The Spacious Blog
We share insights, tools, and strategies to help your digital presence amplify your impact, plus some company news and opinions sprinkled in.
Your Google Business Profile Is Your New Front Door — Is It Actually Open?
If you’re a local business or nonprofit who hasn’t touched your Google Business Profile in a while (or ever), you might be invisible to the people searching for you right now. Think about the last time you needed a plumber, a dentist, or a good lunch spot. Chances are you pulled out your phone and…
Google’s AI Overviews Are Crushing Click-Through Rates. Here’s What to Do About It.
If your organization has relied on blog traffic to reach new people, you’ve probably noticed the numbers dropping. It’s not your imagination—and it’s not your fault. A recent study by marketing agency Seer Interactive confirms what many of us have suspected: organic click-through rates dropped 61% for queries with AI Overviews, while paid CTRs fell…
New Employee Phishing Scams: What Your Team Needs to Know
A client recently experienced a scam I hadn’t encountered before, and it cost one of their new employees thousands of dollars. Here’s how it worked: Two employees started at the company. Within days, both received emails that appeared to be from the business owner asking for sensitive information. One employee, still learning the ropes and…
DIY Design Tools: When They Work and When to Move On
If you’re starting a nonprofit or small business, you’ve probably considered Squarespace, Wix, or Canva for your website and graphics. And honestly? That might be exactly the right choice for you right now. These tools have democratized design in a way that’s genuinely exciting. Someone with zero technical skills can create a clean, professional-looking website…
No, Your Logo Does Not Need to Be Larger
“Can you make the logo bigger?” If you work in web design, you’ve heard this request. Multiple times. Probably on every project. And while it’s understandable—your logo represents your organization and you’re proud of it—making it larger almost never improves your website. Here’s why. Your logo is a landmark, not a landmark attraction Think about…
Should Your Nonprofit Ask Donors to Cover Credit Card Processing Fees?
Many of my nonprofit clients often ask me if we can include an option on their donation forms asking donors to add 3% to cover the credit card fees. Credit card fees do add up, no doubt. I know it feels like lost money that goes to a bank instead of you. But it’s a…
The 6 key internet accounts your organization needs to control
This is a boring post. But boring is better than a nightmare. And ensuring that your organization has access to these 6 key accounts will prevent you from a nightmare scenario for your business or nonprofit.
Exciting Updates to Your Care Plan: Introducing Support Credits
We’re excited to share some improvements to our Care Plan system that will make managing your website needs even easier and more transparent. We’re introducing Support Credits – a simpler way to track and use the services included in your plan. Not a care plan customer yet? Check out our plans here > What’s Changing?…
Wrapping Up 2024 and Onward to 2025!
As I reflect on 2024, my ninth year in business (!), this truth stands out clearly—I must be getting old. But also that this little company is really finding its stride in the impact we support our clients to achieve. What began as a year of ambitious goals became a journey of intentional improvement, deeper…
The Next Chapter: Introducing Spacious’ Fresh Identity
We’re thrilled to launch Spacious’ new brand and logo this month! Here’s the story of how our fresh identity came to be, and what it means for our future. Our Journey Every brand has a story, and ours began in 2016 with a simple, self-designed logo based on my name and initials (how creative). Like…
Stop Disrespecting Your Audience with Crappy Web Design
I’m tired of visiting websites that disrespect my intelligence and disregard my needs as a user. There’s plenty of talk in the web design space about increasing conversions, improving SEO, and impressing users with stunning designs. But as I traverse the web as a user myself, it’s clear that my needs are not a high…
How to Share Passwords, Safely and Securely
In our work, we’re constantly needing to send and receive passwords within our team and with our clients. Many people just drop the username and password right into the body of an email, but we strongly recommend against this practice for any important accounts. Why? Emails can be intercepted, forwarded, or stored indefinitely, potentially exposing…
Guesses and Tips for Digital Marketing in the Age of AI
We’re in the midst of a seismic shift in society due to the widespread availability of AI, specifically large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and others. No matter how much attention AI has received recently, I don’t think most people are fully appreciating the magnitude of impact these technologies will have on society…
Streamlining the Path to Generosity: Donation Form Best Practices
Technology is primarily about reducing friction in our lives. Uber will have a driver waiting for you after a few clicks in the app. Alexa will have an Amazon box at your doorstep tomorrow just by saying the word (whether intentionally or not…). Food can be delivered to your door via Doordash without you needing…
How to deal with bad reviews on Google
I got a call from a client the other day. He got a couple of bad reviews on Google from people he’d never worked with and asked what to do about the situation. Here’s the advice I gave him, which I’m including here as I’m sure he’s not the only one who’s faced this issue:…
A handy, no-nonsense guide to website accessibility
Many of our awesome clients have been asking about website accessibility recently. Accessibility is now a mainstream essential in any website, and more people want to ensure that their website is accessible for all. At Spacious, we love where this is going. But many people still don’t quite understand what accessibility is. They know they…
Defining your brand and target audience as a nonprofit organization
A brand’s main goal is to resonate with your target audience’s emotions. So before you can build a solid brand, you need to become deeply familiar with your audience. Otherwise you’ll be shooting in the dark.
AI is changing everything. What does that mean for content marketing?
AI is poised to reshape our lives and society over the next few years, in magnitude only rivaled by the introduction of the internet, smartphones, and social media. The implications are massive and far-reaching. It’ll change the way we interact with the internet and will dramatically shrink the kinds of jobs and tasks that “can…
The challenge every nonprofit faces
Reposted Feb 17, 2023 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. Both are trying to connect with their audience, build trust, and retain followers who will…
What is mission-driven marketing & why is it so important?
Reposted Feb 10, 2023 The best part of having a mission-driven business or nonprofit is making a real difference and reaping the “feel-good” feelings of supporting something greater than yourself. That is exactly why we work primarily with nonprofits and mission-driven businesses–we also like this feeling. We can’t get enough of it. You can use…