Tag: startup tips

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How to Prevent Your Business Website from Being Hacked

by Cate September 10, 2013 3 Comments

Unfortunately, the number of hackers out there that take pleasure in destroying small business websites just to prove that they can is growing. It’s become a game to them, but it’s completely devastating to a small business when its site is compromised and it needs to shut down, restore, and relaunch. Not only do the entrepreneurs who are victims of these attacks have to deal with lost revenue and customer trust created by the site’s inaccessibility but also they have to pay hefty fees to get everything secured and back up and running. For many small businesses this is simply too much and they are forced to close after such an attack.

While there is no way to completely hack-proof your company’s website, there are ways to make it more secure so that you will be less likely to be a target. Check out this week’s video to see some tips that I learned the hard way to help you keep your company website safe.

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How to Apply SWOT Analysis and Porter’s 5 Forces Model

by Cate September 3, 2013 1 Comment

Two of my most watched videos are those about Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis and SWOT Analysis and I’ve gotten a lot of feedback about how helpful both are. I have also, however, received quite a few questions that imply a number of you are still confused about how to use them. When multiple people have the same question it always means one thing for me: it’s time to make a video to answer it. So this week I’ll give you a little more explanation about how to apply Porter’s 5 Forces Model and SWOT Analysis.

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How to Increase Word of Mouth Marketing

by Cate August 27, 2013 1 Comment

Word of mouth is hands down the most effective marketing technique for any small business or startup and, with an ever-growing number of avenues for your customers to help spread the word, you should absolutely be taking full advantage. However, it’s tough to stand out from the crowd enough that others will start publicly singing your praises.

With that said, there are ways to encourage your happy customers to spread the word. Check out the video below for tips to get your supporters talking:

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Tips to Lower Startup Legal Fees

by Cate August 20, 2013 1 Comment

Even though it’s expensive, legally protecting your new business from disasters and positioning it for success is one of the most important things you can do when getting started. If you neglect the legal issues upfront, it will only be more painful and more expensive when everything blows up in the future. However, since most startup and small business owners don’t have tons of cash lying around to pay lawyers with, this week’s video shares a few quick hacks to help you save on startup legal fees:

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Using Marketing Partnerships to Promote Your Business

by Cate August 6, 2013 No Comments

Marketing partnerships are a great way for business owners to amplify their marketing reach without creating much extra work or expense. The basic idea is to find another business whose customers are the same as yours but that offers a complementary – not competing – product or service. Then you team up and both help promote the other to all of your customers.

This tactic can be hugely successfully without too much effort, so check out the video below to learn how to implement it:

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How to Measure Your Social Media Efforts’ Effectiveness

by Cate July 30, 2013 No Comments

Because social media only costs in time and not in clear, clean dollars, the ROI is a little more slippery and many business owners don’t bother to track if their social media strategies are succeeding or not. But time is money, so you need to know if you’re wasting it or spending it wisely. To make sure you know whether or not your social media efforts are time well spent, here are a few basic ways to track if your social media efforts are being successful or if you need to reevaluate:

The point of all of these metrics is to make you aware of what is and is not working so that you can adjust your strategy. Remember, this is about taking a step back so you can improve your strategy, i.e. work on your business instead of just working in your business.

 

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Why & How to Use Google+ for Business

by Cate July 16, 2013 3 Comments

Google+ hasn’t always gotten much respect as a key social media channel for business promotion, but that’s changing. Google+ is growing rapidly and provides some extra benefits that some of the other big players don’t. It’s also one of my top traffic referrers, so I recommend that anyone not already using it for their business at least give it a try.

Not only is Google+ a property of the largest search engine in the world, Google (duh), but also it has a great interface and isn’t completely overrun with spammers yet so you can still get some great interaction from other users pretty easily. Google+ is similar to Facebook in that you can create both a personal profile and a company page, so if you want to promote your business you should get started by creating both.

Check out the video below to learn more about why and how you should be using Google+ to help promote your business.

Every entrepreneur needs to assess the pros and cons of each potential marketing avenue and not every social media platform is right for every business. However, if you haven’t checked out Google+ yet, you’re missing out. The SEO benefits as well as the level of engagement you can generate from other users make it a platform that all entrepreneurs should at least try out before deciding if it’s right for them.

 

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How to Squash Excuses for Not Getting Ish Done

by Cate July 2, 2013 1 Comment

Everyone has excuses for why they can’t or shouldn’t get stuff done to build their business and these excused keep you from creating the business that you want. If you’re sick of letting these excuses cause your business to remain stagnant, check out this week’s video where I give you my tricks for squashing the top 3 excuses I hear entrepreneurs make: I don’t have time, I don’t know how, and I don’t have money.

What are your top excuses that threaten to keep you from moving forward with your business and what are the tricks you use to squash them?