Feeling burnt out trying to get more customers? How about overwhelmed with trying to get more traffic to your website? Running a business is quite the rollercoaster ride. Some days you’re excited, fired up, and ready to share your amazingness with the world. Then, the next day you’re feeling deflated, like you’ve tried everything and nothing seems to be working. You’re not alone. Every entrepreneur experiences these days. What you need are some fast-action strategies to get your business rockin!  Here are 7 Incredibly Smart Ways to Power Up your Business today:

The VERY first thing you need to do when starting your business is to CREATE AN EMAIL LIST. Here’s why:  An email list is essential to communicating to your customers AND potential customers. Even if you have NOTHING for sale yet, you need to start your email list on day one.  Once you create your products or have services to offer, you can simply send an email out to your list and let them know.  $$$ Your email list is made up of a group of people that truly WANT TO KNOW about what you have to offer. If you’re a product based business, then offer Free Shipping, Free Local Delivery or 10% off their first order if they sign up for your list. If you’re a service based business, consider creating a checklist, PDF or a free resource guide with tips based around what you do. The key is to offer your potential clients something of value in return for their name and email address. Once they opt-in to your email list, you email them the coupon or checklist you created.  I recommend Mailerlite or MailChimp to get started because don’t charge for your first several subscribers. Even if you don’t have a website yet, CREATE an email list for your business.  Communicate with your list often letting them know what you’re working on and offer lots of great value before you start selling to them.

It doesn’t matter what type of business you have, you need to have a blog on your website. Here’s why: A blog is a way to connect with potential clients and customers.   You can a build a relationship with people before ever actually meeting them through your blog. By putting out valuable information, potential customers get to know, like and trust you, making it much easier to do business with you.  Plus, putting out fresh content each week, tells search engines that you’re keeping your site updated with information so when a search is performed, your content has a better chance of showing up organically.  A blog also gives you content to send out in your newsletter, to your email list, and to share on social media; thus sending FREE traffic to your website. Not sure what to blog about? Show the behind the scenes of your business, photos of your products and services, or offer tips and valuable information about the topics surrounding your business. If your business IS a blog, try to put out at least three posts a week to fast track your success. If you don’t love writing, then try putting out great content via videos or a podcast. 

Pinterest ain’t just for care packages ideas, recipes, and home decorating. It’s actually a POWERHOUSE for getting FREE traffic to your website. The first step is to make sure you have a Pinterest for business account. You can easily convert your personal account to a business account with the click of a button. Here’s the link: https://business.pinterest.com/en.  Get your profile set up with a nice picture, a bio that tells what you do, and include a link to your website. Then, get started creating pins for your business and PIN them to boards on Pinterest. To create a pin, go to CANVA.com, select “Pinterest Graphic” to get the correct size dimensions. You can upload photos of your products or use simple text and/or images to create your pins.  You can then pin those images to Pinterest with a link directing them back to your website. You need to PIN A LOT to make Pinterest work for your business. Think 10-25 pins per day, this tell Pinterest that you’re an active pinner, so they will be more likely to show your pins to other people.  Pin your pins, and other people’s pins that are relevant to your business topics and/or topics of interest for your your ideal customers.

In case you haven’t heard, Facebook is making it even more difficult to get your content in front of people without paying. Yes, it’s still important to have a Facebook page but it is becoming increasingly more difficult and expensive to get your posts seen organically in front of those who like your page.  Facebook Groups are a GREAT way to network and develop relationships with prospective customers. Groups can be used in a variety of ways.  First, you could create your own group based on your business topic and use the group to offer tips, advice, and value to the members. Be careful not to use your group to sell all of the time or you’ll lose members and NEVER automatically add someone to a group without asking first.  Or, you can join groups where your ideal customers are hanging out in.  Always read the group guidelines first when you enter a group. NEVER try and sell in someone else’s group. Use the group to provide value, tips, and advice. Groups can be a fabulous way to build trust and offer your expertise. If used correctly, groups can lead to big business.   The key here is to provide value first, and then you’ll reap the benefits.

YOU are a GREAT story. If you’re a business owner and you’re making an impact is someway, then PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT YOU. What is the best way to get people to know about you? MEDIA. Television, newspaper, major online publications, websites, blogs and podcasts. It’s all possible.  You can also scout out websites that feature businesses like yours.  If you would like to be interviewed on television, do a search for the producer of that particular television station and send them an email.  Tell them about yourself, include a link to your blog, any other media you’ve been featured in, and provide them with 3 different topics you could share with their viewers.  You want to think “VIEWER BENEFIT” because that’s what’s important to them. The more you can help their viewers, the more likely they will be to invite you on their show.  The TV websites and LinkedIN are great ways to find contact information for producers and assignment editors.

Across the great, grand world of the Internet lies an easy way to boost traffic, search engine optimization AND get in front of perspective customers, sponsors and clients. Get your company listed on as many professional directories as possible. Depending on your category of business, this element alone can POWER UP your business. First, listing your business on the right sites puts you in front of your ideal customers. Second, the more backlinks you have from established websites, the better your chances are for pulling up in a search. Let’s get technical here for a moment, a business listing is referred to as a “Citation.” Citations are important to Google (and let’s be honest, what’s important to Google is important to us). You’ll want to find business listings for your particular industry, as well as general business listings.  For example, if you’re a dog walker, then you should list your services on Rover.com.  Other professional directories include:  Google + Local, Yelp, Kudzu.com, Manta, Yahoo Local, AllPages.com and there are hundreds more depending on your category of business.

The last incredibly smart way to power up your mil-spouse owned business is to guest blog. Find bloggers who talk to your ideal customers and ask if you can write a post for them. Remember to provide amazing value for their readers and you’ll be able to drive traffic back to your site.  Guest blogging is a win/win for the blog owner and the business owner. It gives the blog owner more content for their site and it helps you get your information in front of potential customers and creates backlinks for your site, which are great for SEO. Here’s the thing though-it’s gotta be good.  You have to put your BEST WORK out there if you’re going to guest blog. You can’t repurpose a post you’ve already written, it needs to be fresh content.  PRO TIP:  Put this into your Google search engine and see what opportunities are waiting for you in the guest blogging world: “(keyword) guest blog” or “(keyword) guest post.”  Obviously, replace keyword with your business topic/industry.

Ok, friends, that’s it for today. 7 INCREDIBLY SMART ways to POWER UP Your MilSpouse Biz. Get after it and POWER UP your biz this week.

As an added bonus, check out MY PRO TIP RESOURCE BOOK. In this book, I share the exact templates I use to get featured on television and guest blogs! 

P.S.  I just launched a brand new FREE 3 Part Video Training Program. You don’t want to miss this. Go here to check it out or click on the image below to get immediate access.