As the owner of a local business, you may have considered adding blogging to your marketing plan - and then wondered if it’s worth the effort. Strategically blogging to promote products and services can certainly drive traffic to your website, but more importantly, it is a proven way to help build trust with your potential customers.

Local businesses face immense competition when attempting to capture the attention of potential customers. To succeed, it is crucial for small businesses to leverage every available tool to enhance their online presence. One of the most powerful tools you can use to effectively market your business is your GBP, or Google Business Profile.

Have you ever looked up information about a business online (like what days/hours a restaurant is open, for instance), made plans based on that information and arrived at the scene only to discover they're closed because their hours of operation have changed but weren't updated on their local business listing? Or maybe

In today's world, your online reputation IS your reputation. Are you taking steps to safeguard it -- both personally and professionally?

Do you spend hours every day poring over Facebook posts? Or maybe you spend your day following what's trending on Twitter or posting videos on Instagram? What's that you say? You have a business to manage and don't have time for all that social media marketing nonsense? That, my friend, would be a mistake.

Using the Internet to market your business still works great but if you're a "local" business serving a specific geographic area mobile marketing is critical. What value can you place on being able to put your business in front of potential customers when they're right around the corner?

It can happen to the best of businesses: you wake up one morning to a scathingly bad review on Yelp or some other review site. Your business is your baby, so it doesn't matter whether the review is justified or not -- your first instinct is to defend the baby.

Resist that temptation.

If you own a business you should read this blog post that talks about a great customer experience in a hair salon. Pretty mundane stuff, but it's an excellent example of the value of a great customer experience and a reminder of 5 broad concepts:

Even if they don't use the word "brand" smart business owners instinctively know that they need to control their message to customers — and potential customers.

Over the past couple of weeks we've seen a valiant branding effort by both political parties via the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. A recent post speaks to their degree of success (or not) but what I'd like to share with you are the two truths of message control

"You've gotta have a blog" seems to be a standard refrain when you talk to anyone about marketing your business online. Generally speaking, it's sound advice. But has your marketing consultant ever explained WHY it's a good idea?