One of the most important parts of business strategy is customer service.

Making sure your customers are happy and taken care of is essential. If you are unsure how CRM strategy can help your business and what kind of things to watch out for when implementing this strategy, keep reading.

1. Ignoring Social Media’s Impact

When focusing on customer relationships it’s important to remember that many of your users are relying on social media.

It is estimated close to 200 million American’s use social media in their everyday lives. Ignoring that huge proportion of the population would be completely detrimental to your CRM project.

Making sure to engage your customer base over Facebook, Twitter or Instagram can give you a one-on-one interaction with your customers.

2. Being Too Ambitious  

When it comes to choosing the right CRM methods for your business, it’s important to remember to not do too much in the beginning. You don’t want to overwhelm your team or your customers.

Having a well organized, multi-step plan, will keep you from getting swamped in data and keep your customers coming back.

3. CRM Strategy That Won’t Grow

One of the biggest failures of a bad CRM project is a strategy that won’t take into consideration the future of the business.

In this day and age, with e-commerce constantly changing and more and more people spending time online, it’s important to have a flexible plan that will be able to improve as your company grows. As a company grows it’s important to keep an eye on all data and try and find a CRM strategy that will grow with you.

4. Not Having a Designated Project Manager

When working on your CRM it’s important to always have a head of your project that your staff can go to when issues arise.

One of the biggest failures of a bad CRM strategy is having a disorganized project team. Project managers are put in place to control your work. If something happens, they will be able to designate ways to fix any issues that arise.

This person will be in charge of every step. If a new site is introduced, they will have a way to implement it. If you’re hoping to have a strategy that’s easy to use, provide multiple versions that can be improved on by your customers.

It’s also important that your team is trained. Make sure they know how each part of your strategy will work.

5. Failing to Keep the Customer in Mind

If your system is too flashy and over the top to be used then you will have failed your customer base.

Making sure you know your customer and know what they need will keep them happy. Customer resource management relies on keeping your customers happy.

So don’t let them down by having a system they can’t even use. After all the CRM definition, at its very core, is customer service.

What’s Next?

Now you know the basics about CRM strategy. It’s time to implement!

This will help you improve some of your online business presence. If you would like to learn more about SEO strategies or how to use social media to promote your business, visit more of our blog.

Thought about finally starting an investment account but the human interaction gets in the way?

Skip the financial advisor and get started in as little as five minutes by working with a robot.

Robo-investors are now ten years old, but their popularity exploded over the last three years. In 2015, these companies managed $47.3 billion in assets. In one year, the figure jumped to $98.5 billion. By 2022, analysts predict that algorithms will trade $460 billion in consumer assets.

What is a robo advisor, you ask? Keep reading to learn how robo advisors work and how you can use one to grow your wealth.

What Is a Robo Advisor?

A robo advisor isn’t a robot. It’s a piece of software that makes investment decisions on your behalf.

These robo advisors use a combination of artificial intelligence and your data to automatically select investments for you and make changes according to a target.

DIY investors or those without the capital to bring to a traditional firm like robo investors because they offer a fix-it-and-forget-it approach to investments. You can even set up automatic withdrawals from your bank account for as little as $5 a month.

Some Restrictions Apply

Robo advisors add ease and convenience to the process, and you might confuse it with a savings account with a little bonus.

Keep in mind that all the SEC rules apply. You’ll need to pay taxes on your investments. Withdrawals are also staggered, and your robo advisor platform will wait five days before releasing a withdrawal request.

Robo advisors may make investing simple, but you may still want an accountant to make sure you’re paying the correct returns.

How Do Robo Advisors Work?

Robo advisors take all the guesswork out of investing and instead use artificial intelligence algorithms to make informed decisions.

Each service differs in format, but most offer the same basic model. Upon setting up an account on the website, the site asks you to make several decisions like:

• Type of investment instrument
• Type of investment (stocks, bonds, combination)
• Level of aggression
• Retirement or wealth-building goals

The robo advisor then uses your profile combined with your initial and recurring investments to make decisions on your behalf.

You can check in as often as you like to monitor your progress or change your preferences. For example, Betterment allows you to choose how aggressively you’d like to invest with a sliding scale from conservative to aggressive.

The process removes human error from the process. One of the reasons you lose money as an investor is your poor behavior rather than the behavior of the market. People make emotionally-calculated decisions. The software works with more data than your mind could handle at once, particularly if you aren’t a finance whiz.

Robo Advisor Fees

Do robots take care of your finances out of the good of their mechanical hearts? No, expect to pay services fees just as you would with a living, breathing advisor.

Users like robo advisors because fees tend to be lower than finance firms.

You’ll typically start with a service fee either as a fixed cost or percentage of your account balance.

Fixed fees may range from $5 to $200 per month depending on your balance or portfolio size. The percentage ranges from .15 percent to .50 percent.

Fees are a necessary cost consideration for those who don’t intend to invest significantly. You don’t want the cost of the service to outweigh the returns on your investment.

For example, you don’t want to spend $15 on an account that only earns you $7. In these cases, you are almost better off with a traditional savings account because the pitiful interest earned adds to your balance rather than costing you cash.

Not sure what your returns will look like? Try out a service offering a free trial period to see whether you earn enough to justify the cost.

Popular Robo Advisors

You also now have 100 different robo-advisor platforms to choose from with each offering access and automation for investors of all types. The heavy hitters started as stand-alone fin-tech companies, but traditional investors got in on the action by creating robo advisor products within their investment branches.

The most prominent robo advisors currently operating include:

1. Betterment
2. Personal Capital
3. Charles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios
4. SoFi Invest Wealth
5. Wealthfront

Other groups on the horizon include:

• Ellevest
• Wealthsimple
• Vanguard
• Ameritrade

Having options means you can choose your robo advisor based on your current finances and future goals.

For example, Wealthsimple focuses on investors who want a socially responsible portfolio. Ellevest targets women specifically in an attempt to improve women’s financial resources.

You’ll also find overall investors that offer something similar to a traditional investment firm with a portfolio mix and access to financial advisors.

Things to Consider When Signing Up for a Robo Advisor?

Now that you have so many options, you can make a comparison of services to make an informed decision and maximize your benefits.

The list of factors to consider in order are:

• Portfolio type
• Commission and annual fees
• Added features
• Promotions

Choosing the right portfolio type is the first port of call. You’ll have the option of selecting between wealth accounts, money market accounts, and retirement accounts. If you’re unsure, ask your accountant or get in touch with one of the robo advisor’s financial planners.

Commission and annual fees eat into your profits, so do the math before handing over your cash.

Some of the features offered include:

• Access to financial advisors
• Free automatic re-balancing
• Comprehensive management
• Customizable motifs
• Pre-built portfolios
• Access to an advisor during portfolio building

Decide what features are most important to you and weigh them against the costs.

Finally, robo investors are hungry for your money and may offer sign-up bonuses with an initial investment or a commitment to direct debit. Don’t lead with an attractive bonus offer, but do let it be the icing on the cake.

Is a Robo Advisor Right for You?

What is a robo advisor? It’s a computer program that takes the pain and emotion of investing. In doing so, it also makes investing more accessible for those without significant savings or specialist finance knowledge.

Predictions suggest robo advisors will take over the finance world. Are they right for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Ready for more tech news? Click here!

You’ve got a store full of merchandise, the question is, how do you get rid of it? The world of sales is a competitive one, and if you aren’t marketing your vape products correctly, you may get smoked by your competition.

The best way to let others know about your products is by aiming for the top. The top of the Google search anyway. Most people don’t go past the first page of search results so you’re going to want to be there.

This can be easier said than done. Here are ten vape marketing tips that will help you up your SEO game and get your website the traffic that you want to see.

1. Page Speed is Everything

In the days of old, people would wait around on a webpage for a bit before getting frustrated and moving on. Nowadays though, you’re lucky if someone will wait for more than a few seconds.

You’re going to have to build your site with speed in mind. Remove any clutter that could slow the website down. When your site is, slow and cluttered, it reduces the customer’s trust.

A fast site just increases the customer’s experience in general.

2. Link to Sites with Relevant Content

If you sell vape products but not juice, you want to link to somewhere like brokedick.com/vape-juice. Granted you wouldn’t usually link to someone who sells the same products. You want to link to a blog that pushes the same sort of content.

As a vape store, you don’t want to link to something like bed sheets. It makes no sense and just doesn’t match up.  Keep in mind that when you do this, you want to make sure that the website you’re linking to is a trustworthy one.

3. Write what People want to Read

You do want to write to get ranked on Google, but that won’t do any good if you can’t keep someone on your site to browse your products. You want to write content that is valuable to actual people with feelings and wallets.

You want people to not just read your blog, but absorb the information. You need for it to help them. If you do this the SEO Gods will actually reward you because search engines follow user activity.

4. Let Other Sites Link to You

If you’re going to be linking to other sites, it’s only fair that you let them link to you back. This can’t hurt you, only help you because it gets the word out about your products easier and faster. You also get the build a relationship with the company who is linking to you.

This doesn’t mean that you should just let anyone link to you. Again, this works if it’s a trustworthy site.

5. Use Social Media to Your Advantage

SEO and social media go together like a tired blogger and a nice cup of coffee. Remember when we said that search engines follow user activity? This is where that comes into play.

It’s all about getting as many shares as possible so you want to set up a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. From there, share content that your followers are going to be interested in sharing. If you really want shares, host contests to gain attention.

On all articles on your site, make sure you have an option that allows a visitor to share it to their social media.

6. Use Web Analytics

Once your vape marketing campaign is up and running you need to know if it’s successful. It’s for this reason that you need to set up analytics.

Analytics is a neat tool that allows you to check your numbers every time you launch a marketing campaign. You can take notes about what’s working so you can keep doing it, and what’s not working so you can fix it. You’ll want to have this set up as soon as you start marketing your vape store.

7. Write Unique Meta Descriptions for Everything

Meta descriptions are the descriptions that will be shown in Google before someone clicks on your site. You need to make sure that it is well crafted with a keyword thrown in.

This is going to be the deciding factor to rather or not someone will visit your site so you can’t afford to just write any old description and call it a day. You actually need to put a little thought into it.

8. Your URLs Need to be Easy to Read

If your URL leaves a user saying “huh?” chances are their search engine is going to be just as confused. You need to keep them as simple as possible to ensure a good customer experience.

Imagine if someone is trying to tell their friend about your site later and they can’t remember the URL at all. You don’t want that.

9. Use Relevant Keywords for Images

There is a whole section of most search engines that is dedicated completely to images. It’s for this reason that you want to choose the right keywords for your images so users can find them.

Make sure the keyword is relevant to the image, and of course, stay away from keyword stuffing.

10. Your Content Needs to be Interesting and Consistent

If someone visits your site and sees that the last time you posted anything was almost a year ago, they will get the impression that your business is no longer up and running. It’s safe to say that you don’t want to give this impression.

Not only do you want to post quality content, but you want to make sure that you post often.

The world of vaping is a very competitive one. It feels like you can’t throw a stone without hitting a shop and that’s just with brick and mortar stores. You want to make sure your vape marketing techniques are smoking or you will get left in the dust.

New to SEO and don’t know where to begin? Contact us with all of your burning SEO questions.

50 milliseconds.

That’s the amount of time users normally take to form an opinion about your website. If your site is poorly designed, you can forget them staying long.

The pressure to have an aesthetically-pleasing site can take a toll. How do you know if yours is good enough? It doesn’t look like your competitor’s, but is that a bad thing?

Rather than take on all that responsibility yourself (after all, you have better things to worry about), you’ll benefit from hiring a website designer. These miracle-workers will see that you have an amazing website without doing any of the work.

Sounds like a dream, right? That’s why we’ll go over the questions to ask when finding the best designer for you and your business.

Let’s get started!

Do You Offer Ongoing Support?

Before you even start thinking of what you want for your site, you need to think of what happens after it’s already designed. You could have the most beautiful website in the world but if something were to go wrong (like one page won’t load correctly), are you responsible?

Knowing beforehand what kind of ongoing support they offer after all is said and done can be the difference between a great website designer and one that doesn’t care. You shouldn’t be left in the dust when something suddenly stops working.

How Long Does the Process Take?

As a business owner, you can’t sit around waiting for your site to be designed. You want to offer your customers a launch date so they’re not left in the dark.

You should feel the same about the website designer. You want them to be able to give you a reasonable amount of time that it’ll take to get your site finished.

If they dance around the topic, that’s a red flag. While not everyone is perfect and things get delayed, they should have a good estimation of the average time it takes from start to finish.

In the case that they don’t meet their deadline, ask what’ll happen. Will you get a partial refund? Or perhaps they’ll throw in free incentives.

Either way, it’s good to know what time to expect your site to be completed and what action they’ll take should they miss that deadline.

What Will Be Discussed During the Consultation?

Before blindly hiring a website designer, opt for a consultation first. Most of them are free and they work as an interview to see if the two of you are a good fit.

Getting some insight into how the consultation will go allows you to see how they get to know you more as a business owner. You’re more than just a logo and a color palette and the designer you choose should understand that.

However, if you don’t have a solid brand in place, it’s best to learn more about building one first. This will ensure you can deliver clear communication as to what you’re all about to the designer. In turn, they’ll be able to give you a gorgeous site that’s all about the message you want to convey through branding.

What Other Services Do You Provide?

Reputable website designers offer more than just one service. Most of the time, they’ll provide stock photos, copywriting, SEO, and even app development.

It makes it easier when you can get this all done by one company as it saves money. You don’t have to worry about outsourcing other services that you can get done with the designer.

Not only that but the lines of communication won’t get blurred. If you chose to outsource SEO, for example, they’d have to work with the designer to ensure all the copywriting provided is keyword-rich and search engine friendly. Doing that will only slow down production time.

If the website designer you’re thinking of hiring doesn’t offer any additional services, see if they collaborate with other companies. This will make it easier to get everything you want for your site without stepping on the designer’s toes.

Do You Offer Payment Plans?

Websites that are custom don’t come cheap. Some even go as far into the quadruple-digits range.

If you can’t shell out all of that at once, ask if they offer payment plans. This’ll help you to divide up the payments to save some cash for your other business needs.

Unfortunately, if they don’t offer some kind of payment plan, you’ll have to choose another designer or pay it all outright.

How Are the Services Priced?

Whether they offer other services or just a custom website, it’s useful to know their price structure. Do they charge hourly or is it a fixed price? Do they charge extra for features pertaining to the website?

How they price their services is often a reflection of the kind of quality they provide. Those who charge cheaply may not give you the best quality. Ones who charge an arm and a leg might be high-quality, but is it worth draining your bank account?

When in doubt, look at their online reviews. See the kind of quality they provide for the prices they charge.

Will My Website Be Mobile-Friendly?

We’re living in the digital age so that means if your site isn’t accessible on mobile devices, you can forget gaining a lot of traffic and sales. Online presence is crucial nowadays so you’ll want to know beforehand if the website designer you’re thinking of hiring will make your site mobile-friendly.

Nothing is worse than clicking on a website that displays incorrectly on smaller screens. Smartphones are one thing, but you can’t forget about tablets. That said, make sure the designer has experience with making websites responsive for mobile devices.

Follow These Tips on Hiring a Website Designer

You’ve built your company from the ground up. Now it’s time to reflect that hard work by hiring a website designer that’ll create a gorgeous site for you. After all, it’ll save you time you could be spending on other business aspects.

Looking for more articles like this one? Check out our category on websites!

Search engine optimization used to be easy. You selected a keyword and away you went. Now Google uses a sophisticated algorithm that considers around 200 factors when ranking pages.

This means you need to make some careful decisions when it comes to using an SEO strategy. Picking the right keywords and creating great content is only half the battle.

Another thing you should consider is what ecommerce platform you’re using. Different platforms have different features that can help you execute your SEO strategy.

If you haven’t considered these 10 factors, you may not have the best ecommerce platform for SEO. If you’re thinking about a new platform or website, it’s time to compare the competition. This guide will tell you exactly what you’re looking for.

1. The Best Ecommerce Platform for SEO Allows You to Edit Page Titles

Keywords may not be as important as they once were, but that doesn’t mean they don’t play a role in your SEO efforts.

Google still considers keywords for websites and pages in its ranking factors. What’s more, the algorithm emphasizes where those keywords are on the page.

One of the most important places for your keywords to be is the page title. Pages with keywords in the title tend to rank higher than those without.

If your ecommerce platform won’t allow you to edit individual page titles, it is not SEO friendly.

2. You Want a Platform That Allows for Keywords in URLs

Another feature you want your ecommerce platform to offer you is custom URLs. Why do you need this feature? It allows you to create keyword-rich URLs.

This is also important when it comes to improving your ranking in search engine page results. Most auto-generated URLs don’t contain any sign of what the page is about. Many are strings of numbers, which are difficult for people and search engines alike.

The best SEO websites use URLs that tell the user and the search engine immediately what the page is about.

3. You Have a Need for Speed

The best ecommerce platform for SEO is going to load lightning-fast. Speed is an important factor in your SERP ranking, and you don’t want your chosen platform slowing you down.

Google and other search engines rank websites based on how fast they load. Loading speed is important for delivering a good customer experience. The faster the site loads, the better the experience for the user.

When you’re designing your website, you can take certain steps to make your site load faster. You should also consider mobile-friendliness. Your platform plays a huge role in how quickly your site can be delivered, so always consider the speed.

4. Sitemaps and Easy Navigation Can Help You Rank

An SEO friendly website is a website that’s easy to navigate. Your primary navigation links should be text, not images. You should also be able to control navigation by editing menus right down to the individual link.

A sitemap is another useful feature. A search engine can index the sitemap, which helps it check how easy it is to navigate your site. The best ecommerce platform for SEO should automatically generate an XML sitemap.

5. Custom Landing Pages Give You More Leeway

How much can you customize your landing pages with your current ecommerce platform? If the answer is not much, it might be time to switch.

Landing pages are crucial for generating more leads for your business. The more you can customize them, the more you can tailor them to specific segments of your audience.

6. You Must Have a Blog Function

You’re likely convinced you need to be blogging for your business. A good blog has many benefits, including:

• Building trust with your audience
• Sharing useful information
• Building your reputation as an expert
• Boosting your SEO efforts
• Helping your customers find answers to their questions

Almost every SEO friendly website out there has a built-in blogging function. You want to be sure you’ve picked a platform that will support your blogging efforts.

7. Design Marries Form and Function

On the best ecommerce platform for SEO, design is a huge consideration. You want your site to entice people to visit. You also want it to give a good impression when visitors arrive.

The most beautiful site will only hold attention for so long though. If your site isn’t easy to navigate, people will give up looking. If your site prioritizes design over content, it’s not going to be useful or SEO friendly.

Look for a platform that uses design to emphasize content. Good design draws attention to your quality content, highlighting it for users. You can learn more about great website design at www.microdinc.com/website-ecommerce.

8. Make it Shareable

This is the golden age of social media, and everything on your website should be shareable. You want to make it easy for people to share blogs, product pages, and more. SEO friendly websites create a frictionless social sharing experience.

Look for platforms that allow you to enable sharing with the click of a button. The easier it is, the more people will share your content with their friends, family, and followers.

9. You Want Full Control of Meta descriptions

Meta descriptions are an important part of your SEO friendly pages. They’re often what search engines pull to create the snippet that comes up on the results page.

If you don’t specify a meta description, the search engine robots will grab a snippet of text from the page. This often looks unprofessional, and it gives users a poor impression of your site. An ecommerce platform that gives you granular control of metadescriptions is a must.

10. Get Analytical with the Right Tools

Finally, any ecommerce platform you choose should give you the tools you need to improve your SEO. Some platforms come with Google Analytics built right in. Others will offer even more robust, custom tools.

Analytics provide insight into what you’re doing and how you could improve. Without them, you’re guessing at what you need to do to improve SEO on your site.

Get a Hand Finding the Right Platform

Choosing the best ecommerce platform for SEO can be a tall task. By making sure you look for these 10 features, you’ll be well on your way to picking the right one.

Not sure your website is reaching its performance potential? Take a look around the blog for more SEO tips and tricks for your website.

Read on to learn what to consider when choosing keywords.

Wondering how to choose your website keywords?

Did you know the advent of Hummingbird, Google’s newest algorithm overhaul, has changed the face of SEO? Before Google released it, keyword stuffing was still a popular technique. A lot’s changed since then.

Google has been working to combat black hat techniques, rolling out 500 to 600 algorithm updates a year. Most of those updates are small tweaks, but a few, like RankBrain, will change the landscape for years to come. With it, Google began AI to their algorithm recipe.

How does this affect you?

In all sorts of ways. The primary being your approach to keywords needs to change. With Hummingbird, Google now understands the context of keywords and links. They even understand topics.

When you’re ready to learn the modern approach to keyword research, read on.

Finding a Niche Topic

If your old approach began with you heading to Google Keyword Planner (GKP), throw it out. GKP focuses all its efforts on a single keyword, and build out from there. We’re going to expand your horizons.

Let’s say, you own an online business which sells primarily hiking boots. You head on over to GKP to see if you can find any ideas for target keywords. When you get there, you plug in the word hiking boots and come up with the following:

• Girls’ hiking boots
• Men’s hiking boots
• Brown hiking boots size 11
• Waterproof hiking boots
• And so on

Notice how each of the above builds upon the core keyword “hiking boot?” That’s the way GKP functions. But you don’t have to be limited by that narrow-minded thinking.

Yes, you’re building content to get more customers, but that’s a process. Marketing is a process. The buyer’s journey is a process.

A large part of that requires building trust. You want potential customers to read one article. Then you want them to come back and read another and another.

That’s the way you build brand recognition. It’s also the way you build trust and set yourself as an authority in your field. When you do that, customers will be flocking to you.

The best way to do that is to think non-linearly. This is where we lowly humans have the advantage over our silicon counterparts. Take a look at the list of keywords we came up with when we saw hiking boots:

• Mountain climbing
• Camping Trips
• Athletes foot
• Hiking backpacks
• And so on

We can still take these and plug these into GKP to come up with a variety of longer keywords. Even though these keywords are only indirectly related to the wares you sell, they’re directly relevant to the needs of your audience. That’s why they’ll read them.

The more you understand your audience, the better you’ll be discovering appropriate topics and keywords. Think beyond what you sell. Think about what your potential customers want.

Research Tools for Website Keywords

Please don’t think we’re suggesting you avoid using the fantastic tools that are available. No. Take advantage of those powerful resources, but don’t rely on them alone. First, take a look at the big picture.

Who is your audience? Narrow that down with laser precision. The more you know about them, the easier it’ll be to build content they actually want.

That builds trust and authority, as well as leads to higher conversions. In turn, you receive a bigger paycheck. Everyone wins.

Are there holes in your competitors’ content? If you don’t know what kind of content your competitors are dishing out, it’s time to learn. With services like those offered by Semrush, you can see the type of content your competitors are pushing out.

Then you can cheat. Look for areas they haven’t covered but are still relevant to your subject. You can also pick a few of their most popular posts and steal their core keywords.

After you’ve done that, it’s time to skip over and utilize some of those keyword research tools. Here’s our list of favorites:

• Google Trends
• Moz Keyword Explorer
• Microsoft Bing Ads Intelligence
• Google Adwords Keyword Planner Tool
• Wordtracker’s Free Basic Keyword Demand
• For a few more keyword research tools, view here.

With these tools, you can discover longer keyword phrases like those listed for GKP in the previous section. You can also discover a variety of metrics:

• Average monthly searches
• Amount of competition
• Number of clicks
• Number of Impressions
• Average cost per click
• And so on

This information is essential. But these tools shouldn’t be used until the middle of your keyword planning process. If you also plan to use Adwords for your advertising campaign, we’ll walk you through the process in our Ultimate 2018 Google Adwords Guide.

Lesser Known Strategies

Here are a few strategies the pros use to help them through the process. Remember, the less linear your thinking, the more keywords and topics you’ll come up with.

Forums and boards

There’s no better place to start your audience research than the places they hang out. Forums and boards are where they go to complain, get advice, and share solutions. If you want to understand your audience read what they’re saying.

• Quora
• Reddit

They’ll tell you exactly what they want to read about. The above are two popular sites outside your typical social media channels.

Idea Generators

These sites are idea generators. Punch in your subject, and the site will return some inventive alternative topics and keywords.

• Answer The Public
• UberSuggest
• ScrapeBox
• Google Trends
• Keyword Tool

You can also use the following sites to discover related topics and keywords. In Wikipedia, type in the subject. Then look at the content listed by section.

Do any of the section headings offer new ideas? If not, head to the bottom of the page to the “External links” section. See any new ideas here?

• Wikipedia
• Google Search Results

For the Google Search Results, you’ll need to punch your query into Google. After you reach the search engine results page, scroll all the way to the bottom. What you’ll find is a section titled “Searches related to” your topic.

What’s Next?

Once you get the hang of this new approach to finding website keywords, you’ll never go back. Start with your audience and think non-linearly. It’ll revolutionize your process.

Did you find this article helpful? If so, take a moment to browse our library full of other great articles.

With the rise of social media and instant messaging, you might think that SMS is becoming obsolete.

That’s not the case. In fact, it’s a valuable tool for marketing and customer service, which can be incredibly effective in business. But what is SMS marketing?

In this post, you’ll find out. We’ll tell you why it’s so beneficial and how to use it in the right way.

Read on to find out how to use text messages for marketing.

Get Permission from Leads

In order to launch an SMS marketing campaign, you’ll need to build up a list of numbers to send your messages to. Some companies choose to buy them. However, this is a big mistake.

Instead, you need to get numbers from people who are target customers with needs and desires relevant to your business. Otherwise, your messages will simply be perceived as spam.

Loyal customers are worth more. They’re the ones who are likely to take action after receiving these messages.

Also, it’s important that you have permission from people to contact them via SMS before you do so. You can do this by giving them an opportunity to opt in. In most countries around the world, it’s required that you do this.

Send Messages in Bulk

Sending individual messages would take far too much time. You could be dealing with hundreds or even thousands of them.

That’s why you need to use a tool or service that takes care of it for you. These platforms can send out all of your messages at one time, keep track of all the contacts on your list, find out whether or not the messages have been opened, and give you a break down of how successful your campaign is.

Mobivate can help you to do all of that.

Get the Timing Right

People are carrying smartphones around with them all the time. As a result, most people read a text within just three minutes of receiving it.

This makes it a great method for sending urgent messages. It also means you can almost guarantee that your messages will be read. However, it also means that companies have to be careful with the times that they send them.

The last thing you want to do is disturb your customers in the middle of the night with an inconvenient SMS. Instead, think about what time is most effective for your target market.

Implement an Effective Strategy

Are you asking yourself “does SMS marketing work?”

The answer is “yes”, but it’s most effective when used in combination with email marketing and other types of digital marketing.

SMS is best for short and immediate messages, while email is better for long-form content which can be read at any time. You can connect them by including links in your messages, which will send your leads to your website or social media page.

Let Specialists Take Care of It

If you’re not experienced in SMS marketing, it’s best to outsource it to another company.

You can hire companies that are run by specialists in the industry. They can answer all your “what is SMS marketing?” questions and give you expert advice.

The same applies to your digital marketing, too. If you need some help, read our post on what to look for when outsourcing your digital marketing.

Do you have a digital marketing plan? If not, it’s time to create one. No matter how awesome your site or services are, nobody will know about them if you don’t get the word out.

Marketing at random can bring some level of success, but you’ll get much more traffic if you have a plan.

So what does successful marketing look like? It looks like traffic, but how do you get that traffic?

To get you started we’ve created this handy guide. Keep reading for 10 tips for developing a successful digital marketing plan.

1. Target Your Focus Audience

When creating your marketing plan, it’s important to focus on your target audience. Sure, you’d like to bring in any new traffic you possibly can. But you probably have a specific audience you’re after.

Do your services apply more to women than men? Then take that into account when creating your marketing plan.

All it takes is a little common sense. If you don’t offer services for men, don’t focus your marketing on men.

2. Use Strategic Ad Placement

You want to market in the areas that make the most sense. If you’re trying to grab the attention of young adults, you probably shouldn’t spend your marketing money to get ads on websites for elderly people.

Whether you use PPC or other ads, make sure they’re placed in places that make sense. If it’s your goal to reach a specific audience, reach out to them in places where they’re likely to be.

Visit HIVE Digital Strategy to learn more about marketing goals.

3. Research Your Audience

In order to reach your intended audience, you’ve got to know a little bit about them. You may even want to know a lot.

Research your audience to see what they tend to like and what they don’t. Pay attention to trends.

What do they search for? What do they want to learn or purchase?

The more you find out about your audience, the more you’ll be able to target directly to them.

4. Use Social Media

Ads and links are great, but social media is one of the most important marketing tools you can use. Don’t neglect this extremely viable mode of marketing when you’re creating your plan!

Stick to one social media site, or use multiple. You’ll reach a larger audience if you use more than one. But even one social media site can provide countless potential customers.

One of the best reasons to use social media is because the posts are so shareable. And let’s face it, people love to share online content. So make sure you give them something to share.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Spend

There are free ways you can market your website or services, but they won’t get you very far.

Instead, invest in paid advertising.

A share on Facebook is helpful. But it will only reach so many people. A paid advertisement on Facebook, though, will reach many more people.

6. Identify Gaps

Take a look at your existing digital content. What’s missing? Surely you haven’t covered everything you could.

Look for ways to fill out what you have to offer. Cover all your bases. Keep up to date.

New things are constantly being created and discovered. If you leave your website unattended it will quickly become out of date.

Create a schedule to regularly update your digital content. Make sure you’re not missing out on customers because you don’t have content that you should.

7. Have a Content Creation Plan

Don’t create content at random. Everything placed on any of your digital platforms or in your marketing ads should be there on purpose.

Space out your posts so you don’t hit your audience with everything at once. Give them a reason to keep coming back. Don’t intimidate them by providing too much information.

Create a content plan that makes sense for your audience and their trends.

8. Implement SEO

SEO is a powerful tool when it comes to marketing. Optimize all digital content so it’s search engine friendly.

One of the toughest things you’ll have to deal with is getting ranked in online searches. Why should someone choose your website over a different one?

People tend to choose from the first options they see come up in an online search. Using SEO will help you move up to a place where people will see your posts.

9. Encourage Interaction

Marketing shouldn’t be one-sided. Instead, draw people in with things that encourage them to act.

Start a discussion. Create an event. Invite people to share.

Whatever method you use, encourage interaction between visitors and yourself, and between visitors themselves.

10. Know Your Competitors

No matter your niche, you’ll likely have competition of some sort. In order to combat this most effectively, get to know your competitors.

Find out what keywords they rank for, how they market, when they make price cuts, what they’re selling, etc. The more you keep an eye on the competition, the better you’ll be prepared to combat what they’re doing.

Implement These Digital Marketing Plan Tips Today

Marketing can really generate a lot of traffic to your site and company. But you shouldn’t jump into it blindly. Having a digital marketing plan in place will make your marketing much more effective.

You’ll never know how much these tips can help until you try them. So choose one or two and try them out today!

Marketing is all fine and dandy, but you’ve got to have a great place to send your leads. Your website has to be top of the line. Check out our article on great web design.

Every business owner realizes that they need to have an online presence in this day and age. It’s a great way to share information about your goods and services that can reach people everywhere from next door to the other side of the world.

But if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can result in failed marketing campaigns that leave you frustrated and your wallet a little emptier. Often, what you don’t know about digital marketing can hurt you.

Before you make any more digital marketing mistakes, read our blog. We’re going to share with you the top five marketing mistakes you need to avoid.

1. Not Targeting Your Niche Audience is One of the Most Common Marketing Mistakes

It’s a common mistake to believe that everyone is your target audience. If you target everyone, it’s a good chance no one will pay attention.

Instead, take some time to write a detailed description of your perfect customers. Figure out who they are, how much they make, their age range, and even what their hobbies are.

Once you know who you’re targeting, you’ll make less marketing mistakes because you’ll know exactly how to reach people who are most likely to respond to your content.

2. Creating Value Versus Promoting Your Goods and Services

One of the biggest marketing fails businesses make is that they focus on promoting rather than providing value to their customers. Think about how constant promotions from other companies make you feel.

Probably annoyed and put out. Customers are looking for value. Provide them with a reason to keep coming back to your site by sharing with them valuable content that can help them solve problems or resolve issues.

3. Understanding How to Read Your Stats

One mistake businesses make with digital marketing is not knowing how to read their stats. This information will help you understand whether or not your marketing efforts are actually working.

Learn what your bounce rate is so you can see if people are responding to your content. See who is coming to your site and where they live so you know how to reach more of them.

Learning how to read your stats will dramatically reduce your digital marketing mistakes.

4. Learn How to Use Social Media Properly

One of the best tools for content marketing is utilizing social media. However, many business owners don’t know how to use social media properly.

Not every social media site is perfect for your business. For those who engage in B2B marketing, LinkedIn is a great site to use.

But it’s not just about knowing which sites to use. You need to know when the best times to post and what type of content you should be posting.

The more you learn about social media best practices, the better digital marketing results you’ll receive.

5. Utilizing E-Mail Marketing

E-mail marketing has been around for ages yet not enough businesses are taking advantage of it. It’s a great way to generate leads for your business. It’s also a great way to keep your brand in your customer’s minds without being intrusive.

Sending out an e-mail once or twice a week with valuable content helps keep your loyal fans engaged. Make sure the content is easily shareable so that your customers can spread the word.

Keep Learning

One of the worst marketing mistakes businesses make is they stop learning Digital marketing is constantly changing. You must keep learning to keep up with best practices.

We can help. Keep coming back to read the latest social media tips.

These days, most small businesses need the services of a digital marketing consultant.

Why is that? Simply put, digital marketing is the most effective tool for growing your business. It helps you improve your conversion rates and allows you to reach your target audience.

However, digital marketing is also a very broad term. It represents many different methods of marketing, such as SEO, PPC, social media, email, and so on. The sheer variety of options at your disposal is staggering.

If you’re launching a marketing campaign, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got your bases covered. That’s why talking to a website marketing consultant will usually be worth your time.

Not convinced yet? Here is our list of 8 reasons to hire a digital consultant.

1. Industry Relevance

Before launching a campaign, you should have a solid grasp of your industry.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Every industry depends on many important factors, such as your competitors and the latest practices. To identify these factors, you’ll need to research your target audience.

You can make this task easier by hiring a sales and marketing consultant. They’ll help you learn more about your audience’s interests, behavior, and preferences. This lets you adapt your marketing strategies according to the latest trends.

2. Helpful Expertise

If you already have a content marketing team, you may not need to hire an outside consultant. However, what if the results just aren’t there?

This happens a lot more often than you may think. Many online marketing techniques are hard to track, especially in the SEO industry. There’s a reason some big companies pay top dollar to keep their talent in-house.

By hiring a digital marketing expert on the onset of a campaign, you’ll improve its chances of success. Of course, you’ll need to find someone who’s already worked on similar projects in the past.

And if you’re wondering, most small businesses could use this kind of expertise. For instance, here’s how a digital consultant can help you develop your high-risk merchant services.

3. New Ideas

As you may know, digital marketing can be a fickle beast.

To some extent, this is to be expected. Depending on your field of expertise, many marketing options simply won’t work for you. On the plus side, that means certain techniques should perform better than expected.

How do you separate the wheat from the chaff? Well, that’s where a digital consultant can be of use to you. They’ll take a look at your marketing efforts and provide a new perspective based on the consumers’ viewpoints.

For example, let’s take a look at social media marketing. A good digital consultant can figure out where your target audience is available. Then, they’ll streamline your campaign by explaining how best to share your content.

4. Renewed Focus

Online marketing is usually a time-consuming exercise.

Most of the time, you’ll need to hire new people to run the campaign. Setting up the in-house team also takes time and resources. And even after all that, you’ll have to oversee the campaign yourself.

By comparison, working with a digital consultant takes a lot of the hassle out of your hands. You won’t have to deal with training, onboarding, and managing your team. Instead, you can use that time to grow your business from the inside.

5. Website Design

Without an up-to-date website, your small business will face major setbacks.

The reason is simple: the online market never stays still for too long. Consumers are always looking for new content, so you need to keep up with them. This means improving your SEO campaigns and updating your website design.

Right now, it’s all about responsive design. In a mobile-first world, you have to make sure your visitors can browse your site on the go. A digital consultant will be able to offer advice on what you need to adjust or remove.

6. Native Ad Placement

Did you know that native advertising is all the rage nowadays? So much so, in fact, that your small business can probably benefit from it as well.

If the term doesn’t ring a bell, native advertising offers an organic way to display your ads. This changes the way consumers interact with content. When done right, native ads can provide a big ROI boost.

That said, it can be hard to figure out where to display your native ads.

If you’re struggling in this regard, you should hire a content marketing consultant. With the help of their data-driven solutions, they’ll come up with the best content distribution plan for your needs.

7. Advanced Metrics

In digital marketing, finding your ROI can be a difficult process.

That’s one of the main reasons why businesses hire digital media consultants. For starters, they help you determine your Key Performance Indicators (or KPI’s). This lets you know whether your business objectives are achievable.

Also, a digital consultant can tell you how to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns. In some cases, you may get a monthly (or quarterly) report on each campaign. This makes it easier to make a sound marketing decision.

In the long run, these metrics will also offer a clear insight into your keyword performance. In other words, you’ll know how your potential customers are reacting to your brand.

8. Power of Storytelling

Finally, there’s the matter of making your services as attractive as possible.

First, you need to come up with a way to connect with your target audience. In recent years, many businesses have tried to do that by creating engaging messages. A digital consultant can help you out with that.

Once you’ve defined your message, you need to spread it across different platforms. If the message is compelling enough, your services will benefit from positive PR. This improves your image and visibility.

More on Digital Marketing Consultant Services

By hiring a digital marketing consultant, you should be able to start your campaign almost immediately. Best of all, you’ll still be able to make decisions that suit your business plans.

Want to know more about the importance of SEO and social media? Interested in finding out which aspects go into running a small business? You may want to take a look at our blog!

Instead of trying to download the video directly however, you could use Movavi Screen Recorder to capture Facebook videos from your screen. That way you can save them after you do, and would effectively have a copy of them in the form of a video file.

How to Record and Save a Facebook Video to Download It

As you can imagine you will need to download and install Movavi Screen Recorder before you can begin, which is really quite easy using the installation wizard. After it has been installed, you should open up the Facebook video that you’d like to ‘download’, but pause it if it starts to automatically play.

To start setting up Movavi Screen Recorder to save the video, launch it and draw a frame over the video using your mouse cursor. The interface will appear when that’s been done, and you can adjust the frame to make it more precise or use one of the presets under the ‘Capture Area’ list on the interface if you prefer. If you’d like to record the Facebook video in full screen, click on the name of your monitor under the ‘Full Screen’ section of that list.

Assuming you’d rather not have to wait till the recording is done and manually stop it, click on the ‘alarm clock’ icon on the interface. In the window that appears you can then set a timer that corresponds to the video duration, so that Movavi Screen Recorder automatically stops recording after it elapses.

While there are other parameters that you could adjust such as the audio source, volume levels, or frame rate – you generally don’t have to if you want to record a Facebook video. Instead you can press ‘REC’ to have Movavi Screen Recorder start recording, and play the Facebook video after you do.

After the video is done you can click ‘Stop’ to stop recording, or if you set a timer it will automatically stop. At that point Movavi Screen Recorder will automatically save your video as an MKV file and open it in a ‘Preview’ window for you to go over it.

That ‘Preview’ window in Movavi Screen Recorder will provide you with the option to trim out any parts that you don’t want that may have been inadvertently recorded. On top of that you can save any changes that you’ve made, or save the video in a format other than MKV.

By using Movavi Screen Recorder to ‘download’ videos from Facebook, you won’t be subject to any limitations. More importantly it won’t take long to set it up and start recording the video that you want to save.

How do you know every effort you make to market your brand on social media works?

After all, social media is one of the most popular online platforms in the world, with more than 2.33 billion people worldwide registered on at least one social network. Its growth rate is fast, so it’s expected for the number of users to increase in the years to come.

If you’re a business who needs social media tips and tricks, you’ve come to the right place. It’s important to do this as soon as possible because it helps build your potential audience

awareness about your brand and company. Your ultimate goal to keep in mind is to get more people to go to your website, gain more followers on social media, and find more customers.

Are you ready to start? Here are 10 tips and tricks you should know:

Decide the Social Media Platforms You Need

If you haven’t started your social media marketing efforts yet, you need to choose at least two platforms to focus on. It’s better to do this than working on all platforms since it can stress you out. A lot of beginners make this mistake and quit without reaping any benefits.

The best way to know the most suited platform for your business is to check the success rates of other influencers in your industry. However, a safe choice is Facebook because it remains as the biggest social network in the world.

Optimize Your Social Media Pages

Upon choosing the social networks you’ll focus on, the next logical step is to do optimization efforts on your profiles. Doing so increases your conversion rates and boosts your SEO efforts. A good rule to follow is to use a brand logo, a good description, and a link to your website.

Make a Connection Between Your Website and Social Media Pages

When connecting your website to your social media profile, there are certain steps you need to follow. The procedures differ depending on each platform so it’s important to do it correctly.

Once connected, search engines now know your website and match them to your social media profiles in the results page.

Spice Up Your Website With Social Media Buttons

One of the best social media tips for businesses is to add social media buttons on your company’s website. That way, your visitors can share your content without difficulty. There are a lot of means and plugins that let you accomplish it. It only depends on which platforms you chose to focus on.

A general rule you should follow is to keep them above the fold. This increases their exposure to your visitors. Make sure that the buttons are large enough to get more clicks.

Find and Follow Your Industry’s Influencers

Before you consider getting more followers, ensure that you follow the industry influencers. While the chances of them following you back are zero, doing it has its own benefits. After all, social media platforms use this information to know if your business is in the same industry as the influencer you followed.

These influencers have important and useful information about your industry. Following them means learning new things that you can share with your followers as well.

Strike a Balance Between Your Followers and People You Follow

If you want a business tip of the day, balancing follower and following count matters the most when using Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. The algorithms of these platforms use the ratio to formulate the pages to follow. Having a high ratio decreases your chances of obtaining new followers.

Share Content That Interest People

If you want creative ideas to ensure the success of your social media marketing campaign, make sure to keep your content interesting. The rule about content being king applies to social media as well. If you share useful content, it gets shared more and people become more inclined to visit your website as well.

An interesting content consists of text, images, and videos. You can share articles, stories, statistics, and motivational quotes as well. Don’t forget about hashtags since it makes your content easier to find.

Post on a Regular Basis

When starting social media accounts, businesses often ask the optimal number of posts per day. The answer varies depending on the platform you use. For example, business pages in Facebook need to post once or twice a day but no more than seven times on a weekly basis.

Twitter doesn’t have this problem because you get more exposure the more you tweet. Google+ business pages have no exact number, but posting often without overdoing it will yield positive results.

Always Follow Back

Most businesses forget that following back their followers is an important way to gain more social media popularity. Make it a point to view people who follow you on a daily basis and make a list of those worthy of following back. Neglecting this can cause some people to unfollow you.

Follow Social Media Rules

Social Media platforms offer a wide variety of rules to ensure that spammers get banned. On Twitter, you can only follow a limited number of people daily. Google+ and Facebook have similar rules as well.

What this means is that it can take you some time to amass thousands of followers. You can do this by being patient and following the rules. Don’t try anything shady like buying followers or tweets since it can get your account suspended.

With perseverance, you can create a social media profile that will stand out from the rest. This can help you become a trusted opportunity in your industry.

Learn More Social Media Tips and Tricks Today!

Social media marketing involves two steps: setting up your social media pages and using them to boost your marketing efforts. It’s important to make connections with the networks within your industry and follow the right people.

As long as you share interesting and relevant content, you can get more followers. Don’t forget to follow the rules and be patient. In time, these social media tips and tricks will help you grow and become a major industry influencer through social media.

Do you need more social media for business tips? Read more of our posts and stay informed, like this one discussing how social media evolved in recent years.

Are you frustrated by the fact that your website just doesn’t seem to be able to rise in the search engine rankings?

Do you wish you had more time to devote to researching your site visitors and creating content that’s tailored towards them? Are you concerned that your current SEO and digital marketing strategies just aren’t working?

If so, then it sounds like now is the time to hire SEO professionals.

But what should you look for to ensure you end up with the right agency?

Read on to learn how to choose an SEO company.

1. Ensure They’ve Worked with your Niche

The first step in understanding how to hire SEO professionals?

Make sure that they have experience not only within your specific industry, but also in creating content that’s geared towards your target market.

The best way to figure out of they’ve worked with a brand that’s similar to your own?

Ask to see a portfolio of their past work.

This way, you’ll get an understanding of how they can adapt to a specific brand’s voice and design aesthetics while keeping SEO at the forefront of these efforts.

You should also ensure that they have experience working with a company of your size. If you’re a larger business, then they’ll need to be able to help you with market segmentation.

If you’re a smaller brand, ask how they’re able to help you to personalize your content to increase customer loyalty.

2. Ask for References

When you’re trying to understand how to choose an SEO company, it’s important not to be swayed by what the company says about itself alone.

You’ll also want to ensure that their past clients are willing to back up the claims they’re making.

A trustworthy SEO company will be able to provide you with references and reviews directly from their past clients — not just anonymous testimonials on their website.

When you speak with these references, be sure to ask how the SEO company took the time to understand their brand. What sort of “getting to know you” questions did they ask, and did the client feel as though the content they were getting was unique and tailored to their brand voice?

Also, ask about the specific gains the company saw as a result of the SEO service.

How much higher did they rise in search engine results? Did they gain more social media followers or monthly website visitors? Did their backlink quality improve? Were they able to rank for the keywords they wanted?

Above all, did the SEO company tweak their strategies and campaigns according to data and analytics? Or did they just set the initial plan in motion, and then walk away?

Be sure to ask about payment structure. Were there any surprise or hidden fees? How was payment collected?

Finally, be sure to ask the all-important question: “Would you work with this company again?”

3. Understand Their Service Offerings

When you’re ready to hire SEO professionals, you also need to make sure that their services are able to meet your needs.

The specific services you’re looking for will depend on your business size, the industry you’re working within, and even the types of campaigns you want to run.

For example, maybe you need help writing content for your blog every month. Perhaps you’re interested in beefing up your company’s online reviews. Maybe you need help with social media, or even with creating video content.

Whatever you need, you don’t want to work with an SEO company that can’t offer it.

Usually, most SEO companies will have a complete listing of services on their website.

For example, this company, 180fusion, can provide things like email marketing, logo design, PPC, social media management, and more.

4. Ask About the Tools they use

When it comes to SEO management, even the best of SEO companies aren’t able to accurately assess the effectiveness of their strategies without some analytical tools to help them.

When you’re trying to hire the right SEO agency, you need to ensure that you understand how they’ll continue to monitor your traffic, research your keywords, and evaluate the effectiveness of any email campaigns you send out.

One of the best ways to figure all of this out?

Ask them about the tools that they plan to use to monitor your website. Also, ask them how often they’ll check your site’s analytics, and the kinds of changes that they’ve made in the past with other clients to fine-tune their strategies.

There are tools that can test your site’s mobile-friendliness, your website’s overall speed, and even help you to learn more about the demographics of the people visiting your site.

If the SEO company you want to work with doesn’t seem willing or able to discuss the tools they use, then it’s a sure sign it’s time to move on.

Are you Ready to Hire SEO Professionals?

We hope that this post has helped you to understand what you need to research and ask when you’re ready to hire SEO professionals.

Remember to ask for references, inquire about monitoring tools they’ll use, and ensure that they have experience within your specific niche.

It’s also OK to shop around when it comes to SEO outsourcing. Plus, comparing multiple offers may even help you to get a better deal!

Looking for more advice on how to strengthen your SEO strategy?

We can help.

Be sure to check out our blog for more advice on how to help your site get closer to the first page of Google.

Are you creating a new or revamped website for your business? Business web design doesn’t have to be complicated or challenging, but there are certain standards you should follow when you’re building out your design.

Let’s take a look the basic principles of web design and web layout so your project can be completed with success.

Business Web Design Principles

There are many things you can do that will make your website design look professional, clean, and trustworthy. This is true for all design, including graphic design, newsletter design, or even SmashBrand packaging design. Here are the most basic guidelines to adhere to.

Color Combinations

Having the right colors on your website can help to keep business on your site. If the colors are light and the text can be read with ease, your audience is going to stay around longer than if the text cannot be read. Dark background with little contrast makes it difficult to read.

Colors also convey meaning. Take into account the types of colors you’re using and what these colors portray to a user. For example, using a bright color might display danger while a dark blue will present professionalism.

Headlines and Taglines

Having a tagline on your website not only shows your business motto but also helps with search engine optimization. Make sure those that visit your website immediately know what your company is about and what they stand for.

Having a tagline that accurately shows your business tagline will capture their attention and make them want to stick around on your site a little bit longer.

Page Layout

When you’re designing your web page, it’s important that you divide that pages into appropriate categories. Don’t keep everything on your entire website on the same page. It will make it difficult for users to find what they are looking for if they come to your site with a specific topic in mind.

When you’re building your menu, keep separate topics all on separate tabs in your menu. The easier it is to navigate through your site, the easier people will be able to find information.

Pop Up Ads

Have you ever gone to a site that while scrolling you keep getting interrupted by annoying pop-ups? Pop-ups are a no-no in today’s website design world. If you’re like most, the annoyance of pop-ups keeps you from continuing on down a page.

If you build your website without pop-ups, it will be more respectful to potential and current clients. If you’d like to do advertising, you should be doing advertising outside of pop-ups such as digital advertising on Google.

Photographs and Videos

Including videos and photos on your site will help keep it looking more professional and put together. If you have huge blocks of text with nothing to break it up, you can lose your audience easily. Photos and videos give the reader a break and make it more user-friendly.

Getting Started

Now that you know the basic guidelines of business web design, you have a great place to start.

Review the tips that you’ve been given when building your website plan for design to make sure it’s matching the best principles.

If you’re interested in learning about how to incorporate SEO into your website design as well, check us out here.