In 2007, the mention of content marketing brought as many blank stares from small business owners as the mention of a website did 10 years before. In fact, in 1997 when we started our small business magazine in Southwest Florida, few owners had websites, let alone an online marketing strategy. In 2009, most small businesses do have websites and the term, ‘content marketing,’ has gone from obscure to fashionable. How to go from clueless to compelling to transform prospects into buyers When I say fashionable, I mean that the usage of the phrase has skyrocketed in

We get asked how much a website should cost at least once a week. When they learn what we do for a living , they invariably ask us "what should my website cost?" If only it were easy to give a good answer. Web design projects can also vary, beginning at a few simple pages in a "brochure" website to complex websites that have a content management system, e-commerce, and interactive features. It can be by friends, friends of friends, business connections, anyone really. The fields of web design and web development are filled with a wide spectrum of professionals,

They are in the middle of a very costly redesign of their B2C website and I couldn't help but ask if they had plans to set up on Facebook as well. Anyway I found myself thinking - why does any business need a website any more? With Facebook Fan pages you can build your own website on the Facebook "Platform" . I was talking to a small business owner last night. Right now, I have Facebook on the brain.

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According to Jerry, every meeting with marketing executives starts out with " How can I get more people to my website? " The discussion in the video then revolved around niche, viral campaigns as a way to drive website traffic. How do I get people to my website? Somewhat interesting Bloomberg video from Ad legend Jerry Della Femina on the future of advertising and ad agencies. The key points:

Like any presentation from one of the big analyst firms, the research focuses on very large companies, and is vertically unfocused (in this webcast, they divided websites into three groups: e-commerce, manufacturing [including B2B] and financial services), but still provides some nuggets of value for smaller organizations. Forrester's key findings from their website redesign research: By Forrester's standards, 97% of business websites fail to earn a passing grade for usability. Forrester Research makes a collection of its past webcasts on various online marketing topics freely available (registration required).

That’s the blog powered website of Chris Griffith, a realtor with Downing Frye real estate. It’s worth noting that, although Downing Frye is a successful, well-established local realtor, their company website doesn’t show up until page 3 of the listings. As she tells it, a typical first-time phone caller will refer directly to houses they have seen via her website or to information that she has conveyed. Effective content marketing online drives LifeinBonitaSprings.com to number four on search rankings. You might think that Realtor.com, Yahoo real estate,

quot; That said, Laura Ramos also points out that most B2B corporate websites "lack the basic building blocks to build customer relationships." quot; It's time for B2B companies to regard their corporate websites with a more flexible mindset. If your corporate website isn't playing a key role in generating qualified prospects and enhancing customer relationships, it's not doing its job. According to a recent survey done by Forrester Research with Marketing Profs, "94% of respondents consider corporate Web sites a key element in the marketing

short website copy.  You may need to be of a certain age to relate well to the debate over long vs. In particular, as Sonia Simone reminds us in a post on Copyblogger, it helps if you can recall those halcyon days when direct mail (along with print/TV advertising, of course) was a company’s chief [...] ...Tags: Tags: B2B Web Strategy Engaging Visitor

B2B companies say that improving their websites is a priority for 2010. I'm not sure exactly what they're thinking, but I do know that — before they do anything — they need to evaluate the website they have now in order to create a renovation plan. Some of the things overlooked on B2B websites include: I suggest that an audit be conducted for each web page, or at least your main pages if your site is really intense.