by Nick Throlson | Apr 12, 2018 | Business, E-commerce, Website Security
It?s not easy getting an online store off the ground when you?re a small operation, not least because you don?t have a ready-made reputation to piggyback off and a lot of consumers are hesitant to buy stuff online when the company is not well known to them. That?s why it is so important that you are able to build trust in your eCommerce company. This is something that you should prioritize when you launch your eCommerce store.Okay, but how do you build trust in my business? Start by doing the following:Personalize Your WebsitePeople trust other people, not websites. So, when you are launching your eCommerce company, be sure to give it the personal touch, perhaps by writing out your story and how you came to launch your company, and definitely by including your name and a picture of yourself, as well as a company address. This will help visitors feel more at ease when it comes to making a purchase.Make It Simple and Secure
When designing your website you should (or have the person who?s designing your site for you) not only ensure that your website is clean and easy to use, but also that it is secure. If potential customers don?t see that reassuring lock in the address bar when they come to checkout, chances are they won?t be confident enough to make a purchase.Make it UniformOne very often underlooked way of building trust is consistency. If your website looks professional and it is branded in exactly the same way as your social media site, and if your emails and documents all use the same template, it will paint a more cohesive and professional image of you. The software at https://www.templafy.com/ can help you to achieve consistency in emails, slides and other documents. However, you will need to discuss your style with your web designer to ensure that your eCommerce store and other online accounts all have the same style.Get Feedback
Of course, the best way to build trust in your eCommerce company is to get positive reviews from other people. It might, then, be worth sending out a few free samples to get the ball rolling. Send your products or offer your services to a few of the ?social media influencers at https://izea.com/2017/11/01/top-influencers-2017/ in return for a review or mention, focus on giving them a good experience and then watch the positive reviews roll in and the trust in your company grow. Also, allow reviews to be made on your site.Mitigate Against RiskSince many people are hesitant to buy from a new company online, it makes sense to mitigate against any perceived risks by offering a generous guarantee or no questions asked returns policy. If they know that they have nothing to lose by making a purchase they are more likely to trust you and to actually make a purchase - it?s basic common sense.Building trust doesn?t happen overnight, but if you are consistent in your efforts and you do all of the above, it won?t be too long until people recognize your brand and associate it with quality, honesty and value.
by Nick Throlson | Apr 11, 2018 | Business
Lead generation is a huge and established market in the sales and marketing niche. According to different sources, the capitalization of the lead generation market is 50-80 billion dollars.As the market grows, so do the tools that allow sales and marketing specialists to source, extract and generate leads for their business needs.Let's discuss who is using lead generation tools the most, what are the most well-known lead generation methods, and have a quick look at the TOP 3 lead generation tools in 2018.Who are the most active users of lead generation tools in 2018?As you probably know, lead generation is actively used by sales and marketing teams and specialists in different B2B and B2C companies. But lead generation niche has many more players besides sales and marketing guys. Let's take a closer look at them.The most active users are of course sales representatives, sales development representatives (SDRs) and outreach specialists. All of these specialists use lead generation to source leads for their cold campaigns - including cold mailings, drip campaigns and cold calling campaigns. Some of them, like sales representatives, need ready-to-use leads, while SDRs need basically targeted leads to score and develop them further.Next segment of users is marketing teams and specialists. What differentiates them from sales specialists and teams is the number of leads they generate or source.Usually marketers source or generate way more leads than sales guys, to use them in more massive marketing campaigns (and then generate warm leads for sales department) or to use the sourced leads and contacts to build marketing audiences (Facebook retargeting campaigns is a good example of using pre-defined audiences).Thus marketers need more leads to build a stable audience for retargeting campaigns, or run a mailing campaign that will generate interested warm leads that will be forwarded to sales department.The third big group of users are human resource (HR) specialists and companies. This includes various HR niches, such as in-house HRs, HR freelancers, or established HR firms that search for candidates on a daily basis.HRs usually source less amount of leads than sales and marketing specialists, but they definitely pay the most attention to targeting and other data that enriches leads they generated. The reason is simple - HRs make small highly-targeted email campaigns with lots of personalization, or just make direct calls to save time and filter candidates.Besides sales guys, marketers and HRs lead generation is used in many other departments. BizDevs (business developers), Partner Managers and many other specialists use lead generation tools and methods on a daily basis in 2018.What are the most well-known lead generation methods in 2018?There are few lead generation methods that were used the most before, and proved their efficiency. Basically not much changed for the last few years, so these are quite the same but evolved lead generation methods used in 2018.One of the most well-known methods is the Website Lead Generation. This method basically consists of extracting contact information from website you visit. It took a lot of time back in the days, as you needed to find the information manually.Nowadays tools like Snov.io allow users to extract contact information and emails associated with the websites instantly. This method is good when you need to get leads of very specific businesses or websites.The second well-known method, and one of the most effective methods in terms of quality/quantity, is Social Network Lead Generation. This method is about extracting and sourcing leads from social networks.The best network to source highly targeted leads is definitely LinkedIn. Basically, users of lead generation tools have to make a LinkedIn Search according to their targeting needs, and then the tool makes it easy to find and extract contacts of people in the Search List.The last, but not the least, well-known method, and probably the most easiest and popular one is sourcing leads by using Lead Databases. Many companies, including Snov.io, have built-in databases containing millions of leads. These leads are already verified, enriched and can be easily filtered. This method is the best option when company needs as many leads as possible in short time. What are the TOP 3 lead generation tools in 2018?There are many companies on the market that provide users with lead generation tools and services. This is a good sign, and it definitely shows that the market grows in the right direction. Competition never hurt nobody!This time we will not discuss services that provide access to lead databases only, as what they mostly do is sell leads, not source or generate. Lead generation and sourcing tools are more interesting and flexible in our opinion.TOP3 - Skrapp.ioSkrapp allows users to generate leads through LinkedIn only. It is Linkedin-oriented, thus allowing to source leads both from Linkedin Search and from Linkedin Groups.Pros - Linkedin-oriented only, good for HRs and Sales specialists.Cons - No other opportunities to generate leads (no website generation, no built-in database). No lead verification available.Pricing - 5,000 leads cost $69.TOP2 - Hunter.ioHunter is one of the oldest lead generation tools, but a quite limited one. It allows to extract leads from websites or to find leads if you know a name of the person and the domain. Hunter is good, but it takes a lot of manual job to operate it. Also it's the most expensive lead generation tool out of these three.Pros - lead generation from websites, lead finding by name and domain, lead verification.Cons - no lead generation from social networks available, no built-in database, take a lot of manual job to operate it.Pricing - 5,000 leads cost $100+.TOP1 - Snov.ioSnov.io is the youngest but the most feature-rich tool on the market. It allows users to generate leads from websites, from social networks, from the built-in database. Also it's the first decentralized lead generation tool on the market - Snov.io is working hard on releasing the decentralized lead marketplace on blockchain that will increase lead quality a lot. Also, Snov.io allows to verify all the leads, and run mailing campaigns within the same dashboard, so there is no need to use any other lead verification or mailing tool. By the way Snov.io is the least expensive verification tool on the market.?Update(June 2018) Snovio released a chrome extension which serves as an?email verifier?which verifies emails immediately in bulk, whilst you browse websites.
Pros - all-in-one lead gen platform with lead generation from websites, social networks, built-in database. First decentralized lead generation tool. Has lead verification and mailing features on board.Cons - the youngest tool on the market, if this counts as a con.Pricing - 5,000 leads cost $49.
by Nick Throlson | Apr 9, 2018 | Business, Web Design, WordPress
If you?re hoping to grow your business, then it?s time to give some serious consideration to the idea of starting your business blog. In a highly competitive marketplace, businesses need every advantage to stay ahead of their competitors, and a blog is one of your most useful tools. As well as offering a way for customers to engage with your company, a good blog is able to act as proof of your business knowledge and can work much more effectively than other forms of advertising. As a way to improve your SEO, or simply giving you something to share on your social media, a blog has many uses. If you?re thinking of starting a blog for your business, then here are the key steps that you need to take in order to get the most from it.Use your websiteYou may have used a WordPress or Wix site to build your website, in which case you may already be familiar with how it works. If you have used other methods, including outsourced website management systems, then now?s the time to get to grips with the way that your chosen platform works. Once you?ve made the decision to use your blog, having a clear understanding of your website platform will give you greater confidence when it comes to additional content such as images or polls.Stick to your brandingYou need to decide on your blog?s style, and that?s going to come down to your business branding. It?s vital that your blog is an extension of your branding, and acts as a reinforcement of it. This consistency will be key to engaging your customers and will be able to guide you in the manner of your interactions with both existing and potential clients. Make use of your chosen tone of voice, whether it be casual, academic, or even humorous, and ensure that it remains in-line with your branding tone across every medium and platform. Make sure that you use the blog to prove your professional knowledge and your awareness of industry changes, and you may start to be considered a market leader in your field.Make sure that you?re protectedIt?s a sad truth that despite the many benefits that the digital age has wrought, it has also brought with it a wave of cybercrime. Any business that makes use of an online platform needs to be aware of their security needs, and it?s vital that you protect your business, your employees, customers, and suppliers when it comes to storing and managing your online data. Many businesses are finding that managing their IT needs is becoming too overwhelming, which is why more are making use of outsourced IT management, the experts at Torix.co.uk being a good example. Making use of these services offers you an extra layer of protection, while also giving you and your staff the space to concentrate on your more productive daily roles.Your website isn?t merely a place where customers can come and browse new products, it?s your customer-facing store to the digital world, and failing to put as much effort into it as you would every other customer-facing element of your business is a waste of resources. Take advantage of new technologies and always keep up to date on your industry sector, and you might find that blogging becomes the best use of your time and your advertising budget.
by Nick Throlson | Mar 21, 2018 | Business, Social Media, WordPress
In many ways, setting up and running a blog is easy, and just about anyone can have their site set up in just a few minutes and start posting content. However, although setting up a blog can be easy, getting readers to the site can be more challenging. There are a few ways that you can engage more with current and new readers in an attempt to build your following and create a site that makes you proud.Create Good ContentIf you have done your research on blogging, you will know how important your content is. No matter what your niche may be, you always need to provide something your readers want to know. One of the best ways to do this is to try and find a different spin on an existing topic. Find a popular or trending topic that fits in with your niche and look at it from a new perspective. People are always interested in differing opinion, even if it's controversial, so thinking of a different angle can get you noticed.Be Visually AppealingYour blog is the face of you and what you want to say, so make sure it appeals to your readers. Many visitors like to have pictures or video to look at as this is more visually stimulating. However, there are also other ways to get your readers attention. Try adding documents or slides to your posts to reiterate a point or show a trend. There are sites such as DocRaptor that will help you convert these documents without any complications.Be Helpful to Your ReadersAlthough your visitors will like to read what you have to say, you can make it even better by offering them a solution to a problem. There may be something within your niche that has always been difficult resolve; this gives you a great opportunity. By thinking about possible solutions, you will be giving people something they haven?t had before. Not only will this be engaging to your readers, but it will also be something they will want to share with others. You might be able to make it your angle, to try and solve those seemingly impossible problems.Monitor the TrendsWhatever your blog is about, there will always be certain topics within it that are trending, or at least getting a lot of attention. To stay relevant, you need to find out what?s happening in the realm of your blog topic and write about it. TrustMyPaper For example, if you are a writing a music blog and a new band hits the scene, then you should be writing something about it. Readers will be eager to hear what you think, and it will make your blog relevant.Social MediaSocial media is by far the best way to reach your readers, not only because there are billions of potential people out there, but also because this is where the trending stories are. It is no coincidence that the clear majority of bloggers are hugely active on their social media accounts. They are all trying to gain a greater following and a larger readership. As with your posts, anything you share to social media should have a photo as these posts are more likely to be clicked statistically. You shouldn?t just use social media for sharing your content; you also need to get involved with conversations and get yourself out there. The more people see you, the more likely they are to follow you and then see your blog posts.Offer Them SomethingThe promise of free information will often lure visitors to your site. If you can develop a short eBook or perhaps a PDF file with useful information or a ?how to? guide, then you will find people eager to read and download it. You need to make it your own and offer them something they cannot get from anywhere else. If you are looking to generate income from your site, then offer the first part for free and then make any subsequent parts available for a fee. If the content is good enough, then it will encourage people to pay for it.Monitor Your TrafficSometimes gaining visitors to your site is a matter of trial and error. You can write something that is amazing, but it will only get a few readers, while something simple gets thousands. To find out what makes your readers happy, you need to analyze your visitors after each post to see how they react to it. You can then start to develop a strategy that you can incorporate into all your posts. Another reason for monitoring your site traffic is so that you can find the perfect time of day to post your content. Depending on where your visitors are located, they will be reading your latest post during their lunch break or when they are at home. By keeping your posting times the same, readers will anticipate it.Keep Your Layout SimpleHave you ever been on a website that is so cluttered by options that you don?t know where to start? For many readers, seeing a site like this will be enough to put them off wanting to explore. You must keep the design of your site simple yet enticing, use images and buttons but keep the writing to a minimum. Most bloggers like to have their posts on the front page because its easier for the visitors to see it. While this is a good idea, it isn?t essential, if there is something else you want on your front page then do it. You must remember though, that you should make your blog easy to find from any page.Whatever the reason you write your blog, make sure that you are interested in the subject matter. There is nothing worse than writing on a topic that you don?t like, it will make you demoralized, and this will show in your content. There are plenty of potential readers out there for everyone, so don?t delay.
by Nick Throlson | Mar 2, 2018 | Business, Web Design
So, you own a blog, but you want to do more than just own it, don?t you? You want to do more than just leave it sitting on the Internet. You want to do more than only upload a few pieces to it every so often. Yes, you want to take your blog as far as it can go, don?t you? Well, if you do, then you've come to the right place because comprehensive advice on doing so can be found below.Run an e-commerce site concurrently with your blogYes, blogging success is not just about blogging. Yes, you have to offer more than just your blog if you want to take it as far as it can go. What this means is that you should offer more, and this more should come in the form of another site. And, there is a little better site to run concurrently with your blog than an e-commerce site.By running an e-commerce site concurrently with your blog you will give your blog a genuine stamp of approval, a genuine stamp of approval being that the audience will see your blog as being professional. And, your blog is seen as professional in this sense is what it needs if it is going to be taken as far as it can go. But where will this feeling of professionalism stem from? Well, first of all, it will show your audience that you not only interested in informing and entertaining them with blog posts but that you are interested in offering them something to take away from their experience with you too. This will show that you value your audience and are not interested in them as traffic numbers, and that will make you seem as professional as a fully-functioning company as that is what the best ones do.So, if you want to get your quest in taking your blog as far as it can go to the next level, make sure to focus on more than the blogging by opening up an online store. By doing so, you will even make some extra cash on the side through the selling of whatever it is that you sell.Engagement is your best metric, so use itNo matter how big or small your blog is if you want to take it as far as it can go you need to be using engagement as its best metric. Why? Well, because a blog that is not engaging is not something the audience will want to go out of their way to click on, and a lack of a clicking audience in this sense will do nothing for you in your quest for blogging superstardom.When it comes to engagement, first of all, you should be ensuring that you are uploading pieces to your blog frequently and that it never turns into a barren, post-less wasteland. Whether this means you writing and uploading the blog pieces yourself, or whether this means delegating it to contribute writers if you simply do not have the time, you simply must be ensuring your blog is always active. And, the pieces you do upload should always be thought-provoking or informative in some sense or another, and they should never be a repeat of any pieces you've uploaded before.Something else that you should be doing when it comes to boosting your blog?s engagement performances as far as they can do is to work on your SEO. By doing so, and by doing so alongside a professional in the field of doing so such as SEOJet.net, you would be able to get your blog right to the front of every search engine search that takes place in your blog?s field or market. And, only when this happens will you blog be attracting the high volumes of audience numbers it needs to see itself go as far as it can go.Keep your blog up at all timesSomething that is just as detrimental to your blog as uninspiring content and a lack of content is it going down and becoming inactive. You see, when it does this, quite simply, those that clicked on it with the attention of scouring it for entertainment and information purposes will bounce right back off it, and them bouncing right back off it as a cardinal sin that must be avoided. So, make sure your blog is up and running and is accessible at all times.To do this, you should enlist the assistance of something known as an uptime operator. What such an operator would do is watch your blog at all conceivable points for instances of downtime, and would alert you to it happening via SMS or email. It would then be your task, as the owner of your blog, to do everything in your power to get the blog back up again before anybody else clicks on to it and bounces away from it due to a lack of patience with it.One of the best uptime operators on the market is UptimeRobot, and it would be wise of you to use it.Blogs are precarious things. One moment they can be fruitful and attracting, the next they can be a wasteland that doesn?t offer anybody anything. So, first things first in your quest to taking your blog as far as it can go, make sure you are avoiding that fate! Second of all, make sure you are taking heed of all of the advice above and implementing it into your blogging practices ? when you do, your blog will flourish in no time.For more advice on how to make your blog better, make sure to head here.
by Nick Throlson | Mar 1, 2018 | Business
Being a marketer means constantly being in tune with the latest industry trends ? but it can be easy to forget that marketing your business is not done in a vacuum.? Have you given your business a thorough audit this year? Are there elements of your business, other than marketing, that need some concentrated attention?After all, marketing only really works when you have a compelling brand and message to put out there in the first place? or an effective business framework that means campaigns are meeting commercial targets.Here is how you can take an integrated approach with your company strategy this year, ensuring that your marketing budget will go towards conversions, sales, and tangible business goals. Improve your brand, improve your value proposition
First and foremost, let?s talk about branding. Now, for the uninitiated, branding may not seem much more than trying to get the snazziest, simplest, most memorable logo since Apple?s quarter eaten? apple. Spending on a reliable and innovative designer purely for your logo may seem like a good idea, but a good foundation is still just a foundation.You need to ensure that everything from your website copy to your e-shots, from your Facebook cover photo to your Instagram profile, are alight with brand messaging. Otherwise, you run the risk of wasting marketing budget on a brand that simply isn?t a reflection of what you can actually do.It?s easy to become ?brand blind?, so it?s advisable to open up the conversation with your network to see how they feel about your brand. Be ready to have some difficult conversations.- If you?re not a proficient writer, it?s important to hire people that are. Bad brand copywriting is not something you want to become famous for.
- Another great way to get your brand out there is by forming connections with influencers. They have a wide range of influence with the public, aiding with your PR targets? as well. Choosing the relevant one(s) for you is all about knowing your target audience and customer demographic. So, make sure that you choose wisely and don?t risk wasted time. Be true to your brand!
- Make sure that your brand has an inherent value proposition, so that your audience can quickly and easily form an accurate picture of what you?re offering them.
Strategy & data planning
A strategy is key for anyone wanting to get ahead. It?ll guide your thought processes for the year(s) to come; laying out clear steps for you and your team to follow.? It?s at the core of a healthy marketing plan, but should also take into account elements that fall outside the remit of marketing.Data processing should be a big part of your strategy ? as it?s largely insights based on facts and figures that should go into a business strategy. By all means, theorize and hypothesize, but don?t lose sight of the actual customer and market data that?s pouring in.Writers & content creators
Generating traffic to your website is probably one of, if not the most important factor to think about when allocating your business funds. Traffic leads to the essential inquiries and sales that keep your business running.In order to generate quality web traffic, you need a stack of high-quality, relevant online content. Not only do you want quality content that?s representative of your brand, you want it to be consistent across all your business channels (including any printed literature).Hiring people that are both reliable and good at copywriting is the secret behind compelling content creation. Don?t try to fob it off to a junior team member, or squeeze it in yourself between dealing with customer orders. You need to invest in good writers if you want to see a return from your content efforts.Luckily there are loads of high quality writers and content creators out there that you can contract on a freelance basis.Outsourcing your business
Don?t be afraid to delegate! Source photographers, HR professionals, designers, developers SEOs etc who are professional and timely.There is always going to be somebody who can do a job better than you can, so don?t shy away from leaning on expertise when it?s clearly needed.Hiring those with more experience than yourself can benefit you two-fold. Firstly, they will undoubtedly give your business a necessary boost in quality. Secondly, you can use their expertise to expand your own knowledge whilst also saving time.And outsourcing doesn?t stop at people. You can also outsource things like logistics via dropshipping or customer service via chatbots. Use the latest tech to help you scale your operations and, ultimately, improve your margins.Financial services
The importance of a great financial structure is sometimes underestimated in the small business world.Having your finances handled properly is the crux of any good business. While you use your time to focus on directorial things, your accountant can deal with the monetary side of your work. This can save you both valuable time and money.? A knowledgeable accountant or part-time financial director can be deep wells of high-quality advice.You should also look into whether financial cloud apps like Receipt Bank or Quickbooks could help you save processing time. The better financial data you have, the better decisions you?ll be able to make for your business.Travel & networking
Traveling it is a great way to increase the size of your network. Going further afield to meet a client and/or would-be business partner can help solidify rapport ? showing how far you?re willing to go to connect.Ultimately, you can?t put a price on human interaction. While emailing is efficient (and free), it?s nothing compared to the experience of physical interaction; especially if you?re planning to work together long term. Instead of your words being misconstrued, time being wasted and not being able to properly gauge your relationship ? take a trip, and see how much further you get? together.Don?t be afraid to show your face at local networking events, meetups, and conferences either. There are plenty of offline opportunities out there waiting for you.Marketing works best when it?s part of the wider conversation concerning your business. Look to outsourcing and financial management as ways to run a more efficient business, and branding and content as ways to supercharge your sales. Don?t fall into the trap of running after vanity metrics or running your business in restrictive silos.
When designing your website you should (or have the person who?s designing your site for you) not only ensure that your website is clean and easy to use, but also that it is secure. If potential customers don?t see that reassuring lock in the address bar when they come to checkout, chances are they won?t be confident enough to make a purchase.Make it UniformOne very often underlooked way of building trust is consistency. If your website looks professional and it is branded in exactly the same way as your social media site, and if your emails and documents all use the same template, it will paint a more cohesive and professional image of you. The software at https://www.templafy.com/ can help you to achieve consistency in emails, slides and other documents. However, you will need to discuss your style with your web designer to ensure that your eCommerce store and other online accounts all have the same style.Get Feedback
Of course, the best way to build trust in your eCommerce company is to get positive reviews from other people. It might, then, be worth sending out a few free samples to get the ball rolling. Send your products or offer your services to a few of the ?social media influencers at https://izea.com/2017/11/01/top-influencers-2017/ in return for a review or mention, focus on giving them a good experience and then watch the positive reviews roll in and the trust in your company grow. Also, allow reviews to be made on your site.Mitigate Against RiskSince many people are hesitant to buy from a new company online, it makes sense to mitigate against any perceived risks by offering a generous guarantee or no questions asked returns policy. If they know that they have nothing to lose by making a purchase they are more likely to trust you and to actually make a purchase - it?s basic common sense.Building trust doesn?t happen overnight, but if you are consistent in your efforts and you do all of the above, it won?t be too long until people recognize your brand and associate it with quality, honesty and value.
