Business Feature: Anna Lynn’s Bakery & Chocolates - Metro Detroit – Lynn Montry

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Continuing my series of interviewing businesses to hear from the owners directly, I interviewed someone I met at a networking event over a year ago.  She caught my attention since I love nearly anything sweet.  (I know that they are not good for me, but this is not a blog about nutrition.) She has a unique angle, because she not only makes things edible that taste good, but she is an artist.  So these look as good as they taste.

This Week’s Featured Business: Anna Lynn’s Bakery & Chocolates (Westland, MI)

Lynn Montry moved to Michigan from California, and she learned the hard way that her California business was not going to work in the Metro Detroit Area of Michigan.  So she changed her business into selling cakes and chocolates, but these are different.  She stayed true to her artist’s roots, but today she creates edible art.

If you would rather read than watch a video, below I provide some of her background and summarize the notes I took during my interview with her.  She works full-time; so she has some unique challenges and insight.

An Introduction to Anna Lynn’s Bakery & Chocolates

7 Reasons Why You’re Being Lazy

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Believe it or not, MOST of us really don’t want to do a bad job.  We’d prefer to do a good job.  Not everybody but most of us want to do well, but…

Have you ever felt lazy?

Are you someone who people do not characterize as being lazy but find yourself being lazy, anyway?

I think I have a few explanations about why this happens.

See Also: 3 Ways to be Intelligently Lazy with Marketing Your Business

It’s true that some people will be lazy, no matter what, and without any doubt there are people who are more ambitious than others.  However, there are sometimes when all of us are lazy, no exceptions as far as I can see.

Many times, I’ve described myself as the hardest working lazy person on the planet.  (Yeah, you read that correctly!)  While there is some truth to this, most of the time, I notice that I’m lazy for one of these reasons.  I bet you are, too, even the most ambitious of you.  (You ordinarily ambitious folks might not ADMIT it, but I bet you’ll read this and identify with it.)

Here are seven (7) reasons you’re (probably) being lazy:

1. You aren’t properly trained.

2. You don’t have enough resources.

3. You’re not working efficiently.

4. You know it’s busy (useless) work.

5. You’re not a natural fit.

6. Your vision is not clear enough.

7. You’re not properly rested.

If you’re curious, let’s take a closer look at each one of these (if you’re not too lazy).

Mark Maupin: How to Use Firefox to Get True Search Results on Google – Not Misleading SERPs

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Here is a really cool trick using Firefox if you want to track your SEO campaign.

Mark Maupin is the marketing director of Right Now Marketing Group, and he has many clients throughout the United States.  The vast majority of his business clients represent service-related industries.

Google is the search engine most often used, and at well over 60% of all searches second place is not even close.

So for many businesses, it is important to rank well on Google, which the vast majority of business owners realize that today, but THERE IS SOMETHING THAT MANY PEOPLE DO NOT REALIZE:

Key Issue: You might think that your business is ranking well on Google, but in reality no one really sees it, except you!

What you see on your Google search results (SERPs) is not always the same as what other people are seeing.  That can create problems for company marketers and business owners.

See Also: Summary of Google SEO Major Changes + 1 Thing That Will NEVER Change with SEO

Even if you type in a search phrase and see your own business ranking well on Google, it’s possible that nobody else can really see it.  There is a way to change that, though, so you can see how well you’re REALLY ranking:

In this quick video, Mark shows us a couple of tricks:

Summary of Steps

Business Feature: Chris Tellis – Southfield-Based HVAC

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As part of something I’m doing to feature different businesses and help provide additional sources of business tips from multiple perspectives, I’m featuring different companies or organizations.  This time, I interviewed a friend of mine who owns a heating and cooling (HVAC) business.  Not only is he a smart guy, but he has been in business for 19 years.  So he definitely has some wisdom to share.

This Week’s Featured Business: Chris Tellis, Owner of HVAC Business (Southfield, MI)

If you live anywhere near Metro Detroit, Chris Tellis might be the guy you call when you need to fix your heating or cooling.  Tellis did not begin owning his own business.  He worked as a Sales Manager for an ABC Warehouse store, but he discovered that he could make more money by owning and operating his own business.

He has a story to tell, and there are things we can learn from him, especially if we own a business or are interested in starting one.

Before starting his company, he worked in retail sales at Fretter and ABC Warehouse.

An Introduction to Chris Tellis and his HVAC Business

A New, Easy On-Page SEO Marketing Idea (Borrowed from an Old Idea)

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By accident, I found something valuable.

There is an older online marketing technique that offers quite a few benefits, and recently I found a way to extend that strategy: RSS Feeds.

RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication.  Operationally, it works two (2) ways.

Example of RSS Feed on my Blog Site: My site shows the most recent posts on the Social Media Examiner website. It's material not only shows on its site, but it syndicates on my site, too.

#1: RSS Feed: From You to Me: You can write something on a blog, article, news, or video site (or any other publishing site), and I can install an RSS Gadget/Widget showing your most recent posts that shows the titles, for sure, and maybe even the first sentence or two of each post.  Most RSS Feed gadgets show the last three (3) to seven (7) posts.

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What is the benefit of putting RSS Feed from someone else on your site?

You get “free” information on your site.  Your site gets automatic updates, even if you never change YOUR information on your site.  Plus, if you show RSS Feed from sites that relate to your website, it makes your site more relevant.

See Also: Worthwhile Content on Your Website Beats Social Media

#2: RSS Feed: From Me to You: The other direction is having YOUR RSS Feed on other people’s sites.  This means that people visiting other sites will see YOUR most recent blog, article, video, etc. titles (and possibly even a sentence or two) of what you post on your site.

How do you benefit from this?

Other people might come to your site after visiting other people’s sites.

There are many benefits to using RSS Feeds, but in this post, I want to discuss one specific SEO benefit.

When someone does a search on Google, often they are looking for someone to answer to a question.  (In fact, technical people use the word “query” instead of an internet or keyword search, meaning they are actually asking the search engine a question when they type in a search term.)

RSS Feeds: On-Page SEO Benefit

Mark Maupin: Dominating Local Searches for Service-Related Businesses

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Mark Maupin is the marketing director of Right Now Marketing Group, and he has many clients throughout the United States.  The vast majority of his business clients represent service-related industries.

Regardless whether they hire him, Mark thinks all service businesses should know what he demonstrates here.

See Also: Mark Maupin: Getting Started in a Service-Related Business

Mark did a screencast for us, and in this video, he walks through the mindset of a potential customer for someone looking to replace a window in the Metro Detroit Area, specifically Bloomfield Township.  He identifies ways people are searching for services they need (or want) and things businesses should do to check whether they are likely to be found by these people.

Here are my notes:

Business Feature: Sam’s Automotive Waterford - Sam Hanna

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As part of something I’m doing to feature different businesses and help provide additional sources of business tips from multiple perspectives, I’m featuring different companies or organizations.  This time, I interviewed my auto mechanic.  Not only  is he a nice guy, but his business is really successful.  Speaking (or writing) as his customer, I understand why.

This Week’s Featured Business: Sam Hanna of Sam’s Automotive (Waterford, MI)

Sam Hanna is from Iraq, and he is the face of Sam’s Automotive in Waterford (MI), and he runs a successful auto repair shop.

If you would rather read than watch a video, below I provide some of her background and summarize the notes I took from that interview at his shop.  Technically, it was after hours, but you’d never know it, as people still kept coming inside and making appointments.  So he’s doing something right, and I decided to take time to ask him.

An Introduction to Sam of Sam’s Automotive

3 Ways to be Intelligently Lazy with Marketing Your Business

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Few people really want to be described as “being lazy,” but there are sometimes it’s actually a smart thing to do.

It is NOT a good idea to be lazy if nothing is getting accomplished in the process.  Sometimes, we feel burnout and need to recharge our internal batteries.  When we’re feeling drained, this might be okay, but if we’re not drained and still not getting things done, that’s L-A-Z-Y in entirely the wrong way.

However, there is another way that many people are lazy but will almost never get that label.  These are the “hard workers.”  People who work hard complete a lot of activity, but they are only sometimes as productive as they could be.

Suggestion: Never be lazy about evaluating and focusing on your goal(s).

Maybe the only way to accomplish this is to keep doing exactly what you’re doing and work hard, but as a marketing guy, I have a few other ideas that you might want to consider…at least as far as marketing your business.

1. Hire (or Recruit) People to Help You

2. Testing & Tracking Data

3. Center of Influence Marketing

Let’s take a closer look at each of these.