How to Get and Keep Attention by Nick Nichols, B2B Sales and Marketing Expert (This post is short and to the point, but don’t let that fool you. It addresses the fuzzy thinking I encounter far too often.) A recent LinkedIn discussion centered on a follow-up email message that a podcast show host wanted to [...]

The 7 New Rules of Blogging By Content Marketing Advisor, Nick Nichols Once upon a time, there were generally accepted blogging practices that most of the "gurus" recommended and sometimes even practiced! But in the digital world, change is the only constant. I’m known for saying, "The only rules are the ones you make," and [...]

The Worst LinkedIn Advice I’ve Ever Seen! By Nick Nichols In a Biz Journals Upstart article (that has since been archived behind password protection), the author claims that “LinkedIn just made it super-simple to win new business.” The article contends that LinkedIn’s new “ProFinder” feature makes LinkedIn “serious about moving beyond its core use as [...]

How the Texas Flooding Can Help You Write Better Blog Post Headlines by Nick Nichols, B2B Sales and Marketing Expert One of the best ways to attract readers to your blog posts is to tie in to current events – even if those events are unrelated to your business or industry. (The way I’m doing [...]

Are You Making This Embarrassing E-Mail Mistake? by Nick Nichols, B2B Pre-Qualified Sales Lead Generation Expert I got a cold call from a guy selling web servers. He apparently got my name from the "WhoIs" directory of Internet domain names. As an Internet marketing consultant with several websites, I’m always interested in knowing what the [...]

Why I Hate Yelp by Nick Nichols, 5-Star Online Reputation Marketing Expert Fake reviews – especially defamatory fake reviews – have gotten out of hand. I have a client who is a victim of ongoing virtual stalking where it appears that the “perp” has hired people to post blatantly false negative reviews about my client [...]

SEO Secrets Revealed by Nick Nichols, Search Engine Marketing Expert What is SEO? SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization, the process of making a web page rank better in the search engines for relevant keywords – known as money keywords – that likely buyers are using to get information that leads to a [...]

Should You Expand Your Product or Service Line? by Nick Nichols, Marketing Strategist I was interviewed by a self-storage trade magazine writer who wanted ideas on how to add ancillary revenue generating items, a.k.a. line expansions. Here is my five-step formula: Look at your market – What are the holes and gaps? What do people [...]

What would you expect to pay for quality website design and development? by Nick Nichols, Online Marketing Expert A recent question posted at LinkedIn was, "What would you expect to pay for quality website design and development?" That’s like asking, "How much should you pay for a car?" If you just want a basic Wordpress [...]

Should You Use an Industry-Specific Website Designer by Nick Nichols, Online Marketing Expert On the surface it might seem like a good idea to hire a website designer that specializes in your industry, but there are some factors you might want to consider. First, industry-specific website design companies tend to use the same templates for [...]

Are Free Reports Dead as a Marketing Tool? by Nick Nichols, Value-Based Content Marketing Expert No! Using free information (I call this an info-premium) that provides tips, advice and guidance about solving problems your target market has is alive and well! Info-premium marketing is a decades-old, proven method to attract, engage and convert prospects into [...]

Why aren’t my consumer reviews visible? by Nick Nichols, 5-Star Online Reputation Marketing Expert Getting legitimate reviews to be visible at Google+ and Yelp is becoming more and more difficult. Despite what Google and Yelp say publicly – that they want to deliver relevant content to their users – including reviews – they seem to [...]

Beware of these Branding Blunders that will Bury Your Business by Nick Nichols, Branding and Reputation Marketing Expert What comes to mind when your clients think of you? How is your image perceived by potential buyers of your products and services? In today’s world you are what the media says you are, whether that’s a [...]

Getting Testimonials is a Process By Nick Nichols, 5-Star Online Marketing Reputation Expert In my 20+ years as an online marketing adviser and media strategist I’ve found that most business owners don’t have a process for generating meaningful, attributed testimonials. So I developed a process that is guaranteed to get 5-star testimonials and permission to [...]