Bianca Board

This blog was originally written for Australian Businesswomen's Network herbusiness blog on the 29th March, 2012 - by Bianca Board 

Things change. Contracts come to an end, great TV shows get cancelled, your kids go to university. Hey, that’s life! But for a small business, placing your bets on a single resource means that any drop of change can be a tidal wave.

Facebook recently rolled out massive changes to business pages, and this small business tsunami you might have heard of – Timeline. I’m not usually one to whinge about Facebook changes, but this particular round of forced “upgrades” is particularly unwelcome. While a few of the features are clever and sleek, there are many more that are going to pose major setbacks for small business social media strategy.

This blog was originally written for Australian Businesswomen's Network herbusiness blog on the 15th February, 2012 - by Bianca Board 

If you’re in small business, chances are you need to become a publisher to survive online. The way people buy these days has changed dramatically. Your buyers seek out information when they want and how they want, whether you like it or not. 97% of people will research you online before they even call or email you, so it’s vital you provide them with the information they need to make an informed choice.

You no longer have control over the sale. So I say, jump on board and enjoy the ride! Embrace it! Have fun with it. I know I was scared to death at my first blog post years ago but now I love it.

I’m going to show you my proven method for creating great content quickly and I promise, it won’t hurt a bit.

So grab your egg timer, set it for 60 minutes, turn off your phone and let’s go!

This blog was originally written for Australian Businesswomen's Network herbusiness blog on the 1st February, 2012 - by Bianca Board.

Are your social media profiles helping your business be found on search engines?

Yes that’s right – search engines now rank social media sites in their results. This means whatever words you are frequently using on social media pages will count towards your search rank.

Higher social media ranking equals more traffic to your website! It highlights how important it is now to research and use your specific keywords on all your business profiles.

This blog was originally written for Australian Businesswomen's Network herbusiness blog on the 18th January, 2012 - by Bianca Board.

What’s one thing you’re going to do better in 2012? I hope it’s taking action to improve your website! It’s a huge untapped resource for most of us small businesses as we can sometimes fail to see it as an investment. Like any investment it should be showing you a profit.

Marketing your website and ensuring it is converting leads and getting you more sales should be at the top of your priorities for 2012. I have 12 pointers to help you get started on this… but trust me; they won’t work unless YOU take ACTION!
 

You’re no doubt probably well equipped with the knowledge to socialise with friends of Facebook, but what on earth do you do when it comes to your small business. Just how do you make the most of your time and efforts and harness the power of Facebook for Marketing?

Are you looking for ways to improve your web marketing online? Do you want to get loads more traffic to your website? Of course you do! More traffic in most cases equates to more business and who doesn’t want that?  

Marketing these days is about face-time and as we’re increasingly getting busier (some say the average female is hit with 4,000 messages on any given day) it’s getting harder and harder to get your message in front of the right people, and your brand remembered.
 

Are you looking for ways to increase your website traffic organically? Been thinking about starting a business blog but don’t really know if it’s right for you? It can be daunting and it does take time but if done right, the rewards can be well worth the effort.

A very successful blogger, Dan Zarella reported that about 50% of people read blogs every day. That sounds like a goldmine just waiting to be tapped by small business if you ask me so let’s look at some pros and cons of starting a business blog.
 

If you’re familiar with Facebook already, you’ll probably find the process of setting up a page fairly straightforward. But, for those of you who are new to Facebook, this can be an overwhelming task. It’s pretty painless so don’t worry. Creating a Facebook page for a business is simple enough if you just follow these 3 simple steps.

Before we begin, it’s important to note there are three types of pages on Facebook. They are:

• Personal profiles
• Groups
• Business Pages

Profiles are for people. Pages are for businesses. Now let’s get started!

The problem with most web designers these days is that they have little or no idea how to create a business website that actually generates leads and is profitable for its owner. Small business marketing is changing at such a rapid rate these days with the popularity of social media but the underlying principles remain the same.

Just getting a website is not enough. But once you have your website, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’re told “just start a blog”, “do Twitter” or “create videos or podcasts” because how do you know that it’s right for your business?

Building a website is a big and sometimes very expensive exercise so you want to make sure it’s right. There’s a lot of web designers out there who can design pretty things but don’t necessarily know what makes a website profitable for your business.

Here are 7 deadly website mistakes you don’t want to fall victim to.