It’s often said that small business people wear a lot of hats. To BizSugar members, the hat most associated with small business owner Mike Allton is the one he wears as editor of The Social Media Hat. It’s the site where Allton regularly posts articles on blogging, social media, Internet marketing, writing and business technology.
They are all subjects Allton knows well as the owner and operator of a small business that provides Web development, Internet consulting, social media management, blogging and online advertising services for clients.
“I can tell them exactly what they need to do, or just do it for them, depending on how involved they wish to be,” he explains.
In most cases, Allton’s services begin with design of a Website using the Drupal Content Management System (CMS) platform. Each site includes a blog and other content including FAQs and testimonial pages, all allowing the client to log in and make changes at any time.
Along with this, Allton also includes SEO and social media integration, meaning new blog entries are automatically shared with search engines like Google and Bing, and can also be posted easily to sites like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
“Once we have a great new website in place, I provide my business clients with ongoing marketing advice and assistance,” Allton says.
Those services can include creating ongoing content for the company’s blog. They can also include creating and updating social media profiles on Facebook, Google+, Twitter or other sites.
“My goal is to ensure that businesses are able to leverage the power and connectivity of the Internet to promote and grow their business,” he says.
For Allton, his full-time, full-service business sprang from years of experience providing part-time Web design services. He made his part-time gig into a full-time profession after moving to St. Louis in 2007.
Allton discovered BizSugar after noticing the community mentioned several times on another service.
“I was really impressed right from the start,” Allton says. “It was easy to get started and I immediately identified some great articles from people I didn’t previously know. I now share my own posts there and use it to curate content for myself.”
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