The Spacious Blog
Nonprofits are generally a mess when it comes to password management. In my work as a web designer, it’s a regular occurrence to work with a nonprofit that can’t find critical passwords when we need them. The website hosting account just expired, but nobody’s logged in there since Becky, who was two-communication-managers ago. The organization’s […]
How to stand out in your industry
Excellent customer service, trustworthiness, and quality products/services are NOT differentiators. They’re expected. They’re the bare minimum. If you’re an architect, your drawings should be detailed. An accountant? Let me guess: you’re good with numbers. If you’re a restaurant, we can assume the food tastes good. A digital marketer? I assume you’ll get me “results,” as […]
The art of gathering useful feedback
Getting effective feedback is the key to a successful project. Whether it’s a client, boss, employees, etc. a good feedback process makes a project stronger. When done poorly, however, it can unravel into a never-ending nightmare. A solid feedback process is more than just sending a draft and saying “Let me know if you have […]
What’s Your Story?
You’ll consume hundreds of pieces of micro-content today, and you’ll forget about 98% of it by tomorrow. What’ll stick? The compelling stories, the conversations, interactions, text, photos, and videos that fit into a storyline that resonates with your life in some way. As an organization or business, your marketing is going to waste if you […]
27 Things I Learned From 5 Years in Business
This April marked five years since I left my last “real job” at a nonprofit and dove full-time into starting a business. I had just spent about a year self-learning code and basic design in my free time. I felt far from ready but realized I’d never get things off the ground while working full-time […]
I got my 35th website care plan client signed on this month! These care plans started off as a tiny source of revenue for clients who needed ongoing help after launching their sites. Over the years they’ve become a foundational aspect of my business. I believe in the value of maintenance, not just build cool […]
What’s in it for me?
Every single time you come across a piece of content on the internet, a subtle voice in your head will be asking, what’s in it for me? We’re always asking that questions because that’s just the way we are. There is more content posted today than you could read in a lifetime. So we need […]
Six Productivity Principals for Better Work
One of my personal favorite ways to waste time is messing around with shiny new tools that promise to save time. My work schedule has been condensed significantly since my kids’ schools closed down, which has made it more important than ever to wisely use the hours I have available for work. A few weekends […]
Get More Done By Switching Less
Everyday you lose a tremendous amount of productive minutes by switching from one task to the next. Why? Every time you start a new task, you lose precious momentum, energy, and time. This is because you have break the inertia of one task in order to transition into a new one and get those creative […]
The Challenge Every Nonprofit Faces
My work tends to be split evenly between nonprofits and small businesses. Both of these are fundamentally the same in a lot of ways when it comes to things like marketing, websites, and an online presence. Essentially, both are trying to connect with their audience, build trust, and have people want to continue to work […]
4 Questions Every Nonprofit Needs to Answer on Their Website
Most nonprofit websites have way too much content while simultaneously leaving their audience’s key questions unanswered. In order to focus on what matters, aim to answer these four key questions on your website. You can also use these questions in reverse to evaluate whether existing content is necessary. If it’s not directly helping to answer […]
The Most Important Skill in Business is Understanding Humans
I’m a sensitive introvert by nature, which means I’ve spent my life being (overly) attentive to what other people are thinking and feeling. This orientation towards the world has hindered my career in many moments, but I’ve realized recently that it’s been one of the traits that made my business work, even before I really […]