Kayak Marketing Blog | All Articles

Digital marketing insights.

Sales, Marketing, and Business insights from Randy Milanovic, a Buzz Sumo Top 100 Digital Marketing Influencer.

motion, not animation

The Art of Invisible Animation: Making Motion Feel Natural
Val Head has a great line about UI animation: the best animation is the kind users barely notice. That’s not a creative preference. It’s a quality standard.
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confident leader talking to colleague

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence: The Secret to Persuasive Communication
Imagine having a proven formula to inspire action, captivate audiences, and deliver compelling messages. That’s exactly what Alan Monroe, a communication professor at Purdue University, created in the 1930s: Monroe’s Motivated Sequence (MMS).
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devleloper coding prerendering into HubSpot templates

Prerendering Content on HubSpot Websites for Marketers
Hardly a day goes by that clients don't ask about SEO. One way to improve your HubSpot site's performance is prerendering and serving static versions of web pages (not the same as caching). But, not all pages can be prerendered.
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customer service team

The 5 Parts of a Successful Service Desk Setup
Studies show that resolving issues quickly is the top priority for both customers and support teams. To achieve this, a successful service desk operating as a five-part system is important: Intake, Triage, Troubleshooting, Solving, and Improving. Let's have a look at each.
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bulk bag leaking product, cost of poor quality

Calculate the Cost of Poor Quality (in Actual Dollars)
The Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) is a powerful strategic tool that helps businesses identify, measure, and eliminate inefficiencies. Unlike vague discussions about improvement, COPQ provides a concrete, financial method of understanding exactly how process failures impact your organization's bottom line.
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a marketing manager preparing an RFP document

Create a Better RFP for Your Next Marketing Project
Crafting an effective Request for Proposal (RFP) is your first step in securing the right partner for your project, no matter the industry. Today I'll focus on crafting an RFP for a development project, but feel free to interpret this for your business. The advice works for all.
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Pulling Together: Growing 25x and Surviving the Experience

Pulling Together: Growing 25x and Surviving the Experience
Today's article is a bit of a confession. How we grew too fast, and the pains that came with that. Our services and products were solid, team was talented, and customers appreciated us. So much, we grew 25x between 2011 and 2013. Yet, something was wrong, and we knew it.
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a developer coding to avoid excessive DOM size

The Hidden Weight of Web Design: Keeping Your Layouts Simple and DOM Sizes Lean
Speed is king. A slow visitor experience can break your website. Most websites on a CMS can become unbearably slow because they get too complex, causing excessive Document Object Model (DOM) size.
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billboards line a highway at night

From Hanging Out a Shingle to Clicking Through Ads, Marketing is Evolving. Are you?
Imagine the first-ever marketer, eagerly hanging out a hand-painted sign in front of their farm house, a simple slab proclaiming goods for sale to passersby. Now, fast forward a few centuries.
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pixel perfect vs bootstrap front end website design approaches

Bootstrap vs Pixel Perfect: Modern Web Design Approaches
Agencies want perfection. Developers want speed and reliability. And, clients just want to get it done. Among front end design and development approaches, Bootstrap and Pixel Perfect stand out.
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sales networking isn't about sizing up your prospects wallet thickness

Networking for sales professionals isn't about sizing up your prospect's wallet thickness.
People buy from people. Who they trust. Who won't jeopardize their job. Who will make them look good. And if they don't buy, will happily recommend others.
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You know you've entered the Danger Zone when...

You know you've entered the Danger Zone when...
Whenever a customer's main contact changes there's a risk of miscommunication, overlooking important information, or having things fall through the cracks. When that happens, you've entered the danger zone.
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6 key google ranking 'demotions' and 7 confirmations

6 Key Google Ranking Demotions (and confirmations) That You Should Know About
A series of algorithmic demotions are discussed in the recently released (leaked?) Google docs. Descriptions are limited, but definitely worth a look so we can get some insight into how each impacts your SEO.
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storytelling connects

Moving Beyond SEO: Storytelling and Lead Generation Strategies for Small Businesses
Like most website owners, you've probably invested heavily in search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to attract prospects and drive conversions. While SEO remains an important part of any digital marketing strategy, it's important to explore alternative approaches to boost lead generation.
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website navigation

User Experience: Choosing the Right Navigation Approach for Your Website
Your small business's website serves as THE online touchpoint for many prospects. Done right, it can showcase what you do and drive conversions. One aspect that can significantly impact your website's success is user experience. And within user experience, is your site's navigation approach.
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