However, after some time you might find that your DIY website needs to be overhauled. Here are some of the main signs that you might benefit from working with a web design professional.

Not Getting Results

If you’re constantly fighting with your website to try and get it to do the things that you want but are being restricted by the website building platform that you are using, it might be time to call in the professionals. You can find local web design agencies in the West Midlands that can design a custom website for you and have it perform exactly how you have envisioned it. Along with this, if you’re not getting the results that you had hoped for in terms of traffic, conversions, and sales, then they can look over the site to see where things have gone wrong and help you make the necessary improvements.

Dated Design

If you look at your site and it feels like it might have been built fifty years ago compared to other comparable business websites, then it’s probably time to think about getting a professional in to update it. Web design trends change all the time so even if when you built your website you kept with what was popular at the time, a few years later and all of that could be seriously old-fashioned and out of touch. By working with a web designer, you can get a website that looks and feels seriously modern and on trend.

Slow Loading

A slow loading website can lead to all kinds of problems, but mainly, the biggest issue that it can cause is frustration among your visitors. In fact, so much so that people might just hit the back button before your site has even had a chance to load, meaning that they never actually visit, and the bounce rate grows over time. With a high bounce rate for your website, it can become even more difficult to get your business found and seen online since Google will not rank a site with a high bounce rate very highly.

Not Getting Everything That You Need

As your business grows and expands over time you might find that your website building platform doesn’t offer everything that you need. Many website platforms are scalable but only to a point. Working with a web designer can help you get access to a wide range of additional services that you can use to support your business growth and help your company develop even further.

While building your own business website is a popular choice these days, there may come a time where the next best step is to work with a web design company.

The post 4 Signs That it’s Time to Hire a Web Designer appeared first on Inspired Marketing, Inc..

Establish What Is Expected

First, you need to establish what is expected from your remote workers and what the rules are. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page and that there are no issues, such as trying to get hold of staff while they have popped out.

Learn People’s Preferred Way of Working

Everyone is slightly different when it comes to remote work. Some people will want to keep in close communication with video conferencing calls throughout the day, while others will prefer to be left alone, with email being the best way to get in touch. As a manager, you need to allow people to choose their preferred way of working so that everyone can enjoy remote work and perform to their potential each day.

Maintain Communication

It is vital that you maintain solid communication and check in on a regular basis – remote work can be isolating, and it is easy for people to feel disconnected from their colleagues. This is why many find it helpful to arrange informal virtual events, such as after-work drinks on a video call on Fridays. You should also be giving positive feedback on a regular basis as otherwise, staff might worry about their performance.

Use Business Management Software

Managing a remote team is a new challenge that will require different software and tools. Business management software with task utilization features from specialists like CoAmplifi can make managing a remote team much easier and help you with task management, which should improve performance and keep productivity levels high.

Make Yourself Available

It is hard to find the right balance when managing a remote team as you will want to avoid micromanaging while still making sure that work is being done. On the other side, employees need to know that they can reach you if they have a question or issue as otherwise, performance could dip, and they could feel isolated. This is why you need to make yourself available, whether this is on the phone or by using a group chat platform.

Hopefully, these tips will help you to manage a remote team and get the most out of your workers. This is a new challenge for managers, but it can be easy to get the hang of, and when you know how to successfully manage a remote team, this will allow everyone to get the most out of this way of working.

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Barter with Other Small Businesses

Bartering is a great way of getting the help you need with issues such as IT or marketing without having to pay a fortune.  Approach companies who may like to make use of your services for free and offer to swap.  This could help you to make some good business contacts for the future too.  Make sure that you agree on how much help you are going to offer for free, though, as spending all your time working for someone else for nothing will have a negative impact on your business’s profit.

Reduce Staffing Costs to Save Money

You can reduce the cost of hiring staff by posting job adverts on sites such as Craigslist for free.  This will cut out expensive agency fees.  Think about what type of staff you need.  You may want to hire people with a certain amount of experience to do the technical work but for the more general tasks, hiring someone with a lot of motivation who is lacking in work experience will be a lot cheaper and they will be eager to learn.

Free Marketing

You don’t need to pay a lot of money for marketing.  There are many sites to advertise free with and this could reduce your expenditure or even negate the need for you to spend money on marketing at all.

Ask Suppliers for A Discount

Don’t be afraid to be a little bit cheeky when it comes to ordering supplies.  If you are buying in bulk, it may be in your suppliers’ best interest to offer you a lower price.  They can always say no if they want to.  Don’t be afraid to walk away if the price you are being offered for supplies isn’t good enough.  If you can find it cheaper elsewhere, you could save a lot of money.

Co-Working to Save Money

If you do not need a big office or a storefront, co-working can cut your costs considerably.  Renting office space can often offer you an impressive business address and the price will usually include office space and utilities too.  These buildings will offer different sized offices, so as your business grows, you can ask to move to a different office within the building or add more space to your existing office.

Budget

Set yourself a budget for all your expenses and stick to it.   Review this regularly and there will not be any nasty surprises when the bills start to roll in. Try to include an emergency fund within your budget, so that if a large bill comes in or you need to pay upfront costs for a bigger than average order, you will have it.

Use these tips to save money when you are running a small business and help you to turn a bigger profit.

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As of 2019, some 1.2 million small businesses have made Illinois their home — comprising an impressive 99.6% of all businesses in the state. And if you’re an aspiring woman entrepreneur, you’d be happy to know that the highest concentration of women business founders in America is in Chicago, where one-third of the city’s startups are run by women. With the lively business community and the availability of many resources, especially for women entrepreneurs, building your own small business in Illinois can be an exciting and rewarding endeavor. Here are a few steps to get you started:

Decide on a Business Name

Once you’ve decided on a business idea you want to pursue, you need to pick a unique name that can distinguish your business from others and strengthen your brand. Make sure it captures the spirit of the product or service you’re offering. Then, you should check its availability with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. If you’re planning to build a business website, you can also visit GoDaddy.com to check for your business name’s domain availability.

Create Your Business Plan

A business plan serves as your roadmap, empowering you to lead your business and showing investors where your business is headed. In creating a business plan, make sure you cover product development, financial planning, and marketing. These can be written down in one or both of the two general formats for business plans: the traditional business plan and the lean startup plan. The former is a type of plan that’s very detailed and comprehensive, which is what investors usually look for. The latter, meanwhile, only contains key elements and may be used when you want to explain or start your business much more quickly. The good thing about these types is that you can edit and shift from one to the other according to your needs.

Choose Your Business Entity

Other than for organization and credibility, the biggest reason for choosing a business entity is liability protection. Business entities distinguish personal and business affairs, which doesn’t happen in sole proprietorships, where there’s only the owner, so there’s no separation of personal assets and liabilities from those of the business. In contrast, forming an LLC in Illinois allows you to separate these two. Registering as an LLC costs around $150 in filing fees, and this gives you the benefit of flexibility and adaptability in the management structure. Unlike corporations, LLCs are exempted from double taxation and have fewer regulations and reporting requirements. Corporations, on the other hand, are more expensive and difficult to form. But they also protect the owners’ personal assets, just like an LLC, should the company be held liable for any damages or debts.

Register Your Business

Once you’ve applied for a federal Employer Identification Number through the IRS, you may register your business under the Illinois Assumed Name Act. The state also requires a registered agent, which may be you or a member of your company, who is at least 18 years old and with an Illinois address. In order for your business to pay taxes, you need to register with the Illinois Department of Revenue as well. Lastly, you need to file your articles of organization or incorporation with the Illinois Secretary of State.

Obtain Licenses and Permits

It’s important to check the different kinds of licenses and permits with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to see which ones apply to your business. These may include liquor, manufacturing, contractor, waste management, air, water pollution control, and land pollution control. Make sure to also check the websites of your city and county for their own regulations, so you can obtain applicable local licenses and permits as well. Once you’ve covered all the above and secured your funding, your business may be good to go. But it wouldn’t hurt to seek support, especially if this is your first time to start a business. Communities like the ‘Become Your Own CEO’ group on Facebook can serve as a safe space, especially for women entrepreneurs seeking advice and new connections with like-minded women.

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Social Media is one of the most popular ways to stay interconnected all over the world. It allows us to connect with people who share similar interests, hobbies, and mindsets. Social media also helps us develop relationships, network job opportunities, and promote businesses. In today’s society, it is almost impossible for one to have a business and not use some form of social media marketing as a component of business strategy. Now most of us know how social media helps with brand awareness, advertisement, and reaching larger demographics, but social media can also be used to effectively market your small business. However, many business owners don’t know how.

After surveying a group of 25 small business owners I noticed a commonality between the challenges they were having. The most common challenges were, “engagement amongst followers through social media platforms”, “what content would be most effective”, and “how to effectively use the different social media platforms.” After listening and discussing with the business owners I decided to solve one problem, to answer the question: “How do small businesses effectively use different social media platforms to market their business?” This is a loaded question, so we’re going to focus on three of the most popular platforms in social media today, Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok, to help you find which platform and which content works best for you.

Instagram

There are a few key points to successfully market your small business on Instagram. The first thing to do is to create an Instagram post. Your Instagram post should include a picture of your product or description of the service you’re offering, the product being used by a consumer, quotes, employees, or anything that relates to your business. Your post should always include your location, a caption (longer caption to educate or short caption to drive traffic to things such as business websites). You can also use hashtags on posts, but many business owners did not find that hashtags were useful for driving consumer traffic. Your Instagram should also have a theme such as using the same filter on each post and creating a color scheme (typically the business’s colors).

The Instagram Profile

Your profile should be converted to a Business account as well to see your analytics, such as when your followers are most active online. A profile must include a bio that tells a future consumer what your page is all about. Your bio should include the business owner (you), website, and 3 short facts about your business. This will grab your target market’s attention to want to learn more about your business.

Other Instagram Features: Stores, Live and Ads

It is also important to use the other features Instagram offers such as Instagram Stories, Instagram Live, and Instagram Ads. Instagram Stories let users post pictures and videos for 24 hours. Through Instagram stories, you can create polls, highlights, repost customers using your product/service, demonstrate your product in a short video, or promote an upcoming event.

The next feature that every business owner should use is Instagram Live. On Instagram live you can reach the audience in real-time, put a face to the company that allows your consumers to get to know you, and answer people’s burning questions. Lastly, the use of Instagram ads helps advertise your business and micro-targets users of different demographics to direct them to your page hopefully ending in a sale. Instagram advertisements will show up on consumer’s pages as “sponsored” and do have a slight cost, but they include a “call-to-action” button that encourages traffic.

Increasing Engagement on Instagram

Now using all of these features previously mentioned creates a great profile for your business, but engagement is a key factor in growing your business. Engagement measures the public “shares, likes, and comments for an online business’s social media efforts.” (BigCommerce) First things first, you should convert your profile to a business account to review your analytics. Your analytics help you observe demographics, behaviors, and patterns. This is the best way to create an effective digital marketing strategy.

Also, to improve engagement you must create an open and honest dialogue between you and your potential customers. Always engage with your comment section whether it is to say, “thank you for your purchase,” or answer a question or complaint about a product/service. Consumers also come to your page to complain, so it is important to respond to solve their problem. This is a great stepping-stone to build a relationship with your followers.

To further enhance this relationship with your customers, it is important to answer all of your Direct Messages or “DMs”. This allows your followers to deepen that relationship and connection with your business. Be careful when you respond to customers because it is very easy to tell if you are being genuine or you think of them as another sale. DMs also help you network with influencers in your industry to expand your brand. Social media influencers, especially Instagram influencers prompt their followers to direct their attention to your Instagram page to ensure your brand gets noticed.

Facebook 

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms, especially for businesses. About 90 million small businesses use Facebook according to Asset Digital Communications.

Create Your Facebook Business Page

The first step to digital marketing your business on Facebook is to create a business page. Same with Instagram you want to add contact information such as website, phone number, email, and location. Facebook has a unique feature to its app that quickly boosts your engagement. Facebook allows you to “add a button” such as “book service,” “get in touch,” “learn more,” “make a purchase or donation,” or “download an app.” For a product, you should add the “make a purchase or donation” and for a service “book a service”. After selecting the option that best works for your business you will be able to add your URL. This will directly lead the consumer to make a purchase or make an appointment directly from your Facebook page. This generation has little patience and appreciates simple technology, so this is the best way to grow your brand and customers.

Next, when making a general Facebook post include your product/service, picture of you or your employees, events, or anything you want the public to know about your business. Your caption can be between 1-5 sentences, use capital letters to grab attention, emojis, etc. If people comment under your post, make sure to respond to every comment. If you respond to followers’ comments it will increase your engagement and will build a relationship with customers as it is putting a person to the company.

Use Facebook Groups to Engage with Customers

Facebook groups are also another way to use this platform and are unique to Facebook specifically. According to Asset Digital, about 4 million people are involved in some form of group. You can create groups to help market your business like one for current customers or prospective customers that have similar interests. You can also use Facebook groups to find brand ambassadors. Brand ambassadors can communicate to their following why your product/service stands out from the competition.

A group can create an open dialogue between you and your customers. Groups are a way to build a community as you can propose a question to your customers, gather answers and then propose a solution (what you can do and how your business can help). You can also post motivational quotes, different ways to use your product/service, current events, or upcoming events and launches.

Facebook Ads

If your growth is not happening organically, using Facebook ads can help you target and reach more people. To market your business through Facebook, Facebook ads are a unique feature to successfully grow your business. Facebook ads are similar to regular posts, but you can target specific demographics such as location, age, or interests. Facebook ads include analytics which is important for your business to know which ads are most successful at finding who is interested.

If you are more advanced after following all these steps to grow your business, you can use Facebook Pixel. This is one of the most useful tools on Facebook, as it allows you to analyze the outcome of your Facebook Ads. Facebook Pixel allows you to track the number of conversions, such as purchases, website clicks, etc. This feature also allows you to see the return revenue on the ad based on the customer’s purchase. Another important feature is you can build custom audiences. These custom audiences are used to retarget the ad to people who viewed similar interests. Pixel also allows you to create custom ads based on the products the customer’s viewed on your website or purchased. You’ve probably seen ads from companies using Facebook Pixel. It happens when you visit a website to view a product. Then your Facebook feed and other sites you visit start showing you an ad for the same product to remind you to make the purchase.

Tiktok

With over 800 million users, Tiktok is a newer and smaller social media platform compared to Instagram and Facebook but should not be ignored if you are trying to market your small business. Generation Z and millennials are amongst the largest group of users, but almost every age group is growing on the platform.

The first step to marketing your company on Tiktok is to create a profile for your business. Include your name, username, a short bio that describes your business, add other social media accounts and your website URL. The next step is to make content. Your content should include tutorials on how to use your product/service, a description of your business, and information on why the customer needs it. Also, you should follow current Tiktok trends whether it’s a dance or challenge while incorporating something that relates to your business.

Your content should be fun, creative, and unique to your page. Encourage your followers to engage in the comments whether its asking questions or complimenting the video. It’s important to always engage with your followers. If your followers feel ignored, they will most likely unfollow and won’t recommend your page to others. Also, using popular sounds to promote your business is found to be very effective.

Using Hashtags to Get Recommended

Hashtags are the most useful on this app for a few reasons. In particular, the hashtags group together videos with similar content and show it to users For You page. The For You page is unique to Tiktok. It is where TikTok creates a personalized feed in which Tiktok recommends videos based on the videos the user interacts with. The For You page is the most important factor while growing your business on TikTok. TikTok will recommend your video to users who behave similarly. For example, if you are selling make-up, Tiktok will recommend your video to those who use make-up, watch tutorials, and engage with beauty related content. This will increase followers, shares, and direct people to your business.

Creating Challenges

Another way to market your business is to create a personal hashtag challenge. As a smaller business, you can ask people to use your custom hashtag and make a video that relates to what your business is about. This is free advertising and allows traffic to direct to your page. As your business grows, you can purchase a sponsored hashtag challenge and it will be shown on the Discover page. When users select the hashtag, they can see a few videos that your company creates explaining the challenge and promotes your brand. Another form of marketing on this platform is ads that will play between users’ content on their For You page. These ads have different features such as buttons that direct them to your profile, website, etc.

Engaging with Influencers

Similar to Facebook and Instagram, influencers on the app can be used to expand your reach on finding customers. It is best to find influencers that fit your personalities and values that you want your brand to promote. Most influencers expect some form of payment whether it is money, a discount on a product/service, free product/service, etc. When connecting with an influencer, you want them to talk about the product, review the product, or make a tutorial using the product. Make sure the influencer includes the brand name on the screen or in the description. Influencers on Tiktok are the biggest marketing strategy on this particular platform. Engaging with them will help drive their audience to your page, increase followers, engagement, and eventually purchase.

Final Thoughts

Whether you decide that Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok or all three are right for your small business, there are certain objectives that every small business owner should know when running your business. Following the tips listed above, these three platforms will help you grow your engagement and convert followers into customers.

Be Authentic. Be Patient. Be Fearless.

When building your small business, you should always be authentic. You want to create an honest relationship with your customers. How you portray yourself will reflect in your business. I also encourage you to be patient as you grow your small business, especially on social media. It takes time for you to grow followers, increase engagement, build a consumer base, and make a profit. The last piece of advice I have is to be fearless. Stop letting fear and other’s opinions stop you from doing what you want to do. Don’t be afraid to stand out from your competition. Do not be afraid to fail, because failure is how you learn.

Sources:

“22 Facebook Marketing Tips for Small Businesses on a Budget.” WordStream, http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2018/07/02/facebook-marketing-for-small-business.

Balkhi, Syed. “How to Use TikTok to Promote Your Business.” Entrepreneur, 23 Oct. 2019, http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/340216.

Broudie, Marly. “4 Ways to Use TikTok for Business.” Social Media Examiner | Social Media Marketing, 18 Feb. 2020, http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/4-ways-to-use-tiktok-business/.

“Create a Website.” Quicksprout, http://www.quicksprout.com/social-media-for-small-business/.

Driver, Saige. “How to Promote Your Small Business on Facebook.” Business News Daily, Businessnewsdaily.com, 10 Sept. 2018, http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5453-how-to-promote-your-small-business-on-facebook.html.

Driver, Saige. “How to Use Instagram for Business.” Business News Daily, http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7662-instagram-business-guide.html.

“How to Use Social Media for Small Business: 11 Simple Tips.” Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, 24 July 2020, http://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-tips-for-small-business-owners/.

Law, Thomas J. “23 Top Social Media Sites to Consider for Your Business in 2019.” Oberlo, Oberlo, 18 Feb. 2020, www.oberlo.com/blog/social-media-sites.

Morgaine, Briana, et al. “Instagram Marketing: A Small Business Guide.” Bplans Blog, 12 May 2017, articles.bplans.com/instagram-marketing-a-small-business-guide/.

Specialists, AdEspresso Ads. “How to Master the Facebook Pixel Like a Pro (in 2020 and beyond).” AdEspresso, 12 Dec. 2019, adespresso.com/blog/facebook-pixel/.

“TikTok Marketing for Beginners – A Marketer’s Guide to Advertising on Tiktok.” Influencer Marketing Hub, 14 Apr. 2020, influencermarketinghub.com/tiktok-marketing-guide/.

Turner, Marcia Layton. “Using TikTok To Build Your Business.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 1 Apr. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/marciaturner/2020/03/31/using-tiktok-to-build-your-business/

“What Is Social Media Engagement? Engage Users and Make $.” BigCommerce, 27 July 2020, www.bigcommerce.com/ecommerce-answers/what-is-social-media-engagement/

The post How to Effectively Use Social Media to Market Your Small Business appeared first on Inspired Marketing, Inc..

Creative

You need to extract all creative juices in your brain to be an expert in marketing. It is not a field that you can quickly master. You need to be creative and come up with new ways to grow your business. If you start lacking passion and motivation, it could show in your output.

Curiosity

You can’t be an expert if you feel satisfied with what you already have. You need to have a thirst for knowledge and to keep finding ways to learn. If you are curious, you won’t stop because each day you need to learn something.

Optimistic

You won’t know whether your marketing techniques will be successful or not. You won’t know whether your article will reach thousands of views. You won’t know if people will leave positive comments on your videos. Despite that, you need to remain optimistic. Otherwise, you will give up even before you start.

Innovative

You always come up with something new and modify the ideas that people used before. You don’t stop unless you feel satisfied with what you have done. Even if you already achieved something original and useful, you keep innovating. You may have noticed that some marketing strategies that worked before are no longer useful now. It is due to innovation, as people have found new ways to appeal to more audiences.

Open-minded

You need to be someone who accepts change. A few years ago, online marketing was not a big deal. It is only in recent years that people have started looking at online marketing seriously. Today, almost everyone is advertising online. Therefore, you need to have an open mind and accept changes.

Analytical

You can’t be the type of person who keeps dismissing things. You need to analyse everything thoroughly before you conclude whether something is useful or not. For instance, if someone advises you to use exhibition stands for advertising, you can’t say that they won’t work. You need to check first if they are compatible with your business. If you are the dismissive type, you might miss the chance to have a successful campaign.

Good storyteller

Advertising is like storytelling. You want people to listen to what you have to say and believe in you. There are many ways to capture attention when you read a story. It includes the actual content of the story, your vocal variety and gestures. In advertising, you can also find ways to entice people to at least give you a chance.

If you have these qualities, you are on your way to success in marketing. You can’t allow yourself to be big-headed though and stop learning because you feel like you already reached the pinnacle of success.

Image: Unsplash.com

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• Have a professional email address, ideally one with your name. Make sure the email address you give to potential clients is not something like lovesliquor@emailservice.com or hotmama74@emailservice.com. Showing that you’re ready to do business starts with the first contact. Is that what you want potential clients to see on your contact page?

• Make sure all pictures and videos you post are professional. No, every photo does not have to be a headshot, but avoid posting pictures and videos of you drinking, engaging in illegal behavior or using foul language.

• Do not bash your current employer or previous clients on social media. The company who might hire you may not you simply because they don’t want to be on the receiving end of your next social media rant.

• Monitor what your friends post about you on social media. You may be careful not to post any questionable status updates, photos or videos. Your friends may not. Be careful that you don’t get tagged in updates that don’t show you in the best light.

• Monitor what your friends post about themselves on social media. There’s a popular saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” This means that those in a certain social crowd will have similar traits, or “like attracts like.” Even if you’ve cleaned your profiles up, it may not look good if the majority of your friend’s list features people who have their behinds as their profile pictures. You can’t control what other people do, but be aware of what your friends list says about you.

• Always address negative reviews. Even the most diligent business owner can’t please everyone. If you find a negative review of your company online, address it swiftly. Invite the disgruntled customer to message you privately and then follow up. If the issue is resolved, encourage him or her to post the resolution under the original complaint to show your follow up. Potential customers are more forgiving of a company that makes a mistake and deals with it than a company that ignores customer complaints entirely.

• Put out your own content. Already have negative items that come up when someone searches for you or your company? There are things you can do. First, ask the owner of the website to remove the negative content. This may work if it is a personal website or blog. However, if it is an online review site or news source, and you can’t prove that the negative items are false, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. What you CAN do is put out your own positive content in the form of blog posts, social media profiles, guest posts, videos and press releases. Give the search engines new content to index on a regular basis, and soon those old negative items will be pushed down and possibly even pushed off the first page of search engines. This is one way to give your online reputation a boost.

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Staying on top of your online reputation isn’t always easy, but having the right tools helps. Here are links to several articles that tell you the top free tools people are using to see what people are saying about them on the web. Check it out, and let me know which tools you found to be the most helpful in the comments below.

– Build Your Career and Reputation with Social Media

– 10 Free Tools For Monitoring Your Brand’s Online Reputation

– 5 Free Tools to Manage Your Online Reputation

– 5 Tools to Monitor Your Online Reputation

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I invite you to join my new private community for women entrepreneurs, the Become Your Own CEO group on Facebook. This is a safe space for women entrepreneurs where we can vent, hold each other accountable, support each other and get business questions answered.

I created this space especially for women whose families and friends don’t fully understand why they’d leave the “safety” of a regular paycheck to pursue their dreams. Surrounding yourself with like-minded leaders is crucial to business success. Welcome to your support system.

The post Need Support? Join My Private Community for Women Entrepreneurs appeared first on Inspired Marketing, Inc..

I love the New Year! The turning of the calendar brings a new year and new possibilities. We set our business goals and hit the ground running. That excitement lasts through January and February (you know, the do over month). Some things get accomplished, and some things don’t. You’re still positive you can make things happen, so you keep going, even through March and April. But by May, many of us are burned out and disappointed over not achieving our goals. Well, it’s June now. Are you still on track?

In this setting goals article, I challenged you to assess the past year and commit to only keeping those habits that would benefit you and your business.  The idea was to use that list to create concrete goals that would propel your company forward throughout the new year.  It’s June now.  How have your goals been holding up?  Have you proudly checked off the majority of your 6 month goals, or are you still working on things that should’ve been done in January? My progress has been good but not perfect. A few major things I’m proud of accomplishing include becoming a contributor to the Huffington Post, revamping my website and starting a new Facebook group for women entrepreneurs. However, I still need to launch my group coaching program on creating your own digital information products for sale or giveaway. Thankfully, it’s already scheduled for this month.

If you’re one of those entrepreneurs who feels like your new year’s business resolutions went out the window, hope is not lost. You still have June and the remaining 6 months of the year to get back on track, but you have to do things differently. Here’s what you can do now to make sure you end the year with a list of completed goals.

1. Check your goals. Were they realistic? Sometimes we get so caught up in creating goals that we never check to make sure they are something we can actually attain. Think about the goal of losing weight. From what I’ve read, it’s healthy to lose 1 to 2lbs a week. You may lose more if you’re aggressive, but that’s average. Do we set a goal to lose 4 to 8lbs in January? Nope. We say, “I’m going to lose 15 to 20lbs this month!” Unless you have 3+ hours a day to work out, a personal trainer and are willing to drastically change your diet, that goal is not realistic. It’s the same for your business.  Did you write down that you’d gain 25 new clients each week or that you’d increase sales 50% in the first three months of the year without a solid plan to back it up?  Remember that goals need to be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound). Make sure yours are. If not, rewrite them.

2.What’s important to you now? Is it time to create a new list?Maybe you’ve decided to take your business in a new direction. Perhaps the needs of your customers changed since you wrote your goals down in January.  If so, then what you want to accomplish between June to December may have changed as well.  That’s okay.  It just means that you need to revise your current list.  When writing out your goals for the remainder of the year, use the S.M.A.R.T. format mentioned above.

3. Get outside support.  It’s easy to fall off track if you have no one checking for your progress.  Get a coach or an accountability partner who will hold you to your goals and keep you moving forward. Look for someone who is also a small business owner and schedule regular meetings where you both have a chance to share your current, short-term goals, your progress on previous goals and any help needed from the other person. I recommend meeting twice a month to keep the momentum going.

What progress have you made on your goals in the 1st six months of this year?  What help do you need to make it a stronger back-half of the year? Comment below.

The post It’s June! So What Happened to Your Business Goals? appeared first on Inspired Marketing, Inc..

1) Decide on the article you want to submit. The Huffington Post takes both original and reposted articles. If you want to submit an article you’ve already used somewhere else, make sure you rewrite at least 20% of it first. This helps with SEO (search engine optimization) as you won’t be penalized for duplicate content. When writing, think of the audience you want to serve and a problem they’re having. Address the solution in your article. Include specific examples or relevant personal stories if you have them.

2) Research. Attempting to get published on a well-known international blog is a big deal, and I wanted to be prepared before I submitted my pitch. First, I searched for bloggers and business owners who had been successful at getting their pitches accepted in the past. Thankfully, they were willing to share their tips. An article at Erin’s Inside Job was especially helpful.

I also located the editor over the section I wanted to contribute to. Here’s a list of Huffington Post editors. Most email addresses are firstname.lastname@huffingtonpost.com. You can also navigate to the section of the Huffington Post where you want to contribute. There’s a boxed section on the right generic editor emails, such as whatisworking@huffingtonpost.com for the small business section.

There is a pitch a blog post form on the site you can use, but I would advise that you send it directly to an editor as well.

3) Craft a Pitch Email. When you’re submitting to editors, you want to make their job as easy as possible. Try to give them everything they need to publish your story without having to do a lot of back and forth with you. Include the following items in the body of your email.

• Quick introduction and the reason you think your article would be a good fit
• The full article, including the title, with word count
• A short bio with links to your site or a social media account

I put these same items into a Microsoft Word document and attached them to the email, along with a photo of me.

Then I spell checked my email, the article and the email address I was sending to. After much back and forth, I hit the send button.

4) Send, Wait, Pitch Again. After a week, I didn’t get a response. Rather than be discouraged and stop, I decided to pitch a different, more personal story directly to the President & Editor-in-Chief, Arianna Huffington. Using the same strategy as above, I crafted my email. It took a while to hit the send button, and I probably reread my submission at least 20 times. Then I thought about it. If I didn’t send the email, I was giving myself an automatic no to becoming a contributor. If I did send it, the worst Ms. Huffington could do is ignore it or say no herself. I sucked it up and pressed send.

Here’s a copy of the email I sent.

Dear Ms. Huffington,

I hope you are doing well. I would like to submit an article to be considered for the “What Is Working: Small Businesses” section of The Huffington Post.

Conventional wisdom states that it’s always wise for entrepreneurs to have a Plan B, C and maybe even D when setting goals. I don’t believe that. For many, the mere existence of those extra plans are holding them back from the business success they could be achieving. In my own life, my greatest achievements have come when I had a “Plan A or nothing” attitude. That’s what this article is about. It uses my life as a business owner as a backdrop to why ditching Plan B may be the best thing an entrepreneur ever did for his or her business.

I’ve included the article with title, author bio, and photo below and as attachments for your convenience.

I’d be honored to be a contributor. Please let me know if this is something you’re looking for.

All the best,
Dequiana Jackson

—–

Title:

Why Your Plan B May be Holding You Back from Business Success

Author Bio:

Dequiana Jackson, Founder and CEO of Inspired Marketing, Inc., is a small business marketing coach who helps women entrepreneurs find their life’s passion and turn it into a profitable, service-based business through solid marketing strategies. Looking for a supportive, engaging space to grow your biz? Join Dequiana’s Facebook group for women entrepreneurs: http://bit.ly/BecomeYourOwnCEO.

Article: (I included the whole thing)

The Result: Not even a week later, I received a welcome email directly from Ms. Huffington.

She copied her editor, and a few days after that, I got login credentials. Even if this second pitch was not successful, I would’ve tried again with a different article. I believe my voice is important and should be heard. Yours is, too. I also believe in giving back. That’s why I wrote this article. If I can step outside of my comfort zone, you can, too.

By the way, here’s my live article: How Your Plan B Is Holding You Back From Business Success

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