Free Online Business Directory

A free online business directory is a great way to get your business noticed, in the long run. As a foundational move a business directory shows up for people who search for categories, but also other search engines can spider it and help your listings get attention.

Top Local is a free online business directory with a twist. It is a free directory, but it’s also a way to develop a local referral group using our downloadable customized local business directories that each member can download and have a local print shop make copies.

Below is a chart we put together when we charged $20/month, which was extremely reasonable. Now that we have a free plan, the extra costs will come with extra benefits we will announce as they become available. But check out the power of using the local guides to market your business in the local area!

This local business guide is helpful for the whole local group because your business shows on the cover and the other (non-competing) businesses in your zipcode show inside. Each member’s business is featured on the cover of the guide they download, so customers will see that your business is featured on the front. There will not be any competitors inside because we limit listings to one business per category per zip code.

Countries outside the USA may have other address needs but the zip code can be used for any identifying number that segments your local area.

So, Top Local is more than a free online business directory. And it’s free. So please help us spread the word and build your local business group. Let us know if you’d like some local marketing mentorship or consulting. We can do that too. Check out our value proposition here Free Business Listing

February 8, 2023 | Marketing Guru

Business Development Strategies

How to Choose the Best WordPress Website Hosting Service

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Choosing the best WordPress web host is easy. It just requires some clear thought process and a few decisions.
The first step is to take an inventory of the steps involved in building a website.

1. Pick a domain name
2. Pick a hosting service
The best WordPress host is the one you’re comfortable with. The good news is that you can switch as you want and can move your website to another host if you need to. The following hosts are two of the most widely used hosts on the market. They aren’t expensive and they’re reliable. So choosing one or the other is just a matter of looking over the deals they offer and picking one. These are shared hosting services. That means that there are many websites hosted on a physical server. When you grow, the service offering can grow too. So, the more of the server you want to yourself, the higher you should upgrade the service and the more it will cost. It’s scalable. As your traffic grows, your membership level will grow.

BlueHost – Look at the BlueHost offer here.
IPage – Look at the Ipage offer here.

What to look for?
Look at price. The cheapest is not the best. Make sure you can live with the price.
Next, look at a host that offers an easy to use interface because you will be spending some time managing your service outside the website. To explain, you will login to your website to write posts, pages, change settings etc. But, you will also login to your hosting service to manage your email, back up your site, manage settings and reach out to the host tech support.
Both IPage and BlueHost have good customer service and features. So you can’t go wrong with either. If I were to pick one over the other, it would be BlueHost over IPage.
Why?
Because IPage cancelled their cpanel access and use their own interface. After decades building websites, I prefer cpanel as a hosting management dashboard.

3. Load WordPress – You can reach out to tech support and ask them to help you load WordPress. More on this later.
4. Pick a Theme – This will be a tutorial and I’ll link to it later.
5. Build your Site – This is a process. Picking the right theme with good bones will make your construction easier. More on that later too.

Just focus on getting your hosting service set up, and remember to lean on the tech support people. They will do many things for you if you ask.

July 8, 2021 | Marketing Guru

Promoting Your Business on Facebook

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Many people think they can easily promote their business on Facebook. It’s true that it’s just a few steps to get a basic ad produced and online, but there are more steps involved.

Facebook has different ad purposes like lead generation, web traffic, etc.

Lead generation has a Facebook form people fill out when they click your ad. Web Traffic increases your website traffic by pointing to your site when someone clicks.

When creating your ad, you’ll create an image. I do this in PowerPoint because it’s easy.

You’ll need to create it a specific size and there are plenty of ad specifications to keep in mind. Here’s a spec post to tell you more about that. https://blog.bufferapp.com/facebook-ad-specs

You’ll want to create several types with different headings and different words, with different pictures. This is because, once you launch your ads, some may not be approved. And, you need to monitor how effective they are. Once you see how successful each ad is, how many leads or clicks and what it’s costing you, you’ll turn off the ones that aren’t productive. But, be careful. You must allow time for the ads to run. The price comes down the longer it runs and things even out after a few weeks. So it’s a good idea to let all ads run for 6 weeks and then make your decisions from the data at that point.

Don’t rush. This is not a sprint…it’s a marathon.

Use the specs I linked to and start creating a handful of ads. Post them, see what’s accepted, set a daily budget and let it run for 6 weeks.

I think you’ll have some frustrations along the way, but stick with it and you’ll have some steady traffic or leads, depending on your purposes.

Happy advertising. 🙂

May 19, 2018 | Marketing Guru

Marketing 101

How to Resolve Workplace Conflict

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Resolving workplace conflict may seem a daunting task. But it’s really not.

Everyone having a conflict will have a higher emotional response, so it’s important to stay calm and create a safe place for them to discuss their grievance.

To resolve workplace conflict, meet with each person involved by themselves first. Let them talk it out and explain the problem without offering any advice or making any judgments. It may be hard but let them talk and get it all out.

When you feel each person is done getting it all out, ask if they would be ok getting together with the other party, with you there to moderate.

When you get both parties together, set the stage quickly. Let them know this is not a place to argue. And get them both to agree that you are in control of the meeting and that you can stop it at any time.

Once you establish that you are in control, let them know that you are giving each person a chance to explain their side of the situation and that nobody in the room is to interrupt, no matter how much they may want to, or how much they may want to interject. If anyone interrupts, the meeting is over. Make sure they understand.

Then it will be hard, but keep that control and let each person repeat what they told you.

Then once you finish letting each person air their grievances, ask for some silence for everyone to think about what they just heard.

Offer each person a chance to respond to the other, again with no interruptions.

And remind them of the ground rules. No name calling, or profanity. They must stay civil and stick to the matter at hand.

Then you may want to help each person understand the position of the other.

If, in the end, no common ground or understanding can be found, then you will need to make a decision on what to do. If either person is acting belligerent, it may be time to let that person go. But, in most cases, it’s simply an emotional misunderstanding and may just take time. Suggest that each person not speak to the other except if necessary and then it must remain civil. Time may heal it.

Either way, this process will allow each person to get their feelings out in the open and will hopefully show them how the other feels. This may not be easy but it may end up bringing your staff closer together.

We are all different and we all have different lives. It’s healthy to understand different points of view even if you don’t agree with them.

May 18, 2018 | Marketing Guru

Tips

Praise vs Reprimand: How to Treat Employees

So how are you supposed to treat employees? Many people feel that keeping your employees down will keep them from asking for raises, or seeking other employment. But this cannot be farther from the truth. Praising your employees helps their morale it helps their demeanor and it helps them feel better about coming to work.
I’ve been on both sides of this topic. As an employer I always lean towards praising employees and sometimes too much. I have experienced employees leaving because I pumped up there or ego so much that they overvalued themselves and thought they could make more elsewhere. However, I find that their morale is much higher in their production is much higher. I would rather train and give opportunities to people who have a high morale and a high productivity and then just be happy with who sticks. Otherwise, you’re left with the staff who feels bad about themselves, unsure about their job, does not like coming to work, feels undervalued and under appreciated, and will probably leave because of a low self-esteem.
The old methods of kiss kick kiss work but they must be done properly. For instance, when you meet with an employee praise the job that they’re doing offer some constructive criticism and then give them another pat on the back to help them look forward to the next promotion or some other award. Always leave employees striving to do better but not because they don’t feel they can please you. It’s the same with kids. If your kids never feel that they can please you, they do strive to please you but they are never really happy and they do not feel fulfilled in the relationship.So next time you’re wondering should I praise someone who did a good job? The answer is. Yes. Praise when you need to, reprimand when you need to, and edify when it’s warranted. Treating people the way that you would want to be treated is always the best advice.

May 17, 2018 | Marketing Guru

Marketing 101