It’s time to hire a designer to create your logo. You’ve done your research. You know you need one. You want your business to take off and your brand to create a buzz, right?

So why does the thought of finding a graphic designer make your palms sweat?
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Don’t squeeze the life out of your stress ball. A lot of talented, smart people feel intimidated when it comes to hiring a logo designer. Just because you don’t have strong opinions about typography or pepper your conversation with words like “kerning” and “sans serif” doesn’t mean you can’t find a graphic designer to create the perfect logo for your company.

You might be surprised to learn that social media sites have been around for forty years! That’s right!

Usenet launched in 1979. It enabled users to post to newsgroups.

No kitty videos, no selfies, no pics of the grandkids, of course.

​Which is why social media probably didn’t really hit the big time until around 2006 when Facebook hit the Internet.  

Do you suffer from the “Field of Dreams” marketing mindset?

That is the belief that if you build your website, your customers will come?

How’s that working for you?

If your goal is to drive traffic to your site and generate leads that convert to sales, then it might be time to consider offering a free e-book or white paper.

Eight out of ten consumers report they’d be willing to part with their contact info if what’s being offered for free has potential value.

​The operative word in that last sentence is value.

​Your first step, therefore, is to decide which you’d like to offer potential customers.

If you think it seems like everyone online today has a blog, you’re probably right. And it’s for good reason. Launching and maintaining a business blog is a proven strategy for building your business.

Here are seven ways a blog will prove profitable for your company:
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1.Drives more traffic to your website. A daily business blog can drive six times more traffic to your company site. That’s because ninety-seven percent of people who read your blog will toddle on over to your website.

​More traffic means more leads which leads to more sales which results in a happier you.

​Several years ago, I was meeting with a client for whom I wrote a monthly newsletter. I asked him if he’d ever considered developing a website for his business and posting his newsletters electronically?
 
“No,” he told me. “The Internet is a fad!”
 
I laughed.
 
He did not.
 
I’m just taking a shot here, but I’m fairly certain there are very few people these days who think the Internet is going anywhere, anytime soon.
 
However, on occasion I do still encounter business owners who aren’t quite convinced that their company really needs a website.
 
If you’re one of them, here are 10 solid reasons why you may want to re-think that:

In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, a content mill is an organization that provides quick, low-cost content to businesses for their websites, blog posts, and more.

While quick and low-cost might sound appealing, you may want to think twice before using a content mill for your important business content.

​Here’s why:

​Writer’s block.

It happens to the best of us.

Whether you’re writing a blog post or web content for your business, it’s not always easy to come up with the right words, or even interesting ideas.

But before you curl up into a fetal position or begin banging your head against your keyboard, I’ve got a solution for you.

Start by writing down the answers to the most commonly asked questions you hear from your customers about you and your business.

Of course, every profession will have industry-specific questions. No one is going to ask a contractor about their oral health or a dentist about how to know when it’s time to replace the roof on their house.

Make sure to list those industry-specific questions in addition to the generic ones.

​In the meantime, here are twenty to get your juices—and the words—flowing.

Whenever I onboard a new client, I ask a series of questions regarding their brand, their target demographics, what makes their business different from the competition, and more.
 
Usually, it’s a seamless process, but one question will often stop them in their tracks.
 
“What are you really selling?”
 
I don’t mean are you selling yoga pants, or kitty litter, or Volvo station wagons? I mean, what solutions are you selling? What benefit are you delivering? What’s in it for your customer?