Over 1.2 billion people are now using their mobile devices to access the web. Research shows that 57% of these users will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load and 30% will drop a purchase completely if the shopping cart isn’t optimized for mobile use. More searches take place on phones than on computers in 10 countries, the US and Japan included, thanks to some information released by Google.

If customers are pinching to zoom in or scratching their head looking for answers then you've already lost them. If you haven’t made the move towards mobile optimization, you are losing traffic, customers and money.

Seattle is HOT! Well okay, we still have our umbrellas by the door, but one thing’s for sure – the city is experiencing a great deal of growth! In fact, industry estimates suggest that in in 20 years, Seattle will have 120,000 more people, 115,000 more jobs and 70,000 more households. So much growth is expected, that the city is working through its Seattle 2035 plan now to ensure its old and new residents still enjoy the Seattle that they’ve come to love and expect.

It’s no surprise then, that the Urban Land Institute and PwC have ranked Seattle number 8 overall on its annual list of Emerging Trends in Real Estate.

So what makes the so often cloudy Seattle so hot?

As a small business owner, you face many challenges in standing out among a crowded marketplace, so how you market yourself is incredibly important.

Today’s business landscape is not what it used to be – writing for the web is a lot different than creating your old Yellow Pages ads.

In this Internet-driven age, crafting your message can be incredibly difficult. Online, in-your-face marketing can come across as annoying and can actually damage your company’s image if you’re not careful. Good content marketing seeks to develop a relationship between the company and its customers. At the very basic level, your marketing content should be “shareable” so that consumers are excited to share it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, causing their friends and relatives to read it (and hopefully respond to the marketing) too!

Spending money is right up there with spiders and Mondays, everyone has to deal with them at one time or another, but no one wants to. With the new healthcare changes, people are being forced to do at least one of those things..

Business owners and consumers alike are either getting insured or facing penalties. As consumers all filed taxes last month, many felt the pressure of that new healthcare penalty, which starts at $95 or 1% of income for those who didn’t have health insurance, but will gradually rise to 2.5% or $695 per person by 2016.

While consumers are weighing out penalties, small businesses are facing healthcare changes of their own. As a business owner, is it better to offer healthcare to employees or bite the bullet and pay the penalties?

If you Google “habits of successful business owners,” a strange thing happens – nearly every article that pops up on the search feed is a list. “Seven Things Insanely Successful People Do every Morning Before Work,” or “12 Things to Eat to Make You a Better Business Owner,” or “45 Things Successful People Do Differently Than You” – the lists go on and on.

Though some of the lists get quite obscure – lists are easy to compile, easier to read and they make it seem like success is just a checklist away. Despite the popularity of these “how to” articles, there is no foolproof way to become a successful business owner.

Success isn't some three step process.. Though in this case I've made it work in five. First, let's be clear - your company won’t magically take off if you take a special kind of shower each morning.