Ridge Marketing Blog:

2018 was an amazing year at Ridge Marketing and for our clients. Here are some of the fun projects we were a part of this year:

User Experience (often called UX design) is not a new concept—the first mention of it in its modern usage is from 1987—but in recent years it seems to be quite the buzzword in web design. Whereas content creation, graphic design and web development are all familiar to the average business owner, UX design and research can be a bit harder to get a high-level view of. However, gaining a basic understanding of the concept reveals the true importance of optimizing UX on every website, no matter how simple or complex.

This year in New York City, Smashing Conference focused on UX (user experience) design and front-end development. While many people think website design and development are very different areas, I came away with a new understanding of the similarities between the two disciplines. At a full-service marketing agency, new ideas like this are what keep us fresh and producing cutting-edge work. That said, good ideas deserve to be shared!

A content management system (CMS) is a pivotal piece in the creation and management of any B2B or B2C website. Your website is the hub of your online marketing presence. Being able to convert visitors to leads and customers comes down to how easy it is to extend and manage your marketing strategies.

I was lucky enough to be one of the tens of thousands of sales and marketing professionals to attend INBOUND 2018 in Boston. This was my first time at this event and let me just say - it’s enormous! With over 300 breakout sessions, inspiring keynote and spotlight speakers, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Beth Comstock and Deepak Chopra, there was plenty to do, see and learn. My takeaways were seemingly endless; here are just some of the top lessons learned at INBOUND 2018.

Sometimes big data tells big lies.

Google Analytics can provide incredible comprehension as to who is visiting your site, what they're doing, what they're looking at and where they're getting bored and moving on. It can tell you how long someone's been on a page or how they got to your page in the first place. The benefits to marketers are invaluable. We can see which content is the most popular, which blogs are being read, which topics get the most attention, which social media platform is the most fruitful and so many other insights that drive future digital marketing and sales efforts.