Instead, I've been curating content and adding my own short commentary on it wherever I publish something on social media. But now, there is just so much happening with online marketing strategies. So many people posting dated misinformation and misunderstanding how it all works that I really feel the need to start blogging again.
A little history on how I learned to play the online marketing game. In 2005, I started my own health-themed website that still exists today but is, sadly, neglected by me. I "developed" it using a platform called Site Build It! Very good in it's day but meant for beginners. But here's what I learned from SBI that I consider the single most important tip you need to be successful online: You Must Get Traffic to Your Website to Be Successful Online. Pretty simple, right? But easier said than done.
Back in those days, we didn't really have social media. Twitter started in 2007 and at the time, Google actually indexed tweets! Woo hoo, all of us SBI'ers were all over that. (By the way, Google only indexes Google+ posts now.) Back then, we used article directories, link exchanges and news sites like Digg to promote our websites . Remember them? All of those methods are outdated and in some cases, will get you dinged with a penalty by Google. When social media came on the scene, I "got" it. This was the fast track to being successful online. But back to my story...
As I became more experienced on how online marketing works, I learned it was a lot cheaper to get a hosting account and start building self-hosted Wordpress websites so I said goodbye to SBI and launched out on my own.
Hosting my own websites and "developing" them using Wordpress platform was an education in itself. I learned a lot about the tech side of things. Enough to be dangerous. I also tried XSitePro to build websites and also dabbled a bit in Dreamweaver. That is scary stuff for a non-techie!
As I was developing all these websites for myself, I looked around locally and saw that a lot of small "Main Street" businesses really didn't understand how to use their websites to get more business. Social media was starting to become popular in other parts of the country (and world) but my local area had no clue what was going on. So, I hung out a shingle and decided to start helping them out.
It was a lot of fun to see it all start to click in their heads and lucky for me, other local companies started to see the potential in it, too. I could leverage their marketing for my own business because social media buzzwords were starting to surface everywhere that business was being done. The more people were talking about it, the more business owners were starting to value my services.
Most business owners would say that having more competition is a bad thing. But I see it as an opportunity because there's more local businesses who are looking for help to do their online marketing. And they all can't afford the big companies. There's enough business for everyone!
I have a lot more to say about online marketing and how to do it right. I am constantly reading the Influencers on the latest trends in online marketing and how those tips and tools can be used to support local business. So, what can you expect if you decide to follow my Online Business Blog? No B.S. explanations of those social media tools and trends, best practices, things to avoid, some humor and lots of visuals. My goal is that I will be the voice of reason that you can trust in the fast-paced world of online marketing.
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