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Chris Garrett (@chrisgarrett)

Twitter Bio:: Web geek, VP of Educational Content at Copyblogger Media, and co-author of http://ProBloggerBook.com
Location:: Calgary
Website:: http://www.chrisg.com/

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What is the Biggest Mistake Small Businesses are Making Today?

|2 Influencers

Well, when we asked a group of Small Biz experts this question, the answers came in across the board. By the time you read all their answers you may have formed an opinion or two yourself.

Many new businesses are focused on making a product but don’t understand marketing and have not budgeted for marketing appropriately.

Have you had a friend who tells you he wants to get fit, so he’s going to go out and buy the perfect sneakers. Then, he says the’s going to join the right gym and get a personal trainer. And he’s not going to start till after holidays. Actually, he says he might even wait till after his birthday,

The True Cost of Building and Managing a WordPress Website

|2 Influencers

This is, of course, true. The files necessary to install WordPress on a server and run it are indeed free.

A casual content producer could even sign up at WordPress.com and run their entire website for free, never paying a dime if all they wanted were the most basic features.

And how can you minimize the total cost of WordPress ownership while maximizing its potential to manage the online content that drives your business?

To use WordPress as a tool for building a business online or off, it needs to be viewed not as “free blogging software”, but as a legitimate business acquisition.

Why Content Marketing is the New Branding | Copyblogger

|6 Influencers

When marketers ask, “How do we want to brand this product?” what they’re really asking is how they want their audience to think about that product once it comes to market.Brands can meet that expectation, exceed that expectation … or in the worst cases, fall short of that expectation.(By the way, the word product can easily be swapped for service, or blog, or newsletter, or any number of things marketers promote. The underlying concepts remain the same.) Cisco makes products that make it possible for people to be connected, no matter how far apart they may be, geographically. ~ ForbesThe Red Cross is a bellwether among nonprofits, with a brand

Social Media Naked Truth

|7 Influencers

Want to learn the whole truth and nothing but the truth about social media strategies, processes, and myths? Lucky for you, a new eBook, The Naked Truth of Social Media, will help answer questions and explain the need for great social media tactics and developments.As an educational guide to help cut through the noise in the social media marketplace, this renowned eBook will clear things up and offer such points as:And if having the answers at your fingertips isn’t impressive enough, the list of contributing authors and industry experts will be, including:Additionally, this eBook was written by industry luminary, Phil Gerbyshak. Phil is the head

What’s the Best Time to Send an Email? | Copyblogger

|8 Influencers

Talking email marketing strategy can be a bit like talking religion or politics at a party. Everyone has their own (very strong) opinions about what does — or does not — work.

“Don’t send anything on weekdays, on the weekends, or after 5 pm, because people aren’t at their computers.”

“Don’t email on Mondays because your prospects are too busy, and avoid Fridays because everyone is winding down for the weekend.”

“And be sure to stay away from the lunch hour. In fact, the best time to email is on Tuesday at 10:13 am.”

The fact is, your

There is No ROI in Social Media Marketing

|3 Influencers

It’s the online business equivalent of jeans that don’t make your butt look big. Social media ROI is everyone’s holy grail of the moment.

And it’s easy to see why. If a business is going to put the time, effort, and attention into social media marketing, it would be nice to think we’d actually get some sales out of it.

Sonia Simone talked recently with Sean Jackson, Copyblogger Media’s CFO, about the ROI of social media. She expected to hear one answer, but was surprised to get something very different.

Sonia: OK, so as you know,

How an Unknown Street Artist Used Content Marketing to Build a Global Brand ...

|3 Influencers

It was printed underneath a huge black and white silhouette of the famous wrestler Andre the Giant, and plastered across a derelict billboard on Wilshire boulevard in LA, of which there are hundreds.It appeared both haunting and hilarious amidst the bland, big-box advertisements for Office Depot and Vons grocery chain.Then it seemed to be everywhere I looked, light posts, sides of abandoned buildings, and then suddenly on a t-shirt I bought at an independent shop on Melrose Avenue.Now Shepard Fairey, entrepreneur to some, criminal to others, is considered to be one of the art world’s most iconic and collectible commodities. What does it take

Can SEO Be Your Business Advantage?

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With Google having a bad case of frequent hiccups, websites are see-sawing up and down in their search rankings. Business owners, caught between a rock and a hard place, are asking themselves whether SEO really can be a winning strategy in these difficult economic times.By analyzing the process, the methodology and the sequence of involving SEO in business development, I hope to showcase the role that search engine optimization has, even in the context of frequent algorithm changes at Google and other engines, proving there will always be financial justification for SEO.It’s very likely that 2012 is the year many SEOs will look back upon as the

Need More Links and Social Shares? Try Making More Enemies

|3 Influencers

So by now you know that real links (the kind you earn, not the kind you pay for) and social sharing are key components of natural SEO.That’s often enough to get some momentum going. But if you aren’t seeing it yet, there might be a critical piece of your message that’s still missing.But when you get it right, you fill one of the last pieces of the organic SEO puzzle — and just like every element of good SEO, it works for your audience and customers even better than it works for search engines.A few months ago, my kettlebell trainer shared a fascinating post from a blogger named Amber Rogers, whose blog is called “Go Kaleo.”The post pulled

How Amazon Grew My Audience By More Than 24,000 Readers in Three Days

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What if I told you there was a way that you could find all three â but that it required you give something truly valuable away? Would you listen to me?

If youâre a Copyblogger reader, you understand the power of smart marketing that benefits your audience. In fact, youâre probably doing this in some form already: a free eBook, or a valuable email autoresponder series for new subscribers to your content.

But what if I told you that thousands of fans and potential customers were also waiting for you â¦ on Amazon?

Well, thatâs exactly what I found and couldnâ