Aug 02 / 2013
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Articles, Inbound Marketing, Newsletters, Websites

10 Quick Tips to Boost Sales Using Your Website

Hey there NSquared readers.

Are you using your website to its full capacity? If you aren’t taking complete advantage of your website’s ability to boost sales, you should be! Check out, 10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales, below:

“10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales

Your online shop is up and running and everything is ready for doing business. Now it’s time to get some action! Your shop needs to be beautiful and user-friendly, but if you want to boost sales and establish a loyal customer base, we have a few expert marketing tips that can help you get there.

1. Use a clear call to action button. There needs to be a sense urgency to encourage shoppers to seal the deal, like “Shop Now”, “Get Yours” or “Buy in 1-Click”.

2. Add images or videos as product demos. This will help customers to already visualize your product as part of their lives.

3. Include customer reviews and ratings of your products. This helps to establish your site’s credibility and creates an added sense of community.

4. Make the payment process super smooth. The most deterring thing ever is if the final click to purchase does not go through for some reason and you have to select product and fill in all the billing information again.

5. Make customer service and customer loyalty a priority. Make sure that you are easily accessible for any questions or returns. Always stand behind your products, guarantee satisfaction and reward customers for their purchases.

6. Highlight products by offering discounts or pointing out your shop’s “best-sellers” or most popular items.

7. Make sure the added value of your store is clear. Shoppers need to see the benefit of purchasing your products. What is unique about your business? The answer to this question needs to be clear not only to you, but also to your customers.

8. Create discount coupons and distribute them on social networks, on printed marketing material (flyers, newspaper ads) or to a mailing list of clients. Limit the amount of available coupons (“first 50 to use this coupon will get a 50% discount!”) or the duration (“a 48-hours sale starts now!”) to stir people up for a quick action.

9. Use more than one photo for each product. For instance, if you’re selling clothes you can upload an image of the clothing item on a white background but also a photo of a model wearing it.

10. Set up a mailing list and keep customers updated on the newest merch, the latest deals or any other news bit that might get them to revisit your online shop.”

Contact us if your website needs a face lift (or you need inbound marketing), so you can take full advantage of your website and have a successful business. Have a wonderful weekend!

Jul 31 / 2013
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Websites

Why Real Estate Agents Need Websites

Good morning NSquared readers!

Is it necessary for real estate agents to have websites? Absolutely! Check out, 3 Reasons Real Estate Agents Need Their Own Website, below:

“3 Reasons Real Estate Agents Need Their Own Website

Real estate is a field that is defined by you as the agent, but more specifically, by the way you conduct your business. It’s about individuality and making yourself both relevant and an important resource to your client base and the community as a whole.

With so many agents out there vying for a piece of the prospect pie, it’s easy to get overlooked by potential clients. In order to overcome this obstacle, you need to find a way to market yourself effectively. If your plan entails sending out mass mailers, or doing magazine ads, think again; the days of effective outbound marketing are fading fast.

Today, you need to turn your focus to inbound marketing and create an online presence with your website, social media marketing and blogging so you can naturally attract your target market.

1. Become A True Client Resource

The first step is to create your website, where your current, and prospective, clients can go to learn more about you and the services you offer. However, most agents make the mistake of doing only that and no more; in today’s competitive marketplace, you need to go beyond displaying your services. You need to use your website, blog and social media to become a valuable resource.

Your real estate website needs to embrace the technology available today and create a truly value-based experience for your visitors. They have to come away feeling that you are a true partner that can be counted on for the information they need to make the best decision. Adding online mortgage calculators, information about loan programs and access to all MLS listings (not only yours) will allow your website to become a valuable tool.

2. Solidify Your Personal Brand

You may argue that you do not need the added expense of a website since your broker or agency supplies you with one as part of employment, but nothing could be further from the truth. What happens if you leave that brokerage to branch out?

Personal branding in real estate is important. You need to set yourself apart from the competition. You don’t want to be lumped in with everyone else in the office on some generic website, otherwise what’s the benefit of the prospect choosing you over another agent in your office?

When you create your own website, you begin to brand yourself online. Your website is a direct reflection of you, your goals, and your services. No matter where you go, your name is your brand, and your clients will be able to find you.

Your real estate web design should include highlights of everything you personally bring to the table, in addition to other bits of information and services that directly tie in to your field of expertise. If you make your website a one-stop shop, why would your clients need to go anywhere else?

3. Become the Local “Go To” Agent

Having your own website also gives you an awesome advantage when it comes to targeting specific geographic areas. If there is a certain area of town that you are trying to focus on, you can easily integrate targeted keywords that represent that area of town into your website elements (url structure, page titles, content, etc.).

By integrating these specific keywords into your website, you are giving yourself a distinct advantage over your competition who is probably focusing on broader keyword targets. When a potential client begins to look at real estate in your target area of town, their is a greater chance that they will discover you. What’s even better is that your site will have information specifically about that area, so you will look like the “go to” agent.

In today’s real estate world, it’s all about becoming a resource for your clients, solidifying your personal brand, and staying relevant to your area of focus. Creating your own real estate site is the best way to secure all of these areas and maximize your potential to grow your business.”

Jul 29 / 2013
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Websites

Why Do Tradesmen Need Websites?

Hey there NSquared readers!

Picture yourself in this scenario: Today you are going to go shopping. You hop in your car, drive to the store, walk inside, and put your blindfold on. Sound strange? Would you want to go shopping for your merchandise if you couldn’t even see it? Our guess is no.

That is precisely why tradesmen need websites! Check out, Why Does a Tradesman Need a Website, below:

“Why Does A Tradesman Need A Website?

Okay, here’s a scenario for you that I’m sure is quite common and you’ve had this experience yourself.

Sally needs a tradesman for some work to be done on her home.

Sally opens the Yellow Pages to find a tradesman, but which type of tradesman does she need? All of the ads are basically the same, a couple of dot points showing the services provided and a phone number.

How does Sally choose the tradesman who is right for the job? She reads all of the ads, looking for something that stands out …. she needs more information. She notices some of the ads include websites.

Sally begins using the Internet and visits these websites.

Sally can now compare these tradesman and their services by reading the additional information about each business and view photos of projects they have completed. Some of the websites even have testimonials from satisfied customers.

Sally can now make an informed decision about which tradesman to hire. After the work is completed, Sally gives the tradesman a testimonial to add to the website … consider this an online version of word of mouth advertising.”

Contact us if you need a website that will show off your stuff! After all, a potential customer/client is much more likely to choose you if he or she can see your work. Have a happy Monday!

Jul 26 / 2013
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Websites

How a Bad Website Harms Your Business

Bonjour readers!

Welcome to our last article for our “website week”. We have now provided you with two articles explaining what a good website can do for your business. But, what about a bad one? Check out, 4 Ways a Bad Website Can Harm Your Business, below:

“4 Ways A Bad Website Can Hurt Your Business

In my 10-years of building websites primarily for small businesses I’ve seen a wide variety of different perspectives on the importance of a business website. Many small business owners do realize the impact their website can have in the growth of their business. Some even see the potential for their website to be a direct revenue generator with ecommerce. But there are others who either don’t see that potential, or don’t understand how to take their website to the level where it becomes a positive driver of business growth.

Today I want to look at the negative aspects of having a bad website. Because we know that out of the millions upon millions of websites out there, at least a few of them qualify as “bad”. And a few million are “really really bad”. So if you know your website is bad, what does that really mean from a business perspective? What are you losing, what is the cost?

1.) Loss of Professional Image. Your website is responsible for the first impression of your business with a significant number, if not all of your prospective clients. So what does your website say about how your business presents itself? A bad website is one that says bad things about the business. It’s like hiring a salesperson, and having them dress poorly or act poorly on sales calls for your business. But that analogy is really not strong enough because at least you might be able to excuse the performance of 1 salesperson. But your website represents your whole business. The visitor to your website has every reason to believe that every word, every image, every aspect of the site was directed and approved by the leadership of the company. Bottom-line is that a bad website equals bad company. That may not be the truth about your business, but it will definitely be the perception in the minds of most website visitors.

2.) Lost Sales. The loss of professional image we mention here as the first cost of a bad website leads into this second effect which is lost sales. Obviously visitors who are “turned off” by your website presentation will be more likely to leave without a purchase or without making contact. This can be seen in metrics such as bounce rate, and low conversions on calls-to-action on the website. Lost sales can also occur simply because on a bad website a visitor simply might not get the information they need to make a purchase. Maybe they are searching for some details about a product or service you sell, but they don’t find it quickly so they leave to a competitor site. Even a website with a good design, can be a bad site in terms of providing functionality and access to information.

3.) Lost Customers. More often than ever before a website is not just involved in pre-sales or used as a marketing tool. Now the website might also be the portal where clients access their account, review work, or any number of other service options such as support. If your business uses its website in this way, that is generally a positive step forward. But if you have a bad website, it can be a fast way to losing existing customers. Once customers rely on your website for some aspect of service delivery, it has to perform otherwise they will be much more likely to leave to a competitor that has an edge.

4.) Lost Opportunity. Although the first 3 ways a bad website can hurt your business are big, this one might be even bigger in terms of dollars and cents. Every business has the potential to use their website to drive business growth. Many also have the potential to develop ecommerce in one form or another. A business with bad website will not reach its full potential to use digital marketing and its sales and growth will suffer directly as a result. In some businesses, especially start-ups, the lost opportunity is the entire business. If your trying to compete in a marketplace where your competition makes sales faster and at lower cost using online marketing, while your battling for leads using expensive traditional media, that could be enough to put your business in the ground completely.

So what happens to a business once their bad website has sucked away their professional image, their sales, their customers and their future opportunity? Well I can tell you one thing this does not do, and that is help make the business a thriving success! You can be sure that when you see a business with a bad website that is still doing just fine, it’s only despite their website and not because of it. And if you are starting a new business today, realize that as a new entrant to a market the ability to retain customers at a reasonable cost and to develop a positive business image is even more critical than for a long-established competitor.

Here is the good news I want to close this post with if you are in business today. Remember that if every website was good, or better than good, that would set the bar awfully high for you. And you would need to develop something exceptional just to compete. In reality the abundance of low quality, bad websites actually makes digital marketing easier. If you focus on producing a high quality site chances are you will jump ahead of at least 60-70% of competitors in your market. ”

Here at NSquared we hope you enjoyed our “website week”. Contact us for your IT and inbound marketing needs. And let us know if you need a stellar, high-quality website! Have a fantastic, safe weekend. Until next time!

Jul 24 / 2013
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Websites

The Importance of a Professional Website For Your Business, Part II

Good morning!

Monday we showcased an article explaining why it is so important for your business to have a high-quality website. Today’s featured article is along those same lines, but focuses specifically on the importance of an aesthetically-pleasing website. Check out, Why it is Important to Have a Good Looking Website, below:

“Why it is important to have a good looking website

When it comes down to the visual principles of a website design, you have to make sure that your website’s aesthetics reflects the way you want your business to be showcased.

Having a website that reflects a negative image of your business can remove any chances of your website’s future success. If your website looks remotely un-appealing to the user, it’s highly unlikely that the user will remain optimistic and not judge the rest of the content your website has to offer. In other words, they will probably move onwards to other websites; most likely your competitor.

Take this comparison as an example.

Imagine that your website is a rental property due for inspection. The tenants have made sure that their entire property is free from mess, clutter and looks overall rather neat. They do this in order to give the notion that they are reliable and decent tenants that can handle the responsibility of looking after a property. The inspector judges and makes an evaluation whether they make the cut.

This goes the same for website design.

The owner of the website (tenant) must make sure that their website looks professional, clean and, overall, is functional for the delivery of its content. The user (inspector) makes an evaluation on your site from the very instance they click on the link to get there. This can take a matter of seconds before the user decides to stay and browse your website or to check out other sites (your competition).

The ways to avoid this conundrum is to simply make your website reliable, professional and easy on the eyes. Remember that your website is an online portal for your users to experience an insight to your business. This experience is what it all comes down to. If an Inspector has a negative experience evaluating a rental property by witnessing messy lounge rooms, cluttered dishes in the sink and perhaps native wildlife eating leftovers from the bin; it’s a no brainer on what the inspector will do next.

You simply have to give your users a pleasant experience as they view your website. If you provide your users entertainment through relevant content, supply comfort with an overall attractive aesthetic and offer an ease of use functionality, you will see your online business become a grand future success. Catering for your users through these methods is the only way to guarantee this, after all your users are doing you the favour by initially clicking your link; it’s only polite to give back.”

Make sure your website makes people want to stay! Be a good business tenant, contact us, and ensure that your potential customers and clients get to look at an eye-pleasing website. Until next time!

Jul 22 / 2013
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Websites

The Importance of a Professional Website For Your Business

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya NSquared readers.

Last week we talked about how using Twitter can be beneficial for your business. This week, we will be covering why it is important to have a professional, high-quality website for your business. If your existing website makes potential customers and clients feel like the photo to the left, then you have some thinking (and reading) to do.

Check out, Why is a Quality Business Website So Important?, below:

“Why is a Quality Business Website So Important?

When you own a business, your website is one of your most important mediums that can be used to reach new customers and generate more sales.

Whether you have an established website that is not currently working for you, or you are a complete novice to the online marketing world, improving your website so that it generates traffic and increases sales is the right thing for your business.

Without a high quality website that attracts visitors and provides you with a way to capture information, you are not using the Internet’s power to its full potential. The information below can provide you with an idea of why a good website is so important for your businesses’ bottom line.

Why is a Quality Business Website So Important?

A high-quality business website provides you with a way to capture the enormous amount of traffic that is on the Internet.

It also makes your business more accessible to your customers. It does this, by giving website users a way to contact you or find out valuable information about your products or services without having to get on the phone, and during non-business hours. There are literally millions of people searching the Internet for various reasons on any given day. If you are not trying to capture some of those visitors, then you are losing out on many potential sales each month. Just as your store gives you a physical presence a high-quality website provides you with an online Internet presence.

Benefits of Having a Good Website

As a business owner, there are many benefits to having a quality website that is able to not only generate traffic but also increase sales for your company. The first benefit that a business website can provide you with is it enables you to have access to customers that you otherwise might not have contact with. Without a website, you are only able to reach your potential market through traditional means, and not those potential customers that primarily use the internet for their purchase research.

By enlisting the help of an internet marketing service company, you can create a highly effective direct response website that enables you to reach out to Internet traffic.

By adding an opt-in form to a quality website, you can increase your earning potential each year by at least 20%. An opt-in form provides a means of capturing visitors’ contact information. This is very valuable as it will allow you to send current and potential customers information about promotions, important updates, and special sales events throughout the year.

The visitors on your list will be people that you know are already interested in the services that you are offering, and by sending out a sales message to them your rate of return will be much higher than with an untargeted ad in the newspaper.”

As you can see, a high-quality website is extremely important when it comes to the success of your business. Contact us if you’d like a website, or your website needs a facelift. Have a happy Monday!

Jul 19 / 2013
0

Articles, Social Media

10 Reasons Your Business Should Tweet, Part II

Welcome to Part II! Check out the rest of the list from, 10 Reasons Your Business Should Use Twitter:

“10 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Twitter

…continued…

5. News

You can also give latest updates on twitter about your company by tweeting. Here is one done by JetBlue Airways on their twitter account @jetblue

6. Give away coupon codes and promotions

You can also tweet about new deals and coupons codes to help give your company the extra boost. What everyone love include me is getting a good deal. Weather its a promotional lunch set, if its cheap. I want it. Here is a tweet on Dell is doing it.

For me you don’t have to be like dell in order to do this. You can have a normal business as well. If you have a restaurant and you have build loyal or new followers in your place you can send out tweet like “Having a special set lunch this weekend.” or something like that. They can tweet you for more information regarding that. I am going to teach you how you can get local twitterers.

7. Twitter is Viral

If you’ve have succeeded gaining some popularity with your twitter account you will know how viral twitter can be. This will be part of your marketing strategies that you can use in the future. Dell have succeeded in making their tweets viral with their promotion tweets.

8. Spying on competition

Did you know you can spy on competition too? Best part about this and spying on customers is that its FREE using twitter search. You can not only read what customers are talking about you but you can also read what customers are talking about your competition. If your competition is not doing anything with their customers complaints. Then what happens if you (the savior) suddenly tweet them “hey I heard you have a problem with…..” Just an example.

9. Increase Sales

Twitter can help you increase sales and make PROFIT. Dell is one of the company that have increase their sales on twitter. How much sales? Imagine $6.5 million in sales as reported at mashable

10. Brand loyalty

At the end of the day, once you have engaged, helped your customers (your followers) on twitter. They will be loyal to your brand for a long time. This will be talked more in the future post.”

Pretty awesome reasons, eh? We sure think so. Contact us for your IT and inbound marketing needs. Have a safe weekend, and stay cool NSquared readers!

Jul 17 / 2013
0

Articles, Social Media

10 Reasons Your Business Should Tweet, Part I

Bonjour intellectuals! Are you at the cross street of Marketing Avenue and Twitter Street? No? You should be!

Monday we showcased an article explaining why twitter is beneficial for your business. Well today and Friday we are going to do a two part series featuring, 10 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Twitter. The list begins now:

“10 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Twitter

If you don’t know, companies have already started using twitter as it is the new way to promote, connect and brand a company. In my last post I mentioned if your company is not using twitter then your company is going to miss out be crushed.

So why bother using twitter for your business? Even twitter themselves know about the power of using twitter for business that they’ve set up a special twitter 101. Here is what twitter says

Here are reasons that I’ve came up.

1. Connecting with customers

This is the main reason why you should use twitter for your business. You will be able to connect with your customers because they themselves are using twitter. Twitter has become a daily routine where people log onto it every single day, some log onto twitter the first thing they wake up even before brushing their teeth. If you have an unsatisfied customer you will hear them on twitter. This will help your company to help them. On the coming days I’ll be going deeper about how you can “spy” on tweets using free tools like twitter search.

2. Branding

You don’t have to be a big brand like Dell, Nike, Starbucks to brand yourself on twitter. You can be an average joe and brand yourself on twitter. For me if your company is not recognize then you need to get a PERSONAL account. Why? Firstly nobody want to talk to a LOGO unless its a famous brand. Everyone wants to connect with a person and not a bot.

3. Customers feedback

Once you have connected with your customers you will for sure be getting feedback on how you can improve your product, your services and maybe even improve your customers service. Listening to them will help you in the future.

4. Marketing

One of the reasons to use twitter is you get to market your product or services to more people and the best part about that is its FREE. You don’t have to pay (Unless if you plan to hire someone to run your twitter account).”

…to be continued…

Jul 15 / 2013
0

Articles

How Twitter Can Help Your Business

It’s true folks. Twitter is not just good for socializing. Check out, How Twitter Can Help Your Business, below (from the Twitter peeps themselves):

“How Twitter Can Help Your Business

Connect your business to what people are talking about right now.

With 400 million Tweets a day and 200 million active users, people turn to Twitter to bring them closer to the things they care about, whether it’s the news that affects their lives or the businesses down the block.

Connect in context.

On Twitter, people talk about what they care about and what’s happening around them right now, including your business. This gives you powerful context to connect your message to what’s most meaningful to your customers in real time. Engaging with real-time Tweets can influence conversations in a way that can help build your business.

Listen and learn.

See what your competitors are tweeting about or search for industry keywords to listen and gather market intelligence. It’s an easy way to get insights that you can use to inform your strategy.

Grow and succeed.

Want to grow your business, run exciting promotions, strengthen your brand and engage with your customers? Great! Twitter Ads can amplify your efforts in these areas and more.

Learn more about Twitter Ads

Learn from others.

See how these businesses used Twitter to drive transactions, connect with customers and grow.

Stick around this week to learn more about the benefits of Twitter for your business. Contact us for your IT and inbound marketing needs. Until next time, keep tweeting!

Jul 12 / 2013
0

Uncategorized

Capture Scents with a Camera

Have you ever wished you could capture a scent and save it for later? We have. Well according to the article, Capture Your Favorite Scents on Camera, there is a camera that captures scents! Check it out below:

“Capture Your Favorite Scents on Camera

A freshly mowed lawn, lit charcoal and sunscreen are just a few summer smells that are as ephemeral as they are memorable. However, a new “smell camera” could help preserve these fragrances, not only in memory.

Created by designer Amy Radcliffe, Madeleine is an “analog odor camera” based off “Headspace Capture,” a technology developed for the perfume industry to analyze and recreate the odor compounds that surround various objects.

When a smell source is placed under the device’s glass cone, a pump extracts the smell via a plastic tube. After being drawn to Madeleine’s main unit, the smell goes through a resin trap which absorbs the particles so molecular information can be recorded.

That data is expressed in a graph-like formula, which essentially contains a fingerprint of the smell. In a special lab, that formula can then be inscribed on a bronze disk to artificially reproduce the smell. The smell can also be recreated in small vials.

Depending on the pungency of the scent being captured, the process can take anywhere from a few minutes to a full day.

Considering our sense of smell’s strong correlation to triggering memories, a device that can summon distinct scents could be a mind-altering phenomenon. The only question is: What smells would you want to recreate and capture? The smell of my grandfather’s garage, wet cedar after it rains and a freshly oiled baseball mitt are just a few I’d like to have at hand.

Contact us for all of your IT and inbound marketing needs. Now go take some snapshots of scents and have a great weekend!

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Blog

“10 Quick Tips to Increase Online Sales

“3 Reasons Real Estate Agents Need Their Own Website

“Why Does A Tradesman Need A Website?

“4 Ways A Bad Website Can Hurt Your Business

“Why it is important to have a good looking website

When it comes down to the visual principles of a website design, you have to make sure that your website’s aesthetics reflects the way you want your business to be showcased.

“Why is a Quality Business Website So Important?

“10 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Twitter

5. News

6. Give away coupon codes and promotions

7. Twitter is Viral

8. Spying on competition

9. Increase Sales

10. Brand loyalty

“10 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Twitter

1. Connecting with customers

2. Branding

3. Customers feedback

4. Marketing

“How Twitter Can Help Your Business

Connect in context.

Listen and learn.

Grow and succeed.

Learn from others.

“Capture Your Favorite Scents on Camera