Locks are there to keep honest people honest. Let’s face it, there are countless bored teens and hackers looking to impress their friends by defacing your website. Most content management systems (CMS) like Joomla, WordPress and Drupal are designed to make it easy for anyone to edit your website from anywhere. While they have good security, there are vulnerabilities. Here are a few things you can do to make your website’s CMS a little more secure. For the purpose of this blog post I will focus on Joomla; however, much of what follows is applicable to all websites that use CMS. read more
I tend to get nostalgic around the Holidays…and I’m usually hit by a slew of random memories from my younger years. Driving to work earlier this week, I found myself reflecting back to a lesson learned in leadership. It was my senior year of high school, and the time had come to start applying for college scholarships. The scholarship that I had my heart set upon would cover my first two years of college completely – and fortunately, it was an essay competition. I had a talent for using pretty words and real life examples or statistics to ace essay exams. The topic? Leadership. read more
A visitor has landed on your website and has already shown enough interest to fill out a “Contact” form. Once the visitor has filed out the form and clicked “Send” they are taken to a thank you page. If your site is like most, this is an empty white page with a few words like “Thanks, we’ll get back with you soon” at the top. Because it is lacking any sort of engaging content, your visitor proceeds to leave your website for more interesting fair elsewhere. And, what’s worse – you just lost a terrific opportunity to solidify your relationship that that visitor. read more
Recently, a headline caught my eye titled, 10 Ways to be a Marketing Genius like Lady Gaga. I was taken back a bit by this headline thinking eccentric—yes, flamboyant—oh yeah, bizarre—absolutely…but marketing genius wasn’t something I would have thought to throw on her resume. However, after contemplating, I realized you do have to be a little bit of all those things to stand out? And isn’t standing out among competitors what marketing is really all about? So contrary to my initial reaction, here are 8 tips from the marketing genius herself: read more
As the resident copywriter at Blue, I’ve written (and/or edited) my fair share of Press Releases. I’ve noticed that many clients and companies seem to think that press releases are only good for one thing—telling news outlets about potential stories. Think again.
PRs can do so much more than just create a news story. In fact, with the downturn in print news, it’s become more difficult for a PR to be anything other than a sheet of paper in a pile on an overworked journalist’s desk. So, why bother writing a PR at all? read more
1. Status Updates—With Caution
You can let your connections know what’s going on with your business without posting updates that say “15% off of EVERYTHING in the store TODAY ONLY!!! Visit us from 9-5:30 at our downtown location for a GREAT DEAL!” Subtlety is key. Say something like “Busy getting the store ready for today’s big event! You’re all invited”—then give the hyperlink to the event information. Don’t make it an everyday occurrence. You should try to update your status with interesting information or even the hyperlink to your latest blog post (or even…ahem…someone else’s). read more
What use is a blog when no one is reading it? We’ve outlined three simple ways to start using your blog to its fullest, which can mean a larger readership and better brand awareness. Start cashing in on your blog today! read more
Contact forms. Every company that has a website needs at least one. The purpose of the form isn’t as important as its existence. Whether it’s used for sales, customer service or technical support…having a way for clients to reach you through your website is an essential part of doing business on the web. Why, then, are they so often overlooked or forgotten? As a refresher, here are a few questions every company needs to ask when considering your online contact forms: read more
While some may have missed it, the Old Spice Guy was on a roll a few weeks ago, showing the world what a complete social media campaign can be. Videos of actor Isaiah Mustafa—known to many as the “Old Spice Guy”—started appearing on Old Spice’s YouTube account in response to Twitter questions/comments. The videos became viral quickly and, while it’s over now, we can learn a lot from what happened, whether you’re a multi-million dollar corporation or the café around the corner. read more
It can be tough to get your social media presence going…we’ve put together some simple ways to help you move from “what am I doing” to “why didn’t I do this sooner”!
1. Educate Yourself.
It’s simple: make sure you’re as up-to-date as possible when it comes to your field. For example: if you’re a lawyer, I’m not just talking about CLEs (continuing legal education seminars). I’m talking about getting the latest in rulings, hot topics and industry news. It may mean taking an hour and diving into blogs, news sites and the latest Bar Journal…but it’s worth it when you really know what you’re blogging, tweeting or updating about. Be the expert! read more
Sara Anderson
Marje Cannon
Shelby Dunbar
Robert Holzler
Lindsay Sweeting
