Reflections on our First Year in Business
What have you loved about your first year in business? Joshua A few weeks after quitting my full time office job to run Rystedt Creative I remarked to Gabrielle that this was the best decision of our marriage. Why? The time with my family means the world to me and I’m now pursuing one of my passions full time (my previous job didn’t have a…
Quick and Dirty SEO Primer for Bloggers
If you’re a blogger, you probably already know that SEO (search engine optimization) is an essential part of getting your blog posts “out there” and in front of your readers. But in my experience, bloggers don’t get the full picture when it comes to putting together the pieces for optimal search engine performance. Some bloggers rely too heavily on page views or ad clicks. Others…
Stand Out From the Crowd and Stay One Step Ahead of Copycat Competitors
Copycats. Just when you thought you’d left these middle school nuisances behind, you see something come across your Instagram feed that looks shockingly familiar. A little too familiar… You overhear a newcomer to a networking event with an elevator pitch that you’ve heard before. That you’ve delivered before… Copycat competitors are lurking everywhere, regardless of what industry you work in. And with the proliferation of…
Top 10 Blog Posts Your Business Blog Should Include
We’ve been talking a lot recently about why your brand needs a blog and how to schedule time for accomplishing your creative to-do list. But before you sit down to write, it’s important to know what you’re going to write. While your editorial schedule should have you covered here, what happens when your ideas run dry? What do you do when writer’s block strikes before…
How to Stay Focused on Your Creative Tasks – And OFF of Social Media
Creative work is challenging – both in the act of actually creating and in the act of finding time to do so. More than half the battle in creating new content (of any sort) is finding the time and head space to simply sit down and do it. Outside distractions suck so much time, especially if that time is a few hours one afternoon to…
8 Reasons Your Business (Still) Needs a Blog in 2018
“Blogging is old news.” “Everyone has a blog.” “All of the things that I could blog about have already been blogged to death.” Are these excuses holding you back from starting (or maintaining) a company blog? In 2018, it can seem like a blog is an outdated way to communicate information to your customers or release news about your brand. But that idea could be…
Does Your Blog Need a Web Developer?
Blogging is a great way to share your brilliant insights to the world. But if you’re a writer and not a web developer, you probably don’t particularly enjoy all of that technical stuff that comes along with maintaining your blog’s web presence. (I know I don’t.) Setting up a blog, managing hosting (including security and backups), customizing your theme and webpages all take time. And…
What Your Facebook-Only Business is Missing
Most businesses these days have a Facebook presence. Some business owners have a Facebook presence and little – if anything – else. But are Facebook-only businesses missing out? Let’s take a look at some of the weaknesses of the Facebook-only business model. Facebook’s Audience is Huge. Everyone’s on Facebook. Or at least almost anyone with an Internet connection is. Facebook is free and…
The 25 Best WordPress Plugins for Small Business
Getting your small business website up and running opens a whole new world of possibility: online marketing and e-commerce. WordPress is a powerful tool that powers over 30 percent of websites currently online and has big names using its interface, including the New York Times, Disney and Mercedes-Benz. When you join the ranks of businesses and bloggers that trust their brand’s online presence to WordPress,…
What’s the Ideal Blog Post Length?
Blog posts are an essential part of your marketing strategy. But when you’re developing your editorial schedule, it can be a challenge to target the ideal blog posts that your readers want to see. As you balance post types, topics and authors, you need to also consider your blog post lengths. But does length really matter? In short, yes. Blog post length is important for…