When I started my business, in 1998 (20 years ago!), I had few coaching clients, but many more web design clients.  You see, I'm a bit of a geek, having used my first computer, at work on Wall Street, in the mid 1970's.  Then in the late 1990's, I taught basic computer and internet classes at a local business incubator sponsored by Sanford CC. It was while living in North Carolina that I attended NC State and Wake Technical College to continue learning.  I took advanced classes, learning how to build a computer from scratch, updating my MS Office Skills and learning how to create a website from scratch, meaning I didn't do it using software,

To keep up with current trends or near-current trends, it's important to write "update website" on your marketing plan every year.  That doesn't mean you need to budge $4K to update it!  Instead, look at polishing or tweaking the text or photos a bit every year.   Small changes Sometimes, updates are small.  In 2001, I removed music from my home page that was popular in 1999 but had become annoying.  In 2003, I added a logo created by a pro and removed pop-ups. Maybe there's a plug-in feature you want your website to have, like an online events calendar, because you're hosting webinars or seminars. It’s important to update your website yearly.  For sure, you

Today, your website must be readable on all digital displays:  TV, desktops, laptops, notepads, smartphones, and even watches! For that to happen, your website needs to be “responsive” (respond to different size devices). 10 years ago, when I looked at my website statistics, only 10-25% of the people who came to my site were using smartphones.   In 2015, the number was 50%, and that’s when I moved my site to the WordPress Platform.   Today, the number of smartphone users is 65%.   For people in India and the UK, the percentage is even higher. Besides looking up your site on all the digital devices to see how it looks, you can easily tell if your site is responsive

It’s important to update your website yearly.  For sure, you want to update the copyright date every December or January of each year to match the new year.  If your site reads (c) 2014 name of company, people “may think” your site is 4 years old and you may be out of business.  So, keep the date current with this year’s date. Every two years, ask your marketing consultant to give your site an hour once-over.  They’ll look at things such as: Are the code, theme, and plugins current? Do the photos reflect your ideal clients and are their clothing or hair styles current? Do the words need to be updated? Are the fonts or formats

Today starts a series outlining my business marketing pet-peeves! My pet-peeves are often simple things people don't do that may cause them to lose a prospect or clients. Now, I'm not sure how many I have, but we'll see over the next few months. ===== You've just met someone at an event, and gave them your business card because they may be an ideal client, wanted more information and you said it was on your website, etc. Your website domain name (URL) is more than one word. Maybe it includes an initial or numbers. You have included it on all your marketing materials. Let's look at how it's written. From my experience, there is a 70%