Blog entries

Requirements Set the Pace

Tom Behrens — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:29:30 +0100

All the recent buzz about Steve Jobs got me to thinking about some things lately. I can't say that I have always been an early adopter, but I at least tend to stay near the leading edge of technology.

My first experience with a computer was back in the day when Basic was one of the more widespread computer languages (OK, really showing my age here). My first computer was a Commodore 64 which I modified to run a word processor and spreadsheet for a multi million dollar sales office tRead More...

Looking for low cost lead generation

Tom Behrens — Mon, 23 May 2011 15:03:39 +0100

Hubspot's recent market survey on the state of Inbound Marketing for 2011 reveals some interesting trends in marketing spend validating the importance of inbound marketing as a low cost lead generator. Consumers are becoming immune to uninvited communications and wish to be left to their own methods when going through the buying decision process. It's about control, and the consumer is now the one who now has the power of choice in what information is received.

There’s a distinct adRead More...

Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success

Rebekah Robbins — Tue, 17 May 2011 05:00:00 +0100

With the economy driving unemployment to record highs, it’s more important than ever to be aware of how to present yourself to potential employers and potential customers alike. Dan Schawbel, the “personal branding guru,” wrote Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success to teach the newest generation of business people how to thrive in the digital age. The book outlines the process for building a powerful and effective personal bRead More...

What it takes

Tom Behrens — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 13:44:16 +0100

We'll admit it. We're a small business, just like many of you out there, with the same challenges and daily struggles. We've got lots of plates in the air, and quite honestly we tend to operate by Tyranny of the Urgent. In the process, the things that we teach often get overlooked by ourselves - aka the "cobbler's children" syndrome.

In working with our small business clients, we've noticed this to be a universal problem. Your business is what you do - what you Read More...

Why Blogging from Outlook Makes Sense

Tom Behrens — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:00:48 +0100

We've been struggling (and you have too, we're sure) with an easy way to post blogs that is familiar and un-intimidating. We think we've found a solution, and this email will be a testament to that. Look for more info on this in later posts.

Marketing vs. IT (Grrrrr...)

Tom Behrens — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:56:31 +0100

In my consulting endeavors for large companies, I have often observed disdain and sometimes even contention between marketing and IT. Even though they both support the same common business objectives, it seems that neither one believes that they can be effective partners in the process. And now with the move toward a higher concentration of digital marketing in the mix, IT believes that it should be the one in the driver's seat. The real question here is: who's drRead More...

Creating a Great LinkedIn Profile

Ben Robbins — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 22:26:37 +0100

"What should I do on my LinkedIn profile?" As people become increasingly aware of the importance of social media and their personal brand, we hear this question more and more often. For businesses and career minded individuals, LinkedIn is often the de facto choice for dipping a toe in the water. As of August, 75+ million professionals have a personal LinkedIn profile (some even have several). How helpful and current their profiles are varies, but many have long since been forgoRead More...

Protecting Your Good (Domain) Name

Tom Behrens — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:00:00 +0100

We recently finished a project for a company that specializes in loss prevention for restaurants. Our methods involve getting deeply intimate with our clients business to understand their processes and goals. Believe me, we got a really good education on what happens behind the scenes to cause profit loss in a restaurant.

The experience of this project got us thinking about how many aspects of loss prevention are overlooked in our line of work. This has inspired Read More...

Oops! Where's my website?

Tom Behrens — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:31:29 +0100

We've been "doing" websites for over a decade now, and have seen some pretty interesting changes and advancements along the way. Personally, I started with Dreamweaver. Being familiar with page layout programs, I had to really adjust my thinking when it came to the HTML way of life.

Now we use various Open Source Content Management Systems (CMS) that are out there, and again I had to readjust my thinking to a database point of view. One thing is evident with an Read More...

Don’t Blink Now, Search is Changing.

Ben Robbins — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:52:16 +0100

Since the beginning of search, the robots have crawled sites, chewed on links, and carefully digested each page. A page’s historical performance factored heavily in its ranking. Just as important were the inbound links that a page accumulated over time. Over the last year or so, this has all begun to change as the major search engines have experimented with three new factors that will dramatically change how we search (and how we optimize for search).

First, results are Read More...

Ranking Guarantees?

Tom Behrens — Sat, 08 May 2010 20:28:38 +0100

From time to time we get asked about "experts" that promise to get your website to appear on page one of Google's search results. Our first question in response is usually "for what keywords or phrases?" The answer is usually something like "I dunno."

It's easy to get your site ranked as number one on the Google hit parade with a vanity search phrase. But does that term have meaning and relevance both to what you do and what people search for? Don't get foRead More...

SEO is Now Search Everywhere Optimization

Ben Robbins — Wed, 05 May 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Remember the good old days when a first-page search engine ranking was the Holy Grail? When social media was just for gossip, throwing sheep and re-connecting with old friends? Yes, it was a simpler time. Today’s landscape looks very different for those of us working to connect with our markets online.

Search Engine Optimization has been around as long as search engines have, and has long been the secret sauce for success on the web. The most important change of theRead More...

Why No One Likes You (on Facebook)

Ben Robbins — Sun, 02 May 2010 05:00:00 +0100

Let’s not mince words here. It’s probably because they don’t know you’re there, or they know, but they’re not going to search for your fan page just so they can click the like button. You should make it easier by adding Facebook’s new like box to your website. We've recently done it on this site.

You can see an example of the like box on the right. It allows you to like our Facebook page directly from this site without ever leaving. Try it Read More...

Myth #1: "It can't be that hard, I'll just figure it out..."

Ben Robbins — Sat, 01 May 2010 05:00:00 +0100

This one is a favorite. I'm all for anyone learning new stuff. You're probably smart enough to learn anything you need to succeed online, but don't kid yourself, learning is hard work. If you're not already an experienced internet marketer, my advice is to seek professional help sooner rather than later. You can still learn the nitty-gritty, but you'll learn it a lot faster with a pro by your side, and save both time and monRead More...

Myth #2: If you build it, they will come.

Ben Robbins — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 05:00:00 +0100

A few years ago, the term "web presence" was tossed around as a universal mandate. "You've got to have a web presence," people would say. The truth is that showing up was never enough to get any meaningful results. With billions of pages vying for attention, you'd better have a real strategy for getting to the top of the heap in your market. This means not only adding more than a few informational pages just in case someone searches for you, but ensuringRead More...

Myth #3: Flashy websites keep more visitor's attention.

Ben Robbins — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 +0100

Have you ever seen a clunker broken down on the side of the road, with huge shiny wheels? You no doubt get the picture, and we could probably stop here. The function of a site is to attract and inform both humans and search engines, and all that other stuff is just decoration. The bottom line is, use it only when it counts and make sure it's optimized.

Smarter: Don't Slow Down Your Pages

The truth of the matter is that shiny stuff often comes Read More...

Marketing is changing, selling is changing, BUYING is changing

Tom Behrens — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:09:05 +0100

If you listen to marketers, you'll hear the mantra repeated about the face of marketing in today's world. Now I could go on myself about this, but I came across an article from Jeffrey Gitomer about this very topic. If you don't subscribe to his sales ranting newsletter, I highly recommend it. Many times he talks about back to the basics topics, but we find that a lot of our clients benefit by reviewing the basics of their business, especially when considering a new website.Read More...

Myth #4: My website is optimized now.

Ben Robbins — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:00:00 +0100

The only thing more sad than a site that has never been found, is the one that soared to the top and didn't engage its millions of visitors. With nothing to keep them on the site, it eventually drifts away toward obscurity. This particular race is never over, but by taking the right steps, your site can get to the top and continue to stay in the lead.