Oct 25: Viral Video Marketing 101

Viral Video Marketing 101

Video is rapidly growing and quickly becoming a staple of marketing strategies. If you have not yet incorporated video marketing then you are simply behind the curve. Not only that, but you are losing out on the various benefits that having a video strategy provides.

Importance of Video:

The reason video is such a powerful medium lies within its ability to engage, educate, and influence potential and existing customers. Read more…

Recommended: 5 Surprising Reasons To Raise The Price Of Your Product

Oct 24: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Oct 24: Improve Profitability With These 10 Steps Marketing Plan

Improve Profitability With These 10 Steps Marketing Plan

For best results in marketing it is crucial to develop a system, test that system, measure its results and when you find the combination that works best for what you are selling, repeat it over and over again without fail and sustain it with persistence. The results will come if this method is followed.

Follow these 10 steps and hopefully they will help you obtain good results.

1. Read more…

Recommended: Why Twitter for Small Businesses?

Oct 24: 6 Reasons Why Time Is The Business Owner’s Most Scarce Resource

6 Reasons Why Time Is The Business Owner's Most Scarce Resource

Are you flushing your time – and money – down the toilet? Not long after you start a business on your own, you soon realize that you need to get smarter about managing time. If you feel overwhelmed, you may need to rethink how you use your time, which is an entrepreneur’s most valuable – and scarce – resource. Read more…

Recommended: Why Twitter for Small Businesses?

Oct 24: How to Empower Entrepreneurs With Crowdfunding

How to Empower Entrepreneurs With Crowdfunding

Prior to Crowdfunding, starting a business was nearly a mission impossible.

Entrepreneurs had only three choices of raising capital: (1) Friends & Family (2) Bank and (3) Angel or Venture Capital.

Then in 2007, all that changed when Prosper.com launched the first peer-to-peer lending service in the US. Read more…

Recommended: How To Develop A LinkedIn Marketing Plan

Oct 24: Email Marketing Tips for Small Business

Email Marketing Tips for Small Business

Keeping the doors of your small business open can depend upon your ability to market to potential clients. Email marketing has been a mainstay strategy throughout the technological era. Prior to this, companies were limited to direct mail for advertising. Read more…

Recommended: Is Google Threat to Social-Media Marketing?

Oct 24: Tumblr – 7 Things To Know About

Tumblr - 7 Things To Know About

As the 32nd most popular website in the world, Tumblr is a big opportunity. But you can’t approach it as you would other marketing strategies.

With 105 million blogs and 49 billion posts, Tumblr, the free blog hosting and social networking site, is the 32nd most popular site in the world. So, if you’re not using Tumblr as part of your marketing efforts, you’re missing a very large boat.

Tumblr isn’t a blog platform like WordPress; it’s a social network that has a blogging platform. Read more…

Recommended: 6 Marketing Tips to Bootstrap Your Startup

Oct 24: Crowdfunding Made Easier With These 4 Tips

Crowdfunding Made Easier With These 4 Tips

With the tough economic climate, crowdfunding has become a popular and alternative method of raising finance for a business, projects or ideas. Crowdfunding platforms are convenient, simple to use and reach a wide audience of investors at a low cost.

Crowdfunding can be defined as a collective cooperation of people who network and pool their money and resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other organizations. Read more…

Recommended: 5 Mobile Marketing Methods That Work

Oct 24: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 24: 3 SEO Tips For Small Business Success

3 SEO Tips For Small Business Success

Are you stressing out about changes in search engine algorithms and new social media platforms to learn? Search engine optimization (also known as SEO) is in constant flux, which means that your business’ online marketing strategies need to be revamped frequently. Read more…

Recommended: How To Challenge And Beat The Big Boys In Local Sales

Oct 24: 4 Signs That You Should Quit Your Failing Startup Business

4 Signs That You Should Quit Your Failing Startup Business

You’ve poured your heart and soul, your time, your money and more into your business, so it simply must succeed… Right? While that’s nice to say, it’s not always true. The more you’re able to realize that success can come and go, the better positioned you’ll be to take advantage of other, more promising opportunities.

Here’s how to know when to give up:

1) Are you the only one who still believes in your business?

Sometimes the smartest people can have a blind spot when it comes to their own vision. Read more…

Recommended: Crowdfunding Made Easier With These 4 Tips

Oct 24: 3 Reasons Why You May Not Need To Write A Business Plan After All

3 Reasons Why You May Not Need To Write A Business Plan After All

Sure, you can lay out a proposed path to success in a business plan presentation template, but the road will be full of surprises. More important than attempting to forecast is knowing how to adapt and be flexible.

For exactly that reason, many top investors and incubators are shifting their views on written business plans. Read more…

Recommended: 10 Content Marketing Trends You Need To Know For Success

Oct 24: Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice. …

SAY OF THE DAY: “Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice.” -Peter Drucker … read more

Oct 24: 4 Steps to Crowdfunding Success

4 Steps to Crowdfunding Success

The biggest problem that many small businesses throughout the United States face is how to secure startup or initial funding from traditional lenders. Since the 2008 financial meltdown, banks are under a lot of pressure to make safer loans, resulting in stricter underwriting guidelines and fewer loans being approved.

With the advent of crowdfunding providing a more accessible option, the amount of small businesses with crowdfunding campaigns has significantly increased. Read more…

Recommended: 3 Absurd Myths About Using Technology in Small Business

Oct 24: 8 Best Practices to Optimize Your Video Landing Page

8 Best Practices to Optimize Your Video Landing Page

There are a ton of benefits to having videos on your landing pages. For starters, videos are an easy type of content for your potential leads to consume (and retain), plus most people actually want a video to explain the product or service to them.

It’s important to note that videos are not the only thing you need to focus on when it comes to creating an optimized landing page that converts. Read more…

Recommended: Secrets Of Virgin Atlantic’s Marketing Success

Oct 23: 5 Counter-Productive Things You Should NOT Do Every Day

5 Counter-Productive Things You Should NOT Do Every Day

Can’t get through your workday without constant interruptions? Are routine tasks taking over your day? Here are 5 daily tasks you can remove from your workday to help you stay focused and be more productive:

1) Cram your to-do list.

You might feel the need to write down everything you need to accomplish each day, and while compiling a lengthy list of things you need to accomplish might seem productive, you could be doing more harm than good. Read more…

Recommended: How to Build Great Marketing Relationships for your Business

Oct 23: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Oct 23: 5 Networking Tips That Entrepreneurs Need to Know

5 Networking Tips That Entrepreneurs Need to Know

How can you maximize the benefits of attending professional networking events as an entrepreneur or business owner?

1. Have an agenda.

Not all networking events are created equal. It behooves you to research the best of the bunch in your area and decide which might be best for your overall start-up goals. Read more…

Recommended: 4 Ways To Come Up With A Memorable Business Name

Oct 23: 10 Content Marketing Trends You Need To Know For Success

10 Content Marketing Trends You Need To Know For Success

Content marketing online is continually changing and evolving. If you’re behind the content marketing curve, now’s the time to get caught up – here are 10 content marketing trends that are relevant today.

1. Social Media Content is King

Social media marketing is the most popular content promotion tactic by a mile. Read more…

Recommended: 8 Social Marketing Fails to Avoid

Oct 23: What To Look For When Selecting A Good B2B Digital Marketing Agency

What To Look For When Selecting A Good B2B Digital Marketing Agency

In the competitive and increasingly saturated B2B market, it’s never been more important for you to have outstanding marketing strategies. Finding a digital marketing agency that specializes in B2B is a great way to boost results, as long as they are right for your company and sector.

How not to do it…and what to do instead

The most dangerous move you can make is choosing the first digital marketing agency that you come across. Read more…

Recommended: Marketing Tips That Even Savvy Businesses Overlook

Oct 23: 3 Tips For Using Promoted Posts To Get Customers Excited

3 Tips For Using Promoted Posts To Get Customers Excited

Are you willing to pay so your posts reach more eyes? Perhaps you should be.

One of the newest 40Billion features, called Promoted Posts, allows businesses to pay from $20 to $300 so that more visitors and contacts see their posts on computers and mobile devices.

Using a regular whiteboard post on 40Billion.com can be effective for ramping up engagement, but with Promoted Posts, 40Billion is taking the idea one step further.

The problem is that many regular posts go unseen, and only a small percentage of a user’s contacts see a given post; though it varies depending on how engaged your contacts are. Read more…

Recommended: 6 Lies of Content Marketing That Businesses Must Avoid

Oct 23: 4 Ways To Keep Your Website From Getting Hacked

4 Ways To Keep Your Website From Getting Hacked

Small businesses are especially vulnerable to hacking because they usually lack the technology expertise and site security that larger companies have. They also suffer more if their lack of expertise slows repairs and their ability to get back to work. Read more…

Recommended: Top 3 Crowdfunding Tips to Get Funded

Oct 23: Mobile Strategies To Win Over Purchasing Preferences Of Women

Mobile Strategies To Win Over Purchasing Preferences Of Women

It’s a fact that women are now responsible for 85 percent of all purchasing decisions in the United States and recent research shows that they overwhelmingly prefer to shop in physical retail stores.

They like to touch and feel the products they’re considering buying and they enjoy the social interactions that come from shopping with friends and family. Read more…

Recommended: How to Empower Entrepreneurs With Crowdfunding

Oct 23: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 23: How To Promote Your Startup On A Shoe-String Budget

How To Promote Your Startup On A Shoe-String Budget

What do smart entrepreneurs do different to ensure their business stays profitable? They do the simple things right. Simple things really, like finding cheap ways to get exposure, or hearing their customers out, or networking in the right places. With all this covered, the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for every new customer falls low enough to make their business model sustainable in both the long and short run.

If you have a young business that’s losing steam fast compared to its rivals, it’s very likely you’re facing a competitor who has found inexpensive and effective ways to market itself to new customers. Read more…

Recommended: How To Do More With Less – Smarter Content Marketing Strategies

Oct 23: 3 Secrets To Marketing Your Small Business Successfully

3 Secrets To Marketing Your Small Business Successfully

It’s the entrepreneurial spirit that shapes the economy, but it’s difficult to shape anything if no one knows about your products or services. Here are 3 nuggets of marketing advice to small-business owners who need to get the word out…

1) Target your customer.

According to one of Bill Cosby’s famous quotes, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” Now, he doesn’t mean saying “Please” is the key to failure. Read more…

Recommended: 4 Ways To Overcome Fear And Be More Confident

Oct 23: How To Be A Better Manager – 4 Tips

How To Be A Better Manager - 4 Tips

You want your employees to perform at their best, but there’s a fine line between being a tough manager with high expectations and being an unreasonable asshole. Here are 3 tips to ensure that you’re on the right side of the line and don’t lose your best workers:

1) Give your employees a reason to give a crap. Read more…

Recommended: 6 Smart Email Triggers for Marketing Automation

Oct 23: Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too …

SAY OF THE DAY: “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.” -Warren Buffett… read more

Oct 23: Essential Tips for Successful Crowdfunding

Essential Tips for Successful Crowdfunding

It seems like everyone is using crowdfunding to kick off their new business venture, be it a new coffee shop, or electronic gadget. But the usefulness of crowdfunding is still debatable. Is crowdfunding even right for your business?

Here’s some information and and a few tips that will help explain crowdfunding concepts and how you can take advantage of them to fund your business.

What is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is a way of raising money for a new venture by soliciting small donations or investments from many people online. Read more…

Recommended: 5 Counter-Productive Things You Should NOT Do Every Day

Oct 23: 5 Surprising Reasons To Raise The Price Of Your Product

5 Surprising Reasons To Raise The Price Of Your Product

Should you charge a premium price for providing an extraordinary experience and value? Why bang your head against the wall trying to undercut competitors’ prices?

Selling premium products and services at premium prices leads to greater profits. If you want to make a million this year, you’d have to sell 40,000 copies of your product at $25. Read more…

Recommended: Email Marketing Tips for Small Business

Oct 22: When To Start Outsourcing Some Of Your Busy Work

When To Start Outsourcing Some Of Your Busy Work

When should you start thinking about outsourcing some of your tasks? As a small business entrepreneur, time is always scarce, and you find that you just can’t do everything yourself the way you would like to. Maybe you’ve thought about outsourcing, but it’s not a simple decision because you need to compare the cost and quality of the person or company that will be working for you.

A simple search for companies using the terms “virtual assistant” and “outsourcing” will reveal a plethora of firms and virtual assistants that offer outsourcing services for everyday business tasks – such as customer service, tech support, bookkeeping, accounts payable, accounting, and even social media marketing. Read more…

Recommended: How to Maximize the Marketing Potential of YouTube – 9 Tips

Oct 22: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 22: How To Promote Your Startup On A Shoe-String Budget

How To Promote Your Startup On A Shoe-String Budget

What do smart entrepreneurs do different to ensure their business stays profitable? They do the simple things right. Simple things really, like finding cheap ways to get exposure, or hearing their customers out, or networking in the right places. With all this covered, the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for every new customer falls low enough to make their business model sustainable in both the long and short run.

If you have a young business that’s losing steam fast compared to its rivals, it’s very likely you’re facing a competitor who has found inexpensive and effective ways to market itself to new customers. Read more…

Recommended: Traditional Marketing And Content Marketing: Can They Co-Exist?

Oct 22: 5 Essential Business Plan Topics When Raising Venture Capital

5 Essential Business Plan Topics When Raising Venture Capital

Wondering whether or not to write a business plan? Do you really need one? Well, unless you have a spectacular track record as an entrepreneur or an exceptionally great new business idea, you cannot raise money to fund your startup without a business plan.

Furthermore, the business plans that result in successful outcomes usually contain insights into the customers who will buying your company’s products. Read more…

Recommended: Does Your Marketer Pass These 6 Traits?

Oct 22: 7 Strategic Tips to Boost Your Business Content Marketing

7 Strategic Tips to Boost Your Business Content Marketing

Is your B2B content marketing strategy successful? Or do you at times feel like your strategy needs a facelift? How can you boost your content strategy to generate a greater level of success? Here are seven definitive ways that you can fire up your content strategy, and generate palpable results.

Create content around a predetermined purpose

What is your company’s purpose? This is the first and most important question you need to ask yourself before any content is created. Read more…

Recommended: 8 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing May Fail

Oct 22: How To Attract More Customers With A Great Mobile Website

How To Attract More Customers With A Great Mobile Website

Do you have a mobile-friendly version of your small business website yet? If you don’t, you could be missing tons of potential customers who use their smartphones to do the majority of their shopping because it’s more convenient.

Would you believe that more than half of all adults in the United States use a smartphone? Chances are, you’re one of them. Read more…

Recommended: The Secret of All Successful Marketing

Oct 22: Lead Generation: 19 Tips For Better Results

Lead Generation: 19 Tips For Better Results

Need more leads? Of course, you do!

A well-optimized landing page is one of the most effective methods of generating authentic leads for your business. It drives traffic to your website, develops familiarity with your visitors and can gain you warm leads.

But what marketing campaigns increase traffic to your page and drive conversions? What value exchange does your business need to increase leads?

And for year around affordable marketing, don’t forget online marketing sites. Read more…

Recommended: Uncommon Ways To Find Investors For Your Startup

Oct 22: How To Plan For An Early Retirement Now

How To Plan For An Early Retirement Now

Many of us dream of leaving the workplace while in our 40’s or 50’s instead of sticking it out until age 65. Early retirement is a tempting goal, but it can be tough to achieve.

There are four major obstacles to early retirement:

1) You have less time to earn money. If you start working at age 20 and retire at 65, you have 45 years to produce income. Read more…

Recommended: How To Plan For An Early Retirement Now

Oct 22: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 22: Email Marketing Is Still Alive And Well

Email Marketing Is Still Alive And Well

While some say that email isn’t an effective marketing tool anymore, research shows that it still has the highest ROI of any online marketing tactic.

One reason is that email is still a dominant avenue of communication in business. In fact, 91% check their email daily.
Email subscriptions to websites for updates and information is growing at the fastest rate ever, with 74% of consumers actually preferring to receive commercial communications by email.

Review Your Email Lists For Segmentation Opportunities

A common opportunity we uncover is email list segmentation. Read more…

Recommended: Maximize Profit From Lean Advertising

Oct 22: Social Media Marketing – 6 Myths

Social Media Marketing - 6 Myths

Here’s why your company’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social media campaigns aren’t performing as well as they could be.

Over the past five years, social media has become an increasingly important part of many companies‘ marketing strategies. Read more…

Recommended: Improve Profitability With These 10 Steps Marketing Plan

Oct 22: How to Manage Your Digital Marketing Without Falling Behind

How to Manage Your Digital Marketing Without Falling Behind

Business owners often struggle with a perpetual to-do list for running their companies, and it seems to be getting longer all the time. Digital marketing, in all its varied forms, is becoming increasingly important as more and more of your target audience is searching for and finding products and services on the internet. Read more…

Recommended: 6 Smart Email Triggers for Marketing Automation

Oct 22: The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your …

SAY OF THE DAY: “The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking.” -Robert H Schuller … read more

Oct 22: 4 Ways To Come Up With A Memorable Business Name

4 Ways To Come Up With A Memorable Business Name

Does your name matter? It might, in the case of your new business, if you want people to remember it. Judging from the long list of businesses a simple Google search yields when you query “naming your company,” it matters a lot.

While there are several technical strategies that can be used when choosing a name for your new venture, you can just as easily flip through the business section of any newspaper to get an idea of how other entrepreneurs are doing it.

However, don’t take this decision lightly. Read more…

Recommended: 5 Crowdfunding Steps Proven To Raise Money on GoFundMe

Oct 22: 2 Ways To Generate Quick Buzz For Your Business

2 Ways To Generate Quick Buzz For Your Business

Don’t you love when brands interact with you in a human, authentic way that leads to a satisfactory experience? That is, your problem is solved, and your needs are met.

What do we do when we have such an experience? Well, we talk about it. That is word-of-mouth buzz from social interaction that’s authentic and customer-service focused.

Here are 2 ways to generate this type of buzz for your business’ brand:

1) Communicate in a contextual way.

If a customer posts a negative message about your product or sends you a direct message on social media sites to request support, that immediately provides you with context for response. Read more…

Recommended: Smart Entrepreneurs Do These 4 Accounting Steps

Oct 21: 6 Reasons Why Time Is The Business Owner’s Most Scarce Resource

6 Reasons Why Time Is The Business Owner's Most Scarce Resource

Are you flushing your time – and money – down the toilet? Not long after you start a business on your own, you soon realize that you need to get smarter about managing time. If you feel overwhelmed, you may need to rethink how you use your time, which is an entrepreneur’s most valuable – and scarce – resource. Read more…

Recommended: Networking Events Are A Waste Of Time If You Don’t Do This

Oct 21: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 21: Why Twitter for Small Businesses?

Why Twitter for Small Businesses?

Are you debating whether your small business should invest time on Twitter?

Do you wonder how Twitter can help your business?

By being an active part of the Twitter community and sharing the right mix of content, you can reach a larger audience, generate more leads and become the go-to source when customers are ready to buy.

Twitter has evolved a lot since 2007. Read more…

Recommended: 11 Steps To Communicate Better As An Entrepreneur

Oct 21: 3 Tips To Recruit The Best Employees For Your Startup

3 Tips To Recruit The Best Employees For Your Startup

Why do startup entrepreneurs have a difficult time finding and recruiting good employees? Hiring the right people is a difficult task for many companies, even well-established businesses. The main difference is that startup entrepreneurs are often unable to retain the employees that they hire, and there are several reasons for that. Read more…

Recommended: Crowdfunding vs Venture Capital

Oct 21: 5 Essential Business Plan Topics When Raising Venture Capital

5 Essential Business Plan Topics When Raising Venture Capital

Wondering whether or not to write a business plan? Do you really need one? Well, unless you have a spectacular track record as an entrepreneur or an exceptionally great new business idea, you cannot raise money to fund your startup without a business plan.

Furthermore, the business plans that result in successful outcomes usually contain insights into the customers who will buying your company’s products. Read more…

Recommended: 5 Crowdfunding Steps Proven To Raise Money on GoFundMe

Oct 21: 5 Ways To Generate Content That Is King

5 Ways To Generate Content That Is King

Have you ever heard the expression, “Content is king?” While content comes in many forms, engaging content is scarce these days. The fact is, you have only a few seconds to capture the interest of your website visitors or potential customers. There is simply too much competition for attention to expect that people will invest too much of their time in trying to decipher bad content. Read more…

Recommended: 4 Mistakes That Hurt Your Crowdfunding Campaign

Oct 21: Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Is Still Very Effective

Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Is Still Very Effective

Word-of-mouth advertising is 10 times more effective than a traditional ad. Contrary to popular belief, less than 10 percent of those sought-after personal recommendations happen online.

In addition to word of mouth marketing, don’t forget online marketing sites. You can visit 40billion.com which is a fastest-growing network of entrepreneurs and crowdfunders. Read more…

Recommended: How to Build a Social Website for Your Business

Oct 21: 5 Fundamentals Of Marketing For Any Business

5 Fundamentals Of Marketing For Any Business

Marketing strategies and tactics can be very different, depending on your industry, size or location. But there are five fundamentals your marketing must accomplish, no matter what type or size of business you run, and no matter where it is.

If your marketing is not accomplishing one or more of these five marketing musts, it might not be bringing your small business the new customers, brand advocates and followers you need to build a strong organization. Read more…

Recommended: Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Is Still Very Effective

Oct 21: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Oct 21: Smart Entrepreneurs Do These 4 Accounting Steps

Smart Entrepreneurs Do These 4 Accounting Steps

Unless you’re an accountant, the word accounting probably strikes fear in your heart, or a little bit of nervousness, at least. For aspiring entrepreneurs, the feeling is probably amplified. After all, poor bookkeeping out of the gate not only can set a project back in the short term, it can really come back to bite you over the long haul. Read more…

Recommended: 5 Crowdfunding Steps Proven To Raise Money on GoFundMe

Oct 21: 6 Ways to Boost Your Inbound Marketing with Evergreen Content

6 Ways to Boost Your Inbound Marketing with Evergreen Content

You’ve heard it many times: reuse, reduce, recycle. Did you know that this piece of advice doesn’t just apply to aluminum cans and plastic water bottles?

You can repurpose your influencer marketing content to increase its value to your campaign. Think of it like a neighborhood recycling program: You’re preventing waste while putting resources back into the community – or, in this case, your company.

1. Read more…

Recommended: 4 Ways To Keep Your Website From Getting Hacked

Oct 21: 3 SEO Tips For Small Business Success

3 SEO Tips For Small Business Success

Are you stressing out about changes in search engine algorithms and new social media platforms to learn? Search engine optimization (also known as SEO) is in constant flux, which means that your business’ online marketing strategies need to be revamped frequently. Read more…

Recommended: Facebook And Marketing: 4 Useful Tips For Success

Oct 21: Perfection is a road, not a destination. Every time I live, …

SAY OF THE DAY: “Perfection is a road, not a destination. Every time I live, I get an education.” ~Burk Hudson… read more

Oct 21: 8 Social Marketing Fails to Avoid

8 Social Marketing Fails to Avoid

1. Little or no social media or blogging activity.

Why start a blog and never publish? Why start a Twitter account and never tweet? In social marketing, you have to show up and be active. Yes, starting that Facebook page was a good idea, but unless you are going to be consistent in posting and using it, just forget about it.

You can save time by using sites like 40Billion.com, which specializes in broadcasting and promoting posts to its large network of several million users across the most popular social networking sites for small businesses – including Twitter, LinkedIn, 40Billion, and even Facebook. Read more…

Recommended: How To Get Influencers To Endorse And Grow Your Business

Oct 21: Selection Of A Good Marketing Manager – 6 Must Have Qualities

Selection Of A Good Marketing Manager - 6 Must Have Qualities

The marketing manager is a critical component to any company’s success. They’re the ones responsible for using creative, cunning, and savvy interpersonal skills to make the company’s product or service known. A company might sell a groundbreaking, innovating product, but it won’t matter much if no one knows about it.

Marketing directors can take a business struggling to make ends meet and jump-start its growth. Read more…

Recommended: 3 Tips For Using Promoted Posts To Get Customers Excited

Oct 20: Crowdfunding or P2P Lending – Which is Better for My Small Business?

Crowdfunding or P2P Lending - Which is Better for My Small Business?

When you are looking for funding, the dilemma use face is crowdfunding or peer-to-peer lending? This is the question many business owners are asking now that these alternative forms of business finance have become mainstream on the back of ineffective lending from the banks. So, the ultimate question then is, which method of finance would work best for you and your business?

Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending are two innovative ways to get money into your business. Read more…

Recommended: Avoid These Four Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Oct 20: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Oct 20: Five Prong Approach To Creating Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy:

Five Prong Approach To Creating Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy:

Creating a social media marketing strategy is a sin qua non for every social media marketing professional in order to have an effective social media campaign. Social media marketing should be merged with your traditional marketing plan. Read more…

Recommended: How to Build Great Marketing Relationships for your Business

Oct 20: Why Small Businesses Should Not Hire These 3 Types Of People

Why Small Businesses Should Not Hire These 3 Types Of People

Even the most perceptive business owners can make a bad hire when they don’t pay attention to the right signs. Here are 3 personality types that can bring down your business and how you can spot them in an interview.

1) The Narcissist.

It’s easy to make the mistake of hiring a narcissist. They are often charismatic and radiate self-confidence. Read more…

Recommended: Small Business Blogging – 5 Easy Tips

Oct 20: 5 Crowdfunding Steps Proven To Raise Money on Kickstarter

5 Crowdfunding Steps Proven To Raise Money on Kickstarter

This post on how to raise money successfully using simple crowdfunding steps answers common questions for startup entrepreneurs and small businesses thinking about using crowdfunding to raise funding.

I have been in the crowdfunding space since 2008, after experiencing first-hand one of the biggest problems plaguing new businesses: There was a $40 billion gap in funding every year! That year, I founded one of the first crowdfunding platforms for U.S. Read more…

Recommended: Traditional Marketing And Content Marketing: Can They Co-Exist?

Oct 20: 5 Surprising Reasons To Raise The Price Of Your Product

5 Surprising Reasons To Raise The Price Of Your Product

Should you charge a premium price for providing an extraordinary experience and value? Why bang your head against the wall trying to undercut competitors’ prices?

Selling premium products and services at premium prices leads to greater profits. If you want to make a million this year, you’d have to sell 40,000 copies of your product at $25. Read more…

Recommended: How to Empower Entrepreneurs With Crowdfunding

Oct 20: Using Hashtags in Social Media Marketing

Using Hashtags in Social Media Marketing

In case you hadn’t noticed, the hashtag has pretty much taken over social media.

With sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram all using this format to organize content, it should be clear that this once forgotten character on the keyboard has finally made the big time.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who just don’t seem to understand the new trend. Read more…

Recommended: Does Your Marketing Strategy Work For You?

Oct 20: Think Twice Before Posting on These Social Media Sites

Think Twice Before Posting on These Social Media Sites

The Holy Grail of social media outreach is engagement, which goes beyond broadcasting to interacting with your fans. While some businesses might use 40Billion, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networks to drive traffic to their own websites, the more that people are engaging with your posts and sharing your content with their own networks, the more brand loyalty you can build.

While there’s no tried-and-true formula for everyone to maximize engagement all the time, outreach on social media doesn’t have to be like blindly throwing darts at a board. Read more…

Recommended: Think Twice Before Posting on These Social Media Sites

Oct 20: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Oct 20: 3 Winning Social Marketing Strategies From Top Brands

3 Winning Social Marketing Strategies From Top Brands

Do you follow a brand in social media? Are you glad you did? If that’s the case, they are doing either one of three things:

. Connecting with one of your passions and/or interests.
. Entertaining you with their engaging personality.
. Providing interesting and/or important information to you. Read more…

Recommended: Does Your Marketing Strategy Work For You?

Oct 20: 5 Fundamentals Of Marketing For Any Business

5 Fundamentals Of Marketing For Any Business

Marketing strategies and tactics can be very different, depending on your industry, size or location. But there are five fundamentals your marketing must accomplish, no matter what type or size of business you run, and no matter where it is.

If your marketing is not accomplishing one or more of these five marketing musts, it might not be bringing your small business the new customers, brand advocates and followers you need to build a strong organization. Read more…

Recommended: Are You a Micro-Manager? Here Are 3 Ways to Change

Oct 20: How To Be A Better Manager – 4 Tips

How To Be A Better Manager - 4 Tips

You want your employees to perform at their best, but there’s a fine line between being a tough manager with high expectations and being an unreasonable asshole. Here are 3 tips to ensure that you’re on the right side of the line and don’t lose your best workers:

1) Give your employees a reason to give a crap. Read more…

Recommended: 7 Strategic Tips to Boost Your Business Content Marketing

Oct 20: The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his …

SAY OF THE DAY: “The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.” -Confucius … read more

Oct 20: How To Promote Your Startup On A Shoe-String Budget

How To Promote Your Startup On A Shoe-String Budget

What do smart entrepreneurs do different to ensure their business stays profitable? They do the simple things right. Simple things really, like finding cheap ways to get exposure, or hearing their customers out, or networking in the right places. With all this covered, the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for every new customer falls low enough to make their business model sustainable in both the long and short run.

If you have a young business that’s losing steam fast compared to its rivals, it’s very likely you’re facing a competitor who has found inexpensive and effective ways to market itself to new customers. Read more…

Recommended: 5 Tips for Digital Marketing Success

Oct 20: 3 Steps for Marketers to Get More Out of Social Media Posts

3 Steps for Marketers to Get More Out of Social Media Posts

The challenge of capturing the ROI of social media is almost as old as the Internet itself. The reason boils down to basic consumer behavior. For one, shoppers engage with brands at multiple touch points, across a range of devices. And new digital technologies are lowering the barrier for startups to enter the market.

This landscape is creating a fragmented data picture –
information often lives in silos between teams. Read more…

Recommended: Does Your Marketer Pass These 6 Traits?

Oct 19: What To Look For When Selecting A Good B2B Digital Marketing Agency

What To Look For When Selecting A Good B2B Digital Marketing Agency

In the competitive and increasingly saturated B2B market, it’s never been more important for you to have outstanding marketing strategies. Finding a digital marketing agency that specializes in B2B is a great way to boost results, as long as they are right for your company and sector.

How not to do it…and what to do instead

The most dangerous move you can make is choosing the first digital marketing agency that you come across. Read more…

Recommended: 4 Ways To Overcome Fear And Be More Confident

Oct 19: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 19: Lead Generation: 19 Tips For Better Results

Lead Generation: 19 Tips For Better Results

Need more leads? Of course, you do!

A well-optimized landing page is one of the most effective methods of generating authentic leads for your business. It drives traffic to your website, develops familiarity with your visitors and can gain you warm leads.

But what marketing campaigns increase traffic to your page and drive conversions? What value exchange does your business need to increase leads?

And for year around affordable marketing, don’t forget online marketing sites. Read more…

Recommended: Social Media Marketing – 6 Myths

Oct 19: 4 Ideas for a Customized Marketing Strategy to Reach the Right Audience

4 Ideas for a Customized Marketing Strategy to Reach the Right Audience

Reaching the right audience at the right time with the right message is very crucial to any marketer. You already know why you need to do it. The problem is that you’re part of a small team and that there are only 24 hours in a day. What you need is an arsenal of high-impact tactics that are creative, easy to implement, and proven to work.

1. Read more…

Recommended: Seven Winning Market Strategies To Generate Sales

Oct 19: Promote Your Business on a Tight Budget

Promote Your Business on a Tight Budget

This ‘P’ is for Promotion and Publicity. Not to be confused with Marketing. Marketing deals with how you express your essence, your identity. Promotion deals with how you convey your marketing message to your target audience, and Publicity is what you get when people notice your offer and talk about it. Read more…

Recommended: 3 Social Media Tips For Business Owners

Oct 19: 4 Ways to Market Your Bootstrapped Startup Online

4 Ways to Market Your Bootstrapped Startup Online

Some marketing strategies become less effective and some more effective. As a startup with limited resources, you need to pay especially close attention to what’s current so you can get the most bang for your marketing budget. You already know that you have to setup social media accounts. Read more…

Recommended: How to Maximize the Marketing Potential of YouTube – 9 Tips

Oct 19: One Man Marketing Department !!!

One Man Marketing Department !!!

As a small business, or a one man (or woman) show, marketing can be downright difficult to tackle. Where do you start? What would a realistic marketing plan be? How can you get the most out of your time? These are all questions that small businesses face. Here’s how to rock it out as a one-person marketing department.

Set Realistic Goals:

We’ll just throw this out there – you’re not going to have the capabilities of Proctor & Gamble when it comes to your marketing efforts. Read more…

Recommended: Cheap Ways To Get Exposure, Stay Profitable.

Oct 19: 4 Ways to Market Your Bootstrapped Startup Online

4 Ways to Market Your Bootstrapped Startup Online

Some marketing strategies become less effective and some more effective. As a startup with limited resources, you need to pay especially close attention to what’s current so you can get the most bang for your marketing budget. You already know that you have to setup social media accounts. Read more…

Recommended: Selection Of A Good Marketing Manager – 6 Must Have Qualities

Oct 19: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 19: Cheap Ways To Get Exposure, Stay Profitable.

Cheap Ways To Get Exposure, Stay Profitable.

What do smart entrepreneurs do different to ensure their business stays profitable? They do the simple things right. Simple things really, like finding cheap ways to get exposure, or hearing their customers out, or networking in the right places. Number one marketing tip is don’t just think outside the box, get rid of the box! Be creative. Read more…

Recommended: Improve Your E-Mail Marketing – Follow These 10 Steps

Oct 19: How To Be More Creative In Business

How To Be More Creative In Business

To be an innovative entrepreneur, you want to foster creativity in your daily life so that your mind is ready when opportunity arises.

Unusual combinations, sometimes called “remote associations,” are related ideas that may seem unrelated at first glance. They are the essence of creative thinking.

To cultivate creativity, you want to increase your chances of stumbling on an unexpected link. Read more…

Recommended: The 7 Crowdfunding Tips That Are Most Important

Oct 19: 3 Ways to Grow Your Small Business Brand on Google

3 Ways to Grow Your Small Business Brand on Google

Google loves big brand names, and for good reason. But that doesn’t mean smaller companies don’t stand a chance when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO).

In regard to natural search results, the better the results Google can deliver, the more people will use its service. Read more…

Recommended: One Man Marketing Department !!!

Oct 19: Misery nourishes your ego – that’s why you see so many miserable …

SAY OF THE DAY: “Misery nourishes your ego – that’s why you see so many miserable people in the world. The basic, central point is the ego.” — Osho… read more

Oct 19: 5 Ways to Start a Business Part-Time While Holding a Day Job Full-Time

5 Ways to Start a Business Part-Time While Holding a Day Job Full-Time

You know you want to start a business, but you can’t shake those financial pressures – rent or a mortgage, a car payment and maybe you have kids. Even young people have responsibilities after all. But tack on the fact your business idea will surely take time to catch on, and starting up can seem even further out of reach.

You are a perfect candidate to become a part-time entrepreneur. Read more…

Recommended: 6 Tips To Achieve Marketing Goals

Oct 19: How to Become a Twitter Marketing Expert Quickly

How to Become a Twitter Marketing Expert Quickly

Although Twitter started off as a consumer application, businesses have realized in recent years that Twitter’s effectiveness makes it perfect for marketing. People these days have short attention spans and sending out your message, known as a tweet, in a quick sentence or two can get the idea out there before potential customers have time to lose interest. Read more…

Recommended: 3 SEO Tips For Small Business Success

Oct 18: 5 Crowdfunding Steps Proven To Raise Money on Indiegogo

5 Crowdfunding Steps Proven To Raise Money on Indiegogo

This post on how to raise money successfully using simple crowdfunding steps answers common questions for startup entrepreneurs and small businesses thinking about using crowdfunding to raise funding.

I have been in the crowdfunding space since 2008, after experiencing first-hand one of the biggest problems plaguing new businesses: There was a $40 billion gap in funding every year! That year, I founded one of the first crowdfunding platforms for U.S. Read more…

Recommended: How to Create a Great Invoice – 7 Tips

Oct 18: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Oct 18: 6 Creative Ways of Marketing Your Startup on a Budget

6 Creative Ways of Marketing Your Startup on a Budget

There are endless ways to finance your ideas, but there’s nothing like marketing a startup with a modest budget. Limited funds give you an excuse to flex your creative muscle and truly share your vision with the world.

Don’t rely on the same old banner ads and Google reviews. Instead, try these 6 marketing strategies to place the spotlight on your business:

1. Read more…

Recommended: Does Your Marketing Strategy Work For You?

Oct 18: 5 Essential Business Plan Topics When Raising Venture Capital

5 Essential Business Plan Topics When Raising Venture Capital

Wondering whether or not to write a business plan? Do you really need one? Well, unless you have a spectacular track record as an entrepreneur or an exceptionally great new business idea, you cannot raise money to fund your startup without a business plan.

Furthermore, the business plans that result in successful outcomes usually contain insights into the customers who will buying your company’s products. Read more…

Recommended: Targeting B2B Customers Effectively When Your Targets Keep Moving

Oct 18: Selection Of A Good Marketing Manager – 6 Must Have Qualities

Selection Of A Good Marketing Manager - 6 Must Have Qualities

The marketing manager is a critical component to any company’s success. They’re the ones responsible for using creative, cunning, and savvy interpersonal skills to make the company’s product or service known. A company might sell a groundbreaking, innovating product, but it won’t matter much if no one knows about it.

Marketing directors can take a business struggling to make ends meet and jump-start its growth. Read more…

Recommended: Tumblr – 7 Things To Know About

Oct 18: Essential Tips for Successful Crowdfunding

Essential Tips for Successful Crowdfunding

It seems like everyone is using crowdfunding to kick off their new business venture, be it a new coffee shop, or electronic gadget. But the usefulness of crowdfunding is still debatable. Is crowdfunding even right for your business?

Here’s some information and and a few tips that will help explain crowdfunding concepts and how you can take advantage of them to fund your business.

What is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is a way of raising money for a new venture by soliciting small donations or investments from many people online. Read more…

Recommended: The Unexpected Pros And Cons of Business Competitions

Oct 18: 3 Reasons To Work For A Startup First

3 Reasons To Work For A Startup First

You’re an aspiring entrepreneur, so why are you working for an entrepreneur? Is working at another startup a route to nowhere or a good career move? It just might pay to work at someone else’s startup before starting your own. Here are 3 reasons why:

1) Startups can take a chance on talent.

Getting a first job is key to launching your career as an entrepreneur. Read more…

Recommended: 5 Counter-Productive Things You Should NOT Do Every Day

Oct 18: Crowdfunding or P2P Lending – Which is Better for My Small Business?

Crowdfunding or P2P Lending - Which is Better for My Small Business?

When you are looking for funding, the dilemma use face is crowdfunding or peer-to-peer lending? This is the question many business owners are asking now that these alternative forms of business finance have become mainstream on the back of ineffective lending from the banks. So, the ultimate question then is, which method of finance would work best for you and your business?

Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending are two innovative ways to get money into your business. Read more…

Recommended: 5 Mobile Marketing Methods That Work

Oct 18: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 18: The 7 Crowdfunding Tips That Are Most Important

The 7 Crowdfunding Tips That Are Most Important

Crowdfunding is a collective cooperation of people who network and pool their money and resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other organizations. Unlike angel investments, in which an investor takes a large stake in a small business, with crowdfunding, you can literally attract a “crowd” of people – each of whom takes a small stake (if any) in a business idea by contributing towards an online funding target. Read more…

Recommended: Lead Generation: 19 Tips For Better Results

Oct 18: How To Hire Great Employees As A New Manager

How To Hire Great Employees As A New Manager

Hiring staff can be difficult as a new manager, and making bad choices can be disastrous. These 5 easy steps will help you find the right fit for your company:

1) Determine what you need.

Many people make the mistake of not clearly defining the skills needed before starting to interview. This can lead to hiring people because you like them or they’re impressive in an interview. Read more…

Recommended: Marketing Tips That Even Savvy Businesses Overlook

Oct 18: 3 Ways to Grow Your Small Business Brand on Google

3 Ways to Grow Your Small Business Brand on Google

Google loves big brand names, and for good reason. But that doesn’t mean smaller companies don’t stand a chance when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO).

In regard to natural search results, the better the results Google can deliver, the more people will use its service. Read more…

Recommended: The Unexpected Pros And Cons of Business Competitions

Oct 18: It is not an arrogant government that chooses priorities, it’s …

SAY OF THE DAY: “It is not an arrogant government that chooses priorities, it’s an irresponsible government that fails to choose.” Tony Blair … read more

Oct 18: Marketing Tips That Even Savvy Businesses Overlook

Marketing Tips That Even Savvy Businesses Overlook

Remember to listen:

Proactive listening is by far the most underused online marketing tactic. Too many companies have lulled themselves into believing that social-media monitoring is just waiting for someone to say something bad or ask a customer-service question. Read more…

Recommended: 9 Ways of Making Content More Effective

Oct 18: Seven Winning Market Strategies To Generate Sales

Seven Winning Market Strategies To Generate Sales

Every firm has something that it calls a market strategy. Unfortunately, many market strategies are ineffective and almost guarantee failure.

Market strategies that really work always have the following characteristics:

1. They are strategic rather than tactical.

This sounds simple, but it’s a point that many people find confusing. Read more…

Recommended: Crowdfunding vs Venture Capital

Oct 17: Popularity of Local Mobile Marketing

Popularity of Local Mobile Marketing

Location-based mobile marketing promises the sky: high conversion rates, surgical targeting, and rich consumer profiles.

But does it deliver? According to many accounts, it does.
Not surprisingly, retailers, brands, and agencies are scrambling to hone their location-based approaches. These encompass everything from “geo-aware” and “geo-fenced” ad campaigns, to hyper-local efforts keyed to Wi-Fi hotspots, and algorithmic location-based targeting of audience segments like soccer moms, bargain hunters, coffee enthusiasts, etc.

In a report from BI Intelligence on location-mobile marketing, key stats on the location-based services marketplace that indicate it’s supremacy in mobile marketing, explain how the most important techniques (such as geo-aware, geo-fenced, audience-based local-mobile campaigns) work, examine the cornerstones – such as data and audience building – to a successful location-based mobile strategy, look at who has the valuable location-based data, and analyze the six most effective local-mobile marketing tactics. Read more…

Recommended: 3 SEO Tips For Small Business Success

Oct 17: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Oct 17: Social Media Marketing – 6 Myths

Social Media Marketing - 6 Myths

Here’s why your company’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social media campaigns aren’t performing as well as they could be.

Over the past five years, social media has become an increasingly important part of many companies‘ marketing strategies. Read more…

Recommended: Reduce Your Website Bounce Rate With These 7 Steps

Oct 17: How To Be More Creative In Business

How To Be More Creative In Business

To be an innovative entrepreneur, you want to foster creativity in your daily life so that your mind is ready when opportunity arises.

Unusual combinations, sometimes called “remote associations,” are related ideas that may seem unrelated at first glance. They are the essence of creative thinking.

To cultivate creativity, you want to increase your chances of stumbling on an unexpected link. Read more…

Recommended: Best Online Sites For Small Businesses To Advertise

Oct 17: Essential Tips for Successful Crowdfunding

Essential Tips for Successful Crowdfunding

It seems like everyone is using crowdfunding to kick off their new business venture, be it a new coffee shop, or electronic gadget. But the usefulness of crowdfunding is still debatable. Is crowdfunding even right for your business?

Here’s some information and and a few tips that will help explain crowdfunding concepts and how you can take advantage of them to fund your business.

What is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is a way of raising money for a new venture by soliciting small donations or investments from many people online. Read more…

Recommended: Crowdfunding Made Easier With These 4 Tips

Oct 17: The Unexpected Pros And Cons of Business Competitions

The Unexpected Pros And Cons of Business Competitions

PRO: Free money to get your business started.

If you win, you could be awarded over $100,000 in cash and/or prizes that you can use to build, hire, and get your startup off the ground. In most cases, there are no strings attached and you don’t have to give up a percentage share of your business equity. Read more…

Recommended: How To Do More With Less – Smarter Content Marketing Strategies

Oct 17: How To Be A Better Manager – 4 Tips

How To Be A Better Manager - 4 Tips

You want your employees to perform at their best, but there’s a fine line between being a tough manager with high expectations and being an unreasonable asshole. Here are 3 tips to ensure that you’re on the right side of the line and don’t lose your best workers:

1) Give your employees a reason to give a crap. Read more…

Recommended: Does Your Marketing Strategy Work For You?

Oct 17: 3 Reasons Why You May Not Need To Write A Business Plan After All

3 Reasons Why You May Not Need To Write A Business Plan After All

Sure, you can lay out a proposed path to success in a business plan presentation template, but the road will be full of surprises. More important than attempting to forecast is knowing how to adapt and be flexible.

For exactly that reason, many top investors and incubators are shifting their views on written business plans. Read more…

Recommended: Content Marketing Made Easier With These 5 Tricks

Oct 17: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Oct 17: How To Hire Great Employees As A New Manager

How To Hire Great Employees As A New Manager

Hiring staff can be difficult as a new manager, and making bad choices can be disastrous. These 5 easy steps will help you find the right fit for your company:

1) Determine what you need.

Many people make the mistake of not clearly defining the skills needed before starting to interview. This can lead to hiring people because you like them or they’re impressive in an interview. Read more…

Recommended: Why Startup Entrepreneurs Need To Be More Like Reporters

Oct 17: 3 SEO Tips For Small Business Success

3 SEO Tips For Small Business Success

Are you stressing out about changes in search engine algorithms and new social media platforms to learn? Search engine optimization (also known as SEO) is in constant flux, which means that your business’ online marketing strategies need to be revamped frequently. Read more…

Recommended: Email Marketing Is Still Well And Alive – 5 Reasons

Oct 17: Using Social Media Influencers as a Marketing Strategy for Better ROI

Using Social Media Influencers as a Marketing Strategy for Better ROI

Influencer marketing has become a prime choice for brands that want to increase exposure and get connected with a larger pool of potential customers.

There’s no question that influencer marketing is a worthwhile pursuit for growing brands. But, what comes into question is the way brands tackle their campaigns. Read more…

Recommended: Using Hashtags in Social Media Marketing

Oct 17: If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast …

SAY OF THE DAY: “If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” -Mario Andretti … read more

Oct 17: How to Create an Inbound Marketing Plan for Success

How to Create an Inbound Marketing Plan for Success

Online business owners have two primary choices for building a customer base. You can invest your time and money in attracting new customers one-by-one, using techniques such as cold calling, pay-per-click advertising and media buys. These techniques are referred to as “outbound marketing” because you must push out your message and hope it falls on receptive ears and generates new customers.

But outbound marketing is becoming less effective due to the growing number of sales messages prospects are exposed to every day. Read more…

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Oct 17: 4 Signs That You Should Quit Your Failing Startup Business

4 Signs That You Should Quit Your Failing Startup Business

You’ve poured your heart and soul, your time, your money and more into your business, so it simply must succeed… Right? While that’s nice to say, it’s not always true. The more you’re able to realize that success can come and go, the better positioned you’ll be to take advantage of other, more promising opportunities.

Here’s how to know when to give up:

1) Are you the only one who still believes in your business?

Sometimes the smartest people can have a blind spot when it comes to their own vision. Read more…

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Oct 16: 5 Ways to Start a Business Part-Time While Holding a Day Job Full-Time

5 Ways to Start a Business Part-Time While Holding a Day Job Full-Time

You know you want to start a business, but you can’t shake those financial pressures – rent or a mortgage, a car payment and maybe you have kids. Even young people have responsibilities after all. But tack on the fact your business idea will surely take time to catch on, and starting up can seem even further out of reach.

You are a perfect candidate to become a part-time entrepreneur. Read more…

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Oct 16: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 16: 3 Ways to Grow Your Small Business Brand on Google

3 Ways to Grow Your Small Business Brand on Google

Google loves big brand names, and for good reason. But that doesn’t mean smaller companies don’t stand a chance when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO).

In regard to natural search results, the better the results Google can deliver, the more people will use its service. Read more…

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Oct 16: Mobile Strategies To Win Over Purchasing Preferences Of Women

Mobile Strategies To Win Over Purchasing Preferences Of Women

It’s a fact that women are now responsible for 85 percent of all purchasing decisions in the United States and recent research shows that they overwhelmingly prefer to shop in physical retail stores.

They like to touch and feel the products they’re considering buying and they enjoy the social interactions that come from shopping with friends and family. Read more…

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Oct 16: Does Your Marketer Pass These 6 Traits?

Does Your Marketer Pass These 6 Traits?

When you’re getting ready for a website redesign, you need to make sure that you partner with a certain kind of online marketing agency. Anyone can say they design websites nowadays; but not everyone can say they produce websites that look great, are easy to use, and have a real, measurable impact on your revenue stream.

Your website is your most valuable marketing asset. Read more…

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Oct 16: Reduce Your Website Bounce Rate With These 7 Steps

Reduce Your Website Bounce Rate With These 7 Steps

Are you finding that your website bounce rate is higher than you expected? Are you struggling to put your finger on what could be causing it? There are many factors which may make your bounce rate high or low but the main factor to work on is your website itself.

And speaking of improving your bounce rate and get more from your marketing budget, don’t forget online marketing sites. Read more…

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Oct 16: Social Media Marketing – 6 Myths

Social Media Marketing - 6 Myths

Here’s why your company’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social media campaigns aren’t performing as well as they could be.

Over the past five years, social media has become an increasingly important part of many companies‘ marketing strategies. Read more…

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Oct 16: 4 Steps to Crowdfunding Success

4 Steps to Crowdfunding Success

The biggest problem that many small businesses throughout the United States face is how to secure startup or initial funding from traditional lenders. Since the 2008 financial meltdown, banks are under a lot of pressure to make safer loans, resulting in stricter underwriting guidelines and fewer loans being approved.

With the advent of crowdfunding providing a more accessible option, the amount of small businesses with crowdfunding campaigns has significantly increased. Read more…

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Oct 16: How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Project to 2,500,000 People for Only $20

Want to get the word out? Did you know you can broadcast your crowdfunding project or campaign to over 2,500,000 active users on 40Billion, Twitter, Facebook, and Google for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to promote your message, brand, product, service, fundraising campaign, crowdfunding project, or small business to the world.

Are you trying to raise money on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme? For over 4 years, aspiring crowdfunders and startup entrepreneurs have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers and investors. Read more…

Oct 16: Email Marketing Is Still Alive And Well

Email Marketing Is Still Alive And Well

While some say that email isn’t an effective marketing tool anymore, research shows that it still has the highest ROI of any online marketing tactic.

One reason is that email is still a dominant avenue of communication in business. In fact, 91% check their email daily.
Email subscriptions to websites for updates and information is growing at the fastest rate ever, with 74% of consumers actually preferring to receive commercial communications by email.

Review Your Email Lists For Segmentation Opportunities

A common opportunity we uncover is email list segmentation. Read more…

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Oct 16: 7 Ways to Grow Your Business Through Marketing Partners

7 Ways to Grow Your Business Through Marketing Partners

You can attract new customers, increase sales and grow your pipeline instantly by partnering strategically with other businesses. There are many mutual benefits that make the work required to build a strong marketing partnership worthwhile. There is the implied endorsement that goes along with it as well.

Strategy is a key to a success. Read more…

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Oct 16: Does Your Marketer Pass These 6 Traits?

Does Your Marketer Pass These 6 Traits?

When you’re getting ready for a website redesign, you need to make sure that you partner with a certain kind of online marketing agency. Anyone can say they design websites nowadays; but not everyone can say they produce websites that look great, are easy to use, and have a real, measurable impact on your revenue stream.

Your website is your most valuable marketing asset. Read more…

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Oct 16: Never invest in a business you cannot understand. -Warren Buffett

SAY OF THE DAY: “Never invest in a business you cannot understand.” -Warren Buffett … read more

Oct 16: Improve Your E-Mail Marketing – Follow These 10 Steps

Improve Your E-Mail Marketing - Follow These 10 Steps

Most brands have a “pretty decent” email marketing program, but could it be better? Take a look at these 11 things to try and improve your engagement.

1. Take a hard look at your preference strategy.

There are three tips on capturing preferences: ask them, observe them and group them (into categories). Read more…

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Oct 16: The Real Reasons Why VC Investors Delete Your Emails

The Real Reasons Why VC Investors Delete Your Emails

What should you include in an introductory email to a potential VC investor if your goal is to actually get them to open it and read it? Although every investor pitch and every investor is different, these 4 blunders are common to most of the unsuccessful ones:

1) The email has a worthless subject line.

Too often, entrepreneurs use boring, worthless subject lines in their investor pitches. Read more…

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Oct 15: The Unexpected Pros And Cons of Business Competitions

The Unexpected Pros And Cons of Business Competitions

PRO: Free money to get your business started.

If you win, you could be awarded over $100,000 in cash and/or prizes that you can use to build, hire, and get your startup off the ground. In most cases, there are no strings attached and you don’t have to give up a percentage share of your business equity. Read more…

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Oct 15: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 15: 4 Steps To Close Up Shop When It’s Time To Call It Quits

4 Steps To Close Up Shop When It's Time To Call It Quits

Face it… The topic of shutting down your business isn’t something most entrepreneurs want to contemplate, but something most will have to deal with inevitably.

There’s just no skating around the issue that for whatever reasons, sometimes companies must close up shop. Read more…

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Oct 15: When To Start Outsourcing Some Of Your Busy Work

When To Start Outsourcing Some Of Your Busy Work

When should you start thinking about outsourcing some of your tasks? As a small business entrepreneur, time is always scarce, and you find that you just can’t do everything yourself the way you would like to. Maybe you’ve thought about outsourcing, but it’s not a simple decision because you need to compare the cost and quality of the person or company that will be working for you.

A simple search for companies using the terms “virtual assistant” and “outsourcing” will reveal a plethora of firms and virtual assistants that offer outsourcing services for everyday business tasks – such as customer service, tech support, bookkeeping, accounts payable, accounting, and even social media marketing. Read more…

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Oct 15: Is Google Threat to Social-Media Marketing?

Is Google Threat to Social-Media Marketing?

Google is putting out its Wildfire. The seemingly harmonious relationship between the search engine giant and the social software platform is has come to an end after a partnership that lasted about 20 months.

As a part of Google, Wildfire’s aim was to help businesses improve their social media marketing efforts. Read more…

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Oct 15: Seven Winning Market Strategies To Generate Sales

Seven Winning Market Strategies To Generate Sales

Every firm has something that it calls a market strategy. Unfortunately, many market strategies are ineffective and almost guarantee failure.

Market strategies that really work always have the following characteristics:

1. They are strategic rather than tactical.

This sounds simple, but it’s a point that many people find confusing. Read more…

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Oct 15: 4 Ideas for a Customized Marketing Strategy to Reach the Right Audience

4 Ideas for a Customized Marketing Strategy to Reach the Right Audience

Reaching the right audience at the right time with the right message is very crucial to any marketer. You already know why you need to do it. The problem is that you’re part of a small team and that there are only 24 hours in a day. What you need is an arsenal of high-impact tactics that are creative, easy to implement, and proven to work.

1. Read more…

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Oct 15: Maximize Profit From Lean Advertising

Maximize Profit From Lean Advertising

The footwear industry has traditionally been a hotbed of memorable advertising, with brands such as Nike and Reebok spending millions to sign athlete-endorsers and hire ad agencies that create spectacular TV campaigns. Eye-tracking technology, facial-expression analysis, and lab experiments help better understand why people choose to view online videos, what narrative techniques keep them watching, and what features prompt them to share videos with friends. Read more…

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Oct 15: How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

How to Advertise Your Business to 2,500,000 People on 4 Social Networks for $20

Want to spread the word about your business? Did you know you can broadcast your product or service to our large audience across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and 40Billion for only $20, or as little as $5 a day? Buy a promo ad to broadcast your small business, startup company, product, or service to 2,500,000+ social users on 4 social networks – including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and 40Billion – at once.

For over 4 years, aspiring entrepreneurs and startup companies have used 40Billion for affordable promotion across popular social networks in order to reach more potential customers. Read more…

Oct 15: How To Deal With The Risky Business Of Launching Your Own Startup

How To Deal With The Risky Business Of Launching Your Own Startup

Dreaming about leaving that “day job” and starting your own business? Doing that is easier said than done. As anyone who has ever contemplated starting a business knows, the risks of the venture loom large.

How does one leave the security of a job and paycheck and benefits for the uncertainty of a new business? The potential perils seem too big, but risk is part of the game. Read more…

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Oct 15: Crowdfunding or P2P Lending – Which is Better for My Small Business?

Crowdfunding or P2P Lending - Which is Better for My Small Business?

When you are looking for funding, the dilemma use face is crowdfunding or peer-to-peer lending? This is the question many business owners are asking now that these alternative forms of business finance have become mainstream on the back of ineffective lending from the banks. So, the ultimate question then is, which method of finance would work best for you and your business?

Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending are two innovative ways to get money into your business. Read more…

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Oct 15: How to Brainstorm Breakthrough Ideas for Your Business

How to Brainstorm Breakthrough Ideas for Your Business

It’s also a time to reflect on your business and find the spark for your next breakthrough idea.

No clue what that is? To ignite new light bulb moments, start with these idea-generating tactics:

Embrace fear.

Ask yourself: “What scares me?” Then, explore that dark space. What if you overhauled your product and reintroduced it – what features would it have? Where would you invest money if you replaced a major conference or trade show with other lead-generating activities? Even if something is working for you, is there a way to make it better? As for your competition, instead of studying what they’re doing, contemplate what they’re afraid of, too.

Pull the trigger. Read more…

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Oct 15: You take on the responsibility for making your dream a reality. -Les Brown

SAY OF THE DAY: “You take on the responsibility for making your dream a reality.” -Les Brown … read more

Oct 15: Email Marketing Tips for Small Business

Email Marketing Tips for Small Business

Keeping the doors of your small business open can depend upon your ability to market to potential clients. Email marketing has been a mainstay strategy throughout the technological era. Prior to this, companies were limited to direct mail for advertising. Read more…

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Oct 15: How to Create Buzzworthy Content That Users Share

How to Create Buzzworthy Content That Users Share

Shareable content is your gateway to success in content marketing. If you can get your users to share your content regularly, or in high enough volume, you’ll gain access to thousands of new potential followers, earn tons of referral traffic, and you’ll gain permanent links that boost your domain authority and your website’s potential to rank higher in Google searches.

But what makes a piece of content “shareable” in the first place? Logic would dictate that there are certain qualities that shareable pieces have in common, and if they do, it should be possible to replicate those qualities in your own work.

So what makes people want to share content with others, and how can you use this to your advantage?

Technical factors

Videos, quizzes, and list-based articles tend to get more shares than other types of content, possibly because they’re relatively quick and easy to digest. Read more…

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