Tips for The Trails

Great blog by runner Erica Whitfield, if you are getting ready for Seashore Nature Trail 50K

The Whitfield Creative

One of the perks of living near a state park is having access to trails to run on a regular basis. It took me about 5 years to realize there were actually trails nearby my home.  I have been a road runner most of my life, and up until that point, I had done nothing on trails other than hike with family. Running on trails was a completely foreign, and somewhat scary concept.

After I completed my very first marathon at the OBX Marathon in 2011, I was itching for another running goal that would push beyond my comfort zone and scare me and excite me all at once. I hastily signed up for the Seashore Nature Trail 50k. Now here’s the thing about being a road runner; you ALWAYS run on the road. How in the world was I going to run an entire race, in fact 31.07 miles…

View original post 447 more words

New Website — please follow SMSimplifier

Social Media Simplifier’s website has been transferred over to WIX – much more simple to use and although we’re not taking this down, we wanted to make sure you found new client blogs, testimonials, pricing for Facebook and Pinterest and Graphics and got your questions answered about Do-It-Yourself Social media coaching from SMSimplifier

Social Media Simplifier, Williamsburg, SMSimplifier, Wendy Craighill, Facebook

 

 

Follow Social Media Simplifier in Williamsburg!

Our blog is now here! Thank you for continuing to support this small business, in Williamsburg. SMSimplifier and Wendy Craighill writes blogs, creates graphics (even creates videos) and propels small businesses forward with a clear-cut marketing plan. Our pricing is here (it starts at only $12 a month!) and our perfect customer is a small business that the owner/operator is a one-person show – we can take this seemingly daunting task off your plate. Social Media Simplifier serves Williamsburg, Yorktown, Newport News and Richmond – we can even do candid photography and manage your reviews, as part of our monthly retainer. We don’t charge by the hour – we charge by the services we offer, by the month – an annual contract is typical. THANKS for following!

Give us a call for coaching or to start working towards YOUR goals: 757-328-8884

Hello 2016 – please find our new site and new prices below:

Thanks for continuing to follow us and read the blog and recommend us to the small businesses, in Williamsburg! Thanks for the growth last year! Meanwhile, please find us at http://www.SMSimplifier.com Our pricing is there, our new packages are there and the latest blogs.

Love Sport? Love Art? Love music?

Mr Williamsburg, Revolutionary ideas on real estate!Hampton Roads Virginia

The City of Williamsburg, a known “bicycling community” and a designated “Bike Friendly Community” by The League of American Bicyclists, is a perfect location for Spoke & Art, a one-week long combination sport, art and culinary event that will take place on the lawn of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg on Francis Street (formerly the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Art Museum) beginning today through Sunday, September 27, 2015. 326 West Francis Street in Colonial Williamsburg.

Under the Spoke & Art tent you will find a pop-up sports bar, The HandleBar, with a big screen TV to watch the races in real-time; fresh, local restaurant food and beverage for purchase and a gallery of sports paintings, sculptures and photography curated by John Lee Matney, owner of Linda Matney Art Gallery, plus a large display of Las Bicicletas bicycle sculptures in three sizes to purchase and enjoy.

Come out for lunch…

View original post 114 more words

FIND OUR NEW WEBSITE

Thanks so much for all the follows, shares, and LIKES 🙂

We have updated our hosting/provider and have moved our website to www.SMSimplifier.com

GO THERE NOW!

Why Should a Business have a blog?

Blogs have the reputation of being a personal soapbox; there is some truth to that, of course. They are personal opinions, slanted towards using the blogger’s services. Blogging is the new marketing tool and is, perhaps, just as important as Facebook or Twitter. Why? Because blogging will always include a company website, the Facebook fan page, or a phone number. Blogging will, usually, include key words that would be used for Search Engine Optimization.

Bottom line: there are several benefits to launching your own business blog. Here are my Top Ten Reasons to Blog:

1. They allow regular communication with your clients – they aren’t intrusive. Users need to “Opt In” or seek a URL
2. They communicate with colleagues, partners, and vendors
3. They establish a brand or reputation
4. They provide technical support
5. They show competitive differentiation
6. They act as a press release to announce organizational news and promotions
7. They are community builders (when comments or sharing are encouraged)
8. They allow businesses to have a more distinctive voice
9. They are more easily searchable than email or instant messaging (they become a knowledge-base archive)
10. Blogging adds personality to your business and compliments your corporate website with the more personal side of marketing, very similarly to posting on social websites like Facebook or Twitter

Blogging is your next step of your marketing plan. Regular blogging can be time consuming, but blogging regularly is just as important as the blog, itself. Want someone else to do your business’s blogging for you? Social Media Simplifier can do just that! Call (757-328-8884) or email (SMSimplifier@gmail.com) for a proposal, today!

Out of curiosity: What blogs do you subscribe to?

2015= Changes + Growth. What if you fail? What if you FLY?

Life in Williamsburg is exciting and business charges are exciting. I have a new partner (Sommer Chavez) and homelife is well… crazy and out-of-control (that is what you get with 2 tiny boys – both with the energy of the Tasmanian Devil!) Sometimes, I lay awake at night, panicking. Wondering if I am traveling down the wrong path. If I have made a wrong turn? If I am not asking (or listening)for God’s direction.

What if I fall? Oh, my darling, what if you FLY?

Change can be terrifying. Change can be a mistake. Or is any change really a mistake? Don’t we learn and regroup and learn and switch back, again, all the time? I do with my child rearing. I do with my rituals and habits. The same thing can happen for SMSimplifier. Or, it could be my best year yet!  Wish me luck – because I have always wanted to fly…..

Your 2015 Business Plan – Stop Dabbling, Delaying, & Dilly-Dallying!

You KNOW it is time to move your marketing plan forward for your business. Something is always holding you back. A slow season, a health issue, family problems, or a vacation coming up. The problem with this kind of limiting thinking is that your business may NEVER reach its potential. How do you move forward to make your business and 2015 the best year ever? Create a NEW Social Media habit!

Start your new habit the SAME way for the first 10 days.

We cannot sustain motivation through willpower, alone, as much as we WANT to or reward ourselves. So, if you want 2105 to be your biggest and best year, yet, you are not going to will it into existence. If you keep doing the SAME thing but really WANT something else, you are going to get the same result. So, if rewards and desire are not enough, what IS the secret to change? It is super simple, really, and it does take some willpower. It is called The New Habit!

1. Do the new thing or the new procedure, in the same way, for a minimum of 31 days. (some say 10 days, some say that 21 is the  magic number – I am going to round it up to make SURE it is a habit). Do this NEW procedure for a full 31 days – a full month!
2. You need to make the habit have the least resistance. (Example: get rid of all the junk food in the house and have ONLY fresh fruit and high quality snacks in the house).
3. Have a HUGE amount of energy when you first begin the new habit (the first 10 days of the habit). This is the time when the OLD habits are trying really hard to pull you back into the comfort zone of the way that it has always been. Be rested. Be excited. Reward yourself, often.
4. Start the SAME way every day. Don’t deviate from the start procedure. You end up getting into a groove that puts you on automatic pilot fairly quickly.
5. START NOW. Don’t delay, anymore. Because January has only just started, the more productive you become, NOW, the more empowered you are to manifest the best year of your life!

Real-Life Example: Let’s walk through your Social Media Habit, for 2015:

• Grab your bottle of cold water and put it on your desk.
• Turn on the same song.
• Sit down at your computer (don’t open your email or your personal profiles in Facebook).
• Look at your list that you have created (highest priority tasks, first), put a pen next to it.
• Log into Pinterest and Repin two Pins. Take a sip of water and check off task.
• Log into Constant Contact. View results of last campaign. Write and schedule next newsletter. Copy text of newsletter placing on clipboard. Take a sip of water and check off task.
• Log into blog. Paste text from clipboard. Add photos, tags, and appropriate categories. Check SEO. Spell check. Schedule. Reply to any comments of older blogs. Delete any spam. Take a sip of water and check off task.
• Share blog with Google +
• Share blog with LinkedIn
• Log into Facebook. Like any comments, posts to page, or reviews. Answer all of your business page’s messages, and schedule 2 posts (NOTE: Do not go into personal profile). Take a sip of water and check off task.
• Log into Twitter. Retweet 2 tweets. Thank any new Followers. Take a sip of water and check off task.
• Log into TripAdvisor. Answer reviews. Take a sip of water and check off task.
• Log into Yelp. Answer reviews. Take a sip of water and check off task.
• CONGRATULATE yourself – you are on your way to your BEST year ever!

If this list is too much for you to handle, start small and just do ONE Social Media channel. If you need help and want to outsource, we hope you’ll consider SMSimplifier!

Pinterest – businesses must do this for Search Ranking!

Pinterest is my latest love. Love the creativity. Love the graphics. Love the story that the Pin needs to tell BEFORE you open the Pin up for comments. What does a Pinterest account NEED to improve SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and improve Search Ranking:

1) Board search ranking includes:

– Board name and description
– Board categorization
– Repins from the board
– Number of followers and quality of those followers
– How active the board is
– Who the board creator is and his/her profile search ranking

2)  Pin search ranking includes:
– Pin description text matching
– Board the pin belongs to
– Number of repins
– Who pinned it and his/her quality signals

3) Pinner search ranking includes:
– Name
– Number of followers and the quality of those followers
– User activity (including frequency of pinning)
– Social connection (e.g. if I follow the Pinner, they’ll show up higher)
– Verified domain

Always, Always, Always point back to your own website with your Custom Pins. We do custom Pins for our customers. Are you using Pinterest for your business? And what is your business?