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ihelpsellllc · 6 years

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My 10 Biggest Mistakes in 10 Years as an Entrepreneur

Sourced From: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/baer-facts/my-10-biggest-mistakes-in-10-years-as-an-entrepreneur/

I guess I"m now a 4%-er. According to Inc. Magazine just 4% of new companies make it to 10 years. And guess what? We just made it here at Convince & Convert. Our 10 year anniversary is today! This is the longest I"ve ever done ANYTHING continuously (other than being a husband and a father), and I"m so proud of my team and the work they"ve done – and continue to do.

We"re so fired up; we even created a temporary new logo to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Convince & Convert.

I was an entrepreneur before I started this firm. In fact, Convince & Convert is my fifth startup endeavor, and I"m an investor in dozens of others. But this is certainly my most well-known and longest-running venture, so on this anniversary date, I decided to take some stock and think about the mistakes I"ve made along the way. I hope these confessions will help you in your own entrepreneurial journey.

There"s been a lot of successes, and I am incredibly thankful to my team, my family, and our remarkable clients, partners, collaborators, and friends for each of them. But me writing about what I may have done right isn"t particularly interesting, or illustrative, in my estimation.

Instead, here are the 10 biggest mistakes I"ve made in 10 years with Convince & Convert.

I Didn"t Delegate Early Enough

It feels like this is a classic entrepreneurial blunder. You trust yourself to do everything exactly how you want it done, and taking on more yourself is usually a pretty cost effective angle of attack as well. For the first four years of this company, I wrote every check, and spent every Saturday at my local bank branch depositing checks. Accounting is not something at which I am particularly adept.

Social Media AZ – back in 2009

Fortunately, I eventually realized that for a company to grow, the leadership of the firm needs to concentrate as much as possible on doing what they are UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO DO. Now, I seek every year to delegate about 15% of my time to others at Convince & Convert. When you do that consistently, it concentrates your own time like a reduction sauce. Eventually, you start to use your own time more and more efficiently and effectively.

I"m not all the way there yet, and I still do some stuff I probably shouldn"t, but I keep working on it. Delegation isn"t a dereliction of duty; it"s how good companies get better. Further, it"s a symptom of great trust in your team, when you let go of things that your formerly held in a death grip of micromanagement.

I Was Late Adopting Systems

Are you a golf fan? If so, you"ll know exactly what I mean when I remind you that there are two types of golfers. The first are practice-based golfers. They have a lot of coaches, and spend a lot of time practicing. They are trying to groove their swing to make it flawlessly repeatable. The second type of golfer are feel players. They seek less coaching and practice less often, trusting their instincts and creativity to take over when they need it.

I am a feel golfer, but in business.

Thus, I"m guilty of believing that if I can"t remember something, it"s probably not worth remembering. I also abhor unnecessary meetings, structure, and process, as I believe it thwarts creative problem solving and breeds inefficient use of time.

The Convince & Convert Team – 2012

This “go with the flow" attitude serves me well in the very early days, when indeed I could actually remember all that mattered. But I waited too long to flip the switch to project management systems, time tracking systems, accounting and finance systems. Fortunately, Kelly Santina, who heads our operations, came aboard and made me see the light about this and a great many other things.

Today, we are religious users of Teamwork Projects for project management, Sococo for communication, QuickBooks for accounting, and a flotilla of other systems to manage other elements of the business, including CoSchedule to maintain our editorial calendar.

I should have systematized earlier.

I Resisted Specialization For Too Long

One of the truisms of most small companies is “everyone wears a lot of hats." This is equal parts a financial necessity and a cultural necessity. At first, you don"t have the cash to pay someone to do just one job, and it"s also good for esprit de corps when everyone is pitching in to do everything that needs doing.

The Convince & Convert Team hiking in 2014

But you can"t play that game too long, and I did.

It"s true in a lot of areas, but most so in our business development function. For a long time, Kim Corak handled biz dev for all three divisions: speaking, consulting, and media/content. She did an amazing job. But eventually, I realized that to keep moving forward, we needed more specialized skills. Now, Kelly and I handle most media/content sales, Kim focuses almost exclusively on consulting, and the sublime Michelle Joyce handles the speaking side.

This division of labor isn"t always perfect, but it"s much more sensible than putting everything on one person, and it"s enabled us to continue to grow. I should have done this earlier, too.

I Didn"t Set Appropriate Customer Expectations

As we grew, one of our challenges was making sure customers knew/know that while I see have input on everything we create and publish, I am not personally making every slide of every strategic plan, and I"m not writing every blog post on this site (although I did for a long time).

It"s hard to set customer expectations appropriately, especially when I am the most visible member of the team and clients think I will personally manage every project.

We"re very good at this now, and I"m careful to always talk about WE and rarely about ME when discussing the company and our capabilities. But it was definitely a tough transition for a while there.

Today, we have a similar issue, but with timing. We"re often at capacity on strategy projects, and on content projects, meaning that new opportunities may have to wait 3-4 weeks before we can commence work. Being better at setting those expectations accordingly is something I"m still working through.

I Gathered Too Little Customer Feedback

Related to the prior point, when I was fully in the middle of every project, and essentially quarterbacked everything, it was easy to not worry about formalized customer feedback. I had a handle on what customers thought of us, because I was personally talking to all of them, all the time.

Now that we have grown, and the team does more customer interaction than do I, it"s critical that we have a consistent, standardized feedback system so that we all know how we"re doing, and where we stand.

About 18 months ago we moved to a Net Promoter Score survey protocol, whereby we survey consulting clients at least twice during each project. We also use NPS for speaking opportunities, and we"re going to roll it out for media/content. I am incredibly proud that our NPS is 73 right now, which is very, very high and puts us up there with the best brands in the world.

I wish I would have started this program years ago!

I Gave Disorganized Feedback to My Team

Like a lot of entrepreneurs, I can be a bit of a handful. When I have “suggestions" I tend to offer them at less than ideal times, with less than realistic expectations for execution. I used to email Kelly all the time with “ideas" on things we could/should improve. I"m SURE she loved that!

The Convince & Convert Team – 2014

And then I realized that every time I emailed her, she had to stop what she was doing and address whatever crazy idea I"d come up with in the prior 11 seconds.

Now – and this is especially key because we are 100% virtual and always have been, and we have very few meeting and calls – I send ONE email per week to our head of operations called SOMM: “stuff on my mind". It"s a compendium of everything that I"m thinking about or upon which I request a status update. Putting all of this in one, weekly email and resisting the temptation to fire off random “but what about…?" emails, has improved operating efficiency dramatically.

I Didn"t Force Proximity EVERY Time

As mentioned, we are an all-virtual firm, with team members all over the USA, and beyond. On occasion groups of us will connect face to face at a client meeting or conference. But the full Convince & Convert team meets in person just ONE time per year, at our annual strategic planning retreat.

Convince & Convert Retreat – 2016

Of our nine retreats, the first one was in Phoenix (when I still lived there) because there were very few of us, and we had no money. Then, we started going to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where we rent a giant house and the whole team (and their spouse/other/friend) lives together with harmony, good times, and good ideas.

We did Puerto Vallarta together in a house every year except for 2017 when we went to Santa Fe and stayed in a boutique hotel. And it was……..fine. But it was definitely not the same. In a virtual firm, in the rare cases when you do get together you have to make it count, and create as many opportunities for unstructured bonding and closeness as possible.

That one year, I didn"t. We did a hotel instead of a house. And it"s not like it killed the company or anything, but it hurt our cohesion a little, which is why we went back to a house this year.

I Pursued Ideas Without Execution

I"m an idea guy. Always have been. It"s why I love consulting. The challenge of figuring out how to improve someone else"s business is fun and exciting for me. But I"m guilty in my own businesses of letting the idea supersede the execution plan, and sometimes I pursue an opportunity without thinking it through 100%.

And it"s a fine line between a culture of trial and testing, and culture of going off half-cocked without a plan. I try really hard to land on the former, but sometimes I peek over toward the latter.

Perhaps the most egregious example is the ill-fated MarketingPodcasts.com project. This was—and maybe still is—a good idea, in my estimation. The premise back in 2013 was that podcast discovery is hard, and it was nearly impossible to find great marketing podcasts with any degree of efficiency. So, I decided to solve that problem. We worked with a dev team to build MarketingPodcasts.com, a sophisticated, algorithm-powered directory of marketing podcasts; like Google for audio programming. It worked, and people liked it.

Here"s the problem. I was so in love with the idea, and so convinced it solved a real problem, I never fully articulated how we were going to make money, or how MarketingPodcasts.com fit into our other divisions and programs at Convince & Convert. After a year or so (maybe less, I"ve blocked out the details!) we shut it down.

Lesson learned (I hope).

I Gave Up First Mover Advantage

A few years ago, I launched one of the first daily video programs in the marketing space, called Jay Today. It was before the Gary Vee show, and long before a lot of other programs of similar type and intent, of which there are now hundreds.

Partially because I was first (or nearly so), and partially because the content was at least decent, Jay Today got pretty good traction. Not Gary Vaynerchuk traction, but good by my mortal standards.

I did the Jay Today show three times each week for about 14 months. And then, I quit. I simply got tired of doing it, which is rare for me (my Social Pros podcast is 8+ years old). I think I just felt like I didn"t have anything else to say in that format at the time, and I sunsetted the show.

Afterwards came the big explosion in daily video programs and video podcasts. About 18 months after the end of Jay Today version 1.0, I returned with Jay Today version 2.0. And it was fine, but I"d lost my first mover advantage.

I let fatigue convince me to give away an edge I"d developed. That was a mistake.

I Picked the Wrong Competitors

In the early years, Convince & Convert was really just Jay"s blog, and operated as such. Then, as we grew it became a multi-author home of intermediate to advanced social media and content marketing advice and counsel.

Over time, we saw ourselves competing against Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, MarketingProfs, TopRank and other terrific online resources that publish daily articles with excellent, tactical, how-to guides to all things digital marketing.

We tried to fight that fire with our own fire, and our editorial approach here began to embrace volume and practical advice as key components.

I realize now that was a mistake. We"re not going to out how-to those great sites, and we never should have tried. We"re a thoughtful, strategic, consulting firm that works with many of the world"s most interesting brands to solve large and thorny marketing and customer experience challenges. We"re not in the how-to business, we"re in the “now what" business.

For a while there, our audience for our content was one persona, and our audience for our consulting services was a different persona. We"ve fixed that now, which is why we publish less frequently here than we used to, our content is purposefully longer-form and more detailed, and a lot of our stuff now is based on first or second party research.

We regained the right focus and are trying to serve the same, smart audience with both content and consulting.

I hope you agree. If you like what we"re doing here, you may want to visit this page to sign up for our feed, where we"ll send you a quick email each time we publish something new.

Thanks again for the opportunity to serve. Whether our relationship began today, 10 years ago, or anywhere in between, I very much appreciate your time and your trust.

And congratulations to all at Convince & Convert for being extraordinary every day, and for getting us to TEN YEARS! I don"t say it enough, but I love each and every one of you.

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ihelpsellllc · 6 years

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5 Life-Ruining Mistakes for New Home Owners to Avoid

Sourced From: https://retipster.com/homebuyingmistakes/

Buying a house is one of the biggest investments most people will ever make, and many of us make this decision with an astounding lack of information.

When I bought my first house, I had spent about 30 minutes …

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ihelpsellllc · 6 years

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How to Effectively Manage Your Rentals from Anywhere on Earth

Sourced From: https://retipster.com/how-to-effectively-manage-your-rentals-from-anywhere-on-earth/

The world gets smaller every day.

It’s a world where more than one in three buyers make offers sight-unseen and where virtual tours are quickly escalating from photos to videos to immersive virtual reality walk-throughs.

Investors buy rental properties …

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ihelpsellllc · 6 years

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Exclusive Freebie: Communication Icon Pack

Sourced From: https://inspiredm.com/exclusive-freebie-communication-icon-pack/

The power of communication cannot be underestimated, especially not with the Freepik Communication Icon Pack. It has everything that you could think of in relation communication in the modern world.

From smart slick cameras, tablets, and folders you have everything you can think of. Communication is all around us and is changing as the world evolves and modernizes. This icon pack is a constant reminder of that. There are three versions of each icon available and they are 100 percent editable which means you can customize them to suit your needs.

Each icon is free to download and even better you can find more styles on the Freepik and Flaticon websites. You can use the icons from anything to postcards to stationary. Free for personal and commercial use!

Download this awesome resources from here.

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ihelpsellllc · 6 years

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Google wants to clear up some mobile-first indexing confusion

Sourced From: https://www.vertical-leap.uk/blog/google-mobile-first-indexing-confusion/

Mobile-first indexing is currently rolling out across the web and Google is aware that many webmasters are still a little confused about what it means for them. So the search giant has attempted to clear up some of the confusion in a Twitter thread created last week.

You can see the thread for yourself by clicking here or on the embed below, but we’re going to cover all of the key points in this summary and remind you exactly what mobile-first indexing is (something Google doesn’t clarify in the Twitter thread).

What does Google have to say about mobile-first indexing?

We"ve seen great presentations & posts on mobile-first indexing, it"s awesome to see all the details (thanks, @aleyda @jenstar @alexisksanders @dawnieando @badams + others)! There are only a few things we"ve sometimes seen confusion about, so we thought we"d clarify them.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) June 14, 2018

There are seven key issues Google seems to think webmasters are having with mobile-first indexing. Here’s what the search giant wants to tell you:

URLs in search

With mobile-first indexing, we index the mobile version. When we recognise separate mobile URLs, we"ll show the mobile URL to mobile users, and the desktop URL to desktop users – the indexed content will be the mobile version in both cases.

Crawled counts

The total number of crawled URLs a day generally won"t change, but the balance will shift from mostly desktop to mostly mobile crawls. During a switch-over to mobile-first indexing we may temporarily crawl more as we re-index everything.

Cached page

Unfortunately, it looks like we"re currently still not showing a cached page for many mobile-first indexed sites. This is a bug, not by design, and should get resolved over time. It"s just the UI, it doesn"t affect crawling, indexing, or ranking.

Speed and mobile-first indexing

The mobile speed update in July is independent of mobile-first indexing. Fast sites are awesome for users, especially on mobile, since devices and connections there tend to be slower than with desktops.

Mobile website UIs

Using ‘hamburger-menus" and ‘accordions" on mobile websites is fine.

On requirements

Neither mobile-friendliness nor a mobile-responsive layout are requirements for mobile-first indexing. Pages without mobile versions still work on mobile, and are usable for indexing. That said, it"s about time to move from desktop-only and embrace mobile.

On ranking

The mobile-first index doesn"t change anything for ranking other than that the mobile content is used. While mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor on mobile, being in the mobile-first index is not.

If you still have questions, you can check Google"s documentation on mobile-first indexing by clicking the following links:

Mobile-first Indexing Rolling out mobile-first indexing Best practices for mobile-first indexing

You might also want to follow the Twitter thread we’ve been talking about for any updates, or you can put your own questions to Google on the thread.

What exactly is mobile-first indexing?

We feel most of the confusion about mobile-first indexing disappears once you know exactly what it is – especially when the majority of sites are going to be unaffected. So let’s chip in with our own attempt to clear up the mobile-first indexing confusion by explaining what it is.

Until recently, Google has used the content from the desktop version of pages to crawl, index and rank pages for all queries. The problem is, there are a number of websites now that run separate mobile and desktop versions of the same pages and this has caused some issues now that the majority of Google traffic is mobile.

Mobile-first indexing means that when Google detects separate mobile and desktop versions of the same pages it will now use the mobile version by default and then revert to the desktop version for users who are searching on computers.

This means you won’t be directly affected by mobile-first indexing, unless you have separate mobile and desktop pages. This is true for the majority of sites across the web and Google itself recommends using responsive design to deliver single pages across multiple devices – something that won’t be affected by mobile-first indexing because there’s only one version of your content.

There is a chance you’ll see some fluctuation for certain pages if there’s any change to the results around you but it’s unlikely anything drastic will happen.

If you’re running separate mobile and desktop versions of the same page anywhere across your site, then you’ll want to follow Google’s best practices for mobile-first indexing. Above all, check that your links and canonical tags are in order, aim to provide the same content across both versions and make sure you have structured data present on both pages.

If you have any further questions about mobile-first indexing or are having problems with optimising your pages for the switch, just get in touch with our team.

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ihelpsellllc · 6 years

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How to Get Your Posts Seen on Instagram (Really), Plus Weekend Links

Sourced From: https://www.realestateexpress.com/career-hub/blog/real-estate-weekend-links-social-media-edition/

Read: Ever thought of generating leads from Quora?

Apparently, this often-overlooked platform can actually be a goldmine for real estate leads. Bet you never thought of that one! According to this Follow Up Boss story, Quora’s great for these reasons:

Leads are pre-qualified. (People searching for answers on Quora are already thinking about buying or selling). You become an expert in your field by building authority as you answer questions. Your answers remain on the site so future leads can find you. As you gain followers, your traffic compounds.

That’s why you should use Quora, according to the story. For more on the how you’ll have to check out the full article here.

Follow your passion! Start your career in real estate now with our FREE Career Switch Kit!

Listen: How to get your posts seen on Instagram (really)

You can’t listen to every podcast, but if you’re just going to listen to one this week, make it this helpful guide to understanding the Instagram algorithm. Don’t you hate posting only to realize just a small handful of people have seen what you’ve put out there? Us, too. This podcast should help.

Here are three quick takeaways:

Everyone’s feed is unique because Instagram shows you posts based on how you interact within the platform, not based on who you follow. (2:50) Three main factors determine what will pop up in your feed: recency, interest and relationships. (3:33) Focus on quality to avoid getting lost in the shuffle as more and more brands join Instagram. (8:50)

Watch: Tips and advice for every new real estate agent out there

This is a 25-minute video loaded with tips for agents who have been working for less than five years. If you’re thinking to yourself, “I’m an old pro, I don’t need this stuff,” that could be true — but does someone you know need to watch this? Mentorship opportunity! Forward this along and you’ve helped out a young agent with just the touch of a button.

A couple key points we noticed:

Stay consistent. Tom Ferry says you have to try something 60 or 80 times before you have enough data to say whether it’s a failure or not. That’s about two months of knocking on doors every day, if you’re doing the math. (2:21) Know your daily number. How many conversations do you have to have before you get a contract? What kind of contract leads to a successful closing? The business is math. (11:51)

Follow: Speaking of Instagram…

Keeping with our Instagram theme this week, check out The Real Houses of IG. It’s an Instagram account by Kate Rumson, who does interior design, real estate investment, development — all that stuff. These inspiring, gorgeous photos will make you feel good about homes and be that little boost in your feed when you need a pick-me-up.

Act: Now’s the time to start planning for July 4th

July 4th isn’t that far away and if you’re going to do something fun for your clients or community, now’s the time to get ready for it. Will you participate in any community BBQ’s? Offer a special service or discount? Plan a July 4th themed email blast? Your choice, but whatever it is, start brainstorming now so you can execute with excellence.

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ihelpsellllc · 6 years

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Join Us for a Free, In-Depth Workshop to Improve Your Sales Skills

Sourced From: http://www.copyblogger.com/tim-paige-workshop-june/

At Copyblogger, we love to teach! We really have a great time teaching copywriting, content strategy, search engine optimization, social media strategy … The one thing we don"t teach? Selling. Because it"s not what we"re fantastic at. Fortunately, we found someone who is fantastic at it, without being … a creepy weirdo. (There, I said Read More…

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ihelpsellllc · 6 years

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6 Ways to Collaborate for Better Design

Sourced From: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2018/06/6-ways-to-collaborate-for-better-design/

Your team is all spread out— your designers are working from Lisbon, your content team is in New York, and your project manager is in Argentina. How do you create a system that makes it simple to organize and plan large web projects? There is a trick to getting designers and copywriters to work together smoothly, and it’s called communication. But even simple communication will fail if you don’t have the correct processes in place.

1. Set Up a Project Management Foundation

Before you begin collaborating, you’ll want to make sure you have an actual system set up. “I want to move forward, but I’m not sure what’s approved.” How often have you said that to your team? Some teams have a lot of fire in them. They like to dive right into the problem to find the solution, but that could cause a lot of problems later on. Most design problems aren’t actually design problems, they’re management problems.

Most design problems aren’t actually design problems, they’re management problems

What happens if you have the best designers in the world, but you fail to explain the client’s problem properly? What if the designs they send keep getting rejected? And what happens when the designers and writers understand the project differently? The key is to develop a solution that actually works for everyone so project managers can properly understand and explain the issue, and designers and writers can develop solutions that work for those problems. According to Sara, a Project Manager at Entermotion: The key to smooth design/writer collaboration is in the communication process; It’s important to be able to properly speak the same “language” so that all sides of it (design, writers, project managers) know exactly what’s needed and what’s being said; I think a lot of the mistakes in the process come down to a misunderstanding of the smaller details; Those smaller details can derail a big portion of the project even if they seem minuscule at first; Having everyone on the same page from the beginning and not starting out with “I think they want it like this…” (which leaves people assuming) or with too many open holes in the details can be detrimental to the whole process. This is the most important step to take when planning a website. You need a careful project manager to help ensure the success of a project by exploring what the creatives can handle, how project success will be measured, making sure the creatives can dream big while sticking with a nightmare-size budget, and a detailed plan for how the designers and creatives can make it happen. Each project manager will have her own tools, but there are a few trusted apps that we know can get you on track:

Develop a design structure to help you meet your goals Align your team’s goals with Basecamp or Asana and assign due dates, track projects, upload media content, and set calendar goals together. Visualize your team’s progress with Trello or Notion Keep up with your team on Slack or RocketChat

Once project managers have the right tools, they have to figure out the best way to implement changes.

2. Understand Project Scope Before Getting Started

Project managers should help determine all of the key project elements (and those tiny details that could derail a project):

Project Goals Deliverables Project Functions Desired Features Desired Deadline Agreed-Upon Budget

Once the scope has been determined, project managers should figure out what they are not handling:

Is the client hosting their own website? Is the client using a third-party company to get a logo developed? Does the client have a deep connection with a marketing firm that will help them?

To do all that properly, project managers should have a checklist of information ready:

Who is the main decision maker for the company? Does the client fully understand the scope of the project? Does the project manager fully understand the scope of the project?

To make sure everyone is on the same page, project managers should share back a project chart (or detailed list of steps) so the client can confirm that the information is correct. Once that’s settled, project managers can take it to the team!

3. Kick off Content First

Collaborating for better design is about making sure the design and content team has a unified vision of what’s happening. Agencies and small teams handle this differently, but each leads to the same goal: getting the designers and writers on the same page to create something beautiful and avoid any pitfalls. Here’s how to lead a great kickoff chat:

Present project and deliverables needed Give people time to come up with ideas Set clear expectations and goals Research before presenting Develop a singular vision Outline responsibilities for next steps

When you leave a kickoff chat, the entire team should feel empowered and ready to tackle the project clearly toward that singular vision you developed. Some companies have unique ways of handling the kickoff: Amazon, for example, has a team member present a press release for the unfinished product. Like all press releases, it includes information about the problem, solution, and how to get started. Then, when the team goes back to designing and writing, they make sure that the product their building matches what was described in the press release. But not every team can work like Amazon, so what happens if you’re working with a remote team? Jeff Gothelf has some ideas to keep your team’s process strong. He suggests that timing is a great way to keep remote teams excited. If everyone kicks off a project together at the beginning of it, teams will be able to understand and respond to each other’s learning and working styles. A good project kickoff should be one where all team members uncover ideas together:

Understand a project’s end goals Define and understand audience needs Determine main aesthetics and aesthetic goals Define information architecture Develop content ideas

In a remote team, it’s super important that all key members of each project work together at the beginning to determine goals and eliminate potential hang ups.

4. Wireframe and Determine Content

Set up a way to wireframe, prototype, and develop content as the design elements shift if you don’t have one already. As you move on from the kickoff chat, it’s important to have flexible tools that shift with the content.

Wireframe.cc

Wireframe.cc – starts at $16/month. This is a clean app that shows you the elements you need only when you need them. A context-sensitive tool bar and a limited color palette make it simple to create sketch-like wireframes in a pinch.

FluidUI

FluidUI is a prototyping tool to help you communicate information architecture to clients and receive realtime feedback on prototypes. This goes a little beyond simple wireframing because you can hop on an in-app video call to discuss each project as it’s happening.

Mockflow

Mockflow is a collaborative UI tool to help remote teams wireframe. It’s free for one project and goes up to $160/month for enterprises. Teams can brainstorm UI ideas on the go, export designs, and work with a library of wireframe templates.

when you use the right tools, your wireframe or prototype can shift with the design elements

Wireframing can be a collaborative part of the design process. Elements of the design might shift, but when you use the right tools, your wireframe or prototype can shift with the design elements. When you’re working on a remote team, it’s important that all members feel empowered to get feedback and collaborate properly. With the wireframe tools above, team members can get client feedback, uncover new solutions, and connect with their team. Designers and copywriters can use wireframes to get specific feedback on projects. During a back-and-forth session, team members can ask for specific feedback:

How do you feel about animating the first half of this? What if we turned this text into an infographic? How will we be designing this? Do you have ideas for hover text here? Does the client want a video masthead here?

Opening up the ability to chat about an ongoing project will allow designers and writers to work collectively (and separately) toward one goal.

5. Work with a Content Management Platform That Supports Your Needs

Copywriters need a way to access older versions of copy and designers need a clean way to see what content was approved and what goes where. If your team works with smart content management platforms, they’ll be able to do everything they need in one place.

Google Docs or Zoho Docs allow teams to share assets, so remote companies can all see the same progress Brainstorm in Dropbox Paper or Evernote to outline goals, responsibilities, and project needs. Create a hierarchy in Jumpchart or Airstory so clients can see what content will be planned, where it will go, and what information they need to develop.

Whether you’re working with 1 designer and 1 copywriter or 16 designers and a full staff of copywriters, you’re going to need a way to do all this:

Control versions so each team member can work on the most updated version Track changes so you can see who changed what, when Follow client feedback, if any Allow designers and copywriters to collaborate effectively, and work with tools that morph as the content or information shifts

6. Collaborate with Your Bosses and Clients for Full Approval

Before you submit the deliverables to your clients or bosses, decide how you’re going to present it.

Create a framework so your clients and boss understand the way in which your deliverables will support the clients’ main goals Create an index of topics you’ll cover during the meeting Discuss what stage your work is in and how it will be incorporated when it goes live Commit to an action plan

Once you know how you’re going to present it, designers and copywriters should collaborate to make sure everything is in place:

Meta copy has been developed Content is properly placed Background information is prepared All content is created and has been proofread

You never want to share information that is poorly presented, but you also don’t want to wait months until everything is “perfect.” Let’s face it: perfection is a beautiful idea but one that rarely helps businesses. Sometimes, it’s best to make sure everything is as right as it can be before you send it off. If you present the information properly, prepare the correct details, and share it in a beautiful package (backed up by case studies, evidence, or stats), your boss or client will have nothing left to do except approve it.

Takeaway

Collaboration is about asking the right questions, coming to the table with an open mind, and ensuring that you have processes in place to execute a clear plan. Once you have a clear action plan, designers and copywriters will be able to collaborate for powerful projects that please the project managers as much as the clients.

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Ucraft Review: Building Creative Websites With Strong eCommerce Support

Sourced From: https://inspiredm.com/ucraft-review-building-creative-websites-with-strong-ecommerce-support/

Creatives need to look creative online. Unfortunately, this often means a trade-off in the eCommerce department. You may be able to make a beautiful, visual website, but that awesome portfolio is nothing without the ability to sell your merchandise, prints, and other products. That"s where Ucraft comes into play. This Ucraft review will outline the stunning website templates provided by the page builder and walk you through some of the excellent selling tools you need in order to make money as a creative.

Overall, Ucraft is dedicated to building better websites in a faster manner. Therefore, it delivers a true drag and drop builder so that you don"t have to learn about coding or much website development. You"re able to craft stunning, professional websites for photography, web design, writing, and art. Sure, others can take advantage of the Ucraft tools, but the company has focused quite a bit on helping out creatives with its strong media support.

Ucraft Review: The Best Features An Awesome Free Landing Page Creator

The landing page creator is free, and you"re able to make your one landing page within minutes. You start the design process by choosing from a template. After that, all the changes are automatically saved and published in Ucraft.

Designer Tools with Drag and Drop Functionality

The designer tools make sure that you can add a designer touch to your website even if you"re not that into design. From a full UIKit for advanced modifications, to simple tools for adjusting headings, colors, and sizes, the Ucraft design end is as simple as they come.

Strong eCommerce Support for Regular Businesses and Creatives

The eCommerce plan (outlined below,) is pretty much what most smaller and mid-sized businesses will need. However, you can also upgrade to get extremely advanced tools for selling your products.

In short, Ucraft has social eCommerce options for selling on places like Facebook and Amazon. You also receive product SEO features, over 70 payment and shipping solutions, and secure transactions. What"s more is that Ucraft takes nothing in terms of transaction fees.

I like the fact that you can integrate with dozens of apps and eCommerce platforms. For instance, you may want to sell on a place like eBay or connect your store to Zendesk. Both are possible, along with several other integrations.

As mentioned, the eCommerce plan is pretty powerful, with support for 50 products, unlimited storage, payment and order management, and multi-currency support.

However, you can upgrade to higher plans to get things like more products available, invoices, favorite lists, VAT support, tax exemptions, eBay selling, real-time tracking, and more.

A Free Logo Maker

The free logo maker from Ucraft is a huge advantage for small businesses and creatives. Logos of svg and png formats can be created. Not only does it have some interesting designs for you to start off with, but you can get creative yourself and brand your website the way you want. What"s great is that after you design your logo it goes on your website and you also receive a file to use it elsewhere for your business.

Insert the logo into all marketing materials, include it in your email newsletter, and print it on your business cards. This is a truly free logo maker, which is not always the case when you sign up for something like this. Sometimes you get forced to pay or you don"t get to remove the logo maker"s branding. That"s not the case with Ucraft.

Ucraft Review: The Pricing

You can pay for Ucraft on a monthly or yearly basis. The yearly plans save you extra money over the long run and you get a custom domain, but you still have the option to pay per month if you"re still not up for the commitment.

One of the best parts about Ucraft is that you can go with the free plan to gain access to some wonderful landing page tools and more. After that, you have to start paying, but the plans are less expensive than much of the competition, and you get that coveted eCommerce support.

Here are the pricing plans on a yearly subscription to see what you receive:

Landing Page – Free forever. You get one landing page, customizable content, the option to connect your own domain, an SEO app, the option to invite team members, customer support from Ucraft, and free hosting. The only downside is that you have to live with the Ucraft watermark on landing pages. Website – $6 per month gets you a custom domain, one website (unlimited pages,) a drag and drop builder, the removal of the Ucraft watermark, 24/7 customer support, over 15 integrations, free hosting, an SEO app, unlimited articles, multilingual tools, and more. eCommerce – This plan costs $13 per month and it provides everything from the previous plans, a custom domain, support for 50 products, no transaction fees, over 70 payment and shipping methods, multi-currency support, SEP for products, payment and order management, real-time tracking, unlimited storage.

As you can see, these pricing models are pretty impressive. Most website builders cost more than $6 per month, and you"ll be hardpressed to locate many eCommerce builders for less than $13 per month.

What"s cool is that several other plans are provided if you want to upgrade past that $13 per month eCommerce package. For instance, a Pro plan is sold for $31 per month and an Unlimited plan is set at $60 per month. In short, if you want to expand your eCommerce store and get the best tools possible, that"s when you would upgrade.

Finally, all Ucraft users get the following for free:

Templates SEO tools Designer tools A logo maker Articles

Who is Ucraft Best Suited For?

As I talked about a few times in this article, Ucraft makes the most sense for creatives and small businesses. It"s less expensive than so many other website and eCommerce builders on the market, and the company does a great job with its modern, beautiful templates.

The features are still robust enough for you to scale up in the future, and you get the bonuses of the free logo maker, SEO tools, and templates.

If you have any questions about this Ucraft review, let us know in the comments.

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4 Reasons Why People Stop Reading Before the End of a Page

Sourced From: http://www.copyblogger.com/why-people-stop-reading/

Every page you create has a purpose. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a sales page, a subscription page, an about page, a blog post, or any other kind of page. You publish it for a reason. You want something to happen. Maybe you want someone to share the page on social media. Or you want Read More…

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Should I Stage My Home Or Leave it Empty

Sourced From: https://www.maxrealestateexposure.com/stage-home-or-leave-empty/

Staging vs. Leaving Vacant There are so many decisions that need to be made when selling your home. You have to decide when to sell it, who to hire to sell it, what price to set, and on and on. Part of what makes selling inherently stressful is the ongoing decision making required. Another question […]

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5 Most Effective Instagram Marketing Strategies for Your Startup

Sourced From: http://www.socialmediaimpact.com/5-effective-instagram-marketing-strategies-startup/

The massive popularity of Instagram is evident by the fact that in just 5 years, its growth skyrocketed from 90 million users in 2013 to 800 million monthly active users in 2018. Although Facebook still dominates the social media world with over 2 billion users, but the phenomenal progress that Instagram app is showing clearly makes it one of the hottest buzzwords, especially in the e-marketing domain.

If the data from 2016 Pew Research center is anything to go by, Instagram is emerging as the favorite social media platform among American youth. 26% of male and 38% of female mobile users of the United States are blissfully on Instagram, while 59% of users in the age group of 18-29 are sharing moments of their life with others on Instagram.

Why is Instagram becoming so popular?

One of the coolest factors that go in favor of Instagram is that it is apparently the best platform for celebrities as it provides them a quick and easy way to share great moments of their life and connect with fans globally and in a scale, like no other social media is capable at this point in time. The second great feature of Instagram that attracts more users is “Stories”, though originally developed by Snapchat and later copied by Instagram engineers. People increasingly love posting their stories on daily basis on Instagram. Thirdly, the keystone feature for content sharing on Instagram is Hashtag. Users can associate it with a specific popular topic for other users to discover.

With these obvious advantages going in favor of Instagram, businesses have already smacked the opportunity to leverage this platform in an attempt to reach out their target audience. Turns out social media in general and Instagram in particular are a perfect place for businesses to market their products to a more interested and wider audience base without spending an enormous amount of money on paid advertising.

If you have just launched your startup, Instagram marketing can be extremely helpful in terms of promoting your brand and achieving success.

Here are the most effective Instagram marketing strategies for startups:

1. Get started with hashtag marketing and expand your reach

Create hashtags in order to increase your reach. You can either make them campaign specific or general; the important thing, however, is they should be relevant. Begin by setting up your brand name hashtag and your punch line hashtag. For example, the most used hashtags of Nike are #justdoit (14%) followed by #nike (10.5%). This makes it easier for people to find content related to you as well as your main account. As your business gains popularity and people start buying your products, you will notice more people using your hashtag. Though the maximum number of hashtags that you can use per Instagram post is 30, but you should try to keep them fewer because typing them every time is annoying. Your hashtags should be in the first comment of every post you write. You can also use popular hashtags like #instagood in order to increase the discoverability of your content. Tools like “Hashtagify” and “Top Hashtags” allow you to find popular hashtags for your niche. All you need to do is type in your keyword in these tools and a list will populate with some of the most popular hashtags with that particular keyword.

2. Leverage Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories is the feature that is providing a better user experience. You can now upload off-the-cuff photos and videos to your Instagram Story that lasts only 24 hours before disappearing. By clicking “plus” arrow at the top left corner of your Instagram feed, you can start a new story. It provides you an excellent avenue to make creative content that helps you attain your business goals – whether have someone to buy clothes, read a post or download a song. With Instagram stories, it is easy to experiment on various content types: photo, short video, Boomerang (GIF-like image), video filmed backwards (Rewind) and live video. It also includes fun additions like face filters, text and stickers that help you edit images on-the-go.

The Instagram Stories is helpful especially in targeting new audiences, while CTAs to your collages will be useful for promotions. It’s almost like a miniature TV channel for your brand where you can go to your audience with out-of-the-box concepts. Instagram Stories are quite capable of creating curiosity among viewers as they discover something they didn’t expect. The best part is viewers start sharing the content that they find really exciting, which is also known as viral loop content. It is important to note that Stories are only available on the mobile app. Furthermore, after sharing your content on Stories, you can also view Stories Insights in your Instagram business account analytics. These insights show the people who are viewing your Instagram story as well as the impressions, reach, and other engagement metrics.

3. Reach out to Instagram influencers

Working with Instagram influencers can help you create a buzz for your product or service. A recent study by Neilsen and TapInfluence reveals that influencer marketing drives 11 times more ROI than other forms of digital media. Since Instagram is visually-driven, its content is widely shared in the form of smartly captured photos and short videos rather than lengthy posts and rants. Leveraging Instagram influencer marketing therefore makes a lot of sense if you want to build a positive identity regarding your brand. Influencers are quite able to use their photos, videos and targeted hashtags to help drive their audience into making purchasing decisions. This is the reason why Instagram influencers offer such an unlimited potential for today’s businesses. So how can you identify an effective influencer? You need to look for influencers’ following and their engagement rate. You can calculate an influencer’s engagement rate using this formula: (# of likes + # of comments) / # of followers.

4. Share video content to enhance your marketing efforts

It is now easier to promote your brand and generate more leads for your business by sharing videos on Instagram. According to Cisco’s prediction, 80% of online content will be video by 2019. Videos are an excellent way to advertise your brand and build trust with your customers. You can show viewers a sneak peek of your product, which gives them a nice feel for what the product looks like and any notable features it offers. You have to keep in mind that the video should be unscripted and an impromptu representation of your product in action. When you create product videos, showcase your products in a cool way by focusing on few key features to keep your audience interested.

Creating a short how-to video say for 1 minute can work wonders for you. Also short commercials on Instagram can be funny, emotional and inspirational. With the help of these short videos, you can portray your products in an artistic way or link them to a particular lifestyle. Doing some research and finding a particular visual style that resonates with your target audience could work in your favor. After identifying a style, try to create something that’s different from what your viewers are used to seeing. For better engaging your audience, you can use subtitles and text overlays.

5. Be creative

Being creative pays heavily, so start by creating a winning profile. With so many new features available on the Instagram app, there are more ways to become a creative genius in order to make your brand stand out. For example, you can use Slideshows for “Before and After” reveals. This strategy is effective for new haircuts, repairs, weight loss transformations, sunsets, makeovers, and redecorating. Secondly, you can use “visual chaining” to keep your feed attractive, which increases the aesthetic appeal in your products. Also try some of the following cool strategies:

§ Go behind the scenes: Take pictures and videos to show how your products or goods are made, especially if the process is unique or interesting. Customers have a natural curiosity to know about the history of products they use. This strategy is highly effective for companies that sell eco-friendly products.

§ Post exclusive deals on your Instagram: Give back to your Instagram followers by offering them discounts for following you. Share an image with instructions on how to use the deal. Also running giveaways and promotions allow your customers and followers to market your brand further.

§ Run contests: Running contests such as a “Selfie Contest” (selfie with your product) can help you grow your audience faster. Use hashtags like #contest to get more but untargeted entries. Make sure to also include niche hashtags to get more targeted audience.

§ Theme your Instagram: If you want a solid base of followers, consider giving your Instagram profile a consistent theme. Themed Instagrams are far more likely to attract followers, because followers know what types of posts to expect.

Conclusion

Owing to its exploding popularity in the digital domain, Instagram is no less than a goldmine for marketers. So in order to create a successful Instagram presence, you need to have authenticity, consistency and engagement with your audience. When you let the Instagram’s handy features meet the above mentioned tips, you create a winning strategy for the success of your startup.

The post 5 Most Effective Instagram Marketing Strategies for Your Startup appeared first on Social Media Impact.

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A Dead Simple Way to Improve Your Search Rankings with Google Search Console

Sourced From: http://www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/improve-search-rankings-google-search-console/

You want to constantly improve your search rankings for all of your content, right?

The higher your content ranks, the more traffic you get. The more traffic you get, the more revenue you (hopefully) generate for your organization. The more revenue you generate, the more parades your organization will throw in your honor. (Okay, so maybe parades are a stretch.)

Many content marketers feel that once they’ve created a great piece of content and done the initial promotional push, their ranking in Google is out of their hands. Perhaps these steps look familiar for optimizing a piece of content:

Identify your primary keyword. (Preferably, this is a medium tail keyword.) Write your content according to on-page SEO best practices. Link to the piece of content from other pages using anchor text that matches the primary keyword. Work to build inbound links to your content. Move on to the next piece of content.

Hopefully, you’re doing steps one through four. If you’re not, start ASAP.

But optimizing content shouldn’t be a one-time event. And it doesn’t take an SEO expert to make high-impact tweaks to content to get it to rank higher and drive more organic traffic.

Ongoing Ranking Optimization

Be honest. Once a piece of content is created, do you ever go back and change it? Or do you set it sail, wish it well, and wave goodbye? If you’re like most content marketers, you don’t give the content you publish a second thought. Unfortunately, this means you’re missing a huge opportunity that others are capitalizing on.

Improving your Google ranking is an ongoing process that involves a lot of variables such as getting better inbound links and building your entire domain to be more trustworthy. But one variable that’s becoming more and more important for ranking well in Google is increasing your click-through rate (CTR) on search results pages.

High click-through rates on search engine results pages show Google that your content is catching searchers’ attention. As a result, their RankBrain algorithm is now ranking pages with higher CTRs higher in search results, while those with lower CTRs are getting moved down.

Google now ranks pages with higher CTRs higher in search results, so focus on increasing your organic CTR to improve your rankings Click To Tweet Improving Click-Through Rates With the Performance Report

If you don’t currently have Google Search Console (formerly called Webmaster Tools) connected to your site, please take a moment to stop reading and get it connected. It’s one of the most valuable tools available to content marketers and SEOs.

Once Google Search Console is set up and connected to your site, you will have to wait a few weeks for data to populate. Or, maybe Google Search Console is already set up, and all you need is access to the account.

Once you have access and data, head over to the new Search Console.

Now go over to the Performance Report. On the surface, the report is straightforward. It shows you how many total clicks and impressions your pages have received over a specific time frame, as well as the average CTR and average position your pages get in search engine results pages.

But what’s really useful is finding pages that have low CTRs. Here’s how to do that.

Find Ranking Pages With Low CTRs

The biggest opportunity you have for increasing traffic is finding the pages that have a high number of impressions but very few clicks.

In the Queries tab, click “Impressions” to sort your queries by the number of impressions your content has received in search results pages.

In this example, you can see there is a problem. The first result has a CTR of just 0.1%. That means that only about one in a 1,000 people who see that result when they search for “tervis 16oz tumbler” actually click through to that page. Ouch.

If that many people are seeing that result but aren’t clicking it, something must be wrong with how it looks in search engines.

Let’s see what page that is on. Click the keyword, and then click the Pages tab.

Looks like the Tervis Tumbler page simply isn’t performing well for that query. But is it performing well for other queries? Perhaps another query that brings up that page is doing really well.

Copy the URL of that page and click “+ New” at the top of the report. You can select “Page” and enter the page name.

We can now see all of the keywords/queries that page ranks for and its overall CTR.

The Tervis Tumbler page simply doesn’t do well in search. A 0.5% overall CTR is pretty bad. We need to help this page out STAT.

Based on the queries it ranks for, we can see that it’s getting far more impressions for “tervis 16oz tumbler” than “customized tervis tumbler.” So “tervis 16oz tumbler” is going to be the keyword/query we’re going to optimize this page for.

Optimizing Page Titles and Meta Descriptions

For most pages listed in Google, only three pieces of content are displayed: title, URL, and meta description. These three pieces of information are all you have to get people to click through to your site.

Here’s what the Tervis Tumbler page looks like in search:

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. If you searched for “tervis 16 oz tumbler” and saw this result, would you click it? Probably not.

To update these, you need to update the content itself. Optimizing your title is the most important factor for increasing CTRs, since it’s the part of the result people click on.

When optimizing titles, make sure you include the entire search string as close to the beginning of the title as you can. Also, make it clear to people why they should click through your link right now. People searching for a Tervis tumbler are probably interested in buying or customizing their own, so give them an action to take such as “create your own,” “buy now,” or “begin customizing.”

Your meta description is your elevator pitch on the search results page. It’s your chance to stand out from the rest of the results on the page. Any mention of the keyword query will be bolded, which makes your result stand out even more, so be sure to include the keyword here as well.

Here’s the revised search result after updating the title and meta description.

Would you be more willing to click through this result? It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely better than what you had before.

Improve Your Other Low-Performing Pages

You’ll probably find that you have no shortage of poorly performing pages. It’s incredibly common for most sites to have click-through rates under one percent for the majority of their content.

Find the pages that have a CTR of under three percent and optimize them, especially those that have a high volume of impressions and a low CTR. These are huge missed opportunities you can capitalize on right now. Once you update them, wait a month or so, and then come back to see how they’re performing. You should see a nice increase in clicks since you made your updates.

For some search queries, an increase in CTRs of even one percent can mean thousands of new visitors to your site. And improving your meta titles and descriptions is a lot easier than creating an entirely new piece of content.

Create and Iterate

Getting your content found in search is an ongoing process. Implementing the strategy above will not only help your existing pieces of content rank better, but you’ll soon learn the phases and calls to action your audience wants to see in search results pages. You can then take these learnings and apply them to new pieces of content you create, giving that content a head start as soon as it’s published.

The post A Dead Simple Way to Improve Your Search Rankings with Google Search Console appeared first on Convince and Convert: Social Media Consulting and Content Marketing Consulting.

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5 Study Hacks to Maximize Your Real Estate Exam Prep

Sourced From: https://www.realestateexpress.com/career-hub/blog/real-estate-exam-prep-study-tips/

Making the most of your real estate exam prep before you take the test is essential — especially if your time is limited and you’re trying to score well.

Are you studying in the most impactful way? Are there ways to be more efficient with your time so you can spend more time planning your career switch to real estate?

Here are some of our favorite study tips that help you buckle down during your real estate exam prep and pass your real estate exam.

1. Use a flashcard app

If you’re short on time, a flashcard app on your phone can help you study on the go whenever you have small pockets of time. Use it during your commute (if you take the train), while you’re waiting in line or even when you catch yourself absentmindedly looking at your phone.

Here are a few popular flashcard apps:

Studyblue: This app has a crowdsourced study library. You can make your own flashcards, share them, and search for flashcards others have made. The free version of the app, available for iPhone and Android, allows you to create your own quizzes and work without wifi. Quizlet: This app also allows shareable flashcards, what they call “study sets.” You can also add images from their library to help aid your memorization and understanding. If you’re more of a desktop person, you can create your flashcards from your computer and view them on your phone when you’re on the go. Cram: If you like to hold a piece of paper in your hand while you’re studying, Cram can help you do just that. They have a desktop and mobile version of their flashcard service but also allow you to print flashcards if that will make it easier.

Follow your passion! Start your career in real estate now with our FREE Career Switch Kit.

2. Use an exam prep aid

While your real estate pre-licensing course will prepare you for your future career in real estate, an exam prep aid will prepare you to pass the exam. One convenient option is our Real Estate Exam Prep Master available here. You can purchase it on its own or in conjunction with a pre-licensing course, and you get your money back if you don’t pass the exam.

One of the benefits of this real estate exam prep helper is that you can choose between three different learning style formats. Here are the three delivery options you can expect from this tool:

Coach format: You get questions one at a time, answers immediately and a complete explanation after every answer. Power format: This style replicates the exam atmosphere. You don’t see your answers until the end and you don’t get commentary as you move through the questions. Pace format: As you go through the exam, the pace increases. This could be great for you if you’re trying to learn how to take tests faster.

3. Get a distraction blocker for your computer

If you find it difficult to focus while you’re on your computer, install a program that will temporarily block websites so you can work. We all know there are just some sites that waste time — whether it’s quizzes, sports updates or social media. Tools like Cold Turkey and FocusMe will block out the websites of your choice for a set period of time. You can set a weekly recurring block if you need a lot of help being disciplined. That way you know you won’t be able to check your social media at a certain time each day or week!

4. Set a timer to help you focus

If you have a hard time getting down to work, setting a timer that gives you periods of intense focus followed by some periods of rest might help you fight through distractions or mental fog.

One of the most popular time management techniques is called the Pomodoro Method. In this method, you focus for 25 minutes followed by a five-minute break. That entire set is called a Pomodoro. After the fourth Pomodoro, you get a 15-minute break. You can set a Pomodoro timer, or customize your own timer using this online tool.

5. Set study goals

To make the most out of your study time it helps to set goals. This could be goals on how much material you want to work through in a certain session or even goals around how focused and attentive you’ll be when you’re at your workspace studying. At the end of your session, take a minute to review how well you did with your goals and set some new ones for your next study session. If you don’t monitor your progress it’ll be harder for you to know if you’re improving.

Real estate exam prep sets you up for success

Preparing diligently and thoroughly for your real estate licensing exam helps give you the best chance that you’ll pass it on your first try. Even if you find studying daunting, by accessing the right tools and breaking the work up into study goals you’ll most likely find that it’s manageable.

The post 5 Study Hacks to Maximize Your Real Estate Exam Prep appeared first on Real Estate Express.

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