5 Design Strategies to Improve Website Conversions

via topdesignmag.com

Let’s face it; contemporary website designs are all about increasing the conversion ratio of the site. No longer are designs just about making the site look impressive, they are also about making the website profitable. Now, when you think about designing a website purely from the aesthetic perspective, the task doesn’t look all that difficult. But, when you start looking at in terms of traffic, conversion ratio and profits, website design goes from the realms of easily doable to extremely challenging.

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What’s Your Small Business Brand Strategy?

via medianovak.com

What’s Your Small Business Brand Strategy? | Branding is about more than having an eye-catching logo. It’s about the promise you make to your customers to provide a product or service, to do so with consistency and quality, and to do a better job of it than your competitors.

If you have a brand, you need a brand strategy. Here are some guidelines for crafting one — and making the most effective use of your small business brand.

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How To Craft A Mobile Strategy For Your Business [Infographic]

via readwrite.com

It’s go time. Your business has finally decided to jump into the world of mobile apps. But, where do you start? There are so many decisions to make. Do you develop “native” apps for iOS and Android? What is this mobile Web thing that people keep talking about? What the heck is an API anyway?

Creating a mobile strategy is a matter of both knowing your business and knowing your app options...

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Strategies for Launching New Websites Quickly & Efficiently

via designm.ag

Every web developer is looking to build their skillset up to holding a larger knowledgebase. The understanding of various backend languages can prove useful as you move into other areas involved with building websites. Even many frontend developers are getting into scripting languages for the benefits of user experience.

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The Most Effective Marketing Strategies For 2013

via inspirationfeed.com

As we approach the end of the year, many businesses analyze strategies used throughout the year and their effectiveness. As you look at the success or failure of the marketing strategies you used this year, you can look forward to a new year full of new marketing strategies.

Some of the marketing methods your business implemented in 2012 may have been wildly successful. Keep using them. If you are looking for new marketing methods, these are going to be your best bet for 2013.

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10 Effective Marketing Strategies for New Freelance Writers

via freelanceswitch.com

When you’re a new freelancer, it can seem impossible to get anybody to hire you. It’s easy to feel like you can’t get a job without experience, or experience without a job.

But you can break the cycle of being brand-new at this by marketing your budding freelance business. Concentrate on finding better-quality clients, and you can move up quickly and start earning a real wage.

Remember that every successful, six-figure freelancer out there today once started with no samples or experience. Somehow, they managed to build their portfolio and start getting lucrative assignments — and you can, too.

Which marketing strategies work for new freelancers? Here are my 10 best tips...

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5 Insider Tips for a Better Social Media Strategy

via inc.com

At the Mashable Media Summit in New York on Friday, founders of two social analytics start-ups--Parse.ly’s Sachin Kamdar and SocialFlow’s Frank Speiser--spoke on a number of emerging trends they’ve seen from the heaps of social data they monitor.

Below are five points that Kamdar and Speiser think businesses should know about social media...

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7 Pricing Strategies Based on Research Studies

via sixrevisions.com

For any freelancer, how much to charge clients is one of the hardest things to get right. If you set the price for your services too low, you could be leaving a lot of money on the table and get stuck working with clients that don’t see the true value of your work.

When it comes to pricing, most of us are either guessing or copying what others are doing.

Luckily, we can rely on some research studies to help us price our services better by applying the psychological principles derived from the studies that we’ll discuss below.

Here are seven pricing tips based on research studies.

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Writing for Money: 5 Success Strategies For 2013

via fabfreelancewriting.com

We’re in the final quarter of 2012, so it’s time to start thinking of 2013, and how you can position your writing career and business for real success.

This is the first article in a series on getting ready for 2013. Remember when we did a 100 day challenge a couple of years ago? Create your own challenge — make positioning yourself for 2013 your challenge for the rest of this year.

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7 Secrets of Apple’s Successful Design Strategy

via stunningmesh.com

Apple is the poster child of design that everyone looks up to. Some have even gone as far as saying that Apple is popular more because of its design than the excellence of its products. But it’s not the hardware alone that the brilliance of Apple is limited to, in fact, it covers all aspects of business imaginable. Apple is a complete package with amazing hardware, excellent software, flourishing stores and a strategic point of sale and all these factors combined make its products irresistible.

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Web Development Strategy: The Critical Facts

via topdesignmag.com

When almost everyone of us spends 80% of our time online, be it from a computer screen, tablet PC or smartphone, no business can afford not to have an online presence. Indeed there are more and more businesses that only exist as websites on servers bringing information, entertainment and products to their visitors. So developing the right kind of online presence is not only crucial for a business but also imperative and there are a few facts that you need to be utterly focused on from the very moment when you start thinking about creating a website.

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Advanced Pinterest Marketing Strategies for Dominating Web Traffic

via incomediary.com

Pinterest has been the best source of traffic for my website in a very long time, and I’m completely in love with it. In this post, I’m going to walk you through the process I went through to optimize my Pinterest page and start seeing massive traffic.

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Website Tips Based On Your Website's First Impression [Infographic]

via bitrebels.com

Need some fresh website tips based on data you don’t already have? I’ve got just the thing for you. If you have a website, whether it’s an e-commerce site, a blog or any other kind of webpage, you’ve probably put a lot of time into determining how it looks. When it comes to attracting visitors and keeping them, there are so many things that factor into the equation. Everything from how many ads are displayed to the colors you choose will play a role in how your website will be received by the readers who visit you. We’ve written about dozens of different aspects that will affect how powerful your website can be, but this is one we haven’t touched on before. Based on what you see here, you will hopefully get some website tips that will be helpful for you along the way.

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4 Proven Strategies for Finding a Wider Audience for Your Content

via copyblogger.com

Yes, content is king — that’s old (and very profitable) news.

Content is the fuel of permission-based marketing, and an excellent instigator of engagement.

It’s the marketing that your audience wants to receive.

There’s just one little problem.

Sure, content is king — but without an audience, the king can get awfully lonely.

Sorry, but even terrific content doesn’t get out there and find an audience all by itself. You need a practical plan for how you’re going to find and grow that audience.

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10 Bizarre Investment Strategies

via forbes.com

There are plenty of options for people who’d prefer to avoid traditional plans—but tread carefully.

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5 Simple Strategies for Monitoring and Defending Your Online Reputation

via intenseblog.com

A good name is worth its weight in gold — and that’s never been truer than it is today, in the Age of Google and Facebook.

There was a time when conducting a Google search for your own name, or even the name of your company, was considered by many to be egotistical, or at the very least a little frivolous. These days, it would be folly not to Google your own name or your brand name — especially if you happen to own a small business.

That’s because, quite simply, what people say about you on the Internet matters — not a little, but a lot. Statistics tell us, time and time again, that online search results and Web-based reviews are mightily influential in shaping consumer decisions — so how could any small business owner ignore his or her own online reputation?

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3 Strategies for Determining a Project Budget for Clients

via freelanceswitch.com

Pricing is often the final factor that determines if a client you are pursuing will hire your freelance services.

When it comes time to pricing your services, how do you put together a package that provides your client with an accurate projected budget?

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In Pictures: 10 Bizarre Investment Strategies

via forbes.com

There are plenty of options for people who’d prefer to avoid traditional plans—but tread carefully.

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6 Time Management Strategies for Startups

via readwriteweb.com

Many startups seem to be powered solely by excitement over the new business (occasionally mixed with some Red Bull and Starbucks). Startup founders typically devote every waking moment to their companies, and probably even dream about it too. But while pure passion can propel entrepreneurs 24/7 for a while, eventually even the most committed startup teams need to learn to manage their time.

Burnout is one obvious danger of poor time management. But even more important is the risk that something important will fall through the cracks. If you fail to respond to a potential partner or prospect in a timely fashion because there’s too much on your plate, you could be blowing a make-or-break opportunity.

Time management is one of the top challenges for every entrepreneur I know. After years of experience working with entrepreneurs and business owners, I have learned a few tricks for getting more done in the 24 hours we all have.

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How Strategic Partnerships Benefit Small Businesses

via openforum.com

Imagine your business reaping the benefits of an asset, product, expertise or service that you don’t currently have.

Sound crazy?

Fortune 500 companies have been doing it for years. It’s known as a strategic partnership—a mutually beneficial contractual alliance between two businesses—and it can give entrepreneurs a competitive edge and help them increase the bottom line in innovative ways.

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