Ray Tomlinson sent the first marketing email in 1978; it continues to be a popular way of communicating with current and potential customers. You can use email marketing to build relationships, and...
Stuff to Consider
20 Digital Marketing Mistakes That Hurt Your Local Business
Most local business websites struggle to rank. New clients come to us with badly broken sites. If they have any traffic, it's usually bought. And no, I'm gearing up for a rant about small...
SEO Is Your Website’s Foundation, Not a Coat of Paint
In a previous gig, I managed the SEO of a national retail chain. E-commerce division, or the salt mines, where meetings were a small part of the day and not four-fifths. Every department grew except...
Why Poor Phone Etiquette Costs More Than You Think
"The owner is so rude!! He doesn't know how to talk to customers!" How often have you seen this comment posted on Yelp, Angi, or maybe your Google Business Profile? Bad news travels fast —...
The Fast & Easy Way to Create City Location Pages in WordPress
What are "city pages", and why do I need them on my website? Before we learn how to create city pages, let's discuss what city pages are and why your website might need them. The best way...
Digital Marketing Whack-a-Mole: 15 Fibs & Fallacies That Won’t Stay Down
Digital marketing is the process of promoting products and services over the internet. It includes SEO (search engine optimization), paid search, website design, CRO (conversion rate optimization),...
SEO Is Dead. Long Live SEO!
SEO just ain't what it used to be. In the Wild West days, I could post a press release on a dozen free sites, and if it had the right backlinks and anchor text, a high-volume keyword like Easter...
What Is Curated Content? Curation vs. Creation
Curated content is a collection of information, resources, news, and other material assembled by a "curator" to provide an overview of a topic. It can include news sites, blogs, social media...
UX for E-Commerce Dummies: Always Test Your Assumptions
What Works for the Stores May Not Work Online E-commerce is the red-headed stepchild of brick and mortar, or almost an afterthought. Some brick-and-mortar chains run their website like a 24-7 retail...
Understanding the Fundamentals of Marketing
Marketing is a complex and ever-changing field, but at its core, it's about understanding your audience and crafting a message that resonates with them. This post will discuss marketing basics,...
Frequently Asked Questions about Small Business SEO
How can a small business afford SEO? Nowadays, how does someone find a local business like yours? Not in the Yellow Pages or the junk mail. People search for a plumber or electrician, and the...
How to Add Your Business to Google Maps
Okay, you got me. There's no way to add a business to Google Maps — at least not directly. You can't buy your way in. To earn your way in, you must follow specific guidelines and take steps that...
Frequently Asked Questions about Paid Search for Small Business
What's the difference between paid search and search engine marketing (SEM)? Some people use the terms interchangeably. But paid search campaigns use PPC (pay-per-click) ads that appear on the SERPs...
9 Must-Have Plugins for Your WordPress Website
Every successful website build requires a holistic approach that caters to each client's needs while also repeating successful elements from other projects. One part of those repetitive elements...
Large vs. Small Agency SEO: What’s the Difference?
In my two-plus decades of digital marketing, I've met and worked with SEOs of all stripes. Good ones, bad ones, and a few who mailed it in to collect a lazy paycheck. By this, I mean they dispensed...
Technical SEO vs. Content SEO: Why Few People Do Both
They couldn't leave well enough alone. In the good old days, there was SEO — search engine optimization. Just plain SEO and nothing else. It was the only flavor of ice cream. Nerds handled it...
Customers Need Information, Not Bullet Points
How often have you seen an information site with no real information? Bullets and nothing else? Full-service lock shop 24-hour emergency service Residential services Business services Commercial...
How to Re-Optimize Old Content for Killer SEO
The 80/20 rule comes from Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian philosopher and economist. Paraphrased: 80% of results come from just 20% of the action. In a corporate office, 20% of the workforce may produce...
