Tales From The Trenches

A New Year, New Opportunities And A Couple Of Resolutions Every Business Can Get Behind

toasting with cocktails

Welcome to 2012 and Web.Search.Social, the online marketing magazine for YOU… smart businesses everywhere. Web.Search.Social is a resource for businesses everywhere who want a real, honest, no-nonsense look into the world of online marketing and who are tired of being bamboozled by the “get it cheap/get it fast/get it easy” crowd that pitches snake oil marketing tricks.

My time is your money, or, why you have to pay me for stuff

piggy bank looking at clock

Most people (budget allowing) will pay whatever is on that price tag for a cup of coffee, a doormat, a dinner plate, a phone or a bottle of perfume. But the same people who will cough up four bucks for a cup of coffee or a hundred for a sweater will balk at the idea of paying me to write, manage, consult or otherwise engage in a brain-powered activity.

All I really need to know about marketing I learned from planning my wedding

wedding album

This week Ralph and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. We enjoy engaging in a little bit of “where are we now”, a “lessons learned” sort of thing, a “can you believe we DID that?” walk down memory lane. Why am I telling you this? Because lessons are lessons and whether you learn them through wedding planning or some other way, chances are you can apply them to other areas of your life.

A birthday, a reboot, goodbye old year and hello new

process model

We’re celebrating our 12th year as Rahvalor and looking forward to a new start. Since we took a hiatus from our blog to rethink our business goals, we thought this would be the perfect time to reflect on where we’ve been, how we got here and of course, where we’re going on our journey to help small businesses find their market niche and succeed.

Tales from the trenches: Why “get it in writing” is not just a suggestion

dog with pen

This is dedicated to everyone who does things “on good faith” only to end up in a bad place. The proposal – the contract – the specification – whatever you call it and however it fits into your process, we’ll bet there hasn’t been a successful project without one.

Tales from the trenches: How to drive a web developer mad by asking why the competition is cheaper

castle in clouds

This is dedicated to every web designer, programmer and SEO marketer who has ever given a client “the cost” and been told it’s way too expensive. And to those clients, who only find out what “expensive” means after they throw money away on a bad idea.