.


In terms of measuring the ROI of social media advertising, 60.3 percent of marketers say they look at engagement. Fifty-one percent assess traffic, while 48 percent gauge leads.

Social Media Marketing and Its Overall Effectiveness

Despite the challenges still associated with social media marketing, marketers do not appear to be slowing down in their investment in this tactic, according to previous research.

Social Media Today published its “Social Spending Survey” to gauge how marketers are investing in social media channels ranging from Instagram to Facebook. Overall, 68 percent of marketers intend to spend more on social media ads in 2019, suggesting that the tactic is yielding some benefit.

Currently, most of marketers’ social media budget (nearly 60 percent) goes toward content creation, followed by advertising (approximately 20 percent), staff (about 20 percent) and management and reporting tools (less than 10 percent).

As social media has surged in popularity it was probably inevitable that professional services firms would began to include it as a part of their marketing strategy. But is it effective? What are the key benefits? How do you develop a strategy? These are some of the questions we will address in this post.

Let’s start by defining what a social media marketing strategy is all about.

Social Media Marketing Strategy Defined

Social media marketing strategy is a written document describing how you will use social media in support of strategic marketing goals such as brand building, lead generation or talent acquisition. Social media marketing strategies typically contain the following elements:

Business purpose to be addressed

Target audience profiles
Social media platforms to be used
Implementation tactics
Specific goals and measures to be tracked
Often, a social media strategy is part of a more comprehensive marketing plan.



The Strategic Uses of Social Media

Social media can be an important component of your overall marketing strategy. We have identified five primary roles that social media can play in a modern professional services firm.

Networking

Social media’s original intended role, as an online networking system, is still important for professional services firms. Treat Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook as an online cocktail party—a way to meet new people and develop important business and client relationships—but without the hangover. And, like a cocktail party, social media is highly reciprocal. People expect replies to their tweets, comments, and questions, and there is an expectation that you will share other people’s content as well as your own.

Content Promotion

Social media is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to promote your firm’s content. Creating a social media marketing strategy to promote your content via different channels will help build your reputation and visibility—i.e., your brand.

Explaining to the boss why your social media methods are a must-have requires more than just your word. It needs data to back it up.

However, as you dive into your metrics, you'll find there's too much data to sift through. This makes it difficult for even the most seasoned social media managers to extract meaningful data.

Don't be overwhelmed. There's a way to pull insightful information from your campaigns.

Let's dive into how to understand social media marketing metrics and discuss which you should be measuring.


Explaining to the boss why your social media methods are a must-have requires more than just your word. It needs data to back it up.
However, as you dive into your metrics, you'll find there's too much data to sift through. This makes it difficult for even the most seasoned social media managers to extract meaningful data.

Don't be overwhelmed. There's a way to pull insightful information from your campaigns.

Let's dive into how to understand social media marketing metrics and discuss which you should be measuring.

Just because you're posting content doesn't mean you're reaching a large enough audience. If you aren't, you won't see the engagement and conversion rates you desire to achieve.

Combining this metric with your engagement rate can help paint a broader picture of how well your social media campaign is doing. For instance, you can take the amount of engagement (clicks, shares, and comments) and divide this by reach. The percentage will tell you many of the people you're reaching are participating.

This is critical to identifying your influence and whether or not you're targeting the right people.

While a backlog of emails can ignite stress, have no fear—you are not alone. Email automation platforms are key to sustain a growing business.

Today, email automation tools are designed to simplify the email process and help you save much-needed time. Here is a close look at 4 email automation tools to help you cut down on wasted hours:



1. Boomerang

Boomerang is a Google feature that gives you control over email responses—built around returning emails at the ideal times.

It allows you to send emails and optimize them as you compose them in real-time. It also establishes the best time to send emails out to increase your open rates and response rate. Say you send an email to a client in a different time zone; the platform lets you schedule a reply to appear in their inbox at a more appropriate time for their lifestyle. Other features include:

Follow up reminders for other emails in your inbox

Reminders for emails you haven’t had a response from yet
Inbox Pause, which allows you to stop activity on your inbox for certain times to help increase productivity
Overall, you can maintain full control over your inbox and use emails to your advantage, rather than being a slave to incoming messages.

2. Mixmax

Mixmax is a gmail-based productivity application incorporates lots of other features to increase your workflow and business growth.

For teams that spend most of their time in email, Mixmax is worth a look. The application offers tracking open rates, setting up email automation funnels, and instant scheduling, but the platform also offers tons of integrations to create a more communicative and interactive approach.

For instance, Mixmax offers…

Calendar integrations to effectively schedule appointments
Collaboration with SalesForce and Pipedrive to increase sales performance, manage leads, and automate workflows

They also offer interactive surveys, polls, Q&A’s, and links that pop up as previews—all under one app

The workflow rules automate a lot of manual processes

Businesses need to salvage time in order to scale operations and MixMax serves as an all-in-one resource to cover a variety of bases in one shot.

There are times that customers aren’t easy to engage. It takes various marketing strategies and persistence to reach your audience and boost sales. Doing the opposite – flooding customers with assertive marketing — overwhelm and even annoys them. It’s estimated there will be 1.92 billion global digital buyers in 2019 and in order to effectively market, you need to strive to reach your audience repeatedly time and again. Aim to make numerous points of contact to build familiarity and encourage purchases. If you’re ready to market your e-commerce business, take a look at these three marketing techniques that are simple to make happen no matter your budget.



Get your name out on social

Social media marketing requires consistency and posting at the times that work with your customers’ schedules so they actually see what you’re trying to show them.

Do not spread yourself too thin by attempting to have a presence on every social media platform. Concentrate on the ones that your potential buyers are actually utilizing. Turn to data-driven tools to see where your buyers are the most active. Share news related to your industry and other relevant information on your customers’ favorite social media accounts to expand your brand presence.

It’s also smart to share direct links to your site and products, but do not inundate your followers with direct ads. Overdoing it with self-promotion makes your account less appreciated by buyers. Aim to share 80% industry news and 20% posts related to your website and products. When you’re selling personalized t-shirts online, jewelry or home décor, it’s vital to find that happy medium of sharing your products and sharing information unrelated to your business (that benefits your customers).

Build strategic partnerships

You can generate some major buzz around your eCommerce store by networking with your industry’s big dogs. Start by contacting blogs to see if they will review your products in a post. When your website is featured in a blog post on a well-known site, you could drive countless targeted visitors to your eCommerce store.

Go ahead and contact social media influencers who can share information about your offerings. Once you have identified industry-affiliated social accounts that have a large number of followers, it’s time to regularly engage with them. Like their Facebook pages and like and reply to influencers’ tweets. Don’t forget to thank the influencers who retweet your posts!

Intermingling and connecting with other professionals with your industry results in a greater awareness of your product and brand and spreads the world about your store.

Thanks to the proliferation of inexpensive, simple-to-use online software for accounting, human resources, customer service, and other common business functions, it’s never been easier for smart, ambitious individuals to start their own companies.

Five Actionable Tips for Growing a Successful Startup Business on a Budget Why shouldn’t they go for it when many other visionary people have succeeded in starting some of the world’s biggest eCommerce platforms?

Success can come to anyone with a compelling vision and the willingness to make the investment of time, effort, and resources to make that vision a reality.

All you need is some motivation and solutions for all the difficulties you’ll face during the initial phase of starting a small business.



Example: Tim Chen, an Inspiring Figure for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

You can learn a great deal and avoid some potentially costly missteps by studying the experiences of modern startups, such as in the founders and entrepreneurs interview series here or the example of Tim Chen.

You might not be familiar with Chen’s name, but he offers a prime example of how to grow and scale a successful startup on a budget.

NerdWallet logoChen is the founder of NerdWallet. He’s recently discussed how he raised money to grow his startup, how he used SEO to support that growth, and how content marketing has played a crucial role in NerdWallet’s success.

Chen studied economics at Stanford and then he started working at Credit Suisse First Boston, providing equity research to help clients make the right investment decisions. He assisted institutional investors in mutual funds, hedge funds, and pension funds to assess which technology companies they should buy or sell.

In that role, Chen learned how some business organizations are powerful in terms of their market position and how some businesses fight each other to gain a competitive advantage.

Chen’s corporate career crashed when the NASDAQ dropped by 50% back in 2008. He had no job and decided to try something different. Then one phone call changed his way of looking at his life and career. It was his sister, who wanted to learn about the best credit card available in the market.