Category Archives: Websites

New wave of referrer spam wrecking Google Analytics data

If you're seeing a lot of referral traffic in your Google Analytics data, you're not alone. Contributor Jonathan Hochman explains how referral spam happens, lays out methods to combat it and suggests potential solutions for Google's consideration. Jonathan Hochman on December 8, 2016 at 11:13 am A new surge of referrer spam is damaging Google…
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5 SEO Mistakes You’re Making

In the early days of SEO, the mindset for most specialists was, "How do we trick Google into giving us better search results?" Well, if Google has ever been accused of something, it wasn't stupidity, which is why they've since begun penalizing SEO specialists who try to game the system. Nowadays, good SEO isn't achieved…
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“Webrooming” is Shaking Up the Retail World

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager/Digital Director For brick-and-mortar retailers, the internet has been a mixed bag. Sure, it allows them to reach a much wider audience than a street corner ever will, but it also begs the question: “Why have a brick-and-mortar location at all”? With costly overhead and property taxes, it can seem as…
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Some Web Design Trends in 2016

Photo Credit: UXPin By Eddie Maiale, Design Intern Web design trends are consistent in one aspect - They are always changing. You could say it is a living beast on its own. Tackling the beast this year is no different. Trends this year include: moving toward a more minimalist design versus the 3D look, adding…
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Digital Advertising Statistics You Need to Know (Infographic)

Ever since the turn of the century, Digital Advertising has been changing the ways brands communicate with their audience. The number of tools and techniques that have surfaced over this time can be a little overwhelming, but with the right strategy and agency behind you, digital advertising can produce tremendous returns for you and your…
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What is Material Design? (Part 3 of 3)

By Eddie Maiale, Design Intern Welcome back! We are reaching the end of this series on material design, and the information in the last sections of material design is not to be ignored as it is just as important as something like style and color. Today we will be going through some guidelines for a…
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The Trend Toward Post Modernism

Excerpt from our Cultural Tourism Whitepaper, available via newsletter sign-up: http://eepurl.com/bM3KBX Of equal significance is the trend driving the trend. The fact is, today’s interest in cultural tourism is really a manifestation of a larger and even more fundamental trend: post-modernism. Culturally, we crave that which is more personally relevant and less packaged or mass produced. For…
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Cultural Tourism DC

Cultural Tourism DC, "a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, develops, delivers and celebrates real experiences for Washington area residents and visitors." When you think about it, that definition (besides the nonprofit part) could and should be part of the mission statement for any tourism organization.
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Google Rankings for Cultural Tourism

While the term “cultural tourism” has been in use for several years, we still have a ways to go until it becomes a household term. Just do a Google search for “Cultural Tourism” and you’ll see that only two destinations make the first page of results--Cherokee Preservation Foundation and Europe. These results show that savvy…
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Most Viral Ads of 2015

Adweek recently released a list of the 20 most viral ads released in 2015, so we analyzed the winners and created a list of five patterns for why these ads went viral. Even if you don’t have a huge advertising budget, you can always be inspired by the content, messaging and tactics behind ads by…
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Berger’s Six ‘STEPPS’ for Creating Viral Marketing Content

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Support While it seems like a successful viral marketing campaign relies mainly on luck and timing, creative content plays a critical role in what makes things go viral. In the book Contagious, Professor Jonah Berger explored this idea and discovered six characteristics of viral marketing content. The acronym for these six…
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New Website for Haywood County

We were tasked with creating a new website for Haywood County that highlighted specific elements of the North Carolina Smokies experience into a visually stunning, user-friendly website that shows off all the great assets the county has for both locals and visitors to enjoy during their time in Haywood County.View the Haywood County website at visitncsmokies.com.…
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Agency News: We’re Expanding!

We're excited to announce we're expanding in downtown Asheville! The office across the hall will now become an extension of the agency as we continue to grow and work on exciting projects. Here's a sneak peek of the space and a glimpse from our new balcony of downtown.
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A Numbers Game: A PPC Case Study Update

By Scott Zeller, SEO & SEM Specialist, The Goss Agency Sudoku, a popular numbers game, is a logic-based puzzle that requires you plug in numbers from 1-9 in the right combination to solve it and win the game. It starts with a few numbers and a partially completed 9x9 grid, and relies on you, the…
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New Brand Image and Website for Paradise Beach Resort

The Goss Agency Launches New Cozumel, Mexico Paradise Beach Resort Brand Image and Website  Asheville, North Carolina - The Goss Agency recently launched a new website and brand image for Cozumel’s stunning Paradise Beach Resort, one of the most pristine, idyllic destinations in all of Mexico. The branding work began with an evaluation of the property…
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Iterative Website Development: Build Your House on a Solid Foundation

We often get inquiries from clients about building them a new website. Many of them have websites already - websites that they hate for one reason or another. The content management system is too hard to use. The design is outdated. The site doesn't work on mobile. Regardless of the reason, the client's answer to…
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Haywood County TDA Campaign

"We have the best views, by miles." Why visit Haywood County? One of the best reasons is this view. Blue Ridge Parkway, which cuts through the county as it winds its way through North Carolina and up through Virginia, is considered one of the most scenic drives in the country. This piece shows that the beauty…
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Be Your Competitor’s Customer

In my last blog post, I discussed being your own customer, and the eye-opening information it provides to marketing directors as they continuously evaluate their marketing efforts...
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Effective Social Media Tools: TweetDeck

There are many tools you can use to monitor Twitter, but my personal favorite is TweetDeck. With it's super-organizable column structure, you can follow lists, search terms, activity, notifications, and more...
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Two Ads Make YouTube’s 2014 Top Ten

As the year winds down, the best of lists ramp up. YouTube released it's annual "rewind" this week, a mash-up of all the social site's viral videos for 2014. Along with the rewind video, which features a fantastic music mash-up by DJ Earworm, the site announced the top ten trending videos of 2014. This global…
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Eye-catching Creative: The Art of Shaving & Lincoln

Eye-catching print from a recent campaign from The Art of Shaving  "Evolution needs a gentle reminder every morning." Strong design with a great use of space and product, with a tagline that lightly tugs at the laugh lines. The TV spot of the season, from Lincoln [embed]http://youtu.be/NcGhLcVqxf0[/embed] There was no doubt in the mind of the…
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The Numbers Game: A TGA PPC Case Study

by Scott Zeller Plato once said, “A good decision is based on knowledge, and not on numbers.” And for the most part, I agree. However, in the world of pay-per-click (PPC), a good decision is based on both knowledge AND numbers. Raw data is merely that, unless you have the knowledge to apply that data…
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Visual Press Releases

It’s all about the images. We live in a visual world – cameras on our phones and in our pockets; Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest at our fingertips. Press releases should reflect this. Images make everything better...
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Rebranding Historic Biltmore Village

  by Jeff Goss Situation: A 109-year-old village historically designed for the artisans, craftsmen and women, employees, and support staff for the Biltmore Estate, Biltmore Village grew from a desolate place in the 1970s to achieving a wealth of independent restaurants and shops, along with national brands. Even with the rich shopping-experience stores were not…
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Digital Press Kits: Where to Start

Alright, so you are convinced that you need a digital press kit. But where do you start? Fear not, you’re already farther ahead than you think. You probably already have a printed press kit that you provide to...
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Emotional Connections and Advertising

by Jeff Goss People don’t look at advertising, they look at what interests them, sometimes it’s advertising. - Howard Gossage Ideas that touch an emotion - ideas that make you laugh, smile, think and feel - achieve greater recall and results with far less media exposure and cost.  The product: Propane Gas hot water heater.…
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National Tourism Week 2014

National Travel and Tourism week starts Sunday, May 4th and runs through Monday, May 12th. For those in the industry, this presents a great opportunity to join in on a nation-wide conversation...
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Digital Press Kits: The New Essential

Sometimes it feels like the entire world is on the internet. While that may not be true, the vast majority of your customers, local and national media contacts, and your competitors likely are…
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Assessing Your Brand

Equally important to creating and adhering to a brand is assessing your brand in the marketplace. Assessing your brand enables you to understand how your customers currently see your company and what elements or perceptions compel them to choose you over a competitor. Conversely, it also allows you to identify misperceptions and obstacles to purchases,…
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Establishing Your Brand

Why is it important to brand your business? Why not just hire a logo designer online and a web programmer to throw a website together based on that cool template you saw, then call it a...
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