No Space Too Small

Sometimes I find I have too much stuff. Garage sales don’t work because barely anything goes and I can’t bare the thought of pitching my old teddy bears and action figures. So what is there to do with so much to fit into such a small area?! There are several ways to keep your stuff without creating clutter. Design time!

Bed Risers

Using bed risers will add inches under your bed. Once you have the bed risers set in place, and someone’s help to get the bed back into its proper position of course, slide plastic drawers underneath. This is also a great place to store shoes, and baskets full of blankets when not in use.

Found at Bed Bath & Beyond

Shoe Racks

Not sure if the inventor of the shoe rack had intensions of storage space in general, but either way we thank you! For all the ladies, this is great for bathroom storage Stick a shoe rack on the back of the bathroom door to store beauty supplies, the blow dryer that is too big to stick in the side drawer, a straightener, curling iron, and even bath towels. Shoe racks are also great for storing electronic cords, batteries, and small power tools, men.

Found at Deco Hubs

Hooks

Hooks can be used in every room with many styles and designs to coordinate with depending on each room’s feel and style. Hang purses, coats, scarves or hats easily. Renters love this, as the holes are simple to cover up come move out day.

Found at Tikkat

Tension Rods

Too many cleaning supplies? Put a tension rod underneath your kitchen sink or in the laundry room to hang cleaning supplies be the squirt nozzle. Tension rods can also be used inside cabinets or closets.

Found at Basicq

Shelves

Can’t go wrong with the typical shelves. Store puts, figurines, or travel memorabilia you can’t let go of. Not to mention shelves elude an artistic feel when places in a messy-neat manner. Messy meaning eclectic item wise, neat book placement wise. Above the bed is an under-used location for shelves. Put your shoes, clothes, or lights there. 

Found at Shelving Shop

Other Fixes:

Magnets work great, especially in the kitchen for spices and random utensils that have no proper place. Buy a projector instead of a television. Put a standing-pantry next to your fridge and use your cabinet space for other entities.

Envision the feel you want and go on sites like Etsy.com to look for unique storage options to fit the look you are going for. There is no place too small, there are only spacing options not yet discovered.

Content Marketing Trends For 2015

The Internet has been an evolutionary tool for user content since the start and especially since the social networking takeover of 2002. Since then, companies have worked hard to create a welcoming online presence for both everyday followers and its clientele.

Follow examples of Fortune 500 companies that make it a point of adding social media and online marketing content into their yearly budget. Why do the big companies care about online marketing? People don’t simply experience a company from an image splashed on the page of a magazine, a billboard, or hear a name or slogan on the radio on the way to work. A company’s reach and exposure frequency is strongly related to its social media and content marketing strategy.

Follow these online strategies to ensure a positive effect for your company’s content marketing and social media strategies:

Content Creation

Storytelling is a tool that has been used to influence and educate for centuries. This is how people pass on information and facts from one to the other overtime. Nothing should change for online content.

There is a need for good journalists, editors, and broadcasters in every business sector since most business graduates today lack grammar rules and writing techniques. This is so important to connect the consumer to a product or service. Consumers want to know what a product or service can do for them. The best way to do this is to create an image or relationship in the consumer’s mind. The artists of gab are best to do this as they sculpt the perfect persona of goodwill for a particular product or service that consumer will appreciate moving him or her along in the buying process.

Keep It Brief

Don’t be so vague not enough information is given, but don’t run on endlessly your viewers lose interest quickly. Keep in mind that most people are pressed for time. Keep it short and sweet with enough information alleviating further questions. Cut the clutter and leave the knowledge behind.

Bring Your Work(s) To Life

Use infographics, animations, images, and other call-to-action elements to pull the reader in for that “wow” effect. Link your image(s) to a website or blog. Not only will this boost impressions, it will give the viewer more information and let your viewer wander online.

Keywords Count

Basically, SEO focuses on the technical elements you are specifically searching for, whereas content marketing will drive the search rankings. Prior to the social media takeover in 2002, social media and content marketing were one in the same. Presently however, social media is the social interaction online and content marketing is the literal verbal or visible substance used to market the company, like the information you see on a company’s website.

Be consistent in your articles. As you write, use the same words throughout your article to boost the relevancy of that article, in turn boosting your article’s ranking in Google’s search. For example, if your article is covering how to roast the perfect turkey, use the words “roast”, “turkey”, and “Thanksgiving” or “holidays” consistently in your article so when someone searches “how to roast a turkey” in Google, your article will have a better chance of being discovered by the person searching the web for that how-to article.

Keep Your Viewers/Readers In Mind

Remember whom you are writing to. Be mindful of your language and the information you cover in your articles. Some things might be better left unsaid depending who might be offended by what you say. If there is potential for damage, just leave that part out.

This is a new era for marketing and its strategists giving even the smallest players a chance at the big win in the game of business takeover. New ways for businesses to grow are being discovered allowing an equal playing field for all businesses at any profit level. The making for a stable and elongated online presence is at the disposal of the company. Make your marketing content count!

What Reddit Life Is All About

Founded in June of 2005 by Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman, Reddit has become one of the top entertainment social networking websites in the world. Reddit’s global presence contains content of text, photo, video, and direct link posts.

The name Reddit (sort of) sounds like, “I ‘read it’ on Reddit.” Reddit has users in  over 190 countries with over 5 billion total page views and over 114 million visitors per month.

At first, I was a bit perturbed by how validated the content is and who was posting, thinking to myself that anyone and everyone is on the web, so how do you know what is being shared is legit?

I went to post in the Ask Me Anything (AMA) subreddit and I had to provide a link providing confirmation that I was actually who I said I was. That made me feel better, especially when I was inspired to write my first AMA post after reading a post from USA Today reporter and American astronomer Seth Shostak, known for his extensive research for search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Tips from seasoned Reddit users:

·      User temporary17: “If you criticize someone's post, do so constructively. Never attack the person behind the post, even if they deserve it.”

·      User greyclocks: “Don't just stay subscribed to the default subs. Find subreddits that you like or interest you. There's a subreddit for everything.”

·      User Mexican_mudkipz: “Reposting is not bad! If gives you free karma!”

·      User sheymyster: “You can pick up a lot of software super cheap. I recently built my first gaming computer and I picked up a Windows 7 ultimate key for $19, I think it's usually like $200 retail. I believe the subreddit is/r/softwareswap.”

Great tips, but what is all the talk about a “subreddit”? A subreddit is a forum dedicated to a specific topic. You can even create your own subreddit, but let’s not get too ridiculous that nobody would think to search for a keyword linking to your subreddit. These titles are not hashtags. Some of the popular subreddits are: Funny, Pics, Gaming, AskReddit, WorldNews, Politics, and Random. There are also unique subreddits like: TodayILearned, ShowerThoughts, AdviceAnimals and NotTheOnion.

If you really get into Reddit, you can work on your karma. Fellow Redditors can upvote or downvote a post, link, photo, or anything else you might share. Reddit states, “If you think something contributes to conversation, upvote it. If you think it does not contribute to the subreddit it is posted in or is off-topic in a particular community, downvote it.”

Reddit’s community has grown far and popular, offering something for everyone to read or laugh about. Reddit is an interactive community that can help get things accomplished!

Retro Logo Attracts Home Buyers

Branding is all about imagery. The colors, the shape, texture, even the layout of the images all have cognitive induced responses influencing customer’s reactions. There are certain logos that appeal to the building family more so than others. Triggers that work well for building companies are images that evoke a feeling for strong relationships, reliability, and personal interactions.

An old-school theme shows results. The new “grandpa graphic” has a 1940’s retro-styled feel and construction companies are taking advantage of how much their clients love the new look. The building and home improvement audiences like to see a logo they are familiar with.

This greatly improves upon the diversification of a construction company, as it is difficult to emerge against competitors when rivaling on a platform with the only real differences is between the products available and prices offered. The image your companies see should align with your services as well though. Do not commit to a visual upgrade if the services you provide lack in quality. Make an overall change if you are going to pledge to the change.

There are 5 prime ways to successfully brand yourself:

Know your audience

The construction industry is middle-aged. These people like what is easy, familiar, and low-cost-friendly. Look into the demographics of your customers. Know if they watch television for the news, or listen to the radio more. Are they conservative or like to live on the edge? Where your company is based will also be a factor to consider.

Uniqueness

Stand out! Even if this is giving away a free wrench with every service provided. The roofing and construction industry is a niche market since it is so technical. What is your unique product or service? What makes you different from the next contractor? If you are speechless, than some branding strategy may be in order.

Passion

Passionate people are educated people. If you are not passionate or educated learn to fake it. Make sure you can fake it for the long-run though as customers might lose interest if the short-run flair fades quickly. Think about influencers like Steve Jobs who are very passionate about their products and services. They don’t just tell you what the product or service does but describes it and will sell you on it on the simple fact that Steve Jobs is passionate.

Consistency

When customers receive a service and come back for more, they expect the same service when they return. With the saturation of the industry being filled with so many competitors consistency is something the customer can rely on. Take McDonald’s for instance … the customer knows he or she will receive the same Big Mac in Florida as in China.

Exposure

Posting on social networks helps, but posting to the right social networks has a greater effect. This relates back to the demographics of your customers. Know if he or she spends more time on Linkedin and Pinterest than Twitter and Facebook. Offer deals for customers who share your page. And remember, interacting with people is the social aspect of social networking … talk back to your patrons!

The retro logo speaks to a generation of people as well as gives light to a company in a niche market. Find a way to stand out in such a memorable way someone will have to fall through a roof to remember!

Link Building For Small Business

Building quality links takes time, patience, and relationship building skills. You need to be able to develop content that will be interesting to those you pitch, and pitch it in an engaging way. It’s also a time saver to be able to identify which sites will be the most relevant and willing to engage you. When considering a possible site, you will want to consider the following criteria:

• Relevancy
• Your Resources
• Feasibility

Is Their Site Relevant To Your Site?

You will want to look for non-competitive domains that link to content and resources similar to yours. Not only will this allow you access to your target audience, but Google looks for relevancy as one of the prime ways to differentiate between spammy and legitimate links. Furthermore, a quality site won’t have much of an incentive to link to or publish content from your site if it won’t be interesting to their readers.

Start by sharing the content of your target site, and working to build a relationship via social media or their blog. Once a relationship has been established, offer to write a relevant piece of content for them or help develop a resource guide. Ensuring that the link will be mutually beneficial is the best way to go.

Do You Have The Resources and Prominence to Attract Quality Sites?

If you are a brand new site with just a couple of pages and only a few social media followers, you may not have the clout to attract a site like, say, CNN. As previously mentioned, quality links are built when said link is beneficial to both parties. They will need to know that you are interesting and engaging to your own audience before they will want to introduce you to theirs.

Work hard on building you own site, adding quality content, and building your social media following and engagement. When you have a lot to offer, it will be hard to turn you down.

Is This A Site That Will Feasibly Show Interest?

If you have found a site that is relevant and you have built up your own website to be interesting and engaging, you should still ask if this site is worth spending time on? Is this a site that is frequently pitched? Do you have what it takes to stand out from the crowd? Do they have already established rules about links? Are they known for being open or closed?

Your time is best spent on building relationships with sites that you have a strong chance of connecting with. Instead of shooting out a pre-packaged pitch to anyone with an inbox, be strategic and make a plan. Save time, and increase your success!

photo credit: bloeise via photopin cc