This is an update to "Can't Buy Google's Love” dated 2/6/2013.

So you wanna be at the top of the search engines you say? How much is it going to cost you, you ask? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Google’s love is not for sale folks. (No matter who is trying to sell it to you). You’re going to have to wine and dine her; you’re going to have to work for it a bit. So, if you can’t buy a higher ranking, how does it work then? What, exactly, do you have to do to make it to the top?

This is an update to "Lights, Camera, CONTENT" dated 11/07/2012.

When planning out how you’re going to pull your website together (and even after you already have it all together!) remember that the content on your site is absolutely one of the most important components. Consider this: Search engines like Google are out there scouring the web trying to find relevant, fresh, and substantial content with which to fill their searches. What does this mean for your business website? It's essential that you update your content, do it often, and keep it relevant to what your customers are looking for. 

This is an update to "3 Tips for DIY Webmasters" dated 08/08/2011.

User-friendly content management websites and email services have been around quite a while now and it’s never been simpler. So you’ve just been “volunteered” to do it at your organization. How hard can it be? Maybe harder than you expected!

RIP to organic reach for businesses on Facebook. It is true that, if you want your content to be seen by customers, you’re going to have to pay to play. Even though social media marketing hasn’t been around all that long (if you consider roughly a decade a short amount of time), this is still a very hard pill to swallow for most marketers and businesses alike. Change is hard. The algorithm has changed already though. Now it’s time for the rest of us to catch up.

In any given business, there are common keyword phrases. Local bakeries pop up for “cakes” or “cookies”. Real estate agents will pop up for “real estate agent” or “home selling”. As a small business owner, it’s essential to brainstorm the search terms that will lead people to you. But when there is a lack of search results on a specific topic, can you jump in?

I saw an interesting graphic recently that outlined how long content lasts. It broke down several of the top online marketing avenues: a blog post, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. What did it find? That each of these marketing platforms have a different expiration date for content.

Do you have big plans for your business in 2017? In January lots of folks plan to launch new blogs that they swear to keep updated this time around. One great incentive for writing posts is having readers, so here are three tips for creating a better blog.

Yes, it’s still summertime, but after Labor Day folks shake off their vacation mindset and reapply themselves at the office. They get busy and before they know it, 2016 is over. Take some time now to plan the rest of the year’s content for your blog and social media.

While we can all agree that social media marketing is important to every business, the return on investment for individual industries varies and the “investment” itself ranges from free to thousands of dollars a month. So how does the smaller business owner figure it all out?