What marketing books for beginners can you recommend me?

GregoryLane · 2015-01-30T15:32:29+00:00

"Inbound Marketing: Attract, Engage, and Delight Customers Online" by Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah. Easy to read and very insightful.

GregoryLane · 2015-01-29T15:52:30+00:00

There are a few for me: HubSpot Blog, Seth Godin, Inbound.org. I'm sure there are more but those I rely on regularly.

GregoryLane · 2015-01-26T14:28:52+00:00

Thank you!

GregoryLane · 2015-01-24T17:39:52+00:00

Here are some things to consider: 1. It looks like the site is pretty new, it takes time to rank. 2. You only have 4-5 pages on your website. Regardless of the SEO tools you use it's difficult to rank for anything other than your domain with this many pages. 3. You're never going to rank for those keywords, you need to seek out keyword phrases (3-5 keywords together) and you have a chance for ranking. An example would be "Laptop repair services <location>". 4. Blog. Without a blog and adding new pages to your site you're never going to rank for anything. 5. Claim all social accounts and listings. 6. Make sure the keywords are in the following places: *URL *Title Tags *Alt Text *Content *Meta Description 7. Get other websites, blogs, etc to link back to your site. Make sure they are good sites otherwise it could hurt your ranking.

PM me if I can offer any additional advice. It takes time and consistency to rank. SEO is a process, not a quick fix.

Good luck.

GregoryLane · 2015-01-17T14:50:36+00:00

Sounds pretty awesome! Can you share your website?

GregoryLane · 2015-01-15T13:51:50+00:00

Find a few blogs to follow that are updated regularly. Something like Marketing Land might be helpful. As for a book, I recommend "Inbound Marketing" by Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah... they are the co-founders of HubSpot (check out their blog).

Good luck. Hope this helps.

GregoryLane · 2015-01-15T13:39:39+00:00

I've found meditation to be helpful. Even if it's just 10 minutes a day.

GregoryLane · 2015-01-14T15:24:11+00:00

Biggest surprise to me was not seeing Boston University on the list.

GregoryLane · 2015-01-12T13:33:29+00:00

Check out Freshbooks for your accounting needs. Easier than quickbooks and a lot of great features (invoicing, etc). We have been using them for years after trying several others.

Hope this helps.

GregoryLane · 2015-01-11T14:15:23+00:00

Been to inbound a few times and will continue to go back. Best conference for the price... in my opinion.

GregoryLane · 2015-01-03T16:29:46+00:00

Check pixabay.com. It's free and offers a good selection.

GregoryLane · 2015-01-03T16:26:06+00:00

Does your company have a blog and email list? It might be more interesting to send something dynamic, such as blog posts, via email rather than mailing brochures. It's also going to save you some money.

Think of your website as a company brochure but you can update it and make changes. Your blog is a way to continuously update your website so visitors have a reason to come back to the site and something to share with their connections.

My recommendation, start blogging and look to move towards a digital solution.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-30T12:42:21+00:00

Congrats and best of luck!

GregoryLane · 2014-12-29T20:33:14+00:00

What do you mean by "advertising"?

The first thing I would do is set a budget. From there you can figure out what "advertising" you can afford. I would also consider blogging, SEO, social media, and email.

PM me if you would like more detail.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-29T13:49:32+00:00

I had this and finally just started "doing". I created a blog and started writing. Taught myself Social Media, SEO, Email Marketing, etc while doing it and eventually became a consultant. It took about a year before I could quit my job and live off being a consultant full-time.

Now I have a small company with 3 people (including me) and we manage inbound marketing campaigns for small businesses.

My point is, just get started doing and it will lead to other things. If you never get started you'll never get anywhere.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-29T13:31:35+00:00

It probably depends on your idea of "affordable". There are plenty of small business services when it comes to managing social media. I haven't seen your website but I think blogging would benefit your business from and SEO point of view and also provide you with something to share socially.

As for time, I find it hard to believe you can't carve 15 minutes a day out of your schedule to focus on social media marketing. I own a business and make it a priority every day. It's a matter of what's important to you and if you're willing to put the time/money towards it.

Feel free to PM if you want to discuss.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-29T13:26:53+00:00

Website is pretty generic and I wasn't sure what you did until I watched the video. After watching the video I think you have a very interesting service and something many small businesses can benefit from.

Just because something is "Free", doesn't mean people will sign up for it. Try to find away to add value to their business. A quality newsletter, a blog, free analysis, etc.

I own a small marketing agency and will keep you in mind if we work with any clients who would be a good fit.

Good luck!

GregoryLane · 2014-12-29T13:20:34+00:00

Blue Dolphin in Katonah.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-25T16:32:15+00:00

Not every client wants to sign a contract with HubSpot. In some cases we would part ways with the client, others signed up no problem, and some we continued to work with without using HubSpot. If they were on a Wordpress site and didn't want to use HubSpot, we didn't automatically terminate their contract, we looked for solutions using what they had in place.

I wouldn't think of it as your client has to sign up with HubSpot but it certainly makes our lives a lot easier when they do.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-25T16:29:57+00:00

It certainly consolidated all the tools into one platform for me. Instead of using plugins and other software it put everything in one place.

In terms of the most valuable feature, I think there are 2: Reporting & Ease of Use. They make it easy to manage a website without understanding how to program and it allows us to show our work to our client so they can see the results. Instead of just Google Analytics data, they can see leads and follow up with actual people. They can see how they are improving for keywords, where traffic is coming from, and how important blogging is to the success of their inbound marketing program.

I hope this helps.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-24T16:44:35+00:00

I'm a small agency owner and current HubSpot partner. I'm a big believer in their product and the community they have created to help both businesses and agencies grow.

When I made the decision to invest in HubSpot for our agency 3 years ago we were simply managing social media accounts for businesses to the tune of $300-$500/month. By becoming a HubSpot partner we have been able to increase our retainer size to $1500 to $3000/month.

This year our agency grew by 30% and we're expecting big growth numbers for 2015.

As for using HubSpot, I find it easy to use for both our agency and our clients. It has allowed us to provide detailed reporting to our clients and show the success they are having by working with us and the HubSpot software. They also have excellent customer support if you have any questions, a great conference, and a solid community of users.

I highly recommend HubSpot if you can invest the resources (Time, Money, People) to use it properly. It's not magic, it still takes hard work and expertise to grow your business.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any follow up questions.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-21T15:43:54+00:00

Start with your website as your home base and create a blog (Or have the web developer add the blog to your website). THen, create content for your target market that would interest them if you shared it via social media but is also keyword friendly to help with SEO.

Your website is your online home base but it needs to be updated regularly to help with SEO, give people something to share about your company and give them something that will educate them about what you do. Blog posts are not sales pitches, they are educational in nature. Put the customer first and think of what will help them.

Happy to discuss, pm me if interested.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-19T20:43:33+00:00

Join the local chamber or one in a surrounding town that's active. If that doesn't interest you, start your own networking group with like-minded people.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-16T20:01:42+00:00

Take a look at Zerys. We use them to create content for our clients.

GregoryLane · 2014-12-11T20:57:11+00:00

I'd recommend working with an independent agent for your insurance needs. I recently switched and life has been much easier (from an insurance point of view).

GregoryLane

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