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Build: Stage 4 of 6 on the Small Business Roadmap (FS103)

Stage 4, the Build stage, is a big one. As Corbett puts it: “this stage is a monster and a lot of people get stuck here.” In this episode we talk you through each step so you can rise up when others start to sink. There’s a lot of fun stuff here — naming, website building, social media accounts. That stuff is exciting even when it gets challenging. But built into the 9 steps of Build is also some difficult tasks that won’t happen over night. Listen to this episode to get into the mindset of the big picture, avoiding the…

Money: Stage 5 of 6 on the Small Business Roadmap (FS104)

Now, in stage 5 of the small business roadmap, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty: can this business idea of yours actually make enough money to support you in a meaningful way? This is a stage most of us are not well prepared for, typically diving in without any knowledge of the metrics, the movements or the models. That’s what we break down for you into 7 steps in this conversation, taking you from “I made a dollar,” to your …

Scale: Stage 6 of 6 on the Small Business Roadmap (FS105)

In the sixth small business roadmap stage we explore the final question: how can we grow this business beyond ourselves and into greater impact in the world and wealth in the company? We dig into the 11 steps of Scale where the goal is to hone, discover and experiment towards a more scalable and sustainable business. To put it simply, this stage is about shifting from clawing out growth one handful at a time, to a business with one of those magical hockey stick growth charts. We also finish out this episode with reflections on key takeaways and what we learned in talking through this whole roadmap. Enjoy! (PS: If you’re not already, subscribe in itunes so you can …

The Eight Types of Relationships Every Entrepreneur Should Have

In 1974, Robin Dunbar earned his stripes as an anthropologist and evolutionary pscyhologist by completing work on his PhD from the University of Bristol, which was summarized in a paper entitled, Social Dynamics of Gelada Baboons. (Look those suckers up, they’re scary.) Dunbar’s research would go on to cover the evolution of communication and culture, social networks, and the social evolution of the human mind. But it was while studying the grooming habits of apes that he stumbled upon the single finding that would go on to fuel much of his career. There’s a fun little scientific concept called the Social Brain Hypothesis, which tells us…

Small Business Roadmap Revisited — 4 Updates Based on Your Feedback (FS106)

In the last 6 episodes we revealed the 6 stage small business roadmap. A stage by stage, step by step, 10,000 foot view of building a business. They weren’t the 6 stages your business will go through automatically. They were the 6 stages you want to go through so that you and your idea are best setup for success as you define it. The roadmap was immensely well received (you’ll find links to each episode below) and in this episode we cover two things: We answer the 4 common questions we heard from your comments. We reveal 4 updates we made to the roadmap based on your feedback. Take a listen to the episode, subscribe in itunes if you haven’t and…

Five Ways to Stand Out in a Sea of Noise

The odds are stacked against you. It’s true. I’m often amazed at how many people decide to try to build small businesses online, despite the odds. Maybe it’s naivete. Maybe it’s egotism. Maybe it’s bravery. Probably it’s a combination of all three. I think you need all three to succeed as an entrepreneur. Here’s how the odds are stacked against you: whatever space or niche or idea you decide to build your thing around, chances are there are hundreds or thousands of (or more) competitors out there already. All these other players create a sea of noise that means your voice simply won’t be heard, even if you have something decent to say. To…

The Nifty Guide to Local Content Strategy and Marketing

Posted by NiftyMarketing This is my Grandma. She helped raised me and I love her dearly. That chunky baby with the Gerber cheeks is me. The scarlet letter “A” means nothing… I hope. This is a rolled up newspaper. When I was growing up, I was the king of mischief and had a hard time following parental guidelines. To ensure the lessons she wanted me to learn “sunk in” my grandma would give me a soft whack…

Moz’s 2014 Annual Report

Posted by SarahBirdMoz has a tradition of sharing its financials (check out 2012 and 2013 for funzies). It’s an important part of TAGFEE.Why do we do it? Moz gets its strength from the community of marketers and entrepreneurs that support it. We celebrated 10 years of our community last October. In some ways, the purpose of this report is to give you an inside look into our company. It’s one of many lenses that tell the story of Moz.Yep. I know. It’s April. I’m not proud. Better late than never, right?I had a very long and extensive version of this post planned, something closer to last year’s extravaganza. I finally had to admit to myself that I was letting the perfect become the enemy of the good…

7 Days After Mobilegeddon: How Far Did the Sky Fall?

Posted by Dr-PeteEven clinging to the once towering bridge, the only thing Kayce could see was desert. Yesterday, San Francisco hummed with life, but now there was nothing but the hot hiss of the wind. Google’s Mobilegeddon blew out from Mountain View like Death’s last exhale, and for the first time since she regained consciousness, Kayce wondered if she was the last SEO left alive. We have a penchant for melodrama, and the blogosphere loves a conspiracy, but after weeks of speculation bordering on hysteria, it’s time to see…

Extract SEO Value from SERPs with Knowledge Graph and Answer Boxes – Whiteboard Friday

Posted by randfishMany SEOs are frustrated by the ever-expanding repertoire of answer boxes and results from the Knowledge Graph on Google’s SERPs. One thing we can be sure of is that they’re not going away anytime soon, so in today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand offers some strategic advice (as well as several tactics) for getting SEO value from those SERPs, and even from those boxes. For reference, here’s a still of this week’s whiteboard. Click on it to open a high-resolution image in a new tab! Howdy, Moz Fans!…and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This week we’re talking about the rich answers, instant answers, direct answers, whatever you want to call them, that Google and Bing are providing in…

​The 3 Most Common SEO Problems on Listings Sites

Posted by Dom-WoodmanListings sites have a very specific set of search problems that you don’t run into everywhere else. In the day I’m one of Distilled’s analysts, but by night I run a job listings site, teflSearch. So, for my first Moz Blog post I thought I’d cover the three search problems with listings sites that I spent far too long agonising about. Quick clarification time: What is a listings site (i.e. will this post be useful for…

Search Trends: Are Compound Queries the Start of the Shift to Data-Driven Search?

Posted by Tom-Anthony The Web is an ever-diminishing aspect of our online lives. We increasingly use apps, wearables, smart assistants (Google Now, Siri, Cortana), smart watches, and smart TVs for searches, and none of these are returning 10 blue links. In fact, we usually don’t end up on a website at all. Apps are the natural successor, and an increasing amount of time spent optimising search is going to be spent focusing on apps. However, whilst app search …

An Introduction to Schema.org Markup for Emails

Posted by kristihinesIf you are a Gmail user, you have likely received some emails that stand out from the rest with a call to action button within the subject line. If you’ve booked a flight recently, your airline may have sent you an email that includes an interactive way to view your travel plans. Similarly, Google Inbox app users might have seen emails that look like this. These calls to action are courtesy of Schema.org markup for email. Just like Schema.org markup for web pages helps web pages stand out in search results, Schema.org markup for emails helps certain emails stand out from the rest in your inbox. The goal of email markup is to allow people to take action on …

How to Create Boring-Industry Content that Gets Shared

Posted by ronell-smithIf you think creating content for boring industries is tough, try creating content for an expensive product that’ll be sold in a so-called boring industry. Such was the problem faced by Mike Jackson, head of sales for a large Denver-based company that was debuting a line of new high-end products for the fishing industry in 2009. After years of pestering the executives of his traditional, non-flashy company to create a line of products that could be sold to anglers looking to buy premium items, he finally had his wish: a product so expensive only a …

Watch Out for Interest-Only Home Loans

Now that the economy has picked up some, the housing market is recovering a little, and memories of the financial crisis are fading, some lenders are re-introducing a few “creative” financing methods. It’s possible to get an interest-only mortgage again, or get a loan with a low, low rate at the beginning. An interest-only loan is tempting because the borrower only pays the interest each month. This state of affairs can last from five to 10 years. When you only pay …

Why I’d Rather Pay $10,000 to Unload My House Than Become a Landlord

There are people out there who are made to be landlords. They like the idea of having someone else pay the mortgage on a home or apartment building and enjoying the ability to build equity on the property without using their own money. Once the property is paid off, the monthly rent is income (offset by the cost of taxes, insurance, and keeping the property up). I totally get why some people love the idea of getting into real estate and renting out property. I even get why many people who, upon moving, decide that they would rather rent out the old home than sell it. I am not one of those people. I am getting ready to move across the country, and…

What Do You Do With Your Savings?

One of the basic pieces of advice that we are often given about money is to save more. But where do you put that money? And what should you do with it? Create Goals for Your Savings While saving money just to save money does make sense in some ways, the reality is that few of us are willing to keep doing something “just because.” As a result, it makes sense to carefully consider your desired outcomes and figure out what you hope to accomplish with the money you are saving. First off, really think about what you hope to have happen…

3 Signs You Need Help with Your Debt

One of the most difficult issues to overcome is debt. If you have a lot of debt, it can be difficult to move forward with your finances. The interest payments suck away your disposable income, and once you are stuck in the cycle, it can take serious effort to get out. In some cases, you might even need help dealing with your debt. You can get help from a legitimate counselor with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, or get help from a fee-only financial planner. Here are 3 signs that you might need to seek professional help with your debt: 1. You Only Have Enough for Minimum Payments When you only have…

Who Do You Trust For Money Advice?

For many of us, it’s difficult to know what to do when it comes to our finances. There are so many decisions to make. While the basic “live within your means” advice can apply, the reality is that there is more to money management than making sure that your expenses are smaller than your income. What do you do to save for retirement? What’s the best course of action when trying to pay down debt? There’s a lot to think about, and it makes sense to carefully consider who you will trust for money advice. Who Can You Turn To? One of the …

How To Avoid Falling Into A Bad Credit Score

Building good credit is a years-long process, while destroying credit only takes a few bad decisions. With this in mind, it’s important for new credit users to avoid the many mistakes which lead to bad credit scores. Too often it seems inexperienced credit cardholders underestimate the ease through which bad credit can be acquired. For these folks – the young ones especially – we thought it necessary to highlight the five best ways to avoid a bad credit score: Maintain A Healthy Debt-To-Income Ratio Credit score criteria includes something called the debt-to-income ratio. Basically it’s all your monthly debt payments added up and compared to your gross monthly income. If the …

Ways To Pay For College Without Breaking The Bank

Going to college can be stressful in so many ways. If you are just getting out of high school, you are being pushed into the real world on your own. Your responsibilities just increased ten-fold. You now have to get yourself to class everyday, do your homework, study for tests, and maybe even work. As if that is not enough, you also have to worry about how you are going to pay for college. If you don’t have money saved up to pay for tuition, you are basically on your own trying to find out how to pay for it. Luckily, you have quite a few options. College is far from cheap, but if you are wise you can pay for it without …

How To Recover After Bankruptcy

For the most part, bankruptcy should be the action of last resort when it comes to your money issues. However, there are times when bankruptcy really is the last option you have left. If you have experienced a long-term employment problem, or if you have had a medical problem that causes you financial distress, bankruptcy might be your last option. Once you have filed for bankruptcy, however, it doesn’t mean that it’s the end of your financial life…

Is A Zero Based Budget Right For You?

One of the budgeting techniques that has gained some popularity in recent years is the zero based budget. In this budget, you make sure that every dollar is accounted for at the beginning of the month. You look at what you expect to get in terms of a paycheck, and then use every penny to pay bills, or accomplish your goals. As part of your budget, you decide what will go to debt reduction, or to building an emergency fund, or to your retirement account. You can also put money toward a vacation or some other goal, on top of …

Should You Sell Unwanted Gifts?

Note: This is a post from Joan Otto, Man Vs. Debt community manager. Read more about Joan.One of our readers shared the following story and question with me, and gave me permission to share it here:I’m trying to downsize and get rid of my crap to pay off my debt.  I also don’t like clutter so I want to get rid of my stuff so my family of 3 can comfortably fit into 1100 square feet. But my father-in-law is the king of crap, and gives us stuff we’ll never use and never need. I have 2 hammocks (and live in an apartment), a circular saw, tons of memorabilia from our …