Web Savvy Marketers Ideas, Thoughts & Tips

5 Easy SEO Tips for 2015 (That Don’t Require Cats)

February 5, 2015 Beth Devine

What do cats and SEO have in common? They both rule the internet. And, like it or not, they are both here to stay.

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, was asked on Reddit on the 25th birthday of the web, “What was one of the things you never thought the internet would be used for, but has actually become one of the main reasons people use the internet?”

“Kittens,” Berners-Lee replied.

The best practices to consider for SEO in 2015 include more than cats, despite their overwhelming cuteness. SEO continues to evolve, with changes in how searchers use queries and engines crawl, index, and rank site pages. What hasn’t changed is SEO still figures big in improving your brand’s visibility and traffic.

Here are 5 easy SEO tips to follow in 2015. Cats are an excellent SEO plus, but aren’t strictly required.

1. Link building vs. content creation

The way to create links is through building great content and sharing it. This same content can be used for your blog posts, web pages, guest posts, and social media pots. This will generate relevant and varied sources that link to specific information.

Content creation and the resulting link building takes time, but Google will never penalize you for making unnatural links (the dirty word for 2015 is this sort of link building: trying to rank by using link building schemes).

Ethical SEO involves upfront attempts to get other websites to link to your website and improve your rank. This is where content creation comes in.

2. Secure your site with HTTPS

Most website’s URLs start with “HTTP,” or HyperText Transfer Protocol, which is the underlying protocol for how messages are sent over the web. HTTPS is the HTTP Secure version that gives users an added layer of security.

Google has announced that it has begun using HTTPS as a signal in their ranking factors, albeit a small one for now. However, although Google states that high quality content is more important for ranking, they also said that eventually they might want to make secure protocol a bigger deal in ranking.

2015 is the time to make the switch by following Google’s instructions for moving your site by changing its URL.

3. Google doesn’t need help finding you, but your visitors do

While you don’t need to submit your website to Google in order to rank in search results, you do need to get on board with Google My Business (which has morphed from Google Places, Google Places for Business, to Google Plus Local, to this current version). This gives you a storefront on Google Maps for free, helps your site get found in Google Search, and lets people engage with and review your business online.

For 2015 this online business directory is indispensable. Get your business directly connected with your customers and get registered with Google My Business.

4. Keywords are only as good as their location

No longer is keyword stuffing the way to optimize your website, but having a central keyword idea and placing keywords strategically is more important than keyword frequency. Google breaks your site down into a hierarchy, starting with meta tags and headers, followed by copy, then footers and sidebars last.

Keywords that focus on this one idea should be in your titles, headings, and image alt text, rather than cramming it a bunch of times into copy.

WordPress sites make this easy with plugins like WordPress SEO by Yoast. Keywords can even be variations of the central idea, making it possible for even a searcher’s misspellings to lead to the keyword variation used for your site.

5. Don’t forget meta descriptions, titles, and headings

As Google gets smarter in determining what’s on your web pages, it looks beyond the keywords to interpret the data to form a decision. Google looks for meaning, not just specific keywords and keyword phrases.

It’s important to include meta descriptions to help search engines and searchers to understand what the site content is, and if it’s relevant to the search. Indirectly this is a giant SEO bonus that doesn’t impact rankings, but affects the navigation results.

Along with your meta tags, there are titles and heading tags to consider. Search engines use title tags to display in search results, and they tell search engines as well as searchers what is contained in the web page. They should be no longer than 50-60 characters, since that’s all that Google will display in its SERPs.

Heading tags are identified in your CMS (Content Management System, such as WordPress) through the built-in code, and they also help search engines understand what is on the page, as well as indicating the level of importance of the content with Heading 2 and Heading 3 tags.

By covering these SEO signals, you will help Google distinguish your site as a credible site and business. The days of Google Authorship, which handed out bylines and author photos like internet prizes for anyone who wanted to build authority and trust, are over. You can still build strong branding and authority by practicing basic SEO principles, even if you insist on leaving out the ubiquitous cat.

Do You Know These 5 Marketing Trends for 2015?

January 30, 2015 Beth Devine

It’s important to look back over the previous year and reflect on what you did that was successful, significant, or slipshod. Thinking backwards has its uses, but thinking forwards is a good opportunity to see how you fit into what’s expected.

Here are five marketing trends gleaned from the web that make the most sense for small businesses in 2015.

Content Marketing That Matters

The amount of free online content continues to overwhelm us. Your customers are probably growing bored, overstimulated, and underwhelmed. The answer is not to create more content to try and win attention.

The answer to today’s online content overload is marketing with a content strategy. Whereas the old mantra was “always be closing,” today’s could be “always be publishing,” but publishing with a focus.

Give your customers and prospects content that they can’t get elsewhere, is targeted to meet their interests, and is well-planned and well-written. Look to other industries for inspiration, including their social media pages. Check out their Pinterest, Facebook, blogs, and Twitter accounts to fuel your ideas for quality content.

Go Social or Bust

The social media landscape is continually changing. Small businesses must stay tuned to what platforms are the most relevant to your brand.

Where your brand should focus its presence is based on one simple fact: where your customers are. Knowing which platforms to avoid and which to engage in is even more critical as changes in Facebook and Twitter limit the reach of your pages and push business users to use paid advertisements.

Know the emerging technologies and where to look for your customers. Trends include messaging services like Snapchat, growing in popularity with 1 billion Snapchat stories viewed every day. The new social media darling is Instagram, the mobile photo-sharing site that is attracting users and investors by the truckload.

Watch for analytics to become available to marketers through more social platforms. As with Facebook, which offers Page Insights after you receive thirty likes, expect to see Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr do something similar.

Measure With Analytics

As the wave of social media analytics grows, it is important to take advantage of the digital data that is available. If it’s digital, it’s measurable, giving you critical understanding of product-market fit, user experience, customer behavior, and more.

Getting the right focus is the challenge. Using metrics to help you make the best decisions involves measuring many different things, including open rates, number of followers, and traffic. Focusing on what variables connect to revenue and growth is key.

Facebook recently added conversion lift to its analytics platform, allowing advertisers to measure conversion rates from digital ads. This tool is one example of how data can be used to help you focus your online efforts and your advertising dollars.

Less Words, More Visuals

Using less words and more visuals continues to be the trend for 2015. As non-professionals increasingly use smartphone cameras to shoot videos and photos with instant results, the potential for marketing also grows.

Visual storytelling is growing, and social media is quick to jump on board. Facebook was first to push video, with Instagram’s 15-second video quick to follow. Now Twitter is launching native video, giving users application-ready viewing and playing of videos as a way to add to the conversation.

Twitter already figured out how short our attention span is: 2.8 seconds to be exact, or how long it takes us to read approximtely 140 characters. 90% of information that your brain receives is visual, with visuals processed 60,000 times faster than text.

If you haven’t already, begin adding more visuals to your website and social media. Your content is being consumed by people who favor images, so that’s what you have to give them.

The IoT (Internet of Things)

Mobile data is continuing to expand with user-friendly options that will include wearable devices. The technology being used to transfer data over a network in devices such as heart monitors and automobile sensors is surfacing in smart watches and exercise bands, and is expected to become more popular as new solutions develop.

The IoT is a vast communication network of more than 25 billion objects, all online and gathering information, and using sensors to correspond with each other. Collecting data and sending it has never been easier.

It’s not always about knowing how this will affect your marketing. Sometimes it’s just about being aware of the newest breed of online connection and understanding what consumers are interested in. Anticipating marketing trends will help you move towards a more connected future where you’re prepared to address challenges as early as you can.

What Your Profile Picture Says About You

January 22, 2015 Beth Devine

worth a thousand words — “Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, The First Council,” by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, modified version, public domain photo.

It’s believed that Napoleon first said, “Un bon croquis vaut mieux qu’un long discours,” which loosely translated is, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” (“A good sketch is better than a long speech” also works.)

There’s no better place to begin with this philosophy than social media. Social media is a large part of our lives, and our online presence is much more than just a personal statement.

How you represent yourself online professionally is an important piece to your overall appearance on social media. Your LinkedIn profile picture, or any image meant for professional use, should make a good first impression.

What does your social media picture say about you? These tips will help you decide.

Get your profile picture rated for free.

Find out what others think of your photo with a site that tells you how your picture rates. Photo Feeler bases its results on the votes of other participants. In order to receive feedback, you can either purchase credits, or receive credits by casting your own votes.

For a business photo, the qualities of competent, likable, and influential are rated. For sites geared to social exchange, votes are made on confident, authentic, and fun. There’s even a dating option, in the event you’re interested in casting the net online.

The no-show photo.

According to recent studies, recruiters spend 19% of their time on your profile picture. When you elect to omit your profile picture, professional recruiters will think one of three things: you’re lazy, tech illiterate—you don’t know how to upload one, or you’re hiding something.

You’re also less likely to have your profile viewed by associates. Let’s say you want to connect online after a networking event. It’s much easier to remember who’s who when you have a photo to make the connection to the business card.

Your age is about a decade (or two) off reality.

Imagine walking into an interview looking years older than your profile picture. Not only will your prospective employer think she’s got the wrong person, you’ll look deceptive.

Keep your profile picture an accurate representation of what you currently look like. The best way to convey a positive appearance is with a photo that exudes good energy through good posture, a genuine smile, and a relaxed demeanor.

Casual dress or not?

A professional profile picture should include professional attire. Dress as if you are going to a job interview. For certain industries, however, the dress can be slightly less formal.

Check and see what other people in your industry are wearing for their profile pictures to be sure you’re adopting a similar standard. If you’re unsure, a dark-colored blazer is a safe bet.

Keep the background neutral.

Avoid backgrounds that will distract the viewer from focusing on you. Instead of wondering where you were in the photo or what was going on, the intent of the photo remains central: you and what you have to offer.

I bet you think this photo’s about you, don’t you?

You’re so vain, or you would be if this wasn’t the moment to make it about you and nothing or no one else. In addition to a plain background, don’t include your pets, children, or significant other. Avoid using them as your Facebook profile picture as well, unless you want to convey the various meanings each one communicates.

There are unspoken rules to social media profile pictures. What your profile picture says about you speaks volumes, and you don’t want it to scream clueless.

Saving-the-world photos are good, aren’t they?

Thanks to the site Humanitarians of Tinder, what might appear to be genuine altruism can be misconstrued into less noble attempts of empathy. While there are places and times to demonstrate your involvement in a worthy cause, using photos of yourself posing in developing countries as your professional profile picture won’t necessarily be one of them.

Try using a photo that can’t be mistaken as superficial. If you insist on using third-world selfies, save them for Instagram.

Bad lighting is for a Seinfeld episode.

The lighting in your profile picture can make the difference between your appearing as the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Seinfeld episode “Two Face Girlfriend” depicts this with comic clarity. Each time Seinfeld sees his new date, she bounces between being either pleasantly attractive or a ghastly ghoul depending on the light.

The lighting can be the sole culprit of a really bad profile picture. See these 9 Tips for Taking a Great Profile Photo in Natural Light and take your profile image to the next level of greatness.

You don’t have to guess at which photos are better. Follow these tips to get the right photo and see your online opportunities grow.

Atlas Stamping & Manufacturing

January 16, 2015 Beth Devine

A complete rebuild, including the redesign of Atlas Stamping’s logo.

How To Be More Likable

January 14, 2015 Beth Devine

liked at work — Flickr photo “Pals” by jeffreyw, modified from the original under CC BY.

“When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion.” — Dale Carnegie

We all want to be liked. Google how to be more likable, and the evidence is there—you’ll come up with plenty of self-help advice to answer your need.

Because the majority of people spend most of their time at work, how to be more likable at work is a popular focus for improvement. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest American Time Use survey, employed adults spend nearly twice as much time working as they do at a leisure activity.

Start by being more likable at work with these 5 areas of self-improvement. Based on the vast amount of internet advice, I’ve distilled it into 5 categories centered on personal characteristics.

1. Be a Better Listener: Be Deferential

Listen without interrupting. It’s annoying when someone butts in or rushes you, or attempt to compete with you in conversations as if they have to top your story or one-up you in some way.

Deferential listening involves more than just being quiet while others speak. It requires conversation reinforcements, questions, and most of all, being present. Make a point of not looking at your phone or letting your mind wander, and place your full focus on the person talking.

By being deferential and listening attentively, you’re creating an authentic bridge that will allow you to connect with others. And eventually they will like you for it.

2. Be Willing to Get Personal: Be Vulnerable

Know when to take things to a personal level and share what’s really happening in your life. Without being overdone, sharing is a way to communicate trust and break down walls, making emotional connection a possibility.

By being honest about yourself, you’re showing a vulnerability that makes liking you easier than if you always attempt to show how impressive you are.

Admit to mistakes and failings, show the real you. People will gravitate to your honesty.

3. Be a Positive Force: Be Complimentary

One way to practice being more positive is to find something to compliment people on. It’s hard to appear negative when you’re focused on making compliments to people.

Instead of finding what’s wrong with a situation, use the same positive energy to figure out what can be done to make it better. Tell someone every day how fabulous they are and why. Most of us are so fixated inwards that it requires simply being aware of your surroundings to find something to remark positively on. They’ll not only appreciate you for it, they will be more likely to listen to you when you do bring up a negative point.

4. Be Concerned About Others: Be Genuine

Ask questions about others and give them a chance to talk about themselves. By prompting people with honest questions about their lives to further your understanding, you show you’re genuinely interested in them and making a deeper connection.

The other side to revealing your vulnerability is displaying a unique concern for others. By not always settling for small talk and superficial exchange, you’re opening the door to a stronger relationship, one where you’re far more likable.

5. Be Warm and Fuzzy: Be Sincere

Don’t underestimate the power of touch. Social touching on the upper arm, shoulder, or hand can influence how others behave as well as make you appear friendlier and more attractive when done right.

This means it is done casually and sincerely. Touch can break down the perceived barrier of distance and and decrease the natural barrier of emotional resistance.

Out of these 5 personal characteristics, sincerity is the most difficult to adopt with artifice, so don’t bother doing this if you can’t muster up real solicitude. If people can smell a rat, they can sense it even better with a false touch.

Of course there are many ways to show sincerity. All of them will help you be more likable. There is one single thing you can do to influence the practice of all five characteristics listed here and be more likable. It’s very simple.

Smile more.

People will lower their guards when you smile as you greet them with a “good morning,” leave them with a “have a great day!” and take the initiative to acknowledge them.

SiroisTool.com

January 11, 2015 Beth Devine

Updated this manufacturer’s website with a mobile responsive theme. Also created coordinating website themes for sister companies, DowGage.com and NASPringtool.com

Services: Customized mobile-responsive WordPress theme, installed employee portal, E-commerce installation (DowGage.com) web hosting and maintenance.

How to Create a Presentation That Counts

January 10, 2015 Beth Devine

Photo modified from "be bold" by Julie Jordan Scott on Flickr. — Photo modified from “be bold” by Julie Jordan Scott on Flickr under CC BY.

According to Seth Godin, there are, as far as I can tell, three types of presenters. Good Entertainers, Bad Entertainers, and Change-makers.

The Good Entertainers know how to work the crowd. They know how to make them laugh, keep them on the edge of their seats, and maybe even shake their heads with wonder as they leave, thinking how great a show it was.

Bad Entertainers fail to do any of these things. They bore their audience, waste their time, and generally are unremarkable. The attendees are thinking about what they will do after they leave long before they exit the building.

The point to creating a presentation isn’t mere entertainment, although it’s a good idea to keep your audience riveted. Making them laugh on occasion is also a good strategy.

But to make a presentation worth doing, one that doesn’t waste your audience’s time, you need to have just one purpose. Godin is crystal clear on this. You need to make a change happen.

“No change, no point,” Godin says.

In other words, if we take what Godin tells us to heart, we know that the point of making a presentation is no different that the point of getting out of bed every day.

When you get up and face the day, you can choose to live it so you’re just getting by and surviving the ordeal. Or you can seek to do small things that make a difference and have the potential to turn into something better.

Change-makers create presentations that do more than just get by. They make presentations that take risks. The risk is always the same. You might fail. But if you don’t try, if you don’t do more than just get out of bed and ignore the possibilities, you’ll never know if you could succeed.

Pack Your Presentation With Emotion

When you make a presentation, you’re communicating your point of view and trying to get others to agree with you. Just like when you navigate through the day, it’s your emotional appeal that will help you achieve what you’re trying to accomplish.

You won’t get far trying to get others to follow your advice when you behave like an automaton. People want to engage with you. So whether they determine you’re a has-been or a rock star, you need to use emotion to connect with them.

Are You Selling Something?

If you’re an academic discussing an issue related to your work, are you selling something? The question Godin has us ask ourselves before creating a presentation applies to anyone who is presenting an idea. “Who will be changed by this work, and what is the change I seek?”

If you’re not selling something, then you don’t need to make a presentation. If everyone already agrees with what you have to say, then you don’t need to try to convince them. Go home and think up something else to do.

Godin gives us four rules for presentations:

1. Cue cards – Even if you don’t need to use them, making cue cards to remind you of what to say will help you outline your presentation and trigger talking points. Keep them simple and legible, so if you do need them, you aren’t squinting and stumbling as you try to read them.

2. Illustrate with images – God has a lot to say about Powerpoint, and most of it’s negative. Rather than use this software as a powerful tool to relate ideas, it’s become a crutch.

Don’t rewrite what you’re saying onto the Powerpoint slides. Don’t use images that aren’t professional or that don’t evoke an emotional reaction. Don’t use the music that comes with the system. Instead, find sounds and music that will get a visceral response from your audience. Don’t use more than six words per slide.

3. Hand out proof – The written document that supports what you’re selling should be handed out only after your presentation. Otherwise your audience will be reading instead of listening. Plus, if you tell them they’ll get it all in writing afterwards, they won’t have to distract themselves with note taking.

4. Get an answer – Don’t let them leave without getting a commitment or a signature or some sort of agreement. The whole point to your presentation is to persuade others to adopt your idea, to get them to do something different.

Make It Count

We want to live our lives in a way that makes them count. We don’t do this by never trying to persuade another person. Every day we try to persuade someone to do what we think is best.

We’ve got to give presentations the same way. Make it count for something. Make it worth doing and do it differently than everyone else.

The Year In Review: Top Posts of 2014

December 28, 2014 Beth Devine

For easy ways to stay ahead of hackers, keep your social media presence alive, and be a better writer, we bring you a synopsis of top blog posts for 2014.

Because a recap of the year’s blog posts wouldn’t be complete without a line-up of cat-themed photos, the year in review starts with cats. Whether it’s revamping your email marketing, optimizing your website’s SEO, or getting smart with hashtags, the cats are in the know.

The Year In Cats

Don’t be fooled into thinking email is old school. Why Email Marketing Is Still the Cat’s Meow lays it out for you so you can either rediscover email’s benefits, or reinvigorate your current email marketing.

Take advantage of implementing visuals into your email marketing campaign that you’ve created for social media. Learn how to increase your presence by getting visual and stand out in the crowd in How Your Brand Can Stand Out With Visual Content.

Social media is the perfect platform for spreading your brand’s content with captivating photos, images, and videos. SEO Benefits to Embedding Video outlines the simple benefits you get from your video when you embed it into your website.

It begins with the two-for-one benefit of two listings for the price of one: one for your website and one for your YouTube (or other hosting) channel. Your SEO sees results from both listings.

Your SEO is something the cats don’t want you to fall behind in. Get the five SEO actions you don’t want to botch up when you’re optimizing your WordPress site for search engines with Are You Botching Up Your WordPress Site’s SEO?

No social media lesson would be complete without hashtag directions. Knowing how to implement hashtags into your social media gives your posts maximum oomph—I mean, meow. Find out the finer claw-points in How To Use Hashtags on Social Media and Be a Cool Cat.

Keep Your Site and Password Safe From Hackers

The lurking threat of having your password or website hacked is always a real possibility. Cyber Security Threats: Is This the Digital Wild West? and More Password Hacking Methods and How to Stay Safe outline the top ways hackers attempt to steal your data.

7 Tips for Your Content Management System gives you seven ways to keep your WordPress site safe from hackers. If you’re not doing them, then sign up for a plan with your hosting company and have them do it for you.

6 Ways Your Site Is Hacked and What To Do About It will help keep your site safe by knowing the methods hackers use. Outside of staying offline, the best way to stay safe is to stay informed.

How To Secure Your Accounts With Two-Step Verification shows you how to keep your accounts hacker-proof. Two-step security is free. Follow these simple steps to give your online accounts an extra layer of security.

Writing Is Key to Your Success

Grab this list of tips from the pros in How To Become a Better Writer: Tips from the Pros for your quick consumption; it’s internet-primed to be just the way you like it—fast, free, and fun.

Don’t forget important writing practices for when you automate your social media posts, including the 5-3-2 rule in Don’t Let Jargon Be a Communication Barrier, because it’s never okay to forget your customer in your writing.

Find out how you stay relevant with appropriate customer communication, when to use jargon and when not to, and why. Content Marketing Buzzwords You Need to Know will help you stay in the know with the most used content marketing buzzwords.

It’s either write or die of unhappiness. At least that’s how I choose to interpret it. The experts weigh in on why you can’t live properly without it in How Writing Makes You Happy.

If writing just isn’t in the stars for you, here are seven reasons content creation is important and how to know if outsourcing content is the right decision for you. Check out Should You Outsource Content for Your Website? to see what the future holds.

Social Media Tips

How do you find time for social media as a small business? Social media automation tools can help you manage your social media presence without investing tons of time. Find them here: You Need These Social Media Automation Tools.

Are you using LinkedIn to market your small business? For B2B marketing, LinkedIn is the preferred social media channel for 26% of respondents in a BtoB survey, and more than 90% of B2B companies in North America use LinkedIn. Learn more about connecting with other people in your industry in 9 Tips for LinkedIn You Didn’t Know.

What’s the best social media platform for your company? See why the new star of social media is Instagram and why brands might want to start paying attention to this platform in 7 Reasons Instagram Tops Twitter.

To learn more about Twitter and how to grow a Twitter following, 9 Easy Ways To Get Followers on Twitter. Improve Your Image and Get Your New Twitter Profile gives you the latest Twitter changes and how to adjust to your brand new Twitter groove.

Finally, find out why Pinterest is a good choice for brands as the online place for window shopping and gathering content. Get These Pinterest Tips for Your Business and Get More Sales shows you how to get your content in the digital hands of Pinterest shoppers and Tell Your Story On Pinterest gives you eight ways to get your company’s story heard in images.

7 Reasons Instagram Tops Twitter

December 12, 2014 Beth Devine

Instagram just topped Twitter as the rising star of social media. With over 300 million monthly users, it’s now bigger than Twitter, who has 284 million. The announcement that verified accounts for brands and public figures are being doled out gives Instagram the added prestige of being a visual platform that’s made it in the social stratosphere.

Why Instagram tops Twitter:

Facebook’s Visual Cousin Is No Fad

Not only is Instagram owned by Facebook, but Instagram is the photo-op cousin to the popular social media platform. Because Instagram focuses on capturing shared images, it offers you the opportunity to send visual messages without a lot of fuss over copy.

It’s captured the delight of image-lovers worldwide, with 70% of its users coming from outside the U.S. and 70 million photos being shared each day. This isn’t looking like a passing fad.

Youthful appeal

If you want to get in on what the upcoming generations and the millennials already know is a good thing, then you won’t want to miss out. The opportunity to communicate with these age groups is through their preferred medium, and it’s not Facebook.

Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, is losing its appeal to youth, the same group who first made Facebook popular. As they say, when in Rome, do as the Instagrammers do.

Advertising for Brands

Static ads have been on Instagram since late 2013 and now video ads are being rolled out. Advertisers are quick to respond to the new mobile-centric ad opportunity, wanting to be seen as innovators in a new market.

Its new 15-second autoplay spots will include Disney’s new movie, Big Hero 6, with video showing animated characters doing what Instagrammers know how to do best: selfies poses.

Verify This

It’s what Twitter users have long coveted and reportedly can’t get without Twitter’s personal invite. A @Verified account has been a mark of digital validation on life’s worth for the Twittersphere.

A simple blue checkmark about a dozen pixels wide, the verification symbol indicates you’re someone who’s done something. Instagram is offering the sought-after, verified badges as a way to make following your favorite brands and public personalities easier.

It’s also another way for the social media site to say it’s now someone too.

No Fakers Wanted

As it works to strengthen authentic accounts with verified badges, Instagram is deleting fake and spammer accounts. Increasing user confidence through boosting trust in its profiles is a move to make it anti-spam friendly and more credible.

Search and Get Found

Instagram’s new Explore tab makes it easier for you to search and find relevant brands and people as well as get found by those who are interested in you. Because the tab uses algorithms personalized to the user, if someone shows interest in factors related to what you post, like, and who you follow, your account could be selected in their search.

This positive feature is in contrast to the drawback of Instagram’s single-feed feature. Snap-happy Instagrammers can easily dominate your feed, making it difficult to find the intermittent posting of a close friend.

Instagram is taking over the social media stratosphere and is fast becoming the go-to image sharing site. But if it doesn’t stay focused on ways to continue to top Twitter and other social sharing sites, it could fall into similar downfall. The unfiltered feed problem tops the list of potential issues.

In the meantime, let’s let Instagram shine. Join the Instagram ascendance into photo-sharing stardom and be a star too.

5 More Marketing No-No’s

December 4, 2014 Beth Devine

In continuation of our previous 5 Online Marketing No-No’s, here are five more marketing mistakes to avoid. Like the wise business person you are, be sure to check this list and revamp any marketing mistakes into nonexistence.

5 More Mistakes for Your Marketing Know-How

1. Your email list is dirty

If you’re email marketing isn’t compliant with spam, you’ll get a high bounce rate, or worse, you could get your email efforts shut down. CAN SPAM carries severe penalties for non-compliant commercial email, but it’s simple to check it and stay within the law. Be sure to email only recipients that have asked to be on your marketing list, which means they’ve freely given you their email information.

It also helps your email marketing performance to separate your email list into groups, including targeting your list based on deliverability. This means paying attention to your email open rates and selecting recipients who open your emails and click on links you’ve embedded in them.

You might target your new email group by sharing only your best offers with these more interested readers, or by mailing the less responsive recipients less often.

2. Your customers need some TLC

Did you forget about those happy customers of yours? Or how about those new clients whom you’ve been ignoring due to other, more seasoned ones?

Sometimes we forget about and neglect our long-time, happy customers and the newbies who’ve just walked through the door. But both are equally valuable and deserve your attention.

It’s easier to sell a solution to an existing problem than it is to sell a positive benefit. So spend some time finding out ways you can help your happy customers to be even happier by learning what problems they continue to struggle with.

As for your new customers, they are often eager to respond to your questions when it comes to determining how you’re doing and how you could improve. If you don’t ask, you won’t know. Ask them to take a survey and give them a free beginner’s guide or offer them a free gift or holiday discount for doing so.

3. Your networking is abysmal

Okay, so you aren’t particularly social. Find someone who is and can network for you, or challenge yourself and get out there and attend one of the many events that are going on, particularly during the holidays.

Take advantage of the opportunities to meet new people, build relationships, and create new business. Better yet, sign up to speak at one of the events and really challenge your social fears. Speaking in public gets easier and the rewards of speaking at public events are like networking on steroids.

Seth Godin talks straight on the fear of public speaking, clarifying that it’s not about you. It’s really about what you have to offer. So make it about your audience and how you can help them. Isn’t that what you are trying to do anyways as you network?

4. You ignore the potential of your referrals

Referrals are your free marketing resource. Imagine getting new business and customers just from recommendations from your already satisfied customers.

Do you have a referral program working for you? Are you emailing customers after you complete a project they’re happy with to ask for a referral? Do you follow them on LinkedIn and ask them for an introduction to a potential client?

It’s that simple. When you ignore the potential of referrals, you’re missing out on an inexpensive way to market your business. So go ahead – do your part and ask.

5. You overlook the obvious: free press

Free press opportunities are an obvious method for marketing your company, but too often they’re overlooked. It’s an incorrect assumption that the press will come looking for you and your awesome product or service. You have to pitch them your grand idea to get their attention.

And they will pay attention because they are always looking for news. They want to know what’s going on with your company. Get their attention and get some press, and that will drive traffic to your website.

When you’re seeking out press options, don’t forget about small time players, such as online bloggers and local, small-town print dailies and weeklies. These formats are all thriving and open for business for your news.

Stop hiding from your marketing mistakes. It’s easy to make them, but it’s nearly as easy to correct them.