Agapi /NEXsteps

8 Questions To Win More Customers

August 27, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, marketing, online marketing, web design, website, website marketing

Ask these eight questions to win more customers.

Wouldn’t you like to know how what your customers are thinking? How are they going to act? Well, you can! You just need to track how your current customers are interacting with your business.

You or someone on your team needs to be continually answering the following questions in order to get to know your potential customers.

How many customers are you getting every month?

Even in the craziness of running your business, you need to make sure you have a way to keep track of all of your customers that you are serving. You also need to make sure that everyone on your team is on the same page and using the same system for tracking.

How many of them are coming from your website?

You need to be asking how your customers found out about you and keeping track of customers that are coming from your site.

Are they coming from your SEO efforts? Social Media? PPC?

You or someone on your team need to be monitoring how users are finding your website to learn what is working for you and what can be tweaked.

By what percent of your visitors are converting?

Track how many people who are coming to your site are actually becoming customers.

How high is your bounce rate?

Monitor the percentage of people visiting who are just viewing one page of your site and then navigating away.

Which pages are most visited?

Take note of the pages that users are going to the most often and see if they are the pages that will lead them into making conversions.

Which pages do they spend most of their time on?

You should study the pages that users are spending a lot of time looking at and see how you can make other pages interesting to your potential customers.

What’s the winning conversion path?

Find out what path the customers are taking to make conversions and make sure that your site is designed around making that path as easy as possible.

Make sure someone on your team is answering these questions often so you can optimize your website design to get a greater number of conversions.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

9 Tips To Improve Your Web Design

August 22, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, marketing, online marketing, small business marketing, web design, website

Try these nine tips to improve your web design.

What makes an effective web design?

Is it the visual elements, or is it the functionality?

Truth be told it is a combination of both. As Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

Websites with great usability and function tend to perform better on Google than those just with beautiful design. We want to show you 10 ways to improve your existing website to ensure you are getting the most bang for your buck.

Purpose and Function

An exceptional website has a clear purpose, and the function is evident and intuitive. The design of every element and how they come together as a whole should be derived from the purpose and function of the website.

Communication and Interaction

Internet users want information quickly. To ensure you are providing lightning-fast information, you should be clear and concise, using headlines, and subtitles to provide valuable information. Links to the email address or contact form, live chat, and feedback form should also be easily accessible.

Intuitive Navigation

Navigation is a core element in which your website is built upon. The navigation should make sense to your visitors whatever path they wish to take. Navigating from point A to C based on the customer’s journey should flow smoothly without any barriers or friction. Ensure your customers can find the information they are looking for within 3 clicks or less.

Design Consistency

Each design element should match throughout the entire website. This means your headlines, colors, and so forth should all have the same look and feel. Take the time to plan out every detail to ensure your message is consistent throughout.

F-Pattern design & Grid-Based Layout

Ensure your page elements are arranged in a way that is natural for the eye. Studies have shown that people view pages in an “F” shaped pattern. Arrange your content based on a grid to create content that is both aligned and balanced.

Typography and Readability

The text is one of the most vital elements to a website, providing users with necessary information, and providing content for SEO. Create visually engaging type by using attractive and readable typefaces.

Color palette and imagery

Use a well thought out color pallet to enhance your user’s experience. Use contrasting colors for the background and text, while implementing vibrant colors for buttons and headlines to draw the user’s attention.

Mobile-friendliness

The number of devices that users are viewing websites from has increased dramatically over the past few years. Ensure your website is built with a responsive layout.

Loading speed

Take the time to ensure your website is loading at lightning speed. User’s hate when it takes more than just a few seconds to load a page.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

Using Google Alerts To Monitor your Online Reputation

August 19, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, google alerts, marketing, online marketing, reputation marketing

Did you know Google Alerts can help you monitor your online reputation?

Promote your brand along with its good reputation on social media and other platforms. However, things get a bit complicated when you have to deal with bad reviews.

First, keep a good reputation by being honest, transparent, setting clear expectations for your customer, and by being in business because you genuinely want to help people around you. It goes without saying that shady practices are a no-no.

Second, you have to prevent any dissatisfaction by a customer from escalating by addressing every complaint you get. It has to be fixed at this level immediately while the customer is still trying to reach out to you. Because once they have felt frustrated and think they have to warn others about your practice, things can get messy.

Nonetheless, you have to set your radar for negative reviews. One good way to do this is to set up Google alerts for your brand terms and name.

What else can you do to safeguard your brand?

Claim your brand name
Build a consistent identity

Whether your brand is your name itself, your business name or your product name, you need to make sure that no one else can misrepresent you online by owning a piece of your brand. Make sure that you own domain names and usernames associated with your brand.

Suggested tools:

KnowEm.com
NameChk.com

Build a consistent identity on major channels:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
Pinterest
Tumblr
Quora

Publish content regularly:

The content you publish will define and reinforce who you are, what you stand for, and what your business is all about. This will make up the values associated with your brand. Anything inconsistent with these values will not be immediately convincing to your customers who know you.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

How To Create Optimal Content and Customer Experience

August 16, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, client retention, communicating with clients, marketing, online marketing, small business marketing, UX

Here’s how to create optimal content.

On the internet, standing out poses a challenge, and at the same time, the best opportunity for creativity and bringing some attention to your site. Adding the extra “WOW” to your content will pique a customer’s’ curiosity, build their interest, and over the course of a few transactions, earn their loyalty.

This is achieved through web content that goes far beyond ordinary but without all of the sensory overload. Each aspect of your site should have its own purpose—from the background to the logo to the informative blog. Every part is a solid brick in the foundation of your establishment’s site.

Here are some possible “add-ons” to consider to make your site stand out:

– Demo/explainer videos
– Client testimonials
– A page for reviews
– Informational text that actually informs—as opposed to simply luring the client
– Interactive questionnaire
– Easy-to-follow graphics
– A healthy combination and balance of “all-the-above”
– The compelling story of your business began and most importantly, where it’s going

And don’t forget a user-friendly “contact us” page or even an option for a live Chat with a knowledgeable representative from your company? You’re only limited to your own and your team’s imagination.

So the time has come to set that staff meeting and do a plus/delta on your site’s current features. What’s working and drawing in an audience, and what’s not working? What is the purpose of each and every feature of your site? What are some viable changes that can be made? Who is your target audience? How can you make your site not only engaging but also user-friendly?

As you can tell, some guidance from an experienced digital marketing consultant should come in handy. You are the experts in your product or service; so allow some room for the marketing experts to help.

Essential Questions to ask about Customer Experience

User experience with your site can make or break your business. Think about it. A slow interface, a shopping cart that’s difficult to navigate, or even one small glitch can drive traffic away and steer potential customers toward the next result that showed up on the list of search results. So how do you keep this from happening?

Working with a knowledgeable and experienced team of designers and developers can make quite a difference in creating the best customer experience possible. When searching for such a team, you might need to keep a few ideas in mind such as;

– Can they reduce my site’s loading time?
– Can they create engaging content that includes images?
– Can they strike a balance between SEO and treating my audience like “real people”?
– Can they build a user-friendly check-out?
– Can they build a user-friendly customer service Chat and/or Email page?

Looking at these many aspects related to a customer’s experience is vital.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

Local Business Alert! Local Search Results Will Give More Results

August 10, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, growing your business, local business, local search, marketing, online advertising, online marketing, SEM, SEO, small business marketing

Can you be found in local search?

On-the-go mobile users who are near you and who are searching for a product or service on Google at this very moment should find your business. But are they?

Are you visible in Google’s ‘Local Pack’ and expanded results?

Increased foot traffic, phone calls, or visits to your website should mean more customers for local business owners like you. That is why optimizing for local search results should be important.

Businesses listed in the Local Pack vary from the searcher’s location. If you are nearest to the searcher at the time of the search, then your business listing should appear there.

However, being closest to a potential customer searching isn’t a guarantee that you will come up in the search results. Your listing and your website must be optimized for local search.

Here are some of the important ranking factors based on a study by Moz:

Google My Business Listing Signals
Link Signals
On-page Signals
Citation Signals
Review Signals
Behavioral Signals
Personalization
Social Signals

https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

Grow your Potential Customers With As Little As $200

August 8, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, growing your business, marketing, online advertising, online marketing, social media, social media marketing

Spend a little, gain a lot!

Did you know you can extend your marketing messages beyond your existing followers and connections on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other channels through boosted and sponsored updates?

We recommend performing a test either on Facebook or LinkedIn.

The first step is to get a Facebook Business Page or a LinkedIn Company Page created for you, compose and publish a post, then ‘boost’ that post.

We advise that the post be linked to a landing page on your website where they can sign up for more information so you can capture their email addresses.

For Facebook, we can select your boosted post audience to target by country, age, gender, and interests. For LinkedIn, we can choose the characteristics of your audience you want to target by country and title or job function.

With a test budget of $200, you can reach at least 30 to 50 thousand people seeing your message and brand (impressions) on Facebook, while on LinkedIn, you can reach approximately 7 to 9 thousand decision makers.

Now that’s powerful!

Imagine reaching out to a huge number of people who might be interested in your products or services with specific demographics without having to know who they are, their email addresses, and phone numbers!

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

Is Your Website Fully Optimized for the User Experience?

August 6, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, growing your business, marketing, online marketing, web design, website, website marketing

User experience is more important than ever.

If your company or business website hasn’t been updated, or there are no plans to update it, you should change that strategy.

User behavior is continuously evolving, and one of the most significant changes is that more people are using their smartphone devices every day.

If you have ever used your phone to browse websites online, you may have noticed that some websites are nearly impossible to read or navigate. The reason for this is because most websites are built from a perspective that someone on a computer will visit the site. The way users access a website has already changed drastically.

But design evolution isn’t only about having your website viewable on a mobile device. User optimization encompasses a lot of different factors. Some changes that have happened over the past couple of years include websites having fewer menu options, getting rid of the menu grid or ‘hamburger’ as it’s come to be known, getting rid of bad stock images, and moving the website to a more minimalistic design.

The majority of these changes came from designers and developers constantly redesigning and changing UX (user experience) elements to see how those new designs and changes worked. Big companies such as IKEA have moved to a more minimal design with fewer menu options making it easier for their visitors to quickly find what they need. But this optimization shouldn’t end there.

The future will likely bring more design trends making it easier for visitors to get what they are looking for quickly. After all, a good user experience drives conversions.

Want us to take a look at your website to see if it’s optimized for a great user experience no matter what device your visitors are using?

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

Promote Your Business in 140 Characters or Less Using These 12 Tips

August 5, 2018September 6, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, marketing, small business marketing, social media, social media marketing, tweet, tweets, twitter

Or should we say, 280 characters or less?

Over 2 billion people in the world are connected through social media, with 20% of the world’s internet users having an active Twitter account.

Twitter is a great platform to boost your business.

Here are 12 ways to get started in promoting your business on Twitter today!

1. Implement Twitter Cards
You want every tweet to be unique and attractive, Twitter cards are a great way to do this!

2. Build Your Twitter Followers
If your Twitter followers are engaged and well targeted, increasing their number can benefit your business.

3. Identify Influencers and Engage with Them
When you engage with influencers — you’re creating the opportunity to gain more followers, more engagement, and more traffic to your website.

4. Use Twitter Lists to Manage Your Contacts
As you follow and connect with higher numbers of people, you need to organize them by categories.

5. Use Twitter Ads to Grow Your Email List
Use Twitter ads for lead generation by directing them to sign-up to your email list.

6. Use the Right Hashtags
Be careful with the hashtags you choose. It may seem that cramming as many as possible is the way to go, but studies show that posts with 1 – 2 hashtags have higher engagement than those with 3 or more.

7. Research Your Competitors’ Audiences
Find out who your competitors are interacting with.

8. Monitor Twitter for Keyword Mentions
Use tools that let users set up search columns so any mention of a particular word or phrase is immediately highlighted.

9. Setup UTM Tracking
UTM tracking adds additional info to links you share in order to track where people clicked on them and what happened after they clicked.

10. Use Your Pinned Tweet
Twitter allows you to pin one tweet at the top of your timeline. When anybody looks at their profile, they see that tweet first.

11. Use Great Headlines
Create clever headlines that stand out.

12. Use Twitter Analytics to Analyze and Optimize
Twitter Analytics let you see how many views and how much engagement your tweets get.

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, please reach out to us.

If you like the information you are receiving, please share this post.

You have to be mobile friendly!

Here are 5 reasons why you need a mobile friendly site:

Ask these eight questions to win more customers.

Managing your reputation online builds trust.

Try these nine tips to improve your web design.

What makes an effective web design?

Purpose and Function

Communication and Interaction

Intuitive Navigation

Design Consistency

F-Pattern design & Grid-Based Layout

Typography and Readability

Color palette and imagery

Mobile-friendliness

Loading speed

Did you know Google Alerts can help you monitor your online reputation?

Here’s how to create optimal content.

Here are some possible “add-ons” to consider to make your site stand out:

Can you be found in local search?

Spend a little, gain a lot!

User experience is more important than ever.

Or should we say, 280 characters or less?

Here are 12 ways to get started in promoting your business on Twitter today!