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This blog post will show you exactly how to organize all your photos on your iPhone without using a computer—and for less than $50. Every photo tells a story—a birthday, a trip, or a funny moment you never want to forget. But over time, those special memories can get buried in thousands of pictures, screenshots, and videos. However, I found a way you can bring order to the chaos! Here's what we'll cover: How to organize photos on iPhone into albums Optional: cleaning out photos month by month How to use a card reader to upload photos to an SD card (no computer needed!) Where to buy the tools you need Simple steps to keep your memories safe forever How to Organize Photos on iPhone Into Albums Start by opening your Photos app  and tapping the Albums  tab at the bottom of your screen. Here, you can create folders to keep everything neat and easy to find. I personally like to create an album for each month, instead of an album for a family trip or birthday. Organizing based on albums allows your SD card to be organized in 12 folders, max! If you want to get more organized, you could organize based on trips, birthdays, or special moments within each month's album. To make a new album, tap the “+” sign , choose “New Album,”  and give it a name. Then, select the pictures you want to add. You can even organize your photos month by month if you want to do a clean-up before uploading them later—this step is optional but can make uploading them go much faster! How to Upload Photos to an SD Card (No Computer Needed!) Once your photos are organized into albums, you can easily back them up to an SD card  right from your iPhone. All you need is a card reader  that plugs into your phone’s charging port. Here's Step-by-Step Instructions: Plug the card reader  into your iPhone. Insert an SD card  into the reader. Plug your iPhone charging cable into the card reader. Open the Photos  app. Scroll down, find the album you created, open it and select all the pictures in it. Click the square box with the arrow on the bottom left side Scroll down from there and click "Save to Files" From here you can click the circle with the 3 dots in it, click "New Folder" and name the folder the name of the month you're uploading Open the folder and click save on the top right. This will activate the upload and it will begin putting everything from your album, right into the folder on the SD card. Your photos will safely transfer to the SD card—no computer required! 👉 [Link for the Card Reader ] 👉 [Link for the SD Card Bundle ] This small setup usually costs under $50 total , making it an easy and affordable way to protect your memories. Bonus! 👉 [Link for the SD Card Organizer ] Keep Your Memories Safe Forever That’s it! With just a few taps, you can turn a messy photo library into neatly organized albums—and back them up for safekeeping. It’s simple, fast, and gives you peace of mind knowing your memories won’t get lost over time. Don’t wait until your phone is full or something goes wrong.  Buy the card reader, grab an SD card, and start organizing today—so your favorite moments can stay alive forever.

Learn how to use Pinterest for business and you'll be able to increase your website traffic and build brand awareness. Pinterest may feel like just another social media platform, but it's actually a search engine. It's built entirely different from Instagram and Facebook. Optimizing your Pinterest profile for business can bring in new clients and customers, as well as increase your website traffic. Before establishing a strategy for Pinterest it's important to understand how it's being used and how that translates in your own business. How is Pinterest Different from other platforms? What makes it so much different is how users interact on Pinterest. Unlike other platforms, people don't use Pinterest just to follow people they know or like, they use it to search for specific things. The search function is truly what differentiates it the most. I've found that the life of a pin is much longer than a post on other platforms. If I post something on Instagram or Facebook, it may get traction for 24-48hrs. However, on Pinterest I have pins I've uploaded years ago that people are still repining. The life of a pin can be 1-3 years or even longer! Top 3 Reasons to Use Pinterest for Your Small Business It's a visual search engine Content performs for much longer than other platforms Pinterest gives you the ability to link your website and other websites directly to each pin (this is great for SEO!) How to Use Pinterest for Business Step 1: Setting Up Your Pinterest Account Strategically If you have a personal account, you can create a business account that's attached to it or convert your personal to a business account. Having a business account gives you access to so many more features that help you grow your account and your business. Make sure the profile photo is a high quality image of you or your brand's logo. (I always use a 500 px X 500 px size blank template in Canva, upload the logo, then save the image and title it the brand name. This gives the image a title for search engines, great for building brand awareness.) Avoid using selfies, we're not trying to build ourselves up, we're trying to build our brand! Make sure the description under your profile photo includes your brand name and clearly explains who you are, what you do, and what your business has to offer your viewers and potential customers. Don't forget to link your website's home page on your profile too. Step 2: Setting Up Your Pinterest Boards I would suggest starting with 5 boards. Before choosing your first 5 boards, think about the type of content people would search to find that information. As a brand designer and web designer, I started with the following boards: -Web Design Inspiration -Branding Inspiration -Logo Design Inspiration -Color Palette Inspiration -Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners -Business Card Inspiration See photo below or check out my Pinterest here . I chose these boards since they would be a great place to post my own content as well as pin other creator's content. As you start pinning content, you'll come up with so many more ideas for boards. It's important to keep the top 6, the main type of content you want users to find. Saving other creator's content along with your own creates a well rounded profile, plus it increases view count on your profile. (Your profile must be set up as a business account to see the view count.) Step 3: What to Know Before You Start Pinning on Pinterest When pinning content on Pinterest it's important to remember that this platform prioritizes users that are uploading their own content, as well as saving other user's pins. Remember the 80/20 rule. If you upload 2 of your own pins, be sure to save 8 pins from other creators. Don't just pin random posts, make sure you're saving content that actually relates to your niche and the boards you're adding them to. This will help the algorithm understand the type of searches you want to show up for most. You can upload your own pins or save photos from other websites directly to your own Pinterest boards. Before you upload something to Pinterest, do a little market research by searching for that type of content. Look at what comes up in the search bar. This will show you relevant keywords you could use in your pin's description and title to show up higher in Pinterest search results. Pinterest also prioritizes users that are on the platform regularly. Just like any other platform, consistency is really important if you want to generate consistent traffic to your website. This is definitely enough to get you started. If you're looking to get more ideas or a better understanding of Pinterest, I would highlight suggest Skillshare. It's an online learning platform with courses on this as well as many other marketing and business tools. Ohn Mar Win's course on Skillshare specifically, is a great course to take your Pinterest strategy to the next level. Click here to get Skillshare for free for your first 30 days! How to Create Eye Catching Pinterest Pins Step 1: Login to Canva, Click Create, then select social media and the Pinterest size pin. If you don’t see that you can also just choose ‘custom size’ and then set the size to 1000px X 1500px Step 2: (For Using Templates) By selecting the correct size, you’ll get access to templates to the left that you can tweak and swap out for your own branding! Simply click a template you like and it will display it on the canvas. Step 3: (For creating a simple custom design. This is sometimes faster than trying to make a template work for you.) To create a quick simple design yourself, set the background to black, then go into elements and find the frame option. Make sure the frame covers the entire black background. Grab a free photo from Canva or upload your own. Then turn the transparency down so your black background comes through. Add some text and your logo and here’s the result! Bonus points for including your website at the bottom. Google’s bots can read text on photos, so adding the site link is great for brand building. How to Post Pinterest Pins Step 1: Make sure to change the image name to your brand name before uploading to Pinterest. This sets the image title and makes the image more discoverable for search engines - aka SEO! (SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization) Step 2: Login to Pinterest, Click Business Hub, then select “Create Pin” Step 3: Upload your image, add a title (make sure to include the topic as well as the brand name in your title. For example if I was posting a pin about web design I would title it "Web Design | Create and Collab" since web design is the topic and Create and Collab is my brand name. If you want to get even more strategic, start researching what people are searching around your topic and use a searchable term within the title), Add a description (you can just copy content from your website), make sure to include the brand name in the description, adding keywords if they're relevant, make sure to link to your website or social profile if you don't have a website yet, add that pin to a relevant board (optional), if you find tags that are relevant add them, if not skip. Either schedule the pin to post or hit publish to post immediately. That’s it! SEO TIP: Posting a pin with a link to a new blog post or new page on your website is great for SEO. It will increase the chance of the page being indexed. (The term "Indexed" simply means Google chose to add the page to their search index, making the content more discoverable for users. Learn more about how to get your website indexed .) Frequently Asked Pinterest Questions How often should I post on Pinterest? It's best to use the 80/20 rule for this. For ever 2 pins you upload, save 8 pins from other creators. Once a day would be incredible, but think quality over quantity! What are the best times to post on Pinterest? Since Pinterest pins tends to perform at a much longer rate (think 1-3 years) than Instagram or Facebook (24/48hrs), I've found that the timing of when a pin is first posted doesn't matter as much. The pins that end up gaining the most traction, don't get traction because they were posted at a specific time. They get traction because users engage with it and the title and description have keywords that users are already searching for. Should I post similar content or a variety of content on Pinterest? Refer to the section above about boards for this. Once you've come up with at least 5 boards that relate to your services, products, or niche, start creating content that relate to those topics. Then save pins from other creator's that relate to those boards as well. The more focused you can get in your posting and pinning strategy, the easier it will be for Pinterest algorithms to understand the focus and prioritize you in search results. Should I post the same content as other platforms or different? Pinterest posts perform best when they're sized according to the Pinterest platform. Pinterest says a post sized at 1000 x 1500 pixels is optimal. This doesn't mean it has to be entirely new though. If you have a graphic you created with Canva for another platform, you can resize it to the Pinterest dimensions and use to post. I never recommend cross posting the same content across every single platform, because this means most people will just follow you on their favorite platform and ignore the rest. If they know you're creating different content for each platform it gives them a reason to follow you on all of them! However, I've owned my business for almost a decade now and still do not post on all platforms. If you're a large company and can afford a social media manager that covers all platforms in different ways, that's great! If you're just getting started and run your business all by yourself, it's more than okay to cross post everything on every platform, but again, don't overwhelm yourself. Choose 1-2 platforms to start with and once you're consistent on those, then add another. It's important to have realistic expectations of yourself to avoid burn out. What's the best way to use Pinterest for Business for Beginners? A: Ohn Mar Win's Skillshare course includes an amazing 14 day challenge. Here's how it goes: 1. Profile Picture & Description 2. Label boards descriptively and put best 9 boards at the top 3. Create pins with 2:3 ratio if possible 4. Add description and use several keywords 5. Pin from your website or IG 6. Try to pin at least 10 pins a day with 2 of them being your own 7. Pin other content at least once a day for 14 days 8. Take screenshots every few days to see if that 'monthly viewers' figure shifts Once a lot of this is completed, all you'll have to do is pin 8 posts from other creators and uploading 2 of your own pins each day. When saving pins remember, you can pin from websites and Instagram too! There are also ways to schedule your pins to automate this a bit more! Do what works for your schedule and your business.

Victor Frankl, a holocaust survivor wrote a book called “Mans Search for Meaning.” He says, “Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”  It’s not about “what” you’re doing, it’s about WHY you’re doing it. Michael Jr, a comedian and thought leader, does a great job illustrating the importance of this, plus it's very entertaining! In this video, he starts talking to a man in the audience who is a musical director. He assumes the man can sing and asks him to sing some of the song, Amazing Grace. He goes for it, he does a good job, and the audience claps. After that, Michael Jr asks him to do another version of the song, as if his Uncle just got out of jail and he got shot in the back as a kid, he says to basically, give him the hood version of the song. Within the first few seconds of him beginning to sing, the entire audience begins to react. His voice fluctuates higher and lower than before, he gets more animated, and the audience begins to clap and stand in unison, and then someone even comes up and gives him a hug. Michael Jr points out the obvious difference, the first time he knew WHAT he was doing, the second time he knew WHY he was doing it. Michael Jr goes on to say, “When you know your why, your what becomes more impactful because you’re walking towards or in your purpose.” This is one of my favorite Victor Frankl quotes, “When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.”  Why do you think we get so addicted to things like social media or drugs – we’re all searching for a deeper sense of meaning. While on that search, if we’re not careful, it’s easy to get sucked into things that provide pleasure, but end up simply being a distraction from what truly matters. I just need another hit, just another peek, just 15 more minutes, just a few more clients, just a few more likes, a few more followers, more, more more… to what end? How do we find meaning or our own sense of deep purpose? Alan Watts has an inspiring and profound speech all about this. I discovered it through a rap songs years ago. The first time I heard it, I rewinded it and listened to it multiple times. Watch it here: He says, “We'd like to be painters, we'd like to be poets. We'd like to be writers, but as everybody knows we can't earn any money that way. What do you want to do?  When we finally got down to something which the individual says he really wants to do, I will say to him, you do that. and uhm, forget the money.  If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You'll be doing things you don't like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don't like doing, which is stupid! It is absolutely stupid! Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.   And after all, if you do really like what you're doing, it doesn't matter what it is – somebody is interested in everything, anything you can be interested in, you will find others will.  But it's absolutely stupid to spend your time doing things you don't like, and to teach our children to follow in the same track. See what we are doing, is we're bringing up children and educating them to live the same sort of lives we are living.  In order that they may justify themselves and find satisfaction in life by bringing up their children, to bring up their children, to do the same thing, so it's all retch, and no vomit, it never gets there.  Therefore, it's so important to consider this question: What do I desire? ” Money is an infinite resource – not in the sense that we can have as much as we want, whenever we want, but in the sense that we can trade as much time and energy for it, as much as we want. When working for a company, there is a limit to the amount of hours you can work. When working for yourself however, you can work as much or as little as you want. Since money provides a sense of security and power. For some, this turns on a switch in the brain that the more work they do, the more security and power they will have. Remember in the Batman movie, when they say, "With great power, comes great responsibility."? This is an echo from Luke 12:48 "Everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." When an individual understands deeply, where their true fulfillment comes from and they choose to seek fulfillment over the money alone, this can provide an immense amount of meaning, value, contentment, and peace. If, and only if, the individual knows their limits. But how is this limit defined? There has to be a way to know, when enough is enough. Does Money Buy Happiness? In an article from the National Library of Medicine  about money and happiness and the correlation between the two  they said, “When does the importance of money increase or decrease? Based on Inglehart and colleague’s findings, the end of materialism hypothesis predicts that the income happiness correlation should get smaller  as a society gets richer. This is because most people in a wealthy society are presumably no longer concerned about money per se, and instead are concerned about non-material issues such as self-expression. Under such a condition, self expression should become a stronger predictor of happiness than money…”  This brings up a good point. When I started thinking about this, I was thinking of money earned AFTER basic needs have been met. Since basic needs means something different to each person, this further shows the importance of knowing when enough is enough. My boyfriend and I went to one of the minimalists  live talks several years ago. During the show, they have people come up and ask questions. A musician walked up to the mic and said since he didn't know how much money he was going to make each month, he didn't understand how to create a realistic budget. Josh and Ryan, the minimalists, seemed so eager to answer his question.  They met his question with a question, "What do you need each month?" Such a simple question, that has a different answer for each individual. Instead of basing our budget on our current situation, what if we looked at our life from a wider perspective? What if we asked ourselves, what type of lifestyle do we truly want to live? Then, in that thought process, ask what we would need to make that ideal lifestyle, possible? We truly do have so much control over our own happiness and fulfillment. Each individual has the power to decide what enough looks like for them.  Unfortunately, we live in a world with MANY distractions, advertisements, and stimulants. Many times, I find that the strategy behind paid and unpaid advertisements is much more advanced than the product itself. When we invest more time in the strategy to get people to buy, more than we do on developing a product or service that truly adds value, our priorities are misaligned. In the quoted article I mentioned earlier, they quickly breezed past the fact that once people have enough money to meet their needs, their desires and motivations change.  They go on to say, “In contrast, there is an alternative possibility; as a society gets richer, people’s desire for material goods could also grow… and the importance of money could get even larger.” Obtaining material goods is just another money chase with a different title. Self expression without action, is just white noise. Work your butt off for the nice house, then keep working for the nicer house. Work your butt off for the dream car, then keep working your butt off for an even better car. To what end? This “race” isn’t a race at all. It’s a hamster running on a stationary wheel, with a virtual reality headset on, but the hamster doesn’t know it’s looking at a fake reality. This image was generated using ai. (Obviously, look at the proportions LOL) This is what it looks like to chase after the idea of satisfaction and fulfillment, unknowingly going about it in all the wrong ways. Running and running, working and working, every single day, trying so hard to obtain something that always ends up being, just slightly out of reach. This is what it feels like to chase the money and materialistic things. There’s nothing wrong with having a lot of money, working a lot of hours, or having a lot of nice things. It only becomes a problem if all that hard work is simply to make more money and get nicer things. See the never ending cycle this creates? There will always be a nicer car, a bigger house, a better salary, a hotter wife/husband, the list goes on. Why Am I Doing This? When I first started my own business, it all began by helping other entrepreneurs. After working a few jobs after high school, I couldn’t stand it. I didn’t like someone else dictating my schedule or following rules, blindly. I worked so hard and saw areas that could be improved upon, but I was always met with “This is the way things have to be.” or “This is what this position requires of you.” I spent a year or so hiding out, praying, creating, painting, journaling, really digging deep and asking, “Is this it? Is this my life forever now? Following someone else’s schedule, someone else’s requirements all the time? When do I get to dictate the schedule or try new things and evoke change?”   I’ve been an artist ever since I was old enough to hold a crayon. Design was never something I enjoyed in high school, but after graduating, I saw so many needs for it. There were many entrepreneurs doing great things, that didn’t have an eye for design. The spark started when I saw some people in a Facebook group trying to design little announcement flyers for their business. To be honest, most of the flyers they made themselves didn’t look very good. Instead of criticizing them, I used their work as inspiration to create something better. I took the information on their flyer and put something together in Canva with the same information, just a different design. I decided to send it to them through Facebook messenger. They were so thankful and happy, and really surprised that I took the time to help them for free.  This little spark of joy I got from helping them is what started everything. I did this for a few other people and then started dabbling in logo design and then web design. After being really fed up with my current job one weekend, I decide to quit on Monday. I put in my two weeks and decided to venture out on my own, as an entrepreneur. Ever since then, I’ve realized there are problems all around us. When we choose to be problem solvers for other people, whether there is money involved or not, helping others can become deeply fulfilling. This goes back to knowing your WHY. When you know your WHY, your WHAT has more purpose. I wasn't creating those to make money, I created those to help people. Their joy and excitement made me feel good inside. So instead of chasing the money, I chase the feeling of being helpful, purposeful, simplifying someone else's life – this is deeply fulfilling whether there is money involved or not. How to Live a Life of Purpose As the years go by, I continue to learn and then use what I’ve learned to serve others. After having my own business for 6 years now, the learning and growing has become a little bit of an obsession. Now I understand, the more I learn, the more I can help people. The more I help people, the happier I feel! Since becoming obsessed with learning, the curiosity is never ending. Not because of how much money I could make, but because of how many people I can continue to help!  Make a Difference in the Lives of Others When we stop focusing on ourselves and choose to focus on solving problems for the people around us, our whole view of the world changes. It’s like looking at life through an entirely new set of lenses. ( Remove the scales  from my eyes, God!) Problems turn into opportunities! No one parts with money unless they believe what they're buying is going to solve a problem for them aka, saving them time and/or money. Owning my own business isn't about making a statement or having a cool title, it's about spending my time solving problems and being a blessing to the people around me. This perspective of looking at problems as opportunities is the root to the entrepreneur mindset. Entrepreneurs look at problems as a fun and potentially, profitable challenge to be solved. The more complicated the problem, the more money people will pay to solve it. Jim Rohn says, "You're paid by the value you bring to the hour." This is so true. Want to make more money? Don't ask for a raise do this instead . I wrote a post all about this on my personal blog. When our WHY transforms from trying to get what we want, to helping others get what they want, it doesn't matter WHAT we're doing, we'll feel fulfilled doing it. This is how I find deep meaning in my own life. With this type of mindset, the more complicated the problem, the more exciting and enticing it becomes to solve!

What if you have a website that’s already getting a regular amount of visitors each month, but it needs a full redesign? Will redesigning it, wreck your current traffic? It absolutely can if you don’t have a migration process in place. This is the exact situation I was in, earlier this year. I had a client with a website that was getting traffic that was generating business for him. Glow Up Web Design was currently in the process of redesigning it. It was critical that along with the redesign, we followed the proper SEO migration protocols to mitigate any traffic loss. The website already had a steady number of leads coming from people who found his business through various search engines. Bringing on Charles Taylor, who has over 20 years of experience in SEO, unlocked the exact process we needed to win the day for this client. No matter what project we are working on, our main goal is always to improve the lives and businesses of our clients. Charles helped us continue to fulfill this with flying colors. If we hadn’t followed his SEO migration process, this client’s business could have suffered, massively. So what’s the big deal? Why does this sound so dramatic? Before I show the graphs and data… It's important to understand why this happens. Here's the Problem Google treats each URL like an entry in its massive database. Every URL carries years of search equity — links, signals, rankings. When you change those URLs without a solid SEO strategy, Google sees them as brand new. And brand new pages don’t come with rankings. Google’s own experts confirm the risk: John Mueller, Google’s Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst,  has said it’s nearly impossible to launch a new site without losing search traffic. Gary Illyes , Analyst on Google Search Team,  warned that redesigns can cause rankings to “go nuts.” Plus, studies show it can take an average of 523 days  for a new site to recover its previous traffic levels — and some sites never recover, even after 1,000 days . Source : https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-long-should-an-seo-migration-take/531219/ Let's put it another way: Charles Taylor, a seasoned SEO expert, compares changing your URL structure to changing your phone number. If you don’t tell people you’ve switched, no one knows how to reach you. Even if you set up call forwarding ( like 301 redirects ), people still won’t have your new number unless you’ve made it visible and promoted it. And Google? Google only understands what it can crawl. If your old URLs disappear and your new structure isn’t clearly communicated, Google might not know where your content went — or that your new site is even live. Here is an example of a website that changed CMS systems but never considered SEO: But the danger does not lay in just big changes like changing CMS or Domains.  During a simple redesign this site did not involve an SEO and lost over 75% of their traffic - all because someone stopped using the “www.” in all internal links. But it doesn't have to be this way. At this crossroads, you have a choice: gamble with your traffic, or plan your migration the smart way — with an experienced SEO guide. Remember, f riends don’t let friends redesign websites without SEO help. Just for fun... I wanted to see how Chat GPT would visually represent a failed migration. So I asked it this: and here what it gave me... I took the prompt it gave me and had it create an image based on its own prompt. This image symbolizes the failure we can help our clients avoid through strategic choices during the redesign. One of the many things I love about SEO is that it has the power to make a big impact for the business owners we work with. I’ve heard Charles compare SEO migration work, like being a lookout on the Titanic — it’s about watching for dangers others don’t see and making critical adjustments before disaster strikes. Imagine if someone was on the titanic, woke the captain up and said, "Hey man, steer a little to left. There's an ice berg coming up." If you do your job right, no one notices anything went wrong, because everything keeps running smoothly. It’s a role where success is often invisible, but failure is catastrophic. P.S. Scared the above picture will be you? Don't let this keep you up at night. We would be more than happy to help! Give me a call or click the request a quote button in the top right so we can get acquainted and see if we would be a good fit for your project!

Driving traffic to your website can be a struggle, but with the right strategy and focus it can happen! Today we’re going to dive into SEO, Google My Business, social media, Pinterest and email marketing. These are the main ways my clients and I have seen success in increasing website traffic. If you’re a numbers person, you’ll love seeing this website traffic overview from one of my client’s websites. We haven’t even implemented a Pinterest strategy yet! Recently, I started a collaboration with Grayson Robinson. He started as an intern with Create & Collab. to learn more about web design and fell in love with the SEO side of things! I’ve included him in this blog post to share a little bit about what SEO is and why it’s so important to have a strategy to drive traffic to your website. What is SEO and Why Is It Important? "SEO which stands for search engine optimization, is a practice that is often about making small modifications to parts of your website or as I like to say, “tricking Google into liking your website by playing by their unspoken/spoken rules”. Part of the set up process of SEO is presenting content in a way that will help search engines understand it. Making these small incremental improvements with time and regular updates to your SEO will fundamentally send more traffic to your website, because Google will see you are playing by their rules. Now, what do I mean when I say “ playing by Google’s rules”? To put it simply, being specific about how you are presenting content on your website will not only provide a much better user experience, but also can drive your website higher up in the search results." -Grayson Bonus: Google Ads "One of the many tools Google makes available to anyone who is looking to drive more traffic to their website, is Google Ads. Google Ads is a paid advertising service that allows anyone to run specific keyword ads on results of search engines, like Google Search and non-search websites, mobile apps, and videos for service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users. The nice thing about Google Ads is that it is very user-friendly. What you put into it is what you are going to get out of it. Let's say someone is on a tight advertising budget of only $50 a month for their website but they still want to run ads with Google. This is no problem at all and with the right keywords will still drive plenty of traffic to their website!! Now it may not get as much traffic as a Google ads campaign that uses a $500 a month budget but figuring out the best budget and keywords can allow for an incredible and affordable advertisement strategy!" -Grayson July 3, 2025 Update: Create and Collab is now offering SEO services and along with that a free SEO Guide to teach you how to increase organic traffic on your own website! Feel free to check it out and come back to let us know how it's going! Google My Business "So while Google Ads is arguably one the best ways to get direct users to your website, it is by no means free. So are there any free tools Google provides for those of us on the free budget? It just so happens there is! It’s called Google My Business or GMB for short. Google My Business is a free-to-use tool that allows users to improve their business local and non-local SEO scores. Now while I say local and non-local SEO scores that's not entirely true some would argue. The reason being is that GMB uses information about your business such as your hours, website, street address, your business name, phone number, description of your business, and even photos/videos of your business. Most of what I listed here would only apply to local businesses but by just having things such as a physical address and listed hours you can turn an online business into a local one from Google's perspective! This will improve local traffic to your website by leaps and bounds and best of all, if you can master the beast that is Google then this can push both local and non-local traffic to your site, completely for free!" -Grayson Social Media - Creating Content Like a Pro Social Media is exactly what it sounds like, it’s social. It may not be the place to close the deal, but it is a space to generate new leads, drum up new conversations, and make new people curious about what you do. When someone new visits your social media, the posts should add value and spark curiosity. What do I mean by this? Sparking curiosity is the first buying phase everyone starts in. After they're curious, they browse through more of what you’ve posted. If you’re posting how to content or educational content that actually makes their life or business better, they'll share that with others and begin to trust you and your brand more and more. Once someone trusts you and your brand, the next buying phase is called 'the enlightenment phase'. This is when they’ve consumed enough marketing to realize what you offer has value and they can benefit from it in a positive way. Once they’re in this second to last phase, it’s just a matter of time before they book you for your services or buy your products. I created a Content Planning Workbook to make brainstorming and planning your social media posts less overwhelming. This workbook is printable and reusable. If you’re wanting to create content like a pro, I would highly recommend utilizing this! Pinterest 101: Set Up + Strategy Pinterest actually isn’t social media. It’s a search engine. It’s very different than any other platform. People go on Pinterest to search for specific things or look for inspiration. It’s like a creative person’s Google search bar. There’s pins I’ve posted 1-2 years ago that are still being saved and driving traffic to my website. Social Media is great for one to one connections, but Pinterest is good for linking your posts to your website, blog posts, or product pages. I’ve written an entire blog post that explains how to get started, how to set up your account, and what to do for continued growth! Email Marketing This may not seem as relevant, but I promise it’s one of the most important pieces to the puzzle. Most business owners think they need to get to a certain place in their business before they can start building their email list, but it’s the exact opposite. Your email list should be established before you need it. I’ve heard so many stories about people getting their Facebook or Instagram accounts either taken down or hacked. If you've built a large following on those platforms, remember, you don’t own those followers – Facebook and Instagram own those contacts! When you build an email list, you own your contact list and secure a way to stay in contact with them whenever you want. Take the website traffic overview at the beginning of this blog post as an example, if you looked closely at the graphic, there’s a very large spike in traffic between Aug. 5th and Aug. 15th. What caused the spike? We sent out an email campaign to their email list. Not only did that help update their customers on what was currently being offered, it spiked their website traffic generating an increase in sales! When you think about growing your company, it’s critical to think of your business as an airplane. An airplane requires strong engines to fly. Sales is one engine and marketing is the other. If the plane gets too heavy (too much overhead), it either needs to let go of some of that or increase the strength of its engines. The wings of your plane represent your products and services. Each being a crucial part of the business. When you have low overhead, strong sales and marketing that converts, a great leadership team in the cockpit, products and services that solve problems for people – this is the sign of a healthy and strong business. This is all Marketing? What About Sales? Marketing brings them into the store, your sales strategy is what closes the deal! This entire blog post is about the marketing engine, but don’t forget about your sales strategy too. If you bring in a lot of traffic to your website, include a clear call to action so visitors know what the next step is. This is the beginning stages of your buyer journey. How many steps does it take for someone to find you and give you their money? Do you have products they can easily find and purchase right away? Do you have services that you offer, but want them to book a call first? Adding a call to action button like "Schedule a Call", "Book Now", "Buy Now", "Call Now", "Get Started" – all of these make it very clear to your viewer, what the next step is they need to take to work with you! Analyzing this and making tweaks when and where they are needed will create a sales process that works every time! The photo above is a snippet from the Business Made Simple book . If you’re looking for more resources to learn about how to grow your business and manage it, I would highly recommend this book. The same author, Donald Miller, recently released another book I've been recently obsessed with called How to Grow Your Small Business . Another book I would highly recommend any entrepreneur or business owner. You’ll notice, in this blog post there’s a whole section on capital and cash flow. Because this is a lengthy topic, I want to include a blog post titled: How do I Protect Cashflow for My Business? (The 5 Accounts Every Business Needs) . In this blog post I explain briefly, the financial strategy taught by Business Made Simple. I shared this strategy with two accountants I trust and they said it was incredible advice. Obviously, I’m not a licensed CPA, so I wanted to do the work to make sure this was sound advice before I recommended it! The biggest factor in your success will be prioritization your to do's, strategy, and protecting your time. All of these facets increase website traffic, but each will take some time, strategy, and good ol’ fashion brainstorming. I’ve been using all of these forms of marketing over the last 3 years and each year my business grows. Is it easy? Nope. Is it overwhelming at times? Yep. But I believe anything is possible with the right strategy and determination. Cheers to new business growth and a successful business that stands the test of time! Related Posts You May Also Enjoy: 7 Ways to Use Your Website to Grow Your Business Creating a Peaceful Home Office Space The List Strategy to Getting More Done (Kanban Method)

I've been creating a list of things that have really helped me continue to work on self-care and stay productive in my work life and personal life. This list could be for an entrepreneur friend, fellow enneagram 3 ;), or just for yourself! How to Grow Your Small Business by Donald Miller This book really changed the game for me. It's one of those books you'll want to fold down pages on, highlight, circle, and mark your favorite pages with sticky notes. It covers everything from your mission statement all the way to what it truly takes to close the sale once you've got someone on the phone. It's the number 1 book I think every business owner should read. Looking for more books that would make great gifts for new business owners , I've got an entire page dedicated to books and more! AirPods I remember when AirPods came out, I had them on my shopping list for almost 2 years. My mom ended up buying them for me for Christmas and I couldn't love them more! From working out and not having chords hanging around or taking business calls on the go they are so worth the purchase! Click here to get them directly on Amazon! Apple Pencil This is another thing I had on my list for a few years and it's been such a joy to use! If you know someone who loves being creative and also has an iPad, this would be the PERFECT gift! The Apple Pencil opens up so much creative possibilities. *Note: It sadly does not work on an iPhone, but if you need a cheaper option that works on an iPhone there's some amazing stylists that you can purchase that work on iPhones and still allow for endless creativity :). Click here to view stylists on Amazon or Click here to buy the Apple Pencil! (*Make sure you find out which iPad version you or the person you're buying it from has so that you buy the Apple Pencil that is specifically compatible with that version.) DoorDash Gift Card Sometimes when you're having a really productive day and don't want to stop to eat, it's AMAZING having a DoorDash gift card on hand. Most businesses allow you to purchase food through DoorDash and even pay for the delivery with a gift card. If you know someone who likes to stay busy and doesn't like taking breaks to eat, this is an AMAZING gift! Click here to purchase a DoorDash gift card. Mani/Pedi I don't get my nails done often, but when I do it always gives me a little confidence boost! If you know someone who really loves to feel put together, but doesn't necessarily like taking the time to get ready, a gift card like this is a very intentional way to promote and encourage self care ;) If you're ever in Spring Hill, TN my favorite nail place is called Uptown Nail Bar. (If you hop on Facebook and search Uptown Nail Bar you'll find them right away!) My favorite part about their location is all the plants that they have. Their staff is super nice and personable, it's always a joy getting my nails done there! Blowout Sorry guys, this is another girly suggestion ;) Getting a blowout is the best part of a haircut, but did you know you don't have to get a hair cut to get a blowout?! This would be the sweetest gift that also encourages self care and will have your friend or family member feeling like a million bucks! My favorite place to get my hair done is at Haven House Salon here in Spring Hill, TN. My long time friend Sarah Jean has been doing my hair for almost 10 years, so I go to her every single time I get my haircut! I'll include some pictures below of their gorgeous space. Not only do I feel beautiful when I leave, I feel a sense of peace I don't get visiting other hair salons. Travel Toiletry Bag There's nothing better than having ALL of your toiletries fit in a bag organized perfectly and this bag absolutely makes that happen! I don't wear a lot of make up, but I LOVE my skincare and need to have all of it with me, not to mention the giant bottle of dry shampoo and all the fun sprays! This bag truly has space for all of it AND more! This would be such a thoughtful gift for someone who travels a lot or simply likes their stuff very organized! Click here to find it on Amazon. I got the black one pictured below, but it comes in a variety of colors. Laptop Stand Working from home on a laptop has been a HUGE strain on my back and my neck. After a lot of adjustments I decided to purchase a laptop stand. My chiropractor recommended that my laptop is level with my eyes so that my neck isn't strained looking down all day. This has been a GAME CHANGER for me and it's less than $30. This is definitely worth the small investment. Click here to find it on Amazon. Wireless Mouse Recently, I purchased Apple's Wireless Mouse and I'm NEVER going back! Since my computer is now on a stand I needed a mouse. I had purchased a cheap one from Walmart and have used that for over 3 years. It's worked great, but it's so nice having one that allows for all the easy swiping that translates on my MacBook Pro. This and the laptop stand would be a perfect gift combo for someone who either works their business from home or has transitioned to working from home and doesn't have their set up complete yet! Click here to find it on Amazon. If you really want to go the extra mile, grab the Apple Wireless Keyboard too! Spotify/Apple Music Yearly Subscription I literally cried when I first got my Spotify subscription. This probably sounds dramatic, but for someone who loves music and podcasts, it was so exciting to know I had every single song at my fingertips! If you know someone who loves podcasts or music, getting them an entire year of that subscription paid for is a very intentional and exciting gift! Click here to purchase a yearly subscription to Spotify. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

The psychology behind turning a browser into a buyer is so interesting. A browser would be anyone who is either looking at your website, your social media, or maybe walking through your store (or browsing your online shop!). There are 3 phases we all go through before we make a purchase, whether we are aware of it or not. Understanding theses 3 phases helps us to identify what may be lacking in our sales and marketing to close the deal. Let's break these buying phases down. Phase 1: Curiosity Before someone makes a purchase, they're curious. The only thing that sparks curiosity is things or people that can help someone survive and thrive. We've all seen ads that depict a problem, then that problem being solve and it makes us go, "Hmmm, that's interesting." At this point, the seed has been planted. Phase 2: Enlightenment The next phase after curiosity is the enlightenment phase. This is when someone realizes that a product or brand can help them solve a problem or they can purchase it for someone else to help solve a friend or families problem. No one parts with money unless it's solving a problem. Showcasing how our products/services solve problems helps move browsers from curious to enlightened! Phase 3: Commitment The commitment phase is when someone is ready to open their wallet and pay for a product or service. It takes an average of 12 touch points for a person to be ready to commit. These touch points could be emails, social media posts, social media ads, maybe you've even met for coffee to discuss further. Lower price point offers can take less touch points and higher ticket offers sometimes take more than 12, but it generally takes someone 12 times from phase 1 to phase 3. When someone is ready to commit, they're all in! Have you ever purchased something online because you kept seeing ads about it? I know I've been there! Our curiosity gets the best of us sometimes. If the ad we keep seeing is set up in a way that shows the product or service can solve a problem for us, it's difficult to not get sucked in. Understanding these phases has helped me become aware if I'm getting sucked into a purchase I may not actually need to make. Not only that, but I like to save ads that make me think, "Wow! I need this!" Being in marketing, it's so much fun to save or take photos of a great advertisements, then breakdown the strategy to use with my own products or services. Next time you're scrolling through social media or you're in a store, really think about how these products or services are being marketed to you. It's truly intriguing to me when a product or service is presented in a way that moves me through all the phases quickly. These are the money making ads! There's a book I've been reading called, Contagious - Why Things Catch On . It's all about the psychology behind viral videos, products, and business ideas. I'm reading it slowly because I don't want it to end! Whether you're learning how to market your own products/service or you're simply really interested in psychology, this book is fabulous.

Never underestimate the power of meeting other people in your industry. Gloria and I were introduced in December of 2023 by a mutual friend who felt like we were on similar journeys. To be honest, I was a little apprehensive to meet another web designer. Most of the designers I had met in the past were more motivated by money, than actually helping people, but Gloria turned out to be very different, thank goodness! Gloria and I met on zoom and we ended up talking for over two hours. She showed me her work and for the first time I was impressed and inspired by her skills, attention to detail, and most importantly her desire to help others. I knew right away she was someone I wanted to work with! After a few months of collaborating together, we formed two divisions. These two divisions have been working seamlessly together for over a year now. Her company, Glow Up is the web design division and my company, Create and Collab has been entirely focused on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). In the last, almost two years, her team has been in charge of a number of new web design projects for small business owners.  What I love about her company, Glow Up Web Design , is that it’s not only about the clients, it’s about designing a website that appeals to the client’s target audience. This is something a lot of companies don’t focus on, but Gloria knows what matters. When you reach out to us about creating a website, we ask a lot of questions to better understand what your goals are. Then the website is created with your target audience in mind, so that you’re able to use this website as a tool to grow your business. We’re not just creating something beautiful, we’re bringing to life an asset that helps your business GROW! Since Gloria’s process is so thorough, I asked her to write a blog post that explains it all. She did not disappoint! Just like her work, the blog post is detailed and helps you understand exactly what to expect once things get started! Glow Up Web Design Process The Ultimate Website Glow Up: Design and Redesign Process and Strategy by Gloria MacGillis "Every business needs a website, but not every business has a great  website. A great website is like an efficient storefront with a reliable, low-maintenance employee who consistently delivers results. It efficiently communicates information, looks professional, and seamlessly provides goods or services—all while reflecting your brand identity. At Glow Up, we believe that a great website is built on two pillars: Branding  and User Experience (UX) . That’s why we focus on crafting websites that not only look stunning, but also provide an intuitive and enjoyable experience for your customers. This also helps build trust and drive conversions. We also have partnerships with industry experts in business coaching, SEO and Google Ads because we understand the value of collaboration. By working with experts who are passionate about their fields, we ensure our clients receive top-tier support in every aspect of their online marketing. At Glow Up, we’re dedicated to helping your business shine in the digital world. Step 1: Meet with Our Business Coach Starting or running a small business can feel overwhelming—whether you’re just getting started or have been at it for a while.  That’s why we offer optional business coaching with Sue Mohr from The Inner Vizion  as part of select web design packages. Sue meets you exactly where you are and helps guide you toward where you want to be. Many business owners launch their ventures out of passion—but passion alone doesn’t always translate into a thriving business. That’s completely normal. Working with Sue before  you begin your web design project gives you a significant advantage: it helps you gain clarity around your vision, align your business goals with your personal values, and understand how to position yourself effectively through your website. Step 2: Material Gathering for Web Design Whether you are designing a new website or re-designing, take this as an opportunity to organize or reorganize your content. At Glow Up, we provide our clients with a starting point text template  and a Google folder  to drop all of your media assets into. This is the most crucial step to set your project up for success. Our team can help guide you or even provide re-writing services as part of your package or as a separate service, however, as much as we can help guide, you are the soul of your business, and your input will make a huge impact. Text Content In some cases, a business owner may struggle with text content due to a belief that they aren't great writers. If you are comfortable with AI, we highly recommend you try it out. If not, we can help. Typically, there are a few different types of problems you might find yourself facing: Too many thoughts and ideas:  In this case, try not to stress about structure, or which page this info would be on your website, just write it all down, and organize it later. Once you feel pretty good, let your designer know, and we can organize it with you together.   Don't know what to write:   This is a pretty common situation, and this is why we provide you with the text template. Within the template, you'll see some helpful pointers and articles to help generate ideas. You will also see a section to list any inspirational websites you like. Looking at what your competitors are doing might also help generate more ideas. I have it all in my head but just can't seem to put it on paper:  If this is the case, our team will do a recorded interview with you by asking you some questions. According to your answers, we'll put together the content for you. This is the last resort as it doesn't happen all that often and it usually is a separate service, which will incur an hourly charge. With your text developed, our designer will read your content thoroughly. Our main goal is to make sure your text content is: Suitable for your target audience:  Some business owners struggle to define their target audience, if you do too, that's totally ok. We can help you with that. Easy to understand:  We make sure to understand your content completely so your customers will understand it too. We'll ask questions and help complete your content if we don't understand after reading your draft. We approach it as your first-time customer who is excited to learn about your business and our goal is to make your product or services appeal to as many customers as possible for maximum conversion. Language consistency:  We make sure you are using consistent language when describing similar products or services so your user will not be confused. Answers questions:  We took on your project because we believe in what you do. As your one of your biggest fans, we are curious and we want to know as much as possible. We will arrange your content strategically throughout your website. Answering frequently asked questions does give your website the opportunity to generate more traffic. This also helps free up your time, so website viewers can find answers any time they want. Well organized:  We make sure to understand the structure of all the information so it can help us with the next steps of web design. Media Assets We will share a Google folder with you to store all your content in. Again, organization is key to ensuring efficient communication. A Google folder is just like a folder on your computer. You can create folders within folders as well as rename files. If you have a lot of files, we highly recommend spending some time organizing them, so we don't bother you a lot for clarifications along the way. If you have most of your files on your smartphone, we suggest downloading the Google Drive app so you can upload them directly from your phone. Then, use your computer to organize it. Typically, we'll see a structure like this: Current Branding Assets: If we are designing or redesigning your logo and branding, please feel free to upload any sources of inspiration and current assets. We will upload your new assets once we are done. Photos relevant to your business:  For example, team headshots, facility photos, product pictures, etc... Don't worry too much about decorative images as we'll be looking for what's suitable for your business from free stock photo sources. If nothing is suitable, we can look at some paid options. (P.S. They're usually fairly inexpensive.) Videos:  (If you have to host them only through your website). Otherwise, hosting them on YouTube or Vimeo is a great way to improve site loading speed. If you decide to upload them on one of those platforms, just include the link to each video in the text file. PDFs:  We usually don't recommended displaying PDFs on websites because they are not SEO or mobile friendly, however, if it's a lead magnet  or it actually requires people to download files, we are all about it. Step 3: Gathering Inspiration On a big digital whiteboard, we'll look at screenshots of all your inspirations and our findings that we think you'd love. Taking a look at each inspirations in-depth and pooling all great ideas together. At this point, we should also have all your content organized and put together your menu system to make sure your site structure is easy to understand and navigate. In the case of too many items, our team might need to perform mind mapping first, and/or a card sorting exercise. Step 4: Wireframe Development What is a wireframe? A wireframe is a simple, visual blueprint of a website that outlines its structure, layout, and key elements without focusing on design details like colors or images. It serves as a guide to map out where things like menus, buttons, text, and images will go, helping to plan the user experience and functionality. Wireframes are essential for aligning business owners and designers early in a project, ensuring everyone agrees on the framework before moving into detailed design and development. How is it presented? After gathering all of your inspiration and understanding the general structure of the website, our designer will create wireframes for all your major pages. This will be added to the same whiteboard where we’ve collaborated so far, bringing everything together in one place. The wireframe serves as a visual blueprint, allowing us to clearly see how the website will function and flow. We encourage your feedback during this stage—it’s the perfect opportunity to collaborate, brainstorm, and even spark new ideas. Once we present the wireframe and refine it based on our discussion, we’ll send you the updated version and await any additional input you may have. Step 5: Desktop Building and Presentation Once the wireframes are finalized, our team will begin building the actual website—exciting, right? This step typically takes 1-2 weeks, though larger websites or those requiring custom coding may take a bit longer. Don’t worry—our designer will keep you informed and let you know exactly when the presentation is scheduled. During the development phase, you can sit back, relax, and let us handle the heavy lifting. At the presentation, we’ll walk you through every page of the website, ensuring everything meets your expectations. Take as much time as you need to provide feedback—your input is essential to making sure the final product is perfect for you. Step 6: Revision and Testing Revision Hours When you signed up with Glow Up, you received a set number of revision hours. These hours begin counting after the presentation and cover both communication and the actual revision work. For about 97% of our clients, only a few hours are needed, but we include extra hours as a buffer, just in case. If your revisions require more time than allotted, any additional hours will be added to your next invoice. The purpose of revision hours is to maintain balance—since we’ve already spent a considerable amount of time in the planning and design stages, our first draft is typically 95% aligned with your vision. Revision hours help establish boundaries, ensuring our designers are compensated for any significant additional work. To make the process as smooth as possible, we’ll send you a feedback link where you can leave comments directly on the website, ensuring clear and effective communication. Testing It’s important to note that revision hours apply only to aesthetic changes and minor content updates. After the revisions, we’ll move on to testing all functionalities to ensure your website performs flawlessly at launch. If this is a brand-new website, we’ll set you up with hosting, connect your domain name, and perform additional tests. For redesigns, some testing may need to wait until your domain name is connected. Rest assured, we’ll ensure everything is running smoothly before going live! Step 7: Mobile Development Once the desktop version of your website is finalized, we’ll move on to mobile development—an essential step since 60% or more of users will visit your website on smartphones, compared to 38% on desktops and only 2% on tablets. Keep in mind these numbers can vary depending on your target audience, industry, and location. Glow Up ensures your website is fully responsive across all viewports, delivering a seamless user experience regardless of device. This phase typically takes about half a week or longer, depending on the complexity of the design. Once mobile development is complete, we’ll send you another feedback link so you can review and request any necessary changes. At this stage, you should have plenty of revision hours left, but if additional work is required, any extra hours will be added to your next invoice. Step 8: On-Page SEO What is SEO Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving a website’s visibility on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo to attract more organic (non-paid) traffic. It involves optimizing many elements of a website, including content, keywords, metadata, images, and overall site structure, to make it more relevant and appealing to search engine algorithms. SEO goes hand in hand with user experience (UX). Even if your website ranks number 1 on search engines, poor user experience—such as slow loading speeds, difficult navigation, or irrelevant content—can cause users to leave quickly. This high bounce rate signals to search engines that your website isn’t meeting user expectations, which can lead to lower rankings over time. (High bounce rate simply means that someone discovered your website, clicked the link, stayed on your site for a short period of time, and "bounced" back off your site because your content didn't seem to meet their needs/expectation.) On the flip side, a website that focuses on both SEO and user experience has a significant advantage. Within a few months to a year, your website can potentially outrank websites that have existed for over a decade because they neglected SEO. By providing valuable content and a seamless experience, search engines are more likely to recognize your website as a reliable resource, rewarding it with better visibility and higher rankings. What does Glow Up do for SEO? Since we are so thorough during the initial content phase, you can feel confident that your content is relevant to your target audience, answers the right questions, and encourages visitors to stay on your site and increase the chance of conversions. We are extremely passionate about your businesses long-term success, which is why we offer a strategic keyword research phase. This includes finding keywords that you realistically have the chance to rank for, in time. Our SEO specialist identifies and implements the use of 5+ major keywords, strategically placing them in the areas where they will have the most impact on your website’s performance. If these changes affect the website’s copy, we’ll reach out to let you know so everything aligns. If you’ve opted for a package that includes advanced keyword research, our SEO specialist will go even deeper to find keywords with the right search intent, high search volume, and low competition. This will help increase the chance of your website ranking higher and attracting the right traffic. However, it’s important to remember that SEO is a long-term strategy, and it can take anywhere from a few months to a year for your website to actually rank in search. This process is largely determined by the search engine algorithms, the industry you're in, the amount of people searching for these terms, and the competition from other websites. If you’d like to dive deeper into how SEO works check out Abigail's series on How to Increase Organic Website Traffic . She’s an emerging expert in this field and offers a lot of free knowledge through this 4 part, weekly series. What if my site already has organic traffic, but I need a redesign? SEO is a critical aspect of your website—after all, what's the point of building a site if no one can find it? At Glow Up, we make sure your content is relevant, concise, and easy to understand, which is a key part of SEO. We’ve also ensured that your website is user-friendly and mobile-responsive—another essential element for success. Now, we’re diving into the technical part, which is the behind-the-scenes work that you won’t necessarily see, but it is just as important. For brand-new websites, this technical piece can be performed after the website is launched—once hosting is set up and the domain is connected. We know how excited you are to start promoting it as soon as possible. For website redesign projects, things can look a little different. If your current website is generating a decent amount of traffic, there are a number of technical things we need to consider before redesigning. Since this process is different for each client's site, we can discuss in more detail on our initial calls. Step 9: Site Launch and Next Steps Congratulations on your new website! 🎉 Now, take a deep breath, kick back, and relax—just kidding! While launching your website is a huge accomplishment, there’s still more work to be done. Again, think of your website as your digital storefront, like having an automated employee providing exceptional service and answering any questions your visitors might have. Just like a real store, your website still needs regular maintenance, ongoing marketing efforts, and possibly some ads to keep it fresh, relevant, and continuously attracting the right audience. If you want to take a vacation, though, that’s totally okay too! After all, you’re the boss! Another perk of being in charge! But take a moment to celebrate—seriously, you’ve earned it. 😊 At Glow Up, we offer maintenance plans as well as social media marketing, and we can go over all your options when you're ready. As for SEO and ads, we’ve got some great recommendations that we can discuss once you’re all settled. One step at a time! Again, huge congratulations on completing your project! 🎉 "

Have you been wanting to use Google Ads for your small business? If so, you're going to want to read this first! I asked my friend Grayson who owns his own digital marketing agency if he would be willing to host a Q+A video and I'm so excited he said yes! Him and his team have worked with a number of my web design clients and have really helped them see success. I'm honored he took time out of his Friday night to jump on and answer these frequently asked questions! Let's dive in! In case you'd like to listen/watch this Grayson and I recorded it on video too! Why don’t you use the “near me” Keyword when running Google Ads? Google is smart enough to automatically connect the keywords you're using in your ads to users who could be searching it in your selected area. Geo-targeting settings are an independent task that generally run on the campaign level. This means you adjust Geo-targeting settings for each campaign you run on Google ads. Then, once you input all your location settings correctly, Google ads can connect the near me keyword directly to the location settings you've set up. Can’t you just set a maximum Google ad spend limit, and why must you monitor the budget daily? Oh my goodness, trust me. I wish we could set a maximum spending limit in Google ads; it would make my job much more manageable. With that said, the short answer is no. Unfortunately, you cannot set a spending limit through your Google Ads. Google Advertising works in terms of a daily budget for your campaigns. Google also recommends that if you place a daily budget, you should be prepared to spend at most two times your daily budget on any campaign or, in monthly terms, 30.4 times your daily budget.  We monitor the budget daily, because Google always wants you to spend more money on your advertisements without realizing it. To hear Google’s side, they have provided several resources, equations, and information about budgets and their operation. That is linked here . Although you're unable to set a spending limit, Google does have a section devoted to “What happens when served costs exceed daily or monthly spending limits” That generally provides further insights into how Google ad budgets work. Can I advertise X, Y, or Z thing… for me, it was (Religious/political or, as Google calls it, “Identity and belief” and Stem cell /regenerative medicine pharmaceutical products, which Google calls “Sensitive interest categories.”) Before anyone considers running an ad through Google ads, you must check Google's Personalized advertising policies  to ensure your ads comply with their systems. If you think to yourself, “Oh, I'm fine. I have a Google Ads expert in my corner, so there is no need to review the policies because they'll do it for me,” I strongly recommend against this way of thinking; here’s why: Google is constantly putting out updated information, and we as Google ads experts make it our mission to stay on top of the latest news updates and strategies to implement into your Google ad campaigns. Before you start pouring money into Google ads, I strongly recommend spending time researching to ensure that your product/service will comply with Google ads first. Then, double-check with your Google ads expert for any questions or information you want to bring to their attention. What are conversions? What are the best ways to track and make conversions? How do I send my conversion CLEAN data to Google Ads and Google Analytics for proper tracking? These are the questions I frequently ask by other people in my industry. What I mean by that is that other Google Ads experts running advertising campaigns usually do not know the answers to each of the questions above. While they may know the answers to one or two, I rarely find Google Ads experts who effectively leverage conversions within their advertising campaigns on Google. As an official Google advertising partner,  I want to offer my perspective on entering the vast ocean of conversions. At a very high level, conversions, also known as key events in Google Analytics, are actions you want your users to take after they click on an ad. For example, if you're an e-commerce business, the action could be purchasing a product or submitting a lead form if you're looking for lead generation. Whatever action you want users to take after they land on your website can be considered a conversion, and you can make as many conversions as you would like! To touch on the remaining questions without going too long, the answers all stem from a third Google platform known as the Google Tag Manager. You can adequately set up the Google tag manager and fully understand its systems to connect to both Google ads and Google Analytics. The answers to each of these questions will come shortly after. I bring this up because these are questions that other Google Ads Agencies, even on a corporate level, are continuously asking and searching for answers to. These are Google Ads Agencies that are spending tens of thousands of dollars monthly for their clients WITHOUT THE PROPER CONVERSION TRACKING IN PLACE! So, if you're running Google ads, even through a third party, ensure they know what they're doing regarding your conversions; otherwise, they could cost you more money than they’re generating. Google ads is an investment, but if set up correctly, it will bring an incredible return! What content, visuals, and resources will I need to run an advertising campaign on Google Ads? This varies deeply depending on the type of advertising campaign you are running. With that said, there will always be one piece of content consistent across all Google advertising campaigns: headlines and descriptions...Headlines and descriptions are a Cornerstone of your campaign and will be the main selling point for each of your Google advertising campaigns. Hence, it's essential to remember that while quality is critical, quantity will push your campaigns to the next level. I say this because Google loves data! So, the more headlines and descriptions you can give them, the more variety within those headlines and descriptions, the better they will be able to advertise your campaign effectively. Additionally, Google will reward this behavior by providing insights on which of your headlines and descriptions are performing well and which are performing poorly, allowing you to swap out assets with better-performing ones. I also want to touch on what we typically do in our process for Google Ads content. Usually, we run the Performance Max campaign, which means advertising on multiple Google platforms, such as YouTube and Display. This means that we are leveraging ALL and less tapped-into markets with different content ranging from logos to videos. This is wonderful for your advertising campaign because you can meet your consumers/potential leads on whatever platform they use online. We recommend leveraging this content when we typically run advertising campaigns for anyone. This includes videos, images, logos, headlines, descriptions, and long-form headlines. This wide range of content allows Google to pull from each category to craft the perfect ad for your consumers or potential leads.

Writing the about content for your website can seem difficult at first. People buy from you when they know, like, and trust you and/or your brand. Anytime I’ve bought something from someone it’s either because I’ve wanted to support their business and/or the product is going to solve a problem for me. What compels you to visit someone else's about page? What are you looking for? Is it to learn more about the history of their company or is it because you want to make sure you can trust them? Let's Dive in! How to Write an About Page for a Website If people buy from you when they know, like, and trust you, how can you write your about page in a way that facilitates that? Start it off by sharing why you do what you do. What makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning and serve your customers? Who is the client or reader? What kind of problems are they facing? What makes you excited to solve the problem for them? What experiences do you have in solving this problem? Share briefly about why you started your business and why you’re excited to help solve a problem for them. Chances are, you provide a service or product that someone can probably get somewhere else. There’s always going to be other people and companies that do exactly what you do, so focus on your specialties. What specifically makes your business special? Highlighting these things will help clients remember you and differentiate you from all the rest of the companies they're looking at too. "People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it." -Simon Sinek Want to know the difference between talking about WHAT you do vs. WHY you do it? Check this out: What to Share/What Not to Share Sharing your story is important, but it’s also important to respect their time and get to the point. This might sound harsh, but no one reads websites anymore, they scan them . They’re simply looking to see if they’ll like and trust you. If you have what it takes to solve their problem and share clearly, what the next step is, they are much more likely to make a purchase. When it comes to writing your story, think outside the box. What specific parts of your story will help them like, know and trust you? I know I keep repeating this, but everything in this section needs to point back to those 3 things. If it doesn’t, you may not need to include it. They don’t need the entire history of your company or you’re entire life story. It doesn’t have to be very long, the most successful about pages explain this in 3-4 paragraphs or less. Make it Clear and Concise The about page isn’t just about sharing a story, it’s about encouraging your viewer to take action. Once you’ve shared your why and what qualifies you to solve the problem, it’s time to follow up with a call to action. Use the next section to share that. Do they need to request a quote? Do they need to visit your shop? What’s the next step you want them to take? Web Design Tip: Want to increase your leads and sales? Be extremely clear about what the next step is. I like to do this by including my main call to action as a button in the header of my website. See the request a quote button in the top right? See how you can scroll up and down on the page and the logo, menu, and call to action button never leave your view? That's a strategic design decision to make the next step for visitors extremely clear. So many people are too focused on having a flashy or eye catching website, but they tend to miss the obvious things – like making your call to action clear. Not making the call to action obvious would be like having a shop and hiding the cash register. Bonus Points: Include a Video I have a client that hired a videographer to make a video that explains what they do and why they do it. She hears from customers all the time that browsed other sites that provide the exact same thing, but they ultimately end up working with her because the website and video helped them get to know her and her family. (This client raises bernedoodle puppies and are very close friends of mine.) The website is easy to navigate, explains the next steps clearly, and the video helps attach a face and story to the brand name. If you don’t have the budget to hire a videographer, you can always use your phone to record a video too. Start by making a list of points that you want to share that will help them know, like, and trust you. Jot down some ideas and then prioritize the order in which you want to share them. Narrow down the topics for each paragraph and just start writing. This is your business and you get to decide how you want to represent yourself. How much are you willing to share? What information is really going to drive your story home? Brainstorm ideas, prioritize them, and start writing! P.S. Feeling a tad overwhelmed by your to do list? Anytime I feel like this, I brain dump all my ideas on a sheet of paper and then prioritize them using the kanban method. This makes things so much simpler. Check the blog post How to Prioritize and Stay on Task for relief from the overwhelm. In this post I highlight how to map out your goals, how to stay organized, how to prioritize tasks, and the psychology behind decision making, plus how to make a plan that works specifically for you! Owning a business can be overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. I'm here to share resources to make it more fun and satisfying. Consider this my high five to you! Being a business owner takes courage, discipline, and belief. Obviously, if you've read this far, you're serious about it. Now it's time to start writing ;)

Taxes can be one of the most overwhelming parts of owning a business. Everyone is constantly saying, "It's a write off!" but if you haven't kept track of all those expenses, you'll never end up actually writing if off. I've been there, the first year in my business I had a lot of expenses, but I didn't keep track of them. Once tax season arrived it was a nightmare trying to decipher which expenses were personal and which were business expenses. In this blog post I'm sharing 4 secrets to keep track of write offs and how to make the process easier in the future. I'll be covering: What is a write off and how does it work? What expenses can I write off? How do I find my write offs? How can I track and organize my write offs easily? If you're sick of being overwhelmed, todays the day we make it simple! Let's dive in! 1. What is a Tax Write Off When I started my business I didn't fully understand how a write off really worked. Once tax season arrived, I realized there were a lot of expenses I had that I wouldn't have had without owning my own business. For example, going out for coffee or lunch with potential clients, online subscriptions, website costs, business cards, shipping supplies, office supplies, the list goes on. All of these are business expenses. I realized, the more write offs I had kept track of the less money I was paying out in taxes. I spent hours looking over my bank statements and sifting through past emails to see how many other write offs I had. It took hours, ultimately I ended up giving up. I knew there were more, but I didn't have time to spend hours looking for them. From that point on, I knew I had to come up with a better system to keep track of them throughout the year. That way once taxes we’re due I wasn't spending hours looking through every expense for the last year. Once I came up with this system I felt so much more confident. I met with my financial planner to go over the system with him and make sure I was on the right track. He was impressed. He told me he hadn't seen anyone keep track this well in years. I was onto something! Once the next tax season came around, I felt so much more prepared and submitted everything in less than an hour or so. What a breeze! Before we talk through how to track write offs. Let's dive into what expenses are actually considered write offs. 2. What Expenses Can I Write Off? It's always good to keep expenses as low as possible, but for the expenses you can't do away with keeping track of them is going to keep more money in your pocket come tax season! So what expenses can you write off? Here's a list to get you started: Advertising -Business cards, flyers, and newspaper ads -Internet, television, and radio advertising -Advertising at a charitable or community event Car + Truck -Mileage tracked during business drives I use an app called Mile IQ for tracking my mileage. It’s so simple, I swipe left for personal drives and right for business drives and at the end of the month I can email the pdf to myself. This pdf includes every business drive on it. It lists the amount of business miles tracked as well as the amount of money all those drives will be worth as a write off! The app is less than $7 a month and last year I tracked over $1,500 in business drives - definitely worth it. Plus that monthly cost for the app is a write off ;) WIN WIN. Legal or Professional Services -Fees paid for tax advice for your business -Feeds paid for the preparation of the tax forms for your business -Legal fees paid to an attorney that were ordinary and necessary to the operation of your business Local Transportation -Taxis -Public Transportation -Car-sharing services Business Meals and Entertainment -Meals while traveling overnight on business -A business lunch with a customer or client -Refreshments given out at an open house Office Expenses -A seperate phone line or internet service -Office supplies and postage -Maintenance and cleaning expenses Supplies -Merchandise bought for sale to customers -Material used to produce goods or assemble good for sale -Print cartridges and printer paper -Cleaning material and supplies -Professional books, instruments, and equipment if normally used up within one year Taxes or Licenses -Federal highway use tax -Property tax on a business property Charitable Contributions Bonus Tip: Keep this list in the notes app on your phone so you'll always know whether or a not an expense can count as a write off! Here's an article from Turbo Tax with a full list of write offs. 3. How Do I Find Tax Write Offs First, if you don't have a checking account for your business, I highly suggest you open one! It makes it so much easier if all business expenses come out of the same account. If you don't have one yet and you're still spending all your business expenses with your personal checking account, don't fret, this is where I was too when I first created this system. Whether your expenses all come out of the same account, or one account this system can work for you. To make this simple, let's start with highlighting your business expenses on your bank statement. You can have them mailed to you, print them online, or go into your bank and request they print them out for you. Let's just start with last month's business expenses. Now you've got your bank statement in hand, grab a highlighter and highlight any business expenses from the last 30 days. 4. How Do I Track and Organize Write Offs I like to use Google Drive to keep track of receipts and transactions. For this you'll need to have a gmail account. Once you sign in, open Google Drive . Create a new folder and label it "Write Offs". Within that folder you'll want to create a folder for each month of the year. Within each month you'll need a folder for receipts. Now open a Google Sheets Doc, this is simply Google's version of excel. By setting this up you'll be able to track your expenses anywhere! First, open a new google sheet and add the following columns: Receipts, Date, Amount, Category, Item. The 'Receipt' column is where you can track whether you have the receipt. The 'Date' column will be the date the money came out of your account. The 'Amount' column is the total amount you spent on the transaction. The 'Category' column will be from one of the categories above. The 'Item' column allows you to write in more details about the transaction. Here's an example of how I set it up: As you categorize each transaction make sure you've got the receipt for it saved in your receipts folder for that month. I like to use the Scannable app . This allows me to scan the receipt and upload to Google Drive. Now that you've got the Google sheet set up, look through the past month's expenses you highlighted on your bank statement. Type up each transactions information and keep going until you finish for that month! And that's it! If you're tracking your write offs like this each month, all you'll have to do at the end of the year is add up each category and you've got every single write off with receipts to prove it! This is a great place to start as you're growing your own small business or side hustle. As your business grows and your income increases it's very important to find a tax professional you trust. My friend Kele , does all of this professionally. Once my business got to a certain point, I really wanted to make sure I was having someone else submit everything. I still keep track of all my expenses, but it feels good to know it's being submitted by a professional! If you're looking for help or simply someone you can reach out to for questions, I'd highly recommend Kele ! Here's an overview of what we covered: Highlight the transactions that are write offs Type those up in a spreadsheet & categorize Make sure to upload your receipts for each transaction Don't forget to check if you need to pay quarterly taxes. If you're required to and you don't, you'll end up paying a fine when it comes time to filing your taxes. DISCLAIMER: I am not a licensed CPA, tax attorney, or certified to give tax advice. This is not legal accounting advice. This is purely what I’ve learned and found that’s worked best for me.

I’ve been keeping a secret for some time now. Building websites has always been my main focus, but helping clients increase their website traffic to see growth in their business has been on my heart big time. For the last 15 months I’ve been learning, developing, and implementing a brand new service – SEO. In March of 2023 I approached one of my website clients about being my guinea pig for a few new things I wanted to practice. Her and I have become really close friends over the last fews years and there were a few areas of her business I knew I could help with. Specifically, project management and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). When I approached her about possibly becoming a monthly retainer client for a few months she was thrilled. Long story short we’ve been making a lot of progress, so after those first few months, we decided to keep going. Creating systems that generate consistent and manageable growth takes a lot of time, but it’s been sooooo worth the effort. It’s been an honor to get to be a part of the behind the scenes and truly understand how things work inside her business. Deeply understanding the ins and outs of how a company runs is so interesting to me, I love learning how things work! There are always small improvements that can be made each day, that in time, can create sustainability, consistency, and most importantly growth. The success we’ve seen has me deeply excited about the future. Helping small business owners has always been the driving force in everything I do, so adding SEO as a service feels really exciting! More details to come. Update from January 2025: I realize this blog post without any data is really vague. This particular client was one of the very first ones I worked with when I started my business in 2019. I designed her logo and branding and built her website. After that I helped maintain the website, but we originally didn't have any SEO goals because it wasn't something I knew really well yet. I had dabbled in it a bit, but I honestly didn't know what I was doing yet. Here is where her website traffic was when we started. (March 2023: Organic monthly traffic on average was about 1,075 clicks.) Here's where we are now. Her average organic traffic now is about 18,000+ clicks each month. This is probably one of my greatest and proudest achievements, because I know how much this has impacted their business for the better. The amount of growth they've seen over the last two years has been significant. I'm honestly just honored to have gotten to be a part of it. If you are starting a business and you're not sure what to invest in first, start with a simple logo and branding and a strategically built website with on-page SEO. Remember every industry is different. Supply and demand play a huge factor as well as competition. Regardless though, this should be a great representation of how important it is to have a strategically built online presence. Interested in learning how to increase organic traffic for your own small business website? I spent month writing and developing a 4 part weekly series that breaks down the action items you can implement to start getting more people to your website. This series includes proven strategies to boost your website traffic with SEO. Learn the actionable steps to optimize your website, rank higher in search results, and attract more website visitors.