INSIDE THIS MONTH’S ISSUE
Local SEO 101: A Brief Introduction to Improve Your Online Visibility - pg. 3
How to Create More Accessible Email Content for Maximum Reach - pg. 7
Unveiling the Secret Behind Building Habits, Finding Success and the Importance of Life University with Blake Hahn and Michael Law - pg. 11
Boosting Employee Engagement: 7 Tips to Create a Positive Workplace - pg. 18
5 Tips for Using Color to Brand Your Business - pg. 23
Integrating Email Marketing and Landing Pages: Nine Mistakes to Avoid - pg. 27
Infographic: Video Marketing Statisticspg. 31
Local SEO 101: A Brief Introduction to Improve Your Online Visibility
In today’s digital age, local SEO is a crucial aspect of any business’s marketing strategy, helping to boost its visibility and reach its local audience.
As more consumers turn to the internet to find products and services, businesses seek ways to improve their online presence and attract their target audience. Local
SEO is a vital aspect of achieving this goal, as it helps businesses appear in search engine results pages (SERPs) for location-based queries. By optimizing their online presence for local search, businesses can enhance their visibility and connect with potential customers in their area.
This article explains the concept of local SEO, exploring the strategies that businesses can implement to improve their online visibility and connect with their local audience. Whether you’re a small business owner seeking to attract more local customers or a marketer looking to optimize a client’s online presence, this guide provides valuable insights and practical tips to help achieve these goals.
Local SEO is an important aspect of digital marketing that helps businesses to reach out to their local audience and increase their visibility on search engines.
Local SEO refers to the process of optimizing a business’s online presence to improve its visibility for location-based searches. By implementing local SEO strategies, businesses can reach out to their local audience and improve their chances of appearing in search engine results pages (SERPs) for local queries.
To improve local SEO, businesses must create and optimize their Google My Business listing.
One of the most important local SEO strategies is
to create and optimize a Google My Business (GMB) listing. This involves claiming or creating a business listing on Google and filling it with accurate information such as the business’s name, address, phone number, website, and hours of operation. It’s also essential to regularly update the listing with new information and images.
It’s important to ensure consistency in the NAP (name, address, and phone number) information across all online platforms.
To improve local SEO, businesses must ensure that their NAP information is consistent across all online platforms. Inconsistent NAP information can confuse search engines and cause them to display
incorrect information in search results, negatively impacting the business’s online visibility.
Building local citations can improve a business’s visibility in local search results.
Local citations are mentions of a business’s NAP information on other websites, such as directories and review sites. Building local citations can improve a business’s visibility in local search results, especially if the citations come from authoritative and relevant sources.
Encouraging customers to leave positive reviews can help improve a business’s local SEO.
Positive customer reviews can significantly impact a business’s local SEO. Encouraging customers to leave reviews on platforms such as Google, Yelp, and Facebook can help improve a business’s visibility in local search results. It’s also important to respond to reviews, whether positive or negative, as this demonstrates a business’s commitment to customer satisfaction.
Sentence: Incorporating location-based keywords in website content can improve a business’s local SEO.
Incorporating locationbased keywords in website content, such as in page titles, headings, and meta descriptions, can help improve a business’s local SEO. This is because search engines use locationbased keywords to determine the relevance of a business to a user’s search query.
Engaging with the local community can also improve a business’s local SEO.
Engaging with the local community, such as by sponsoring local events or participating in local charity initiatives, can help improve a business’s local SEO. This is because community engagement can generate buzz and increase the likelihood of other local businesses and organizations mentioning the business on their websites and social media platforms.
Although local SEO can appear complex and can be time consuming, the strategies outlined in this article offer a solid foundation for businesses
looking to improve their visibility in local search results. By creating a Google My Business listing, building local citations, and encouraging customer reviews, businesses can enhance their online presence and connect with potential customers in their area. However, it’s important to remember that local SEO is an ongoing process that requires regular updates and adjustments. As search algorithms and consumer behavior evolve, businesses must adapt their strategies to remain visible and competitive in local search results.
Local SEO is an essential aspect of any business’s marketing strategy, particularly those operating in a specific location. By following the tips and strategies outlined in this introduction, businesses can improve their online visibility, attract more local customers, and ultimately grow their business in the long term. If you are too busy as a business owner taking care of other important tasks, consider hiring a marketing agency to help you with your Local SEO. Local SEO is far more affordable than standard website SEO.
How to Create More Accessible Email Content for Maximum Reach
According to the World Health Organization, around 15 percent of the world’s population lives with some form of disability. If you want your email marketing campaigns to be more inclusive, you must ensure your emails are accessible to everyone on your list. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it also makes good business sense.
Accessible email content helps your business engage a wider audience and build a more diverse customer base. Ultimately, if you ignore accessibility, you could be alienating a significant number of potential customers.
Why Accessibility Matters in Email Marketing
There are five main reasons for making your emails more accessible:
• Screen readers and other assistive technologies can read emails designed with accessibility in mind. This means that people with vision, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairments can understand your messages and interact with your content.
• Accessible emails create a better user experience for everyone, which means you can engage a wider audience and drive more conversions.
• Accessible emails are easier to navigate, meaning that your readers can find the information they need quickly and easily.
• Creating more accessible emails shows
that your company is committed to inclusion and equality, which can help build customer trust and loyalty.
• In many countries, it’s a legal requirement for businesses to make sure their content is accessible to everyone. Failure to comply with disability rights legislation exposes you to possible legal penalties.
10 Ways to Make Your Emails More Accessible
Creating accessible email content is easier than you might think. Use the following 10 tips to ensure that your emails are accessible to everyone:
1. Use Descriptive Subject Lines
To make it easier for people of all abilities to scan your subject line and understand what your email is about, keep it short, use plain language, and clearly describe the content of your email.
If you use any emojis, place them at the end of your subject line -- not all screen readers read out emojis, so don’t use them as a replacement for text.
2. Structure Your Email Content Logically
For people using screen readers, content is read aloud from left to right and top to bottom, so the structure should be logical and easy to follow. Break up your content into sections that follow a logical order and use headings and subheadings so it’s easier to scan.
3. Choose an Accessible Typeface
Select a font size of at least 16 pixels to accommodate screen reader users, those with low vision, and mobile users. To help dyslexic readers -- who account for around 10 percent of the population -- use a font size of at least 14 pixels, and stick to sans serif fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, or Century Gothic. Serif fonts can make it harder to distinguish between letters and words.
If you want to emphasize a key part of your message, choose bold text, not italics or underlines. Only links should be underlined.
4. Use Straightforward Language
Using plain language ensures that more
people can understand your content, including people with learning disabilities and anyone learning English. Long sentences, complex words, and passive voice are all barriers to clear communication. For example:
Our product was developed to ameliorate the lives of those living with vision impairment.
Here’s a simpler version of the same message:
We built our product to help people with low vision.
Which version would you prefer to read?
Businesses can test their emails for readability by using the Flesch-Kincaid grade-level formula. The formula measures how hard it is to understand a piece of text, and the result is a number from 0 to 18. This number tells you the grade level required to understand the text. For example, a score of 10 shows the text is suitable for 10th-graders. You can test your content using this formula with online tools such as the Flesch-Kincaid calculator. For accessibility, experts
suggest aiming for a grade level of 8 or lower.
5. Format Text for Readability
Emphasize important information with bullet points and lists and use subheadings to guide the reader through your content. Also, use leftaligned text. Text that is justified (straight vertical margins on both sides) creates gaps between letters and words, making it difficult for people with dyslexia to read.
You can also improve readability by using the correct line spacing. Ideally, the line spacing should be around 150 percent of the letter height. So, if your font size is 16 pixels, multiply 16 by 1.5 and get an appropriate line spacing value of 24 pixels.
Line length is also important for readability. Most accessibility experts suggest using between 45 and 75 characters per line of text.
6. Consider the Color Contrast Ratio
The contrast ratio is the degree of difference between the background
and foreground colors. The foreground is typically the color of text or graphics, and a poor contrast ratio can make it hard for people with low vision to read the text. People with color blindness -- which affects around 8 percent of men and 0.5 percent of women -- can also have difficulty reading content with a poor contrast ratio.
The WebAIM tool from the Institute for Disability Research, Policy, and Practice at Utah State University is one tool you can use to check your contrast ratio. For accessibility purposes, aim for a contrast ratio of 4.5 to 1 or higher.
Also, to help dyslexic readers, use pale background colors like cream or light gray -- not bright white. Avoid placing type on dark backgrounds; this impairs readability for anyone, not just people with vision issues.
7. Include Descriptive Alternative Text
Not all people can see images, and some people block email images from loading. If you use images, make sure you add descriptive and informative alternative
text -- or alt text -- which describes the image. This helps screen readers to identify the image and tells people who cannot view -- or don’t want to view -- the image what the image contains.
8. Optimize Links
click tiny CTA buttons. To make your buttons easier to click, make them large -- at least 44 by 44 pixels.
Using a different color for links isn’t always the best way to make them stand out, as people who are color blind or have low vision may not notice the difference. Instead, add an underline to any links you use.
Also, use descriptive text in links to avoid confusion. People using screen readers often scan a page for links to find relevant information, so avoid vague language like “click here.” Instead, use descriptive words that tell users what the link will do. For example: “Visit our FAQ page.”
9. Optimize Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons
It can be tough for people with motor control issues or who use eye trackers to
To improve accessibility, you can also:
• Make the CTA text bold.
• Add an arrow pointing to the CTA button.
• Use lots of white space around the button.
• Make sure the button text has a high contrast ratio to the background.
10. Cater to Different Screen Sizes
Most email marketers understand the importance of creating emails optimized for multiple screen sizes. Without responsive design, emails can be difficult to read, and devices like screen readers can have a hard time navigating the content. Creating emails that work
with different devices is a good start, but all the other accessibility issues included in this guide need to be addressed, too.
Making Email Content Accessible for All
Striving to create accessible email content doesn’t mean that you have to change your entire email marketing strategy. You can start by making a few small changes to the content you create and then monitor the results. The suggestions in this guide should help you get started.
Making your emails more accessible not only helps people that need extra support but also creates a better user experience for all your subscribers. Ultimately, creating more accessible emails will give you a competitive advantage and maximize the reach of your campaigns.
Unveiling the Secret Behind Building Habits, Finding Success and the Importance of Life University with Blake Hahn and Michael Law
This month, I had the pleasure of talking to authors, creators, entrepreneurs, and talk show hosts Blake Hahn and Michael Law. Blake and Michael shared stories of their past entrepreneurial mishaps and how these events molded them as business leaders and helped them develop their habitshaping IDEAL™ program.
Dennis Postema: Can each of you tell us a little about your background?
Blake Hahn: Over the last decade, we’ve been through 12 companies and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I lost everything twice, once in 2014 and again in 2018. In the past five years, I scaled a door-todoor solar business to about $80 million a year ago and made a little over $3.5 million in personal sales. Alongside that, for the last four years since 2018, we’ve been building IDEAL™, a system focused on personal development, using solar as a vehicle to fund our dreams with IDEAL™.
We’re here now, getting ready to launch the number one performance app on Earth alongside
the IDEAL™ book and the program. We also have our talk show, which we launched a couple of years ago, called The Millionaire to Billionaire Talk Show.
Michael Law: First, I’d like to correct Blake on losing hundreds of thousands; as long as you gain wisdom from that money, that’s an investment into “life university.”
I grew up in poverty. The most money I ever saw my mom, who worked 3 jobs, bring into the household was around $30 to $40 grand. I lived in the type of place where if it rained, I stayed awake because I wasn’t sure what part of the ceiling was going to cave in. I thought, “You know what? I’m going to pull an all-nighter tonight so I’m safe.” I’d put pots everywhere to catch the water dripping through. That was my environment growing up.
Being a creative, entrepreneurial kid, I spent my childhood hustling, and so did Blake. When I left high school and moved out to Arizona, I realized it was business owners that I needed to be around. I realized that even though my mom is the hardest worker I know,
collections departments are still calling us every month. I thought, “Why is it that I can look online and see this guy sitting on a beach with his Lambo and his vacation homes, and he’s not even working?” I eventually discovered it was all about habits. When I started diving deeper into habits, it changed my life.
I studied the science of habits and the reasons behind why we do what we do. That led Blake and me on our journey to launching 12 different companies. We learned a lot of lessons from them— and they all made money. The real problem we had was narrowing down which one we would put our time and attention into. We needed to get rid of that shiny penny syndrome and focus. That realization is how IDEAL™ was born.
Dennis: How did you guys decide to partner up?
Blake: I lived in downtown Phoenix and was involved in network marketing with Legal Shield (Previously Prepaid Legal). I used to host events in my penthouse called “Pack the Pent.” I’d make a
new flier daily, fill the penthouse with people, and pitch Legal Shield to them, focusing on building both the business and membership sides. Michael found one of our fliers and showed up to an event. That’s where we met, and he joined the business. Together, we expanded our network marketing business to 6,000 people worldwide in 6 months, setting some records along the way. From there, we began investing in a gym, a supplement company, a suit line, and other ventures, marking the start of our entrepreneurial journey beyond network marketing.
Michael was always right there with me; we clicked immediately and supported each other through all the ups and downs. In 2018, when we were on the phone and the idea for IDEAL™ struck, it was like an electric charge hit us both. We agreed immediately to build IDEAL™ and its personal development space, including developing the app.
Despite the challenges, we’ve remained partners
and continue to build our vision.
One thing I can tell you about Michael and why we work so well together is his approach to challenges. Whenever I brought something up, he never just said no. He’d say, “I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out.” And he always did. Together, we navigated through 12 different businesses over the last decade. It might sound excessive, but it was our way of exploring, learning, and ultimately finding what we truly wanted to do.
This journey taught us not just about business but also about discovering our passions and refining our focus. Reflecting on the past ten years, it’s evident how these experiences have shaped where we are today.
Michael: I’ll dive deeper into that. I want to pull two lessons out of this. The first lesson, which I call “life university,” revolves around the concept that while some people graduate from high school and immediately embark on a four-year college journey, I chose a different path. I spent four years saying yes to every
opportunity that came my way, which is how I ended up meeting Blake. I’d started a social media marketing agency and saw this flier for “Pack the Pent.” I thought, “Alright, I need to immerse myself among entrepreneurs.” So, I began saying yes to everything, driven by the understanding that it’s okay if I don’t make money or win immediately. My main goal was to expose myself to as much as possible now that I was aware of a world beyond the poverty I grew up in—a world I previously didn’t know existed.
As I embarked on this journey of saying yes to everything, I conceptualized it as dividing experiences into four quadrants, like a box split into top and bottom halves. The top left quadrant represents things I love and am great at, while the top right includes things I like and am good at. My strategy was to ensure that everything in my life fit into these top two boxes, understanding that the only way to achieve this was by embracing a multitude of experiences in a relatively short time frame.
The bottom two quadrants encompassed areas where I needed improvement: the bottom left for tasks I was good at but didn’t enjoy, and the bottom right for tasks I neither liked nor excelled in. My philosophy was that life’s purpose involves delegating these bottom quadrants to individuals for whom these activities fall into their top two quadrants.
This approach contrasted starkly with the traditional path of going to college and spending 12 years doing one thing and then realizing you don’t even like it, love it, or have a passion for it.
The second lesson is about streams of income. One of the reasons we launched 12 companies was because we understood that successful entrepreneurs have several income streams. That is correct to an extent. We took that literally and started seven different companies right away. We ran them with pretty much no money because instead of investing all our capital into one of them— we had to disperse the capital among seven. Eventually, I learned that
first creating multiple income streams within one business builds a river and even more streams.
An example would be with IDEAL™. We have the book, a physical product, and that’s one stream of income. We have the app, which is SaaS (Software as a Service) and a second income stream. We have coaching, the third stream of income. All in one company. I’m not focusing on building multiple companies. I’m building one with multiple streams inside.
Dennis: Can you tell us more about the IDEAL™ app?
Michael: One of the features inside the IDEAL™ app is an exclusive, handcurated library of books— some of which aren’t even available on Amazon. These few hand-selected books are essential to people’s success, personal development, and personal growth. The whole library is going to be brought to users by Dennis and Motivation & Success Publishing.
Blake: Inside the IDEAL™ app, we focus on habits. We have three main areas: your daily goal-setting
habits, daily financial habits, and daily success habits. Within those three categories, we help you get a deeper understanding of the habits that drive success in these areas.
We provide lessons on planning out your days, your years, your months, and your quarters, then breaking it down into incremental pieces and executing it so that you can win. I always say that your goals create a clear roadmap for your life and where you’re going.
In the financial area, we dive into lessons I could have used in 2018 when I lost everything. We teach you about money and understanding how to make it work for you and how to diversify. We go into the basics of your wants and needs and understanding your spending patterns.
Most people spend money every month and say they’re broke and don’t have the money to invest in themselves, in a business, or start a program or get coaching. They’re not broke; they’re just not aware of what they’re spending their money on. You need to be
mindful of your spending patterns. Are you really spending your money on wants? Or are they on needs? If you could shift your mindset and be aware of how you’re spending your money in the beginning stages, start spending more of your money on needs instead of wants, knowing that you can get the wants down the road when your business takes off, that’s when you’re really going to win.
We also have a vision board inside the app so you can put your vision up there. Once you achieve those things on your vision board, you can move them over to the achievement board. Lastly, we have 7, 21, and 90-day challenges. At 90 days, you really formulate that habit, and it’s ingrained in you. So we gamify it so you have the challenge. It really pushes you, and you get to see how everybody else is doing inside the app, and we all get to feed off each other, help each other win and get to the next level.
Michael: This app is a blank canvas. You fill in your vision and your goals. Then, all you have to do is complete these six
success habits of the most successful people on Earth every day, combining them with your vision, your goals, and your gratitude.
We’ve all heard the saying, “21 days creates a habit.” It actually formulates a habit, not creates it. About 67 days will create a habit. Inside of the app, we set it up for 90 days because anything you do 90 days in a row without missing a day, you’ll probably end up doing it for the rest of your life. The app is designed to make success subconscious.
If you make success subconscious, it’s permanent. That means it’s inevitable for you to create success in your life. We just brought Sharon Lechter and Greg Reid onto the board of IDEAL™ as advisors. How do you do that, going from poverty to having Greg Reid and Sharon Lechter on the board of your company? You create success habits, and then you attract it.
Another feature of the app is IDEAL™ University. Think of a university, any university. You have courses, you have professors, and then you have a curriculum. IDEAL™
University is a “success university” that will start about six months after launch. We have 8, 9, and 10-figure entrepreneurs as instructors in the app.
They have their own masterclasses in the app. And just like in a regular university, you can apply to book a consultation call with your professor directly, if they have opted into this service. You could get financial literacy lessons from Sharon Lechter or branding information from Brian Smith, founder of UGG Boots.
You could also book them for a podcast or a virtual event. So you’re very interactive with successful instructors who have been there and done that.
Blake: Lastly, we also offer our Master Your Habits, Master Your Life 12-week program. That’s a weekly group coaching program where we help you dive into this and bring everything out of you so you can go through it the proper way in your first 90 days and maximize your results.
For anybody who gets the book or the app, it’s very simplified. If you really
want to go in-depth and learn how to get more out of the program, join the 12-week Master Your Habits, Master Your Life program, where we walk you through week by week how to digest the book and do the right way.
Dennis Postema: When does the IDEAL™ app drop?
Michael: On March 19th, our elite version will be released. The VIP version of the app will be released about six months later. That’s where you get access to globally recognized experts. That’s where you take that elite version and you go further.
For $200, you can get lifetime access to the elite version. So when we add any new updates, features, or anything to that app, you get it. It’s yours.
Talk about investing in yourself. Dude, just invest $200 and get access to that app, and every time you need to create a new habit, you input it into the app, and you’re on your way.
Dennis: You also have a show, “The Millionaire to Billionaire Talk Show,” on Motivation and Success
TV. It’s rolling out 18 different platforms: Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire. Please tell us a little bit about that.
Blake: Michael and I always talked about doing a show to talk to and interview people worldwide. On the show, Michael and I interview millionaires, billionaires, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and professionals from all around the world. We draw their most personal stories out of them and find out how they got to where they are and the habits they used or created to help them succeed.
We specifically dive directly into their story, background, where they came from, their childhood, how they were raised, how they got to where they are now, what they went through, and what habits they needed to create.
We’re about 100 episodes in, and the one common thing that I’ve seen is that we all have the same tales but just a different story. What I mean by that is a lot of people went through emotional or catastrophic events that made them change or want to do something
different. Many of the people we interview know what it’s like to lose everything. A lot of them had to go through some crazy shit to get to where they’re at, and they kept going.
I think that’s why you have 3% of the population running 97% of the world. The 3% were willing to keep going through every brick wall to get to where they wanted to go because they saw that vision. A lot of people don’t want to go through that.
I want to tell you a story about how much this show changes listeners’ lives. I have a buddy who’s been in the Army for about nine years now. He watched an episode where we interviewed Gerardo Hernandez, an awesome, amazing dude who was in the military and started taking his money and investing it into real estate. He started buying short-term rental properties and other cashflow assets, eventually making as much as $20,000 a month. Then he stepped away from the Army and began working for himself.
When we released that
episode, I got a call from my buddy, and he said, “Bro, I didn’t know that that was possible. I’m over here in the Army thinking that this is my life—this is all I can do, and I don’t know how to get out. Hearing Gerardo’s story, now I believe that I can do the same thing! It’s got my wheels turning on. Damn, I could actually do this! I don’t have to be here forever.”
Today, that guy is moving in a whole different direction, and you should see where he’s at in his life.
Michael: There’s a saying, “Change is inevitable.” For those of you who have never heard the word inevitable, it means it’s going to happen regardless. The world is going to change with or without you. Personal growth is a choice. I know many people who say, “I listen to podcasts all the time,” but they’re not doing anything with the information they’re learning. Feeding your brain with that is great, but you have to do something. That’s what’s going to inspire you.
Dennis: How can our readers join the IDEAL™ movement?
Blake: You can find us on Instagram and Facebook at @the.IDEAL. app, and personally at @ blakeahahn.
Michael: My handle is @MichaelLaw.io. For all things IDEAL™, visit IDEALU.io. There, you can join the waitlist or dive into our resources. You can also download the app today at theIDEALapp.io.
