When you’re running a small to mid-sized business, you likely don’t have a ton of extra money lying around to spend on ads and PPC. One of the best ways forward is to learn how to capitalize and optimize for organic search traffic.

Here, we’ll show you some of the steps to doing that, starting with fixing your content and going all the way to understanding and manipulating keyword usage. Let’s get started.

First up: Fix your content

Odds are you’re running a blog, or you have pages that compose the structure of your ecommerce website. Some of it is probably not pulling its weight. …

If you want to get an edge as an online instructor, you’re looking for ways to increase your profit and to minimize the time it takes to complete your online courses.

That’s where free tools can come in. Many small businesses pick up free or low-cost tools the way Hansel and Gretel picked up pebbles. Like Hansel’s pebbles, free tools are easy to find and can help you get where you want to go.

At the same time, if you pick up too many you’ll find that they are hindering, rather than helping your process.

It makes sense to find the least expensive options if you have limited start up capital. …

How can you intrigue customers and keep them coming back? This is the top concern for most startups and small businesses.

It’s challenging and expensive to constantly generate new products. If your product is long-lasting it may be months before your customers need your products again. Will they remember your brand when it’s time to purchase again? Will they find another product in the meantime?

Another hot topic in ecommerce is personalization. 62% of online shoppers want more personalization, but in 2020 customers are also more guarded than ever about privacy.

Ecommerce Easter eggs can solve all of these problems and more. They are a way to show your customers how well you know them without overstepping. Digital Easter eggs make using your site more fun, interesting, and enjoyable. …

It’s not unusual to hit a wall in small business. It happens all the time. A simple problem that you think will take 30 minutes to fix takes a week, then a month. That one piece of information you need is inaccessible because of a recent software update. Deliveries are stuck because of the weather. You got a new puppy, didn’t sleep, and can’t focus on your usual to-do list.

It seems crazy, but this is the best time to do some big picture thinking and to seek out some marketing inspiration. …

If you keep up with the news, you’ve heard about online revenue on the biggest shopping days of the year. Many businesses are actively moving or expanding online to grow the business.

Before digital commerce rose to dominance, it was easy to make comparisons between ecommerce platforms. Small business ecommerce was just that, a vehicle for comparing the different ways to get online.

As ecommerce has grown, so have the needs of small businesses considering the move online. Every mom and pop shop is thinking about it, and many have business processes that go back years, if not decades. At the same time, new time-saving technologies have come and gone. …

How can I build my marketing? What problem does my business solve? What’s the profile of my ideal customer? How long will it take to become profitable? What parts of my business aren’t working? What do I need to prepare for in e-commerce's next phase?

When a business starts to succeed and scale, things get more complex.

Advice from the founder of Y Combinator is this: launch a product quickly and let the customer lead the way. Customers want the solution to their problem, not your perfect solution to what you think their problem is.

Those customers you build an early relationship with will be the best advocates for your brand.

This article looks at examples from Blume, Spotify and more for sound advice on how to scale.

What makes your brand unique? We’re all looking for new ways to connect to our customers and build better relationships online. It’s easier said than done, which is why this week we’re digging into an often-overlooked introduction to your brand: your About Us page.

For many businesses, an About Us page is just boilerplate- but it doesn’t have to be. Chances are, your online store already has an About Us page, but it’s probably not operating at full capacity. That’s a shame, because these pages can be a fantastic tool for establishing trust, building your social presence, and increasing conversions.

It might not seem intuitive, but it’s true. …

In 2018, Americans watched the collapse of retail giants and established chains closed locations in an attempt to cull expenses.

However, online shopping accounted for less than 10% of retail purchases in 2018. The physical storefront still holds a valuable place in shoppers’ hearts and pocketbooks.

For many businesses, the concept of a brick and mortar is still exciting. It is, after all, the traditional notion of what a business is.

Just the term “brick and mortar” evokes images of an industrial chic chocolatier in New York, or a cashmere boutique on the cobbled streets of Milan. …