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PayPal Micropayment Discounts: A BIG Deal for Small Businesses
If your online PayPal transactions typically average less than $10, you could save money with PayPal’s “5% plus 5¢” Micropayment rate. Total PayPal fees charged for 100 $2 transactions is $36.00 with regular PayPAl services, versus just $15.00 with the Micropayment Discount service. This is a BIG deal for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Find more [...]
20 Small Business Online Marketing Essentials
Marketing a small business online has many components. Here’s my checklist of 20 essentials. Register A Domain (GoDaddy.com – good and cheap) Setup Email Accounts on Your Domain Setup A Reliable Web Site Hosting Account (For WordPress or Drupal sites) Setup A Email Marketing Account (Campaign Monitor, Mail Chimp, Emma, Constant Contact, etc.) Setup A [...]
Reading On Tablets: New Focus Skills Required
Digital reading devices – e-readers and tablets – have forever changed the reading experience. A recent New York Times article makes the point that “… while a book in print or on a black-and-white Kindle is straightforward and immersive, a tablet offers a menu of distractions that can fragment the reading experience, or stop it [...]
Different Strokes: iPad Delayed Gratification
Could you wait a month to open a new iPad? I couldn’t. But I have met two persons (their names are withheld for their protection – just kidding (for those who didn’t know)) during post holiday chatter who comfortably revealed they had received the illustrious gift, and had waited 2 weeks and more than a [...]
Entrepreneur Defined
Here is a terrific piece that accurately defines the entrepreneur. Enjoy!
Emailnery: A Dream Realized
I wanted to start this new year on a progressive and positive note. So, at the end of last year I set out to complete a dream project I had considered doing for some time. It was one of those ideas we all have. But I have come to know that those ideas we get, [...]
Black Mountain Hike
Anya and I hiked up +34k feet on Black Mountain. Gasoline – $40. Lunch – $20. Awesome experience with my beautiful youngest daughter – Priceless.
Design Ingenuity Takes A Walk
You never know where the next great spark of inspiration will come from. I got these intensely creative shoe designs in a viral email recently. Enjoy!
Poll: Keeping Your Social Media Presence Professional
Results of a nonscientific reader poll, conducted by SmartBrief on Social Media, tracked feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. The poll question: How do you keep your social media presence professional? 68.46% – I keep separate accounts for personal and professional networking 9.13% – I use filters, such as Circles on [...]
Nothing Like Soul Music
I can think of no better music than that played by passionate musicians spanning the cultural diaspora. Music that provokes rhythm and dance in infants, adults and elders. Check out this video rendition of “Ahora Si”, performed by Israel “Cachao” Lopez y la compania. Enjoy!!!
Social Media Stats
695 MIL – Facebook users. 148+ MIL – LinkedIn users. 140 MIL – Number of daily tweets. 2.5 BIL – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn visits combined. 164 MIL – Number of active blogs.
How To Get Great Results From Email Marketing Campaigns
One process for getting great results from email marketing campaigns is: Define clear goals. Typically, in my experience, there will be different goals for each audience segment. Example: Goal 1 for customers vs. Goal 2 for prospects. Deliver clear value/benefits. You know why you want people to buy from you. The trick to great marketing [...]
The New Yorker Theatre – My Painting
By Edward Phelps – Oil on masonite. 1960 would change American film forever, and the revolution would occur nowhere near a Hollywood set. With the opening of the New Yorker Theater, a cinema located at the heart of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, cutting-edge films from around the world were screened for an eager audience, including [...]
Right Speech by Thay
‘This is the third Dharma talk offered by Thay at the Open Mind Open Heart Retreat, given in the War Memorial Gym of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on Thursday, August 11th, 2011. Thay speaks about Right Speech, the practice of speaking that goes in the direction of non-discrimination. It is an [...]
Small Business Home Page Design Tips
Digital culture and technology web site Mashable.com recently posted a blog titled “8 Tips for Small Business Homepage Design.”
I recommend it, and decided to post my own version with different approaches to some of the key concepts that are based on my experiences developing site for small businesses.
YourSpace: Your Personal Marketing Profile
I recommend you consider all your online activity as essentially a strategic marketing initiative. Take care about sharing personal information on family and friends you wouldn’t want Hannibal Lecter to know (a bit dramatic maybe, but accurate). Take time to carefully consider precisely what you want to communicate. Write it down, review it a few times, then think about how you will communicate it. Will you blog daily, weekly, monthly? Will you setup and post to a Facebook page? Will you setup a LinkedIn profile? Will you Tweet some aspects of your life on Twitter? Whatever you choose, take the time to be strategic about it.
The Marketing Divide
Digital technology and the Internet have totally transformed every aspect of marketing from content creation to analytics. And, each marketing function has multiple skill sets required for effective implementation. This complexity is confronted and mastered with glaring success by large enterprises. But for mid-size and small businesses this complexity makes ROI virtually unattainable.
HTML5 and CSS3: To Use Or Not To Use?
A majority of current customers cannot take advantage of new HTML5 and CSS3 web sites. Businesses want to deliver a rich online experience to users with the latest technologies. But care must be taken not to negatively impact the experience of core customers who cannot yet benefit from these new technologies. Presently, support for HTML5 [...]
Email and Traditional Marketing Are Preferred Over Social Media
“social media interactions are a main influence for only 5 percent of visitors to retail websites” and “more traditional marketing tactics like promotional emails (19%), search engine results (8%), and Internet advertising (7%), influence more visits to retail websites.”
What Is An Email Marketing System?
The term email marketing system typically refers to web-based software that sends bulk email to target audiences.
Integrity: A Blinding Force
Alex Bogusky It is telling to read the thoughts and opinions of MDC Chief Miles Nadal, Fast Company, and other media and industry “experts” on the exit of super creative Alex Bogusky. Specifically of note is the fact that none of these consumed minds appear remotely capable of seeing the real and obvious reason for [...]
The Sales Process
Most small business owners like to (and do) focus solely on daily business operations and serving existing customer/client demands. But it is critical to your success to focus on getting new business from both current and prospective customers in order to sustain and grow your business. The selling process has six key steps. Virtually every [...]
Database Basics
What is a database? Email marketing systems use databases to storage, retrieve, and update data in the system. Everything the system does uses information (data) stored in the database, including email content, email design code, contact lists, scheduled sending, and performance statistics. The databases in email marketing systems are called “relational databases,” because they recognize [...]
What Is An Email Marketing System?
I get asked sometimes “…why pay for an email marketing system when I can send mail using Outlook, or Yahoo Groups?” The answers vary according to needs, but generally there are some significant benefits. Here is a baseline primer on email marketing systems. The term Email Marketing System refers to computer software that sends bulk [...]