Layout Image

Archive for Small Business

3 reasons to use Gmail instead of a dot com email.

By Bryan Smith · Comments (4)
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

At BestBreed Marketing & Consulting, when I create new websites for my small business and startup customers I do not setup an email account with the hosting service.  I use Gmail instead.

Why?

1).  Let google do the spam filtering for you.
2). Your new email address stays with you.  If you change providers or your dotcom name you still have the same email address.
3).  Gmail is a respected brand, and looks a lot better for your small business than some small brand like a local host provider, or OMG, something like AOL.  Hotmail is ok, but I  think Gmail is much better.

I always winced when some one had an AOL email.  I thought right away they were small and not in the know, as AOL was not even the world wide web.  It made an impression on me and not the kind you want to create.  You want to look like you are established, so go with the best of breed, and in email, Gmail is it.

Gmail refreshes content automatically, and with Hotmail you have to continually refresh your browser to see new mail.  Gmail has a superior login system, and also your account links easily to other services that relate to SEO, google analytics, adwords and more.

So create a Gmail account, use your personal name and combine it with your company name, or better yet ask me about creating a brand.

Everyone should be thinking branding, when creating a website name, your email name and so on.

I am working with two small business real estate agents in Bend Oregon, and we have started to move into how to create a memorable brand for each of them.  Look for my blogs and upcoming page on branding.

Or better yet, subscribe now to my email newsletter and receive
weekly articles and custom content not on the blog.  If you ever want to remove yourself from the email list it is simple to do, and we do not share email information with anyone or any body.

The email subscription form is on the Bestbreed Marketing.com Home page.  Clicking this SUBSCRIBE NOW link text will take you there.

Comments (4)
Categories : Blog how to., Small Business, Small business start-ups
Tags : , , , , ,

Facebook Share integration with WordPress

By Bryan Smith · Comments (0)
Monday, April 12th, 2010

I created a Business page on Facebook and I want my blog posts from my WordPress site to post there. The idea is that I create content on my small business consulting site, BestBreedMarketing.com and then click the Share button on the blog and voila.. posted to my Facebook page.

Trying a couple of widgets.. and have not figured it out yet.
As the Share button is not showing up.

Comments (0)
Categories : Blog how to., Content
Tags : , , ,

Creating a brand, first things first.

By Bryan Smith · Comments (3)
Friday, April 9th, 2010

When I consult with startup and small business clients, in Bend OR, one of the things they ask me about is how to create a brand.

I like to start the conversation with a discussion of marketing versus advertising to make a point about how to “create” a brand.

My definition of marketing revolves around the idea that we look at customer needs and wants.. and then figure out how to serve that niche or client base with a product or service that has a high likelihood of being purchased.

Advertising comes into play after we have determined what kind of product or service we are going to offer.

Branding is about half way in between. I like to be well on my way to determining a product and service mix.. for my client, before we get into the branding area.

As we begin creating a brand or analysis of an existing brand for enhancement, I reach into the discussion of
1). Who are your clients.. what do they spend their time doing.
2). What are you, or can learn to be, an expert at.
3). What kind of image can you emphasize and be comfortable and strong with.

Your brand should concentrate on both of these items as we start moving into the art of projection.

You are what you project.. you are on stage, at all times if you truly want to create a memorable and effective brand.

Trump is a great example.. this man lives branding at all times in his public life. It’s a great show.. and he has been fine tuning it for many years. It is fun to watch.. to see how he milks it.

We like to isolate two or three of our clients primary traits.. and then get to work on designing who you are to become.

If you live in the beautiful and resurgent, Bend, Oregon or Central Oregon area and would like to be part of a case study for branding of your small business, send me an email.

Comments (3)
Categories : Consulting Small business Bend. OR., Small Business Bend. OR., Small business start-ups
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Using Googles free tools to determine the best key words for your website.

By Bryan Smith · Comments (2)
Saturday, March 20th, 2010

You can, and someday should, pay a top notch SEO company to help you optimize your website with and or blog with keywords.  For a small business or a startup, with more time than money, it might make sense to DIY.

Keywords are the “key” to remember when:

1) Authoring pages
2) Authoring blogs

One of the main ways search engines find your pages and posts, is  by searching out words that web users type into their searches.

You might think you know, what people are searching for, but it just makes sense, to see what Google says people are searching for.

For example; Blog article name and blog article content will be more easily found if you include the keywords.

The analytics page reviews your input and suggests alternatives with information about how they are being used.

This is important.  In my own case,  I was wondering if  Google would show my site and or blogs, if I typed in my business category of consultant and location, Central Oregon.

When you do this, think like a customer, and type in what they would be looking for.

I typed in small business consultant Bend, Oregon.   My site was not (yet) shown.   I checked out the top result, and my competition clearly had Bend, Or and small business consulting on their home page, and on review of my own, I found, that I did not.

That changed immediately.

So that basic step should help fairly soon, and I will keep you updated on the results.

So check out Google keywords and play around with it a little bit.

Here is the link

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal?defaultView=2

I think you will find some great words to use in your site language, and posts.

Remember the more often, you use those key words, the easier it is for those searching for you to find you.

Comments (2)
Categories : Small Business, Small business start-ups
Tags : , , , , , , , ,

Content feeds and creation.

By Bryan Smith · Comments (2)
Thursday, March 18th, 2010

I noted in yesterdays blog, that I wanted to find a different content source for my small business consulting website bestbreedmarketing.com, that I could filter the input into. As a small business startup myself, I need something with no cost or inexpensive that automatically updates itself.

I chose:

-Yahoo’s Pipes.
-Feedzilla

Pipes is a powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web.

I viewed their short intro video, and searched for a small business Pipe, selected on, cloned it to be my own (which is part of the purpose) and renamed it.

You can see the result on my blog page at:  bestbreedmarketing.com

Feedzilla

I chose Feedzilla for much of the same reasons, and I liked the scrolling content headers and the general format of the feed.   It took me a bit to figure out how to load the pre-made html from their site.  I moved an html widget into my sidebar, pasted in the code, and it worked right away.

ithemes Builder:

I also want to compliment the team over at ithemes, for their fine WordPress template development tool, Builder.  Chris and Cory have done a fabulous job and provide excellent support.

Tomorrow; Researching Google key words for consulting,  marketing, and small business in Bend Oregon.

Comments (2)
Categories : Small Business, Small business start-ups
Tags : , , , , , , ,

Researching content providers.

By Bryan Smith · Comments (0)
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Today I began my research into content providers for my own small business consulting website in Bend OR., and for my small business and startup customers that want to create their own wordpress or blog based marketing promotion system.

I started with a well respected online favorite that I enjoy.

1). The Wall Street Journal, small business section.

I found a couple of interesting content providers.

1) Onespot.com

According to Onespot:

“The best content comes from a multitude of sources… it could come from anywhere. OneSpot helps you find the good stuff from all the good feeds. OneSpot Retail and Publishing customers have seen OneSpot drive amazing results across their sites…”

Its too expensive for me at this time… at $300 a month, however
I will be coming back to them at a later time.

In the mean time, I will be looking into similar companies to find feeds for my content pages and newsletters.

I will let you know who else is in the running.

Comments (0)
Categories : Small Business, Small business start-ups
Tags : , , , , , , , , ,

Small business and start-up businesses

By Bryan Smith · Comments (0)
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Pretty busy getting the rest of the site up, but stay tuned.. for lots of good information and links for small business, consulting suggestions and startup businesses, particularly if you are in my market area of Bend, OR.

My area of expertise is as a consultant in marketing for small business. My goal is to provide no cost and low cost methods to jump start your move into social networking marketing.

I have a BBA in Marketing, graduated from the Honors college cum laude at Western Michigan University, and my MBA from Michigan State University. I have been a self employed small business entrepreneur for over 25 years, so I know where you are coming from. This is an opportunity of sorts for those who would like to follow along as I create BestBreedMarketing from scratch.

I will be creating original content, and providing a hands on approach for those that want to DIY with regards to their small business or startup website, branding and marketing. I will be providing feedback on how different methods actually work to increase traffic and business.

There are so many directions to take, and we have all been to the marketing websites, where the authors have tons of links to affiliate sites, and whitepapers that preach what to do. And I see a lot of marketers that do not practice what they preach.
As a client, it makes more sense to go with a vendor that is practicing what they promote.

So my comments will be based on what I find actually works, and I will also note what does not work. That should save others on the same or a similar path a lot of time and funds.

I would appreciate comments from viewers as to their own experiences and suggestions as we all move on towards perhaps similar goals.

If you have a particular topic you are interested in let me know.

Comments (0)
Categories : Blog how to., Small Business, Small business start-ups
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Categories