What’s new at NextLevelVision.com

May 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

whats-new

Lots of excitement has been going on in the NextLevelVision.com office. Here’s some quick updates:

Spring Cleaning

We’ve rebranded our website using a theme on the Genesis platform. We started out with Thesis and still love it for it’s ease of configuration. Genesis is also very similar to Thesis in the SEO benefits and ability to quickly make changes without needing to pull your hair out.  If you haven’t been to the website lately, be sure to stop by and look around. If you have been thinking about refreshing the look, theme, feel and layout of your website, we’d be glad to help you find the right platform and theme to fit your business needs. Contact us and let us know how we can serve you!

Online Marketing Business Brand Checklist

Branding your business online can be confusing, stressful and overwhelming. There are so many tactics and strategies that it is often difficult to know what to do. We’ve created a checklist of what you need to do, step-by-step, to setup and implement all the pieces of a successful online branding strategy. Download your free copy today. http://nextlevelvision.com/online-business-brand-checklist-takes-guesswork/

New solution offering

With over 12 years of experience in program, project and product management we’ve decided to open our Virtual Project Management services up to our clients to help you be more effective and efficient with the work that needs to happen in your business. Undone work leaves money on the table and our goal is to ensure that you and your brand are being found, being heard and being profitable. If you need systems of processes created and documented, products launched, membership and coaching programs implemented, we are here to help turn your business goals into results. This frees you up to go be brilliant at what you do best.

Online Marketing Lunch and learn series

Each month I meet with savvy business owners and discuss online marketing topics that help them achieve results. The training is FREE, quick (only 30 minutes out of your day) and recorded. The goal is to keep you on the top of your game without having to spend hours doing your own research. You get to leverage my experience and expertise to move your brand to the next level online. Our next session is today, May 23rd, 2013 at 12pm EST/9am PST. If you aren’t already registered, go sign-up now at http://nextlevelvision.com/lunch.

Finally, we want to share a heartfelt thank you for your continued support. We have seen many of you grow from a seed into a tree in full bloom with your businesses. When you are successful, we are successful. If there is something we can do to better support you, if you have questions we can answer that will help you get unstuck and moving forward, don’t hesitate to let us know.

We love you all!

Talk to you soon,

Frederika Angus

Filed Under: Branding

How Secure is your WordPress Website?

April 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

How Secure is your WordPress Website?

Frederika Angus

security for wordpress website

WordPress for business websites is easy. It allows users to setup, update and maintain content and information quickly. Using WordPress also makes online marketing easier than having to understand coding languages like HTML or PHP. It is a great platform for any size business.

Late last week, according to HostGator a “global attack on WordPress installations across virtually every web host in existence” was identified. It doesn’t just impact the self-hosted versions but the WordPress.com sites as well. 10s of thousands of WordPress based websites have been left vulnerable.

While it’s a little scary to think all the hard work and the investments you’ve made into your website could be destroyed, there are some simple steps you can take to keep your site safe from hackers, spammers and malware.

Easy Steps to Secure Your Website

- Backup your website. If you ever find your website hijacked by hackers or even just lose access to your website, having a backup keeps you from having to start from scratch. At minimum, your full WordPress website should be backed up once a month and your WordPress databases daily (or weekly) depending on how often new content is added to your site.

- Always maintain the latest and greatest version of the WordPress core. WordPress works to identify and close any open areas that makes it easy for others to access your website without your permission. Not only do the WordPress software updates add new and improved features, you are protecting your website.

- Update your theme and plugins. Good theme and plugin developers maintain and guard against any holes in their software that could allow access into your website. WordPress gives alerts in the backend dashboard to update both themes and plugins so you will know when to do so.

- Discontinue usage of common administrator username. Usernames such as ”admin,” “test,” “administrator,” “Admin,” and “root” are the most commonly used and are being targeting during this current attack. Create a unique username with admin user rights and you will be ahead of the others in avoiding your site being hacked and spammed.

- Change your password regularly. Ensure to use numbers, mixed case (upper and lower case letters) and symbols to make it more difficult to guess.

- Use security plugins that add a layer of protection. This includes login limiting plugins, and security specific plugins.

All these tasks can be overwhelming with all the other tasks you need to complete in running your company, especially if you are limited in your technical expertise. Check out the WordPress maintenance services I offer. We’d be glad to come along side of you and keep your WordPress website safe, secure and up-to-date every month while you continue the activities that make you money.

Talk to you soon!

Frederika Angus

 

 

Filed Under: Wordpress Website Tagged With: , , , , ,

Facebook Announces News Feed Updates; How Your Brand and Business Can Get Ready And Not Be Left Behind

March 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Facebook Announces News Feed Updates; How Your Brand and Business Can Get Ready And Not Be Left Behind

by Frederika Angus

A day after Google announced larger Cover Images for their Google+ social media platform, Facebook announced their News Feed updates. It will take some time to understand the full impact for businesses and brands on their social media marketing plan. Based on the changes Facebook is preparing to roll out, there are a few things that your business can do to be ahead of the curve and get ready now.

1. Greater control of what users see in their feeds with the use of “sub-feeds.” Now businesses have the opportunity to show up in multiple ways in front of their ideal clients. Your page will still show up under News Feed and Most Recent as it always has. When users want to view all of the pages they follow in one place, all of your content will be consolidated along side the other pages and people they follow under the Following sub-feed.

The fun update is that every picture you share will be seen with pictures from their friends in the Photos feed. This is your opportunity to make sure that all your marketing and content is not just text updates or sharing links. Include visual updates in your plan and you’ll have an opportunity for brand recognition, marketing and free advertising.

facebook-sub-feeds-news-feed

2. The news feed will be come a much cleaner, less cluttered place to be. As you can see from the picture below, images and videos become larger. According to Facebook about 50% of news feed updates are visual.

What does this mean to your business?

Now is the time to ensure that you focus on larger images of high-quality. Facebook is listening to what the advertisers/marketers and brands have requested. Larger images give you more advertising space for your promoted posts, like page campaigns, in the Photo sub-feed, and more! As you’re using your Facebook ads to target your ideal clients, the quality of your images will give an immediate impression about your brand. 

Facebook reveals news feed update

 

3. Cover photos will become more important with Facebook’s changes. When someone “likes” a business or brand the lower half of the cover photo appears in the News Feed and can now be seen by that person’s friends.

Did you catch that? Before these changes Facebook would only show a small thumbnail sized fan page’s profile picture. Most businesses used that to display a logo. Now your business has the opportunity for FREE marketing space with every like your page receives.

According to Facebook, ”Having an engaging cover photo that tells your or your Page’s story is even more important to improve your discovery through connection stories.”

Begin thinking now about what will catch your customer’s eye? How can we use our cover image to cause my follower’s friends to click, discover and connect with our page as well?

This is not the time to throw only a logo, pure text, or a generic stock background picture of the sky. This is your opportunity to create your own business buzz, engage, be creative and really showcase your brand.

Facebook cover images more important for brands

 

Ready to dive right ahead of the crowd? I have you covered.

Let’s create your brand a new look now with this limited time special offer!

Talk to you soon!

Frederika Angus

Filed Under: Social Media

The Social Effect on Marketing: Lessons From the SuperBowl For Small Business Owners

February 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The Social Effect on Marketing: Lessons From the SuperBowl For Small Business Owners

by Frederika Angus

sm-football

Our house is the party place for any big event. Sporting events, holidays, and every weekend during cookout season, we find ourselves gathered with family and friends and a kitchen full of food. This year’s SuperBowl was no different. Throughout the entire game, even though we were sitting in the same room, we would yell out updates from social media, pass our phones around to show the funniest pictures and Tweet and Facebook the experience we were having. Even though my team didn’t win, all we could talk about by the end of the night were the commercials, who had the best and most memorable marketing, and those brands that didn’t make a favorable impression.

There are three lessons you can take from the brands that advertised during the big game to use in your own small business.

1. Give people a way to act or a call-to-action.  Every commercial gave the viewers a way to interact with a call to action that lead them to social media. To further increase the engagement nearly every brand used a hashtag.

2. Use multi-point interaction for your own live events, conferences, magazine ads and direct mailing. Think of ways to include multiple points of interaction with your customers through contests, or polls being run on the social media platforms.

3. Brands represented with a person over a product are more memorable. Advertising focused solely on the features of their product didn’t make a splash on the social media radar. People prefer to interact with a persona over a logo or a product box. Using your picture in advertising will create a more memorable experience for you customers.

Here are a few articles for you to read about the impact of social media and the SuperBowl Ads.

Social Media Lessons From the SuperBowl Ads

Forbes contributor, Haydn Shaughnessy shares the benefit in being able to respond realtime to marketing efforts via social media. The brands which react the best and fastest will be able to out perform those with the same static message. Brands emphasized Twitter in marketing efforts with use of hashtags.

Oreo Super Bowl Spot Attracts Thousands of Instagram Followers

3-second call-to-action at the end of Oreo’s Super Bowl commercial, which debuted during the game Sunday, has increased Oreo’s Instagram following by tens of thousands.

9 Brands That Thought Fast on Social Media During the Super Bowl

The unexpected power outage caused brands to enhance the likeability of their brand through quick wit. They immediate began using social media advertising by bidding on keywords being used like power outage.

How Oreo Culture-Jacked The Super Bowl

Oreo had a team in place in a social media war room to react quickly. Being able to produce content within minutes caused their image to be retweeted, or shared, more than 14,500 times on Twitter.

What one take away do you have from the usage of social media during the Super Bowl? Share it with me below!

Talk to you soon!

Frederika Angus

Filed Under: Social Media

Huge Key to Success With Your Direct Sales, Network Marketing Opportunities and Products As An Independent Consultant

January 25, 2013 by 2 Comments

Huge Key to Success With Your Direct Sales, Network Marketing

Opportunities and Products As An Independent Consultant

by Frederika Angus

 

success-key-direct-sales-networking-marketing copy

 

I use to hate network marketing companies.

Yes, I know hate is a strong word. I’m just being honest. My dad was involved in one (ahem several) as I was growing up. He was constantly at some sales training or networking mixer, hosting a business opportunity meeting at a random hotel ballroom or calling tons of people on the phone to convince them to buy into his product or service.

Before call waiting and waaaay before kids had cell phones, having my dad use the phone for hours just was not going to get rave reviews from me!

But even more than that, every time he started in one of these opportunities our family dynamic changed.

I grew up in a home where family was a top priority. My mom spent 8 years of her life dedicated to being home with me, and creating a comfortable home. She had dinner ready at 6 when my dad walked in and we ate together.

But when my dad had these extra events to go to because of his new business venture that would really bring in the bucks, part of our family fun around the dinner table was missing. And it seemed like he worked so hard but never saw the returns the business opportunity promised.

As I got older and grew in my own career with eCommerce and online marketing and even joined my own direct sales company, I realized what I did not like wasn’t those organizations or even the multi-level marketing (MLM) business model. It was not having my dad around in the name of working a business outside of his full-time job. It was how hard he had to work to see minimal returns.

I work everyday with some incredibly savvy entrepreneurs and business owners. Some of my clients are even in direct sales and networking marketing organizations.

The big key that I’ve seen to their success is instead of travelling all over telling others about their product or services, they’ve branded themselves and moved the relationship building online.

Yes, I know your upline sponsor told you once you got the business kit a standard website was also included. Yes, I understand your special web link that includes your 8 digits customer id tracks your sales for your bonuses.

So why on earth would you invest in an additional website?

People do business with people not products and services. People will remember your unique domain name. They won’t recall your customer ID, or worse yet, what if they mistype it and someone else gets the credit?

Those that have their own custom branded website around who they are and how they can help are seeing amazing results in their business. Bringing a blog along as a major part of the website allows clients and potential business partners to understand who you are, why you believe in your products, and how they work, show off the results that people are having in your organization, and how to get started.

No more reading a script to prospect people. No more having to beg every person you know to try a sample or host a party. No more spending two hours in a hotel conference room after a long day at work or on the weekends.

Branding yourself in direct sales and network marketing with your own website is a game changer.

The best part is your time is now freed up because your branded website can do some of the work for you! A skilled website designer can link your products and services to your specific company link from your branded website and you’ll still get the credit.

Investing in branding yourself on the web works for direct sales and networking marketing and is a huge key to success.

Have you seen results by branding yourself for your company? Do you have questions on what your next step should be?

Leave a comment below. I’d love to help.

Talk to you soon!

Frederika Angus

 

Filed Under: Branding, Wordpress Website Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Using A Blog To Build Your Brand – 5 Tips For Blogging Success

January 6, 2013 by 1 Comment

Using A Blog To Build Your Brand - 5 Tips For Blogging Success

by Frederika Angus

Blog for profit Blog with social media tips for beginners

Blogging these days is about as popular as smartphones; nearly everyone has one. And if you aren’t currently writing a blog, it’s likely that you’ve started one and quit writing in the past, you read someone else’s blog regularly, or you have an idea to start one.

Using a blog is one of the most effective ways to share your creativity, inspiration, and message quickly with those it will resonate with. It is also a great tool to use to brand yourself, share your expertise and build a business around. If you’re just staring out with blogging or looking for help to blog successfully, here are a few tips that will help.

1- Be You!

Authenticity is a critical point to branding, building a business and life in general. The popular phrase “Fake it til you make it” does not work well in the blogging world. People are naturally more suspicious of things that sound to good to be be true. No wants you to be perfect. Being perfect is a myth. Being the real, genuine, best you on your blog will results in building a brand that doesn’t feel like a production. Your blog will become the natural extension of who you are.

2- Be Positive!

When building a brand, save the drama. People may enjoy and laugh and agree with you for a while, but do you want your internet lasting legacy to be one of negativity? Think about the books, tv shows, and friends you enjoy and like to regularly read, watch and be around. If you’re like me, it’s very likely that negativity is draining and you much prefer the positive inspiration to constant negative news. Create that same culture for your brand through your blog.

3- Be Consistent!

Show up and write regularly. Attention spans tend to be short so if you don’t show up, you will quickly be forgotten. Bring your brand to the top of mind for your followers consistently. Once you determine your routine, this will be easy!

4- Be Focused!

Before you start, decide what exactly you will be blogging about. Try not to shift and jump around. For instance, if I talking about branding then jump into discussing makeup and fashion, that will create a disconnect between the topics and with my followers. Decide your focus and the topics you will discuss on your blog. When people arrive at your blog it should be clear what you are about and the type of information they will receive.

5- Be Diverse!

Everyone doesn’t like to read blogs in the same fashion. Some may like to go directly to your website, while others prefer to read them directly from their email. Other’s may happen upon your blog from the many social media outlets you post on. Be sure to provide your blog content in diverse ways. Being able to stay connected with your followers in the method they prefer most, will be beneficial in growing your following and spreading your message through blogging!

I hope you enjoy these tips!

Post below if you have any questions or to just let me know how these tips help you out!

Talk to you soon!

Frederika Angus

 

Filed Under: Branding, Wordpress Website Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Keeping the Momentum Going in 2013

December 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Keeping the Momentum Going in 2013

by Frederika Angus

2013 is our year

Every year at this time, I see and hear others wishing away the previous year and anxiously awaiting the upcoming year. They know that this time it’s different. That this year this is really it! All their hopes and dreams, goals and aspirations must come true this year. It is as if right after they party like it’s 1999, some sort of magical hocus-pocus happens.

For those of us who have put in the hard work, dedication and built up steam, the last thing we want is to start over from the beginning. We just don’t have time to go back to the starting block. As we write the next chapter in our lives titled 2013, keep the momentum going. Do not turn away from all the work you have put into your business and brand. Where your website, blogging, social media and marketing efforts are working, KEEP MOVING FORWARD! And in those instances where you know you need to accelerate or even begin building in those areas, write the plan, get help and make it happen.

I fully believe that 2013 is indeed our year. For those looking to bring your dream of entrepreneurship online, the time is now and the opportunity is ripe. Social media is growing at an accelerated rate. People are craving the relationship that happens online through blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Your business and your brand’s message is important and sharing that message is going to change lives, not only your own, but those that you serve.

This is an exciting time!

Let’s take 2013 by storm with our momentum. I’m so honored to serve each of you and I’m looking forward to continuing to do so in this new year.

Happy New Year!

frederika_siggy2b_opt

Filed Under: Motivational Moment

Benefits of Regular Website Maintenance with a WordPress Backup

December 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Benefits of Regular Website Maintenance with a WordPress Backup

by Frederika Angus

website-maintenance

Several times the past couple months I’ve had a call from frantic business owners. It goes like this.

Frantic client: Frederika it’s broken! You gotta fix it.

Me: What’s broken? What happened?

Frantic client: I went to update a plugin / install a WP update and lost my whole site.

Me: That’s ok. Send me a copy of your full site backup and you’ll be back online in a few minutes.

*crickets*

Me: You did have a full site backup, right?

*more uncomfortable silence*

Sometimes installing new plugins, updating themes or new versions of WordPress can cause all the backend code to be affected and stop working together in harmony. This can result in 404 error pages, the inability to login to the WP dashboard or even the loss of your site content which includes widgets, themes and images. A crashed server can cause loads of damage to your business. And can you imagine having to recreate all the blog posts and articles you’ve already put your hard work into once?

The major benefit of being in WordPress is the ease of making your own updates on the fly. Not being able to write your blog articles, create new sales pages, or even point customers to your website is a major problem. These things directly impact your ability to be profitable online. If time is money, every minute you’re not able to effectively serve your clients online is money going down the drain.

Having a technical expert come along side of what you are already doing to keep you up to date is a valuable investment. Unlike a home alarm system monitoring where IF something happens THEN the company jumps into action to find a resolution; monthly WordPress backups ensure your site is ready BEFORE the need arises.

If you haven’t been at a minimum been backing up your wp database, start today. It can save you from feeling frustrated in the event your WordPress site ever goes haywire on you.

Talk to you soon!

frederika_siggy2b_opt

Filed Under: Wordpress Website
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