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What’s In Store for Associations and the Web in 2015?
I have the honor of helping a number of association clients plan their web budgets for the next year or two or three. When preparing a web budget, my team and I do research, look at what other...
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Pick Up the Phone! Why Your Marketing Plan Needs a Personal Touch
I am a big fan of phone calls. I spend most of day in meetings and on the phone. Why? Because I can’t land new deals or big deals via email, just doesn’t happen. When we launch websites, I try to call...
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Why Every Organization Should Care About Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Every once in a while, a client or prospect will tell me their organization doesn’t care about search engine optimization (SEO). Why? I get these reasons: The organization targets a very specific, very...
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It’s Time To Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly… Really
I was in a meeting with a client this week about their plans to redesign their website. He wondered if the organization should invest in responsive design. Wha? “Hold on,” I said. “I don’t think going...
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The 3 Kinds of Fun and Why Fun #3 is the Most Fulfilling
I was looking at photos from my friend Mark’s ice climbing trip. The pictures were gorgeous but the hikes looked pretty harrowing. I said to Mark, “Um, was it fun?” Mark’s response was, “Fun #3.” What...
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Applying Information Architecture and Design Principles to Life
I opened up a mailing from our 401(k) provider and was overwhelmed by the tiny type and the options available as investment funds. Ugh. I decided to call my financial planner instead. I was driving...
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Why Limit Communications During the RFP Process?
Last week, we received an RFP (Request For Proposal) for a new content management system (CMS) and Associaton Management System (AMS). The RFP was great. The work was totally in our wheelhouse, the...
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Why Your House, Office, and Website Need a Refresh and Spring Cleaning Every...
A couple of weeks ago, I held a Town Hall meeting with my staff to discuss office space. Our office lease is expiring in less than 2 years, so our Realtors recommended that we look at space around town...
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Web Design Can and Should Be CMS-Agnostic (and why we love WordPress more and...
Here at Matrix Group, we use a variety of platforms and frameworks to build client applications. On the content management system (CMS) side, we really like Sitefinity and WordPress for building...
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What Does Kung Fu Panda Have To Do With a Performance Review Process?
A couple of months ago, I was on YouTube, and I came across a trailer for the upcoming “Kung Fu Panda 3“. The opening lines are by Master Shifu, who says, “Po, if you only do what you can do, you’ll...
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Why I Traded in My Black Belt for a White Belt
A couple of weeks ago, I took the plunge and signed up for HapKiDo. HapKiDo is sometimes called the “anti-martial art” because it emphasizes deflection and leverage. HapKiDo techniques use joint locks,...
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Does Your Website Need a Redesign or Refresh?
A couple of weeks ago, I attended a meeting with a client who was interested in redesigning their website. “Why?” I asked. The site looks pretty good, the site is mobile-friendly, and the analytics are...
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Make Sure You Have Good Inputs Going Into Your Google Analytics
I was in a meeting with a client last week and he complained that their Google Analytics (GA) reports just aren’t that useful. I asked why, and he said, “GA tells me the top pages visited on my site...
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The Great Banana Bread Experiment: Are People Really Reading Your Emails?
A couple of weeks ago, I sent out an important message to my entire staff about IT support. We had recently put in some technologies to make it easier for staff to request IT support during business...
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Getting Started with Facebook Live
A couple of Saturdays ago, my friend, co-worker and Director of Biz Dev, Bryan Clark, was taking his first-degree TaeKwonDo black belt test. I was attending as a black belt to help with the sit ups and...
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Why This Mom Loves Pokémon Go
Here I am, catching a Bellsprout Pokemon in my neighborhood. Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve heard about Pokémon Go. Pokémon Go is an app that lets you use your phone’s GPS and clock to...
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Maybe We Should Stop Trying to Generate More Traffic to Government Affairs...
I attend a lot of redesign kickoff meetings. Clients almost always list as one of their top goals,“Increase traffic to the website.” Sounds reasonable, right? Organizations are competing for eyeballs,...
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I’ve Seen the Future and It Doesn’t Include Web Browsers
For my birthday this year, my husband bought me an Amazon Tap. The Amazon Tap is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi-enabled speaker that lets you use voice commands to play music, check the weather, order stuff on...
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Why Matrix Group Was Finally Ready to Switch to Google Apps
A few years ago, I blogged about Google Apps. I wondered if my business, and businesses everywhere, were ready to make the switch to Google Apps. Well, a few years later, we finally made the switch. A...
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The Life Changing Benefits of Google’s Primary Inbox
I blogged recently that Matrix Group switched over to Google Apps. I have had a personal Gmail account for many years now and my family can’t function without our shared family Google calendar. So now...
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