Smart Simple Marketing - Practical Strategies for Creating a Highly Successful Service Business » Technology

Follow These Tips to Make Sure Your Website Doesn’t Get Hijacked!

Sydni Craig-Hart — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:25:51 +0000

Your website is the MOST important online collateral you have. Watch this video to learn how to keep your online presence safe and reflective of the image you want to portray of your business?

Here are the resources I mentioned in the video:

Domain Registration - GoDaddy
Web Hosting - HostGator
Web Hosting - BlueHost
Content Management - WordPress.org

If you have other resources you'd like to share, feel free to do so by posting a comment below!

The #1 Marketing Tool Successful Entrepreneurs Use

Sydni Craig-Hart — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:00:15 +0000

Let's face it. You can't be taken seriously as a business owner in today's marketplace without having a strong presence online. (this is not true, many businesses do NOT have an online presence. You need to clarify this and narrow it down to your audience. Perhaps say, "You cannot be taken seriously as a virtual business owner without...")

Whether you want to admit it or not, prospective clients ARE going to look for you online and you need to be in control of what they find.

The foundation of your online presence is, of course, your website.

If you don't have a polished, professional, client focused site now, or your current site is out of date, you likely have wondered how to go about go about creating a quick and easy, money making website.

I am all for having a custom designed site that reflects your brand and has all the "bells and whistles" needed to make it an effective marketing tool.

But, I also recognize that for some folks, creating THAT kind of website seems completely overwhelming.

If that sounds familiar, you'll appreciate these two resources I recently discovered that can help:

In both cases, you can setup a polished, professional (albeit somewhat minimalist) website in just a few hours. You won't necessarily have all the extra cool features you could have, but it is a place to get started.

NOTE: I have not personally used either of these sites, but if I was starting from scratch I would strongly consider using either resource as a place to get started. Just make sure you maintain control of your hosting account by using a company such as HostGator or Bluehost.

If you are feeling really ambitious, you might check out my friend Christina Hill's Website Creation Workshop, where she'll walk you through creating your own customized WordPress website. WordPress is THE platform to use if you are serious about leveraging the Internet to increase your income.

You can learn more about Christina's workshop at:

http://smartsimplemarketing.com/recommends/wordpress-workshop

The bottom line is this: There is NO, I mean NO excuse for you to NOT have a polished presence for your busines online. I know you are a serious business owner. I know you are committed to your work. Please don't undermine that by not paying attention to your online "digital business card".

My grandmother used to say (actually, she still says it), "better to let them think you're stupid than to open your mouth and confirm it". The same princple applies here. Better to control what your prospective clients are finding about you and your business online, than to have them wondering if you are really a serious entrepreneur.

'Nuff said.

Tame Your Time-Wasters to Boost Your Productivity

Guest Blogger - Joshua Zerkel — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:00:09 +0000

If you work for yourself , and especially if you work from home, you are probably inundated with time-wasters and distractions. While it may seem like checking Facebook throughout the day or reading your email all the time may seem like it’s only robbing you of a few minutes here and there, it’s likely that you’re more distracted then you might think. And, even if you are wasting just a few minutes a day, added up weekly, monthly, or annually, that can be a lot of your time. And lost time equals lost revenue. This is why it’s critical that you reduce your distractions. Notice that I didn’t say remove – in many cases, it’s not always possible to completely remove your distractions – but we can get them under control. Here’s how:

5 Ways to Use Your iPhone to Grow Your Business

Sydni Craig-Hart — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:00:17 +0000

I just joined the Apple family by getting my first iPhone a couple of months ago! I've been having so much fun with all the cool features and completely understand why when you go Mac, you never go back!

If you are a new user like me or considering getting an iPhone, I wanted to share a few nifty tricks I've discovered on how to grow my business using my trusty device:

Use Teleseminars and Webinars to Boost Your Profits

Sydni Craig-Hart — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:15:35 +0000

Hosting virtual events such as teleseminars (essentially a conference call) and webinars (which is basically a PowerPoint presentation delivered via the Internet) are a great way to boost your business. They are both easy and highly effective tools to create more visibility and new profit streams for your business. Using these tools to promote your services and educate your market can be a regular piece of your marketing strategy.

With teleseminars and webinars you can give your audience an opportunity to sample what it’s like to work with you live and see how quickly they can benefit from your expertise. You offer them solutions and prove your value in a an hour or less.

Absolutely Perfect Teleseminars

Sydni Craig-Hart — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:45:30 +0000

By Sharon Broughton

One of the things I do for my clients is set up and promote their teleseminars. Teleseminars are a great way to promote a product launch, a new coaching program, etc. Usually they are free preview calls, but sometimes there is a fee to attend these.

Here are some things you need to set up a great teleseminar (the who, what, where, why and how):