In the past websites were built with the idea of an electronic business card, but that's not really the mindset anymore of what makes a good website. Sadly this create-it and leave-it mentality is still lingering in small business owners today.

This past Friday I had the privilege of being part of a group of “experts” at an event that ChicoStart put together called “Spring Training.” It was a bit like speed dating for entrepreneurs and startup companies. There were seven stations with experts in business pitch, funding, strategic planning, human resources, technical, legal and HR/Payroll, and marketing for startups. Each company or individual got 7 minutes to pitch their idea at each station and ask advice or get input. True to the baseball analogy, there were 7 innings, then a 7 inning stretch, followed by 3 more innings where they could go back to a station where they hoped for more input. By that 10^th inning of “overtime” we were all glassy eyed and tired, but what a great time! The participants I interacted with were enthusiastic and engaged, teachable and hopeful!

Today, I was reminded of life’s uncertainty as I realized the unexpected passing of a kind man I have worked with over the last nine months. Even though I have never met him, I feel like I know him, and I’m left with a lump in my throat and a sadness in my heart that I will not be interacting with him any longer.

Twitter is one of the best places to put your lead generation techniques to the test. You have a large audience, it’s a social atmosphere and there are people just waiting to find and learn about new companies and services. If you aren’t already doing this, what are you waiting for? You’re missing out!

In the past three days I have had three conversations with three separate business people who represent three completely different industries. In every case there was a common theme. Why blog? Each of these very bright people who are leaders in their respective buisnesses are convinced that blogging is not right for their industry. They are convinced that nobody they would gain as a client would ever read a blog post so writing blogs would be a huge time suck that would gain them little or nothing.

Are you lost when it comes keywording your website? Don’t worry, you’re definitely not alone. SEO can be extremely confusing, especially when it comes to optimizing your website with relevant and targeted keywords. Keep on reading to learn some SEO basics that will guide you through how to add keywords to a website.  

No really, people make purchases after talking about brands and products on social media. So, if you are a business owner, that’s the answer to your question “Why is social media important?”

As we opened our emails this morning we experienced a first here at Half a Bubble Out – our first negative blog comment. Not just negative – hostile, harsh, rude, ignorant, irrational, ridiculous – are other words that come to mind. It’s ironic actually, because we’ve been discussing blog comments around here a lot lately, asking questions like: Do they matter? Should we care? How should we moderate them? How long should we leave comments open? Do we respond to every comment? But we haven’t yet had the opportunity – yes it’s an exciting opportunity! – to respond to a very negative blog comment until now. So we of course had to share these internet marketing tips with you about how we responded.  

To give some brief context, one of our company owners, Kathryn, wrote a blog post last week about how she disagreed with a commercial for the Cadillac ELR because it essentially proclaims that the achievements and greatness of America rests in the fact that we don’t take time off, and if we do, it diminishes our earning potential. Read the blog and see the commercial here: The Makers of the Cadillac ELR Commercial and I Simply Disagree.

There are many rules to creating the best landing pages but some of those are often overlooked or not talked about much. Yes, many of us mostly know that you need to have a consistent format, be clear with what you are offering, have keywords on your page, include a form and so on. However, if after reading that last sentence you didn’t know one of those aspects or have questions, read this blog first, “The Best Landing Pages Use These 6 Simple Techniques," then come back to this one.

We are firm believers in blogging. Sometimes we can’t believe that some people are still asking the question “Why blog?” As an inbound marketing agency we have seen first hand the positive effect that blogging can have on your business.