Small Business Marketing Blog

Designed to help small business owners become more effective with their website and marketing materials

Sutherland Weston's small business marketing blog is a list of articles, tips, and checklists to help small businesses:

Make their small business website more effective
Develop marketing materials that work
Get better search rankings in Google
Create value-driven connections with potential customers

If you'd like to discuss how Sutherland Weston can help you with your small business marketing efforts, let's talk!

Small Biz Marketing Tips, Tactics, & Advice

10 Mistakes To Avoid With Your Small Business Website

Tips to help you make more connections and sales opportunities from your small business website

By Cary WestonHere are ten mistakes to avoid when creating your small business website.Creating your website is an investment in your business. When done right, it should be a powerful part of your overall marketing mix. Too often, businesses make the same mistakes when building or maintaining their website. If you’re planning a website development...

How small businesses can use what they know to build more effective small business marketing materials

By Cary WestonIf you're like many business owners, you answer the same questions many times over from a number of various clients and customers. So let me ask you - what do you do with that info? Wouldn't it be great to bottle it and use it over and over?Well that's what I call the three ring binder and having one for your business will...

A checklist for all small business owners to help gain control of your website essentials

By Cary WestonYou'd never leave your business checkbook in the hands of someone no longer working for you or trust your mortgage payment to be made by someone that doesn't live in your house.Yet I'm constantly surprised at the number of business owners who have no information about their domain name, where it was registered, or who's domain name is...

Advice to help you be more confident and effective with your basic small business marketing materials

By Cary WestonAs a small business owner, you work hard to do good work for your customers. You do your best to get new leads and follow through on promises.You can't be everywhere at once. Enter the need for marketing materials.Quite simply - your marketing materials have one main purpose: to represent you and your business when you're not there...

In just a few minutes, you can ensure your small business website is smartphone friendly

By Cary WestonThough there are many ways to create a mobile website for your small business, there are things you can do right now to help make your existing small business website more mobile friendly.Your website looks great on your office computer with all the software updates installed. But the fastest growing segment of the internet browsing...

Knowing how your small business website is being used - or ignored - can you help you make better marketing decisions

By Cary WestonUsing Google Analytics to understand what your website visitors are doing can significantly help your small business website marketing efforts.It seems to happen every year. A client calls me to say they're thinking about doing a radio station live remote - hosting a radio station at their location, giving away hot dogs, door prizes, and...

How help your small business make more connections to potential customers

By Cary WestonLet's face it - when you say you want your website to rank better and higher in search engines, what you're really saying is you want to see more traffic, get more leads, and to make more money.As businesses focus more on their online marketing and communication presence, the topic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - or how you rank...

Your small business marketing materials should never generate the words: "What Does That Mean?"

By Cary WestonThink about your typical day. What your routines are, what your challenges are, and what it takes to just keep your head on straight.Now think how many times during that day you go beyond your comfort zone, try new things, talk to new people, or challenge yourself in some new way.If you’re like most of the free world, that number...

How small businesses can use video to help increase search engine rankings and get more website traffic

By Cary WestonLocal small business marketing has one key goal: to be found when folks in your community or region are seeking the products and services your small business provides. And since search engines play a large role in finding those products and services, having your business found when online searches are made is crucial.Though...

Many small businesses say their customers don't know all that they can offer - here's how to change that

By Cary WestonSmall business marketing tips to help you get more business from your existing customers.Many small business owners have grown their business by working hard, paying attention to customers needs, and trying to do the right thing. There's often more effort than rewards but that's the nature of the role. Paying attention to the...

Some basic advice to help you understand how social media can help your small business marketing efforts

By Cary WestonI’m thinking back to my high school days as soccer player at Bangor High. There was one practice in particular where I remember a coach paying close attention to what I was doing - or should I say - what I was doing wrong.In reflection, perhaps I was providing plenty of material for him to comment on. But nonetheless, I was curious...

You've been collecting your customers' information - here's how to use it to improve your small business marketing efforts

By Cary WestonKudos to you if you're collecting email and social media information from your customers! That's a great way to build stronger relationships, give your business top of mind awareness, and grow sales without adding to your advertising cost.Though there are definitely many more than 10 ways to increase effectiveness, we've...

Your business changes and so should your small business website - what to look for to make it more effective

By Cary WestonSpring - the time of year when we once again see the sun and learn how dirty our windows truly are.It's funny how the emerging season brings upon a renewed vigor of organizing, housekeeping, and looking at life through new eyes. For many, it's when the real resolutions are made.For a business, it can also be a good time to look at...

Why keywords and search phrases matter in your small business website marketing efforts

By Cary WestonIncreasing the search engine visibility of your small business website has both a content and page structure element to the equation. In other words, both a human and computer side to the equation.In this post, we'll focus on the human side. We focus on the computer element in part 2, found here.RESPECTING THE HUMAN:The more small...

How to structure your pages to get better Google search engine rankings for your small business website.

By Cary WestonIncreasing the visibility of your small business website in search engines such as Google and Bing is a crucial component to getting better ranking and more traffic. When you're looking to increase the effectiveness of your small business website, you should remember that there is both a content and a code structure side of the equation.In...

Five Common Sense Small Business Marketing Tips To Increase Sales

By Cary WestonAs a small business owner, venturing in the world of marketing strategies, consultants, and plans can be an intimidating, confusing, and overwhelming exercise. Instead of using terms like 'search optimization', 'marketing analysis', and 'lead generation', many small business owners simply ask: "Can you help me find more customers". So...

A guide to for small businesses to help customers better use their website

By Cary WestonWhen it comes to business, time is money. So your business website should be helping - not hurting - your cause.I've been doing this a while and I can usually tell within 30 seconds if a site is losing a company money. If you can invest 30 seconds - you too can find out if your site is losing you money.When it comes to your...

Ways to increase the value of your small business website for visitors and potential customers.

By Cary WestonHere are six questions to help you improve your small business website.The website should be treated as a complimentary piece of the entire marketing budget. Not the end all be all and not something to simply do for the sake of having one. To build a website that is right for your business and your customer, look at what the customer...

What do you do and who cares - the essence of your small business marketing efforts

By Cary WestonHere are two questions that can help you improve your small business marketing efforts. And while most consider inquiries to be the most important measure of an advertising campaign, the truth of the matter is, for most businesses, potential customers should matter more. Especially in times where businesses and consumers alike...

How objectivity benefits your small business marketing efforts

By Cary WestonYou may have heard the phrase "eat your own dog food." In short it means, if your going to sell it or recommend it, it should be good enough for you to use. Especially if it's something you manufacture and create yourself. I was reading an article recently about a company called Evermore Pet Food and their pledge to put their money...

Understanding what products and services bring more customers in and making the most of those opportunities

By Cary WestonUnderstanding your gateway product or service will help you get more business from your small business marketing efforts.As a professional service firm, you have a full range of clients. Big and small. Those that engaged for a single project. Those that are price sensitive and those that know that you provide value beyond the cost. But...

[Marketing Memo]: Making A List And Checking It Twice

By Cary WestonTis the season for developing a plan, combing it for details, editing and revising based on critical research, and executing a strategy to complete your mission.Ah yes, the holiday shopping list.I remember my Mom used to spend so much time putting a list together for me and my sisters and always working to make sure that one kid didn't...

[Marketing Memo]: Growing Your Business? Simplicity Is Power!

By Cary WestonSo you’re looking to promote and grow your business but find yourself a little short in the big bank account department. Well, money can be important, but it is not always as necessary as you may think. When it comes to truly growing your business, you’ll do very well if you keep this in mind:Simple is not always easy but simplicity with...

[Marketing Memo]: Small business marketing tip: The Basics Work

This year started with a technological bang. In the marketing world everyone is talking about social media – using technology – the Internet, your mobile phone – to share and discuss information and ideas. Everyone’s using social media. It’s the new, hot toy. It’s better than Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots and Baby Alives could ever hope to be. In ...

Focus on the needs of your audience if you want to have more successful connections

By Cary WestonA few years back I had an amazing opportunity to travel overseas with a Maine high school girls soccer team to film and document their adventure for future promotional purposes. The trip took us to Reykjavik, Iceland, over to Edinburg, Scotland, and eventually to London and Cambridge, England. During our tour of Cambridge, we ventured...

[Marketing Memo]: How to turn your advertising dollars into a customer loyalty machine

By Cary WestonMany conversations I've been having lately revolve around clients seeking strategies for more frequent and meaningful engagements with their existing customers.Whether it's from a residential service company, a retail storefront, or a business to business service, the desire to firm up the relationships with those who have done business...

[Marketing Memo] Can a credit card transaction be a small business marketing opportunity?

By Cary WestonHow can a credit card transaction turn into a marketing opportunity? Make it cool, meaningful, and unique. I was recently visiting the Apple store in Portland, Maine, which has basically become my Disney World of technology treasures, to find some certainly non-essential but still highly desired accessories for my digital toys. And...

[Marketing Memo} It's 2am - are you worried about your small business?

By Cary WestonI once participated in a leadership conference where a guest speaker named Jack Quirk presented. Jack is a well known guy in our state with a very successful family-owned business. He and his family have become a staple in the region and someone I look up to and respect for his business skills as well as his sense of commitment to the...

Clearly communicating the obvious is never a bad idea for your small business

By Cary WestonAs a small business owner, what you do and how it's done often becomes second nature. It's can be obvious & routine because you know it by heart. But to your customers it could all be new. What you know has value and you need to respect that what is obvious to you may be unknown and desired to many you serve. My friend Ric Tyler...

[Marketing Memo] Start Off Right By Thinking Of The Obvious

By Cary WestonAs an elected member of our City Council, I had the honor of representing our city by greeting and thanking a number of bike riders who were participating in a charity ride for a local organization over the past weekend.And while I waited to say a few words and send the bikes off, I overheard a conversation between a couple of the race...

[Marketing Memo] Let's Kick Some Butt

By Cary WestonI saw my first campaign sign sticking up from the roadside this week and I know that over the next few weeks, we'll see signs popping up all over the city. Folks will be crafting their message and asking for your consideration. It's a process that as a candidate can be an intense and emotional roller coaster. Two years ago...

[Marketing Memo] Up Hill Both Ways

By Cary WestonGary Vaynerchuk in his book "The Thank You Economy", titled his first chapter "How Everything Has Changed, Except Human Nature". His point: while technology develops at blazing speeds, the powerful effect of being heard, being listened to, and being acknowledged has never changed. What was true back in the days of the neighborhood...

[Marketing Memo] I Didn't Catch Any Fish

By Cary WestonThis weekend, I hopped into my truck and traveled to a remote cabin on Kennebago Lake which is in the shadows of Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley, Maine.  I've been fishing all my life and I'm no stranger to the calm of the woods, though I must admit that I don't get away nearly enough. There's something pleasant about not having...

[Marketing Memo] Making More Money From Your Hourglass

By Cary WestonWhat would a 10% increase in sales mean to you? Would it allow you to take those few days off that you've been postponing? Perhaps it would allow you to upgrade some equipment or redecorate the shop. Or maybe it would simply allow you a little more breathing room come payroll day. Regardless of what it would...

[Marketing Memo] What Bangor Hydro Just Did On Twitter - And Why You Should Care

By Cary WestonAt 9:30pm Sunday night, Susan Faloon was in her car headed for the office in order to get to a computer that worked.Why?Because her home was without power.Kind of an ironic twist for the Communications Officer of Bangor Hydro."I needed to get in front of the internal information so I could keep our customers informed of the outage," states...

[Markeing Memo] What Time Does The Three O'Clock Parade Start

By Cary WestonI recently had the privilege of participating in a Disney Leadership Institute. What a remarkable way to look at your company through the lens of excellence.I got to see behind the curtain, so to speak, and hear about all the investments, philosophies, and guiding principles that make Disney a world-class company. Their commitment...

[Marketing Memo] The Next Big Trend May Surprise You

By Cary WestonLast week I had the honor of sitting with an esteemed visitor from Russia who traveled to Bangor as part of an educational program with Husson University.His name is Alexey Mikhailov and his is the Director of the Public Relations Department at the Siberian Aerospace University.. Though we were merely a few feet away in conversation,...

[Marketing Memo] The Best Business Advice I've Ever Received

By Cary WestonMy message this morning is quite short but quite effective. It was delivered to me from the inside of a soda cooler. And like most things that we learn at 19, its value at the time was lost on me. But as the years and experiences rack up, it just may be the best business advice I've ever received.And it's time I pass it onto you.I...

[Marketing Memo]: Giving Thanks

By Cary WestonOn an almost daily basis, I have discussions with clients about how to create connections with their customers. Most of the conversations relate to the desire for companies to be seen in the eyes of their customers as more than a commodity -- to be seen as a partner, a friend. And to do that requires more than just delivering a product...

[Marketing Memo]: Understanding The Resistance Has Value

By Cary WestonThis morning I woke up a 5am and, as I usually do, walked down stairs to let my dog Otis out to investigate any new activity or smells that may have appeared during the overnight hours. As I opened my front door, the gateway to Otis's morning adventure, I fully expected there to be a slight resistance in opening the door. And...

[Marketing Memo] A Touch of Fancy

By Cary WestonWhen my daughter, Maddie, was a bit younger, her favorite book was Fancy Nancy. Nancy is a little girl who sees life through different eyes. Her chosen course of life is to introduce the fancier things in life to her boring parents through color, fun names, and accessories.The ordinary, every day seems boring to Nancy...

[Marketing Memo] Because I Did

By Cary WestonMy wife and I are now trying to potty train our two year old daughter Serena and it's not really going all that well. Even with a stack of stickers and chocolate at the ready to reward the slightest sign of compliance, we are still quite invested in diapers.And when I ask "How come you didn't use the potty", the answer I get back...

[Marketing Memo] The Fun Room

By Cary WestonWe have a beautiful sunroom o the side of the house with three walls of windows. It's one of those rooms that begs for a sunny, lazy weekend morning. A cup of hot coffee on the side table, dog at your feet, and the newspaper sprawled on your lap.And that was exactly the plan in my head when we bought the house.Instead, over...

Small business thought: find what you do well and strip away that which keeps you from focusing on it.

By Cary WestonA few weeks back we received our first real snowstorm of the season. And with it came a deposit of 8 inches or so of snow and ice in my driveway.That means it's snowblower time for me.The entire routine of going up and down in a pattern I've come to master, along with the clearing of the porch and walkways, takes about 40 minutes.These...

Never stop finding new ways to show off your business services

By Cary WestonMy soccer trip was an amazing experience but how it came to be is an interesting and valuable business lesson.You see, my company was very young and we had just a small office. It was so small, in fact, that you had to walk sideways to get past the conference table. What's a conference table doing in an office that small? Great question....

Many small businesses spend too much time on the customers they don't want - and too little on the ones they do

By Cary WestonToday's memo is short and sweet - but very important for those who work for, manage, or own a service-based business.It stems from a strategy and planning session I had with a client last week. During the meeting, a manager in their company asked a question. A very simple question that other businesses and managers have asked...

[Marketing Memo] When I Grow Up

By Cary WestonWhen I was little, I wanted to be one of three things:1. Shortstop for the Sox2. Luke Skywalker3. A UPS driverMy baseball career was short lived because I refused to wear my glasses. Somehow I figured that squinting my way through high school was MUCH more attractive than a pair of glasses. You try hitting a curve ball when your...

Create some madness and be prepared to create some profit.

By Cary WestonEach year there are thousands of non-college basketball fans who fill out brackets for March Madness. Why is that? Like the Super Bowl, the event itself gets the attention of sporting and non-sporting fans alike. Because there's hype created in a meaningful way -- a way that captures the attention of many who don't normally...

[Marketing Memo]: School Picture Time

By Cary WestonI got Maddie’s (my nine-year-old) school pictures back last week. It's a time of year when I get out the photos from years gone by and compare and contrast. Which then brings me to ask where time has gone? And how did it go so fast? And why is my hair getting thin? And why don’t my pants fit.Personal crisis aside, the...

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Small Business Marketing Blog

Designed to help small business owners become more effective with their website and marketing materials

Small Biz Marketing Tips, Tactics, & Advice

10 Mistakes To Avoid With Your Small Business Website

Tips to help you make more connections and sales opportunities from your small business website

Build A 3 Ring Binder - A Small Business Marketing Tip

How small businesses can use what they know to build more effective small business marketing materials

Getting control of your domain name is essential for small business websites

A checklist for all small business owners to help gain control of your website essentials

Stop Apologizing For Your Small Business Marketing Materials - Fix Them!

Advice to help you be more confident and effective with your basic small business marketing materials

5 ways to make your small business website more mobile friendly

In just a few minutes, you can ensure your small business website is smartphone friendly

How Google Analytics Can Help Your Small Business Website Marketing

Knowing how your small business website is being used - or ignored - can you help you make better marketing decisions

Three Key Elements To A Small Business Website Marketing Strategy

How help your small business make more connections to potential customers

Four words your small business marketing message should never generate