10 Often Overlooked Website Mistakes that May Harm Your Business

By Chris Garrett

"Does your current website hosting company prevent or punish your success?" – Chris Garrett

At a local WordCamp recently, I critiqued websites from a group of volunteers during a site clinic session.

While I noticed a number of common mistakes — like extra-loud, auto-play videos and other distractions — one of the weird things that stood out was how many real, substantial businesses had problematic web hosting and domain strategies.

With those in mind, I wanted to make sure you aren’t making the same mistakes. Let’s go through some of the worst offenses, shall we?

Mistake #1: Spending more money on business cards than your web host

It boggles my mind that a company with a great …read more      

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These Are the Best Ways I’ve Discovered to Get More Facebook Followers Free

By Neil Patel

Organic Reach Chart

Facebook marketing is somewhat of a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, Facebook had 1.94 billion monthly active users as of Q1 2017.

That’s the most users of any social network by far.

On the other hand, its organic reach is lousy.

According to a study by Social@Ogilvy,

Organic reach has declined to just six percent.

This means that out of 100 of your followers, only six will actually see the content you post.

Screen Shot 2014 04 14 at 1.43.59 PM

That’s not ideal.

This means one thing.

You need to grow your following.

If you …read more      

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Capture and Hold Audience Attention with a Bold Proclamation

By Brian Clark

Quick Copy Tip

If you’ve studied copywriting, you know the purpose of the headline is to get people to click and start reading. And your opening copy needs to continue that momentum all the way to the offer or conclusion.

One way to do that is to make a bold, seemingly unreasonable assertion in your title or headline. A proclamation so jarring that the right person can’t help but keep reading, listening, or watching to see where you’re going with it.

As far as I can tell, copywriter John Forde (whose site tagline is, not coincidently, “Learn to sell …read more      

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How to Combine PR with SEO for the Biggest Success

By Neil Patel

It used to be that PR and SEO were two very different marketing tactics with virtually zero overlap.

With roots going all the way back to the founding of the colonies in the New World in the 16th century, PR is like a grizzled old vet,

while SEO is more of a young whippersnapper with a history that reaches back a mere 25 years at best.

Traditional PR is based on old-school, offline techniques, while SEO has been completely digital from the start.

But in the late twenty-teens, …read more      

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Expand Your Content Marketing Toolkit

By Sonia Simone

Expand Your Content Marketing Toolkit

On Monday, our friend Jon Nastor shared the top tips he’s learned from conducting more than 350 podcast interviews in two years. He has a lot of solid advice here on how to better prepare for your interviews — without making your content stiff or robotic.

On Tuesday, our editorial assistant Will DeWitt revealed how his experiences on a recent cruise shaped how he thinks about customer experience — and how you can structure your content to make your audience feel like treasured guests.

And on Wednesday, Stefanie Flaxman saved us from the humiliation of 12 …read more      

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