Featured – Page 3

Update Your Local Internet Listings With Citation Services

October 12, 2016 Beth Devine

citation edits — “Save yourself an extra call (1962)” by Eric Fischer, used under CC BY / Modified from original

If you’ve moved your small business to a different address, changed your contact information in some way, or you have a new second location, how do you go about updating all of your local online listings? And do you even know what directories your listings are in?

It’s important to track down all your local internet listings with the correct updates instead of creating new ones because duplicates are a big problem. They can lead to Google penalties in search results. Leaving incorrect listings due to a move or other change causes confusion for both the user as well as the search engines.

While it might seem like a simple matter—you just log into the existing accounts and re-verify every listing—the claiming process isn’t always straightforward and the data clean up is time consuming and requires thorough attention to avoid duplicates.

Citation editing, marketing jargon for updating your business listings, involves a comprehensive process that requires much more than a quick edit on Google. Google is a good place to start, but there are hundreds of apps and directories that direct users to the right destination and Google is watching them all.

Google constantly crawls the internet looking for updated information to provide in its search results. This means two things:

The more listings for your business, the better. The more information available to Google, the better your business will do in search results.
Erroneous information on listings can cause Google to update using this incorrect data. The more listings for your business, the greater potential for Google to find incorrect information, which it pulls from many sources across the internet.

By completing an accurate and complete digital footprint or NAP, Name, Address, and Phone number, you’re removing as many barriers to online discovery as possible.

There are many methods to updating your business citations. In this post we’ll go over the popular business citation services, and in the next post we’ll cover the top business listings you need to be on.

Yext

Called the godfather of citation building services, Yext boasts a PowerListings capability to make sure your listings have correct information with automatic updates across over thirty local listing sites. By entering information into your Yext account, including details such as special announcements or specials, you can change it whenever you want.

Pros: Fastest service available; increased accuracy when you need to update regularly.

Cons: Most expensive; limited to somewhere around 50 directories.

Cost: Ranging from $200-$999 a year.

BrightLocal

BrightLocal claims and submits directly to 1,600 sites. You select which sites and the number sites, with 70% guaranteed to go live in four weeks.

Pros: High accuracy with manual submissions; prioritize NAP fixes; duplicate removal.

Cons: Don’t currently submit to top data aggregators Factual and Localeze; don’t provide custom citation research.

Cost: Single Business – $29/month
Multi Business – $49/month
SEO Pro – SEO Pro – $79/month

Whitespark

Whitespark has two separate citation services:

Citation audit and cleanup removes duplicates, fix inconsistencies, make corrections, and claim the important listings you’re missing.
Citation building looks for relevant key listings and manually submits them.

Pros: Greater accuracy with manual submissions and cross-checking systems.

Cons: Cleanup service doesn’t provide verification of listings (although there are step-by-step instructions available); building citation service doesn’t remove duplicates but doesn’t create them.

Cost: Citation cleanup and audit $900 one-time fee includes top 30 sites. Citation Building $4 each for national directory listings and $5 each for local city level directories or industry-specific listings.

Moz Local

Moz helps you claim all the important listings, including the ones that require manual verification with Google Local. You get access to all the local data aggregators for fast updates.

Pros: Make updates at any time via one dashboard; great Q&A service.

Cons: Listings are slow to go live – can take up to three months; doesn’t create listings on all directories.

Cost: $84 a year.

UBL/AdviceLocal

Universal Business Listing is now working under Advice Local. Easy updates from one dashboard. They provide ongoing checks for consistency. Submit to top fifty directories as well as popular review sites, and will even do social media profile optimization.

Pros: Merger provides expanded local listings with full access and ownership.

Cons: Need to subscribe to higher-priced packages to get full-service offerings. Reviews indicate complaints about duplicate listings.

Cost: Packages beginning at $100 a year up to $250 a year plus $20 monthly fee.

Synup

Synup is a relatively new service that covers forty-six of the top directories. You can manually add and manage an additional 150 sites. All changes made from one dashboard.

Pros: Duplicate listings suppression and monitoring of reviews included.

Cons: Not 100% effective in identifying duplicates; can get pricey with multiple locations.

Cost: $30 a month per location.

Directory Bug

Directory Bug manually lists your business on a minimum of sixty sites without creating duplicate listings. Over 100 of the top local business directories scanned. A premium members option is available with better optimization for local SEO.

Pros: Creates report with these sites and any other existing listings found.

Cons: Requires a custom quote for updating and cleanup based on number of sites needing it.

Cost: $140 for citation audit and $169 for power listing service.

It’s not an easy choice to select a business listing service. Each one has limitations, so the decision depends on your unique business needs. None of the citation building sites are completely hands-free. Many of the big search engines require manual verification of listings. The tendency for duplicate or inconsistent listings depends on various factors, including which data suppliers used and the relationship the service has with the directories. In addition, in some cases when you stop paying for the service all of your listings may be dropped.

As a small business owner, business listing services can save you time and money. In return, you get your business out there in the local search ecosystem without spending the many hours needed for accurate, thorough results.

Why A Small Business Blog Is Important For Growth

September 30, 2016 Beth Devine

business blogging — “Blog Machine” by digitalrob70, used under CC BY / Modified from original

Information is being shared across a landscape of digital information that’s growing faster and faster. The internet population has grown by more than 60% in the last five years, with mobile phones outnumbering people on the planet. No wonder our mobile use now makes up 65% of our time over desktop.

Everyone is on their mobiles or computers, engaged in digital exchange. They’re communicating, reading, and searching on the internet for all their needs. It’s more important now than ever to meet your audience where they’re spending time and adopt a blogging strategy for your small business.

Here’s how you reach new and existing customers with a small business blog.

Increase Traffic To Your Site

Every blog post published is one more opportunity for someone to find your business and drive traffic to your site. People read blogs to discover helpful industry information. Search engines like Google read blogs to learn what your website is about, and then send the right response to users performing internet searches.

For example, every time you write a blog post about a specific process or service you provide, you’re giving people who’re looking for more information on that subject another way to find you and get answers to their questions. The more blog posts you write, the more opportunities you’re creating for people to discover your business. Write 100 blog posts and you have 100 more avenues of discovery.

Improve Your Search Engine Results

Your search engine results will reflect the amount of information you’re publishing on the internet. Your blog isn’t meant to be a static page like your About Us or Home page. It’s a brand new search result for search engines and people searching the internet for what you offer.

Blogging helps your business website get more traffic because every blog post you publish is a new URL. There are only so many product and service pages you can create, but the number of new URLs you can create with blog posts is endless. And every one of your posts will be read by both Google and people – people that didn’t realize your business sold the very product they’re looking for.

“Am I the only one who realizes you could hide a dead body or drugs on the second page of a google search and it would never be found?” This insightful bit of humor was first found on Twitter in 2011 and still holds true today, because who goes directly to Google’s second page search results?

Search engines are smart grading robots who take your written content and put it through algorithms. The more frequently you post and the better quality the content, the better grade your blog gets and the higher it will rank in search engine results.

Build Trust With Your Audience

When you’re shopping for a new household appliance, you’re more likely to buy from someone who’s spent time with you answering your questions and giving you unbiased advice. Someone with whom you’ve grown comfortable with, not someone whom you’ve never laid eyes on before.

Not only are people more likely to buy from someone they’ve spent time with, they’re also going to remember who gave away helpful information. Blogging is a way to communicate to your audience so they grow to know and trust you as a source of information.

Once you’ve established yourself as a credible resource, people will choose to buy from you over your competition, or they’ll consider working with you as a business partner rather than a business who isn’t making the effort to communicate and share valuable content.

Develop New Leads

Being a strong source of information is a conduit to being a source of value. You provide value up front for free when offer a continual source of educational, entertaining, and informative content.

The new opportunities created by blogging about valuable content are also opportunities to develop leads. For every blog post you publish, you’re creating a new call-to-action within the post. Again, 100 blog posts become 100 potential call-to-actions.

A call-to-action can be anything that asks your audience to do something else. It could be to click on a link for more help, your contact us page, a free ebook, a free quote, or another page, such as your product page, for more information.

Blogging brings you new leads because you’re writing about things you want to sell. You’re tailoring your audience to individuals who’re interested in your topics and who would feasibly purchase your product or service.

Thanks to your increased traffic due to the new ways (a.k.a. blog posts) to find you, and your improved search engine results from all the new URLs (a.k.a. blog posts), your opportunities for new leads grow.

Blogs continue to be a source of leads for years. Have you ever Googled something and got a response dating back to the 1990s? Those earliest articles or blogs are still chugging along, sending out digital data into the cybersphere, bringing in a new audience of potential customers.

It’s never too late to begin blogging for your small business. As Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the French novelist best known for writing The Little Prince, said, “The time for action is now. It’s never too late to do something.”

Website Security You Didn’t Know You Needed

September 15, 2016 Beth Devine

You’re a small business and you can’t really afford to pay big bucks for website security. Besides, who’s going to bother hacking your site when there’s big businesses to mess with?

We covered seven fallacies to website security in the last post, beginning with having a false sense of security simply because you’re a small- or medium-sized business. This actually makes you a prime target because hackers know small companies don’t have the same resources available for protecting their business online. The good news is there are some great free and low cost options to keeping your website safe.

Get A Website Security Plugin

If you don’t already have Wordfence, you’re one plugin download away from an improved security firewall and malware scanner, its two core security capabilities. Wordfence scans for any new malware and provides new firewall rules to protect against attacks, using real-time data for paid premium accounts and a thirty-day delay in updates for all free versions.

The forensic detection work is ongoing so the latest malware threats are constantly being optimized. If you’re a free Wordfence customer, your site is currently getting 364 free malware scan signatures, with another 118 in the signature line-up to be added. Last month alone nearly 140,000 websites were found infected with malware. Don’t wait to be one of them. Get your site secured with a reputable plugin, or ask your web hosting provider for help with one of their security services.

Give Up Your Username, Your Password, and Your False Sense of Security

When it comes to site security, the point of entry that serves as an easy break-in is your site’s front door. If you’re using a username that includes admin or administrator, or the name of a site author or contributor, you’re making it too easy for a hacker to determine exactly half of your front door’s access information.

Follow this post on How To Change Your WordPress Username using Cpanel to secure the front half of your website’s entry portal. The other half involves changing your password to something that doesn’t fall into the most commonly used or worst password list .

Don’t let weak passwords allow hackers access to your website. Strengthen your passwords by changing them occasionally, using password strengthening tools like Strong Password Generator or Norton Password Generator, storing them in password managers, and forcing other WordPress users on your site to use better passwords with the Force Strong Passwords plugin.

Your Biggest Source of Security Trouble Is An Update Away

Check WordPress.org to see the last update of your plugins and delete or replace the ones that you’re no longer using and those that haven’t been updated in the last year or so. While you’re there, also check the plugin’s rating and how many people have contributed to the rating. The more people who use it and like it, the more likely it will be safe to use.

Finally, look to see if it’s compatible with the current version of WordPress. If a plugin has its own website, there’s a better chance it is being well maintained. Once you’ve done the basics of plugin selection criteria, your main concern is to keep all plugins updated. Never download a plugin unless it’s from the official WordPress plugin directory.

Clever SEO Tactics That Land You In Google Time-Out

Honest mistakes made in an effort to improve your search engine ratings and boost traffic are still that—mistakes. You need to know what you shouldn’t do to boost SEO or Google will blacklist you. Blacklisting is like getting the monopoly “go to jail” card, and no one comes to visit.

Buying Links or Linking to Spam

This is going to lead to unnatural, spammy linking because most of these offers for paid links are from disreputable sites and social media accounts. Even if they promise you first page ranking, because eventually you’ll be totally unranked, and it’s not worth it.

Always check before you link to another page. If it’s a malicious webpage, it’s only a matter of time before your site could be infected with malware or Google blacklists you for the link. You don’t want Google to ever discover you’re linked to any of these malicious cyber spaces.

Broken Links

This might not land you on the blacklist, but it’s definitely going to hurt your SEO. If you have a page with several broken links, Google is less likely to see it as updated and a page without any broken links will easily outrank yours.

Yet broken links are a dime a dozen. Sites move, go out of business, undergo remodeling, and once intact links are no longer viable. So what do you do? Spend hours going through hundreds of pages checking?

Who has time for that? Go straight to Google Webmaster Tools (and make an account if you don’t already have one) and fix any broken links that it gives you.

Copyright Offense

Violating copyright is not only unethical. It’s a big Google no-no. This will send you right off the Google radar and into a black hole of oblivion. You’ll eventually get caught and lose your ranking.

Keyword Stuffing and Masking

Whether it’s irrelevant keywords or hidden text or links, Google is very clear about the repercussions. Either you’ll harm your site’s ranking or you’re violating Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Create quality content and stick to the high road where you’ll see authentic and lasting returns on your efforts.

A blacklisted site might show the warning “This site may be hacked” when you search for it in your browser. Go to Google’s Safe Browsing Site Status to check for blacklisted sites. Get help for blacklisted or hacked sites on Google’s help page.

The 7 Common Fallacies About Your Website’s Security

August 26, 2016 Beth Devine

site security — “Birthday Presents” by Mike McCune, used under CC BY / Modified from original

The three things you can be sure of in this world are death, taxes, and being hacked. Were he alive today, Benjamin Franklin would add the third, I feel fairly certain.

This latest of life’s certainties comes with being connected to the internet in any way at all. Every time you’re online, you’re a potential victim. And if you own a website for a small- or medium-sized business, your vulnerability is far greater.

By taking your business online, a necessary move if you want to be competitive, you become a target to a variety of attacks. Yet if you’re like most small business owners, you believe you’re safe.

Here’s why you’re wrong.

Fallacy #1: Small businesses aren’t worth a hacker’s time of day (or night).

Why would anyone want to bother with a small- or medium-sized business like yours? Because you’re far more likely to lack security, that’s why. Hackers know you’re less likely to take all the necessary measures to protect yourself, making you the low hanging fruit that offers itself as an easy target.

The fun they can have with your site is no different than what they can do with big business sites. Their three main reasons for hacking a website is to send out spam email, gain access to your mailing list, credit card information, and other private data, and to install malicious software onto your site or your end user’s computers.

Fallacy #2: You’re doing everything right to stay off Google’s blacklist.

As long as your site is free from malware, you’re safe, right? Except for when you do something wrong, and then Google punishes you for your mistake. When you make a mistake that lands you on its blacklist, your site will be shut down from all traffic. No more business as usual.

These mistakes often involve methods to improve your SEO, but the end result is the opposite. Using clever SEO tactics that turn into the wrath of Google can happen to anyone.

Fallacy #3: Your SHA-1 site is alright with you.

SHA-what, you ask? Because if you knew what SHA-1 was, you wouldn’t be all right with it. Basically, it’s old and decrepit and if it’s not replaced, collision attacks could lead to “catastrophic effects on the security of the internet.”

Here’s an example of what SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm) does. Let’s say you sign in to a website’s login page using your password. SHA-1 might be used to verify that your username and password are authentic. Behind the scenes your password is turned into a secret checksum and compared to the checksum that’s stored on the website. You’re granted access only when the two match.

All sites are being required to update to SHA-2 by the end of 2016 due to the weakness found in its predecessor. Chances are, your site has been changed to SHA-2. Check on shaaaaaaaaaaaaa.com just to be sure.

Fallacy #4: Your site is safe because it’s WordPress.

WordPress is the largest content management system in the world, with thousands of plugins and widgets written by the community that enhance user experience. Hundreds of people all over the world are working on it, making it as safe and reliable as possible.

The problem is, they can’t make site owners take responsibility and keep their sites’ WordPress version up to date. At any given time, there are tens of thousands of WordPress sites with outdated versions, ripe for the picking by hackers.

It takes these attackers only a few minutes at most, using free automated tools, to find your site’s outdated version and exploit it. WordPress issues updates regularly for good reason. Don’t delay in making the upgrade.

Fallacy #5: I need to download all these plugins and themes because they’re so cool.

The single biggest source of vulnerability to your WordPress site is that nifty plugin you had to have. With over a thousand plugin vulnerabilities at any given time, keeping your plugins updated to their most current version is critical.

Not only that, don’t download plugins that you don’t need. Unnecessary plugins are like storing potatoes and forgetting about them until the smell of decay infests your home. Either use them and keep them updated, or throw them out.

Fallacy #6: My password is safe and known only to me.

New bruteforce cracking software is available, making 8 million guesses per second in its attempt to crack passwords. Yet the use of common passwords persists, despite the growing threat of cybercrime.

Based on the annual list of worst passwords released in 2015, people are still using passwords that don’t follow the simple formula of CLU: Complex. Long. Unique. Notice #25 on the list: Star Wars. When you think you’re being unique, think again.

Try this password checker to get an idea of how fast some of your old passwords can be cracked. As a precaution, don’t type in anything you’re currently using. You never know who’s watching even the online checkers.

Have trouble dreaming up a strong password? Use a password generator to generate strong unique passwords. A strong password in combination with a password management program like LastPass will help you secure your identity throughout the internet.

Fallacy #7: I’m the administrator of the site, so that should be my username.

Remember those brute force attacks used for cracking passwords? They are also used for getting past your username, since a hacker will need to have both to break in. Making your username “administrator” gives them exactly half of the information they need.

Making your username your actual name is another mistake. If your name is on the site anywhere as a site administrator or contributor, it’s a no-brainer to attempt hacking in using those names as hopeful admin roles.

Last year saw the largest number of cyberattacks recorded around the world, with 230,000 new malware samples produced daily, according to PandaLabs. Website security is never going to be a process of eliminating risk. It’s about reducing risk when full-proof security is unattainable.

Stop making these common mistakes and ditch the fallacies about site security. Take proactive security measures and watch for the next post on what you can do now to fix your site’s security weaknesses.

The Final Countdown To Photo Editing Freebies

August 15, 2016 Beth Devine

Social media is like a giant block party where anyone can drop in to meet people, have conversations, and make connections. When you share content on social media that lacks images, it’s like showing up to the party wearing a starship cloaking device.

No one notices you because it’s as if you’re invisible.

Without images on social media, you’re doomed to travel at warp speed into oblivion. You might as well hang up your Starfleet combadge now, because effective communication requires more than plain text.

You need images, and you need the tools to make your images pop. This is your third and final post in a series of free photo editing sites. The final countdown before takeoff, where you’ll hit intergalactic space with a full cohort of spectacularly edited images to post. Or something like that.

Pho.to

Looks like Pho.to reworked it’s site, although if you find yourself at the old site, you can easily navigate to the new version by clicking on the upper left corner in pho.to. The new site is chock-full of features, whether you’re a business, a designer, or a photo-editing fan.

Depending on which feature you select, you’ll go back and forth between the old and new site versions. But don’t let that slow you down. They all have easy to navigate menus, with the features clearly identified. The only feature that is slightly complicated is the boost your business with branded photo effects.

The pho.to editor will give you the options you’re most accustomed to, such as cropping, resizing, image brightness and contrast, and color enhancement. You can create funny photo montages, turn a photo into a greeting ecard, and make a magazine cover or a money portrait with more than 600 effects. Make a point of testing out the make-up effects for enhancing your portrait.

LunaPic

Despite its first impression of being slightly clunky – it doesn’t appear to have been updated recently – the vast number of effects make up for any lack of modern appeal. Be prepared for some surprising fun on LunaPic with a full menu of interesting editing options.

For example, where else can you find instant lightening? Or give your images an old movie effect, complete with a black and white color change and scratchy moving vertical lines, all in one click? The animation alone has plenty of hidden gems for your adventures into retro looping imagery. Hey, wait, isn’t that what’s called a GIF nowadays?

Speaking of which, you can instantly create GIFs using LunaPic, whether it’s with a video or a live photo. And if that’s not addicting enough, you can mess around with your video frame-by-frame to change the order or create a Polaroid pile.

Plus, it’s so easy to navigate, you can try out effects and undo them in a snap. Just click on any previous version of your photo displayed above the central image that you’re working on in a thumbnail history format. Or, click on edit and then undo last action in the drop down menu.

Photomania

Photomania has more than 500 photo editing effects that include camera, sketch, painting, magical, vintage, textures, cartoon, and pop art filters. Show your artistic flair with the click of a button and create pieces of art, or simply embellish your images with some fun add-ons.

Choose from a wide range of fun features ranging from the offbeat to the uniquely useful. If you want to make an ecard for a special occasion in a matter of seconds, this is the site for you. While some features indicate a preoccupation with certain teen celebrities, there’s enough variety here to outweigh this, presented in a very user-friendly format. One of the site’s more surprising perks is its Photomania blog. Get photography tips, inspiration for ecards, and a few editing tutorials.

What’s missing is a way to make multiple edits on the same image. As it stands, you have to save and upload that image again for each additional edit. There’s a mobile app for iOS and Android which supposedly allows for this, so why the tedious application for the web version? If you’re a true photomaniac, this is an essential feature.

Pixlr and Pixlr Express

All your basic edits are found in Pixlr, giving you the full experience of an online editor comparable to Photoshop, but totally free. A pro version is available for a fee if you want to get all the fancy upgrades.

However, you can find enough in the free version to keep you busy. The main toolbar has more features than a novice might feel comfortable with. No worries, check out their handy support page. You can begin with the Pixlr toolbar editor explained, and then move on to tutorials, such as how to create a nostalgic appeal with retro skies.

You know those fun editing tricks of erasing the background or cutting out images to add to another image? Pixlr has you covered. With simple how-to’s, you can quickly master the art of “fakery and creativity,” or using the magic wand to create some eye-goggling photos for your audience.

For a fast touch-up, Pixlr Express is your no-frills option to Pixlr Editor with six simple tabs for all your basic editing needs, including text, pre-fab layers, and several effects. No prior experience required here.

Instant Fun Effects

When you just want to get silly with your photos, take a look at 10 Superb Online Tools For Fun Photo Effects. Forget Yearbook Yourself and Gooifier, which no longer work, but Photo505 has many crazy effects to try, such as the old face or the avatar face. Funphotobox has similar options, with the added GIF appeal to a selection of effects. And Photofunia gives you some unique options for adding text to various backgrounds, including movie marquee, foggy window, and Einstein writing on a chalkboard.

Whatever your image needs, your mission is clear: to boldly go where no photo has gone before.

More Free Online Photo Editing Sites

July 11, 2016 Beth Devine

image editing sites — Using free photo editing site Fotor makes image pop out.

Give your photos some fine tuning with more free online photo editing sites. In the last post we covered several sites for boosting your social media and website photos, but the list keeps growing.

Visual media is a must when you want to attract attention, whether it’s in your online newsletter, blog, Facebook post, or your website’s homepage. Don’t miss out on these photo editing sites for free and easy ways to get your images ready to make a big impression on your visitors.

Photoshop Express

Photoshop Express is Adobe’s solution to giving you free online editing software to use wherever you go. It’s available on not only all the major platforms, but on your smartphone and iPad apps.

It supports JPEG files no larger than 16 megapixels, the size typically used by point and shoot cameras and mobile phones, and seamlessly shares your images to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr. When you just want to create a high-quality image in a few clicks, it’s the quick fix you’re looking for.

For software that boasts the basics plus a few fun features at no cost, here’s an alternative to Photoshop that any beginner can learn. You won’t go away disappointed.

Photocat

Contrary to what the site’s name suggests, cats are not required when using this photo editing site. You can upload any image to Photocat, and it will automatically resize it if it’s too large. So those high megapixel images from your smartphone aren’t a problem.

You get all the basic editing tools as well as some fun retouch effects, such as changing eye color, removing blemishes, and adding blush, making it perfect for creating an instant glamour portrait. You can also create easy collages to share.

Photocat is free to use on the web or for $.99 to buy as an app on your smartphone, and offers direct sharing with Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Fotor

Fotor reminds me a lot of Picmonkey, so if you’re already familiar with either of these sites, you won’t find too much difference. One of the easy-to-use features of both is the ability to add text, including the ability to use the text saved to your computer.

The one exception is the HDR feature in Fotor. This is when you have the AEB (auto exposure bracketing) photos of the same scene with different lighting, such as one that is overexposed and one underexposed. Fotor HDR will take these multi-exposure shots and create one image. Learn more about it Moblivious, and note that you can select your own already taken AEB photos now.

Fotor also has a convenient 1-tap enhance button that works well for when you’re in a super rush.

piZap

This is the site for you if you want to create images that appeal to teens and kids, or you’re aiming for something quirky and humorous. For someone interested in adding some “piZap” to a Facebook photo, this is also the place. It has a fast meme-making option and a killer collection of stickers to color your images with.

For the user who wants basic photo edits, this is not the place, although there are some funky fonts, backgrounds, and frames to perk up your photos if that’s your style. You can also create your Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube cover photos with the design app, or use their new transparent background.

There’s plenty to have fun with, and it’s as straightforward as it gets, including the first editing step of selecting your photo. You get to choose directly from any of these: your computer, Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Search, piZap Backgrounds, Webcam, Flickr, and Picasa.

So go and give your photos some piZap, and don’t forget to have fun.

Phixr

When you create an account on Phixr, you are able to access your settings and current work from any computer. It supports easy upload of your photos from Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, and Dropbox, which you can then directly upload to your favorite social media. They’ve also just enabled upload straight to your WordPress site’s media library, a handy feature not typically offered.

You get your basic editing features plus Phixr’s fun effects, including text, speech bubbles, color effects, and some really cool overlays. The site is not the most modern you will come across, but the unique features make the trip here totally worthwhile when you want to experiment with new effects.

Be sure to stay current on any new features with the Phixr Blog, a good indication that this photo editor site continues to be monitored and updated.

There’s more to come on free photo editing sites, so check back here soon and get the complete list at Web Savvy Marketers.

Give Your Images on Your Website and Social Media Some TLC

June 20, 2016 Beth Devine

Are you tired of the same old photo editor? Do your website and social media images suffer from the same monotonous treatment? Don’t miss out on some great alternatives to kicking your images up a notch. It’s time to step outside of your editing box and try something different.

Most website owners and bloggers understand the importance of posting eye-catching images, but finding the time to create the desired effect isn’t a priority. So you stick to what’s familiar instead of giving your images some new life. If you want to find new, easy, and quick ways to edit your images, then read on.

If you’re a Photoshop pro, then continue to focus on your high-end editing skills while the rest of us savor the fares of the many free image editing sites available. Free and easier-to-use alternatives that give excellent and effective results — what are you waiting for?

Sumo Paint

For an online photo editing tool with superb painting applications, this is your Photoshop pseudo-facsimile. The toolbar at the top is easy to use, and the selection of painting, shapes, cropping, and transform options in the left toolbar gives you many editing options.

If you’re unhappy with the result, simply hit the arrows at the bottom to undo or redo your editing. To get all the options in the menu at the top, you’ll need to upgrade to pro.

Use it without downloading in your browser, or get the free app for iPad. Go to the Sumo Paint YouTube channel for helpful video tutorials and inspiration.

Ribbet

If you’re accustomed to using PicMonkey, this will be familiar territory. Ribbet was built to stand in for the closure of Google’s Picnik in 2012, using the same platform and offering many of the same features. If you like frogs and you want an easy transition from either Picnik or PicMonkey, then try this. You might even find you like it better.

It also offers the ability to save your favorites in the cloud, something you can’t do in PicMonkey. You can also save directly to Picasa, Google+, Flickr, and Facebook, or print right from the app. As with any free software, there are ads, but I didn’t find them nearly as distracting as with PicMonkey.

Polarr

This photo-editing platform is said to be “leaving other apps in the cold.” Its founder, Borui Wang, is featured in Forbes magazine’s annual 30 Under 30 awards in the consumer tech category. Since founding Polarr in 2014, the company became the number one app on Product Hunt after just one day on the site, garnering 30,000 users in its first month, and over 4 million worldwide today.

If that’s not enough to get you curious, Polarr delivers technical effects geared to the powerhouse photographer. This means the editing tools are effortless, allowing the “Polarrians” (what they prefer to call their users) to “effortlessly express their perspectives and attitudes toward life, universe, and everything, without losing the fidelity of their creative desire and inspirations.”

This gives you more time to do what you like to do and less time fussing around trying to get the exact photo effect. Who doesn’t want that?

A new desktop version is coming the end of June for Mac, Chrome, and Windows, so be sure to check back and see the results.

FotoJet

Image editors help give your blog posts and social media accounts an added visual appeal. There are many options for different layouts, templates, and fun features, but when it comes to fun, FotoJet has it in spades.

FotoJet calls itself a collage maker, but it’s so much more. If you’re looking for a creative way to approach your images, this will give you ample new ideas. There are templates for all the main social media platforms, many different themes for photo cards, and a miscellaneous section that includes magazines, quirky backgrounds, designer frames, and comics.

No need to spend a lot of time and money on making eye-catching images for your social media and blog posts. FotoJet is free to use and very user-friendly, with no advanced technical expertise required, although there are easy tutorials if you need some help figuring the process out..

FotoFlexer

Forget that it looks like it was built fifteen years ago. Despite its unappealing first impression, it has some unique features that are worth taking a look at.

Fotoflexer calls itself “the world’s most advanced online image editor,” although this claim would be more aptly rephrased as “world’s most whimsical” online image editor. The glitter text aside, some of the more outlandish features include green aliens in space.

fotoflexer free image editing tool — “Planet” by Element2048, used under CC BY / Modified from original

Forget using it to add text unless you want to enclose it in a big white box. For ideas on how to use its more singular features are demonstrated in the fotoflexer demos. These options can be adapted for many other uses. For example, changing the background in the “Alien in Space” demo, unless you’re keen on green cosmic visages.

We’re not done yet! Come back next month for more new and exciting photo editing sites that are free to use.

Strut Your Human Stuff On Social Media

June 15, 2016 Beth Devine

social media marketing — Wall-E photo by Morgan, used under CC BY / Modified from original

Does it seem like technology creates more challenges than your small business can keep up with? As the digital landscape keeps changing, businesses must continue to strategically approach new online opportunities — or risk obscurity.

For marketers, social media is a problem that won’t go away. Your efforts to grow your community are met with dire assertions about organic reach requiring paid ads, while the advertisement costs keep going up.

You’re told that there’s limited exposure to your individual feed and content alone doesn’t cut it any longer. Do you have to pay to reach your audience? Will your social metrics go up if you invest in the high costs of paid ads?

You can stop worrying and start focusing on the one critical element that hasn’t changed. There are people on the other end of that post. People who may or may not believe a thing you say.

Without a solid plan to humanize your brand, social media can be the pervasive thorn in your side. How do you find your voice in a world cluttered with algorithmic noise and reach an audience already overloaded with content? How do you make those valuable customer connections?

By being a human, not a robot.

For social media to work, businesses need to humanize their brand and build three things: engagement, relationships, and trust.

Engagement

Engagement isn’t measured using a balance sheet of your Facebook likes. It’s not a popularity contest where customer relationships develop based on clicks of the “Like” button.

Your involvement in the conversation, sharing content, and making and responding to mentions is the criteria for engagement. Sharing real stories, real conversations, and real communication makes for engagement with real people.

Relationship

Customer relationships aren’t made by posting great content. Not even authentic content will lead to human relationships. Relationships involve the proverbial two-way street.

Human relationships involve several stages. You meet, you get to know each other, and you eventually begin to pay more attention to the people who also give you the time of day. Your business also receives more attention in return.

Post great content to get them hooked, and then invest in your followers and customers by spending time with them online.

Trust

It’s no secret that word-of-mouth gets people’s attention. When someone you know gives you a recommendation, you’re influenced by their suggestion. Sometimes it’s just easier to go with what your peers suggest.

Reviews by people you don’t know also carry power to sway your decision. 79% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. There are more places than Google and Yelp for potential reviews. Discover five more, including a little-known way to review on Facebook.

Reviews show us how important it is to build trust. Stay in continuous engagement by responding to any negative reviews or comments in a timely manner. Get input from your customers, give them feedback, and grow your social word-of-mouth.

Which Social Media Platform Is Best?

Each social media platform holds unique potential, but only one shows growth in engagement with brands. According to a new infographic from Morrison Foerster, Facebook is the one exception to the decline in levels of user engagement.

Technology keeps changing, yet the one constant remains the same. There are always going to be people on the other end of your posts and shares. Your social media marketing is ultimately human to human, not B2B (business-to-business) or B2C (business-to-consumer).

Unless, of course, you’re a true believer in so-called progress and more interested in talking to machines.

Emojis: Coming Soon To An Inbox Near You

June 14, 2016 Beth Devine

Apple gets emojified with emoji predictions, emojification, and three times larger emojis, among other changes coming up in their text messaging app.

When it comes to emojis, it seems you either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. If you’re in the hate ‘em camp, you’ll be glad to know you’re far from alone, although your ranks are shrinking.

When men aren’t afraid to use emojis, it’s time to take them — somewhat — seriously.

Emojis & Emoticons: What is the difference?

Emojis are the colorful images that present as cartoon-like pictures and are a standardised set of characters available on IOS, Android, Windows, and OS X.

While the meaning of each symbol is supposed to be the same, the artwork varies from platform to platform. So what presents as, say, the “grinning face with smiling eyes”, will look vastly different depending on which platform is being used.

Emoticons are the inspiration for emojis. They are the series of symbols typed from the keyboard that depict the same thing as an emoji. For example, a smiley face is typed out as :-).

Using Emojis in Your Email Subject Line

While it’s not a new idea to use emojis in text messages and social media posts, using them in email subject lines is a fast-growing, popular tactic due to the rise in emoji-friendly devices, particularly mobile devices. And as email inboxes become more and more crowded, emojis help you attract audience attention and increase open rates.

Used correctly, emojis are your ticket to communicating a message that is unique and fun. Get a fresh look and add some character to your subject lines with these colorful and inviting symbols.

Always Check Before Using

Because not all browsers and email providers will display emojis, it’s important to check before using. If the emoji isn’t supported, it could appear as a box, like this: ?.

Go to Can I Emoji? for a handy online tool to check how an emoji will work based on the different browsers.

Where To Find Emojis

There are 1,851 emojis characters supported by current platforms, including Unicode Version 9.0 which releases on June 21, 2016. For the list of new characters that are included, go to Emojipedia and click on each one to see how it will look on the different platforms.

Go to getemoji.com and copy and paste emojis to your heart’s content.

Don’t Make the Mistake of Overuse

Although they are understandably difficult to resist, don’t overuse them in your email marketing. Select an ideal reason for using an emoji in your subject line and use sparingly.

There is no such thing as too many emojis when you’re a social media-addicted teen, but for brands, moderation is key.

Always Ask, “Is It Relevant?”

Before using an emoji, consider the message the emoji communicates, your target market, and your brand image. Check the emoji for its rendering across platforms as well as for any communication problems.

If you find the emoji in question works well, then it’s good to go.

Get Your Emoji On

The best way to stand out from packed inboxes is with visual email subject lines, which, by the way, will be shorter thanks to emoji characters because saying it with a picture means using less words. You’ll be increasing brand awareness by showing your fun side before your email gets opened.

And even if your email isn’t opened, the subject line sends a message by communicating with an emoji. You’re still making contact and reinforcing your relationship with eye-catching visuals that say “Look at me!”

Less Is More

By taking the typical 40 to 60 character length of subject lines and inserting an emoji — typically at the beginning or end — you’re sending an invitation that communicates more with less. Visuals offer more potential for engagement when tied to complementary text.

Be careful when inserting an emoji for a word if there’s any chance of misconstruing its meaning. You don’t want your audience to have to guess what you’re trying to say, unlike the latest phenomenon of “guess this movie” using only emojis.

Test your emoji-reading skills here to see how well you do. If you think that’s a bit over-emojied, then how about Sony’s The Emoji Movie? It’s based entirely on emojis and takes place inside a smartphone.

If you’re still thinking emojis aren’t for you, that’s fine. You’re probably right. But here’s an infographic in case you need more convincing.

For a concise round-up of how to use emojis in your email marketing, look below for “The Ultimate Guide to Using Emojis in Email Marketing” from Marketing Cloud.

Get the embed code for this awesome guide to using emojis in your email marketing at Salesforce Marketing Cloud .

Hyperlocal Marketing: The New Buzzword On the Map

May 13, 2016 Beth Devine

What’s with all the hype over hyperlocal marketing? It’s nothing new to small businesses. Don’t you perform hyperlocal marketing every time you attend or sponsor a community event?

This old-fashioned component to hyperlocal marketing, dating back to the first shop that opened its doors to Main Street, continues to be very valuable. But there’s a lot more to it in our Internet Age of WiFi and GPS.

The term hyperlocal made its debut back in 1991 in a Washington Post article about local television news. Today, hyperlocal is the term being used to describe digital marketing targeting a specific geographic area. It can be focused on a town or a county, although that’s a large area. Hyperlocal marketing often targets a segment of the population that’s more defined, such as shoppers in a mall or consumers anywhere within a mile from your place of business.

There are a variety of ways to employ hyperlocal marketing, such as using news items, the weather, or apps. The most common application is – you guessed it – mobile phones. The built-in GPS and WiFi allows companies to connect with customers based on their particular neighborhood, zip code, or shopping location.

Thanks to Google and the search function, local online directories, and social media, this ability to connect is at an all-time high. Our digital world gives companies without big name recognition the opportunity to be found at a local level like never before.

So even though it’s a new buzzword for an old idea, hyperlocal marketing is here for the long haul. Here are a few things to be sure you’re doing with hyperlocal marketing as a small business.

Claim Your Local Business Page

By signing up with Google My Business, your business gets on Google Maps and your local search rankings increase. Customers can easily find your location as well as your business hours, updates, and reviews.

Make sure your business name, address, and phone number match what you have on your website. If you have more than one location, each business should have its own listing.

Optimize for “Near Me” Searches

Google said that ”near me” searches doubled in 2015, indicating that this is a trend that’s not leaving anytime soon. With “near me” searches, Google’s algorithm increases how important distance is from the searcher’s location.

To help optimize for this, make sure your business name, address, and phone number are prominently and frequently displayed on your website. Get someone who’s tech-savvy to provide local business information to Google by doing a structured data markup for your site.

Respond To Any Negative Reviews

Google and Yelp, the two top consumer review platforms, give businesses the option to respond to customer reviews. Your attention to consumer comments can be a great way to demonstrate your excellent customer service.

Anytime your business site is mentioned in reviews online, it’s counted by ranking algorithms used by search engines. Getting a lot of positive reviews is helpful with your local map rankings, so aim high.

Mobile-Friendly Location Pages

Mobile marketing is an important focus as mobile use continues to grow — with 62 percent of digital media time spent on mobile, the next frontier in digital marketing is here. It’s important to have a mobile-friendly website, and in particular, mobile-friendly location pages.

Avoid giving users a frustrating experience when they try to get to your location. Because these pages are often the most viewed, and more than half of all web activity is on mobile devices, it’s critical to get your site’s location pages optimized for mobile.

Like so many old ideas in marketing, hyperlocal marketing has been reinvented with new dynamics. Get your hyperlocal on and into your marketing plan.