I LOVE reading about the psychology of marketing! Have you read The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar? She's a social psychologist and a professor of business at Columbia University. She studies how people make decisions, which all small business owners can apply immediately when you market your services and products. It's an especially …
Nurturing the Not-Ready Customer Through the Buying Cycle
Wouldn't you love it if you could close every sale with a new customer in 30 minutes or less? But that rarely happens. A sales cycle can last up to six months, depending on how much research the potential customer has done before he or she comes to you. Before customers are ready to sign on the dotted line, they first must go through a …
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SEO Checklist for Small Business Owners
It's easy to forget the the simplest SEO tasks when you're busy. Search engines can drive a huge amount of traffic to your site, but only if you're consistent about doing the SEO work. Here's a simple checklist reminder for the next time you post on your blog or add a new page to your site. This list doesn't include overarching SEO techniques for …
We Won’t Eat What We Don’t Understand
Aly and I had lunch with my Mom and Dad at a trendy fusion restaurant with a highly creative menu. While we were happily trying Turkey Wraps with Butternut Squash inside, what did my Dad have? A steak sandwich and a Coke. "Dad," I said, "Why not try something new?" My Mom chimed in: "Because we won't eat what we don't understand." I cracked up …
Has Your Website Designer Disappeared?
A strange phenomenon has been spreading like a virus over the past few years. In the past four months alone, three of my clients have told me that their website designer or virtual assistant has "disappeared." No return phone calls, unanswered emails. Gone, gone, gone. Kidnapping? Hardly. When the economy gets tough or the revenue numbers don't ad …
The Value of Double Opt-ins
When creating an email mailing list, there is a feature you should consider using: the double opt-in. A double opt-in works like this: First, a person who wants to be on your mailing list either fills out a form on your website or gives you their email address in some other way. That's the "first opt-in." Second, the mailing list system sends …
