Seeking metaphor

This is how we learn. An apple is a lot like an orange, but you can eat the skin and it’s not as sweet. If you know what an orange is, you’re most of the way to understanding an apple. But the indoctrination of school pushes us to be literal. When people talk about apples…

What is Index Bloat? — Whiteboard Friday

Deep dive into index bloat – a critical SEO challenge affecting medium to large websites. Learn how to identify URLs consuming your index quota without delivering traffic, understand the difference between crawl budget and index bloat, and discover practical solutions for cleanup. This Whiteboard Friday video helps you assess your site’s index health and implement…

2025 CPL and CAC Benchmarks [HubSpot Research]

As a marketing consultant, I work on client accounts and ensure their marketing is working (i.e., making money for the business). To gauge marketing success, I particularly like two benchmarks: the cost per lead benchmark (CPL) and the customer acquisition costs benchmark (CAC). These benchmarks are helpful for everyone in business to know, but especially…

Succession Planning — the Best Way to Ensure Your Company’s Future

If you’ve seen the award-winning HBO show “Succession,” you know how dramatic and challenging it can be to adequately succession plan for the next generation of business leaders. I’ve personally worked at companies that took succession planning seriously, and those that didn’t, and the difference was stark. According to this 2023 report, “three years is…

The Ikea metaphors

When you assemble something for the second time, it will be easier than the first time. The quality of the instructions and design determine how big a difference experience makes. If you’re only going to do it once, perhaps it pays to hire someone who has experience. All instructions could be better, and all design…

What Are the 4 Ps of Marketing? The Marketing Mix Explained [Example]

If, like me, you’ve worked in marketing for a long time, then the four Ps of marketing might seem like a throwback. They are a bit, but I’ve worked in marketing for over a decade now, and some things never change. The four Ps of marketing are still foundational today. Those who studied marketing in…