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Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash What are we expecting from Instagram in 2022? It’s easy to see that Instagram copied nearly everything TikTok had to offer in 2021. And according to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, we can expect even more of the same in 2022, as the platform focuses on its...

5 Things You Should Consider Before Starting a New Business. Starting a new business is not an easy feat. You have to invest time, resources, and money on the idea that it will work out in the end. It’s important to think things through before you start on your new venture. Here are some...

Not impressed by Shopify? There are a number of alternatives. The Top 4 Ecommerce Alternatives to Shopify. Shopify is arguably the most popular eCommerce platform in the world. With over 500,000 customers, it’s also among the most expensive. While there are many benefits to using Shopify,...

Listening is one of the most important skills you can develop as a business owner. Listening is not just about hearing what people say; it’s about understanding what people are trying to say. It’s not enough to wait for the other person to pause so that you can jump in with your opinion....

As the new year starts, many Aussie small businesses are facing the pressure of producing engaging content on their websites and their social media properties. The following tips will help you start this year off right by developing a better understanding of what your readers want and what makes...

Generation Z is a diverse and complex generation, even in Australia. They have different values, beliefs, and behaviours than the generations before them. And that means Gen Z is a challenge for any company to market to because they don’t want to be branded as kids, and they tend to hold very...

We have so many platforms to be across. Do we really need more? It feels like every month that there is another attempt at grabbing attention from the big platfoms like Google, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. And almost every month another platform crashes to Earth in failure. So which ones out...

TikTok isn’t new anymore. And it’s certainly not small. So while it’s not clear how small businesses can benefit from it, there are a few places to start: Hop on trendsTell a storyBe authentic Let’s dig in and explore all that a bit more. Jumping on trends will equal more views When you choose a...

We’ve all been working hard for that magic 10,000 follower mark to get access to that most envied feature of all on Instagram. The Instagram Story swipe-up. Now it’s gone. So where have Instagram stories swipe-up actions gone? Don’t panic too much, while the Instagram Stories swipe-up action on...

The type of content that seems to be cutting through the noise, according to Facebook’s 2021 Transparency Report, seems to be either: MemesHumanitarian contentCats, dogs & babies Maybe we’ve been overthinking our content strategies just a little. Let’s take a closer look at this. Riddles are...

As a small business, you’re supposed to know how to manage your finances, pay your rent, understand industrial relations, tax and marketing. And apparently, you’re also supposed to know what Storytelling is and how it applies to your business, no matter how boring it may be. But it’s a lot easier...

When it comes to hosting a webinar, the main things to consider, apart from the technology, are: What you’re going to talk aboutHow you’re going to start the webinarWhat your main points are going to beHow you’re going to end the show What topic are you going to talk about? The answer to this...

For all the knowledge that any SEO expert of Google nerd has about what works best for ranking a website on search engines, there’s just as much that we don’t know. In fact, none of us truly know anything about Google apart from what they’ve told us. This means that anyone in the world can become...

If you followed every marketing guru's advice and did all the things that they suggest you do on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Mailchimp, Google My Business and Facebook, you’d require two full time staff to do it all. Since you’re a small business that probably doesn’t have the...

After the long-awaited ability to post stories on Facebook came the even longer, more awaited feature of being able to schedule and post stories to Instagram from Business Manager, but now Reels are coming to Facebook. And here’s what we know about them: You will be able to share your Insta Reels...

Still over six months away from Christmas, which means we’re just 4 months away from the shopping season for Christmas. Doesn’t feel quite so distant now does it! What can you do now to prepare your online activity for the holiday season?  What should we be doing now in preparation for the...

More than a few of us have noticed that reach for our posts on the Instagram feed has been dropping over the last few months. So what is happening? What can we do about it? And what does Instagram have to say about it?  With so many people, businesses and ads on Instagram now, there’s more...

Everyone knows a grammar prince or princess. You know, the ones who correct all your spelling and grammar online like it’s their divine right? Well, they might be on to something, given a recent update from Google.  It might feel like our grammar-loving friends may be unintentionally helping...

There is an urban legend going around that claims that if you hold your phone up to your mouth and say “Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii” that you will start getting ads for holidays in Hawaii within an hour on Facebook. It’s tinfoil hat time! There are three main reasons why I can guarantee that your...

You sell bananas. A guy down the road sells bananas. In the next town over another guy sells bananas. You’ve heard that a girl a few streets over has decided to sell bananas as well. You already had competitors long before any of them appeared. Competition is a complex concept. You may assume that...

Fake news, misinformation and disinformation have been the bane of Facebook for a decade. As soon as we knew how to share memes and articles, we did it en masse. If you’re doing that as a business, you’re about to get slapped.  Sharing those inspirational stories of people overcoming great...

If you’re an early adopter kind of person, you might have hopped on the Google Analytics 4 bandwagon. The warnings were clear. Do not remove your existing analytics code. Several months later I can see why!  Google Analytics 4 is the update that gets Google ready for a world where there are...

There are over one hundred different ways for a business in any market to advertise themselves. From the more traditional methods like newspapers and phone books to the latest digital platforms it can be hard to know what to choose. When choosing a method of advertising as a small business, there...

Doing a stunt, making a funny video or using a famous celebrity to help you to “go viral” may seem like it’s an effective way to grow a business fast. But going viral can actually prove to be detrimental to your long term success.  Do you remember Rebecca Black? Her wealthy parents paid to...

Sometimes it might feel like social media is a bit of a wild wild west where you can do whatever you like. But it’s not. Those platforms have rules. And those rules are tightest when it comes to running ads. Sometimes I look at an ad on Facebook and wonder how they ever got it approved. The...

There’s hundreds of options when it comes to marketing your business. Some are standard like TV, radio, Google and Facebook. But some are not immediately obvious, like hosting webinars, classes and workshops.  As traditional marketing channels remain unaffordable and the newer ones like...

After a while of building your small business, things get busy. That time you were spending on doing your social media, working on your SEO and writing your blogs has slipped away into a black hole of work. It’s time to bring someone on.  It happens to us all. I’ve had to bring on people to...

You’ve got your social media profiles, you’ve got your eCommerce website, you’ve even set up all your payment systems. Now if only you could sell your stuff directly on the two biggest social networks.  Some people like to sell on eBay. Others prefer Amazon. And then there’s always Etsy. But...

Last year taught us one powerful lesson. You can’t trust a full-time job or a single source of revenue to get you through a crisis. So now the pandemic is easing in Australia, why are we all just going back to our old habits?  Single source of revenue could mean a single point of failure for...

Google ranks websites based on what they do on a mobile phone. Desktop performance isn’t even a consideration anymore. And while you’ve been using a responsive design for years, is your website actually made for the mobile user? It’s no longer good enough to simply have a mobile-friendly design....

It’s interesting to see that so many digital marketing experts and trainers like to draw examples of successful businesses on social media as being big brands. “look at this amazing thing that Nike did!” or “Dove beauty products really reached their target audience with this campaign.” When you’re...

Apparently, no one is using business cards anymore. Someone forgot to send that memo to everyone at the networking events I go to. And business cards aren’t the only old-school marketing tactic that can still move the needle. Maybe it's not time to throw out everything old, even in a new world....

64% of people covering all ages – not just the kiddos – would rather message you than call you. Have a business and hate messaging? It’s time to take a teaspoon of cement and harden up, sunshine. They’re leaving you behind.  The world has gone message crazy. The 2 billion people on WhatsApp...

Marketing isn’t an exact science, so all the well-intentioned advice, tips and tricks in the world won’t work for every business, every time. Sometimes ads fail to deliver. When they do, what do you do next? Facebook Ads opened up the world of online advertising for the mug punter. Before it came...

Email newsletters are a funny thing. Half the time we don’t remember subscribing to them, the other half of the time we subscribe to them and never see them. If it feels like nobody is opening your emails, here’s perhaps why. Every sales funnel, sales trainer, digital advisor and business...

For a long time, we figured that we knew how to game the Facebook algorithm. Be controversial. Be topical. Hop on trends. After all, the ones who grab the most eyeballs win, right? Well, that is all about to change. The new way forward for ranking on Facebook is going to be more about being...

Lots of text, lots of emojis, long lists of reasons for people to buy your stuff. There are tonnes of techniques for business owners trying to work their way in to the eyes and brains of viewers. Do they work though? Text captions on Facebook posts and ads don't have to be long and complicated....

The days of writing blogs that nobody but Google will ever read are over. You can’t trick your way up the search rankings now that machine learning is pre-empting every little trick you want to try. So what content works?  There are certain kinds of content that work really well with Google...

In a perfect world, you’d only work with the clients that make you feel good, inspired, reassured and confident. Trouble is, that all those things are what friends do for you, not clients. Clients are a whole other beast. When a client goes rogue it can be hard to manage the relationship. But what...

By now you’ve been blasted with news and opinions about Clubhouse, the hit invite-only audio app that’s been taking the business and marketing world by storm. But did you know that there’s a tonne of clones on the way as well? Clubhouse is worth $1 billion dollars now. It’s got some 50 million...

Messaging isn’t messaging. Not when there are so many messaging apps to choose from. WhatsApp, Messenger, good old SMS and Instagram Direct are just a few. So what do you choose and why? Once upon a time there was SMS. It was a great way to avoid to talking to people on the phone with all the...

It might be tempting to use the time inflight to do a crossword. But you. may be able to get some work done too. (Photo: Canva) You’re stuck on a plane for a couple of hours. You could catch up on some sleep, or catch up on a few episodes of whatever you’re watching on Netflix. Or, you could use...

Video can be a little scary to get started with. So take baby steps to get comfortable with the medium. (Photo: Canva) You’ve been told again and again that you need to start producing video for your business. You’ve finally got over your anxiety about it, now you just have to start. What do you...

Busy teams can't rely solely on messaging and email to keep track of what's getting done (Photo: Canva) You need a reliable and easy way to share documents and instructions with your team. But you’re not quite ready for a big Learning Management System or teamwork system quite yet. What can you...