Entrepreneur, June 1, 2016 -- Social media marketing is still a new business tool, relatively speaking. There’s no magic formula for success, and the potential benefits of your efforts are broad and not entirely predictable. That promise is appealing, especially to young entrepreneurs, but results don’t come automatically -- even if you have a solid strategic foundation for your campaign. In fact, it requires a tremendous amount of planning, effort and refinement before you start to see results. And in most cases, the tools and features offered by social media platforms straightaway aren’t typically enough to give you the edge you need. Social media operates in a hyper-competitive arena, and if you want to stay alive, you’re going to have to use the newest tools to support your efforts. The key measure of success in social media, as in most other forms of marketing, is your overall return on investment (ROI). When most people think about ROI, they focus on the return they’re getting, and how to improve it. Some tools will help you do this by providing more data you can use to target your demographics more accurately or allowing you to reach wider audiences than you have up to…

Exploring new territories, retailers branch out as manufacturers to stake new claims and feed their passion. Mobile Electronics May 2016 Issue, May 25, 2016 -- The simple formula of retailers operating only their stores as part of their business plan is becoming a strategy of another economic era. Today, retailers are diversifying their options from not only doing installations and selling sound products, but to operating training organizations and launching their own branded products. What is driving this new way of doing business is a passion for the industry and the hope of reinventing and reinvigorating one’s business and oneself, as well as giving back to the 12-volt world.  The Right Fit Back in 2011, Perfectionist Auto Sound, based in Anchorage, Alaska won the coveted Mobile Electronics Retailer of the Year award. According to owner John Schwartz, it was this honor that put the retailer on the map along with being the number one Compustar retailer in the world. The next year when Schwartz taught a business class at Mobile Solutions in Tempe, Ariz. a few guys from Australia were there. “First question they asked was why they didn’t have Compustar in Australia,” Schwartz said. “Good idea, I told them,…

Entrepreneur, May 25, 2016 -- You're likely already familiar with optimizing your site for specific keywords. You may have a list of specific keywords and phrases you're targeting, or you may be more in the "add amazing content and see what happens," camp. However, the idea of optimizing for branded keywords may not have crossed your radar. Branded terms are words or phrases that are specific to your company. They often include your business name, but also may include certain trademarked product names or your website name. For Apple, some examples of branded terms might be: Apple Apple Computers Applecom Apple dot com Aple (a misspelled version) Apple Phone We want to rank for these branded terms because there are three main types of search queries: informational (e.g., looking for answers to a question), transactional (e.g., looking to make a purchase), and navigational (e.g., looking for a specific company). People who fall into the third category are specifically looking for your business or website. If your site doesn't show up in the first few spots in the SERPs, your competitors will be benefiting from these branded searches. Fortunately, ranking for branded keywords isn't fundamentally different than ranking for more generic keywords.…

Cofounder of Launch Academy. Dan has been building web apps & tech teams since 2004 and has a passion for mentoring aspiring developers. May 23, 2016, Forbes -- As an entrepreneur with a growing business, you’re probably clamoring to maintain control as things change — I know I was with my own young company. Unfortunately, in my quest for control, I was actually doing my business and team a disservice. One of our core values at my company Launch Academy is to elevate everyone around you. Yet even as a co-founder I was stuck in the weeds and getting in the way of the talented people we hired to get the job done. As I struggled with this problem, I was given a few pointers from a golf coach on my backswing (I used to tense up, grip the club too tightly, and slice the ball off course). He instructed me to loosen my grip and not tense up in that critical moment — leading to a better and more consistent shot. It’s counterintuitive, but this advice has given me both a better golf swing and a more effective way of working with my team. So here are the five rules I’ve set…