Personal Case Study: Why Target Is Always on Target I stopped in at Target the other day to pick up a couple small things, so I didn't bother to grab a shopping basket on my way in. But suddenly I found myself caught between two of my favorite aisles — cleaning supplies and wine — and decided I needed a few more things. Lo and behold, I looked down and there sat a pile of baskets, so I didn't have to go back to the entrance to get one. Smart spot to locate them, too, in an area...

Creating a new company website from the ground up is a time-consuming project that often turns out to be costly, frustrating and distracting. If you've ever been involved with a website development project before, you probably aren't eager to go through it again unless you have to.* So, when do you have to? What are the signs you need a whole new website as opposed to making tweaks to your existing site? This is a really important question to investigate. A lot of companies contact us because...

One of the great things about starting a business is there's nowhere to go but up … at least for a while. But even very successful startups eventually reach a plateau, when it becomes harder and harder to increase sales and new client production. If your business has started to stall, here are two marketing-related issues to consider. 1. More Aggressive Competition When you're starting, it's easy to fly under the radar of established businesses. If you have a new product or service, even...

You've sunk serious money into SEO for several years, but all of the monthly reports look the same — no growth in traffic or leads. Back in the glory days, your SEO efforts were producing double-digit growth in both of those KPIs quarter after quarter; it almost seemed too good to be true. Now, you've reached a plateau, and you're wondering how you can get your SEO campaign to the next level. First, the good news: A leveled-off SEO campaign is a good problem to have. It means you've been...

Are you thinking about creating a new company website? Would your content benefit from a complete refresh? If you have a copywriter on staff or a capable freelancer on standby, then go for it! But what if you do not have a staff copywriter or a reliable freelance writer, and your new site requires updated content? Who is going to write that content? How will an outside writer be able to learn about your business quickly enough to produce interesting, accurate and lead-generating content? At...

PPC advertising is an excellent source of sales leads in and of itself, but it has even more value for sales-driven companies: Data from PPC campaigns helps sales personnel identify the best closing tactics. PPC Identifies Strong Offers Three aspects of PPC explain why it can help improve your sales team’s close rate: Offers Data Offers. Most PPC ads include an offer, something to tempt the search engine user to click on the ad. The better the offer, the higher the click-through rate. ...