Inbound Marketing Blog

Content is the core of any website. Duh. Content is the meat of your website. It gets the message to the audience, hence, it is the most important part of your site. But there are many – too many – marketers who do not understand the critical value of content. Please read carefully.more

MINDSCAPE is pleased to be a part of the City of Grand Rapids Mayor's 50 program. This program is designed to give 50 local high school students an opportunity to intern for local businesses. As part of the program, the student receives a paid internship with up to ten hours a week for six months. These students apply to be part of the program and are selected by the business based on interest, talent and skills. In addition, the students receive comprehensive training to prepare them for the business world prior to beginning their internship. Devin Rittenhouse, the first of our Mayor's 50 interns, wanted to share his thoughts on his experience at MINDSCAPE for 6 months. Devin is a junior at Rockford High School and recently turned 16 years old. He wrote a blog so we could share with you- click "read more" to check out what he wrote!more

If you’re a web developer, all the HTML5 talk of the past year or so most likely gets you pretty excited. I won’t go into the details and specs of HTML5 because chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re familiar with what HTML5 has to offer and all the great things that are coming with it. I sat in on a couple HTML5 sessions at the Future of Web Design Conference in New York a couple months back and while it’s all really cool and exciting, I couldn’t help but feel a little cheated thinking that the technology is at our disposal, but it could be a few years before we can really utilize this for our clients due to the legacy Internet Explorer browsers out there that are incapable of handling modern technology on the web. Then I started thinking about HTML5 and the mobile web and got excited again.........more

If you have the most amazing company in existence, a product that can fix everything short of bringing world peace, and you are offering those solutions for FREE … it does you absolutely no good if nobody knows you exist. When I look back over the 12 years I’ve been involved in the online space I can think of many times that companies have approached us and wanted to “create a new website.” The challenge with an emerging industry is the lack of knowledge on exactly what it takes to be successful. We’ve done our best to let clients know once the website is created, there are far more things that need to happen to make that website a successful online entity. This blog post will clearly lay out some tactics, that if applied, will help dramatically increase the likelihood that your website will bee seen, and your wonderful solutions discovered. Foundation Once you’ve determined exactly what you’d like to accomplish with your online presence, the first step is to utilize the vast amount of information online to get to know your “buyers” very well. I’m not simply talking about identifying demographic information, I’m talking about truly getting into their heads to determine what they truly want, what barriers stand between them and your product, what influencing factors exist, and most importantly the exact language they speak. Your goal should be to find people and companies who are experiencing a certain set of problems of which your company can provide a solution. If a company knows the name of your company already, they’ll most likely be able to find you online. Since this is the case you should put your focus on not only identifying the set of problems that would lead someone to search for you, but most importantly identifying the way these seekers speak and will refer to the solution they are looking for. It’s important to spend some time doing some keyword research with a tool like the Google Keyword Tool or any other keyword research tool, to determine the problems that are searched for the most, and how the seekers refer to that particular problem. If you take this time, you’ll have the ability to strategically position your content in the search results on multiple platforms. Although it is much easier to simply fire up the computer and hack away at your keyboard, if you are looking to show measurable results, it’s necessary to spend the few minutes it takes to ensure you are creating relevant, compelling content that is highly sought after.more

Google is once again trying to improve search with the release of their latest feature named Google Instant Preview. Basically you'll be able to roll over a magnifying glass icon and get a screenshot view of the website you'd be visiting if you click. This isn't a new concept, but new from Google. There are browser add-ons you can get such as CoolPreviews that give you this same functionality.more

We have made a significant effort to make sure you get the help or answers that you are looking for. There are two main channels to get help. 1. If you need help learning how to do something, our Get Satisfaction support forum is the place to go. We post helpful articles, webTRAIN updates, and ideas on the forum. You can search the forum, ask your own question, help other users, report problems, or let us know what we’ve done right.more

Facebook and Microsoft's search engine Bing came to a new partnership agreement. The following was reported by Bloomberg on October 13, 2010: "Facebook Inc. expanded its partnership with Microsoft Corp.’s Bing search engine, letting people automatically see what their Facebook friends think about the topics they’re seeking information on. Bing’s new search screen also will let users become a person’s friend on Facebook or send a message to the social- networking service, Microsoft and Facebook said today at a media event in Mountain View, California. Searches for restaurants or movies will spotlight the ones that a user’s friends like." Whoa. Re-read that last sentence. "Searches for restaurants or movies will spotlight the ones that a user’s friends like."more

Chances are if you’re in any kind of sales or marketing related position, the company’s website has come up. You’ve likely been part of a team considering updating the website, redesigning the site or looking at ways to better market the site. Website costs vary. So what do you do? Ask around for referrals, likely engaged in a Google search and even checked out competitor sites to see if there was a link to “website developed by XYZ Company” at the bottom of the site.more

If you've written off SEO (search engine optimization) as a search engine marketing tactic in favor of the presumably easier PPC campaign (pay-per-click), boy are you missing the boat! I am not going to talk about HOW to optimize your site for the search engines, but rather, showcase the tremendous importance it has for the success of your campaign, your website, and even your company related to traffic. Before we talk about the future, let's go back. Way back. Remember BANNER ADS? Sure, they're still around. Actually, they're still all over. But when is the last time you recall seeing a banner ad on a site and clicking on it? Chances are, you don't…because you didn't. This is so common, there's a term that's been created called "banner blindness".more

Something I experienced over a 3 second period on my walk into the office building this morning inspired me to write this. It was a deep inhale of brisk, downtown Grand Rapids air. I actually had to take a double sniff. The first inhale caught my attention, but it was that second deep, lung filling gulp of air that whisked my mind away to the warm breeze of Cancun, Mexico. It was that smell. A magical mixture of clean air and something on the grill that did it. I was no longer walking down the sidewalk of Ottawa Avenue, I was relaxing pool side at the Royal Caribbean Resort with my wife, being served a mixed drink as the sun beat down on me (my mind works very fast). Ahh, what a feeling. The point? Let me get to it...more

I just received an email from Google Apps and am grinning from ear to ear. Google announced, "…we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers." Amen! IE6 was released in August of 2001! Yet people still use it today, not taking advantage of the latest technology. Could you imagine in 2001 using a browser from 1992. No, you wouldn't because the experience would be so much different (Mosaic was starting development in December of 1992!)more

For some companies, times are tough. So when a marketing manager or CMO (chief marketing officer) receives an email from an "Internet marketing specialist" who can get their site to the top of the search engines for a specific phrase, the company might jump at the opportunity. Marketers beware...these "opportunities" from these "Internet marketing specialists" may not be as good as they sound. Here's a real world example that just prompted this blog post.more

A very common statement made by clients to their design firm is, "Make my logo bigger." In some instances this might be a good thing, like on a billboard where your target audience is doing 70 MPH (on a slow day). But I'm here to help you understand why "make my logo bigger" regarding your website is actually, believe it or not, a pretty bad idea. Let's face it. You love your company. With the logo being your staple, why wouldn't it be BIG on your website? The answer actually has two parts: Your logo doesn't sell and visitors really don't care. Now, let me explain.more

It's interesting to look at the process people go through when starting a new website ... Once they decide they need a site they begin to plan what content they'd like to have on the site. The majority of the companies decide they need a page that talks about them so they add an "About Us" page to their site. Secondly they would like to talk about their products or services so they add a "Products" or "Services" page to their site. The most important part to the new website is giving it's visitors the ability to contact them to do business or ask questions which is where the infamous "Contact Us" page comes from. I could go on and on but I am guessing you've seen these types of pages on almost every website you've ever been to, so I won't bore you. I am sure when you decided to get your first website online you had the intention of increasing your business and tapping into the "gold mine" the Internet makes available to us all. Heck, this was my initial motivation as well and I'm sure this is no earth shattering revelation. Well the problem with this process of developing a website is unfortunately absolutely wrong. No, I'm not saying you won't make any sales or receive any phone calls by structuring your website this way. I am just saying you are limiting the potential revenue by doing it and you could do MUCH better.more

Today was an amazing day down here in the Dominican Republic on many levels. Although I leave tomorrow to come home, I am not returning alone. I'll be bringing memories of all the kids we had the opportunity to help and meet while we were down here home with me. I've been feeling like I wanted to help others who were less fortunate than myself for the past six months or so. I didn't know what I wanted to do, or how I could help, and then this opportunity arose. I personally believe that everything happens for a reason and I immediately decided I wanted to go. I purposefully decided to not draw any preconceived notions of what it was going to be like. I've seen presentations from people who have attended mission trips in the past, so I had an idea of what it MIGHT be like, but I decided to just go and let the experience happen. WOW am I glad I did. I would have never guessed in a million years how powerful it would be!more

I know I typically use this blog to write about Internet marketing strategies, web marketing tactics, and basically whatever it takes to be successful online. Well, in my opinion there is no reason to do all the hard work to become successful online if you don't GIVE BACK! Call it good karma, call it blessings, call it whatever you want. We are all human beings inhabiting the same planet and it's very easy to get caught up in ourselves and forget there are many less fortunate people who could use our help. I personally have never either had the opportunity, or found the motivation to make the decision to pitch in to help make the world a better place. Until now!more

How many times have you purchased something where you knew you weren't getting all the benefits that you could? A perfect example of this is one that all of us in our mid-to-late thirties, and up, can think of. Remember way back in the old days when they created that thing called a VCR? I still have one of those prehistoric machines and you know what? It's still blinking 12:00 over and over again. :) Not only that but I still have no idea of how to program it to record a show at a pre-set time. Read the instruction manual you say? Whatever! I don't have the time or patience. This isn't just a problem with hard products. It relates to services as well, and it's even more critical for you to address if it is tied to a membership type product.more

It's amazing how many sites I end up on these days that have still not embraced the interactivity available online.more

You might be saying, "Come on now! The only thing social media does is add to my waistline since I spend too much time in front of the computer."more

I remember the days before cell phones. Remember when you needed to wait until your friend returned home from the beach, or from thier cross-town visit with Aunt Bernice?more