The YYZ is a Nice Place to Be It’s fair to say that the city of Toronto is reasonably accessible. You can access any major retailer, access restaurants, major sporting events, concerts, and most other public places. Wheel-Trans can even get you there for the same price as the regular TTC cash fare. I must say that Wheel-Trans is probably the best thing the TTC has done in a while. Yes, even the TTC can do some good once in…
Tips and Tricks
5 Reasons To Use Email Marketing
Want to know how your small business can become online friendly? Our “Building an Email List” series is designed to guide your organization through the use of email marketing for building your brand reputation, following up with leads, and growing your customer base. Straightforward advice ahead! With all the hubbub over social media and their ability to reach customers, many assume that email marketing is being replaced, or at least becoming a less effective marketing tool. But this actually isn’t…
Online Marketing Tools for Bands
Many of us here at Kobayashi Online have friends in bands, or have been involved in the music industry in one way or another. One of the common things we’ve found is that many of our peers have trouble figuring out their online presence. This is really something many bands and musicians can benefit from because it will allow them to be more easily found online, get heard by new people, and be at least a little accountable to fans.…
Creating a Brand Online: Choosing a Domain Name
Trying to understand how your small business can become online friendly? Our “Creating a Brand Online” series is designed to provide straightforward advice for your small business as you create your online brand. Many companies and individuals serious about their brand decide to register a domain name – typically in the form of “yourname.com”. This domain name can be used to point to a website, and used at the end of email addresses. Basically, a great domain name can be memorable and create…
Creating a Brand Online: Using the Right Social Media for Your Brand
Trying to understand how your small business can become online friendly? This is the second article in our series “Creating a Brand Online”, where we provide straightforward advice for your small business as you create your online brand. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have helped make the Internet a social place where people can connect, comment, and share. These “social networks” are the hubs where “social media” live, and they’re structured differently than old media like newspapers, TV and…
Creating Your Brand Online: Defining Your Website Requirements
How can your small business become online friendly? This is the first post in our series “Creating a Brand Online”, where we provide straightforward advice for small businesses who are trying to understand how to translate their brand to the web. As your customers spend more and more time online each day, you can no longer afford to lack an online presence. But how to create an online presence isn’t always clear. Given the different methods and technologies available, you need to…
Automated Twitter Updates for WordPress: 5 Steps to Make Great Tweets with WP to Twitter
When you publish new content to your blog, don’t wait for people to just stumble on it – tell your followers on Twitter and other social media channels about it! If you don’t have a lot of time, there are some great ways to automatically send out a Tweet the instant you publish a new blog post. We’ve been using a WordPress plugin called “WP to Twitter”, which lets you customize how your tweets appear, making them more appealing, and…
5 Ways to Apply Strategy to Your Online Content
“Content is king,” is an old adage that remains true in the Internet age, an age which has more or less become defined by the proliferation of content. But not all content is created equal. This is where content strategy comes into play. Content strategy helps provide a purpose to an organization’s website, blog posts, online videos, and social media updates. Content strategist Kristina Halvorson in Content Strategy for the Web, writes: “Creating useful, usable content requires user research, strategic…
Feeding the Viral Loop: 9 Ways To Make Content More Sharable
Having people share your content is vital to increasing its reach and popularity because it helps introduce new people to your content. Like many of the things we learned in kindergarten, however, sharing is an essential skill, and one that adults often neglect. Because sharing is also central to the spread of online content like blog posts, videos, and applications, it’s important to encourage your audience to share your content. Like many of the things we learned in kindergarten, however,…
7 Tips for Online Friendly Video Marketing
As people spend more time online, the adage that every company is a media company is more true than ever. Simply put, creating media surrounding your business helps create interest and attention, which is good for business. We see this with corporate magazines, social media updates, blog posts, and late-night infomercials. Video, while often ignored by companies, is an excellent way to educate customers, increase site traffic, and drive sales. With two-thirds of American adults in 2010 being connected by broadband Internet,…