The Plan to Multiply Your Sales
Being an entrepreneur, you always could use more sales driving up your numbers. We've prepared an easy-to-follow plan just for you to help dominate the market!
Author: Jeremy Harrison
Merry Christmas from Your Friends at Spire!
Merry Christmas! Be sure to watch to the very end for a special treat...
Enhancing Facebook Results With Contests & Giveaways
If you’re developing a brand presence on Facebook but your strategy doesn’t include contests or giveaways, you’re probably missing the mark.
A How-To Guide for Local Search
Consumers are looking for what you have to offer, but can they find you on the web? They can if your website is optimized for local search.
How to Bring Your Website’s Design Into 2014
So, you want to update your website? Perhaps your old site was thrown together quickly. Perhaps it isn't serving your needs very well. It's also possible that what was once a well-designed website is now tired and out-of-date.
Meet 3 Small Businesses That Keep Growing with Content Marketing
As a business owner, you've probably already heard about the immense power of content marketing. That said, unless there's proof, it can be difficult for a small businesses to come up with the resources to invest in content marketing.
Why Google+ when everyone else is on Facebook?
Google+, the social media arm of the search engine giant, offers small businesses a social media resource--and more--like no other.
Choose a Website Domain Name That Gives Your Business an Edge
Choosing a website domain name is not for the fainthearted. The process will underpin your entire business and its digital marketing potential.
5 Practical Steps to Influence Gen Y
I finally got a chance to post the second half of my talk with Nate Bebout. In this video, Nate talks about what motivates the millennial generation, and 5 practical steps to make your marketing more effective.
7 Challenges of the Millennial Generation / Gen Y
What's the deal with young adults born from 1982-2000? Do we call them Generation Y? The Millenial Generation? How do I reach them? Is there any hope for our future?
How Often Should You Be Blogging?
The importance of putting fresh articles on your website is unquestionable. Here's how often you should be blogging to keep Google and your customers happy.
Avoiding Price Wars
What do you do when a potential buyer tells you your prices are too high? I've noticed that most sellers react in one of 3 ways. Most people GIVE IN, they GIVE UP, or they GET EVEN. Let me explain...
What does “Bounce Rate” mean in Google Analytics?
In Google Analytics, there is a metric titled "Bounce Rate", which tends to throw people off ;) . Thankfully, it's not too difficult to understand.
Should Your Blog Be Separate From Your Website?
When working with small businesses, we often talk to people who have both a website AND a blog. Here are 5 important reasons why the blog and the website should be combined into one online presence.
Do I have to pay to rank in Google?
I hear it all the time: "Do I have to pay to rank in Google? This article helps bring clarity to free AND paid listings in Google, and points to free, helpful resources for help.
File Sizes Made Easy
Pop quiz! If I were to ask you what KB stood for could you tell me? What about MB and GB?
Are file extensions giving you file overload?
.jpg, .png, .txt, .pdf, .tiff, .doc, .ppt, .mp3, .wav, .wma, .avi, .swf, .xls. Looking at a list like this sure can make your head swim! Good thing I am here to help explain them!
Facebook Got Me…
I'm a victim. Actually, it's worse than that. I willingly gave in. Even though I swore I never would. For the first time in my 7 years of using Facebook, I did the unthinkable...
To He Who Said It Couldn’t Be Done…
Somebody said that it couldn't be done, But, he with a chuckle replied That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one Who wouldn't say so till he tried."
Business Wisdom from the Farm: Planting Season
If I were forced to either forget everything I learned in college, OR forget everything I learned on the farm as a child, I wouldn't think twice. Early lessons on the farm were far more valuable.
Things that seemed like common sense as a kid now seem profound. Here's a simple example.
How Does Facebook Affect Your REAL LIFE Social Network?
I just had a revelation. I realized that my network of close personal friendships -- the people my wife and I spend time with in our local community -- has been altered over the years by our exposure on Facebook.
Spire Leads Branding Project for Catalyst Life Services
Over the past 18 months, we've had the great privilege of working with The Center For Individual and Family Services Catalyst Life Services.
2 Workshops in 2 Days
On Thursday and Friday, we offered two all-day workshops for some of our Spire customers.
Is the Firefox Update causing problems with PDFs? Here’s how to fix it!
Recently we have been getting some phone calls about the new version of Firefox not playing nice. One of the complaints has been that when you try to view a PDF file from
Two Customer Training Intensives are Better than One…
Our next Customer Training Intensive is scheduled for April. And as we were putting it together, we were inspired to offer two completely separate events, for two different groups of customers.
What’s Happening on Your Website?
Every day you have people looking at your website - but what are they doing? Here are some important questions you CAN and SHOULD answer. They will help you find out if you are connecting with your visitors
Facebook Graph Search: A Marketing Gem, Albeit Creepy
Last month, Facebook announced a new feature called "Graph Search." You'll see it on your Facebook page soon. There's already a lot of info out there about the new Graph Search. But it's the features hidden under the surface that has great potential for marketers.
Google Remarketing: It Works, Even When it Doesn’t.
In a session at our last Spire Customer Training Intensive, I showed customers how a new under-utilized strategy in the Google Display Network called Remarketing could be beneficial, even for smaller businesses with small budgets. I'm not going to re-hash my presentation here, but this video shows the results of a short, very small experiment we did on this website.
5 most Common SpireCMS Questions
As a Spire Customer Service Representative, I get a lot of questions everyday on how to use SpireCMS. So to help with these questions, I decided to make up a few quick videos.
Do You Want Short-Term Patches or Long-Term Sustenance?
If given the choice, would you take $10,000 today, or $500/month for the rest of your life? While logic tells us to take the ongoing payments -- studies have consistently shown that most people are prone to take what they can get RIGHT NOW, ignoring the added long-term benefits that come from waiting.
How One Snowball Brought 9,000 Visitors To My Website…
Three winters ago, I sat down at my desk to write a blog post. I had a million things to do, and it felt like a waste of time. After days of setting it aside to do other things that were more urgent, I finally finished it and stuck it on the website.
Test Posted on February 7 at 6:38 PM EST
this is a test post
An interview with a local blogger who knows his stuff.
In early November I taught a seminar on social media and blogging at the Ashland Chamber Business Expo. The session included an interview with a "virtual guest" -- Jon Nicol.
Your Customers Have Forever Changed (Video)
Here's a short excerpt from my presentation at the Spire Customer Training Intensive. I talked about how your customers have changed -- and how it has nothing to do with the economy.
5 Relatively Simple Ways to Improve Local Search Results
Today I'm going to share 5 things you can do to improve your visibility in the search engines with local searchers.
7 Tips on How to Write a Blog Post
You've heard that writing blog posts is essential to the health of your website. Here are helpful tips for writing a blog post that gets results...
Optimizing Your Website for Local Google Searchers
Are your customers local? Is the majority of your audience within a certain driving distance of your place(s) of business? Locally-focused businesses have never had more leverage in search engines like Google.
Creating Valuable Landing Pages that Compel Visitors to Act
This morning I was teaching a seminar, and I was showing examples of landing pages where companies offer something of value in exchange for a name and email address.
Website Copywriting: How to Write Copy for SEO
We want you to write great content that gets results. This article will teach you how to write copy that search engines love, without losing sight of your readers.
Video: Multiplying Website Traffic with Archived Content
Have you ever written content on your website and wondered if anybody is actually looking at it? This video will show you a mistake that 86% of businesses make. Fix it on your website, and you could see a significant increase in traffic. This video will show you how it works.
First impressions using Pinterest…
Today I FINALLY setup my page on As I knew already, the Pinterest userbase is dominated by females. I knew it was used primarily by women, but I was struck by just how
How to Get Started with a Blog
Saying that you're going to write "something" every Friday is destined to fail. You need to start with some planning to figure out what you're going to say, and when. This is where an editorial calendar can help.
Help Spire support the National Guard in May!
For every website design or re-design ordered by a Richland County business in May, Spire will make a donation to support airmen and soldiers and their families who are members of the Guard units based in Richland County.
We’ve moved. Tips for updating your mailing address.
On March 30, Spire Advertising moved into a brand-new office that has been a great upgrade for our growing team.