Economic Forecasters Predict Gloomy Holiday Sales: Small Business Marketing Plan May Boost Your Business

Economic forecasters announced this week that retailers and small businesses may be facing the worst holiday sales season since 2009.  Retailers and small business owners can take action to save their season by planning ahead and executive a marketing plan, said Phyllis Edson, freelance writer and online marketer. 

Today, Edson announced today a special “Christmas in October” rate for her writing services to encourage small businesses to begin planning their marketing for a successful holiday season. 

            “Now’s the time to begin planning a holiday marketing campaign,” she said.  “If businesses get started now, they’ll spend less on marketing, printing, photography and writing services,” she said.  “Waiting to book these services will cost you more later as you’ll be booking them at a premium rate since the holidays are the busiest time of year for marketing professionals.” 

            Retailers and small business owners can take action to save their season by planning ahead and executive a marketing plan, said Edson. 

     Edson's "Christmas in October" rates will be 10 percent less than her normal rates if you book her services now. 

            “The answer to having a successful and profitable holiday season isn’t ‘do less,’ ” said Edson, “it’s do more marketing.” 

            It takes about three months to realize any result of a marketing plan or effort, said Edson.  If you start planning and executive now, you can expect to reap the benefits by the holiday season.  In addition any press releases or information you put on the internet now for this holiday season will continue to drive traffic to your website and bring customers to your business door for years to come, she said. 

Edson provides research and writing services including press releases, content for newsletters, brochures, websites, articles and blogs.  For more information on how she can help your online marketing efforts, go to http://www.phyllisedson.com.  

            She has 20 years of writing experience.  For each client, she provides professionally written, well-researched products that satisfy the needs of the individual client and appeal to that client’s audience. 

            For more information about her “Christmas in October” special and how to improve your marketing plan, contact Phyllis Edson at 816-305-5828 or e-mail her at phyllisedson@comcast.net.  Visit her website at http://www.phyllisedson.com.  

Tips to Improve the Value of Your Small Business Website

Websites are a vital part of the marketing plan for today’s small businesses.  However, too many small business owners get caught up in what the website looks like, in uploading photos and videos, rather than paying attention to the nitty gritty details that will make their website a valuable tool in promoting their business.  Here’s a few tips on how to make your website a valuable asset to your small business marketing plan.

               Content with keywords: Keywords are the word or phrases help your website get found by the search engines.  They are the words or phrases people are using with search engines such as Google to find the things they want.  Carefully researched keywords should be an important part of all content, articles and press releases posted on your website.  These will help your website get indexed by the search engines and found by potential customers. 

               Meta-data:  Meta-data are the keywords and descriptions associated with every page of your website.  They are not included on the pages clients see but are included in the descriptions of the website pages when found by the search engines.   Meta-data and meta-tags should be included for every page of your website. 

               Analytics:   Website analytics can provide you with valuable information regarding your website.  Analytics can tell you how many people have visited your site daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.  They can also tell you how many pages of your site they visited, how long they stayed on your website and where they came from.  This is valuable information for many reasons.  First, you want to know if your website is getting traffic.  Second, it allows you to see whether you’re getting traffic as a result of other marketing efforts.  For instance, if you decide to start posting press releases online once or twice a week for a month, and your traffic drastically increases, you can assume that the press release campaign played a role in driving traffic to your website and to your business.  Lastly, by looking at where your traffic is coming from, you can tell what’s working, what’s not and what you need to improve on.   

               Contact information:  Make sure you have more than one method of contacting you or your business on every page of your website.  Visitors should not have to hunt and probably won’t take the time to look for this information.  It needs to be visible and easy to find.  Be sure to include an e-mail address, a business phone number and a link to a website contact form on every page.  People will contact you if you make it easy for them to do so. 

               Websites are a valuable tool for the small business.  Be sure you’re getting the most out of this powerful tool and your small business marketing plan.   

               

Small Businesses Profit: Online Marketing Package Generates Sales

Freelance writer and online marketer Phyllis Edson announced a special offer this week to encourage small businesses to improve their online marketing efforts. 

     “Many small business owners get the website up and forget it.  The development of the website is just the first step in marketing your business online,” she said. 

     Marketing online requires constant attention.  You need to develop fresh content, post press releases, change content according to changes in your business and in keyword searches, she said.  “And that’s just the beginning.”

     To help businesses market online, Edson is making a special offer to show business owners how effective it can be.  Her package includes the following:

* Write and distribute 1 press release

* Write or rewrite a business website homepage, including meta-data

* Create a coupon

* Set-up online e-mail marketing list

* Write 2 blog articles 

     As a package, this will increase your business’s online marketing efforts. 

     Write and distribute 1 press release: Posting a press release online can increase your visibility with the search engines and with customers. 

     Write/rewrite a homepage, including meta-data: Meta-data is a definite must-have if you want to drive traffic to your website, but it is commonly overlooked by graphic and web designers.  By purchasing this package, I’ll supply you with the meta-data needed for the search engines.        

     Create a coupon: A coupon can be an easy incentive to get people to sign up for your e-mail or e-newsletter marketing list. 

     Set-up online e-mail marketing list: Setting up a way to collect names and e-mails is a powerful and cost-effective method to create a marketing list, which you can then use forever. 

     Write 2 blog articles:  Blogs are usually indexed more quickly than websites.  Using keywords in blog articles relevant to your business will help increase your visibility with search engines and people.  As a package, this will increase your business’s online marketing efforts. 

   Marketing and advertising efforts, especially those executed online, can take up to three months to in order to see results, she said.  This package can help you jumpstart your holiday marketing efforts, she said.  “This package will help your business get found online, increasing traffic to your website and bringing traffic to your door,” said Edson.  

     Edson is a professional freelance writer and online marketer with more than 20 years of writing experience.  She offers a variety of services including online marketing expertise, blogs, articles, copywriting, web writing, ghostwriting and more.  Edson writes custom content and pieces for each and every content which are researched and written specifically to suit the needs of that client. 

     For more information about this package or any of her online marketing services, please visit Edson’s website at www.phyllisedson.com or e-mail her at phyllis.edson@comcast.net. 

    

     

5 Tips to Improve Your Website

Having a website is an important part of your marketing plan.  However, developing a website sometimes seems complicated and overwhelming.  Here’s a few tips you should follow to create a website that’s easy to use and will keep your clients coming back. 

1)      Include contact information on every page.   Be sure to make it easy for clients to contact you either by including an e-mail address, phone number or a link to a contact form on each page of your website.  People are lazy.  If they want to contact you and can’t easily find your contact information, they’ll leave your website.  And, you won’t have their business.

2)      Make sure everything works.   If you include links, video, or have widgets for auto-responders, be sure to test them and make sure they work.  People will make assumptions about the quality of your business based on your website.  Don’t lose business because you have website widgets that don’t work. 

3)      Update your calendar and content.  If your website includes announcements of special events or promotions, be sure to update these regularly.  Don’t let calendar items that have passed languish on your website for months on end.  It creates a bad impression.  Also, be sure to provide fresh, updated content to your blog on a regular basis.   When it’s obvious new articles haven’t been added for several months, that also creates a bad impression.  New, fresh content will not only keep your customers coming back, but it will also help improve your search engine ranking. 

4)      Keep your visitors on your site.  When writing blog articles, you may be tempted to provide links to other sites for reference information or to provide your reader with videos or photos of your subject matter.  Certainly, that’s tempting.   However, by providing these links you’re inviting your website visitor to leave your site.  Why would you do that?  If you need to provide photos or videos, create them yourself and include them on your blog. 

5)      Check your share buttons.  Social media is a powerful marketing tool.  If you include social media buttons such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ on your website, make sure you’re updating those sites as well.  All three allow you to create profile pages, which you should do for your business. 

Creating a website is the first step in creating an online marketing plan, follow these simple tips to make your website a powerful marketing tools and user friendly.  

Back to School Days: Sending My Child to College

This year, we crossed a milestone as my husband and I sent our first child to college.  We spent much of the past two years convincing him that college would be fun and one of the best experiences of his life.  For much of that time, he didn’t believe us.  Then, somewhere after his high school graduation ceremony we started to see him change his mind.  He didn’t discuss the change in his attitude with us.  We just saw it creep into his demeanor.  While we were glad he was going willingly and was even excited, it was still hard.

For some reason, he had to move to college on a weekday.  Luckily, none of our other kids had started school yet and my husband took off from school so we got to make it a family event.  A few weeks prior, my college-bound son had made remarks to my husband about what he could or could not fit in his car when he moved to school.  My husband looked him in the eye, put a hand on his shoulder and said, “You know we’re helping you move, right?”  My son was pleasantly surprised. 

On moving day, my son packed his own car.  He almost got it all in his own car, which seemed to be a point of pride with him.  To me, it was as if he was proving he didn’t really need us.  However, we had the mini-fridge in the mini-van.  Hah, son!  Can’t go to college without that! 

We made the 2-hour drive, found the dorm and started unpacking.  Somehow in raising my kids, I have convinced my kids I’m an idiot.  In many ways this is good.  They’ve never asked me to type papers, edit research projects or help with math past Algebra 1.  However, in some ways, it’s bad because they’re convinced if they don’t know something, then obviously I don’t know either.  Several times prior to moving day I had asked my son if he knew anything about the check-in process once he got to the dorm.  “Mom,” he said, “there’s no check-in process. I know my room number.  I just move in.”  WHAT??  They have a few hundred students living in this dorm and you don’t need to check-in, get a room-key, sign-in, nothing?  Again, my kids think I’m an idiot.  We began unpacking in the parking lot and took armloads of boxes and totes into the dorm, where, lo and behold, there was a check-in desk.  I laughed silently to myself.  Hopefully, in college he’ll realize that I’m not idiot after all. 

Moving his belongings went off without a hitch.  We stayed out of the way and out of the room because once my son, his roommate and all their belongings were unloaded, it was pretty crowded. 

After lunch, we walked around campus and took care of business such as getting a parking permit, picking up his books, getting him cash from the ATMs, and such.  How did I raise a kid to be 19 and not know how to use an ATM?  Oh yeah, he has no money.  I have to give him credit because only when he had a problem did he ask for our help.  I was surprised because, again, he thinks I’m an idiot. 

Once we were done, it was time to go.  Time to leave my baby.  As much as I’d worked to convince him to go to college, I couldn’t fathom him not living in my house.  Not saying good night when he came home from being out.  Not playing guitar or drums so loud I couldn’t hear myself think.  Just not being present.  I can barely remember my life before he was born.    

I reached and gave him a hug.  At that point, I couldn’t hold back the tears, but I tried to limit the number.  I didn’t want to cry but tearing up seemed okay.  I saw no tears in my son’s eyes, but he held our hug a little longer and harder than usual.  It was amazingly similar to when I dropped him off on his first day of kindergarten.  And, that turned out okay.  

Small Business Marketing: Plan Now for Successful Holiday Season

               Freelance writer Phyllis Edson tells small businesses that if they want to have a successful holiday season, they need to implement their small business marketing plan now even though the holidays are months away. 

            Edson discussed a few reasons why August and September are the months small business owners need to be thinking about the holiday season. 

            According to Edson it takes three months to reap the rewards and realize the results of any marketing plan or effort.  Whether it’s print or web, you need that time to be able to build your marketing up.  Especially with online marketing, you have to give it three months in order for the search engines to help you out.  “If you want to have a profitable December, you need to be marketing in September,” she said. 

            Another reason Edson discussed for taking action now is to save money.  “By booking your freelance writer, graphic designer and printer now, you won’t be paying higher fees when their time is at a premium.  It’s cheaper to have your holiday marketing pieces, whether they’re print or web, done now than waiting til November or December,” she said. 

            Lastly, if you have a marketing plan in place well ahead to time, you won’t be scrambling to put something together at the last minute.  “Last minute efforts aren’t marketing, they’re desperate and rarely work,” she said. 

            “Now’s the time to plan so you are certain to have a marketing plan, implement it and can reap its rewards” said Edson.

            Edson is a freelance writer who specializes in working with small businesses.  She offers a variety of services aimed at helping small businesses increase online traffic.  Her services include: copywriting, web content, blogging, websites and more.  She has 20 years of writing experience.  Edson has written for a broad variety of organizations including professional associations, non-profits, think tanks, political/governmental agencies and corporations.   For each client, she says, she provides professionally written, well-researched products that satisfy the needs of the individual client and appeal to that client’s audience. 

            For more information about small business marketing, contact Phyllis Edson at 816-305-5828 or  e-mail her at phyllis.edson@comcast.net. For more information, visit her website at www.phyllisedson.com.

Grammar Tips for Kids

Learning grammar is boring.  But, knowing correct grammar improves writing, speaking, and communicating.  Studies show that as younger generations become more comfortable with e-mail and texting, that they become less concerned with correct grammar, punctuation and spelling.  These bad habits can easily be improved however with these easy tips. 

               Capitalization.  Always capitalize the first word of every sentence and every question.  Always.  Also, capitalize proper names.  For instance, capitalize the names of people, the pronoun “I,” as well as names of countries, states and cities.   If it’s something specific, it should be capitalized.  For example, the word restaurant doesn’t need to be capitalized, but the name of the restaurant, McDonald’s, is always capitalized. 

               Punctuation.    Every sentence should end with a period.  Every question should end with a question mark.  Of course, you can end sentences with exclamation points, but this is rare.  You should only use exclamation marks if you’re trying to indicate extreme excitement.  For example, Yippee!!  

               Commas, semi-colons and colons.  When in doubt, leave it out.   Most people, whether they’re grown-ups or kids, don’t know how to use colons and semi-colons correctly.   Unless you’re absolutely certain you’re using it correctly, don’t bother.   Using them incorrectly will make your writing confusing and sloppy.  However, rewriting your sentences so you don’t need them will make your writing more clear. 

               In general, kids should probably only use commas when putting together lists in a sentence.  Consider the following sentence and the use of commas.  “I painted my room and used red, blue, yellow and purple paint. “ 

               Paragraphs.  In general, the beginning of paragraphs should be indented 5 spaces.  If you’re writing a paragraph using paper and pencil, be sure to put your index finger on the paper where you want the paragraph to begin and start the first word of the first sentence of the paragraph to the right of your index finger.  All following lines should start to the left of that finger. 

               If you’re using a computer or word processor to write something, be sure to hit the “tab” key for the beginning of every paragraph, and the program will indent it for you.  Or you can hit the space bar 5 times or 5 spaces to indent the sentence. 

               Apostrophes.  Apostrophes, in general, have two purposes.  First, they help make contractions.  For example, the word that’s” is a contraction of “that is.”  You have to have the apostrophe to show that you’ve joined two words together.   Consider the following contractions:  can’t, won’t, don’t, isn’t.  

               Apostrophes also show possession.  When you want to show that something belongs to someone or something, add an apostrophe and an “s” to the owner’s name.  For example, Bob’s car.  Or, the car’s headlights. 

               The one exception to this rule is the word “its.”   You can’t add an apostrophe to “its” to show possession because then it becomes a contraction of “it is.”   If you’re confused whether you should use “its” or “it’s,” read the sentence aloud.  If you can say “it is” instead and have it make sense, then you need to use “it’s.”  If you can’t, then use “its.” 

               These are just a few grammar tips for kids.  Following these tips will help kids, and adults, improve their writing.   

Success in Business: Lessons I Learned from My Youngest Child

I didn’t know when I first began having children that I would learn more from them than they would from me.  I certainly didn’t expect to learn about success in business from watching my youngest child, but that’s what happened. 

               For awhile, I’ve been working at making freelance writing into a full-time career.  It’s a dream I’ve had since college.  I’ve always known how to write, but I needed to learn how to market myself to succeed.   There have been many days I’ve just wanted to give up and do something else.  Then, I thought the successes of my 11-year-old son.    

               This child is the youngest of four.   He is the classic youngest child.  He is funny, smart, loves attention, talks incessantly and everyone in the family adores him.  My husband and I also believe that he’ll probably become a millionaire at a young age but will continue to live at home for free, because, well, it’s free. 

               Since he was able to walk and talk, this child has been intrigued by money.  He would pick up coins he found and put them somewhere safe.  He’d watch transactions that involved money.  Quickly, he figured out that if he had something to sell, people would pay him money.  And off he went. 

               These are the lessons I’ve learned from him. 

               First Lesson:  Plan and Execute.   When he was 4, we were doing some large scale renovations to our house.  My son decided that old scrap pieces of sheetrock provided excellent material for large artwork.  He began gathering them up, painting pictures on them and created an art shop in the corner of the house.   To him, this was not a pretend shop.  Each piece of art had a price and family members were expected to purchase something for full price.    He succeeded and made the sale not just because he had a captive audience but because he had an idea, put together a plan and executed it.  At age 4. 

               Second Lesson: Have confidence:  A year or so later, my child was a little older and still finding ways to make money.   One day, he was bored and I gave him play-doh.   Instead of seeing it as a child’s toy, he saw an opportunity to make more money.   He began making play-doh sculptures.  Then, he got a box and a chair and went out to the cul-de-sac with his sculptures.   I almost wanted to cry for him.  He wanted to sell play-doh sculptures on a quiet cul-de-sac in the middle of a workday.   My son located the contractors who were doing work on a neighbor’s house and sold a couple of his sculptures to them.   My son never lacks confidence that he will succeed and make the sale.  As a result, he always does. 

               Third Lesson:  Just do it and don’t waiver.   The same weekend every year, our neighborhood has a garage sale.   It’s a great day to have a garage sale, especially if you’re like me and hate putting them together.  You don’t have to advertise, because the neighborhood has done it.   My son has frequently put out items he wanted to sell.  This year, at 11-years-old, he took it to a whole new level.  The night before, he found items he wanted to sell.   These were not just one dollar junk items.  Instead, he looked for higher dollar items and researched what they were selling for online and then developed his price points.   His garage sale was about quality not quantity.  The next morning, he was up early and working hard.   A few times, people would ask if he had specific items they were looking for.   If we had them, he’d sell them, with my permission, of course.  Before noon, he had sold almost every item he had put out.   He negotiated very little on prices.  It was his best money-making venture ever. 

               I’m sure I’ll continue to learn from my son.  My future success in business will largely be owed to him.    

  

What You Should Include in a Press Release

     Writing and distributing press releases to promote your business should be an important part of your marketing plan.  Here are some tips on what you should include in a press release in order to make it work for your business. 

     Start with the 5 W’s.  Every press release should include basic information such as the 5 W’s: who, what, where, when and why.  By including information related to each of these, you will ensure that your audience has the most important information about your business or business event. 

     Begin with the most important information.  To write a press release, put the most important information at the beginning, preferably in the first paragraph.  While you don’t have to include the answers to all 5 w’s in the first paragraph, doing so is a great strategy.  Ideally, you want the reader to get the most important information first so if he doesn’t read past the first paragraph, he still gets the most important facts.  This is especially true if you’re writing a press release about an event.  In the first paragraph, you want to include the dates and times (when), type of event (what), location (where), who (your business) and why. 

     Include quotes and details for interest.  Quotes and statistics help lend interest and credibility to your press release.  Of course, what you use depends on the topic of the press release.  For example, if you’re having a special event or promotion, you may want to quote someone within the organization on why you’re hosting this event or making this offer.   If you’re issuing a press release because your business or employees have earned an award, distinction or training, you may want a statistic about how many businesses have earned this.  You could also have a quote about why this is important and how it sets your business apart from your competitors. 

     Contact information.  Many times, local news organizations will print your press release as is.  However, other times, the news organization may want to follow up with you.  Be sure to make this easy for them by providing contact information.  This should include the name of a person within your organization who is prepared to talk to the press and a phone number and e-mail address for that person.  You want to make it easy for a member of the press to get more information from you.  It could lead to a bigger story or live remote. 

     You can use press releases to accomplish a number of goals.  They can be sent to local news organizations to promote your business and your business’s special events.  They can also be posted online to help drive traffic to your website. 

     Don’t be discourage if you don’t get the media to cover your business in response to press releases.  Press releases also help introduce your business to the media.  This allows them to call on you as an expert when they’re looking for resources related to a story.  For example, a lawncare company that is known to the local media may be called upon for interviews about lawn care during a drought.  This is better than advertising.  This is free publicity. 

     Press releases are an effective marketing tool.  With these tips, now you know what you should include in a press release. 

     

6 Tips to Improve Your Writing

6 Tips to Improve Your Writing  

               In a world in which we communicate primarily by e-mail and text, correct spelling, grammar and mechanics are either fixed by electronic devices or are ignored completely in exchange for quick and easy communication.  However, there are still many situations in life when good writing habits are necessary.   Here are a 6 tips to help you improve your writing. 

               Use complete sentences.  A sentence doesn’t have to be long to be complete.  A complete sentence requires only 2 items: a noun and a verb.  The following is a complete sentence: The boy runs.  That’s it.  That’s all it takes.   When in doubt about whether you have a sentence or not, find the noun (person, place or thing) and the verb (the action word). 

               Use the inverted pyramid:  Journalists use an inverted pyramid style of writing.  That is, the most important information is at the top and details are included in descending order.  This means that you start with the most important, relevant details and move toward less important details as you go.  This allows for the less important details to easily be edited out by chopping off the bottom.  In terms of other documents, assume that the reader will only read the first couple of paragraphs.  Include the most important information there. 

               Keep it short.  Unless you’re writing a research document or dissertation, most everyday documents such as letters should be kept short and straight to the point.  One page is sufficient most of the time.  Any business letter such as a letter requesting information or a cover letter to be included with a resume should only be one page.  Any more than that and you’ll lose the reader’s attention. 

               Check your grammar and mechanics.  Look for words in which you’ve used an apostrophe.  Did you use it correctly?  Did you mean its (possessive) or it’s (it is)?   Have you used commas?  Did you use them correctly or did you just sprinkle them on the paper randomly?  A good rule of thumb with commas is “when in doubt, leave it out.”  That goes for semi-colons, too.  Unless you know you’re using them correctly, just don’t use them. 

               Spelling. Letters and formal documents should not include texting abbreviations such as “ty” –thank you.  Also, ensure your words are spelled correctly.  No matter what you’re writing, spelling matters.  While most word processing programs will fix numerous spelling problems for you, don’t count on these programs to do all the work.  They won’t fix the spelling of proper names, for example. 

               Know your audience.  Knowing your audience will give you some idea of how much background information you need to include, how much background information to provide and how much industry jargon to use or not use. 

               Once your piece is finished, revise it.  Then, proofread it.  Then, proofread it again.   The more times you look it over, the better it’s going to be.  These 6 tips will help improve your writing

                              

PLR Packages for Small Businesses: Freelance Writer Offers New Product

     Freelance writer Phyllis Edson today announced a new product available on her website: Private Label Rights (PLR)packages.  This first group of 10 articles includes articles related to social media.   Each month she will post new PLR packages on different topics. 

     “Private Label Rights packages are a great way to get a lot of content fast,” said Edson.  With this introductory PLR package, the buyer gets 10 articles for $10, she said.   He also obtains the rights to those articles.  The buyer can do almost whatever he wants with those articles.  He can either rewrite them or publish them as is on his website or blog.  He can use them to write a report or e-book.  He can even rewrite them and sell them as his own product.  The only thing he can’t do is resell them as PLR exactly as he bought them from me, she said. 

     Edson said that she will offer new PLR packages on her website each month.  For now, there will not be any monthly membership fees.  Buyers will be able to purchase only those packets that they are interested in. 

     “My PLR packages will appeal to small businesses, graphic designers, marketing companies and others who are doing marketing online,” said Edson.

     A freelance writer, Edson has 20 years of writing experience. Her services include ghostwriting, press releases, copy writing, e-mail marketing, blogging, posts for social media sites and more.  For each client, she says, she provides professionally written, well-researched products that satisfy the needs of the individual client and appeal to that client's audience. 

     Edson’s PLR package is available for sale on her website at www.phyllisedson.com.