What Can You Get For Your Business for $5?
Quick post today about a fun and (often) useful site, Fiverr.com.
The premise behind the site is to find things people are willing to do for just $5.
Among the tasks you’ll find people posting on Fiverr that might be useful for a small business…
- “I will create a simple, professional logo for $5″
- “I will make your website look awesome on all smartphones for $5″
- “I will create a custom and professional business card for $5″
And that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of options out there on Fiverr to choose from ranging from genuinely helpful services for a business to this…
(No comment!)
Anyhow, my favorite use of Fiverr is to get simple graphics done for a business and/or website (ie. logo, website header/banner). As you might expect for $5, the quality of the work usually isn’t agency quality but, heck, for $20 you can hire 4 people and see which graphic/logo you like the best. The worst that happens is you don’t like any of ‘em and you’re out $20!
I would not hire someone on Fiverr to work on any critical part of my business or have them do something that requires handing over usernames/passwords. But, for simple graphics, web design, programming needs, etc. you may find Fiverr to be your new favorite website
(One quick tip to leave you with…the clearer an idea you have about what you’re looking for and the more guidance you give the people you hire through Fiverr, generally the better the results you’ll get).
The Most Important Local Business Owners Should Know About Google’s New +1 Button
Google officially announced its answer to the Facebook Like button yesterday, the +1 button.
This button will appear next to the organic search listings, next to the pay per click ads as well as on websites that choose to add the +1 button to them.
Here are a few screenshots from Google that show what it will look like in the organic rankings (notice the +1 button next to the listing’s title and then, under the listing, how many people +1′d the site and/or specific people in your social network who +1′d it)…
Why should you care?
Because +1 can affect where you rank in the search engines.
How big an effect, time will only tell. (It will likely make only a very small difference in the short term, but become much more of a factor in the future.)
This +1 button seems ripe for abuse (how many people can you find in India, the Philippines, on even on Craigslist, etc. to click on your site’s +1 button for a few cents each?) and it will be interesting to see how it evolves over time.
For now, it’s just important to understand that it’s out there and that social media is becoming more and more of a factor in where your business ranks on Google.
Oh, and when you start seeing the +1 button pop up the next time you’re on Google, be sure to click it for your website (and it probably wouldn’t hurt to have your clients and friends do the same thing!)