peterlieferii

[peterlieferii]

Duplicate Content and Search Engine Results | PrimeView

What is duplicate content?

The term duplicate content refers to content either identical to or significantly similar to the content on several pages of a unique internet address (URL). Duplicate content can also refer to content that appears on one or more different internet addresses.

While duplicate content is not strictly penalized, it can nonetheless affect search engine results. When numerous pieces of clearly comparable content exist in different locations on the Internet, search engines may have difficulty distinguishing which version is more relevant to a specific search query.

What are the issues with duplicate content?

Duplicate content can cause three major problems for search engines:

Search engines are unsure which version(s) to incorporate/exclude from their indexes.

They're unsure whether to consolidate link metrics (trust, authority, anchor text, and link equity, for example) on a single page or keep them distinct across various editions.

Search engines are uncertain which version(s) to rank in search results.

When duplicate content is found on a website, the owner may suffer ranking and traffic loss. These losses are frequently the result of two major issues:

Search engines seldom display several versions of the same content to optimize the user experience. Consequently, Google is compelled to pick the most likely version to produce the best result, reducing each duplicate's visibility.

Link equity might be eroded further when other sites are forced to pick between duplicates as well. Rather than all incoming links referring to a single piece of content, they distribute the link equity across the duplicates. 

Because inbound links are a ranking component, this might affect a piece of content's search visibility. What is the result? A piece of content does not reach the level of search exposure that it would otherwise.

If you copy and paste blog posts, press releases, news articles, or product descriptions from other websites, your pages will suffer in Google's search engine results pages.

Google dislikes the term 'penalty,' but if your entire site is comprised exclusively of republished content, Google does not want to rank it higher than sites that offer more 'value add,' which may take various forms.

If you employ a multi-site approach to offer the same items, you're likely to end up cannibalizing your visitors rather than dominating a niche, as you formerly might. This depends entirely on how a search engine filters duplicate information discovered on other websites.

If a website has duplicate content, the effect may appear to be a punishment, as the ultimate result is the same - key pages that previously ranked may not rank again. Fresh content may not be indexed as quickly as a result. Your website may potentially receive a manual action for having insufficient content.

As a general guideline, DO NOT expect to rank highly in Google utilizing content from other, more reputable websites, and DO NOT expect to rank at all if you are using mechanically generated pages with no 'value add.'

While there are exceptions to the norm, your best chance in terms of ranking is to have a single (canonical) version of the content on your site with rich, original text content created particularly for that page.

Google aims to reward rich, unique, relevant, informative content in its organic rankings - and has been raising the bar for quality in recent years. If you want to rank well in Google for lucrative keywords and for an extended time, you need to start with high-quality, unique content - and plenty of it.

Sources of duplicate content

Generally, duplicate content is not misleading in nature; examples include:

Forums capable of generating both standard and stripped-down pages optimized for mobile devices

Multiple unique URLs are used to display or connect to items in an online store.

Versions of online pages designed only for printing

There are several ways to tell Google your preferred URL if your site has a lot of pages with almost identical content. Canonization is the term used to describe this process.

However, sometimes the content is purposefully copied across sites to manipulate search engine results or get additional visitors. When a visitor sees essentially the same content repeated within a set of search results, deceptive techniques such as this might result in a bad user experience.

Google makes a concerted effort to index and display pages with unique content. With filtering, Google will only show one of your articles if your site has both normal and printer versions of each item, and your noindex tag prohibits both.

Occasionally, Google will alter the indexing and ranking of sites if it finds that duplicate content is being presented in an attempt to deceive users and manipulate rankings. Consequently, the site might see a decrease or perhaps be completely deleted from the Google index, making it invisible in search results.

Product information copied content

Not only are blog entries and editorials included in the content, but so are product information pages. When numerous websites sell the same products and all utilize the manufacturer's descriptions, similar content appears in various places throughout the web.

Resolve duplicate content concerns

The following are some proactive measures you may take to fix duplicate content concerns and guarantee that visitors receive the content you intend for them to view.

Utilize 301 redirects ("RedirectPermanent") in your .htaccess file to intelligently reroute users, Googlebot, and other spiders.

Utilize top-level domains (TLDs): To assist Google in serving the most suitable version of a document, if feasible, handle country-specific content via top-level domains.

Syndicate with caution: If you syndicate your content to other websites, Google will always display the version they believe is most relevant for consumers in any particular search, which may or may not be the version you desire. It is, nevertheless, beneficial to ensure that each site that syndicates your information provides a link back to your original post. Additionally, you may request that people who distribute your content use the noindex tag to prevent search engines from indexing their version of the information.

Reduce boilerplate repetition: For example, rather than adding long copyright content at the bottom of each page, include a brief description followed by a link to a page with further information.

Familiarize yourself with your content management system: Understand how your website's content is displayed. Blogs, forums, and other related systems frequently display the same content in a variety of forms. For instance, a blog item may show on the blog's front page, its archive page, and a page of related entries with the same label.

Reduce similar content: If you have many pages with identical content, consider extending each page or combining the pages into a single page. For example, suppose you have a travel website with different sites for two locations but identical information on both pages. In that case, you can either combine the pages into a single page for both cities or expand each page to include unique content about each city.

[peterlieferii]

How to Optimize Website Navigation and Search

Your website may look cool and have many whistles and bells, or not, but whatever its condition, if people or search engines can’t find it, what’s the use? A website that delivers results needs to be optimized for search and be user-friendly.

Here are some tips for optimizing your website so that it is indexed by search engines and discovered by potential consumers.

Website Navigation

Your website’s navigation can make the difference between success or failure in its overall effectiveness. Its power in attracting and keeping visitors, engaging them, and guiding them through the conversion funnel are impacted by navigation design.

Your website’s navigation needs to be user-friendly and clear. People will quit your site if they can’t discover what they want promptly. As a result, your bounce rate will rise, affecting your search rankings. A high bounce rate tells search engines that visitors aren’t getting what they’re looking for and should avoid your site.

Well-designed site navigation makes it simple for visitors to discover the information they’re searching for easily.

Website Navigation Best Practices:

Consistent navigation: Keep navigation free from variation as much as possible on how and where it appears. Consistent navigation improves usability and speed of finding information for visitors.

Clickable navigation elements: When your navigation has many categories, all headings should be clickable. This is applicable for drop-down menu sub-category links.

Clearly divide categories - Multiple sections, categories, or sub-categories must be visually defined. Even though categories are links, keep them visually distinct from sub-categories.

Accurate navigation titles: Site visitors should know what they will get on a page before clicking a navigation link. Use text that describes the linked page accurately.

Also, you want to ensure the menu is viewable without scrolling down and is in the same place on each page. Menu links should have simple, clear names, so visitors know what they’ll find on each page.

A search function added to the top bar of your site will help users who don’t want to look through categories and sub-categories to find something in particular. It’s also beneficial for mobile users who may struggle to navigate mobile menus and click links.

Mobile-Responsive Navigation

Your website’s navigation menu should be mobile-responsive. The mobile user experience of a website should be as similar as possible to the desktop user experience. Ensure you have a responsive, optimized navigation bar, and you’re guaranteed to see an increase in your mobile conversion rate.

Navigation for your website needs to be presented differently because of the smaller area for display. Unless you have a very simple website, there should be changes. Overall, you should simplify the navigation bar and forego any mega menu.

Also, drop-down menus should be used with caution on smaller screens and much more so on devices that rely on touch inputs. If you need to add many items in your navigation, the ideal solution is a vertically oriented navigation triggered through a menu icon commonly termed a “hamburger.”

Another factor to consider is that navigation buttons on most mobile devices need to be tapped on. Due to the fact that the thumb or fingertip is larger and less accurate than a computer mouse, your navigation links may need to be larger as well. Additionally, fonts should adapt automatically to retain readability.

Prioritize Best Content for Mobile

Prioritizing your content is the best approach to solve the issue of limited real estate on mobile devices. Decide what information is relevant for your target users. In what circumstances do visitors to your site use a mobile device? What is it they are looking to do, and what information do they require to accomplish it? Selected high-priority content should be displayed at the top of the page.

Regardless of screen size or changes to highlighted content, you should have a consistent look and feel of your desktop version and brand. You want to let visitors familiar with the desktop version know they are still on the same site.

Add a Sitemap

Along with making your site easy to navigate, you want to make it simple for search engines to index or “crawl” your site. When Google searches, their objective is to return the most relevant results possible in response to the searcher’s query. Google accomplishes this by amassing huge data banks containing summaries or indexes of each website they discover.

Creating a properly formatted sitemap aids in the discovery of your website by search engines. A sitemap is a file that contains data about your website’s pages, content, links, and other related files to your site and the connection between them.

All of this information helps Google better understand your site, its content, its structure, how recently it was updated, and so on. With this, Google can determine whether it will be useful for a search.

More Than a Row of Buttons

Navigation design is a complex process that entails more than simply selecting a row of buttons. It's far wider and more sophisticated than that. The navigation designer balances user and corporate objectives. This needs comprehension of each, as well as a thorough understanding of information structure, page layout, and design presentation.

Navigation and Branding

Frequently, brands are conceived of in terms of their visual manifestation: logo, colors, typeface, and so forth. These elements assist in establishing a connection between your business and its products. However, a brand is much more.

The brand position of a product or service has an effect on virtually every element of the product or service, including online navigation. Finally, a brand is a promise made to the consumer regarding the products and services supplied.

Brands have inherent values and personalities. For instance, one corporate brand may place a premium on heritage and product quality, while another may place a premium on innovation and friendly customer service. The navigation reflects and promotes the brand's attributes.

The navigation choices shown in the arrangement of the pieces, the tone of voice used in labeling, and the visual style used in navigation all contribute to a complete brand experience on the Web.

Conclusion

Web navigation is an important part of web information seeking and web usability. The design of a web navigation system directly contributes to the overall user experience of a website and application. There are many navigation systems and designs to choose from, and each has its own advantages and weaknesses. Choose yours wisely to optimize your website and be discovered by more customers.

[peterlieferii]

Could New Social Media Trends Change Your Life? | PrimeView

Numerous social media platforms have endured for years, if not decades. However, what does not remain constant is how they are effectively utilized, particularly in marketing.

Yearly, and usually more frequently than that, brands, individuals, and marketing teams must reconsider their promotional plans. Why? To stay current with social media algorithms, user preferences, and trends. Here are some things to know if you want to market efficiently following current social media trends.

Dynamic Ads

Many companies are making investments in social advertising, and you may want to do the same. Consumers are becoming increasingly accustomed to purchasing online, mainly via social media sites. Combine this with advanced advertising – such as Facebook's tailored ads, which adapt their format depending on who is viewing them – and you have the potential for significant targeting.

Additionally, customers can purchase straight from the social networking site instead of being redirected to a third-party website. Buying directly from the social platform encourages more people to complete the transaction due to fewer hurdles.

More Comprehensive Metrics

The metrics used to kick-start your business's marketing activities may still be different from the Performance metrics that are significant to you today.

Which metrics are most important to you at the moment? Are you more concerned with comments and direct connection with customers, or with users doing certain activities, or with the amount of income generated by a campaign?

Superficial metrics are no longer particularly valuable. For instance, if you were previously focused on the number of likes your post generated. With some social platforms phasing out likes entirely and marketers focusing on social listening to join in the dialogue, marketing trends are veering into the unknown. What has been discussed is now more significant than how many people are participating.

Nano Influencers

Influencer marketing is undoubtedly popular, and there is no reason to believe it will disappear anytime soon. However, brands are becoming savvier in terms of the influencers they deal with and the outcomes they want. First, false influencers are something of which you should be aware. Second, likes are no longer a credible metric for engagement.

As a result of influencers' hefty fees, marketers are now justifying their market spend with more nuanced, effective data. As a result, Nano influencers are gaining popularity. Miniature-sized influencers have incredibly loyal followings, implying superior quality despite their smaller size. That is something brands appreciate.

Optimized Targeting

If you've been targeting your ads solely based on fundamental demographics, it's time to diversify. Consider your audience to be a complex group of individuals with varied interests and goals. When you focus exclusively on the most fundamental of demographics, such as gender or age group, you miss out on unifying elements.

The majority of the population is not connected solely by their birth date. Instead of that, target your ads and other promotional activities at more passionate audiences who share common interests. You'll reach a larger audience that isn't constrained by irrelevant features.

Social Chatbots

Many people, just as they are at ease shopping online, are also at ease troubleshooting online. However, previous generations of chatbots left much to be desired. They could only provide the most rudimentary level of assistance and rarely made a difference, and required consumers to speak with a person - prolonging the entire troubleshooting procedure. 

Now we see chatbots powered by artificial intelligence. They're more knowledgeable and helpful, and they may make a significant impact on customer service. Users making use of chatbots have their issues resolved swiftly and without the need to speak with a real human being every time. Additionally, smaller businesses can serve customers even if they lack substantial human resources.

Social Communities

Attracting and keeping a high-quality audience regardless of the size is another trend. The emphasis on social communities is another illustration of this.

Businesses are beginning to place a premium on building online communities made of members of their core audience. Individuals who belong to those groups can communicate with one another and with the company.

This type of intimate, private group is unmatched when gathering feedback, soliciting suggestions, sharing tailored material, and resolving issues. Additionally, it's a fantastic area to test new concepts, goods, and services before presenting them to the general public.

Social Media Trends That Aren't Going Away

While these social media trends are not new, they continue to be beneficial. Incorporate them into your marketing effort.

Ethereal Content: This type of content is temporary and then vanishes, similar to Instagram and Snapchat Stories. For two reasons, users (and advertisers) adore this type of material. To begin, it is bite-sized and easily digestible. Moreover, the knowledge that it is about to be phased out instills a sense of urgency. Make interactive content of this type, and you'll get even more out of it.

Live Streaming Video: Video marketing has been important for a long time now, and many platforms currently provide live streaming. With live streaming, you can create content on the fly. Additionally, you can interact with followers in real-time, which is especially critical for brick-and-mortar businesses that have been forced to transfer their in-store events online.

User-Generated Content (UGC): It almost sounds too good to be true – your audience creates content for you, and you enjoy the benefits. Utilize intelligent strategies such as branded hashtags or sweepstakes to encourage fans to upload their experiences regarding your products or services. Consequently, social proof and word-of-mouth marketing are boosted. What could be better?

Live video is not the only sort of video that is gaining popularity. Exceptional results can be achieved with both short and long-form videos on social media. If your brand is not yet on YouTube, you may want to consider it.

Choosing the Best Platforms to Experiment with Social Media Trends

Even though you can be on every social media platform does not mean you should. It is now more crucial than ever to carefully select the social media platforms that are most appropriate for your company and target audience. Quality is more crucial than quantity in this situation.

Your reach may be more expansive on Facebook, but if you're a retail company specializing in home goods, Pinterest and maybe Instagram is where you want to be. Make long-term decisions based on your best interests, not on what appears to be more exciting at the moment.

Concluding Remarks on Social Media Trends

Almost everything altered last year as a result of the pandemic, including social media marketing. While offline customer experiences have degraded, online marketing has grown.

Fortunately, numerous trends that have been there for a while will continue to be significant, which means you won't need to rebuild your plan altogether.

At PrimeView, we believe that the new trends are smart ones, focusing on audiences, personalizing engagements, and focusing solely on the most critical aspect of your business. Let us help your brand meet the challenges of 2021 and beyond.

[peterlieferii]

The Latest Big Thing in Online Shopping | Livestream Shopping

A new trend encourages consumers to be more involved and active with the product and the online purchase process called Livestream Shopping. What's it all about?

Livestream shopping is the process of purchasing things online during a Livestream, which is also referred to as "live stream shopping." More engaging than merely clicking and filling out a virtual shopping cart, it's becoming a new trend among consumers. The potential customer can communicate with the host via remarks similar to how people shop in person. By making this request, potential customers can learn more about the product and see it from a new perspective.

Home Shopping Vs. Livestream Shopping

Live streaming shopping uses all the major social media channels, from Facebook to YouTube to Twitter, to more personal engagement between the audience and the host. Anyone who observes the broadcast can ask a question regarding the product, which helps improve the knowledge of the entire community. On the other hand, home shopping takes advantage of costly cable TV subscriptions and offers more limited contact.

Livestream Shopping Benefits

A brand may empower customers to make their own decisions by doing something as simple as live-streaming their shopping. It offers an experience that you will not find in typical retail locations. In addition, it enables consumers to join an event even if they are unable to attend physically. Shopping video content is an excellent way for brands to extend their audience and encourage more connection with their items.

Characteristics That Define a Good Livestream Shopping Host

A competent Livestream shopping presenter should have a solid understanding of what they should be showing their viewers, depending on their interactions. They will not advocate a product if it does not fit their brand image. A skilled presenter will spend hours researching the items they will showcase. Then, they'll begin generating anticipation in advance of a specific event by enticing visuals with special deals and engaging with their fans.

High-End Retailers Embrace Live-Streamed Shopping Events

Part theater production, part ad campaign, live-streamed shopping events are a new frontier in internet buying. High-end merchants of beauty and fashion products such as Gucci, L'Oréal, and Walmart are coming up with new digital streaming formats in hopes of selling an increasing assortment of beauty, fashion, electrical, and furnishing products. The events take place on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, but they are also becoming more prevalent on merchant websites.

Social Media: Harnessing Its Potential

The sense of community is critical to Livestream shopping. In contrast to QVC, an American television network specializing in televised home shopping, and Home Shopping Network, discussions are not confined to the Livestream event.

 Hosts can generate excitement in particular events months in advance by compelling visuals and special offers and engaging with their followers. There is a near-constant discussion between the host and their followers. This information exchange is critical to the live stream's success.

A skilled host can gauge what should be highlighted based on their interactions with their followers. They should not be required to showcase items that do not fit their brand. This discussion strengthens the bond between individuals who watch the live stream and those who host it, enabling Livestream shopping to achieve an authenticity that QVC lacks. The main difference is that a host and their fans share an ongoing conversation. Due to the real-time nature and on-the-go accessibility, marketers can reach a broader audience and receive fast feedback.

From 1% Of Viewers to Billions in Sales

According to studies, shopping live on the internet brings around $5 billion in sales this year and is expected to grow to $11 billion by the end of the year and $26 billion by 2023. The well-known and well-accepted format, popular in China for several years, has recently acquired traction in the United States due to the pandemic.

Live shopping feeds have been watched by roughly one-third of the US population, and around half of those people ended up buying something.

According to analysts, most live feeds attract less than 1% of viewers who purchase things. By targeting a segment between 10% and 20% of the audience, the most effective streams can get at least 10% to 20% of purchases. When it comes to customer engagement, there are significant differences between consumers.

Analysts predict that, on the whole, events offering entertainment while providing customers the ability to buy goods from the same screen as the live stream would prove most popular with consumers. Some businesses are devising new methods to top this trend.

Will Livestream Shopping Result in Long-Term Sales Growth?

According to some analysts, live events may not result in long-term sales growth, given the abundance of streaming options already available to Americans via social media and websites such as Netflix and Hulu. When audiences were mostly confined to their television screens, home shopping channels were born. Capturing and sustaining the attention of today's modern viewers, who have instant access to entertainment via their smartphones, watches, and computers, is no longer uncomplicated.

According to researchers, many live feeds motivate less than 1% of viewers to make a purchase. The best effective streams can generate between 10% and 20% of audience revenues. Additionally, considerable disparities exist in customer participation. Analysts believe that programs that mix entertainment and the possibility for shoppers to purchase items on the same screen as the live stream perform best, but retailers are trying to come up with alternative winning concepts.

According to analysts, many live feeds inspire less than 1% of spectators to purchase.

The most successful streamers can grab around 10% and 20% of their audience in terms of sales. Additionally, there are significant inequalities in consumer engagement. According to analysts, events that combine entertainment and the ability for shoppers to purchase things on the same screen as the live stream do best, but shops are scrambling to discover other winning sales techniques.

Livestream on Facebook

How can you get started on Live shopping? Facebook is moving forward with its evolving eCommerce strategy to launch a new "Live Shopping Fridays" series in partnership with select retailers. 

Customers will be able to ask questions about products and make purchases while watching the series broadcast live on the internet. It's a relatively straightforward, engaging method of encouraging purchase behavior. The ability to directly ask questions offers another route for increased engagement. The FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) factor of live-streaming is likely to result in additional sales as the event progresses for your brand. 

[peterlieferii]

Top Web Design Agency in Arizona

PrimeView is an award-winning Arizona Web Design and Digital Marketing Company with lead generating Search Engine Optimization SEO, Website Development, E-commerce, and Social Media Services. Call 480-970-4688 or visit 1717 N. 77th St. Suite 4, Scottsdale, AZ today.

[peterlieferii]

The Simple Formula for Success in Web Design in Phoenix

If you have a company in Phoenix, Arizona, it could be for two reasons. You lived here initially or two; you moved your business to Phoenix from a state like California. To be successful in a new town, people need to realize you are there. A well-designed website is the best way to do that. Here is a simple formula for success in web design in Phoenix or anywhere, for that matter.

Web Design Guidelines

Having the right web design for Phoenix and its customer profiles is a critical factor for the acceptance and success of your site. However, some simple website design fundamentals and web standards make a website in Phoenix great. You probably already know some of these rules intuitively, but you never thought about them before.

What is your goal?

“Don’t develop a site just to have one. Build a website because it accomplishes an objective.” Anonymous. For illustration, you own a clothing company and wish to sell your products; you have a landscaping business and want to generate leads, or you are a publisher and need individuals to sign up for your newsletter.

A goal is a clarifying thing. Once you realize your goal, you can decide about adding or removing elements based on one question. Does it help me accomplish my goal? 

Make the design ‘User Friendly’

Navigation is essential to good web design, so it should be simple and conventional. Think of it like elevator buttons. People are using these buttons to get somewhere, so don’t make it confusing. Navigation should always be found in a typical location, most commonly on top or vertically along the left.

When you write the titles to your navigation links, try not to be too creative; instead, use conventional link titles like services, contact, or about. Finally, keep navigation simple four or five links are ideal. Resist the urge to use over seven links. You don’t want to have a wall of links.

Suppose there are many important pages to link to; use a “mega menu,” which is a large panel of links to the content displayed below a menu item when the user clicks or hovers over the menu item. That way, it isn’t visible unless it is clicked or hovered over.

Easy Navigation 

You never want your visitors to think too much to navigate through your site. One secret to great-looking websites is typography. Websites are mostly made up of text, so it makes sense that a beautiful website has chosen strong fonts that are well arranged. Don’t feel you need to select an unusual artistic font. Your best bet is going to be a popular font, something like open Sans or Roboto.

Simple and clear web design 

A lot of white space in the design is the trend nowadays and for excellent reasons. Don’t stuff your website full of content; leave some white space. All that extra content is just going to be ignored. Remember, people don’t read websites; they SCAN websites. Visitors have short attention spans, so write with that in mind and edit text down to the bare minimum.

Pictures are worth a thousand words; it is often said. This is going to be doubly important if it’s an e-Commerce website. Don’t hide behind technical language. Many people will glaze over when they read words like “leverage” and “specialize.” Think outside of the box.

Many websites do but don’t use a lot of fancy jargon that only means something to someone deep in the industry. Speak humanly and plainly. If you’re not a large corporation, don’t pretend to be one. Own your smallness. Small and human work well on the Internet. Clarify that there’s a real live person behind this website. People will respond to that in a good way.

To act human is to include a picture of yourself. Pictures build trust, and people trust people, not websites. Always make contact information obvious, for example. If you’re a BBQ restaurant, make sure hours of operation and holiday hours and your phone number and location are displayed prominently. It may seem obvious, but it’s a simple thing to forget.

Promoting your website – SEO

For maximum visibility on the Internet, your website needs to be search engine optimized. Called SEO, this process involves targeting keywords related to your business in the content, optimizing the website’s coding, link building, and other techniques and strategies.

Being on the first page of Google is the goal of SEO. Getting your website there in front of your targeted customers takes a steady campaign of off-site optimization in addition to on-site SEO. There is no secret advice for ranking in Google. Just create valuable content for your visitors. That’s the best long-term SEO strategy.

Adjust to the user’s device 

To ensure that your business is visible to the most customers, you need to have a responsive web design. With so many people using Smart Phones, IPads, Laptops, and other wireless mobile devices for their internet activities, it has become imperative for your website to be viewable on those devices to get maximum exposure.

When your website is responsive, the layout and content will automatically adjust to fit the device based on the screen’s size. Mobile-Friendly Website Design - or Responsive Website Design, delivers your audience the content they want within the context of the device on which it’s being viewed. Also, you can optimize your website for mobile by using AMP, Accelerated Mobile Pages.

Get professional help

These simple website design fundamentals and web standards mentioned above are tried and true ways to have a successful website. However, it may not be easy as it sounds. It does take a lot of work and experience to create a truly professional website. 

One element of this “simple formula” should also include hiring experienced Phoenix web designers. With professional solutions for web design and development, you can get a website that reflects your company’s brand and brings you more paying customers. 

[peterlieferii]

5 Powerful Habits for Success in Social Media Marketing

Social media provides a way for your business to reach out and communicate with hundreds or even thousands of people worldwide. If you are not active on social media, you may be missing important feedback and, even more importantly, missing sales and marketing opportunities.

Social media provides instant valuable business insight about your products or services from informed consumers. These organically created brand advocates will spread the word and drive new customers to you. A strong local presence built on a custom social media plan targets and engages, and converts local prospects into loyal customers.

Social media is one of the top-ranking factors that influence your business's search engine visibility. The problem is that many small businesses don't see an ROI from social media activities. If you are trying to get with it and not getting the results that marketing gurus promise, here are some powerful habits that will help you succeed in Social Media Marketing.

1. SHARE CONSISTENTLY - Sharing consistently on social media is crucial to improving your business's reputation and creating more brand awareness.

Many businesses do not believe that it's worth the time and effort to manage a social media campaign because they do not understand its relevance and how it can help. However, consistent posting and relevant content have the same effect as blog posts for your website. In addition to sharing consistently, make sure your online presence appears uniform and professional across all your social accounts.

2. EDUCATE YOUR AUDIENCE - This is perhaps the most powerful habit to follow in our social media marketing.

Social media is a key part of the modern consumer's decision-making journey. Most consumers will research a product or service provider online before making a major purchase. Many won't even make a purchase or reach out to you without doing some research, either looking at other companies or learning about a product. Use social media posts to educate people before trying to convince them and making a sale.

Ensure that you're providing educational content to help the consumer take that decision to the next level. People want to make sure that they not only understand your product or service. They want to do comparison shopping and know what the most cost savings would be or what the most energy-efficient product would be.

As a professional, you know your product or craft. When a consumer looks at your business, don't you assume they understand the technical aspects of what you're offering. Educate them about your product and provide links to searchable content they can share on social media. Give them the knowledge to help them make the best decision.

However, be sure that you're not speaking too deep into the technical features. You want to speak at a level they can understand. Speak from with a consumer's voice.

3. MONITOR ALL YOUR CHANNELS

Don’t forget that when you respond to comments on one social media channel, people can also comment on other social platforms like Twitter or Instagram. Your readers would have pushed out content to various platforms, and you only responded to a few.

Remember, anywhere your content is, you want to maintain that channel as much as possible. When somebody wants to engage you on that channel, take the time to go there and talk to them; otherwise, that is a missed opportunity.

Monitor all your channels and make sure that you’re engaging and the consumers hear from you. Because there’s nothing more frustrating than when a consumer is trying to engage with you, and you don’t respond. No one likes to be ignored.

Many social media monitoring tools can keep track of every conversation, account, keyword, and hashtag that’s relevant to your business. Google Alerts is one free and simple one that can monitors the entire web for mentions of your company, competitors, or other relevant mentions.

4. POST REGULAR UPDATES

Regular updates of Social Media are another way to develop a successful online social presence, yet this is the area where most businesses fail. Many social media update tools use APIs (Application Programming Interface) to log into your social account on your behalf and post updates. These tools have their place, especially when you want to schedule multiple updates throughout the day. Of course, you will have to have prepared your posts previously.

However, there are things that social media update tools cannot do, and if used exclusively, there is a danger of important updates being neglected. It is also known that updates posted using such tools are treated differently by some social networks and given a lower value. When you post updates manually, it gives you better control and appears more natural to the networks, detecting accounts that humans operate instead of automated tools.

5. FOLLOW THE 40-40-20 RULE

Another powerful habit is not to always make your social posts about your business. Research has found that a 40-40-20 strategy for content seems to be the most effective.

The majority, 80 percent of content, should include engaging with existing customers, such as responding to inquiries and calls for help.

40 percent should relate to your business and the value it brings to customers and prospects. You can include links to blog posts, product information on your website, and in-the-moment content — real-time and relevant.

20 percent of the content should be dedicated to the community your business serves, partners, news, and links to interesting, relevant articles.

Conclusion 

Social Media offers tremendous potential for local businesses to reach out and communicate with potential customers. It allows you to engage with folks daily, making your message more relevant to the constantly changing world.

A presence on social media makes you readily accessible to answer questions and offer information to those seeking the kind of help you offer. It is a way to share your story with many people and build your brand, and it is basically free. How can you beat that?

Make a habit of these five suggestions for social media success. Learn everything you can about how to leverage the power of social media marketing and content. By doing that, you will undoubtedly be able to build your audience and customer base dramatically.

[peterlieferii]

Should You Use Ecommerce Site Templates?

You have a brick-and-mortar store and/or a website with products to sell, but lately, your sales are in a slump because of the pandemic and all that goes with it. The solution that many business owners in the same boat are turning to is online sales. Building an online store opens up new opportunities to sell your products and generate revenue.

The reasons to go with eCommerce are many. Since you are reading this blog, let’s assume that you already get online sales is what you need to do. You are exploring the idea of having an online shop but are not sure exactly the best way or how to do it.

There are three ways to create an eCommerce website:

A custom eCommerce website designed and built from the ground up

A site based on an eCommerce site template

A site built with a theme framework

The difference between themes and frameworks is that an eCommerce template can be installed immediately, and its functions can be utilized directly. A theme framework requires further development and customization. Building from the ground up or using a framework is best left to professional web developers.

Defining Ecommerce Site Template

eCommerce site templates are a predesigned resource built with web languages such as HTML and CSS. A template allows you to quickly build a website for an online shop without the need to create your web pages from scratch.

Templates have a sophisticated framework that provides the basic structure, design, and appearance to which you add content. All you have to do is swap your data and images to get a professional website without coding.

To template or not to template

So, to answer the question, “should you use eCommerce site templates?” The answer is – yes, if you want to have a quick shop setup and have no programming experience, that is definitely the path to take. Go for a platform such as Shopify, Wix, or Squarespace. There are many other popular eCommerce platforms – but these three are suitable for easy shop creation.

Shopify has more than 100 free and premium professionally designed eCommerce website templates for an online store available at the Shopify Theme Store. Premium templates can be $180 or more.

Wix has over 800 templates, all free. Currently, Wix does not offer premium templates. However, freelance Wix designers are a source of premium templates.

Squarespace offers 113 free templates.

Going to a site such as Themeforest, TemplateMonster, or Elegant Themes or searching online for platform-specific templates, you can find many to choose from. There are so many it may be hard to choose.

Skyrocket sales with a great design

Whether you are looking to build an eCommerce website or upgrade an existing one, no matter which eCommerce platform you’re using, the design is the key to getting sales. A great design that is responsive, attractive, and engaging will put your products out in front of your market and help skyrocket sales.

For that, there are a plethora of premade templates for any platform you choose. Each platform will have templates available to choose from, some more than others. Then there are many made by other developers that will work for particular platforms.

Desired template features

Every eCommerce template is built differently. The designs and coding can vary widely. When choosing a template, make sure it includes the functions, scripts, and applications you require for your online store. 

To your template’s ready-made pages, text, photos, and 3rd party plugins can be added. Stock images included in the template can be replaced with your own .jpg images or edited as you require.

When choosing a template that’s a good fit for your ecom shop, look for these features:

The Template is Mobile Responsive - Even with a large percentage of consumers using mobile devices, some templates may not be responsive. How this happens is a mystery. The best-designed templates are developed to be responsive. Make sure your template indicates it is responsive to mobile devices.

Payment Gateways - Your eCommerce website needs options for integrating different payment gateways and not be limited to a select few. Not having the payment method available a customer uses will ultimately lose that sale.

Flexibility and Customization Options – Choose a template with many customization features to personalize your website to fit your brand’s image. Look for eCommerce templates where you can tweak the fonts, colors, size, and other features.

Featured Product Images – Make sure your template allows for featured products. With this feature, you can showcase specific products on different pages or parts of your online store. You can toggle them on and off, add them to the sidebar or insert them into a post or page.

Customer support – It is best to have support for your theme if there is some bug that only the developer can fix. Look for ones with free support.

Why use Custom Development?

Themes may not be the best choice, especially if your business has many complexities. Depending on your business needs and your level of experience with web design and development, you may want to find a custom development solution.

If your goal is to have a unique design, hire a developer or website design firm to create a custom-coded eCommerce site from scratch. Custom work will cost you more for sure, but it will make your online shop stand out amongst the many templated sites if you have the budget.

Many templates will allow specific eCommerce sites to be built relatively easily, while more customized ecommerce stores will be difficult to build out and require professional developers. However, if you want to take your time developing a custom shop yourself, then go for a more flexible platform such as WooCommerce, or Magento.

Whether you choose eCommerce site templates, frameworks, or a custom website design and development provider, your chances for success will improve by making careful choices. Do your research, know what your goals are, and you’ll have a successful ecommerce store!

[peterlieferii]

7 Unforgivable Ecommerce Development Mistakes

Nowadays, in the current pandemic situation, many businesses are jumping on the bandwagon of eCommerce. It only makes sense that online shopping is taking off like never before, with people being restricted from going about.

Many new online shopping sites will fail or not make a substantial profit. Building a successful eCommerce business involves a lot of details and work. But it can be a path to wealth if done right. However, there is a long list of mistakes that many online shops make.

Here are seven unforgivable eCommerce development mistakes.

1. Not mobile optimized

A big mistake for any online shop or website is failure to focus on mobile responsiveness. People are leaving the desktop and going to mobile phones in droves. Some may never even go to the desktop version of your site. They’ll be using mobile devices.

If your eCommerce site isn’t mobile-optimized, visitors aren’t going to come back, it’s not a great experience, and they’re going to exit. Making sure that any content you put up on your online shop is mobile-optimized at all times is very important.

Research by Statista shows over 90 percent of the global internet population uses a mobile device to go online. With this massive global audience available mobile optimization is mandatory. Ensure your site is programmed to automatically adapt to whatever device it is accessing for the broadest reach and the most user-friendly experience.

2. Not paying full attention to security

Security is one of the essential success factors of eCommerce. The term security is defined as - safeguarding data from intentional or accidental disclosure to unauthorized individuals.

Security is a critical factor to consider in eCommerce. Customers are unwilling to engage with an online shop because of uncertainty regarding the data transaction’s security and privacy. When customers lose confidence in a website’s ability to protect sensitive and personal data such as credit card details, customers’ chances of visiting such an ecommerce site are low.

It’s safe to say that security is a crucial part of an eCommerce website and may lead to business failure if you do not pay full attention to eliminating security breaches.

3. eCommerce site is not Search Engine Optimized

A fatal mistake for any online business, eCommerce or not, is not implementing a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program. Searchability, the ease for customers to find you online, is crucial to eCommerce success. Most internet users usually only check out the first one, or sometimes two results pages and ignore others.

Due to this reason, it is essential to move your eCommerce web page to the search engine’s top lists so customers can find you. SEO must be utilized during ecommerce website development and constantly afterward to improve an eCommerce website’s searchability.

It makes it likely to move a web page to the first page of a search engine by applying certain optimization practices. Search Engine Optimization must be put into consideration when designing an eCommerce website to achieve business success.

4. Poor user experience

Ecommerce sites that are difficult to use are not uncommon. These sites are not bound to last long or be profitable. Good website usability is crucial in strengthening an eCommerce business. When your online shop is easy to use, customers are more likely to stay on the website and become engaged with your company’s brand, helping a business achieve its goals.

Therefore, it is recommended that an e-commerce website design should encompass the following:

The website should load within three seconds.

The purpose of the website and the call to action are clear within five seconds.

The website logo is easy to find and should be linked to the homepage

The internal search function is easy to find and use.

Forms and sign ups should only request essential information and provide helpful feedback.

These recommendations will help improve eCommerce website usability.

5. Slow Page Speed

It can hurt an eCommerce business when a customer is searching the site for products or information, and it takes a long time to get results. No matter how well your eCommerce site is designed or how much marketing you have invested in, site visitors will most likely leave if your page speed is less than optimal. Page speed, how fast the content of page loads, is essential to eCommerce success.

Today’s customers have little patience and more options. Potential customers will just “bounce off” and go to another competitor selling the same products as you. A fast-loading site gives users an improved customer experience keeping them coming back again and again.

6. Not ADA compliant or unethical

Website accessibility is essential in ecommerce because it is essential to make e-commerce websites accessible to individuals like the disabled. During the design phase of an e-commerce website, the designer should include the various features required for those with a disability as outlined in the ADA (The Americans with Disabilities Act).

Legal and ethics are part of the challenges in e-commerce because gaining trust are hard in e-commerce. The customer does not know who you are. Therefore, if an organization wants the public to engage in a business transaction, such an organization must honor legal business policies and customer’s privacy and security.

If any organization engaged in ecommerce fail to adhere to some ethical standards, they might lose their business due to consequences like damaged reputation. Moreover, adopting ethical and legal attitudes will help create customer satisfaction, and it is a strategic factor that allows a business to attain long-lasting success.

In this regard, ethical considerations should be integrated with any business, eCommerce or otherwise, since unethical organizations lose their customers promptly.

7. Not hiring a professional eCommerce development company

Do it yourself eCommerce web design and development are something that takes a great deal of experience and knowledge. As a matter of fact, it takes a team to do the job right and create a profitable enterprise. Once a site is set up like Shopify or Magento, it can be managed, but the initial step up will most likely take professional developers.

[peterlieferii]

Title: The Revolution in Customer Experience

Adapting to Customers Changing Needs

As COVID-19 continues to disrupt business, agility is key to success. No one could foresee the pandemic, but companies that were reactive and adapted successfully were the ones who met their customers’ changing needs with efficiency and effectiveness.

Consumer behavior is changing

Since the pandemic, consumer behaviors have permanently shifted, with fear and anxiety acting as fuel for purchase decisions. Customers are adapting to digital alternatives to satisfy their need for information, guidance, and reassurance. Businesses need to provide a seamless experience to reassure customers across all platforms while speaking to them in a language they understand and can trust.

In 2021, brands will need to focus on bridging the gap between offline and online experiences. The demand for human interaction versus artificial intelligence seems to be split down the middle, so businesses must look for ways to incorporate a healthy balance between the two.

2021 digital transformation 

As we start to trade physical connections for virtual, digital technology has become an essential part of post-COVID life. Consumers purchase more online now than they did in 2019, and many would like to interact with brands through an online channel.

Many global consumers use digital channels like social media, websites, and apps more frequently than they in 2020, so the shift to digital is real and shows no signs of slowing. 2021’s digital transformation needs to go further and offer truly contactless solutions in every way, including payments.

Research has shown that customers will shift more towards cashless solutions in 2021 and beyond. Consumers will be using their cards more often, and many will opt for mobile or contactless payments.

Data privacy and consolidation

2020 saw several data breaches and threats to cybersecurity across the world. Many businesses reported suffering from a cybersecurity breach, many experiencing an issue every week. From phishing attacks to viruses, malware, and ransomware, a data breach can cost companies millions a year and cost customers.

Due to the increase in online activities globally, cybercriminals have taken the opportunity to develop new threats and target those most vulnerable: a new wave of internet users forced to take their work and education online. The widespread anxiety, dependence, and confusion that online networks first posed in 2020 have pushed cybersecurity professionals to find immediate solutions to increase cyber defense.

Data management, and most importantly, the governance of the data being used, will become a defining part of CX in the next decade.

Pre-pandemic was a simpler time, from a security perspective. As long as sensitive files were within the four walls of the organization, they were safe. But what happens when you have remote workers that are moving from one location to another regularly? This dispersed and highly mobile remote workforce brings a whole new set of challenges.

Data science and AI innovation

2021 will see the proliferation of data continue at a rapidly increasing rate, with more connected devices, more people online, and more digital consumption. Businesses can expect to focus on:

Data and AI democratization: Everyone seeks an open, honest, and transparent outlook regarding data sharing. AI is becoming more accessible to more people. More businesses are looking to adopt open-source data and code and pre-existing plugins and intuitive tools that sustain a shared economy.

Segmentation of data: Businesses will be expected to target each customer’s demographic differently and market accurately based on customer data. Creating segments by identifying patterns according to location, age, marital status, income, and education will maximize the value each customer brings.

AI and machine learning will be commonplace. If 2020 were the year when humans digitally transformed, 2021 and beyond would be the years when humans digitally accelerated at a pace only previously seen in the movies.

Hyper-personalization

Hyper-personalization is when data is used to deliver more personalized and targeted products, services, and content to the consumer. This personalization allows a business to drive personalized customer experiences in real-time.

Today’s consumers make use of many devices. In addition to their PC, they are using laptops, smartphones, and wearable technology. With these devices’ businesses can gather a lot of useful information about their customer’s lifestyle and online behavior. This data can be used to create personalized customer experiences across the purchase journey.

Many brands claim to provide personal customer service. In 2021, the experience will become orchestrated and hyper-personalized. Using data, brands will begin to proactively engage during the customer lifecycle to enhance the customer’s experience with the product or service, creating more long-term value.

Meal kit services are the perfect example, and peer-to-peer engagement at key decision points makes for an ideal match. This model is already in place at meal-kit provider Sun Basket. It’s examples like this that show how personalization can support customer success and engagement strategies.

Data is central to everything. The way this data is owned, used, analyzed, and manipulated by data analysts, scientists, engineers, and marketers will become the defining hallmark of whether a business survives or thrives. Hyper-personalization and the ability to conduct millions of relationships in real-time, guiding, supporting, and predicting a human being’s thought process will become the epicenter of customer experience.

Evolution of chatbots

Chatbots have revolutionized the way businesses deal with customers, helping them cut operational costs by up to 30% in recent years. However, 2020 has shown us the importance of human interaction and the need to combine AI technology and humans to achieve more excellent customer experience while gaining operational efficiencies.

In 2021, businesses are predicted to develop more seamless integrations between chatbots, live chat, and call center support, with the introduction of humanoid avatars, also predicted.

2021 will be the year where automated and human interactions come together to improve CX journeys for customers. Imagine a quick pre-qualify via AI using natural language and a seamless hand-off to a knowledgeable human as required. With more humans in the loop reviewing automated responses, companies can train and maintain their AI algorithms’ accuracy with confidence.

Employee experience (EX)

HR leaders worldwide are revisiting their business culture and what steps they can undertake to revamp existing work culture and employee experiences. 2020 was a year when the number of people working from home increased dramatically as social distancing drove employees entirely out of the office.

Generally, employees are happier without worrying about commuting while enjoying flexible working and a better work-life balance. Therefore, businesses need to automate many tasks to support their workers, no matter where they are, and consider what this means for career growth and management.

Businesses that have survived 2020 have done so primarily down to their people’s commitment, passion, and persistence. The significance of the employee experience will continue to grow as more and more businesses recognize that the way they treat their people has a material effect on how their people treat their customers. Customers urgently need empathy, especially in times of stress. Only if a business empathizes with its employees first can that be possible.

Video - a high-converting engaging medium

Videos allow customers to ‘see’ your brand in ways they otherwise may not be able to from wherever they are. As more people turn to online experiences, video provides a 360-degree view of your offering and engages other senses like sound and visuals to make the experience memorable. 

Many consumers are now watching videos with the sound off. Changing consumer patterns and behaviors need to be considered by marketers, which is why there has been such a rise in the introduction of subtitles and annotations over the last few years.

Most importantly, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of video beyond entertainment, serving both sales and operational needs. Whether that be the meteoric rise of Zoom, estate agents providing virtual viewings, or doctors offering video consultations, video has finally demonstrated its true potential in the commercial world and beyond.

Conclusion

The things we learned from 2020 will only benefit the changing world in which we find ourselves. If anything, 2020 has driven businesses forward at an accelerated rate, laying the foundations for even more significant evolution over the next five to ten years. Technology-driven customer experience is at the core of future business success. Those who master the complex and increasing purchase journeys consumers take will lead the way, while those who choose not to struggle to compete.

[peterlieferii]

Phoenix eCommerce Web Design - Is Shopify for You?

The global pandemic accelerated eCommerce into a position that may have taken years to reach in just a few months without it.

The consumer’s relationship with the Internet has come for many to be the center of daily life. As people have had to find new ways to get the things they need while dealing with lockdowns and limits on travel, eCommerce came to the rescue. For businesses of every kind, the impact has been enormous.

Do you have a business and want to take advantage of the many benefits of eCommerce technology? Or do you currently have an online shop and are considering migrating to a new platform? Phoenix eCommerce web design company, PrimeView, is here to help. We have been assisting our clients in adding eCommerce to their business model long before the pandemic.

Because of forced retail closures or just a general slowdown of revenue, many business owners have come to PrimeView recently seeking our expertise in online sales. One of the first things they want to know is - which eCommerce platform they should use?

Selecting an eCommerce platform should not be about using one with the most features at the lowest cost. Today’s platform evaluation must now be finding a solution that meets present needs and is scalable to meet your future needs. Not only scalable but flexible in meeting the inevitable changes to come in how you adapt to your new business effort.

Shopify - a leading eCommerce solution

Our Phoenix eCommerce web design efforts have been focused on three platforms. While there are many eCommerce vendors available, Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento have been our mainstay. Each is worthwhile to use, but that can depend on your business’s size and other factors which one is best for you. 

For comparison, you may refer to Choosing an eCommerce Platform, which goes into quite a bit of detail. After collecting some information about your business needs and a brief consultation, we can make recommendations based on your vision.

Shopify may be better for larger businesses than WooCommerce. Magento can also scale very large but requires more technical skills to work with and be more expensive. For this reason, we recommend Shopify to clients who want an affordable solution for more than a small business.

Shopify occupied a third of the market share in 2020, so you can be confident it has the marketing power you will need to compete in this pandemic adjusted environment. We are not out to convince you this should be your chosen eCommerce platform; it is up to you. But in our experience, Shopify is an excellent path to eCommerce success. 

Let’s look at some of the features and benefits of Shopify.

Hosting

With WooCommerce or Magento, you will need to acquire hosting to operate your online shop. Shopify is a hosted solution, a software as a service (“SaaS”) platform.

Each store executes and operates on Shopify’s global network of servers. You won’t have the expense of purchasing software or paying for a separate web host. You will only pay a monthly fee. 

An industry-leading 99.98% uptime guarantees you will be available to shoppers virtually all the time. Another benefit of SaaS over standard hosting environments is that it can instantly scale with an increase in demand.

Shopify eCommerce features

Shopify has pricing plans offering a range of features. There isn’t one specific plan that works for every business. With a basic plan, you will have these making it possible to have a fully functioning online store out of the box.         

70 payment gateways

Abandoned checkout recovery

Custom domain name

Full blogging platform

Gift Cards

Integrate with drop shippers or fulfillment centers

Mobile commerce ready

Product reviews, discount codes, and coupons

Search engine optimized (SEO)

Secure shopping cart -256-bit SSL

Sell in-store (POS)

Sell on Facebook

Update your store or inventory from mobile devices

Social media integration

Translate in 50+ languages

Unlimited bandwidth

Unlimited products

Use your domain name

100+ professional themes

You can customize functionality beyond these features by adding plugins from the Shopify app store. With 4000 various plugins and over 1500 of them completely free, there is practically nothing you can’t do to manage and market your store!

Shopify organizes their apps into twelve categories, each with several subcategories. 

The top-level categories are: 

Finding Products

Places to Sell

Store Design,

Marketing

Sales and Conversion

Orders and Shipping

Inventory Management

Customer Support

Trust and Security

Finances

Productivity 

Reporting

Security & Reliability

Because Shopify is a globally hosted service, they have people monitoring their network 24/7 for any attacks. If any problems arise, they can help you deal with them. Also, Shopify add-ons have security standards that will not pose a risk of trojans or viruses.

Shopify pricing

Shopify offers monthly pricing plans with various levels of service and functions. They also provide discounts on annual plans and biennial plans. If you prefer annual payments, you will receive a 10% discount, and if you prefer biennial plans, you will receive a 20% discount. There is also the Shopify Lite plan that costs only $9 a month. The catch is you can’t build an online store. What it does is let you upload your products and embed Buy buttons, with product information, into YOUR WEBSITE.

Expand your shop to enterprise level with Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus is a premium plan with enterprise-level features and functions that are not available in subscription plans. These features provide more flexibility, support, and options that enable a store to generate more traffic and revenue than stores on the regular plans.

Shopify Plus stores allow you to add these functions among many more: 

Create custom pricing and minimum purchase amounts for individual customers or groups

Employ volume-based discounts. 

Quantity minimums, maximums, and increments on a per-product basis.  

Let customers easily repurchase from their order history.

Powerful automation tools: Shopify Flow and Shopify Launchpad.

Other improvements include an unlimited number of staff accounts, faster page response/speed, and increased traffic handling - up to 10,000 transactions per minute!

Improved multi/omni channel functionality

Multi-Channel

Shopify allows you to add over twenty different sales channels that can be managed in Shopify’s backend. Sales channels include established marketplaces like Amazon and eBay to well-known social networks like Facebook Messenger and Instagram. Channels can also extend offline into brick-and-mortar stores with Shopify’s point of sale (“POS”). 

Shopify Plus has omnichannel retailing functionality, a method of providing shoppers with an integrated experience across all channels or touchpoints:

eCommerce marketplaces

Mobile websites and apps

Social marketing, retargeting, and sales

Messaging and SMS

Deeply personalized email marketing

The Omnichannel experience

Omnichannel retailing allows you to be everywhere your customers are. It requires being at each touchpoint to offer customers precisely what they need, when they need it, on any device.

For example, during the pandemic’s height, legacy consumer packaged goods (CPG) like Staples began online sales for the first time. From direct-to-consumer (DTC) product bundles to curbside pickup, an omnichannel approach allowed them to continue selling despite lockdowns, travel bans, and forced retail closures.

The fact is the pandemic showed shoppers prefer omnichannel shopping. They’ll use as many as a dozen channels or devices before making a purchase decision, and those touchpoints involve hopping between the digital and physical worlds. What they expect and need from your business varies widely by channel, depending on which stage of the journey they’re in.

An excellent customer experience 

All in all, Shopify offers your customers an excellent shopping experience helping to ensure they keep coming back to you. Contact our Phoenix eCommerce web design firm ASAP to get started on your eCommerce journey.

[peterlieferii]

Building an eCommerce Website with WordPress

In today's competitive marketplace, e-commerce is a must-have for a business. It's not just an extra to add to your marketing plan. How important is e-commerce to your business? Online shopping is one of the most popular online activities, not just in the USA but worldwide. 

Try to wrap your head around these numbers.

The world population currently at the end of 2020 is 7.8 billion. According to Statista, a leading market and consumer data provider, 2.05 billion individuals purchased goods online in 2020. That is a quarter of the world's population! 

Further on, 2.14 billion people worldwide are expected to buy goods and services online in 2021, with sales projected to grow to 6.54 trillion US dollars in 2022.

Convenience and cost-savings prompt people to use ecommerce. Faster Internet speeds and cheaper devices also aid in the tremendous growth of this remarkable marketing technology.

Due to hectic schedules, mobile devices, and apps' pervasiveness, consumers look for businesses that understand this and cater to their needs. As a business owner, you do not want to miss this opportunity to reach a global market that's open 24 hours, seven days a week. By launching an online store, you can connect with a vast audience.

eCommerce – Start with WordPress

If you want to start an ecommerce website for your brand, WordPress is one of the best platforms to use. WordPress is NOT an ecommerce application but is a CMS or Content Management System. 

A CMS provides the capabilities for creating, organizing, editing, and publishing content to the Web. Instead of requiring multiple software applications, only one application is required.

WordPress is user-friendly and provides a solid foundation to power your online store. However, there are no native WordPress eCommerce features. To give it the functionality to sell products or services, you need to add an ecommerce plugin. 

There are many plugins and extensions you could use to make WordPress operate as an ecommerce store. One popular plugin is WooCommerce.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an eCommerce plugin for small to medium business websites for one good reason. It's free! There are many free extensions (plugins) to expand functionality. More advanced plugins cost, so what you have to spend will depend on your needs. However, you can have a decent eCommerce site without paying for particular functions. 

Getting started

To use WordPress to create an eCommerce website, you'll first have to pay for a domain name and web hosting. Most web hosting companies provide WordPress hosting with a one-click installation at affordable monthly and annual rates.

With WP’s easy-to-use interface, your online store can be set up quickly. The more information prepared ahead of time, the faster your store can be up and running. To this end, have your business name, logo, and tagline ready. Have your initial products named, with descriptions, categories, prices, and images prepared beforehand as much as possible. 

Install a Theme

Once WordPress is installed, you will need to select a theme. In simple terms, a theme is the appearance of your website that your audience sees.

WordPress defines a theme as:

 "a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. These files are called template files. A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software."

You will have 14 free themes available to use at the start. You can find a massive selection of free and paid Themes online at sites like Themeforest or Elegant Themes, to name a few. 

To be sure how a theme will look, you can preview it before activation. Keep in mind that if you use the standard WordPress themes initially provided, other websites may use the same theme, so your website won’t be unique.

The beauty of WordPress is that you are never stuck with a theme. You can change themes or change colors and other theme parts to customize it.

Plugins

Plugins are an essential feature of WordPress. Plugins extend and add functionality that already exists in WP. As previously mentioned, you will need to add the WooCommerce plugin to give your site shopping functions. 

Just as with themes, there are many plugins available, both from WordPress and many other sites online, free, and paid. There are over 50,000 plugins that can do just about anything you may want at wordpress.org. 

How to install WooCommerce

Installing WooCommerce or any plugin is simple.

Log in to the WordPress dashboard.

Go to the Plugins section on the sidebar and click "Add New."

In the search bar, type "WooCommerce" and hit Enter. 

Click "Install Now" on WooCommerce.

Once the WooCommerce installation is complete, an activate button will appear. The activate button will launch a setup wizard to continue configuring your store's initial settings.

The WooCommerce Setup Wizard is where you configure basic settings through a guided screen by screen walkthrough of five setup components: 

Page Setup 

Store location 

Shipping 

Payments

Themes 

Setup can also be completed within the WordPress Dashboard.

Required Pages

For your shop to function, you will need to create these essential pages:

Shop – where your products are displayed.

Cart – where the customers go to view items in their cart and begin the checkout.

Checkout – where the customers go to pay for their items.

My account – where registered customers manage their account details and view past orders. 

Adding Products

Now that WooCommerce is set up, you can start adding products and product pages. Every product added needs to have the following items at a minimum.

Product name

Price

Image

Brief description

Go to the WordPress admin panel, and on the sidebar, select "Products" Then select "Add Product." You can add physical and virtual products to your online store.

Payment Gateway

In the Setup Wizard, you will set up your online store's payment options. An eCommerce site, of course, needs a means of receiving payments from customers. When a customer goes to the checkout of your shop, they are directed to your payment gateway. There they need to input their financial information or sign in to their account.

PayPal is a popular payment gateway available, but not everyone will use that. WooCommerce incredibly supports over 100 payment gateways. There are four default options in the Payments section to receive payments. These are:

Direct bank transfer

Check payments

Cash on delivery

PayPal

Payment Security

To use most features of payment gateways, you must have an SSL certificate. The certificate ensures that all transactions and exchanges of financial information between you and your customer are safe from hackers. Most customers will be reluctant to purchase items online without this level of security. SSL certificates can be installed on your site by your hosting provider for a fee.

Shipping

The next thing you need to set up is how customers will receive your products. On the shipping tab, you can configure your shipping rates. You can choose from Live Rates, Flat Rates, and Free Shipping. If you're not sure what these will be, you can accept the default and modify them later.

Conclusion

This article is just a fundamental idea of how you can use WordPress to launch an eCommerce website for your business. There are many things to know about WordPress and WooCommerce. There are many online resources to discover the minute details that can make your site very professional and effective at delivering sales. 

Hiring a web development company is an option you should consider, at least to get you started. They can provide training on different aspects of managing an eCommerce website. After a time, you should be able to do many of the functions required, such as adding new products and functionality with plugins. 

Don't get frustrated with the endeavor. You can continue to expand and improve your online shop as you go and see what works and what doesn't. The rewards can be tremendous. 

I hope this article will inspire you to join the millions of others who have brought their brick-and-mortar shop into the realm of online shopping. And wish you much success in this coming new year.

[peterlieferii]

Digital Marketing in The Fourth Industrial Revolution

What is the fourth industrial revolution?

According to many so-called experts, we are at the beginning of a fourth industrial revolution. They say it will make those that came before look like a mere dress rehearsal for the main event.

But what is it? How does it affect digital marketing, and why should you care?

As explained by The World Economic Forum where the phrase comes from:

The First Industrial Revolution was when water and steam power was used to mechanize production.

Then Second IR came about when electricity could power mass production.

The Third used electronics and computers to automate production.

Now the Fourth Industrial Revolution builds on the Third with the fusion of technologies that combine physical, digital, and biological spheres.

Welcome to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where the world is changing faster than we can imagine. It is hard to imagine what a 5th industrial revolution would be.

In the current and developing environment of this 4th industrial revolution, new digital technologies and trends are changing how we work and live, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI.)

It is predicted that there will be 4.8 billion internet users by 2022, consuming nearly one zettabyte of mobile data. Add to that over 1 billion 5G users and 28.5 billion Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices by 2022.

With this increase of AI and IoT, the global digital economy could double to 23 trillion dollars by 2025. Digital marketing has to stay with these changes for your company to compete.

Artificial Intelligence

While IoT, robotics, and virtual reality are new technologies we are dealing with, digital marketing and SEO are most impacted by artificial intelligence. Traditional marketing is changing to digital marketing, aided by AI and machine learning.

The definition of artificial intelligence from the English Oxford Living Dictionary:

“The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.”

AI is already used in digital marketing without your marketing team having to do anything. If you are using any PPC such as Google Ads, AI is used to collect data for targeted ads to tell if your content is relevant and to distinguish customer segments for cross-selling, and much more.

AI and machine learning have greatly impacted digital marketing and customer behavior, and the marketing and sales industry.

Data Analytics

One of the biggest influences of AI on digital marketing is in marketing analytics.

The large volume of transaction and demographic data enables business analytics using AI and machine learning to analyze and predict customer behavior to improve customer satisfaction and enhance sales. For example, predictive analytics uses different algorithms to predict the relationship between results and variables and identify data patterns.

Marketers use data mining techniques to analyze the data trend to predict customer consumption behaviors. With AI and machine learning, marketers can now automate the pattern searching and identify processes to enable personalized and one-to-one digital marketing to deliver individualized messages and product offerings to existing and new customers.

Internet of Things

The Internet of things (IoT) is the buzzword for wireless devices and machines (things) with electronic sensor-based networking.

These devices can be computers, smartphones, vehicles, house equipment, manufacturing devices, medical implants, even entire buildings, and the list can be much longer. Almost anything can be interconnected with the global information and communication infrastructure based on agreed protocol through information sensing devices.

Many people are already using this technology, but just don’t connect it with the term “internet of things.” We can use a smartphone to start our cars, control our appliances, and thermostats remotely. We can check our heart rate and running pace and monitor our sleep patterns. As individuals, we can do all these things. 

Moreover, the Internet of things is a key component of the fourth industrial revolution as it is used extensively in industry to automate processes and improve manufacturing efficiency.

How does IoT impact digital marketing?

The IoT is not a single technology but a combination of different software, hardware, semiconductor electronics, cloud networking, and other technology. With all these parts working together, the millions of interconnected “things “regularly collect data providing massive intelligence for planning, decision making, and management.

IoT is a tool that can improve all aspects of marketing. Its technical capabilities help marketers to plan and conduct marketing campaigns in an entirely innovative manner.

Nike+ is a successful example of connecting a consumer, mobile device, wearable device, and the Internet. The Nike+ has a sensor that can be purchased to track time, distance, pace, calories burned, and other data as the consumer runs. The sensor is activated by placing it under the insole of a Nike shoe compatible with Nike+.

The data is stored, and a user can monitor their progress, and the application enables the user to share results on social media. The application itself is a social network where users can add each other in friend lists, challenge each other, and view results. The application also allows users to purchase sports clothes online.

The application allows Nike’s marketing team to collect valuable data about consumers, such as their age, gender, location, exercise habits, routes, email addresses, and more. Such detailed information would be difficult to collect by traditional market research, which can be expensive. Except for the original investment, this consumer data doesn’t cost Nike anything.

Innovate to succeed

These are some of the many examples of how the 4th Industrial Revolution’s developments should be an integral part of your digital marketing strategy. The Internet of Things and artificial intelligence is here to stay and will continue to advance.

Create your marketing plans specifically for IoT and AI because the methods and approaches in communication with consumers are different from traditional digital marketing. It will allow your business to develop products and services in line with the future, the Fourth and maybe final industrial revolution during our lifetime.

[peterlieferii]

Why Web Design Matters in Content Marketing

The design of a website significantly impacts how a site visitor perceives the business. From color choice to style, many different elements add up to create a first impression.

A visitor to a poorly designed website may view it as outdated and not trust the information it provides. A professional and engagingly presented site will inspire trust that a business is a reliable provider of services or products.

So, what does all that have to do with Content Marketing? First, let's define what we mean by the term Content Marketing.

At its core, Content Marketing is the process of providing consumers with information that is interesting, useful, problem-solving, and entertaining. Content that is beneficial to the consumer rather than an attempt to sell a product or service.

Content includes any media that can deliver what is beneficial or entertaining to the consumer when we say content. Things like educational blogs, e-books, videos, webinars, games, or quizzes, anything that will engage potential customers.

Content marketers can publish their chosen media in many places. On the many social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the list goes on and on for social media. Of course, the content will be on the website, but much of it, to be effective, needs to be off-page instead of on-page to spread the net as wide as possible.

If a person is looking online for specific information and arrives at a website where the Web Design went to hell, are they going to continue exploring the site and viewing the great content? Not likely.

And from the other direction, if they see the content posted on social media or other venues first and then go to the site from hell, they may still run away! So the content marketed did no good. A waste of time, money, and – did we mention money?

Your website is where everything begins and ends. The first page of a website isn't referred to as "home" for nothing. The experience the online searcher has may be akin to false advertising if your Web Design is flawed. They see a beautiful picture of a car on social media, for instance, and go to your shop, and it is a junkyard!

The website from heaven

A Web Design that gives the most Content Marketing benefits has optimal performance. Visitors to a slow loading site may leave within seconds. Or you'll have a reduction in return visitor traffic, not a great way of building your Content Marketing reach online.

When Google or other search engines crawl a poor performing site, it will get a lower search ranking, reducing traffic. The content on your site is essential, but the user experience is the first thing that needs attention.

Just having a beautiful Web Design is not enough. It must also be a design that provides a positive user experience. It needs to be user-friendly with optimized functionality so the user can easily navigate your site and find the great content you offer. Learn more about user experience.

The rise of Content Marketing

Traditional marketing is no longer as effective as it was. Now Content Marketing has become a buzzword in marketing and an extensively established practice. The introduction of Social Media has been the driving force in its popularity and opened the door for content as a marketing method.

Consumers became tired of invasive "selling" and notably did not want it on their Social Media. Content has now become about providing interesting, useful, problem-solving, or entertaining content to the consumer, rather than an attempt to sell a product or service.

Many businesses are now turning to Content Marketing because it nets them increased sales, reduced costs, and more loyal consumers. By providing useful and interesting information to replace traditional advertising, more and more consumers are using Social Media every day.

Consistency everywhere on the customers' journey

Content Marketing is most effective by publishing content far and wide on social media and other distribution channels. Being at these touchpoints of a customer's journey for maximum results requires consistent branding.

A strong brand attracts a target audience, increases sales, and helps grow your business faster. If you have developed brand characteristics that your audience sees as an essential part of your brand, use them in all your posts across the board.

Although a company's brand has tangible and intangible assets, the visual elements, the graphic designs create a visual identity, which is the most immediately recognizable feature.

These visual brand identity design elements include:

The brand name/s

The logo

Color pallets

Lines, shapes, textures

Symbol (s)

Typography

A tagline (key message)

Slogans

Layout/composition

Letterhead

Photographs/illustrations

Make the most of your marketing efforts

For Content Marketing to succeed and produce a great ROI, you have to publish a lot of content at each stage of the buyers' journey, segmenting customers based on their personas.

An exact, repeatable process guided by a well-planned Content Marketing strategy allows you to produce blog posts, eBooks, webinars, and more in an efficient manner.

If you create content on a large scale, you shouldn't have to make each piece of content a new production. Keeping your branding the same, or close to your web Design throughout, you can build a widely recognized brand name.

Summary

In the last few years, Content Marketing has gone from the category of giving a company an edge over the competition to the category of being left behind if you do not use it. This follows the trend of more marketing dollars moved from traditional marketing to Social Media or other digital mediums as more and more consumers join Social Media every day.

Content Marketing is becoming a dominant force in marketing. Content Marketing has gone away from the "selling" aspect of marketing and intrusive advertising to a more customer-centric environment.

Content Marketing makes available information to the target market or the public, which is interesting, informative, problem-solving, or entertaining. It can bring new customers and increased profitability to those who can use it correctly. Content Marketing has now become an industry standard. Make sure your Web Design supports your marketing efforts.

[peterlieferii]

How to Position Your Business for Success in an Unpredictable Environment

2020 - Predicting and Positioning

"The future ain't what it used to be" Yogi Berra

Trying to predict and think about the future with the level of change and the speed at which things are happening today, is just not what it used to be.

In the early eighties, you had about a 10-year cycle to get ready for things - adjusting and changing in terms of new products, new marketing, and new media.

In the nineties, you had about 5 or 6 years to adjust change.

2000 – 2010, about 3 to 5 years.

2011 – 2016 about 1 to 2 years

Today in 2020, with the current crisis, you may have just a few months to adjust and change.

That is the speed at which things are happening now. That means that you have got to make change an integral part of your thinking, otherwise you're going to fall short.

Going back to the crash in 2008 12 years ago, many got out of that and grew and grew and moved from surviving to thriving. So here we are again, but this is even worse than what occurred then.

So, it will take even more motivation and work to stay in business. But the point is, we don't just want to survive – but thrive, and that is the challenge.

Intentions Without Actions = SQUAT

If you can come up with some new ideas, or strategies that could put you in a good position to survive and thrive, then that is a start.

However, success is more a product of what you do with the ideas that you have, and not necessarily the ideas themselves. (Unless it is a really bad idea!)

Intentions without actions will not yield results, so do what's necessary to get your business in shape and make the moves that are critical.

From Surviving to Thriving

The pandemic created a survival mentality in business, which is different from a thriving mentality.

Plummeting sales and revenue and increased costs shocked many businesses, and many were shut down completely.

Doing what's necessary to get your business in shape for what's left of 2020 and beyond and making critical moves requires knowing facts and figures and the environment you are in.

Think about what the key drivers are that influence your consumers to respond. Are they the same as the last 10-20 years or do you have to re-evaluate the motives of your clients?

What you need to have to thrive:

MINDSET

The common denominator to successful businesses when projecting and positioning for the future - you've got to have the right MINDSET.

You got to believe that you're going to get there. Mindset is also about work ethic, just because you find some arrows that are appointing up, doesn't mean it's easy.

Mindset is also about the pace of business, things are happening quickly, so move fast.

FITNESS

A business has to be fundamentally fit; you have to be in shape. You are trying to climb mountains, not strolling through the park. Try to understand what business fitness means.

CHANGE

If a business is not changing, it will become irrelevant.

You need all 3 of these elements together to make a successful business for the future. If one is lacking your chance of failure is much greater.

The reality is now in this unprecedented situation that 2020 ended up being, from a business environment point of view, you have a huge tailwind. Normally a tailwind will be helpful and push you forward to your goal. But if you don't know where you are going or where you should go, what will happen!

You may be blown right into a mountain or a storm or be set completely of course. Listen to those subtleties that are going on out on there. You also have to listen to your clients.

All Businesses are Not Created Equal

Try to instill in your team confidence that you can meet the challenges of this “new normal.” Build a competitive spirit like you would do with a sports team - “Hey we’re better than our competitors and we can outdo them in our field.

Think about the advantages you have and what makes you special. You have to be realistic, but you also need to pump everyone up to inspire the confidence needed. To overcome any negativity like “we will never be able to succeed with all problems we face.” - You can, we can, others are doing it, why not us? We can do it better!

You may have to make some initial sacrifices such as lowering some salaries temporarily or benefits. In a hot air balloon and it is falling down fast, what do they always do in the movies? The only thing you can do is toss out some extra weight, even if it is valuable, you may just have to do it to survive, thrive later.

Follow these steps to position for 2020 to 2021

Rebuild

Rethink

Recruit

Back to Basics

Enhance

Strengthen product/team

Improve sales & production process

Client-centric focus

Grow

Aggressive but controlled growth

Expand products & services

Leverage relationships

No success without a website and digital marketing

Once you have some new ideas and strategies that could put you in a good position to survive and thrive, you need to update your website to fit your new vision. You will also need to update your digital marketing plan.

If you don’t invest in developing an irresistible online presence, you’ll miss the opportunity to progress from surviving to thriving.

Create a compelling business website that drives traffic and customers

Connect with users across multiple online traffic channels and deliver them to your website

Systematically build meaningful relationships with visitors and turn them into customers

Use data to better understand your target customers and optimize marketing strategies over time

Thrive with PrimeView!

PrimeView provides comprehensive services including web design, ecommerce development, digital marketing, SEO, professional web hosting, and maintenance.

Whatever you need to meet your new business goals to meet the challenges of this uncertain time, we have it!

[peterlieferii]

5 Best Practices for E-Commerce Customer Service

eCommerce is growing fast and provides an excellent opportunity for businesses. Many companies want to take advantage of this opportunity, but many don’t know how to create a great customer experience.

The main objective for any e-commerce business should be to create an environment where customers trust that you will act in their best interest. That you are honest in all transactions and can deliver as promised. They have to feel secure in sharing information and making purchases.

The way to provide a customer experience that is great is to have a site that is easy to navigate. Also, it must be easy to find what the customer is looking for, and is simple to check out and pay. However, no matter how well you design your eCommerce site, there can be issues that arise both with the site itself, the products, and the delivery.

If a customer has a problem or a question, it needs to be addressed professionally and effectively. Your customers can easily share reviews on many social media platforms. They can reach thousands if not millions of other potential customers instantly.

Just one negative post from an unhappy customer can damage or even ruin your brand’s image. This is why you need to have excellent customer service. It isn’t just about negative reviews; the positive ones will be a great benefit to your brand.

Customer service should be a major part of your e-commerce business strategy. With excellent customer service, you will have satisfied customers that can spread the good news about your company.

Here are 5 best practices to help you have exceptional customer service:

1. Live Chat

It is hard to imagine any business that is serious about providing effective customer service not having live chat. But there are many who don’t.

A Live chat tool allows you to meet customers’ needs immediately. Talking to a real person who is familiar with all the ins and outs of the e-commerce shop is the best way to satisfy your customer’s needs.

When customers can chat with an actual live customer service representative, the customer satisfaction level goes much higher. If they have to look for a customer service email and wait for an answer or make a phone call, their needs are not meet promptly.

If you can’t have a full-time live customer service rep, at least you should have a “chatbot” A chatbot automates responses to customers’ questions with pre-designed answers and responses. Powered by AI using natural language processing, it can create complex responses and conversations.

2. Take customer service straight to your customers

To deliver the best customer service, don’t rely on one channel only, develop a multichannel approach that uses different channels to reach, connect, and build relationships with your customers.

Provide multiple customer service contact options. These can be on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever channels your customers may frequent. Email and telephone is another channel that should be included beyond chat and social media.

When e-commerce customer service channels are established, make sure your customers know about the available options. If you can deliver quality customer service across all the channels, the boost to your online presence and customer relations will be tremendous.

3. Build your own e-commerce customer service team

It is best to build your own team of customer service reps and not rely on an outsourced call center. An in-house team will be a lot more tailored to your operations.

The customer service team is the public face of your e-commerce business. When talking to a live person the customer will build a relationship, and the behavior of that support person reflects on your whole brand. It is vital for your business to have competent customer support to acquire and retain customers.

There are two main things you need to develop an outstanding customer service team:

a. Training – Teach your customer support team about your business guidelines so everyone will understand your business thoroughly. Train them on how to deal with different types of customers to deliver a better customer service experience.

The team should have a good understanding of your business processes to provide accurate information about refunds, return & exchange policies, shipping details, and special offers. When customer service teams get better training, they serve better.

b. Tools – Provide customer service tools to your team and train them on it. There are many software tools available to make customer service more efficient.

Help desk software or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software that has a ticketing system acts as a centralized hub for all your customer support. This way customer questions, concerns, and complaints don’t easily slip through the cracks. Tools can do things like categorize requests and delegate it to the right person, and track conversation history, and much more.

Having your support team well trained and equipped will empower your team to deliver the best customer service.

 4. Improve response time

E-commerce is all about convenience, you can find things you need online without traveling and compare many sources. Part of the convenience is the speed at which this all happens. In minutes you can find some product you need and have it on its way.

This same need for speed relates to customers wanting fast answers to their questions and problems. The benefit of speed in online shopping is diminished if customers have to wait for long periods of time for a response.

One of the big frustrations for online shoppers with customer service is slow responses to their questions or concerns. You may have a lot of different channels for customers to reach your team, but that alone will not result in the level of quality you need for helping customers. Find ways to serve your customers in a shorter period of time.

5. Automate eCommerce order fulfillment

Automating your e-commerce order fulfillment is a giant step in scaling and growing your business online. Many eCommerce shops are still manually processing some of their orders, which is slow, inefficient, and invites human error.

Your business will greatly benefit from 100 percent automation on an integrated platform that handles order processing, fulfillment, inventory management, shipping, and notifications.

Find an automated system that handles the whole order fulfillment process from beginning to end. This will save you time, improve productivity, and importantly - improve customer satisfaction. 

[peterlieferii]

Considerations when designing for Phoenix Web Sites

Greater Phoenix is one of the hottest growth regions in the United States. The Valley of the Sun is a place where companies come for not only a better shot at success but to grow. According to Inc. magazine, Phoenix is the ninth in the nation as the best city to start a business. They analyzed data to create its "2020 Surge Cities” index and report that Phoenix's low cost of living and low regulations allows new businesses to thrive.

Phoenix is home to many of the top companies and brand names in the world. At least 140 big names are found here. However, the really big business in Phoenix is small business. According to the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, small businesses are an economic powerhouse for the region.

There are thousands of these small businesses, 95% with 50 employees or less. For new small business owners trying their luck in Phoenix, such as those escaping the high taxes of California, they can face a lot of competition. As most small businesses are local businesses, they will have to have a local strategy and plan to survive.

Phoenix web design

One of the key things that decide whether the visitor will stay on a site and ultimately buy or whether they will leave without converting, is the design of the website. Website design has more influence on sales than you might realize. It has shown that website design can make as much as a 30% difference in conversions.

When we talk about “Phoenix web design” we are talking about websites that are created with a local design and development understanding. One that is branded for the greater Phoenix area and designed with the target market in mind and search engine optimized for the target market.

Considerations for companies in Phoenix that want to improve their websites are not only about placing the right elements at the right places or having the right colors. It’s about web design that produces optimum results through learning about the users and marketers that go through a continuous improvement process.

Here are 4 web design fundamentals to consider when your Phoenix business wants to have a website that is more competitive in the rapidly changing economy.

1. Search Engine Optimization considerations

There is no existence on the internet without search. Your website exists in a void, nowhere, unseen, without anyone being aware of it, unless a search is initiated at some point.

Someone may search directly from Google or they may find it indirectly in a post on social media. This is why Search Engine Optimization is the be-all and end-all of digital marketing.

If your website is not properly optimized, for both desktop and mobile users, you will have a difficult time getting organic traffic.

Every aspect of a website must be designed and developed from the beginning with SEO in mind to rise to the top of the search engine results page. The information architecture, the back end, the front end, the content, keywords, metadata, how it connects to the web, off-page SEO, so many things to consider. 

Local search – For the many larger companies in Phoenix their search engine optimization coverage is very wide both nationally and internationally.

As a local Phoenix business, you need to consider focusing on maintaining your keywords and content on a particular geographic location. It will be much more profitable to target specific neighborhoods rather than compete with those promoting similar services to the whole state of Arizona.

For any business that relies on a local customer base—such as dental clinics, cleaning, or other home services businesses, local search is very important. When consumers search online for businesses based on their location, they will use search phrases like “dentist near me” or “dentist in Phoenix, AZ.”

Local search is important to business owners because people looking for local businesses have a high intent to purchase. Many people who search for a local business on their smartphones visit a business the same day. If your Phoenix website doesn’t rank high in local search results, you’re not being exposed to these profitable customers.

Besides the design factors, make sure you have your business in local search directories such as Google My Business and review sites like Yelp, which are today’s Yellow Pages. If your business isn’t listed there, customers won’t discover your website. Learn more about local search directories.

2. Mobile-first strategy considerations

To ensure that your business is visible to most customers, make sure you have a responsive Phoenix web design.

With so many people in the valley of the sun using Smart Phones, IPads, Laptops, and other wireless mobile devices for their internet activities, it has become very important for your website to be viewable on those devices to get the maximum exposure.

If your website only targets PC’s and notebooks, then you could already be missing up to 40% of potential visitors. Having a responsive website design is not just some nice enhancement for your current website. It is now a CRITICAL component of your online marketing and internet presence.

Navigation: 2-3 items could be included in a simple menu. Use a single icon for drop-down for multiple items.

Image: In responsive design layouts, create an optimized image for each layout.

Limit Text: Don’t reproduce the desktop site content for mobile. Only use what’s necessary.

Consider Google Design Standards: Follow the best practices for responsive design recommended by Google.

Test Templates and Components: Ensure your website doesn’t perform slow. Test all the components’ loading speed and optimize as needed.

Implement Google AMP: AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, a Google-backed project to optimize load time for mobile devices. Learn about AMP.

3. User Interface and User Experience design considerations

When a visitor comes to your website, the way they can navigate your website is with the “user interface.” This includes navigation bars, arrows, buttons, and many others that represent actions that can be taken by the user to convey information.

The user interface (UI) design, the look and feel, and the presentation of the visual elements must be easy to use. Interfaces that are too complicated or confusing will drive your site visitors away.

User experience (UX) design is focused on the overall feel of the experience, how effective and enjoyable a website is to use. For example, if you have an ecommerce site, how easy it is to find and buy your products online?

Web design has evolved to the point where Phoenix web designers are becoming an active part of the overall user experience design. They work hand-and-hand with UX designers and UI designers to create websites that deliver the best results.

Learn more about UI and UX design. 

4. Content considerations

Educate your visitors - Today’s consumer is smart when it comes to purchasing decisions. They're researching more than ever before. Most won’t even make a purchase or reach out to you without doing some research, either looking at other companies or learning about a product.

Make sure that you're providing educational content that can help the consumer take that decision to the next level.

People want to make sure that they not only understand your product or service, but they also want to do comparison shopping and know what the most cost savings would be or what the most energy-efficient product would be. Everyone wants to save money.

As a professional, you know your product or craft. When a consumer looks at your business, don’t assume they understand the technical aspects of what you’re offering. Find a way to educate them and provide searchable content that can be shared on social media.

Give them the knowledge to help them make the best decision. However, you want to be sure that you’re not speaking too deep into the technical specs, you want to speak at a level that they can understand. Speak from a consumer's voice.