Archives for January 2019

What is The Cost of An Online Store?

marciacatlin · January 17, 2019 ·

Fred, who we recently met in our e-commerce Facebook group, operates a brick and mortar store. He is angling to start his own e-commerce site. “How much money did you spend on getting your store up and running and how long did it take to get a return on your investment?”, he asks.
Answer: It all depends on your market/target audience/turnover.
One participant responds, “I was on eBay for 8+ years before going to a website. I was sick of being a needle in a haystack and being eBay’s slave. You have to be constantly driving traffic to your website, but a website that will help compliment the retail world and the Internet world.”
“Regarding my own customized theme, I think I spent about $2K. The free ones now look good if you have good product photos, etc.,” she added.
More E-Commerce Suggestions
What is your retail business? Start by researching to see if similar businesses exist, what price points they sell at and if there is much interaction such as product reviews, forums/facebook chitchat about those items/services.
Professional web design fees can run about $10,000. The right agency will listen to your needs and help you choose the best technology for your company. ROI will depend on your industry, margins, and overall investment. E-commerce is a great business to be in and it will supplement, and probably overtake your in-store sales numbers.
The thing you need to know up front is that building the site is just the beginning. It takes either a lot of time or a cash investment to drive traffic and will for the foreseeable future. The days of “build it and they will come” are gone.

First of all, outline your goals

As a brick and mortar store, your local customers will be the first ones you tell about your site. Your site may both increase your total sales, and cannibalize a bit of your local in-store traffic. Consider offering free local delivery and you may find your local business greatly increases.
If you go online to expand your geography, what will your store bring to the web that isn’t already there? Is it a unique product, with distinctive packaging,
or some other “cool” factor?
Why Would Online Shoppers Prefer Your Site?
So, of course, you need a budget for marketing, advertising and search engine optimization. Ads bring immediate revenue. SEO takes time to simmer, but eventually brings you unpaid traffic (minus whatever you originally spent to earn it).
Then, know that if you’re only enhancing local service and you don’t wish to spend what it costs for development, you may want to do it alone, using a premade template (customized for your store) and the knowledge base for BigCommerce.
Consider our BigCommerce Startup Special for only $999. It includes everything you need to get up and running quickly, affordable and hassle-free.
As to how soon to expect a positive ROI? That is a question based on what you offer, what you can invest, and how hard you plan to work it. Just putting up a site, without a strategy and professional finish, will generate very little, and in some cases, nothing from people who don’t already know and trust your brand.
Build your online store with BigCommerce.
Customize your site, manage shipping and payments, and list your products on Amazon, eBay, and Facebook with the #1 e-commerce platform.
Take a fully-featured BigCommerce Free Trial (no credit card required).

Are You Postponing Digital Marketing?

marciacatlin · January 14, 2019 ·

Why would you choose to postpone putting time and effort into digital marketing?
Small business owners often believe that they don’t have the time or money to be competitive online. Many solo entrepreneurs prefer to take things slowly and stick with one or two basic forms of advertising, assuming their business will evolve as time passes.
Case in point. I have a client, who after 13 years online, still would rather spend lots of money on seasonal exhibitions, shows, and direct mail brochures, than beef up his now very outdated website.
Meet Your Customers Where They Live
Do you think you’re simply not ready for digital marketing? Maybe you just need some time to get established and then you’ll figure it out!
Problem is your potential customers are already online. Right now. Today.
They expect to find you there with a website and a social media presence. They may be looking for reviews so they can learn what other people are saying about your company and whether it is a good place to do business.
If a potential customer can’t find you online, they will quickly head somewhere else.
Your Competitors Are Online
When you look at what your competitors are doing, you will get an idea of what is working and what isn’t. Most likely, whatever type of business you are in, your competitors have a web presence. What kind of content are they using? Are they blogging, or are they using a lot of graphics and videos?
How do they communicate their brand and what makes them unique? How well do they engage with the audience? Do you think you can do better? You can’t if you don’t participate in competing in the digital world.
If your prospects begin to search for a business similar to yours and are able to find your competitors’ website but not yours, your business is not even in the running. Your competitors have just raced ahead of you regardless of whether they have an effective website or a clear message.

Let Your Customers Come To You

If you have an online presence but your competitors are easier to find and are found first, you still might not be found at all. Besides creating a website, search engine optimization is a strategy that helps you move ahead of your competitors.

What is Digital Marketing?

This is an umbrella term for all of your online marketing efforts.
Digital marketing is a way to make yourself accessible to the people you are trying to reach to offer your products and services. You are able to attract a much larger audience than you possibly could by just catering to local prospects.
Businesses leverage digital channels such as Google search, social media, email and their websites to connect with current and prospective customers. From your website to your online assets like digital advertising, content marketing, email marketing, online brochures and beyond.
The best digital marketers have a clear picture of how each asset supports their overarching goals.
Are You A Tortoise or A Hare?
Here is a tale of slow and steady wins the race and why it matters to small business owners.
“One day, Tortoise and Hare agreed to a long and difficult race. Stretching over miles and miles of rough terrain, hidden pitfalls and unknown enemies, the path before them rewarded only those travelers who could survive its impending dangers. Those who successfully navigated the course were richly rewarded at the finish line.
It was that reward that enticed the unlikely competitors to approach the starting line and embark on a course neither had traveled before.
Hare, the quicker and better looking of the two, appeared at the start carrying a large backpack. Tortoise, an aging and average turtle, carried only his shell on his back.” Read the rest of this inventive tale here: Digital Marketing Allegory
Be A Tortoise
Few forms of advertising are as cost-effective as digital marketing. Patience is a virtue. Digital marketing in all of its forms takes time, a plan, commitment, and measurement.
Call Marcia at 561-906-3436 to learn more about how to fashion a Digital Marketing Plan for your business.

BigCommerce for Small Business. Easier. Reliable. Affordable.

marciacatlin · January 9, 2019 ·

Just the tip of the iceberg! Here are two of the main advantages of BigCommerce for small business — the SaaS model and the extremely rich core, out-of-the-box features.

But there are many more BigCommerce benefits and considerations focusing on small and medium-sized business owners!

Setting up a new e-commerce business involves various hidden costs and challenges so making the right platform decision can mean the difference between a black or red number at the bottom of your balance sheet.

So what does BigCommerce do for the small owner?

It gives you the ability to build and manage your own website. The core software has everything you need to run a business without plugins beyond plugging in a payment gateway. That said, most businesses will add plug-ins that either add functions – like email marketing software, or popups to gather emails for email marketing, accounting software like Quickbooks … or plug-ins that offer richer feature sets than the built-in feature within the cart.

Creative marketing solutions also define BigCommerce. For example, the built-in product reviews can be enhanced by adding a third party program to make it easier for customers to review, offering coupons in exchange for reviews, and making reviews easily shared.

Benefits of the BigCommerce SAAS platform

SaaS (Software as a Service) based platforms offer the biggest ROI in terms of money and implementation time. Why Saas?

Reliability and tech support are the big advantages of choosing the BigCommerce SaaS platform rather than WordPress w/ WooCommerce.
Here are many more:

24/7 support
Enterprise level servers with redundancy and backup.
Far less downtime.
BigCommerce management of all technical updates, site security, security patches, and PCI compliance.
Important because small businesses can be vulnerable to hacking, DOD attacks, and non-compliance with PCI standards (which can cause loss of payment processing).
Better “out of the box” toolset, and more robust API so you can adapt your online store to meet changing business needs.

“We chose BigCommerce because, for a very low fee every month, we got all the technology we needed to run our business and reach more customers.” – Jeff Conarko, CEO & Founder BigCommerce Small Business Case Studies

Check out our BigCommerce StartUp Special Offer.

Or, find out for yourself! Take a fully-featured 14-day BigCommerce Free Trial (no credit card required). Click below.

Big Commerce Free Trial

Why SEO Is A Business Necessity Even for New Websites

marciacatlin · January 7, 2019 ·

As a small business owner, you may see SEO as an unnecessary expense.
So how important is SEO for new websites?
All websites start small with a few pages of content and no organic traffic and gradually they become bigger. How successful a website will become, depends on the SEO tactics you will use from the beginning.
The Most Powerful Digital Marketing Tool
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of making your website more visible to search engines. Without doing SEO, your visibility is not increasing and this means no growth.
SEO is a tool for every website, either small or big, new or old.
SEO elements fall into two categories:
• On-Page SEO. Any effort you take to improve individual pages to enhance your ranking in search engine results is on-page SEO.
As well as keywords, this includes formatting, URLs, navigation, load speed, on-site blogging, and responsive design.
• Off-Page SEO. You can also improve SEO by taking action off your website. The most well-known aspect of off-page SEO is link
building, but this category also encompasses social media, business profiles and articles.

Benefits of SEO for new websites or startups:

It’s the most cost-effective method of marketing your website, especially with a low budget. Any money or time you spend on SEO at the beginning will pay off later.
With PPC or other marketing channels, you can get traffic as long as you pay for clicks on your ads (either Google or Facebook), but with SEO is different.
When you are patient enough to wait for SEO to work, you will get traffic and leads 24/7 without spending a dollar on ads. The best model for growing an online business.
You can do SEO on your own.
SEO is not a short-term solution. If your goal is to create a foundation that will last for years to come, then SEO is your answer.
SEO traffic is targeted which means higher conversion rates at a lower cost.

How does a new website start ranking?

Learn below from Yoast, step-by-step, how to start working on the SEO for your new website!
SEO For A New Website
The Competitive Edge
If your competitors are still relying on outbound marketing or are just hoping for the best with their websites, you have the perfect opportunity. Many small companies just have a free Facebook page or Instagram account.
There is no need to start big. Begin with the basics and build up gradually as your company grows.
FREE SEO Review & Quote
If you are considering SEO for your website, or if you are not satisfied with the progress of an existing SEO campaign, contact us for a FREE SEO assessment and service proposal. Call Marcia at 561.906.3436.
Check out our High-Performance Local SEO package.

How Does SEO Get You Customers?

mcoffey@jmgroup.net · January 1, 2019 ·

How does SEO get you customers? It’s all relative as Einstein would say!
According to Einstein’s “Theory of General Relativity”, your position and speed in the universe influence what you observe. A different person in a different place, moving at a different speed would make a different observation.

What does this have to do with SEO?

Rankings are determined by the environment they are competing in.
Say, your website offers a service to a community with no competing websites, then capturing strong keyword rankings is easy. You could have a terrible website, with typos and poor navigation, but still rank #1!

The Competitive Marketplace

That same website would perform poorly in a highly competitive marketplace. To compete in a small and limited marketplace, you can do well with a mediocre website and mediocre SEO.

But, to survive in a competitive marketplace,
your website must be extra special!

Google displays websites in its search results that satisfy a search query. To do this, Google considers the user’s experience. Websites that best satisfy the purpose of a search tend to rank better on Google. So, to remain competitive on Google, your website must satisfy the search query better than your competitors’ websites.

How this is accomplished is a very complex process as you can see below:

How fast is your website?
Does your website look great? It really matters when there is competition!
Does your website provide quality content?
Is your website mobile-friendly?
Is your website organized? Can people easily find what they are looking for?
What do you offer that is better than your competitor? Pricing, testimonials, results, guarantees, etc.

How To Begin?

Search Google for phrases that your customers would use.
Then discover which websites consistently come up at the top of Google’s search results.
Also, add content, look sharper, be better organized, and make it easier to communicate with your company.
Goal 1: You need the best website for the marketplace you serve.
Goal 2: You must be willing to put in the time and effort so your website will stand out.
Over time your efforts will be rewarded by Google.
Call us to learn more about our High-Performance Local SEO Package.

CAUTION
Don’t underestimate your competitors. If you want to achieve greatness across the search engines, give Marcia Coffey a call at 561-906-3436 or learn more about her High-Performance Local SEO service.