For years, my morning routine has been an afterthought, a groggy welcome to a new day and a prolonged transition to a wakeful state. Not to mention, remote work makes it incredibly easy to sleep until the very last minute. Waking up at 8:55 am was not unusual for me, and neither was the guilt of wasting so much time. I’ve always been a late riser, but not a proud one. In an attempt at self-improvement, increased productivity and general curiosity, I decided to change one major habit in my life: my alarm time.

[Read more…] about Waking Up Early: An Experiment in Productivity

For the second installment of our series on UpBuild’s company values, let’s talk about Betterment. From our Values page:

“‘Will this make someone’s day better?’ We use this question to make decisions on a daily basis. Will this strategy or recommendation I’m working make a client’s day better? Will getting this website to show up well in Google make a searcher’s day better? Will testing this CTA placement make a website user’s day better? Will giving a team member feedback in this way make their day better? If the answer is no, we have to ask if there’s a better way. Sometimes there’s not, but usually, there is.”

Making the World a Better Place

When you’re a marketer who’s also an idealist, it can be easy to feel disheartened by the very idea of marketing sometimes. After all, the cynical side of us says, isn’t marketing just figuring out how to manipulate people into buying something?

The other side of that coin, though, is that marketing can just as easily be about helping people find the things that they want and need, in ways that feel easy, pleasant, and even delightful. I’ve long said that one of the best things about search engine marketing is that unlike some more broadcast-focused mediums, SEO is all about helping people find things they’re already looking for – it’s selling people things they already want. [Read more…] about Values Spotlight: Betterment