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4 Easy Steps to Spice Up Your Blog Life

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When you first started your blog chances are everything was exciting, fresh and new.  Comments on your page gave you butterflies and re-tweets had you swooning.  But as time has progressed daily routines paired with outside distractions may have turned your once steamy blog life, stale.   Below are 4 quick and easy steps that will shake the spice back into your pages. Invite a Guest Blogger to Join You Keeping a monogamous relationship between just you and your readers can cause things to become a little, well, underwhelming.  Turn up the heat by opening your blog up to guest contributors.  In addition to refreshing your readers by providing them a twist in perspective and voice, you also have granted the opportunity for your blog to be exposed to an entirely new audience, creating a win-win relationship between you and your guest blogger.

Why You Can’t Rely On Your Franchisor For Local Marketing

If you have invested in a franchise with a great track record of success, you’ve put your best foot forward in building the rapport that will get you in the door with new customers. Quite often, franchisees make the mistake of assuming that their fees and costs to head office will get them far with national marketing. Where Do Your Franchise Fees Go? The reality is that your fees and initial costs pay for the rights to attach the franchise name, products and reputation and with your location. And even though you may be investing into a “national marketing” program you will still need to tackle your local marketing for best results. I’ve had great experiences owning several successful franchises but my profit started to go up as I took matters into my own hands. With many franchises, you must pay an ongoing royalty on sales. There is no harm in paying a fair royalty but the important thing to remember is that the royalty is generally coming from your revenue, not profit. Does Your Franchisor Want To Drive Your Revenue or Profit? When I owned my franchises, the type of national marketing provided by head office was all aimed [...]

The Ultimate Marketing Strategy: Education Based Marketing

In a recent conversation with Callan Rush, a leading expert on how to build your business and fill your workshops, we discussed why so many businesses are failing to achieve results with their marketing efforts. It was clear to us the reason for their lack of success was they are pitching, not educating. In today’s market the most effective form of marketing is education based marketing. Not sure what that is? Well this article is an example of that. Social media has become such as effective tool for businesses to position themselves ‘top of mind’ and for professionals to position themselves as an expert or leading authority in their field and/or community. Examples of Education Based Marketing To help you really understand the power of education-based marketing, here’s an example of three ineffective marketing approaches followed by a more effective education based marketing approach. Business: Accountant Ineffective marketing: “This is why you should use my accounting services.” Effective education based marketing: “Let me show you the top five mistakes everyone makes when filing their corporate and personal taxes. No matter who you choose to do your accounting, you need to know these things.” Business: Financial Planner Ineffective marketing: “I want [...]

How to Promote Your Business With a Google Places Listing

Have you ever typed keywords into Google search before and got a results page with a map on the right side and the first seven websites on the list marked with red balloons from A-G?  If you have, then you have found the “Golden Seven”—the seven top businesses Google have in their Google Places listing. Google Places is the Yellow Pages of Google, because more and more people are using Google to search for products and services located near where they are. Depending on your keywords (and the size of your screen), those seven tend to occupy more than the upper half of your screen. Every business wants to be one of the Golden Seven. Depending on the number of competitors in your area, having your business listed—and entered well—in Google Places can get you in, or close to, the Golden Seven. Notice Google already knows your location (reported by your browser) when you type your keywords, so it will present you with businesses close to your area. Here’s a sample search for “pizza delivery okanagan”: Notice there’s no “Golden Seven” and the only result with the red balloon (also seen on the map to the right) is actually fourth [...]