Small Business Software Blog
Setting Up Your Automated Marketing For Success
Marketing automation is a term being tossed around by digital marketers. While you certainly want to have a qualified professional supercharge your marketing, there are some things you can do to get things rolling and streamline the process to make it easier to hit the ground running.
Help Feed Arizona This Summer
If you didn't catch it last week, my editorial calendar is a bit out of order this month. I did that on purpose because I wanted to time this blog differently. Each summer, United Food Bank kicks off a food drive event called Christmas in July. Here's three reasons you should get involved.
Crafting a Platform with Built-In Security
Building a platform with security built-in from the beginning isn't a common occurrence. Many freelance developers or small development teams consider security late, if at all, which results in what we call "bolted-on" security (versus "built-in" security). Bolted on security, while still security, tends to poke a lot of holes in an application. Here are three things to discuss with your Web team about before you start the next project or enhancement.
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.
3 Reasons We Challenge Clients On Web Site Security
Recently, a class-action lawsuit was filed against 21st Century Oncology. In it, the medical provider is accused of storing patient data in Joomla. Since we primarily use Joomla as a content management system, this story was interesting, particularly when you look at the lawsuit attorney's comments.
We've Been Nominated for a Top Tech Exec!
Thanks to Cox Business Solutions, I have been nominated as a Community Hero in the Phoenix Business Journal's Top Tech Exec Awards. I had the opportunity to connect with some of the other nominees last night at the Prado Restaurant in Scottsdale.
Ask Yourself 'Why?'
When it comes time to crafting a solution, clients always come with an idea and grandiose plans, but every project has to start somewhere. When potential clients approach me about mobile apps, they often start with "I need a mobile app." My immediate response is, "sure, why do you need a mobile app?" That tends to shock them a bit, but also starts a more important discussion.
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.
What Can You Do to Protect Your Company?
This week, it's time for information about digital security and what you can do about it. When I previously discussed security, I mentioned that the tone when people talk about digital security, privacy, and recently hacked companies is dire, but I want to focus on what you can do about it. Recently, Entrepreneur published two great articles on the topic, one broadly covering the topic and the other specifically addressing the issue of employee theft.
