All posts by bcncorp

ADA Compliance Website Checklist- Get ADA Compliant Today

ADA Compliance Website,

Is your Website ADA Compliant?

An ADA Compliance Website Checklist will help you get ADA website complaint issues addressed immediately. People with disabilities have special needs and sometimes cannot interact with websites.  That’s why most businesses today need to create or modify websites that even those with disabilities can use easily. Firms in the United States are required to make their websites ADA compliant.

But what is ADA compliance, and how can you achieve it? We’re going to take a brief look at this topic in the following sections. We’ll even include an ADA Compliance Website Checklist.

What Is ADA Website Compliance?

The question of ADA compliance is related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.) Standards for Accessible Design. This was released in 2010 by the US Department of Justice. These standards lay down a set of criteria that any website needs to follow to be accessible to persons with disabilities.

Without going into the legal nitty-gritty, it’s enough to say that the ADA looks to ensure that all electronic and digital technology, such as websites, are also accessible to persons with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act helps to provide inclusive service to all and works to expand the reach of electronic media beyond just those with regular faculties.

Who Should Be ADA Compliant?

ADA Compliance Website Checker

So, now that you’re clear on what ADA Compliance is, the next question that’s sure to crop up in your mind is whether your website needs to be ADA compliant or not. In a nutshell, your website needs to be ADA compliant if it falls under any of the following segments:

  • Local or state government agency
  • Private businesses with more than 15 employees
  • Public benefit business

As the ADA covers all information and electronic technology such as websites on the web, it affects all website owners equally. And in most cases, any lapses in compliance are not intentional but rather stems from ignorance about the ADA rules. So, even if your website doesn’t fall under any ADA compliance requirements, it’s better to stick to the rules and create ADA Compliant websites that all visitors can use.

Consequences Of Not Having An ADA Compliant Website

In case your website is not ADA Compliant, you risk an ADA website compliance lawsuit. Your business might have to face a lawsuit if a disabled person is unable to access your website.

In such a situation, even if you’ve not been intentional in ignoring ADA guidelines, it could prove costly to your business. The trouble is, there aren’t many clear guidelines on the subject. In fact, even the US Department of Justice has only provided recommendations for ADA compliance. As a website owner, it’s your responsibility to make your website ADA compliant by following these guidelines.  In addition, you want all visitors to have full access to your website!

ADA Website Compliance Guidelines

So, if there are no firm ADA Website Compliance Guidelines, what can you as a business do?  The use of an ADA Compliance Website Checklist will help you manage to get an ADA compliant website.

What most organizations can do is to follow the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). The WCAG is not precisely a legal must-do, but it can be used as a suitable reference frame based on which ADA website compliance requirements can be fulfilled.

Now, as far as the WCAG is concerned, there are three versions that you can go with, WCAG 1.0, 2.0, and its extension, 2.1. Whatever version you choose, you can also select any one of the following three levels of conformance:

  • A – Minimum Accessibility
  • AA – Required Legal Level Of Accessibility
  • AAA- Exceeding Levels Of Accessibility

There are also software solutions such as accessiBe that can get you compliant quickly.

The POUR Accessibility Principles

Since WCAG 2.1 is the most robust version of the guidelines, let’s look at what it seeks to achieve. The WCAG 2.1 works to make sure your website follows what we call the POUR principles:

1. Perceivable

This principle seeks to ensure that the content present on your website can be perceived and utilized by those with disabilities. For people with visual impairments, your website can have audio alternatives to text and images.

2. Operable

This means that your website should be easy to navigate and operate by all persons. Your website visitors with locomotion disabilities should be provided with voice-based assistance.

3. Understandable

This refers to making content easy enough to understand. It can include making content predictable and readable and also offering help for providing inputs.

4. Robust

This final tenet ensures that your website content is available on multiple devices and platforms. It should be compatible with assistive technologies that most people with disabilities usually use.

ADA Compliance Website Checklist

  • Ensure all video, audio and images have alt tags
  • Provide text transcripts for video and audio content
  • Mention the site’s language in the page headers
  • Offer clear instructions in case of input errors
  • Make sure your content is laid out in an organized manner

Summary

It’s clear that ADA compliance is essential for all websites. However, in the absence of fixed guidelines, the task is easier said than done.

Big Customer Network will help you get ADA compliant. Our ADA Website Compliance experts are well versed in the technical guidelines that should be followed for effective ADA website compliance. With our help, your website can become more inclusive for persons with disabilities.

Please contact us to learn more about our ADA Website Compliance Solutions.

Malware Removal For WordPress

Malware Removal, Website Security, Wordpress Support, ,

 

Malware…that one single word can be the cause of a huge headache and nightmare for any website owner. Malware Removal should be completed quickly by a competent professional.

Malware can infect any website, 40% of websites on the internet run on WordPress, the WordPress platform is an ideal target for malware infection.

While it’s an established fact that WordPress malware can pose a serious risk to your website security, the fact remains that WordPress malware removal is a job that requires a professional. You need the best experts to get the job done and ensure that your website doesn’t get infected again.

What is malware? And how do you know that your WordPress website has been infected by malware in the first place? We’ll be exploring malware further along with a brief guide on how to remove malware from WordPress websites.

So, let’s get going.

What Is Malware?

First, let’s tackle the biggest question of all: how do you define malware?

In the simplest of terms, malware is any malicious software that can take advantage of your website’s weaknesses. WordPress malware, then, is any malware that’s specifically targeted towards WordPress websites in particular.

WordPress malware has the potential to negatively impact your website’s performance on multiple levels. Whether it’s the website performance, SEO, or user experience, malware can impact all aspects of your website. This means, unless you can remove malware quickly, your website’s performance can seriously get affected.

How can a malware attack affect your WordPress website? Here’s a list of some of the common forms WordPress malware attacks can take:

  • Unauthorized use of server resources as part of a botnet
  • Excessive use of disk space
  • Slowing down of the site
  • Degradation of Google rankings
  • Complete blacklisting on Google

From the above, you can easily understand that any form of malware can impact your WordPress website on multiple fronts. So, it’s best to be on the lookout for any signs of malware infection.

Signs Your WordPress Website Is Malware Inflected

WordPress Security should always be a priority, and constant vigilance is the key to ensuring website optimization. With that end in mind, here’s a few tell-tale signs that your WordPress website has a malware infection.

  • Sudden dips or spikes in website traffic levels
  • Spammy website links in your site content
  • Defacement of the homepage or interior website pages
  • Login problems
  • Unauthorized WordPress user accounts
  • Unknown server files and scripts
  • Unresponsive web pages
  • Unrecognized server log activity
  • Inability to access WordPress emails
  • Unauthorized scheduled tasks
  • Incorrect meta tags or title tags in search results
  • Suspicious pop-up ads
  • Browser warnings
  • Blocked ports
  • Unrecognized website code

If you spot any of these signs on your WordPress website, your WordPress website could have a malware infection. You need to hire a WordPress Expert to remove the malware infection and help prevent future issues.

Steps To Remove Malware From Your WordPress Website

WordPress Malware Removal

In general, removing malware from WordPress websites is a task that’s best left to WordPress security professionals. However, in case you’re technically inclined or are a WordPress expert yourself, you can follow the basic steps as outlined below.  You might not need to do all of these steps.

  • Scan your WordPress site
  • Take complete backups of the entire website and database content
  • Download and examine the files you’ve backed up to ensure that everything is in order
  • Delete all public files
  • Uninstall and reinstall WordPress
  • Reset all permalinks and passwords on your website
  • Make sure you reinstall all the plugins and themes that you previously had in your WordPress installation
  • Restore any necessary files from the backup cache
  • Remove any default admin account
  • Make sure you install security plugins

After the malware removal process is completed, you’ll have to use  Google Webmaster Tools to inform Google that your website clean.

Why It’s Best To Call In A Professional

Malware Removal Professional

The malware removal process isn’t as simple as the above-outlined steps. Unless you are a  WordPress expert, it’s best to hire a professional for the removal and prevention of future malware infections.

Malware removal is not a straightforward process. Although you might have got an impression from the above steps that it’s a simple process, we assure you that’s far from the truth.

When removing malware from your WordPress website, you’ll have to take care to ensure that you look in all of the folders and files of your WordPress website. Otherwise, your website stands a risk of getting infected by malware again.

Secondly, scouring a website for malware removal can result in you deleting or modifying essential system files. This can lead to the loss of critical website code, which will inevitably result in financial loss.

Finally, the most important reason for hiring a WordPress expert is that as a business owner, you need to focus on what you do best: running your business. Taking care of WordPress malware removal is a full-time job in itself. And unless it can get an expert’s undivided attention, malware can very easily creep in. So, it’s best to leave the task to professional WordPress malware removal experts.

Final Words

Big Customer Network can help you maintain a malware-free site. Our WordPress malware removal experts will remove the malware and set up a monitoring program to help prevent future malware infections.

Our experienced malware removal experts can take care of any WordPress website, no matter the size or complexity. You get access to dedicated malware removal services, comprehensive cleanups, and constant support with monitoring

Don’t wait until your website becomes infected with malware. Contact us today if you need malware removal or are ready to be proactive and invest in a malware monitoring program.

Digital Marketing Analytics for Small to Medium Sized Business

Blog, Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Analytics, SEO

 

 

Before digital marketing analytics tools, many people made business decisions without the right kind of metrics in hand. The extensive implementation of digital marketing analytics has proved to be a perfect solution for business decision-making and lead generation. Digital marketing analytics have spread their wings across all online marketing channels and help in the holistic development of a business. The precise website audience insights one gains from the analytics tools is mind-blowing!

Let digital marketing tools do their magic for your business!.

Why Your Business Needs Digital Marketing Analytics?

Some people still question the relevance and need of Digital Marketing Analytics for their business. The answer to this would be – How will you know whether you are improving or working towards your objectives if you are not even tracking any type of data?

The business world is rapidly changing with owners of both small and medium-sized businesses having the need to evaluate campaign effectiveness. Website visitors also demand a personalized web experience that meets their needs. For every organization, customization will be possible when you study your website data, track and analyze the metrics and KPI’s. Whether you are running a marketing campaign or expecting higher traffic to your webpage, the analytical data will help your online presence game.

Digital Marketing and Web Analytics will help retrieve a great deal of rich information that can tell you precisely how and where you can improve your website optimization strategy.

Ultimately, it will determine the true ROI of your digital marketing program and help you understand how well you are achieving the goals.

Most Popular Data Analytics Tools to Consider

In today’s era, marketers can utilize various digital marketing analytics tools to understand customer behavior, examine how the buyer interacts with online channels, and identify new revenue prospects. Let us discuss the most popular data analytics tools that every business marketer should know.

SEMRush

SEMrush is ideal for anyone who desires to track what their competition is doing online. A great competitive analysis tool, it will help you to adjust your digital strategy by allowing you to monitor competitor performance.

The analytics reports will let you see a great pool of information like brand keyword analysis, analyzing competitor ad copy, and finding their ad strategies. One can analyze and decide which keywords are most competitive and which other advertisers are bidding on them.

There is also a backlink analysis tool that allows you to check who is linking to your website.

At Big Customer Network, we use the website audit tool on a regular basis for all of our clients to ensure their websites are fully SEO optimized.

Moz Pro

Moz Pro is a simple analytics platform to keep track of your SEO performance and guide you on how to increase traffic from search engines. It provides both your and the competitors ranking on search results and the trending keywords. Its endless features like research on link-building, page optimization, reporting, and site crawling make it a great digital marketing analytics tool.  Moz Pro takes away the pain out of link tracking by giving ample information through link profile spam analysis and competitive metrics.

The hype around Moz Pro can rightly be trusted since it saves you a lot of time by putting all of your SEO analytics in one place.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics one of the most popular analytics tools which every digital marketer should use.  It is a free website analytics platform that allows you to track your website traffic, understand your visitor demographics, how much time they spend on your website, which web page is keeping them engaged and much more.

As a digital marketer, this can be of great help to analyze which of your marketing channels generate the most conversions, sales, leads, and downloads. With all the rich data provided to you, you can easily optimize your channels to target the most profitable market.  The data can be overwhelming so please contact us so we can help you maximize Google Analytics.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is ruling the email marketing industry. This email marketing platform has a very user-friendly interface which makes it one of the most loved marketing tools. For start-ups or digital marketeers who are just entering into email marketing, Mailchimp is a preferred solution.

For business owners who do not have very large email lists, the free package can be the perfect way to start your journey.

Mailchimp allows you to create automated email campaigns, monitor subscriber behavior through its built-in analytics and reporting functionally. One can easily judge the effectiveness of their email campaigns by studying the customer traffic and conversions.

How Big Customer Network Comes to The Rescue

Acknowledging the need for a one-stop digital marketing solution, Big Customer Network offers a complete suite of digital marketing strategies. Whether it is a small or a medium-sized business, Big Customer Network provides business owners the complete visibility for the performance of our digital marketing programs for clients.

Big Customer Network has proven itself as a trusted internet marketing and technology partner for small to medium-sized businesses across all industries. The success stories of our clients resonate with our commitment to creating a data-driven plan. Our extensive and best-in-class strategies deployed with top digital analytical tools help companies to grow and meet their goals. Our dedicated team of professionals is equipped to assist and provide leadership for all types of digital marketing programs.  We collaborate with clients to achieve their business objectives. We use the right mix of digital marketing and web analytics to help you grow your business.

If you are not using digital marketing tools to improve your campaign effectiveness, then you are missing out on powerful data that will help you extract actionable insights. The right metrics will enable you to make the right data-driven decisions and connect better with your audience.

Big Customer Network continues to create digital marketing success stories and plays a key role in providing digital marketing and IT services. So, keep tracking and analyzing to experience consistent growth. We can help you navigate the maze website tools and analytics so contact us today to learn more.

 

Marketing Automation Tips for Beginners

Digital Marketing, Email Marketing

Marketing automation is often confused with being nothing more than general email marketing.

The digital world requires you to automate your marketing and operations to boost your productivity. And the best way to achieve this goal is to invest in marketing automation tools that help you accomplish your marketing automation tasks.

What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation uses software that streamlines outbound marketing for you. It is designed to help you pick and choose your tasks for the day so that you get to execute the plans in an efficient and time-effective way.

Whether it is email marketing or the implementation of analytics, automation takes care of everything.

How does marketing automation work?

To understand how marketing automation works, it is essential to look at the previous mass marketing methods.

  • Businesses would invest valuable time and finances into email marketing without segmenting the target audience in the sales lifecycle.
  • The lack of actions only exhausts the budget, and sub-optimal results discourage future marketing efforts.

The automation process helps nurture the leads throughout the buying lifecycle while delivering laser-cut precision in targeting the right audience. It helps personalize each message sent out to your potential clients.

You decide to send an email to a group of prospects about a new product.

A few days after the initial email send, you follow up the email with additional information.

Once you have hooked the bait, only then can you land the conversion.

The customized messages and attentive approach are likely to convert three times more than just a simple email pitching your product and hoping it converts.

This marketing model has generated impressive results and has proven to increase revenues and profits.

Now that we have established the ground for marketing automation and its process so let’s look at a few tips to increase conversions on the first try!

Integrate Automation To The Inbound Marketing Strategy

When you take an omnichannel approach to automated marketing, you can provide excellent content faster.

All you do is switch to a more valuable stream of content for your customers when they need it. You can utilize SEO strategies to find the correct segment of the audience for your product, and you are good to go!

Follow A Highly-Targeted Route To The Narrowest Niche Of Your Audience

The customer today wants an experience that adds immediate value. They want to feel validated and also very special because they chose you instead of anyone else in your industry.

Automation helps you follow up without actively investing your time in each lead. That’s why it works so efficiently.

Imagine signing up for a blog about SEO and its basics. You read it, you love it, and you start getting more emails from the same company. If they continue to follow up with SEO-related free resources, you will quickly follow up with their call to action and purchase their course! Would you not?

Engage The Clients To Develop Authority

It is easier to convert a previous client. There is no denial. That’s why we believe that you must utilize your previous customers to expand upon the existing customer base.

You can even start sending birthday greetings and discounts to foster the relationship with your clients so that their word of mouth extends your number of orders for the week.

Avoid Being Blatant For Long Term Success

Remember that the audience today does not like hard selling. They like to read between the lines and enjoy subtle touches.

So it’s better to keep things soft and sweet instead of choosing shouty capitals for the call-to-action. You don’t want your messages getting deleted or end up in spam folders.

Final Thoughts

Marketing automation is the first step in the journey of transformation. It has already proven itself to be effective.

Get started with automation to optimize the marketing and sales process. That’s all that truly matters!

5 Reasons Every SEO Agency Wants Your Company To Have An SEO Plan

Digital Marketing, SEO

SEO is one of the overused words on the Internet. If you own a website and have been trying to grow your audience or reach, you have probably heard it more than once. Everyone is suddenly claiming to be an SEO expert. But, what is SEO really about? Does it work as the promoters claim? Well, here are six reasons from a reputable SEO Agency why you should have an SEO plan for your company.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search Engine Optimization is a set of strategies aimed at increasing the search engine rank of a website. Studies have shown that web users usually do not go beyond the first page when looking for information. Therefore, ranking on the first page of a search engine will increase your chances of getting noticed by potential customers.

To achieve this, an SEO agency will come up with a plan which may fall into one of the three categories; organic search strategy, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO. The SEO plan may encompass one or more of the following techniques:

  • Creating a backlink portfolio
  • Writing SEO optimized content
  • Improving readability and use of relevant keywords
  • Improving site speed
  • Optimize voice search
  • Improve mobile experience
  • Imrpove YouTube SEO
  • Optimize meta tags

The first thing that you need to know is that every business is unique. When it comes to SEO, there isn’t one solution that works for all situations. Therefore, some strategies work better for certain kinds of business. So, the first thing that a reputable SEO agency would do is conduct an SEO audit. Based on their findings and leveraging their experience, they will come up with a Search Engine Optimization plan.

6 Reasons to have an SEO plan

The right SEO strategy will improve the searchability of a website—but that is not all. Regardless of the size of your business or the niche, here are reasons why an SEO agency will want you to have an SEO plan.

1. Boost organic website traffic

The first place that people will usually go when looking for information is a search engine (e.g., Google, Bing, etc.). Therefore, organic search is one of the leading sources of traffic for most business websites. With over 5.5 billion daily searches, Google is the leader in search engine use. So, appearing on the first page of Google search is a top priority. A combination of high-quality, unique content and keyword optimization is what it takes to get to page one of Google.

2. Improve the user experience

The first impression matters—a lot! Customers are more likely to return to a brand if they had an excellent first experience. This is why most companies invest heavily in customer service. The same applies to website user experience. Customers who find what they are looking for will likely stay longer on a page and ultimately convert. Likewise, those that feel disappointed will exit the page quickly. Google uses this audience behavior to rank websites. A good SEO strategy incorporates improving user experience.

3. SEO is a lifetime investment

Hiring an SEO agency to develop an SEO plan will yield positive results for many years and prove a worthwhile investment in your digital marketing program.  SEO improvement doesn’t happen immediately and should be viewed as a marathon and not a sprint.

4. SEO strategy evolution

Google alters its search engine over 500 times per year. A  robust SEO strategy allows for flexibility and will ensure algorithm changes help your SEO efforts.  Any time Google makes changes to their algorithm, an SEO agency will study the changes and implement them in the SEO plan.

5. Success tracking is easy

Looking at a website’s data analytics, it is easy to tell whether the SEO efforts yield results.  However, since you will likely be using more than one approach at a time, it may be hard to tell which method is producing the best results. In fact, a good SEO strategy has a focus in mind. It may be to boost sales, increase website ranking, or increase daily website traffic. This makes tracking the success easier..the data will tell an SEO agency what has worked and where to go in the future.

6. Popular SEO mistakes to avoid

In the past, SEO was straightforward and easy to understand. However, with the addition of millions of pages every day, the rules are evolving rapidly. Nevertheless, the goal—having an online presence—remains the same. There is a long list of SEO traps that you should avoid while trying to reach your goal. But, we will highlight five of the most common ones here. They include;

  1. Prioritizing generic keywords rather than specific ones
  2. Failing to track your progress using an analytic tool (Google analytics, Databox, etc.)
  3. Keyword stuffing
  4. Producing low quality or outdated contents
  5. Ignoring title tags, meta description, and alternate image tags

Conclusion

Optimizing a website is not a walk in the park. It takes time, planning, and consistency to get results. However, if you make it a priority, you can improve your search engine ranking.  From an increase in sales to a website traffic boom, the results are endless. In addition to visibility, it boosts your reputation, making your website the first destination for potential customers. SEO doesn’t need to be expensive and painful if you hire the right SEO agency.  Contact us today and let us develop and implement the right SEO plan within your budget.

Digital Marketing Strategy to Drive Growth

Blog, Digital Marketing

 

Small to medium-sized businesses are in a constant battle to reinvent in order to contend with their competition. In a modern world where digital assets make way for relentless change, the ability to continually grow is a challenge. Smaller organizations that lack the funds of a big corporation must use an innovative digital marketing strategy to capitalize on opportunities to grow. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, many businesses were left scrambling for answers. What we have found is that most of those answers lie in digital marketing.

No one could have prepared for COVID-19 and the ensuing fallout. With unemployment skyrocketing and far too many companies forced to close their doors, the ones who were able to survive had to look to alternative methods of bringing in business. Reframing the way in which everyone does business means reframing the way in which companies seek new business. That is where digital marketing comes into play.

While industries like hospitality and service were hit hard, others like retail were largely able to remain afloat. Cash constraints have forced the hand of small to medium-sized businesses so lean on digital solutions to combat COVID-19 challenges in a cost-effective, savvy way. For instance, creating digital ordering tools has allowed for new ways of customer interfacing. This is critical to keeping sales steady today.

So, why is digital marketing the saving grace of the pandemic? How can companies take advantage of digital resources to grow their organizations? Below, we will tackle some of the most significant reasons for leaning on digital marketing opportunities to thrive in today’s climate and beyond.

Using Data to Grow

It goes without saying that the tracking capabilities inherent in digital marketing strategy make it an extremely attractive tool. This feature plays into the hands of small and medium-sized businesses beautifully. First, with the ability to track every dollar spent, a digital strategy can be curbed and altered nearly instantaneously to ensure the biggest bang for your buck at every turn. In addition, companies can pinpoint a target audience and then ensure that marketing materials reach only those people. This type of precision marketing is critically valuable, especially when budgets are tight.

Keeping Digital marketing Strategy Costs Low

It is simple math that small and medium-sized businesses need to keep marketing expenditures down while making sure that returns are up. Digital ads enable an organization to save big time on developing artwork, paying for eyeballs, and shelling out a lot of cash on a cost per lead basis. Utilizing digital ads properly places smaller companies in the position to attain and keep customers at a much lower cost per acquisition than any traditional marketing options.

Solidifying Long-Term ROI

With a focus on SEO, brands have the opportunity to not only grow in recognition but to increase conversions and revenue too. Optimizing your website, crafting thought-leadership content pieces, and creating click-worthy videos has the potential to convert customers long-term. This means that a few great pieces of content have the capacity to bring in new customers months, even years, down the road. What’s more? The long-term costs only shrink while the long-term ROI only grows. A true win-win for small and medium-sized businesses.

No matter what section you find yourself in, depending on digital marketing to grow your business has proven valuable time and time again. From Google to Facebook and everything in between, there is a real opportunity to take advantage of low-cost, high-return digital tools to grow your business today and set the tone for growth well into the future.

At Big Customer Network, we have mastered the art of constructing digital marketing strategy. Utilizing a wide range of digital tools, our customers benefit from our expertise, experience, and commitment to remaining on the cutting-edge of all things digital. Contact us today to get started.

The Massive Rise of E-commerce During COVID-19

Content Marketing, E-Commerce

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly defined much of the year 2020 thus far, and it looks to continue to do so for the rest of the year as well. While it is difficult to make estimations and assumptions about what we will look back on and remember decades from now, there are some implications of the pandemic that are undeniable, even now. From shifting business practices to shifting personal practices, there is clearly a “new normal” that seems to be here to stay.

Businesses of all sizes, in all industries, have had to grapple with how to best handle this situation. Losing customers, losing employees, and losing profitability is heartbreaking, but some companies have actually been able to benefit from these changes. E-commerce is an industry that has benefitted from online shopping and bulk buying in numbers never seen before. Consumers have forced the hand of e-commerce, holding them accountable to meet new expectations.

In the United States, the e-commerce sector has grown rapidly for years now. The pandemic, however, gave new meaning to the term “rapid”. Scrambling to meet consumer needs means adjusting to changing shopping behaviors, supply chains, personnel shifts, and more. Keeping up is no easy task and while e-commerce companies have surely enjoyed this new wave of business, some have simply been unable to maintain.

COVID-19 has generated a consumer base that has new demands and expectations, and a workforce that is scrambling to catch up to them. Today, we look at e-commerce and its importance in a COVID world.

E-Commerce Must Carry Its COVID Weight

E-commerce seems to be at the center of the universe right now. While consumers know nothing of the behind-the-scenes struggle, many retailers have had to comb through operational issues, personnel problems, and marketing hiccups, all while serving their customer base as seamlessly as possible. While other industries may roll their eyes at these challenges (revenue growth for online retailers is at an all-time high), the issues must be addressed nonetheless.

As online retailers work to adjust to this new normal, one thing has become abundantly clear: the world needs e-commerce to operate smoothly today, and likely each day after. Quarantining made people rely on online shopping in new and ground-breaking ways. This has not only shifted the e-commerce industry, but has permanently impacted how consumers spend money. Their inclination to embrace e-commerce has showcased just how important this sector has become.

The following are some of the strongest reasons why e-commerce is so important today:

  • E-commerce has helped to lessen impact of retail closures across the country. With the ability to stay afloat with online sales, companies have been leaning on e-commerce revenue to sustain their business. Loyal and local customers have played a huge role in helping small businesses keep their doors open.
  • Subscription-based industries, like wine and coffee, have seen massive growth in their direct-to-consumers online orders.
  • While physical stores have struggled to keep shelves stocked lately, online shopping has filled that void and allowed for consumers to continue their buying patterns.
  • Companies have been introduced to the power of convenience as it relates to satisfying their customers. For instance, the ability to order online and pick up in store has given brick-and-mortar stores flexibility and reach to a new customer base.
  • A new connection to prospects and customers has emerged as e-commerce flourishes. Companies are recognizing the weight communication in facilitating sales and keeping their customer base happy and informed.

Online sales have skyrocketed and the information aftermath is vital. E-commerce companies are now armed with massive amounts of data. The ability to analyze this data to determine who is buying your products/services, what platform they are using to do so, and what communication tactics worked best is extremely valuable.

COVID-19 has certainly brought with it more harm than good, but e-commerce is a shining example of turning something negative into a positive. The aftermath of the post-pandemic e-commerce industry seems poised to remain strong and stable well into the future.

9 Digital Marketing Strategies for Startups

Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing

 

There’s nothing quite like a startup – palpable energy, exhilarating uncertainty, and all of the hope in the world. Anyone who has worked in a startup environment can attest to the fact that it is a beautiful, chaotic world to live in. Having a “big idea” is fantastic. Unfortunately, however, there is a considerable distance between idea and execution.

Some of the best ideas have fallen flat due to a lack of execution. Those failures come in a lot of different packages, often budget-related, but almost always due (in at least some part) to a lack of marketing. Digital marketing services is paramount to success for a company in any industry. Digital marketing for a startup company, on the other hand, is a distinctive beast.

Building a digital marketing strategy for a startup means taking into account a wide range of knowns and unknowns. And since the large majority of startups fail within the first 5 years, getting your marketing strategy right the first time around is critical. This will take a strategic combination of creativity and resources that will showcase your new company in the best light possible to the widest net of potential customers.

Entrepreneurs often fail to think through digital marketing in the early days of their company. While worrying about building a team, securing funds, and cultivating your idea is undoubtedly important, marketing should be mentioned among those key factors. Today, we will spend some time breaking down some unique and useful methods for startups to properly market their new ideas.

Startups Should Focus on These Digital Marketing Strategies

From determining a winning marketing message to choosing the right channels to distribute that message, there are a lot of decisions that must be made early on in the marketing game. Startups are typically strapped for cash and that means these decisions must be made as accurately as possible the first time around. Most startups do not have the luxury of trial and error, so the goal must be to focus on what is most likely to resonate with your target audience.

So, what is the best course of action for startups looking to strategically market their new brand? How can entrepreneurs take advantage of reasonably priced digital marketing channels without spreading themselves too thin? The answer is both complex and simple. Starting with big picture goals and then mapping out how small objectives can help to achieve them.

The following are some of the most important digital marketing strategies for startups:

  1. Identify who you are as a brand – create a persona
  2. Identify who your target audience is – create a buyer persona
  3. Build a beautiful, yet forthright website that is properly optimized with content built for both the reader and search engines
  4. Commit to building out regular content for your website that adds value to your industry
  5. Launch an email marketing strategy that connects, engages, and entices your audience to take action
  6. Invest in social media marketing – both in regular posting and commenting and running paid ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
  7. Consider influencer marketing to achieve a massive reach quickly and efficiently
  8. Launch a referral program and let your customers do the work for you
  9. Track everything – with the right analytic tools in place you can make smart marketing decisions

Digital marketing and startup companies are a match made in heaven. With inexpensive options and a wide net of prospective customers to reach, startups are able to take advantage of digital opportunities that will showcase their brand strategically.

Big Customer Network builds impressive digital marketing for companies both large and small. With years of experience in working with startups, we look forward to the opportunity to apply our expertise to grow your brand!

BUSINESS BRANDING ON A BUDGET

Digital Marketing, ,

 

 

The term “branding” packs a big punch. While business branding is certainly no small feat, it is important to note that virtually anyone, with any budget, is capable of doing so. Branding really just refers to the deliberate actions that a company or person takes to get people to see them in a distinct way, separate from their competitors.

While attainable by any standard, branding a business takes a concerted, consistent effort. Far too many companies fall into the trap of believing that branding just means picking a color scheme and a logo. On the contrary, however, properly branding a business reaches into every facet of the company – from marketing to sales and from customer service to internal operations. The ability to send a consistent brand message will set any company apart from the competition in a meaningful way.

When thinking about some of the most effective branding to date, your head probably goes to large corporations like Google or Apple. And that makes sense, these organizations have done a phenomenal job of casting themselves in a strategic, calculated light. But what about the smaller guys? How can small businesses across the country brand themselves without breaking the bank? Is it possible to achieve successful business branding on a budget? Absolutely.

Today, we will dive deeper into how small companies can make big difference in how customers and prospects view their businesses. Let’s crack the code of business branding on a budget.

8 Tips for Building Your Brand on a Budget

It is important to note that business is creativity and innovation is not reserved for major corporations. Branding does not have to be expensive. You do not need to hire a branding company to come in a do a $50,000 overhaul. While branding requires an immense amount of work, it does not necessarily require an immense amount of money.

Investing in business branding can mean a lot of things, and we think that time is the most promising investment. Dedicating the time to really strategizing a brand identity for your company can pay back in dividends. The ROI associated with proper brand overhauls speaks for itself. As such, it is important to approach any brand changes with this in mind. The ROI may not come tomorrow, but over time you will see growth in new business and increased customer loyalty.

One of the biggest mistakes a company can make is thinking that they have lost the chance to re-brand. Some of the most well-known companies have gone through dozens of business branding iterations until the right one stuck. Leaning the right resources and platforms, any company can brand themselves in a cost-effective way.

The following are some of the most important tips for building your brand on a budget:

  1. Create a true voice and identity for your brand and ensure that everything from there on out represents that voice and identity
  2. Define your brand values and communicate them in a tagline
  3. Ensure that your logo represents your brand identity and if it doesn’t, rethink it
  4. Take a look at the aesthetic of your website and social media presence to guarantee they reflect your brand
  5. Layout specific, actionable social media groundwork and stick to being consistent
  6. Write authoritative, meaningful articles for your website that position your brand as an industry leader
  7. Keep the customer service department in tune with the branding shifts and confirm that they are speaking to customers with the same brand voice
  8. Get all hands on deck – the entire company must be in the know about any branding changes and trained on how to best exemplify the brand in their respective roles

The average buyer has changed drastically over the last couple of decades. These changes have brought new expectations that a company must do more than fulfill a need or want, they must do so in a way that truly resonates. Branding is the key to meeting these expectations and building a loyal following.

Are you looking for help in branding or re-branding your company? Big Customer Network is here for you. Contact us today to learn more.

10 SEO Mistakes to Avoid

Digital Marketing, SEO

 

Best practices surrounding digital marketing and search engine optimization are abundant. While the industry changes rapidly as a whole, SEO professionals have grown accustomed to explaining a simple, cardinal, and timeless rule of SEO: focus on the end-user, not Google, and your site will perform well. Of course, this is a massive oversimplification, but the concept rings true.

Google’s algorithm is an extremely complex system that ranks websites that are best able to answer the inquiries of the searcher. When SEO “best practices” first hit the scene, white hat and black hat digital marketing professionals hit the ground running. While Google no longer ranks those websites that employ black hat strategies, the lines have blurred a bit when it comes to deploying a plan that actually works. Even some white hat techniques that used to work may now result in a site being penalized. As such, it is extremely important to keep a finger on the pulse of SEO strategy for today and tomorrow.

The competition runs rampant in most industries and that means SEO professionals are tasked with being efficient, smart, and fast in order to optimize with both short-term and long-term strategy in mind. Google’s algorithm can feel like a moving target, updating in an overwhelming frequent fashion. This often causes the SEO industry rumor mill to work in overdrive and can muddy the waters of myth and truth.

From message boards to blog posts, digging through the internet for accurate, timely SEO tactics can be a major headache. As a result, SEO professionals have fallen victim to deploying SEO strategy that ends up being a major mistake. Today, we aim to uncover some of the most common SEO mistakes made in order to avoid them in your own marketing plan.

The Most Common SEO Mistakes

SEO used to be one of the most straightforward aspects of digital marketing, but as the internet adds millions of pages each day, the intricacies of SEO have evolved tremendously. From keywords to content strategy, from title tags to link building, and from off-page SEO strategy to data analytics, the list of “basic” SEO principles seems endless.

No matter how big or small a company may be, having an online presence means having an SEO strategy. Marketers and business owners who hope to keep traffic flowing to their websites must do their best to avoid the following SEO mistakes:

  1. Failing to optimize for local search
  2. Focusing on generic keywords instead of specific phrases
  3. Not using Google Analytics to its full capacity
  4. Producing irrelevant, lean, or outdated content
  5. Putting more emphasis on traffic than conversion
  6. Neglecting an internal linking strategy, which includes optimized anchor text
  7. Disregarding the importance of unique meta descriptions and title tags
  8. Paying too much attention on the number of links, instead of the quality of links
  9. Creating content that adds no value
  10. Adding a ton of pages instead of optimizing and updating current pages

Some of the above mistakes may seem simple, but you would be surprised to find how many SEO “experts” commit them every single day. Either by oversight or a lack of a centralized strategy, SEO mistakes can have a long-lasting impact on a website’s ability to rank.

The reality is that SEO can truly be infuriating. Google’s algorithm aims to reward quality sites and punish poor quality sites, and this means that it is constantly being tweaked and corrected. The good news is that a solid SEO foundation should protect your website from any drastic drops in rankings, no matter how drastic the algorithm update. However, it is easy to become complacent and fail to revisit some of the SEO tactics employed years ago.

Take the time to evaluate how your SEO strategy is working and whether or not it meets today’s standards. At Big Customer Network, we are SEO experts with years of experience in getting our clients to rank. Contact us today to learn more about our SEO services.