Business Growth Podcast by Brand Shouter

From one of America's most frozen States Iowa it's Wapiti live. To "Serve the Herd" we want to talk about your website hosting and why it's probably time to upgrade. Learn More: https://wapiti.digital/wordpress-hosting-good-vs-bad/ Cheap Hosting - You get what you pay for: 1. "unlimited" isn't unlimited. Storage costs money and no business can offer unlimited hosting for a few bucks a month. 2. Shared hosting - limited resources shared between multiple sites with "unlimited usages" 3. Responsible for your own security 4. Generally responsible for your own backups 5. Pay money to fix a hacked site Higher-end Hosting: 1. More server resources 2. Site is siloed off from other sites 3. Better support 4. Better security 5. Better backup solutions 6. Staging support Managed WordPress Hosting: 1. A team available to do all the server management stuff you could want. Where our Managed WordPress Hosting differs: 1. We keep plugins up to date (within reason) 2. We proactive monitor your site and the resources afforded to it. 3. Multiple backup locations for disaster recovery. 4. eCommerce optimized by default (PHP workers, WooCommerce enhanced) Bonus: 1. We also provide managed website updating services to keep content up to date.

In this video, Dan covers: 1. Introduction to builders in general as well as the reasons people use them. 2. Standalone builders: Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, GoDaddy, etc. 3. WordPress Builders: WP Bakery, Elementor, Astra, Beever Builder, etc. 4. Why Wapiti uses a builder (and which builder we use). 5. Summary Watch/Listen/Read: https://wapiti.digital/you-shouldnt-use-website-builder/ #servetheherd #monthlyrecurringrevenue #ecommerce #podcasting #wordpress #websitedesign #digitalmarketing #timetocallwapiti

Welcome to the new Wapiti Live! I've taken my old podcast "Business Growth" to a completely new level! Enjoy the same kinds of content but from the perspective of my daily challenges and dealings. In this episode, I talk a lot about my Christian faith and why it's the foundation of everything we do at Wapiti.

Not all businesses have taglines. As a matter of fact, quite a few of my existing clients don't actually use a tagline. In my opinion, however, it's important to have a statement about your business even if it isn't a publically facing tagline. Having your tagline, whether public or private, will inform the way you move forward with the story of your business in marketing and even in sales. Video and Article: https://wapiti.digital/tagline-defines-your-brand/

For the second part of Dan's complete branding guide, we focus on how to find the perfect logo for your business by following the steps Brand Shouter took to rebrand to Wapiti Digital. Get a perfect logo that reflects your business at its core. Show notes and more: https://www.brandshouter.com/branding-perfect-logo

Brand Shouter is rebranding to Wapiti Digital. As we do this, Dan is chronicling each step of the process. In Episode 1 of Season 2, Dan discusses why we're doing this and also delves into the name selection process. Wanting to know how to choose a name for your business? This would be a great listen! Show notes and more at: https://www.brandshouter.com/branding-choose-your-business-name

We're revamping the Business Growth podcast. We'll have new content, new interviews, recurring guests, and more. We'll even remake some of our older content to ensure it's up to date. If you aren't already subscribed, please do so via your favorite podcasting platform so you don't miss a thing!

Your site navigation is important to conversion and retention on your website. Too many options, visitors leave confused, too few options and they can’t find what they want. The trick is in ensuring that you not only provide what the visitor needs but, that you drive forward towards success. In this episode, I cover the ins-and-outs of great site navigation and how you can find more success in keeping it clean and clear. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/site-nagivation-that-converts/‎

In the current "corona-economy", business that previously could get by without eCommerce are learning the hard way on how important eCommerce can be to your business. COVID-19 has shut the doors of many brick and mortar shops leaving mostly just businesses with well-built, monetizable websites to find any success at all.

Don't miss out on your family because you're sinking all of your time into your day-to-day job. It's important to work hard and provide but, in the end, no matter how much money you earn, you'll regret missing out on your family. In this episode, I explore how to work hard towards success without sacrificing what is most important. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/be-present/

As in life, the Golden Rule directly applies to how a business should operate. Now, in this uncertain time, more than ever, it should be practiced over and over again. Small businesses stand to suffer in the coming months but there is a lot that fellow business owners can do to help mitigate this. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/golden-rule-business/

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is hitting our globe and causing mass disruption. Businesses with a solid online presence are set up to weather this a lot better than businesses that have let their web presence lag. Even if 95% or more of your business is in-shop, your website and tools should be set up to handle the same clientele. We don't have control over epidemics but we do have control over preparedness for them. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/web-tools-epidemics/

In my mind, finding a recurring revenue model for your business is a must in 2020. This podcast covers a few businesses that took a static sale product and turned into recurring revenue as well as some thoughts and ideas you can take to find a recurring revenue model for your business. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/creating-recurring-revenue-for-your-business/

With hosting, you get what you pay for. When you opt for better overall hosting, your customers have a more enjoyable experience and search engines love you. Want to know more? Listen to the latest Business Growth Podcast episode! Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/hosting-is-important/

I'm focusing on Espresso/Coffee Stands in this episode. For the small coffee stand/shop owner, it is absolutely imperative that you have an established web presence for your location. I the episode, I explain why both a website and keeping your online listings up-to-date matter. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/espresso-stand-website/

For all businesses, it's important to know where you are headed. The problem is that many businesses get derailed from their end goal. The purpose of this podcast is to use Brand Shouter's experience to help your business find it's way back on track. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/focusing-your-message

I just learned a huge lesson - or maybe I just had a bad day. Business ownership isn't all sunshine and roses as all business owners will tell you. This podcast explains what made my day so bad and presents my key takeaway from it. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/terrible-horrible-day/

Dan interviews Brandon Ericson, the personality behind the Camano Voice Podcast and owner of Camano Commons Marketplace on Camano Island, Washington. Great information for Camano Island and Stanwood Washington locals or for anyone wanting to visit Puget Sound. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/interview-brandon-ericson/‎

If you have a business, your website matters. No matter what business you have, your website can be the difference in beating out a competitor to business or losing potential clients to competitors. In this episode, I give a couple of examples of why you should care about your website and how it directly reflects on your business and bottom line. Listen to the end for a bonus growth tidbit as well. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/website-matters/

Dan's back after an almost 3-month break from the pod. During that time, so many things have happened - including Dan's own battle with debilitating "Burn Out". In this discussion, Dan share's his experience and one of the big ways he was able to overcome it and bring the joy back to his life. Let’s Get Started. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/candid-chat-burn-out/

Naming your business can be a really tough task. There are so many factors that come to play in ensuring the name you choose best reflects who you are, what your business does and how you serve others. Some businesses take this decision lightly and a few pull it off. Others, spend lots of time getting into the smallest details to come up with a unique and clever name. The question is, however, how do you come up with the RIGHT name? Let’s explore this thought together. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/naming-your-business

Have you ever had the thought that you should rebrand your business? We all make minor adjustments to our brand but to completely rebrand a company - well, that’s like giving your business open-heart surgery and hoping to come out of it better than before. In this episode, I explore the idea of rebranding your business and chat about the pros and cons of such a huge decision. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/rebrand-business/

Sales is a part of this world no matter how you look at it. Do you sell cars? You’re a sales person. Do you build websites? Sales person. Do you clean the floors? Sales Person. You see, regardless of what you do for a profession and regardless of who you spend time around, you spend a lot of time selling. Don’t believe me? Well, listen to this podcast and see if I can’t convince you. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/how-we-sell-everyday/

Dan interviews Kate Bagoy, a coach that focuses on burnt-out corporate officers starting new businesses. In this episode, you can expect a fun, lively conversation as Kate explains her past and describes the path that brought her to where she is today. If you're looking to take your business further, this power conversation between business growth experts will help direct some of your next steps! Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/kate-bagoy-business-coach/

Having a great product or providing an indispensable service is important to having a viable business. History is littered with failed products and services that were amazing, however. What’s the missing piece in this equation? Communication. Communicating your brand to your potential clients; communicating your strategy with your employees; being honest and communicating with yourself: these are all important pieces in ensuring your stellar product or service succeeds. In this podcast I take a deeper look into what makes great businesses work and why may great ideas fall aside. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/communicating-your-product-service/

This podcast is a highly specific look at the industry I used to start my marketing career. For anyone working in the coffee industry, I think you’ll find a ton of useful information in this podcast. If you’re not a “miracle bean” professional, there is still a lot to gain for your business. I’m sipping my cup of Joe now.

Keeping a consistent look for your brand is a very important piece in building brand loyalty and recognition. For those of us that work in marketing, this is an obvious statement that drives 100% of our style and branding decisions. If you run a company and don’t have a style guide for your business, your marketing probably needs a lot of help. Let’s tackle this head-on. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/importance-style-guide/

Choosing the best domain name for your company should be a bit of a process. Many companies make domain name selection an after-thought and don’t realize how important it is until it’s far too late. In this episode, I aim to simplify the domain selection process so you can focus on getting the domains that are best for your business and allow you the most growth potential. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/picking-right-domain-name/

In this episode, Dan discusses his thoughts and recent struggles with finding the right people to help him take Brand Shouter even further. He addresses his thoughts on Hiring, Contracting, and Outsourcing.

Creating a website that converts isn’t rocket-science. All you need is to know what your company does and what your potential clients are looking for. Sure, you can always test new approaches but those are for refining purposes. In this episode, I distill 4 key categories to pay attention to when setting up your website for conversion. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/creating-website-converts/

Becoming a local authority has many benefits to it. Of course it can bring money and success but it can also bring relationships, a solid base to build your business on, and good will. In the episode, I chat about a negative and positive experience I had with businesses and how that affects their authority here locally. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/becoming-authority-local-area/

It is SO easy for anyone that has a bad experience to pull up a review site on their phone and leave a scathing review of the business that harmed their fragile psyche. Businesses can be made and broken on the backs of online reviews. In this episode, I explore the idea of thinking twice before leaving a review that could do massive damage to a small business trying to succeed. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/think-hard-before-negative-review/

Do you have a business that needs to adopt technology to move forward? Even some of the most technologically advanced businesses are constantly adopting new technologies to stay ahead of the curve. For a lot of businesses, however, technology can actually hinder growth. Don’t adopt technology for technology's sake. Don’t be scared to bring in the technology and help necessary to help your business succeed. In this podcast I chat about an email I receive from a fellow business owner and offer some points and encouragement to help her (and you) move forward with your business. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/adding-technology-your-business/

Any well functioning business needs a business SaaS (Software as a Service) platform to run on. For any small business persons, there is really only one option that takes care of all of your needs. That option? Google’s G Suite. From an enterprise class email backbone to amazing online storage to a full suite of office applications, G Suite delivers the backbone that your business needs to run and thrive. Listen, I’m not a paid spokesperson. Brand Shouter does resell G Suite accounts but we choose to because it is the best platform for our clients. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/you-need-gsuite-for-business/

Email marketing is still one of the single best ways to reach out to existing clients and communicate with new potential clients. Email marketing, when done correctly, is informative and builds trust in your brand. It also can be a huge lead generation tool as well as a prime conversion funnel. In the episode I’m going to cover the anatomy of emails that are built to convert. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/write-emails-that-convert/

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Peter Lang - owner of The Designer CPA. Peter started rising quickly through the ranks at the CPA firm he started with until, one day, he was written up for being “Too Helpful”. This led him to realize that corporate life wasn’t for him. Instead, he chose the pursue the path of being a CPA that focuses on creatives and interior designers. It was a pleasure to chat with him and I sincerely hope the listener gains some key insights through this episode. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/designer-cpa-peter-lang/

If there is one thing every business owner can hang their hat on, it’s the fact that we’ll spend more time in deep uncertainty than we will ever experience “job security”. As I start this podcast, I’m dealing with massive amounts of uncertainty - which really is nothing new. Join me as I explore the depths of uncertainty I experience and share some of my coping mechanisms. Ultimately, the uncertainty is a lot of what drives small business owners such as myself. It’s the risk-to-reward ratio that makes this all worth the struggle! Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/coping-with-uncertainty-in-business/

Every business needs specific tools to keep running efficiently and effectively. There are MANY tools available that can help a small business person be organized and streamline business processes. I’ve tried many different tools and solutions and have finally found the ones I feel work best for a small business that is wanting to grow quickly without spending tons of revenue to streamline the process. In this episode, I share Brand Shouter’s favorite tools and the reasons why we use them. Related Article on BrandShouter.com: https://www.brandshouter.com/best-tools-for-small-business/

Chances are, if you have a business, are a marketing professional or work in content, one of the struggles that you will have on a daily basis is in content creation. Content is important in helping your business look alive and functional across the internet and to potential clients. Today's podcast addresses about ways to explode your content across the internet and in person. All while spending the least amount of time and doing the minimum amount of work necessary. Related Article: https://www.brandshouter.com/create-new-content-easily/

Here's to an amazing 2019!

Small business owners are just as susceptible to failing to live up to their "New Years Resolutions" as the rest of us. The problem: We all set goals that aren't smart - or S.M.A.R.T. In this episode I quickly break down what a S.M.A.R.T. goal is and apply it - on the most basic level - to small businesses. Start off the new year with a goal that is achievable and will lead to your success. Related Article: https://www.brandshouter.com/setting-goals-small-business/

Wishing all of you a very, Merry Christmas!

For this episode, we chat a bit about Brand Shouter and show how spending just one year of focus on your brand can make a massive difference. Get ready to learn from our mistakes and successes! Related Article: https://www.brandshouter.com/our-master-marketing-experiment/

Growing up, my family strongly frowned upon quitting just about anything. It was a concession that you were no good at what you were doing and that you were unwilling to push through a barrier to succeed. I would like to posit a different view: While there are times that quitting is indeed giving up on something that you could be much better at, there are many things in life and business that quitting can make you more successful. Related Article: https://www.brandshouter.com/knowing-when-to-quit/

In the episode, I cover 3 categories of basic Search Engine Optimization for a WordPress website. I aim to make this educational yet simple enough for anyone to use the tools built into WordPress and some extra plugins in order to achieve functional SEO for their website. Related Article: https://www.brandshouter.com/seo-basics-for-wordpress/

For this episode, I share 5 design trends that will be important to pay attention to in 2019. Whether you have a marketing team or not, it’s important to stay on top of these trends and to keep your marketing relevant. Sponsor the Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/businessgrowth Related Article: https://www.brandshouter.com/marketing-design-trends-for-2019/ Subscribe: iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brand-shouter-business-growth-podcast/id1387060533?mt=2 Google Play Podcasts - https://goo.gl/HkmLGs Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/64NwS44HizUqmkwfFK3e5R?si=Pu5a40KMS8qunXUrUT9nsA Pocket Casts - https://pca.st/dacd Overcast - https://overcast.fm/itunes1387060533/the-brand-shouter-business-growth-podcast More services and web player: https://www.brandshouter.com/podcast/

In this episode, I get the pleasure of interviewing Joni Fedders, president of Aileron. Aileron’s goal is to be a resource to helping businesses reach sustainability. Using the expertise of the business owner as a guide, Joni and the team at Aileron help steer the businesses they help towards success. Sponsor the Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/businessgrowth Related Article: https://www.brandshouter.com/interview-joni-fedders-aileron/ Subscribe: iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brand-shouter-business-growth-podcast/id1387060533?mt=2 Google Play Podcasts - https://goo.gl/HkmLGs Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/64NwS44HizUqmkwfFK3e5R?si=Pu5a40KMS8qunXUrUT9nsA Pocket Casts - https://pca.st/dacd Overcast - https://overcast.fm/itunes1387060533/the-brand-shouter-business-growth-podcast More services and web player: https://www.brandshouter.com/podcast/

We just wanted to take a moment to let you know how Thankful we are for all of you. May you have a blessed Thanksgiving. Sponsor the Podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/businessgrowth Subscribe: iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brand-shouter-business-growth-podcast/id1387060533?mt=2 Google Play Podcasts - https://goo.gl/HkmLGs Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/64NwS44HizUqmkwfFK3e5R?si=Pu5a40KMS8qunXUrUT9nsA Pocket Casts - https://pca.st/dacd Overcast - https://overcast.fm/itunes1387060533/the-brand-shouter-business-growth-podcast More services and web player: https://www.brandshouter.com/podcast/