The 7th annual CMS Expo began this morning at the Hotel Orrington in Evanston, although the fun began last night at our Chicago DotNetNuke User Group meeting, also held here. I'll tell you what happened last night, and what's in store for the Expo.

If you are one of the 15 million people enthralled by “Game of Thrones” you’ll be pleased to know that your obsession is also imparting valuable marketing tips that you can adapt for your business. Read on for counsel from the best schemers of Westeros on how to be kings and queens of Website Marketing.

There comes a time in every person’s life when they’ve got to ask themselves –is it time to redesign my website?  That may not actually be true.  The truth is, however, that if you DO have a website and if you ARE invested in it –it is worth a second look every now and then to see if there is actually need to shake things up a bit.  This could be anything from swapping out colors, to changing your whole theme.  Maybe your little spokesperson is a brunette, but you heard blondes have more fun.  Whatever your reasoning, if you are asking yourself if it’s time to redesign, here are a few pieces to look at that may need a little tweaking, moving, and shaking.

Photo: 2003 Chamber Expo "Best Booth" Award. Thank you for your support as we celebrate the start of our second decade of Newsday Tuesday emails! From the beginning, our mission has been to outfit clients with the tools and skills needed to market the html out of their websites.

We’ve already discussed Facebook’s Graph Search’s plot to take over the world: here.  Now, lets dive a little deeper into how your business should be rearranging itself a bit to get the most out of those search results.  If you want to be noticed, you have to stand out a bit.

I read blog articles, news stories, and other random web nonsense every day of the week.  Some are memorable; some not so memorable.  Do you know what I don’t read?  That news story you never shared.  That blog post that you never put on your Twitter or Facebook?  I’ve never read it.  Between checking my email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, and EZines on ten minute rotations –I don’t have time to go searching the darkest corners of the internet for your recipe on the world’s largest soufflé.

Spring means folks are coming out of hibernation and they’re ready to party! If your not-for-profit or business has an event planned, here’s your checklist for successful digital marketing.

More networking?! Yes my friends… more networking.  Unfortunately for you anti-socials out there, contacts don’t generally fall out of the sky.  And we’ve talked about putting yourself out there and NetWORKing… but where are you going?  Where are these connections being made these days?  The answers might surprise you.