Your Custom Text Here
One of my goals as co-owner of the business has been making sure our website is up to date, looks good and helps you, the customer, find what you need when searching out a custom duct fabricator.
Creating a quality website with good information and running a Google Adwords campaign are a few of the ways I accomplish this goal. This way, when you search f
or custom duct or anything related to what we do, you will find us in Google search results.
Read moreOnce again I have neglected the company blog for an extended period of time. Not because of laziness, but more in finding the time to give proper attention to the written word. As the work day progresses, time fades away, before you know it exhaustion takes over and the last thing I want to do is type out something interesting and insightful.
Read moreI have a couple blogs, one for myself (which I have not updated in a while) and the one you are currently reading.
Why?
When I originally set up the accounts I felt separation was warranted because why would I want people on the business side having to deal with anything from my personal life and vice versa. Plus, keeping personal and business life separate seems logical.
Read moreIf there is a such thing as web hiatus then I have been on it for the last few months, having really posted nothing to the web blog or much on the twitter. This is not because I have lost the passion for business or have become frustrated with social media. On the contrary, I have realized the power and I need to have it!
Plus, with the addition of our new equipment business has picked up and the shop has been extremely busy, leaving little time to keep up with things.
The bottom line was we needed a change after gaining data on what was going on with our current website. Out with the old, in with the new.
Read moreOne of the hardest things we deal with as a two man small business is time management. Especially since the recent purchase of our new CNC plasma table, with the goal of growing the business, our time is split between many things. Learning a new system, a new way of doing what you've done for over twenty years can be daunting and many things will sadly be neglected in that ongoing process. For my father and I, especially me, it has been keeping up with many responsibilities in regards to the website and social media.
We have recently hired someone to take-on the marketing aspects of the business, but that also requires attention on a daily basis. With more traffic to the website and orders coming through the door, there is more that must be done to be available for our customers. We want to make sure that our customers are finding us online and that we accommodate them, no matter how small the order. Therefore dialing in our search results to make sure keywords etc. are up to date is on my mind constantly, creating more work and time to make sure things are running smooth.
Keeping up with Twitter and Google+ have become a challenge because of the extra work established by our new machinery. I have neglected much of these responsibilities for over a month, which does not help people engage you looking for your services. It's called social media for a specific reason....social reasons. Organizing myself down the road will help me to make sure I am on top of everything. At this point we can't afford to pay for more help, so it falls on my father and I to get things done.
No one said building a business was easy and I am learning quickly that time management will become one of the best things I can learn going forward. No matter how small your company is, look into time management and how it can help you balance your time and goals.
I have been pretty open regarding my hatred and questions about Facebook. We have never had a Facebook business page; I deleted my personal account over a year ago and have never felt more free. But...
Now that our company is working diligently on marketing the business, latching onto the power of the web and social media, I may be having a change of heart. Is it time for us to start a Facebook business page?
I openly despise, throwing barbs whenever I can, everything that is Facebook. The incessant baby bumps and people who I've talked to once pretending to be my bestee. However, my hypocritical juices are flowing, not wanting to miss out on any opportunity to help promote our business. Should I really let some, let's be honest, minor personal problems deny our business of opportunities?
These strong feelings I portend to have about Facebook over the last year and a half are all for naught if I decide to start a page. Seems pretty weak of me to cave on something not so important in the grand position of personal and business stances. However, we're not talking about abortion or gun control here.
Gasp...am I a flip-flopper?
Or does it not matter in the grand scheme of business and promoting the brand? After all, this is a personal position, ultimately hurting no one in the process. The caveat being that the company consists of my father and I only, with my dad not really caring or able to deal with any of the online promotion. Hence, much of what I put out there is very personal.
I try to use this blog as a billboard, company news site and sounding board for my thoughts and questions. The Facebook thing has been riling me for months since we started a concerted marketing effort via Adwords and now with the announcement of graph search earlier this month, I'm even more confused. Clearly, this is something I have strong issues with, but am I hurting the business in the process?
Any suggestions in our comments section or twitter regarding whether or not a Facebook business page is a must would be greatly appreciated.
I love technology and all it can bring to life or business. A few days ago Twitter ( By far my favorite social network ) introduced Vine, a service that lets you take 6 second video's easily and share them in your twitter feed. The video can them be viewed inside each tweet like so:
6 Second Supply Air Transition #sheetmetal #HVAC vine.co/v/b5Htm1rbF3h— K & E Sheet Metal (@kesheetmetal) January 24, 2013
This was my first ever vine video tweet, whatcha think? Honestly, I haven't really gotten a chance to really play with or think about the ways we can use Vine to help promote the business. However, as more people get their hands on the app more ideas will come out.
There have been some interesting ideas vaguely floating around, but they have been more creative and centered around the technology. The coat is still fresh and tacky, not ready to hang the pictures and finish the wall.
I will be interested to see how we or other micro and small businesses use this interesting new addition to the Twitter family.
Check out the post about Vine on the Twitter blog or directly at the Vine site.