The Painting Contractors at Timeless Expressions Painting offer a wide range of services to meet your residential and commercial painting needs across Vaughan, ON. To help them reach a wider audience, we launched their new website last week - www.timelessexpressions.ca

We wish everyone at Timeless Expressions Painting the very best of success.

JHS Mortgage Expert offers mortgage services including first-time home buyer's mortgages, second mortgages, debt consolidation, and more across Mississauga, ON. To help them reach a wider audience, we launched their new website last week - www.jhsmortgages.com

We wish the team at JHS Mortgage Expert the best of success.

Grayson Pratt Interiors offers interior design, interior decorating, and home renovation services across Atlanta and the surrounding areas. To help them reach a wider audience, we launched their new website - www.graysonprattinteriors.com

We wish the team at Grayson Pratt Interiors the very best of success.

Tax Accountants at PBC Accounting & Tax Services Corp provide tax accounting, bookkeeping, payroll services to clients across Miami. To help them reach a wider audience, we launched their new website - www.pbctaxes.com

We wish the team at PBC Accounting & Tax Services Corp the very best of success.

Kingfisher Marketing Group provides a unified marketing approach with all services under one roof offering, direct sales and marketing jobs across New York. To help them reach a wider audience, we launched their new website - www.kingfishermarketinggroup.com

We wish the team at Kingfisher Marketing Group the best of success.

If you’ve been approaching web design agencies or freelancers with a view to getting your first website or a revamp of your current one, you might be worried about going with the wrong company. Will they create your vision properly? Will they abandon you halfway through the job and leave you with an unfinished, non-working website? Or will they be a nightmare to work with?

These are all valid fears, but being a nightmare to work with works both ways. You want a great website that hits all the sweet spots and brings in lots of new business. Well, it helps if you’re a good web design customer, too. You might think it’s down to the web designer to do what you tell them – that the customer’s always right, etc., but this won’t do you any favors and it certainly won’t get the best out of your partnership.

So, how can you be a good web design customer and not a nightmare? Here are a few tips.

Don’t Let Your First Question Be: “How Much Does a Website Cost?”

Yes, of course you want to know how much a website’s going to cost. But until the designer knows the scope and extent of the work, they can’t give you an accurate estimate. Have a look through their portfolio to see who their clients are and if their sites are similar to what you need. This way, you’ll not only see if they can undertake a site on the scale you’re after. If their portfolio is full of fashion brands and you’re an accountant, you might not be the best fit for each other.

Once you’ve found a few designers you like the look of, let them know the kind of site you’re looking for along with your budget. They’ll let you know if that’s something they can work with. You wouldn’t expect a decorator to know how much they should charge to decorate your house until they’ve seen exactly what it is you want done, would you? It’s the same with web design.

Have a Good Idea of What You’re Looking For

Web designers aren’t mind readers. Although you might not know exactly what you want, it’ll be helpful to have some idea of sites you like or dislike. Also include info on why you like or dislike them.

There’s a good chance you’ll be sent a questionnaire to fill in and there’s also a good chance it will be long and daunting. But fill it in as completely and with as much detail as you can. It’s a key document that will help your designer know the type of site you’re after, design- and functionality-wise.

Make a List

Most small businesses need a small site. You can go a long way to becoming a good web design customer by listing the pages you need, for example: a home page, an about page, a contact form, a services page, a features page, and your terms and conditions. Just list the pages you think you’ll need, and you’re well on your way to a proper spec.

Write Some Copy

The number one thing on any website is the words. Cast your fancy graphics and transitions aside, because people will not glean anything from your website without reading the words. Heed this advice: copy comes before design. So, draft some words, start at your homepage and write down what you want to say. If that’s too hard (because copywriting is hard) then try the about page – write about yourself, what do you want to say?

If you’re stuck, then start with the easy stuff and write down what you want to say on your contact form – what do the field labels say? Every little nugget of copy helps the designer get a better understanding of what you want.

Give the Web Designer What They’ve Requested

For you to be a good web design customer and your web designer to do their job properly, you need to give them exactly what they’ve asked for and how they’ve asked for it. For example, if you’ve been asked to provide large hi-res images in a Dropbox link, don’t send a Word document embedded with small compressed images.

Also, don’t just dump everything on them and disappear. Answer their queries promptly and let them have anything else they need, such as copy and images as and when they ask.

Don’t Ask for Free Major Changes After It’s Complete

Your site’s finished and you decide you don’t like blue after all and you want it to be more pink. A few tweaks to get your site exactly how you want it is fine, but with a nod to the decorating analogy above, you wouldn’t expect your decorator to repaint your house pink for free, after you’d asked them to paint it blue, would you?

Don’t Expect to be Number One on Google the Next Day

If you’ve chosen a decent web designer (which you will have done if you’ve read this post covering questions to ask your web designer), they’ll have built you a user-friendly, accessible site with fast-loading images, etc., which are all things that make Google happy.

There’s a lot involved with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that might be out of their scope (optimized content, for example), but you can ask at the beginning how they can help with this and what you can expect. Just don’t expect miracles.

These are just a few ways you can make your web designer’s job easier and make you a good web design customer. A good working relationship makes things easier for everyone and leaves everyone happy.

Article Source Credits:

Author: Gary Bury
Gary Bury is co-founder and CEO of Timetastic, an independent and profitable web app for managing time off work, used by thousands of companies around the world.

Article Source: www.smallbusinessbonfire.com

Originally Posted on: Jan 10, 2021

Email marketing is one of the digital marketing strategies used by small businesses to generate leads and drive more sales. 73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email.

While some record a lot of success with it, others don’t. Businesses that don’t have digital marketing experts to help them with email marketing may struggle.

If your business isn’t having success with email marketing, this article should help. Here are five email marketing mistakes small businesses make and how to fix them.

Let’s first look at the basics.

How does email marketing help small businesses with their marketing? Email marketing:

• Builds trust and strong relationships with customers through frequent helpful emails
• Cuts down on advertising costs with a large email list
• Offers solutions to problems because it understands the pain points of the target audience

Let’s go to the common mistakes.

#1. Not analyzing email campaigns using A/B Testing

You may have launched different email campaigns and never bothered to analyze your results to evaluate if you met your goals. In email marketing, the only way to improve your results is to analyze the success of your campaigns.

Assessing how your audience reacts to your emails when they land in their inbox is key.

How to fix it

Use an A/B Testing feature to analyze various campaigns you launched, and the results related to your marketing goals. Email marketing software like SendX has a feature that allows you to test how your subscribers react to your subject line, content, call to action button, etc.

#2. Lack of personalization in emails

How does it feel to receive an email with the sender not addressing you by your name?

Sometimes you might see it as spam. And that’s how some of your audience may react when you send them emails without personalizing them. Occasionally, they may immediately trash it (or even block you) – even though they willingly signed up to receive your emails.

That means they haven’t given you the chance to convert them into buyers.

How to fix it

For a small business that has a blog and acquires subscribers through sign-up forms, ensure you create a field for first name. That way, your audience will enter their first name when signing up.

Also, be sure to check that your message is inserting the first name correctly by sending yourself a test email. Don’t skip this!

#3. Sending emails without segmentation

If you don’t segment your email list, you’re likely to send emails to a person who didn’t subscribe to a particular list. That’s annoying and will turn some people off.

How to fix it

Email marketing software like HubSpot Marketing Hub has the segmentation feature. Use it to categorize your subscribers according to the list they signed up for.

#4. Adding a broken link

When you launch email campaigns, you may add a link that will send your subscribers to another page. Sometimes those links are broken and a customer will get a 404 error (page not found).

How to fix it

Check any link you add to your email campaign to be sure it is working.

#5. Forgetting a call to action button

Call to action buttons are important for your subscribers to convert to sales. If it’s missing, your subscribers may find it difficult to understand what you want them to do.

How to fix it

Use a bold, clear, and simple call to action button telling your subscribers what you want them to do. An example could be “Learn more here” or “Claim your discount now.”

Also, be sure to place it in an obvious location where it will be visible.

Email marketing can help you grow your small business – but only if you do it right.

The mistakes discussed here stop small businesses from seeing results. Implement the solutions offered the next time you launch an email campaign to improve your email marketing.

Article Source Credits:

Author: Chuks Chukwuemeka
Chuks Chukwuemeka is a Content Creator, Blogger and Digital Marketer. He’s the founder of Depreneurdigest, a blog that focuses on helping online businesses succeed. He specializes on providing consultancy services to small businesses on how to grow their online presence through blogging.

Article Source: www.carolroth.com

You may have thought of social media as a passing fad, but it's clear that it is not. Businesses everywhere are now looking to social media to help spread the word about what they do. Can social media and blogs help with business development? Here’s how you can use them.

Develop a relationship with your audience

The communications you put out on social media don’t happen in a vacuum. Whenever you make a post, you’re starting a conversation with your audience. It’s the easiest way to get talking to your customers and really find out what they want. Customers also appreciate when companies respond to their queries online too, so you can build up goodwill this way.

Business development is cost effective with social media

Any business can get started on social media, as it’s totally free to create an account. It won’t cost you a thing to keep posting and interacting with your followers. When it comes to getting the word out there, there’s pretty much no cheaper option. There’s a reason why start ups love using social media.

Even if you do want to advertise, most social media advertising packages are particularly low cost options. You really can get the word out there, without breaking the bank.

There are online tools to help you

Even if social media looks easier, getting the balance right can be difficult. Luckily, there are lots of tools online that will help you get the most out of your online presence. Here are some good services to get you started:

• Blogs and Resources: These blogs offer all kinds of helpful advice on social media, including how to deal with negative feedback and how to use certain social networks for business.
• Wordstream: This cost effective service helps you get the most out of your advertising, and helps you generate more leads through social media and blogging.

Social media has a huge reach

There’s no bigger audience than that on social media. On Facebook alone, it’s estimated that 65% of US adults are using it. When you think of it like that, it’s almost compulsory for you to create and maintain an account. You’ll never have a bigger audience, so be sure to take advantage of it.

Share more about what you do

Want to reduce some of the mystery about your business? give your customers a glimpse behind the curtain? Then social media lets you do that. You can share as much as you’d like with your audience, encouraging them to trust you and buy from you. Getting your brand known to the world by social media and blogs are an easy way to see business development.

Social media posts are indexed by Google, so you can get more information out there about what you’re doing.

Social media is everywhere! Almost no one would be caught dead without their smartphone these days. That means that they’re constantly connected to their social media accounts, 24/7. You can take advantage of this by making sure you’re posting regularly. That way, whenever they open up the Twitter app when waiting for the bus, they’re more likely to be exposed to your work potentially leading to increased business development.

As you can see, social media is vital to a modern online presence. Maintain accounts correctly, and you can reach out to more people than ever before. Give it a try for yourself, and you’ll see how much your audience grows.

Article Source Credits:

Author: Rachel Summers
Author at Exodus Digital Marketing.

Article Source: http://www.exodus-digital-marketing.co.uk/

Ever since Instagram launched in 2010, it has steadily scaled from a photo-sharing app to a marketing platform. With the introduction of Instagram Stories, IGTV, Q & A Instagram Live, new profile view, video calling, shoppable posts, push notifications, and insights along with several other new features, it is clear that Instagram is turning into the most powerful marketing tool for businesses. In 2020, Instagram released nineteen innovative features to improve user experience and engage more customers.

One feature that was introduced in 2016 and has gained a significant amount of momentum has been Insta-stories with over five-hundred million daily active users. While the idea of Instagram stories was picked up from Snapchat, Instagram has added augmented filters, question poll, GIF stickers, hashtags, music, emoji slider, and a lot of other improvements to increase interactivity and bring in more sales. You even have the option to add multiple photos or videos from your camera roll to your Insta-story. Stories disappear after twenty-four hours, but they can live permanently on your profile through Instagram Story Highlights.

What are Instagram Story Highlights?

Instagram Highlights are archived photos or stories that you can pin to your profile. In other words, once your story vanishes after twenty-four hours, they become a part of your archived gallery. You can either create a Highlight by adding stories from your archived gallery or save it directly as a Highlight after you upload a story. Note that they will remain for your followers to see until you choose to remove them.

Instagram Story Highlights gives clarity to your profile by allowing users or consumers to identify the personality of your brand or business. Brands use story highlights to feature their events and promotions, showcase their products or services, and so on. This long-story format has helped many brands draw in more consumers and build a stronger connection with followers. However, if you want to take full advantage of Instagram stories and integrate them into your digital marketing strategies, you need to be aware of all that Instagram Story Highlights has to offer.

Here are a few ways you can effectively use Instagram Story Highlights to represent your brand in the best possible manner.

Tip #1: Categorize your highlights.

When a new user visits your profile, they will likely view your Instagram Story Highlights after reading your bio. To make a great first impression on them and potential customers, it is advisable to organize your content into distinct categories by creating multiple story highlights. For instance, if you have a catering business, you can create separate highlights for your recipes, recent events, client reviews. By utilizing Highlights to categorize your stories, it allows you to display your most valuable content to your followers and gives you the freedom to set the tone for your brand image.

Tip #2: Keep a short name for your story highlights.

By naming each story highlight, you are summarizing exactly what you do or offer in a few letters. Ideally, the entire name or title of your highlight should fit within the area. However, as it is a small space, there is a limit on the number of characters your highlight can have. Ideally, it should be up to fifteen characters long, but if you want it to be fully displayed, keep your highlight name around ten characters.

Tip #3: Use a custom cover image for each highlight.

If you want to come across as a professional brand and set yourself apart from the competition, consider uploading a custom highlight cover to give your profile a cohesive look. Make sure your cover image is not only eye-catching but also in line with your brand identity. You can either design a cover on Instagram or use more resourceful editing apps or software. To establish uniformity, try to create similar covers for your highlights; it could be adding a standard color or background, typography, image, etc.

While Instagram is continually rolling out new features and updates to help business owners boost their brand, there are other digital marketing strategies such as SEO, email marketing, content management, social media promotion that can raise brand awareness and fuel business growth.

As a leading provider of digital marketing services in North America, Webware.io has helped hundreds of small businesses successfully navigate the digital landscape and create a powerful online presence. By providing all the tools, services, and support in one place, your business gets everything it needs to grow.

To learn more about our services, check out our website, or book a growth session to learn more about how our team can help.

Article Source Credits:

Author: Melinda Viegas

Article Source: www.webware.io

Fenstermann LLC offers custom window treatment services including window coverings, blinds, and shades in hundreds of fabrics, prints, and colors across Toronto, Ontario, Montreal, Quebec. To help them reach a wider audience, we launched their new website - www.fenstermann.ca

We wish the team at Fenstermann LLC the very best of success.

FLO State Studio - Yoga & Pilate Studio in Oklahoma City, OK, offers yoga, pilates, HIIT, and HIIP classes. To help them reach a wider audience, we launched their new website - www.flostatestudio.com

We wish the yoga & pilates instructors at FLO State Studio the best of success.

Heart & Soil LLC offers realty services, home staging services, knock home swap, drone, and notary services across Arizona.  To help them reach a wider audience, we launched their new website - www.hasarizona.com

We wish the team at Heart & Soil LLC the very best of success.