Articles by Ralf Skirr
Re-Inventing Yourself, Re-Inventing Your BusinessA new web site is a chance to re-think what your business stands for. One question helps you decide who you want to be and who you want to work with.
- Return To Accountable Marketing
Business owners like SEO and social media because they are rarely measured against leads or sales. A prediction of a return to accountable marketing.
- Sci Fi Deluge
Sorry, dear reader, this page is also for testing my new blog post layout. There’s really nothing to read yet.
- Sci Fi Deluge
Sorry, dear reader, this page is also for testing my new blog post layout. There’s really nothing to read yet.
- SEO Is Dead. Really, Now.
Why SEO is no longer a viable marketing option for the average small business, as Google favors authority sites and keeps visitors on its own result pages.
- Should You Put Prices On Your Web Site?
Publishing your prices on your web site pre-qualifies prospects and builds trust. Why a web agency has shown its prices since 2003 and what you gain.
- Social Media And SEO Won’t Save Your Struggling Business
If your business is struggling, time on social media and SEO distracts you. Focus on business fundamentals instead: your offers, funnels and conversions.
- Social Media Marketing Is Dead, Too.
Why social media marketing fails small businesses. Touchy-feely advice keeps owners busy without adding sales, so it is time for accountable marketing.
- The #1 Reason Why Your Marketing Fails
Three strategies compared for a web agency: offer everything to everyone, solve one specific problem or serve one industry, and why specializing pays.
- The #SMSS Monster List Of Social Media Tools & Services
Over 40 social media tools and services recommended by experts at the Social Media Success Summit, from Buffer and Canva to Zapier, with notes on prices.
- The 7 Biggest Trends In Google Web Search
Seven trends in Google web search that threaten businesses relying on Google traffic, from direct answers and authority sites to voice search and apps.
- The Easy Way To Success
Big resolutions rarely work. Slow and steady does, as the relaunch of this site shows, with one blog post a day and small steps each month.
- The Essential But Rarely Talked About Secret To Success
Workers maintaining Bangkok's power lines show what building a business takes: doing the mundane, boring tasks day in, day out to make a dream succeed.
- The Facebook Fan Page Marketing Funnel
An infographic on how free Facebook marketing works for most small businesses, and why a successful business needs a mix of free and paid marketing.
- The Future Of Business And Marketing
A review of Age of Context by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, on how mobile, social media, location, sensors and data will change business and marketing.
- The Google Prophecy
Working harder at SEO will not keep you at the top of Google. A prediction that search results pages will change, and why you need traffic beyond search.
- The Marketing Matrix - Your 90 Second Marketing Plan
The Marketing Matrix is a simple hand drawn system to prioritize your daily marketing, with your business web site in the center and minor tasks around it.
- The Only Two Social Media Goals You Should Ever Work On
Small businesses can't do everything on social media. Focus on the two goals that matter most: stay connected to existing customers and generate leads.
- The Psychology Of Tribes
What makes your readers feel connected to you, your content, and your community? What are the emotional triggers at work in enthusiastic tribes?
- The Science Of Marketing by Dan Zarrella
Book Review: The Science of Marketing by Dan Zarrella is chock-full of actionable marketing tips and social-media-for-business advice.
- The Secret About Social Media Engagement
Posting great content alone won't get you social media engagement. What works is networking: engage with other people's content and they return the favor.
- The Two Building Blocks Of Your Business
Every business rests on two building blocks, your offers and your customers. Six ideas to improve both, from follow-up products to more profitable clients.
- The Two Most Disruptive Changes In Internet Marketing
Professionalization and fragmentation have changed internet marketing for small businesses. How a tighter focus and better funnels help you adapt.
- This Will Make You Rich - Even If You're Clueless!
Business opportunities for the clueless promise riches, yet work you feel incompetent at is stressful. Why flow and fulfillment need skills and confidence.
- What To Do When Your Project Gets Stuck
When a project goes nowhere for days and weeks and the details won't work out, the solution can be simple: let go of the intention to create perfection.
- What's The Difference Between Coaching And Consulting?
Coaching works on goals, habits and personal issues, consulting on business strategy and marketing. Know the difference before you hire someone.
- Why Lifestyle Entrepreneurs Fail
Fear of success holds lifestyle entrepreneurs back, since success seems to cost the freedom they want. Two steps solve the freedom-commitment paradox.
- Why Your Vision Fails
Big visions often fail to move you because of the gap between the vision and what you believe you can do. Three adjustments help you close that gap.
- You're Fired! Breaking Free From Terrible Clients
Sometimes you should fire a client. Why the client is not always right, and why both sides are better off when a business relationship doesn't work.