I framed houses for a year out of college — and it taught me a lot about websites. Just like a house, there are many different ways to build a website. But a family that’s getting one from the ground up wants a house that fits their needs — not a one-size-fits-all box. So should your business. Here’s how you can frame your website from the Continue Reading...

Google is the king of search engines. Over 80% of all searches worldwide are conducted through Google, so when they make changes, the whole content marketing world pays attention. And they just made a change. E-A-T was the acronym that defined SEO success for years. Google has changed that. The acronym has added another letter — it’s now Continue Reading...

It’s the beginning of January, and that means New Year’s resolutions. It’s a great time to make a resolution to build a better online business in this coming year. Here are the five steps to follow to make your business a success in 2023. #1: Commit to Publishing Content Regularly We’re all media companies now; in 2023, you can’t be on the Continue Reading...

2022 has been an eventful year for content marketing. From third-party data to TikTok competition, we’ve seen big changes industry-wide. There are three stories that dominated 2022, but their impact doesn’t end there. Here are the trends that shaped this year — and how we expect them to carry over to 2023. Third-Party Data Lost Its Continue Reading...

Social commerce is hot. Defined as eCommerce that happens through social media, social commerce has been a regular feature in the business news cycle. With eCommerce booming, social commerce should be the next big thing — after all, if you could make Facebook, TikTok or Instagram your one-stop shop, why wouldn’t you? The reality is more Continue Reading...

You have 15 seconds to get people’s attention before they bounce. Is your content generating a high bounce rate? You’re probably missing a good lede. We’ve covered above vs. below the fold — the numbers are clear. You lose a good chunk of your audience before the reader leaves the first page. The average bounce rate is around 50% across all Continue Reading...

13,001 cars in 15 years. That’s how many Chevrolet cars Joe Girard personally sold at his dealership in the 1960s and 70s. Not in bulk. One at a time. Every year Girard commissioned 12 personalized greeting cards for each customer, which he addressed to them personally. That kept people coming back — and buying cars. Girard used direct Continue Reading...

There’s a saying in marketing: “If something is free, you are the product.” It’s derived from a mid-1970s interview with artist Richard Serra. Serra said that the advertiser was the consumer of TV, and everyone who was watching was the product. The advertiser was buying attention. Social media is the same today. When the big social Continue Reading...

People don’t read the newspaper as much as they used to — but its legacy is still with us. For a couple of centuries, the newspaper was the primary source of news. People read the paper with their morning coffee, digesting the day’s headlines along with their breakfast. And the top headlines, the ones you really needed to know about, were the Continue Reading...

Marketers go where the attention is — and that means social media. Over 4.59 billion people on this earth have a social media account. It’s the easiest way to get people to know who you are, and most businesspeople know that. But social media isn’t the whole meal. It’s part of a balanced diet. I talked to several people recently who seemed Continue Reading...