Five Cool Sites You Need to Know for 2015
As a small business owner, you know some things better than anyone else on the planet. You know:
- What you do well,
- What your passions are, and
- What’s important for your business success.
Sometimes what you would list for the first two items I mentioned above, don’t always correspond to the third item. In other words, there are some things required for business success that fall outside of your strengths and passions.
I might also add that there are some things required for success that many business owners have a hard time finding the time to accomplish. Check out these five websites and what they offer. You may find that they can help you strengthen some areas where your small business needs a little help.
MarketMeSuite
So much is written today about social media marketing. It’s a sprawling, amorphous topic and many small businesses end up with a social media marketing strategy that is equally as sprawling and amorphous. The fact is that social media marketing only works when it is focused.
MarketMeSuite lets small business owners easily bring the focus they need to their social media marketing efforts. This is accomplished in several different ways, but let me just mention a few. First, as a small business owner, it allows you to handle virtually all your social media through a convenient email-like interface. Also, it has powerful geo-targeting built in that allows local businesses to easily connect to their most important prospects. Before I move on, I’ll also mention that it makes posting to all of your social media sites or pages, incredibly easy. Spend some time on the website to see all the features and dig into them more deeply.
Alignable
There is power in numbers and this is especially true for local businesses. You may even be a member of your local chamber or other business organization. As good as those groups are, they lack the power of the Internet. Alignable is the social network for local businesses.
More than once I’ve advised local businesses to partner up, share strengths and do some cross marketing. Alignable takes those kinds of strategies and makes then practical and easy to implement. That’s just one example of what can be accomplished when local businesses join forces.
Fundera
We’ve had the ups and downs of small business lending and financing under our microscope for the last couple of years. Fundera brings some sense and organization to this difficult topic.
No matter what kind of loan you need or what you intend to use the money for, you’ll be able to apply quickly and get a fast answer via Fundera. The site bills itself as the “Kayak” of small business loans. That gives you a good sense of what they are.
AT&T Business Circle
From how-to articles, to first-person success stories, to live events with experts, AT&T Business Circle is a rich resource for any small business owner. I’ve been working with AT&T for quite a while and they recently sponsored my Outrageous Success tour; they are truly dedicated to helping you grow your business – even when it doesn’t involved your phone system!
Spend some time on the site and explore the resources. I know you’ll find information and tips you will use immediately.
BlogMutt
We started today’s article discussing online marketing, let’s end there as well. Keeping your site stocked with fresh content marketing material is mandatory, but it can be a time consuming job. Outsource some of your content to BlogMutt or download their “idea generator” for free.
If you sign up with BlogMutt, you get original content written for your niche that uses your keywords. That pretty much defines the critical attributes of a good blog.
Please take a few minutes to investigate these sites and find which ones will complement you and your business. Also, share sites that have been helpful to you.
