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How to Write Your Small Business Case Study
The post How to Write Your Small Business Case Study appeared first on HostGator Blog . How to Write Your First Case Study for Your Small Business Website Case studies—business students analyze them, successful businesses feature them, and marketing experts say most businesses should have them. But how do you write them? The case study creation process is sometimes a big roadblock for small business owners, especially those who don’t have an MBA or marketing experience. In this post, we’ll walk you step by step down the road from deciding whether you need a case study to promoting your finished case study. What Is a Case Study? A case study is a story about how a business helped a customer solve a problem or achieve a goal. Case studies offer more detail than a bite-size testimonial. They also frame the story so readers who are similar to the customer see why that business is the one to solve their issue. People like stories, and marketers like case studies because they offer social proof, help businesses show their expertise, and help prospective customers understand complex or unusual products and services. Does My Business Need Case Studies? Almost certainly. If your business sells something expensive, highly technical, or so innovative that most prospects won’t be familiar with it, case studies can overcome cost objections, educate prospects, and demonstrate value. For example, international smart home company Loxone sells its equipment and services to homeowners and builders. Loxone has a slew of case studies featuring smart houses from tiny modern to large Victorian, to show how individual homeowners use their products to make their home lives easier: Case studies can help you if your business offers simpler products and services, too. A well-written case study can anchor a marketing program that helps you compete on value rather than price. Dog groomers and cleaning companies can and sometimes do use case studies to show off their results and benefits to clients. How Do I Write a Case Study? Follow these 7 steps to write your first small business case study. We followed these steps ourselves when writing this HostGator small business case study . 1. Find your story. Every good story starts with a challenge that the main character has to overcome, right? Think about the biggest challenges your customers expect your business to solve for them. Pick the most common one to build your first case study. Let’s say you’re a residential remodeling contractor who specializes in retrofitting homes to be accessible for people with mobility issues, so most of your customers come to you looking to redo their entrances, room transitions, bathrooms, and kitchens. 2. Next, find your keywords. Study the way your customers and would-be customers search for information on the problem you want to talk about in your case study. What do your customers ask about when they first call or email you? When you look at Google Analytics, which search terms are visitors using to find you? Which social media posts generate the most likes and shares? This is how you pick out the keywords and phrases that people use to connect to your business. Include them in your case study so prospects can find it, too. 3. Pick your case-study subject. Ideally, you’ve got customers who love your work and send you referrals. These are the folks who are most likely to agree to talk with you about their experience. Ask them if they have the time and interest. When you get a yes, set up an interview. Besides the time and date that works best for your interviewee, find these things out in advance: How much time they have to talk. An hour is more than enough time for most small business case study interviews. Whether they want to do the interview in person, by phone, via email, or another way. How much personal info they’re willing to share. First name only? Family name only? Full name? Ideally, you’ll get a first and last name and a city, but people have different privacy preferences. What photos will appear in the case study? In this example, before and after photos are the obvious choice, but photos of the client can add credibility, too. 4. Do the interview. Record audio or video and take basic notes. Keep the tone conversational so they’ll feel comfortable talking. Ask about their challenge, why they chose your company to help them, how you solved their problem, and what the result was for them. Focus on details that prospective customers can relate to: Were you able to widen a hallway that was too narrow to accommodate a wheelchair? Does your client enjoy cooking for friends now that the kitchen counter height has been changed? If your customer’s results include facts and figures, use them (with the customer’s permission). If your home remodel saved a customer the cost of moving to a new home, or if you did a remodel for a landlord that allowed her to expand her market and fill more units, the numbers can impress prospective clients. 5. Write the first draft of your case study. After the interview, use quotes from your customer, your chosen keywords, and any numbers that support your customer’s story. The simplest story structure is Your customer had a problem. Your customer chose your business because… You worked with your customer to deliver… You solved their problem by… You saved your customers X amount of time or money. Your customers’ lives are now better because of your product or service. Let that first draft sit for a couple of days, revise it, and then ask someone else to read the revised version and offer feedback. Add your photos and graphics. When you’re happy with it, ask the customer to look it over in case there are any errors. 6. Publish your case study. You can add it to your website’s About Us or Testimonials page or create a separate page for case studies. Thank your customer for working with you on a marketing tool to help your business grow. 7. Promote your case study. Share your case study with your email list and on social media. You can also blog about it, create a print version for in-person meetings and events, and even turn it into a video or podcast. Congratulations! You’ve got your first case study. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading
5 Internet Easter Eggs Hidden By Your Favorite Websites
The post 5 Internet Easter Eggs Hidden By Your Favorite Websites appeared first on HostGator Blog . 5 of Our Favorite Easter Eggs Hidden on the Internet Easter egg hunts aren’t just offline. When it comes to having fun, there’s enough room to spread the excitement online. But in a different way. In this case, Easter eggs are hidden messages or secret features embedded in your favorite products or websites. Some are easy to spot, while others will have you doing a little research to find them. “Easter eggs are fun and produce a ‘WOW’ effect. This delight forms a memorable connection between the brand and its users through a shared understanding not privy to everyone,” writes Ryan Hoover , founder of ProductHunt. Join the fun and make brand-specific secret messages for your consumers. Get inspired to create your own Easter eggs with these five examples below. 1. Coca-Cola Traditional Easter egg hunts are all about creating memories with your family and friends. On a Saturday afternoon, you get together to find treasures hidden around your yard or in the community. That hunt brings you joy and inspires you to keep searching for the concealed egg. When it comes to online Easter eggs, the same principle holds true. Your goal is to recreate a setting where consumers can locate undisclosed messages. Before you start developing a full-blown plan, it’s important to note that your Easter egg doesn’t have to be elaborate. Don’t try to build an entire treasure map for your consumers. Keep it simple. You can aim to place messages in unlikely places. Sometimes the obvious is harder for people to find. For instance, Coca-Cola designed their logo within their website’s source code. It’s a unique way to brand themselves. Plus, it’s a neat way to hide an Easter egg in (almost) plain sight. Use your existing resources to create special Easter eggs for your followers. Create a secret code with your tweets, or place odd images around your site. Your business can bring the tradition of the Easter egg hunt online. Work with your team to brainstorm ideas that match your consumers’ interests. 2. Google Easter egg hunts offline aren’t always about the actual hunt. If you participate in a community gathering, you usually get opportunities to participate in other activities. There’s the musical chairs game, the face painting by local artists, and the photos with a big bunny. These interactive experiences become etched in people’s memories, and they love sharing these happenings with others. In a similar way, your online Easter egg should be a shareable moment. You want consumers excited to tell their friends about it (or at least give their friends clues to find it on their own). That’s why Google’s word search is so cool. When users search for the word “askew,” the page actually demonstrates the word’s definition. The page slightly tilts. Try it and see it for yourself! Are there ways for your team to hide Easter eggs in your product? Can you tweak your code to perform a specific action? These types of Easter eggs add relevancy to your product. It shows your brand’s personality and that you can have fun with your customers. Moreover, it gives your fans a shareable moment. They will feel inclined to tell your latest secret to others—meaning more audience engagement for your brand. 3. Buzzfeed Nostalgia is big business these days. From retailers to television networks, companies are rekindling the past for their consumers. These brand campaigns trigger the good ol’ days. Taking a trip down memory lane can lead fans to think about their first crush or their first school award. The brand’s main objective is to attach that consumer’s joyous feeling with their product. Lisa Hephner , vice president of knowledge at PaySimple, offers her take on the subject: “Just remember, the key to a successful Easter Egg campaign (as with a successful Easter Egg confection) is to leave a good taste in your customers’ mouths that will not only strengthen their loyalty to your brand, but will also encourage them to share their experience, and high opinion of your company, with others.” The Konami Code is a cheat code that appeared in 1980s video games. By pressing the sequence [up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right, B, A] on the game controller, users could enable a cheat or other effects. BuzzFeed brought the nostalgia of this cheat code to life. To access their Easter egg, visitors must type the code on their keyboards. Go ahead and try it now! It’s your turn to give consumers the chance to reminisce. Explore your options to lean on nostalgia for your next Easter egg. 4. Black Acre Brewing Co. While Easter eggs reveal secret messages, you also may approach it as a way to joke with your customers. It’s another opportunity to spotlight the human side of your brand. Whether it’s on Twitter or a commercial, companies are designing unique ways to add humor to the customer experience. There’s the fast food chain Wendy’s roasting their followers and competitors . And then there’s the candy bar Snickers with their “hangry” campaign . Humor lightens the mood. It’s a vehicle to draw awareness to your brand. So sprinkling a few jokes or comedic moments in your Easter eggs makes sense. Check out Black Acre Brewing Co.’s Easter egg. When prompted about age, visitors have two options: I Am Under 21 or I Am 21 Or Older. By selecting the former option, viewers get entertained by a dancing He-Man loop. Be careful about how you insert humor into your Easter egg campaigns. Stay away from controversial topics, like religion and politics. You want nice, family-friendly comedy. Ready to get some laughs? Start writing down your best jokes for your Easter eggs. 5. Google Images The foundation of Easter egg hunts centers around fun. You want people to appreciate the games and gain excitement. In business, we refer to this journey as the customer experience . Companies strive every day to develop campaigns to satisfy their audience’s needs. When proposing ideas for your Easter eggs, step into the customer’s mindset. Think about building an experience that will delight them. You may even need to build an entirely new feature from scratch! Google Images highlights this approach with their hidden game. If you type “Atari Breakout” into the image search bar, the game pops up for you to play. Whether your Easter egg hunt is difficult or easy, you want the reward to be worth it. Olsy Sorokina , a contributor to the HootSuite blog, agrees: “A big reason behind the Internet Easter eggs’ appeal is the same one that drives kids to search for painted eggs and candy—the thrill of the hunt, and the reward that comes at the end.” Make your Easter egg an integral part of your customer experience. If you got the resources, build something new for fans to play. More Fun Online Who said Easter egg hunts were only for kids? You can create online fun for consumers of all ages. Write a hidden message in your website code. Tweak your product to perform a secret action. Or develop a new game for your audience. Create your own adventure. Happy hunting! Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading
Posted in HostGator, Hosting, VodaHost
Tagged audience, consumers, customers, family, having-fun, hosting, internet, internet-easter, photos, product, vodahost, web hosting
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5 Tips for Creating Delicious Photography as a Food Blogger
The post 5 Tips for Creating Delicious Photography as a Food Blogger appeared first on HostGator Blog . 5 Photography Tips for Your Food Blog Juicy, yummy food photos. That’s the goal for every food blogger when they snap a picture of a dish. It takes multiple skills to take photos of delicious food. Not only do you have to get the perfect shot, you also have to think about how your photos complement […] Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading
Posted in HostGator, Hosting, VodaHost
Tagged appeared-first, creating, find-the-post, food, hostgator, hosting, perfect, perfect-shot, photos, takes-multiple, vodahost, yummy-food
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Quickest Way to Create Website for Free
I was determined to create website for my online business on my own. I didn’t have the money to hire a professional web designer and I had an idea in my head for exactly what I wanted. The only problem was that I couldn’t seem to find a website builder that I was happy with Continue reading
Posted in BlueVoda, php, VodaHost
Tagged bluevoda, calendar, create-website, credit, forum-actions, photos, posts, search-engine, vodahost, website-builder, yahoo
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Enlarge Images on Mouseover?
Good evening from Greece! I’m putting together a new page and want the photos to expand when the mouse hovers over my thumbnails. At the moment you need to click each thumbnail to get the larger version, is it possible to have the larger version open automatically when the mouse passes over Continue reading