This article expresses my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of ATX Web Designs or anyone who works for it.

On November 21 the FCC announced its plan to repeal net neutrality. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said it was to stop the government from “micromanaging” the internet.

Look, the government is not micromanaging your internet. You can go to literally any website in the world right here from your US computer. You can do dark and evil things–for better or for worse!–and no one in the government is going to stop you. There is no micromanagement happening here.

Further, Pai stated that the repeal will allow consumers to “buy the service plan that’s best for them” which, don’t we already? And–here’s where you come in– give “entrepreneurs and other small businesses can have the technical information they need to innovate.”

Uh, when the was the last time you were happy that someone threw up a wall on your route to work, then gave you “technical instructions” to innovate to innovate yourself a new route to work?

Never. Because it sucks. This isn’t about small businesses being able to innovate. This is about big (ass) businesses getting even bigger and richer by making you pay for access to your consumers.

It is genius. It is brilliant. It is terrible.

You are a small business owner. You paid for your web redesign and you paid for SEO optimization. You can now pay your bills and your employees because the things you did to set your business up and get the word out to your market–they worked! And they didn’t require any technical information or innovation. You paid some very skilled people to help you get started and now you have just as much access to your market as your biggest, gnarliest competitor.

Now, conceivably, with an unneutral internet, you could grow big enough to effectively slow down consumer access to your competitor’s website (by speeding up access to your own). Like I said, it’s pretty brilliant.

Except, now your ability to reach your customers is also in the hands of a giant, extremely wealthy telecommunications company.

The (Real) Final Frontier

I like the internet. I like the organic subcultures. I love that some kids built an empire from the college dorm. I love that Ze Frank just started making weird videos one day and got people around the world (!) to make an Earth sandwich and that not only did people come together to do it but that it spawned a generation of YouTubers making great content, content that is educational and funny and creative, content that drives entire ecosystems of the internet and, in many cases, actively betters the world.

Maybe that’s not why you love the internet, but at the heart of it is the reason we’re all here: it’s a space and a tool that connects us to one another. We can use it to launch our businesses and grow our platforms, or we can keep in touch with our grandkids. We can watch silly cat videos or spend the weekend binge-watching seasons 1 and 2 of Stranger Things.

The point is: you get to decide. I get to decide. We get to do whatever the hell we want on the internet. If we want a subscription to YouTube or Netflix or HBO Go, it’s up to us. No one decides, or charges us more for wanting All The Things.

In a world where everything costs money, the incredible, unmatched freedom of the internet is literally free. If you can make it to a library, you can make it to the entire world.

What else is out there that is even close to that?

I’m a small business owner. I imagine that if you’re reading this, you are too. It’s not that we use the internet everyday; it’s that we depend on it.

And to me, that’s the most outrageous part. People with lots of money and power and influence are giving themselves even more money, power and influence–at my expense.

“And suddenly what we’ll have instead of an infinite variety of crap is a finite amount of crap. And a finite amount of crap is just crap, whereas an infinite amount of crap? Is hope.” source.

I’m with Hank Green on this one.

An Ostensibly Unrelated but Equally Important Thing: My favorite podcast ReplyAll did a show in April of this year about another FCC decision that impacts internet users. The decision allows Internet Service Providers to sell your (!) search history to advertisers. Which doesn’t seem like a big deal except that now everything you’ve ever put in your search bar is up for grabs. Like Net Neutrality, it seems like an issue that we know is bad, and we have trouble imagining just how bad it could be. Have a listen. Let me know what you think:

Want to Learn More About How Net Neutrality Impacts You?

Lots of people explain it way better than I can. I’m partial to this video analogy by Hank Green, and his 3-minute for/against debate. NPR put together this good primer article. Public Knowledge works to promote an open internet by shaping policy. To read more about it or to take action, visit their website.

How the hell do you choose the right social media platform?

Facebook has 2 billion users and offers the best ROI. LinkedIn just crossed half a billion users. YouTube viewers watch a billion hours of clips per day (!). Twitter has only (“only”) 330 million users (there are 330 million people in the United States) but half a billion tweets per day (which comes out to over 7,000 every second!). How do you possibly get your message to your audience?

Dang. That is actually a really good question! It wasn’t until I started writing this out that I realized how ludicrously incomprehensible this all is. Let’s get some perspective:

Right now, our planet has about 7.6 billion people living on it. Roughly half use the internet (official count in 2015 was 3.2 billion). And about one-tenth of those live in the United States. Which isn’t to say that all 320 million Americans use the internet–actually only about 284 million Americans do. There are 7 continents, approximately 193 countries, and most of the world’s population is on the Asian continent.

And, if you’re like me, none of this means a thing because I have no grasp of the abstract. So, thank you, Tim Urban, for creating this incredible visual so that people like me can begin to think about grasping the concept of one billion.

Wow.

I was going to get on here and tell you some good strategy tips, but if you’re reading this from Austin, TX, your corner of the internet is like sand on the beach, man. One grain of sand on a very large, sandy beach filled with sand dunes.

Which turns out to be great news, after all!

The entire world of 7+ billion people is connected by, like, 10 websites.

And you’re going to be just fine.

Here’s your job:

1. Know your market.
2. Work with its influencers.
3. Be better than your competition.

That’s it! That’s your job.

Take your tiny miniscule corner of the internet and communicate with your audience. I suggest doing it directly through the influencers because they’re really good at their jobs and working with them frees you up to run your business, but whatever. The point is for you to learn your customer’s well enough that you know who their influencers are and where they hang out. If you can figure out those two things, you’re well on your way to dominating the competition.

And through it all, get on LinkedIn. It’s still a small enough network that you can really establish yourself there. Get to know people in your industry. Comment on their thoughts and posts. Share some of your own. It’s the most direct way for you to build your business and your (personal) brand.

It’s a big world out there. It’s crowded and noisy, but your business is not to worry about what other people are doing. It isn’t about the platform. It’s how well that platform enables you to connect with your audience. You choose the right platform for your business by going where your audience is and engaging with them.  Don’t look to impress everyone or get the biggest following. Ultimately the only currency that matters is connection. Connect with your audience and you’re golden.

Did you know Millennial’s spend 6 hours a day checking email? Yes, it’s true!  According to research done on CMO.com. Those results are spread across a wide range of demographics, but the numbers don’t lie. The results show that  70% of Millennials check their emails while watching tv, 50% check their emails while in bed, 40% check their emails while on vacation and 42% check their emails while in the bathroom. Their involvement in email far outstrips the usage of any other group.

I mean seriously, Millennials were pretty much born with the digital spoon in their mouth. Which would explain why millennial’s tend to create their own rules of engagement via email. Did you know a millennials believe it’s appropriate to use emojis when communicating with a direct manager? Seriously, emoji’s have meaning to the millennial. Do the older generations even find that to be an appropriate means of communication? I think not! However, as a marketer, it’s important to know that the millennial does consider it appropriate.

Let’s put some numbers into perspective so 70% of the millennials check their emails “While Watching TV” this means they are watching tv on their smartphones, tablets, and watches. Email alerts typically pop up all the time and they read them. Email is not only relevant for millennials, it also remains to have the highest ROI for direct marketers. Marketers need to keep the following in mind to ensure they grab millennial mindshare and don’t just add to the noise in Millennials’ inboxes:

• Make sure your emails are mobile friendly.
• Contextual email is everything.
• Pictures are worth a thousand words—optimize emails for images and allow for quick feedback through emojis.
• Less is more—Quality over quantity will win the day.

If you use the tips listed above, focus on the target audience and your email marketing strategy, you can really get skin in the game. After all, millennials truly are your biggest customer.

In today’s society, social media sites are a huge contributing factor for sales. Facebook, is especially great for small businesses to generate new leads and build their online presence. Why? Because potential customers spend most of their free time online. According to Social Media Today, the average person will spend nearly two hours on social media every day!

How do you know what type of customers you’re attracting to your Facebook page? Well now there is a new easy tool to use that is called “Facebook Insights”. It has the ability to show you all kinds of statistics about how your Facebook business page is performing. I know you’re probably thinking I’m about to give you the “sales pitch” or be told the elongated “too much information” spill. Surprisingly no, I actually have simplified and highlighted a few of the essential benefits that Facebook Insight has to offer.

• Your top posts. Facebook Insight allows you to see your most popular post you have. It also shows you what kind of content, posting times, and days are best to receive more likes and clicks from your audience.
• See who your best fans are. You can see who your most-engaged followers are. Which includes; the location, age, and interests. This is especially beneficial to business owners because it can help you refine your marketing strategy and increase the traffic to your page.
• How you compare to competitors. Yes, that’s right, Insight helps you see how your business page compares to the competitors page. Awesome right? It can also show you the top five competitor pages and how they are engaging and growing with their fans.

How important is your online presence to your users? Seriously, think about the last time you came across a website that just made you laugh because of how poorly it was designed. Did that make you second guess or affect your decision to do business with them? Imagine walking into a poorly designed storefront,  that is unorganized, and smells of dead rodents. Would you continue to shop there or would you walk out and find a similar storefront that sells the same products and or services with a better user-experience? There have been countless times that I personally have come across websites that were not designed with the end-user in mind. Do you think I reached out to this particular business?  Take a wild guess….NO!  I searched for another vendor or business that was more appealing. I mean honestly, if you don’t care about your online presence, imagine what users are thinking about your company?

According to researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, it takes less than two-tenths of a second for an online visitor to form a first opinion of your brand once they’ve perused your company’s website. Let’s be honest, if you don’t meet the consumer’s expectations and needs in that moment, you will more than likely lose that potential business. No one wants to wait 1-3 minutes for a website to load especially if it’s non-mobile-friendly. Unfortunately, this happens way too often. Many companies focus on spending thousands of dollars on marketing and neglect investing money on their poorly designed websites.

Does this sound like you? Consider the following tips before you invest money into your marketing budget:

Think like the user

Keep the end-user in mind. First impressions continue to be a primary factor for an end-user. When you have a poorly designed website, your credibility is on the line. A negative first impression of your business can greatly impact you and help others negatively voice their opinion about your business to all their friends and family. A website is a representation of the quality of a company’s products and/or services, so make sure your site accurately represents your business.

Focus on Design Principles

What constitutes a well-designed website? Focus on usability, utility, and have a user-centric website. Don’t forget the rule of thumb, simplicity is key! You want to ensure you condense your content that way your users can find the information quickly and effectively. Remember to keep in mind who are your users and how are they going to use your site. If you focus on these design principles, your website will not only look attractive but it will help increase leads.

Social media is a marketing tool, so does that mean that more likes and follows means greater business growth, sales, and money? All our hours developing a badass content calendar,  making shareable videos for Facebook ads and crafting perfect 120-character tweets–those are dollars in the bank, right?

Well, often yes. But it’s not quite that simple.

What Social Media Is (and Isn’t)

Social Media is a marketing tool. It is a great way to connect with your customers, engage them, and maybe above all: to build community. Usually building your brand also grows your business.

But social media itself doesn’t make money. If anything, it costs money–and potentially lots of it. Total up the time and resources you spend on making awesome content or putting together influencer campaigns and it can be a spendy venture.

A huge following on Facebook and Twitter should mean you’re getting lots of referrals to your website and that that traffic is converting to sales at a high rate. Social media is a great (!) referral source, a way to get new customers in the door and out via the register.

Analyze This

So how do you know if your Facebook efforts are paying off?

Analytics, my friend. Google Analytics will show you your referral sources and whether they converted to sales. (It will also tell you a  million other things, all for free, so if you’re not already using it, what are you waiting for?) Facebook Insights will show you the results of your campaigns, boosted ads, engagement, page growth, and even demographics. Twitter and Instagram (and just about every major platform out there) all have their own business analytics options, and there are entire companies who specialize in getting you this data.

Size Isn’t Everything

Surely someone on the internet has calculated how a following corresponds to sales. And it’s likely that if you got a million followers this year, you’re going to see a (considerable) boost in sales. But, it really isn’t about the numbers.

The reason social media is such a powerful marketing tool is referrals. People talking about your stuff, tagging friends in pictures, sharing posts, tweeting about their new workout gear–whatever it is, those person-to-person recommendations are more valuable than any campaign you could produce in a studio.

Don’t worry so much about the numbers. Build a community of engaged customers and the sales will take care of themselves.