Having a website that is effective is a requirement of any business that wants to grow. If you are from a small city like Valparaiso Indiana or a large city like Chicago Illinois you need a website (and social media) that work together to tell your story. But why is it important for both small and big cities alike? We all can understand the big city as there is a lot of competition, big budgets, and a desire to grow to be bigger. Well, big city folk, the small city and small towns want the exact same thing and often have as many competitors and many times even more demanding customers. In big cities, you have companies that often have large marketing budgets and in small cities and towns you have a lot of startups that want to grow and become bigger than they are today. Big and small cities want to grow, make money, and contribute to their local economy. But what is needed for a website to truly achieve these results? This is something we are continually asked and we are going to cover twelve items that are required to have an effective website.

A blog is a great way to showcase your expertise, cover topics that wouldn't otherwise be a good page on your website, goes in greater detail than a specific page on your website, shows your passion, and provides fresh and relevant content for your users (which makes the search engines happy). We often hear that you should blog, and we agree with that. What is often missed is how do you blog, why you should blog, what do you write about, and what are the best practices when it comes to blogging? We'll cover each of the major items that we cover for our clients.

When it comes to websites one of the first questions we think about and our clients ask is what is the best way to get on page 1, position 1, of Google. That answer is simple. Follow all the best practices Google Webmaster Tools recommends. These best practices will let you know you need quality content, not "break the rules", write for humans (not computers), and have an easy to use navigation structure that answers the questions your visitors want to know. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is! With some time, effort, and a dedication to grow your business you can do it as well. In this article, we'll cover what you need to do for new or your existing website.

You might have noticed some changes with your business's Facebook page recently, specifically with the cover photo. Facebook business pages will now have a series of wording that goes across the front of the image or video (more on that later) that serves as a brief description of what your business is about.

As a company, we strive to be paper free yet when you walk into our office you will see a lot of it around. We know that a business without paper would be a business that doesn't exist even one that strives and lives to be as much paper free as possible. We pride ourselves on protecting the environment through every step we do. Every piece of paper is re-used, recycled, and is typically gotten in a recycled state. Many of us have tablets that have pens for note taking but that is not always the most convenient option when you have a flash of an idea pop into your head. What can a simple piece of paper do for your business that a more efficient computer can't? Let's find out.

At first, an automated system designed to answer all of your client's wants and needs, both good and bad sounds amazing. Having the ability to address concerns at any day and any time is the kind of customer service all businesses strive for. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is as automated responders or chatbots while getting better, still, pale in comparison to good ole flesh and blood human customer service.

Recently we have seen an influx of search engine marketing (SEM) "experts" pushing article writing to achieve page 1 results on the search engines. This can boost you in the first few months (sometimes even for a year or two -- this is more rare). This type of trickery people continue to do as it does work in the beginning. Once you are caught by the search engines you will start to not only drop in your search engine ranking but more importantly be penalized for doing these "spam tactics" that were designed to trick the search engines. In this article, we are going to dig into what article writing or article marketing is and how it can hurt your business

Who should read this? SNF administrators and marketing staff who believe the pre-need site visit will deliver more commitments and is an important part of the patient acquisition process with high focus on short-term Medicare A patients.

Saturday, I sat under the eaves of a friend's garage roof and watched it rain. His daughter was running across the freshly mowed lawn in the rain. Once she got too much grass on her legs and feet she would leap into her turquoise and white inflatable pool. My friend's dad, Eddie, sat to my right wearing his paint marked work boots. Eddie is an interior and exterior painter with over 30 years of experience.