Your website's UI (or User Interface, a mix of visual and interaction design) functionality is imperative to a healthy functioning website. It doesn't matter how pretty your graphics are, how great your brand photos turned out, or how on-point your copy is if your functionality is lackluster. It's been a few years since the ideas of UI and its friendly cohort, UX (User Experience, the way the user interacts with the interface), have been regular parts of web design, given their success in product design the last decade. A user-centric model has become the mainstay of design and development. While engineers and graphic designers debate what's more important, function or beauty, less than pretty function regularly beats out beautiful confusion.

Today we continue our saga into good website practices with PRIME's Director of Digital Development and website guru Ben Fjare. And while this topic is a multifaceted one in which each facet is a critical part of a well-oiled machine, today's topic stands out especially. Perhaps that's because today's topic is one that anyone who has ever tried to whip up a website—from Wix to Wordpress—knows deep down: your site is never really finished.

In this episode of PRIME's Wheelhouse, we will look at reasons why this is true, and more importantly, what you need to do to make sure your website is always the best (for the moment). To make life easier, Ben broke things down into five bitesize chunks for a more straightforward understanding. Let's dig in.

For small to medium-sized businesses, having the right tools can mean everything when it comes to their success. When you're running an SMB (small to medium-sized business), there are always more tasks than can be done, more hours required in a day than are realistically available. With business owners facing such an enormous amount of responsibility, the tools they employ become indispensable. Business is a battle, and going in with the wrong tool can be like jumping out of the trenches with no more than a water gun in your hand.

While it’s still unsure how Instagram’s latest like policy will change the face of influencer marketing, we think it’s safe the say that the marketing niche certainly won’t be going anywhere. So much so, that by 2020, influencer marketing is projected to be a $10 billion industry. That’s billion. With a “B.” With so much focus (and budget) on influencer marketing, you’d assume that most marketers can track what the ROI of their influencers are. But you know what they say about assumptions.

When it comes to marketing, we all know that infographics are essential. It's like knowing that you need a chain on a bike to make it go. Visuals should be a significant part of your marketing arsenal, sitting holstered, and waiting to be deployed at any time.

There are loads of responsibilities that come with being a good Chief Marketing Officer. One that may not be listed on a job write up but is vitally important is the need to constantly have your eye on market trends and what they mean for your department. That’s why we’ve put together the top five trends we think any CMO worth their salt is watching this year. Let’s go!

If you’ve got a website up and running, congratulations, you’ve entered into the 21^st century. If you’re collecting data on that website, double kudos. You’re doing more than the average small business, as only 45% of them actually track their data. If you’re actually assessing that data to improve your overall marketing, well then hot dang, we think you deserve all the gold stars. But if you’re sitting in your office, heaped in data that’s drowning you, we’re here to help! Today’s blog is the lifeboat that will steer you to five strategies to analyze your traffic, asses your data, and untangle your results for a better overall strategy. So pick up that icy whistle and blow, because we’re coming for ya!

This week, we’re kicking off a mini-series on all things infographics: why they’re valuable, the do’s-and-don’ts, how to craft them, and more. So go grab your favorite pillow, the popcorn, and hunker down, friend. We’ll be sitting around this campfire for a while as we spill all the dirt on what makes a powerful infographic and how you can use them to light up your business.

There’s a saying that's become popular with the ever expanding availability of the internet. It goes a little something like this, "These days, everyone’s an expert.” It has a two-fold meaning. There’s the obvious, which is human beings’ tendency to spend one afternoon reading into a certain subject matter and suddenly they’re an aficionado. It’s a rough reality, but not as bad as the second meaning (unless you’re the poor soul stuck talking to that guy at a party). The second is that with the internet comes the ability for users to self publish. These are the really dangerous experts. And with their continual emergence, Google is having to work harder and harder to determine what out there is good content, and what is, well, just plain crap.

Ok, it’s time to point out an ugly truth that affects a ton of marketing. We don’t like being the ones to do it, but we care about you too much to just sit back and let you waste all your hard work. Hey, it’s no one’s fault, and we’ve all done it at one point or another, usually early on in our business infancy. It’s the tendency to slap something together, throw it up on the internet, clap yourself on the back and leave it there for God knows how long. It hurts us to watch because it usually leads to a bad disappointment for good people who just don’t know better. Maybe it’s a website you haven’t updated in ages, and are slowly killing your SEO in the process. Maybe it’s your blog you haven’t posted to in 6 months. Or, maybe it’s your banner ads, put together without rhyme or reason. The latter is our focus for today, or more specifically, why your banner ad is falling flat.