October 13, 2014
How to Choose the Perfect Vendor for Your Business
It doesn’t matter what business you’re in, you’ll need vendors of some kind. In today’s economy, that’s often a development shop to build your website or app. With lots of development shops out there, how in the world do you know which one...
September 26, 2014
DevDigital Partners Clean Up NEXT Award Nominations
Nashville is booming. Everywhere you look there’s construction and help wanted signs. Traffic’s a nightmare, but it’s a fun time to live in a growing city. One of the signs of growth in our city is the explosion of entrepreneurship in every...
September 22, 2014
How to Use LinkedIn to Gain Traction In Your Business
We’ve talked about how valuable LinkedIn can be to your business, but we haven’t talked about how to do it well. Like every other human interaction, there’s a right and a wrong way to use any social media. LinkedIn is no different. Connect...
September 19, 2014
The Social Network You're Ignoring - But Shouldn't Be
We’ve talked before about the importance of Twitter marketing for B2B companies. Thanks to its rapid growth and high profile users, Twitter gets a lot of love from consumers. But, there’s another social media network that many professionals...
September 15, 2014
HTML5 or Native Apps--The Pros and Cons
There’s no end to development options in today’s tech landscape. Websites, web apps, mobile-first, mobile-only, responsive, native.... There are so many options, it can be overwhelming and impossible to know what’s best for your business....
September 10, 2014
Business 101: Don't Tackle An Elephant Head On
I've heard two different philosophies about building a successful company. One school of thought glorifies the idea of "disruption." These are the Ubers of the world who set out to redefine or create entire industries. Then there are the founders...
September 8, 2014
How to Get Free Tech Consulting--And a Potential Partner
Are you an industry expert with a great idea for solving a common problem? Then you probably know how expensive it can be to develop technology within your non-tech company. And, you’ve probably been burned by vendors who didn’t understand your...
September 4, 2014
SEO 101: 3 Must Haves to Be Recognized By Google
We all know that search engines--specifically Google--run the online world. If your content is not “searchable,” you will never be found by the Internet-browsing public. What you may not realize is that the Google bots don’t see your website...
September 2, 2014
Forget Starting Up. Build a Business
‘Tis the season for accelerator graduation. As programs come to an end, Demo Days are popping up everywhere, proudly displaying the companies they’ve built in the last 3 months. With the influx of new startups entering the ecosystem, you have...
August 27, 2014
Twitter Strategies for the B2B Company
We’ve talked before about how Twitter isn’t just for consumer-facing companies anymore. Twitter can also be a powerful tool for B2B companies, both for extending the brand and for generating high quality leads. But, how do you “do” Twitter...
August 25, 2014
Why Twitter Works for B2B Companies, Too
At one point it seemed like Twitter was the domain of celebrities and techies, a place to follow news and keep up with friends. Even after it became obvious that Twitter could be a powerful marketing tool, it was mostly used by consumer brands to...
August 21, 2014
The Case for Mobile First
For years enterprise companies have developed software for desktop use first. If they had any mobile app, it was an afterthought or nice addition. Few--if any--companies developed enterprise mobile apps first. That trend is rapidly changing. The...
August 20, 2014
SEO 101: Keyword Research
Search engine optimization--SEO--is a super scary term that really just means you’re building your website so that search engines can find you. Do it well, and customers will come to your site without any other marketing efforts on your part. Do...
August 18, 2014
4 Essentials to Increase Conversions
“I need to increase traffic to the website!” If sales aren’t coming in quickly, this might be the first thing you think. After all, more traffic equals more sales, right? Not necessarily. Not all traffic is created equal. If you spend a lot of...
August 14, 2014
Why a Development Shop is Your Best Bet
Perhaps the most exciting phase of a business is right at the beginning. You’ve uncovered your great idea, you’ve done the initial research, and you’ve started talking to potential customers. You know what you want to build. Now what? For many...
August 8, 2014
4 Keys to a Great Social Media Strategy
If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you followed a pretty typical digital media path when you started out in business. 1. Get the domain 2. Create a Facebook page 3. And Twitter account 4. And LinkedIn account 5. And...
August 4, 2014
Why Good SEO Can't Be Your Only Strategy
We all know it’s mandatory for your website to be able to be found by search engines. These days, if Google doesn’t know you exist, you might as well not. But, while SEO is important, it can’t be the only digital strategy companies use. The...
August 1, 2014
Where to Find Great Business Ideas--Even When You Think You Can't
Have you ever thought you’d like to be an entrepreneur, but you just can’t come up with the right idea? Maybe you’ve got an idea but aren’t sure if it’s viable. Or maybe you feel completely stuck, unable to come up with any idea at...
July 30, 2014
3 Tips For Finding Great Blog Content
We talked last week about the importance of content marketing, no matter what industry you’re in. Content marketing can attract an audience, and once you have an audience, promoting your business is that much easier. “But,” you...
July 28, 2014
How Responsive Design Will Help Your Business
If you know anything about websites, you've heard the term 'responsive web design.' It's the number one trend in site design in the last 2 years, and you'll be hard pressed to find a designer not using it. If you're not familiar with responsive web...
July 24, 2014
How to Know if Content Marketing is Right for You
By now, you’ve probably heard the buzz about content marketing. Everyone’s talking about it, and everyone’s experimenting with its potential. But, what exactly is content marketing, and is it really right for your...
July 22, 2014
The 1 Thing You Should Be Doing--No Matter What
Recently a friend told me about a group of men he had been hanging out with. “I’m the youngest by at least 20 years,” he said. “And they’re all successful, run multiple businesses each. The talk is crazy: politics, religion, business. And...
July 21, 2014
Why You Should Blog--No Matter Your Industry
If you’re in business in 2014, you should have a blog. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Yes, it takes time to write good blog posts, and it can sometimes be hard to clearly see the ROI. But, like networking, blogging is something that seems...
July 16, 2014
Embrace the Fear
“You’re willing to give up good on the off-chance of finding great.” Someone said this to me recently, and the most confusing thing about the statement was that it was said in an accusing way. Isn’t that true of everyone? Turns out that...
July 14, 2014
Failure Is Inevitable--And It's Not Glamorous
"The hard thing isn’t dreaming big. The hard thing is waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat when the dream turns into a nightmare." --Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things In the Silicon Valley-inspired startup culture, we...
July 11, 2014
Why We Think People Matter Most--Even in Tech Development
Let’s be honest. These days we’re kind of in love with our technology. Phones, tablets, and wearables are all a part of our daily existence, both in our personal and work lives. We use them for everything from getting directions to sending...
July 8, 2014
Know Thyself and Win Every Time
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will...
July 7, 2014
Why Globalization is the Future of Technology Development
When most people think of outsourcing, they think of Asian factories crammed full of underpaid workers doing dangerous work Americans abandoned a century ago. With that picture in mind, it makes sense that we have a negative view of outsourcing...
June 24, 2014
How to Ruin Your Entrepreneurial Journey Before You Even Start
I have a dirty little secret. I’m a perfectionist. I like things done just right, and I want to know from the outset that they’re going to turn out, well, perfectly. Even if they won’t admit it, most entrepreneurs are the same way. We want to...
June 23, 2014
How Intrapreneurship Could Work For You
Thanks to the enormous successes of Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other tech startups, entrepreneurship is experiencing another hey day. Some estimates put the number of new tech startups each at 100 million. And, let’s face it, with $17 billion...