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Finding your Best Brand will save you tons of money with all of your future marketing effortsDon’t waste money on Facebook or Google ads until you’re sure you’re generating as many prospects as possible organically.

Then make sure you can convert these prospects into customers.

This eBook by Barry Edwards of Edwards Communications is a quick and concise read. It clarifies what a “Best Brand” is and Barry’s 5 steps to building one:

Business name / Logo / Slogan
About Us page
Defined products and Value propositions
Business card
Website / Social media / content marketing

This chapter ebook is directed at small business owners and entrepreneurs. The link for the free download will automatically be sent to the email address that you provide.**

Download your copy below and start improving your brand today. * Name First Last * Email* * PhoneThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Δ

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Barry Edwards | EdwardsCom.net | OverFiftyStartingOver.com

A large part of my business is helping people launch, or re-launch, their business online. Whether you’re starting with just an idea, or you’re committed to an eminent launch, this 8 step guide will get you up and running as quickly as possible.

If you’re looking for professional assistance, contact me at EdwardsCom.net!

More people than ever before have ditched Corporate America to chase their dreams of being their own boss. The pandemic has taught us that working virtually is truly possible. And many of us found that working from a home office – sans commute and office politics – is a very desirable place to be.

Don’t waste time winging it. Most of my clients are companies that have DIY’d themselves into a corner, or taken a cheap route that cost them tons to recover from. Do your due diligence by implementing the steps below.

Get your business plan together… in 20 minutes Most personal ventures never get off the ground because the daunting task of putting together your business plan is overwhelming. Unless you’re sure that you need to apply for funding, the Lean Business Model is all you’ll need. It’s designed with the Lean concept front and center – fast, concise and effective.

It focuses on problems, solutions, key metrics and competitive advantages. It is an efficient means of clarifying the marketability of your new company. I have a video and blog post that describes what it is and how to use it. You can also download an interactive PDF to make it easier to fill out.

However, if you’re looking for funding, here is the link to the SBA’s Business Plan template.

Choose your business name Naming your business is way more important now than it was in the pre-internet days. No longer does starting your name with an “A” get you in front of the most eyes. There are things to consider such as, how descriptive do you want the name to be? Make sure it doesn’t trigger a Google penalty! Will you need a slogan? Is it available as an LLC in your state? Are the important social media handles available for it?

I have an article – and free tool – right here to help you with this and more.

Choose your business structure The vast majority of entrepreneurs are actually sole-proprietors. The advantage is that you don’t have to file two separate tax returns. The downside is that it can leave your private property unprotected in the event of a lawsuit or bankruptcy.

The LLC (Limited Liability Company) business model is a close second as it’s the next easiest to set up and it also protects much of the owner’s property in the event of lawsuit or bankruptcy. If your state offers a single-member LLC (one owner), this may be the best option for solo business owners. The IRS treats SLLCs like a sole proprietorship, in the sense that the owner doesn’t have to file separate taxes.

You’d want to consider Nonprofit, S corp, Partnership and more. Here are the SBA’s details on each.

Registering your business: Most small business don’t need to worry about this, but check here at SBA.GOV to make sure you’re not missing out on some legal or tax benefits.

Get federal and state tax IDs Your state tax ID and federal tax ID numbers — also known as an Employer Identification Number (EIN) — work like a personal social security number, but for your business. They allow your small business the honor of paying state and federal taxes.

It’s free to apply for an EIN. Here are links to apply:

Get a federal tax ID number
Get a state tax ID number
Open your business checking account Rather self-explanatory. You’ll need a Business Checking Account to link to your business structure.
Consider getting an accountant/set up your financials If you’re even a little financially savvy, you may not need an accountant. Between QuickBooks and TurboTax, small business accounting has been simplified for the entrepreneur/small business.

Personally, I’m horrible about paperwork and taxes – it all makes me very anxious. Yet, even I had no problem setting up my own QuickBooks account and it makes doing my books super easy. I still use an accountant for my taxes though! I want a pro to sign off on my taxes. I don’t want audited. My ineptitude with numbers would show through immediately.

Funding your business If you’ve completed the Lean Business Model then you already have a good idea of how much money you need to get your business off the ground. If you are Self-Funding (savings and credit cards), then you can move on to Step 8.

Your other two options are to acquire Investors or Loans. Both of which will require a complete Business Plan, rather than just the Lean Business Model.

Investors: Venture capital typically focuses high-growth companies and invests capital in return for equity, rather than debt (it’s not a loan). In Ohio, I’d suggest checking out JumpStart for venture capital and TeamNEO for funding and other resources. I also recommend searching for your local SBDC (Small Business Developing Center) that are located throughout the country.

Loans: To retain complete control of your business, but secure the funding to start, consider a small business loan. Again, you’ll need a full Business Plan with projections. Then compare local banks and credit unions for your best rate. SBA.GOV has a few other options depending on your industry.

Set up your website and social media channels Building your website is building your brand today. Get this right, and the rest of your marketing efforts will be more efficient and profitable for many years to come.

Your website will consist of all of your most important marketing elements: Your logo, slogan, mission/vision statements, niche services, value propositions and calls to action. When all of this is the best that it can be, it can bring the perfect prospects to your door (email box or phone call) without spending a ton of money on Facebook or Google ads.

Some of this is design expertise, but most of your success (or not) relies on your content excellence. It is defining your products and/or services in such a way that attracts your best clients and makes search engines happy.

When your messaging and voice are sound, create your social media presence in that voice – consistent, confident and helpful. As you build content for your website, push it out in bits and pieces to your social media. These efforts will help build your audience find you on social media and search engine “billboards” – guiding your audience to your virtual office.

Contact me* if you’d like assistance in developing a lead generating online presence. I have full service and DIY tutorials* available.

Related links: Brand development: 6 Steps to Building Your Own Logo

How to automate your social media posts with Buffer

How do I find and hire someone to design my brand?

Online marketing essentials for the solo entrepreneur

The bottom line Starting a new business can lead to a sense of overwhelm. Its important to take the appropriate steps in the right order, so you don’t waste precious time and effort. Follow the steps above – in order – and you will be well on your way to launching your business.

Setting up your website correctly is critical as it will send your social media and search engine information down the right path… or wrong path. Take great care with this aspect of your marketing efforts.

For more of this kind of content subscribe to EdwardsCom.net or see my podcast at Over Fifty Starting Over for a mixed bag.

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Barry Edwards | EdwardsCom.net | OverFiftyStartingOver.com

I’m often asked how I’m able to find time to keep my social media channels filled with my own quality content on a daily basis. Its important for me as a digital marketer to keep my presence active. But, as a one man show, its equally important that I don’t get sucked down the rabbit hole of social media.

In this video I share my techniques for scheduling and posting my content for up to six weeks out.

Why post with Buffer? There are a lot of social schedulers out there with equally high reviews as Buffer, so by all means, use whatever you like, but I like Buffer because its one of the oldest around (meaning, they’ve proven to be doing something right) and it’s got a simple UI. I don’t like to fumble through interfaces that are trying to do too much.

The truth is, all the major social channels handle content differently and I think Buffer does an admirable job of allowing the user to tweak their content accordingly.

I also like Buffer’s value – only $140/year for a single license that accommodates up to 8 social channels.

The downside of Buffer I have to assume that Buffer’s competitors share this same limitation, and that is the lack of being able to make your posts rotate and repost infinitely. It would be a dream come true to simply keep adding to my scheduler without needing to repeatedly repost my existing posts. But I looked into this with Buffer and they made it clear that this is to appease the social channels’ guidelines against spam.

Imagine if all you saw in your Facebook feed was the same articles and self-promotions from everyone your connected to. It would be a very bland experience. I also must assume that the folks at Buffer must work very hard to maintain healthy relationships with these channels as their business depends on their access to each channel.

The bottom line Most of us realize the need for exposure on social media and have probably tried to commit to posting quality content on a regular basis. I haven’t found a more efficient method for doing so than Buffer. Feel free to leave a comment and share your tip with us!

For more of this kind of content subscribe to EdwardsCom.net or see my podcast at Over Fifty Starting Over for a mixed bag.

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Barry Edwards | EdwardsCom.net | OverFiftyStartingOver.com

This presentation is basically “Online Marketing 101” for small to midsize business owners who have little to no knowledge of online marketing, have no intention of doing it themselves, yet acknowledge their company needs to join the 21st century to remain competitive. I will provide proper perspective on online marketing vs traditional marketing. How make money online rather than lose money (ROI). I’ll establish the basics of how this is accomplished, and how to get started… all with no “Geek Speak”.

Your online presence: Asset or liability? I’ve created online presences for dozens of companies over the years and have engaged with business owners from every state of the growth process. Here’s how I rank those states of mind chronologically:

Denial: The internet is a fad and I don’t want any part of it.
Apathetic: I realize I’m neglecting this new form of marketing. Some day…
Fearful: I’m finally going to do it, but I don’t know how to get started and I’m afraid of wasting money.

This stage usually results in either: smartly moving on to Stage 4, or going the cheap route resulting in unsatisfactory results which leads to Stage 5. 4. Determined: I’m going to move forward this year, so its time to do my due diligence 5. Course correcting: I did it, but now I need to enhance or fix it, so I’ll get leads.

There’s nothing I can do for the first two except wish them well and perhaps revisit them in a few years. The Fearful stage is a tricky and common stage. Many people move forward with skepticism feeling that a website is a necessary evil or liability, and therefore it becomes one. And social media? Well, that’s just a virtual playground.

It would be ideal if the Fearful owners could make the shift to the next level, Determined, and commit to doing their due diligence. But the truth is, many will move forward with someone’s referral to the cheapest price possible, which will most likely hurt their brand, possibly their search engine rankings and certainly won’t provide a return on investment (ROI).

Your online presence should be an asset with positive ROI Obviously you can sell products online with e-commerce sites, but Big Retail (Amazon, Kmart, Home Depot…) has cornered most of these markets. However, if you’re servicing customers, (examples: law firms, dentists, plastic surgeons, auto repair, landscaping, SAAS, business consulting…) than a proper website will generate more customer leads for you. And your social media presence can enhance the traffic to your website.

Your web presence should be a great investment – an asset – providing a return within 12 months and reaping returns well into the future. For small and mid-sized businesses, your online presence can do the work of a dedicated sales person.

First, let’s get some foundation under us.

Online marketing is vs traditional marketing Traditionally we’re used to being bombarded by billboards, magazine ads, TV and radio ads, postcards, phone solicitations and even door to door sales people. All of these methods are pushing out a company’s message upon the prospects. Today we refer to this as Outbound Marketing, because we are (rather desperately) reaching out to the desired audience.

Online marketing can consist of typical Outbound marketing in the form of paid ads such as Facebook Ads and Google Adwords, but the most cost-effective way to implement an online marketing campaign is to first embrace Inbound Marketing. This is establishing a robust, search engine friendly presence that encourages your target audience to find you before you pay exorbitant amounts of money to push your message out to them.

There are two main ways that your audience will find your website online organically (non-paid): * Via search engine results * Via your social media presence

Ranking well (page one of searches) in search engines is largely determined by the quality of content you put on your website. A smart Content Marketing Campaign will repurpose this content for social media engagement and even email campaigns.

Websites vs social media channels Social media took the world by storm a little over ten years ago (for better or worse) and many early adopters speculated that the basic website would fall to these Big Tech companies. But the opposite actually happened. Websites became more than online brochures, they became dynamic – meaning that they can interact with your customer. They can offer your customers valuable information in exchange for joining your tribe (more on this later). Your website is the virtual storefront of your company, harboring important information about your products and services for interested prospects to find.

Social media, on the other hand, are like the roads travelled to get to different storefronts. Social media is like taking a joyride while being seduced by billboards, radio programs and advertisements. Whereas websites contain tons of archived, fairly permanent information, social media messages are short and short-lived, but if you catch your prospect’s attention in a time of need, they’ll likely click on your link to go to your website and make a quick assessment of your offerings. You have a chance at converting a customer.

Whether you convert customers or not is up to how seriously you’ve taken your website as your virtual sales person.

Basic anatomy of a lead generating online presence A complete lead gen presence is an engine usually built of 3 main parts:

Website – the headquarters or storefront
Social media – advertising
Email campaign manager – prospect nurturing

No engine runs without fuel, and the fuel with inbound marketing is content (outbound is money and content… money being first). The higher quality the fuel, the more performance you’ll get from your engine.

It all begins at the website level your online headquarters and virtual brand representative Be super clear in your offersAbove I said your prospect would make a quick assessment of your offerings. You have 2 seconds for the viewer to decide if they’re interested enough to give you another 2 seconds. Your products and/or services must be super clear. If you win over another 2 seconds you must quickly tell them how you are more special than your competitors. Any confusion and they’ll be on the next tab looking at your competitors.

Create trustIf you’ve past the above test and the prospect is interested in your product or service, then you now need to offer trust factors (certifications, awards, guarantees, media acknowledgements, testimonials, etc.). A prospect that truly needs your product or service needs to decide that your company is a trusted investment of their hard earned money.

Build your prospect listYour website needs Calls To Actions (CTAs) – they are quite simply offers to extend your relationship with this prospect. The most common CTA is your Contact Us form (“Contact Us for a free consultation”). Better developed lead generating websites will offer forms for more information on individual services in exchange for the prospect’s email address. This is a “list building” technique.

Building a list of qualified prospects is the most effective means of marketing online. A person that shares their email address with you is showing their readiness to engage with your brand. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing on average sees a 4300% return on investment (ROI) for businesses in the USA. Note that usually the broader the range that you draw your audience from, the more important your list is to convert clients. Conversely, people that service customers on a strictly local level (dentists, auto repair shops, beauticians…) can usually do well with less focus on email… but the occasional coupon offers really help.

Improve your rankings in search engine resultsAnother major aspect of a lead generating website is simply being able to be FOUND via search engines. The coolest and most creative website in the world will not sell your stuff if no one can find it. The process of enhancing being found is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Many factors contribute to how well, or not, you get found, but the content on your website is #1 in importance. Having thorough, well written and easy-to-read content on your product and services Pages is extremely important. Typically, we refer to the more permanent content on your website (Homepage, About Us, Services, Contact Us…) as Pages.

The fuel for everything online is quality contentAdding to your library of content via your blog is equally important. A blog is an archive of articles. We call these articles Posts as opposed to Pages, though technically they behave the same way, except Posts are written specifically to create an archive of information related to your industry so that you’ll continue to rise above your competition in search engine rankings and entice your prospects to check out your offerings.

Most people really struggle with generating ideas of things to write or shoot video about for their blog. Your blog is organized in Categories. You make whatever Categories you want, but the one Category I teach ALL of my clients to create and populate regularly is CASE STUDIES. This is subject matter that every one of us is generating on a near daily basis. It also causes us to write about the specific things that we sell in many different ways – increasing ways for search engines to find us.

A clear Content Marketing Plan is key to efficient successAs mentioned earlier, it is important to repurpose quality content across your website, social channels and email campaigns. Creating great quality content consistently is an investment. To do it well, the company’s brand message must be well thought out and fully understood by the content developer(s). A prior analysis of your best keyword phrases should be on hand so the content developed contributes to better search engine rankings for your desired audience.

Web development priority 1: Don’t get penalized! Hopefully you are realizing the importance of the content on your website at this point. But, I can’t stress enough that when having it built, that it’s done so without tripping any penalty flags or algorithmic violations. Sorry for using that geeky word, but there are important differences that won’t be covered here. Just know its bad.

I’m sure we all know Google is the largest search engine used in the world. Therefore experienced web and content developers find playing by the rules to be of the utmost importance.

The truth is, we don’t know most of their rules, because if we did, we’d find ways to manipulate them. Google always tells developers, “Simply write great content in a professional manner, and you’ll rise in rankings”. But, we also know their robots are snooping our sites and grading them according to how clean the code and structure is. They also seem to assess the quality of grammar and how well text is formatted.

However, Google will tell us what the ultimate no-nos are. When Google finds patterns that people are using to exploit their system, they create drop their rankings and may flag the domain with a penalty.

The most common problem I’ve encountered with poorly ranked sites is scraped copy or plagiarism. Its very tempting for DIYers and pseudo professionals to copy/paste content from competitors they’d like to emulate. Its also a hard lesson to learn. Recovering from demoted search engine rankings is serious business.

For these reasons, I advise not having lowest cost be your determining factor when selecting a website/content developer.

What website platform should I use and why? By platform I’m referring to the underlying framework that it will be built with. You may have heard of SquareSpace, GoDaddy’s Website Builder and/or WordPress. I highly recommend WordPress. Here’s why:

Over 39% of websites on the internet are currently WP – it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
Major BIG brands prefer WP, such as Sony, Disney, The New Yorker, BBC America, Variety, MTV, Time…
It has the best CMS (Content Management System) and you’ll want as few obstacles as possible when feeding your website great content.
Mostly, it is infinitely upgradeable to suit your needs through plugins. This is important for skilled online marketers to turn your website into a lead generator.

And finally, it’s free. You only pay for the level of web hosting that you need. That can range from $60/year for a small business site on a shared server. Around $600/year for a Virtually Private Server (VPS) for better performance. And roughly $1300/year for a dedicated server – providing the highest performance and security.

Being the Top Dog of internet platforms can also assure you that Google makes sure their algorithms and robots know how to play nicely with WordPress as well. And the same can be said for web and content developers .

A Brief look at Online Marketing 102 We’ve had a solid overview of all the basics that make up a lead generating online presence consisting of your website, social media presence and list building (email campaigns).

The more competitive your industry, the more sophisticated you may need to get with your methods. For this reason, I’ll give brief mention to sales funnels and reputation management.

Sales Funnels A lot of people make the sales funnel game sound really complicated. Sales funnels can get very complicated, but understanding the premise is incredibly simple.

It’s simply upselling.

Yep, it’s the process of getting you in the door by giving you something cheap or for free (top of the funnel), then offering incrementally more valuable products or services as trust and value is established. So, at face value, it may seem like a manipulative sales tactic, but in the online world, that’s not nearly as likely as marketing used to be in a much less transparent world. Note that I stressed that trust and value are essential to establish in order to move your customers down your funnel. Cheating customers online will be met with bad reviews and can sink your aspirations very quickly.

Bad reviews and Reputation Management The process of acquiring good reviews is very important as is managing the (hopefully) occasional bad review. This aspect of marketing is called Reputation Management and there are different levels of software and services – from free to thousands of dollars per month – to assist marketers.

Companies that rely heavily on online reviews to make or break their credibility will know that turning a bad review into a positive is an incredibly important skill. This is done by replying to bad reviews in ways such as, “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Your experience is very important to us and we are going to take measures to assure that this never happens again”.

Additionally, one bad review will change your status from 5 stars to 4 stars if you only have 5 reviews. So, its important to encourage satisfied customers to leave good reviews to offset the occasional bad one.

Backlinks: An essential element for higher rankings in search engines Remember the Yellow Pages – that giant book that we trusted to find anyone? The actual yellow section was where most of us went to find a business or service that was needed. As business owners it was very important to be listed in here as clearly as possible.

Well, the internet has dozens of these directories that are really important. Thousands that aren’t as important. The more of these that list your business – consistently and accurately – the more street cred you earn with search engines such as Google. These are called “backlinks” (also referred to as “inbound links”).

The most important directory to be listed in is Google itself. You do this by opening a GoogleMyBusiness account and submitting your information. There are many other free directories that you can be listed in. It’s a frustrating and time consuming process as many of these make it difficult to register unless you pay. A few of the most important ones (often referred to as mega directories) only list companies submitted through premium citation builders such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz or BrightLocal.

How to get started without making expensive mistakes Beware of scams and “being held hostage” Naturally when we’re not well versed in something that feels complicated we become wary of getting scammed… and rightfully so. The most common scam that comes to mind for me is the spam email “Get ranked first on Google”. These are always from overseas companies that have no risk of getting sued for false advertising. Common sense should tell you that if there are only 10 rankings on page one of Google search results and this company is promising this to you and your (possibly) hundreds of competitors, the math doesn’t equal credible.

Another slow burn of online marketing dollars comes in the form of “being held hostage”. This is the result of being lulled into free or cheap websites, hosting or marketing solutions only to find out that you either don’t actually own them or have full access to them …and they disappears when you stop feeding them money leaving you broke with nothing to show for it.

I always advise clients to make sure they own their own stuff. I prefer to set up their accounts for them, on their credit cards, and make sure they have a copy of my “notes” that I make for each client with their access information to all of their products such as website, GoogleMyBusiness, social media accounts and other premium products that I set up for them. Transparency is trust. Make sure you can walk away when you need to. Nothing lasts forever.

Measuring effectiveness to assure ROI Start with assessing how much money per month you could potentially make with a successful online marketing build out. For example, a realistic goal for a dentist may be four new leads per month after Phase 1 (explained below). First, estimate how much each new client brings on average for the year for you (new customer valuation). The local dentist’s new customer value may average $400/year, or $1600/month (four new leads/month). An auto repair shop may be roughly equivalent. If these businesses invested roughly $8k over 4 months to attain this, they would likely be in the black within another 5 months and reaping a great ROI thereafter.

A new patient for a plastic surgeon, on the other hand, may be worth an average of $4k/patient per year. And this is why the competition is so high online amongst plastic surgeons. Generally, the higher the valuation of new clients, the more you’ll have to work to get them.

I usually start my clients with a 2-3 phase proposal, so I have to earn the approval of each subsequent phase therefore reducing their risk. Usually Phase 1 begins with a website redesign in order to introduce lead generation-friendly content structure. At least basic SEO needs to be shored up as well. With many industries, they will notice a return on investment (ROI) shortly after launching in the form of a new client conversion or two… or three. The improvements are measured through key statistics in Google Analytics such as traffic increase. But, ultimately online inquiries (leads via forms on the website and phone calls) are the bottom line statistic.

Phase 2 is usually implementation of a Content Marketing Plan to further increase rankings and traffic. It will push content from the website, through social media and email campaigns. Again, Google Analytics plays a key role in measuring success as does the increase in leads. But I also measure keyword phrases for which we want to rank higher, as this is the starting point for any prospect.

Phase 3 usually consists of paid advertising such as Facebook Ads and/or Google Adwords. These are most effective for organizations with high new customer valuations such as engineers, law firms, medical industry and so on. ***But, I always recommend that you’ve given your best effort in building your best brand (Phase 1) BEFORE spending the big monthly bucks on paid ads, so you convert as many as possible.

The bottom line: If you’re going to invest in your web presence, don’t be Penny Wise, Dollar Foolish – realize it’s an investment in your virtual brand and expect a very positive ROI from its lead generation. As your due diligence allows you to feel more comfortable with what you can realistically expect, build a 3 phase marketing plan to hedge your bets. And make sure your marketing people are building a solid foundation from the ground up.

Ultimately, the percentage of increase in average leads per month generated from online forms and phone calls from your online presence is the most important measurement.

For more of this kind of content subscribe to EdwardsCom.net or see my podcast at Over Fifty Starting Over for a mixed bag.

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Barry Edwards | EdwardsCom.net | OverFiftyStartingOver.com

A: We’re certainly a transitional generation. America is very young and is (in the big picture) in a constant state of change and flux. Up to 1900, we were pioneers still venturing across the country in search of opportunities. Don’t forget the Wild West took place roughly 1880–1900. The early 20th century brought in the first stable factory jobs, WW I, the Roaring 20s, then The Great Depression. I don’t believe many folks at all actually retired to this point. And this was only 90 years ago.

My grand parents generation was raised in the Depression and then survived WW II. They knew the value of a dollar and having food on the table. They organized unions, held their jobs and families together. They stayed at home and made babies. They created our blueprint for the modern American Dream: Get a job, work hard, start your family, buy a home, retire.

From poverty to prosperity to entitlement in 3 generations They led us to the most prosperous era in America to date. And like the stereotypical self-made millionaire, they spawned entitled idealists — the Baby Boomers. The largest generation of wealth-wasters to ever walk the earth.

I’ll walk that back a bit, as many of this generation, like my own parents and many others that I know, were raised very well by their sticker-shocked parents and practiced the hard earned lessons handed down. They secured their jobs, kissed ass as required to get the retirement benefits that they were guaranteed… but, this generation often divorced – squandering family security and money to indulge their mid-life crises. Today, you’ll even see them encouraged to blow the last of any nest egg through reverse mortgages.

I hope that what we begin to see as of Gen X and after, is a more balanced and awakened approach to our careers. Automation and AI are quickly taking away mundane jobs that people agonized through, leaving us with necessity and opportunity to find or create careers where we help each other (note the boom in consultancies and gig economy). And these opportunities are more creative than ever before.

Hopefully we’ll see a change in perception of the term “working”. So, no longer are most of us suffering thru a 40-hour work week to get a couple days to ourselves so that we can finally reach a finish line at 65 and hope we can finally enjoy our lives for a couple years as our bodies and minds begin to fail.

No. Hopefully we’ll finally begin to awaken to a shift where we can enjoy our work regardless of what day it is and in spite of how old we are. It gives us purpose and a reason to hop out of bed in the morning.

As our society becomes more automated more opportunity opens up in interpersonal occupations – counseling, consulting, authoring in all media… and speaking of media — look at the explosion of media available today: hundreds of network TV channels, thousands of online streaming channels, millions of blogs, podcasts and video channels. All proof of fun, intelligent and engaging things to do with our lives going forward.

Beats sitting on a coach waiting for life to end post retirement, doesn’t it?

The bottom line: To answer the question more directly: there has been only a couple generations to embrace retirement as we’ve come to know it. It could be loosely defined as a mangled carrot at the end of a very, very long stick. Hopefully we’re evolving past the entire concept.

For more of this kind of content subscribe to EdwardsCom.net or see my podcast at Over Fifty Starting Over for a mixed bag.

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October is the Trojan Horse month for SAD Barry Edwards | EdwardsCom.net | OverFiftyStartingOver.com

By Trojan Horse I mean, October is very beautiful here in Cleveland. In fact, it’s Lisa’s (girlfriend) favorite month. The colors are invigorating as are the crisp days. The days that are nice enough for a bike ride on the gorgeous Towpath Trail are the best!

But, it also ushers in colder, shorter days very quickly. Super quickly. Every year it takes me by surprise. POOF! Gone are the bike rides amongst colorful leaves with that Fall smell in the air, and hello to long, dark, cold evenings that leave me dragging ass by 7 pm. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) begins to sneak its way in.

At first the downtime is a novelty – laying down to catch up on some mindless TV shows or movies every night. Friday happy hour with my buddy Erby at the Academy Tavern on Larchmere for beers and roast beef dinner, followed by a weekend of more movies and comfort food with my girl.

It’s seductive in the beginning. But for an active beach bum at heart like myself, it manifests depression without my realizing it.

My typical go-to is drinking a few nights each week on Barry’s Perch (our 2nd floor patio) capped with a cigar while watching YouTube vids on my laptop. It makes me feel like I’m doing something special, though I’m really not. While the buzz does make me feel better in the moment, it has a lingering contributing factor to the next day’s mild depression.

The holidays rock though! Lisa and I LOVE the holidays! Thanksgiving is our favorite. “Christmas Without the Presents” is what I call it. Lisa and my sister-in-law Carol are AMAZING cooks and have heightened the bar for the entire family as far as pot luck dishes go. Suffice it to say, we have the most incredible, and fairly healthy, table of Thanksgiving food that you can imagine. But, we also have a very loving, more mature family. Only a couple kids amongst the 15-20 members that show each year. And no one every fights. No anxiety from years gone by. Politics only whispered in safe corners. We’ve all grown to a point where we don’t want to bring down the love.

So what’s with the depression, you ask? The fun continues as Christmas is only four short weeks from Thanksgiving, followed by New Years (we typically stay home and Lisa makes her famous cioppino!)… followed by…

…cold, grey, short days and long, cold, dark nights… for at least the next three months.

We break this up each year with our annual trip to Sarasota/Siesta Key at the end of February; thinking March will offer a few glimpses of Spring weather here and there, bringing us to April! Yay! The month of cold, rainy days! May hasn’t been much better the past couple years. So, in spite of our best efforts, the drab crappy weather wears on me.

I’ve needed to upgrade my plan to combat SAD The SAD thing is tough for some of us to simply “get over”. People that don’t experience it will never understand. It’s very insidious. Each year I say that I won’t let it get to me, but it’s a chameleon riding in the wake of holidays and festivities. I recognized a long time ago that I need to prepare for SAD Season.

My best efforts to combat SAD over the past decade or so: Indoor volleyball: I LOVED this! SADly, my shoulder doesn’t. I’m constantly doing therapy exercises to this day to try to keep from undergoing rotator cuff surgery. Yea, there’s bowling… I guess. But I highly recommend the fun cardio workout and camaraderie you’ll get from playing volleyball.

Toastmasters: Brilliant idea!! I increased my ability to speak professionally (though you wouldn’t know it from my podcast) while building relationships with others in a very positive setting. I HIGHLY recommend this to everyone!

SAD therapy light: Did this many years in a row. Didn’t seem to have any effect on me whatsoever. But, I’ve talked to a lot of people that have good results. I’ve also begun keeping more lights on throughout my main rooms of the house so I don’t feel so blanketed in darkness.

Vitamins: I’ve always taken my all-natural multivitamin and a few supplements, but I added another 5,000 BTUs of vitamin D to the cause during the Fall and Winter. I highly recommend it. Not only for depression, but also for warding off COVID.

Going to the gym: This has never been a problem for me as I need to exercise just to get my mind and mood right in the best of times. But, its even more important for me in the Winter. Going to the gym, rather than working out at home, gets me amongst other good people and reduces the distractions of home, WHILE giving my mind that increase in serotonin level.

Anti-depressants: My doctor prescribed a very mild anti-depressant. I don’t remember the name of it, but all it did was make me REALLY tired. By 5pm I was wiped out. So he told me to take it at night rather than in the morning. This had no effect at all, so I stopped taking it.

Coffee shop stops: I make myself go to Paneras on occasion simply to get my introverted self out amongst other living beings. When I want to do some writing or research, this kind of environment is uplifting and a bit “recharging”. And I always wonder if I’ll run into Ross and Rachel.

Reduced drinking: This year I started off the year with “Dry January“. I know all too well the virtual hangover that I experience waking up January 2nd, with all fun behind me and nothing but darkness and cold ahead of me. I looked at my commitment to not drinking through January as a tribute to myself and wellbeing. I think it helped a bit. BTW, I just read that the 3rd Monday in January is called Blue Monday – the most depressing day of the year.

Clean/organize my place: I live with the Mistress of Meticulous, but that’s only been for the past few years. Even now, in between renters I stay at our rental house and do projects. While there by myself, I find a HUGE difference between things being clean and orderly vs being unkempt. Undone house projects and a dirty or dusty environment really brings me down. While its very hard for someone battling depression to get motivated to fix and clean things, the realization of its importance eventually gets me on it. The process is grueling, but the results from this are very, very effective for me.

In spite of these efforts, I’m dreading going into another season of slow descension into some degree of depression – especially as COVID has restricted us in so many ways.

Bring on the reinforcements! My latest efforts to combat SAD: Volunteer work: This was my #1 new brilliant idea… but… COVID. I really want to participate with other like-minded people in bettering my environment, the human condition and conditions for dogs during these dark, lonely months, so I applied to Shaker Lakes Nature Preserve, MetroHealth’s local hospital and to a local animal shelter. I was immediately notified by Metro that all volunteer activities have been postponed. I think I’ll be lucky to get involved with two or three things over the winter with the other two. F$%^ you, COVID. I can’t even GIVE AWAY my services now. I’ll continue to pursue this path somehow or another.

Reduced drinking: As mentioned above, this year I started off the year with “Dry January”. I’m now doing “Sober October” in an effort to bring in the dark, cold months in a more controlled and healthy fashion. And its encouraging me to create a more healthy schedule for my evenings – which is where my brilliant volunteer work idea came from.

Getting a dog: This has been festering in me of late. I’ve always had a dog, but our little girl past away nearly 3 years ago. We’ve been enjoying the reduced responsibility, but this is the best time of year to have a faithful companion. They get you out for that walk EVERY day/evening (unless you’re a special kind of sloth) and I’ve never regretted that. But it’s the way they look into my eyes with such love and appreciation that can instantly change my mood. BTW: Don’t get a dog unless you can commit to his/her complete wellbeing.

Anti-depressants: Yea, back to looking into this. My doctor said we’d try a different AD this year. I’m not a fan of prescription drugs, but I’ve heard a lot of people rave about what a game changer it had been for them, so I’ll keep an open mind to it.

MeetUps: Even during COVID I’ve heard of some socially distanced hikes and game events going on, so I’m keeping my ear to the ground for these.

The bottom line: Those of us with SAD have a battle on our hands of which we must take responsibility. Left untreated, it can affect your career, relationships and general health. I hope that what I shared here can help some of my fellow SAD Warriors. And I hope that you can also share some of your own ideas and successes with me in the comments below!

For more of this kind of content subscribe to our Over Fifty Starting Over podcast and articles.

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Originally answered by Barry Edwards on Quora, 8-15-2020

Yea, that’s pretty freaking bad! Considering we spend at least half our waking hours working in whatever capacity we’ve chosen for ourselves, I think it’s vitally important to our wellbeing AND the people that we affect on a daily basis that we enjoy what we’re doing and at least most of the people that surround us.

The fact that you hate everyone at your job can be boiled down to two questions – both of which result in the same answer: 1. Is your environment so toxic that everyone is overly stressed and negative? This happens when the leadership at the top leads by fear and intimidation. 2. Or, is it your own insecurities and inadequacies? For instance, when I was younger I would try to find faults in everyone around me in order to prop up my lowly self above them.

Both questions lead to the same answer – you need to make a change. You can’t control other people, you can only control yourself. So, if you’re in a toxic environment, QUIT. If you don’t have the balls or faith in yourself that you can find a better job because of COVID or other excuses right now, then simply commit to spending one hour a day working toward finding that dream job.

Or, if you get real with yourself and realize that the hate you are feeling for other perfectly valid human beings is coming from your own flaws and insecurities, than get to work on them immediately. There are so many free resources today – self-hypnosis vids on YouTube (one of my favorites is Michael Sealey) as well as inspirational, spiritual and educational material. Consider joining ToastMasters to overcome social fears. And/or take some classes to improve your worth in your chosen career path.

At the end of the day, if you hate the people around you, it’s a personal problem that you should deal with. It’s not an external problem (meaning, the problem is not the other people). Right now you’re breathing negativity into the world – we don’t need more of that. But the world thirsts for people that contribute positivity, both socially and professionally.

Take the bull by the horns and change what needs to be changed. But, for god’s sake, don’t play the victim.

For more of this kind of content subscribe to EdwardsCom.net or see my podcast at Over Fifty Starting Over for a mixed bag.

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How do I present logo concepts to a client? In reverse order how I received the job. In college, I found that I wasn’t very inclined toward math (I flunked intro to math), but found that I could dodge all math courses by taking philosophy classes such as Intro to Physics, Intro to Philosophy and, most importantly, Principals of Argument and I excelled at these.

While I never would have used the math skills taught in my marketing/design future, I actually use the basics I learned in Principals of Argument every time I secure a new project, in particular logos, as they are so integral to building someone’s best brand.

Principals of Argument teaches that if you find the basic premises that someone wants to communicate and you irrefutably supply the conclusion to those premises, than you’ve solved the problem. With design, however, you also have to have the skill to supply the one intangible: aesthetics.

Suppose you have a commercial telecommunications company that is looking for a new logo and you’re lucky enough to be contracted for the job. In your interview, you want to have a thorough conversation with them to find their deepest passion behind their company and biggest strengths and desires — so you need to ask the right questions and LISTEN a lot.

When you feel you have the answers to these questions, you repeat them back to them to make sure you all have clarity. It may go something like:

“You expressed that you want your logo to represent: Technology/innovation. You want to look like you supply state-of-the-art solutions.

Connectivity. You need to communicate the importance of corporations to be connected in every way possible to their team, clients and prospective prospects.

Professionalism. You need to look like a brand with staying power, not a mom and pop shop that may not be around to service them when tech updates 3 years from now. “

When you adjust this to the key players liking, you now have your mission. You must design several versions of their logo that fulfill all the above premises, and if you can do that in an aesthetically pleasing manner, you will succeed.

The process of developing a logo that fulfills client’s desires AND is aesthetically pleasing Doing this is easier said than done. For me, it takes a lot of throwing up all my trite ideas on paper, work past those to develop more interesting concepts, then refine the ones with potential in Illustrator. Then refine and refine some more. Simplify. Then whittle done my good ones so that I present 3–5 versions.

Don’t give a client too many choices Otherwise, you’re asking them to play art director and you’ll expect them to have more influence over the design than you: Disaster!

I typically present my Big Three (or so) headed by the Premises agreed upon, and then I make a few notes alongside each solution explaining how it solves the problems (premises) presented perfectly.

I explain how 50% of the time clients will fall in love with one and we’ll be done with this initial phase of brand development. And 50% of the time the client will like certain things about one version and certain things about another, I then go back and revise accordingly, and we can usually wrap up from there.

And my contract ALWAYS states that there are a maximum of three revisions. After that, we go hourly. This again prevents the client from having his/her spouse, colleagues and siblings play a role in becoming pseudo-art directors from hell. I go into avoiding people taking over art direction in more detail here.

And today, I always present my concepts virtually. I’m not going to Mad Men it” with presenting printed concepts on an easel unless someone is going to pay me well to do so. Recently, I created a personalized video of my proposed logos, because, as I told my client, I thought they had some deeper concepts that I wanted to make sure I conveyed.

Final thoughts on logo presentations I always say that a logo is often the first impression of your business and bad first impressions are hard to overcome. So, I think your logo, and entire brand, should be taken very seriously. But budgets also have to be considered. So, a company that is smart enough to contract a professional to develop their brand, will usually see the value in having their concepts presented virtually, in a thoughtful and professional manner. But you may want to back up your recommendations with some quick, easy and fun market studies to show your real professionalism.

I originally wrote this article in response to a question on Quora, “How do you present a final logo to a client?”

Over 50 Starting Over* is my DIY program for the not-so-technically inclined that want to create their own lead generating online presence. It is powered by my years of experience providing these services with my company EdwardsCom.net*. Barry Edwards, author.

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Google Analytics is something we’ve all heard of and may realize it’s importance, but most of us rarely look at our reports because it may seem both boring and intimidating. I find them incredibly interesting. But, I’ve been looking at many reports on a weekly basis for years, so I’ve gotten past any intimidation, but I’ve also found that simply looking at a few key factors each week can provide us with an accurate overall health rating for our sites.

The bare basics of Analytics: 6 steps Yes, we can get MUCH more in depth by setting up goals for conversions and analyzing traffic flow for our sales funnels — but that is best left to dedicated professionals. If you’re simply in charge of maintaining the content of your website, you’ll want to measure your success and know a little more about who is actually viewing your content and where they’re coming from.

A client of mine, a church, has become much more reliant on their website and Facebook page to stay connected during this time of isolation (April 2020). They’ve always posted their sermons on YouTube and their website, but have increased their content during this time and want to measure the effectiveness, so I’m creating this blog post for them, but I know most managers of websites can benefit from this quick, simple overview of Analytics basics.

Let’s start with the homepage Click to enlarge

Just a glance at your Analytics homepage provides you with the two most important statistics of your site — how many visitors you had in the past 7 days, and the Bounce Rate (percentage of people skipping out after viewing only the page they landed on).

I honestly never saw a page with a BR of .77% before. It makes me think that something is manipulating it, but it is nice to think that my friends at the church are putting out content so riveting that people are scanning the site for more! BRs typically are around 50% give or take.

Note that you can also change the Date Range to anything you like. It’s handy to see how your traffic has increased or decreased over time.

Audience Demographics Click to enlarge

The Audience Demographics is probably the easiest thing to wrap our heads around… unless you’re looking at this one. It has all users as being over the age of 55, and nearly 70% of these are over 65! Time to engage the kids! I have to wonder about the accuracy of this as I usually find the Demographics to seem pretty predictable — if the site’s selling baby products, it’s predominantly young women. If it’s a sports blog, it’s mostly men, and so on.

Our audience here is nearly 62% male. That’s not a huge surprise, but I would make more effort to engage women.

User Flow Click to enlarge

User Flow probably looks a little intimidating, but it’s actually very handy. It shows us where people entered the site — which is usually the homepage, unless you have a popular blog post or product that may be getting a lot of attention. But, we wanted to see if people were utilizing the “Recent Sermons” and this shows that 43 people went to it after the homepage and 24 went straight there, which I find to be very positive.

Acquisition Click to enlarge

I find this to be fairly fascinating and extremely important. Knowing how your audience found you helps you measure your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts and also lets you know what social media channels are most popular with your audience.

It’s also good to click on each of these to get more information. A quick look at “Social” reveals that 12 people came from Facebook, and 2 came from our YouTube channel. Not surprising considering Facebook is more engaging for this audience.

I am a bit surprised that nearly half of the visitors have come via Organic Search (Google, Bing…). I’d expect most people to be members of the church and either have the site bookmarked, or simply type the first few letters into the domain nav bar to pull up the site. This seems to suggest that a lot of people are taking their first look at the church… which is nice. ALSO — you can click on Organic Search to see what search terms people used to find your site!

Page Views Click to enlarge

Nothing complicated about Page Views, and you can even consider it redundant upon looking at Time Spent, but I just like the simplicity of the chart in order of most popular pages and percentage of the Page Views for each. I think it’s very clear to see what people like and how they use your site — which is helpful so you can create future content that you clearly see people engaging with.

Time Spent Click to enlarge

Another well-titled page. It’s basically the same as Page Views, but with Average Time on Page stat available as well. And this is the final piece of the puzzle. We (the church) wanted to know how much our “Recent Sermons” efforts were being utilized and I just realized that the note I put on the graphic is wrong (yes, I could’ve changed it, but I’m lazy). People are spending an average of 46 seconds on “Recent Sermons”, but “Staff”, “Events” and “Giving” are engaged with longer visits and “Local Missions” blows away all of them at an average of over 2 minutes!

I would say we have some work to do in promoting the sermons, however, I just checked out the YouTube channel and the most recent sermon was viewed there 219 times already and the one from a couple weeks ago is at 318 — so, I consider that quite a success.

Final thoughts on Google Analytics basics Spending just 10 minutes per week looking at these important stats of your Analytics will give you much more insight into who your audience is, what content they like best and how they found you. Creating content to engage your audience is very time consuming, so this knowledge will help you optimize it as well as your SEO efforts!

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Today, three quarters of entrepreneurs are Gen X or older and 70% of soon-to-be retirees say they want to keep working. Boomers and Gen Xers are now more likely to start businesses than their Millennial counterparts according to this recent Forbes article.

One main reason is that there’s no such thing as job security or loyalty today. If Corporate America doesn’t burn you out, it’ll often down-size you in favor of younger, cheaper talent. And with average wages having been fairly stagnate for many years now many of these out of work people aren’t comfortable with early retirement… especially when combined with the fact that we’re living longer.

The true Land of Opportunity While some of us may feel we’re being forced into self employment, many of us are seizing the chance to chase our dreams and follow our passions that we’ve been squelching for years.

There’s much more sense of freedom today for people over 50. There’s simply more awareness to the possibilities in life today and we’re not as conditioned to be taken care of by that singular employer the way we were in generations gone by.

We’ve become more nomadic in every way. People move from state to state, job to job and career to career more than ever before. Technology enables us to see more of our world and possibilities than ever before. It enables us to learn and adapt to challenges faster than ever before.

It also enables us to easily send our own messages to a world ready to see and hear what we have to offer. Much of the technology needed for this resides in our pockets ever day.

Time to stop talking and to take action If you spent years mentally laboring over how you could run your employer’s business better than they can — now’s your chance.

Or, perhaps you want to FINALLY turn your wine-making hobby into a viable business. Or you’ve been told you should sell training videos that teach your unique knack for training dogs… or cats.

A lifetime of knowledge and experience is easily translated into a consulting or training gig if you’re willing to put in the time and effort to market it correctly online and through networking. It’s more of a matter of committing than it is a question of whether you CAN do it or not. The trick is finding and sharing the best YOU have to offer. The best, authentic, uniquely YOU.

Selling (or not) depends on getting found and gaining interest You know how everyone has a website and almost no one gets leads or sells anything on them? That’s basically been my target audience for years as a branding and lead generation consultant.

There are over a billion websites online today. Getting people to find you depends on:

Search engine optimization (SEO)
Posting of engaging blog and social media content
Paid ads such as Facebook ads or Google Adwords

Getting their interest in you depends on:

Who you are (your personal story)
How your product or service is uniquely yours
How it will change your customer’s lives for the better
Why your product or service is uniquely suited to your customer

You need to find your most unique angle for your particular audience. The more uniquely YOU it is, the less competition you’ll be up against. Finally, make sure that it’s EASY for your prospect to purchase your offerings — that means an easy-to-use e-commerce interface on your website.

Follow those simple guidelines above and you and your product or service will be positioned to sell! Contact me if you’d like to discuss selling your new business online. You can do as much of it yourself as you’re comfortable with.

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Originally answered by Barry Edwards on Quora, 3-10-20

Content is much more important than design — and this is coming from a life-long professional designer If you had someone build you an absolutely gorgeous and innovative website, and yet no one ever sees it due to bad SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and/or Google penalties, it’s a complete waste of money for the client.

Even if the site doesn’t suffer from being penalized and receives modest traffic, can it convert those prospects into clients? That requires expert use of content and at least a moderate knowledge of SEO. At the end of the day, if the website doesn’t produce a solid Return On Investment (ROI) within a year (at the most), than it’s a liability.

I never market myself as a website designer, rather a brand designer and lead generator. Design sets me apart from my competition, but I’d rather approach prospective clients with measurable successful results than a design award.

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