Bill Gates's Top 10 Rules For Success (@BillGates)

Here's a great video of Bill Gates talking about his Top 10 Rules for Success!
Watch and learn.

Tips to Help Improve Your Social Media Marketing

When social media first emerged on the scene, it was underestimated by many brands. It's not 'til now we're seeing more and more business owners creating a presence on these platforms. The ones who jumped aboard early on are reaping the benefits now, especially if they had the assistance from social media marketing companies.

If you're a new business or one that has yet to try out social media marketing, then you should consider hiring professional services. You can also use the following tips to guide you along your path to building a strong brand on social platforms that are right for you.

Try One Platform at a Time 

Search Engine Optimisation: Why Small Business Gets SEO Wrong

Like it or loath it, search engine optimisation (SEO) is a necessary part of your online marketing strategy.

Many believe it involves gathering together a list of keywords, sticking them into a website and people will find you.

Sadly it doesn't work like that, which is why so many businesses are getting it wrong.

People also have the view that SEO is incredibly complex and time-consuming. In truth, it's not. 

Granted, it takes a bit of getting your head around it, but the on page stuff is easy to grasp, although you will need a web designer who understands SEO to get all the 'behind the scenes' stuff right. The problem is many can't be bothered to invest the time it takes to get to grips with what needs doing, and that's when it all goes horribly wrong.

So, what are the most common SEO mistakes that small businesses make? 

3 Ways to Grow Any Business

Let me ask you something... Aside from the dead give-away coming from the title, how many ways do you, or did you, think there was to grow a business? Any business.

1? 3? 10? 150?

When ever I ask this to an audience I get countless people shouting out a variety of answers ranging from 1 to, well, unlimited. It's true... People actually think there are "unlimited" ways to grow a business!Truth be told, there are only three ways to grow and business.

THREE?! Have you lost your mind?Nope, and I welcome you to challenge that.

There are only THREE ways to grow ANY business.

Here they are: 

Email Marketing: Free Trial for AWeber

Try AWeber free for 30 days! - AWeber Communications Great testimonial for AWeber, excellent for email marketing to your small business customers and prospects!

SEO Tips : Mobile Friendly Websites

For some time now Google has been making recommendations around the mobile experience; so it's really no surprise that it's now becoming a part of their algorithm.

One point we should highlight since writing that article, is that Google has refined its interpretation of 'Mobile Friendly'. Simply being able to use your site on a mobile device (i.e. not using flash etc.), is no longer sufficient; the new algorithm requires that you now either need a dedicated mobile site, or a mobile responsive site in order to gain Google favour.

So what does this actually mean? 

7 Tips for Better Face to Face Networking Results

Here is a cool stat for you from a great infographic from Virgin Entrepreneur:

95% say face to face meetings are essential for long-term business relationships.

Now I know we are all virtual professionals, and I've done my fair share of hiding behind my computer screen.

'I don't do in-person meetings.'

'I don't do Skype or Facetime.'

'Thanks for the invitation to coffee, but I only do phone meetings.'

'You can only reach me via email. It's how I work.'

I've said these things to my clients and potential clients. I still say them!

BUT in terms of networking, there are many cases where meeting face to face (either in a small business setting or a large event) can really fast-track your business relationship.

The statistic above is a very interesting take on the perception of business owners.

Trust is built more easily face to face. The whole process is just faster.

How Can Email Marketing Help My Business?

You simply cannot have a good online marketing plan if you don't involve yourself with email marketing. Email marketing, when done correctly, will enable your business to attract new customers, keep existing ones, up-sell, cross-sell and cut costs. Let's take a look at some of the specific ways that email marketing can help your business.

It Allows You To Automate Your Business

If you're running a small business, you're probably busy doing lots of different tasks. An email marketing autoresponder acts like your silent salesperson who works for you 24/7.

How To Grow Your Business Via Social Media

As a business owner, you should at least have a basic working knowledge of what social media marketing is all about. You should know how to connect with people, especially your target market, through it, to create excellent content that moves people to act, and to create relationships.

You develop your business and it should all starts with being active on the social networks that matter and never let the customers forget about you. One way to continue reminding them that you're still around is to make some noise on your social pages.

The marketing is about communicating with your target audience, informing them about your business, and eventually getting them involved. It could produce customer feedback, leads, and the opportunity to give them excellent customer service. But you will not get the response that you are hoping for unless you share your information the right way.

There are a few steps that you need to follow if you want to use it to help your business grow.

Top 10 SEO Strategies for Your Online Business

1) Adding a Schema

Letting know Google of your company's location, about your company, reviews etc. through schema.org will win you more rankings in Google search. Add schema.org as a markup to the code of your website. Schema tells the search engines what your data means, not just what it says. The content on your website gets indexed and returned in search results. But with schema markup, some of that content gets indexed and returned in a different way. Schema.org is a collaborative, community activity with a mission to create, maintain, and promote schemas for structured data on the Internet, on web pages, in email messages, and beyond which makes it easier for webmasters and developers to decide on a schema and get the maximum benefit for their efforts.

Click here to add a Schema

Why Social Media Is Important to Your Small Business

1: It finds your customers and builds clientele

Many of us use Social Media on a regular basis. We use it to stay on top of what's trending, follow our favourite businesses, post our personal beliefs and so much more. I'd like to think of Social Media as the new "office water cooler" --- People are out there talking and they are waiting for your business to show up so they can discuss what you have to offer.

Customers need to trust a business, service or product before purchasing. People tend to trust their friends and loved ones more than anyone else. So, if your customers hear from someone trustworthy, about your product or service, it is reasonable to believe that they are more likely to purchase what you are selling. You could very reasonably market your products and services using, mostly, word of mouth.

Want to manage your social media better? Click here.

Why Your Business Can't Ignore Facebook Groups

Facebook is the social headquarters of the internet. Facebook groups are an excellent place to hook up with people in your industry and potential customers. When you open a group on Facebook, you can enjoy a very easy-going, community relationship with your followers.

The benefits of setting up a group on Facebook for building your online business, blog and brand are plentiful. 

Here are just 5 of them.

Jeff Bezos's Top 10 Rules For Success

Jeff Bezos is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Amazon, so it's well worth the time to watch this video of his 10 rules of success! 

from Evan Carmichael

Building A High Conversion Opt-In Page

An opt-in page is simply a landing page you send visitors to and then offer them something valuable for free, in exchange for their names and email addresses. Landing pages for list building are also known as squeeze pages.

For the highest conversion of visitors to subscribers, you need to make sure there are very few distractions for your subscription form. This is why a squeeze page is so much more effective than a subscription form on your blog or website. You will need to focus on the benefits subscribers will receive by opting in to your list. Offering an ethical bribe, also known as a lead magnet, which is perceived as desirable, valuable and much sought after will help to increase your conversion rate.

Here is what you should include on your opt-in page:

Great LinkedIn Strategies That Really Work

Most likely, you understand the value of LinkedIn (at least, to some extent) and you are trying to use it as much as possible for your business. That may or may not be working very well for you. It really all depends on what you are doing and how those features apply to your particular business. However, there are some less-well-known features and tricks that may work extremely well for you. They are, in many cases, a well-kept secret.

LinkedIn and its amazing potential

How To Increase Your Website Traffic - To Make More Sales

There are many different strategies you can put into effect to get more website traffic, but not all of them will be long term or beneficial. You want the right strategy to begin with so you don't waste your time. What you need to consider when thinking "more traffic," is what I need to do to give my website more exposure to more people in my niche. Of course you can never have enough visitors but what it really boils down to is how can these visitors convert to orders and are they the right visitors?

The best way to get more exposure and therefore more website traffic is to be ranked on the first page of Google and preferably near the top for your targeted keyword

7 Ways To Boost Your Website Traffic

One of the most important factors for any online business owner is generating traffic to their website. If you have nobody visiting your website, your online business is like a shop in a dark back-street with the lights off and the shutters down. Nobody knows it's there and nobody is coming in to browse.

Here are 7 quick and easy ways to boost your website traffic.

1. Tag Your Keywords

Applying proper tags to your keywords will increase website traffic because it's how search engines scan your pages. Ensure you insert your keywords into you title tags, header tags and meta tags. Also use alt tags to provide a text description of a graphic or photo.

2. Add New Content On a Regular Basis 

Leadpages Review

Leadpages is a generation platform, designed to help you to maximise your business prospects. The Leadpages software system has been created by digital advertising specialists who understand the merits of social media networking, and in depth incorporation that will enable you to make alluring websites that will give your business a complete makeover.

Click here to find out more

How does it work?
It offer a vast array of templates along with demonstration to furnish any site's need, at the same time eliminating the need to test and research on various outlines. The diverse press page layouts are ready and can function in a matter of minutes.

7 Uncommon Success Strategies for Your Small Business to Consistently Grow

In these difficult economic times, it's understandable if a small business owner may want to focus primarily on survival. But the most likely success strategies that can help your small business isn't just concerned about keeping your head above water; they're all about helping you reach bigger goals.

Here are the 7 small business tips that can transform your modest company into a blockbuster success:

• Focus On Providing Value

Too often, many entrepreneurs tend to concentrate on how to make a profit on their small business, and sometimes that kind of thinking can be detrimental to the long-term success of your company. So instead, try to focus on providing goods and services first to your customers.