Collectively, your company’s mission, vision, and values statements will serve as steady focal points for you to return to whenever you or your employees get... Read more
Websites
5 Top Tips for Your Business Website
Your business website is your storefront, your virtual salesperson, and the cover of the proverbial book by which your business will be judged. It’s also... Read more
Introduction to Product Photography
It takes mere milliseconds for a prospect who's landed on your website to process your imagery and come to a conclusion about your brand. To say that images are powerful is an understatement. Learn the benefits of great product photography, along with the pros and cons of DIY and outsourcing. Read more
Editing Product Images for Your Ecommerce Site
Your goal is to create images that represent your product as accurately as possible... so by "editing," we mean "polishing." Background removal, color correction, and shadow manipulation are processes you should consider for your photography workflow. We also offer a list of tools, along with tips for finding a professional image editor. Read more
Introduction to Ecommerce
Chances are that you've purchased something (or hundreds of things!) online at some point in your life. But now it's time to think about ecommerce from a retailer's perspective. What is ecommerce; what does it entail; where does it happen; and why should you sell online? Read more
Essential Integrations for Your Ecommerce Site
So far, we've discussed payments, shipping, and analytics in setting up your shop. But there are many more back-end processes that need to happen to keep your business running: order management, inventory, accounting, email marketing, and more. Don't approach these as separate events, but as a single, seamless event: Your relationship with customers. Integrations and automations will allow for this. Read more
Introducing the Business Website Homepage
A good homepage attracts visitors through SEO and keeps them there with remarkable UX. It describes your business with prospect-oriented copy. It generates leads before sending visitors on. See an example of a homepage that does these things successfully. Read more
Introducing Web Forms
The data entered into your email signup, account creation, contact us, and scheduling forms will be dropped into different platforms, from your CMS to your subscription management software. But there are some general best practices that all these forms have in common. Read more
Introducing the Company Blog: Your Content Marketing Machine
Content marketing is the ongoing creation of valuable material that stimulates interest in your brand by educating your prospects, rather than explicitly promoting your business. It builds relationships with prospects over the long term. Your blog is the ultimate platform for these marketing efforts. Read more
Introducing the FAQ Page
Prospects on the threshold of purchasing your product or service are likely to turn to your FAQ before making their final decision. As for your first-time visitors, your FAQ lets them know whether they're in the right place. The benefits of an FAQ are manifold... but only if the right questions are asked. Read more
Identifying the Customer Personas and Keywords for Your Homepage
Getting the right traffic to your website requires that you create your customer persona, understand their pain points, and recognize what they search for when they're online looking for answers. This is how you'll determine your keywords for your SEO efforts. Read more
Introducing the About Us Page
While they may feel difficult to write, About Us pages are essential, as they're one of the first pages users visit on business websites. An About page should inspire prospect trust and help site visitors decide whether they're in the right place. Read more
Creating Compelling FAQ Content
Creating compelling FAQ content is as much about the answers as it is about the questions. It means posing actual frequently asked questions (even the difficult-to-answer ones); getting your tone just right; and aiming for brevity, variety, and currency. Read more
Introducing Customer Testimonials
Most businesses don't collect testimonials... and that's a shame, since the benefits of a good testimonial are manifold. A good testimonial contains four essential elements. Know what they are before you start collecting them. Read more
Cultivating a Diverse Set of Visitor Journeys
There's a full user spectrum to consider on your homepage, including your different buyer personas and the different journeys each of those personas will take through your sales pipeline. Make your homepage speak to all of them. Read more
Positioning Your About Page
Positioning your About page means knowing who your site visitors are, what their pain points are, and how to phrase your value proposition so that prospects trust you can relieve those pain points. Read more
Determining Your Blog’s Ideal Reader
For your blog to be an asset to your business, you must prioritize consistent, high-quality content that educates readers and adds value to their lives. This means being clear about your blog's goal and your reader persona, and keeping the buyer's journey in mind in your posts. Read more
Email Signup Forms
Email marketing remains the most powerful online means of converting prospects into customers... which means the bigger your email list, the stronger your business. An email signup form is your simplest tool for this form of lead generation. Make it compelling. Read more
Prioritizing User Experience (UX) on Your FAQ Page
Once you're on your way to writing the most useful FAQ content you can offer, it's time to consider design. To ensure great UX, you'll want to consider ease of navigation, enabling search, and a prominent page link on various pages on your site. Read more
Finding Reviews: Mastering the “Found” Testimonial
Found testimonials are already written and ready-made—whether in your email inbox, online, or elsewhere. They don't require time or energy from your client, but they do demand that you change your idea of what a testimonial "looks like." Know where to look. Read more
Optimizing Your Homepage for Mobile Users
Mobile visitors will be viewing your site on smaller screens, navigating with their fingers, and searching under different circumstances than your desktop users. Optimize for these users through responsive design, adaptive design, or a dedicated mobile site. Read more
Choosing the Right Language and Tone for Your About Page
Your About Us page may be the place on your business website where you most get to reflect your company personality. Present your most authentic self by using genuine approachable language and a friendly tone. Read more
Optimizing Your Blog for SEO
Search engine optimization is something well worth considering in the planning stages of your blog... and then again with every post you write. This means thinking about keywords and keyword placement, long-tail keywords, strategic links, and more. Read more
Account Creation Forms
Account creation forms are higher-commitment interactions than email signup forms: At this stage, prospects are on the threshold of conversion. It's the job of your account creation form to facilitate that conversion by making the UX as clean and smooth as possible. Read more
Increasing Conversions and Engagement on FAQ Pages
While it functions as a self-help station of sorts, your FAQ page should be much more than that. Indeed, it may be one of the strongest sales tools available to you. So make it a space for user interaction—through conversion opportunities, contact options, and feedback features. Read more
5 Strategies for Soliciting New Testimonials
Asking customers for testimonials gives you much more control over which features of your product or service get emphasized than searching for unsolicited good words about your business does. That's why the direct ask is so powerful. Read more
Using Images and Videos on Your Company Homepage
If the goal of your company homepage is conversions, you'll want to put some deep consideration into your hero images, multimedia, and image optimization. You'll also want to know where to find stock images if a photographer isn't in your budget. Read more