Free yourself from daunting marketing expectations and explore your creative edge.

Six years ago I wrote an article stating that “user-centricity is the new SEO," and published it on LinkedIn. Now many years later, in a landscape where nothing about digital marketing seems predictable or steady, this statement is making headlines in a variety of different phrases and ways. Am I in the know about SEO or what? How did I predict something about SEO that far in advance?

Customer-centric and customer-first are a marketing trend we’ll see take off and further evolve over the next decade. One of the best ways you can show your customers (and Google search algorithms) that you are centered around them is to optimize plenty of your content around winning the Google answer box. Let’s take a deeper dive on what the Google Answer Box is, why it's important and how you can get started optimizing your content for it.

​Being a lifelong learner is so important to me and many marketing professionals or people responsible for marketing in general. A conclusion I'm ready to make with confidence is that a website is never done, a marketing plan is never good enough and these are the two most important (and common) things we deliver. Is a website or a marketing plan the only thing impacting growth of any agency or small business? Absolutely not.

So continue reading and I'll cover my real-world small business and career growing pains as a marketer. No matter how anxious I am, there's nothing like the 4,000 word vent and a-ha! moments that lie ahead. I’m hoping you can relate to something mentioned here or find this while having a difficult time getting your small agency, business or even marketing career together!

How much should a new website cost? That's a question we are asked all the time! All brands and websites start somewhere. Websites are working 24/7 to drive people to your business. A bad website is already costing you more missed opportunities than you may believe. If your organization does something well, has the best price, or that special something that sets you apart, both your in-person and online experience must reflect that and guide your customers.

When you outgrow, feel outdated or become frustrated with your website, it’s normal to have the tendency to assume the cost for a new website will be similar to your previous investment or what a friend is paying. The reality today is that websites are never done, and do not perform well when they are left static. If you want a website to work, you must continuously work on it or hire a talented team that understands all the ins and outs of managing a website.