Digital Natives. Small Business Focused. Minnesota-Based.
Blue Ox Websites & Marketing is based in Minnesota, with remote employees across Central Minnesota and the Twin Cities. We love helping small businesses, startups, and nonprofits get found online so they can spend less time worrying about their website or marketing and more time serving customers.
We’re dedicated to strengthening our local economies and communities, which calls for resilient businesses. Most of our team members stay with us for 8 years or more, not just because we build great websites, but also because we value learning, teamwork, remote work, and family.
What Drives Blue Ox
Mission
We build innovative websites and honest marketing strategies to help small businesses and nonprofits grow—and make a bigger impact in communities.
Vision
We’re here to grow alongside local small businesses and nonprofits, building lasting partnerships that help communities thrive.
Guiding Values
Creativity: Custom solutions, not cookie-cutter.
Reliability: We show up and follow through.
Approachability: No jargon, no gatekeeping.
Community: We grow with the businesses and nonprofits we support.
Remote First
At Blue Ox, we prioritize flexibility and choice while focusing on making meaningful connections with our coworkers and clients. While we’re primarily virtual and WFH, our teams meet in person a few times per year to celebrate accomplishments and brainstorm big, new ideas.
Benefits & Perks
Flexible PTO & Company Holidays
Prioritized work-life balance, with flexible PTO and 23-25 observed days off.
Family Planning
Paid family and medical leave, including for adoption.
Employer-Matching 401K
50-100% retirement matching.
Perks & Stipends
Monthly internet and equipment allowances to support remote work.
Learning & Development
Mentorship from senior team members, conferences, certifications, and online learning opportunities.
And More!
Meet the Blue Ox Team
Meet the team! We’re a small, local crew of real people who care about helping businesses succeed online.
Employees
Logan Gruber
ReFounder / Marketing Director
Base: Sauk Centre, Minnesota
Tenure: 2016
Katie Carlson
Designer / Developer
Base: St. Cloud, Minnesota
Tenure: 2015
Kelsey Meyer
Designer / Developer
Base: St. Joseph, Minnesota
Tenure: 2017
Jonathan Gamble
Writer / SEO
Base: Cottage Grove, Minnesota
Tenure: 2024
Zeineb Kadhkadhi
Social Media / Designer
Base: St. Cloud State University
Tenure: 2018
Jen Gruber
Social Media / Designer
Base: Sauk Centre, Minnesota
Tenure: 2024
Careers At Blue Ox
Application
4 Awesome Stats To Help Small Businesses Win At Email Marketing
/in Email Marketing, SEOEmail marketing can be difficult. One of the best ways to make sure that you’re successful at it is to be consistent. You may need help with that, and we’re always available to talk about how we can help you increase your revenue. But besides consistency, what other tips can help make your email marketing more effective?
HubSpot, one of the largest email marketing solutions out there, supplied the below statistics for this post.
1. People Are More Likely To Click Certain Words
When you’re writing the ‘call-to-action’ for your email, stick with something which includes “Click Here” rather than “Go” or “Submit”. “Click Here” has a much higher click rate than the other words, meaning more people will head to wherever you’ve linked the button to which is hopefully a landing page on your website!
2. Images Are Preferred To Text
Before you start typing your first draft, consider doing more with less. Use images to help get your message across. It turns out that 65% of people prefer more images than text in their emails, so be sure to capitalize on that with descriptive imagery and fewer words. We generally suggest 200 words or less per email.
3. Don’t Send Plain Text
In line with that, images are only visible in HTML emails. Even if they weren’t, 88% of users prefer to receive HTML emails over plain text emails, plain text meaning that there isn’t any formatting, fonts, colors or anything like that. So while some of your customers may find value in having emails be bare bones and get straight to the point, a vast majority appreciate a little flourish and style.
4. Optimize For Mobile Reading
And, we believe the most important tip here is to optimize your emails for mobile devices. 80.8% of users are reading emails on a mobile device!
Your email marketing software may be able to help you with this, but be sure to send yourself and/or your staff a test email and open it on multiple mobile devices to see how the images show up and how the text wraps, as well as if the links/buttons are able to be clicked easily.
Contact us anytime to chat about how we can help boost your ROI with email marketing!
4 Reasons Online Advertising Will Make Or Break Local Businesses
/in Ads, SEOOnline advertising is growing and growing, and will only continue to grow as more people get online and businesses can’t reach consumers through traditional means.
At Cohlab, we work hard to help small, local businesses succeed in their online advertising strategies because we know this is make or break for many local businesses, and will only increase in importance. Contact us anytime to chat about how we can help boost your business!
1. More People Are Online Than Ever
In 2016, the number of Americans online increased to 87%. That’s up from only 52% in 2000, an increase of 35%!
The number of people online, and searching and shopping online will only continue to increase, especially as younger generations continue to mature. The target market for your business will be online from here on out, and while the methods of reaching them may change, the channel will remain online.
2. Ads Are More Effective
New techniques, like retargeting (targeting online consumers based on past online actions i.e. visiting your website or searching for a keyword) allow you to get way better ROI than in the past. In fact, users who are retargeted are 70% more likely to convert into customers than those who are advertised to randomly. As well, the average click-through rate for display ads is .07%, but with retargeting it’s 10x higher at .7%!
3. Searches Are Becoming More Local
Google continuously works to help local businesses more prominent in search results, as they can typically fill searchers needs better. In light of this, when searchers are looking for something local i.e. “car repair near me”, the 3-pack of map results shows up in the top spot 93% of the time! So it’s very important to target those local searches with your ads, especially if you’re not naturally showing up in those local searches.
As well, getting your name in front of a searcher is important because 50% of searchers who conduct a local search on their smart phone visit a store within a day.
4. Searches Are Becoming More Effective
With recent updates like Penguin and Possum, searches are only becoming more and more effective at displaying the most relevant results to searchers. This means you either need to have the best and most pertinent content, or you need the best online advertising campaigns possible in order to keep your business running. If you don’t have the manpower or time to keep your website fresh and top notch, online advertising is going to help keep those online dollars rolling in.
Let us know when you’re ready to chat about online advertising, and how it can work for your business!
4 Reasons Online Advertising Will Make Or Break Local Businesses
/in Ads, SEOOnline advertising is growing and growing, and will only continue to grow as more people get online and businesses can’t reach consumers through traditional means.
At Cohlab, we work hard to help small, local businesses succeed in their online advertising strategies because we know this is make or break for many local businesses, and will only increase in importance. Contact us anytime to chat about how we can help boost your business!
1. More People Are Online Than Ever
In 2016, the number of Americans online increased to 87%. That’s up from only 52% in 2000, an increase of 35%!
The number of people online, and searching and shopping online will only continue to increase, especially as younger generations continue to mature. The target market for your business will be online from here on out, and while the methods of reaching them may change, the channel will remain online.
2. Ads Are More Effective
New techniques, like retargeting (targeting online consumers based on past online actions i.e. visiting your website or searching for a keyword) allow you to get way better ROI than in the past. In fact, users who are retargeted are 70% more likely to convert into customers than those who are advertised to randomly. As well, the average click-through rate for display ads is .07%, but with retargeting it’s 10x higher at .7%!
3. Searches Are Becoming More Local
Google continuously works to help local businesses more prominent in search results, as they can typically fill searchers needs better. In light of this, when searchers are looking for something local i.e. “car repair near me”, the 3-pack of map results shows up in the top spot 93% of the time! So it’s very important to target those local searches with your ads, especially if you’re not naturally showing up in those local searches.
As well, getting your name in front of a searcher is important because 50% of searchers who conduct a local search on their smart phone visit a store within a day.
4. Searches Are Becoming More Effective
With recent updates like Penguin and Possum, searches are only becoming more and more effective at displaying the most relevant results to searchers. This means you either need to have the best and most pertinent content, or you need the best online advertising campaigns possible in order to keep your business running. If you don’t have the manpower or time to keep your website fresh and top notch, online advertising is going to help keep those online dollars rolling in.
Let us know when you’re ready to chat about online advertising, and how it can work for your business!