The top website and marketing links for this week. Do you find it hard to find the time to publish blog content? A recent study from Hubspot showed that businesses that published 11+ blog posts per month had 3x more traffic than those that published less. 3x! That’s really scary if you’re a soloist or only have a…
The top website and marketing links for this week. Creating user personas is something done often when designing a website, but it can also be very useful for business owners. Here are 6 steps to identifying and targeting your ideal customer that walk you through it. Considering a redesign of your site? Before you do it, clarify…
I read this the other day and found it surprising – here’s the original article on Entrepreneur. the number of small businesses that don’t have websites is about 46%, and 22% of all small businesses said they never planned to get one. That resolve will probably come back to bite them. Even if their business seems…
I just recently launched the fifth website redesign of Red Kite since starting out in 2005 – actually it was overdue, but as most small-studio web developers will tell you they rarely have time to spend on their own sites. I took a week during Christmas to do most of the work and have been putting…
The top website and marketing links for this week. This should inspire you – read how one small business made $67k off one Cyber Monday email last year (I can hear those cogs turning now…). The science of Instagram – what types of photos and descriptions get the most likes. Did you know that photos dominated by…
One of my clients contacted me the other day and told me he’d be moving on to a new host and marketing pro. “No problem,” I told him, but asked if he could tell me why? He told me that “unfortunately, had never received any business through the website.” Let’s look at that… One of…
Over the weekend I decided to start a new blog. I signed up for my first marathon a few weeks ago, and after reading other runners’ blogs, it seemed like a good way to both document training and keep some perspective on all the things associated with committing to a marathon. So I had an…
When I’m working with a client and they’re putting content together for a new website, almost invariably they tell me that when it comes to the home page, they have no idea what to write. The home page is often a difficult thing to wrap one’s head around when content creation is in the works….
“Don’t build your house on rented land.” That’s a phrase I’ve heard a few times since the Facebook IPO occurred. I’ve had a few prospective clients in the past tell me they didn’t need a website because they had all their business information on Facebook. Now Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Google+, LinkedIn and other social media…
I read a terrific article in Entrepreneur magazine last night by Ann Handley, chief content officer at marketingprofs.com. This article was about how to transform your underperforming website from a static brochure (you know, the kind people look at once then put away in a drawer) to a fully-functioning ‘member’ of your sales staff. So…
Do you request testimonials from your clients? If you don’t, you probably should. Recommendations from satisfied customers are a very compelling way to demonstrate the good qualities of your services or products. Asking for them may be awkward at first, but believe me, it’s worth the effort and it gets easier. Promise them something in…