Anyone who ever said email is dead is crazy! Email marketing is a powerful tool these days – and if you do it right, it can set your small business apart from your competitors. How? Timing, segmentation, personalization, and automation are just some of the ways email can be used to reach your target market and customers at the right place, at the right time. Did you know that 91% of internet users check email at least once a day on their smart phones? We’re willing to bet you fall into the category.

Did you know it’s National Boss’s Day? We sent our two amazing head honchos to Hawaii! Well – kind of. They actually told us they had the opportunity to visit Hawaii and they were seizing that opportunity, so we sent them with our blessings – and that’s kind of the same thing. And you know what? They deserve it! Aloha! So in honor of National Boss’s Day, I asked our staff what they love most about Michael and Kathryn. Their words say it so much better than I ever could. Read what they said below!

In the olden days of the internet – we’re talking just 5 to 10 years ago – it was seen as rather risky to buy traffic to your website. It was kind of like if you paid someone to be your friend – it isn’t really an authentic or trustworthy thing to do. But, things change. As the search engines became smarter and more sophisticated, marketers found new ways of staying friendly with them. Buying traffic to your website is not a new strategy, but it’s an improved strategy.

Do you have an absolutely gorgeous website designed to appeal to the key influencers in your industry, yet you aren’t getting any interest from these people? If you’ve invested in paid advertising, such as Facebook ads, PPC campaigns, or other paid traffic sources and aren’t reaping the benefits, it’s time to slam the breaks on your current strategy and reevaluate before calling it quits.

Let’s start at the beginning. You started a small business. You marketed your small business by developing assets and using traditional tactics such as TV commercials, radio ads, print ads, sponsorships, even a billboard here and there. Then you built a website as the logical next step because that’s what everyone was doing.

It’s a fairly decent website. It’s bringing you some business. You know this because there’s a coupon that people bring in that can only be retrieved from the website, and a contact form that is periodically filled out. Don’t sell yourself short. Your website could be working for you 24/7. Do you know how to increase website traffic? By blogging.

Twitter is an everyday part of our lives now and an important part of any social media marketing strategy – especially as a source to help get more website traffic for your company. So when a platform like Twitter announces it’s planning on making a big change, there’s buzz about it all over the internet.

There’s no doubt you’ve heard of Twitter, but you may have never used it and are wondering what all the buzz is about in the first place.

There’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday – but do you know about #GivingTuesday? After two days dedicated to shopping there’s a day dedicated to giving back. On Tuesday, December 1, 2015, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.

It’s unusually quiet here at The Bubble this week. Our delightful bosses (who we miss!) are visiting their daughter. Even the office dog isn't here to welcome us each morning. Instead she's off gallivanting around the backyard of a friend’s home. Still, there’s a whispered buzz of finger typing, problem solving, and the occasional discussion of why in the world such-and-such is trending on Twitter. It’s unconventional times in the office like this that cause a pause - just long enough to get our brains out of the small business online marketing world for a moment – to reflect. In the spirit of Thanksgiving our staff shares what we’re grateful for.

Ghosts, goblins, zombies, and witches got nothin’ on the scary stuff that may sneak up on an inbound marketing company at any given moment. It’s not the danger that lurks in the deep web. It’s not the mystery behind the curtain of the all-powerful Google. It’s not even the creeper factor of the suspiciously timed emails we receive relating to a conversation we just had. If you dare, keep reading to learn what scares the inbound marketing staff at Half a Bubble Out, and how we slay these marketing vampires sucking the blood out of your business.