An early October visit to speak to Cleveland’s entrepreneurship community was a revelation for Zev Siegl, Co-founder of Starbucks and serial entrepreneur. While presenting at Bizdom/Cleveland and at Blackstone Launchpad, Zev discovered a high degree of civic-mindedness in the young-entrepreneur community. “People seem to be planning and building companies not just because they want to make money…but […]
Archive | Business Advice
Get advice for small to medium sized businesses on www.NorthwestGoldCoast.com.
How We Paid Off Everything (But the Mortgage, Yet)!
When my husband, Robert, and I got married, we each brought a substantial amount of debt into the marriage. For us it was a mortgage, a car loan, loans from each of our graduate school educations, and college loans for me. Luckily, we didn’t have any credit debt and we each had good credit histories […]
Where Are They Now?
We’re taking a look back at some of the fabulous employees that have worked to make Cascade e-Commerce Solutions, Inc. the great place that it is, even if they have moved on to different positions and companies. Synthia Melton Synthia was an account marketing intern with us in the summer of 2004 after completing her […]
No Time for the Business Plan
“It happens to business owners all the time,” says independent consultant Zev Siegl. “The owner of a growing $500,000 business sees an opportunity to quickly become a $1 million company, but doesn’t have the resources to get there.” What usually happens next, according to Siegl, is the owner figures out how much money she’s going […]
Marketing with Facebook
We support our clients in the use of Facebook as it is a very popular platform that can help build a larger customer base, increase sales and improve customer engagement and service. However, we do not recommend that they use it as their only Internet presence. Some of our clients, such as Treasured Times Rubber […]
Social Media Series: Part Five – Viral Videos
We’ve decided to go ahead and add one more article to the Social Media marketing series and talk about the efficacy in using viral videos for marketing your business. You can use this article as either a guide map to viral video making for businesses or just a fun break time activity and watch some […]
Social Media Series: Part Four – Twitter
We are completing our series on Northwest Gold Coast exploring the potential that social media marketing may hold for your business. We have discussed blogging, Facebook, and LinkedIn already. This month we are finishing up with Twitter. If you have questions about any of the social media outlets we’ve mentioned or if there’s another social […]
How to Be Happier Online in 2013
There are a million resolutions we can make every year, and we keep a few of them. What does every resolution boil down to but having a happier, more effective year? And since I spend most of my time online with email, article writing, research, blog reading, and social networking I want to aim most […]
Social Media Series: Part Three – LinkedIn
We are moving forward with our series on Northwest Gold Coast exploring the potential that social media marketing may hold for your business. This month, we are looking at the usefulness of LinkedIn for your company. Next month we will be finishing up with Twitter. If there’s another social media outlet you’re interested in learning […]
Social Media Series: Part Two – Facebook
We are continuing our series on Northwest Gold Coast exploring the potential that social media marketing may hold for your business. This month, we are looking at the efficacy of free Facebook marketing for your company. In the months to come we will also be discussing LinkedIn and Twitter. If there’s another social media outlet […]
Is Yext’s Power Listing Pricing Worth It?
Yext is a New York City-based company that provides a service that can help businesses manage their listings in online business directories. So is it worth paying $499 a year? The short answer is no. Based on research of Yext’s claims, Yext.com’s actual network, and review of our client’s web traffic results and search engine […]
Turning Hobbies Into Strong Businesses
Jody Stacy had a home hobby in which her husband crafted wood products that she hand painted in primitive and Americana style art and then put up for sale. Initially, she used her own designs and then over time she developed relationships with other artists and added their designs to wood products and to pottery […]
Social Media Series: Part One – Blogging
We will be launching a series on Northwest Gold Coast exploring the potential impact social media marketing may hold for your business. In this edition, we’ll explore whether social media marketing is the right step for your business. Then we’ll branch out by starting with blogging for business and in later months go onto Facebook, […]
Watching Salmon Jump the Fish Ladders to Spawn Is a Good Reminder of Looking For Work in Tough Times
Robert and I went to a salmon hatchery recently to watch the salmon jumping the fish ladders on their way to spawn. To refresh your high school biology lessons; salmon start their lives in freshwater, move to the saltwater of the sea, and then return home to the freshwater to lay their eggs and start […]
YELP for Help Choosing Where to do Business
Ever wanted to go somewhere new for dinner? Or needed a new drycleaners since your old favorite moved to New Jersey? Or was wondering what local store sells your favorite foreign candy bar? Or out trying a new restaurant with a friend and don’t know what dish to order? Try Yelp.com for help in these […]
Is It Time To Go Mobile?
With cell phones in the hands of kindergartners these days and the massive move to Smart Phones, business owners are starting to question if their websites need to go mobile too. Even if owners and employees aren’t using the latest technologies it doesn’t stop their clients from using mobile technologies to research businesses, look up […]
20 Ways to Keep Search Engines from Listing Your Website
In my years of optimizing websites for the search engines, I’ve often been called in to remedy business websites that have had disastrous results in the search engines. In each case a prior SEO service provider had employed abusive and/or neglectful strategies. 20 of these abuses and neglectful practices are listed below. The first thing […]
Roles Found in Successful Businesses
While every business is unique, successful businesses are built with the support of the following roles. The optimist – On a daily basis this individual envisions and speaks of success and exhorts others to do the same. This individual’s optimism is so strong that it is contagious. Staff, prospects and vendors all have an opportunity […]
Are You a Facebook Junkie?
The call goes something like this. “Elizabeth, this is Joe. I have a question for you. Are you a Facebook Junkie?” Silent pause. Private thought… junkie… addict…habit… Hmmm, I check Facebook several times a day. It has become a habit like washing my face and brushing my teeth. The answer… “Yes, I am!” “I’ve got […]
Google AdWords to the Rescue
In this day and age the internet is quite the crowded place. With so many different outlets all vying for attention, marketing space, and customers; it’s a wonder how anyone is capable of successfully competing on the web. However, there is a product that makes it possible for anyone to compete on the web regardless […]
A Whale of a Review – If You Value Reputation, You Will Want to Understand Online Reviews
What if the opinion of every customer you have ever had was instantly available for your review? Or, what if everyone, including new potential customers had access to these opinions? Essentially, they do. The increasing importance and proliferation of review sites has made reviews powerful tools for consumers. Reviews could be powerful for a business […]
How to Keep a Website Current so That it Sells
It’s important to keep a website up to date to keep it relevant to the search engines and website visitors. As search engines crawl websites, new content (new files, updated date and time stamps and revised file sizes) prompt the search engine robots to re-index the site’s web pages and this in turn can bolster the […]
Why You’ll Want a Mobile Site if You Plan to Keep Up With the Competition
Mobile sites are a powerful and relatively new tool for businesses. At CeSI we think they are a valuable tool and we are glad to see some of our clients beginning to adopt them. A typical consumer already has built up a certain amount of interest in your offerings before they ever contact your business. This […]
Advice from One of the Young Unemployed
While every generation has suffered through this recession, my generation, 25-35 year olds, has been hit unexpectedly hard by this economy. In 2007 and 2008, when the job market was quite good, I was in graduate school. But by the time my friends and I had finished, the economy tanked and jobs in our market […]
How to Sell Without Selling
Selling a service is different from selling a product. Selling a service involves making more of a human connection and a commitment because what you are selling is more than an object. Selling a service, even when selling installation of a product, includes understanding the customer and selling the personality, knowledge, and skills of those […]
Sharing Equals Saving Money
Remember learning the painful lesson of sharing as a child? One local business is helping other businesses learn to share and saving them money in the process. You don’t often see businesses apply principle like sharing. However, thanks to Stratus Rack some businesses are sharing with each other and saving handfuls of money in the […]
10 Ways to Know When to Update Your Website
You know it’s time to remake your company’s website when… A first-time visitor says, “Ahh, I see your website is from the Early Web Period.” Only your mother can find it. A new customer comes to your store, sits down and cries, “It didn’t look like this on the web!” Your staff informs you that […]
Remediating Search Engine Rankings
Businesses that developed simple text-dense websites in the early years of the Internet (before 2001) benefited from a phenomenon known as “grandfathering”. If these businesses listed their websites in the major search engines before the engines began charging for inclusion or pay per click, their sites stayed in the search engines for free because the search […]
Business Owner’s Thanksgiving
By Elizabeth Paulsen in the style of Chuck Gallozzi We are thankful for: Long hours because even though they’re long, we set them and we are not likely to lay ourselves off. Work stress because it gives us an excuse to reach for the dark chocolate or go work out. Payroll taxes, vacation pay and […]
20 Ways to Fail at SEO
20 Ways to Keep Search Engines from Listing Your Website in Their Search Results In ten years of optimizing websites for the search engines, I’ve often been called in to remedy business websites that have had disastrous results in the search engines. In each case a prior webmaster or search engine optimization (SEO) service provider […]