original content Archives - Digital Marketing & Website Design Firm

Worried about the economy? Write a blog for new customers

March 18, 2013 By Chad Lane

According to a recent survey of small business owners, their number one concern by a large majority was getting new business despite a weak economy.

We know that to get new clients, a business must promote. That is the first step. However, this can seem like a catch-22 when money is tight. Blogging provides a viable, long-term solution to promotion woes – and they can be done for free.

Each small business owner has some expertise to offer to the community in the form of a blog. There are potential customers and fans right now searching the internet to find the answers to very specific questions that can best be answered by small business owners dedicated to their craft.

Now that “Google” is a verb, we all daily interact with the internet to find answers to questions that we would have never bothered to ask several years ago – but now it seems that someone, somewhere, is willing to answer even the most minute question.

This is why blogging is a magnificent strategy for the small business owner. While it is certainly not an overnight strategy, it is effective. The people who find your blog about your interests and areas of expertise are going to be a pre-selected group of individuals, intensely interested in what you have to say.Continue Reading

Painting Pictures with Words | Successfully Simple Copy Writing

February 13, 2013 By Matt D'Rion

The space on your brochure is better left blank than filled with copy that could be removed with no loss of meaning. The goal is to communicate what you do and how you can help. Effectively.

Compare this –

We offer services that allow expanding companies focused on various verticals to obtain synergy through cross-platform communication.

To this –

We find ways for your company to reach into new fields and find new markets to penetrate.

Notice that the additional buzzwords in the first version confused the meaning of the statement.

Why Seth Godin is Awesome – and Why You Should Care

December 6, 2012 By Chad Lane

Seth Godin is a world-class author and marketing expert. His blog is one of the few that I read every day when it arrives at my inbox. His ideas are worth paying attention to and offer enough inspiration to be profoundly valuable.

He frequently blogs about building a tribe, a group of people who support what you do and who are invested in your success – they are part of your personal team.

“This is great, we all know that,” you may say, “But how do I devote the time and attention – among the myriad things that take my attention every day – to build that tribe? Shouldn’t people just fall in love with my product? Isn’t that enough?”

No, it’s not enough. Even if your product is absolutely superior in every way, another suitor for your customer’s attention is always in the wings. Even the legendary Odysseus had to fight off Penelope’s 108 suitors after his absence. And if Odysseus was forgotten, it is a guarantee that you will be as well.

I received insight into how we all can afford the time necessary to build our tribes today – and that it doesn’t require anything at all beyond resources that we already have. Continue Reading

Advertising is like pasta

September 21, 2012 By Matt D'Rion

Pasta is good. Advertising is good too.

Pasta can get over-cooked. It gets sticky and mushy. In the 50’s, home chefs threw it against the wall and if it stuck, it was done.

Advertising can also get over-cooked. Say too little, too often and your ads get all sticky and mushy – unappealing!

Now, pasta without sauce is great for children. It’s bland and easy to digest. Advertising which says, “Name, phone number” “Name, phone number” “Name, phone number” doesn’t have much taste, either…Continue Reading

Referrals: Low Cost, High Reward

September 2, 2012 By Matt D'Rion

Measuring advertising success:

The reason to spend money on advertising is to get new clients or to make new sales from the old clients.

Why, then, do we allow ourselves to be sold “impressions?”

If 1,000 or 100,000 people see our offer yet no one buys, it makes no difference how many people saw it.

The only measure of success of advertising ought to be “sales,” “new clients,” or “income” – something that directly demonstrates effectiveness of ads.Continue Reading

The New Frontier

August 13, 2012 By Chad Lane

There is an economic theory that says this:

Our capitalist system relies on the ability to continue to expand. We no longer can expand without wars or unethical trade agreements with underprivileged societies. Therefore, we will fail.

Those who subscribe to this theory point out that we on planet earth live in a “closed system”, meaning that there are only so many resources, and that as our population grows, this necessitates that more and more people will have less and less.

This economic is close enough to true to be appealing. We do, indeed, live on a planet with limited resources. As a nation, we can no longer expand our borders across the continent – we ran out of continent a while back.Continue Reading

SEO Snake Oil

June 1, 2012 By Matt D'Rion

“Psst. Hey, kid. Wanna be at the top of the Google rankings? Gimme $1000. I’ll get ya there.”

The Snake Oil SEO “gurus” who sell this type of product intentionally keep one thing from their would-be customers…

If your website is at the top of the Google search pages, but doesn’t provide useful information to your potential customers, it is useless. If your potential clients click on your site and don’t get immediately drawn in by your knowledge about your products and the problems they solve, they’ll hit the “back” button quicker than you can say “SEO is dead.” Continue Reading