When social media first came out, developing a following and getting likes and shares was the task at hand. It was largely reactive, rather than proactive and responded to the trends of the day, rather than setting trends. As professional marketers expanded the social media space, being proactive and building trends became the pathway for much of the traffic. As this has continued, organic social media has taken a back seat to paid social efforts. As with most endeavors, paid advertising is what grassroots efforts use to go from local hotspot to regional or national trends.

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.

When it comes to a website, many companies either tend to either hammer something out themselves, buy one, and then let it sit. But your website isn't a succulent you buy at the market, set on display, and ignore for months only to find it's blossomed beautifully. Think of your website instead as a garden, one that needs constant tending, with different needs and changes arising with the changing seasons. Likewise, if you ignore its existence, it won't bare you much fruit. But hey, we know you're busy. You don't have time to comb through every possible web factor that could require maintenance.

Whether you're a budding freelancer burning the midnight oil in your shared apartment or a well-versed firm of developers, choosing what CMS (content management system) to work with can be daunting. Without a full understanding of what each one offers, and more importantly, requires of its users, you could end up making a decision you regret down the road. Similarly, if you are a business owner, trying to make the best decision about your upcoming web project and are trying to understand what the best platform will be, this is the article for you.

Today we're talking firsthand with a professor, technologist, and all-around website guru, as well as PRIME's Director of Digital Development, Ben Fjare. With countless custom web designs under his belt from clients across the globe, he has more than his fair share of experience in walking clients through the process of upgrading their websites. Upgrading your website is a process that can really only be understood by doing it.

We're kicking off a new series talking with PRIME's Principal and Digital Development Director, Ben Fjare. Ben is a professor, digital experience expert, dev-tech influencer, and all-around website guru. In this week's offering, we will learn about all the ways you can keep your website in its fittest form. As a professor, Ben offers tips and tricks that leave you feeling a little more empowered than overwhelmed.

There are a million different types of leaders in the world. From Gandhi to Genghis Khan, there are a lot of varying leadership styles out there, and not all of them are created equally (see Genghis Khan). There are, however, certain traits that all good leaders share, and it’s worth taking an introspective look at ourselves to see if we’ve got them in healthy supply.

We spend most of our days getting by. Every morning, we knot our tie, eat our Wheaties, pin back our hair, push through the office front door, and before we know it, it's time for our 3 o'clock cup of coffee. The day is mostly gone, ticked away task by task in the noble pursuit of getting things done. And it is a worthy pursuit—the honest work of moving business along.

As we continue to navigate the new, uncharted waters of working during COVID-19, we continue to ask how we can H.E.L.P. We believe those waters don’t have to be murky. That unexplored doesn’t have to mean unmanageable. That’s why we’re talking about how to transition from the guy drifting out to sea (no one wants to be that guy), to the one who tosses him a LifeRing. Today we make the monumental shift into being responsible and feeling empowered. Let’s look at how to do just that for your team.

Social distancing is the hottest new term in our culture's arsenal. The unique side of this is that it is not so much of a social disconnection, as it is an experience of physical distance. We've had years of being social online, with people we have never met. Outside of your Mom wishing you and the kids would visit more, the pressures of distance have been eased by Facebook, Google Hangouts, FaceTime, and others. Yet, the challenge that so many are experiencing right now is not how to be more socially present, but how to cooperate and collaborate well in their space.