Chris Nadeau Stream

Chris Nadeau Stream

Chris Nadeau  //  Sharing my life experiences as a dad, husband, web entrepreneur and hockey dude. I would love to hear from you.

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Feb 22 / 11:39am

Do You Love Your Website?

I thought it would be fun to expand on a recent post I did about "4 Simple Web Tools For Your Small Biz".  To recap, I highlighted four tools that could help your business thrive on the web.  Number 1 was your website.  Are you giving your website the love it needs?  I hope so.  As of today, it is still the most important part of your business's web presence.  It's your home base. 

Almost all businesses have a website now, but the majority of them just have a website because someone told them they should have one.  So they slapped a website online without any thought.  Now they have this static website that is really not doing them any good, especially the way people use the web today.  Are you one of those folks?

So for fun, lets pull up your website right now.  Look at it.  Now I want you to ask yourself this:

What do I want people to do when they reach my website?

This is the the most important question to think about when putting together your website.  Do you want people to know who you are, what you do, to contact you, find new leads?  Maybe it is all of the above.  Figure out what you want and then work backwards.

So now you have your goals.  Now what will make your website stand out from the rest?  I think there are three areas you need to focus on.

3.  Keep it simple.  I know I say that all the time, but just think about the sites you like to visit most.  I bet the majority of them are nice and simple and easy to navigate.
2.  Master the home page.  Your home page should answer all of the questions a potential visitor might have when they land on your site.
1.  What is the best way visitors can reach you?  Make it easy for your customers or potential customers to contact you.  Email, phone, social media sites like twitter, facebook, linkedin, blog.

There ya have it.  Now they know who you are and where to find you.  Next is getting them to engage with you online and share that conversation online with others.  How do we do that? Can you say, blog?
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Filed under  //  Small Business   Social Media   Website  

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Feb 9 / 5:59pm

Does social media work in small cities?

Here is a little case study a tried while visiting Fredericton, NB today.  Can you see the value if you are a business owner?

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Filed under  //  Fredericton   Relish   Second Cup   Small Business   Social Media  

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Feb 4 / 3:07am

3 Quick Tips for Facebook Ads

Photo Credit: joiseyshowaa

So it's been close to 3 years since I signed up for Facebook.  Over those three years Facebook has added a lot of functionality to their platform.  One of the real game changers that I think they added in the last year was the Facebook Fan Page.  In the U.S. alone, about 100 million unique visitors flock to the social network every month. Many business owners are among them, using Facebook Fan Pages to promote their companies and create customer communities.  However, when you have a fan page, you have an opportunity to promote your page with an ad in Facebook.  (you can also promote a website outside of Facebook).

Over the last year I have been experimenting with them and I must say I am very impressed with how affordable the ads are compared to Google's related keyword ads.  Now I am not saying it is a piece of cake and everyone will flock to your page, however I think if it is done right you can get some very nice results.  Here are 3 quick tips on getting started.

1.  Pick your target

Just like taking a shot on net...pick your spot, take aim and fire.  Facebook has a huge advantage on Google and other networks, because for some unknown reason users are willing to share huge amounts of personal information on Facebook.  Therefore, when you use Facebook Ads it lets you pick your target by Location, Age, Sex, Keywords etc.  Because of this you can really drill down to exactly what niche you want.

2.  A picture is worth a thousand words

The picture you use for your ad will literally make it or break it.  We just launched a new ad for The Hockey Zen with a new photo.  We are using what we think is a great photo of fans celebrating a goal at a hockey game.  only time will tell if this works.  We had great results with just using our logo.  It's important to use something that definitely does not blend in with the facebook site.

3.  Keep your ad simple

Create your ad so that it is as simple and easy to read as possible. Avoid long sentences or complex punctuation. Use simple, grammatically correct, complete sentences and language. Use proper punctuation, punctuate the end of sentences, put spaces after periods and commas, and don't use hyphens in place of periods.

Don't try to fit every detail about your product or service into the ad. Make it clear what your product or service is so a user can tell what your website will be about, but save the details for your landing page.

Bonus tip: It costs $0 to create an ad. So what are you waiting for?  Give it a try and you might be surprised.

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Filed under  //  Facebook   Facebook Fan Pages   Small Business  

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Aug 20 / 6:29pm

The Money Will Follow

 

The Money Will Follow!

It's time to focus on being great at what you do. If you are an entrepreneur or want to be one, create extraoridinary value for others.

 

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Filed under  //  Entrepreneur   Evolving Solutions   Love   Money   passion   Robin Sharma   Small Business   Small Giants  

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