Getting your website and blog posts to rank higher in search engines may seem like a taunting task. You have been breathing and sweating search engine optimisation. You have installed a SEO plugin to your site, researched and inserted (long tail) keywords all over the place, and done some magic spells to get more search visibility. And yet, something is lacking. You have muddied your purpose and...
Glitching
When a person makes a search they use certain keywords and phrases to find what they want. In case your content doesn't include those keywords or their close variations, it most definitely won't every show up in that search results page. You can write your content without doing any research and hope for the best. This approach works when you don't care that much if your content is found through...
What's really common to the people you probably define as having success online? Those, whose websites get loads of traffic, who sell their services and products better than anyone, and who get quoted constantly. It's not the "habits of successful people". It's not going to sleep by 10 pm, and waking up before dawn. It's not giving up on television or reading only non-fiction. It's not drinking...
After I had received the payment of a big project I did, I had plans. Some personal purchases. A new iPhone adapter to use with my tripod and to replace the broken part of my selfie stick. Some business acquisitions. Perhaps upgrade my Teachable subscription. I was supposed to save some too, for the unpredictable. But the unpredictable didn't wish to wait for later. About a month ago the owners...
Anyone who has ever been running a service based business or freelancing knows the pain of pricing. Price, known as one of the four P's in the traditional marketing mix, plays such a huge part in getting your services sold. It's a factor in your marketing, it affects your branding. Therefore a common misconception is the price should be low, lower than the competition, to lure more customers....
I started to write a post about showing humanity, being authentic, being human. But on the way my emphasis changed. I know that being human comes with the dark sides. Sometimes it's very human to hurt others, to make the person next to you feel awful, to be unkind. It's in the human nature. As it is in human nature to be violent and passionate, it's also in human nature to push the violence and...
Are you stuck with your blogging? Do you feel your blog posts lack of personality, could use more quality, need a kick? Those who have been blogging a lot may easily find themselves fed up with it. In case you blog traffic isn't impressing, shares aren't happening and comments aren't coming in, you want to become a better blogger. To be honest, even for the best and most successful ones there's...
Sometimes I skip a scheduled post on my blog. Or maybe I don't send the weekly email to my list. I may not get on Pinterest and pin my heart out, or I refrain from Tweeting. I even take breaks from running my new Facebook group. I'm a big believer of taking breaks from stuff. Scheduled, preset vacations. Unscheduled, spur-of-the-moment, pauses. Longer time recesses. Short time breathers. There...
This week Shared Spaces checks into the current state of marketing. I've collected a list of links about overused marketing buzzwords on LinkedIn profiles, improving your e-commerce store with a couple of easy things, optimising Facebook ads, and using the new events calendar for Twitter ads. I also added a link to the problems with marketing degrees and how agencies can fix them. All links open...
Have you ever been wondering what's the difference between consulting and business coaching services? The terms coaching and consulting are often used interchangeably, and I admit to have been doing this for a short while. However, as I started to reassess and restructure my services, I felt a need to find out what's the difference, if any. As I was researching the difference between these...
Another week, another Shared Spaces. This time we go neck deep into the world of working. These articles include statistics about how by working less you are more likely to earn more, why you should quit if the business is always a struggle, and which skills may save your job in the automated future. All links open in the same window, as they should. If you want to earn more, work less by Mark...
Are you feeling overwhelmed? You're not the only one. I almost didn't make this Slow Sunday, due to the overwhelm I'm feeling. I thought it would be selfish to write about relaxing, slowing down and de-stressing, when the world around us all is falling apart. Until I saw a post by a friend on Facebook. She pointed out that you must take care of yourself. First because you are a human and your...
This week the recently relaunched Shared Spaces series digs into how to attract ideal clients, define buyer profiles and make sure you are working with the right customers. All links open in the same window, as they should. The Secret Weapon Salespeople Use to Get in Front of the Right Buyers by Lauren Hintz Before identifying potential buyers, you need to define who are those buyers you can...
Us Finns are great at suppressing our feelings. The Finnish "sisu", the stoic determination and resilience is highly regarded here. Falling apart, having a breakdown, being happy and loving, crying or expressing other "big" feelings is considered weak. However, feelings and emotions are there for many good reasons, and recognising them is very important. Your feelings aren't wrong nor they should...
Now, look at that! Shared Spaces is back, after a few months of hiatus. And from now on, on Tuesdays (at least that's the plan). In case you are curious where Spaces went for all that time, do read my Observations of content, quality and life online. But before that, let's take a look at some interesting articles I've found all around the web. This week Shared Spaces plunges into small indie...
I'm a highly strung person. I'm easily scared and have a hard time of getting to sleep. Relaxing is difficult for me. Which is part of the reason I started this series. To learn myself how to slow down, relax, de-stress, and deal with my depression and anxiety. Today I will talk about little methods that even me, a wound up person, has found useful for relaxing. First, it's important to note...
After you have written a great blog post and hit publish, you hope your great text to reach search engines as soon as possible. But the search bots don't always crawl your site as often as you wish. Especially if your blog updates sporadically or has a small readership, your fine blog post may end up ignored by search engines for days. Good news is, you can tell the search engines to crawl your...
You are stretching yourself thin. Saying no isn't easy for you, and you get bad conscious when you can't accommodate the wishes of other people. You feel you are getting walked over constantly. Your clients (or your boss) keep expecting you do everything and a whole lot more. For the same price. Or maybe you keep doing something you have decided not to do, just one more time. And then another one...
"I don't like marketing." Not the first, and probably not the last time I heard a business owner say this. This is due to many reasons. One of the reasons is a common misconception, thinking that marketing is selling. Yes, selling is marketing. But marketing is not selling. Marketing isn't even promotion, though promotion is marketing. Marketing is a much bigger process. Let's start with a...
When you have spent lots of time, effort and money in building a certain kind of a life, career and business, starting over feels like the craziest thing to do. Did the time, effort and money you spent go in vain? Is it pointless to start over, especially if you aren't that young anymore? Does it seem like you failed, weren't good enough? Starting anew is scary and it can be lots of work. It may...
Hei, I'm Mervi
Welcome to my blog
Do you love to create, but feel tangled up with the business, work, and marketing side of it all? You are in the right place. I help you to untangle everything online.
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