An ecommerce store is a highly effective and economical way to grow your business beyond your brick-and-mortar store. It is an easy way to multiply sales without incurring exorbitant costs. Since selling online does not require extra square footage, displays or employees, an ecommerce solution is an ideal way to increase profits with minimal investment and risk. The primary goal is to make shopping easy and enjoyable. From searching for a particular product to entering payment information, the design of your ecommerce website requires careful planning to ensure that shoppers have a pleasant experience. Not only will this prevent shoppers from ...

[caption id="attachment_2791" align="alignleft" width="344" caption="A screen grab of OneIMS's Mentionmapp  (Click for large)"][/caption] The chance that you’re using the social networking site twitter.com for personal or business use is very high.  (If you are on twitter, please follow OneIMS!)  In the past six years since it was founded, twitter has grown exponentially in popularity.  Recent research has found that there are over 500 million twitter accounts and that a new account is created every eleven seconds. Though twitter is great on its own, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of third party applications and programs that will help you get more out ...

Asking for patience is easier said than done. It’s a virtue that many of us just don’t have, especially when browsing the Internet. When it comes to the time it takes for a website to load, anything above two seconds will push anyone’s patience. A website that takes too long to load will turn visitors away. After all, it’s just as easy and fast to enter a new address in your browser’s address bar. If your website suffers from a slow load time, you could be missing out on potential leads or customers. Moreover, increasing your website’s load time helps you ...

While a few years ago companies only needed to worry about their own website, the growing number of social media platforms is now making it harder for companies and business owners to keep up their presence on the Internet. From restaurant reviews to Facebook likes, building a positive community and reputation around your brand is necessary to build your authority online. So how do you go about building a community around your brand? Here are a few musts for building an online community around your brand. Create a Corporate Blog A corporate blog is the perfect way to share your knowledge and build your ...

Year by year, the number of smartphone users increases dramatically. Thanks to devices like Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, Internet access on the go is becoming more sophisticated and user friendly. According to a recent ComScore report, smartphone users account for nearly 42% of all mobile users. As a business owner, understanding this trend and developing a mobile strategy is crucial for staying relevant and ahead of competitors. The first step, of course, is creating a mobile version of your website. When designing your mobile website, make sure you keep these tips in mind. Keep Your Design Simple Given the reduced screen space, ...

Your website is a critical part of your online image and reputation.  It’s the first impression many potential clients have of your business.  A bad impression may turn them away for good.  A quality website requires many different components to work harmoniously.  From design to content, your website should send a clear message about your services and products while creating a unique and enjoyable user experience. It doesn’t take a professional designer or a marketing guru to spot problems with your website.  Want to know if your website is turning away potential clients?  Ask yourself these questions and see how well ...

Marketing a business, small or large, is no easy task.  It requires dedication, creative thinking, planning, retooling and much more.  While there are many different opportunities to market and a variety of channels to do so, it’s important to stick to the basics before you start spending your marketing dollars. Making sure that you have covered these topics will ensure a better yield on your marketing efforts. Not Designating a Budget A serious mistake that many small business owners is to not designate a budget.  Regardless of the size of the budget, it’s important to know upfront how much can be allocated ...

At its core, content marketing is the creation and sharing of content with the ultimate purpose of attracting new customers, engaging with potential customers and nurturing current customers relationships.  By producing high-quality, relevant content, business owners stand to gain brand loyalty and potential business from prospects. When creating content, avoid making these simple mistakes to grow your potential customer base and gain respect from current customers. Having No Plan If content creation is not part of your current marketing plan, it needs to be.  Just like you plan out your marketing campaigns, content marketing has to be well planned.  A content schedule ...

To the average person, blogging may seems like a waste of time. For business owners, understanding that a company needs a blog is even harder. A few reasons why corporate blogs fall by the wayside include lack of time to dedicate to writing frequent content, general inability to come up with topics and thinking that no one cares (or reads) what you write. Contrary to this belief, blogging is becoming an important tool in increasing a business’ reach online. Still not convinced? If you have already have a website, the key to success is higher traffic. An easy way to increase ...

With the holidays upon us, retailers are busy gearing up for the big sales and shopping frenzy synonymous with the holiday season. With all the craze, it’s easy to see why retail owners forget that marketing doesn't stop once the holiday season has begun. On the contrary, it’s time to ramp up all marketing efforts to keep a constant stream of shoppers at your registers. Here are some simple marketing tips that small retailers – from the small clothing boutique to the children’s toy shop – can get behind without breaking the bank. Return Visits An important part of growing your retail business is gaining ...

Halloween just passed, and the start of November means the biggest shopping day of the year is just around the corner. It’s also the time when every business rolls out their holiday marketing. As such, your marketing strategy should be both bold and aggressive. Here are some easy multi-channel marketing ideas to leverage your holiday marketing this season. E-Mail Marketing E-mail marketing is an easy and convenient way to reach out to your clients. Design a special “thank you” campaign promoting your holiday specials or to keep your customers informed of your upcoming sales, promotions or offers. Also, don’t forget to push your ...

Having an online website requires more than a few static pages. It requires consistent updates and modifications to keep up with the ever-changing rules of search engines and internet marketing. As a business owner, it’s critical to grow your website. If  you've never modified your website since it launched, you are letting search engines and customers forget you. Growing your website means giving search engines reasons to come back frequently for more traffic and better ranking. It also means that you can keep your readers or past customers returning regularly. Here are 6 ways to grow your website. Add More Content When it comes to ...