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
6 Email Blast Basics From Your Friends At Cohlab
/in Email Marketing, SEOWhether you have a newsletter or a big sale to announce, an email blast is usually a marketer’s first choice to get the word out.
An email blast let’s you contact a ton of people at the right time, but there are many ways this can go wrong for a company or individual marketer, even if you’re using a system like MailChimp. For advanced tips, definitely let us help you out, but for now let’s take a look at 6 quick email blast tips to help you get off on the right foot.
Email Blast Basics
1. Bigger is not always Better
Let’s pretend that, through your sales force’s prospects and friendly contacts as well as a list of customers who have already purchased from you, you have about 2,000 email addresses.
Having a bunch of email addresses which aren’t properly vetted isn’t ideal. We would much rather see you email blast a new product release to 200 customers who have agreed to receive information from you than 2,000 who aren’t expecting product information.
Your click-through and engagement rate with the 200 will be much higher, and you will see better returns from being able to more directly target this group.
2. Commit. Commit. Commit.
An email blast is not a one-time affair. You’re not going to get a great return off of just sending one blast; people need reminders. The ‘why’ behind your blast will remain the same, but the specific wording and images should adjust to keep it fresh on your second and third blast.
This allows you to test as well, which we will talk about a bit later.
Consistency is also important, you can build momentum for your email blast by staying on a schedule to keep your brand at the top of mind for your customers.
3. Stay Above The Fold
Most people won’t read much of your email blast at all, or might only preview it, so you want your “call-to-action” to be above the fold. This means you want to put whatever you want them to do near the very top of the email blast, whether it’s a link to a product page, a survey, or a coupon.
You don’t want them to have to scroll to get to your call-to-action, or the vast majority will never see it.
4. Keep It Short
Brevity is your friend. Do you read lengthy emails? You might skim them if they truly interest you, but most you read the subject line and maybe the first paragraph before deciding to trash it or invest your time.
Keep your email blast short and sweet. If you have a lot of information to get across, write a blog post and link them from the email to the blog, using the link as your call-to-action.
5. Test. Test. Test.
Multiple email blasts work best, as you can test how different subject lines, body text, images and calls-to-action work on different individuals.
You should also test your email blast on yourself or your coworkers multiple times, and to different email providers (Google, Yahoo, Outlook, etc.) to see if your email is presented in the right way; do images come through, is your subject line too long, does your call-to-action show up above the fold, etc.
6. Watch And Learn
If you want to learn from your emails, you’ll need to send them from a client like MailChimp, HubSpot, or setup a tracked link or contact form on your website. It’s important to know how your email blast performs, so you can improve in the future.
For more help with your email marketing, contact us today!
6 Email Blast Basics From Your Friends At Cohlab
/in Email Marketing, SEOWhether you have a newsletter or a big sale to announce, an email blast is usually a marketer’s first choice to get the word out.
An email blast let’s you contact a ton of people at the right time, but there are many ways this can go wrong for a company or individual marketer, even if you’re using a system like MailChimp. For advanced tips, definitely let us help you out, but for now let’s take a look at 6 quick email blast tips to help you get off on the right foot.
Email Blast Basics
1. Bigger is not always Better
Let’s pretend that, through your sales force’s prospects and friendly contacts as well as a list of customers who have already purchased from you, you have about 2,000 email addresses.
Having a bunch of email addresses which aren’t properly vetted isn’t ideal. We would much rather see you email blast a new product release to 200 customers who have agreed to receive information from you than 2,000 who aren’t expecting product information.
Your click-through and engagement rate with the 200 will be much higher, and you will see better returns from being able to more directly target this group.
2. Commit. Commit. Commit.
An email blast is not a one-time affair. You’re not going to get a great return off of just sending one blast; people need reminders. The ‘why’ behind your blast will remain the same, but the specific wording and images should adjust to keep it fresh on your second and third blast.
This allows you to test as well, which we will talk about a bit later.
Consistency is also important, you can build momentum for your email blast by staying on a schedule to keep your brand at the top of mind for your customers.
3. Stay Above The Fold
Most people won’t read much of your email blast at all, or might only preview it, so you want your “call-to-action” to be above the fold. This means you want to put whatever you want them to do near the very top of the email blast, whether it’s a link to a product page, a survey, or a coupon.
You don’t want them to have to scroll to get to your call-to-action, or the vast majority will never see it.
4. Keep It Short
Brevity is your friend. Do you read lengthy emails? You might skim them if they truly interest you, but most you read the subject line and maybe the first paragraph before deciding to trash it or invest your time.
Keep your email blast short and sweet. If you have a lot of information to get across, write a blog post and link them from the email to the blog, using the link as your call-to-action.
5. Test. Test. Test.
Multiple email blasts work best, as you can test how different subject lines, body text, images and calls-to-action work on different individuals.
You should also test your email blast on yourself or your coworkers multiple times, and to different email providers (Google, Yahoo, Outlook, etc.) to see if your email is presented in the right way; do images come through, is your subject line too long, does your call-to-action show up above the fold, etc.
6. Watch And Learn
If you want to learn from your emails, you’ll need to send them from a client like MailChimp, HubSpot, or setup a tracked link or contact form on your website. It’s important to know how your email blast performs, so you can improve in the future.
For more help with your email marketing, contact us today!
Google Introduces Changes To Make Being Mobile Friendly More Important
/in SEO, Web DesignIf your website isn’t mobile friendly, or easy to use on multiple different devices (desktops, laptops, tablets or mobile phones) Google will begin penalizing it by ranking it lower on mobile search page results.
In April 2015, Google first started ranking non-mobile friendly websites lower, but now, in May 2016, the strategy has been amped up. Let’s explore a bit more what this might mean for you.
Why Is Being Mobile Friendly Important?
More Google searches are now executed through mobile devices than through desktop computers. So if your website isn’t mobile friendly, visitors will organically gravitate away from you and move to websites which are easier to navigate.
Being mobile friendly is part of a movement called ‘responsive web design’, wherein no matter what type of device your website is seen on, even a device which has not been manufactured yet, your website should adjust in size appropriately. Being responsive will entice visitors to stay on your website, which will organically increase your search pagerank.
Having a responsive website is very important, because 95% of people do not go past the first page of search results, and 60% of clicks happen within the top three search results.
How To Tell If Your Website Is Mobile Friendly
A mobile friendly website is one which has a minimum or no need for scrolling, resizing or squinting to see content, no matter what device a user might be on. The website will have a single URL so that the adjustments to certain devices are automatic; a user shouldn’t have to click to visit a mobile website.
How To Become Mobile Friendly
If you’re not a web developer yourself, you’ll likely need to hire a responsive website design company to help you out. A company like Cohlab Digital Marketing will be able to either convert your current website or build an entirely new website, creating a responsive design, and laying the groundwork for optimization of your website to make it rank better in search engine results.
At Cohlab, we have worked closely with many businesses to help them achieve great success in their responsive and mobile friendly web design efforts. We are happy to answer any questions you may have!