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Crafting Legacy Online - Logo and Website Design for Ancestry Storybooks

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 17:13:18 GMT

Some businesses are built to scale fast. Others are built to last.

Ancestry Storybooks falls firmly into the second category. This is a service dedicated to preserving family histories by transforming memories, photographs, letters, and heirlooms into beautifully designed, custom-printed storybooks. These books aren’t trends or novelty gifts. They’re keepsakes meant to be shared, revisited, and passed down.

When we partnered with Ancestry Storybooks, our goal was simple: create a logo and website design that reflected the depth, care, and professionalism behind the service.

The Story Behind the Brand

Ancestry Storybooks is solely owned and operated by a woman whose entire career has been rooted in desktop publishing and professional layout design. This business wasn’t born out of experimentation or automation. It was built on decades of hands-on experience working with typography, print production, and storytelling through design.

That background matters. Every storybook is carefully composed, thoughtfully structured, and designed with permanence in mind. Our challenge was to translate that expertise into a visual identity and digital presence that felt just as intentional.

Why Logo Design Was Critical

For a legacy-focused service, the logo sets the emotional tone long before a visitor reads a single sentence.

The Ancestry Storybooks logo needed to communicate trust, warmth, and longevity without leaning into clichés. We avoided trendy styles that would age quickly and focused instead on timeless typography and subtle heritage cues. The result is a logo that feels refined, established, and quietly confident.

This type of logo design is especially important for businesses built around personal history. When customers are trusting someone with irreplaceable memories, visual credibility isn’t optional.

Website and Landing Page Design with Purpose

The website design focused on three core principles: clarity, emotion, and ease.

Visitors need to understand the service quickly. Ancestry Storybooks offers a highly personal process, but the website avoids overwhelming visitors with complexity. Clear messaging explains what the service is, who it’s for, and how the process works.

Emotion plays a supporting role, not a manipulative one. The design leans into real storytelling, thoughtful imagery, and calm pacing, allowing visitors to imagine their own family stories within the experience.

From a conversion standpoint, landing pages were structured to guide visitors naturally toward inquiry and engagement. Calls to action are clear but respectful, reflecting the personal nature of the service rather than pushing urgency.

Case Study Highlights
• Custom logo design aligned with heritage and print craftsmanship
• Landing page design focused on storytelling and trust
• Clear user flow explaining a complex, personal service simply
• Brand positioning that reflects decades of professional desktop publishing experience
• A digital presence that mirrors the care taken in the physical product

The result is a cohesive brand experience that feels personal, professional, and credible from first impression to final interaction.

A Brand That Feels Like the Product

Good design doesn’t add value after the fact. It reveals value that already exists.

With Ancestry Storybooks, the service itself is deeply intentional. Our role was to ensure the branding and website design made that intention visible. When someone lands on the site or sees the logo, they should already feel the same care and thoughtfulness that goes into each finished book.

That alignment builds trust, and trust is the foundation of any legacy-driven business.

Final Thoughts

Logo design and website design aren’t just visual choices. They’re how people decide whether a business understands its own purpose.
Ancestry Storybooks is built on experience, craftsmanship, and pride in preserving stories that matter. The brand and website now reflect that truth clearly and confidently.

If your business is built around meaning, memory, or legacy, your design should carry that weight too.

From Zero Listings to Multiple Pendings

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 17:03:11 GMT

A Central Oregon Real Estate Case Study

Starting over is hard. Starting over in a new market with zero local connections ? That’s brutal.

This is the story of a realtor who did exactly that, and how a focused digital foundation helped turn decades of experience into real, measurable momentum.

The Starting Point: Experience Without Visibility

When we first met for coffee, she was new to Central Oregon. Brand new. Just like me

No listings.
No local referrals.
No established digital footprint.

What she did have was 37 years of real estate experience and deep knowledge of Central Oregon, the kind you don’t Google your way into. The problem wasn’t expertise. It was visibility.

In 2025, experience without a digital presence is basically a tree falling in the forest.

Coffee #1: Fixing the Digital Blind Spot

Our first conversation wasn’t a sales pitch. It was education.

We talked through:

Why social media isn’t about posting houses nonstop
Why a website isn’t just a business card
Why owning your digital footprint matters more than chasing algorithms

This wasn’t about trends. It was about control.

Coffee #2: A Landing Page in 30–40 Minutes

On our second coffee meeting, we stopped talking and started building.

Within 30–40 minutes , we launched:

A clean, focused landing page
A clear value proposition
A place to send traffic (finally)

No overthinking. No perfection paralysis. Just something live and useful.

That single page changed everything.

From Landing Page to Full Website

Within about a month, that landing page evolved into a full real estate website , including:

Lead generation tools
SEO-focused structure
Location-driven content
Clear messaging built around trust, not hype

Now she didn’t just exist online, she made sense online.

Marketing That Actually Made Sense

Once the foundation was solid, we started brainstorming marketing ideas that matched her personality and market.

Not gimmicks. Not “what everyone else is doing.”

We explored:

Coloring pages for community engagement
Local kiosks
Social content with purpose
The real reason digital footprints matter long-term

Every idea tied back to one goal: be visible, be helpful, be remembered .

The Results (This Is the Part That Matters)

Here’s what happened next:

Started with zero listings
Climbed to five active listings
Now three pending (within a month in a troubled market)
Traffic from zero to 426 sessions/726 page views and over 289 unique visitors Sessions

Momentum came faster than expected, not because of luck, but because the groundwork finally matched the experience.

The Bigger Lesson

This wasn’t about flashy ads or viral posts.

It was about:

Getting online properly
Making it easy for people to find, trust, and contact you
Turning decades of expertise into digital credibility

The tools didn’t create success. They unlocked it.

Why This Matters (And Why We’re Sharing It)

This case study isn’t just about real estate.

It’s about:

Strategic thinking over shortcuts
Education over tactics
Building systems that work while you sleep

And yes, it’s also about the kind of work we love doing and the kind of people we want to work with.

If you’re someone who thinks long-term, values clarity over chaos, and understands that digital presence is foundational, not optional, we should probably talk.

Spotlight: Launching the New Global Elite Scholars Website

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:28:49 GMT

We’re excited to unveil the new digital home for Global Elite Scholars, an international consulting firm built on strategy, expertise, and a proven record of helping students succeed across borders.

But this project was far more than screen-level design.

It was a team effort, their vision, paired with our strategy, experience, and understanding of what works globally and locally for a diverse audience.

Creating a website that speaks to families around the world meant aligning:

Global expectations with local cultural nuance
User psychology with clear pathways to action
Behavior-driven design with emotion, clarity, and trust
Complex admissions services with simple, intuitive navigation

GES brings students a 93% acceptance rate to their top three university choices, and we wanted their website to reflect the same precision, credibility, and success.

From showcasing early academic development to strategic application support, every page was crafted to elevate trust, communicate expertise, and guide families confidently through the process.

This is the kind of project that requires the whole package, branding, UX strategy, design psychology, copy direction, conversion mapping, and deep industry understanding.

It’s not something you can do alone, and that’s exactly why this collaboration worked so well.

We’re proud of the result.

Proud of the partnership behind it.

And excited to see Global Elite Scholars continue making an impact around the world.

How Hard Can It Be? What Business Owners Learn After 120 Hours of DIY Web Design

Sun, 07 Dec 2025 00:49:42 GMT

You built a business from scratch. You managed the finances, handled the clients, and wore about fourteen job titles you never asked for. You are capable. You figure things out.

So when someone quotes you thousands of dollars for a website, your brain does what brains do and lands on the single most expensive thought in the English language: “How hard can it be?”

This is your friendly warning before you find out.

A Quick Weekend Project. Famous Last Words.

You were just going to knock out the website this weekend. Building your own website sounds like a perfectly reasonable Saturday project. A free trial, a few tutorials, and a tool that promises the AI handles the rest.

Just answer a few questions, it says. You type in a description of your business. The AI generates something. You stare at it. It is not quite right, so you edit the prompt. It generates something different but also not right.

You spend two hours having what can only be described as an argument with a text box, trying to explain your twenty years of expertise to a tool that keeps giving your college admissions counseling practice the visual identity of a biker bar.

Eventually it produces something that is technically a website. The colors are fine. The layout is generic in a way that feels vaguely familiar, because it is essentially the same template 400,000 other businesses also accepted when they ran out of energy to fight the AI any further.

Then it does not load on mobile. The fonts look like a ransom note. The contact form stops working and you do not find out for three months.

Meanwhile your competitor, who hired someone, is getting the leads you thought you were getting.

A professional has built many hundreds of sites. They have already made every mistake you are about to make, on someone else’s dime, years ago. You are not paying for their time. You are paying for the 10,000 hours of failure they already absorbed so you do not have to repeat it at full retail price.

They See Things You Cannot See Yet

Here is the part nobody talks about. You hire a professional for one thing, and they immediately notice four other things that are quietly working against you.

Your pricing page is confusing. Your contact form looks like it works but the messages never actually reach you. Your SEO is sending traffic somewhere it was never supposed to go. And your home page content talks a lot about you, but a first-time visitor leaves without ever understanding that you can actually solve their problem.

You did not know any of that. They spotted it in twenty minutes, because they have seen the same mistakes on fifty other sites and they know exactly how the story ends.

Research actually puts a number on this. Carnegie Mellon cognitive scientist Dr. Jill Larkin found it takes roughly 10 years of real work in a field to develop true expert-level judgment. We go deeper on what that means for your business in our earlier post, Why Your Business Needs an Experienced Marketing Expert .

That is experience looking at your business with fresh eyes and a decade of context you do not have. It is also, frankly, worth every dollar.

When DIY Makes Sense and When It Does Not

There is a version of DIY that makes sense. Sharing photos of your own work, client results, or behind the scenes moments, because that kind of authenticity cannot be outsourced. Updating your own website copy when your developer built you a system that makes it easy, and continuing to fine tune your message as your expertise and your market evolve. Responding to reviews and client inquiries in your own words, because nobody knows your client relationships better than you do.

That is using professional work as a foundation for your own contribution. That is smart.

Replacing the professional entirely because you watched a few YouTube tutorials is a different thing. That is hoping the hours you spent learning someone else's profession on the side will produce the same results as someone who has spent years doing it full time.

It usually does not.

Your Time Is Not Free

Here is how the math actually works out. You spend 40 hours learning a skill you will use once. Then you spend 80 more hours trying to figure out why it is not working, which involves seventeen browser tabs, three Reddit threads from 2019, and a forum post where the top answer is “did you try clearing your cache?” You make changes. Nothing improves. You make more changes. Something else breaks. You fix that, and the original problem comes back wearing a different hat.

Eventually you run out of patience, declare it good enough, and launch a site you do not actually like, hoping nobody notices the thing on the homepage that has been bothering you for weeks.

That is 120 hours and you still do not have what you wanted.

A professional would have delivered something better in a fraction of that time, and you could have spent those 120 hours doing work that pays you. And fixing bad work always costs more than doing it right the first time. A site built on a shaky foundation does not need a refresh. It needs to be demolished and rebuilt, and by then you have lost the time and the money twice, plus whatever leads walked away while you were busy learning.

You are good at what you do. So are they. Let them.

Why We Apply Trust-Based Marketing to Every Client

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 10:53:41 GMT

There is a category of business we have spent more than twenty years learning to serve. Businesses where the relationship has to be established before the sale can happen. Where a prospective client is not just evaluating your services. They are evaluating you. Your judgment. Your values. Whether you are genuinely the right person to trust with something that matters.

We call them trust-based businesses. Independent educational consultants. Financial advisors. Therapists. Estate planning attorneys. Nonprofits asking donors to believe in a cause they may never personally benefit from.

But here is something we have quietly learned along the way: the framework we built for those clients does not stay in its lane.

The Problem With Transactional

When a new client comes to us outside our traditional trust-based niche, a local retailer, a product-focused company, a service business built on volume rather than relationship, there is a temptation to shift gears. To apply a different playbook. To think: these folks just need traffic and conversions. Let us optimize the funnel.

That is a reasonable instinct. But it is the wrong one.

What we have found, over and over, is that the methodology we use for a family law attorney or a college counselor, the deep listening, the emphasis on earned credibility, the obsession with what a visitor feels before they ever make contact, all of it produces better results for every client. Even the ones selling widgets.

Trust is not a niche. It is a standard.

What the Trust-Based Framework Actually Is

At its core, our approach to trust-based marketing rests on a single observation: people rarely leap. They step. A click. A quick read. A first impression that quietly signals, you are in the right place. Our job is to engineer those moments, and to make sure each one leads naturally to the next.

The framework centers on five interconnected practices: leading with identity rather than inventory, elevating human narrative over anonymous crowd proof, surfacing a client's underlying philosophy instead of defaulting to price-driven messaging, building radical transparency into every touchpoint, and creating the conditions for genuine community, not just conversion.

[Read more about our trust-based methodology ]

What This Looks Like in Practice

A few years ago, we built a website for a local toy and game store, about as far from a trust-based professional services firm as you can get. Retail. Physical products. A shopping center storefront.

We applied the same framework anyway.

Working closely with the owners, we agreed early on not to organize the homepage around product categories. Instead, we shaped it together around identities: homeschooling families, seniors who never stopped playing, parents planning their child's first birthday party in a space that actually felt welcoming. Rather than leading with a discount banner, we opened with a philosophy the client already lived by: Wishing you a lifetime of play. “Shop” is in the last position in the navigation, after About, Gift Guides, Play Room, and Contact. A quiet but meaningful signal about what kind of place this was.

We published the party room rates, the house rules, and the cancellation policy. We told the story of a local biology teacher who started making science-themed earrings when she could not find a pair to match her lesson on salamanders. We built out a weekly event calendar of free game nights, arcade hours for kids, and collaborative sessions for game designers, all of it positioning the store as a community anchor, not just a retail destination.

The strategic direction came out of those early conversations. What has been gratifying to watch is how naturally the client took ownership of it, continuing to build on that community-first identity and make it unmistakably their own. The store's voice, its event programming, its relationship with regulars: all of it has grown organically from the foundation we built together.

The result was a website that did not feel like a store. It felt like a place you had already decided to trust before you ever walked in.

That is the point.

The Strategic Case for Bringing Trust to Every Project

Here is why this matters practically, not just philosophically.

A transactional approach built on optimized landing pages, retargeting ads, discount mechanics, and conversion funnels can generate a first purchase. What it cannot generate is a second one, a referral, or a relationship. Customers acquired through urgency and incentive are loyal to the deal, not the brand. The moment a competitor offers a better discount, they are gone. That is not a customer base. That is a leaky bucket with a paid media pump keeping it full.

Loyalty is built differently. It is built in the space between transactions, in the accumulated weight of a dozen small signals that tell a customer: this business sees me, understands me, and deserves my continued trust. The tone of the copy. The order of the navigation. The presence of a real story. The absence of artificial urgency. None of those things close a sale by themselves. Together, they create the conditions in which people choose to stay.

This is why our trust-based methodology is not a specialty we apply selectively. It is the strategic lens through which we approach every project. When we bring it to a client who does not think they need it, we are not over-engineering a simple project. We are addressing the one gap that keeps even well-performing businesses stuck in the acquisition treadmill: the absence of a reason for customers to come back, to refer others, and to stop looking at competitors.

Trust is the only loyalty mechanism that compounds. And it is available to every business willing to earn it.

When we apply trust-based thinking to a client who does not think they need it, we are giving that client a competitive advantage most of their industry peers do not have and do not know they are missing.

And we are doing the kind of work we are proud to put our name on.

Trust Is the Methodology

We built our practice around a specific kind of client. But the framework we built to serve them turns out to be the right framework for every client we work with, because at the end of the day, every business lives or dies by the quality of the relationships it builds.

Transactions keep the lights on. Relationships keep the business alive.

Whether your clients are choosing you once, or choosing you every year for the rest of their working life, the question they are always answering is the same one.

Can I trust these people?

The businesses that answer that question convincingly, before anyone has to ask it, do not need to fight as hard for every sale, discount as deeply to close a deal, or spend as much to replace the customers they quietly lose. They have something better: a reputation that does the selling for them.

We have spent twenty years learning how to build that. And we bring it to every project, regardless of the industry on the brief.

Short Story Marketing helps trust-based businesses and growth-minded companies build websites, content, and digital presences that earn confidence rather than just claim it. Get in touch .

Designing the Future: Behind the Visual Identity of HECA 2026

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 21:15:33 GMT

When HECA reached out about designing the branding for their 2026 Conference, it felt like a rare kind of opportunity. Not many organizations turn to their own network of members and partners for a project like this—and it meant a lot to be trusted with the creative direction.

Working with their team and board leaders, we explored how to visually express the energy and setting of the upcoming conference. The city of Chicago—and its architecture, history, and visual rhythm—became a big source of inspiration.

As a designer, I dove into that vibe and came back with a wide range of concepts: logo directions, taglines, visual themes. After rounds of feedback and refining, we landed on a fun exciting concept that captured both the spirit of the location and the message HECA wanted to share.

The result? A full brand identity that’s bold, flexible, and built to connect—with a clear nod to the city that’s hosting it all.

The final theme—“Building Futures, Together We Rise”—was inspired by the spirit of Chicago. Known for its rich history, iconic architecture, and fun energy, Chicago also brings a unique vibe we wanted to capture. They had a specific color palette in mind but gave us freedom with fonts and illustrations. As someone who once called the Windy City home, I knew we had to weave in a nod to that famous nickname.

Designing a brand is always a bit of a balancing act—too many elements can crowd the message. So the challenge was blending all these pieces into something that felt unified and meaningful. We kicked things off with a good old-fashioned brainstorming session to figure out the overall look, and the perfect tagline ended up being the “icing on the cake.”

That logo/overall theme become our anchor, shaping every visual choice from start to finish. It helped us nail down the mood of the colors, the rhythm of the type, and the deeper meaning built into the logo. Every detail was guided by that core message.

What we built includes:

· A flexible theme lockup that works across formats

· A color system that feels both vibrant and grounded

· Custom icons and social-ready graphics

· A bold hero poster to set the tone for the conference

· Then package the entire branding board; files and let HECA continue to move forward with their launch for the 2026 Conference.

I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes visuals and design process soon—but for now, it’s just exciting to see it out in the world, supporting a conference that brings so many voices together.

Show the Problem — But Don’t Stop There! Why That First Click Matters More Than You Think

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:36:38 GMT

You’ve probably heard this before: “Your website needs to speak to your visitor’s pain point right away.” Totally true. But let’s not stop mid-sentence.

Here’s what often gets overlooked: showing the problem is only half the gig ... the real magic happens after they click .

If your homepage reflects what your visitor is going through, but doesn’t nudge them to take a next step — even something as small as clicking to learn more — you’re missing a powerful psychological moment.

Let’s talk about why that first click matters.

Make It Feel Personal (and Promising)

When someone lands on your homepage, they’re not admiring your color palette. They’re thinking:

“Do these people get what I’m dealing with?”
“Is this the place that can actually help me?”

That’s why your homepage should feel like a mind-reader — calling out the issue they walked in with.

When a prospective client sees their situation spelled out — “skincare routine for acne-prone skin,” “how to fix a leaking faucet,” “what to put in a college application essay,” or “best accounting software for small businesses” — they think: “Yes. That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to figure out.”

But here’s the thing: recognition without action fades fast.

The Psychology of a Click

Way back when, APA president and psychologist Dr. Charles Kiesler ( who, fun fact, was Bill’s grad school advisor) studied how people commit to decisions.

His research showed a robust effect: just getting someone to do something tiny — like click a button — can jumpstart real momentum.

One small step for the user... one giant leap for conversion rates. That’s commitment psychology in a nutshell.

Kim Didn’t Need Grad School to Know This

Dr. Kiesler had the data. Kim? She had instincts — and years of watching what real people actually do online .

She saw it again and again: if they clicked through — even out of mild curiosity — they were way more likely to reach out later.

It’s not magic. It’s momentum. One little click changes how someone sees themselves: not just as a browser, but as a potential client in motion.

Invite the Next Step

Your homepage should totally tell the visitor “we get you” — but don’t leave it at that. Hand them the next step. Make the next action so obvious and easy, it practically clicks itself.

Whether it’s “See how we help,” “Browse packages,” or just “Keep reading,” give them something to do — a button, a link, a “tell me more.” That tiny action builds connection. (And clicks.)

TL;DR: Clicking Builds Buy-In

Your homepage shouldn’t just explain — it should open the door and wave them in. Let them feel understood and see there’s a path forward. Then point them straight down that path.

Because when someone clicks that first link, they’re no longer just skimming — they’re taking a step toward working with you.

And as Dr. Kiesler (and Bill, and Kim) could all tell you: the first step is everything.

Need help making that first step more inviting on your site?
Contact us — we’d love to help you turn more visitors into confident clickers.

The Tillamook Bay Watershed Council

Fri, 16 May 2025 22:06:43 GMT

Bringing Fresh Flow to a Community Icon: The Tillamook Bay Watershed Council Rebrand

When an organization like the Tillamook Bay Watershed Council (TBWC) looks to the future, it helps to start with a brand identity—one that reflects the land, rivers, and spirit of the community it serves. We were honored to partner with TBWC to bring their story to life through a new brand identity and a thoughtfully developed digital presence.

A Logo Rooted in the Bay

This isn’t just a logo—it’s a visual story. At the center swims a Coho salmon , representing the heartbeat of the watershed. Encircling it are the five rivers —Tillamook, Trask, Wilson, Kilchis, and Miami—that flow into the bay and sustain its life.

The haystack rock and tree silhouette in the background is a local icon, grounding the logo in the familiar landscape of our coastal region. It’s a nod to place, heritage, and the people who care for this environment every day.

Design and Development with Purpose

Creating the landing page was no small task. It needed to be clear, engaging, and easy to navigate, especially for a community nonprofit. We designed and built it to serve as both a welcoming introduction and a practical tool—whether someone wants to volunteer, learn, or simply explore the watershed.

�� Visit the new page: www.tillamookbaywatershedcouncil.org

Just the Beginning

We’re now moving into the next phase—developing a full website and crafting a custom marketing strategy to support TBWC’s outreach and restoration efforts.

This wasn’t just a design job—it was a partnership grounded in local pride, shared values, and a vision for what’s next.

Emojis in Website Copy: Why They Hurt More Than They Help

Thu, 15 May 2025 19:00:24 GMT

We Removed the Emojis From Your Website Copy.

Here Is Why We Are Not Sorry.

You wrote great copy. It had personality, a clear message, and enough energy to make us genuinely excited to work with it.

It also had emojis. Several of them. Living inside your paragraphs like uninvited guests who showed up to a dinner party and will not read the room.

We removed them. Here is the case for why that was the right call, plus what the research says, and yes, there is research.

Emojis Feel Friendly. Your Website Visitors Do Not Care.

Here is the thing about website visitors: they are not your friends. They just met you. They are quietly running you through a trust filter before they have read your second sentence, and emojis in body text are the equivalent of showing up to a first meeting in a novelty tie.

Maybe it works. Mostly it does not.

Readers form impressions fast. When they see a smiley face or a sparkle tucked into a paragraph, something instinctive happens: credibility dips. Not because emojis are offensive, but because they do not belong in that context, and people feel that even when they cannot explain why.

The Numbers Are Not on the Emoji's Side

A 2023 study put actual scores to this feeling, and the results were not kind to our little pictogram friends.

Messages with no emojis consistently rated higher for trustworthiness than messages with even a small number of them. Throw in a lot of emojis and engagement drops while skepticism climbs. Readers start to feel like they are being charmed rather than informed, and nobody likes realizing they are being charmed.

Business text also gets judged harder than personal posts. People give individuals more latitude than businesses. Your website is not your Instagram, and visitors hold it to a different standard whether you asked them to or not.

There Is Also the AI Problem, and It Is a Bit Awkward

This is the part that surprises most people.

Emojis scattered through paragraph text have become one of the clearest visual signals that content was written by AI. It is a pattern enough people have seen now that it registers immediately, even subconsciously. The thought is not always fully formed, but it is there: did a human actually write this?

On a website, that question is fatal. Your copy exists to build a connection between a real person and another real person. The moment a visitor suspects the content was generated and then decorated with little icons to seem warmer, you have lost them.

And you probably did not even know they were gone.

Emojis Are Not Villains. They Are Just in the Wrong Place.

To be fair to the emoji, it has a perfectly good life elsewhere.

Social media captions, SMS campaigns, casual newsletters, community posts: these are contexts where an emoji earns its keep because the tone is already informal and the relationship already exists. A well-placed emoji in an Instagram caption does real tonal work.

On a website, one or two used deliberately can possibly add a small amount of warmth without triggering the credibility drop. The moment they start showing up every other paragraph, you are decorating instead of communicating, and readers notice.

The test is simple: read the sentence without the emoji. If it still lands, the emoji was never doing anything useful.

Your Words Are Doing the Job Now

Taking out the emojis did not take out your personality. It just stopped outsourcing your personality to a series of small yellow faces.

Your words still sounds like you. It is just the version of you that people are more likely to trust, hire, and refer to their friends.

If you want a second set of eyes on your website copy or are curious whether your content is pulling its weight, we would love to take a look. No emojis in our reply, we promise.

Blink and You’ll Miss Them -- Why Website Visitors Judge Faster Than Ever

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Thu, 08 May 2025 12:46:29 GMT

Ever feel like website visitors have the attention span of a goldfish lately?

It’s not your imagination. Search habits have changed. Not long ago, a Google search results page was a simple list of “10 blue links.”

Those days are gone – people searching online today are scanning and judging sites faster (and differently) than they did even a year or two ago .

This brief but research-backed look at modern user behavior will help you understand what’s changed and how to keep those hard-won visitors from bouncing.

When someone lands on your website today, they’re not casually browsing. They’re deciding — and they’re doing it fast. Here's what is happening in 2025:

In just seconds, a visitor is asking:

Am I in the right place?
Can this business actually help me?
Should I keep reading — or click away?

We discussed this long ago , but with the rise of AI, the shift has accelerated dramatically. Sources like Nielsen Norman Group , Google , Gartner , and others now report that users are judging websites faster than ever—often in just seconds. Even small improvements to layout and messaging can now make the difference between being trusted or being skipped.

If your site doesn’t immediately deliver a clear “yes” to all three, they’re gone.

The New Searcher Behavior

People now scan websites like a pinball machine , jumping to whatever looks promising — a bold headline, a short snippet, a clear image.

They expect immediate clarity, and they move quickly when they don’t find it.

AI-generated answers, featured snippets, and knowledge panels are satisfying more queries right on the results page.

So when someone does land on your site, they’ve already skipped the “quick answers” AI gave them. They’re looking for real value — fast.

First Impressions Now Happen in 50 Milliseconds

It’s not an exaggeration: people form a visual judgment of your site in just 50 milliseconds .

If your homepage looks cluttered, outdated, or hard to navigate, that gut reaction is: “This might not be what I need.”

That impression affects everything. A dated design can make even a great business feel untrustworthy. And with Google's algorithms favoring fast and user-centered pages, poor design can hurt your rankings too — not just your bounce rate.

The “Triage” Mindset

Today’s visitors aren’t reading; they’re triaging . They scan headlines, glance at buttons, and look for what psychologists call “information scent”: visual or verbal clues that they’re in the right place.

If your value isn’t obvious — if the language is vague, the layout is confusing, or the next step is unclear — they’ll click away, assuming you can’t help.

This is why clarity beats cleverness . Skip the cutesy taglines. Lead with substance.

AI Now Filters What People See

There’s another shift at play: AI tools are now helping people decide what to click — or whether to click at all.

Search is no longer just Google’s blue links. Tools like ChatGPT, Bing Copilot, and Google’s new AI Overviews are answering questions directly, summarizing web content, and skipping sites that aren’t clear, useful, or well-structured .

Gartner predicts that by 2026, nearly 30% of online searches will be handled entirely by AI assistants . That means your site isn’t just speaking to a human visitor — it also needs to make sense to the AI scanning your content.

If your pages are slow, outdated, or hard to parse, you risk being passed over — by both people and machines.

What You Can Do (With a Little Help)

The good news? You don’t need a full website rebuild to adapt. But you do need to rethink how your homepage and key pages function — especially above the fold.

Work with your web team to:

Clarify your value proposition.
Make it crystal clear who you help and what you do — within the first few seconds of landing on the page.
Design for scanners.
Use clear headings, short paragraphs, and bullets. Structure your content so someone can understand the basics in 10 seconds or less.
Run an eye-tracking scan.
Ask your web team to conduct an eye-tracking analysis to verify that the most important content—your offer, value prop, or next step—is immediately visible and grabs attention. Don’t leave it to chance; make sure the “good stuff” gets seen first.
Modernize the visual experience.
Even modest updates — cleaner fonts, more white space, simplified navigation — can rebuild trust at a glance.
Ensure mobile-friendliness.
More than half your visitors are on mobile. Your site needs to be responsive, or they’ll move on.
Put key info front and center.
Make sure services, contact details, calls to action, and top questions are easy to find — no digging required.

Your web team can prioritize the areas that will make the biggest difference first. Even incremental changes — especially on the homepage — can dramatically reduce bounce rates and improve conversions.

Your Website = First Impression, Elevator Pitch, and Interview

Your website is no longer a “nice-to-have.” It’s your first handshake , your elevator pitch , and your chance to prove you’re worth their time — all in one.

Today’s searchers are impatient, skeptical, and often guided by AI. They’re not reading your whole page. They’re scanning for reasons to trust you — or to bounce.

Would you trust an AI built last month to diagnose your weird rash?

Probably not. And yet, that’s what some businesses do when they hand their websites over to "over the counter" DIY builders or auto-generated AI sites.

Your site isn’t just about showing up — it’s about showing up smart.

By focusing on clarity and a user-centered experience, you don’t just keep visitors around longer. You show both people and AI that your site is worth surfacing — and your business is worth considering.

Need a hand? Contact us!

How to Optimize Your Website for AI Search: What Small Businesses and Nonprofits Need to Know

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:55:54 GMT

For years, getting found online meant one thing: ranking on Google's first page.

You optimized your title tags, built some backlinks, and hoped your blue link showed up before your competitor's. That system still works. But it is no longer the only game in town.

More people now type their questions directly into AI tools. ChatGPT, Claude, Google's AI Mode, Perplexity. These tools do not hand users a list of ten links and wish them luck. They read available content, pull out what they consider the most accurate answer, and deliver it in plain language.

Your website is either part of that answer or it is not.

How AI Tools Decide What to Use

AI search tools are built on large language models, or LLMs. These systems do not scan pages the way a traditional search crawler does. They process language. They look for clarity, consistency, and structure.

Here is what that means in practice:

Vague writing gets ignored. "We are here to serve our community and make a difference for the people who need us most" gives an AI nothing specific to work with.
Specific, direct language gets used. "We are a free, nonprofit walk-in clinic serving uninsured residents of Warren County" is something an AI can reference accurately.
Repetition helps. When your key message appears in your headline, your opening paragraph, and your service description, AI tools are more likely to cite it correctly.
Trust signals matter. Author names, publish dates, and credentials help AI treat your content as credible and current. The three sources below helped inform this post, and their trust signals, named authors, clear dates, and publisher authority, are exactly why they hold up as references.
AI in Search: Going beyond information to intelligence | Elizabeth Reid, VP, Head of Search, Google | May 20, 2025
Introducing ChatGPT Search | OpenAI | October 31, 2024
Introducing Web Search on the Anthropic API | Anthropic | May 7, 2025

Clarity is the most important factor. AI reads better when you write better.

What Changed and Why It Matters for Small Businesses

Traditional search rewarded pages that were technically sound. Meta tags, backlinks, keyword density. Those things still matter.

But AI search rewards content that actually answers a question well.

For a small service business or nonprofit, that is good news. You do not need a large content budget to compete. You need to write clearly about what you do, who you serve, and why someone should trust you.

What you cannot afford is a website full of generic filler. If your about page says "we are here to serve our community and make a difference for the people who need us most," you are invisible to AI. If it says "we are a free, nonprofit walk-in medical clinic serving uninsured residents of Warren County," you are visible and useful.

How to Write Content AI Tools Will Actually Use

Lead with your answer. Put the most important information at the top of every page. Do not make a reader scroll to find out what you do. AI tools read the same way people do. What comes first gets weighted more.

Use specific language. Name your services, your location, and your audience. Avoid vague pronouns when you can use an actual name instead.

Structure your content with clear headings. Break pages into sections with descriptive H2 and H3 headings. This helps both AI tools and human visitors navigate your content quickly.

Write in short paragraphs. One idea per paragraph. Long, dense blocks of text are harder for AI to process and harder for people to read.

Answer the questions people actually ask. Think about what your clients say in their first phone call or email. Write a page that answers those questions directly. Q&A style content performs well with AI because it mirrors how people search.

Add trust signals. Include the author's name, the date the content was last updated, and any relevant credentials. These tell AI tools that your content is professional and current.

SEO Still Matters. You Need Both.

Some people read about AI search and assume traditional SEO is finished. It is not.

Most AI tools still pull from indexed web pages. If your site is not crawlable and indexed by search engines, AI tools are less likely to find it at all. SEO gets you into the pool. Clear, well-structured writing helps you get selected.

Keep doing the basics:

Write descriptive alt text for every image
Use schema markup where appropriate
Write specific, descriptive anchor text for links
Keep your site loading fast on mobile devices

What has changed is that writing quality now matters more than it ever did. A technically sound page with weak, vague copy will lose to a well-written page that directly answers what someone is searching for.

The Honest Reality for Small Organizations

None of the pages written three or more years ago, and likely none of the pages written even a year ago, were written with AI search in mind. They were built for a different set of assumptions about how people find information online.

That does not mean starting over. It usually means reviewing what you have, tightening the language, adding structure, and making sure each page clearly communicates what you do and who you serve.

The organizations that do this now will have a real advantage over those that wait.

Common Questions About AI Search and Your Website

What is AI search optimization? AI search optimization is the practice of writing and structuring website content so that AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google's AI Mode can accurately read, understand, and cite it in response to user queries.

Does my small business website need to be optimized for AI search? Yes. AI search tools are now a primary way many people find local services, nonprofits, and small businesses. If your content is vague or poorly structured, it will not appear in AI-generated answers.

How is AI search different from traditional SEO? Traditional SEO focuses on ranking web pages in search engine results. AI search focuses on surfacing direct answers from those pages. Both matter, and optimizing for one supports the other.

What makes content more likely to be cited by AI tools? Specific language, clear headings, short paragraphs, named authors, publish dates, and direct answers to common questions all increase the likelihood that AI tools will reference your content.

How often should I update my website content for AI search? At minimum, review your core pages once a year. None of the pages written three or more years ago, and likely none written even a year ago, were written with AI search in mind. Regular updates with current, specific information keep your content relevant to both search engines and AI tools.

Want to know where your website stands and what to do about it? Contact us . We can review your content and give you a clear picture of what is working and what to fix.

Meet Margie, Client Support Specialist at Short Story Marketing

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 10:22:29 GMT

Meet Margie, the Client Support Backbone Behind Short Story Marketing

Every business needs someone who knows how to keep things moving.

Someone who can step in when something breaks, untangle the confusion, and make people feel like everything is under control again.

At Short Story Marketing, that person is Margie.

As Client Support Specialist at Short Story Marketing, Margie helps clients with website support, email troubleshooting, communication, and the countless behind-the-scenes details that keep projects and relationships running smoothly. She brings calm, follow-through, and problem-solving to the kind of work that often goes unnoticed only because she handles it so well.

She wears a lot of hats.

Phone wrangler.

Email untangler.

Website whisperer.

Client champion.

Digital duct-tape specialist.

Behind-the-scenes backbone.

And most days, she is wearing all of them before lunch.

If you have ever called Short Story Marketing, there is a good chance Margie is the friendly voice on the other end — calm, capable, and already three steps ahead of the problem.

Website glitch? She is on it.

Email acting weird? She is on it.

Client needs help and does not know where to start? She is definitely on it.

What does she do best?

She makes the chaos disappear before anyone notices it was there.

Most people do not want a ticket number and a three-day wait. They want someone who actually picks up, actually understands the problem, and actually helps solve it.

That is Margie’s lane.

She keeps the gears turning quietly in the background — troubleshooting, communicating, following up, and making sure nothing falls through the cracks. It is the kind of work that is almost invisible when it is done right, but essential to a smooth client experience.

And somewhere along the way, she has also become a little bit of an unofficial therapist.

Not in the clinical sense, of course. More in the “let me help you sort this out while also reassuring you that it is going to be okay” sense.

Somewhere between fixing the email, answering the question, and helping untangle the issue, clients just keep talking. Maybe it is because she listens. Maybe it is because she is reassuring. Maybe it is because when someone is already helping solve your problem, it is easy to trust them with the rest.

Margie does not seem to mind.

At Short Story Marketing, she connects the dots between clients, technology, and the team to make the whole operation run smoother than it has any right to.

She builds confidence.

Whether she is troubleshooting a website issue, helping untangle an email problem, following up with a client, or making sure the right people know what needs to happen next, her work helps clients feel supported, understood, and taken care of.

Calm under pressure.

Quick to solve.

And the kind of support every team secretly cannot live without.

That is the steady, get-it-done energy behind Short Story Marketing.

Want the quick, social version of this story? See it here .

Launching the Bay City Pearl & Oyster Festival Website

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:58:28 GMT

We’re excited to share one of our latest projects — the complete design and development of the new website for the Bay City Pearl & Oyster Music Festival . Based on the beautiful Oregon Coast, this event is a growing celebration of music, food, and local culture — and now it has a website that reflects that same energy.

As a Tillamook County-based design and development team , we specialize in helping small towns and rural communities bring their events and businesses online in a way that’s modern, user-friendly, and true to their roots. The Bay City festival site is a perfect example.

A Full-Service Web Design Project for a Local Event

We handled everything from concept to launch — creating a digital home for the festival that is both inviting and functional. Here’s what we delivered:

Custom Website Design – Built to reflect the personality of Bay City and the coastal lifestyle.
Mobile-Friendly Development – Optimized for phones, tablets, and desktops so festival-goers can find what they need on the go.
Easy Navigation & Clean Structure – Whether users are looking for band lineups, vendor forms, or parking info, it’s all easy to find.
Scalable for the Future – Designed to grow with the festival, with flexible content areas and event scheduling tools.

Visual Identity That Lasts: Our Festival Logo & Branding

This was also the second year in a row the event has used our festival logo and visual branding — a design that’s now become part of the festival’s long-term identity. We’re honored to see it gain recognition across print, signs, and merchandise.

The logo was crafted to represent the Bay’s unique coastal character, the joy of live music, and the community spirit that defines this event.

Helping Local Events Shine Online — Across Tillamook County and Beyond

Whether you're organizing a festival, launching a small business, or refreshing your online presence, we offer professional website design and branding services rooted in rural values and modern solutions.

We proudly serve clients throughout Tillamook County , the Oregon Coast , and beyond — helping events and organizations grow with a digital presence that works.

Need a website that brings your event or brand to life?

Let’s talk — we’re here to build something beautiful, practical, and uniquely you.

The Story Behind the Site

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 19:23:04 GMT

Tillamook's Downies Downtown Cafe/Food Truck

When Downies first reached out, they had a local following but not alot of people knew about the food truck located in downtown tillamook. Of course they have a passionate following, and a killer menu. What they didn’t have was a clear brand identity or an online presence that matched the warmth of what they were serving in person.

They needed more than just a site. They needed a story — and a brand — that people could connect with before they even pulled into the parking lot.

So we did what we do best: listened, brainstormed, designed, and delivered.

Strategy Meets Soul: Crafting the Brand

We started at the beginning — building a cohesive visual identity that captured what Downies is all about: comfort food, community, and a touch of vintage diner charm.

From there, we:

Designed their logo, color palette, and food truck wrap
Crafted a voice that’s friendly, local, and proudly unpretentious
Built a fast, responsive, SEO-optimized website that works just as hard as they do

Every element was designed to drive traffic — both digital and foot — while feeling 100% true to the Downies vibe.

What We Built

This wasn’t just a quick website build. It was a ground-up brand activation:

Custom site design that feels modern but familiar
Mobile-first UX so folks can browse the menu and find the truck on the go
Search-optimized structure for better visibility on Google
Simple CMS backend so the team can update their menu or hours without headaches

And let’s be honest — no one should have to squint at a blurry PDF to find out what’s for lunch.

A Digital Experience That Feels Like Home

Great websites aren’t about flash — they’re about feeling. This site invites you in with the same energy you’d get walking up to the downtown truck or walking through the front door at Downies: friendly, warm, and ready to serve.

Even if you’ve never been, the brand makes you feel like a regular.

What’s Next

With the new site live and the food truck rolling, Downies is now set up to:

Build stronger local awareness
Increase foot traffic through clearer calls to action
Get discovered more easily on mobile and maps
Keep their loyal customers in the loop with menu updates and events

And this is just phase one.

The Takeaway

At SSM, we don’t just launch websites. We help businesses tell their story online — in a way that feels real, builds trust, and drives growth.

So if you’re craving a digital experience that actually moves the needle contact us!

Yes, you need blog posts. But there's more!

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 21:00:49 GMT

Your Google Strategy: What’s Ranking (and What’s Not)?

We recently shared The Half-Life of Social Media Posts , breaking down how fast your brilliant content disappears into the void on social media. Spoiler: pretty fast.

But Google? Google isn’t just looking for fresh content—it’s looking for a full-on content buffet. If your strategy is “blog posts and nothing else,” you’re basically serving up plain toast when your audience (and Google) is craving a full meal.

Expanding your content mix isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the key to more traffic, more engagement, and better rankings.

What’s Actually Ranking on Page One?

NP Digital analyzed over 11 million search queries, and the results are clear: Google wants options.

�� Blog Posts & Articles – 64.1%
Blogging is still the MVP of search rankings . Google loves text, and so do people looking for in-depth answers. So if you’re blogging? Keep at it. If you’re not? It’s time to start.

�� Long Videos – 32.7%
Videos over 10 minutes are racking up serious clicks , especially when they appear above the fold . If your website has ever felt like it’s missing something… it’s probably video.

�� Images – 18.3%
People don’t always want to read. Sometimes, they just want a well-placed image that explains everything (or at least makes the page look nicer). Google is prioritizing visual search, so those images you’ve been uploading? Make sure to have meaningful filenames and alt text.

�� News – 5.6%
Timely, industry-specific updates still have a place in rankings. If your business lends itself to trend-driven content , take advantage of it. Google likes fresh, relevant information.

�� Short Videos – 4.4%
Short-form videos aren’t dominating search yet, but they’re still great for engagement and discovery. Pair them with blog content or long videos, and you’ve got a winning mix.

What This Means for You

Google isn’t saying “stop blogging.” But it is saying, “Hey, maybe mix things up a bit.”

Keep writing. Blog posts aren’t going anywhere, but they work even better when combined with other content types.
Incorporate video. Even basic explainer videos can boost engagement and help you rank higher.
Optimize your images. Rename them, add alt text, and make Google happy.
Experiment with different formats. More content types = more ways to attract visitors.

SEO isn’t just about stuffing in keywords anymore. It’s about keeping people engaged. The more they interact with your content, the more Google rewards you.

So, what’s your move?

See how our Sync AI Content Writer can generate a personalized video script tailored to your business —highlighting what you offer and making video creation easier than ever.

Why Your Morning Facebook Post Is Already Forgotten

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 17:49:24 GMT

Some online spaces provide fleeting exchanges like a chat with strangers in an elevator, while others are like a cozy library nook, inviting for extended narratives and repeat visitors, and encouraging readers to linger.

On one side, you've got Facebook, and on the other, you've got blog posts.

Or think of it a different way...

Facebook is like an airplane skywriting your message across a clear blue sky— it grabs attention instantly (from those who happen to be looking up), but as soon as as a gust of wind blows, poof! It's gone.

Some social media posts can disappear faster than a slice of cake at a birthday party. Others are like a well-tended vegetable garden, continuing to flourish and nourish visitors long after it’s planted.

On one side, you've got Facebook, and on the other, you've got blog posts.

Or think of it a different way...

Posting your message on Facebook is like having an airplane "skywrite" your message across a clear blue sky— it grabs attention instantly (from those who happen to be in the area and looking up), but as soon as as a slight gust of wind blows, poof! It's gone.

A blog post, on the other hand, is like taking a chisel to stone for a monument in the park. Sure, it might take a bit to carve out, but it sticks around, sharing your tale with visitors long after the sky has cleared.

So, what’s your strategy? A quick splash or a lasting impression?

Let’s dive deeper into how these two types of posts differ, and learn how to combine both for maximum impact!

Facebook: Quick Engagement and Community Connection

Half-Life: in just 76 minutes , half of the people who will ever see your post will have already seen it . *

Why so short?
Facebook is a social-first platform where engagement happens quickly. In under two hours, your post has likely reached its peak visibility. Facebook's algorithm prioritizes recent, engaging content, meaning posts that fail to garner immediate likes, comments, or shares are often buried quickly.

Best Types of Content for Facebook:

Visuals: Photos, memes, and short videos perform exceptionally well.
Community-Focused Posts: Content that sparks conversation, like polls, live events, or local updates.
Timely Updates: Announcements or seasonal posts designed to capture the moment.

If your goal is short-term engagement, Facebook is the platform to prioritize. However, its fleeting nature means it should be part of a broader content strategy rather than the sole focus.

Blog Posts: The Power of Evergreen Content

Half-Life: 2 Years

Why Blog Posts are Different:
Unlike Facebook, blog posts are built for longevity. A single blog post can continue to drive organic traffic for years. Blog readers are usually actively looking for in-depth solutions or valuable information, meaning they’re more likely to spend time on your site and explore additional content .

Best Types of Blog Content:

How-To Guides: Posts that solve specific problems or answer common questions.
Listicles: Engaging, easy-to-read formats that attract shares.
Evergreen Content: Topics that remain relevant regardless of trends or seasons.

If you’re focused on building long-term authority, driving organic traffic, or educating your audience, blog posts are a must-have in your content strategy.

Briefly Comparing Other Platforms

While Facebook and blog posts are on opposite ends of the content lifespan spectrum, other platforms fall somewhere in between:

X (Formerly Twitter): A half-life of 30-60 minutes makes it ideal for quick updates and real-time trends.
Instagram: Posts last around 6-10 hours, with Stories and Reels offering short bursts of engagement.
LinkedIn: Professional content lives longer, with a half-life of 24 hours, as users engage more thoughtfully.
YouTube and Pinterest: These platforms shine in the long-term category, with half-lives of 17 days and 5 months, respectively.

Each platform has its place in a well-rounded content strategy, but Facebook and blog posts demonstrate the stark contrast between short-term engagement and long-term value.

How to Combine Facebook and Blog Posts for Maximum Impact

To create a winning strategy, use Facebook and blog posts together:

Drive Traffic to Your Blog via Facebook: Share snippets, quotes, or engaging headlines from your blog on Facebook, linking back to the full post.
Repurpose Blog Content for Facebook: Break down your blog posts into bite-sized tips, infographics, or videos tailored for Facebook’s fast-paced audience.
Promote Facebook Engagement on Your Blog: Use blog CTAs to encourage readers to join your Facebook group or follow your page for updates.
Leverage Facebook Insights: Use Facebook to test ideas or headlines before turning them into detailed blog posts.

Conclusion: Which Should You Prioritize?

The answer depends on your goals:

If you need immediate engagement and visibility, Facebook is the better choice.
If you want to build authority and generate long-term traffic, invest in blog posts.

Ultimately, the two platforms complement each other perfectly. Facebook drives short-term interest and amplifies your blog content, while blog posts serve as a lasting resource that continues to pay dividends over time.

Bonus Tips!

Use our Sync service to create and schedule out your Facebook posts, to keep fresh content showing up on Facebook.
Also use Sync to create and share the valuable info from your blog posts in your newsletter

Did you miss our Sync announcement? It does these things and a lot more!

* - Interested in a deeper dive into the lifespan of social media posts? Check out the latest research by the expert on this topic, Scott Graffius, in his "Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update for 2024" at https://scottgraffius.com/blog/files/social-24.html .

Building Joy: Our Playful Project with Play Favorites

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:32:34 GMT

At Short Story Marketing, we had the opportunity to let our inner child out, with a little imagination, a lot of creativity, the end result is pure magic in our clients' eyes. Designing the website for Play Favorites , a charming toy store in Front Royal, Virginia, was no exception.

In fact, it might have been the most fun we’ve had in a while—because building a site for a toy store is almost as fun as playing with the toys themselves!

A Splash of Color and a Dash of Whimsy

When you think of a toy store, you think of bright colors, boundless energy, and endless possibilities, so we wanted to showcase their quirky side and how wonderful it is to walk inside the local store. From using some of their brand's vibrant color scheme and storefront colors to design to the intuitive navigation, every element is crafted to feel as fun and inviting as the store itself.

Let the Fun Begin: The Playroom

A big part of what makes Play Favorites special is their interactive playroom and arcade—a magical space where kids can play, explore, and let their imaginations run wild.

A Spotlight on Local Creativity

Just like every great toy has a story, so does Play Favorites. They’re not just a store; they’re a proud supporter of local artistry. We loved weaving in features like the handcrafted jewelry collection by co-owner Hannah Bement, inspired by Ms. Frizzle’s playful style. These unique touches make the site—and the store—truly one of a kind.

Play Together: Community Events

Play Favorites isn’t just a store; it’s a community hub. From frequent game nights to special events, the store is all about bringing families together.

Almost as Fun as Playing

Creating the Play Favorites website reminded us why we love what we do. Designing for a toy store means embracing joy, creativity, and the wonder of play—and that’s exactly what we poured into this project. Then, we showed the owners, Bret and Hannah, how they could add their own touches to the website. They have already jumped in, and are actively making updates!

And yes, teaching someone else how to play a game is just as fun as playing it ourselves!

We’re thrilled with how the site turned out, and we think you will be too.

Ready to take a peek? Visit Play Favorites and see how we brought the magic of toys to the web!

Transforming HECA's Online Presence: A Website Project Success Story

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 17:16:27 GMT

In today's fast-paced digital world, a website isn't just an online presence; it's a powerful tool that can drive growth, attract members, and showcase the unique value of an organization.

This was the realization the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA) came to as they found their once-functional website no longer met their evolving needs. They needed a change, and that's where we came in.

"The website is so much easier to use, and I love the new search feature listing all of your consultants! It will be much easier for families to find and confirm that your IECs are certified."

- Jackie C., The UK Study Expert

The Challenge

HECA's existing website had served them well, but as their goals evolved, so did their requirements.

They needed to attract new members and effectively communicate to potential clients why choosing a HECA member for educational consulting was the best decision.

The design needed to evolve without losing their brand image, and the process of making updates with their previous platform and service provider was cumbersome, often resulting in frustrating delays.

HECA needed a solution that allowed them to make changes swiftly and efficiently, ideally with the ability to manage updates internally.

Our Approach

Having successfully collaborated with many HECA members, we understood the association's values and objectives. Our approach was simple yet strategic: create a dynamic, user-friendly website that not only captured the essence of HECA and its goals, but also empowered them to take control of their online content.

Modern Design & User Experience: While retaining their familiar style, we redesigned the website with a fresh, modern aesthetic that appealed to both current and prospective members. The new layout was more intuitive, ensuring visitors could easily navigate and find the information they needed.

Member Attraction & Client Engagement: Our revisions highlighted the benefits of HECA membership, and showcased the expertise and reliability of their consultants. This strategic positioning helped to both attract new members and clearly communicate the value HECA members bring to potential clients.

Ease of Updates: A key focus was ensuring HECA could manage their website in-house. We implemented a system that was easy to use, allowing HECA staff to make updates quickly without needing extensive technical knowledge.

The Result

The launch of the new HECA website was met with enthusiasm from members and non-members alike. The site not only looked more relevant and appealing but also functioned seamlessly, aligning perfectly with HECA's goals.

HECA staff appreciated their newfound ability to update content in-house, which reduced delays and helped them keep the website fresh and relevant.

The revamped online presence has already begun to attract new members and engage potential clients, proving that a well-crafted website is a crucial asset for any professional association.

In the end, HECA's journey to a new website highlights the importance of adapting to changing needs and leveraging digital tools to their fullest potential.

We're proud to have been part of this transformation and look forward to supporting HECA as they continue to grow and thrive.

Meet Kim, Creative Director at Short Story Marketing

Thu, 09 May 2024 15:14:03 GMT

Meet Kim, the Creative Mind Behind Short Story Marketing

Every business needs someone who can see the bigger picture.

Someone who can spot the opportunities others miss. Someone who can connect design, messaging, strategy, and brand personality into something that actually moves a business forward.

At Short Story Marketing, that person is Kim.

As Creative Director at Short Story Marketing, Kim helps bring brands to life through graphic design, website design, branding, and social media strategy. She blends artistic instinct with marketing insight to help businesses stand out, communicate clearly, and connect with the right audience.

She wears a lot of hats.

Graphic artist.

Actual artist.

Art director.

Website designer.

Social media strategist.

And somehow, she makes it all look easy.

For Kim, creativity is not something that turns on at 9 and shuts off at 5. It is always there. Ideas show up while driving, while working, while drinking coffee, and sometimes in the middle of the night when most people are asleep.

That constant creative energy is one of the things that makes her so good at what she does.

She has a gift for helping businesses see the missing doors they did not even realize were there.

The untapped markets.

The fresh angles.

The overlooked opportunities.

The big ideas hiding in plain sight.

Most business owners are busy managing the day-to-day. They are serving clients, running operations, answering questions, and keeping everything moving. They do not always have the time or space to step back and recognize the creative possibilities sitting right in front of them.

That is where Kim comes in.

She connects the dots between visual design, brand voice, websites, social media, and marketing strategy to create something bigger than just graphics.

She builds momentum.

Whether she is refining a brand, designing a website, shaping social media strategy, or helping define how a business should present itself, her work is about more than making things look good. It is about helping businesses move forward with more clarity, more confidence, and more purpose.

At Short Story Marketing, that mix of creativity and strategy helps turn ideas into action and brands into something people remember.

Fun-size personality.

Oversized ideas.

And results that speak for themselves.

That is the big-idea energy behind Short Story Marketing.

Want to learn more about what we do?

Schedule a conversation!

Want the quick, social version of this story?

View the Facebook post here

Ally Striping Reveal, enhancing curb appeal in North Texas/Frisco

Wed, 08 May 2024 18:18:23 GMT

Crafting the brand of Ally Striping: A Journey in Design and Development

Let us take you behind the scenes of one of our exciting recent projects at Short Story Marketing, where we had the fantastic opportunity to shape the brand identity and online presence of Ally Striping. From design, developing their logo to launching a vibrant new website, here’s a deep dive into our creative journey.

Understanding Ally Striping, based in Frisco, Texas

Ally Striping, a leader in pavement striping renowned for its precision and reliability, qualities that resonate throughout North Dallas. Our mission was to reflect these attributes in their branding and digital interfaces. By delving into their business philosophy and integrating local SEO strategies specific to Frisco and the broader North Dallas area, we aimed to create a design that not only stands out visually but also enhances their online visibility and communicates their core values effectively.

Logo Design

For Ally Striping, we wanted something that spoke of straightforwardness and efficiency. We chose a minimalist design that features clean lines and a bold color palette, symbolizing their expertise in creating clear and precise markings. We not only wanted something that stands out visually but also hints at roads and lanes, immediately connecting with the striping industry.

Website Development

The Ally Striping website was designed to be as functional and straightforward as their services. We built a user-friendly interface with an emphasis on navigation and accessibility. Knowing that their clientele would need quick access to their services, we streamlined the site architecture to ensure that visitors could find information effortlessly.

Key features include:

Responsive Design: Ensures that the website is accessible and performs well on devices of all sizes.
What's coming: Highlights their past projects and the quality of work through a gallery that is easy to update and manage.
Service Detail Pages: Each service offered by Ally Striping is detailed on its own page, enriched with specifications and visual cues that guide the user’s journey.
Contact Integration: Easy-to-use contact forms and Google Maps integration ensure that potential clients know how to reach Ally Striping with ease.

Bringing It All Together

This snazzy trio shows just how much small businesses can rock the market when they go for pro design services. We’ve tied everything together so neatly that Ally Striping’s brand identity is not just stronger—it’s a total standout!

This project really highlighted why it's crucial to sync design with business goals. We’re thrilled to have crafted something that’s as functional as it is fab.

Keep your eyes peeled for more cool updates, and if you’re itching to give your digital presence a makeover, just give us a shout!

Why Your Business Needs an Experienced Marketing Expert

Thu, 02 May 2024 14:15:35 GMT

The Short Version

Here's Why

In the 1980s, Dr. Jill Larkin, a cognitive scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, studied how experts and novices solve problems. Her conclusion: experts do not just know more. They think differently.

In her landmark 1980 study published in Science , Jill Larkin, Ph.D., along with co-authors McDermott, Simon, and Simon, found that experts organize knowledge into large chunks built around core principles.

When a new problem appears, they recognize the pattern fast and know which approach fits. Novices work through problems step by step, often starting from the wrong place. Larkin also found that novices rush into solutions before they fully understand the situation. Experts pause, frame the problem correctly, then act.

That kind of thinking takes years to build. Research puts the number at roughly 10 years of real work in the field before someone reaches true expertise. There are no shortcuts.

Here is where it hits your budget.

A beginner freelancer may know how to use the tools. But knowing how to use a tool is not the same as knowing what to do with it.

Real marketing judgment in your field comes from understanding your customers, your competitors, your industry's buying cycles, and the context behind the numbers. Experienced marketing in a niche field is not about platform skills. It is about reading a business situation accurately and knowing which move to make. That only comes from years of working inside businesses like yours.

An experienced marketer in your niche has put in that time. They have seen your type of customer, your type of competitive pressure, and your type of sales cycle enough times to read the situation fast. They know which levers actually move revenue in your market, and which ones just look good in a report.

A good example of this in action is our case study, " From Zero Listings to Multiple Pendings ." A Central Oregon realtor with 37 years of experience had zero digital presence when she moved to a new market. We understood her business context immediately, built the right foundation, and helped her go from no listings to five active listings and three pendings within a month. The tools did not create those results. Knowing exactly what to do with them did.

Getting the problem wrong from the start is expensive. Wrong message, wrong channel, wrong timing. Those are not random mistakes. They are what happens when someone is still learning how to read a business.

A lower price is not a deal when you factor in the time you lose, the opportunities you miss, and the work that has to be undone and started over.

Hire the team that already did the learning.

A Gourmet Guide to Creating a Google-Friendly Blog Post

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Wed, 01 May 2024 13:48:22 GMT

Writing an effective blog post that can charm both Google and your readers simultaneously can be compared to crafting a gourmet dish. Just like a chef uses quality ingredients, precise measurements, and carefully refined techniques to create a culinary masterpiece, a content creator needs to harness the power of SEO-friendly blogging to cook up a delectable digital dish that Google can't resist.

The gourmet meal preparation kicks off with the starter - keywords . Think of this step as the refined first course that sets the theme for your entire blog post. The trick lies in directly responding to your target audience's needs .

Focus on understanding what words your top prospects might input into a Google search when looking for a solution to their immediate issues . Timing and location also matter. If the people you want to attract reside within a specific geographic region, it would be wise to incorporate that area in the title, meta description, URL, and the initial 100 words of your blog post.

You've started your blog tastefully only when these pre-selected keywords get sown carefully across—without seeming forced or alien—enhancing the likelihood of your blog reacting with potential readers organically.

However, just as a chef wouldn't drown a dish in salt, avoid stuffing your content with keywords to manipulate search rankings. This can leave a bitter taste in Google's mouth, leading to penalties, and give your readers a less than palatable experience.

Next comes the main course - Crafting a Compelling Title . Your blog title serves as the juicy steak at the center of your plate; it's the first thing readers see and a crucial element for SEO.

It needs to be both informative and enticing, giving readers a clear idea of what they're about to feast on. Including your primary keyword in the title is important, but it should be done in a way that feels natural and doesn't overpower the other flavors.

Like the perfectly roasted vegetables that accompany your steak, headings structure your blog post, making it easier for readers to digest.

They also help search engines understand the hierarchy of your content.

Don't forget to include keywords in your headings, but again, do it naturally.

Featured snippets , on the other hand, are the gravy that tops off your main course.

To increase your chances of being featured, structure your content to answer specific questions clearly and concisely, like a well-seasoned gravy that enhances the taste of the steak.

The dessert - Content Quality and Readability, Internal and External Linking, and Meta Descriptions.

High-quality content is the sweet ending to your blog posts. It should be informative, well-researched, and provide real value to the reader. The readability of your content is like the perfect texture of a dessert; it should be easy to consume and enjoyable.

Internal and external linking are the cherries on top; they enrich your content. Meta descriptions often appear as the description in Google search results, and are like the enticing menu description that makes you want to order the dessert in the first place.

And there you have it - a gourmet guide to creating a Google-friendly blog post. Like a successful chef, a content creator must continually refine their recipe, adjust the seasoning, and stay on top of the latest culinary trends to keep their customers coming back for more.

The same applies to SEO-friendly blogging; it's a multifaceted approach that requires careful keyword selection, content structuring, and user experience considerations.

By following these best practices, you can create content that not only ranks well in search engines but also provides real value to your readers, encouraging them to return to your blog time and time again.

Bon appétit!

Jandy Oyster - A Local Gem Shines Online

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 16:45:00 GMT

Let us tell you about a hidden gem in Tillamook County - Jandy Oyster. These folks have been dishing out some of the most delicious seafood you can imagine. But there was a little problem - their online vibe didn’t really scream “Come and get it!” to both the locals and visitors.

That's where we came in, ready to give them a digital makeover and put them on the map as the go-to spot for seafood lovers.

So, What's the Scoop with Jandy Oyster?

Jandy Oyster is all about bringing the freshest oysters straight from the local waters to your plate, making it a seafood lover's paradise. But, let's be honest, their digital presence was kind of like finding a pearl in an oyster - tough to come by. They were practically swimming in the vast ocean of the internet without making much of a splash.

The Mission: From Hidden Gem to Local Legend

The goal was crystal clear - Jandy Oyster wanted to jazz up their online presence to catch the eye of both the town folks and tourists. They dreamed of becoming the place everyone talked about and where everyone wanted to be seen.

How We Spiced Things Up

We believe that Jandy Oyster's story is like a fine seafood platter - full of coastal charm and delicious tales waiting to be shared. So, we rolled up our sleeves to create a digital experience that would make you feel the sea breeze and taste the salt in the air.

The Recipe for Success

Imagine a website that's a visual feast, with stunning photos of Tillamook County's landscapes and drool-worthy shots of Jandy Oyster's dishes. We added a pinch of interactive features, like signing up for special events, joining local clubs for beekeepers, and even ordering garden baskets and veggies. It's all about making you want to dive right in.

The Catch of the Day: A Story of Transformation

Their online presence now mirrors the passion and excellence that have always been their hallmark, firmly establishing them as a culinary beacon in Tillamook County.

Savoring the Victory

This digital makeover story is a toast to the magic that happens when great storytelling meets design. At Short Story Marketing, we're over the moon to have been part of Jandy Oyster's voyage to becoming a digital darling.

Thinking about taking your business online? Let’s join forces and craft your own tale of success. Cheers to that!

Spotlight: Taking Astaria Global to New Frontiers

Thu, 04 Apr 2024 16:15:00 GMT

You know, one of the coolest parts of what we do is getting to work with a kaleidoscope of clients, each with their own stories, challenges, and dreams. Today, we're super excited to share the journey we embarked on with Astaria Global, a real powerhouse in the biotech scene, especially within the Equine Industry.

Galloping Ahead with Astaria Global

Astaria Global isn't your run-of-the-mill company; they're at the cutting edge of biotech for our four-legged friends in the equine world.

But, even the brightest stars can find the digital marketing landscape a bit daunting.

Astaria came to us with a vision: they wanted not just to navigate this space but to dominate it, with a brand presence that truly reflected their innovative spirit.

The Challenge: Unbridled Potential

Here's the deal: Astaria's online presence was a bit like a wild stallion—full of potential but scattered across the digital prairie with three different websites and an SEO strategy that was, frankly, not up to the race. They were looking for a way to corral all this into a cohesive, powerful online presence that really spoke to their target market.

Our Strategy: A Tailored Approach

We put on our explorer hats and dived deep into everything that makes Astaria tick.

After sizing up the competition, and getting to grips with consumer insights, we mapped out a strategy that was as unique as a hand-crafted saddle. We were all set to guide Astaria through the digital wilderness to greener pastures.

The Game Plan: Creativity Meets Innovation

We went all-in, blending digital wizardry with old-school charm. Think of it as crafting a custom suit for Astaria—everything from a booth redesign that would be the talk of any conference expo, to print materials that people wouldn't just read but remember.

Our aim? To make every interaction with Astaria's brand as engaging and memorable as a champion racehorse crossing the finish line.

Crossing the Finish Line

And, wow, did it pay off! Working with Astaria Global (or should we say Alpha2EQ) was like watching a thoroughbred hit its stride. The results were nothing short of spectacular, with engagement metrics and SEO improvements that even we were tipping our hats to.

Astaria didn't just meet their goals; they blew past them, setting new records for what's possible when creativity and strategy ride together.

The Victory Lap

This adventure with Astaria Global is an example of why we love what we do.

It's about more than just campaigns and clicks—it's about partnering with visionaries like Astaria and helping them leave their mark on the world (or at least on the digital landscape).

Inspired to take your brand on a victory lap of its own?
Let's chat and make some magic happen together. Here's to the next challenge and the next success story!

Revving Up 2Fast.org: A Digital Makeover Story

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:57:13 GMT

In the bustling world of organizations that really make a mark, 2Fast has been a standout, powering through with some of the best motorcycle track days and instruction you can find in the Pacific Northwest.

But, there was a bit of a snag - their online look didn’t quite match the awesome work they were doing in real life. That's when they teamed up with us, ready to give their digital presence a much-needed boost to match their real-world zest.

The Starting Line with 2Fast.org

2Fast has always been all about that thrill of the ride and sharing the know-how on motorcycle safety. They’ve got this deep-rooted passion that's seriously contagious.

But when it came to their website, it felt a bit like taking a ride on an old, dusty road – not the smooth ride they're known for providing.

It was time for a change, to bring that online experience up to speed with the excitement of hitting the track.

Facing the Digital Bend

Getting their website to truly reflect what 2Fast.org is all about was our main mission. The site needed more than just a fresh coat of paint; it needed to become a hub that's as dynamic and welcoming as the community they've built around motorcycle racing and education.

Shifting Gears with Our Approach

Here’s the thing - we believe that a great website is like a great ride: it should be smooth, intuitive, and, most of all, memorable. That's exactly the vibe we aimed to bring to 2Fast.org’s online space. It wasn't just about making things look pretty; it was about creating a journey that visitors would enjoy, from start to finish.

The Transformation Journey

We dove deep, rethinking the whole 2Fast.org website experience.

We wanted every visitor to feel the adrenaline, the community, and the passion behind track day experience and improving their skills on motorcycle riding. From streamlining navigation to punching up the content with more energy, we redesigned their site to be a virtual gateway to the thrill of the track.

Crossing the Finish Line

The results?

A total game-changer. The new site really revved up engagement and brought the community closer.

It’s like 2Fast.org got a brand-new set of wheels online, making it easier and more exciting for everyone to connect with their passion for motorcycles.

Riding into the Sunset

This adventure with 2Fast.org was a reminder of how powerful a stellar digital presence can be, especially when it mirrors the passion of the folks behind the organization.

We’re stoked to have been part of this journey, and we’re geared up for the next challenge.

If you’re thinking it’s time to kick your digital presence into a higher gear, you know who to call.

Let’s make the online world a place where your passion shines bright.

Oceanside Oregon Gateway Signage

Wed, 13 Mar 2024 23:01:13 GMT

Oceanside Gateway Signage Funding/Contest

The votes are in!

Oceanside Gateway Signage Results

A tremendous turnout resulted in 434 individual votes cast by Oceansiders and supporters of Oceanside.

Thank you all for participating!

Kim Green’s design was selected by a wide margin of votes, showing the logo clearly resonated with voters in representing a memorable snapshot of Oceanside life.

The logo will grace Oceanside as the new gateway signage at our north and south urban growth boundaries.

The next step is to work with the Tillamook County Visitors Association (TCVA) and their design team to create the finished product.

Kim Green, the OAP Signage Team and the OAP Board will work closely with the TCVA and their design team to bring the finished product home.

Thank you again to all the artists who submitted their work!

You can read the Oceanside Action Partnership's official article here:
https://www.oceansideactionpartnership.org/gateway-signage-results

Meet Bill, Website Strategist at Short Story Marketing

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 15:19:08 GMT

Meet Bill, the Website Strategist Behind Short Story Marketing

Every business needs someone who can see what comes next.

Someone who understands how people move from curiosity to action. Someone who can connect websites, messaging, strategy, technology, and customer psychology into something that helps a business grow.

At Short Story Marketing, that person is Bill.

As Website Strategist at Short Story Marketing, Bill helps businesses create websites that do more than look good. He brings together website strategy, messaging, marketing insight, technical know-how, and customer psychology to build websites that function smoothly, communicate clearly, and guide visitors toward the next step.

He wears a lot of hats.

Internet guy.

Early web pioneer.

Momentum engineer.

Website strategist.

Click psychologist.

And he has been wearing those hats for a long time.

Bill started working with the internet before most people even knew what to call it. Back then, getting online meant mysterious modem noises, blinking lights, and a creative string of punctuation depending on how the session was going.

Since those early days, his path has included military intelligence, college computer centers, marketing and sales for Steve Jobs’ NeXT computer company, managing IT teams in the Middle East, and eventually building websites for businesses.

For the first few years, he ran his whole operation from a boat he rebuilt himself, cruising up and down the East Coast while his clients sat in offices.

They had conference rooms. Bill had tides.

That mix of technical knowledge, unconventional experience, and entrepreneurial grit still shapes the way he works today.

One of Bill’s early websites, FireCalc®, a retirement calculator, was cited by The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and other publications. Not bad for a guy working off the water.

What does he do best?

He turns curiosity into momentum.

That idea is rooted in more than instinct. Bill studied with Dr. Charles Kiesler, psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association, whose work focused on how people commit to decisions. One of the key insights from that work was simple and powerful: people usually do not leap. They step.

A click.

A quick read.

A demo.

One small action that moves someone from “just browsing” to “I’m interested.”

That way of thinking still shapes Bill’s work today.

He also studied under Herbert Simon, one of the founding figures of artificial intelligence, back when AI was still an academic subject, not a headline. That background gave Bill an unusually early foundation in the relationship between technology, decision-making, and human behavior — a perspective that continues to shape Short Story Marketing’s work as AI becomes a bigger part of how businesses show up, get found, and connect online.

At Short Story Marketing, Bill connects the dots between websites, messaging, marketing strategy, customer psychology, AI, and the technical side of web development to build something bigger than just “a website.”

He makes sure a site not only says the right things, but also works the way it should.

He builds momentum.

Whether he is refining messaging, improving user flow, shaping strategy, handling the technical side of what makes a website work, or helping clients think through the growing role of AI in online visibility, his focus is the same: helping businesses create forward motion.

Long internet history.

Boat-tested entrepreneurship.

Small steps that lead to big results.

That is the next-step thinking behind Short Story Marketing.

Want to learn more about what we do?

Let's talk!

Want the quick, social version of this story? See it here .

Oceanside Water District

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 22:55:21 GMT

Unveiling a Ripple of Change!

We’ve got something super cool to share today!

Oceanside's Water Department brought me in to help create their vision for their new brand/logo collaboration for all their trucks; jackets/hats and more! Yep, you heard that right!

They voiced that they wanted to really focus on the 3 arches and the lighthouse.

We teamed up and threw our ideas into the mix to create something that truly reflects Oceansides Water Districts vision.

So, what do you think?

We are riding the wave of excitement to start seeing the newest look around town once we get things rolled out.

Celebrating Creativity: Our Winning Design for the Bay City Music Festival

Sun, 10 Mar 2024 22:46:31 GMT

Celebrating the WIN for Short Story Marketing and Bay City Oregon!

We are thrilled to announce an exciting milestone for our team at Short Story Marketing! Our passion for creativity, dedication to excellence, and love for music have harmonized into a remarkable achievement. We've been officially selected as the winners of the Bay City, Oregon, Music Festival's design competition, a testament to our team's talent and hard work.

A Symphony of Ideas

The journey began when Bay City called upon local artists to capture the essence of their annual music festival — an event celebrated for bringing together diverse sounds, vibrant communities, and the beautiful backdrop of Oregon's landscapes. We knew this was our moment to shine, to blend our expertise in creativity and design skills.

The Winning Design

Our winning design is more than just a visual treat; it's a narrative of unity, their branding colors for their new logo, along with oyster and pearls that was designed to reflect a guitar, with several layers and effects. It reflects the soul of Bay City and the vibrancy of its music festival.

This design will be the face of the festival, featured in promotional materials, merchandise, and digital platforms, setting the tone for what's set to be an unforgettable celebration of music and community.

Beyond the Design

Our victory in this competition represents more than just a successful design submission. It signifies our commitment to supporting local culture and the arts. By participating in events like the Bay City Music Festival, we are not only showcasing our design and marketing prowess but also contributing to the vibrant tapestry of our community. It's an opportunity to demonstrate how creativity can unite people, tell stories, and create memorable experiences.

A Note of Gratitude

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Bay City, Oregon, for this incredible opportunity, to the festival organizers for their trust in our vision, and most importantly, to our team for their relentless creativity and hard work. This achievement is a collective symphony of our shared values and dedication.

As we look forward to the festival, we invite everyone to join us in celebrating the power of music, art, and community. This is just the beginning of a beautiful journey, and we are excited about the opportunities to create, inspire, and engage with our community in meaningful ways.

Keywords? Where we're going, we don't need keywords!

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 15:21:05 GMT

It used to be special keywords and stuff - now it is AUTHENTICITY!

Ever feel like Google is an elusive unicorn you're trying to ride? Well, saddle up, because there's a new game in town, and it's called Authenticity! (Yeah, you've heard us say this for years... now Google is pushing it to the top!)

Google’s turning the SEO world into a treasure hunt for the real McCoy: authentic, first-hand content.

In their blog post last week , Google points out,

"One of the best ways to get information that works for your specific needs is to find someone with firsthand experience."

So if your website has the flavor of "been there, done that," you might just be the next VIP in search results land.

But wait, there's more!

Their blog post also says Google is adding a shiny new 'follow' button, letting searchers track topics without leaving their search page. Imagine your content being something everyone wants to frequent – that's the kind of hangout spot Google is aiming for with this nifty button.

Get ready to see this gem on mobile devices. We're talking weeks, not months, folks!

Think of it as Google's way of saying, "Let's skip the old ideas, and get some fresh shows on the road."

Personalized searches are the new binge-watch, and guess what? Your website could be the star!

Google is playing matchmaker too, rekindling the love affair between users and their old website flames. Thanks to a little nudge from recent searches and Google account shenanigans, it's "Hello again, old friend" for users and sites.

And for the grand finale, business owners, it's your time to shine – literally. Google is rolling out the red carpet, flashing your follower count like it's the latest Hollywood blockbuster.

Google is playing coy with the exact secret sauce for rankings, but you can bet your bottom dollar that crowd-pleasers like user engagement and repeat visits will take center stage.

It’s time to jazz up your website and strut your authentic stuff. Google's looking for originals, and that should be you!

We are ready to be your wingman in this new SEO soirée, mixing business with pleasure and a dash of panache. Let's show Google that when it comes to authentic content, you're the real deal!

QR Codes: A Game Changer for Small Business

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 15:35:05 GMT

Have you noticed those snazzy QR codes popping up everywhere? Thanks to the smartphone revolution, they're back in style, and they're a perfect fit for your business.

Supercharge the Customer Experience

First off, QR codes are rocking the customer service world. Imagine a restaurant where diners scan a code to see the menu on their phones. Or a shop where customers get extra product details with a quick scan. It’s all about giving your customers that ‘wow’ experience with minimal fuss.

Marketing Made Fun (and Easy)

Marketing with QR codes is like having a secret weapon. Stick them on your promotional materials, and watch as customers get zapped right to your online world – be it your website, a special video, or a surprise discount. It’s a digital treasure hunt that connects your offline and online spaces.

Operation Simplification

On the more practical side, QR codes are lifesavers for streamlining everyday tasks. Event check-ins, booking systems, contactless payments – you name it, QR codes make it smoother and quicker.

Boosting Customer Engagement

QR codes are also fantastic for customer relationships. They're your shortcut to getting feedback or enrolling folks in your loyalty program. It's all about making those connections stronger and simpler.

Green and Keen

Eco-friendly? Absolutely! QR codes mean less paper and more digital savvy. Think digital receipts and online info packs.

Your QR Code Journey Starts Here

Check out the free QR code generator below.

It’s perfect for those "static" (permanent) QR codes that don’t change, like linking to your homepage or a contact page.

Need something more flexible, like a QR code for ever-changing deals or info? You want a QR code that won't require recreating the image, but you can change what page it redirects to when appropriate, such as seasonal specials. These are called "dynamic" QR codes.

So, what are you waiting for? Jump on the QR code bandwagon and watch your small business transform. It’s easy, effective, and, let's be honest, pretty fun.

Generate your code here, then right-click and save to your computer to use where needed.

Or contact us , and we’ll help you set up a static or dynamic QR code..

A Sneaky Peek into Your Reader's Brain

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 19:15:08 GMT

If you're a client of ours, you have heard us say, frequently, that what you put on your website has to address your own clients' "pain points". (If you're not a client of ours, what the hey?!)

Client or not, here's a fresh and light-hearted take on the same topic, to help you focus on what to say when you are writing that next blog post or web page.

Put on your exploration hats, folks!

We're setting off on a thrilling journey into the mind of your online audience.

Picture them, desperately searching for a lifeline to a gnarly problem.

They stumble upon your page. Will it be their Eureka moment?

To make sure your content jives with their mental gymnastics during an online quest, it's critical to grasp their reading shenanigans.

Buckle up, and let's get cracking!

1. The Speedy Gonzales Relevance Run

Point 1 is often missed, but it's the real deal. Your potential clients aren't elbow-deep in a gripping mystery novel. They're not going to comb through your article like a detective on a caffeine-high.

Instead, they'll pull a Speedy Gonzales on you, zipping through your title, headings, subheadings, and any text that stands out.

This quick-as-a-whip assessment helps them gauge if your content might hold the magic solution they're after.

Remember, they're on a mission that could make James Bond sweat. Your page's layout and opening needs to convince them they've struck gold.

If it doesn't hit the relevance bullseye, they'll skedaddle faster than a jackrabbit on a hot date.

2. The Sherlock Holmes Solution Hunt

If your article passes the Speedy Gonzales test, it's time for the Sherlock Holmes solution hunt.

Here, your reader dons their detective cap, seeking those precious answers.

They'll zero in on vital points, data nuggets, bullet lists, and anything visually appealing.

Anything resembling rocket science usually gets the boot, unless it's the key to their problem-solving treasure chest.

3. The Indiana Jones Expedition, or The Road Runner Exit?

After the Sherlock Holmes investigation, your reader has a choice to make. Some might feel your content is more riddle than answer and make a Road Runner exit.

However, those who see the glimmer of a solution might pull an Indiana Jones.

They'll scour every detail, follow linked paths, decode unfamiliar lingo, and even actually read some of those testimonials you struggled long and hard to get.

4. The Deal Makers: Crystal Clear Clarity and Lego-like Structure

If your content isn't as clear as a sunny day in the Sahara, and as carefully assembled as a Lego masterpiece, your readers will vanish faster than a magician's assistant.

Your readers are on a problem-solving mission and need clear answers, not enigmas.

Your content should hit the nail on the head from the get-go with unambiguous headings, concise intros that capture your message effectively, and key points that shine brighter than a disco ball.

Let's be real. Your potential clients are running against the clock. They won't squander time on rambling content. Clarity, brevity, and solution-oriented insights are your golden tickets to their attention and loyalty.

5. A Web of Pages, Not Just Lone Rangers

Let's take a hot-air balloon ride for a moment, and look down at the big picture. While we've discussed individual articles, what we have written applies to your whole website.

Visitors will launch the Speedy Gonzales relevance run on your homepage. They'll be hunting for signs that you've got the answers they need. If they're not sold, they'll bounce faster than a rubber ball on a trampoline.

Like individual articles, your whole website needs to assure visitors they've found their problem-solving HQ. Its layout and content should speak directly to their problem. Navigation should be a walk in the park, effortlessly leading them to their eureka moment. Every click and every page should add value to their journey.

Remember, your website isn't just a jumble of pages; it's their adventure. Plan it with their cognitive journey in mind, and you're on the fast track to turning fleeting visitors into steadfast clients.

6. The Roundup

Deciphering the thinking of your online reader isn't rocket science.

It's about understanding their mental acrobatics when they're on a problem-solving adventure. From the Speedy Gonzales relevance run to the Sherlock Holmes solution hunt, to the Indiana Jones expedition or the Road Runner exit - every stage has a starring role.

The more in sync your content is with their journey, the higher your chances of keeping them hooked.

Hope you had a chuckle and a lightbulb moment with us.

Raring to revamp your website? Hit us up right away! We're ready to help you whip your website into an irresistible problem-solving roadmap that will have your visitors sprinting to hire you in no time.

Updating Your Website - Just Like Revamping Your Wardrobe!

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 18:09:04 GMT

You know how you always feel a little bit rejuvenated after updating your wardrobe?

It's like a whole new you, ready to tackle the world. Well, updating your website is kind of like that too.

Except instead of looking stylish for one season, your website will look great for, like, two whole years!

Think about it: your website is like your digital wardrobe.

Just like clothing styles, it evolves, it can become outdated, it may not fit your current needs, and it can sometimes make you look a little (or a lot) out of touch. And just like your wardrobe, you need to update it every once in a while to keep it on trend.

Let's break it down:

1. Keeping up with technology: Just like your wardrobe, technology evolves and changes over time.

You wouldn't still be using the same outfit you had in the 80s, would you?

No! You'd probably be wearing a style that's more current and fits the current trend. The same goes for your website. Updating it will keep it modern and functional.

2. Improving User Experience:

Have you ever tried to navigate a store with clothes all over the floor and racks?

It's not a good time.

Updating your website will give your visitors a much better experience.

They won't be tangling with outdated designs and slow load times.

3. Branding Consistency: Your clothing is a big part of your image, right?

The same goes for your website. It's like the digital version of your wardrobe.

Updating it will ensure that your brand image is consistent and you're always putting your best foot forward.

4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Just like fashion trends, search engine algorithms change all the time.

Updating your website with fresh content and a new design will give it a boost in the search engine rankings.

Who doesn't want their website to be the top result when someone Googles their business?

5. Staying Competitive: If everyone else is also wearing outdated styles, it might not be that big of a deal.

But if everyone else is rocking a fresh wardrobe and you're still hanging onto your parachute pants, you're going to stand out. In a bad way. The same goes for your website. Keep it updated so you can stay ahead of the competition.

So, there you have it. Updating your website is like revamping your wardrobe.

Except instead of feeling rejuvenated for one season, you'll feel rejuvenated for two whole years.

And your website will look good 24/7, unlike your outfits which only looks good for like, half the day.

So, what are you waiting for? Book your website appointment today !

What Small Businesses Should Do Instead of Relying Only on Social Media

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 20:01:27 GMT

Last week we pointed out that relying solely on social media is like going to a party naked - it might get you some short term attention, but it's not useful for building long-term relationships.

So, what should you do instead? Here are some fun analogies to help you remember:

Build a Website (or freshen up the one you have)

Think of a website like your business's home - it's where people go to get to know you better. Just like your home, you have full control over your website's design, decor, and vibe.

Plus, it's a place where people can stay as long as they want and keep coming back.

(Did you ever try to get back to that great post you saw just an hour ago on Facebook, so you could share it?)

Create a Blog

A blog is like your business's own personal journal - it's where you can share your thoughts, experiences, and expertise.

Also, it's an excellent way to improve your SEO and drive traffic to your website.

Start a Newsletter

A newsletter is like having a pen pal - it's a way to stay in touch with your audience, build relationships, and keep them updated on your latest news and promotions.

Use Social Media as the Icing on the Cake

Social media definitely adds a little something extra, but it's not the main course.

Use it to amplify your message and reach a broader audience, but don't rely on it as your only online presence.

Need some help with these sorts of things? That's what we're here for!

Why Relying Only on Social Media is Like Going to a Party Naked

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 19:37:44 GMT

Relying solely on social media for your online presence is like going to a party naked - it might get you some short term attention, but it's not useful for building long-term relationships.

Here's why small businesses should diversify their online presence and not rely solely on social media, using some hopefully humorous relatable analogies.

Why Social Media Alone Isn't Enough

You know that social media is a great way to promote your business, but here's why relying on it alone isn't enough:

Limited Reach

Posting on social media is like shouting into a crowded room - you might get some attention, but only those close by will hear you. Plus, if you want to reach a broader audience, you have to pay to boost your posts or run ads.

Lack of Control

When you post on social media, you're like a tenant in someone else's apartment - you don't have full control over your content. Social media can change its algorithm, policies, or even shut down your page at any time, and you have to play by their rules.

Short-Term Value

Social media posts have the lifespan of a fruit fly - they're here one minute and gone the next. If you want to create lasting content, you need to think beyond social media.

Limited Customization Options

Customizing your social media page is like trying to decorate a rental apartment - you can't make any permanent changes. If you want your brand to stand out, you need a website where you can fully customize your branding, messaging, and design.

Next week...

What Small Businesses Should Do Instead, and How Social Media can be the Icing on Your Cake!

Does anyone read your testimonials?

Mon, 12 Sep 2022 14:10:16 GMT

Testimonials are a great way to let people know that you deliver on what you promise.

If only people would read them!

Just 1.3%

That's about how many website visitors even open the "Testimonials" page of a website, and they rarely stay even 30 seconds.

So why would you hide your endorsements, your most compelling information, on a page that no one looks at?

Eye-catching signed public reviews

When the reviews are posted by their authors for the world to see, and they put their own names on them, that says a lot.

And when they are displayed on your website in a way designed to catch the eye of the visitor , they get seen and read !

That's why many of our clients have had us add their 5-star reviews from Google and other sources to their websites, as you see here. New reviews appear automatically, too, so they are always up-to-date.

Want something like this on your website? (Even if, sadly, you don't use us for your website?)

You have done the hard work, by earning your reputation, so It's inexpensive for us to help "toot your horn" on your website.

(And watch the bottom of this screen, for a demo of some of the ways this can work for you.)

Why Your Site Would Be Better Off With More Frequently Published Content

Thu, 01 Sep 2022 10:01:07 GMT

A Guest post by Shane Barker

Content is king.

One of the best ways to attract new clients and build relationships with your existing clients is to consistently publish high-quality content on your website, and share it on social media.

Content marketing isn't just about creating quality content. It's also about creating the right kind of content appropriate to your target market and frequently publishing it on your site.

If you don't publish content frequently, existing customers may forget about you or lose trust in what you have to offer, and prospects may never discover you.

After all, they have plenty of other options for finding information online. So give them a reason to visit your site, and keep coming back for more.

This post will review the key reasons your website is better off by frequently publishing content.

Let's get to it.

Build trust and authority in your niche

When trying to build trust and authority in your niche, keeping a consistent content publishing schedule is essential.

For example, it's difficult to trust the website of an individual educational consultant that features a blog but hasn't published content in well over a year.

Questions instantly start swirling through your head, like:

Are they still in business?
Why do they have a blog if they don't update it?
Can I trust this website?

A lack of fresh content is a red flag.

On the flip side, when you find an educational consulting website that publishes multiple blog posts per week, you quickly gather that they are in business. Not only that, but they are investing time and resources into creating valuable content for their readers.

Instantly, this website seems more credible than the last.

( Image Source )

Not only does publishing content more frequently build trust, but it also helps you showcase your expertise.

Websites that publish consistently are often perceived as experts — they have the knowledge that comes from researching topics to help educate their customers.

If you publish high-quality content regularly, people will start to recognize your name as the expert in your field. They'll even start coming to you for advice when they have questions or problems. If they see that you're always there with helpful answers, they'll feel more confident about trusting your advice and recommendations when making important decisions.

Consistent publishing is a great way to build trust, credibility, and authority as an independent educational consultant.

Customers are looking for valuable information

Customers want new content . They don't want to see the same thing every time they visit your website.

For example, if you run a language learning service, users will seek additional resources to improve their skills or dive into the experience. There is a lot more you can post on your blog than just “ how to learn french .” Try some topics like “best french Netflix shows” and “Top 10 french pastry recipes.”

To help make an informed decision, clients want to know what's relevant to them at that particular moment in time by answering their questions or solving their pain points .

( Image Source )

Don't miss out on the opportunity to provide your target audience with the information they seek in the buyer's journey by skimping out on publishing new content.

For additional exposure, share your blog posts on social media or send them to your monthly newsletter. After all, you have already put in the hard work to create valuable content. You might as well share it elsewhere for a more extensive reach.

If you don’t know what information your audience is looking for or are having trouble coming up with new topic ideas - ask your audience. There are many types of surveys you can send out depending on the situation. Armed with that information, you’ll never run out of relevant topic ideas.

Your competition isn’t sitting around

You're not the only one publishing content. The competition is right on your tail.

In search engine optimization ( SEO ), consistency is key. That means your competition isn't sitting back twiddling their thumbs. But they sure are hoping that you are. So don't let them win.

The internet is a boisterous place. And countless people and businesses are vying for attention and trying to rank on the first page of Google.

That means if you want to make a splash with your latest blog post or video, you must be publishing content consistently and of the highest quality to add value to your readers.

Because at the end of the day, if you don't, some other business will. And they'll steal organic traffic and leads right from under your nose.

Fresh content helps you rank higher in search engines

Google has a sophisticated algorithm that rates websites according to their relevance and authority.

You need to create content that meets specific guidelines for your website to rank higher in search results.

Google looks at four factors when determining the ranking of a page:

Freshness: How recent is your content?
Relevance: How relevant is it for users?
Dependency: How frequently does it get linked to other sites?
Authority: How reputable is the author?

( Image Source )

To help you optimize your website content and search performance, you can leverage free Google tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

As you publish more content, these tools will help you rank for more keywords and generate organic traffic to your website.

Wrapping up

So there you have it.

Publishing content frequently can help you:

Drive traffic to your website: Fresh content helps improve SEO and increases organic traffic.
Increase engagement: Once you build a readership, you can use consistent content to keep them engaged and coming back for more.
Encourage social sharing: You can reach people actively searching for a topic and are more likely to share what you have to say with their friends and family.
Build trust in your brand: Show that you're an expert on a given topic — people will trust you when they encounter problems related to that topic.

Staying on top of a consistent publishing schedule isn't easy and takes time and resources, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. Make sure to share these learnings in your next marketing team meeting !

And if you feel like there is no way you can publish three articles per week or don't have the team to get the job done, don't worry. Connect with us , and we'll help you get the ball rolling.

Their Pain, Your Gain

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 16:37:00 GMT

What to say on your home page

You already know you want your home page optimized for SEO so it can be found online, and you need it to be mobile-friendly, so you don't lose out on the vast mobile audience.

But when it comes to the actual content itself, the best way to attract prospects and have them convert to paying customers is to solve a problem affecting visitors to your site, or to address the "pain points" they face.

This approach is altogether different from singing the praises of a product or service you might offer, and all the wonderful features that make it unique in its category.

Some visitors may do the translation, and see how those features could benefit them directly, but a great many other readers will not make the connection, will be unimpressed, and will drop off your site.

You know they need it, but they probably don't!

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 12:26:55 GMT

The vast majority of your potential buyers aren't even aware they need what you sell

In other words, most buyers are "out-of-market" when it comes to buying your products or services. They're not looking for them now; they may never look for them.

But if you want their attention, you have to get it before they start looking.

This isn't just about making yourself known on social media. It means creating content that speaks directly to prospective customers' emotions.

We don't mean writing emotional copy. Instead, this means crafting messages that resonate with prospects' feelings and motivations.

With either or both of the following approaches, anyone can deliver emotionally compelling messaging:

Use stories. Stories help us connect with others because we understand how our own lives relate to theirs. We empathize with characters who share similar experiences. In fact, research shows that readers remember 80% of information presented through story format versus only 20% of facts delivered via bullet points alone. So why not use storytelling to deliver your message?

Create videos. Videos help you build trust and credibility with your target audience, and are an effective way to communicate complex ideas quickly and effectively.

Are you really online? If Google and other resources don't list you, are you really there?

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 09:42:06 GMT

Google's choice of businesses to show in the local search results amounts to a "recommended list" that will typically drive over half the website visits and calls.

How does Google decide who should be contacted first?

The same way you and I do!

If " everyone knows " that Bob is the "go-to" plumber in the local area, well, Bob will get the majority of the calls.

If many of your neighbors have never heard of Bob the plumber, some think he serves their area and others think he doesn't, some don't make the connection with the "Bob" that you are wondering about and the "Robert" they know, and a few think he is an electrician and not a plumber, obviously Bob is not going to get very many calls.

Instead of " everyone knows " it's just " a few people know ".

It's the same with Google... firms that " everyone knows " will get the best results.

How do you get from "a few people know" to "everyone knows"?

Over time, your business perhaps gets listed in sources such as local business license registrations, state LLC lists, the Chamber of Commerce, community directories, other local business associations, and so forth. If you get listed in those places, then that info gets picked up by companies that scour the Internet to find and list businesses, for online and automobile mapping services, online phone books, and for listings in business directories that most of us have never heard of, although Google sees them, and your entries there.

As long as all that data is consistent, Google starts seeing your business as more and more "connected" -- you become one of the firms that " everyone knows " is a go-to source of what you offer.

But with missing or inconsistent information, Google will lack trust in what they do find, and your details sink lower and lower towards "search oblivion" on their list.

Does " everyone know " about your business? Click below to use our search audit to find out - no cost, no obligation, and no spam.

How to Lose Friends and Turn Off Strangers

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 18:35:33 GMT

Buying or Scraping Email Lists Is a Terrible Idea

Let’s start with something we can all agree on.

We all get spam email. Every single day. Emails that open with “Greetings Valued Customer” despite the fact that you have never met, spoken, or made eye contact with this person in your life. Offers for services you would need to change careers to care about. Messages from people who clearly obtained your email address using a mix of sketchy software, questionable ethics, and raw confidence.

If you’re a small business owner or consultant, building an email list organically can feel slow in a way that makes you question the entire economic system. You add a signup form to your website. You optimize it. You wait.

Two people subscribe. One is your mom. The other is you, testing it again because surely something must be broken.

Then comes the idea that briefly feels like genius!

What if you just grabbed the member list from an association website? Or spent a few hours copying and pasting emails from Google Maps listings? Or even just bought a list and called it a day?

Narrator voice: This will not end well.

We get why this sounds tempting.

But it's more like going on a blind date arranged by a sibling who secretly hates you. They swear this person is perfect. They insist you have “so much in common.” And then you show up and discover your date collects toenail clippings as a hobby, believes the earth is flat, and keeps casually mentioning an upcoming criminal court appearance they’re “pretty confident” will work out.

Could this technically work out?

Sure. In the same way you could technically wrestle a raccoon.

Should you fake a family emergency and leave immediately? Absolutely.

Nobody Asked for This Email

Here’s the main problem:

People on these lists did not sign up to hear from you. Not one person. They didn’t visit your website. They didn’t download your guide. They didn’t click a button that said, “Yes please, email me about your services.”

They were just out there minding their own business, when someone harvested their email address like it was a public utility.

So when your email lands in their inbox, it doesn’t feel like a friendly introduction. It feels like someone walking up to them in the grocery store, interrupting their produce selection, and launching into a sales pitch about business coaching.

Their responses fall into three categories:

Delete immediately
Unsubscribe while squinting suspiciously
Mark as spam with the fury of someone who has simply had enough today

(That last one is them calling the manager while maintaining eye contact.)

Gmail Is the Bouncer

Email providers are not passive messengers. They are judgmental bouncers with clipboards, a memory like an elephant, and zero interest in your excuses.

They track how people react to your emails, and assign you a sender reputation. Think of it like a credit score, except it can be destroyed in one afternoon, and there’s no “my bad” button.

Send emails people open and engage with? You’re fine.

Send emails people delete or report as spam? You’re done.

Once your reputation drops, everything you send starts going to spam.

Client emails.
Appointment reminders.
Newsletters to people who actually like you.

Recovering from this is like trying to convince a nightclub bouncer that you’re cool now, and that earlier incident was “out of character.”

You may eventually get back in. But it will take time. And dignity will be lost along the way.

The Rules Are Real (And Boring, But Real)

In the U.S., email marketing falls under CAN-SPAM, which basically says “don’t be shady” and “let people unsubscribe.”

But realistically, the bigger danger for most businesses is your email platform.

Mailchimp, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign, and all the rest of them ban purchased, scraped, or third-party lists. Not because they are mean. Because if too many people ignore this rule, everyone gets blocked.

Break those terms and your account can be shut down. Sometimes mid-send. Sometimes permanently. Usually via an automated message with the emotional warmth of a parking ticket.

(If you have EU subscribers, GDPR shows up like a very serious adult at a party and ruins everything. Purchased and scraped lists fail GDPR instantly and enthusiastically.)

“But the List Was Verified”

Yeah, sure.

It does not mean the person wants to hear from you.

It does not mean they know who you are.

It does not mean they won’t report you out of spite.

Scraped lists often include spam traps. Those exist specifically to catch people who ignore permission. Hitting one is like stepping on a rake after multiple people warned you it was there. Loud, painful, and entirely preventable.

What Actually Works

Email works when people want to hear from you.

Wild concept.

That means:

Signup forms people can actually find
A real reason to subscribe, not “get our newsletter”
Invitations that come from conversations, not spreadsheets
Emails written by someone who remembers what being human feels like

Yes, it’s slower. Yes, it’s less flashy. But it works. People open your emails. They reply. You stop sweating every time you hit send.

The Bottom Line

We all hate spam. We delete it instantly. We curse whoever sent it. Some of us consider posting bad reviews as a warning to others.

That alone should tell you everything.

Buying or scraping email lists isn’t growth. It’s a shortcut to annoying people who never asked to hear from you, and teaching Gmail not to trust you.

Build your list the way you’d want to be treated.

Invited.
Respected.
Not under supervision.

You’re welcome.

Using Video to Tell Your Story!

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 17:07:26 GMT

We've helped Dori Middlebrook for years with her website. She helps high school students and their families identify the best "fit" when they are deciding which college is right for them, and helps them navigate through the college preparation and application process. Her track record includes hundreds of successful admissions.

Spotlight: Miller Educational Consulting

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 04:00:00 GMT

For our "spotlight" this week, we asked Kathryn Miller, of Miller Educational Consulting , some questions about her practice:

What do you offer? (Give us your “elevator pitch”)

Miller Educational Consulting assists families with high school students with all aspects of college planning. I help families through the college selection, admissions and financial aid processes to find the best fit schools for your student - academically, socially and financially.

Good planning, preparation and organization of the college search and application process results in reduced anxiety for everyone involved. Access to extensive knowledge about colleges, financial aid and the admissions process will increase your ability to make informed decisions with your student.

Describe your ideal client/customer.

Ideally, meeting with a student no later than the fall of junior year allows enough time to discuss course choices, grades and activities.

My fee and elements that students need to complete for selection and application are the same, no matter when they get started.

Starting earlier with a clear understanding of the process and the timeline can make it more thoughtful and less stressful. Students should be willing to be open to finding colleges that are the best fit for them and work hard on their applications and essays.

Why should they come to you (instead of a competitor, or doing it themselves, or doing without)?

An Independent Educational Consultant works one-on-one with each student, helping to identify colleges and universities that offer the best matches for the student's unique needs, and keeping the student on track through every phase of the college search and application process. We are not employed by any school and are thus “independent”.

If your student needs additional advice and support during the college search and application process, an educational consultant can be an excellent resource.

It is my belief that young people need to take responsibility for the choices in their lives, because those choices make them into the adults they want to become. I also believe in being very professional, a good listener and in making the college search enjoyable.

I approach each student with an open mind and heart. I am excited to work with each one towards an experience that contributes to a happy and successful transition to college as well as adulthood.

I also limit the number of students per class to provide personalized attention and maintain client relationships and responsiveness.

How do they usually find out about you?

Most of my business comes from referrals, family members and from finding my website .

What tip or advice would be really useful for someone you would like as a customer?

If you are just deciding you do need some professional help, please do not hesitate to call, as I am happy to assist your student anywhere in the process.

You can reach Kathryn by phone at 303-759-2391, by email , through her website , or via LinkedIn .

I was just looking at your website... yeah, right!

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 04:00:00 GMT

If you have a website, you probably get emails at least weekly, usually from a free email address like hotmail, about getting better placement on Google, or some other such solicitation.

These usually start with something like " ...I was just looking at your website and see that... "

Sometimes they will even include some sort of automated details about your website, purporting to illustrate problems.

(Since we manage lots of sites, we frequently receive many copies of the exact same message, each referring to a different site, and, inexplicably, each from a different hotmail or gmail address. They are otherwise identical.)

We love what Google says about such pitches. Quoting their advice:

If you get from one of those "out of the blue" contacts and are tempted by what they offer, check with your web team. We have gotten pretty good at spotting the scams!

Spotlight - AAA Translation

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 18:09:15 GMT

You always need to communicate in a way that your audience understands. When your audience speaks a different language, you need the translation services of one of our clients, AAA Translation , to get your message across!

As an example of their work, here is the story of Susanne Evens, the founder, in English, French, Spanish, and Chinese:

Founder and CEO of AAA Translation shares her story of success and helping the immigrant community in St. Louis

Susanne Evens is the founder of AAA Translation a company located in St. Louis dedicated to providing professional translation, interpretation, marketing, and global consulting services to help businesses and organizations grow through successful expansion into international markets.

Susanne’s passion for languages and culture started at a very young age through extensive travel with her parents. “I moved to the U.S. in 1992 and started working for Deutsche Financial Services (Deutsche Bank) and started German Language Communications on the side which evolved into AAA Translation in 2005. We now offer more than 250 languages and access to our vast global business network.”

Susanne is also helping the immigrant community during COVID-19. Evens noticed that access to language translation was lacking with some local organizations. She started donating important COVID-19 messaging in multiple languages to STL Juntos , Metro West Fire Protection District, St. Charles County Government and the Missouri History Museum.

In addition to her work with AAA Translation, Evens has served on the board of the World Trade Center St. Louis since 2006 and is the Treasurer of the Missouri Humanities Council. Susanne has mentored and connected immigrant professionals with various employment opportunities in the region. Evens is also the President of St.Louis -Stuttgart Sister Cities, the oldest Sister City relationship.

As a successful business owner, Evens also shared encouraging advice for other entrepreneurs during this time. “Be agile, adapt to current market trends, look at your competition, but first and foremost, take care of yourself,” said Evens. “Invest in where the world is going, not where it is.”

Susanne Evens, Founder of AAA Translation and Tim Nowak, Executive Director for the World Trade Center-St. Louis

Susanne is driven to move her business forward. “Currently, we are brainstorming and planning to provide more online video interpreting via a new APP and also online language instruction services,” said Evens. “When the markets rebound, the need for more innovative and better services will drive demand.”

For more information about AAA Translation visit their website here .

La fondatrice et PDG d'AAA Translation partage son histoire de réussite et d'aide à la communauté immigrante de St. Louis.

Susanne Evens est la fondatrice d' AAA Translation, une entreprise située à Saint-Louis dédiée à la prestation de services professionnels de traduction, d'interprétation, de marketing et de conseil mondial pour aider les entreprises et les organisations à se développer grâce à une expansion réussie sur les marchés internationaux.

Susanne s'est découvert très jeune une passion pour les langues et la culture grâce à de nombreux voyages avec ses parents. « En 1992 j'ai déménagé aux États-Unis et ai commencé à travailler pour Deutsche Financial Services (Deutsche Bank). J'ai en parallèle démarré la structure German Language Communications qui a évolué pour devenir AAA Translation en 2005. Nous proposons désormais plus de 250 langues et un accès à notre vaste réseau commercial mondial ».

Susanne aide également activement la communauté d'immigrants pendant cette période de pandémie de COVID-19. Evens a remarqué que certaines organisations locales ne disposaient pas de solution de traduction linguistique. Elle a commencé offrir gratuitement d'importants messages COVID-19 en plusieurs langues à STL Juntos , au Metro West Fire Protection District, au Gouvernement du Comté de St. Charles et au Missouri History Museum.

Susanne Evens, fondatrice d'AAA Translation et Tim Nowak, directeur exécutif du World Trade Center St. Louis.

Outre son travail au sein d'AAA Translation, Evens siège au conseil d'administration du World Trade Center St. Louis depuis 2006 et est trésorière du Missouri Humanities Council. Susanne a encadré et facilité la mise en relation de professionnels immigrants avec diverses opportunités d'emploi disponibles dans la région. Evens est également la présidente de St. Louis - Stuttgart Sister Cities, la plus ancienne relation de jumelage de villes.

En tant que propriétaire d'une entreprise prospère, Evens a également partagé des conseils encourageants pour d'autres entrepreneurs pendant cette période. « Faites preuve d'agilité, adaptez-vous aux tendances actuelles du marché, observez vos concurrents, mais avant tout, prenez soin de vous », a déclaré Evens. « Investissez en ce vers quoi le monde évolue, pas en sa situation actuelle ».

Susanne est déterminée à faire évoluer son entreprise. « Actuellement, nous réfléchissons et prévoyons de fournir davantage de services d'interprétation par vidéo en ligne via une nouvelle application et également des services de formation linguistique en ligne », a déclaré Evens. « Lorsque les marchés reprendront, le besoin de services plus adaptés et innovants stimulera la demande ».

Pour plus d'informations sur AAA Translation, visitez leur site Web ici .

La fundadora y directora ejecutiva de AAA Translation comparte su historia de éxito y de ayuda a la comunidad inmigrante de St. Louis

Susanne Evens es la fundadora de AAA Translation , una empresa ubicada en St. Louis que se dedica a proporcionar servicios profesionales de traducción, interpretación, marketing y consultoría global. Su objetivo es ayudar a las empresas y organizaciones a crecer con una expansión exitosa en los mercados internacionales.

La pasión de Susanne por los idiomas y la cultura comenzó a una edad muy temprana con la gran cantidad de viajes que realizaba con sus padres. “Me mudé a los Estados Unidos en 1992 y empecé a trabajar para Deutsche Financial Services (Deutsche Bank). Fue entonces que en forma paralela inicié German Language Communications, que luego se transformaría en AAA Translation en 2005. Ahora ofrecemos traducciones en más de 250 idiomas y el acceso a nuestra vasta red de negocios global.”

Susanne también está ayudando a la comunidad inmigrante durante COVID-19. Evens notó que faltaba el acceso a la traducción de idiomas en algunas organizaciones locales y por eso comenzó a donar importantes mensajes de COVID-19 en múltiples idiomas a STL Juntos , el Distrito de Protección contra Incendios de Metro West, el Gobierno del Condado de St. Charles y el Museo de Historia de Missouri.

Susanne Evens, fundadora de AAA Translation, y Tim Nowak, director ejecutivo del World Trade Center-St.Louis.

Además de su trabajo con AAA Translation, Evens es miembro de la junta del World Trade Center St. Louis desde 2006 y es la Tesorera del Missouri Humanities Council. Susanne ha sido mentora y ha conectado a profesionales inmigrantes con varias oportunidades de empleo en la región. Evens también es la Presidenta de St.Louis -Stuttgart Sister Cities, la relación más antigua de ciudades hermanas.

Como exitosa propietaria de una empresa, Evens también compartió consejos alentadores para otros empresarios durante este tiempo. “Sean ágiles, adáptense a las tendencias actuales del mercado, miren a su competencia, pero, ante todo, cuídense”, compartió. “Inviertan en el lugar hacia donde va el mundo, no donde está.”

AAA Translation创始人兼首席执行官分享她的成功故事以及她如何帮助圣路易斯移民社区

Susanne Evens 是 AAA Translation 的创始人。该公司位于圣路易斯，致力于提供专业的笔译、口译、市场推广和全球咨询服务，帮助企业和机构成功拓展国际市场，不断成长。

Susanne 从很小的时候就跟着父母四处游历，从而培养了她对语言和文化的热情。 “我于1992年移居美国，最初在Deutsche Financial Services（即德意志银行）工作，并在业余时间创办了German Language Communications，最终在2005年发展为AAA Translation。我们现在提供超过250种语言的服务，拥有庞大的全球业务网络。”

在 COVID-19 疫情期间，Susanne 还积极帮助移民社区。Evens 注意到，一些本地机构缺乏语言翻译资源。她开始为 STL Juntos 、Metro West Fire Protection District、圣查尔斯县政府和密苏里州历史博物馆免费翻译多种语言的重要COVID-19文告。

AAA Translation 创始人 Susanne Evens 与圣路易斯世界贸易中心执行董事Tim Nowak在一起

除了管理AAA Translation之外，Evens自2006年以来一直担任圣路易斯世界贸易中心的董事，同时还是密苏里人文理事会（Missouri Humanities Council）的司库。Susanne 热衷于为技术移民提供指导并为他们介绍本地区的各种就业机会。Evens 还是圣路易斯-斯图加特友好城市的总裁，这是历史最悠久的友好城市关系。

作为一名成功的企业主，针对目前的形势，Evens 还向其他企业家分享了鼓舞人心的建议。“保持敏捷，适应当前的市场趋势，了解自己的竞争对手，但最重要的是照顾好自己。”Evens 说，“投资于未来，而不是眼前。”

Susanne 决心进一步发展自己的事业。“目前，我们正在集思广益，计划通过一个新的APP提供更多在线视频翻译服务，另外还计划推出在线语言教学服务。”Evens表示，“一旦经济开始复苏，市场将需要更具创新性、更好的服务，进而推动需求。”

如需了解有关AAA Translation的更多信息，请访问其网站。

What Shakespeare teaches about writing for your website

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Tue, 26 May 2020 04:00:00 GMT

Getting well-placed on Google has gotten easier than ever – despite what you might think after reading all those spam emails you get from strangers purporting to know the secret tricks…

Trying to "game" Google is a wild goose chase. They refine their search engine algorithms constantly – dozens of times per week – to try and suggest websites that are current and are what a Google user is looking for .

The trick is, there's no trick.

Sure, you will want to use titles and headlines to say what your website is all about, but the best thing you can do is to frequently update your site with information that the people you'd most like to reach will find useful.

Our recommendation: a new article or page every other week!

Use the blog that is a part of your website. This makes it simple to add new, relevant information, making your website an increasingly rich source of information for those looking for what you offer. That's what Google - and visitors - want to see.

Yes, this can be a struggle for some, who spend months trying to get every word just right .

Big mistake. A web page or blog post that is pretty good, and online today, is infinitely better than perfectly crafted text that never gets published!

In the words of those masters of search engine optimization,

"Striving to better, oft we mar what's well."

Shakespeare (or maybe Francis Bacon), King Lear, ~1603

"The better is the enemy of the good."

Voltaire, La Bégueule, 1772

"Just do it."

Nike, 1988

Our clients who follow this advice generally have found themselves with excellent positioning in Google, often with multiple first page entries.

Don't have time? Let us help! We can take your material and publish it for you, or even have our ghostwriters write text that helps tell your story. Talk to us!

Match the Crew to the Boat!

Sat, 23 May 2020 21:09:57 GMT

We get asked on occasion to build a website using the whiz-bang do-it-yourself website builder that a client just learned about, or perhaps one they started with, and got stuck.

We build websites, after all. Can't we just use any of the 1,001 different website builders that pop up in online ads all the time?

In the digital world, navigating without understanding the intricacies can feel like steering a ship through a storm without a compass or a rudder.

Letting your web design company, armed with their expertise and carefully-selected and preferred tools, steer the ship is crucial.
Dictating their tools is like telling a seasoned captain and crew to abandon whatever technical experience they have -- it might not end well.

Consider this: A seasoned power boat crew knows their power boat inside out—the engine's power, the controls, how it behaves in reverse, etc.

Similarly, a web design company masters a specific platform, CMS, or CRM, through countless hours of practice and hundreds of website projects (thousands, for us).

Insisting they use unfamiliar tools is like asking a veteran power boat crew to operate and navigate a sailboat—they probably don't know which ropes do what, how to adjust the sails to head into the wind, or why it always seems to lean over. (Sailors will understand.)

Each website platform is like a different type of vessel, with unique strengths and features. A company skilled in their chosen platform can optimize your website for performance, security, and scalability, much like a master crew navigating their familiar yacht through treacherous waters with ease.

Specialized knowledge also translates to reliable support. A company proficient in their preferred platform can troubleshoot issues, implement updates, and offer training, ensuring smooth website management. Insisting on unfamiliar tools could lead to choppy waters, with potential delays and issues.

Think of your web company as a long-term partner on your business journey. Trusting their expertise fosters a committed partnership, with a shared goal of your success. Telling them which tools to use is like putting them in the wrong type of vessel—it hinders their ability to get you effectively to your destination.

Our goal is to create a website that exceeds your expectations, and using the right tools is key. Trust our expertise, and you'll sail smoothly through the digital seas.

* - Y'all probably know that Bill spent several years living and cruising on a boat with his wife and dog, going up and down the East Coast following the warm weather. So we have to let him occasionally use a boating analogy... And it was a "trawler" (slow power boat). You wouldn't want him to captain your sailboat. ��

Word of Mouth is Not Enough!

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Fri, 01 May 2020 04:00:00 GMT

If you rely on word of mouth to attract new business, you already know what the well-known Nielsen market research firm found…

92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over traditional advertising.

Even better, social media can spread those recommendations faster than the juiciest gossip, so word of mouth is more effective in this day and age than ever before!

But that isn't the whole story. Their research, published in December 2018, confirmed the continuation of a trend we have been watching for years... with a stark conclusion: w ord of mouth isn't enough.

The researchers analyzed 45,000 businesses to obtain some in-depth understanding, and found...

More than 8 in 10 people (and 95% of people aged 18-34) do research online before making a significant purchase, and they research online even if they were given a personal recommendation.

91% of searchers trust online reviews as much or more than "word of mouth" personal recommendations .

Yes, you ARE getting checked out online!

It only makes sense. Any consumer will want to know a lot more about what you offer, and how it will help them meet their needs, so almost all consumers will check out a business's website and online reviews before they call or email you.

No website (or worse, a crappy website)? As SCORE pointed out in a recent blog post, this implies that a business is hopelessly out of date, or perhaps they are just dabbling and not really focused on their business.

Need help? Contact us and set up a time to talk.

We're here to help!

Make it love at first sight

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 04:00:00 GMT

Make a great first impression, and you'll get the benefit of the doubt next time. Make a poor first impression, and it takes an awful lot of positive experiences to turn it around.

(Now there's a blinding flash of the obvious!)

Not surprisingly, this works with websites as well.

What is quite surprising is just how quickly people get these first impressions when it's a website.

Psychology researchers at Carleton University (Ottawa) followed the standard approach in researching such things.

Show a large number of people a handful of websites, and ask the people to rate the websites.
Show a separate large group of people the same websites for a shorter period, and get ratings on each.
Repeat #2 with an ever-shorter viewing period, as long as the ratings don't change.

Through this process, the researchers can determine the minimum duration of a viewing that will create such a lasting impression that the ratings don't vary significantly with much longer exposure.

1/20th of a second.

To the astonishment of almost everyone, the impression gained in a mere 50 milliseconds, 1/20th of a second, was sufficient to remain "in control" of the viewers' overall evaluation of each of the websites for an extended period.

Websites need to create a favorable impression in the first blink of an eye. Otherwise, even if your visitors hang around long enough to look further, they will be doing so with a predetermined impression of what you have to offer. (Read the BBC account .)

This is why Kim, our award-winning and professionally trained art director/partner , does all the design for our clients!

Can you afford to "go cheap"?

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 05:00:00 GMT

If you are being offered a cheap website with cheap hosting, it will almost certainly be using software the web developer can get for free, supplemented with "plug-ins" built by hobbyists, and installed on cheap rented hard disk space with little if any service included by the "landlord".

You probably can't afford "free"

Around a half dozen times a year, those "free" software programs require "emergency recalls" -- replacing vulnerable portions with revised code.

You can't not do the updates.

If not updated promptly, those sites built on "free" software get hacked.

In May 2020, the IT security journal Security Week reported that over a million websites using a popular plug-in for one of those "free" website systems were being targeted, sayin g that the hackers "can install a backdoor or webshell to maintain access, gain full administrative access to WordPress, or even delete your site entirely”.
This isn't new. Check out this BBC news account of the ~12 million sites using "free" software that were hacked a few years back, when the recall was not applied within 7 hours of being issued .

Your hosting provider is not going to update the software for you, and your website developer won't do it for free, if you aren't paying for support for that "free" software.

What does such support cost? Google makes it easy to find costs of applying the "recalls" for the most common "free" systems. Service plans averaged around $100 - $150 a month, on top of that "cheap" hosting . That's just for the updates, not site changes.

Not included in those service plans : Once the new "free" software has been installed, it's not uncommon for the "plug-in" to no longer work, so some part of the website will be disabled until that hobbyist-developed component is updated, or a replacement found.

Believe us -- if we thought those "cheap" options were the best solution, we'd still be doing it, not shelling out tens of thousands of dollars a year on the advanced commercial system we use.

A view from Down Under

A while back, SmartCompany , an Australian online magazine for small business owners, published an article on why you might choose a commercial hosted platform such as our Online Business Partner ® for your site, rather than having your web people download one of those "free" programs and host it on one of those super-cheap services.

Here is a summary, used with permission of the author, ruthlessly edited for length and to "Americanize" it:

Who would you prefer underpin your business website?

The hobby community, or a large profitable company?

The commercial hosted platforms generally contain the latest features – far more than a smaller business would use. Not so long ago, these features and functionality would cost millions of dollars . This means website tasks gets done quickly, rather than taking many hours of costly programmer time.

These systems typically include hosting hosting. "back end" support, and constant improvements and upgrades at no extra charge.

If there are any problems with the commercial system, the provider has an in-house support staff at the ready to quickly resolve it – at no further cost to you.

This means that both you and your web professional can get on with what you do best – and leave what can be a monumental task of maintenance and security to the professionals who work for the multi-billion-dollar firm that owns the commercial platform.

One web developer’s view

In closing, I’ll leave you with a few comments from the owner of a San Francisco web design firm that I came across:

"Free" software is built by hobbyists for hobbyists – who by definition get pleasure in messing around with the topic of their hobby, such as finding and installing the latest great plug-in to make a site work correctly, after installing the last mandatory security patch that broke the old plug-in, and reprogramming things to work with that new plug-in which works just a bit differently than the last one.

For business? Forget the "free" software that some web people choose to use because it costs them nothing (and makes them a lot when they have to fix hacked sites).

Don't think you are too small and obscure to be at risk. Hackers use ‘robot’ programs that scour the internet, thousands of sites per minute, looking for vulnerable sites using that "free" software so they can automatically install their viruses on your site.

Understanding Website Costs

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 13:53:26 GMT

Speak up if you understand the 5 costs of a website.

Anyone?

It's unusual for us to meet a business owner who has a good understanding of the various costs of a website.

So let's use an analogy of a home - something most of us can understand fairly well - to review those costs.

1. First, you need a house.

Creating the website is somewhat like building a house.

Just as your architect will do for the future home, the designer will review your needs and preferences to create the plans and "artist's conception" for what will become the end result, on some land that has been set aside for that purpose.

The builder (website developer) will then use their industry's best practices and appropriate materials to turn the plans into the house (website).

Costs... usually a single expense, arranged with your web team as you get started.

2. A house isn't a home without furniture.

Once the house (website) is built, it needs "furniture" to make those empty rooms (pages) livable.

That "furniture" consists of the text and images that get carefully placed, according to the original plans. Maybe you have that stuff already, or maybe you buy it, or hire someone to make it for you.

Costs... typically you will supply your own, so no cost for that. Your web designer will perhaps supplement your images with no- or low-cost stock images. You might choose to hire a writer and/or photographer, usually as a separate arrangement with those professionals.

3. What? It costs just to be there?

Once things are the way you want them, there are other costs.

For a house and the land it sits on, it's the HOA dues, the property taxes, insurance, water, electricity, and other utilities. Maybe you decide to add some optional extras... cable TV and Internet, a mowing service, a security system, and perhaps a pest control service.

For your website, it is the hosting, and the domain name. Maybe you decide to include some optional extras such as an appointment scheduling system, accessibility and privacy compliance services, and perhaps a "feed" of your best reviews.

Costs... these are usually recurring (monthly or yearly) expenses. The optional items are typically arranged through your web team with other providers.

4. Cleaning, redecorating, and preparing for a special event.

Maybe you want things cleaned up, or you want to add or change things around. It might be for a special event, or maybe you want to add or remove some stuff.

These are often things you can choose to do yourself, or perhaps you will decide to hire a crew that has the tools and experience to these things a lot quicker than you can, while you focus on other priorities.

Costs... nothing (except your time) if you choose to do it yourself. If you decide to pay to have it done, it can be just whenever you decide is needed at the time, or you might prefer arrange a monthly arrangement (usually less costly than "on request" services). It's your call.

5. Having the best among all your neighbors!

Are you shooting for "lawn of the month", or wanting your website to show up to people looking for what you offer (SEO)?

It is sort of the same thing. There are "basics" that should be taken care of even if you aren't trying to compete, and there are a lot of both big and small things that need to be addressed if you want to outshine your competition.

Costs... Little to nothing if you are willing to do frequent updates to your website (blog). Otherwise, expect recurring monthly costs. Also note that it's going to be easier (and a lot less costly) to be the best in your own neighborhood, compared with competing for best in your state, or beyond.

Tired of missing the target?

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 05:00:00 GMT

Imagine you see an ad on TV, and call to place an order... and you then get a recording about the history of the company, how great the team is, that they are members of the association of blah blah blah blah blah blah

Are you doing the same thing with the most promising visitors to your website?

Someone looking for exactly what you offer sees a link to your site.

Maybe it is on Facebook, a professional association website, a Google ad, or the website of a related business.

They click on the link, go to the home page on your website... and get blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Result: They go away.

Instead, use Landing Pages

Set every external link to your website to point to a custom page that specifically addresses the topic of the link , and perhaps its source.

If the link is on the site talking about a product, the page should talk about that specific product, and why and how to buy.
If the link is about a consulting service you provide, have it go to a page about the specific service, how it will benefit the reader, and how to get started.
If it is a link from the Chamber of Commerce, let the page talk about how to get specials you provide for Chamber members.

You get the idea. When someone clicks on a link and goes to your website, their first reaction should be, "This is exactly what I was looking for!"

And it's really easy...

If you are using our Online Business Partner® service , just log in and find a page on your site that somewhat matches the interests of those prospects who would likely click to get more information, then select "Copy This Web Page". On the copy, revise the content to focus precisely on the topic.

Use the link to this new page for your Google ad, Facebook post, or association directory. Repeat as necessary for other topics and link sources.

If you can't update your site easily , then a "standalone" landing page might be best. Or get a better website platform! (Hint: contact us !)

Spotlight: TV on the ocean

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Sat, 15 Feb 2020 05:00:00 GMT

Boats roll and bob around in the water, even on calm lakes, and move around a lot more on the ocean - making it tough to point a satellite dish precisely enough to get a signal.

Our client Track It TV manufactures economical systems that keep the satellite antenna pointed just right, allowing boat owners to watch satellite TV in all sorts of conditions. Learn more about their system .

One of their customers wrote,

"We just got back from two months in the Bahamas using the Follow Me TV. The system exceeded all of my expectations. It worked wonderfully everywhere I went, which was all of the way down the Exuma chain to George Town."

Snowball Express

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 05:00:00 GMT

One of our earlier projects was a logo and website for Snowball Express , a non-profit dedicated to helping the children of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces since 9/11.

The holidays can be especially challenging for grieving families. Each December, Snowball Express hosts a five-day experience for 1,750+ children of the fallen and their surviving parent or guardian from all across America, for an all-expense paid holiday gathering at places like Walt Disney World, a gathering that none of them will ever forget.

In 2017, Snowball Express became an official Gary Sinise Foundation project , where it can provide new and exciting ways to serve the families of the fallen, while maintaining the wonderful traditions initiated by its founders.

We were honored to donate our efforts to this project, creating the logo and website and providing the website hosting in the early days of Snowball Express, and are glad that it has moved up into the "big league" now!

What Happened to Harriet the Hamster?

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 01:00:00 GMT

If well cared for, that hamster you gave your kid will be a great pet for about 3 years.

Then it will be time to wish her goodbye, console your kid, and arrange for a replacement.

The same with your website!

Five factors impacting a website’s lifespan:

Devices change. These days, for 90% of businesses, people get to your website far more often by smartphones than by desktop.

Care about being found online? Several years ago, Google and others started downgrading sites that weren’t mobile friendly .

Don't want your visitors scared away? Web pages are being flagged as "not secure" unless they are encrypted with "SSL".

Your business changes, and your customers' expectations change. You certainly know how different your business is from, say, 2015, or earlier. Does your website reflect these changes? Are customers immediately able to find on your website what they need to do business with you? Does your website look like it was made for monitors that are tiny, compared to those in common use today? Are your competitors’ sites updated far more often than yours? How does your website stand up to theirs, in your customers’ eyes?

Internet technology changes. Compared to just a few years ago, the technology available for managing your website is greatly improved. Easier to use, much more powerful features, and automatically mobile-friendly and encrypted.

We have switched the tools we are using for new projects and when updating older websites with fresh new designs, to keep up with the state of web technology. (We'll describe some of the changes in another newsletter.)

Google Isn't Dead — But the Rules Just Changed

Sun, 20 Mar 2016 11:29:18 GMT

You've worked hard to build your website. Maybe you've invested in SEO, kept your Google Business Profile updated, and even hired someone to help with keywords. And now everyone's talking about AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — and suddenly you're wondering: Does any of that work still matter?

Here's the short answer: Yes — but the game has new rules.

The way people search for businesses, products, and services online is shifting. And if you don't adapt, your competitors will. The good news? You don't need a tech degree to stay ahead. You just need to understand what's changing and take a few smart steps. Let's break it down.

The Big Shift: AI Is Now in the Room With Google

For decades, getting found online meant one thing: rank well on Google. Someone types a question, Google shows a list of links, and — hopefully — your website is near the top.

That still happens. But something new is sitting right at the top of those search results: AI-generated summaries. Google now displays what it calls "AI Overviews" — paragraphs of text that answer a user's question directly, before they ever click on a single website link. According to research from Orbit Media Studios, these AI Overviews now appear on more than three-quarters of all Google search result pages.

Meanwhile, a growing number of people are skipping Google entirely and asking AI chatbots — think ChatGPT or Perplexity — their questions directly. These tools act more like a knowledgeable friend than a search engine: they don't just point you to links, they give you a full answer, often with a recommendation baked right in.

Think of it this way: old search was a Yellow Pages. AI search is a word-of-mouth referral. And your goal is to be the business that gets recommended.

What This Means for Your Bottom Line

If AI tools are answering questions without sending people to websites, that could mean fewer visitors landing on your pages — and fewer chances to convert a browser into a buyer.

But here's the nuance that most panic-driven headlines miss: not all searches are being swallowed by AI. Research shows that local searches — like "best plumber near me" or "coffee shop open Sunday in [your town]" — are still largely handled by traditional Google search and maps. AI tools haven't cracked the local directory yet. That's a big win if you run a local business.

Where the disruption is real: informational searches. If someone is asking "what's the difference between a term and whole life insurance policy" and you're an independent insurance agent whose blog post used to answer that, Google's AI Overview may now answer it for them — without a single click to your site.

So yes, you may see some organic traffic dip. But the opportunity to be recommended by AI — instead of just ranked by Google — is very real, and most small businesses aren't even trying for it yet.

Your New Job: Train AI to Recommend You

Here's a mindset shift that will help everything click: your website is no longer just a place for human visitors. It's also a resource that AI systems are reading, learning from, and referencing when they answer questions.

Research from Orbit Media found that nearly half of all citations in AI-generated responses come from company websites and corporate blogs. That means what you publish on your own site directly influences whether AI recommends your business.

Practically speaking, here's what that looks like for you:

Answer real questions clearly. Every question you get on a sales call, from a customer email, or in a consultation — put it on your website. Write in plain language. If AI can clearly understand your answer, it's more likely to repeat it.
Tell your story in simple terms. Your About page should spell out who you are, who you help, what problem you solve, and what makes you different. Be direct. Avoid vague mission statements that sound impressive but say nothing.
Don't block AI from reading your site. Some website platforms let you block AI crawlers. Don't. You want AI tools to read your content so they can reference it.
Publish proof, not just promises. Case studies, reviews, testimonials, and real outcomes are exactly the kind of content AI looks for when deciding who to recommend. If you helped a client save money or grow their sales, write about it.
Show up in directories and review sites. AI often cross-references business listings the same way local SEO does. Make sure your name, address, and phone number are consistent across Google, Yelp, industry directories, and anywhere else you're listed.

Don't Abandon Traditional SEO — Double Down on It

Here's something that might surprise you: AI chatbots still use Google to find information. A study by Backlinko showed that when you ask ChatGPT a question, it often searches the web using Google before forming its response. That means your Google ranking still matters — maybe more than ever.

The key is to focus on the kinds of searches that still lead to clicks. Broad informational queries are increasingly answered by AI without a click. But searches where someone clearly wants to visit a website — like "[your service] in [your city]" or "[your business name]" — still drive real traffic. Target those.

Don't try to replace your SEO efforts. Stack AI visibility on top of them. The businesses that do both will dominate both channels.

Your Simple Action Plan

You don't have to overhaul everything overnight. Start here:

Audit your website's About and Services pages — do they clearly and simply explain what you do?
Add an FAQ section that answers the 5–10 most common questions your customers ask before buying.
Ask happy customers to leave reviews on Google, Yelp, and any relevant industry site.
Write one blog post per month that answers a real question your ideal customer is asking.
Check that you're listed consistently in all major online directories.

The Bottom Line

AI hasn't killed Google, and it hasn't killed your website's potential. What it has done is raise the bar. Generic content, unclear messaging, and a half-updated website won't cut it anymore. But businesses that communicate clearly, answer questions thoroughly, and build genuine credibility? They'll get found — by Google and by AI.

The shift is happening right now. The small business owners who adapt early will have a real competitive edge. So take a look at your website this week with fresh eyes — and ask yourself: if an AI were reading this, would it recommend me?

Ready to make your website AI-ready?

Start by examining your About page and FAQ content — these are the two highest-impact pages for AI visibility. Not sure where to begin? Reach out to us .

Why We Start Every Website Project With a Live Strategy Call

Sat, 19 Mar 2016 10:28:55 GMT

Why We Start Every Website Project With a Live Strategy Call

When we talk with a new client about a website, sometimes we can describe an idea out loud and they instantly get it.

You can see the moment it clicks.

They react. They ask smart questions. They start refining the idea before we have even shown them a single visual.

And other times... not so much.

We can explain the exact same concept, use the exact same words, and gesture like website psychics, and it is obvious the picture in our head is not landing in theirs. They may nod along politely, but we are not actually picturing the same thing.

That is one of the biggest reasons we always begin a new website project with a live call.

Because before we talk about layout, design direction, messaging, navigation, or functionality, we want to make sure we are starting from a shared understanding.

Since we work with clients across the United States and beyond, that usually means a video call.

Try This Little Apple Test

Here is a quick experiment.

Close your eyes and picture a red apple.

For some people, that apple is crystal clear. They can see the color, the shine, the stem. Maybe it is even slowly rotating like it is starring in a dramatic fruit commercial.

For others, it is more like a vague, fuzzy object that sort of represents an apple — like a police sketch of an apple based on a very unreliable witness.

And for some people, there is no mental image at all. They understand the idea of an apple. They know what one looks like. They could describe it perfectly well. But they do not actually see anything in their mind. Scientists call that aphantasia.

Many people do not realize they have aphantasia until they try something like this, because they assume the phrase “mind’s eye” is just an expression.

And to be clear, this is not a problem. It is simply one of the many different ways people think. In fact, many artists and highly creative people have aphantasia.

So when one person says, “I can picture it,” that may mean something very different from what another person experiences.

Why This Matters in Website Design

This matters more than you might think when you are starting a new website design project.

If we are describing a homepage layout, a logo direction, a navigation structure, the tone of the messaging, or the overall feel of a website, we may think we are being perfectly clear.

And maybe we are.

But the client may still be imagining something very different — or not forming a visual picture at all.

That is why we do not like to rely only on email threads or abstract written descriptions at the beginning of a project.

We want a real conversation.

We want to see your reactions.

We want to be able to say, “Here is what I mean,” and then immediately clarify, sketch, screen-share, or show examples if needed.

And just as importantly, we want to catch that moment when you clearly do get it... or clearly do not.

That is much easier to notice during a live call than later in a long email chain.

Why a Live Call Leads to a Better Website Project

Starting with a live strategy call helps us in several practical ways.

It gives us immediate feedback. We can tell when an idea is landing and when it is not.

It lets us adjust in real time. If words are not enough, we can switch to visuals, examples, mockups, or screen sharing right away.

It helps prevent misunderstandings early. It is much better to find out in the first conversation that we are picturing two different things than to discover it after hours of design work.

And it helps build trust. Website projects go better when both sides feel heard, understood, and aligned from the start.

Why We Always Want That First Conversation Live

We are happy to email. We are happy to write things out. We are happy to make communication easy.

But for a new website project, we always want that first real conversation live.

Because our job is not just to explain what we mean.

Our job is to make sure we are actually sharing the same understanding.

When you are trying to describe a website, “I understand” can mean a lot of different things.

And we would much rather figure that out together at the beginning than discover later that one of us was picturing apples and the other one was somehow on oranges.

Let’s Talk About Your Website Project

Thinking about a new website or redesign?

Let’s set up a video call and talk through your project together, so we can make sure we are seeing the same thing from the very beginning.

Your Website Is Playing Hard to Get

Sat, 19 Mar 2016 10:15:10 GMT

Your Website Has a Problem - And Visitors Won't Tell You

Let's be honest for a second.

The last time you visited a business website looking for something specific - pricing, process, whether the service was even worth your time - you didn't read every word. You skimmed, clicked around once or twice, gave it maybe ninety seconds, and when the answer wasn't obvious?

You left. No feedback. No explanation. No "it's not you, it's me." Just a closed tab and a quick trip to a competitor's site.

Your visitors do exactly the same thing. They just don't warn you first.

Your Visitors Don't Keep Business Hours

Your prospective clients aren't researching on your schedule. The internet runs heavily on after-dinner curiosity and mild panic.

But you can't be available 24/7. You're a business owner, not a vending machine. You've got clients to serve, fires to put out, and an increasingly urgent relationship with your pillow.

They're comparing services on Sunday afternoons. They're exploring options after the kids are finally, mercifully, in bed. And they're asking questions your website may not be answering fast enough.

Picture a parent researching college advising services at 9:30 p.m., landing on your site and wondering: Do they work with sophomores? How does this process work? Is this even what we need, or did I just spend forty minutes on the wrong website?

If the answers aren't obvious, they don't file a complaint. They open another tab. Silently. Ruthlessly.

Enter the Chatbot (The Good Kind)

AI chatbots used to be conference-talk. Now they're just... business:

91% of larger companies already use them

64% of small businesses plan to adopt by 2026

49% of all website interactions are now handled by chatbots

The "early adopters" aren't early anymore. They're just ahead - probably sleeping soundly while their chatbot handles the 9:30 p.m. crowd.

Now, we know what you're thinking - I've used one of those bots. I asked a perfectly reasonable question and got "I'm sorry, I didn't understand that." Which is, frankly, a bold strategy for something whose entire job is answering questions.

A well-built chatbot is a different animal entirely.

When we set one up for you, it's trained on your actual content - your services, your FAQs, the questions real visitors actually ask. It answers common questions instantly, points visitors toward the right next step, and flags you when a human touch is needed.

Not magic. Just a well-trained night-shift employee who never calls in sick, never checks their phone, and never eats your lunch from the break room fridge.

The Bottom Line

Most websites already have the answers visitors need. The problem is visitors don't always find them fast enough - and they won't stick around to dig.

A custom-trained chatbot closes that gap, even when you're nowhere near your desk. (Even when you're on that well-deserved vacation. We won't tell anyone.)

Want to see how it would work on your site? Contact us to get started.

Scams that look like invoices

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 06:00:00 GMT

Since domain name registration information is easily found, it's a rich source of targets for a scam that we see almost daily.

The scam is an invoice for renewing your domain name ... or that's what it looks like without close study. The fine print generally says it is a solicitation, for something you really don't want.

Sorry to report, some clients have lost money when they didn't look closely.

These arrive both by USPS and by email.

These seem to usually show up around 3-4 months before your domain is due for renewal - timed to get your money before you have already taken care of the real invoice.

These deceptive practices are illegal, and governments worldwide have played "Whac-a-Mole" trying to shut down such companies nearly since day 1 of the Internet, but they keep reappearing.

Wikipedia lists some of these efforts - the companies involved show up over and over again.

Your real domain renewal notice will come from your website provider or from the domain registrar where you purchased the domain name, and it will usually arrive around 3-4 weeks before the domain expires.

If in doubt, check with your website firm.

Must be free - I found it on the Internet

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Well... no. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. In fact, it's the opposite. If someone publishes material on their website, it is automatically protected by copyright law.

Just as the English teacher could always tell somehow when a report was taken mostly from some reference source, it isn't necessary for someone to stumble across a site using "borrowed" text or images.

There are free tools for anyone to try and find if someone has copied their material. CopyScape takes Google searches a step further to find sites using your text. Tineye does the same for images.

In addition to these and many other similar free services, most such sites offer a paid service which will keep constant watch for anyone using their clients' content without permission.

The Bounty Hunter is Hungry!

In addition, there are companies that make their money by finding those using text or images without permission, then going after the violator for payment. These "bounty hunters" keep a percentage of whatever they can get.

Is Your Image File Ready to Use? Check Before You Hand It Off

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:12:08 GMT

You find the perfect photo for your website or flyer. You send it to your web designer or print shop. They come back and tell you the file is too small. Now you are scrambling to find a better version, or worse, the project goes to print blurry.

This happens constantly. The good news is you can catch it in about ten seconds before it becomes anyone's problem.

Why Image Size Matters

Every image has a pixel dimension, basically its width and height measured in tiny colored squares. A small number of pixels looks fine on your phone screen but falls apart when stretched across a website banner or printed on a flyer.

Your web person and your printer each need a minimum number of pixels to do their job well. If your file does not meet that minimum, the output will look soft or pixelated, and no amount of editing fixes it after the fact.

Check Your Image Before You Send It

Our Image Resolution Checker (below) lets you upload your image and instantly see whether it meets the minimum size requirements for common web and print uses.

It checks things like:

Website hero banners and background images
Blog post and social media thumbnails
Team headshots and portfolio photos
Business cards, postcards, brochures, and flyers

You get a clear pass or fail for each use so you know exactly what your file is good for before you hand it off.

The tool does not store your files. Upload, check, done.

What to Do If Your Image Is Too Small

Go back to the original source. If the photo came from a camera, find the full-size original file. If it came from a stock site, check whether a larger download size is available. If it came from the web, that version is almost certainly too small for print.

If you cannot find a larger version, let your designer or printer know early. They would rather hear it upfront than discover it mid-project.

Run Your Check Now

Before your next project, upload your image below, and confirm it is ready to go. It takes ten seconds and saves everyone time.

Congrats to Patrick

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The unofficial results are in, with our client Patrick Fallon winning 57% of the vote for Frisco City Council.

As with most local elections, especially in "off years", the election depends on a very few voters, and yet the opportunity for a candidate to spread a message is limited, since broadcast and print media typically give little attention to elections outside the "big city".

So "getting the word out" was especially important, and a website, together with email marketing, supplemented Patrick's many other efforts to do so.

As with all the sites we set up for clients, this one allowed Patrick and his team to go in and make updates, add campaign news, and monitor effectiveness on a daily basis.

(May 9 2009)

Business Awards Finalists listed

bill@friscowebsites.com (Bill Sholar) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

We were honored to receive the following notice today, and thank our great clients who made us successful in 2008!