As a small business owner, having a website is crucial to your success in today's digital age. If you don't already have a website, or if your current website is outdated or hard to use, it's time to consider investing in a new one. Here are 5 reasons why your small business needs a new website:

1. Reach a wider audience: With a website, you can easily share information about your products and services with potential customers from all over the world. This can help you expand your customer base and increase sales.

2. Improve your credibility: A professional-looking website can establish your business as an expert in your field, which can help you attract more customers and build trust with potential clients.

3. Save time and money: A website can streamline your customer service process by allowing customers to find answers to common questions on their own. This can save you time and money, so you can focus on running your business.

4. Stay competitive: In today's market, having a website is increasingly important for small businesses. Without a website, you may be at a disadvantage compared to your competitors.

5. Gain valuable insights: A website with built-in analytics can provide valuable data about your visitors, such as where they are coming from, how long they stay on your site, and what pages they visit. This data can help you understand your audience better and make informed decisions about how to improve your website and marketing efforts.

In conclusion, a new website is a crucial investment for any small business looking to stay competitive in today's digital age. With a new website, you can reach a wider audience, improve your credibility, save time and money, and gain valuable insights about your customers. Don't let your small business fall behind, take the first step towards a modern and effective website today by scheduling a demo with Webware. Our team of experts will work with you to understand your business needs and create a website that will help you reach your goals. Don't wait, schedule a demo with Webware today and take your small business to the next level!

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, and as we move into 2023, there are several trends that small business owners should be aware of.
Video Content:
One of the biggest trends in digital marketing is the continued rise of video content. More and more businesses are using video to engage with their audience, and this trend is only set to continue in 2023. Whether it's live streaming on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, or creating engaging videos for YouTube and Vimeo, video is a powerful tool for reaching and engaging with potential customers.

Personalization:
Another trend to watch out for in 2023 is the increasing importance of personalization. As consumers become more savvy and more selective about the content they engage with, businesses will need to find ways to tailor their marketing messages to individual customers. This could involve using data and analytics to create personalized email marketing campaigns, or using AI and machine learning to personalize the customer experience on a business's website.

Influencer Marketing:
In addition, the use of influencer marketing is also set to grow in 2023. Influencer marketing involves partnering with social media influencers who have a large following in your target market and using their influence to promote your business. This can be a powerful way to reach a large audience and build trust with potential customers.

Chatbots:
Finally, the use of chatbots is also set to increase in 2023. Chatbots are AI-powered software programs that can simulate conversations with customers in real-time, providing quick and convenient answers to common questions and helping to improve the customer experience.

In summary, digital marketing in 2023 is all about video content, personalization, influencer marketing, and chatbots. Small business owners who want to stay ahead of the curve should consider incorporating these trends into their marketing strategies.

Need help with website and digital marketing for your small business? Join over 4000 business owners like you that are a part of Webware. Book a Growth Session with us and let’s look at your current efforts and if Webware is the right fit for you.

Canada’s biggest retail conference is all set to be held on May 28, and 29, 2019 at the Toronto Congress Centre and we’re proud to announce that Webware will be at Booth #114.

STORE 2019 is the biggest retail conference in Canada, and the packed two-day agenda features 70 of North America’s biggest names and retail influencers. The exhibition floor showcases never-before-seen retail tech innovations and solutions and targets the unique needs of the retail industry in Canada.

With more retailers joining every day, this is the biggest networking event of the year, and Webware will be there to help you in any way we can.

For more information, call us at 1-844-WEBWARE, or get in touch with us by clicking here.

At Webware, we create and send out thousands of email campaigns a month for our customers. After building newsletters on the usual email marketing platforms, we felt the options available out there were too complicated. So we decided to make our own. 

Today, we are announcing the launch of "Newsletter".

"Newsletter" is the easiest email marketing platform you have ever used and it's available for free to every Webware customer right now!

Say goodbye to using those other complicated email marketing tools. Webware’s Newsletter platform makes it easier than ever to send out beautiful, engaging email newsletters. Stay in touch with your customers using our user-friendly newsletter platform right from the Webware dashboard.

First and foremost, it's simple to use. With "Newsletter", you can select the customers you would like to send an email to, write your email, upload images, style your text and click send. You can use an existing template or build your own format with "click and drag" boxes. Or if you know HTML, you can customize away. 

Once you've sent out the email, you can track the success of your newsletter. With Webware’s Newsletter, it’s simple to see if your newsletter is reaching clients and how effective it is. Easily keep track of how many people have opened your newsletter, clicked on the content in the email, or unsubscribed. Easily create a follow-up campaign to customers who showed the most interest by creating a new list based on clicks.

To learn more about how to use Webware's "Newsletter" email tool, please click here. To learn more about Webware's complete digital toolkit for business, please click here. 

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Google provides some amazing tools to anyone with a website. These (for the most part) free tools offer businesses an amazing advantage over their competition on the most used search engine in the world. Where your business ranks on Google Search can influence how many new customers visit your business and possibly your bottom line. Use these four powerful tools to ensure your business is as visible and effective as possible across all Google platforms.

My Business

The Google My Business tool is arguably the most important tool offered by Google for businesses. The My Business Tool allows you to set up how your business contact information will look to customers on Google search. Once set up, your location, website, reviews, phone number and business hours will appear prominently in Google search results, making it easy for your customers to see relevant information quickly. The My Business Tool is used across Google, including Mobile Search and the Google Maps app, so your customers see consistent, accurate info from anywhere they search. Given the popularity of Google and it’s powerful local search, the My Business tool is a necessary component to any business’s online strategy.

Google Analytics

When it comes to website data, Google Analytics is the gold-standard for tracking and reporting on your business’s website. Google Analytics tracks and reports visitor data in a convenient dashboard allowing businesses to see new visitors to the website, returning visitors, how long each visitor spent on the website, which pages they viewed and their geographical location. You can also pull reports on specific page performance and traffic sources. Businesses can monitor marketing campaigns, conversion rates, keyword data and add e-commerce tracking. Google Analytics is a “freemium” (free with paid options) tool for monitoring the basic health and operation of any website and is a must for businesses.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console, previously called Webmaster Tools, allows for more advanced website tracking and maintenance of Google-friendly websites. It provides detailed reports on your search traffic, click-through rates and mobile vs. desktop traffic. Through the Search Analytics Report, you can group, filter and compare your data to tweak your overall digital strategy and maximize website performance. The alerts feature will notify you of any website errors that might affect your rank in search results. Google Search Console can provide your business with the tools to get an extra edge against your competition in search results.

Google+ Publisher

The Google+ Publisher tag is another valuable tool to further enhance how your business info appears in search results. Once you install the publisher tag on your website, Google will link your website to your business brand page on Google+. When someone searches your brand specifically on Google, the content from your Google+ plus will appear on the right side of the search results, providing an eye-catching and detailed description of your business. The Publisher tag allows you to show customers more than the basics of your company without leaving the Google Search page.

Conclusion

With consumers turning to the internet more than ever for information, a business in solid standing with Google is likely to have better online visibility and see increases in both foot and website traffic. These four tools comprise a solid foundation for any business looking to establish a strong online presence and manage an effective, profitable digital strategy.

Webware offers it’s customers an extensive range of services to help manage and grow their websites after the initial launch. The Digital Services Package includes the set up of Google My Business, Google Analytics, Google Search Console and Google+ Publisher for your website. The package also includes blog content writing, online reputation management, website/keyword analysis and optimization to ensure your website adds value to your business. Click here for more info.

Most owners of online stores typically run extensive promotions and marketing campaigns to capitalise on the festive season at the end of the year, and watch with delight as their sales volume soars. You are likely one of them.

Now that you have set up your promotions and campaigns for the peak shopping season, it’s time to focus on another equally important element for success - Customer Satisfaction!

If you had any reason to wonder just how important customer satisfaction is to your ecommerce business, we have compiled the top 5 reasons just for you!

1.Satisfied customers are the ones who return

As obvious as it may sound, it’s important to always keep in mind that only those customers who are satisfied with your products and service are likely to return for more. Of course, not every satisfied customer will become a repeat customer, but it’s almost certain that a dissatisfied customer will never return, especially given the large variety of options available in today’s highly competitive market.

2. Returning customers are cheaper to retain than acquiring new customers

If you’ve ever run a successful marketing campaign, you are well aware of the high cost of customer acquisition. The cost involved in getting a satisfied customer to return to your website is a lot cheaper than the marketing spend required to acquire new customers. One thing successful businesses have in common the world over is a high volume of returning customers. And, as I’ve already said, the only customers who are likely to return are the satisfied ones.

3. You can make it part of your brand’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

As you already know, in today’s highly competitive market, customers have a number of businesses to chose from to satisfy the exact same need. Good customer service can often become one of a brand’s USPs that customers take into account when making their choice. Price  is of course an important differentiator, especially for first-time customers - but research has shown that very often, people are willing to pay a slightly higher price for better customer service.

4. It leads to customer loyalty, increasing Customer Lifetime Value

The more frequently a customer returns to your store, the more value he or she creates for you. Your Sale Cost reduces with regard to that customer, while your Sale Value keeps increasing. The longer you can keep a customer satisfied, the more you stand to gain from them.

5. It affects your Online Brand Reputation

Research shows that more and more online buyers are depending upon product reviews and customer testimonials to make their purchase decisions. The more positive reviews you have, the higher your chances of acquiring a sale. On the other hand, negative reviews will turn away customers in a devastatingly efficient way.  So when you start getting those great customer reviews, be sure to post them on your website for all to see!

Conclusion: It's Worth It!

With these important reasons in mind, be sure you go the extra mile to please your customers. Fulfil your orders quickly, communicate well with your customers, ensure your products are high quality and well packaged – all with a goal of ensuring the highest levels of customer satisfaction. You'll be glad you did it! And your customers will too!

After you get your business online, the first thing you’ll likely want is to have people find it. One way to do this is advertising and marketing, for sure.  But one critical (and free) step you should do right away -- once your website is ready and optimized for SEO -- is to index your site with Google, so that people can find your site through search. 

Think for a minute about how you shop online. You search for the product you want in a search engine like Google, and then click on links that show up as results.  So you need YOUR business to show up for people who are looking for YOUR products and services in the same way. 

As we’ve said before, Google is by far the most popular search engine today, with 67%+ of all searches happening there, so it makes sense to focus your attention on Google’s search engine.  You can make sure your site shows up on Google quickly by indexing it.

What is indexing?

It’s a way of telling Google that your website exists. Google’s search bot may eventually find and index your site, but you really have no idea how long it will take, it could take weeks or more.  So this is a way to speed up that process.

How to index your site with Google

Here are the steps:

1) Go to Google Webmaster Tools site. You will need to sign in with a Google Account. If you don’t already have one, you will need to create one.

2) Click on the ‘Add a Site’ button and submit your website URL.

3) You will be given different options to verify that you are the owner of the site. The easiest option is to choose the “HTML tag” option under “Alternate Methods”. You will be given a code that you need to copy-paste in the meta tag of your home page.

Webware clients, to paste the HTML tag into your homepage, go to Website > Site Pages in your workspace and select “Home” page, or ask your Guru for help with this. 

4) Once the site is verified, you will get an email from Google that looks like this:

This email will help you set up your Google Webmaster Account.

If you are unsure of how to do the set up, there are helpful links to explain the whole process in easy-to-follow-steps. Whether you make use of the other options or not, be sure to submit the sitemap of your online store.

Once you have set up your account, your website, along with all its pages, will get indexed by Google soon thereafter. And once your site is indexed, it will show up in search results for searches that are relevant to your business.

How is indexing different from SEO?

SEO is about page rank, which is the next step. First, your site needs to be indexed.

Note that indexing does not guarantee your website will appear on the first page of Google search results.  It only guarantees that it WILL show up on relevant search results.  It won’t be missed. 

For a new website, it’s highly unlikely you will show up on the first page right from the start. You need to work on your SEO to get it moving up the Page Rank, hopefully to the first page, for your most important keywords.

Conclusion

Indexing your site with Google is a key and simple first step to getting your site noticed by Google's search engine.  

Webware customers, we’re now offering an SEO marketing package, where we will make sure that your site has all the right title tags and meta descriptions, and we will take care of indexing your site on Google for you. Contact support@powerstores.com or your Guru for more information!

So you have decided to start a company blog on your online store/ website to drive more traffic, promote your business and engage your target audience. But what should you write on your blog? What kind of content is considered appropriate for a business blog? And, how to create content that will benefit your brand as well as your bottom-line in the long run?

Here are 10 ideas on what to post on your company blog:

1. Tell your Story: People are inherently interested in stories, and you can use your own story to develop interest in your brand. Talk about how you got the idea, how you met your collaborators, how you came to start your business, etc. If there are some really interesting facets to your brand, talk about them - the designers, the craftsmen, the techniques, etc. Introduce the people on your team, talk about their dreams and aspirations. The more people get interested in your brand, the more they will care about it.

2. Make Announcements: Whatever announcements you may have with regard to your brand- whether it is a new product launch, a new collection, a season-ending sale, use your blog to make these announcements. The blog provides a whole new channel as well as attracts a different section of your target audience.

3. Answer your Customers’ Questions: There is an important caveat here and that is ‘before they ask them’. You are surely aware of your target audiences’needs, concerns, demands, questions, etc. with reference to your products. Address these issues long before they actually come up. Use your blog to provide all the relevant information your potential clients are likely to need with reference to your brand, company and products.

4. Educate your Customers: Apart from pre-empting the questions your potential customers may have while buying your product, you can also use your blog to educate your customers in using your product most effectively and efficiently. If you have any guides, tutorials, how-to videos, etc. post them on your blog. Not only can you use this as a ready resource when your clients make a purchase, you also develop a reputation for being concerned with customer satisfaction.

5. Get Customer Feedback: Undoubtedly, a lot of market research goes into product development. You already know what your customers want and you have developed a product to fulfill that need. How about finding out exactly how your customers will respond to your products BEFORE you launch them? Use your blog to provide sneak previews of your products and get feedback on them from the very people who are going to be using them. You will have time for fixes, changes and troubleshooting before the launch, should the need arise.

6. Create a Platform for your Customers: Use your blog to create a space dedicated to your customers. Add their pics taken with your products, post their comments and testimonials, answer questions that they may have, link to blogs they may have written about you. Your blog can become a community space to help create a community of your customers.

7. Provide Industry News and Information: This is your opportunity to establish yourself as an industry expert. Report and remark on important industry news, identify and analyse trends that you see, write your opinions on how your industry can create a greater impact.

8. Create Engagement: Fun engagement opportunities can bring tons of traffic to your blog if done right. For instance, run a photo or a caption contest on your blog. Announce the contest, provide all the rules and guidelines, keep updating the page throughout the duration of the contest and announce the winners of the contest on your blog. Use other social media networks like Facebook and emails to promote such contests. Watch as traffic increases and your brand awareness builds.

9. Follow Relevant Blogs for Ideas: Look for the market leaders and thought leaders in your industry and follow their blogs. Of course, you never want to plagiarize their content, but you can easily find out what the industry is talking about, concerned with, aspiring to, etc. and use these ideas as a starting place for your own blog post.

10. Entertain: Use your blog as a space to provide relevant entertainment to your target audience. If you find a comic strip, a funny video or a quirky experience with regards to your product, brand or industry, post in on your blog so you and your target audience can share a laugh together and bond over it.

Now, you have the secret to creating the best possible content for your business blog. Once you get going on your blog, you’ll get better at knowing what works and what doesn’t, and it’ll come as second nature to think of new post ideas.  So go ahead and blog, and you’ll be interacting with your target audience in ways that were not possible before! 

Note: Webware customers, go here to read about how to add a blog to your Webware today!

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If you’ve already started your online store, you have probably learned that it takes some effort and money to acquire a new customer. So how does one KEEP a customer, get him or her to return often, and even better, spread the word about your store to others?

Needless to say, a customer’s experience with your store, the products you have on offer and your pricing are big factors in driving repeat purchase. But there is one more important business tactic you should have – a Customer Rewards Program.

Here are some tips on how you can implement a points-based Loyalty Rewards Program and how to make it truly effective, especially for small retailers.

1. Make it worthwhile to collect points

The points have to be redeemed for the customer to enjoy her rewards. So make it possible for her to earn enough points from two or three average value purchases to get a tangible saving on the third or fourth purchase. For a low value item 10% savings don’t work, it should be at least 20%. But for a Rs. 1000 item, a saving of Rs. 100 is sweet.

2. Make it easy to figure out the value of points earned

Keep the maths simple. Each point is worth Rs. 10, or 10 points are worth Rs. 1. Don’t have complicated formulas.

3. Offer starter points for customer registration

You want customers to register for your store for many reasons – that allows you to add them to your email mailing list, collect data on their purchases and track repeat visits.  So you can encourage them to register by offering points on registration.  It also gives them a nice balance of points right from the beginning, which will excite them to return to your site to earn more points and to redeem their points.

4. Play with the points values to drive purchases of specific products

If you want to specifically promote select merchandise, give a higher number of points as compared to similarly priced products. And don’t forget to advertise the offer, alongside the promoted product or even on your homepage.

5. Reward customers for helping promote your store

Customers who like your Facebook page or recommend your store to others are friends you don’t want to lose. So reward them for every friendly action with bonus points.

6. Have seasons or days when you run Points Multipliers

Instead of giving discounts away, give points away on special days and festivals. For example, earn 50% more points on Women’s Day and for the fortnight leading up to Deepawali.

7. Give away bonus points on special occasions

Present a customer with some bonus points on her birthday, or even on your store’s birthday. Send her a nice email on that day to announce it. The unexpectedness of such a gift usually works well to build a special bond which can lead to a repeat purchase.

8. Give your points a name that links to your store

Suppose your store is called The Baby Store and sells things for babies. You can call your points Baby Steps. So when a momma earns 10 points for her purchase she gets a message saying "Congratulations, you earned 10 Baby Steps for your last purchase!" It helps in standing out from the many loyalty programs that are running.

9. Talk about your rewards program!

Remember, the sense of reward is felt when the points are redeemed. So remind your customers that the points are there!  Notify customers who have a certain number of points by sending them reminder emails, and suggest purchases they can make using their points. Communicate when points are earned. Build it into the invoice and the confirmation email you send. Display “points earned” and “points required to purchase” on your product pages.

Using a points-based Loyalty Program is a great way to keep customers coming back to your store and to encourage behaviours you want, like member registration and more.  Think of all the places where you’re enrolled in Loyalty Programs – airlines, credit cards, supermarkets, the local coffee shop – and how it influences your purchase decisions.  If you could make your online store a place where people want to keep coming back, why wouldn’t you?