Google My Business and the importance of getting verified

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Google My Business … the what and the why

For any company today, your online presence can make or break your business. So often, Google is the first touchpoint where a new customer experiences your brand. Using Google My Business, it’s possible for you to control just how you appear in Google search results  – and help to convert that first search into an enquiry, or a visit, or a sale.

Attract new customers with your free Google My Business listing. Here are five key reasons to get your business listed in Google, claimed (as your own business) and most importantly, verified.

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On newsletter signups: To pop up or not to pop up?

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Or: The artful seduction of getting someone to sign up to your newsletter.

Newsletter popups. You know those irritating things that pop up on a website the minute you land, or obstruct your screen while you’re trying to read? The variation is endless and yet the message is essentially the same (“Sign up to our newsletter”) with the intent generally also being the same (“We want your email address to market at you”). Maybe it’s to sell things to you, maybe it’s to get you to read articles to get advertisers to sell to you… you get the drift.

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Let’s talk content strategy

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Strategy is a great word. It’s one of those mid-weight ones that can effortlessly be thrown into discussions to take it up just that notch or two.

But dig a little deeper and it soon becomes apparent that there is a lot of uncertainty around what strategy, and content strategy in particular, really means.

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Tips for getting your work featured by a blogger

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On Thursday, 14 April 2016, Shopstar hosted prolific blogger Lana Kenney of Lanalou Style at their monthly Echat, held at Truth Coffee at Prestwich Memorial in Cape Town.  

Lana’s been blogging since 2009, having grown her lifestyle blog into one of the biggest of its kind in South Africa. At this intimate event she shared tips with online shop owners for how to get their work noticed and featured by bloggers.

Here are some of the key takeouts she shared:

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Why a content calendar is a good plan

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“Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential”, Winston Churchill once said.

These wise words are especially relevant to content calendars. The content calendar itself is not as important as it is to use it for guiding your content production and dissemination.

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