The Two-Headed Monster Believes in Cohesive Marketing

Posted in: Internet Marketing | August 21, 2011
Two-Headed-Monster

Each week I receive calls and emails from a variety of people wanting help with “stuff”. This stuff can typically be put into a social media bucket, SEO bucket, or website design bucket. In most cases they blend together and reside in a big internet marketing bucket. Regardless of the stuff (or really problems and issues) that drives the call or email, I generally make a point of stopping them from looking at one thing and I force them to look at their internet marketing as a whole. Holistic Internet Marketing is Essential I believe in holistic internet marketing. I don’t believe there Read more

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I Owe Bing a Big Fat Apology

Posted in: Search Engine Optimization | August 14, 2011
Sorry Bing

Bing I owe you an apology. As of this weekend, I’ve realized I owe you one big fat public apology. For years I’ve dismissed Microsoft and I was a loyal fan of Google. This weekend you made me see a new you. A new, improved and pretty cool Bing. On Saturday morning I was drinking my coffee, surfing the web, and reading blog posts. Yes I am an SEO (aka nerd) and this is what we do on a Saturday morning. As I explored the web I happen to run across a blog post on Bing’s Webmaster Center blog. I’ll be honest, I don’t even know how I got there but I did and I was happy I did. I started Read more

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Sticks and Stones Break My Bones, Wireframes Excite Me

Posted in: Website Design | August 10, 2011
Wireframe to Design

Over the years I’ve matured in my web design process. I now have a graphic artist who creates really great design comps and a few WordPress gurus who whip these creations into the Genesis framework from StudioPress. I truly believe I have some of the best people around and I am a lucky girl. Yes I realize that sounds like fluff, but in my geeky WordPress world all that makes me happy. It means I get to focus on clients, strategy, SEO, and I get to create wireframes. Website wireframes are like pieces of a really cool puzzle that come together to make a really great website. What the Heck Read more

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Converting Visitors is About Connecting the Website Dots

Posted in: Website Design | August 9, 2011
Connecting the Website Dots

If you’ve been following my blog and you're a regular reader of my posts, you may have noticed in many recent posts we’ve been walking through my website design process. It has over 90 lines of to do items for my team and my clients. Yep I said 90 with a nine and a zero. That’s a lot, but there is a reason for it. I’m methodical in nature and my web design process is too. There are a lot of dots to connect and things to worry about when you launch a new website.  That doesn't mean it has to be scary, it means it just needs to be right. What We've Learned Thus Far So far on our Read more

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Keyword Research for the Average Joe

Posted in: Search Engine Optimization | August 8, 2011
SEO Word Cloud

Good keyword research is imperative for organic SEO.  We SEO consultants typically view this practice as common sense, but it’s only because we do it all the time.  In the real world, keyword research isn’t necessary easy for the average marketer or webmaster. But keyword research doesn’t have to be some big crazy formula.  I read a lot of SEO articles and blog posts and the internet is full of great content and advice for performing elaborate keyword research.  While this works, the activity of keyword research doesn’t have to be so convoluted that the average person can’t do Read more

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Why You Should Treat Your Website Like the Family Dog

Posted in: Website Design | August 7, 2011
Sniffing Dog

Friday afternoon I had a call with a client I built a website for back in March. Before I realized it, I was comparing their website to the family dog. Not a typical analogy, but it worked in the situation and the client understood the point I was trying to make. Who’s Taking Care of Fido? In my house I take care of the family dog. I’m not a big fan of our English Lab, but I’m still the one who makes sure he is fed, watered, and let in and out four hundred times a day. I am the caregiver even if I’m far from a dog lover. I much prefer my three cats, which pretty much take care of Read more

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With Good SEO Google Has a Memory Like an Elephant

Posted in: Search Engine Optimization | August 4, 2011
Google-TN

I’ve always said short-term memory is like lake front property. There is only so much lake front property to go around and you have to allocate it to the most important things within your life. Now that I’m forty, my lake front property – aka my short-term memory – seems to erode faster with each passing day. Google is far from forty and has a memory like an elephant. Good SEO only makes this elephant stronger. My SEO Efforts Will Outlive Me This concept has been overly apparent to me this last year. As I left my prior life and launched my own company I knew I could easily Read more

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Social Media is About the Shoes

Posted in: Social Networking & Social Media | August 3, 2011
Jenny's Birthday Shoes

Social media is everywhere and everyone thinks that he/she is an expert. The local dry cleaner, your lawyer or dentist, even the defunct SEO agency. These days everyone is into social media. Even my mother-in-law. But Are All These People Really Experts and Can They Truly Execute a Social Media Campaign? Well I think many agencies and people are just natural social media experts. Take my client Detroit Garden Works for example. Deborah, the owner, is a self-taught blogger and she is great at social media. Deborah claims to not know what she is doing, but she is really good. She connects with Read more

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Accountant Turned SEO

Posted in: Search Engine Optimization | August 2, 2011
Marketing Research Chart: Formalizing SEO processes adds up to large gains

Today I read an article on Marketing Sherpa about formalizing an SEO process and plan. Wow! It took me back to college, aka twenty years ago, when I was enrolled as an accounting major. Yes folks, this SEO started out as an accountant. My Reality Check as a Future Accountant My college years were self-funded. I lived off waiting tables and I paid tuition via grants and loans. My 30+ hour work weeks were spent waiting tables. My days as a server did more than just bring in money. They taught me about sales, marketing, and why I’d make a horrible accountant. I said a horrible accountant, Read more

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The Case of the Hacked WordPress Website

Posted in: WordPress | July 28, 2011
WordPress Hacking Code

A few months ago I was out of town visiting a client. On my route home my faithful iPhone popped up an email from another client. The client said “something strange” was appearing on their website. Peculiar I thought, because I’m the only one with admin access and I haven’t changed anything. I thought an investigation was in order, but didn’t go much past that initial thought. Following the Clues When I could get my hands on my Mac, I checked out the website. Sure enough, there was bizarre language or code across the header. It referenced the WP e-Commerce plugin. At first I Read more

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