Marketing Network Blog

12 new books to help you build wealth and get more done in 2017 http://ift.tt/2iGDM7k Shutterstock/file404 If your New Year's resolutions include building wealth, becoming more productive, or making the most of your career (or side hustle), there are hundreds of books willing to guide you, many of which debuted just last year. Business Insider asked  Chris Schluep , a senior Amazon Books editor, to compile a list of the best money books of 2016. Schluep's picks are packed with advice from experts, ranging from a billionaire's memoir to the story of the entertainment industry's most powerful agency.  Whether you're aiming to grow richer or develop better money habits, get a head start on your 2017 goals with 12 of best money and productivity books from the past year.  'Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike' by Phil Knight Amazon Release date: April 26, 2016 Schluep says: Phil Knight borrowed fifty dollars from his father after business schoo...

The First 5 Steps to Launching a Successful Ecommerce Business http://ift.tt/2oAIAPN There’s no shortage of information online on how to start an ecommerce business. A quick Google search reveals millions of results on the subject. But all that information might be more of a hinderance than a help. Why? Because you don’t need more information. You need the right information at the right time. This is especially true when you’re starting your first ecommerce business. At the outset, you don’t know what you should know, so you end up trying to know everything. That’s a recipe for burnout and frustration. I would know, I did it back when I started my hip hop jewelry brand several years back. It’s also why I tried and failed with so many ideas before I finally landed on a successful one. Without the right information at the right time, you can end up running in circles with a product you love, only to find out a short time later that nobody else loves it. Now you’re out all of tha...

12 books to read this year if you want to get rich http://ift.tt/2iVaPpc If you want to get rich, these reads are a good place to start. Oli Scarff/Getty Images The wealthiest, most successful people bury themselves in books . They commit to self-education long after they've finished school. To help make 2017 a prosperous year, we've highlighted 12 of our favorite personal-finance books — one for each month — from century-old classics to hot new releases. No guarantees you'll get rich, but it can't hurt to kick off the new year with one of these gems. Kathleen Elkins contributed to a previous version of this article. 'Think and Grow Rich' by Napoleon Hill Prompted by legendary businessman Andrew Carnegie, who turned a few nickels and dimes into a fortune , journalist Napoleon Hill researched more than 500 self-made millionaires over 20 years before releasing his 1937 best-seller " Think and Grow Rich ." He boils down the "secret...

3 Digital Tools to Go One Up on Your Competition http://ift.tt/2oHeRQd Not very long ago, promoting a brand was a drastically different task from what we know today. Thanks to the internet, over 40 percent of the world’s population is logging on to a computer and using that tool to gather information. As a result, the way in which we define competition has changed. Businesses today must go to great lengths to market their brands to stand out in a vastly overpopulated market. Related: Doing Good by Doing Well: 6 Digital Tools for Social Entrepreneurs    In most cases, it’s a safe bet to say there are hundreds -- if not thousands -- of other people trying to do the exact same thing. So, what does it take to stay ahead of the curve? Truth be told, there are very few things written in stone when it comes to digital marketing. However, there are a number of fundamental practices that put businesses in a better position to get their name out there. ...

How the World's Smartest People Learn Things Faster http://ift.tt/2p2xd1X As a hard working entrepreneur you’re faced with a variety of challenges, each of which needs to be resolved to grow your business further. But to find these solutions, you have to apply your mind to learning new, sometimes complicated, concepts. This learning process can take hours -- sometimes even longer depending on the nature of the challenge you’re faced with. Unfortunately, you often don’t have the luxury of this extra time to spare. Worse still? It’s difficult to remember information when you’re overworked and feeling stressed, but if you can’t remember what you’ve learned, you’ll never gain the knowledge needed to solve unfamiliar problems. Luckily, there’s an easy fix. Richard Feynman , a Nobel Prize winning physicist, came up with an elegant solution to learn anything quickly, and retain it in your memory for longer. Here’s the technique he invented and how you can use it in yo...

20 Ways to Spring Clean Your Life http://ift.tt/2oVuh7n Flowers are bloomin’, sun is shinin’…and it’s time to spring clean. I might be alone, but the thought of going through my entire life and getting rid of the unnecessary is super appealing. And I’m not just talking about cleaning out my closet. Spring provides the ideal opportunity to take a look at what makes up your life – from home to tech to relationships – and reset. It’s the perfect time to declutter all the ‘blah’ in your world and instead go on with the year feeling light & refreshed. To do so, here are 20 ways to spring clean every aspect of your life: Home: Start with the closets & dressers. Get rid of clothing, linens, shoes, and towels that you don’t need anymore or are old. This includes intimates . You know how it works: if you haven’t used it in the last year, BYE! Clean out the kitchen. Go through the cabinets and box up any old plates, bowls, or silverware that are mismatched – then donate! Next,...

This Free Tool Can Help You Save a Lot of Disk Space on Windows http://ift.tt/2oqAaam Those on tiny hard drives know the daily struggle of juggling your files to avoid low storage space warnings. When you barely have enough hard drive space to run Windows How Much Space Do You Need to Run Windows 10? How Much Space Do You Need to Run Windows 10? Windows 10 is a compact operating system by design. We show you how you can strip it back even further to make it take up the least amount of disk space possible. Read More , you need to save space in any way possible. If you’ve already deleted all the excess data on your PC but need more space, there’s another method you should consider:  compacting the operating system How to Save More Disk Space with Compact OS on Windows 10 How to Save More Disk Space with Compact OS on Windows 10 What if you could easily and permanently save up to 6.6 GB of disk space on any Windows 10 device? You can with Compact OS and we show you how. Read More...

10 Apps and Tools to Make Your Small Business Better and More Efficient http://ift.tt/2oqNR90 For many startups, achieving meaningful growth -- the kind that gets the attention of investors and potential buyers -- means having the right tools. While larger companies can usually afford to build their own custom solutions, smaller businesses tend to rely on outside vendors . Fortunately, plenty of companies out there cater to the specific needs of smaller enterprises and early-stage startups, and the tools they provide are often as affordable as they are effective. From customer relationship management platforms to project management programs, here are seven of the best and most widely used tools on the market today. The best part? Some of them are absolutely free . Related: The 15 Most Profitable Small-Business Industries 1. Hatchbuck This all-in-one sales and marketing automation platform was built specifically for smaller businesses. Hatchbuck enables you to manage your ...

9 Air-Cleaning Plants Your Home Needs http://ift.tt/2frG59b We don’t think too much about the air we breathe in our homes. Unfortunately, there can be many unwanted toxins lurking in the space we live. While air purifiers can tackle air purifying and detoxifying, they can also be noisy and expensive. Luckily, there are a wide variety of plants that can be used just as effectively to clean the air around us.  Not to mention a lush green plant adds a lot more to the decor of your home than a bulky air purifier. Below, we’ve listed nine houseplants that do double duty. They’re welcomed additions to any home decor style while working hard to clean the air of toxins that can make you and your family sick. For a more comprehensive list of what can be lurking in your air, check out our article on  common household VOCs . Design by: Nikki Roxby English Ivy Benefits of the English Ivy: English Ivy is said to be the plant that provides the most air purification of all h...

4 Ways to Sell (a Lot) More on Amazon http://ift.tt/2obxFXB Amazon is a truly gargantuan marketplace with millions of products and hundreds of thousands of sellers all competing to make sales and capture market share. According to the Seattle Times there are more than 2 million sellers registered on Amazon’s marketplace. It’s a vibrant, living ecommerce ecosystem that is full of opportunity. Being one of the biggest and baddest marketplaces around comes with great advantages for Amazon, which often enjoys pride of place in Google’s organic search results, regularly capturing multiple results on the first page. With Amazon gobbling up more and more of Google’s organic product searches, it is becoming inevitable that most small businesses are going to need to migrate at least some of their stock over to this platform. (If you’re not already an Amazon seller it’s free, quick and easy to sign up at  Amazon Seller Central .) Many of the leading ecommerce site builders now...

10 Startup Friendly Tools to Help Your Lead-Generation Efforts http://ift.tt/2os0BMH For startups, it can be hard to close a deal. Hell, it's hard enough even to get prospects to walk in the door. As the new kid on the block, your startup faces the challenge of not only having to educate people on what your product does but why they should give it a shot. Related:  10 Ways to Quickly Generate Leads While there’s a lot for your sales team to try to juggle, not to fret: I've listed below some of the best tools out there to help get customers to come knocking, in no time. Leadfeeder Leadfeeder is a lead-generation platform that uses Google Analytics to see what your potential customers are doing in real time. One of the great things about it for B2B sales is its ability to look at the specific companies visiting your site and aggregate whom to contact via LinkedIn. This gives you a personalized look at not only what customers visited, but also where they went on ...

18 SEO Tactics That Take Only 30 Minutes Each http://ift.tt/2nLbyaX I feel SEO has a reputation for being meticulous and painstaking. And perhaps that’s true to a certain extent. The initial phases of an SEO campaign can, in fact, be grueling. There’s on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and—everyone’s favorite—technical SEO. So, yeah, it can be kind of a pain. But here’s the thing. There is a multitude of “quick fix” SEO tactics that take hardly any time. Many can be completed within 30 minutes. Now, I’m not going to tell you that any specific technique will bring about massive results on its own. But when done in conjunction with one another, they can have a significant impact and give your overall SEO campaign a nice boost. So let’s get right down to it. Here are 18 SEO tactics that will take you no longer than 30 minutes each. 1. Get set up on Google My Business Local SEO is important, especially if you’re a brick-and-mortar business. If you’ve been skimping on this aspect ...