Our Blog Posts

Why Do You Need A Website?

marciacatlin · February 10, 2019 ·

Technology businesses know they need a website. If you’re in real estate (even as an individual agent), you need a website. A website gives you a higher number of potential customers to create a relationship with, so your competitors don’t beat you to the punch.
When people say they want a website, most of the time what they really are asking for is an online presence. And if we dig even further, I bet we will find that what they truly desire is to build up an audience or customers. But what website owners really need is a Unique Selling Proposition and a Target Audience.
What is A Unique Selling Proposition?
A unique selling proposition, more commonly referred to as a USP, is the one thing that makes your business better than the competition.
A USP is what your business stands for. It’s what sets your business apart from others because of its quality, unique product or service. Instead of attempting to be known for everything, businesses with a unique selling proposition stand for something specific, and it becomes what you’re known for.
Many businesses make the mistake of attempting to stand for everything when they first get started. They want to do everything well, and they want to be all things to all people. They want to be known for having the highest quality products AND the lowest prices. They want to have the best food AND the cheapest prices. They want to be known for the best burgers AND the most delicious salads AND the juiciest steaks and ribs.
What is Your Target Audience?
Your target audience is not “everyone.” Your task in defining your target group is to identify and understand your particular niche so you can dominate it.
A target market is the specific group of people you want to reach with your marketing message. They are the people who are most likely to buy your products or services, and they are united by some common characteristics, like demographics and behaviors.
The more clearly you define your target group, the better you can understand how and where to reach your best prospects. You can start with broad categories like millennials or single dads, but you need to get much more detailed to achieve the best possible conversion rates.
A website doesn’t build an audience … by itself.
Let us imagine we just started a business as a local craft brewery, and we want a website to promote our first beer, aimed at true beer connoisseurs. We then get ourselves a simple website that advertises the product and collects emails from whoever is interested. We put the site online and see that it shows up when we search for it on Google.
Then weeks go by and we have gotten exactly two emails from our page, both of them spam.
We checked our Google Analytics to check all the statistics. Less than ten people have visited our site since it was created. We then do a quick Google search for “craft beers” and “beers in <your_town>” only to see that we don’t even figure on the first few pages.

The Importance of Digital Marketing

We now have a timeless piece of technology on the web that basically advertises our business to the whole world. It should be bringing more people to us, right? Except our website is competing with every single other one for everyone’s attention.
So our site needs a lot of help to do so starting with Search Engine Optimization, social media and content marketing.
Contact Marcia at 561-906-3436 or email to learn more about getting started with your new website and all the help it needs!

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.