Email marketing is a great way to communicate with your audience and generate new leads with minimal effort. One easy way to create consistent email content is to start a drip campaign! If you're new to marketing your business or you've never spent much time on email marketing, the idea of setting up an email campaign can seem daunting. Don't worry though! We'll cover the basics for you here and you'll be planning regular drip campaigns before you know it.

It's springtime! For many of us, that means it's time to do our annual spring cleaning both at home and at the office. While scrubbing the windows and sorting through your extra inventory is important, you might want to add data cleaning to your to do list this year!

As a business owner, you probably have many tools that make your job easier. They may even be essential to get the job done! With digital marketing, it's no different. Marketing your business online can be a daunting task, but with the right tools, you could take the stress out of marketing your business while optimizing your marketing strategies.

In marketing, most of your decisions are going to be based on information you have gathered through different analysis methods. This new age of digital marketing has made it so much easier to gather information about your customers and how they interact with your brand. Tools like HubSpot, Mixpanel, and Google Analytics are all great options for doing so, but keeping up with the latest in these tools is important for gathering accurate data.

Looking for a quality, customer-approved form of content for your digital marketing? Why not give User-Generated Content a try! If you read our blogs (and you should), you'll have already learned a little bit about User-Generated Content, or UGC. It's not only a trending source of content on social media, but it's also an easy, successful form of content that keeps on giving and makes the content generation process a little easier for you! There are a lot of ways to use UGC, so we thought…

Social media is a great way to connect with customers and market your business at the same time. Real and authentic communication seems to be what consumers are looking for, but how do you engage with them in a way that's productive?

In the world of digital marketing and e-commerce, the first impression your customer has of you is often online. Or maybe your business is completely online and you rely solely on digital means to display your products or services. Whatever your situation may be, your product photos say a lot about your business! It's important that you display them to the highest standard possible. You don't have to be a professional photographer to take good photos or stand out—you just need to take a…

If you own a business, you need to have a business website. Websites serve so many purposes that can directly impact the success of your business. From your credibility with customers to SEO, and a lot in between; we could argue having a good website is a top three must for business owners. Still not convinced? We're prepared to back up our claim! This entire blog is dedicated to the reasons you should have a website. So without further ado, we present what makes a website essential.

Many people think of marketing as a way to create brand awareness. After all, the more people that know about your brand, the better, right? Making people aware of your brand is super important and definitely a great idea, but sometimes quality is better than quantity! Our goal in marketing should be to create meaningful, long-term relationships with as many people as we can.

Your customer base is made up of all kinds of people. People of different ages, abilities, sexual orientations, races, and more will likely use your services or products. So why would you only market to one demographic? The short answer is: you shouldn't! We all know how important diversity and inclusion are in a business, and that doesn't stop with marketing. How you market your business is how people see it and what you stand for; which is why you should strive to reach as many people with…

A lot of marketing is about internal review. It's essential to continue working on your business from the inside; but sometimes it's good to step back and look at the big picture.

Marketing your business can be a feat, especially if you're just starting out. From branding, to research, to resources, and more, marketing contains a lot of logistics! Keeping organized is essential to success. Going in blind is a recipe for disaster. So make sure you're prepared to do it right the first time with a solid marketing plan!

When it comes to marketing, email campaigns are a great tool for any business. You can use emails for promotion, increasing customer interaction, or even to gain new clients! To have a successful email campaign though, you need engagement. It's not enough to just send out your email, people need to open them–bonus points if you get a reaction with any links or surveys you include. This is where email optimization comes in! Not sure where to start? We've got the tips and tricks you need…

Your website is the start of a good relationship with your customers. Roughly 85% of consumers use the internet to discover and find local businesses! Additionally, 79% of entrepreneurs with a business website expect to grow at least 25% in the next three to five years. Your website acts as a one-stop shop for customers to find information about your business. So this investment is vital. Keeping your website up-to-date with good content not only keeps customers on your site longer but is…

As a business owner, you'll spend a lot of time thinking about your brand. From the font you use to the products and services you offer, it's important to make sure your branding is cohesive on all fronts. So how do you do that? Consistency is the key.

Brand consistency is essentially making sure everything to do with your business is on the same page. Same logos, colors, tone, and message on all your platforms. This not only helps customers recognize your business, but it establishes your…

Whether you're a restaurant owner with regulars that come in at least once a week or a plumber with customers that always call or recommend you for repair needs, every type of business can benefit from customer loyalty. In fact, it can cost up to five times more to attract new customers than it does to keep existing customers coming back. Loyal customers can also help businesses increase their profits, growth, and brand advocacy. Even if your business offers a one-time service or product,…

A common misconception about marketing is that it's used to simply get your name out there. It makes sense that the more customers that see your goods or services, the more customers you have buying said goods and services. However, people just knowing about your business is not enough to make them buy what you're selling. You need to influence their purchase decisions to make them pick you over your competitors.

When it comes to maintaining a small business, knowing who you sell your goods or services to can make or break your success. While it's easy to make general assumptions about the customers you might bring in, actually learning about your target audience and the best way to market to them will ensure a better outcome, and profit, for you in the long run!

Welcome to the green team! June 5th is World Environment Day, and we thought what better way to celebrate than practicing sustainability. Sustainable business is good for the environment, but it's also good for your brand! Studies show that around 60% of consumers rate sustainability as an important purchase criterion. On average, more than 34% of the population is willing to pay more for sustainable products or services. The U.S. also represents 42% of the global willingness to pay for…

When starting your business, you'll likely spend a lot of time focusing on your online presence. One of the most important, but easily overlooked aspects of that is Search Engine Optimization. SEO is THE way customers find your website when they use a search engine, and if you don't use this tool to the best of its ability, your website could be lost in the crowd.

Marketing your business can be intimidating. There's a lot of things to consider when deciding how you're going to represent your brand. However, it is SUPER important to be involved in digital marketing. The internet is where everything is happening and where many people get their information. There's tons of platforms out there for you to get started, but there is one platform we recommend getting on no matter what—Google.

Reviews about your business are some of the most viewed items when a potential customer is researching you. They can make or break your first impression and help them decide whether or not they want to move forward with you. Although we've given you some tips on making the most of your business's reviews, we wanted to hone in on the importance of responding to them. Here's why you should respond to reviews:

Your website is one of the most important parts of your online presence, and most of the time it is a potential customer's first impression of you. That's why it's so important to ensure you're doing all the right things to make your website a useful tool for both you and your customers!

It's time for an invasion of the old way of doing things! The world is constantly changing, and so should your business. But making the right changes can be tough, especially when you're unsure of what's benefitting your business and what's not. That's where the SWOT team comes in! We'll show you exactly how to do this simple analysis for your business to adapt as the world changes.

In a growing world of technology, there are many ways to be found on the internet. Among those ways is Google. Google is the #1 leading search engine globally, thus making it an essential tool for the success of your business. Google provides several ways for companies to be found, but one of the most important tools it offers is a service called Google Business Profile.

Step up your marketing game with Instagram Reels! Social media trends are constantly changing, and we're here to keep up with them so you don't have to! We wanted to show you all the basics so you can create fun, trendy, and informative marketing materials that will get people interested!

One of the most important marketing tips when it comes to your brand is that you should strive to create brand recognition. Brand recognition is what gets people to notice you, remember you, and consider you. When you develop a recognizable brand, you will reap the benefits. So, why is brand recognition important and what are the benefits?

Did you know that there are different types of writing? You may have heard of a few like creative writing, professional writing, or academic writing, but what about strategic writing? While it might be a new type of writing for you, it's actually one that you are probably already using to an extent. Let's take a closer look:

One of the most common questions we get is, "How can I market my business?" While this question doesn't take a rocket scientist to answer, it does require a decent amount of thought to help find the best solution for that business. Every small business is different, and even if they function in the same industry, some tactics may work better for one company than they will for another. Combining multiple strategies to fit your needs is a great way to help increase your exposure. Below we have…

Advertising can sometimes be complex, especially when it comes to Google. But getting your brand out there in front of new customers is imperative to growing your business. Google is one of the most-used search engines for literally everything, so it’s worth it when it comes to Google Ads. Although it looks like a lot to take in, we’ve gathered the basics to get you started!

We all know that social media has become a huge part of the way we promote and communicate with customers, but what can you actually expect to gain from using social media as a business? It's a valuable tool, that's for sure, but it does come with some limitations and it sometimes doesn't provide certain things you might want or need. Let's look at some things to consider when it comes to social media expectations:

With so much content already online, you might wonder if blogging is worth all the time and effort for your business. It can be daunting, but a blog is totally worth it in the long run! Blogging is a cost-effective marketing tool that can improve your online visibility and help your business grow. You can promote your products and services, as well as share your knowledge of your industry with your customers. Not sold yet? Here are the reasons you should be blogging:

Your goal as a business owner is to always strive for continued growth and improvement for your business. In order to do this, you have to listen to your customers and give them what they want. The problem is—you can’t do that if you don’t know what it is they want. That’s where customer feedback comes into play.

A website is a place where your business gets the opportunity to share its story. In a way, a website can often be one reason a customer may choose to go with your brand over one of your competitors. Providing your customers with an exceptional online user experience can leave the same lasting effect as giving excellent in-store customer service. The few short moments you have with a customer when they're surfing the web can make a long-term impression, and you want to be sure you set…

The COVID-19 pandemic has made life crazy over the past year, with things changing drastically for everyone. With the introduction of vaccines, many places are starting to transition into some level of what life was like before COVID. But with these transitions, a lot of businesses aren’t sure how to move forward. But no worries! We’ve got some tips on how you can easily transition into a post-COVID world.

Do you struggle to get your audience to take action on your website, social media, or ads? It could be because your call-to-action doesn't impact them the way it should. Having a strong call-to-action will guide your online viewers into doing exactly what you want them to do, when you want them to do it. So how can you improve your calls-to-action? First, we need to talk about some basics:

During times like these, it's even more important to utilize ways that can help get your business out there and in front of consumers. One topic we love to discuss in our marketing tips is social media, and we have something new to share! There's another way to get your products in front of your customers: Facebook Shop—and we've gathered just about everything you need to know.

Is focusing on customer loyalty worth it? Absolutely. Customer loyalty can be the driving force behind your business! Find out more about the importance of customer loyalty, how you can get it, and the types of customer loyalty programs that might be right for you and your business.

Getting a message across to your potential customers has never been easier than with email. Email marketing is the perfect way to communicate with those who are already interested in your brand.

In today's market, there are thousands of products, brands, and services available to consumers across the globe. Consumers can find most products easily from multiple websites, making standing out from the crowd even more difficult than it already is. So how do you break the barrier and convince your audience to choose you over your competitors?

One of the most important things that a business has is its reputation. Good or bad, your reputation is how you will continue attracting potential customers. But how do they know what your reputation is? Reviews.

Surveys are one of the easiest ways for a company to receive feedback. They help drive your business forward in more ways than one and can be an easy part of helping you make decisions as a company. In the past, collecting data was a long and strenuous process. However, recently, receiving feedback from your customers, employees, or even the general market has become easier than ever before. Surveys are an essential part of growth, and we're here to show you how you can create the perfect…

What does it mean to have brand equity? How do you manage it? What are the benefits? We're here to give you some tips on creating brand equity for your business and why it's important.

Referrals happen when a current customer of your business shares what they like about it to a potential customer. This could be a friend, family member, or even a stranger. Either way, this word-of-mouth has a huge impact on the growth of your business. We're here to teach you about the value of referrals and how to get them.

Social media can be a fantastic tool for your business. It can provide many benefits and give you an advantage over your competition. But how do you get followers and create a more loyal customer base?

The free market can be a remarkably competitive place, and if you don't know how to play your cards correctly, it's easy to be overlooked by customers who may need your products or services. Part of having a hand in this competition is the ability to be easily recognized by potential consumers. You want to stand out from the crowd and give buyers a reason to choose your brand over others. Spreading awareness can be crucial to making a name for yourself and your business. When people are…

Keeping your audience engaged is extremely important, especially right now. One of the ways you can do this is by featuring a digital deal scavenger hunt! This is a fun and exciting way to engage with your audience and drive traffic back to your website. Here's how you can do your own digital scavenger hunt:

Most small businesses can't splurge on huge marketing campaigns to build their success. To watch your business grow, you've got to put in the work where it matters: your community. As a local business, your community is where you will gain traction and make real progress towards achieving your goals. In order to do that, local marketing is a must. Connecting with your community is essential.

In today's society, social media is an important aspect of your business. Not only can social media help you promote your products, it enables your business to get publicity, traffic, and gain marketing insights. We've got some tips on what you should avoid on social media to help keep your social media presence strong.

Snapchat is an excellent tool for connecting with your audience, but it can do more than that. In the second part of our Snapchat series, we're talking about the different advertising opportunities that Snapchat offers you.

Most products can be found on numerous sites from numerous businesses. So how do you get your audience to buy yours? You need to sell the experience versus just selling the product. Let's break that down.

More bang for your buck

Selling an experience sells more than just the product. Customers are looking to get the most out of what they are spending. They want to know that they got the best deal that they could get. You are showing them that it's more than just a product, it's an experience.…

Podcasts are a growing form of media used by audiences across the nation. They are what is called a netcast, where hosts talk about different topics and post them online. Podcasts are typically made in a series, where they release new installments each week or monthly. They also offer a great new way to market your business or product.

Why are they important?

Podcasts are becoming extremely important in terms of reaching your audience. Marketing Land states that podcasts are gaining 62…

Social media graphics are extremely important. Creating them may seem difficult, but no worries! We've got some tips and tricks on how you can make social graphics like the professionals.

Let's face it, LinkedIn is not the first thing you think of when it comes to social networks. Trying to use any social media can feel like you're blindly walking through the dark, but don't stress! Here are three tips on how you can use LinkedIn for your business like a pro.

Industry Related Content

When posting, remember to stick with content that deals with your industry. For example, if you're in the plumbing industry, you might post an article that talks about the importance of knowing…

If there is anything that makes a business owner roll their eyes more, is the idea of having to add marketing to the to-do list.

How do I even begin? What should I invest in? Insta-what? I don't even know how to use my iPhone!

Long gone are the days of putting up a storefront and flipping over the "open" sign, but marketing doesn't have to be a scary or boring word. Here are three great tips on marketing your business that are both easy and fun!

Find Your Voice

No one can market your…

Yelp is an online directory used to help users find businesses in their area. The primary goal of Yelp is to connect businesses and consumers via an online platform. It's been growing in popularity each year since its founding in 2004, and is one of the best platforms to list your business on alongside Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Facebook.

Why You Should Care

Even with the knowledge that Yelp is a fairly big deal in today's online business environment, you may still be thinking "Why do I…

Even though it feels like summer just started, fall is quickly approaching. The season of colors, leggings, and pumpkin everything is a great time to launch a pre-holiday marketing campaign. If done correctly, a fall marketing campaign can be a great lead into the holiday shopping season.

Jump in Feet First

For some, the summer is a busy time, but for most, it's notorious for a slump in business. This can cause us all to slow down and get used to a more relaxed pace. Kick off fall with a…

Chapstick, McDonald's, Disney- What do these all have in common? They're all globally recognized brands. Even just reading their names probably brought to mind specific memories or feelings. Children can often recognize the branding of a business before they are old enough to read. It's that kind of branding that truly makes a company stand out. But how did these brands become global powerhouses? It's not something that happens overnight. With a little work, and a lot of planning, you can…

For many people, summertime means it's time to kick back and relax, take time off of work, and enjoy this slow, lazy season. Just because people are slowing down, doesn't mean your business has to.

The summertime slump is real, but there are ways to defeat it. Don't let the summer heat distract you from having a successful summer with your business.

Here are three marketing tips to help you avoid the summer slump!

Create a Marketing Strategy

Since summer is a slower season for many businesses,…

It's not always easy to convince your customers to spread the good news about your company to their friends and family. People need motivation, they need a good incentive, but most of the time they just plain forget to say anything!

If you're looking to get more referrals for your business through your loyal customers, you have to set up some sort of strategy to get people to start talking about you.

Here are a few simple strategies for getting more referrals for your business.

Create A…

Are you having trouble promoting yourself to your customers? Is traditional marketing and advertising failing to get you the results you need?

If one or both of these problems sounds like you, then you might need a brand new website for your business.

Websites aren't just for giant corporations or special interests anymore; nearly everyone has a website these days, and your customers expect you to have one as well!

If you want to promote yourself in a modern way, and attract new customers…

Social media is everywhere around us, these days. Whether you use social media for personal reasons, or you're a business that is using your Twitter, Facebook, etc. for marketing purposes, there's no doubt that social media has changed the way the world functions.

You might already have a Facebook Page or an Instagram profile setup for your business, but do you know why you're using social media? Do you know the benefits of having a strong social presence?

Here are 3 ways that social media can…

Are you getting all that you can get out of your small business website? Is it increasing the number of orders you get on a weekly or monthly basis?

If you can't answer either of those questions with a resounding "yes!" then you aren't using your website in the way that you should be.

Every website built by Atwill Media is made to help your business grow. Thanks to our many outstanding tools and features, we want to help you reach your goals and succeed in the business world. But having a great…

Have you ever used A/B testing to figure out which version of a marketing piece works (or converts) better?

A/B testing is often used by marketers to see how they can optimize their conversion rate, and bring in more sales to their business. In A/B testing, you take two, or more, versions of your marketing material, with only slight differences between each, and run a test to see which one performs better for your goals.

In order to get started with A/B testing, you first need to figure out…

If you have a website, then it's also important to have and recognize the importance of having a Facebook Page to compliment your business website.

Your Facebook Page and your business website work hand in hand to give your customers the important information that they need when searching for you online. It also greatly impacts whether they decide to make a purchase from you instead of one of your competitors.

But your Facebook Page does you no good if you don't have your website's URL attached…

Atwill Media offers you a wide set of ecommerce tools to grow your business online, but if you don't know how to take advantage of these tools, are they really helping your business?

Like the rest of your website, your online store and ecommerce solution requires an understanding of what customers are searching for online in order for it to be successful. In other words, you need to work on the SEO of your online store in the same way that you work on it for the rest of your website.

When…

The holidays are approaching quickly! It seems like just a few months ago we were celebrating the 2016 holiday season, and now we're into November and almost into the biggest shopping season of the year.

By this time, you probably already have your holiday inventory set, and your marketing strategy for getting customers to buy from you this holiday season. But have you thought about incorporating a contest into your marketing strategy for this year?

An online contest is a great way for you to…

In 2017, it's impossible to approach a marketing strategy without thinking about the mobile market and its prevalence in the world.

According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of Americans now own mobile devices. That's a huge percentage of the American population that you could be targeting with your marketing strategy.

But what does it take to start a mobile marketing strategy, and how do you maintain one once you have it?

Mobile Friendly/Mobile Responsive Web Design

One of the…

Video marketing is the new king of online content.

Although much of the internet is still comprised of blogs, long form articles, and infographics, video content is the most popular and most shared form of content on the internet today.

Just look at your social media feeds. Whether it's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or something else, original video content seems to take up most of your carefully curated social media feeds.

It's common knowledge that many of these social media companies…

Your blog is more than just a way for you to give your customers valuable information about your company; it's also a powerful way to increase your ecommerce sales on your website.

Many business owners seem to consider maintaining a blog on their website a pointless endeavor. Blogs aren't products that can be sold, and they aren't direct money making tools for the company.

However, this point of view looks at blogs in an entirely outdated way. In the same way that social media was originally…

How many times has someone other than you or one of your employees written a blog post for your website? Have you ever thought about using a guest blogger? Do you know the benefits of guest blogging and how it can help your business?

Don't worry if you don't know the answers, that's why we're here!

Guest blogging is a fairly common trend in the marketing and business world. Instead of using an in-house content creator to write the content of your blog, you can instead defer the responsibilities…

Setting up an online store and implementing an ecommerce solution is one of the best ways to attract customers and convince them to buy from you.

According to a study by Big Commerce, 51% of Americans prefer to shop online than in a brick and mortar store, and 96% of Americans with internet access have made an online purchase in their lifetime.

Online shopping is a growing trend with no sign of stopping in the future. If you haven't yet gotten an ecommerce solution for your website (or even a…

Ayyyyyy, my dudes! If you wanna get some real LIT info on how to stay WOKE to your millennial fam, then keep reading and slide into this blog posts DM's! #turnup #sorrynotsorry #yolo

Did that sentence annoy you as much as it annoyed me having to type it out?

Listen, I'm a millennial. Sometimes I use language that you, a company, might not understand or know how to use in context.

That's okay. You don't have to sound like me in order for me to want to buy your products.

In fact, I and many…

Email marketing can either be a blessing for your company, or a curse. You can either utilize it to grow your company through more connections and repeat business, or blunder your approach to it, which can result in a loss of customers.

There are things that you can do right in email marketing, but there are many things you can do wrong. Chances are, you might not even know you're doing the wrong thing with your approach to emails.

With everything, there are do's and don'ts, and today we're…

Are you feeling like your ranking on Google could be improved? Do you feel like you're not getting all you can out of your website?

Chances are, you're not doing as much as you should be doing to ensure that people can find your website when they search online.

If you're looking for simple tips to improve your rankings, or maybe a quick refresher, we've got some great tips for you today.

Use Keywords That People Are Searching

Are you using trending keywords on your website that people are using…

The digital age is here and it's not going anywhere.

With the continuing rise of the internet's influence on the way our world works and how it connects people each and every day, it's hard to imagine a world without it.

Which is just one of the many reason that your business should have its own website. You practically can't operate successfully in today's market without a website for your business.

In fact, according to a research conducted in 2016 by Forbes Insights, a large…

Lots of businesses have social media accounts, but many of them don't know how to probably optimize their social media to get the best results, or don't have the time to learn.

This is where a social media specialist comes in. Gone are the days when businesses had to handle their online presence themselves; now, most businesses have a social media specialist to handle the hard work for them.

If you're unsure of what a social media specialist does, and how they can help your business, just keep…

How do you usually handle your content creation? Do you write all original content for your blog? Do you spend time doing hours of research before posting something? What If I told you there was a better, quicker, and more efficient way of producing content?

Content curation is taking information that someone else has researched and posted on their blog, and gathering that information, a.k.a. curating it, to add to your own blog post.

Content curation shouldn't be confused with plagiarism.…

There are tons of factors that contribute to how well customers are able to find your business when they search for products and services in their area.

One of the key elements to getting your business found by consumers is through online directories.

When consumers search for a local business, they often go to online directories to find what they're looking for. In the same way that consumers used to use the thick and cumbersome annual Yellow Page directory to find contact information…

In journalism, one of the most basic lessons they teach you in your intro to journalism class is the concept of the 5 Ws (and one H). The 5 Ws are questions that every proper journalistic story should answer. They, along with the one H, are:

• What
• Who
• Where
• When
• Why
• How

Every story you read, no matter if it's in a newspaper, a magazine, or online, answers these same basic questions.

But you're not a journalist, and this isn't a newspaper you're trying to sell; it's your products and services. However,…

Blogging can be difficult to keep up with. It becomes even more difficult if you don't have an organized blogging schedule that keeps you on track each month, week, or day.

The best way to stay on track with your blogging is to create your own blogging schedule. Here are a few great ways that keeping a blogging schedule can help your business bring in more customers to your blog, and your website!

Stay Organized

The first step is to create a way for you to stay organized with your blog…

Does your business have an ecommerce solution? If not, you're seriously missing out on a fantastic opportunity to boost your sales!

Ecommerce is simply an online store for your products, where customers can purchase from you directly on your website, without having to walk into your store and purchase from you in person. Although getting people to come to your store is certainly a goal for most businesses, many people who implement an ecommerce solution see a dramatic increase in the number…

Have you ever thought about the importance of your About Us page? Most websites have one, and if you have an Atwill Media website, we help you setup your About page and craft it to tell your story. But what purpose does your About Us page actually serve?

According to a 2015 survey by KoMarketing on B2B Web Usability, more than 50% of people say they look to see if a company has an About Us page first. The About Us page is extremely important for customers who are looking to learn about your…

Maintaining a blog on your website is a fantastic way to connect with your customers and keep them up-to-date with what's happening in your world. It's also another important way of marketing your business to curious customers who are looking for a business, just like yours, to spend money on.

But if your blog isn't attracting customers to it, and no one ever gets to read your amazing content, what's the point of it? For a blog to be effective, it needs to be spread to as many outlets as…

Marketing, as you might already know, is one of the most important tools that a small business can utilize. Good marketing leads to more customers, which means more business and more money!

But you don't have to spend thousands of dollars and have a gigantic marketing budget in order to be effective with your marketing strategy. You can market your business for free through a variety of different sources and tools.

If you're working with a tight budget, and need some new options for marketing…

Do you regularly read blog posts from industry experts and authorities to learn techniques that could help your own business? What about the occasional "feel good" article that seeks to give you an inside look into a business that you respect and admire?

Blogs can be used for a myriad of excellent task, from informing your customers about a new product you're pushing, giving them fun insight into your company's daily duties, or informing them on a subject of which they might not have prior…

It's easy to setup a business Facebook Page and consider this to be all you need for an online presence. After all, Facebook Pages are free, and they allow you to communicate with hundreds, or even thousands, of people at one time.

But, what a lot of small businesses don't realize is that Facebook Pages, although great to have, are limited in their scope, and can only do so much for you online.

A custom built professional website, however, can do so much more for you in terms of building your…

The comments section of a website can often be a battleground of ideas and suggestions. Sometimes, the ideas are helpful, and speak words of encouragement toward your business. Other times, anger is expressed through a few lines of text, and negative feedback is given to you.

Atwill Media makes it super simple to view and moderate the comments you receive on your website. In fact, it's so simple that we've only got 3 easy tips for managing your comments in today's blog post!

If you…

Reviews can make or break your company. If you're doing well, and tending to every need your customer has, then the chances of you getting positive reviews are very high. But, if you're neglecting your customers by not offering them great deals, quality products, and awesome customer service, you're highly likely to get a lot of negative reviews.

It's easy to think that negative reviews are awful for your company, but that's not always the case. Any review you receive can be used as a learning…

Online ads are...not the most exciting things in the world. They're necessary for getting your products in front of potential customers, of course, but how often do you find yourself ignoring an obtrusive ad because it gets in the way of your web browsing experience? It's no wonder that the number of people using ad-blocking software is 200 million people and growing.

Ads are important for increasing your revenue, but if your ads are turning people away, they not really doing you much…

Last Friday, the Internet was effectively broken (and not because of Kim K this time).

According to multiple news outlets, one of the largest domain name system service providers, Dyn, was attacked on Friday by hackers who used a DDoS attack (or "denial of service" attack) to effectively shut down thousands of websites, including sites like Twitter, Spotify, Amazon, PayPal, and Reddit. In laymen's terms, the hackers sent fake traffic to the sites hosted by Dyn, causing the website to crash due…

No one wants to face a crisis at work. Whether it be growing distrust in your company or a failed product launch, a meltdown of epic proportions can really harm your business in the long run.

Take Samsung's recent Galaxy Note 7 launch. What was supposed to be one of the best new smartphones one the market, launched by the biggest smartphone retailer in the world, turned into a massive failure for the South Korean tech giant. Reports of their Note 7's batteries exploding and phones catching…

As a business owner, one of the most important assets that your company can have is a strong, reliable relationship with your community.

Communities are important, not only because they provide a shoulder to lean on in times of trouble, but also because it's a good starting off point for businesses who are trying to get themselves off the ground.

Atwill Media loves to focus on our community of hard-working business owners. We check in on you to see how you're doing, walk you through…

If you're a business owner, it's important to know the influence of customer reviews on your company. After all, don't you always check the reviews before deciding to buy a product or purchase a service from someone?

We all do. It's human nature to be skeptical of someone you haven't done business with in the past. People want you to convince them to buy your products. That's where reviews come in.

The reviews you receive, whether they be through Facebook or on your Atwill Media…

Blogging is an important element of marketing to your consumers, but have you been doing it wrong?

Many businesses make the mistake of using their blog as a tool that exists simply to get clicks on their website, and pack their articles full of keywords to get higher search engine rankings. More visitors to your site and high search rankings are important, make no mistake, but a blog is much more than those two things.

A blog exists to inform your customers of information that they can't find…

As a successful business owner, you might think that you have everything figured out. You've built a thriving business from the ground up, you have plenty of customers, and you're continuing to head in the right direction financially.

But what happens when your business turns stagnant, and you start to lose some of that spark you had when you first began? Maybe you've exhausted all of your great ideas, and you have nothing left in your bag of tricks.

If this is the case for you, then…

You're probably thinking, "What? Arguing? That's never a good thing! It's always caused me problems."

Well, you're not completely wrong. But that's because many people "argue" in the wrong way. Instead of having a passionate discussion with another person to try to convince them your view is the correct one, most people yell, scream and throw out words laced with anger and bile. This is not the correct way to argue, so yeah, if you're doing it this way, you're doing it wrong.

You're probably…

What Is Online Visibility?

Our world is more and more frequently becoming virtual. Most people look online for businesses now more than ever before. This is why your business must have an online presence. If not, you may be losing out on some serious business.

Updated: 6/21/17

Customer reviews don't just influence people.

Search engines love online reviews for the simple reason that consumers trust, actively look for, and depend on what their fellow consumers think. Reviews show that your business is trustworthy and provide a competitive edge.

Consider this: Google notices that your business has several reviews on Google, versus your competitor, that has no reviews. Google considers these reviews in order to provide the most relevant search…

As any business owner knows, trust between a business and its customers is a top priority (at least, it should be, if you're concerned with being a successful business).

Without trust, customers have reason to question your claims about the product or service you're trying to sell them, and as a result might choose to leave your business and find someone else who betters suits their needs.

But how do you build trust between yourself and the customers that you are tasked with serving day in and…

Do you often feel you're trapped in the same old boring routine? Like you're always going in circles when it comes to making big decisions on projects, such as how implement your newest social marketing strategy, or how to attract more customers to your business?

This is usually a result of being trapped inside of the metaphorically famous "Box." This is a space where you can't seem to venture outside of the six imaginary sides that surround you, and where you always get trapped in the…

There's nothing wrong with self-promotion. Self-promotion helps you get your voice out there, let's people know you're proud of the work you've done, and shows customers that you believe in the product or service your unabashedly promoting.

Appealing to the younger generation of consumers can be a difficult task. Millennials, a term that someone who apparently is smarter than the rest of us has labeled those born between 1985-2000, can be a tough group to appeal to.

They don't trust big corporations, they want honesty from you, they love social media and new technology, and they are always looking for the hottest new trend. How do I know all this? Well, I just so happen to be one of those millennials.

You might be thinking to…

In the last post, you learned the five steps of the buying cycle. As you might remember, the customer's journey includes:

• Becoming aware of the need for a product or service
• Conducting research to explore how to fulfill that need
• Alleviation of risk to determine where to buy
• The decision to make a purchase
• Retention and satisfaction with the product or service

For you as a company, it is important to support your customer in each of the stages. An excellent tool to do so is your website -…

Successful entrepreneurs didn't start with riches and fame (well, that is, unless you're Donald Trump). Most had to work hard to get where they ended up, overcoming obstacles as daunting as poverty, education, resources, and more.

If you ever feel like quitting, and don't think your dreams could ever become a reality, just remember these 6 famous entrepreneurs and the steps they had to take to achieve their dreams!

Henry Ford

Ford grew up as a farmer's son, a profession that is generally…

Words hold a lot of power. We use them to express our feelings, like anger, sadness, joy, confusion, surprise, disapproval, etc. And the words you choose to say or write have a lasting impact on the ones who hear your words.

As any business owner knows, the words you use to brand your company -- such as your motto, advertising language, and website content -- have powerful effects on the way customers perceive a business.

There are certain words that have proven to be more powerful…

Let's face it, the last hour of work is basically the time where you do minimal work, goof off a little, talk to coworkers, and maybe surf around on the Internet. It's typically one of the least productive hours of the work day.

Conversely, during the morning, people usually have their most productive hours. Your brain is refreshed (after a couple of cups of coffee, of course) and you're ready to get your day started. So, the question is, how can you make your last hour of work productive as…

Freelancers can be one of the most helpful assets for a company that wants to create awesome online content, or needs a good logo design, but does'’t have the funds to hire a full-time employee.

Lists are what keep me going, day after day. I don't know what I would do without them. I would be lost, and I am sure many of you feel the same way!