How to Get More People to Your Blog
A Common Facebook Mistake If you want more traffic to your blog. 1) Let people know you have a blog. 2) Help them get to it more easily. One way to do this is to include a link to your blog in your email signature. You can also use the same technique to drive visitors...A Common Facebook Mistake
A Common Facebook Mistake One of the most common mistakes I see people making at their Facebook business page is not using links – links back to your website that is. Even when you are posting helpful information (it can’t always be a sale pitch!) the post...Prices On Your Website – Yes or No
Should You Put Your Prices On Your Website? This is one of the most frequently asked questions people in the wedding industry ask. Everyone has a different answer, most of which I would not totally disagree with. Here’s my answer based on “hands on”...Favorite Tools – Keyword Research
Favorite Tools – Keyword Research One of the most frequently asked questions I get is: “Chris, how do you do your keyword research for SEO?” My answer is Spy Foo. It’s a silly name but powerful tool. It’s not free but if you’re a...Google Safe Browsing Test
Google Safe Browsing Test Google probably controls 65-75% of all Internet searches these days. They also have taken on the role of the “Internet Police” to some extent. With this in mind it’s important that you stay on the good side of Google. Run...WordPress Best Practices
WordPress Best Practices – Unused Themes Create a Security Risk Having WordPress themes on your site that you are not using and not “active” can open your site up to security issues. They also unnecessarily take up hosting server space. If you don’t...Must Have for WordPress Security
“Must Have” for WordPress Security & Management If you use WordPress at your website I recommend that you install WordFence, a WordPress plugin that will help you manage site security. The basic version is free. The premium version is inexpensive and...One of the Best Closing Lines Ever
One of the Best Closing Lines Ever Well prepared and then delivered sales presentations are the key to closing sales, but there is often the “awkward pause” at the end of your presentation when everyone is looking at one another. You know what I I’m...How To Get More Online Reviews
How To Get More Online Reviews In many ways online reviews are the life-blood or your marketing. People make buying decisions based on emotion and good reviews from previous clients create an initial positive emotional experience. But online reviews aren’t as...Wedding Wire Review or Google Review
Wedding Wire or Google: Which Review is Better? There is no arguing that online reviews are a powerful marketing and sales tool. I call them “social proof” and used properly they convert more prospects into sales. I often get asked the question:...Blogging Basics
Blogging will give you a huge competitive advantage and simultaneously position you as an expert in your category and geographical marketplace.
Why Blogging is So Important
Why Blogging is So Important Blogging takes a lot of time to do properly but it’s absolutely worth it, in my opinion. Blogging is a long-term strategy and once you start you never should stop. Blogging gives you a HUGE competitive advantage by positioning you as...Want More Inquiries? Improve Your CTA
Get More Inquiries Using Better Call-to-Action (CTA) Today I’m going to suggest that you review your website and specifically take a look at how you use different CALL-TO-ACTIONS throughout your site. Properly used, CTAs can significantly increase the number of...How To Monitor Your Website Hosting
How to Monitor Your Website Hosting Performance (i.e. downtime) If your business relies on your website to generate leads and sales, or even just as an online brochure, then stable, always available hosting is mission critical. Monitor your website’s hosting...How To Quickly Check Domain Registration
How to Quickly Check Domain Registration Status There are two very important things to check related to your domain registration, the EXPIRATION DATE and the CONTACT INFORMATION, particularly the email address associated with your domain registration. Many people...Doing This Increases Sales
Use a “Take Away” to Increase Sales Yesterday I listed the 10 things that I think should be on every post-inquiry landing page. #8 was “Some type of downloadable take away.” Erika Stone-Miller, the Director of Catering at Premier Catering &...What to Put on a Post-Inquiry Form Landing Page
Post-Inquiry Landing Page Content Yesterday I talked about landing pages, specifically a PAGE that someone is redirected to after making an inquiry at your website. Well-designed landing pages improve conversion and increase sales. Here are 10 things that I believe...Landing Pages Help You Close More Sales
Use a Landing Page after Inquiry Form for a Better User-Experience The term “landing page” is thrown around a lot and it can be confusing. In my world, it’s just a page at your website that someone “lands” on, most likely a page you...Favorite WordPress Plugins
Favorite WordPress Plugins – Security If you use WordPress, and many people do these days, you have the option of using “plugins” to help you manage your website more effectively and easily. One of my favorite WordPress security related plugins is...Using Testimonials a Little Differently
Here’s a great way to use testimonials – with a little twist – to give them even more PUNCH!
Wedding MBA Wedding Industry Conference
The largest wedding industry conference in the United States, the Wedding MBA, draws thousands of wedding industry people to Las Vegas every Fall.
HIGH IMPACT Topics for Facebook Posts
Here are some of the most powerful topics for Facebook posts, post topics that get good engagement either as a LIKE, COMMENT, or SHARE. They also keep people interested in your business and turn “potentials” into actual sales.
How To Get More LIKES at Facebook
The #1 way to get more LIKES for your business page at Facebook is to post INTERESTING CONTENT that is helpful and valuable to a reader. When it is, people reading it say to themselves, “This is great, I like this, I want to see more of this.” and you get a LIKE.
“Boosting” Your Facebook Posts
Once you have published a Facebook post on your business page you have the option of “boosting” it. For a small fee, and a fee you have 100% control over, you can pay to have more people see it in their Facebook feed. It works very well.
Use Images at Least 600 Pixels Wide for Maximum Visibility at Facebook
When posting to Facebook I like to take the time to create custom images, not just default to the images Facebook “pulls” from a page link. Sure, it takes a little more effort, but I think it’s worth it. It gives me more control over the presentation.
Facebook Tips
There are hundreds of things to know about Facebook and using your business page at Facebook effectively. Over the next few days I’ll share some of my favorite Facebook best practices.
Increasing Facebook Engagement
There are three types of engagement at Facebook: a “like,” a “comment,” and the ultimate, a “share.” Engagement is part of the ranking algorithm at Facebook. The more that people “engage” with your posts the more likely your followers will actually see them in their feeds.
Use Google Alerts for Free Marketing & Competitive Research
One way to keep track of what people are saying about your business is to use Google Alerts (http://google.com/alerts). Google Alerts scans the Internet and when it finds the keywords/phrases you are tracking it sends you an alert – in this case your company name. The alerts can be sent instantly, once daily, or as a weekly digest.
How to Reach Higher Budget Brides
Everyone wants to reach brides and grooms with higher budgets – or even REALISTIC budgets! One way to do this is by using LinkedIn.
Favorite DIY-SEO Resource
This past week I’ve been talking about do-it-yourself search engine optimization and someone asked “Where did you learn all this stuff Chris?”
DIY-SEO – Inbound Links
nother important part of your do-it-yourself search engine optimization strategy is the development of inbound links – links from OTHER websites that point to your website.
DIY-SEO: Page Title and Description Tags
Page title tags are behind-the-scenes code on your web pages that Google is looking for. A page visitor does not see them. Technically speaking, they are called “meta-data.”
DIY-SEO: Understanding Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
Latent Semantic Indexing is basically a technology that Google uses to analyze the content on your pages searching for OTHER RELATED words that support your main keyword or keyword phrase.
DIY Search Engine Optimization and Keyword Density
Another important concept to grasp is “keyword density,” or how many times you use your keywords/phrases on a page (you have a keyword/phrase worksheet, right?).
Create a Targeted Keywords/Phrase List (DIY-SEO)
A search engine optimization program is doomed from the start without a targeted keyword list. I call it SOP-SEO (seat-of-pants search engine optimization) and it doesn’t work.
Search Engine Optimization – Do It Yourself
Google ranks a website based on about a dozen KEY factors. Yes, there are “hundreds of signals,” as the folks at Google say, but there are really only about a dozen things that are heavily weighted in the ranking algorithm.
Get More Inquiries from Your Website by Improving Your CTA
Yes, it can be that simple. I’ve seen this one simple “tweak” increase inquiries by up to 30% in less than 90 days!
Favorite Tools: Hootsuite Makes Managing Social Media Easier
Successfully managing your social media feeds can be a time consuming process. I probably spend about an hour a day doing it – and I move pretty fast
Favorite Tools: Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools will give you insight into what Google thinks about your website. Keeping Google happy is important to getting and staying top ranked (SEO), as well as your overall visibility at Google.
What Others Are Saying
"There are few people you can trust with both personal and professional guidance. Chris has earned this trust over years of bringing consistent value to my Internet marketing strategy and hands-on tactics. Work with Chris and you can expect helpful advice and great results." David Cutler, Digital Media Consultant.