Thought for a day:

Editor’s note… This post is from Joe Reyes, and outstanding student intern we have had working with us since November of last year. I asked Joe to share his thoughts on how college is preparing him for real-world marketing.

In a previous blog post, “Tales From the Crypt” You learned all about the different problems and miscommunications that can arise when embarking on a website design or re-design process. In this post, I will give you some advice from the  designer’s point of view, of some of the things you should discuss with the person you hire before you begin the project implementation.

Needless to say, communication is key. Here are 5 things to discuss with your designer before embarking on the project:

Yes, that title is a bit dark and gloomy. And for many people, managing the creation and launch of a new website for their company feels like the cold hand of death is reaching out for them.

Increasing the conversions from your website can be as simple as making sure you have the right number of fields for the data and types of leads you are trying to get.  This infographic from Lisa Margetis at at Singlehop does a really nice job of showing the stats.

Much excitement has surrounded the new Hummingbird search algorithm launched by Google in September of 2013. A lot of people are talking about it but there seems to be a lack of understanding to what it really means for your website, and overall online marketing strategy. This blog post is meant to give you clarity on what the new Hummingbird algorithm has adjusted and how this can affect your website.

The Top 5 things I learned in 2013.

1)    Why bother selling ice to Eskimos?

I’ve been in BNI chapters for years at this point, and when I joined a chapter just outside my new home of Charlotte, I seemed to have some real trouble breaking in and getting quality (or even quantity of referrals).  Heck, our Bite Sized Business Development program came out of the desire to provide better quality to a larger quantity of small businesses.

What I realized is that once someone has a solution, even if yours is better, is that they will stick with the momentum. 

This is why incumbents usually win elections too.

In my chapter, there were already key, pre-existing relationships with a marketing consultant who had to leave the chapter, and was already well connected with most of the members of the group.   And he continued to get the referrals and connections.

• Testimonials overcome skepticism. A good testimonial has the power to convince even the most skeptical prospect that your product or service really made a difference in your customer's life--and youcan help them, too.

Here’s an example of a great testimonial (sorry, have to toot my own horn).

I’ve been working with a business startup that has had some interesting problems in researching names.   Here are 5 bits of wisdom from those conversations:

1)    Your name has to be spell-able.