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30 Low-Budget Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 20:46:24 GMT

Small businesses don’t require the same marketing strategies as major corporations nor can they afford to. It’s not like everyone can pay for a giant ad on a skyscraper in Times Square. Don’t tell the companies that buy those expensive giant ads, but there are cheaper, more effective ways to market to your target audience. Down below are only thirty out of many low-budget marketing ideas.

1. Create a professional website:

This day and age if you don’t have a website, you don’t have a business. It shouldn’t have to be said, but just in case: make a professional website. This website should be paid for and not a free one from Wix. The more legit your website looks; the more customers will trust your brand.

2. Create a blog:

A blog used to be optional for a business. Now it is essential. It’s a great way to showcase your expertise to potential clients and customers while showcasing your brand identity. A blog also improves the website’s SEO.

3. Perfecting your elevator pitch:

Remember in college when the occasional professor told you in order to network you should be able to sell yourself with a quick elevator pitch? No? Okay, well we’ll tell you now. You need an elevator pitch for yourself and your company. It’s a thirty second pitch telling someone who your company is, who you are, your expertise, and why your company is needed. It should showcase your brand in thirty seconds.

4. Shape your brand identity:

Having a distinct branding will make your company stand out among competitors. An easy way to create one without breaking the bank is to select specific colors to represent the company on social media including the company’s website and by creating a logo.

5. Know your industry:

Basically, this means to do your market research and analyze your competitor’s target audience. You need to know where you stand against them in order to define your own target market, which is essential to your marketing strategy.

6. Write guest posts:

If you like writing for your own blog, you should branch out by writing the occasional blog post or two on someone else’s blog. It will increase your reputation in the industry and will bring new readers to your blog.

7. Build a content marketing strategy:

Having a blog is great, but the more content you make the better your inbound marketing will be. Other content you might want to include are webinars, online courses, podcasts, YouTube videos, eBooks, Vlogs, quizzes, etc.

8. Generate PR buzz:

If you have a new product that is launching or an event, it would be a good idea to create publicity to keep the momentum of the business growing. This can be done by hiring a public relations person to write a press release.

9. Optimize for SEO:

SEO stands for search engine optimization. This is the ranking of where a company will be on a search engine. Obviously the first link that appears on Google is going to be the first one clicked while a company on the second page won’t be noticed at all. Boost your SEO by using key words and phrases.

10. Write call to actions (CTAs):

A CTA will subtly encourage your customers and clients to perform an action. This could be as simple as offering them a coupon if they share the link to your site or if they refer a friend. It could be getting them to start a free trial or sign up for your newsletter.

11. Pay-Per-Click (PPC):

Pay-Per-Click is an ad on a social media platform such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or on a search engine that only requires you to pay when someone clicks on your ad. While it’s not a free way of advertising it’s significantly cheaper. You can lessen the cost further by doing research on which platforms your brand does the best on and placing PPCs on the best one.

12. Social media marketing:

This isn’t just posting on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with a clear branding. It’s also interacting with your followers by responding and liking comments. You also have to be on the platforms your target audience is on. If your target audience is in their 40s and 50s maybe Tik Tok isn’t the platform for you.

13. Email marketing:

Effective email marketing can be as simple as sending out a weekly newsletter to customers or by reminding them a new blog post is available. Once the number of people subscribed to your emails is high enough then you can send out specialized emails based on preferences and interests of the specific customer.

14. Create landing pages::

First of all, a landing page is a stand-alone page on a website to market a specific service or product. It’s important to make the landing page eye-catching to get people to click on it thus generating leads and converting them into customers.

15. Attend a conference:

Attending a conference is a great way to network while doing some free word of the mouth marketing. Yes, networking can be nerve racking and awkwardly painful, but think of the money you’ll save on your marketing budget. Or if you are one an extrovert, you can give a presentation about your business at the conference. If you do give a presentation make sure to highlight which features of your business stand out from your competition and have great visuals to go along with your speech.

16 . Create local awareness:

Creating local awareness is fairly simple, mostly offline, and strengthens your brand identity and integrity through nonprofit work. Sponsor local events, festivals, get involved with school fundraisers, food drives, etc. You can also donate branded products to these events for visibility other than in the playbill/program. If you have room in your marketing budget, you can pay for ads on local radio and news programs.

17 . Provide free consultations:

Everyone loves free things. Your business providing a free consultation is similar to Netflix offering a free week trial. It’s a way to get leads hooked to your product or services turning them into customers. It’s only a one chance deal though, so try to make sure you’re really showcasing the benefits of your products/services. After the free consultation ends, you want your potential customer to feel like they have to have your product/services without putting pressure on them.

18. Network in person and online:

Networking is pretty much making friends except you are most likely no longer in school and a full-grown adult. Instead of making friends just to avoid sitting alone at lunch, these ones are to help your professional career. If you are lucky some of these new professional friends will eat lunch with you. You can find these new friends at the conferences we mentioned before or at other industry events. If you need a little bit of time before throwing yourself into meeting new people you can connect online with LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

19 . Build a brand community:

Obviously, your company should have a Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, website, and maybe even a Tik Tok account. On these various forms of social media, the goal shouldn’t be to gain followers, it should be to build an online community. Your social media accounts should be a place where followers can interact directly with a brand creating brand loyalty. If you want a more personal touch, you can go live on these apps and host a q & a or by creating custom filters.

20. Build meaningful partnerships:

Has the last time you attempted to network haunted your dreams and become a recurring star in your nightmares? Well it was worth it. After successfully gaining contacts through networking it’s time to prosper and maintain those relationships. Don’t worry, maintaining professional relationships can be introverted and simple through sending emails or messages on LinkedIn. If these new professional contacts like you, they’ll send business your way.

21 . Incentivize user engagement:

Incentivizing user engagement is simply, encouraging your followers on social media to perform an action. Basically, you are using your followers as marketing interns instead of paying them (which most interns aren’t anyway) you offer them discount codes and prizes through online contests and sharing your posts and stories on their own accounts. An old-fashioned way of utilizing user engagement would be starting a referral program.

22. Ask for customer testimonials:

There’s a reason why Yelp reviews are so popular. People want to hear reviews about companies and businesses from previous customers. This is why getting customer testimonials is a great idea for building your company's reputation. Ask your satisfied customers for short statements/testimonials, which can be put on your website, social media, or other review sites.

23. Try guerilla marketing:

Guerilla marketing is an extremely creative sometimes unconventional method of marketing. It relies heavily on having great unique, creative ideas. Some examples of this would be graffiti, publicity stunts, giant outdoor art interactive exhibits, and having a video go viral (good luck with that one). The key components to having a successful guerilla marketing campaign are the elements of surprise and memorability.

24 . Maintain strong customer relationships:

Now that you have customers, you have to keep them. Much like in any relationship communication is key. You have to have conversations on social media and engage in active listening. Even if a customer was very satisfied with your product/services, you should check in with them. There’s always room for improvement. Maintaining strong customer relationships isn’t advice for only your marketing team, for all your teams this should be a priority.

25. Look for co-marketing opportunities:

Two companies are better than one, right? A co-marketing campaign involves two companies working together on a co-branded promotional campaign. An example of this is the new Yeezy and Gap collaboration, where they’ll release a limited-edition collection. It’s like in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where all the marvel heroes come together for the Avengers. A co-marketing campaign benefits all parties involved and combines their audiences together. When finding another company to team up with, try to find one that isn’t a direct competitor. Ideally, they’ll be a local business who offers similar products to the same target audience.

26. Recycle your content:

You can repurpose your old content by putting it into a new format. If you have a blog, you can combine your old blog posts together and assemble an eBook. If you did a presentation at a convention where it was filmed, you can cut the video into shorter clips for social media and YouTube.

27 . Apply for business awards:

In order to boost your reputation and name in your field apply for business awards online. If you win one of the prestigious awards in your industry, then you can place the badge you’ve earned onto your website drawing in more sales. If there aren’t any awards in your industry, start your own. This way you can make a ton of new connections when other businesses apply.

28. Target influencers:

People tend to buy products recommended by people they know and trust even if they’ve never met them in real life. Social media stars, known as influencers, have turned their massive following on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, etc. into a career. Find an influencer whose target audience matches yours. They’ll often post about a business in exchange for free products/services.

29. Brand your vehicle:

Just like Scooby Doo and the Mystery Machine, you too can advertise your business on your vehicle. It doesn’t have to be a complete 70s style paint job. It can be a simple and tasteful magnetic sign placed onto your car door.

30. Thank you notes:

These are only thirty low budget options for marketing a business. There are many more low-budget options. Try several of these techniques above and see what works for your business.

Looking for help with your website?

Your website is the most important "employee" in your company. It works the hardest and longest than any other person in your company. It is your forever employee of the month. So why not treat it well? SiteNow can help you create an incredible website that not only looks good, but converts. DIY website building just got easier.

7 Tips For Designing A Great Professional Website

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 19:01:33 GMT

Web design might seem intimidating. Perhaps you feel that it’s in the realm of wizardry and computer genius. Maybe you’ve been more focused on getting the content onto the website than how it really looks or acts. The thing is that some simple web design considerations can make a really big difference when it comes to your site - and converting visitors into customers. With that in mind, we’ve got seven tips for web design.

1. Make the site easy to use.

The design of the website has to promote the purpose of making the site easy to use. If the site is clunky and it’s not intuitive, people will get frustrated. And when people get frustrated, they leave. They’re not going to put up with it, so the site needs to make sense to someone who’s never been there before. (An example would be if you have an e-Commerce store. You’d better make sure that your shopping cart process is simple, quick, and clear.)

2. Don’t forget site speed.

Your website also needs to be able to load quickly, so your design needs to be pretty streamlined so that the site doesn’t get bogged down. The reality is that people aren’t patient. They want what they want NOW, and that means they won’t sit there tapping their foot and waiting for your site to load. They will bounce and click the “back” arrow. And you don’t want them to click the back arrow and leave. That would be sad.

(One way to help site speed is to make sure you don’t have too many images or graphics. These can really slow the site down. Now, that’s not to say that you have to get rid of images entirely. But be intentional and smart about what visuals you are using and save them for maximum impact.)

3. Use negative space.

You know the white space between different blocks of text or images on a page? Yeah, that’s called negative space. You need to make sure that your site has an appropriate amount of negative space (a.k.a. white space) so that it’s pleasing to look at and not overwhelming. Using white space can help you avoid overcrowding the site and overwhelming people who are looking at it. Plus, you can space out information so that it’s easier for people to read and look at.

4. Remember that mobile is key.

Let’s be real - not many people are browsing the Internet from desktops nowadays. Phones and tablets are taking over the world. So, you need to make sure your website is designed with that in mind. How do you do that? Well, by making sure your site has responsive design . That means that the site is able to adjust to different screen styles and sizes. But in addition to resizing itself to suit the smaller screen, the website still has to be easy for the user to navigate. It still has to make sense. (Remember what we said above - people are not patient.)

5. Include testimonials.

Your website should also include some customer testimonials or reviews. People like to read what other people say about stuff, and the funny thing is that people trust these reviews. So, consider incorporating a space for some shining customer reviews onto your website. Your potential clients might not want to take your word for how great you are … but they might take the word of another customer!

6. Have landing pages.

A landing page is basically a web page that’s specifically about one product or offer. Imagine that you’re a potential customer and you click on something you’re interested in … and it takes you to a simple, quick, and easy-to-read page that’s all about what you’re looking for. Perfect! Yeah, so that’s what a landing page is. It provides the need-to-know about the product or offer the potential customer is looking for. But remember that you don’t want to clutter your landing page. It should have a simple, clear call to action and not be overwhelming.

7. Don’t be afraid to do your own thing.

Sometimes following the latest, greatest trends in web design is helpful, but other times it’s not. For example, stock photos used to be THE thing. Like the be all, end all. But that didn’t mean they were all that great or that they were the best thing for web design. Sometimes you have to be creative and break away from the “trends” that aren’t going to help you in the long run.

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So, those are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to web design. You want your site to look clean and not too crowded. It should be easy to use and it should be responsive when it comes to mobile. And we get that designing a website might feel like a really overwhelming task, but that’s where SiteNow can help. We’d be happy to help you get the website you’ve always wanted.

Looking for help with your website?

6 Easy Steps to Defining Your Target Market

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 20:42:26 GMT

Once a business or a brand is off the ground, it’s time to get the word out through effective marketing. However, a marketing strategy will not be effective unless you are aware of your target market.

Chances are you know what a target market, also known as a target audience , is but just in case let’s define it. A target market/target audience is the specific group of people your product or service is aimed for. It’s who your marketing strategy is targeting. A target market can feel very broad at first. This is why it’s important to define and streamline it. An effective marketing strategy can’t be aimed for every human on the planet.

It’s perfectly fine if you have no idea who your ideal customer is. This is why we have made six easy steps for defining your target market.

1. Analyze existing customers.

The best way to figure out your target market is to research the existing customers you already have. It doesn’t matter if your business is brand new with small clientele or an established one. Any information is better than none. Look for common characteristics between customers such as age, location, time zone, language, average spent, interests, stage of life, and the specific products they are buying. This information will help with inbound marketing as well as tracking trends.

2. Know your product’s benefits.

The second step after analyzing your customers and what they are buying is understanding why they are drawn to specific products and their motivations. Remember the proverb “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes?” Well that is essentially what you are doing here. Putting yourself in the customer’s shoes. Think about why they buy your product rather than going to a competitor. This can be done by asking customers for testimonials and reviews.

Now there is a difference between a product’s features versus benefits. A feature would be the specific details and characteristics of a product while the benefits are what it brings to the customer. How does the product improve the quality of the customer’s life? Once the benefit is figured out it becomes easy to decipher who would benefit the most using the product.

3. Investigate competitors.

By looking at who your competition is targeting as their target market, it will reveal to you who you should not be targeting. They might be overlooking a specific niche market. Chances are you won’t be able to get your competitor’s analytical data on their customers. Instead look at their website content, who they are marketing toward on social media, and their overall company branding. If it’s still unclear who their target audience is, look at their comments and reviews on social media. Which age rage is commenting and interacting with the brand the most?

While it is possible to go after the same target market as your competitor it will be harder. Look at the benefits they have versus what your company is offering. The important thing is to set yourself apart from them.

4. Segment your audience.

After the data previously mentioned has been collected, it’s time to get into specifics and define customer types, which will make the basis of the target market. Divide your customers based on common characteristics like geography, demographics, psychographics, and behavior. This is where you can also create buyer personas otherwise known as user personas. Buyer/user personas are imaginary character profiles with similar characteristics and behaviors of your customers. This will help you define who your target audience is.

5. Write target market statement.

Now that you have an idea who your business is marketing toward it’s time to take all the information gathered and write a simple statement that streamlines and defines the target audience. This will be extremely helpful when creating a brand position statement.

The target market statement should have three things. The first being the demographic information about the target market. Examples of this would be gender and age. The other two things the statement needs are the geographic location and key interests of the target market audience. Basically, you are taking the key characteristics found in the analyze customers stage and putting them into a neat single sentence.

Here is a template that can be used: Our target market is (gender) aged (age range), who live in (place/type of place), and like (activity).

If you’re business is a fashion company, this is how you might fill in the template above:

Our target market is women in their 20s and 30s who live in the United States and like fashionable, comfortable clothes.

6. Refine your research.

Once you have an idea of who your target market is and it’s been defined into a statement, it doesn’t mean the analyzing and researching phase is over. The target market statement might not be right the first time around or it might shift over time. Continuous market research is essential with staying relevant to your client base.

Based on the market research it might be time to go back and repeat the previous steps to redefine the target market. After all the company and brand is going to grow, it only makes sense the customers will change and grow with it.

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7 Tips For Getting The Most Of Teaching Online

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 15:52:45 GMT

The recent pandemic has caused the classroom to look a lot different than what teachers (and students) are used to. Rather than seeing the (hopefully) smiling faces of their students in person every day, teachers have had to adapt to using online platforms, which means trying to teach through a computer screen . Teaching is a challenging enough profession as it is, and one that deserves a lot of respect. A lot! If you’re trying to make distance learning work for you and your students, here are a few tips to help .

1. Keep your students engaged.

Okay, so you’re not in a classroom where you can bribe the children with a piece of candy for answering a question, but it’s still important to get students to be a part of the lesson. Some students might not show up, and one of the biggest hurdles you find yourself facing is how to get them to wake up on time, show up for video lessons on time, turn in assignments on time…you get the point. And it very well might not be the student’s fault - they might not have Internet access.

So, what’s a teacher to do?

Make sure your communication is clear. You’ve got to make sure that your students know what’s expected of them. What is the deadline for this specific assignment? What should they do if they have issues? Tell them all of these things upfront.
Emphasize the “fun” factor. Okay, you might think that calling an online math session “fun” is a stretch, but you need to make your students believe it. Try to get as many kids as possible to participate. Hopefully when the students realize that their friends and classmates are there, too, they’ll want to join in.

2. Consider what you’re trying to teach.

Some subjects lend themselves more easily to online teaching than others - for example, it might be easier to teach material related to science, where you’re testing the students’ knowledge of the content, than something like reading comprehension, which is more of a skill. You’ll have to work within your curriculum, naturally, but when you’re thinking about your lessons, look at it from a distance learning standpoint. What’s going to give the students the most benefit when it’s presented via webcam?

(Also, make sure you’re checking in with your students to ensure that they understand the questions they’re being asked. Try not to get ahead of yourself - asking “Which animal is a carnivore?” might be met with crickets if your students aren’t entirely sure what a carnivore is.)

3. Keep confusion to a minimum.

What we mean by this is that it’s really important to give instructions that are easy to follow. When you’re teaching online, it’s way harder to sense the confusion your students might be feeling than in the classroom. This applies to the platforms and tools you’re using (i.e. Google Drive) as well as the material you’re trying to teach. Introducing new material via online learning might be difficult, so perhaps it’s best to focus on reviewing material and seeing whether students are retaining it.

4. Be creative with new material.

Now, you can’t keep reviewing forever - there will come a point where you’re going to have to throw some new material at the kids. To minimize the blank looks and cricket chirps, present the new material in context with the material the students have already learned. (And if they need to review the context that will help them understand the new stuff, help them find that information.)

Also - don’t forget to give examples. Particularly in something like math, having examples of problems worked out step-by-step with explanation can really help students, who have to be more independent when working from home.

When you’re introducing new material, keep it short, sweet, and to the point. Kids can’t handle sitting through a super long video lecture about something new. They will tune out and get lost. So - teach the new material in bite-sized pieces. You can always circle back and reinforce the new stuff later.

5. Get the students to use their brains.

Okay, okay - yes, they’re using their brains. But make them work at it a little more by making online learning more interactive. They need to be able to apply the information they’ve been learning. Maybe you can use your online platform to do little quizzes. Or you can have your students answer big questions about the material. Basically, try to hear their voices and get their responses. Hopefully you’ll be able to look at or listen to their responses so you can check their work or help them work through a wrong answer to get to the right one.

6. Figure out the balance between group time and individual time.

While trying to get the entire class together at the same time for a group lesson might seem like a logistical disaster, it’s important for the students to get together as a group. It’s not necessarily feasible to have students doing all of their work individually - while some might have parents who are able to help them harmoniously with their school work, many do not. So, don’t give up with having group time and class meetings. At the very least, it can help everyone feel like they’re in it together.

7. Have the right tools.

It’s also a good idea to have a website that allows your students to easily find the classes they are looking for. We at SiteNow can help with that. We can help you create a site that organizes your classes and even gives a countdown for when the next session is. You can explain the course, give a description, and help your students stay connected so they can get the most out of online learning.

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Online teaching can be a major challenge, and it can be really hard for all parties involved - frustrated students and beleaguered teachers alike. So, teachers, we here at Site Now are so grateful for you. Thank you for everything that you do!

Looking for help with your website?

6 Tips To Use Your Website To Give Back

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 19:54:47 GMT

These past few months have been very difficult for everyone. With the struggles that the world is facing, it leaves many business owners wondering how they can give back or make a difference towards the causes that they’re passionate about. (For example, maybe you want to raise money for COVID-19 relief or research. Or perhaps you want to raise funds for Black Lives Matter or natural disaster relief.)

Wherever your passion and your heart are, you can use your website as a way to raise money to give back to the causes that matter. You can do that by personalizing your site. Here are a few tips.

6 tips to use your website to give back using personalization.

Did you know that you can use personalization on your website to make giving back easy? Wait, let’s back up for a second - what’s personalization? For our purposes, personalization is creating a “trigger” on your site that tells it to display a certain thing or take a certain action. It’s kind of a cause and effect thing.

For example, a trigger could be one of the following:

The time of the day
Number of visits to your website
Location
Type of device (desktop vs. mobile)
URL (like from an ad campaign)
The date

When the trigger happens, the site will take the action that you’ve told it too. (Websites can be pretty smart, huh?) Okay, so, that being said - here’s how you can use your website personalization to give back.

1. Use personalization to run a sale.

You can use personalization to run a sale on your site. Then, you can donate a portion of money from each sale to the cause that you choose. The sale will hopefully encourage people to buy your product, especially since a portion of the proceeds will be going to a worthy cause. A lot of people are feeling the need to do something to make a difference.

(A sample trigger for running a promotion, for example, could be the visitor clicking a link from a campaign. Then your personalization will display a message specifically about that campaign. Your visitor will be able to get where they’re going that much faster. Helpful, right?)

2. Set up a “welcome” message.

If there’s a visitor on your site for the first time, that’s exciting! So you can set up a personalization that is triggered when a new person visits your site. You can have a message that shows a nice message or a video - and maybe you can use that to tell your new friends about the cause you’re supporting. (You can also offer things like coupons this way!)

3. Have an off-hours plan.

Personalization can also help you when your business is closed. During your off-hours, you can have a personalization that will send the visitor to your contact form. That way they can let you know what they’re looking for, and you won’t miss the opportunity to reach out to a potential client.

4. Create a notification bar.

You can also have a trigger to prompt a notification bar across the top of the website. And that notification bar can let people know about promotions. So you could let them know you’re running a promotion to benefit the cause that you chose.

5. Use JavaScript code.

You can also make your own personalized action with JavaScript code. It’s kind of like personalizing your personalization. So, really there are a lot of different options you have for what actions would be prompted by a certain trigger - you just have to dream it up and have the code.

6. Have a Donate Now button.

Then there’s the direct approach where you have a "Donate Now" button that’s easy to see and click. You can make it short, sweet, and to the point by letting people know what cause they can donate too. The button can take them to a page where you provide more information and where you can accept the donation.

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There are a lot of different possibilities for personalizing your site to allow you to run a donation drive for a cause that you really care about. You can run a promotion, create a “welcome” message, run a sale, and more. It’s a little overwhelming, truth be told, to think of all the possibilities since there are so many. That’s what personalization is all about, right?

We understand that setting up and running a robust website might seem like a daunting prospect, especially when you’re trying to incorporate something like giving back. We here at SiteNow would be happy to help you set up a website with capabilities to be personalized in this way - and we can even handle the personalization for you. We want you to have the website that you’ve always dreamed of, and we want you to have a website that lets you support causes that are close to your heart.

Looking for help with your website?

10 Tips for Balancing Work When Working from Home

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 15:05:08 GMT

For most people, they have a clear mental and physical separation between work and home life. For those that work from home, it can be difficult to find balance when an office becomes a home. There are chores, conference calls, children screaming, reports to write, and the temptation of Netflix that are no longer separated by a physical barrier. The first couple of weeks adjusting our tough but using these tips will make balancing between professional and personal life easier.

1. Create a schedule.

One of the more important tips is to create a schedule with specific work hours. Working from home has plenty of difficulties and distractions, but establishing a routine is essential in order to not over or under work. It’s easy to put off work until later to take an hour-long break or not clock out until it’s time for bed. If your place of work is using a program like Slack you can set specific hours for when you’ll be online. It’s important to stick to the schedule. Don’t cancel or move around meetings just because you want to binge-watch Tiger King.

2. Make post-work plans.

It’s incredibly easy to overwork when working from home. By creating post-work plans this prevents you from working until the sun has set. A post-work plan doesn’t have to be anything big or special. It can be watching a Netflix show, doing a workout video, or Zooming with friends.

3. Determine achievable goals.

Look at the workload and deadlines you have this month. Then break down what goals you have to achieve each week from there you can break it down further by setting goals that you want to achieve each day. Focusing on small goals will make you more productive and will give you a sense of accomplishment.

4. Take proper breaks.

Make sure to leave your new designated office when taking breaks otherwise it becomes easy to get back into work mode. Soon responding to one email becomes answering three and before you know it your scheduled break is over. Stretch, get some lunch, grab a coffee, or take a walk. This time away from your computer and desk will give you a breather and something to look forward to throughout the workday. When you come back from your break you will feel more invigorated to work or at least your cup of coffee will make it feel that way.

5. Create a designated workspace.

A designated workspace is crucial for working at home. Don’t work from your bed or other places of comfort your mind associates with sleeping. Try to make sure this workspace has good lighting and a good backdrop for Zoom meetings. While the Metallica poster is cool it can be a distraction when hosting a meeting.

6. Be good to yourself.

Working from home is a challenge at first. It can be a difficult change for your mental state. Sometimes you’ll need to take a breather and clock out early from work to talk to loved ones. It’s important to check in on your mental health from time to time and make adjustments accordingly.

7. Get dressed for work.

It feels like at the beginning of this pandemic, the number one piece of fashion advice other than wearing a mask was to wear proper pants for work. This doesn’t mean putting on a suit like a late-night host. Wear clothes that aren’t sweatpants or pajamas. Our minds associate sweatpants and pajama pants with comfort and relaxation. It won’t put you in the proper mindset to work. Plus, you can always change once work is over as usual.

8. Accept imperfection.

There will be times where you struggle with balancing work and home life. Some days you’ll feel like you’re running back and forth between family and work trying to do your best, but not succeeding at all. It’s okay. Not all days are going to be successful. If you find yourself struggling a lot, talk to your boss about the issues you’re facing.

9. Avoid Multitasking.

It may not seem like a big deal to throw in a load of laundry in between Zoom meetings, but it is. This small task can easily become a distraction or a procrastination method to avoid work. It has the ability to throw off the entire schedule you’ve made previously forcing you to work longer into the night. Save a load of laundry for the after-work hours or if it has to be done, do it during your scheduled break.

10. Wear noise-canceling headphones or earbuds.

If you have children, you should’ve invested in noise-canceling headphones a long time ago. Noise-canceling headphones will make it easier to focus on work. If your designated workspace is in an open area of your home it also signifies to your family, you are working.

Balancing a professional and personal life from home will be difficult. Most of the time it will not be a perfect balance. However, over time it will become easier figuring out a system that works for you using the tips above.

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Keeping Business Listings Up To Date During COVID-19

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 20:59:35 GMT

When COVID – 19 first came into the U.S and shelter in places took effect to limit the spreading of the disease, no one thought we’d be in quarantine for months. Businesses assumed they’d close for a week or two before reopening. As time goes on, it becomes clear this is not a matter of waiting, it's a matter of adapting for businesses to survive.

It’s hard to keep up to date these days as information about the disease and the status of reopening of individual states changing within a couple of hours. Businesses need to be able to communicate changes in their business to customers as soon as possible while being consistent on all of their platforms. SiteNow helps our client’s consumers by providing the critical information they need . We provide a portal that is easy to use allowing digital marketing agencies to review and update their listing information in a matter of seconds. Down below are several changes we recommended businesses update during this time.

Local Business Listings:

Most people won’t call to ask about changes in your business, they’ll google. It’s important to update your business Google listings to showcase how operations have changed during this time. Double-check your business listings on all search engines and not just Google. While it is unlikely someone will use a source other than Google, someone’s grandparents are out there using Bing. You’ll also need to check Yelp, TripAdvisor, and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

During this time Google is allowing businesses to edit their business names in searches. For example, instead of having Tony’s Pizza Palace, it can be changed to Tony’s Pizza Palace – Delivery and Curbside Service. Due to the high volume of business name changes, the name change could take a couple of minutes to a couple of days.

It’s important to constantly monitor business listings in order to see the information is accurate everywhere. If one customer is confused and posts a review of how the business is closed, then others will read it spreading around misinformation.

Specialty Hours:

Rather than changing the listing for business hours, utilize the special hour’s fields. This is great for businesses that have multiple locations. If you change business hours, customers will wonder when the hours were changed before or after Corona. Utilizing specialty hours makes it clear these hours are accurate for the times.

As of March 25th, Google has also added a temporarily closed option that does not affect SEO rankings. Bing and Yelp have added this feature as well. Make sure to double-check the specialty hours are listed on Maps and similar apps. When adding specialty hours or temporary closure try your best to predict an end date based on your state’s reopening plan.

Update Business Description:

Other than changing the name and the specialty hours, it’s necessary to update the business description. Rather than stating what the business is like in the usual description, put the key information relating to Corona first as it will be what the customer is looking for. It won’t matter if they know what the company or business does when they don’t know if you are open. The description is a great place to put specialty hours and reassure customers you are open offering curbside/delivery service or are temporarily closed for the time being.

It’s also important to change business descriptions on social media accounts. The original post stating your business is open during these times had long since been buried in the timeline.

Update Your Website:

Some customers won’t bother reading the business description on Google, they’ll click the link to the website or type the full HTML into the search bar. The website will have to be updated to showcase the changes that have been made due to the pandemic.

Your FAQ pages might not have been changed after the first year your business opened. Now is the time to go back to the FAQ page and make a specific section for Covid-19 . Depending on how many concerns and questions need to be addressed or if the business is significantly impacted, a specific page of your website might need to be added. Large brands can use their PR or media section instead of the company’s statement regarding Corona. If it feels like there’s too much information for one webpage, a newsletter can be emailed. Smaller brands might just need a popup to tell customers changes in the business.

No matter which section is chosen, it needs to address how operations have changed due to Corona, which safety policies have changed, and expected delays while assuring customers of your commitment to safety.

Luckily it seems like for most states we are getting closer and closer to businesses opening somewhat normally again. If the categories we recommend have not been updated or communicated to customers, it is not too late. SiteNow helps your customers get the correct information they need and syncs it onto multiple platforms with ease.

Looking for help with your website?

7 ways to stay ahead of Google updates

Wed, 27 May 2020 18:35:53 GMT

If you’ve got a website and you’re trying to make it SEO-friendly, you probably already know who you’re trying to please. Starts with a “G”, ends with an “-oogle”... There’s good reason for that. Google is the big kid on the block when it comes to search engines, naturally. When managing a website, if you’re doing well on Google, you’re doing well. Period. But the thing is that Google likes to keep us on our toes. They frequently release updates to their super-secret algorithm, so how can you make sure you’re ready to weather the next one? Here are 7 tips.

1. Keep up with your content.

When you look at some of the recent updates Google has done - for example, the Panda Update, the Top Heavy Update, the EMD update, and the Medic Update - a lot of them have been geared towards the content found on websites. That’s why it’s crucial that you have quality content on your site, not just filler fluff with keywords repeated randomly.

Your content should show that you’re an expert in your field, sharing knowledge and valuable information about your field. You’ve got to show that you have know-how that places you in front of your competitors. The goal is to educate people, not just push your product or service at them. It’s also really important to be an authority in your field, which can help you generate backlinks .

2. Up your site speed.

Google has also done updates that are focused on site speed and how fast a site responds - two notable examples are appropriately named The Speed Update and the Pagespeed Update. You might have great content and valuable information all over your site, but if it doesn’t load quickly, people are not going to hang out to wait for it. Google has taken notice of that.

3. Make your site secure.

People want to use sites that are secure and safe - hackers and identity theft are legitimate fears. Google updates about security meant that HTTPS became a ranking factor and that all sites that are not encrypted are branded with a big fat “Not Secure” right next to the URL in Chrome. A lot of sites are not secure, but that can hurt you when it comes to your Google game.

To improve site security, make sure your site is encrypted with an SSL certificate . (And, you know, remember to renew it before it expires - that would be helpful.) By the way, SiteNow makes it possible to have free SSL certificates that automatically renews - it’s super easy.

4. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly.

What can we say? People are obsessed with their phones. So many searches happen on phones that Google took notice. An update specifically about mobile-friendliness is the proof. When a client is searching on their phone, their experience needs to be top-notch. To improve your mobile game, make sure your web design is geared for mobile. You need to pay attention to user experience - and again, site speed comes into play. SiteNow has a lot of different ways you can make small changes that make a big difference to a client’s mobile experience. We discuss briefly about making your site mobile-friendly in our blog about generating more leads out of your website as well. Worth the read.

5. Don’t forget local search.

Local search has also become something that warrants attention. While yes, content, site speed, and security are important, local search also has its place. With voice searches becoming more popular, you need to pay attention to your local search - Google has made changes that allow people to interact with businesses through the search engine.

Here’s what you can do…

Keep your information current
Get plenty of reviews
Use the SERP capabilities that allow people to interact with your business

SiteNow can help you keep track of your local search with some of our add-on features. Taking the pressure off of you and letting us take care of it for you.

6. Get backlinks.

Backlinks are another way you can strengthen your site’s SEO performance. If you have a lot of high-quality backlinks, Google sees this as an indicator that your business has got it going on. It can help you boost your authority and it can help you boost your SEO rankings. When striving to stay ahead of Google updates, backlinks can be helpful.

7. Keep updating your site.

It’s also really important to update your site regularly. If you have old blog articles or old content, make sure that it’s still current and relevant. Show that you’re still active on your site and making an effort to keep your content up-to-date.

In Conclusion

The bottom line is that Google is going to prioritize the sites that give people the information they’re looking for with the best user experience. They’re going to update their algorithms and make updates that work towards that goal. So, that means you need to make sure your website is ready for it. While it’s kind of impossible to “outsmart” Google, you can be prepared so you won’t be caught off-guard by a Google update.

Looking for help with your website?

Top 10 Website CTAs (Calls To Actions)

Thu, 21 May 2020 00:32:55 GMT

First and foremost, CTA stands for call to action. It is an image or text that entices visitors, leads, and customers to take action. While the most commonly seen CTA is “click here” it does not work in all situations nor should it. Every audience/group visiting a site will want to interact with a site in different ways.

No matter how they are interacting with the site, it’s crucial to get visitors to become leads, which will become customers. Ideally, the customers will enjoy the products/services enough to become promoters and free advertisers for the business. A way to ensure this happens is by tailoring for all of the various types of audiences/groups through the integration of different types of CTAs throughout the site.

1. Lead Generation

The biggest and most important job of call-to-actions is the task of generating leads . The goal of CTAs is to turn visitors into leads and eventually into customers. CTAs will need to be placed where visitors are most likely to visit. A great place to put a CTA is in the blog section of a website. They can be integrated into the bottom of a post, the sidebar, or floating banner.

2. Form Submission

Once a visitor gets to the landing page, they will need to do some interacting with the site before they officially become a lead. They will have to fill out a form with their information to be added to the contact database. This form should be simple, easy to read, and quick to fill out. Rather than having a submit button, make it unique by making it specific to the marketing offer. For example, it could say “Download your guide.”

3. Lead Magnet

Some visitors will need more of an incentive before filling out the submission form. Their inboxes are constantly overflooded from sites, so they need to be enticed to make it worth their while. The incentive needs to be specific to the products/services being offered. Instead of a simple newsletter, which most sites have, offer eBooks, spreadsheets, email courses, or checklists in exchange for contact information.

4. “Read More” Button

An entire blog post will most likely not be able to fit on the home page. By placing the first paragraph or two followed by a click to “Read More” button can entice readers into becoming leads. This will send them to the blog post allowing the blog to get the stats and views it deserves rather than being included in the same stats as the home page. The “Read More” buttons also allow for more content to be featured on the home page.

5. Product/Service Discovery

The most important part of a website is making it easy and quick for visitors and leads to find the products/services that are being offered. These CTAs shouldn’t be complex. In order to work efficiently they need to be simple, easy to read, and eye catching.

6. Social Sharing

An easy call to action is by adding social media sharing buttons. This encourages a low commitment and minimal brand engagement from visitors, leads, and customers to share with their friends and followers. It can be tempting to place these everywhere, but strategic placement is key. Place them in spots that make sense like in blog posts, ending pages, etc. Do not place them where any personal information is given.

7. In-line Social Sharing

Instead of having visitors, leads, and customers sharing the website link, in-line social sharing makes it more specific. If there is a great picture, graphic, or quote from a blog post add a “click to tweet” or “click to share” button. Instead of relying on visitors of the blog to make a great tweet for social media, this makes it quick, easy, and efficient to have an eye-catching promotion.

8. Lead Nurturing

This type of CTA will be useful when a lead isn’t interested in purchasing the product right away. Converting leads into customers will require lead nurturing by coercing them with a different type of offering, one that is focused on product marketing rather than a regular funnel marketing offer. Examples of this would be offering free trials, quotes, and demos. Place these where leads will visit such as in a blog post.

9. Closing the Sale

This is the art of taking leads/people visiting the site and converting them from lookers to buyers as soon as possible. These CTAs will mostly be placed on product pages. However, they can be integrated at the end of blog posts. Some potential customers will need to do research before buying a product.

10. Event Promotion

If there is an event that is being thrown, promotion is key to getting people to attend. An event promotion CTA is one of the easiest to implement because it can be fit into any section of a website. The placement entirely depends on the audience. For example, for customers the CTA can be placed on a receipt, dashboard, or email. For leads or people just visiting, it can be placed in the blog’s sidebar.

While using all of these CTAs may seem tempting, remember to stay true to the branding of one’s business. Think about the customer and select the ones that work best.

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6 Effective Ways to Personalize Your Website

Wed, 13 May 2020 12:10:55 GMT

Website Personalization is the act of creating customized tailored experiences for visitors based on their reason for visiting a website. According to OneSpot “87% of customers say that personally relevant branded content positively shapes their opinion of a brand.” Think of the website like an in-person store, not every customer walks in wanting the same thing therefore they won’t want the same sales pitch. They want to feel special. Through website personalization visitors of the site immediately feel the brand is a right fit for them. While website personalization sounds like a dauntingly difficult task, it’s now easier than ever thanks to data collection and analytics.

Visitor Data Collection

Before using multiple personalization techniques for the site, it should be tailored to fit the ideal target customer. Without having a clear idea of the ideal target customer, it will be impossible to personalize the site further because the brand identity will be lost. In order to effectively personalize a website, data needs to be collected from each visitor. The starting point is to gather each visitor’s time, date, and location. From the starting point it becomes easier to gather more specific data including the device used to access the site, the vertical market, how many new customers vs returning, time since last visit, and other shopping behaviors

Visitor/Customer Profile

Now the data has been collected it’s time to have visitors create accounts on the site. By having returning customers and visitors logging in and filling out their information it will make it easier to monitor their shopping habits and to discover what products are popular and why. These profiles will act as a guide that will show details of the methods and techniques best suited to reaching the target audience. One crucial bit of information to gather is the visitors/customers’ zip codes. This will identify specific regions the website is the most popular in and when, which will give keen insight into what products to advertise and push forward. Most customers/visitors will need to have an incentive in order to make a profile. Most sites offer specific coupons and deals for making an account.

Popups

Popups are a great way of engaging a visitor. Popups are eye catching and are shown to increase conversations. It’s important to make sure the popups give the visitor/customer a reason to be excited. They can show new promotions, giveaways, products, or discount codes. The popup needs to have bright fun colors and easy to read text. The last thing a popup should be is annoying or tricks the target customer into thinking its spam.

New Customers

Not all visitors will understand how to use the site or know what they are looking for the first time. A way to interact with them is by having an introduction video on the homepage or by having a specialized popup. This popup can offer a discount for first time customers if they enter their email to get added to the newsletter or subscriber list. The popup will give a new visitor the push they need to become a customer. If they decide not to purchase the first time as long as their information is added, then they’ll get access to information that will make them convert from visitor to customer in the near future.

Geo-location/Visitor’s Nearby

According to Episerver , “44% of shoppers prefer specialized coupons based on location.” When coupons are geography based this limits inconvenience and makes the site efficient for visitors and customers. Think about the different time zones and weather per location. A website shouldn’t be promoting a winter coat in a tropical location. Using geo-location personalization prevents this from happening. It’s also a way of showcasing which products are available at the closest physical location.

Reward Programs

Creating a rewards program is not only a great way of thanking returning customers, but it’s a great way to personalize the site allowing the returning customer to feel special. It’s also a technique for encouraging customers to purchase more. Set certain amounts the customer has to spend in order to get specific coupons. The analyzed data from returning customers makes it easy to see which products to recommend to them based on their prior purchasing history.

In Conclusion

Website personalization is not just a nice thing to do for the target customer, it’s crucial in order to have an effective business. Customers these days expect everything to be personalized for them. One size does not fit all anymore. SiteNow makes website personalization easy and guarantees visitor engagement every time.

Looking for help with your website?

What’s A Responsive Website - And Why Does It Matter?

Tue, 05 May 2020 18:16:29 GMT

Your business’s website is a key part of your marketing strategy, but nowadays a website doesn’t just live on a desktop computer. People are on the go, using their phones to run searches or grabbing a tablet instead of sitting at a desk. And that means your website needs to be responsive . What’s a responsive website and why does it matter? We’ll explain.

What is a responsive website?

A responsive website is one that can adjust to being viewed on different devices. Whether a potential customer is on their desktop (unlikely), their phone (more likely), or their tablet (also likely), the website will display nicely on whatever electronic gadget they choose. Basically, your website becomes a bit of a chameleon, able to shift and look good on different platforms. Whether someone’s looking at it on a small mobile screen, a slightly larger tablet screen, or a desktop, your website will cheerfully adjust so it looks essentially the same across all three.

(And yes, of course having a mobile-friendly website is important, but a responsive website takes it one step further .)

Pros of having a responsive website.

There are a few very good reasons to make your website responsive. Here are a few.

1. Mobile users will appreciate it.

Your goal is to get your website to reach the largest amount of people - and get them to stick around. Since so many people are using their phones or tablets to run searches and do research, if your website meets them where they are they’ll be more likely to stay on your page.

User experience .

User experience is everything, and having a responsive website can help you provide a positive user experience for people who are on phones or tablets. You don’t want your website to be clunky or difficult to use on mobile because that doesn’t give people a positive impression of your business. And, frankly, people often don’t have the patience to wait around for your site to load or to deal with any hijinks because it’s not adapted for mobile.

One version of the site does it all.

The great thing is that with a responsive website, you may not need to have two separate versions of your website - desktop and mobile. That can be an absolute pain to deal with, and you can spare yourself a lot of grief if your site is simply responsive. Running two versions of your website can be extremely costly, too. A responsive site is both easier to keep up with and less expensive, perhaps, in the long run.

2. Screen size doesn’t matter.

We talked about this briefly earlier, but it’s worth mentioning again. A responsive website magically fits itself to any screen size. You don’t have to worry about your site looking...interesting...on a phone or tablet because it’s going to take care of that by itself. It’ll look pretty much the same wherever someone looks at it. (It’s a very cool party trick.) With mobile, your site has to be able to adjust to a portrait-style layout, and it has to be able to deal with the scrolling.

3. It can boost your SEO.

Here’s another thing to love about responsive websites: they can help you do better on your SERP rankings . Because people are more likely to hang out on your page if it’s working properly than if it’s not, you could see positive results with your SEO. The name of the game in digital marketing is climbing up higher and higher in the search results that Google spits back when someone makes a query for the services your business provides. Having a site with a great user experience can help your case. Remember - you want Google to like you. Having a responsive website can help you make a good impression.

So, that’s what a responsive website is and why responsive website design is important. It means that your site knows what to do when confronted with any screen size, be it a phone or a desktop. It allows you to have one version of your site that’s ready to do it all versus having two separate versions. It can help you with your site maintenance and keep your costs down. And it can even help you with SEO. What’s not to like about responsive websites?

Here at SiteNow, we know you’re looking for a killer website that will reach a wide audience. We want to help you construct the site that you’ve been dreaming of. Responsive design is crucial, and we can help you build a site that will look stellar on any screen.

Looking for help with your website?

20 Tips for Sprucing Up Your Website

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 17:58:20 GMT

If you’ve got a website for your business, you might be looking for a few ways to give it a bit of a makeover. It’s time for a new look - nothing dramatic, perhaps, but a few things to give your website a little breath of life.

Here are 20 tips you can use to update your site.

1. Change the width of the screen.

To give yourself a little more breathing room for your site, change your screen width from 960 pixels to 1200 pixels if your screen isn’t already set to 1200.

2. Switch up the font.

Certain fonts have a sleeker look, so you might consider making an adjustment to your font. Whether you’re looking for a big change or a slight one, the font can give your site a different look. (Just make sure you’re updating the font on all text levels.)

3. Modify your buttons.

Yes, buttons matter! Even having buttons that aren’t completely rectangular can make a difference. Go for rounded edges, take out the borders, use shadowing, or switch the font if you’re looking for something new.

4. Switch up the header.

Ah, headers. If you want to update your headers, consider what will be most useful. That’s valuable real estate on your site, after all!

5. Consider a sticky header.

A sticky header might sound strange, but all it means is that it stays at the top of the page as people scroll down. (It will still allow the content on the page to be seen, though, don’t worry.)

6. Contemplate your hero image.

Maybe the hero image you currently have isn’t something that still works for your site. You can change it and update it to something that makes more sense. It can help give your site a new look.

7. Use floating buttons.

No, they’re not ghost buttons. They’re just buttons that hang around on the page, even as the visitor scrolls up and down. The idea is to encourage more clicks.

8. Consider animations.

Would it help to include an animation to catch the eye? You can encourage people to look at important content by adding a little flair. There are different effects you can choose from, like motion, hover, and more. (Just don’t go ham - choose your animation placement carefully.)

9. Create new sections.

You can use new sections to keep the same content on your site while giving it a changed-up layout. It’s easy and effective.

10. Add reviews.

Having client testimonials is really important . People, for some reason, trust reviews a lot. Ask some clients if you can use a brief testimonial from them for your website.

11. Use Instagram.

Using Instagram can help you reach a wide audience - a lot of people use Instagram. Like, a lot. And it’s easy to connect your page to your website.

12. Overhaul your contact forms.

Keep your contact form short, sweet, and to the point. Be sure to protect them with reCaptcha validation. Trim down the fields.

13. Update the footer.

Your footer should include your social media and your business hours. Yes, it might be at the very bottom of the page, but it’s still precious space on your site.

14. Don’t forget mobile.

It’s also really important to update your mobile site. How does your mobile site look? Is there anything you can do to make your mobile design sleeker and more responsive?

15. Look at the copy.

You can tweak your copy and the text on your website to make a change to your site. You can break up big chunks of text, adjust the headlines if needed, and change up the formatting.

16. Check the text on the buttons.

If you’ve got buttons on your site, you can take a look to consider freshening it up. Are the buttons doing their job? Is the text encouraging people to actually click - which is the end goal, after all!

17. Look at your internal links.

If you’ve been adding new copy and blogs to your website, you might need to update some internal links. Are there places where you can add internal links to articles that maybe hadn’t been written at the time you posted some of your older articles?

18. Add contact information to your footer.

Does your footer have your business’s contact information? (Remember, this is valuable real estate even though it’s at the bottom of the page.)

19. Connect your social.

Okay, so we mentioned Instagram above, but you also need to make sure that your other social media channels are connected to your site. If they already are, do you like the way they’re connected? Or could you update the icon or link to something that looks a bit sleeker?

20. Explore other SiteNow updates.

You can make a lot of cool changes to your site by using SiteNow’s updates to make your site look amazing. Who knows what new tricks you can find if you stay updated on the latest SiteNow capabilities?

Looking for help with your website?

COVID-19 and Your Business: What to do during the “Great Pause”

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 18:13:27 GMT

As we are all very aware, COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is a massive global pandemic affecting everyone across the world. Countries all over are responding differently to the virus. Some aren’t shutting things down and others are locking everything down to the point you have to have passes just to be out of your house.

Meanwhile, here in America, everything is in what some are calling the “Great Pause.” Time has slowed down. Businesses are scrambling to get employees working from home. Other businesses are on the verge of shutting down altogether. These current events are like nothing that world has seen on this scale in our lifetime.

However, as doctors and scientists race to find ways to treat COVID-19, we can only hope that the hardships we are dealing with right now will be a thing of the past in a few weeks or months. Employees will start to move their home office back into their regular brick and mortar office. Closed signs will once again gleam “OPEN.” The economy will begin to turn around. Businesses will begin to hire again. The unemployment numbers will start to drop. People will start getting back to life before the Coronavirus disrupted everything.

What should I do with my business during Coronavirus?

The biggest question is, what are you doing right now to get your business ready for when things get back to “normal?” Some businesses are sort of in a holding pattern - unsure of what to do. The ones that will see things go back to normal are the ones investing in their business now. Some businesses are tightening their belts, holding on to the budget, and trying to keep it together until life returns to whatever our new normal will be. Still, others are pivoting to new opportunities and releasing new content and products ahead of schedule in order to provide new solutions to those working from home. The fact is that our time RIGHT NOW is uncertain, but it will not be so forever.

However, with the businesses that are marching ahead to their new normal, they are spending time having their website updated, redesigned, or built for the first time. We strongly believe that those who push hard now down a new path will be the ones who will see a difference in the months to come.

The whole world is online.

This statement was true long before COVID-19, but it’s even more true now that everyone is at home. Conference software like Zoom has seen a massive spike in daily usage. In fact, they’re up from 10 million daily users to 200 million daily users in a matter of weeks . More and more people are spending time online today than ever before. Some out of necessity, some from sheer boredom, and still some others or spending endless hours online shopping. While others are researching everything they need to get their new side hustle off the ground. Regardless of the reason, people are spending more time on the Internet - with internet hits surging up between 50 and 70% . The question is, is your website ready for all those people? Have you spent the time revising and updating your website? Or do you even have a website at all?

Shifting your perspective about websites.

Who is your best employee? Right now. Who is bringing the most to the table for you every day? Who is consistent, self-reliant, and never stops hustling for you? When you send out payroll, who is giving you the best return? Who is working through COVID-19 even when some of your employees can’t?

It’s not a person. It’s your website.

Your website is the tireless worker who labors for your company 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year long. It’s bringing in leads, converting sales, and growing your bottom line long after your other employees have clocked out.

Since it’s working for you 8,760 hours a year, let’s give your best employee what it needs. Most companies have websites. Some of them are stunning, but they don’t close sales. Some of them are functional, but no one can find them! Don’t let a subpar, ineffective website slow down your growth. Let’s get your hardest worker dressed for success and equipped to capture your audience.

Don’t wait for the “Great Pause” to end. By then, you will have missed this once in a lifetime opportunity to focus on your business. Let’s get started with SiteNow and get your website working for you.

Looking for help with your website?

6 Best Practices to Generate More Leads on Your Website

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 18:06:08 GMT

I recently stumbled across an incredible website called Internet Live Sites . If you love numbers and data, this site will fascinate you. The site shows the number of active Internet users worldwide, number of websites, number of emails sent, number of Google searches, photos uploaded to Instagram, Tweets sent, and active Facebook users. They even show you how much electricity is being used by the Internet alone. Pretty cool!

While all these numbers are impressive, it also puts into perspective just how big the Internet is. As of writing this blog post, there are currently 1.7 billion websites out there in the world. That's right BILLION with a "B." So how do you stand out in a giant sea of websites? How do you ensure that your website is optimized to generate leads for you?

While there are many different strategies, there are best practices that all websites should implement in order to ensure they are generating leads to fuel the pipeline for their sales team. Here are 6 best practices for you to consider to ensure your website generates the leads you need for your business to grow.

Do you know your audience?

This seems like a no brainer, but you would be surprised how many businesses have content on their website that doesn’t speak to their audience. So when you sit down to either start putting content together for your website or you are doing an audit of your website content, you should consider five things:

Who is your primary audience?
Is there a secondary audience that can influence or inform your primary audience?
How will they find your site online?
Is your content speaking to their pain points?
Are you solving the common problem they need solved?

So what does this look like?

Say you are a lawyer with your own law firm, your primary audience may be existing clients, but your secondary audience may be other attorneys, others working in law offices, or prospective clients who may need your services in the future. They are more than likely searching online for help with whatever their legal needs may be. What are they searching for? Do you practice in very specific areas?

If so, you want to make sure that can be found on your website easily. More importantly, make sure that those terms are included in the headlines and sub-headers . You want to make sure that you are speaking directly to those pain points and pointing out how you are the solution to all of their legal issues.

Get rid of the jargon

They already know you are the expert. Most of the people online looking for your services may not know the technical mumbo jumbo that you know. You have to make sure your content is not only easy to understand but simple for them to remember. You should consider spelling out acronyms if needed to be used in your content. Don’t assume they know what you mean. By all means, avoid insider language. That’s great that you know what it means, but you aren’t buying your services, they are.

For example, let’s look at this sentence:

The journalist grabbed a SOT from the MOS, drove back to the station and put the story in the can.

Do you know what a SOT or a MOS is? Did they literally put in a can? It leaves the average reader confused about what you mean and now they need to stop what they are doing and look up what SOT and MOS means.

What if you said:

The journalist interviewed a bystander about the incident and recorded her statement to include in the story.

Now that is more like it! It is easy to understand to follow, isn’t it? The average reader is going to better understand what you are trying to say when you drop all the jargon and get to plain language. Keep it simple and easy to follow. Your clients will appreciate it.

Make it easy to skim

If you are anything like me, when I see a bunch of text on a website, I tend to mentally check out. Even if I am interested in what the topic is. Something about a lot of text makes me not want to read it. Apparently I am not alone.

A study conducted by Nielsen Norman Group discovered “that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word.” This is why isn’t important for your content to be scannable.

So, how do you do that? A few things actually. Here are some areas to focus on.

Use bullet points or numbered lists. Break up that large body of text if you can and put them in an easy-to-digest list. Not only is that easier to read, but it is also easier for people to remember your key points.
Bring attention to keywords. Make the text bold, highlight, underline, whatever you want to draw attention to the keywords in your content. Hyperlinking is another good way to draw the idea. Just be careful not to take people away from your site.
Leave room for white space. By leaving empty space around your text, you are allowing for nothing else to compete with the attention of that content. I know what you are thinking, “That’s just wasted space for me to get more content on the page.” However, the extra space makes it more enjoyable to read.
Use subheadings. Break your content up into sections so as people are scanning, they can find exactly what they are looking for quicker. Refrain from making the subheaders clever. Instead, think practical here. You want user to not be frustrated with navigating your content.
Reduce content more than you think. This last point is key. Shift your mindset from conventional writing and think more marketing here. You want to say everything as concise as possible for those people going through your site quickly. Hit the high points. Fill in the gaps once they convert.

Keep them clicking

You want them to know enough information that they are ready to either make a decision to purchase, reach out to talk with someone or click on further information in order gain more knowledge on what you offer. In turn, it moves them through your sales funnel .

CTAs (call-to-actions) are a great way to cause people to continue digging into your site. The more time someone spends on your website, the higher probability they will convert. You have to define what a win is first. This will help you in what the CTA should be.

There are essentially three types of CTAs to consider on your website to help convert page views to paying customers and filling your sales funnel. Consider these as you think through your CTA’s:

Informational CTAs - With informational CTAs, you want to offer a piece of content that helps the visitor to get more information on a particular topic. You will need a landing page for this CTA that highlights whatever piece of content you are offering. Examples of informational pieces of content are ebooks and white papers .

Problem-solving CTAs - With problem-solving CTAs you want to provide content that help solve a problem the visitor needs solving. Examples of problem-solving pieces of content are testimonials and case studies .

Giveaway CTAs - With giveaway CTAs, you are wanting to offer a demo or a free trial of your product or service. The goal is to get the visitor hooked on your product that when the demo or free trial ends, they are ready to purchase. This CTA needs to highlight how you can help them out above all other options that are out there. What makes you different.

Maybe the win is to gather emails or phone numbers so you can reach out to the visitor. Maybe the win is to have them share information that you have or you want them to watch a video for further information. Whatever it may be, you want to keep the CTA simple to follow and have a plan for what you want them to do. If it’s confusing or involves too many steps, most people will give up and leave.

Placement is also important. You want your primary CTA to be “above the fold.” All that means is you want the visitor to see your CTA without having to scroll. That doesn’t mean you want to load the top half of your websites with CTAs. You want to make sure you are spacing them out. Just make sure you have that primary CTA at the top.

Present Your Value Proposition

You know your businesses value proposition . It’s your business for crying out loud. But does your viewer know it? Is it laid out clearly on your site? Visitors should clearly see the value of doing business with you.

Opera is a great example of presenting their value proposition.

When someone visits their website, it’s clear that they are a web browser. It’s easy-to-use. It’s fast and secure. Then they have great CTA. It gives them a clear step to download the browser and start using it right away.

Your value proposition should answer these questions:

What is your company/webpage?
When I’m using your website, what am I able to do?
Does your website help solve any of my problems?
Why should I choose your company/website over any others to solve my problems?

Responsive Design

First off, let’s define responsive design. Simply put, it’s a website design that adapts to whatever device you are on. Before smartphones and tablets, this wasn’t an issue. No one was viewing websites on anything other than their computer. Now that we essentially have mini-computers in our pockets at all times, websites have to change.

Remember back a few years ago when you viewed websites on your smartphone or tablet and you had to pinch and zoom to view the content? Or scrolling left and right was a common action? Responsive design does away with that. Responsive design is an absolute MUST for your website today.

As previously mentioned, mobile website views have now surpassed desktop views . In order to provide your viewers with the best user experience, a responsive site is a must. In fact, I would recommend that you think about the design of your mobile view first and then your desktop second. Aside from providing a great user experience with responsive design, it also creates fewer pages for Google to crawl which in turn helps with your SEO . Responsive design also helps your website to be ready for future devices that aren’t out yet but will be in the future.

In Conclusion

There are several approaches to help your website generate leads. Whatever you do, you need to have a way to measure the success of your changes. Data and analytics are your best friend in gaining knowledge of what is working and what's not. Make sure you have those setup correctly in order to make the best decisions.

Looking for help with your website?

Ditching those DIY sites

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 15:37:21 GMT

“Our awesome website platform is easy to use. No coding involved. Just pick a template and start dropping in your content. Before you know it, you have a new shiney website and you did it yourself!”

Does that messaging sound familiar? This is the rhetoric that is spewing from most, if not all, DIY website companies (that shall remain nameless *cough, cough*). The problem with this is that their “easy to use platform” is easy to them. You aren’t a coder. You don’t necessarily have that eye for design or what's on trend. And even if you did, you are trying to run a business.

You understand the importance of a great website, but with managing your team, getting the work done for your clients, and constantly finding new leads to fill your funnel, building that awesome new website seems like the most daunting task on your ever growing to-do list.

With the rise of DIY website platforms, more and more businesses are turning to them to save a buck and what we see is frustrated business owners not getting the website they need. The mass appeal for these DIY sites is that you get a website, but don’t break the budget with a design agency with larger estimates.

Despite their popularity, there are three reasons you should drop those DIY site and avoid them at all cost.

They don’t care about you
They are limited
They aren’t as easy to use

You deserve the best website possible. Not just that, but one that works for you. That generates leads. It’s your digital front door. You want a website AND marketing machine.

1. They don’t care about you

That’s right. That company doesn’t care if your business grows. Their goal is to provide you an “easy way” to build your website. They don’t want to put in the hard work of building it for you. No, that’s your job.

Not only that, but they don’t care if your website is optimized for search engines either. Whether or not your website works isn’t their priority. They only care that the site gets built. Most lack the marketing resources to help drive traffic to your site.

Isn’t that what you want though? Traffic to your site? I would hope you said yes. That’s what drives revenue and gives you a great ROI on that new shiny site you just built.

2. They are limited

Now this point may be misleading, but stay with me for a second. Yes, these companies have a wide variety of templates to start from. Yes, they have lots of current trendy features to make your site look good. But as I mentioned earlier, they are limited in driving traffic.

Your website is MORE than just a show piece. It should look good. No argument there, but it should also convert. No employee is going to work harder for your company for free than your website will. Make sure that it is working that way for you.

3. They aren’t easy to use

Although they may claim it is easy to use, they aren’t. They work on refining the builder for the website, but don’t explain some of the key elements you need for SEO . So you have to stop what you are doing and look into some of the terms they are using so that you better understand what you are doing. This only pushes you further from getting your website up and takes you away from the other aspects of your business that needs your attention.

You aren’t a coder, so naturally, when something isn’t lining up properly, you are banging your head against the wall trying to figure out why. Or maybe you just don’t have the design eye for what looks good or even what the latest trend is for websites . You now find yourself paralyzed on where to move forward. Getting someone on the phone or to reach out to you will now take more time away from your business. It’s not easier.

In conclusion

Your time is valuable. Very valuable because that time you have is billable. If you are wasting time trying to figure out these “easy to use” platforms, you are not only paying for it financially, but you’re business also suffers because it doesn’t have your attention. Why not use the smarter way to build your site and build your website? SiteNow is here to not only see your website come to life, but we will come along side you to build it for you AND give you resources to see your business grow. No more frustration. No more wasted time. SiteNow is our new best friend.

Looking for help with your website?