Follow Us
Join our newsletter
Get the latest news about Bizzistance and our clients delivered to your inbox.
781.333.8648
hello@bizzistance.com
BIZZISTANCE BLOG SERIES
Small Business Tips
We hope our perspective on these topics help you in making decisions about various aspects of your business.
I recently invested in an ADA-compliance tool thinking that it would help my website become WCAG-compliant, because I thought WCAG compliance was the law (when in fact it was the opposite). This common misunderstanding is perpetuated by a media that consistently conflates the two compliance standards. This blog is to demystify what these website standards are and to provide you with some suggestions on what to do about website accessibility compliance. DISCLAIMER: Before you read further, please note that this blog post is my understanding of the two website accessibility compliance standards. This is my opinion and common-sense (well, some might call it genius ) interpretation. But however genius this post may be, it is not meant to be legal advice of any kind. Please consult a lawyer if you need legal advice. That said, you should read what I have to say, because no one has said it in such an understandable way before…
Marketing is always complicated no matter what audience you’re trying to reach. However, young consumers can be especially difficult to market to because there’s less information available about their spending habits and marketing preferences. Young consumers are also an incredibly important market because they are likely to remain loyal customers from this point forward.
Don't get shortchanged on logo deliverable formats that you need and deserve! Read this to learn about the file deliverables you should receive from your graphic designer when your logo design project is completed.
Google employees do not call anyone out of the blue When you create or claim your Google My Business listing, you'll start getting calls from "Google Business Partners." Hang up! Here's why: One of the things that Google doesn't do is call out of the blue. I've only talked to Google twice, when they had to contact me to resolve a client's Google My Business listing issue. My client had inadvertently triggered a fraud alert when they forgot which email they used to claim their listing and then used the wrong one to try to start an AdWords campaign. You would think since they were trying to give Google business, Google would bend over backwards to help them. Nope. Instead their business was flagged as fraudulent and they got blacklisted from appearing in the Google My Business panel. Anyway, it took three months of emailing back and forth with Google before they deigned to contact me by phone. So, I repeat: Google does NOT call people out of the blue.
Laser wins if you're not printing glossy photo prints for your business If you do a lot of printing, there is NO question that you should get get a laser printer over an inkjet. The only time an inkjet wins is if you print glossy photo prints for your business. Inkjet photo vividness can't be beat. But for the typical entrepreneur who works from home and needs a printer? A laser printer is the best choice, imho. In my business, I need to have a color printer. It can't be avoided. However, if you're not in the graphics business, you can save money by buying a black and white only laser printer.
It can be tough for small businesses to compete with big box retailers. They have a lot more resources they can throw around compared to smaller businesses. If you want to compete with big retailers, there are some things you need to do. One of them is to improve your company's website. Here are a few things you can do to make your business’ website stand above your big box competitors.
Administrating a Small Business Through trial and error I found that there were things I should have considered when starting my business. I decided to document my learnings in this blog post to help others who may be in the same boat I was in. I included the 10 things I though are the most important for new business owners to consider when starting their business. In 2020 when I updated the post I added an additional item. Hence the 11 items instead of the 10 as noted in the URL.
When your business is growing, technology can make an important difference in whether it is successful or not. It can also predict the nature of your success. Therefore, it is important to familiarize yourself with the latest technologies out there and know how they can help you. They can help make your business more efficient while getting your business in front of more people. Here are some of the new technologies that you need to evaluate for use in your business.
I'm going to say something sacrilegious I don't think Google Adwords are worth the money. For that matter, I don't think ANY AdWords (Google, Bing, Yelp, what have you) are worth the money. I've noticed that when a company's site appears in BOTH the organic search results AND in the AdWords area at the top of the search engine results page (SERP), I often accidentally click on the AdWords link instead of the organic link a few spots down. This is BAD for the company, because the CLICK gets charged back to the company. You get charged per CLICK, not per CONVERSION. Understand the difference. This means if I click your site through the AdWords ad and feel that you were too expensive and then decided not to buy or subscribe, you just paid anywhere from $0.25 to $100 (or more depending on your industry, if that was your agreement) for that click. When you subscribe to an AdWords program, you're basically "bidding" against your competitors for being displayed (not for conversion) at the top of the results page. And if you have lots of competitors willing to pay a lot, and you want to keep up with the Joneses, YOU will pay a lot, or not be displayed at all. I'm sorry. But as a struggling entrepreneur paying ANYTHING per click with no promise of conversion to a sale is a waste of money, imho. You can get the same results for free by asking friends and family to visit your website on a daily or weekly basis, for example. (I'm not advocating this, but using as an example.) In essence, with AdWords, what you're REALLY paying for is for people to visit your website. And therein lies the rub. A lot of web designers will try to convince you to subscribe to an AdWords program. This allows them to shortchange you on the development of your website's SEO. Instead of them working with you to craft organic content that includes your keywords, they just help you buy advertising through AdWords for those keywords. No real work for them, and you pay extra for that privilege. You sacrifice the long-term benefits of building a lasting, content-rich website for the short-term benefits of the quick-click visit statistic. Great deal for your web designers (less work) and Google (more $ in their pockets), but not for you. And it's insidious. Once you're an AdWords buyer, with website content that is organically deficient , you will be paying for AdWords for the rest of your life to ensure a top ranking. I honestly think that Adwords ads need to display at the BOTTOM of the first page of search results. Because then the sites with the best SEO will literally rise to the top. But that ain't going to happen. Google makes too much money. And if you're paying for an AdWords program, your web designer can develop a poor SEO site and still call it "SEO optimized" when it isn't, with you being none the wiser. "So how do I verify if my designer optimized my site's SEO?" you may ask. That will be another blog post. Stay tuned! So open an Incognito window in Chrome and do a search of key words you want to rank on. If your company already appears in the first page of ORGANIC search results, you may want to consider discontinuing paying for that AdWord's PPC. And if your website doesn't come up on page 1 or page 2 in the organic results, you need to consider finding a different web designer. One who actually helps you create long-term value for your website investment. Basically, your choice is invest now (with a good web designer who properly implements SEO) or pay FOREVER through AdWords. Your choice.
© 2017–2022 Bizzistance LLC. Bizzistance, eHand, Envoyage, Imaginution, Imaginutions, GMB Concierge, SASSY, and Web Designs that Google Finds and Web Designs that Search Engines Find are trademarks of Bizzistance LLC. All rights reserved.
