Many moons ago, I managed e-commerce for a software company. In my first full year, I had a marketing budget of zero dollars. Yet we broke the record for e-commerce revenue. Those zero dollars went...
Culture Cube Marketing Blog
AI Didn’t Write this Blog. Or Did It?
AI (artificial intelligence) has a greater impact on your life than you may realize. Google uses AI in its algorithm, which is no longer under the complete control of developers. Google's AI is an...
I Think, Therefore, I Blog (or Something Along Those Lines)
As a guy who hated term papers and always delayed college essays until the last possible moment — NoDoz and black coffee were my constant companions — I'm surprised to find myself blogging as much...
12 Reasons Why Your Plumbing Business Needs a Blog
One might argue that blogging for plumbers is a waste of time. "Just look at those bounce rates! Half the traffic is from overseas! And they're all DIYers!" I myself was skeptical — until I looked...
Local vs. Organic SEO: Where to Spend Your Marketing Dollars
Beware of the Unsolicited SEO Email Small business owners must be easy pickings for the SEO predators. If they weren't, the shady operators would give up. They wouldn't be spamming your email inbox:...
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) & Your Small Business
Most small business websites average fewer than 16 visits a day. 13% are lucky to see 5 daily visits. (Source: BrightLocal) "If you build it, they will come" doesn't apply to unoptimized small...
Is Your Contact Page Costing You Business? 6 Barriers to Conversion
On most local business websites, the "Contact Us" page is an afterthought. It shouldn't be. It's potentially the most valuable page on your site. The task of "designing" the page, if you can call it...
Does Your Small Business Need a Marketing Calendar?
As a small business owner, you're responsible for day-to-day operations, customer service, and maintaining your finances. On top of all that, you need to market your business! Marketing is critical...
How A Bad Website Redesign Can Wreck Your Business
Your website needs help. Customers say they can't find anything, plus the analytics tell you — if you have analytics — that your site sees less traffic than Alaska State Route 11. You contact an...
10 Deadly SEO Sins of WordPress Websites
The internet connects to more than 1.88 billion websites. Most are inactive. There are trillions of web pages on the internet. Most aren't in Google's index. It's impossible to count all pages on...
12 Ways to Speed Up Your WordPress Website
Google has made site load speed a point of emphasis. As page load time goes from one second to 10 seconds, the probability of a mobile site visitor bouncing increases 123%. (Source: Google/SOASTA...
7 Ways to Spot a Fly-by-Night SEO Service
You've seen the unsolicited email message: Your website doesn't rank for XYZ! For the deal of a lifetime, we'll deliver top-10 rankings! Loads of traffic on the way! No doubt the message triggers...
8 Signs Your Website Has a Conversion Problem (& Not Traffic)
Imagine that you own a grocery store. Customers wait for service at empty registers. Products have barcodes but no pricing. In your store, prices are always a surprise at the register, like a gender...
Why “Free” Organic Traffic Is Never Truly Free
As a small business owner, you've heard it a million times. The spam messages clog your email inbox: Why pay for Adwords when you can get free organic traffic from Google? Just give us your credit...
Small Business SEO 101: Why Your Local Website Gets No Traffic
You've heard the term "information website," but exactly does it mean? An information website is a site providing information on a particular topic. That's it! There's no special format — an...
It’s About the Traffic, Not Keyword Rank
Long ago in a land far, far away (the Bay Area), I managed the SEO for a large e-commerce website. How large? Not Amazon.com massive, but during peak season, we cleared a million bucks a day. From a...
Dude, Where’s My Traffic? SEO Boot Camp for Small Business
The internet holds trillions of web pages. A typical keyword search returns millions of results. Welcome to the World Wide Web — a crowded open market where customers flock to the loudest barker on...