Better Business

Best Practices for Responding to Your Online Reviews

Your small business has reviews! Now what?

92% of consumers read online reviews (souce: BrightLocal).

When you run your own small business, it’s very easy to take online reviews you see to heart. Good ones can truly make your day, but bad ones can seemingly ruin your whole week!

It’s very important to have a little perspective when you first read them, especially if it’s a negative review. Put yourself in [...]

Small Business Advice: The Only One Who Should Run Your Business Is You

There's no shortage of good advice for small business owners. There's no shortage of bad advice either. The internet has provided an explosion of coaches, gurus, consultants, and "experts".

How Does Consistency Make Your Branding More Effective?

Successful brands know how to create a clear, consistent brand message. When you see your favorite soft drink brand, for example, you know it immediately by the marketing materials used to promote it. Everything from logo, colors, and imagery used, to content, ad copy, and online marketing has a certain look and feel that you recognize instantly and effortlessly. You can create the same type of brand experience for your small business customers simply by [...]

When it’s not a good fit.

We’re not talking about shoes here, we’re talking about designers, clients, and design projects and how to determine when it just might not be a good fit. Below are some tips and some indications of when working with someone might not work out – before you start. Read through both the Client and Designer sections to understand each perspective.

For Clients …

You want the best designer you can find for your project and that’s [...]

Don’t Badmouth Your Own Business

"It's hard to get by." "The economy is so bad." "We really need to bring in more sales." "If things don't pick up......." It's easy to understand a business owner saying any of that. Cash flow problems and local economic conditions can seem like insurmountable obstacles sometimes. There's a problem, though. Within the past few years, I've heard all of those statements from business owners and staff, within fifteen minutes of walking through their door for the first time. I realize I'm expected to cluck in sympathy and join the pity party, but what I really want to say is, "What the hell are you thinking?"

Why you should care about the speed of your website.

I'll cut right to the chase. The two big reasons you want your website to be fast are: #1, Because Google likes it and #2, because your visitors also like it. Read on to learn some quick and basic tips for speeding up your WordPress website.