Branding Your Business: Why and How to Get Started!

If you have a startup business, or one that is not doing as well as you'd like, it's time to kick your marketing and branding into gear and get things rolling! Effective marketing can jumpstart your traffic, pump up your revenue and skyrocket your profits. Many small business owners suffer from inertia-- they have no idea where to start, so they do nothing. Obviously, getting started is crucial, and doing it right is vital! Here is my simple three-step plan to get started branding and marketing YOU and YOUR business:

Original Content is Critical: What to Do When Someone Steals Your Work

Today has been a roller coaster ride. I added a cool, new client that needs a revamp of their website. I received an email asking if I would write an article for a popular SEO website. And I got blatantly plagiarized. By someone who claims to be a friend, and does not understand Google and duplicate content!

This is not the first time plagiarism has happened to me; I consider it an unfortunate fact of the free nature of the Internet. However, this time was different. It was not some nameless, faceless person in a third-world country snagging my post for their blog.

This time, it was far more personal. The work stolen was a page from my website, and this copycat was someone in our social circle. This was someone that has had trouble finding work, and that I have tried to help get started with writing for a living. I have pointed out on multiple occasions the importance of improving skills, and given her links to spelling and grammar checking sites. I have edited work for this person and pointed out weaknesses-- (hint, f-en hint!) Sorry, can you tell I am just a wee bit perturbed?