January 23, 2020
Originally by Elizabeth Paulsen on May 26, 2009, updated 1/22/2020. I enjoy mentoring new businesses. One of the most common questions I hear from new business owners is “How should I set my price?” This is what I tell them. Know your competitors’ prices. Gather as much information as possible about your competitors’ prices
January 10, 2020
According to a W3Techs survey, 35% of the world’s websites use WordPress.1 This is more than 12 times as much as the second most popular content management system, Joomla, and 22 times as much as popular competing website creation tools Squarespace and Wix.2 This same survey also shows that WordPress is still the fastest-growing content
December 16, 2019
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a chamber of commerce is “an organization consisting of people in business, who work together to improve business in their town or local area.”1 When my husband and I first founded our business in SeaTac, WA in Fall 1998, we felt we could not afford the modest annual membership fee.
December 9, 2019
It’s been over ten years since I originally wrote the article below (May 26, 2019) under the title “Which Medium When.” Yet, most of it still applies in December 2019. In italics are notes I have added since initial publication. Although I make a living by helping businesses attract new customers and sales online, I
December 2, 2019
While every business is unique, successful businesses are built with the support of the following roles. The optimist – On a daily basis this individual envisions and speaks of success and exhorts others to do the same. This individual’s optimism is so strong that it is contagious. Staff, prospects and vendors all have an opportunity
November 26, 2019
Preparing to sell your business can be both exciting and scary. Considering that many business owners have worked hard to build, grow and maintain their businesses, it can feel very uncertain handing off years of hard work. For others, it can be freeing. But, I think we can all agree that if you try to
November 20, 2019
While some business owners look to their financials to determine whether their business is doing better, many small business owners also look to the following indicators. They know business is better when: Management isn’t panicked when some high maintenance customers go elsewhere. Management begins to test new services and markets. Pay raises and/or year-end bonuses are
November 15, 2019
In twenty years of optimizing websites for the search engines, I’ve often been called in to remedy business websites that have had disastrous results in the search engines. In each case a prior webmaster or search engine optimization (SEO) service provider had employed abusive and/or neglectful strategies. 20 of these abuses and neglectful practices are
November 11, 2019
You know it’s time to remake your company’s website when… A first-time visitor says, “Ahh, I see your website is older than I am.” Only your mother can find it. A new customer comes to your store, sits down and cries, “It didn’t look like this online!” Your staff tells you that the website just
November 5, 2019
Every company has service or product failures. Customers: Don’t care why the service or product failures happened and don’t want excuses. Do want to know that the business has identified and remedied the cause of those failures. May stay with (or return to) a business that has identified and remedied the cause of past failures.