​Marketing Made Smarter
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AI is transforming how small businesses approach marketing, making campaigns more targeted and effective than ever before.
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• Content Creation: AI writing assistants like Jasper.ai and Copy.ai can help you quickly generate high-quality content, including blog posts, product descriptions, email copy, and social media captions. You can even train them to match your specific brand voice and tone. Team-GPT offers a platform for teams to collaborate with various AI models for content creation.
• SEO Optimization: Tools like Frase.io and Surfer SEO utilize AI to analyze search engine results, identify relevant keywords, and optimize your content for better visibility in search rankings.
• Social Media Management: Platforms such as Buffer and Hootsuite leverage AI to help you write engaging posts, schedule content for optimal timing, and even analyze trends and track performance across various social media channels.
• Email Marketing: AI-powered tools can personalize email content and recommendations based on individual customer behavior, helping to boost engagement and conversion rates. Mailmodo notes that marketers using AI for email personalization have seen a 41% increase in revenue.

Website Development Simplified

Gone are the days when creating a professional website required extensive coding skills or a hefty budget. AI website builders are making it easier than ever for small businesses to get online and establish a strong digital presence.
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• AI Website Builders: Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and Hostinger utilize AI to guide you through the website creation process. They can generate tailored designs based on your industry and preferences, suggest content, and even optimize for SEO. Wix, for example, allows you to create a custom website simply by answering a few questions about your business.
• Website Content and Optimization: AI text creators can generate compelling website copy, product descriptions, and even blog posts, saving you time and effort. AI can also suggest SEO improvements and analyze user behavior to optimize your site's performance.

Graphic Design Made Easy
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Creating visually appealing marketing materials no longer requires a degree in graphic design. AI tools are democratizing design, allowing small businesses to create stunning visuals quickly and affordably.
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• Logo and Branding: Tools like Looka use AI to generate unique logos and complete brand kits, including business cards, letterheads, and email signatures, helping you establish a professional brand identity in minutes.
• Image Generation and Editing: AI image generators like DALL-E 3 and Midjourney can create custom visuals from text prompts. You can also leverage tools like Adobe Firefly or Canva with Magic Studio to enhance existing images, remove backgrounds, and create stunning graphics for social media, presentations, and more.
• Visual Content Creation: AI tools can help create a range of visuals, from infographics and presentations to reports and social media graphics. Piktochart notes that Piktochart AI can turn text into a visual in minutes.

Embracing the AI Revolution

The key takeaway is that AI is not here to replace human ingenuity but to augment it. By embracing these new AI tools, small business owners can streamline their operations, save time and money, personalize customer experiences, and make smarter, data-driven decisions. Whether it’s automating routine tasks, creating compelling content, building a stunning website, or designing engaging visuals, AI empowers you to achieve more with less.
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The future of small business success lies in adopting and effectively leveraging these powerful AI tools. Explore the options mentioned above, experiment with free trials, and discover how AI can become your invaluable partner in growing and scaling your business in the digital age.

Feel free to reach out to Lamb Consulting to assist with any AI-assisted technology for marketing your small business.

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Note: And Yes, of course AI was used to draft this blog post! 

I’ll admit, I’ve gotten lucky with my own small business and I’m booked solid with clients and projects. The downside is that I find myself turning down a lot of requests from other small business owners. So, this blog post is for them - for those small business owners, nonprofits and solo healthcare providers who might be able to do some of their own marketing work. Hopefully it’s helpful advice and my own recommendations for tools and tips that I’ve learned throughout the past 15+ years consulting with other small business owners  and nonprofits. 
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Put One Foot in Front of the Other.
In the words of Kris Kringle advising the Warlock, just get started walking forward. Commit to doing one thing to help your business each week or each month - whether it’s writing a blog post (see what I did there), organizing your email contacts, or crafting your own social media posts regularly, you can start the ball rolling on your own marketing.

Improve Your Website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

​SEO is simply the art of improving your rankings with websites like Google. We don’t know the secret recipe to Google’s algorithm but we can play their game and set websites up for success by doing the basics.

1. The SEO Basics

• Write Custom Page Titles

Each page on your website has a page title and these are written for search engines. This is where you want to use the main keywords that anyone might use to search for a business like yours. You should review each of your page titles and write or re-write each one and describe the context or purpose of your page. These should be 60-70 characters max, including spaces.

• Write Custom Page Descriptions

While page titles are written for search engines like Google, page descriptions should be written for humans - people read these so sell your services here. Limit these to 155-160  characters including spaces - similar to one long sentence.

• Add Image Descriptions

Last, remember to write write image descriptions for any image on your site that isn’t considered decorative. These are also known as image alt tags and should describe the intent of the image and be no more than about 10 words long.

• Keywords

Keywords aren’t a thing anymore. Search engines basically create your keywords for you by using the content in your url and on your page. If you’re concerned about keywords - start by making sure you use them on your page more than once.


2. SEO Next Level
Other things you can do after the basics are completed include the following:

• Increase links to your website

Link authority matters - update any directories or free listings online - claim them all and keep increasing in quantity moving forward - even if just a little.

• Review your web content

Are you using popular search terms on your pages? Are those popular search terms getting used in paragraph titles also? Your paragraph titles are called H1’s - there should be one on every page and it should be similar to the page title.

• Update your website more often

Fresh content is noticed - this is a great reason to have a blog ;-)

• How fast is your website - especially on mobile devices?

If it’s too slow, check your image sizes - are they too big? Are your pages too large/lengthy?



Free Tools For Small Business Websites

Here's a short list of common free tools you can - and probably should - be using:
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• Google Analytics - Use this for website tracking info.
• Google Search Console - This tool tells Google your website exists.
• Google Business - Get found on maps or just claim this free business listing and don’t share an address - it’s important to have and make sure it’s accurate.
• Find out how your website is doing with this tool: website.grader.com.
• Try thinkwithgoogle.com/testmysite - Another free website grader tool.
• ADA Compliance - Check your site for accessibility improvements you could make.
• Check your site for broken links with this free tool.
• Go to debbielamb.com/tips - General small biz tips from this Northern California marketing consultant (this is me promoting my own website!). 

Email Marketing 

Email marketing works - surprising but true. Below are a few ways to get started.

• Begin small maybe - with your inner circle. It’s ok to include relatives when starting out.
• If you’re hesitating on using email, consider the possibility you might write a book one day. Publishers care how many contacts & followers you have. 
• Find a professional email service like Mailchimp or Constant Contact - both have free plans. Your emails will look more professional and you won’t have to personally update your list with any unsubscribe requests or old, dead email addresses.
• When emailing, keep messages simple and of single focus when possible. Also, it depends on your industry but typically you’ll want to send out emails mid-week.
• Last - Keep your email list alive by emailing folks once or twice a year at a minimum. You don’t want to email folks after 5 years and find that half your list is now full of bad email addresses.

Advertising

There are lots of places out there to advertise. The trick is in finding what works for your business.
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• Google is still Queen - however it’s a bit geeked out for non-advertising folks. You may want to get help setting these up. If you’re spending money on ads, you should probably make extra sure it’s not wasted.
• The number one mistake most folks make is the don’t target their ads enough. Most folks have a fear of missing out (FOMO) and want to make sure everyone sees their message. Just remember, you don’t have Michelle Obama’s book publisher’s advertising budget - you have to spend your ad money on ads most likely to convert.
• Check out other places to advertising that might be easier to set up on your own. NextDoor is a great one for advertising/running special offers easily.
• Facebook makes it easy for you to run ads also but it’s not a good fit for all types of businesses.

Overwhelmed?
​Sorry about that. If I lost you, just return to Kris Kringle’s great words of advice and put one foot in front of the other - just pick one thing and ignore the rest for now. Think of this all like a snowball rolling downhill - it will grow - and so will your business! It just needs a push. You’ve got this!

For the past month, I’ve worked with dozens of small business owners in response to the pandemic and shutdowns. One thing is clear: every small business owner is impacted in some way. For some, business is better than ever (mine included). For others, they’re on the brink of bankruptcy. While these recommendations might not be able to help everyone, hopefully it will provide a lift for a few in this humble attempt to be of service during this weird world we’re all living in right now.


Below are 8 resources and suggestions that small business owners might find useful as they navigate the ebb and flow of running a business during a lockdown:


1. Small Business Loans
The Small Business Administration (SBA) are now providing targeted, low-interest loans (and some grants) to small businesses and non-profits that have been severely impacted by COVID-19.


2. Communicate Updates About Your Business or Nonprofit
Surprisingly, many small business owners have not added any language to their websites addressing any changes or updates regarding the pandemic and how it relates to their practice or business. Are you open or closed? It may seem obvious but it’s worth noting on your website. Also, several online tools are helping address changes by trying to make it easier for you to share updates. Google Business added a few tools so that you can provide a link to your website’s pandemic updates, post an update or mark your business as temporarily closed. You can also adjust your hours temporarily on your Google Business listing.

3. Small Business Development Center Support
There are SBDC’s all over the United States and they offer tons of tips and suggestions. Through this pandemic, most have created special pages on their websites, like Northern California’s SBDC that includes webinars, advice and resources. You generally don’t have to sign up, be a member at all - SBDC’s are free resources run by the Small Biz Administration.


4. Chamber of Commerce Financial Assistance and Advice
Similar to the SBDC, there are Chambers of Commerce all over the U.S. These groups are membership supported but they do offer lots of free advice online. Find your regional Chamber and what they offer at the Chamber Foundation website.


5. Small Business Grants
New grants are appearing daily right now to help small businesses. Maybe spend some time applying for a few if your business is underwater:

• Facebook’s Small Business Grants Program - If you have 2-50 employees
• Some Grants Are State Specific - Here’s a list one website put together
• Yelp Freebies - Yelp is offering free ads and page upgrades
• 2020 Small Biz Grants - Another good list of grants on Bench.co
• Last, many grants are city, county or state specific, so a simple google search for your area might be worth doing too. Others are industry specific, so look for an association for your industry where you might find more ideas.

6. On-Site Safety Suggestions
If your business is opening soon, there are some steps you should take to keep yourself, your employees and your clients safe. The CDC’s workplace outbreak guidance provides advice to help your business mitigate transmission at your organization.


7. Get Creative
This might be a great time to reinvent your business or practice. One small restaurant in Benicia California started selling it’s own stock of food supplies when grocery shelves started going empty. And distilleries everywhere are changing their manufacturing from alcohol to hand sanitizer. Maybe set up a zoom call with fellow business owners and bounce ideas of each other or find out how you can help others stay afloat.


8. Learn Something New
Sharpening your teleconferencing skills an learning about Zoom green screens is something we’re all doing but you might want to take it a step further and consider online classes or certifications that you’ve put off because you didn’t have the time. If a course you’ve wanted to take previously wasn’t available online before, check again. You might be surprised how quickly some curriculum providers have adjusted to tele-sessions. CNBC provided this list of free online college courses you can take now and Linkedin provides a free month of online learning for professionals. Other big online learning websites include Udemy, Allison and Coursera.


Whatever floats your boat - this marketing consultant wishes smooth sailing for us all.
​Stay safe everyone and please keep washing those hands!

2020 - Wow. Here we are, in a decade we couldn’t have imagined back in high school but, thanks to television, had visions of flying cars, robots, and time travel in a DeLoreon. We’ve sort of gotten 2 out of 3 with self-driving cars and Roomba vacuum cleaners (wish I had invented that one). I won’t be holding my breath on the time travel, despite social media’s efforts to remind me what I did last summer. And now, let’s travel back to the topic at hand which is improving your small business website in 2020.
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I’ve had the luxury of working with scores of varying types of business over the years. I’ve helped countless small psychotherapy practices, chiropractors, small furniture stores, bed and breakfast inns and many nonprofit organizations. There are some things that cross all lines of business, so here’s my attempt to  cover most everyone with a few quick recommendations to help you improve your small business website in 2020.


1. Double check all those things you should’ve done in 2019 such as:

• Make sure your website’s address or url begins with https and not http. I’ve talked to several small business owners who thought their website was secured with an SSL certificate only to learn that it was never enabled. Without a secure website, Google has probably lowered your search engine ranking and lots of visitors may have arrived on your site only to be greeting with a scary security warning.
• Take a look at your website on your cell phone and your tablet device and make sure it looks decent. Your website should be responsive which means it should respond to the size of any screen. Another way to check your website’s responsive design is to simply shrink the size of your browser on any computer and watch as your site adjusts accordingly. If you shrink the size of your browser and your site doesn’t adjust the look & feel, then you do not have a responsive site. This is also problematic when it comes to your search engine rankings.

​2. ADA accessibility is becoming increasingly important for websites. There are a variety of standards for judging websites but if you’re a small business, you could simply add a widget or plugin to your site (for free) and that will help you become compliant on a basic level. Take a look in the lower right hand corner of my website, debbielamb.com and you’ll see a free tool called UserWay that is easy to add to sites and also provides a free accessibility statement template you can add to your site. You may not realize your website could give some people seizures do to your creative colors or animations and this app could seriously help those with disabilities. To check your website’s web accessibility, you can use webaccessibility.com, a free and easy tool that will even give your website a score and show you where you can improve.

3. Keep improving your SEO. I often tell folks that if you can’t be found on Google, your very existence (as a business) is an issue. There are several easy ways to check your site’s search engine  results:

• The easiest is to visit ToTheWeb.com and enter any page from your website. You can easily view your site’s page title and page description that Google is using to show those searching for you.
• A more in-depth check is possible by using SEOSiteCheckup.com.  This tool will tell you what your Google search listing looks like, in addition to a whole host of other issues your site probably has (we all have them) and where you can improve.

4. It’s a new decade and with it should come new content. When is the last time you added anything new to your site (and a new employee photo doesn’t count)?

• Blogs are great for adding fresh new content (case in point here as you’re reading one!).
• Other ways to add fresh new content to your site might include breaking out one of your pages on your site into two by separating lines of business. For example, you might take your Services offerings page and split it into one for larger clientele and one specifically for smaller clients or customers. Then, maybe write an introductory paragraph that speaks to that targeted group of visitors on your site.

5. Interact. Period. I have numerous clients who say that, once they’re able to interact with a potential customer, they typically make a sale. In other words, their close rate is very high (yours truly included). So, if a website is typically one of the first connection points, take a look at yours and figure out how many opportunities people have to interact with your business. Surprisingly, most websites only offer their phone number, email address, social media links and maybe even their fax number. There are so many ways you can easily make your site more interactive in 2020.

• One suggestion is to simply adding an address look-up tool to your site so folks can easily figure out if your business services their area.
• Another idea to make your website more interactive is to add a live chat window to your site where folks can ask quick questions. These tools are easy to add to your website and easy to turn on/off. Plus, it makes it easy for visitors to ‘leave a message’ when you’re away and your business appears more accessible.

Whatever you do in 2020, it’s sure to be an improvement. Good for you for doing your research and continuing to improve your business moving into the next decade. Maybe by 2030 we’ll have mastered that time travel thing & return to 2020 and pat ourselves on the back for today!

Google Ads are somehow still mysterious to many small business owners so I thought it might be useful to give a top level mini-overview via my oh so awesome blog. 

On a very basic level, running ads on Google means that when someone searches for something on the internet, an Ad you create appears. It's noted with the word 'Ad' in front of it and is typically at the top of the page. Ads appear when the keywords we choose match a person's search online. So, if you're a Chiropractor, we add that word (and dozens of others) to a list of words or phrases people might type into Google when looking for a healthcare practice like yours. 

There are many ways to advertise using Google's Ad platform and the search method mentioned above is just one of them. Google also has partnerships with many websites that also show their ads. So, after someone does an online search, these ads will begin to appear on other websites that person/computer visits. A third way that ads are delivered to people is by matching the Advertiser's keywords with a news article or blog post's keywords. So, a person could be reading an article about back pain, for example, and Google would be showing ads for local Chiropractors on that page even though the reader might not have conducted a search yet for one.

Negative Keywords
In addition to creating keywords, I also recommend adding negative keywords. For example, if you're a Psychotherapist, we would add the keyword 'therapist' to your ad campaign. Meanwhile we would also add the word 'massage' as a negative keyword so that anytime a search term includes massage (i.e. massage therapist), the ads would not appear.

Targeting Your Ads
Google also allows for several ways we can target folks, such as geographically (within 7 miles of your business), demographically (only 25-54 year olds for example) and psychographically (i.e. by topics of interest).

Cost of Google Ads
How much does it cost? That's a common question and there's no easy answer. You can set up ads to pay by the click (or website visit) on the ads, or by reach (the number of impressions or people who see your ad) just to name a few. Google sets their prices using auction bidding which means the more businesses like yours buying ads in the same region at the same time, the higher the prices.  I've seen some ads only get charged 5 cents per click and others charged $20 per click. Bottom line, it depends and it changes. I've seen Psychologists generate new clients by only spending $150/month and I've seen B2B businesses spend $400 month for similar results. It's different for every business. 

Are You Ready?
One last thing worth mentioning is that, in addition to effective online ads, the website where the person lands is also important. So, if you're advertising furniture your store sells but your website doesn't currently have any chairs in stock (and that's one of your keywords), then your ads might not do as well. The website has to be ready to accept new visitors who don't know your business - in other words it needs to be friendly to outsiders first. 

Of course, I'm happy to help, reach out if you'd like to set up a complimentary phone call to discuss. Thanks for reading!

If you've ever had to edit a website in Wordpress then you'll understand what I know: Wordpress sucks.

Harsh words, I realize (sorry Wordpress, it's me, not you).

Here's the thing they don't tell you - it's clunky. And time-consuming. And NOT intuitive (don't believe anyone who tells you it's easy - because it's not). That said, I do recommend Wordpress for a small handful of clients. But you're probably not one of them.

Wordpress is loved by many. Which many? The many Coders out there, that's who. Honestly, unless you write HTML or CSS code and/or enjoy spending lots of time on computers, stay away from Wordpress.

I have created scores of websites for small business owners and individual health practitioners and the reason I often recommend web platforms like Weebly, Squarespace or Wix is because they are EASY. Many of my clients want their sites built for them but would like to be able to make simple updates on their own or train their staff to manage updates moving forward. Wordpress will take double or triple the time for folks to learn their platform and update their website. They're just not worth the time. And they might save you fifty or a hundred bucks a year if you go with their free version (which I don't recommend usually), but you'll lose that money in the time it will take to work on your site.

I've read lots of blogs and articles in favor of Wordpress and frankly, I don't see anything extraordinary worth the hassle. From what I've seen, the folks who still love Wordpress are people like me, or Coders or tech geeks. Regular small business owners should use something simpler - there's just no up side to using Wordpress. The upside comes when you are a bigger business and can hire those Coders to move your site to Wordpress. But if you're starting out, or your competition doesn't go beyond 7 miles from your geographic location, you don't need the most clunky web editing platform you can find. You need quick & easy - something that does an equally great job but takes half the time.

I've been using Weebly and Wix for over 10 years and Weebly is by far, better and cheaper than any other web editing platform out there. Squarespace is now a close second in my opinion. And don't get me started on Godaddy's website editing platform (if you can call it that).

At the end of the day, I recommend and use the content management systems that work for any given client. But seriously - don't use Wordpress if you can help it. You'll thank me later. 

Your small business website might start having issues in 2018 if your domain doesn't begin with https:. The reason is that Google has begun lowering the ranking of sites without it. Since Google gets 70-80% of all searches in the U.S., this is important.

Years ago, you only needed an SSL certificate (which will convert your site from HTTP to HTTPS) if you were selling something on your site. But now, there are concerns that any website with a form (contact or email signups for example) could be hacked and therefore, require more security. 

How do you know if your site has SSL security or not?
Open your website up in your browser - Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc. - and look for an exclamation point or error message near your website domain name. The image to the right here shows what it will look like in Chrome if your site has an http: address. 

How do you fix this HTTPS thing?
Many web hosting platforms like Weebly or Wix allow you to simply enable SSL security for free with any paid hosting plan. Once enabled, all you have to do is publish your site.

The next thing to do is change your settings in Google Analytics (there's a simple drop down menu for this change) and set up  a new site listing in Google Search Console (no, sadly you can't just switch the old one like with Analytics).

If you use Wordpress or another web host you may have to purchase an SSL certificate from your domain registrar (i.e. Godaddy or Network Solutions).

How urgent is this SSL stuff?
Not as urgent as making sure your domain is renewed each year but I'd recommend that no small business end 2018 without having fixed this.

Interested in getting help with updating the SSL on your site?
Why contact Lamb Consulting of course.

Interested in doing it yourself?
Here's a good tutorial on Google for you.

Eight days into the new year and many are just returning to work and wondering what 2018 will bring for their small business. As a small business consultant, Lamb Consulting sees a wide range of people running their own company but a few things cross all industries as ways nearly everyone can work to begin their new year on a better note. 

1. Update Your Email Lists
For many small business owners, this one falls by the wayside because they feel they are the only ones who know all their clients and industry colleagues. If that sounds familiar, there's no better time than January in a new year to get your email contact lists updated and organized. Referrals will always be your top driver of new business so why put this one off any longer? If using a mail service like Mailchimp or Constant Contact, make it easy on yourself and simply begin by making sure all your contacts there have a first name so you can personalize your emails. Once that's done, work on segmenting your lists into Groups so you can further customize messages. One group could be labeled clients, customers or patients while another could be sectioned off as friends/family. Trust me on this one - it's worth the time.

2. Backup Everything
If you remember Y2K, this is a no-brainer. Every New Year's is an opportunity to remember to backup your files, photos, data, email lists and your website. Dropbox is a great tool (free for the first 2 gigs of space) backing up on the cloud so you can access data from other devices but I'd also suggest a physical, external backup device. For my clients, I download and backup their websites every year - easy to do if you're using Weebly or another web service that doesn't charge extra for such services.

3. Map Out Your Marketing Plan
Sure, you may know that 1st Quarter is your slowest time period and that 2nd Quarter is crazy busy but have you ever written all this down in a clear, concise plan? Even the act of writing or typing out your yearly marketing plan has value - you may come up with new ideas as you're writing it or if you show it to someone else, they could add suggestions you've not considered. It may seem clear to you but it could definitely help you to have a second set of eyes (even a marketing professional - see what I did there?). Draft it up, share with others for ideas/feedback and return to it every year. The upside here is that if you ever plan to sell your business or expand, you'll have a marketing plan that will articulate everything about your business or health practice that you want to share with them.

4. Next Level Success
Do you already know where you want to be in 5 years? Whether you are open to the idea of writing a book or retiring in Hawaii, now is probably a good time to prepare accordingly. If you're planning for retirement, begin looking at websites like BusinessesForSale.com or BizBuySell and see what the competition looks like. You may get some great ideas for how to build your business now, in preparation for your retirement.

If writing a book or starting a blog is in your plans, one big selling point for publishers is how many followers you have on your social media networks. Start beefing those accounts up now by running small ad campaigns to increase your base so there's a built-in audience when you need one.


Whatever you do, it will be awesome - believe it!


Side Note: I was inspired to write this piece after seeing a similar one on Entrepreneur.com - feel free to check out their piece: "4 Things You Should Do To Prepare Your Small Business for 2018."

For the 3rd year in a row, Lamb Consulting is so grateful to have been named the winner of the "Best Graphic Design" award in Solano County by the readers of Vallejo Times-Herald newspaper. 

"Vallejo has been such a great place to call home for 17 years, and it's the perfect place to win such an honor" said Debbie Lamb, Owner of Lamb Consulting marketing agency. "I'm really blessed to have so many clients here in Vallejo, Benicia and Solano County and I have a  feeling some of these fine folks are responsible for this "Best Of" award. 

Lamb Consulting is also proud to announce several clients were also included in this year's honors, including The Inn at Benicia Bay, Vallejo Chiropractic and Axelrode Orthodontics. For a full list, visit the News page on this website.