Insights from Nebo

Whether you’re playing poker, on the field of war or even practicing SEO, there are generally two types of ways people make decisions: reactively or proactively. Reactive people tend to make a series of one-off decisions determined in large part by the impulses and whims of their opponents.  They look for success only in what others are willing to give them and confine themselves to fixing problems rather than building authentic value through sustainable growth.

Proactive people, on the other hand, base their decisions and tactics on a clearly-defined strategy aimed at accomplishing their goals regardless of how their opponent acts. They are the people who understand their strategies must be influenced by their opponents but not dictated by them.  These people view their efforts as more than a sum of their parts, recognizing that true victory comes from long-term, sustainable success and that winning the war is far more important than losing the battle.

Proactive decision-makers are in it for the long haul.  They understand that every decision will have positive and negative consequences but that each of these decisions should bring us closer to our overall goals.  In short, they understand game theory.

Google’s actions are usually shrouded in mystery. Nowhere is this more apparent than when website traffic falls off a cliff in a matter of days due to an unannounced algorithm change. However, not all of Google’s updates are nefarious or even under the radar. Google’s greatest asset is flexibility and, with a few exceptions, accommodation of user needs.

With each year that passes, we get a little wiser. Some of our principles and beliefs are reinforced. Others evolve as we learn and grow.

2012 was a tremendous year for us. We couldn’t have been more fortunate. Our team grew stronger. We added signature clients and launched exciting projects. We also learned a lot – both from our successes and failures.

Below are some of the biggest lessons we learned in the past year.

This year, we've published over 70 posts on the Nebo blog covering everything from the history of french fries to the same-sex marriage controversy surrounding Chick-fil-A. Our goal is to write content that engages and fuels intelligent discussions. If we can work in a fast food tie-in, great.

Internally, we like to track how many social shares each post receives. It helps us learn which topics people find interesting, which ones are duds, and which of our writers deserve promotions (just kidding).

Looking back at our most-shared posts from 2012, we can glean more than a few insights into our audience and how we can better engage them in 2013.

The biggest symbol of the holiday season is of course, the Christmas tree. Real, plastic or made from semi-recyclable materials, it represents joy, wonder, hopes, dreams and the inevitable glee at what lies underneath come Christmas morning. With much anticipation for being with family and friends around our own Christmas trees soon, we took a look at some of the year's best, and most interesting, pine tree presentations. We invite you to take a look at some of the most amazing trees from around the world, and to share some of your memories of what you found under your own tree growing up.

Not since Henry Ford created the assembly line and the Model T has one man or company so influenced the automotive industry. Tesla Motors, a Silicon Valley upstart fueled not by profit but philanthropy, has jumpstarted the auto industry’s movement into electric vehicles. Tesla has achieved what no other car company dared think was possible: proved that electric vehicles could be awesome. Don’t take our word for it. Ask Motor Trend, who named their latest car, the Model S, 2013 Car of the Year.