Meckler Marketing Consulting

Meckler Marketing Consulting Our mission is to create effective marketing solutions for companies looking to grow their business.
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Most business owners assume that once their website is built, it just keeps running.That's not how any of this works.Web...
09/23/2026

Most business owners assume that once their website is built, it just keeps running.

That's not how any of this works.

Websites need active maintenance. Plugins that power the site release updates constantly, and outdated ones cause security holes and compatibility issues. Software the site is built on (WordPress, Squarespace, whatever) gets updated regularly. Third-party services connected to the site change their rules. Contact forms quietly break. Links break. Images don't load right on new phones.

Nobody's fixing this stuff in the background unless you're paying them to. The developer who built your site isn't watching it for free. Neither is your hosting provider. If you launched a site 18 months ago and nobody has touched it since, there's a real chance something is broken right now that you don't know about.

Meckler Marketing offers monthly website hosting and maintenance for exactly this reason. Flat monthly fee, no surprise invoices, someone watching your site and keeping it healthy. When something needs to be fixed or updated, we do it.

If your website is out there running on its own, let's talk.

If you're starting a business, the marketing decisions you make in the first week matter more than most people realize.H...
09/16/2026

If you're starting a business, the marketing decisions you make in the first week matter more than most people realize.

Here are some of the things worth locking in early. Not all of them, but a solid starting point:

Domain name: Buy it before anyone else does. Get the .com if you can. Consider variations (misspellings, hyphens, alternatives like .org) if the budget allows.

Social media handles: Register the same handle on every platform, even the ones you don't plan to use yet. A future you will thank you.

A professional email address on your domain: [email protected] looks credible. [email protected] does not.

Google Business Profile: Set it up early. Verification can take longer than expected, and you want it live before customers start searching for you.

Logo and basic brand identity: It needs to be consistent across everything.

Website: Doesn't need to be huge. It needs to load fast, work on mobile, and give people a way to contact you.

And here's the tip that ties it all together: be consistent. Same business name, same address, same phone number, same handles across every listing, every profile, every directory. Inconsistency creates search visibility problems that are painful to clean up later.

If you're starting something and want a second set of eyes on any of this, reach out.

Here's a real example of what three months of focused SEO work can do.Our SEO team recently wrapped a project that took ...
09/11/2026

Here's a real example of what three months of focused SEO work can do.

Our SEO team recently wrapped a project that took a business from 724 monthly search impressions to 342,000. Clicks went from 6 to nearly 1,600. Average search position improved from 48.7 to 20.3. Every one of those numbers matters, but the impressions and position jump is really what unlocks the rest.

Results like these don't come from one quick fix. They come from the boring, consistent work including technical improvements, targeted content, ongoing performance analysis, and adjusting when the data tells you to.

If your business isn't showing up in local search the way it should, that's something we can look at.

The 22nd Annual HERO Bash is coming up on September 17th, and I'd love to see some familiar faces there.HERO, Healthcare...
09/02/2026

The 22nd Annual HERO Bash is coming up on September 17th, and I'd love to see some familiar faces there.

HERO, Healthcare Equipment Recycling Organization collects and distributes donated healthcare supplies to people who need them, at low or no cost, both locally and around the world. It's their 30th anniversary this year, and their biggest fundraiser is the annual HERO Bash.

This year's theme is "Raise the Stakes" with a Las Vegas twist. Casino-style games, a silent auction, food, and a new "Bet on a HERO" initiative that recognizes inspiring community members.

The details:
Thursday, September 17th
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
BREWHALLA
$80 per ticket

Tickets, table sponsorships, silent auction donations, and cash contributions are all welcome. Every dollar goes toward providing mobility equipment and assistive technology to people who need it.

I'm on the event committee this year, so if you have questions or want to help out in some other way, reach out.

Get your tickets: https://givebutter.com/c/herobash
Learn more: https://herofargo.org/annual-hero-bash/

Golden Drive HomelessKids is a West Fargo nonprofit supporting local kids without stable housing, and we've maintained t...
08/27/2026

Golden Drive HomelessKids is a West Fargo nonprofit supporting local kids without stable housing, and we've maintained their website since 2022.

This September they've teamed up with Jay Thomas on WDAY 970 AM and the Cass County Sheriff's Office - Fargo, ND for a sock drive. Law enforcement agencies and local businesses are being challenged to see who can collect the most new socks for kids who need them. The drive runs September 1 through 30. Check their page for drop off spots, or scan the QR code on the flyer below.

They also keep a year round needs list (granola bars, deodorant, diapers, and more) that you can drop off at the West Fargo Fire Department or West Fargo Police Department during business hours.

One more thing. If your business, church, or organization would like a Golden Drive donation box on site, they'll deliver one to you. Comment below and I'll get you connected.

Small stuff adds up fast when a community decides to show up for its kids.

If your content looks like everyone else's, nobody remembers you.I've noticed a lot of local businesses using AI-generat...
08/26/2026

If your content looks like everyone else's, nobody remembers you.

I've noticed a lot of local businesses using AI-generated images on their social media lately. Some of it looks fine. Some of it looks great, honestly. But a lot of it has the same look. Same style, same colors, same layout. You could swap the business name and industry and the post would still work for someone else.

Here's the thing. AI is a legitimate tool. Not every business can afford a photographer, designer, or writer. If AI helps a small business show up consistently, that matters. There's a real argument that using AI is smart, especially when time, budget, or talent is limited.

There's also a real pushback happening. Some people spot AI-generated content instantly and dismiss the business as lazy, cheap, or inauthentic. That's not the reaction you were hoping for when you made the post.

Both sides have a point. But the practical takeaway is the same either way: if you're going to use AI, make it work for your brand. Consistent colors. A recognizable style. Original elements that make your posts look like you and not like the tool.

Because if your content looks like everyone else's, nobody remembers you.

A client's website was invisible to thousands of potential customers in Fargo.Celine at Chroma Collective launched her n...
08/20/2026

A client's website was invisible to thousands of potential customers in Fargo.

Celine at Chroma Collective launched her new website earlier this summer. Everything looked fine on her end. No outages. No errors. Her hosting provider showed everything was healthy.

But Midco customers, one of the largest internet service providers in this region, couldn't reach her site at all. A security system in the middle was blocking it. If you were a Midco customer trying to visit her business, you got a "site blocked" page.

She had no way to see this on her end. No dashboard flagged it. No email alert. It took digging to find out where the blockage was actually happening.

Here's what she said about the experience:

"I had no idea that a security vendor could effectively make my website inaccessible to an entire group of potential customers without there being anything wrong with the website itself. This was a huge learning experience for me as a small business owner. If you rely on your website to generate business, it's worth periodically checking that customers using different internet providers and networks can actually reach it."

The block has since been cleared. But it's the kind of thing that could happen to any business, and most owners would never know.

If you want someone to check whether your site is actually reaching everyone it should, reach out.

I got asked recently to give a training to the legislative candidates running in North Dakota this fall. Social media ba...
08/12/2026

I got asked recently to give a training to the legislative candidates running in North Dakota this fall. Social media basics for people running local races.

Most of what I told them applies just as well to small business owners. So here's the short version.

Be local. Be real. Be brief.

Facebook is still the workhorse for anyone whose audience is 45 and up. If you only do one platform well, that's the one. Two to three posts a week is plenty. Consistency matters more than volume.

Photos beat plain text almost every time. One good photo plus two to four sentences is a complete post. Say the point in the first sentence. Nobody reads paragraph eight.

Don't hit "share" on other people's posts. Shared posts reach about a third as many people as originals. Take the idea and rewrite it as your own.

Put links in the first comment. Posts with links get shown to far fewer people.

And the test before every post: would a neighbor find this interesting, useful, or human? If yes, post it.

If you're a candidate or a business owner who wants help getting your social media dialed in before November, reach out.

Yesterday I spoke to my NRG networking group about a question more business owners should be asking. Is AI sending you c...
08/05/2026

Yesterday I spoke to my NRG networking group about a question more business owners should be asking. Is AI sending you customers, or quietly skipping right over you?

To make the point, I ran a live experiment. Same question, every week, for five weeks: "Who are the best plumbers in Fargo?" Three AI tools. One real, well established local plumbing business with a near perfect rating from thousands of reviews.

The results were all over the map. One week that business ranked #2. Another week it dropped to #11. One tool skipped them completely, then ranked them #1 the very next week. Two of the tools also got basic facts about the business wrong.

If your customers are starting to ask AI who to call before they ever open Google, this matters. Your visibility isn't something you check once. It shifts week to week, and what these tools say about you isn't always true.

I'm offering a handful of free AI visibility checks for local business owners who want to see where they actually stand. Comment "AI" or send me a message and I'll run yours.

Here's a small marketing move that costs nothing and works surprisingly well.Update your Google Business Profile hours b...
07/29/2026

Here's a small marketing move that costs nothing and works surprisingly well.

Update your Google Business Profile hours before every holiday. Not the day of. A week ahead.

Most local businesses either forget or update the day of, which means Google has already served outdated hours to people searching. The customer drives to your location, finds you closed, and doesn't come back.

Takes ten minutes. Saves you customers. And there's a stretch of holidays coming up that most businesses are about to miss again.

Set a recurring reminder on your calendar for the week before Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. That one small habit puts you ahead of most of your competition.

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Fargo, ND

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Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

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+17013716500

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