Yep…I did it! It’s out in the open. I just picked up that intruder bundle thrown up on my porch without my permission and shoved it into my car to drop off at the local recycle  bin.

That’s that I thought!

But to my dismay, a week later another one of those pesky dinosaur phone books showed up delivered to my doorstep once again without me having any say so in the ordeal. Well, I don’t have to tell you what became of this annoyance once again.

Here’s the thing though that bugs me more than having to throw away those phone books…

Believe it or not, many clients that have come to us to develop a new website did not realizing they did not own their previous website!

How can that be?

Well for starters…many web designers sell you what is referred to as a proprietary CMS (Content Management System) or a template based system. Both of these give you the advantage of adding content and managing some of your website functions from a browser accessed backend commonly refer to as a ‘Dashboard’. However, it the web system belong to the company your website it with not you. You only own your content.

How can…

Why is it business websites and web assets ‘don’t get no respect’? That’s right.

In my 13 years as a web business professional I see this happen over and over. It happens with large corporations, to one man shop freelancers, to mid size and small businesses to entrepreneurs. Their website gets very little attention and nurturing at the stage of inception often handed off to the ‘web people’ to Make It So!

What’s wrong with that you ask?

Well for starters, your website and web properties (blogs, social pages, digital campaigns, etc) are not just flipping things that show up on the Internet! Rather…

It’s just about a no-brainer to know if you are in business today you better have a web presence…most likely starting with a website.

What is not common knowledge is most businesses (large and small) do not control these precious assets nor do they spend much time planning, strategizing, and nurturing the birth of their digital jewels.

If that were not shocking enough…very little if any attention is given to the ongoing marketing efforts and strategies that will now be needed once they have a presence online. Nor is much attention is given on how they will integrate their digital presence with the…

A recent research report which was aimed at determining the state of small business website and online advertising spending points out…

America’s 14.6 million small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) were responsible for more than $6.7 billion in locally generated, locally targeted interactive advertising in 2008 - more than half of the US total, according to a recently released report from Borrell Associates, which predicts these numbers will grow significantly as activities continue to shift online.

Here is the kicker, many Marketers don’t understand about small businesses though. The report also indicated more than two-thirds of them were allocating their online advertising expenditures on advancing their…

After reading a blog post by Seth Godin today discussing the first question every web designer must ask I said, amen Seth…but there is an even more important question that needs to be asked in my opinion that really starts with the client NOT the web designer.

I have had a web development company for over 13 years now and have been a digital marketing consultant before it became cool One of the greatest web presence problems I have encountered when it comes to designing a web site is the client does not really understand (or care to in some cases) how to market…