Introducing the #mbnetwork

Excited to be introducing the #mbnetwork, a collection of awesome freelance and small shops that I highly recommend to help facilitate getting your great work out there.

I realized early that you can’t do it all by yourself, but if you get a team of people united under a common goal you can get a lot of things done in a way that’s simply made better.

I love working with the best of the brightest that the creative, tech, and design industries have to offer, surrounding myself with people who are awesome in ways that compliment my role in the work that I do.

I get a lot of requests from clients and contacts of great people I would recommend for a variety of services. So I decided to collect all the best contacts I have and share them publicly and I’ve named this network the #mbnetwork.
The Made Better Network: Your Source for Creative Freelancers to get your great work found
These people are the best of the best at what they do, things like:

These creative, extremely talented, yet self-managing people are awesome to team up with and collaborate together to tackle projects that may be a bit more than one person can bite off. I can highly recommend all of the people within the Made Better Network, so if you’re looking for good people to work with, you’re in the right place.

I’ll be adding more great peeps to the #mbnetwork, but I figured I would at least announce it and see what you guys think! Hope you find it useful.

Interested in becoming part of the #mbnetwork?

If you’re interested in being a part of the #mbnetwork, feel free to submit your details and I’ll review them and see if you’re a good fit for the #mbnetwork.

Introducing “Ask April”

I’ve been brainstorming ways to help more people, put more content online, and be super relevant. So what better than to answer your questions online through the advice section on madebetterstudio.com?

So I’ve created, “Ask April”, a place on MadeBetterStudio.com where you can submit your marketing questions to be answered, for free – in the advice section.

Brilliant, right?

I love answering questions

Happy to provide help to those who are looking for expert advice in the following areas:

Naming, Brand and Graphic Design
Marketing / Communication Strategy
WordPress / Web Development
Website Management / Optimization
Content Creation
Search / Search Engine Optimization
Growing Community / Customer Base
Social Media & E-Mail Communications

I am working on other content from “frequently asked questions” that I’ve gotten over the years, but I want to hear from you to make sure that the content I’m putting out there is really relevant to what you need answers on now.

In addition to my expertise, I may be pulling in others from the #mbnetwork to help for questions that may require additional specialty to answer.

question mark in vintage letterpress type

So if you have a marketing or website or communication question,
now is your time to have it answered for free.

The only catch is that I’ll be publishing the answer to your question on the blog to help others who might be experiencing the same kinds of questions or issues. But think of all those lovely people who will benefit from getting the answer too!

Once I answer your question on the blog, I’ll shoot you an email letting you know your answer is available. Sounds pretty convenient eh?

So if you have a burning question about getting the word out about your great work, why not Ask April?

Submit your Question!

SEO Made Better is born!

Super excited to be launching my first ebook, SEO Made Better: Optimizing to be Found, Liked, and Trusted by Visitors on Search Engines.

Those of you who are super close to me have been hearing my long saga that is writing my first book, and thank you so much for all your help and input for the book!

But, for those of you who don’t know about the new book… this post is for you.

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Online Community Building for Non-Profits

Earlier this month, I gave a two hour presentation at Gangplank Chandler in regards to online community building for non-profits, here’s the slideshow presentation from that talk.

Online Community Building for Non-Profits on Prezi

Here are the infographic links that I used within the presentation:

Multichannel Giving

Evolution of the Online Donor

Social Giving

Also some requested links:

Crowdrise – A website dedicated to helping non-profits raise project-specific funding

If you’d like to talk more about Online Community Building for your Non-Profit, feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to discuss!

Metrics to Measure Based on Sales Cycle

One of the most overlooked and yet VERY important parts of marketing is measuring the Return on Investment (ROI) by tracking meaningful metrics based on the type of interaction you’re looking for from your customers.

Somehow, even with all the hype around ROI, when I ask new clients if they’re tracking metrics, they give pause and a blank face. So, it’s time I share a little post and create a little infosheet on how to choose and measure metrics that matter around your marketing.

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2011 Twitter Usage Survey Results May Surprise You…

In a phone poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International earlier this year, participants were asked if they used Twitter… and here’s what the findings show:

So what juicy marketing details can we squeeze out of this tasty table…

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Why Values Are Important in Business

I’ve recently been browsing the lecture archives of the Do Lectures for inspiring ideas in business, society and marketing… when I came across this one I had to share it with you!

It’s a great presentation by Gabriel Brånby in which he discusses the history of his axe business – surviving two waves of almost closing up shop, it succeeds by focusing on quality and listening to its customers.

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Made Better Studio @ WordCamp San Diego 2013

I had a blast taking a road trip with Carol Stambaugh from TechToolsOnline to WordCamp San Diego 2013.

San Diego is an awesome place to visit, but throw in hours of geekery on the road trip + two full days of WordPress awesomeness and you’ve got yourself one heck of an awesome weekend.

Friday was mostly driving with Carol, cooking up good ideas for the 2014 Phoenix WordPress conference, sharing work stories and finding more ways to work with one another.

Carol had brought along all kinds of roadtrip treats (something I’ve found that mothers of small kids do well). One particular treat is sooo tasty! You have to check out Trader Joe’s Powerberries! Oh my are these delicious! Thanks Carol for the introduction.

powerberries

Friday night I was left on my own (while Carol went to the speakers dinner – Way to go Carol!), so I took a evening stroll in Little Italy with was lovely, the weather was warm, the sea breeze was refreshing, I even saw some really interesting windows.

: Cool Little Itally Metal Placards – These were all over trashcans and metal chairs to let you know the neighborhood you were in.

: A hippy frog in a store window.

: I stopped into an art/crafts store on the way through little Itally and just had to snap a photo of this awesome color/texture combination.

Saturday was the main day of WordCamp San Diego, it was so great to meet Austin Passy in person as well as hang out with all the regular WordCamp peeps like Dre Armeda of Sucuri and Chris Lema. Loved the content, and it was great to see the way another city does WordCamp.

Carol’s session was a big hit, and it was so awesome to see someone who I taught WordPress 101 to at a Phoenix WordCamp speaking only a few years later at another city’s WordCamp! Go Carol!

At the after party, Phoenix WordPress peeps Carol, Cody, and Josh Stebel from Page.ly got together for drinks, while mingling with the rest of the peeps enjoying free drink tickets thanks to WordCamp San Diego. After everyone was good a liquored up, Chris Lema broke out Cards Against Humanity.

Now, I love this card game so much I bought my own copy right after I got back into town, but let me tell you this game is not for the faint-of-heart or easily offended. It is after all, a card game for “horrible” people.

It is a really great concept, and I love the way the creators have crowd-sourced their cards and made the cards available for people to print out their own decks.

Sunday, WordCamp San Diego did a business development / for WordPress developers day where the best of the best talked about how those of us who contribute to and help set up others on WordPress can do business better. Got a ton of great notes about contracts, dealing with clients, and making my own schedule.

By the afternoon, Carol and I were ready to go home. Our brains were full and our minds inspired, we packed up the car and said good bye to WordCamp San Diego.

Such a great trip!

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-10-07

RT @simonsinek: Listening is not understanding the words of the question asked, listening is understanding why the question was asked in… #

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Introducing the #mbnetwork

Excited to be introducing the #mbnetwork, a collection of awesome freelance and small shops that I highly recommend to help facilitate getting your great work out there. I realized early that you can’t do it all by yourself, but if you get a team of people united under a common goal you can get a [...]