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Email marketing can be a fantastic way to build a continuing relationship with past, current, and future customers. When done right, it is highly effective, when done wrong, it can annoy people or worse, hurt your brand’s image. How do you know if what you are doing now is effective?

Email subscriber insight: Ask them

Most people view email as conversational. Yes, most email newsletters are more informational and less conversational, but that doesn’t mean that you can start a conversation with your readers. In fact, sometimes it is easy to get feedback fast because all they need to do is hit ‘reply’ to give feedback. Why do so many emails have noreply addresses?

Quite contrary to how many email marketers “do things” try to break out of the mold some and focus more on who is actually reading the email, and less on pounding information over someone’s head.

Email marketing statistics: Watch them

As you learn to make email newsletters and email communications to be more conversational, at the same time don’t neglect one important element is the email marketing ROI analysis.

If you spend the time and resources to compile, write, edit, design an email you also need to know the return.

Virtually every email service provider (ESP) will have built in email tracking reports. One of the most common email statistical pieces of information you can gather is click through rate, which is the number of unique individuals who click on one or more links in your e-mail expressed as a percentage of total tracked opens.

Many ESPs also offer open rate tracking, but these have been found to typically be less valuable information as it may or may not be accurate.

What else is important to monitor?

Watch how the links that you put in your email impact the traffic and sources to your website. Use tracking URLs to correctly tell your analytics software the source of the email campaign. If you are using closed-loop analytics and an email reader converts on your website, then you can accurately show the source and how they got there. This is valuable intel!

Make the email interesting, or else!

Please don’t send another email with a boring subject line or text that would even put Ferris Bueller’s boring economics teacher to sleep.

Unless your email newsletter is for graduate level academia shy away from grandiose, lavish language. Keep it simple, short and make it pop!

People will thank you for an interesting, concise, and visually appealing email newsletter.

Bonus Tip: Make the reader take some action

Don’t neglect to place a call to action somewhere in the email. Make it clear.

What, you mean you are just sending an informational email with no purpose? Shame shame. Your subscribers are expecting something, whether it’s more information that is available, or a way to find out more.

Keep the calls to action toned down, not too many, otherwise watch your click through rates drop dramatically.

Question: What email newsletters that you receive, you look forward to receiving?

Has spring arrived? I think mostly. At last, your legs can see the daylight again by putting on those shorts and skirts again. We get the itch to run a garage sale, clean house, wash the windows, but most importantly do fun things outside. Have you cleaned up the cobwebs on your website lately? Here are five spring cleaning tips to apply directly to your website.

Start on the exterior – First step

Websites visually can always use a tune up now and again, but what is most important to really be concerned about? Focus on your visitor’s experience!

Do the blink test. Look at a page on your website for about five seconds and then look away. What do you remember? What can you tell me about the business? Have you any idea of the product or service they offer? Make your message clear and concise.

Audit those call to actions. No one wants to talk about audits around tax season, but don’t worry this isn’t a tax blog. You do need to do some auditing though on your calls to action. What is the primary objective of your website first off? Is it to drive sales for a specific product or service, or generate a large email list for a product you are launching soon? Does the call to action button or link draw the visitor in? Better yet, check the analytics, the supporting evidence, behind your inklings. Sometimes your “hunch” can get you in trouble. Measure it.

Clean out the shed and garage – Second Step

Admit it. You, like the rest of us, tend to throw and stack those wonderful things (another man’s treasure) in your shed or garage to never be seen again, until yard sale time.

What on your website has been thrown on the forget about me page?

Ok more specifics. There is always a problem child web page where you throw lots of information that could be cleaned up, lined up and sorted through to ultimate consolidate, get rid of, or make into multiple pages. Focus on pages like your About Us for starters. Could you break it down into a separate Company Background page and a Team page? This can also be great for search engine marketing! More pages, more keywords, plus better experience for your visitors (less text to read on one page). Win win!

Is it time to do some updates? – Step Three

Friends of mine who are realtors can tell you the difference between an updated kitchen and an outdated kitchen. Is that old pastel blue still in style? Hmm maybe not.

Does your website need a refresh? Wait! Before you do an entire redesign, sometimes all that is needed is to do a little tweaking. Sometimes background color changes can have a big impact. In fact, if you do it right you could even increase conversion rates.

The important thing is, while you use the broom to clean up the cobwebs in the corners, also do some thinking, and get objective opinions from trusted advisors, on what could spruce it up. Don’t make changes without being prepared to measure the results though as well. Marketing ROI analysis is critical to understand how your money spent impacts the bottom line.

Recycle old content to be reused in a shiny new way – Step Four

Older, not so fresh content that you had spent time creating in the past doesn’t mean it isn’t relevant today or can’t be re-purposed. In fact, often it can be reused to illustrate a point, give examples, or add more details to new fresh content.

What types of new content can you create that can incorporate some of the past material you created?

• eBooks – Take a series of older blog posts that can be curated into a compelling eBook for your visitors. Spice it up with some new facts, or new information that is relevant and you have something worth sharing!
• Social media updates – You don’t always need to have brand spankin’ new content to share on social networks. You can re-share or re-post some of your oldies but goodies on your business Facebook or X (formerly Twitter) pages without harm! People may be pleasantly surprised to read an article or something they missed in the past.
• Create a resources section – You can create a resource section on your website that shows off your expertise and company thought leadership all at the same time creating a valuable resource for your website visitors. Think bookmarks and sharing! If it’s valuable people will share it. Make sure they can share content easily.

Don’t neglect maintenance needed – Step Five

Would you really want to never check those smoke alarm batteries at least once a year? Would you also never want to have important maintenance done to your website that might be critical?

Hopefully by now you are happily using a content management system (CMS) to manage your website. This allows you so many options and freedom from costly edits through someone else and allows your company to always be publishing fresh content yourself or through a website copywriter.

A CMS is a piece of software that sits on your web host. It requires maintenance unless it’s completely integrated and managed for you.

Funny thing is, maintenance is more frequent than yearly, so don’t get caught up thinking it’s a onetime thing. If you don’t have the expertise, get someone who can. It’s important. You don’t want to wake up and have ten emails in your inbox saying your website has been hacked and isn’t working.

Your Best Website Cleaning Tips

I’m curious to hear about your best website and marketing cleaning tips. What would you add to this list?

For years catalogs were the shopping malls and store fronts for those living in rural areas that could not get to town during the long winter months out on the farm. Children and adults would spend hours poring through Sears and Roebuck Catalogs looking for items that they wanted, needed, and were interested in. In the age of modern eCommerce, things have changed dramatically.

That was then, this is now.

We have a wonderful opportunity at this point, to comparison shop instantly from thousands of online vendors and stores to find that perfect something or another, to buy for a friend, colleague, or family member.

Certainly, brick and mortar stores are often thriving well with door buster sales and thousands of dollars invested in advertising campaigns, but the eCommerce shift has changed the landscape forever.

How to capitalize on the shift in shopping

Small businesses often have a disadvantage in the number of budgets they must allocate to growing their business. It can be hard to justify thousands of dollars of advertising in hopes that it will spur greater interest from your potential buyers.

I’ve talked to business owners that have seen little to no return on the expensive campaigns they carefully put together and invested much time, resources, and money into. Some have seen a moderate return, but not enough to justify their continued shot in the dark campaigns.

Give the buyers what they want

Give your potential buyers what they want. Although initially it appears people are only interested in the lowest rock-bottom price, what is it that they are really interested in? Excellent value backed up by a brand that stands by their product. Hasn’t that always been the case?

Think back to your own shopping experiences, wouldn’t you rather pay a little more from a reputable, engaging brand that gives you a value that other brands don’t seem to have? In other words, you don’t have to be the lowest price on the market to have success, but you have to strive to be the best value on the market.

Building value around a product / service

Statistics prove buyers desire to have an engaging buying experience. How can you offer to your consumer that which is both valuable to them, and at a value that gives you a increasing profit margin?

Do this: be K.I.N.D.

Keep the promise

Keep the promise that your brand touts. If you say you offer fast service, stick to it.

Interesting

When you run an online marketing campaign to drive new business, at least make it interesting. Whether you spice it up visually, with compelling copy, or offers that can’t be refused, capture the interest of your buyer.

Natural

Quick, act natural, your buyers are coming! Everyone talks about being natural and keeping it real. Do it. There are so many faceless brands that don’t show the human business which people want to connect with.

Driven

Out drive your competitors on the range. There isn’t any reason that should hold you back from those that are in your market. Inbound marketing allows you to outthink and outsmart bigger brands that may be garnering all of the attention. Stop trying to please everyone and go after the niche of buyers that you really want to focus on.

Marketing takeaway

Spending the time and resources, as well as investing in your business through employing the tools and expertise to help you leverage the world of online marketing can make the difference between peddling forward and back peddling.

The shift has happened, your grandma might still turn to the catalog from time to time, and admittedly the paper turning in your hands is sometimes a luxury that is almost nostalgic. Don’t discount the impact that technology such as mobile device demographics and use and online shopping have changed the landscape. Be ahead of the pack and thrive on it.

The last few times I have stopped by the post office to check the mailbox I’ve observed something interesting. Along the long smooth marble-like floor and hallway are at least five little, tall tables. I like to call them the “junk mail” sorting tables. They stand worn and tattered from years of post-mailbox checkers sorting through the handful of mail they just gathered to chuck out the stuff they don’t want. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been silently thrown away right on these five tables.

Marketing budgets are tighter than ever before. As I talk with prospects and current clients about their marketing budgets and to help them uncover their overall ROI and where they could head to lower costs while bringing in more leads, the conversation typically goes something like this:

Me: “You mentioned that you are running some print ads currently, what is your conversion rate on those?”

Prospect/Client: “I am not sure; I haven’t been measuring it. But I got a couple of calls recently from it.”

If you are still spending hundreds or thousands of dollars and not having a good understanding of the return, why do you continue to do it? This is something I don’t think any true-blue inbound marketer will ever understand.

Big Stinkin’ Disclaimer:  I am not saying that all direct mail and print advertising is bad. In fact, Keenpath has engaged in some of this ourselves. But I say that with a big but, we measured it. We had about a 0.75% conversion rate. This doesn’t even touch or get close to the 15% average conversion rate we get consistently through inbound marketing though. I’ve talked to some people that have had great results, while others said it was a complete waste.

How to reduce marketing budget while bringing in new business

The purpose of this post isn’t to dog on direct mail. In fact, one of my inbound marketing friends Dale Berkebile has a great objective article about average direct mail conversion rates, check it out and if you need help with a direct mail campaign contact him.

Calculating your business goals

First, take a few minutes with yourself and the right internal person and calculate how much new business you’d like to bring in.

Second, think about the percentage you want to dedicate to inbound marketing efforts. (Inbound marketing campaign leads cost 62% lower than outbound marketing dominated campaigns)

Third, look at your current lead to customer conversion rates and then think about what you could do to improve it. (How about some lead nurturing?!)

One of the most frequently asked questions I get when talking to a prospect is this: How do you bring leads inbound? What do you have to do to do this?

Simple: Take this funnel below as my answer visually, but with a descriptive text: start at the top of the funnel with a website visitor finding you from a search or social media, or another way, convert them by having a truly compelling offer, and then nurture them by guiding them to more information and resources, and then engage the sales process when they are ready. A well-thought-out sales process will be important in this step.

Wrap up

Take the time you need to objectively look at your current marketing program, align it with sales, and then company goals. After you do this, the goal setting process can be aligned with an inbound marketing plan to work toward the goals, while reducing cost per lead, and is measurable so you know what marketing efforts are great and which are not so great!

The Great Falls marketing success workshop was well attended by Montana businesses, college and high school students, interested in learning more about how to simplify marketing and be successful by leveraging plans, technology, and networking. Thanks to the SBDC Montana and MDT DBE for sponsoring the event, and Hampton Inn for taking good care of everyone.

With about eighty people in attendance during the presentations delivered by Kitch Walker, Christine Tutty Johnson and Mark Mathson, there was good discussion, brainstorming and lots of note taking.

Better yet, the one-on-one discussions scheduled with the presenters were a success, each of the individual meetings allowed for a deeper dive into individual company and organization issues, successes and what doors could open with improvements and changes to their marketing plan and methods.

I was lucky enough to be able to listen to the other presenters deliver valuable information. Some of the best takeaways during Kitch’s presentation was building your brand as a big picture, focusing on building relationships with your customers and clients, scheduling time to develop your plan and quit putting it off. The networking portion was entertaining with Christine gave some humorous examples of what to do and not to do in a business networking situation, and how to craft a clever elevator pitch.

Slides of Marketing Technology Presentation

You can view and download the slide deck for the presentation delivered by Mark Mathson below via SlideShare.

Marketing Technology and Resources

Does your company have a mobile strategy for your website and online presence? Get ready, because eventually it’s going to become inevitable. It’s time to think ahead and start pushing toward a mobile friendly online presence for your product and services.

Mobile Marketing Statistics

• There was estimated to be 5.3 billion mobile subscriptions by the end of 2010 – That is 75% percent of the total global population.
• Shopping on the mobile Web, i.e. m-commerce will reach US$119 billion in 2015 predicts – That’s about 8 percent of the total e-commerce market.
• Most popular activities on the mobile Web are mobile search, reading news and sports information, downloading music and videos, and email and instant messages. In the future, money transfer; location-based services; m-health and m-payment will be key drivers.
• Many mobile Web users are mobile-only, i.e. they do not, or very rarely also use a desktop, laptop, or tablet to access the Web

Source of information: Mobile marketing experts mobiThinking – Global mobile statistics 2011

Mobile Marketing Strategy

After reading some of the above compelling statistics, it becomes clear that mobile users are large in number and are researching, shopping, and buying from their mobile devices.

Now many companies that are privy to having large budgets and teams of developers at their disposal are leading the charge in way of pushing the envelope with apps, mobile websites, and technology. Amazon has built a superb mobile platform which I have used frequently myself to make purchases. I too am one of those consumers that value convenience, and sometimes quicker experience buying something directly from my mobile device.

Businesses that have a lower budget or may be struggling to grapple with this newfangled thing called mobile strategy may be asking themselves, how can I get my website working for my website visitors.

Mobile Website Technology

There are many options for those that have websites, to make them mobile friendly. Most content management systems are now coming with either built in functionality, or have add ons that can give your website a mobile interface.

The important thing is, to start thinking not only about the technology that could power your website on a mobile device, but also the overall big picture and strategy, as to why you want the mobile users to view your website.

Mobile Strategy Planning and Purpose

Start with the original purpose of your “traditional” or “standard” website designed to be viewed on a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer. What is your business objective for your website, blog, and material on your website in the first place? Is it to provide educational resources, drive sales for a particular product or service, get volunteers, subscribers?

After you can identify the purpose, you can start planning your mobile strategy.

Implementing A Mobile Website or Application

Check to see if your website is enabled already with mobile access by viewing it on your mobile phone. How does it look? See if you can recruit a few friends and family members to take a gander at your website on their mobile device. Ask your iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Palm friends so you get a variety of feedback.

Now that you’ve gotten some feedback, and can see the good and the bad, start looking at the available mobile website technology options you have. As stated previously in this article, your content management system may already have the capability built right in! Or you can explore a content management system that can help you manage your website and then add the mobile interface at the same time.

It could be that you may also want to explore the option of getting a mobile application created for a specific purpose. As the common joke about the prolific amount of mobile apps available, “there’s an app for that”.

Marketing Takeaway

Your website in all of its glory wasn’t designed to hide it under a bushel, so make planning and preparations a priority, now or into the future, when the time is right for your business to develop a mobile marketing strategy.

You can get as complex or as simple as you’d like, but front and center, focus on your website visitors and the sales strategy and process your business has involving lead generation and lead nurturing.

The ROI of social media is often questioned, and with good reason. If marketers aren’t measuring the return they get in terms of actual leads and customers received from a social media campaign, then what good is it? Also, is it all about the money?

When you first make the decision to embark on a campaign to start using social media for your business, you need to think of a couple of things first. How are you going to use it? A few options: customer service, brand awareness, create buzz (contests & original share worthy content).

After that decide, what events, or things should follow after creating the accounts on social networks and beginning to engage, as many social media gurus like to call it.

Depending on your purpose to begin with you may want to generate new sales leads, get volunteers, or just create brand awareness for a particular product.

How long does it take?

So how long does it really take to get any kind of results from social media? Better yet, a first result. Good news, it can be immediate! Sure, you might not have ten thousand fans or followers, but you can have an immediate impact.

How is this done?

By following this simple process:

S.M.A.R.T social media

Starting line

On the starting line you are down ready for a full sprint. You have to start somewhere right? Just bear down and get ready. Be prepared to be flexible.

Mix it up

Don’t spend 100% of your time tweeting or sharing updates on Facebook talking about your product and service. Share some great industry news, and also take time to thank those who are supporting your company.

Ask for feedback

By asking for feedback, you truly can put the social back into social media. Your fans and followers are likely ready to give feedback, especially if you have a growing customer base!

Respond

Want a quick way to get some almost instant engagement via social media? Go to X (formerly Twitter) and search for key words that might trigger some conversation around your industry or companies brands. Answer people’s questions on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn Answers, Quora and Facebook. If you give them a URL, create a tracking URL (URL Builder tool) so that you can tie the social media engagement and response to your analytics and website stats.

Timing can be everything

The timing of your message can be everything in some respects. Think about your ideal buyer personas and the times they are most likely to be on the Internet looking for information. Are they likely to be looking in the morning, mid day, or evening? Weekdays or weekends? Time your message to be most visible during the key times.

No matter how quick or slow the results, measure it

Dan Zarrella, the self proclaimed (but has data to back himself up) Social Media Scientist, often says, “If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense”. So true Dan, and thanks for the reminder.

If your company is going to invest time, effort, money and resources whether completely in-house or outsourced social media campaigns, at least, please be measuring it. Tie your social media events back to your analytics, and reporting dashboards.

There are quite a few definitions of the term: sales funnel. Some are as simple as Leads -> Opportunities -> Quotes -> Closes; others are multi-channel processes involving more steps. But it comes down to one primary factor. The path that your website takes the viewer down should be a clear and directed one that gives them what they want: the answer to their problem/question.

People come online to do a few primary things:

• Recreate – have fun chatting with friends online and viewing photos
• Research – everything from what the word carat means in the jewelry industry to professional engineers researching a complex model
• Shop and buy – eCommerce continues to thrive with online sales. People buy stuff online frequently.
• Discuss – Mass amounts of discussion happening in forums, blogs (personal and professional) and real time social networks.

These aren’t the only reasons but could be classified as primary ones.

Ask yourself: Does your current website meet the needs and wants of your target audience? 

Online Lead Generation – The mind of a buyer

True it varies from your marketing objective, if it’s a B2B market or B2C, approaches will likely differ but remember the key primary things above people online are doing.

E. St. Elmo Lewis, an American advertising advocate proposed the AIDA marketing model in 1898: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action for marketing communication.

St. Lewis’ model applies today as much as it did then in the late 1800s. Of course, the actual funnel, and way people reach their destination, and a deal is closed differs in tactic.

Inbound Marketing Sales Funnel

Look at the following sales funnel that applies to inbound marketing strategy, methodology and tactics.

It is pretty cut and dry. But the process involves a few key components: getting found, a compelling offer, and nurtured lead (marketing automation and human contact, phone call, email).

What do you get when you combine the AIDA that St. Elmo Lewis came up with in the 19th century? Check out the following graphic: (original graphic unavailable, however, Marius Kin has a good graphic on his blog)

Inbound Smarketing

Be a smarketer. Think smarter, get in the mind of your buyers and partners. Start with a buyer persona first, add it into your inbound marketing plan, link it to a content marketing campaign that is built for the client and customer in mind.

In the world of business, as in life, those who do go forward while those that sit stay present. The act of publishing your ideas, thoughts and information to the world can seem daunting at first, but taking the time to present to the world, most importantly to those you’d like to do business with or continue to do business with, is an opportunity to become a true thought leader in your niche.

“There’s a way to do it better – find it.” – Thomas Edison

Whatever your measure of success for your business; monetary, legacy, change the world, one thing is certain, you have a lot to offer the world.

Blog writing increases traffic, but also increases loyalty

I have talked many times on this blog about the analytical perspective of blogging and how it drives traffic to your website through keywords that your prospects are searching for. When they land on a blog post and potentially convert into a lead, you want the experience to be as smooth as possible.

Over time however, to fit in alignment with your company/individual mission in life, offering more than just a lead generation machine (well optimized blog with fresh content), is sure to fit the suit.

3 things that can position you as a thought leader

Have you heard of the term A-list blogger? It’s a term to describe a more obvious mover and shaker in each blog niche whether it’s on personal development, business, and sales, or blogging itself. A few that undoubtedly are familiar to those that follow these trends are: Dharmesh Shah, Seth Godin, David Meerman Scott and Dan Schawbel. These are a few of many, but I invite you to check out their blogs and see the mounds of traffic they are getting and the volumes of comments and interaction they receive on their social media accounts as well.

First, do NOT focus on becoming an A-list blogger

Many people do not become an A-list blogger, nor do they care to be.

In fact, many of the most popular bloggers never actually set out to be as popular as they have become.

The beauty of writing and creating is that while it is an outlet, at the same time, it gives content in its juiciest and rawest form to those that are ready to consume it.

Focus instead on that which matters, community

Those who you write for and interact with are the “community”. These are the individuals that could be movers and shakers in their worlds and help strengthen your network of opportunities in business.

Often there are those that silently read a blog for some time without commenting, but eventually by nurturing that relationship over time, they will come out of the cracks and engage it up!

Step 1: Write consistently, but on your terms

Setting expectations by telling your audience how often you intend to write could be worthwhile. It sets up some expectations and how often to receive a tip from you that there is new content.

Fit blogging into your schedule by using an editorial calendar. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, at the minimum just actual times blocked out on your calendar. Other times it may take a collaborative effort across a shared blogging team so project management software can be used too!

Step 2: Spend time reading other blogs too

This might seem initially like a silly way to fast track becoming a leader in your blogging niche and creating exposure for your business but hold on for a moment to see why.

When you not only read others’ blogs but also comment and share the information you will build a relationship between another force to be reckoned with.

Bloggers like to help each other out, so don’t be surprised to see some fresh inbound links from others you have engaged with in the past and do so back in return for max exposure!

Step 3: Talk as yourself, focus less on product

Website copywriters that are professionals often write in the second person. This works great for marketing material and providing information, but when it comes to building a lasting relationship, write in the first person more. This sets apart a product focused nag blog that no one wants to read and a interpersonal blog that also features information from time to time on products and services.

Use more I, we, you in the writing. While your 8th grade English teacher might come back to haunt you in your mind, remember that blogging is traditionally less formal, and people have come to expect that. It’s more conversational.

Focus on results too

Taking the time to blog, putting together an editorial calendar, maintaining your website are all factors to put into consideration when publishing a blog. In addition to that, a community doesn’t just grow overnight. In fact, it could take months or years. But using some of the above ideas can help fast track it some. The benefits are clear, more increased website traffic and conversions to your product and service, while building brand loyalty!

A few resources I recommend to help you sharpen up on your blogging skills and learn more about the ideas talked about in this blog post:

• Copyblogger
• HubSpot’s Campfire Blog
• The Sales Lion (Marcus’ old blog now redirects to his personal page, but still great resource including his book)

The ability to update your website when changes are necessary is often a top priority. If hours have changed, staff shifted, or you just want to give the text a refresher have you found that currently it is difficult to update your website?

You can quickly and simply update your website with a content management system. A content management system or CMS is designed to make it easy to update, publish and make changes to a website without in-depth knowledge of HTML, business website design, or maintaining a server. Some compare using a CMS (content management system) to creating a Microsoft Word document, for example.

Banishing a hard to update website

When a website is hard to update a couple of things happen. First the website is typically outdated, doesn’t have correct information such as updated phone numbers and email addresses, and doesn’t have that fresh feel for your repeat visitors. Second, you could be dealing with the frustration that you want to make changes and refresh things, but it’s either too costly to constantly have someone make even simple changes, or it consumes much of your time going back and forth.

The time + money it often takes to go back and forth with these changes isn’t often worth it.

Suddenly the thousands of dollars you spent on a great looking website doesn’t seem like such a great idea.

What self-editing capabilities really means

Let’s face it. Not everyone can design and code a website. You have many options but often as a business owner you want the best result, weighted by the investment and time, over the return on that investment.

What is the ideal scenario? The ideal scenario is to have a professionally designed website sitting on a business website manager, a content management system.

The value is two fold. You have a great looking website that is uniform throughout, and second you can make basic changes to the things you really care about, the content!

Overall ROI

When you can spend less time and money on making simple changes, you can focus on the bigger picture: inbound marketing. With inbound marketing your company can focus on bringing in new business while at the same time nurturing those existing client and customer relationships. The fresh content, unique perspective on your blog, and simple visual changes will encourage past website visitors to come back again and engage through your blog, or social media.

Your investment here is longer term and more viable and allows you to focus on what you do best: your business.

(photo credit: Ed Yourdon)