One of our favorite local clients is BuffaloJackson.com.  They are a e-commerce brand focused on classic vintage leather goods and men's American apparel.   It embodies clothing your grandfather would be proud of.  We love getting to work with the team over at the Buffalo Jackson Trading Co. and not only how they tell a great story but their products are even better and high quality.   We helped them concept a Wit & Wisdom series that features other vintage items and local businesses in Matthews, NC.  "Cast Iron" is on our favorites and really helps connect us to past when we cook.   

I can almost taste those eggs over easy and that cowboy steak sizzling on the grill....  #honoryouwild

The number one question we are asked is "How can we get more qualified traffic to my website?"

2 Ways to do that at a low cost are using social links and multimedia content to increase your site’s traffic like

Here's why and how:

Free visitors from your social profiles - A great way to get more traffic is by converting your site visitors to social media followers with social media links and be sure to update your social media profiles regularly so users come back to your site. This is an area that many businesses misunderstand. Having fresh social media updates shows that your business is relevant to the search engines.

Visual content is processed 60,000 times faster - Images will also help you get visitors from search engines' image search. If you already have videos on Vimeo and Youtube, embed to your site to better engage your visitors with dynamic content. Make sure your site videos are tagged properly and linked to your website in the descriptions. This will help you SEO efforts as well and help boost ranking over time.

Win at video search before anyone else - HD audio and video will engage your visitors and increase your site ranking. HD video specifically will bring you visitors from search engines' video search.

Have more questions on how to drive more traffic to your website. Contact Banyan Creative.

I

“Daddy, watch! No, Daddy - keep watching! Watch, watch, watch…”

Why does my young son neurotically repeat “watch” through the duration of his latest trick? It’s heartbreaking, really. He has learned to fight for my attention. But, who is he fighting against?

Sadly, it’s me.

I am a small business owner. I love my family, and I love my work (usually). As a business owner, the world’s current technology is incredible, because it allows me to blur the line between work and home, and I am accessible to my business 24/7. This technology is also crippling. Because it allows me to blur the line between work and home, and I am accessible to my business 24/7.

But this isn’t an article about being a better father. (We already know being less busy would make us better parents.)

This is an article about being a better business owner. Being a guy or gal like me, out there with his nose to the grindstone, working it out, getting this small business off the ground, keeping it afloat, or finally seeing growth and just trying to keep up. No wonder we’re busy! I mean, it’s practically in the job title: business owner… busy-ness owner…

Busy means better. Busy means money. Busy means successful.  Busy means accomplishment. Busy means fulfilling your business goals and dreams.

RIght?

Not necessarily.

Actually, probably not.

Busy-ness, even as a business owner, is a disease: the dis-ease of a jam-packed schedule and mind, void of margin.

If you suffer from the Busy Business Owner Disease (or want to prevent contracting it) these 3 tips will help:

3 Tips for the Busy Business Owner

1. Remember

​Why did you start your business? Why are you still in this business? Keep these answers in front of you: they are your Why. Whether in words, in pictures, or a combination, keep your Why in front of your face. Your Why may be your family. It may be a cause you want to champion. It could be any number of things, and your Why will not be the same as someone else’s. Keep a Why reminder in your calendar; tape it inside a paper calendar (yes, I know some of you still use those), or set it as the wallpaper on the electronic device you use instead. Keep a Why reminder where you make decisions about how you spend your time and your resources; this could be your desk, your car, or even the shower. Identify your Why, own it, and keep it in front of you so you remember it when deciding how to spend your time.

2. Prioritize

“When deciding how to spend my time?” Yes, I know - especially as a business owner - it can often feel like you don’t really have a choice. There are things you just have to spend time doing. But even when responsibilities loom large, do not lose sight of your ownership: ownership of your business, yes, and ownership of your time. You have been entrusted with a certain amount of time on this earth; it is yours to invest, and the hard truth is this: how you invest your time reveals your priorities.Take the phrase, "I don't have time for that," and replace it with, "That is not a priority right now." If the sentence is still true when you say “it’s not a priority,” then you're right: you don't have time for it. But if "that is not a priority" doesn't sit well with you, then - if that thing/person/activity truly is a priority right now - you must find time for it (which may mean you don't have time for something else).
Don’t get me wrong: I am not saying you ought to only spend time on things you want to do. On the contrary (and again, even especially as a small business owner), we will often do things we don’t want to do -- but we ought to be doing those things because they are critical to what’s important to us. I don’t want to pay taxes. But not going to jail is important to me. So I pay taxes.How do you decide what’s important? You remember your Why and prioritize accordingly.

3. Edit

You’ve identified your Why, plastered pictures and quotes to remind you everywhere you look, and even your spouse is inspired on the daily. You’ve replaced, “I don’t have time for that,” with, “That is not a priority,” and have realigned your calendar to more accurately reflect your true priorities.
But you still feel BUSY.

When something comes up, you’re still scrambling. And to be honest, your Why was top-of-mind for all of three days. So here are the final hard questions: did you schedule time to remember why you started your business? Do you have space to remember who and what are important to you? Or are you too busy getting it all done?We can look to the design world to illustrate my point. Consider the most impactful websites, magazines, and newsletters -- and even the most impressive artwork or interior design. They all utilize what’s called white space. It’s the margin. It’s the space between. It’s the space in the room or on the page or the screen or the canvas that is just that: space.
​
White space appears to be unused, but really, it is extremely useful. Editing to include white space helps the page or the room appear less cluttered and creates room around the things that are there. Editing doesn’t mean to cut something out just for the sake of cutting it. Good editing, in this sense, makes room -- white space -- and allows the page to “breathe.” Ultimately, effectively editing and utilizing white space makes the difference between highlighting what is most important or having what’s most important get lost on the page.

Even as a business owner: more is not necessarily better. Busy is definitely not better. Just like editing on the page, when you carve out white space on your calendar and in your mind, your life has room to breathe, and the activity that remains has greater impact.

If you’ve run out of time to remember and prioritize, it’s time to edit.

And breathe.

Get more traffic to your website!

Are you ready to reach for the next level with your website? You could with these 5 tips: •

Be social! Share your site on social networks and add a Facebook like button to engage with fans. The more likes, the more likely it is you'll get visitors dropping by to see what all the fuss is about.

Improve your search ranking. Search is still the best discovery mechanism on the web. Employ smart long term SEO strategies to help others find you. SEO involves putting out high quality content that Google likes and people like to read.

Give your readers a helping hand. Make your site different by starting a blog that describes what you do and why. Your readers will thank you by coming back for more.

Keep them engaged all year long. Once you have a blog, starting a newsletter is easy. Add a sign up form and then set a delivery schedule. Every new issue will bring traffic.

Advertise your best content. Who says you have to do all the work? Create pay-per-click ad campaigns that use keywords to describe your site and watch the traffic roll in.

Need more help driving new traffic to your website. Contact Banyan Creative