Posts

Don't Depend on Social Media

Image
So yesterday, while Facebook and Instagram were both experiencing outages and many people were having trouble accessing the sites or seeing their feeds, it got me thinking again about social media as a whole, and how much we've come to rely on it. See, I think Blanche DuBois got it wrong. We can't  rely on the kindness of strangers - not when it comes to business. More and more small businesses are choosing to forego having a website of their own in favor of putting all their eggs in the social media basket. The problem with this idea, of course, is that you don't have any control over what Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or the others choose to do. If they change their platform, it messes up your business in the search results. If they decide to start showing their own ads on your page, or redirecting traffic to competing companies, or jack up the price of making your own ads, or even hold your business page hostage unless you pay them fees for the right to be displayed,
Post a Comment
Continue reading »

Grow Your Online Presence with Video Content

Image
Those of you who have followed me on social media for awhile now may recognize the name Denise Alison. She's the owner of Stratigro Business Consulting, and just like me she helps small and medium sized businesses improve their online presence to increase their success. Over the past year, I've shared a few of her articles on my own page, and we've traded comments back and forth on each others' content quite a bit. Denise recently reached out to me about a new online course she's offering, on using live video content to grow your business. This is a subject I'm very interested in - I've been thinking a lot about different ways to expand a company's social media presence. Video content is proven to get a lot more traction than written articles alone, due to its ease of access, and the personal rapport you can develop with your audience by appearing on camera. I've always been a little reticent to pull the trigger on video content myself (I'
Post a Comment
Continue reading »

Back in the Saddle

Image
Hello, friends and followers. It's been a long couple of months, I know. Mea culpa! This is just a quick update to let you all know that I am starting up my social media activities again as of today, including more helpful and interesting business articles. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to resume posting 5 days a week yet, or what my exact schedule is going to be, but I'll figure that out over the next week or so. In the meantime, I hope everyone had an excellent holiday and new year, and please stay tuned for more content very soon.
Post a Comment
Continue reading »

Taking a Break

Hey all, Things have gotten pretty hectic around here the last couple weeks. I have a couple of big projects due soon that I need to focus on, and it's also nearly the end of the year. I was planning to take a week or two off to spend time with the family anyway, but since I have these deadlines that have to be met, I've decided to increase that time off from the blog and posting to get everything done. As such, I'm putting the blog on hiatus until the new year. Have a great winter break, and I'll see you all again with new posts in January. To be clear: I am still working! If you need help with something, if you need web services or you're an existing customer, feel free to reach out to me the same as always. I am just temporarily suspending my social media activities. In all other respects, I am open for business. Thanks for your understanding. Have a great holiday! -- James
Post a Comment
Continue reading »

Brief Hiatus

Image
Hello, readers. Just a quick note to say I have some personal stuff to take care of this week, so there will be no blog post today. Normal posts will resume next week, and part three of Tools of the Trade will come out on Thursday, November 16th. Nothing's wrong! I'm just busy. Have a great weekend.
Post a Comment
Continue reading »