Happy Holidays from the team at Webware.io. Wishing you a joyous and safe holiday season, and a happy New Year 2020!

If you need any assistance from us during this holiday season, feel free to get in touch with us by clicking here, or give us a call at 1-844-WEBWARE.

Email is the currency of the web, and everybody online has an active email address. When it comes to conversions, there isn’t a more powerful channel than email. The average click-through rate of an email campaign is around 3%. Conversion rates on social accounts like Twitter are approximately 0.5%.

Here are some fascinating and amazing facts about email marketing: 

Email marketing is the perfect way to start gathering interest, and to help your business generate a lot of leads during this holiday season, Webware.io has put together eight reasons why you should consider Email Marketing this Holiday Season!

1. It builds credibility and trust

2. It boosts website traffic and builds audiences

3. It boosts sales and generates leads

4. It facilitates brand building

5. Strengthens relationships and improves communication

6. Establishes customer loyalty and brand advocacy

7. Promotes market research

8. Increases ROI

To help you make the most of your email marketing campaign, you can choose Webware.io’s Newsletter Platform. Our platform empowers small and medium-size businesses to create and send high impact email newsletters with ease. Together we can power up your business’ email marketing campaigns for the holiday season.

Alternatively, if you choose to create a holiday email marketing campaign yourself, you need to plan early and segment your email lists. You must also check the previous year’s email trends and optimize your emails to drive conversations. To ensure your campaigns are effective, you need to consider: 

a. Who your audience is

b. Your goals and objectives

c. Possible return on investment (ROI) 

d. Track results to help improve your campaigns

These tips will help you to start working on optimizing your holiday email marketing strategy and making sure it’s geared to get the results you want.

To make planning your email campaign easier, here are six valuable ideas for email marketing for the holiday season:

Product Announcements: You can send a quick note to your customers informing them when new products arrive at your store.

Black Friday Sale: Encourage people to shop by promoting holiday offers.

Early Bird Offers: Plan a special ‘Early Bird Offer’ for your customers and promote it via emails.

Cyber Monday Promotions: Create a ‘Monday-Only Offer’ to drive online sales for Cyber Monday.

Last-Minute Deals: Promote last-minute deals to shoppers by encouraging them to act fast before the product runs out of stock or the holiday season ends.

Limited Edition Sale: Give your email subscribers a sneak peek at your limited edition holiday items.

While creating an email campaign may seem like a great idea, misunderstanding how to make optimum use of emails will lead to a less than desirable outcome. To ensure that your email campaign has the desired effect, reach out to the experts at Webware.io.

As leaders in email and online newsletter marketing, we can help your brand stand out. By relying on our expertise in digital marketing, we take the time to understand your business, plan actions, and deliver an email campaign that builds your brand online. Besides our email and online newsletter marketing services, we offer an array of other digital marketing services to ensure your online presence is well-established to leverage higher conversions.

To learn more about our services and complete digital marketing tool kit, please click here. If you have any questions about how we can help with your digital marketing needs, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact our experts here. 

Digital Marketing is on course to surpass all traditional marketing techniques and develop into the eventual face of marketing. So as a small business owner, the sooner you implement a robust digital strategy for your business, the sooner you’ll start seeing results.

To help you take advantage of all the benefits that Digital Marketing has to offer, Webware’s David Marcus will be hosting a one hour workshop on Digital Marketing Solutions for Small Business at Staples Store 25, 375 University Avenue in Toronto.

The workshop will include a walkthrough of the key aspects of digital marketing for small businesses, how to drive new businesses online, as well as how to pick the right strategy for your business and measure your digital success.

Join David Marcus, Senior Vice President of Business Development at  Webware, as he takes you through the world of digital marketing and how to make it work for your small business. 

Date & Time: May 8, 2019, 6:00 pm EST

Location: Staples Store #25, 375 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5G 2J5

Join from home or anywhere @ Virtual Zoom Meetings: https://zoom.us/j/727112064

Speaker: David Marcus

For more information, call us at 1-844-WEBWARE.

To register for the in-store seminar, please click HERE, or sign up for the online version of the seminar by clicking HERE.

Is your business looking to create or expand its digital marketing strategy?

Visit Webware at Staples at 12 pm on January 24, 2019, to learn what your small business should be doing to drive new business online for a successful future.

Webware CEO Cory York will be hosting a complimentary, one hour workshop on Digital Marketing Solutions for Small Business at Staples Store 25, 375 University Avenue in Toronto. 

With all the competition out there, now is the time to take advantage of all the benefits that Digital Marketing has to offer.

Digital Marketing is on course to surpass all traditional marketing techniques and develop into the eventual face of marketing.

If you’d like your business to be more visible online and attract more customers from the internet, it’s important to develop a strong digital marketing strategy to help you reach your goals.

And the sooner you implement a solid digital strategy for your business, the sooner you’ll start seeing results.  

To be successful, Digital Marketing involves an understanding of the moving parts, a proven strategy, and effective implementation.

Not sure where to start?

To help you understand what Digital Marketing is and how you can implement solutions to make it work for you, Webware hosting a complimentary, hour-long workshop that outlines Digital Marketing Solutions for Small Businesses.

Join Cory York, CEO of Webware, as he takes you through all of the key aspects of digital marketing for small businesses.  

Date & Time: January 24, 2019, 12:00 pm EST

Location: Staples Store #25, 375 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5G 2J5 ( TICKETS SOLD OUT ) Join from home or anywhere:

Join Virtual Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/539219001

Speaker: Cory York, CEO of Webware

For more information, call us at 1-844-WEBWARE 

Even though website technology, design, and marketing services have catapulted small businesses that have opted to go digital, into increased profitability or have provided varying degrees of success over the last couple of years, there are still several similar businesses that are shackled with misconceptions about whether it will work for them or not.

Some of these faux facts have been repeated so often, that they are almost beyond the reach of critical analysis. Though they are baseless, these canards have become the foundation of numerous debates and often result in small businesses ditching the idea of creating an online presence for themselves and reaching out to a wider target market.

If you’re a small business owner who has reason to believe, you should keep your business offline, we’re going to bust three myths that may change your mind.

MYTH 1: Going digital and staying there is expensive!

A common misconception is that it takes a lot of money and skills for a business to be successful on the internet. In reality, that theory is light years away from the truth. It’s even further away if you’re working on a Webware platform. Webware provides you with everything you would need to be successful at a fair price.

MYTH 2: Website changes require HTML code experience!

Chugging down coffee and the ability to dish out HTML code is no longer a prerequisite for making changes to your website requires. Website changes can be as easy as ‘A-B’C’ as Webware has an easy to use content management system, that allows anyone to easily make changes to colors, content, pages and more!

MYTH 3: Website content and eCommerce require separate platforms!

Whoever stated that you need a separate website for content and another platform for eCommerce, has never been more wrong. The policy of divide and rule may get you a little mileage, but if you really want to conquer the market, you need to unite all your resources. At Webware, we do just that! By throwing in our blog platform as well, you get something that normally takes three platforms to do, all under one roof.

In addition, one larger site trumps two or three separate sites and gets you way more SEO juice. “One website to rule them all” … if you may.

Myth 4: SEO takes thousands of dollars to get you to page one.

This statement is a million miles from the truth and is absolutely untrue. However, Webware can get you there without you having to spend thousands of dollars. Improving your ranking is all about showing a consistent effort across multiple channels including keeping your website up to date, creating new content, getting good reviews and having others talk about you.

Myth 5: You can do it on your own

Propelling your business onto the internet is not something you can do through a DIY handbook. The side hustle that you see being promoted by Shopify, Square Space, Go Daddy, Wix and others, is that you can become an online millionaire for fifty bucks a month. Well unfortunately, if it were that easy we would all be rich! Facts are you need to wear multiple hats and it’s highly unlikely you posses all the skills it takes to build a successful online business. You need to be a writer, a designer, a tester, a user experience expert, a marketer, a customer support agent, an order manager, know stock quantities, tax, payments and much more! Can you really do it all on your own? Or is it going to take a team?

The web is always growing and changing to suit, and even to shape, the needs of consumers. Their tastes and online habits can change quickly. If you’re looking for an innovative and outstanding, yet simple to use web platform, Webware.io has all the ingredients to thrust your business into the digital spotlight. For a complete list of services, please click here. If you have any questions about Webware, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us here.

Webware is proud to announce that we are officially recognised as a certified Google Partner.

To become a member of the globally recognized Google Partner Program, marketing agencies must possess exceptional knowledge of Google Adwords to implement successful Adword campaigns, increasing ROI for their customers. The Google Partner badge signifies that Webware has met AdWords spend requirements, delivered company and client revenue growth, and sustained and grown its client base.

Webware’s digital marketing services are trusted by Google to get businesses more visibility and traction online. As a member of the Google Partners Program, Webware will be offering expert adword marketing services and support as a premium product. In addition, Webware will have exclusive access to Adwords promotional offers, specializations, events, and more.

Check out our Google Partner profile 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. 

Related Articles:

Busted! Don't Believe These Myths Keeping Small Businesses Offline

Your Checklist for a Successful Website Launch

The entire Webware.io team wishes you and your family a very merry holiday season and a prosperous New Year 2018! May the New Year be filled with lots of joy, health, and prosperity.

If you need any assistance from us during this holiday season, feel free to get in touch with us by clicking here, or give us a call at 1-844-WEBWARE.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! With the holidays upon us, so too is shopping season. While big brands always do well during this time of year, small businesses are in a great position to grab a piece of the spending action.

With more and more people starting their holiday shopping online to research products and services and find stores nearby, small businesses can use their website and online strategy to reach customers who are ready to buy now.

If you’re a small business looking to make the most of holiday season shopping, here’s four ways to get customers through your door, all backed by Google research.

1. Be mobile-friendly. Mobile searches for “where to buy” grew over 85% in the past two years. Shoppers are switching out in-store browsing for online browsing. Even if they eventually head to the store to make the purchase, consumers are starting their research online, and they’re using their phones. Don’t miss out on the action with an outdated, unresponsive website.
2. Help customers with their online research with store and product videos. “Shop with me” videos are soaring in popularity on mobile—growing over 10X more in watch time over the past two years. Customers want to be sure they’re buying the perfect gift for their loved one (or themselves). Shoppers want more details than product specs. When Google calculated the amount of time people have spent watching unboxing videos just on their phones, it’s the equivalent of watching the holiday classic “Love Actually” more than 20 million times. By creating a video showing customers around your store, highlighting popular gift items, “unboxing” favourite products, or demonstrating a service in action, people can get a better idea of their potential purchases. You can upload the video to YouTube and your website, and share it on social media to reach your fans.
3. Be ready to help. With their online research complete and shopping list in hand, customers are prepared to buy ASAP. Make sure your website’s online chat is up and running, your phone number/contact information is visible, and there is staff ready to answer questions, offer suggestions, and expedite shopping. Whether you have an e-commerce store or not, being on-call to help customers can make all the difference.
4. Make your business easily accessible to last-minute shoppers. Mobile searches for “store hours” peaked on Christmas Day. Even with the best of intentions and hours of online research, procrastination and busyness prevail. Ensure your hours and location are very visible on your website, and your Google+ Business Account info is up-to-date, so when customers are looking to make that last minute purchase, they know where and when they can find you. Top Google searches include: “what stores are open near me on Christmas,” and “what stores are open right now.”

Get your small business on the holiday shopping map with these Google research-backed tips. Are you missing a strong online strategy or a mobile-friendly website? Webware has all the tools your business needs to get online and be seen by potential customers. Get in touch with the experts at Webware to get your business online, today. Visit webware.io for more details.

A Webware website and digital marketing package also makes a great gift for the small business owner in your life. Get started here.

Article source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/holiday-mobile-shopping-assistance/

At Webware, we love making our customers happy. But don’t just take it from us! Here’s what our satisfied customers are saying about us:

*****

“I have been quite impressed with the team at Webware & the plan in which they follow to get my website created, active & promoted. The process to get my website up & running has been seamless and effortless. The team has been most helpful, patient & professional and they take the time to understand my needs in order to best promote my business. The communication is well coordinated & I feel I can get all & any concerns & questions addressed in a timely manner.”

Pinkus Interiors, www.pinkusinteriors.com

*****

“Great service - Everyone has been very helpful and super creative building my website, blog and social media. They created my website around me and my business. Best part is they haven’t just created and left me to figure it all out, they continually tweak, blog, message and push me to finetune all my sites. I have a super busy career and my web presence has always taken a back seat, they push me to be better and pay attention. Great experience. Thanks.”

Christine Gazzola, www.christinegazzola.com

*****

“Efficient, fully transparent and excellent customer service. They got my website done, professionally, quickly and were insanely patient with my questions and changes. Webware is a godsend in business.”

Lisa Robazza, www.lisarobazzadesign.ca

*****

“Webware has proven to be the best website and internet business development firm I have dealt with in 25 years. As a Chicago attorney I am in one of the most competitive marketing areas. Webware provides monthly reviews for blogs, social media and organic website development. Webware account managers are task masters that encourage you to participate in developing a competitive marketing program. They are the best I have found!”

Robert Hanaford, www.hanafordlaw.com

*****

“There is not enough space to fully explain the experience that my law firm has had with Webware. I have a law partner that was very skeptical that they could deliver, but thus far they have exceeded our expectations. They are setting this firm up for success in the highly competitive market of Charlotte, North Carolina. Our web presence is poised to be very aggressive and competitive on the scale of the much larger firms and I would say much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. They are responsive and attentive and seemingly only work for you. I know they don't but Ms. Amrita sure does make me think so. I only wish that I encountered this company in 2007 when I opened my law firm. They take the grunt work out of marketing a successful business...Absolutely the best!”

Phillips and McCrea PLLC, www.phillipsmccrea.com

*****

“Thank you Webware...I love the website you designed for me! Throughout the entire process and beyond, the Webware team has continually been courteous, professional and available for any questions I might have, and in such a personable way.”

Vanessa Webb, www.lettersinyoga.com

*****

“Amazing company. I've worked with a few of them for my website and seo and each one was a pleasure to deal with. Any request made to them is answered promptly and properly and they pull things off that you would not expect. Shoutout to Helen, Wisdom, Reggie and the rest of Webware.io!”

Neal Grabarnik, www.primeparalegal.ca

*****

“Excellent interaction with the representatives. Overall a wonderful experience.”

Gaurav Shanker, www.businesslawchamber.com

*****

“Sooooo happy!!! Excellent communication throughout the entire process! I would DEFINITELY recommend!”

Kristen Gignac, www.kristengignac.com

*****

“This was so easy that I'm sorry we didn't do it years ago. The results have been beyond our expectations.”

Joe Smith

*****

“I was completely happy with the service provided by Webware. They are very professional and my website turned out beautiful.”

Tesia Brooks, www.empowereddivorcesolutions.com

*****

“My first experience with Brandon was at his earlier position and I followed him to Webware. I had 100% confidence in him then and now. The confidence trails down to his team. Each and everyone who I deal with from design concept to accounts are respectful, knowledgeable and they are so necessary in the growth of my businesses. Thank you for your patience in helping us (who don't have the skills) get things done quickly and beautifully. God bless.”

Angie Girgis, www.thegirgisestate.com, www.myangelictreasures.com

Click here to read these and more reviews about Webware on Google

Webware is a complete tool-kit designed to help small businesses navigate the digital world. Webware’s technology and team of experts provide SMBs with everything they need to manage and grow a successful online presence. You’ll have access to all the tools and personal assistance you need to get your business online.

Join our happy clients from all across Canada and the US. Click here to sign up for a demo today!

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?

In one of our recent blog posts, we talked about how 2013 was the “Year of the Mobile”, how 2014 will see even more growth in mobile commerce, and how important it is to put mobile at the centre of your ecommerce strategy. The sources cited in that blog post show that the number of mobile users and shoppers is going through the roof.  Indians especially are shopping madly using their mobiles, and those that aren’t, want to, while those that are already buying want to buy even more often. So what does this mean for you? The first step towards having a mobile strategy is to build a responsive website.

Responsive web design is fluidity.

The heart of your business is your website, and the first thing to do is to ensure that your website works well across screen sizes – from smartphone to tablet to laptop or desktop. This is what is meant by having a website with “responsive design”. An important part of responsive design is the visual adaptation, or “flow”, of elements to different screen sizes and formats. The illustration below shows how mere resizing of the screen is not the best solution, but that each block of the layout needs to be handled differently.

So if you already have website, try viewing it on different devices – a laptop, a tablet, and a phone. With the handhelds, turn the device around so you can see the site in landscape as well as portrait formats. Is the text readable in all the devices? On smaller screen devices, is the visual area dominating the screen? If the answer is no to any of these questions, your web site is not responsive.

Responsive web design is usability.

Mobile web design has several demands that are unique to handheld devices. The user’s attention span is shorter and hence he wants to get things done fast. Page downloads have to be fast, and importantly, navigation has to be easy. Drop-down menus don’t work well with finger taps. Adjacent links get tapped by mistake if they are too close. And checkouts have to be done in as few steps as possible. That is why handheld devices need site designs that are customized for them. Shoppers today often start a search on one device and complete the transaction on another. It could be either way – large screen to small or vice versa. A responsive website would allow a visitor to move seamlessly between devices, retaining his search history, saved carts, and preferences, and having continuity in look and feel as well as navigation structure.

Responsive web design is engineering.

The big swing towards mobile has created a new wave of website builders and designers who either create new responsive websites or take an existing one and make it responsive. That can be quite a challenge, and a smarter option is to build a new website on an ecommerce platform that is engineered to deliver responsive themes. The newer platforms are slightly ahead of the curve in seeing the mobile trend coming, and have excellent themes that are brilliant on mobile as well as desktop. Once you have adopted responsive design, you can create a marketing strategy that enables you to grab your share of the mcommerce pie. The question is whether or not you will advance with technology or choose to be left behind in this mobile revolution.