December 15, 2015

Show Your Website Some Love

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8THIRTYFOUR

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Stop treating your website like a red headed step child.

Do we have your attention now? Good. Hope so. If you’re like the companies and organizations we work with, you’ve invested a lot of time and money into the design and development of your website. For what? So it looks cool? So it’s responsive?
Really, why did you do it? The answer should include things like: We redesigned our website…

to be more user focused
to provide specific paths for our target audiences
to help us meet our lead generation goals
to impact the bottom line.

Really, we hope that these are some of the reasons why you updated your website. But wait… now what? You invested all that time and money… when was the last time you looked at your website? When was the last time you updated your website?
It happens all the time – you sprint to the finish line to get the website done. And when the website is “done” then you’ll do all these great things to optimize it, keep it relevant and continue to use it to build the business. Heck, you may even start blogging. But then, you get busy – and the website is “done” – so you focus on all those other things you didn’t do when you were working so hard on the website.
That website of yours is a living, breathing marketing tool. It is a hub for ALL of your marketing activity. It generates leads while you’re sleeping, sipping coffee or even at the work Christmas party. It’s there when people are looking for what you do, whether they know who you are or not.
You’ve heard it all before:

You should be blogging.
You should be reviewing your website weekly.
You should be keeping your website fresh.
You should be working out more (oops, that’s for a New Year’s blog. Yeah. That’s coming too).

The bottom line is that developing a website is a big investment in time, money and knowledge from your company. It is not a place where content goes to die to never be seen again. Your website is where content should start, then it can be repurposed and used in other mediums – direct mail, print ads, email marketing, social media content and more. Whether you keep your website fresh through a blog, case studies, portfolio, ebooks or your news updates – you need to do something. And, you need to do it consistently.
Caution: Lame House to Website Reference Below Proceed with Caution
Building a beautiful new website as one of your most valuable strategic marketing tools is like investing in a beautiful new landscape for your home. Then, when you don’t update your website or do anything for it again… it’s like never mowing, pruning or weeding that landscape again. It gets old, brown and people wonder if anyone lives there anymore. Except in your websites case, people wonder if you’re company is still around, if you still offer those same products or services, and if you do, how savvy are you anyway?
So take this redhead’s word for it. Make sure your company website is treated fairly, like all of your other marketing and communications tools. Give it the love and attention it deserves; in turn it will repay you in leads, sales and success.
Header Image Credit: https://memegenerator.net/instance/61184065

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The way you show up at work shapes how people remember you.

Last month, alyshiahull joined bodespeaks on Happy Hour Hustle to talk about what workplace authenticity really means. Alyshia is a New York-based freelance journalist who writes for Business Insider, Fast Company, USA Today, Inc., and Entrepreneur. If you are ready to bring your authentic self to work, episode #134 is for you.

Listen to Happy Hour Hustle on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Youtube. Link in bio.

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The way you show up at work shapes how people remember you.

Last month, alyshiahull joined bodespeaks on Happy Hour Hustle to talk about what workplace authenticity really means. Alyshia is a New York-based freelance journalist who writes for Business Insider, Fast Company, USA Today, Inc., and Entrepreneur. If you are ready to bring your authentic self to work, episode #134 is for you.

Listen to Happy Hour Hustle on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Youtube. Link in bio.

The power of the Women`s Entrepreneurial Fellowship, in a graduate`s own words:

"Growth is never accidental, it comes from being willing to learn, adapt, and embrace change. After nine months of dedication, reflection, and business development, I proudly graduated from the Women`s Entrepreneurial Fellowship (WEF) during the Small Business Association of Michigan Annual Meeting.

Throughout the program, I challenged myself to evaluate every aspect of my business, celebrating what was working while identifying opportunities for growth and improvement. The journey was made even more meaningful through the support of an incredible cohort of women entrepreneurs, the guidance of mentor Gina Jacquart Thorsen, and the leadership of bodespeaks and her team.

A sincere thank you to smallbusinessassocofmichigan for investing in second-stage women business owners and creating opportunities that empower entrepreneurs to build stronger, more sustainable businesses."

— Mary A. Barton, President and CEO of Equitable Accounting Solutions and proud WEF graduate.

Applications for the next cohort are now open. Link in comments.

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The power of the Women's Entrepreneurial Fellowship, in a graduate's own words:

"Growth is never accidental, it comes from being willing to learn, adapt, and embrace change. After nine months of dedication, reflection, and business development, I proudly graduated from the Women's Entrepreneurial Fellowship (WEF) during the Small Business Association of Michigan Annual Meeting.

Throughout the program, I challenged myself to evaluate every aspect of my business, celebrating what was working while identifying opportunities for growth and improvement. The journey was made even more meaningful through the support of an incredible cohort of women entrepreneurs, the guidance of mentor Gina Jacquart Thorsen, and the leadership of bodespeaks and her team.

A sincere thank you to smallbusinessassocofmichigan for investing in second-stage women business owners and creating opportunities that empower entrepreneurs to build stronger, more sustainable businesses."

— Mary A. Barton, President and CEO of Equitable Accounting Solutions and proud WEF graduate.

Applications for the next cohort are now open. Link in comments.

"Out of failure comes growth – you have to see it as an opportunity."

bodespeaks joined cuzzinjustin on the strictlyfromnowhere Podcast for an honest conversation about entrepreneurship, embracing your superpowers, and building a personal brand that`s actually yours, the wins, the setbacks, and everything in between. And naturally, dropped an f-bomb or two along the way. You don`t want to miss it.

Full episode in the comments 👇

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AI doesn`t treat every source equally; it trusts what`s credible, cited, and current, like news coverage.

Showing up in the right places isn`t just good PR. It`s how the robots (and the humans) get you right.

Read the full blog at the link in bio.

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AI doesn't treat every source equally; it trusts what's credible, cited, and current, like news coverage.

Showing up in the right places isn't just good PR. It's how the robots (and the humans) get you right.

Read the full blog at the link in bio.

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Check out the latest episode of Happy Hour Hustle, where Brandon shares what it actually took to grow a business through COVID, the military discipline that kept him going when everything else said quit, and how working with people turned out to be the hardest part of the job.

Listen to Happy Hour Hustle on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and watch the whole episode on Youtube. Link in bio.

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"If you don't get up and grind every day, the needle isn't gonna move."

We sat down with brandonmccraney, founder and Master Blender behind olderaleighdistillery in Zebulon, North Carolina. Brandon spent fifteen years just thinking about whiskey before he finally opened his doors, and even then it took four more years, a dozen rejections, construction delays, and a global pandemic to get there. Two years later, Olde Raleigh had already won Best Micro Distillery in the US.

Check out the latest episode of Happy Hour Hustle, where Brandon shares what it actually took to grow a business through COVID, the military discipline that kept him going when everything else said quit, and how working with people turned out to be the hardest part of the job.

Listen to Happy Hour Hustle on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and watch the whole episode on Youtube. Link in bio.

It`s 9 months that is impossible to sum up in a video - but here`s just a taste.

This Women`s Entrepreneurial Fellowship is resources, mentorship, and connections that you can`t build anywhere else. We`re so exicted for what the next cohort will bring.

Apply now at the link in bio.
smallbusinessassocofmichigan

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Show Your Website Some Love

Stop treating your website like a red headed step child.

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