How to market for free

This is a good subject for start-ups and very small businesses who don’t have a large budget to work with..
The first free marketing method is networking. Go to as many meetings as possible, particularly the free events or those that don’t require a big entrance fee. But to make these successful you must arm yourself [...]

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What does SEO comprise of?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the natural or organic method of getting your website placed higher in the search engines, as opposed to paying for online advertising.
As a result it is a task that is never ending, always requiring you to be one step ahead of your competitors, and any successes tend to be short [...]

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Learn how to link in to LinkedIn

Here’s just a small visual e-course I quickly compiled to demonstrate how easy it is to submit articles into groups in LinkedIn:
How to submit articles and news into LinkedIn groups
Let me know if it helps to make it easier for you to contribute.
I know this is related to the Business in Berkshire LinkedIn group, but [...]

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How Social Networking can Kick-Start your Writing

Yesterday, we woke up to the news that Boyzone’s Stephen Gately had died suddenly, at the age of 33. 
When young people die, it is always shocking but particularly so when it is unexpected.  It is not so much the reminder that we are mortal or that life is short – we all know that don’t [...]

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Beware of the hackers!

On 23 July 2009 my website was hacked into.

The result was that some malware (really horrible code that causes spam) was put into the code of my theme of my website.  What is does is it activates links to hundreds of pornographic sites whenever I uploaded new material.
Recently I have been quite busy uploading new [...]

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What does a spider do?

An internet spider is a robot that crawls around the world wide web. They are also sometimes called crawlers. They use an algorithmic programme that follows links throughout the net searching for new content. This then fetches the new webpages and adds them to the search engine indexes. Google is a crawler-based search engine, as [...]

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Pay Per Click (PPC) explained

Pay per click is a form of paid for online advertising by Google. These adverts are found in the shaded area of a search engine page above the ‘organic’ or natural links (usually the first three links), and the remainder are placed in the area reserved for Sponsored Links in the right sidebar.
PPC, also [...]

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How a HR’s health check helped her…

How does your online marketing hold up? Even if you have a system in place, are you sure its actions are focused on the correct direction?

I gave a health check at a networking meeting to a HR specialist. There were a number of subjects we touched on that she could expand from her existing systems [...]

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The power of pay per click – as long as it’s correct!

How sad it is when you see examples of online marketing failing to work, and sigh when you think of how much money is wasted.
I suppose this is the same for other forms of advertising, which brings to mind a local magazine that is delivered monthly through my letterbox full of hopeful advertisers actively publicising [...]

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Calling all blogging beginners, help is at hand!

Hooray!
After months of promising, I have finally done it. I have created the first sixteen of my blogging e-courses on how to create a WordPress.com blog the really easy way – using visual e-courses that show you, step by step, with screen-shots of each procedure, the simplest way to create a fully functional blog – [...]

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Gathering up the crumbs…

I presented my muffin post idea to a group of 30 women, and was pleasantly surprised when they appeared to ‘get’ my idea.
Some interesting questions arose:
“If you don’t follow this recipe for creating blog posts, what happens?’
“Well, you get a misshapen, tasteless, half-baked mound in the middle of your baking tray, in other words, not [...]

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Win New Business by Adding Value to your Existing Network

Do you find that autumn offers a fresh start, or a different perspective? For children and students, the start of the academic year offers an exciting opportunity to explore new horizons. Indeed, ever since my own children were at school, I find that I am keen to learn something new at this time of [...]

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How to cook up a blog post

Let’s bake some muffins (the American ones that resemble large cup cakes) and compare the process to writing a blog post.
First, gather together the necessary equipment and ingredients. You will need a bowl, a saucepan, cooking scales, a bar of chocolate, flour, butter and sugar, an egg, vanilla essence and chocolate drops, muffin cases, a [...]

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How a health check can transform your marketing

Today Chrissie Slade of Gorgeous Guineas came to see me for a half hour health check (but as always with me she got a bit more than just half an hour!).
Chrissie makes aromatherapy skin products for guinea pigs, and claims she’s the only one in the world doing this. It’s a fascinating little business, and [...]

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The power of blog comments and Web2.0

One of the aspects of a blog is that it is interactive. This means readers are able to contribute to your blog if they have something to say. Blogging programmes automatically add an area after posts where readers can add their point of view. The ability to comment is also part of the phenomenon Web2.0, [...]

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What is this RSS anyway?

When I asked for feedback on what people wanted to know about blogs and blogging, many of them wanted to know about RSS. The main question being what is RSS? So here is an explanation of those who do not know:
RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication, is easily recognisable through the orange square icon [...]

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No Time for Social Media? Suffering from Information Overload?

When I joined Twitter a few weeks ago, one of my pressing questions was how to manage an ever-increasing influx of information, considering that I also use email, read and write articles, newsletters and blogs, and I am active on Facebook, Ecademy, and LinkedIn.
Apparently, social networking increases our effectiveness, according to a pan-European survey*, in [...]

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How are blogging and teeth similar?

Blogging as like flossing your teeth, you need do it fairly regularly to maintain your oral hygiene (or marketing awareness). It doesn’t need to be done everyday like brushing your teeth (or working on your marketing strategy), but you need to keep it up if you want a nice smile (or well marketed business).
Nobody [...]

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What is the difference between an article and a blog post?

An article is a lengthy piece of writing, written in an expert’s point of view, aimed at explaining a topic in great detail. A blog post is a shorter piece of writing, usually in a ‘conversational’ style, aimed at updating or educating your readers, or to spark ideas and interest in your business.
Articles are produced [...]

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What really stops you from blogging?

Many people have told me that they are afraid to start blogging. Digging further into this revealed a number of different fears, and not necessarily about the technology side, which I thought was the main reason. Yes, technology is a hindrance, but it is something that can eventually be overcome with guidance. It is the [...]

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