Marketing Blogs
2 Ways to Make Blogging Less of a Chore
This is one of those odd 5th Mondays where I don't need to follow a specific editorial calendar. Since this week (almost) marks halfway through the year, I decided to reflect a bit on how I've stuck with my plan to get one blog out every week so far this year and what you can do with your own site to help.
3 Tips to Design for Everybody
Everyone wants their Web site to reach their audience and provide a great experience for their customers and potential customers. Most people believe that the colors matching perfectly or the placement of your best-selling service front-and-center is most important. It is ... visually. What about people that are color blind? Visually-impaired people use the Internet with special software and browser plugins to consume content. Has your ideal design considered them as well?
Marketing Week: SEO Tips & Tricks
Last month, I talked about advantages of search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and how each may fit into your marketing plan. I'm going to focus a bit more this month on some things you can do yourself to help with SEO. We all have budgets and professional digital marketing agencies, while expensive, are well worth their fees.
Do-it-Yourself Web Site Advice
When it comes to any kind of app or Web site, it just needs to work. I was recently approached by someone in my network checking to make sure a connection would be a good referral. The organization has a sizeable Web site which includes event calendars and ecommerce (primarily in the form of registration payments for events), but for a recently designed site I'm left feeling like I time warped back to the 90s.
Marketing Week: SEO, PPC, & Other Alphabet Soups
I'm often asked about my opinion on search engine optimization (SEO) and paid online advertising (usually pay-per-click or PPC ad campaigns). The short answer is that it can certainly help, but ultimately you should make the decision based on what your business needs are.
Marketing Week: Being Effective with Email Marketing
When it comes to email marketing, there's plenty of good information from a lot of sources about how to your email should indulge the customer to get a click. I recently came across a great article that was a bit different. I wanted to share that could change how you go about your email marketing.
Marketing Week: Expert Predictions for 2016
This week, we'll be holding our first training workshop to help small business owners entrepreneurs with their email marketing. During the rise of social media, you may have heard "email marketing is dead". Well, I assure you it's not - and many experts agree with me.
Increasing the Visibility of What You Have to Offer
I don't often blog about our accomplishments, but I wanted to this time. We recently rolled out an update for one of our clients, coordinating major upgrades to their technology platform (the application itself that drives their business), deployment process (how we get that application to their servers), and an entirely new marketing site. Needless to say, it was a big deal and we've learned something about marketing and technology.
Filling Your Funnel from Conversations
At one of my events this week, there was a great discussion on ways to keep "filling the funnel" during the busy season. We all have those times when we forget about nurturing prospects and business development because we're heads-down working in our business. That doesn't mean marketing has to stop. As a business owner, you're always marketing anyway - why not let your conversations lead right into your online efforts.
The Value of a Custom Web Site
Many small businesses look at a Web site as little more than a necessary cost of doing business. We've heard, more than once, "nobody comes to us because of our Web site" from business owners. The truth is that customers may not come to you because of your Web site, but they will use it to gauge whether they can trust you and to find out more about the products or services you can provide.
How Will Google's Mobile Ranking Impact You?
By now you've probably heard about Google's latest change wherein they start taking into account your site's responsiveness, perhaps even received an email from Google regarding your site's current standings. What isn't clear is precisely what the impact to your site and your site's search ranking could be. The bottom line is if one out of five visitors to your site is using a mobile device, your site traffic could see a significant reduction.
Budgeting for a Custom Web Site
Today's a big day. Three years ago, I jumped ship from the corporate world and began exclusively building my own company. There's been some speed bumps along the way, but I've spent the past three years building relationships with small businesses in the Tempe Chamber and getting involved in the business community. Some of those efforts centered around educating small business owners on the difference between Web designers and developers and the "cookie-cutter" approach vs the custom design approach to crafting an online presence.