Tag Archives: marketing

How To Make Your Brand Matter

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Hosting

The post How To Make Your Brand Matter appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . You can either look at branding as a buzzword, or something very valuable for the continued success of your business. For the sake of this post we’re going to investigate the latter definition. Every company has a brand whether they’re aware of it or not. However, not every company has a brand that matters. In this post we’re going to examine what makes brands matter and how to transform your brand from boring to brilliant.   What Is A Brand? The moment a person thinks about your brand the feelings they feel, or the thoughts they think are the backbone of your brand. Your brand extends way beyond your logo and what font you use on your website. Think of Apple. The moment you think about their company, or hold on of their devices in your hand you automatically think about simplicity, sleek design, attention to detail and beauty. What kind of feelings do you make your customers feel? Sadly, most brands aren’t making their customers feel anything. Most brand are bland and don’t inspire action in one direction or another. The worst feeling your customers can feel when interacting with you is ambivalence. In another way you can think of your brand as the experience you deliver to your users.   Make Your Brand Matter How do you exactly engineer a brand that makes people stop in their tracks? It takes more than a fancy website and sleek logo. It takes asking the right questions to get to the center of why you do the work you do, and what it looks like. 1. Why Are You Different Different is good. People have more choices than ever. By trying to cater to every style of customer you end up appealing to no one. By taking a stand about what you believe in you can create a brand that others believe in as well. This goes in line with what makes you different. Why would a customer choose you over the competition? 2. Discover Your Values Your company values run deeper than your products and services. Your values are your core reasons for doing business in the first place. Why are you doing what you do? Is it for freedom, for love, or for making a difference in the world? Patagonia has a deep environmental ethic that runs throughout their entire business. As a result, every aspect of their business caters to this ethos. From their website, to their products, to their images and even storefronts. 3. How Will You Communicate This? In what style will you communicate this message? Will you be stylish and clean, or brash and crude? Whatever you choose is up to you. But, it will come across in your web copy, your overall design and how you interact with your customers. Building a brand that people care about takes time. It takes being honest, and it takes brining every aspect of your business into alignment. However, the results are well worth-it. By building a brand that matters you’ll start to cultivate passionate brand evangelists who will do most of your marketing for you. web hosting Continue reading →

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Top 4 Free WordPress Plugins For Bloggers

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Hosting

The post Top 4 Free WordPress Plugins For Bloggers appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . How many plugins are available to WordPress users? A recent count put the number at nearly 40,000 plugins, most of them free. That places an astounding array of functionality at the fingertips of WordPress users. But not all plugins are created equal. Some are of more universal value than others. And while value is in the eye of the user, the Huffington Post recently published their take on the top 5 free WordPress plugins:   #1: Pretty Link Pretty Link helps you to “shrink, beautify, track, manage and share any URL on or off of your WordPress website.” It’s an elegant method of directing traffic to other sites as desired, or to other pages within your site. Both free versions and paid versions of the Pretty Link plugin are available.   #2: Google Analytics Google Analytics is an invaluable, free tool for measuring, tracking, and tweaking the performance of your website. And the Google Analytics plugin by Yoast makes it super simple to install GA on your WordPress site. This free plugin will deliver all of the benefits of GA, and has been installed on more than one million sites. And if you want some help with making the most of Google Analytics, there’s also a premium version of this plugin available.   #3: WordPress SEO by Yoast WordPress is a great content management platform for search engine optimization. But the Yoast plugin for SEO builds upon WordPress’ compatibility with SEO. SEO is a constantly moving target. And staying in the good graces of the search engines requires great expertise – or the Yoast plugin. This plugin is typically updated several times per year to stay up-to-date with SEO best practices.   #4: SumoMe It’s bad news for a business website when most of the visitors are hit-and-run: they stop in for a brief visit and then flit away, never to return. But each visitor that arrives at your website represents an opportunity to cultivate a relationship, and eventually, a customer. The SumoMe plugin can help you to do that. SumoMe offers great value both for e-commerce sites and for bloggers.   Tip of the Iceberg With a field nearly 40,000 strong, there are certainly far more than 5 WordPress plugins that offer great value. And while the plugins listed above could be considered must-haves for most business sites, they represent only a tiny portion of a massive group of wonderfully useful plugins. Not all plugins are great, of course. Many aren’t worth bothering with. But a fun aspect of managing a WordPress site is browsing through all the plugins available. If there’s a job that needs doing on your WordPress site, odds are good that there’s a great plugin ready to go to work for you – for free.   ***** Chris Delker is a freelance copywriter based in Dallas, Texas. web hosting Continue reading →

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How To Use Email Marketing To Create And Grow Customer Relationships

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Hosting

The post How To Use Email Marketing To Create And Grow Customer Relationships appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . When you’re a small business, you have one distinct advantage over the big guys: customer relationships. Every time you’re talking with a customer in-store, emailing someone who has a question, or answering the phone, you’re building a relationship. It’s almost impossible for bigger companies to establish the same connection with customers (that’s why those that do really stand out).   Want The Really Good News? It’s never been easier to grow the relationships that are so crucial to your business’s success. Email marketing is a cost-effective solution that gives you the power to reach customers in a place most people visit every day — their inbox. Email makes it easy to build customer relationships because you’re able to stay top-of-mind and build trust and loyalty with the people who matter most to your business. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that 66 percent of consumers have made a purchase as a result of an email marketing message ( Direct Marketing Association , 2013). Or that email is almost 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined in helping your business acquire new customers ( McKinsey , 2014). With a little bit of planning, you can use email to deliver the right message, to the right people, at the right time. This will help turn new visitors into loyal customers, and turn new customers into loyal advocates for your business. Follow this 3 step plan for building long-lasting customer relationships with email marketing. Ask for permission Before you add a name to your contact list, ask the customer for permission. When you ask permission, you’re able to build a list of people who are interested in your business and are excited to hear from you. They’re more likely to open your email, less likely to mark it as spam, and will stay with you longer than contacts that are added without consent. Permission-based email marketing is the best route to developing long-lasting customer relationships that can drive repeat sales and valuable word-of-mouth for your business. These practices also keep you in compliance with legislation like the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). Treat your email contacts with care Chances are you already provide a great experience for your customers when you’re face-to-face. Let email marketing extend that experience. When someone takes that step to subscribe, they’re saying, “I’d like to get to know you better.” They’ve invited you into their inbox. You don’t want to abuse that relationship by constantly promoting your products and services. Instead of making your newsletter all about you, think about how you can offer your subscribers something of value. Whether you choose to send them useful information or a special offer, having their interests in mind will show you care. Create a compelling newsletter You want to create a newsletter with content your subscribers aren’t going to get anywhere else. What this information is depends entirely on your industry, your company goals, and what will move your readers to action. Think about what your readers will find interesting, useful, or otherwise entertaining. Stuff that could stand on its own even if you had nothing to promote. Encourage subscribers to connect with you beyond your newsletter by linking off to a recent blog post, a useful video, or a social media channel that your business is active on.   Don’t Underestimate The Power Of Email Marketing Relationships Email marketing allows you to control the message, when it goes out, and who receives it. Subscribers have actively made a decision to give you permission to contact them, which means they’re interested in what you’re offering. You’re able to build stronger relationships with your audience — and people do business with or help people they know, like, and trust. Put these tips to work! Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or a small business owner with little marketing experience, Constant Contact has the easy-to-use tools, KnowHow, and coaches to get you started with email marketing. Best of all you can try it free for 60 days. web hosting Continue reading →

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Why WordPress Is The Best Choice For Non-Technical Business Owners

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Hosting

The post Why WordPress Is The Best Choice For Non-Technical Business Owners appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . When the time comes to create your website, you’re going to have no shortage of options to choose from. In fact, the decision-making process can be very overwhelming. It’s hard to cut though all of the marketing messaging to truly find a platform that works for you. Luckily, there’s one platform that outshines most other platforms when it comes to an intuitive platform, that will help you build a beautiful website in no time at all. In this post we’re going to dive into why WordPress is the best choice for business owners with little to no technical know-how. WordPress began as simple blogging software, but it has now grown into a full-fledged website builder with a massive and interactive community.   1. Easy To Use Backend WordPress has a very easy to use backend. They’ve had the same backend for a number of years, which means there are a number of tutorials to guide you through anything you may be unsure of. The backend is straightforward and doesn’t require any knowledge of code to actually customize the look of the theme as well as implement many additional features.   2. Small Learning Curve Customizing your WordPress theme couldn’t be easier. Most themes also come with easy to follow documentation that will allow you to set up and populate your theme rather quickly. A lot of other website building platforms require little technical knowledge to get up and running, but the curve increases very quickly. WordPress is easy to setup, and also requires little technical knowledge to customize.   3. Massive Theme Selection There are literally thousands of WordPress themes available for you to download, both free and premium. The free themes are great for getting started, but if you really want to take your website to the next level you should consider upgrading to a premium theme. Most premium themes cost less than $50 and can leave you with a truly customizable, professional website.   4. Great Plugin Selection Plugins add increased functionality to your theme without having to outsource plugin creation, or invest a ton of money. There are thousands of WordPress plugins , both free and paid, that add things like increased payment support, homepage sliders, upgraded security and much more. If you want to add a specific feature to your website chances are there’s a plugin for it.   5. Large Support Community Since WordPress has been around for such a long time there a large dedicated support community. Most premium WordPress themes come with dedicated support, while the large free theme community has a very active user base. If you keep running into a problem, chances are someone else has faced the same problem, and the solution already exists.   6. SEO Optimized When you’re relying on search engine traffic to send you new customers, then your website must be optimized to rank. Luckily, most WordPress themes are primed to rank in the search engines right out of the box.   7. Very Inexpensive Like we mentioned above you can get a WordPress theme up and running without too much of an investment on your end. Aside from purchasing a domain name and hosting, you can even get by with a free theme. As you can see, WordPress is a great choice for business owners looking for a beautiful website without having to learn to code first. web hosting Continue reading →

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How Using Freelance Workers Can Take Your Business To The Next Level

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Hosting

The post How Using Freelance Workers Can Take Your Business To The Next Level appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . Our nation is seeing a drastically different workforce than that of our parents and those working prior to the advent of online communication. According to an article put out by the Wall Street Journal surveying the freelance demographic , more than one third of the United States (34%) now falls within the freelance category of employment. While it’s true there have always been independent entrepreneurs, and sole-proprietors offering independent contracts, never before have we seen such an exodus towards working from the comfort of our homes. This could include anyone from stay-at-home parents, those who are in between jobs, or those who are making a full time living right from their laptops. From the human resources perspective there can be many advantages to hiring a freelancer to fulfill certain tasks within your company. You won’t have to pay them for sick time, or vacations, and will simply pay them at an hourly rate based on the job specifications you have set forth. On the other side of things, there can also be problems associated with hiring someone with no investment in your business. That’s why we’ve come up with a modern toolkit for informing you on what kind of freelancers are out there, and how to go about employing them to your advantage.   The 5 Types of Freelancers For Small Business When it comes to hiring a freelancer, these five categories tend to come in the most handy when looking for someone who can contribute remotely. 1. The Virtual Assistant – Let’s face it, sometimes the most valuable asset we can add to our team is the ability to cut out logistic tasks and free up some time. A VA can schedule appointments, manage the projects of your other freelancers, and apply for things like grants. Having this person manage these recurring tasks can really allow you to focus on what your passionate about with the business. 2. The Social Media Marketer – Not everyone wants to get involved with social media, or spend the time online studying posts, but in this day in age it’s nearly impossible to make a killing without putting yourself where the people are looking. Having someone handle your marketing will save you all the anxiety of forgetting to post, and having to deal with all the new trends if you’re truly not interested. 3. The Copywriter – Copywriters are the word smiths that ensure your audience is receiving your message fluently and effectively. Their strength in writing can assist you from anything to website content, grant applications, building an audience, or writing a proposal for your next project. Copywriters are in an overabundance so make sure to check their quality and work history prior to committing. 4. Web Designer/Programmer – The best part about this freelancer is their profession requires them to stay updated on the constant improvements and trends happening in the world of internet pioneering. Your specialty probably isn’t web design, and so in order for you to create a viable and engaging website it’s usually best to have this type of freelance consultant to produce the results that will deliver the best ROI. 5. The Designer – Just as web design can be very disciplined and challenging, artistic design usually comes from years of practice and experience. Branding your business is no trivial task, either, and bringing in someone who can add professionalism to your logos, pamphlets and even marketing posts will greatly improved how your company is perceived. What’s also great is that a lot of software goes into digital design these days, so when considering hiring a graphic designer remember you’re also not having to pay for the tools necessary to do it yourself. While these are some of the most common five, many other free lance occupations include: Accountants, Videographers, Photographers, IT Consultants, PR Experts, and Productivity Coaches. We strongly suggest interviewing their credentials thoroughly as freelancers have a reputation of moving on, or not turning in work in a reasonable amount of time. Here are some great resources for finding freelancers locally, or finding the best of who’s out there: Guru Elance Freelancer Craiglist   Always negotiate for the best wage, take your time during the application process, and never be afraid to tell someone you’re ready to move in another direction. web hosting Continue reading →

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