We all know that knowing your "why" is important, but it's so much more than just a talking point or mission statement. It's the thing that drives your decisions, which is why you should come back to it frequently.
Recently, my husband shared how he is using the question of “why” to help his team stay on track. They were given a new assignment by their administration and immediately jumped into a how to complete the assignment and who would do each part. They argued for almost an hour trying to figure out the best approach and what would have the best outcome without adding too much to their already heavy workload.
But they got nowhere because they didn’t start with why they were working on this new assignment. They didn’t know the overall purpose, so they got lost in the details. This happens frequently in business, especially when you’re doing things on your own with no one to bounce ideas off of.
So how do you make sure you’re always making Why a part of your business? We’re going to go through a few easy steps to help you stay on track.
You might know that SEO is important, but understanding how to improve the SEO on your website can be a little harder. There are the basic tips, like renaming your photos, that are repeated everywhere. Today we're going to dive into HOW to optimize your site for search engines and WHY it's so dang important to do your homework first. Let's get started!
If you haven’t caught onto the planner craze that’s been sweeping the nation, you’ve pretty much been living under a rock. Whether you partake in it or not, using physical planners has once again captured the nation’s attention. This comes in stark contrast to the technology-obsessed society we live in today.
While not everyone likes to overload their planner with stickers, colors, and washi tape (decorative tape used to spice up a page - beware, this can quickly become an obsession), a majority of planner people agree on the benefit of consistently using a physical one.
Last week we talked about your branding and how to create an experience for your visitors. Now we're going to talk about how to apply that branding to your website and how to setup your navigation for the best use of your audience's time.
You know branding is important - and you probably have been told 1000 times that branding isn't "just a logo". But what does branding really look like aside from the design aspect? Today we're going to dig into the personality of your business and talk about building a structure. We're also going to look at what goes into making a brand guidebook. Let's dig in.
Workflows can help you streamline your work, and they give you a predictable routine to follow. They’re ideal for large, involved projects, especially when the projects involve more than one person. Even your blog post writing process can benefit from a workflow, especially considering how time-consuming it can be to go from brainstorming a post to scheduling it on social media.
A business plan is the foundation of your business. If you don't have a clear idea of your mission and your goals, you're basically throwing junk at the wall and waiting to see what sticks. However, business plans are boring and long so many of us skip this step. Don't worry, this business plan is short and sweet. Feel free to dig more in-depth if you'd like to get more details down, but for now, let's focus on the basics.
Being an entrepreneur entails talking - with anyone and everyone. Building relationships can be the make it or break it point for small business owners. While building those relationships, a business owner is also working on creating products, updating their social presence, maintaining current clients, and so much more. It’s difficult enough trying to keep up with all of the work you’re doing - trying to keep track of everyone you’ve ever talked to and what you said is too much. That’s why maintaining a CRM or Customer Relationship Management software is the answer to every business owner’s prayers.
Back 2 Basics is our new blog post series launching March 4th. For 10 weeks we're going to work our way through the basics of online business. We'll be cleaning up our own business while working through the series to act as a live case study. In this series, we will be talking about establishing a foundation for your business that will allow you to thrive for the next several years. We're going to address things like business plans, SEO, social media, branding, finding clients and tons of other topics.
If you use Squarespace and ConvertKit, then you know that there is no way of creating a lead box on Squarespace unless you buy lead pages or use a third party app.
The problem with using a third party app is that ConvertKit does not track analytics which is one of the main reasons for using ConvertKit.
ConvertKit only tracks emails that are sent directly through ConvertKit. So if you're using a third-party app like Zapier, your analytics are going to show people going to the page but not opting in.
So today I am going to show you how to create a lead box on Squarespace that directly connects to ConvertKit so you can always have the correct analytics information.
Pinterest is important for bloggers. Like really important. It's where most of your traffic will probably come from. But I bet you know that or you wouldn't have clicked on this post. So today, we're going to chat about how to get seen on Pinterest and bump up your stats a bit. My team and I planned this post awhile ago and when it came time to write it, I looked at my stats and they weren't all that impressive. Instead of a generic post about those same 10 Pinterest tips you've seen everywhere, we did a case study.
Over 10 days I took the most popular tips I could find and put them to the test to see what helped my stats the most. Below are the top 5 I think will help you grow the quickest and with the least amount of long-term commitment. That means a few days of set up time and your account is set for the year.
One of the best things you can do to grow your business is to start paying attention to your finances. You might do a great job of inputting your sales and expenses into your accounting platform, but if you're not looking at monthly reports, those numbers are meaningless. Maybe you don't even have an accounting system set up.
Every month our team is going to share our finances, stats and monthly outlook. I hope this will be a little motivation for you to start getting your business under control and help our team be more accountable for our sales and expenses each month.
