On Wednesday, May 13, I gave a talk for Naper Launch, an initiative of the Naperville Public Library to help entrepreneurs launch businesses, in honor of Small Business Week. Here's how it went.

Twitter and Facebook ads, content marketing, search engine optimization – with so many evolving options to consider, it’s easy to get caught up in the details and lose focus on the bigger picture. Are you sabotaging your business because you aren’t properly prepared to make marketing decisions?

To make the most of the coming year, you may be looking into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to boost your website’s visibility. Before you respond to that unsolicited email promising to make you millions via SEO, do your homework so you know what you’re buying.

There comes a time in every person’s life when they’ve got to ask themselves –is it time to redesign my website?  That may not actually be true.  The truth is, however, that if you DO have a website and if you ARE invested in it –it is worth a second look every now and then to see if there is actually need to shake things up a bit.  This could be anything from swapping out colors, to changing your whole theme.  Maybe your little spokesperson is a brunette, but you heard blondes have more fun.  Whatever your reasoning, if you are asking yourself if it’s time to redesign, here are a few pieces to look at that may need a little tweaking, moving, and shaking.

This article has been updated on 7/24/2019 with the article entitled “What's New for Search Engine Optimization Success?"

I feel like there are a lot of people these days that jump into things a little quickly –especially when it comes to anything that has to do with the internet.  I would give you the “back in my day” speech; but, I’m only 23 so that would be both ridiculous and irrelevant.  When it comes to your business; however, you should take a bit of time to make sure all your ducks are in a row.  I’m all for taking risks and trying new things.  Just make sure you’re prepared is all I’m saying.

Here are 5 things you must consider before making – or remaking your website. 

These are some important points folks, read up.

This article has been updated on 8/08/2019 with the article entitled "The Truth About SEO: Can't Buy Google's Love".

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.  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?  And what, exactly, do you have to do to make it to the top?

This article has been updated on 3/21/2019 with the article entitled “Keep Your Website Content Fresh to Stay Searchable"

When planning out how you’re going to pull your website together (and even after you already have it all together!) remember something very important, the content on your site is absolutely one of the most important components.  I’m not going to pretend that all of you know what SEO means, because I didn’t know what it meant before either.  SEO is search engine optimization.  Basically, search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. are out there scouring the web trying to find some relevant, fresh, and substantial content to fill their searches with.  What does this mean for your business website? UPDATE YOUR CONTENT, do it often, and keep it relevant to what your customers are looking for. 

How do you know if you're improving or losing if you don't measure your progress? We're all about measuring and encourage our clients to make use of the website analyzing tools we provide them.

So what should you be measuring? That depends on the goals you made for your site.

You did set goals for your website, didn't you? If not, read on for four that will get you started.

Small business owners often feel like circus performers – spinning plates like mad and hoping that if we keep everything moving it won't all come crashing down around us. That sort of stressful environment forces us to think on our feet, but we often don't get a chance to really think things through.

Making snap decisions about your business website could really hurt. You owe it to yourself to make your website a priority. Consider this: