Blog

  • The Wesleyan Character of Methodist Centrists

    ByTim Crouch

    “Let us know the meaning of the word (Methodist). Let us not always be fighting in the dark. Come and let us look one another in the face… and perhaps some of you may love what I am by the grace of God.” John Wesley – The Character of a Methodist Is your heart right, as my heart with your heart? If it is, give me your hand. – 2 Kings 10:15 What is the Character of Methodist Centrists? In 1742, in “The Character of a Methodist,” John Wesley used the quotes above as a central theme. It is Wesley that has inspired the Methodist movement for over 280 years, but it is a movement that is now severely challenged by perhaps the most un-Wesleyan spirit—a spirit of…

  • How Your Website’s Mobile Load Time Affects Your Rank on Google

    ByEric Bonar

    In 2010, Google stated that they were going to begin to use site speed as a factor in ranking websites. In 2018, Google doubled down on this by stating that they intend to use site speed as a factor for ranking websites on mobile, with the intent of ensuring that people do not have to wait to find the answers to their questions. This means that if your website is not running fast, or at least faster than the average 15 seconds[1] on mobile, you will have trouble ranking on Google for anything other than your business name. Have a Fast Host The most important part of ensuring your site loads fast for Google is to have a fast host. Fast hosts will implement server-side caching and Gzip…

  • 4 of 5 doctors agree: Reviews Matter!

    ByCharles Crouch

    The classic ringing endorsement for a product is that: 4 out of 5 doctors agree. While the doctors may not have been asked about reviews, it is clear that reviews today matter. We used to go to the Better Business Bureau to find out if a business did good work. But today a business’s customers give you the best insight. After all who knows better? Reviews are endorsements for your products. Between Yelp, TripAdvisor, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and many more, people can easily share their experience with your product or service. You may be saying, “Yes, but this is a double-edged sword. What if they leave a bad review?” This is actually a good thing. For one thing, a bad review can tell you where you…

  • How to use Omni-Channel Marketing for your business

    ByCharles Crouch

    Omni-channel marketing should be a smooth and painless process to market to clients. The Crouch Group is a full-service marketing firm. However, Tim (Crouch) likes to say we are actually in the business of evolution. The world is changing so rapidly today that if we do not constantly evolve with it, we will quickly go extinct. When this company was started, marketing was largely the same it had been since the days Don Draper (Mad Men) worked on Madison Ave. But over the last two decades we have had to constantly pivot on how we market our clients. In the days of Mad Men, marketing avenues were largely print media, radio and television ads. With the advent of the internet, a digital component was added,…

  • Pay-Per-Click Campaigns for Lawyers

    ByCharles Crouch

    Pay-Per-Click campaigns with Google Ads (formerly Google Ad Words) for attorneys are the some of the most expensive per action on the internet. An action could be someone clicking to your website, calling your office, in other words interacting with your Google Ad. On average, Google ads cost $8.88 more per action for attorneys than any other industry. Why is this? There is a lot of competition for legal keywords. There are Family Law attorneys, Personal injury, Tax Attorneys, Business attorneys, Criminal attorneys, DUI/ DWI attorneys, Civil Rights attorneys, and the list goes on. So, the question is: Since Google ads for attorneys are more expensive than any other industry, are they worth it? Two Kinds of Google Ads Before answering that question, let’s be…

  • How to get More Engagement with your Content

    ByCharles Crouch

    How do you get more engagement with your content? Everyone wants to have a viral video or something that gets everyone talking. However, the first question you need to be asking is, “Why should someone want to engage with my content?” Just wanting to have higher engagement is getting ahead of yourself. People need to have a reason to want to share or talk about your content. It needs to make people laugh, elicit strong emotion, or have an active participation aspect to it. In the 1988 Batman story, Batman: A Death in the Family, DC gave readers a chance to vote on whether Robin should be killed off. 900 numbers were set up for people to call in and vote. After over 10,600 votes…

  • Is Search Engine Optimization still relevant?

    ByCharles Crouch

    Search Engine Optimization is nothing new. It has been around almost as long as Search Engines have existed, gaining widespread prominence around 1997. But how does a 20+ year old term still have relevance in a digital landscape that drastically changes, sometimes even month to month? Like every aspect of the internet, Search Engine Optimization has constantly evolved over the years, or it would have completely disappeared. Search Engines are designed to deliver the best user-experience and the most relevant links to someone’s search. The companies who develop Search Engines are constantly upgrading their product to deliver the best possible experience. Being the largest mover in Search Engines, Google largely controls what happens in Search Engine Optimization. Depending on the source, Google controls anywhere from…

  • Reflections on the 2019 General Conference

    ByTim Crouch

    I returned home this week from the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church. I was a delegate to this historic conference that was addressing the church’s position on human sexuality.  I was asked by the North Texas Conference to write some thoughts on what happened in St. Louis. For those who don’t what we hoped for didn’t pass and some draconian legislation did pass.  Legislation that will be found to be unconstitutional according the church law in April.  I say that will happen because the Church Judicial Council has already ruled that it is unconstitutional, and nothing was changed in the legislation that was approved. However, it was a deeply painful moment as we saw the United Methodist Church…

  • Blogging Made Simple: The Crouch Group Way

    ByCharles Crouch

    Blogs… everyone knows that they should do it. Everyone has good intentions and even great ideas for blog content. The trouble only begins when you try to get those ideas on “paper”. For many people the issue is finding the time to actually sit down and get those ideas out of their head. Or they get it written but need another set of eyes to help with editing the content. Or they need help optimizing the edited blog for the Search Engines; coming up with a good meta-description for Google or finding an eye catching image to entice people to read the blog. The Crouch Group has developed a process to make the entire operation run much easier and more smoothly. We have created an…

  • Speaking at the Aquatech Conference

    ByCharles Crouch

    Last week, we spoke at the annual Aquatech Conference hosted by Gohlke Pools! Our topic was Marketing: Yesterday, Today, and in the Future. It was a great opportunity to review marketing techniques that are past their prime, marketing today, and marketing in the future. Thank you Matt Gohlke for inviting us! We has been on the cutting edge of evolving marketing and advertising strategies since 1996. If you would like to learn more or have us speak about the latest marketing trends to your business, professional group, or at an upcoming event Contact us today!