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CitrusKiwi's Web Design, Internet & Marketing blog

Get hints and tips about web design, SEO, and things internet. We also discuss online security issues, showcase new client websites and offer hints on marketing and networking.

Braveheart on life

In the classic, but alas, factually incorrect film "Braveheart", on the eve of his execution William Wallace utters a very stirring line, "Every man dies. Not every man really lives." And Mark Twain s...

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8 simple website tips for 2019

Happy New Year (almost)! I know it's a cliche sort of thing, New Years resolutions. I also know that most of us end up breaking all our well-meaning promises to ourselves. This year, along with t...

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I'm probably going with another company...

Ever had this situation... You meet a prospect, who we'll call (very novel!!), John, and it seems your pitch went well. Then you ring back a few days later and they say, "Yeah, I'm probably going to s...

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A referral is a referral right?

When is a referral not a referral? When it's a lead, a lead being slightly more than a cold call. At worst, a referral should be a warm call, and, if we, the referral giver, do our job right, it shoul...

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Reasons why your competition may be outranking you

Ever searched for "<business type> near me" or "...closest"? Google Trends  shows that those searches have double in the last 2 years. These searches aren't pitting your business against th...

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Crypto-blackmail - yet another email scam

 We're all told to be vigilant about internet scams, and to safeguard our online profiles. But, in trying to do this, have we unwittingly exposed ourselves more than we already were? A few years ...

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Credit card processing woes

When we began CitrusKiwi 9 years ago, no merchant processor would touch us. No surprise really. Brand new company, owner brand new to the USA, no credit history. We had a lot going against us. So we w...

Are phone videos OK to use on websites?

One thing is for sure, video is IT! As the Boomers and the Gen Xers become much less of a driving force in the buying market, those in the know see a new trend in how the up-and-coming purchasers - th...

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EU, GDPR and you

Today, May 25 2018, marks the introduction of a new law in the EU regarding privacy of data. For most of my clients (primarily based in the USA and some in New Zealand and Canada), the EU seems an awf...

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How do you handle a situation where someone has made up a story and falsely accused you of things that NEVER happened on social media?

First rule of ANY review - good or bad - is to reply PROFESSIONALLY, HONESTLY and COURTEOUSLY. There are 4 reasons for this. First, you encourage those who have left positive reviews by thanking them ...

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Yelp, Manta and Google are always asking me to use their services. How can I use these services for a better online presence?

There is no one right answer. How you can get clients is geographic, demographic and industry related. A properly constructed and optimized website is the foundation for any marketing strategy. Yes, I...

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3 free & easy Windows productivity tweaks for 2018

Over the New Year I added a new SSD drive to my computer. Nope, THAT wasn't free, but it was pretty easy, AND it is FAST! In case anyone's interested, I bought a 1Tb Samsung 850 PRO III SSD. Note, get...

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Desktops/laptops/brick and mortar still popular shopping

If you're like me, you'll have heard that around 90% of all buying decisions start with an online search. And about 60% of those searches are done on mobile devices. A recent survey of 1000 people has...

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Backups

A couple of times in my computing life, I've had that sinking, cold pit in my stomach where I realized that I've lost data and have no backup. It's not a fun moment, but, fortunately for me, the data ...

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What to look for in your SEO company

SEO is one of those industries which has, somewhat fairly, developed a bad reputation as a bunch of "snake-oil" salemen (and women!). How so? If you have a business email you'd have, at least in your life, gotten an email (usually from some foreign company) promising #1 on page 1 of Google - guaranteed! The problem is, no one can guarantee such results (at least shortterm) as no one but Google knows their algorithm that does the ranking. SEO usually takes time and the client needs to view this as an investment and know that they are trying to help their business for the longterm. The bad news/The lies "Guaranteed" results are only achievable one way - scamming the system. The problem with this is that Google is smart. They'll catch you. Guess what happens to your ranking then? That's if they don't totally ban your site from their index. Get to...

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