The State of the Web – Website & Internet Statistics for 2021

The Internet is a wonderful thing and it provides us with an abundance of information and opportunities that generations before us could have never imagined. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the best way to start capitalizing on those changes is by being aware of them. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most important website and Internet statistics to help you navigate your marketing efforts this year.

Internet & Website Statistics

  • There are more than 4.1 billion Internet users, with more than 56% of the global population having Internet access.
  • There are more than 1.71 billion websites, and 58.5% of all websites are in English.
  • 380 new websites are created every single minute. How many is that a day? 547,200!
  • The average user spends 2 minutes and 17 seconds on a website.

Web Design Statistics

  • Users only need .05 seconds to form an opinion of your website
  • 38% of visitors leave the website if the design is not appealing
  • 94% of negative feedback is related to design alone
  • Reducing the load time of a website from 8 seconds to 2 seconds can boost conversion rate up to 74%.
  • 44% of B2B buyers leave a website if contact information is not readily available
  • 40% of users go to another search result if the first one is not mobile-friendly
  • 75% of users base credibility of a website on appearance alone
  • 51% of people think the most important element missing from many company websites is “thorough contact information”

What does all of this mean? It isn’t the early 2000s anymore. There’s no excuse for having a poor website design that lacks the features and information your customers need. As the data shows, consumers actually believe the quality of your goods and services directly correlate to the quality of your website.

To put it bluntly, your website design can make or break your ability to attract new customers. The quality of your website matters, and consumers are less likely to take your company seriously if your website is outdated, full of grammatical errors, poorly developed, and not designed to be mobile and user-friendly.

Like it or not, we are visual creatures. As such, we generally choose what we like best based on first impressions. That’s why those who are serious about their online presence need to either spend a ton of time researching the latest web design trends or hire a professional.

With the statistics above showing the impact of even a small miscalculation, perhaps choosing the second options makes more sense.

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How to Choose a Great Domain Name for Your Website

Choosing the right domain name for your business is no small undertaking. These tips will help you find the right domain name for your website and set you up for success.

Now more than ever, customers are using websites to order from, learn about and interact with businesses that are being negatively impacted by the current pandemic. In addition to the ideas in our 7 Tips to Help Your Small Business Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic article, we believe creating or revamping your website is key in drawing business from your audience and customers. To begin this process, finding an appropriate domain name is a great first step.

Domain Names: The Internet Version of an Address for Your Business

To begin, let’s start with what a domain name is. A domain name is an Internet address for the specific, online location of your business. Domain names are purchased using a domain registrar such as GoDaddy. Establishing a good domain name will add credibility and positive brand perception for your business, and help you get discovered by search engines.

SEO and Why It Should Be Considered

SEO is an acronym for “Search Engine Optimization.” This is the ranking of websites on various search engines as determined by algorithms on platforms like Google, Bing and Yahoo. When creating a website, you will want to research and understand SEO to rank your site higher on search lists. For your domain name, the tips on what to do and what to avoid below are essential in optimizing your business online, and drawing traffic to your site. 

What to Avoid

Before you begin brainstorming and fall in love with a domain name, learn what not to do below. Remember, if your audience has trouble finding or accessing your website, you are losing business.

To begin, let’s view an example consisting of everything you want to avoid.

readbbookstoo-7.com

  1. Repeated Letters – When brainstorming domain names, steer away from adding double letters when it is not a part of the brand name itself. In this example, a user would more than likely type “books” instead of “bbooks,” taking them to a different site altogether or their browser not finding your website at all. 
  2. Numbers – If a number is not in your business name, you should reconsider adding it to your domain. Edge360Creative.com has a number due to its relevance in encompassing our capabilities of website design, web hosting, digital marketing, and E-Commerce as a full experience for our clients. Avoid the addition of random numbers in your domain name to give it a polished look, unless, like us, it is in your brand or company name. These are not as easily typed, forgettable, and simply confusing at times if they have no meaning. If you do have a number in your company name, it may be helpful to register both domain names with the number itself and the number spelled out, in case your audience doesn’t know which way is correct and they can be sent to your site regardless.
  3. Hyphens – Hyphens are allowed, but should be avoided. This, just as the number used above, has the effect of causing your brand name to appear less credible, perhaps taken as an illegitimate company. In addition, it decreases the memorability of your name.
  4. Spelling Variants – Words that have different spelling variations should be avoided if possible. Words like to, too, and two, and hear and here are just basic examples of words that can be confused or typed incorrectly by users. Save yourself and your traffic the annoyance by purposefully not including this in your domain name.
  5. Being a Perfectionist – This one is a bit different, but it is important nonetheless. While this process might take time, don’t get caught up in immediately finding the perfect domain name. Having an average domain name is better than not having one at all. If anything, it will give you potential and space to grow.

With all that settled, let’s get into the fun stuff. Here are 10 additional tips to support you in your domain name hunt!

What to Do

These 10 tips are suggestions you should aim for from the beginning of your domain name creation process.

  1. Brandable – Your domain name is a direct reflection of your business. Try to make this your business name if you have one already. If you don’t have a brand name already established, think of a unique name that accurately represents your business. This is your brand. It should be thoroughly planned so it can stand the test of time and it is a name you are proud of.
  2. Short and Sweet – As this tip suggests, be sure to keep the domain name simple, but noteworthy. This ensures it is memorable and easy to pronounce. We recommend 6-13 characters and one to three words maximum. Just think: apple.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com… all of these are short, but powerful.
  3. Keywords – Keeping SEO in mind, adding keywords to your domain name can boost the likelihood of your website ranking higher in search engines, meaning users will potentially see your website before others – free advertisement essentially. However, only do this if it’s appropriate and doesn’t overwhelm the domain name’s length. For example, if your business is selling candles, you’ll want to include that in the domain name if possible. Find your niche and own it.
  4. Synonyms, the Forgotten Hero – Stuck? Found a name you love but it’s already well known or taken? Meet a thesaurus, your new best friend. A thesaurus will give you many synonyms to choose from for a particular word and their definitions, ensuring you are making sure whatever synonym you decide on makes sense with the context you need it for.
  5. Extensions – Extensions, or top-level domains, are what come after the final “dot” in the entire website name. There are many different kinds of TLDs to consider, but the most common and effective ones are listed below. For more information on top-level domains, you can click here.
    • .com – any commercial business or profitable website (we recommend this 90% of the time)
    • .net – networking sites
    • .org – nonprofit organizations
  6. Domain Name Generator – When all else fails and your creativity is lacking to find traction on a name, use a domain name generator. Even if you don’t receive any names you like from the ones generated, this can help you in the brainstorming process to see examples related to what you envision. These potential domain names can be the one you use or help you find it. 
  7. Research Before It’s Official – What is going to really down your spirits is finally crafting what you think to be the quintessential name for your domain, only to find that it has already been taken. Don’t forget to double-check that it is not already being used. It just takes a few seconds to type into your URL bar, so please check before you have your heart set on a domain name, or find a tool that will search databases to see if it is already taken. 
  8. Secure Your Domain – Now that you have your domain name after thoughtful planning and double-checking its availability, use a reputable domain registrar to purchase your domain so no one else can grab it. Note: you will still need to find website hosting, but you need a domain name first.
  9. Social Media – You’ve worked this hard, add it to your social media! Whatever platform you are on, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or all of them, include it in your bio and be sure to link it in your posts when appropriate so it is readily available for your customers and audience. They can refer back to it for menus, viewing your products, inquiring about your services, or simply learning more about your business. This is free advertising on your own accounts – take advantage of it.
  10. Wahoo, It’s Done – Bask in the glory of finding your domain name to help brand your business. Be proud!

In all, if you take just a few things from this article, let it be these: URL readability is key for users locating your site, ranking your website higher in search engines can depend somewhat on your domain name, and branding your domain is important. Now that you know some important guidelines, the next steps are brainstorming, research, and checking to see what domains are available. As you go through this process, be sure to brainstorm a few back-up names in case the domain name you want isn’t available.

Your domain name will have a significant impact on the success and potential of your website. Be sure to put some careful thought into choosing yours.

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5 Website Content Writing Tips

Your website represents your company. If your writing is sloppy, bloated or confused, you’ll frustrate customers and lose sales, no matter how good your products or services are. On the other hand, great content can help you across the board, getting more shares, picking up backlinks and earning the trust of visitors.

Good content is your best employee. In fact, a recent Salesforce/Pardot survey found that consumers consider trust in a company’s content to be 3 times more important that trust in the brand’s actual employees. In addition, 97% of the same survey respondents also said that bad content negatively affected their trust in a brand.

Most businesses understand that they need to consistently produce good content. However, just wanting to do better won’t make you a great website content writer, and the difference between strong and weak content can have a significant impact on brand perception, website traffic, and conversions.

Here are a few tips to help you produce better content for your website.

1. Always start with keyword research for search engine optimization

Before you even write the first word of a page or post on your website, you need to know what you are writing about. Keyword research is the most important part of digital marketing. SEO keyword research tells you what topics Google, and your target audience, finds relevant. It lets you peak into your competitors content strategy and highlights the strengths and weaknesses in your own. Knowing what keywords to use in your content helps you bring in more traffic to your website.

2. Drive toward powerful calls to action (CTAs)

What desired action do you want readers to take with the content you create? Your goal should never be to just have a reader consume the content. The ultimate goal of every piece of content you create should be to convince your users to take action. Before you even start writing, you need to know what your call to action will be, and you need to make your content compelling enough that readers want to perform that action.

Here are a few examples of calls to action you can incorporate:

  • Desired action: download a resource – Download our free guide for more expert tips.
  • Desired action: subscribe to a newsletter – Sign up for exclusive resources in your inbox each month.
  • Desired action: schedule a demo – Schedule a free demo to see how many hours you can save each day.
  • Desired action: share content – Know someone who could use these tips? Share this article and tag your friends.
  • Desired action: make a purchase – Click here and use offer code “CONTENT” to save 30% on your purchase.

When writing calls to action, put yourself in your reader’s shoes. What would it take for a company you’ve never heard of to convince you to do something?

3. Make the reader feel something

There are many factors that go into viral content. Promotion is a huge factor, and brand identity, timing and plain luck all play a role. But almost all viral content shares one thing in common: emotional impact.

In a recent article, Hubspot interviewed three different marketing experts on why content goes viral. All three emphasized the importance of creating content that evokes an emotional response in the reader. The next time you are developing a piece of content, ask yourself, “What is good about this story? How can I make this content have more of an emotional impact on readers?”

4. Give your readers a reason to care

Good intros are hard to develop. It can feel quite unnatural to skip right to the point. Human nature is to provide some context, warm up your readers and then work your way into the main topic. But by that point, your reader is long gone.

Your website isn’t literature, and visitors aren’t there for your slow, measured flow. They want to get information or solve a problem quickly. Your job is to provide answers and then lead them to your call to action. And if you don’t give them what they are looking for, they are going to move on and get that information somewhere else.

In your intro, tell your reader why your article is important, using emotion if possible, then remind the reader why they need to read your article. Every piece of content you write should tell your reader why they should invest their time in reading what you have to say. Give them a reason to care and tell them what they can accomplish by reading your content.

5. Provide added value

Your content writing should always offer value to the reader in terms of insightful ideas and actionable tips. However, if you really want your content to earn repeat traffic and an increase in search engine performance, give your readers a parting gift. It doesn’t even have to cost you anything. It could be a link to a free webinar, a template, a worksheet, or even an opportunity to signup for your newsletter where they can receive more quality content from you.

Good content is good business

The key to a successful website is great content. Therefore, you should commit time and resources to not only creating content but learning how to improve your content writing skills. Including excellent copy on your website is one of the easiest ways to grab the attention of new visitors and keep them coming back for more. With enough discipline and practice, solid web content writing skills are within anyone’s reach.

 

Want more tips and how-to articles to help take your business marketing to the next level? Please subscribe to get future editions of our newsletter, “The Edge.” Stuff you need to know, delivered once a month. No SPAM, no bull, unsubscribe at any time. Sign up at http://eepurl.com/gdjrIj.

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Responsive Website Design to Meet Mobile Client Demand

Today is the 36th day of the year. That may not seem like much, but as the day winds to a close, so does the first 10% of the year. With one-tenth of the year in the taillights, it would be a great time to take a few minutes a do a self-check of where your business is at. Are you on track towards meeting, or hopefully exceeding, your year-end goals? Are you attracting new clients? Do you feel like your website has become stagnant and outdated?

Ponder this question; is your website design optimized to meet mobile client demand? It is currently estimated that 4 out of every 5 Americans have a smartphone. With almost 80% of Americans carrying a smartphone every day, it is more likely that a potential clients’ interaction with your website will either first occur or entirely occur on a mobile or tablet device. Your website needs to be responsive, meaning it adjusts automatically to render properly on any size screen or device. Responsive website design is an approach used by web designers to configure a website to “respond to” or resize itself depending on the type of device being used to view it. This is essential for anyone with a digital presence. With the growth of smartphones and mobile devices, more people are using smaller screens to view websites.

Mobile client demand. Are you ready? Is your site ready? Take 5 minutes today to open up your site on your mobile device. Do you like what you see? If not, contact us to discuss options on how Edge360 Creative can help give you the edge in the growing mobile-first environment.

Want more tips and how-to articles to help take your business marketing to the next level? Please subscribe to get future editions of our newsletter, “The Edge.” Stuff you need to know, delivered once a month. No SPAM, no bull, unsubscribe at any time. Sign up at http://eepurl.com/gdjrIj.

 

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Search Engine Optimization Checklist for Small Business

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become an increasingly complicated and time-consuming process. If you don’t know where to begin, just thinking about SEO can be daunting.

SEO is not a big mysterious phenomenon. With a little planning, a little effort and consistent work, you can achieve measurable results. We’ve put together a quick checklist any small business owner can use to improve search engine placement.

  • Build content that is relative to your business and the consumers of your products or services.
  • Create/Update your Google My Business Page. Google My Business (GMB) is a free service offered by Google that lets you claim and update your business information at any time. GMB is different from Apple Maps Connect and review sites such as Yelp in that it allows you to upload photos and videos to enhance your listing. This gives you coverage in regular search, photos and videos for all search engines. Make sure your content, address, phone number, business hours and website link are all accurate.
  • Get coverage through local businesses, blogs, organizations and events. Choose places that fall in line with your brand. Local newspapers or media outlets may run stories on your business. Local bloggers with small followings in your area is another option. The idea is to get locals interested in your business and keep your name circulating online.
  • Catch customer attention by using compelling title tags and descriptions. Include your target keywords in your titles and bulleted lists.
  • Research Keywords and update your content. You should be analyzing how people find your site regularly. Knowing the keywords people use to find you gives you the ability to target your content for those search terms.
  • Fix technical issues on your website such as page load speed, broken links, duplicate content, site responsiveness and security.
  • Optimize your images. Every image on your site should be optimized to load quickly, named appropriately and include alt tags with keywords.
  • Use subheadings, such as H2 and H3 tags in your content. They break your content down into easily scanned blocks and give search engines structure for your site.
  • Check your competitor’s websites and make improvements. Find out what search terms they are ranking for, what content is getting attention and the quality of their website structure. Use this research to improve your content and structure.
  • Get reviews. Reviews were one of the leading local search ranking factors last year. You can improve your search engine performance and conversion rate by getting quality reviews and feedback from your customers.

Search Engine Optimization is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time and consistency, but your effort will be rewarded with an increase in high-quality traffic to your website.

 

Want more tips and how-to articles to help take your business marketing to the next level? Please subscribe to get future editions of our newsletter, “The Edge.” Stuff you need to know, delivered once a month. No SPAM, no bull, unsubscribe at any time. Sign up at http://eepurl.com/gdjrIj.

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How-to: 10-minute DIY Website Audit

The beginning of the year is a great time to perform a 10-minute audit of your website. And you can do it yourself! Here’s a checklist:

  1. Does it load quickly? Your website should load completely in under a few seconds.
  2. Can the spam. One of the most annoying things about managing a website is dealing with the constant bombardment of annoying comments and links to random websites. This is also a huge turn off for your visitors.
  3. Click your links. Yes, all of them. Make sure they work and that they point visitors where they are supposed to go.
  4. Proofread. Check grammar and spelling in all your content. Nothing screams “I don’t know what I’m doing” more than misspelled words and sentences that don’t make sense.
  5. Check images and videos. Make sure all the pages load properly and images/videos show in the right place.
  6. Give yourself a high-five. Congratulations! If you’ve made it this far, you’ve already outworked 90% of your competition.

Take a little time to do these few things and you will be on your way to rocking your website in 2019.

 

Want more tips and how-to articles to help take your business marketing to the next level? Please subscribe to get future editions of our newsletter, “The Edge.” Stuff you need to know, delivered once a month. No SPAM, no bull, unsubscribe at any time. Sign up at http://eepurl.com/gdjrIj.

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5 Easy On-Site Search Engine Optimization Tips for Your Business Website

If you run a small to medium-sized business, you probably aren’t really concerned with dominating global search results (yet). Instead, the local community you serve is probably the lifeblood of your business, and showing up at the top of local listings is important for bringing in new customers.

Search engine optimization can seem like an overwhelming task, but showing up for the right cities or state should be one of your top priorities for growing your business. Thankfully, there are a few easy things you can do to boost your local online visibility in Eastern North Carolina or anywhere in the country.

Small Business Tips for Better Local Search Engine Visibility

Potential customers have so many choices when looking for products and services. But it is possible to stand out in a sea of competition. Here are a few actionable tips you can implement today.

1. Research the Best Keywords

Writing blog posts, landing page content and social media posts are important to get more attention online. And that’s a great start. But adding targeted keywords for each product and service can make your efforts that much more effective.

For example, if you provide amazing, delicious coffee like one of our clients, you might post coffee specific content with keywords like “coffee in Kinston” or “coffee shop in Kinston.” Slipping in keywords with location will help Google and other search engines index your content more accurately.

Need help with researching keywords? Check out Google’s Keyword Planner Tool and this helpful post from HubSpot on how to find long-tail keywords to include in your content.

2. Keep Cranking out the Content

One of the most beneficial ways to boost your visibility in search engine results is to consistently create fresh content with targeted keywords. Blogging is an easy way to do this.

Providing helpful information to your readers and slipping in valuable keywords for search engines to index will help boost your results in local search. The more your post, the more often search engines index your site, and they more valuable they will consider your website to be.

A good tip is to setup a blogging schedule, complete with ideas and keywords you want to target.

Other ways to introduce fresh content with a local focus include:

  • Local case studies
  • Highlighting local customer success stories
  • Commenting on local news
  • Location-specific landing pages for product and service offers
  • New product and service pages

3. Perform On-Page Optimization of Important Pages

Optimize the most important pages on your business website to improve local search visibility by using the main keyword in important locations. These include:

  • Title
  • URL
  • Meta description
  • Introductory paragraphs
  • Headings

4. Create Specific Location Pages for Your Website

If you have more than one location, consider creating a unique page for each location. Each page should have different content, including different keywords based on your keyword research.

5. Consider the Responsiveness of Your Website

The majority of visitors to your website will be using a mobile device. How does your website look on a tablet or smartphone? Do visitors have to pinch and expand to view your content. If so, you are losing potential customers and hurting your search engine placement.

Search engines give priority to mobile-friendly websites because they are considered to be more helpful for users.

Final thoughts on Search Engine Optimization for Local Business

There’s no one and done solution or magic formula for getting great search engine placement. It is hard work that takes effort, planning and continuous fine-tuning. However, by employing a few of the easy steps we’ve covered here, you can see measurable results in your search engine position and a boost in quality traffic to your business website.

Need help optimizing your website for local search? Edge360 Creative specializes in providing local website optimization services.

 

Want more tips and how-to articles to help take your business marketing to the next level? Please subscribe to get future editions of our newsletter, “The Edge.” Stuff you need to know, delivered once a month. No SPAM, no bull, unsubscribe at any time. Sign up at http://eepurl.com/gdjrIj.

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3 Reasons Why Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Should Consider Digital

In today’s digital world, there’s an app for that – whatever “that” may be. Devices like smartphones and tablets are becoming the dashboards of our lives. Depositing a check? Snap a picture of it and tap the button on your bank’s app. Does your son or daughter at college need money? Transfer it electronically. Forgot to pick up milk? Hop online and order it. Fueled by smart technologies, mobile devices and 24/7 connectivity, the way consumers browse, shop and pay is increasingly digital.

For small to medium-size businesses (SMBs), that can present a challenge. This year alone, 280 million Americans are expected to go online every month, according to eMarketer research, and Pew research estimates that eight in ten Americans will make an online purchase. Yet, according to research by Visa, less than half of SMBs have an online presence. Similarly, for in-store shopping most consumers (78 percent) surveyed by Visa say that they prefer making payments digitally either with a card or their phone. Does your SMB accept digital payments both online and in-store?

As digital commerce continues to expand, SMBs that don’t jump onboard risk being left behind. In an effort to understand more about what consumers want from SMBs, Visa and a consortium of partners surveyed more than 400 SMBs and nearly 2,500 consumers.

The result is a guide on how SMBs can grow their businesses in an increasingly digital world: “Digital Transformations of SMBs: The Future of Commerce.” It offers actionable tips for technology and digital upgrades that SMBs can implement to help grow their businesses, including a “how to” on digital payments, marketing and advertising tactics, new service considerations and customer loyalty programs.

Some of the findings that came out of the survey might surprise you. Here are three key reasons why SMBs should go digital:

Consumers expect it, but you’re not offering it. While 90 percent of consumers say they want to support small businesses, there is more to the story. Consumers still expect convenience, and today, that means digital offerings. This creates a big problem for SMBs, whether they realize it or not. Visa’s survey found that only 15 percent of SMBs sales are conducted via digital channels, yet 61 percent of consumers surveyed plan to increase their online purchases in the next 5 years. That represents a significant gap between what consumers are planning and what SMBs are delivering.

It may help the bottom line. Moving, storing and securing cash, checks and money orders takes valuable time and is also subject to fees, losses and theft. Based on survey responses collected from SMBs, Visa estimates the surveyed SMBs’ average cost of processing digital transactions was 57 percent less than cash transactions. This, based on annual sales volume, number of cash versus digital transactions, and processing costs for digital and cash payments (inclusive of direct expenses and labor costs). Adding digital payments may help businesses increase sales: two-thirds of SMBs surveyed shared that they believe customers spend more when using cards versus cash.

Consumers want digital loyalty plans. Only one in five SMBs surveyed offer a loyalty program, but rewards can drive consumer preferences. Seventy-eight percent of consumers say they’re more likely to choose a business that has a loyalty program, and of those, most say that they check out the programs before trying a service, a restaurant or a store for the first time. Every SMB knows that differentiating themselves is a key to success; a loyalty program is an excellent way to stand out from competitors. Why do a digital loyalty program and not, say, a paper punch card? Because nearly all consumers surveyed – 90 percent – prefer digital.

If you want to find out more about how to go digital, download the “Digital Transformation of SMBs: The Future of Commerce” guide at www.visa.com/smbDigital. It’s free, and it’s filled with actionable tips to help you get started.

*References to consumer and small business preferences are based on findings from the survey Digital Transformation of SMBs: The Future of Commerce. Survey was commissioned by Visa and conducted by a third party research firm, Maru/Matchbox, during February and March 2018 and administered in English to U.S. 425 small and medium size businesses with storefront or at home business in food/dining, retail, services and grocery industries, and 2,458 consumers taking into account balanced income, age and regional representation.

 

Want more tips and how-to articles to help take your business marketing to the next level? Please subscribe to get future editions of our newsletter, “The Edge.” Stuff you need to know, delivered once a month. No SPAM, no bull, unsubscribe at any time. Sign up at http://eepurl.com/gdjrIj.

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Is Your Small Business Primed to Thrive Online?

Managing your company’s online tools and strategies is crucial to your success both online and in-person. You need to focus on the right areas in order to boost your brand and your profits while eliminating added costs and risks. Knowing which parts of your online strategy to address can be difficult, especially for first-time businesses. It seems like all components should be looked at equally, but savvy entrepreneurs know where to focus. Here are the five areas you should put your efforts into:

CRM – Customer Relationship Management

Your sales team needs to be able to keep track of call notes. They also need to understand where in your sales process a certain lead is. That way, they can make the right calls, ask the right questions and keep all information organized. A great CRM software lets you do all of this. It also gives you analytics to see how your closing ratio is compared to your quota. Then, this information can be shared with management, customer service and anyone else that needs to view it. Being online with your CRM software also allows for easy access to all your sales team, no matter where they work. It’s an easy way to streamline your process and selling approach.

Marketing Automation

Doing everything manually in your marketing strategy is a surefire way to fail. You will spend too much time, pay too much and not be as efficient when your time is taken up with marketing updates. Automating your marketing with online tools is crucial, and they let you choose times for emails to be sent out, when social media updates are pushed, and makes organizing your information and efforts easier. This also lets you integrate your marketing elements into one central database.

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage is a model in which data is stored on remote servers on the Internet, or “in the cloud.” These storage is operated and managed by a cloud storage service provider. Cloud storage gives you scalability and access to your data anytime, anywhere with a low total cost of ownership.

 

Social Media Management

If you are not using social media right now, then you are missing out. However, it is not as simple as tweeting out a sale or posting the occasional infographic. You should have someone onboard to manage this process so your social media presence is relevant, entertaining and profitable. You can’t do this if social media is always an afterthought. You need a well planned strategy and someone on your team that engages your audience.

Security

In this day and age, security is of the utmost importance. If you don’t have the right protections and network monitoring tools in place, hackers could get inside your network and you would never know it. This can be a huge threat, not only to business operations, but customer information as well. Be sure you have your IT team look into firewalls, monitoring and script blocking so your networks and websites stay secure.

If you want to be successful in today’s digital world, you need to use the right online tools. U the tools above and focus on the areas that will bring you the greatest results in the smallest amount of time. Edge360 Creative offers personalized web design services to help you connect with your audience online. Get started today!

 

Want more tips and how-to articles to help take your business marketing to the next level? Please subscribe to get future editions of our newsletter, “The Edge.” Stuff you need to know, delivered once a month. No SPAM, no bull, unsubscribe at any time. Sign up at http://eepurl.com/gdjrIj.

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Four Signs That Your Website Needs a Redesign

In this digital age, your website is a key communication tool for your business and in most cases it should help drive sales. However, a poor design, slow experience or a website that doesn’t function properly can lead to visitors leaving before buying any products, or worse, browsing and selecting products to purchase only to find that the process is too complicated to complete. Here’s four signs that your website needs a redesign.

Your website is not meeting your commercial needs

The truth is that as a small business owner, your website exists to encourage your visitors to fulfill your call to action. This is ultimately the main measure of success, whether you’re attempting to sell a product or service, promote tickets for an event or get sign ups for your company newsletter. If people are visiting your website, taking a look around and then leaving before fulfilling your call to action then that is a missed opportunity for you. The key metric here is your conversion rate, which is:

Call to action completions / Total unique visitors = Conversion rate

Of course, every visitor isn’t going to be interested in your offering so your conversion rate will never be 100%. However, if your site’s conversion rate is low, perhaps it is time to rethink your approach or test another design.

Your website is slow or doesn’t load properly

Computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones… We now have so many devices that make light work of internet browsing wherever we are. It is important that your website is responsive, meaning that it renders correctly based on screen size, platform and orientation. It is a very jarring experience when site displays improperly on a mobile device. Another factor you should consider is load time. If your site takes more than a couple of seconds to load you have a higher chance of losing potential customers and taking a hit on your search engine placement. Turns out that both people and Google love fast sites. The longer people have to wait, the more likely they are to leave and visit a competitors website, so make sure you test your site regularly to ensure it provides a fast, pleasant experience.

Your web design looks outdated

It can be difficult, but your approach to website design should always be fluid and aspects of design that work well today are very quickly replaced by innovations tomorrow. If you don’t continuously tweak and improve your design to keep up with these innovations, then you may fall behind. However, it can be quite difficult to stay on top of the latest technology and trends if you’re not a tech savvy web designer. That’s one of the reasons that working with a professional digital agency is beneficial. When browsing your competitors websites, keep an eye out for new technology and design that works well, then analyze the benefits and decide if you should implement similar changes. In general, you should always be looking for ways to improve your site’s design, because this sends a signal to your visitors that you’re a dynamic business keeping up with latest trends, and it may also boost your site’s performance and search engine placement.

Visitors are struggling to navigate your website

When designing and developing a website, properly measuring a website’s ongoing performance is an important step to ensuring your marketing plans are giving you desired results. It can be very frustrating if you’ve spent a lot of time and energy optimizing your website for search, finally building a steady stream of traffic and then notice that your visitors leave after one look at the homepage. For small business owners, a website can be the best way to show the world your products and services, and you obviously want everyone to move around your site and view your offerings and complete your call to action. Your website’s bounce rate is a really simple metric for identifying how many pages each user is viewing. You can work this out with the following calculation:

Visits with only 1 pageview / Total visits = Bounce Rate

There’s numerous reasons why someone might leave after only loading the homepage. This metric, combined with other considerations, may help you identify if design is the reason your website isn’t converting. However, the deeper issue here could be with the overall design of your site. To identify if people are browsing multiple pages and still not completing your call to action, you should study the pages/session rate. Pages per session broadly gauges how compelling users find your content and the ease of access.

If your visitors are browsing multiple pages without fulfilling your call to action, this may indicate an issue. Perhaps the issue is with the product or price, but it could also be a navigation problem. If it isn’t clear to your customers how they can purchase the products or complete your call to action, they are more likely to leave the site and visit a competitor.

Redesigning your website can seem daunting. It takes time and skill to make sure the design fits your brand and that it provides a convenient experience for your visitors. However, your products and services deserve the best platform and a well-designed website can be a very effective tool.

 

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