By Lauren Galli, Creative Director  Creativity can be illusive.  It sometimes hides in the recesses of your brain and needs to be shaken loose.  When I was a kid, adults always told my Mom how creative I was and commented on the strength of my imagination.  I remember those days fondly and sometimes wish it […]

  Take on social media with the thought of starting a conversation rather than pushing your brand. A personable approach on a virtual plane can inspire brand loyalty. Cartoon reprinted with permission from The Prose Marketer (via Tom Fishburne)

Many successful business owners advise to offer value – to give away your knowledge and help others in order to build the like/know/trust factor. In fact, Mark Schaefer said in a recent blog, “Even though I give away everything I know about business and marketing, people are still eager to hire me because they value my […]

I have a special place in my heart for entrepreneurs, probably because I am one. I know what it feels like to take a leap of faith to start your own business, and what it feels like to be pulled in a million different directions as you embark on the journey.  I’m blessed to have […]

You went into business for a fundamental reason – perhaps to be your own boss, to make more money, to have more flexibility, or maybe you felt you had no other option because of the economy. And, whether you realized it or not, you established your business on a set of core principals or beliefs […]

It seems like a no-brainer that using a social media medium owned by Google would bolster your search engine results. But for those of you who think Google+ is beneficial for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you’re only partially correct.  Simply having a Google+ profile and sharing content will only take you so far. To boost […]

Last week, I taught my first-ever Twitter 201 workshop at Central Penn College. The workshop registrants consisted of both Twitter 101 attendees and Twitter users who wanted to go beyond the basics of Twitter. We touched on the following areas of Twitter advancement: Finding a niche and voice Leveraging content, hashtags, and mentions Building a […]

The following is a guest blog from my husband, Pete Strella.  Over the past several months, Rachel and I have been working with a talented group of professionals to create the Social Media Jumpstart Kit, a six-module series that covers all of the major social media channels. The Social Media Jumpstart Kit is an ambitious collaboration […]

If you could increase your website traffic by 300%, keep people on your website longer, and exponentially increase your Google ranking with one free tool, would you? It would seem silly not to, yet so many small businesses do not embrace this tool due to perceived technology barriers or a fear of being on camera. […]