While we prepare for another incredible season in Martha’s Vineyard, we want to help you with one of the most important marketing initiatives you’ll perform all year: spring cleaning your digital touchpoints.
Just like the junk in your trunk (literally in this case) or the guest bedroom closet, your social media accounts can get a little rusty and even affect your SEO (and not for the better). Not to worry, though – we will walk you through several easy steps to take to ensure your digital content is crisp for summer. Here are five practical ways to freshen up your digital footprint and have a blossoming impact in your community (see what we did there?).
How we keep in touch and communicate has changed drastically over the past few years and SMS has become one of the best ways to instantly connect with shoppers.
Text messages are irresistible and a sure way to give customers direct access to promos, sales, and updates. Thousands of brands are using a combination of e-mail and e-commerce SMS (short messaging service) marketing to leverage their brand.
Whether you’ve just started SMS marketing or considering this approach, we share key insights to help you get started.
Whether you’re getting ready to start a new venture, or lookingto grow your business, it’s always a good time to establish goals for your business that will set you up for success. To be successful for the long haul, you need to protect your intellectual property. It is your most valuable business asset and deserves your diligent attention.
No business is without risk. And anyone who tells you otherwise is, let’s say, less than honest. But there is plenty you can do to mitigate these risks, and much of it comes down to these five resolutions for protecting your intellectual property.
Your business’s website is the heart of your online marketing and you want people to be able to find it. But sometimes, it seems like no matter what you do, Google and other search engines think you’re invisible.
At its core, good SEO is for humans, but websites are actually ranked by search engine bots. They crawl websites and look for specific indicators in order to rank them in search.
How do websites get ranked?
There are over 200 factors that Google takes into account when ranking a site. And they change on a regular basis. Google releases small updates daily and major updates a few times a year.
Unfortunately, Google keeps the full list of factors secret, so in most cases, good SEO is a guessing game. But we do have some idea of what search engines are looking at when they crawl your site.
Why should I improve my website’s ranking?
The main reason to improve your website’s ranking is that it will bring you more traffic through search. Moving from page 2 to page 1 can bring thousands of extra visitors to your website.
What steps can I take to get my website ranked higher?
Here are five suggestions that you can implement in your business to improve your website’s rank.
1. Create good content that shows off your authority
The saying that “content is king” is especially true when it comes to SEO. Well-written, informative content is going to be one of the best places to start improving your website ranking.
Take the time to do some keyword research before you start writing. Google the topic you want to write about and see what the top-ranked sites have done. Do they have a super long blog post? A series of explanatory videos? This information should inform what you create for your site.
2. Update your website regularly
Don’t think that one great blog post is going to be a magic bullet. It’s more important to create good content consistently because search engines like to show the most up-to-date information on page one.
It doesn’t matter if you write once a day, once a week, or once a month, just create a plan and stick to it.
3. Optimize for mobile devices
Mobile traffic accounts for about half of all web traffic now. That means you NEED to take the mobile-friendliness of your site into account.
When was the last time you viewed your website on your phone? Take a few minutes now to look up your site and make sure that it is easy to navigate from your phone. Is the menu accessible? Is it easy to read? Are the photos loading correctly?
If you answered no to any of those questions then you need to update your website.
4. Improve your page loading speed
Have you ever clicked a link to a site and had to wait what felt like forever for the page to load? Most people will leave if it takes more than a few seconds for a webpage to become visible.
One of the worst offenders for slowing down page speed is images that are too big. Make sure you are not loading images that are un-edited. Don’t load PNGs onto your site as they are a bigger file size. Your JPGs should be smaller than 2MB and be no larger than 2500 pixels on the longest side.
You can use Page Speed Insights from Google to test the speed of your website.
5. Take advantage of Google My Business
Finally, make sure you are using your Google Business Profile. This is Google’s free service that will list your business in both Search and Maps.
Google Business Profile lets your customers leave reviews, and provides a place to post your hours, website, and contact information. Plus you can list your products or services for easy viewing from search results.
If you are struggling to rank on the first page of Google for your business, try these suggestions yourself. If you need help accomplishing any of these SEO tasks or more, reach out to us for a free consultation.
This month’s book selections offer a wide array of topics – from a fictional take on a historic event on the island of Nantucket in 1846, to a pandemic murder mystery on the shores of Palm Beach, to a beautiful dream that brings all the colors of Nantucket to life for a little boy, to a self guiding selection of healing stories and lessons to illuminate the way for a brighter future. We’ve got something for every reader in the house.
Susan Brown of For Pete’s Sake Pottery, who has been creating since she was young, often says she finds herself more comfortable with a paintbrush than a pen! She started For Pete’s Sake Pottery when her one and only child Pete was born. Prior to her business, she worked long hours managing a retail shop. When her babysitter quit when Pete was just 10 months old, she made the decision to stay home with her son and launch her own ceramic painting business.
She says it was the BEST DECISION EVER!
FAST Forward to today, the business has now turned into a family business, with her husband helping Susan with the backend things when he can, Pete Jr. playing a full-time active role in the business, and her niece Sophie, an amazing artist herself, works for her full time.
Susan has recently collaborated on product and pop-ups with Draper James and launched an exclusive design s with Bauble Stockings.
Milly Marie is defined by classic style and luxurious Peruvian Pima cotton, but the true inspiration lies in the details. Look closely – many of their pieces have our signature hand-stitched hummingbird. The Hummingbird is their symbol of help and hope, hand-embroidered by artisan mothers in Peru. With your support, they are “doing what they can” to improve the lives of these women whose spirits have inspired them so deeply. Shop at https://millymariepima.com
Solopreneurs and small business owners have to wear many hats, keep a lot of plates spinning, juggle a bunch of balls in the air. No matter which metaphor you use, entrepreneurs do so many things to grow and sustain their companies.
Collaborations with other businesses are a great way to share some of the burden. But protecting your intellectual property in these joint ventures is critical.
Angie Avard Turner Law, LLC is here to help you cover your legal bases in any negotiation or collaboration. Guarding your hard work and IP is our job. Reserve your time to talk about your legal needs or consider one of our Law Lab subscription services to get started.
Collaboration Can Boost Your Business
Working with a wide variety of people is an inherent part of owning a business, and pursuing strategic collaborations can be highly valuable. From social media giveaways to financial partnerships, there are many ways that collaboration can grow your company.
Marketing Collaborations
With the explosion of social media traffic and platforms, online collaborations are very popular. By combining efforts and audiences with the right businesses, you can grow your reach and engagement.
Giveaways and takeovers are two common types of social media marketing collaborations that allow businesses to get in front of new potential customers. By joining forces with companies that complement yours, you both can enjoy the benefits of greater reach.
Co-hosting events such as webinars, retreats, or workshops is another way to share the marketing efforts required to sustain a business. As with social media collaborations, these events can open you up to a new audience and allow you to promote your business differently.
Intellectual Collaborations
Do you have a new product or service you’d like to offer but aren’t ready to do it on your own? Collaborating with the right expert to get a new idea off the ground can make it much simpler and less intimidating. By sharing knowledge and experience, you can get something to market much more quickly.
Financial Collaborations
Almost every small business needs funding at some point. Whether through credit cards, family members, or bank loans, access to capital is crucial. Financial collaborations often include one person who does most or all of the work while the other provides the dollars. When handled correctly, these connections can contribute significantly to a company’s success.
Protecting Your Intellectual Property when Collaborating
As powerful as collaborations can be, they also carry tremendous risk to your IP if not done carefully. Your ideas, designs, and products need protection at all times but especially when you enter into a partnership or collaboration.
It’s essential to have contracts and agreements in place before there is any sharing of information or access to your intellectual property. Because what do I always remind you? If it’s worth creating, it’s worth protecting. I will never NOT preach this because it’s too important.
So, how do you protect your IP when collaborating? Here are the most critical steps to take.
1. Have a signed agreement outlining rights and responsibilities.
Solopreneurs often find fellow solopreneurs and decide to do a fun collab, often over social media. Even something as simple as an Instagram giveaway should have the protection of a signed agreement.
You will protect yourself by having a document in place to outline and clarify all of the following things that apply:
What product or service each party needs to supply
The timeline each party must follow
Who will cover any incurred costs
Who is responsible for promoting the event
How to handle any proceeds from the collaboration
2. Have a comprehensive non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
When you partner or collaborate with another individual or business, it’s likely that you will need to share some valuable information about your products, services, clients, or processes. If you do this without an NDA in place, you are at risk of compromising your intellectual property.
Non-disclosure agreements protect your IP by placing legal parameters around what the other party can or cannot share about your work. A mutual NDA also outlines what you can or cannot disclose about their work so that you don’t create a problem for yourself.
No collaboration is worth compromising your intellectual property or liability, so be sure an NDA is in place before sharing any valuable information.
3. Have a clear contract covering financial obligations.
Y’all, money can make people act crazy! Do yourself an enormous favor by ensuring that any collaborative financial agreement is in writing and signed by all parties. Your finances are too crucial to rely on a handshake and a promise.
Whether you’re joining financial forces with your uncle, your best friend, or a stranger, you must protect yourself with a contract. Any financial collaboration requires a legal agreement that outlines amounts and repayment terms.
4. Have legal representation.
Protecting your intellectual property demands vigilance and expertise. Give yourself all the protection possible by working with an attorney who understands and specializes in IP law. The legal arena isn’t the place to DIY your work unless you’re an attorney. And honestly, even lawyers seek the help of other lawyers since there are so many specialties.
By choosing an attorney to work with as you enter collaborations and partnerships, you help guard your IP, money, effort, and reputation – all the things you’ve worked so hard to create.
I think of it kind of like exercising and getting fit. It takes a lot of time and hard work to get your body looking and feeling the way you want, but it seems like it takes no time at all for that fitness to disappear again. This is how your business could end up if you don’t take the proper steps to protect it adequately.
Establishing a relationship with a lawyer you like and trust will serve you and your business well for years to come. If you don’t yet have representation, I’d love to connect with you about how I can serve you and your company. Reserve a time to talk with me about your legal needs to get started.
Born and raised on Long Island, New York, Jessica Litras has always considered herself to be a die-hard New Yorker. Little did she know that life had much bigger plans for her. She’s now lived in multiple locations like West Virginia, Sweden, California and Boston and has traveled to amazing destinations all around the world.
As a 5-year event planner, and 2-year Travel & Lifestyle Blogger, she has built a notable reputation in the industry of events, marketing and social media. She’s worked for a start-up company, a well-known corporate company and now she works for herself as an entrepreneur! Her expertise includes creating meaningful content for brands and hotels, paying close attention to detail, diving deep to understand client and audience needs, hotel reviews, travel guides and outfits to wear on vacation.
