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SMB Tips & Tools

4 DIY Tricks to Drive Traffic to Your Website

by Bitsy September 17, 2014

written by Bitsy

So, you’ve designed your website, added content, and hit “publish”. Congratulations! All you have to do now is to sit back and wait for droves of users to come galloping toward your website, thirsty for its offerings…

Still waiting?

The cruel reality for many new websites is that sometimes, driving traffic is a bit harder than you might initially think – especially without an advertising budget or a team of people able to dedicate hours to promotion day to day. In this blog post, we’ll divulge 5 DIY tricks to drive traffic to your website, using tools and know-how you already have.

1) Links, Links, Links

How many social media accounts do you have? For that matter, how many times have you been asked to fill in profile information for a web app or social network you ultimately forget about? If you’re experiencing a lag in traffic to your website, try tracing your presence on all the websites you’ve signed up for (from StumbleUpon to Facebook and Twitter). When possible, add a link to your website in your profile information. Search engines will appreciate these links, as it makes it easier to identify that your website is consistent with your larger online presence, but adding a link to your site left, right, and center will quite simply broaden your exposure.

If you, like many of us, are at a loss to recall the sheer number of website you’ve signed up for over the years, there are a few tools that can help jog your memory. If, for example, you usually use the same user name, KnowEm can search through hundreds of social networks to identify where your name is being used.

Social media accounts aside, another oft-forgotten opportunity when it comes to linking your site is in your email signature. Not only will an updated email signature help the people you correspond with to keep track of your details, it also puts contacts you may be getting in touch with for the first time at ease, allowing them to instantly verify who you are.

2) Talk About It In Real Life

What happens on the internet doesn’t need to stay on the internet. Your website is an integral tool for your business, online and offline. When you’re networking in the real world, keep on offline version of your website with you on your smartphone or tablet. Providing a visual cue in conversations will help remind your new friend or potential client to visit your website again and spend more time exploring.

3) Check Your Keywords

You don’t have to search for long to find hundreds upon hundreds of blog posts encouraging you to get hip to keywords on your website. “Use popular search keywords in your headlines!”, the cheer. “Throw as many keywords as you can around your site!”, they plead. The reality is, orienting your website content around keywords alone will rarely win you long-term gains in traffic or conversions.

Keywords can be broken up into two different categories: “broad keywords” and “longtail keywords”. “Broad keywords” refer to general (and usually high-traffic) words that you might use throughout your site to align yourself as broadly as possible with an industry. “Longtail keywords”, meanwhile, refer more specific terms that help users narrow what you do down from a larger industry. While they’re often industry-specific keywords, longtail keywords can also be strings of several words, such as “what/who/where is ______?” or “ways to _____.” In these cases, consider what your audience might come to your website looking for, and address their potential questions in your longtail keyword.

Longtail keywords help to drive your most relevant traffic, meaning that you will have a higher chance of starting and sustaining a relationship with your new visitors. For more tips on how to structure keywords to drive traffic, check out this informative article via our friends at HubSpot.

4) Get Friendly With Google

There’s little doubt that Google wields inimitable power on the Internet (and our daily lives). Like it or not, to get ahead online, you may have to get friendly with them. Google offers a huge variety of tools to help sites get ranked on their search engines, but for new site owners, your first step should be to submit your website and its contents to Google. All you need to do is enter your URL and a captcha, and Google will take care of the rest.

There are other ways to cuddle up to Google to improve your search ranking. There’s Google Business, which allows you to register your physical business so that it will more easily show up on searches while providing basic information such as opening hours, reviews, and price ranges. Despite is second-fiddle reputation, Google+ is also a helpful resource when it comes to driving traffic to your website by linking your own website’s content to third party content, comments, and your entire existing social network.

Image Credits

Aiga Waitingroom at Wiki Commons

Meeting folks by Financial Times photos At Flickr Creative Commons

Orange line & etech by eschipul

September 17, 2014 0 comment

Design Tips SMB Tips & Tools

What Makes a B&B Website Convert?

by Bitsy September 8, 2014

written by Bitsy

It’s a tough world out there for bed & breakfasts, guesthouses, and boutique hotels these days. Between aggressive chain-hotel pricing and the mammoth new-comer that is AirBnB, attracting guests can be a struggle, even for the most established listings. In order to compete in this increasingly tricky market, your hotel needs a killer website, one that lovingly showcases your accommodations while making it easy for guests to book. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the best ways to create a high-converting, gorgeous website for your B&B or guesthouse – without spending a fortune.

People care about praise

Booking accommodations tends to be a process fraught with anxiety; few guests are willing to gamble on an independent hotel’s quality without some sort of third party assurance, and when seemingly more reliable chain options abound.

That’s why one of your highest priorities when considering your website’s architecture should be to showcase any praise, awards, or accreditation your hotel has earned. Get a great write-up in a newspaper or travel magazine? Place a quote from the article on your home page. Did a guest leave a particularly touching comment in your guest book? Use their quote as a headline, or as copy between images. Did you receive an award or special accreditation? Ask the organization responsible to provide you with their logo or award badge to place on your home page. If you’ve yet to score praise by way of awards, look into local accreditation that you can apply for.

Remember, though: Any third-party quote you wish to place on your site must be pre-approved by the author.

Be Seasonal

For most guests, planning a stay in a B&B or guesthouse is linked to a special occasion, whether an anniversary or a weekend getaway to marvel in seasonal colors and fare. In large part, creating a successful B&B website has to do with what happens after it has been designed: Keeping it updated to reflect changing seasons and moods, and making sure that you are appealing to what your customers are looking for at an exact moment in time.

Creating a seasonal website needn’t be complicated. Oftentimes, a simple change of headlines (from “come have a glass of wine on our patio” in summer to “cozy up by the fire in our library” in winter) will suffice, along with images that reflect the charm of your establishment at any time of year.

One independent hotel that has done a great job of appealing to all seasons is the Fogo Island Inn, an eco-hotel situated at the eastern-most edge of Canada. Famous for its “7 seasons”, the Inn’s photography and website reflect this perfectly with interchanging images of summer to winter.

Invest in great photography

If you invest in any help for your website, make it a professional photographer. We humans are visual creatures, and great images on your website will go a long way in convincing potential guests to make a reservation (why else would AirBnB offer free photography services for all their users?). For hotel owners that live in climates with several seasons, ask a photographer – or at the very least, a photography-buff friend – to shoot images of your property year-round. Make sure to have them capture not just interiors, but what exists around your property, whether it be gorgeous hiking trails, a home-away-from-home pub, or a perfect little cafe. In all cases, try to have your images appeal to what potential guests are looking for in your setting, whether it’s wild nature or cosmopolitan chic.

Stay Simple

The Internet is not synonymous with long-attention spans: Potential guests want instant reassurance that your Bed & Breakfast has the right qualities for their getaway, and like any website, this usually means narrowing the focus down to a couple basic value propositions.

Don’t make your guests scroll through an essay on the history of your house before they’re able to see photos of rooms or availability, and more importantly, make sure not to hide your “call to action” behind multiple pages or confusing headlines. You have a limited amount of time to convince potential guests of reserving a room with you, so make sure that pricing, amenities, and other details are available as soon as a visitor arrives on your page. Most importantly, leave plenty of space for your visitors to navigate your page. Even the best hotels seem to fall prey to overwhelming their visitors with information, and more often than not, this crowded, messy environment will repel guests.

Connect to Social Media

More often than not these days, word of mouth is spread via social media. Subtly let your guests know that they can “check in” to your location (and snap away) by keeping up with social media. Adding social media widgets to your website is simple with IM Creator’s drag & drop editor. Simply link your existing social accounts to the widgets already present on a template, or add new ones via the “Widgets” list in your editor.

A Case Study in Great B&B Website Design

Wiggley Bottom Farm is a cottage retreat just outside of Healesville, Australia, a cozy and pet-friendly spot nestled amongst rolling hills. They’ve also designed a brilliantly understated, crisp, and informative website, which is acing it at attracting clientele.

Let’s take a look at what makes their site work so well:

Availability on Every Page: At the bottom of every page of their website, Wiggley Bottom has placed a “check availability” button alongside an easy-to-use reservation calendar – a great way to add a bit of urgency to site visitors’ navigation.

Showcasing What Makes Them Unique: Every B&B, guest cottage, or boutique hotel has something special to offer guests, and in Wiggley Bottom Farm’s case, one of those things is their decidedly pet-friendly attitude. Alongside information about their property and guest cottage on their home page, a crisp photo of a dog lets visitors know that Wiggley Bottom welcomes pet-owners – a rarity amongst most guest cottages. Try to pinpoint what makes your hotel stand out from the rest, and use element as the key to your site.

Simple, Succinct Copy: Wiggley Bottom Farm have nailed their website’s copy, with simple, easy-to-read descriptions of amenities, their location, and local attractions. When writing copy, make sure to use simple, evocative words that provide readers with an instant sense of what you’re describing. Because so many online readers simply skim, make sure to use plenty of keywords that are commonly used by hotel guests, such as “retreat”, “privacy”, and “getaway”.

Big, Bold, Beautiful Images: Bright and airy rooms, green pastures, local wine tasting, and a relaxing farm atmosphere are the visions conjured by Wiggley Bottom Farm’s stunning professional photography. Photos are shot using a wide angle lens in order to capture as much of their spaces as possible, and have been chosen to reflect the varying moods of the farm’s surroundings (from autumnal leaves to starry skies). Best yet, the colors evoked in Wiggley Bottom’s images have been mirrored in their website’s savvy organization, with varying natural shades used to break up content and ease a visitor’s navigation.

Image Credits

Guest house with ‘central heating’! by Doug Belshaw at Flickr Creative Commons

Abandoned motel room – 3206 Ontario Highway 2 – Pittsburgh Township at WikipediaCommons

September 8, 2014 0 comment

Branding SMB Tips & Tools SMBs & Freelancers

How to Do Online Branding Right – Slow but Steady Growth

by Erez Zundy August 11, 2014

written by Erez Zundy

Marketing is essential for businesses, regardless of the niche they function in. There are companies that managed to achieve such a level of marketing exposure that they actually became a part of pop culture and are a part of modern lives (Coca Cola would be a prime example of this). This kind of exposure is something that is achieved through branding.

Most new businesses tend to view branding as something that requires big budgets to achieve successfully. While it is true that, like any other marketing effort, a large budget makes things substantially easier, branding is a practice that requires as much patience and time as it does money.

Is it the right time to focus on branding?

The answer is always yes! Since branding is a long term process, the sooner you start, the better. With all the other things new businesses need to consider in their initial months, branding can take a back seat – even if it is the bridge between you and your customers. Ideally, plan and implement your first branding campaign even before you launch your business. This way, you don’t need to deal with passively built brand awareness, which doesn’t fit your branding vision.

How to build your brand

Branding can seem like an endless, complex process, but it helps to consider its key values. Here’s what to keep in mind when planning your branding strategy:

Honesty & reliability

Decide on the level of quality you are willing to offer and stick to it. The whole point of branding is to get your customers used to a certain quality of service and deliver every time without fail. This way, your customers will always know what to expect and they will learn to rely on you. They will also tell their friends about your brand and will promote you for free because they trust you.

Originality

When it comes to branding, you can rely on other companies’ experiences but not their ideas. You need to find an approach that works for you and stick to it. Sit down and brainstorm a bit until you hit something you like. Creativity is very much a plus here.

Consistency

All your marketing efforts need to be done with branding in mind. Make sure that you make your chosen colors work for you and that your logo appears within everything you do. It is a good idea to develop a certain style which, through consistent marketing efforts, will make it clear that the commercial (or any other marketing form) is yours before your logo even appears.

Rely on testimonials

Customer feedback is a fantastic way to reinforce your brand’s value. Speak with you clients and colleagues, and ask them how they feel about your product or service, as well as how they use it. Use their positive feedback as copy on your website (with proper permission, of course). Customers tend to trust other customers over the company themselves when it comes to judging quality.

Become an expert for your niche

Web users are interested in hearing about personal experiences, especially from those who have gone through the same experiences as themselves. Becoming an ‘expert’ in your field simply by writing about what you know is a straightforward (and surprisingly easy) way to build a brand. Your customers will be thankful for the insight you give them and you can provoke sharing through social media.

Branding is basically putting a face and a personality on your business. When branding is done correctly, the customers feel like they know the company in question and they trust them that they will deliver the same quality as before. It takes one major slip to put your whole effort to rest though, so tread lightly.

August 11, 2014 0 comment

SMB Tips & Tools Website Promotion

Video Content and Its Benefits for Online Marketing

by Erez Zundy August 4, 2014

written by Erez Zundy

Online marketing has turned into an art form of sorts, creating promotional material that can reach millions, all the while providing tons of statistical data, which enables better targeting and the creation of better marketing material. However, for inexperienced online marketers, it may be problematic to pick out the marketing method that works best for them. This is usually achieved with a trial and error method and it takes time to figure out what works best for individual situations.

One exception to this rule is video marketing, which is as effective online as it has previously been through our TV screens. The possibilities for the application of quality video material seem boundless. A single video can perform multiple marketing roles; in this article, we’ll go over a few of its key benefits and capabilities:

Social sharing potential

Promotional material doesn’t tend to thrive in boring environments; no matter your audience, they want immediate answers relayed in a casual, playful, and straightforward way. Video marketing has great viral potential and allows you to play with a lot of elements that can increase its chances of catching the sharing wind through social media.

What’s more, video provides the unique advantage of letting you time when your audience loses interest and stops watching.

Managing boring subjects

Not all material is easy to advertise. B2B companies in particular know that it can seem next to impossible to make technical language and abstract concepts pop out of the screen. Even potential clients who are well versed in your business sector’s language don’t tend to have the patience to read through your company’s information.

With a video, much of the wall-of-text malaise that comes from technical language can be improved by simple animations and diagrams. A well-made video not only helps to hold a viewer’s attention as they learn about your product, it also makes it more understandable.

Driving traffic

There’s little way around it, the most immediate, obvious (and free) way to start driving traffic with video marketing is via YouTube. Not only is it the single largest video platform online, YouTube recognized early on the power of social media, and its interface has been optimized to make it as easy as possible for your viewers to click share.

It can take work to develop a steady fan base, but will pay off in the long run. The rules for running a decent YouTube channel are quite similar to running a successful blog:

Punctuality: Keep viewers fed with a steady stream of helpful tips and resources. Just as every blog post you write needn’t be 1,500 words long, nor do regular videos need to be overly steeped in details. Short, happy updates often suffice.
Quality: A no-brainer, but it needs to be re-stated: There’s no point investing time and energy into videos unless you have something valuable to say. Focus on churning out good content as opposed to filling a quota.
Responsivness: Like all user-generated content, YouTube and other video platforms thrive on user comments. If a user comments on your video, be prompt and helpful in responding to them.

Did you know that your website is 53% more likely to appear on Google if you have a video on it?

Statistic and customer information

Your audience’s attention span isn’t the only bit of data you can glean from your video analytics. Different analytics allow you to gain information about your viewers’ gender, age, nationality, location and more. This information is invaluable for future decision-making and for the creation of better targeted marketing material. On top of this, you can ask for additional information through “squeeze windows” – pop ups that encourage viewers to click or subscribe.

In the past, the production of video material for advertising purposes was expensive, but these days, the whole process costs a lot less and it doesn’t really need to be top-notch from the technical side of things in order to be effective. If we look at things across the board, most successful video blogs were started by teenagers from their bedrooms and dorm rooms, with rudimentary budget equipment and video production software. All it takes is a bit of research and a good idea to boost your website traffic, increase conversion along with your fan base. Video material can be combined with your blog in order to network better. The benefits are too great to disregard.

August 4, 2014 0 comment

Branding SMB Tips & Tools

How Not To Name Your Brand: 8 Amazing Branding Fails

by Bitsy July 8, 2014

written by Bitsy

Ah, the sacrificial lamb: No indulgence is quite as cruelly pleasing as watching some other guy mess up first. When it comes to business, sniggering in the corner as another company launches a terribly misconstrued, way-off-target branding campaign is, well, just part of the game.

With this in mind, here is our list of the 8 most awful, baffling, and downright funny branding fails online, from bizarre Twitter etiquette to unpronounceable app names . Take a look, and take note: your own branding strategy is not as safe as you might think.

Lays’ “Do Us A Flavour” Challenge

Ah, the social marketing campaign fail. Every year, Lays potato chips hosts a competition to come up with a new, novel flavor. The competition is, by all accounts, an enormous success, drawing entries from thousands of chip lovers from all over the country. Successful, that is, until bloggers started picking up on all the rejected chip flavor suggestions…

See the more over at bookatable.com.

Gimp

A “gimp” is defined as either a form of rope (usually braided or for fishing), a physically disabled person, or more insultingly, an annoying or contemptible person. Gimp is also the name of a very good open source photo-editing software who just happened to pick a strangely insulting name for themselves.

Incuby

Incuby made a splash some years back as an online community for inventors. Things started off well, with plenty of press in big magazines TechCrunch – but something was off.

According to this article by Inc magazine, the elephant in the room was probably their name. Difficult to pronounce (“In-cubby?” “In-cube-eee”?) and sounding vaguely like Incubus, the “demon from Medieval folklore that rapes women in their sleep”, Incuby’s fall from grace (their domain is still up for sale) is a warning tale for all those who want to pick a cute but baffling name for their otherwise clever startup.

KXL-FM

This one comes from AdWeek’s “25 Biggest Brand Fails of 2013”. Following complaints from neighbors, Portland, Oregon radio station KXL-FM removed their otherwise well-designed advertisement, seen below, from a prominent downtown location. According to AdWeek, they promptly changed the billboard to a tagline that, thankfully, had nothing to do with Vietnam War prostitution.

Eefoof

PCMag’s Senior Editor Carol Mangis chose this one as part of their “10 Worst App Names” slideshow: Eefoof could be an onomatopoeia for any number of things, from the sound of a woman in labor to a rusty tricycle. In this context, though, Eefoof is (or rather, was) a media-sharing site that paid users for uploading content. Sounds great, but really, why on earth would you name your company Eefoof? Back in 2006, Mashable’s Pete Cashmore wrote a review of the service that doomed it to failure, though he diplomatically stuck to content ownership issues over their horrendous name.

Diigo

As a rule, double i’d names for startups tend to be a fairly misguided idea. Like “Incuby”, Diigo – a reading annotation and organization tool – has a name that makes it almost impossible to pronounce aloud (“Have you tried ‘dig-oh’? Or wait, is it ‘dee-go’?). According to some users, the appearance of its name also draws up subconscious images of sex toys.

Fries King

Here’s another classic story from AdWeek: As part of a bizarre marketing campaign geared toward promoting their fries, Burger King announced on Twitter and other social media outlets that they had changed their name to “Fries King”, even replacing signs on some of their restaurants to drive home the point (or lack of one). Baffled, Twitter followers assumed that Burger King – an multinational fast food chain with 1000’s of locations all over the world – had suddenly experienced the kind of identity meltdown usually reserved for a handful of pop superstars.

Image Credits

Paris Tuileries Garden Facepalm statue at Wikipedia Commons

July 8, 2014 0 comment

ecommerce SMB Tips & Tools

20 Ways to Accept Mobile Payments

by Ali June 30, 2014

written by Ali

With attention spans running low, store-front businesses and pop-up shops need to be fast if they want to catch clients, which means accepting payments on the go, with whatever form of payment they have on them. You, the seller, need to turn your smartphone or tablet into a point-of-sale system.

There are various methods you can use to make sure that you do not let your business walk away, and one of the best is to use your smartphone in order to accept credit card payments. In order to do that, you require a few services, and there are dozens out there.

Please go through this list of 20 Ways to Accept Mobile Payments. As always, your comments are welcome.

20. Square

If you’re looking for a nitty-gritty way to conduct portable credit card handling, then look at Square. With no month to month expenses, no contracts, and no shipper records, Square is a decent answer for businesses that infrequently require portable payment. Square connects specifically with your financial balance and acknowledges installments from all major charge card organizations. Its 2.75% transaction fee is somewhat steep, but with no extra month to month expenses, you could wind up with cash to spare through Square as long as you don’t use it frequently.

19. GoPayment

At $12.95 a month, Intuit’s GoPayment for iOSs and Android gadgets is an alternative choice for entrepreneurs searching for a versatile credit card processor. The fittings needed for swiping credit cards come at no extra charge, and transaction fees are aggressive, at 1.75%. Intuit additionally offers a pay-as-you-go plan for dealers that is just about indistinguishable to Square’s arrangement, at 2.75% for every transaction. On the off chance that your business uses Quickbooks or an alternate Intuit Payment Solutions programming, then Gopayment may be an smart decision. It naturally matches up with your bookkeeping programming, helping you effortlessly deal with your books, even on the go.

18. ROAMpay

Created by ROAM Data, Roampay is a mobile payment solution that charges a month to month remote payment access expense of $7.95. Each swipe will set you back 19 cents in addition to a greater transaction expense of 1.58%. Roampay additionally collaborates with a few other credit card transforming organizations, including creditcardprocessing.com, which charges a $7.95 access charge and transaction expenses of 20 cents in addition to 1.55% of the aggregate deal.

17. PayPal Here

Many companies only permit you to have your customers use credit or debit cards, but Paypal Here allows businesses a great deal more flexibility. With this application and equipment, your clients can pay specifically from their mobilePaypal records. Card-less transactions are simple with Paypal: Clients login with your business on their mobile Paypal application and afterward exchange trusts to your record to settle their bill. The expense for every transaction is 2.7% of the last purchase, and there are no extra setup expenses or month to month charges. Paypal recently revealed an alternate mobile installment alternative that permits clients to make in-store installments. Still being developed, Paypal Beacon is a Bluetooth gadget that will incorporate with vendors’ current POS frameworks and unite with the Paypal application on clients’ cell phones when they stroll into a store.

16. Dwolla

Dwolla doesn’t require any extra equipment. Much like Paypal Here, Dwolla asks customers to log into an application on their cell phones and select which confirmed seller they’d prefer to pay with. Payments are sent specifically to the merchant’s shipper account, and can be observed from the vendor’s cell phone, tablet or portable computer with the Dwolla online booth. Dwolla charges 25 cents for every transaction with no extra month to month expenses, making it one of the most cost effective plans for dealers to take portable payments with.

15. Google Wallet

Using near field communication (NFC), Google Wallet lets organizations take payments both online and in-store. This fast payment system is a great choice for businesses looking to reduce long lines, or for those needing to extend their online client base. For in-store transactions, organizations that don’t, as of now, have a NFC receiver can purchase or rent one from Google’s partner, First Data. Clients with Android telephones running the Google Wallet application will then be able to hold their device over a scanner to make a payment instantly. Sellers pay the ordinary card expenses for Google Wallet transactions, with no extra charges from Google. Your business can likewise connect its client fidelity cards or Google Offers to its Google Wallet seller record to let clients recover rewards with a tap of their phone.

14. ISIS Mobile Wallet

The ISIS Mobile Wallet is another NFC-empowered payment technique, a joint venture between Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. Used by more than 200,000 retailers across the country, ISIS is set to become Google Wallet’s principle rival. To start using ISIS, your business will require a NFC receiver, which you can lease or purchase from a vendor of your choice or one of ISIS’ partners. ISIS doesn’t charge extra transaction fees for shippers or clients.

13. MasterCard’s PayPass

Mastercard’s Paypass lets your business receive quick payments through a NFC-empowered POS terminal. Clients simply tap their NFC-powered credit card or cell phone over the terminal to make a payment. Paypass sellers either buy a module NFC receiver from Mastercard or introduce a completely incorporated POS framework from the organization. Mastercard does not charge merchants extra utilization or transaction expenses for the Paypass framework. Having a Paypass terminal set up at your register will permit your business to receive a variety of contactless payments, not only those made with Mastercard, including Google Wallet and ISIS Mobile Wallet. Mastercard additionally offers a safe advanced wallet — the Masterpass— that your business can use to make checkout simpler for clients. The service is free for both dealers and clients.

12. payWave

Much like Mastercard’s Paypass, Visa’s paywave lets clients make contactless payments at a business’ POS terminal. To begin using contactless payments, sellers can either buy a NFC-empowered POS terminal directly from Visa, or purchase one from another dealer. It isn’t necessary for businesses to buy numerous NFC receivers from Mastercard-aligned organizations. Visa, Mastercard and American Express all issue NFC-empowered cards and gadgets that use the same radio-recurrence innovation.

11. LevelUp

Levelup is an application that allows businesses to receive portable payments from any client, without credit or debit cards. Vendors use a Levelup terminal, which coordinates with their current POS framework, to scan a (QR) code on a client’s cell phone. Notwithstanding making portable payments speedy and simple, Levelup lets shops create loyalty programs for clients: regulars can add credit to their Levelup account when they visit their favourite shippers. What’s more, this application gives entrepreneurs access to a reach of effective analysis tools so they can stay informed about clients and their purchases.

10. mPowa

This cloud-based application lets organizations oversee payments over various locales, monetary forms, and payment types, right from their cell phones. Its parent organization, Powa Technologies, offers a few other portable technologies for vendors. mPowa’s coordinated POS application lets organizations send and accept cash in more than 20 currencies, helping organizations avoid paying transaction costs and remote trade charges. mPowa additionally gives shippers access to many worldwide banks and payment services.

9. PayToo

PayToo’s POS application (and card reader) works with credit and debit cards, and in addition to portable wallets, QR codes and RFID, otherwise called contactless payments. Vendors can accept payments in a few different currencies. Notwithstanding its wide cluster of payment alternatives, Paytoo offers global direct-deposit services for workers, free cash exchanges to other Paytoo clients and prepaid universal Mastercards, making it a good choice for multi-national businesses. Paytoo’s portable payment application is free, and there is no month to month administration charge. Vendors accept one free charge card when they sign up. Transaction charges change relying upon the system for installment and whether the installment is performed in individual or on the web. In-store installments with a Visa bring about a 2.69% expense for every transaction, in addition to a 29 cent charge for every approval.

8. Boku

Boku lets vendors acknowledge payments from clients utilizing just cellular phone numbers. Traders can decide to include Boku as a payment choice on their site, portable site or application. Clients essentially enter their cellular telephone number, and payments are added specifically to their telephone bill. Bank accounts and registrations are not required in any way. Boku does not distribute pricing data for potential customers on its site, yet you can seek a Boku account online by giving your business’ essential details.

7. Payfone

Like Boku and other mobile payment companies, Payfone is not a credit card solution, but it is still a versatile payment option. The organization’s direct carrier billing permits clients to shop in online stores and charge purchases straight to their cellular telephone numbers. Payfone’s remote system is among the most secure in the business, reassuring vendors that their payment systems are kept confidential.

6. MCX

Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) is the retail world’s endeavor to take mobile payments into its hands, as opposed to entrusting them to the companies behind Google Wallet, ISIS and other portable payment platforms. Insights about precisely how the application will function are few and far between, but MCX maintains that it offers vendors a “versatile trade solution that consistently coordinates payments with an extensive variety of advancements and administrations through practically any cell phone.”

5. l inked2pay

linked2pay is an interesting choice for businesses looking to satisfy the majority of their payment needs in one spot. While the organization offers a versatile application and card reader for businesses, it likewise works as a payment option for dealer sites and encourages payments either in individual or through email, general mail or telephone. The cost of linked2pay’s services, which incorporates Visa and ACH preparing, comes to about $39.95 a month, with no extra transaction charges. Businesses get a free mobile card reader when they sign up. A less expensive bundle is likewise accessible for vendors that sign up for the organization’s services but simply need to process Visas with no ACH payments. The month to month expense is $29.95, with no extra transaction charges.

4. Inner f ence

In case you’re searching for a portable payment option that can additionally work as an in-store POS, then Innerfence may be an incredible decision for you. The organization offers a free application and a card reader that attaches into the charging dock (not the sound port) of cell phones. For more flexible in-store use, Innerfence offers Mastercard readers compatible with Mac and PCs running Windows 8.1. For shippers without a current Visa processor, Innerfence charges $25 a month for Mastercard handling, as well as a 2.9% fee in addition to 30 cents for every transaction.

3. Breadcrumb

This mobile payment option from Groupon is giving contenders a run for their money. The no-agreement, no-month to month charge Breadcrumb application serves as a POS framework both in store and out and about. The transaction charges are among the most affordable in the business, at 1.8% in addition to 15 cents for every swipe.

2. PaySimple

An alternate application for organizations is PaySimple. Best known for its easy to use interface, this mobile credit card processor charges a month to month charge of $34.95. Transaction charges are 2.39% of the aggregate deal, in addition to 29 cents for every transaction.

1. Forte

If you’re searching for a mobile payment option that is certain to keep your clients’ information secure, then Forte may be the right decision for you. The iDynamo, study card reader from Forte offers fraud detection, capable encryption, and security innovation that guarantees most extreme security. The service costs $99.

June 30, 2014 1 comment

SMB Tips & Tools

Show Me, Don’t Tell Me: The Best Free Screenshot and Screencasting Tools

by Bitsy June 11, 2014

written by Bitsy

Make no mistake about it, writing about how and what you or your service does can be among the most time-consuming, nit-picky aspects of the entire website-building process. Instead of agonizing over copy, many people are choosing a more straight-forward, visual way to explain what they do: screenshots and screencasts. No more writing out commands, no more step-by-step guides that go on for pages and pages – just a short and simple video that instantly illustrates your how’s, what’s, and why’s.

Screenshots and screencasts are also a helpful way to remember or hold onto information during the website-building process. With the right tools, collaborators can mark up and provide feedback on screenshots of a website’s new layout, removing the need for confusing email correspondence and “…wait which page/image/paragraph do you mean?” conversations between collaborators.

Here, we’ll walk you through the best free tools when it comes to grabbing the screenshot or screencast you want.

The Best Free Screenshot Apps

Grab.appcomes free with all Mac OS X systems, and is the simplest way for Mac users to instantly take a screenshot with a simple key command (“command+shift+3” for a full-screen screenshot, and “command+shift+4” to select an area of your screen). Screenshots with Grab.app will usually download as .png files in 72 dpi, the standard screen resolution.

LightShot is Mac and Windows compatible, and comes with a powerful image editor to play with your screenshots after you’ve taken them. LightShot also comes with a “similar image search” function – which allows you to search for similar images online – and an easy social media sharing function that allows you to instantly show your screenshots to friends on Twitter and Facebook.

Snagit is a forum favorite for its versatility and reliability, and is available for Mac, Windows, and most importantly, Chrome. Snagit is brilliant as a collaboration tool, allowing colleagues to take screenshots, add pointers and comments, then allow for others to provide feedback in the same way Google Drive lets you do so. When working on a long-distance web design project, this kind of instant, visual communication is crucial. Snagit is compatible with Google Drive for Chrome users, meaning that your screenshots stay organized along with all your other cloud-based documents.

Best Free Video Screencasting Apps

More and more, video tutorials and “sneak-peeks” into apps and services are moving front and centre on websites, as they have become the simplest and most visual way to explain an idea, product, or service. More than simply being “told” about what an app does before they download, potential users want to see how it works first. Video screen capture apps provide exactly this service.

Screenflow for Mac is hands-down the most advanced screen capture app out there today, with a powerful editor and simultaneous audio and webcam recording. While the full version of screenflow costs a pretty penny (at about $100 USD), a free trial is available to play around with for a limited period of time. Screenflow comes packed with all kinds of enticing goodies, like magnifying and spotlighting mouse movements to help viewers best see what you’re showing them; multi-channel editing so that you can combine imported audio, video, or other files into your screencast; subtitle and transition options; and picture-in-picture editing capabilities to show multiple videos at the same time. In short, if you’re willing to shell out some dough for the best of the best, Screenflow is your mark.

Screenr got rave reviews when it came out for its utter simplicity: No downloads, mobile ready, and free are its major selling points. Screenr is incredibly easy to take screencasts with, but it also makes embedding and sharing your videos simple as well.

Jing is a joint screenshot/screencast app, with both “free” and “pro” options. At the free level, Jing allows you to record and share screencast videos instantly, although the video format is limited to SWF. As an added bonus, though, Jing lets you record audio along side the video if you have a built-in microphone, making it easy to narrate your videos as you go. Like Screenr, Jing is built for social media sharing, making it easy to show others what you’re doing.

Image Credits

Screenflow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/macewan/4475420032/ Flickr creative commons user Robert MacEwan: http://www.flickr.com/photos/macewan/

June 11, 2014 0 comment

SMB Tips & Tools Web Design

Why a Marketer Should Think Like a Designer

by Ali June 10, 2014

written by Ali

Marketers often have a hard time working with designers, and that is true the other way around as well. As a designer, is there ever an opportune moment to sacrifice design for marketing strategy, or vice versa? Has collaboration between marketers and designers improved in recent years? Well, as difficult as these questions are, we thought we would prepare a guide on how to bridge the gap between marketers and designers. We hope this guide proves every bit as useful to you as it did to us. As always, your comments are welcome.

5. Commonalities between Marketers and Designers

The primary goal of any marketer or designer is to satisfy the client. Just like a designer, a marketer would start at the same line, which is to meet a client’s needs with an attractive, successful end product. This common goal presents a huge advantage, and opportunity for better collaboration between designers and marketers: Marketers should use various creative processes in order to develop new and innovative marketing ideas, while designers should gain as much knowledge about marketing as possible in order to increase the number of eyes on his work.

4. Different Roles of Designers and Marketers

While there is common ground that both marketers and designers share, their differences are also clear. Marketers are driven by reach; they are concerned with quantifiable data. Designers, on the other hand, would more happily sacrifice conversions in order to deliver aesthetically pleasing, interesting content. Marketers focus on stats while designers focus on whatever they consider to be valuable. For a marketer, success is higher reach; for the designer, it is delivering content that solves a visual problem.

One of the most common mistakes that non-designers make about designers is that they compare them to artists. It does seem like a compliment, but it is completely off the point. Design is not about art, it is about solving problems. Designers are usually on the lookout for a need – and a visually appealing solution. If you are a web designer, you are consistently working for a wide array of clients, trying to satisfy their needs.

In order for you to understand a marketer, you first need to believe that you think differently. Marketers see the entire populous as an aggregate. This allows them to come up with efficient means of delivering whatever message they have to deliver. When it comes to design, the entire populous is seen as individuals. If you mean to run a business, and run it successfully, you need to incorporate both. You need to see your audience as an aggregate, and as individuals.

3. How to Improve Communication

Communication is very important if you hope to work together in harmony, which means being on constant lookout for signs that tell you that the communication process is going down the drain – and it is usually not that hard to tell:

Feelings of skepticism towards the marketing team: If a design team has feelings of distrust towards the marketing team, you definitely have a problem.
Lack of engagement: You, the designer, are in a meeting with the marketing department. Ask yourself whether you are participating, or contributing to strategy. Are you asking questions? Do you know or are fully aware of the repercussions of a particular action? If you are not contributing, something is not right.
Are there any meetings held between the marketing department and the design department? Are you sitting together discussion and brainstorming different strategies? Are you working together to solve a common problem? No? Well, there’s your problem.
If you consider the marketing department as a homogenous group and not your partners in business, you are not doing it right.
There are instances when the marketing department may have certain strategies. These strategies would involve cooperation from all the departments and in such cases, the marketing department will be giving out directions. What do you do about them? Do you follow them or ignore them? If you fall in the latter category, you need to work it out between yourselves.

If just one of these signs mentioned above are true, you need to sit down together and discuss matters over a cup of coffee. Communication is paramount.

2. Bridge the Communication Gap

If there are misunderstandings between marketers and designers, coming to terms with those misunderstanding is only half the solution to the problem. You need to get rid of those misunderstandings. It is not easy, but the good news is that there are several ways in which you can get rid of these misunderstandings:

Set clear goals: You need to settle clear goals, and all departments must unanimously agree to those goals. If everyone is on the same page, you are likely to run into very little problems down the road.
Clear expectations: After setting goals, you need to be clear on what you expect from each other. The marketing department needs to be familiar with their roles, and designers should be familiar with theirs. Make sure the marketers understand what your design process is. If they get an understanding of that, they will be better equipped to put your stuff out to the world.
Gather information: Gathering information is essential. When you meet for the first time, gather all the data you need in order to complete whatever you are to design, such as deadlines and target audience. You also need to be clear on what problems you are looking to solve. You, the designer, need to understand what the marketers are working on. You need to know who will write the content, and who will work on the SEO. Moreover, you need to be clear on the keywords.
Make notes: Throughout the entire project, everything must be noted down. There are various ways to take notes and document every bit of information. Choose the one you fancy, but make sure everything is well documented. Every aspect of the project must be recorded right from the very first meeting. It does not matter if you hand-write it or record it, it should be on paper. That way, if certain questions pop up in the future, you will be well-equipped to handle those questions with a clear history of problematics.
Revisions are okay: You need to be prepared for revisions. When you finish the web design, chances are your work will not be passed without criticism; there will be negative feedback, and there is no need to feel bad about it. However, such criticism goes down to a minimum if effective communication is part of your process. You need to be able to deal with criticism, and you need to be able to deal with revisions, no matter how many times they are requested. If you want to defend you work, do it, but make sure you can handle criticism. You are there to please the client, not yourself or your company. Your opinion is of little value here.
Your worth: Never be afraid to ask questions or demand more information about design demands, no matter who is asking. In short, stand your ground, but remain professional and polite.

If you want to avoid conflict or otherwise manage them in a healthy manner, do not shy away from confrontation, communicate in an effective manner, and be willing to listen to others. Find ways to encourage communication amongst yourselves. This should go a long way.

1. The Importance of Bringing Marketing and Design Together

If you are only looking to focus on your design, you are not being fair to your client. The best designers are those who have a well-versed marketing team behind them. Both these departments go hand-in-hand and it is only with each other, that they are successful. In other words, find ways in which you can work together. This goes for both designers and marketers. Why, you ask? Well, this will only make you more successful with time.

Marketers are a core part of every organization. No matter what your profession is, at some point you will need marketers; whether you are freelancer, a designer or an artist, it does not matter. Moreover, there are a lot of commonalities between a designer (or any creative professional) and a marketer. Your basic purpose, whether you are a web designer or a marketer, is to build an audience and potential customers. What you want is to please the client and achieve success. There is however, a significant conflict between marketers and designers in every part of the world. One thing that needs to be understood here is that not all marketers are designers and not all designers are marketers. There is always a gap between the two, so how should that gap be bridged?

June 10, 2014 0 comment

SMB Tips & Tools

Who’s Visiting My Website Anyway? 7 Tools To Help You Know Your Audience

by Bitsy June 2, 2014

written by Bitsy

Once a new website is up and running, the first place most of us head to is our analytics page so that we can track where traffic is coming from, how long they’re spending on the site, and what buttons they’re clicking. With myriad tools out there to stay on top of even the nit-pickiest of data, you’ll always be able to stay on top of what your visitors are up to.

The Basics: Google Analytics

Unless you’ve been living in a proverbial cave since beginning your online life, you’ve probably heard of the awesome (and totally free) power of Google Analytics. Google Analytics can be easily hitched up to any number of websites simply by adding a few configurations and providing some security reassurances.

Once you’re in, a whole world of data unfolds around your website. Google Analytics shows you where your visitors are arriving from, what kind of device they are using to get to your site, and how long they stay there – but that’s really only just the beginning. If you’re an ecommerce site, Google Analytics provides data on abandoned carts, advertising success, and social and marketing campaign results. Other features include site speed analysis and our personal favourite, a tool that lets you see what screen size your users are using to look at your website. This creates huge potential when you’re looking to optimize your website, as it helps show you what visitors are missing of your website from their screens.

Finally, Google Analytics has its own library of hunreds of widgets that help to broaden the already wide scope of Google Analytic’s power. Some of our favourites in Google Analytics’ widget library include:

Table Booster and Tableau Software, which provide alternate data visualizations (from scatter charts to heatmaps) right on your website
The powerful SEO M oz, which provides weekly updates on site and search engine rankings – two tools that will give you a huge marketing leg up when you’re trying to get your site found on search engines.

The Truth in Multiple Choice: The Science Behind Surveys

Surveys are integral to understanding your users when data just won’t cut it. Sometimes, a healthy rant or praise from a customer is just the motivation you need to fix a bug or improve your service. Free survey tools abound for websites, here are our favourites:

Survey Monkey provides all the tools you need to create, send, collect, and analyse survey data from your visitors. Survey Monkey has a free basic level that allows you to send a limited number of surveys a month, or for the real sleuth there’s a pro plan that lets you send as many surveys as you could possibly conceive of per month. Survey Monkey is intuitive and friendly to beginners, with helpful question templates that help you ask the right questions. Once you’ve created your survey, you can embed the survey on your website, send it by email, or share it on social media.

Survey Gizmo is another survey generator that lets you design, build, distribute, and collect data on custom-built surveys. While Survey Gizmo offers a range of paid packages for more precise data and complete brand control, their free package allows for unlimited surveys, CSV exportation capabilities for exporting data, and up to 350 responses per month.

Talk To Me: The Comfort in Contact Forms

As any form-generating app will tell you, creating contact forms for websites used to be an enormous pain in the butt. What seems so obvious tended to take a professional developer days to perfect. Luckily for you and me, some excellent shortcuts are now available:

JotForm is a free form-building service where you can create fully customized contact forms using an easy drag & drop editor. Once you’re satisfied with your form, JotForm simply provides you with code to be slipped into your website, and voila, no more contact form stress. JotForm also provides survey and payment widgets in order to build a form that will suit your website.

Wufoo were the real pioneers of form generation when they received seed funding from Y Combinator in 2006 to produce fast, flawless contact forms without all the usual hassle. Since then, they’ve become one of the most popular website apps around. Like JotForm, Wufoo provides an easy drag & drop editor to create a custom-branded form, as well as a handy “code manager” to help even the most novice of coders implement a form onto their website.

All these tools and many more could be embedded to your IMC website. JotForm even has its own widget on our widgets section. We recommend to try some of these out. You’ll be amazed how you can learn about your visitors.

Image Credits

Google Analytics: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Google_Analytics_Sample_Dashboard.jpg (Wikipedia Commons)

Wufoo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/guspim/2477868100/ Flickr Creative Commons by user Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta http://www.flickr.com/photos/guspim/

June 2, 2014 0 comment

Content & Writing Creating A Website SMB Tips & Tools

4 Tools You Need To Take Your Business Global

by Bitsy May 25, 2014

written by Bitsy

Your business is already thriving back home, and you’re ready to “go global”. But what are the steps you should take to ensure that your website is ready for world domination? We outline the top four below:

1) Content Delivery Network (CDN) To Speed Up Your Site

You only have a few seconds to make an impression on your visitors before they hit the ‘back’ button and bounce away from your site. Ensuring that your website loads quickly and smoothly anywhere in the world, and not just at home, is crucial to going global. A “content delivery network” – or “CDN” – fills precisely this gap. A CDN is a global network of servers that work by shortening the distance between a visitor to your site and the server they automatically access to load your pages. Your visitors will be able to access your website from their local server, as opposed to the server of origin.

For most smaller websites or boutique online retailers, going for a CDN might be a tad unnecessary. But, if you’re reaching for the stars and want to ensure that your check-out system works as well in Singapore as it does in Mexico, this is the way to go.

There are plenty of CDN providers out there, but here are three options that top reviewers’ charts:

CDNetworks is the CDN of choice for many large retailers – including Bally, Samsung, Shopify, and Tesco – and it’s fairly easy to see why: With 140 “points of presence” – or “PoPs” – in 90 cities, CDNetworks minimizes loading time just about anywhere in the world. CDNetworks doesn’t make their pricing immediately clear on their website, so it’s best to expect that a plan with them will set you back a few figures each month.

CDNsun is a good choice for websites that want to give CDN a try without committing to a big bill at the end of the month. They advertise 70 PoPs, but what sets CDNsun apart is its “Pay-As-You-Go” system, which starts at 0.45 cents per Gigabite. They also offer a 15-day free trial, just to make sure their service is right for your needs.

CloudFlare is totally free at the basic level, and provides helpful statistics about your visitors. At the pro and premium levels (which start at a manageable $20/month), they also offer mobile CDN, and web optimization tools.

2) Translate Your Website

There’s no two ways about it: English is a global language, and in order to reach the widest audience possible, it’s important to translate your regional-language page to have an English option. Check out our IM Creator blog “5 Translation Tools For Your Website” to get a more complete picture of what you should be looking for when you need your site translated, but here is a quick list of two of our favourites:

OneHourTranslation offers professional but speedy translation and proofreading in 3000 language pairings. It’s also one of the best priced services of its kind on the web: prices start at just 6 cents/word.

TextKing is a smaller operation than OneHourTranslation, but they offer much the same services at a similarly affordable price range, from 7 cents/word. What makes TextKing notable is its free automated translator, which helps you to instantly grasp the basics of what a text is saying, and its list of specialized sectors they translate for, including law, technology, finance, and pharmaceuticals.

3) Find Your Global Niche with Google Market Finder

Google provides plenty of useful (and free) tools for your business, but this one has to be one of their coolest. Google Market Finder works by identifying what parts of the world have the greatest demand for your business. Simply plug in your language and country of origin, a few keywords to let Google know what you’re selling, and where your target market might be. Market Finder returns to you instantly with a series of infographics showing what parts of the world your business has the most potential growth in.

4) Leverage SEO To Help Get Noticed Around the World

Knowing the basics of SEO is crucial for any online business, and venturing into Google AdWords is just part of the game. But what if you could leverage your AdWords to target a market on the opposite side of the globe? With Google Keyword Planner for AdWords, you can do just that. Keyword Planner lets you plan your SEO campaigns according to where your target market is by searching for the success of a certain keyword according to country and even city. Keyword Planner also shows you which regions of the world are clicking your ads and interacting with your website most.

Image Credits

Earth From Space by Wikipedia Commons

NCDN_-_CDN by Wikipedia Commons

May 25, 2014 1 comment

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