Monthly Archives: September 2016

Markethive

Top 15 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques I Forget to Do

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Search Engine Optimization is a very hot topic on the World Wide Web. After-all, everybody wants to rank higher and come up on the first page of Google search and get more traffic.

Sometimes it is easy to get carried away with SEO though. In my opinion, the best technique is to keep it simple and apply a bit of common sense.

Most SEO plugins will take care of the common architecture related stuff for you. So in this article I will only focus on techniques that you need to do yourself (or be aware of).

I have identified and made a list of top 15 SEO practices that I tend to forget quite often. These simple SEO techniques, if practiced properly, can make a significant difference as to how my pages are ranked in the Search Engine Queries.

  1. Use proper anchor text for inter-links. Don’t use “here”, “there” etc for the anchor text (if you can avoid it).
  2. Optimize the images, always create alt tags and write description in the alt tag.
  3. Use search engine friendly permalinks. Try not to have too many ‘&’, ‘?’, ‘!’ etc characters in the URL. Sometimes it is unavoidable but try to keep it to a minimum.
  4. Use hyphens (-) between words to improve readability.
  5. Do not use underscores (_) in URLs, use hyphens (-) instead.
  6. Do not use session id in URLs. If you are using good hosting then you shouldn’t have to worry about this one.
  7. Avoid using capital letters in URLs. Windows servers are case sensitive. Keep them lowercase so there’s no confusion.
  8. Use internal linking when possible and appropriate.
  9. Use sticky posts (if you can and if it applies to you).
  10. Have a category description paragraph.
  11. Let the visitors subscribe to category specific RSS feed. (Use category specific RSS plugin for WordPress)
  12. Use rel=”nofollow” tag on low value links to not pass the page rank juice. For example “Read the rest of the entry”, “About”, “Contact” etc.
  13. Use sub-directories rather than sub-domains when possible. Sub-domains do not share link love from the main domain as it is treated as a different domain.
  14. Research the target audience and aim the site content appropriately.
  15. Keep the content up to date. Visitors don’t like outdated content. Updating the content frequently also attracts the Search engines spiders to index the web pages frequently.

Chris Corey CMO Markethive

Written by: https://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/

 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

The Importance of Mentors, And Where To Find Them

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The importance of a mentor and where to find them can be one of the most important tasks a business professional can search for in their journey towards success. 

I write about growth strategy, execution & financing  

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Why Mentors Matter?

Mentors or business coaches are one of the most valuable resources an entrepreneur should tap into. The idea of launching a business should no longer be a scary or daunting experience, riddled with unknowns. It should be a collaborative experience accumulating the learnings of the hundreds of local entrepreneurs who have already built successful businesses, and can help you move faster and avoid known pitfalls based on their years of experience, as entrepreneurs themselves.

And, what is great about mentors or business coaches is that they come in all shapes and sizes that can handle the myriad of topics that you may be having a problem. So, search for the mentors who are expert on your specific business size, your specific industry, or your specific business problem (e.g., marketing issue vs. technology issue), on a case-by-case basis. Unlike finding a long term person for your formal board of directors or advisory board, as I have previously written about, mentors are more like “hired guns” on one-off topics that present themselves over time.

My Experience as a Mentor

Over my career, I have had the distinct pleasure of mentoring many startup entrepreneurs. Some of that has been via formal mentorship programs at startup accelerators like Techstars, Founder Institute or Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses.  And, some of it has been informal conversations along the way, while guest lecturing  university students or at entrepreneurial networking events.  To me, there is nothing more invigorating than being surrounded by a bunch of excited and motivated entrepreneurs, and trying to help them achieve their goals of building successful businesses. And, I am happy to contribute learnings from my career to help them get up the learning curve faster and for me to give back to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, of which I am a part.

A Mentorship Case Study

As an example, one of the startups I met needed help in structuring a strategic partnership with the leading media company in their industry to assist them with promotion and building up an audience. And, modestly, who better to help them than me, who structured a very similar media-related strategic partnership with National Geographic, while I was building explore in the travel space. Having the benefit of hindsight of cutting a strategic deal with a big media company, I have first-hand experience of what the pluses and minuses of that relationship were after the ink was signed, and it was too late to change anything in the agreement. So, hopefully, this startup can benefit from my experience, and can write a better agreement in their deal, than I did in mine.

CMO Chris Corey

Markethive Inc.

 

George Deeb ,  

 CONTRIBUTOR

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

The SEO Superpower every Super SEO Must Have

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Do you have superpowers? If you want to be a powerful SEO master, you need them. The good news is that, to get SEO superpowers, you don’t have to be born on Krypton or get bitten by a radioactive spider (not that there’s anything wrong with that). No, in this case you must only apply yourself and equip yourself with knowledge and tools in order to beat your competitors. Let’s talk about the SEO superpowers you should develop inside yourself:

Lightning Fast Reaction

The faster that you can respond to a lead that has tapped on one of your exclusive Free Capture Page 1 click Widgets that you have crated within Markethive the higher the chance of you closing a sale. This is best attained with a well put together set of auto responders. Whats that? You've never created a set of well written auto responder emails? FEAR NOT

Its a good thing that we have set up an outstanding default auto responder for you in MarketHive. However if you want to really turn up some heat on your own auto responder SUPER POWERS we have free workshops to help you learn the skills to do just that. 

You can have a All the great SEO content in the world, if you don't follow up its all useless. We invite you to come and learn to use the most advanced inbound marketing system put together by one of the greatest team of Internet marketing so that you too can learn to be an SEO INTERNET MARKETING SUPER HERO. 

 

http://markethive.com/chriscorey

CMO Chris Corey 

Markethive Inc.

 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

This Is How You Quit Your 9 To 5 And Become An Internet Sensation

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I’m not going to sugar coat it, sell you rainbows and unicorns or tell you that becoming an entrepreneur will make you instantly rich. And I’m definitely not going to tell you that it’s easy. Starting your own business is HARD. The biggest component to success is a high-risk tolerance.

I have repeatedly struggled to find my footing, pay bills and get everything set up before finally finding a workable formula.

The business itself is easy to create. I’ve written about how to quickly set up an online money-maker for yourself. I’ve even put together some ideas and specific examples for you to help you come up with an idea.

It’s the cultivation of the business that takes time and energy. No matter how great your idea is, it will not flower by itself. You have to nurture it.

And that’s the problem. Nurturing takes TIME. Lot’s and lot’s of time, attention, care and energy.

My goal is to help you harness the digital power to make yourself money with as little effort as possible. We all know the major themes: create products, share value with people, make income. But it’s not exactly a linear process, is it?

So how do you make a relatively smooth transition from corporate employee to automated/digitized entrepreneur without going destitute?

You have to start with the middle road: freelancing.

The bottom line is this – you need time to set up your business. Most corporate jobs have schedules that don’t really allow for the type of time you need to build content, products, relationships and skills.

What I did: In the transition period between quitting my job at Longhorn Steakhouse in Atlanta, making $2 an hour, to creating my digital empire out of my office in gorgeous Santa Monica, I worked as a contracted online freelancer. I got to create my own schedule, meet a bunch of interesting people, and do something that I loved (or at least liked a lot).

And the biggest perk of all? I could charge a LOT more money.

Most corporate jobs are salaried – so they’re going to max you out and overwork you for the same pay.

Hourly jobs can be low-paying by their very nature. The more money you make per hour, the less the company wants you to work. It’s a catch-22. But as a freelancer, none of this applies to you. You set your own schedule and you set your own rates.

Inevitably, this is where the objections start to crop up:

“I have no idea what I would do. I’m not good at coming up with ideas.”

“I don’t have any valuable skills. I just have my job-specific skills.”

“My market is already saturated. There are better people doing what I do.”

“Nobody will pay for what I know when they can just teach themselves.”

(These are exact copy and pastes from fans and readers who follow my work.)

What are your skills?

There are literally HUNDREDS of things you can do that are enjoyable and that other people will PAY you for. Start thinking about where you could mine your talent for freelance skill:

  • What do people consistently ask you for help or advice in?
  • Do you have any unique skills, talents, hobbies or abilities?
  • What areas of life have you excelled to an “advanced” or even “intermediate” level?
  • What skills ideas interest you enough to learn, and then teach to others?
  • Could you work independently doing what you do now at your current job?
  • Do you have any friends with talents that compliment yours? Maybe you could team up.

My Story

Best to learn by example, I think. Here’s how I did it.

When I first started freelancing, I was working at Longhorn Steakhouse (I’m basically a steak aficionado now). I was also working for Kaplan Test Prep.

My steak skills weren’t worth much. But my Kaplan skills were. I realized that people were paying $100+ per hour for me to tutor their student one-on-one. You won’t believe how much I was making…$18/hour!

And the worst part was…I THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD WAGE!!

Our perceptions are skewed because minimum wage is $7.25. So we think that anything significantly higher than that is good money. The reality is, $7.25 isn’t even livable. You probably need a minimum of $20/hour to make it out here.

But when I really sat down to think about it…I just got INFURIATED.

Here I was, doing all the teaching, grading, talking, communicating with parents, driving from school to school while Kaplan just sat back remotely and took 82% of my money.
BS!!

Since I as the one with the skill, I needed to be the one making the money. I knew I could make this work on my own and cut out the middle man.

So I bided my time. I looked around, I made some calls.

I found a partner who was also interested in getting a freelance education business going. He was the consulting side, I was the teaching side. Together we knocked down doors, created classes and started making money. A lot more of it.

First, I quit Kaplan. Didn’t want any conflict of interest. Then, as soon as the restaurant started to get in the way of my new endeavor, I quit that as well.

When I quit both jobs, I wasn’t making quite as much with the new business…but the projections were giving me a solid indication that things would pick up quickly. So I just took the leap.

Chris Corey

CMO Markethive Inc

 

By:Daniel DiPiazza

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Markethive Vision Statement

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Markethive Vision Statement

Markethive is Inbound Marketing combined with a dynamic vertical social network funded by advertising. Not only makes the entire Inbound Marketing system cost free, it also allows you to leverage huge results when you build groups to facilitate the platforms via the social network.

Markethive is next generation technology from a 20 year old Inbound Marketing platform called Veretekk. Built by the same entrepreneurs, innovation is our DNA.

We invented Inbound Marketing back in 1996.

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Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Want to Be More Influential? Improve Your Social Skills

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Want to Be More Influential? Improve Your Social Skills.

 Improving your Social skills is no longer a choice! It is a must if you want to be in marketing. Dale Carnegie got it right when he said that to win more friends and influence more people you need to improve your interpersonal skills.  Twenty years of research on power and influence shows that people with superior social skills are substantially more influential than people with average social skills.  These findings make sense when you realize that influence is not something you have; it’s something other people give you.  In other words, you can’t be influential with people unless they allow you to be influential with them.  So influence is in large part a function of your relationship with other people, and the rule of thumb on influence is that you are likely to be more successful if the people you want to influence know you, like you, respect you, and trust you. 

Being Known

It is significantly easier to influence people you know than people you don’t.  So go out of your way to make yourself known.  If you’re in an organization, this means increasing your visibility throughout the organization.  Introduce yourself to people.  As you get to know them, let them know who you are.  My research shows that people are who highly skilled at being friendly and sociable with strangers and building close relationships are more than twice as influential as people who are less skilled at sociability and relationship building.  People around the world instinctively understand this, which is why socializing is one of the most frequently used influence techniques globally.  If you aren’t naturally good at socializing, then this is a key skill to build.  Extraverts are often naturally good at socializing, but being an introvert is not necessarily a liability.  You may just have to try harder to do something that does not come naturally to you.

Being Liked

Sometimes, you know the person you want to influence but aren’t as influential as you’d like with him or her because of bad chemistry. Many years ago when I was younger and single a friend introduced me to a young woman, and she and I dated for a while.  She was a nice, attractive person, and we tried to be a couple but it just didn’t work.  Somehow, we got on each other’s nerves and whatever either of us said or did was somehow wrong.  There was no chemistry between us, and it wasn’t her fault or mine.  We just weren’t a good match for each other.  So it goes.  In my three decades in business I’ve had similar situations with some colleagues and clients.  Despite everyone’s good intentions, the plain fact is that there’s something about the other person each of you just doesn’t like.

I wrote in The Elements of Power(Amacom Books, 2011) that attraction can be a significant source of power, and it’s based partly on the psychological principle of liking.  We are more inclined to say yes to people we like than to people we don’t, which is why friends are more likely to do favors for each other than they are for people they don’t know.  So to be more influential, do what you can to be more likeable to the people you want to influence.  Of course, we each have whatever physical gifts (or challenges) we were born with, but you should do the best you can with what you have.  Good grooming, posture, dress, and manners go a long way toward making you more attractive to others.  In business, as well as many other walks of life, these things matter.  The same is true with interpersonal behaviors that people like:friendliness, generosity, warmth, caring, and acceptance.  When we act with these qualities, people are more inclined to like us.  Conversely, if we are pushy, arrogant, boastful, self-centered, rude, disrespectful, or otherwise annoying, people will be inclined to dislike us.  Personality is a key component of likeability.

Being Respected and Trusted

Trust and respect are largely about character, credibility, and confidence.  You build character through courage, integrity, reliability, and similar character traits; you build credibility through your knowledge, access to information, role, and reputation (of which work ethic, results, and contributions are a significant factor); and you build confidence by behaving self-confidently, achieving consistently superior results, making good decisions, and exercising sound judgment.  If you are a member of a business or professional organization, people will also trust and respect you more if you are actively involved, engaged, and comitted to the enterprise.  To become highly influential, it helps to be well-liked, well-regarded, and indispensable.

Fortunately, none of us is born with a fixed amount of power and influence.  No matter who you are, you can become more powerful and more influential, and one of the keys is improving your interpersonal and social skills.  For more tips on how to do this, see Elements of Influence:  The Art of Getting Others to Follow Your Lead(Amacom Books, 2011) or my earlier book, What People Want (Davies-Black, 2006).  Also see Dale Carnegie’s classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People, which he first published in 1936 but is still relevant today.

Chris Corey CMO Markethive

 

Parts of this article are excerpted from Terry R. Bacon, Elements of Influence:  The Art of Getting Others to Follow Your Lead (NY:  AMACOM Books, 2011).

Photo credits:  Friends in a bar: Sean Locke/istockphoto.com. Young businesswoman:  Maridav/istockphoto.com.  Business people looking at a chart:  Jacob Wackerhausen/istockphoto.com. 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Editorr is the best way I know of to improve your writing

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What would it cost for you to hire a writing coach?  This would have to be someone with an excellent command of the English language who could look over your shoulder and review your writing.  They would edit, make corrections to your blog posts,or whatever writing you submit to them. Every misspelled word, every comma out of place, every unclear or ambiguous sentence would be fixed, and your writing would be thoroughly professional in every way.

It would be quite expensive, don't you think?  I recently came across a web site called Editorr  I believe it will have a huge impact on my writing.  I submitted a blog post for review, and within an hour, the post was edited, corrected and sent back to me for review.  

I was able to improve the post, fix some small errors in punctuation I made.  (it is always the commas that get me every time), clarify a couple of my points in the post, and eliminate some wordiness.  What was my cost to have this professional review?  It only cost me $.03 per word.  This price is competitive with other services on the market, but to get such a rapid response, especially at such a high level of review, was simply amazing.

I think I have become addicted to this new service.  I really like it quite a bit, and I think it is a real time-saver and quality boost for my blogging efforts.

Click —–> HERE <—– to investigate this outstanding service. 

 

Article by John Lombaerde

Remember – To help with all your blogging and outreach efforts, log in here to Markethive

 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

How often should I blog?

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This is a big question for online entrepreneurs, and a dilemma for many bloggers.  It is not an easy question to answer, but I will try to give you information with some perspective to help you determine your ideal blog post frequency.

The answer to this question is dependent to a large degree on your particular niche. and what your competitors are doing in that particular space.  For example, if your blog is in the general news category, your biggest competitor happens to be one of the the biggest blogs in the world, The Huffington Post.  This blog's latest Alexa numbers, (a blog traffic tracking and ranking site), are 152 /35.

This means there are only 151 blogs in the world that receive more traffic than The Huffington Post, and only 34 blogs in the US that receive more traffic.  They have 255,422 sites linking to their website, (backlinks), and nearly 100 million monthly visitors.  They also produce a new piece of content or post every minute of the day on average.

Of course, this an extreme example of massive content creation, and top shelf blogging success.  It is obvious that you would have an uphill battle if you decided to compete against this kind of "super blog", and a significant investment to even come close to their online accomplishment.

Note:  All the major US news media struggle to compete with The Huffington Post in terms of their online success.

Now for comparison purposes, let's see what kind of competition you would face in the dog training niche.  The most popular blog in the dog training niche has Alexa rankings of 23,966 / 6,748.  (cesarsway.com)  Again, that means they rank 23,966 in the world for traffic, and 6,748 in the US.  This is quite a good result for this niche.  Obviously it would be much easier to compete with a blog in this niche than a blog on the level of The Huffington Post. Other blogs on the first page of Google for dog training are much less popular than this one.

Your niche may have blogs that offer much less competition than the dog training example above, (I hope so),…but you need to do this kind of basic research to determine the level of competition in your niche.  This is one of the first factors you should asses when you begin to post and promote your blog.

When you are first starting out, it makes sense to blog on a fairly frequent basis.  It tasks a number of posts to gain traction and gain interest.  At the risk of you not doing the simple research, I highly recommend you do the bit of research that I have recommended above. as it will help you to know what you're are getting into.  If you already have a blog, research will also help you to position yourself in your niche and give you an idea of what it will take for you to compete successfully.

There is quite a bit more to say about blogging, but I will reserve those suggestions for future follow-up posts.  I hope you will find these recommendations helpful, and try to implement them as soon as possible.

Remember – To help with all your blogging and outreach efforts, log in here to Markethive

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Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

SURVIVING PRISON – How to survive prison Part #3 of my 3 Part Series

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SURVIVING PRISON – How to survive prison

SURVIVING PRISON – How to survive prison

 

Nothing can be more difficult for a prison inmate than walking into the penitentiary for the first time. I know, I was once an inmate in a Texas state prison. New prison offenders often experience extreme confusion, fear and anxiety. The cold sound of slamming bars and hollering echoes as correctional officers are escorting you to your cell. As a reformed ex-convict and son of a loving and concerned family who stood by me through out my 13 year sentence, I am inspired to share my knowledge of how to survive prison. I know there are thousands of mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters who are in desperate need of advice because they have a loved-one currently doing time in prison. You may consider printing out this article and mailing it to your incarcerated loved-one so that he or she is able to survive prison as I did.

ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY

Prison is what you make of it. It can serve as a beneficial learning experience or it can be a living hell. That's right; every inmate who walks into prison has a choice. An inmate can survive prison by simply following prison administration rules and respecting both officers and fellow prisoners. What every prison offender needs to understand is that you committed a crime. You offended another human being so in the eyes of society you are an offender and will be referred to as such by prison staff and officers. Nobody likes to be referred to as an "offender" but there's absolutely nothing you can do or say to change that fact, unless of coarse you are released from prison. Inmates who get angry of the way officers treat them need to realize that prison is designed to punish criminals, not pamper them. Ask yourself this question. If the life of your own brother was robbed by the hands of a killer, would you want correctional officers to baby the offender? Inmates who are blind to that reality and who expect royal treatment behind bars are either cold-blooded sociopaths or just too stupid to live. Not only do offenders like these (and there are many) make life harder on themselves by refusing to follow the direct orders of officers, but they make life a living hell for their loved-ones who worry about them. Inmates who whine, cry and complain over their situation are not ready to be released back into society. Society can not afford the risk of releasing back into the streets an adolescence-minded adult-criminal who may very well offend again. Prison officials have a place specifically for all problem offenders. Unruly offenders are housed in special maximum security pods reserved for dangerous high risk inmates. It is there where officers become the least of a stubborn inmates problems and it is there where one must now deal with dangerous adult gang members with rascal mentalities. So yes, you do have a choice!

TELL ME WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE AND I'LL TELL YOU WHO YOU ARE

New inmates often feel the need to fit in. They seek friendship from just about anyone in prison. Choose your friends wisely. The least, the better. Mature minded convicts who mind their own business and follow administration rules are probably a new inmates best bet. Hang around convicts who keep out of trouble, who have productive hobbies or who go to religious services. Stay independent. You were born with two legs, not four or eight so theres no need to help fight your friends battles. A good friend is solid-minded enough to fight his or her own fight so if you come across an instigator who asks you to assist them in their conflict, avoid them.

IT'S ALL ABOUT RESPECT

Sometimes conflicts are inevitable, after all you are housed in an environment of convicted criminals of every kind. If you come across a situation where an other offender is giving you a hard time, try talking to him or her. Be respectful. There is absolutely nothing you need to prove so don't feed into their hostility. You are not a coward for avoiding a fight. You are in fact brave if you are able to approach the offender alone. Yes, make sure the offender is alone and calmly and respectfully explain to him or her that you have nothing against them and that you would like to apologize for anything that may have offended them. Trouble-making convicts are often egotistical so that may neutralize his or her aggression towards you. It is rare that this respectful tactic will not work. If it does not work and the offender persists, calmly walk away and avoid any eye contact with him or her. Ignore any insults and resist the urge to respond. It takes more will-power to resist a fight than it does to actually throw a punch. Walk away knowing that you are strong. You will one day be a free person after you serve your time.

HEAR NO EVIL, SEE NO EVIL AND SPEAK NO EVIL
Most, if not all prison fights start over gossip. Prison is boring so many offenders find that gossip is the next best thing to do. Avoid these offenders and their friends. Refraining from gossip may just save your life.

A STRONG BODY EQUALS A STRONG MIND

Exercise will not only keep your mind healthy, but it will make your body strong. Penitentiary bully's like to pick on the weak. You have nothing but time so release your inner frustrations with a lot of exercise. Avoid being a couch potato and avoid junk food. Eat the beans and greens on your food tray. Feed your mind, body and soul.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
Read, read and read. Reading informative newspapers, magazines and books will empower your mind. Not only will it take your mind out of prison but it will make your brain stronger. A strong brain knows how to deal with tough situations. A strong mind can see further and the further you see, the easier it is to avoid problems in prison. A well read mind knows that one day YOU will be free just like me, a man who did 13 years in prison. So let the gossiping prison gangsters and offender bully's keep the penetentiary they so desperatly want to control. They can have it! You will be free one day and no longer will you be referred to as an "offender". Life will be good. Trust me.

Chris Corey

CMO Markethive Inc.

 

Ex-Con Anonymous 1994-2007

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Part #2 of my 3 part Series The best Criminal Defense Team for Hackers

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If you try to hack the FBI Database. Knowing the right attorney to mount a proper defense is going to be needed. 

JAMES J. L. AHERN

303-840-1190

Attorney Profile

Top Rated Family Law Attorney in Parker, CO

Susan Fuller & Associates, PC

19751 East Main Street, Suite 270, Parker, CO 80138

Visit: www.sfullerlaw.com

Phone: 303-840-1190

Selected to Rising Stars: 2016

Licensed Since: 2010

Education: University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Practice Areas: 

  • Family Law (50%), 
  • Criminal Defense (40%), 
  • Personal Injury – General: Plaintiff (10%)

Chris Corey 

CMO Markethive Inc

 

 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member