In November 2022, I’ll have reached a milestone many people do not reach, a decade of being in business. Most small businesses don’t make it to the five-year mark, and web design, digital marketing, and SEO is particularly competitive. It is good for the soul to reflect on the highs and lows of running a […]
A Decade in Digital Marketing
29 Things About Running A Website I Wish I Knew Beforehand
No one said running a website was easy. In fact, running a website successfully may be one of the hardest things you ever do. Depending on what statistics you go by, between 175 and 380 new websites are created every minute. That’s a lot of competition. Even if you go back more than a decade, […]
Why I Changed My Positioning
A few of my colleagues in web design asked me to write this post, so here it is. Not too long ago, I chose a new direction for my consultancy, and a specific vertical to serve. By writing down my thought process, and why I made the decision to niche down with SEO for manufacturers. […]
2016 Year in Review
Welcome to the fourth annual year in review post! I like year in review posts, because it forces you to take a step back and evaluate what you’ve actually accomplished. Publishing your progress each year allows you to see things in a larger perspective. We have a tendency to get caught up in daily routine, […]
Why You Should Invest In Web Design Retainers
The basis of all great service work is good relationships. Think about your personal life. When you hire somebody like a car mechanic, accountant, or plumber, and you find someone that delivers great work, you keep going back to them. In some cases, you might even keep them on a retainer, like with a lawyer, […]
Don’t Stop Marketing When You’re Already Busy
I’m a firm believer that when you’re busiest is when you need to step on the gas the hardest. When you’re getting more and more business through the door, it’s a sign you’re doing something right. In 2016 and beyond, SEO is all about building a strong brand. Don’t believe that? Look at the sites […]
Web Design Discovery Helps Solve Business Problems
The biggest opportunity for most web developers is actually assessing the business problem that needs to be solved. A scenario I keep observing in the web industry is focusing too much on the technology and not enough on the business problem. This scenario plays out in different ways, but usually with newer developers, or fledgling […]
Should You Join Your Local Chamber of Commerce?
Every business day this week in Sacramento, all the local Chambers are organizing crossover events designing to help small businesses. I attended a function last night where there were six or seven chambers in attendance. I even got interviewed for a promotional video being out together to encourage membership. Later this week I’ll be attending […]
Trust Is The Key To Great Web Design Projects
Web design and development is a curious industry. A lot of people would say that we deal in design. Or code. Or graphics. Or marketing. These are merely by-products of what we deal in. They are not the products themselves. Web agencies only have a few things that they sell: their relationship with the client, […]
Why I Don’t Bill Hourly On Large Projects
For large projects, I don’t have an hourly rate. In fact, I don’t even worry about measuring increments of time until we get down to smaller things like maintenance agreements, or smaller projects less than a few hours in scope. A rate implies that you’re measuring effort in increments of time, not return on investment. […]