Tips to More Creative Content

In the marketing space, content is king. You can never have too much content.

The typical issue when it comes to content is quality. If the quality isn’t up to standards or doing anything to generate more visitors to a website or sales for a company, it doesn’t matter how many articles or blog posts you produce.

At Genius eCommerce, we certainly know the importance of quality content. This is who we are and what we do. Today, I will review some tips to make your content stand out and be more creative so you can start seeing more results.

Make It Measurable and Repeatable – Marketers and writers tend to feel that they need the guidance of a template to generate quality posts. Sometimes the best thing to do is be completely original and let your story do the talking. Don’t use another company as a measuring stick or as a guide. You are your own company and your own brand. Let that do the talking.

Meet Expectations – When it comes to converting customers, think about creativity and what their expectations may be. How can you exceed those expectations and surprise them? If you have content on topics and subjects that your competition doesn’t approach, you will stand out because you will appear even more knowledgeable in your field and willing to do things that the competition is not.

Tell the Story of Your Customers – Sometimes your content can only go so far with the business telling the story. The best stories aren’t ones of the business or the marketing department, they are from the ones making the purchases: your customers and your partners. Instead of ignoring this part of the equation, work with them, share your ideas and let them tell part of the story or finish your idea.

Keep Risk at a Minimum – You want to think outside the box, but you need to create that environment. Don’t be afraid to take risks. If you build it up in your head that taking a risk will have consequences then you won’t go near the subject. However, if you leave room for experimentation in content, you will oftentimes see more creativity and expression because there is more freedom in the voice of your brand. At the same time, have a set of rules and guidelines so you still keep it between the lines.

Use Brainstorming and Discussion – Use resources around you. Brainstorm different ideas internally with your team. Engage with your customers online or in person to get some feedback or ideas for content as well. There are all kinds of sources of inspiration when it comes to creating content, and you can’t do it alone. Get some ideas from others and bounce ideas off of them to see what works and what doesn’t.

Did you find these tips helpful? Want to know more about the latest in eCommerce? Check out the Genius eCommerce blog for more.

At Genius eCommerce, this is who we are and what we do, providing all of the latest news, updates, and tips on everything eCommerce. Keep reading our blog for more tips!

November 30, 2018

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Boost Your SEO with These Social Media Strategies

In many businesses, SEO and social media are considered as separate entities, and that just simply is not the case. Social media marketing can be an ally to SEO and help increase your organic reach.

If you have a business that has a larger team, one that could easily separate SEO and social media marketing and management, there are strategies for including social media that could be beneficial to you.

At Genius eCommerce, our goal is to provide you with the tips, tricks, strategies and more to succeed in the eCommerce space with the right practices from design and development to SEO and optimization. This is who we are and what we do.

Before going into these social media strategies, it’s important to know that social media does not directly boost SEO. Being mentioned and engaging with people on social media over a link does not help boost the link on search engines, just because there is a lot of traction and activity around it on social media.

It’s not that social media isn’t an effective marketing location, it’s just an unreliable signal for search engines. Google is not crawling or indexing all social media posts, so no matter how viral you think a post may be, it is likely not doing anything for your organic traffic through search engines.

One area where social media does stand out is in the ability to share external links. That said, social networks do not add any equity to SEO for these target pages.

Why is this? There are two main reasons. For one, search engines cannot identify the authority of a social profile, so there’s difficulty placing value on the link. Because search engines are smart enough to recognize that a link posted on a social network like Facebook is not directly endorsed by the website but by the user posting, there is no reason to give authority to the link target.

So, how can you use social media to effectively build your SEO? Here are three ideas:

Create Link Opportunities – Posting a link several times yourself is not going to boost your SEO. The goal of using social media is to get other people from a third party to share your link without you prompting the action. What this means is connecting with people for them to not only like what you promote but to use it later. Perhaps someone will include your content in a blog post of their own, creating a backlink. Now there is influence on your SEO as a result, starting by sharing on social media.

Build Brand Recognition – One thing Google may do is use mentions on social media to identify a brand. If a brand that is not recognized by Google starts getting mentions and a lot of buzz on social media, Google may start to view it as an entity. It’s not just about building recognition but doing so in a positive way. Google doesn’t look at just the amount of mentions, but to see how people are talking about a brand and if it is positive. This can have a direct impact on what you rank for, not how high your search engine rankings are for certain keywords and terms.

Gain Partners – In online marketing, building strong and strategic relationships is important to this strategy of gaining partnerships. It’s difficult to reach an audience organically, which means that you need to concentrate more on fostering new relationships on social media networks. There are different levels of relationships with social media, fans of your brand who increase your exposure with positive mentions, organic influencers who can provide a positive influence on your brand to their audience, and strategic partners who can share content and experiences for leverage on their audience and yours.

Were these tips helpful to you in forming your social media strategy? Check out more tips from Genius eCommerce by reading the Genius eCommerce blog. We provide tips, tricks, updates and more from the eCommerce world so you stay informed.

November 23, 2018

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Make Your Content Writing Better with These Tips

Great writing is about standing out from the competition. In order to effectively get your message across and convince people to support your business and purchase your products, you need to have great content.

Writing new content can be easy, but making it stand out above the rest is the real challenge. Any writing or other content for your website should be easily identifiable and relatable to your customers so that they can connect with you on a personal level, all while being high quality and improving your rank with search engines.

How do you avoid writing content that may become boring or bland to your visitors or customer base? At Genius eCommerce, we are here to help with tips on effective content marketing. This is who we are and what we do at Genius eCommerce, keeping you informed on ways to improve your practices to be effective with your digital marketing.

Today, we will look at some tips that will improve your content writing and help it to be different from your competition.

Make It About The Customer – The tendency in your writing will be to write about yourself or the business. When it comes to effective written content, the customer is the hero of the story. Bring them into the picture and the story of the brand so that they can feel like they play a key part, which they do. This helps the customer see what is important within your business and engage with them instead of it just being a long self-written testimonial.

More Than Keywords – You content strategy cannot be based on keywords alone. In addition to looking at the keyword research, you have to see the analytics through your content strategy and determine from there the keywords that most effectively engage and interest your audience.

Separate from the Crowd – In creating content, there are some topics that you will have to write about because they are such an integral part of your business, even if the competition is using those, too. But to really stand out from your competition, look for the gaps in conversation and find the topics that aren’t being talked about as much. Remember to also provide a unique perspective to common topics and trends and stand out in your writing in that way too.

Learn from Your Past – No one is perfect when it comes to content creation. What helps businesses stand out in digital marketing, including content writing, is learning from the past and seeing what worked and what did not. By not learning from your past mistakes or topics and content that didn’t work, you only prolong the problems you are seeing. Make adjustments and learn from the mistakes to take a step forward in your marketing.

Consider Strategy – When it comes to a marketing strategy for SEO and content, you want to leave room for adjustments and additional editorial planning. Sure, there will be topics that cannot be avoided or certain keywords that remain constant in your campaign that need to be used as common topics for your content, but effective planning can help you break up the monotony and tap into a different theme that is still important to your audience. Always be willing to mix it up or get some outside perspective as well to create quality content throughout a campaign.

Were these tips helpful to you? Put them to use and start writing effective and quality website content that sets you above the competition.

Continue to read up on trends and tips with Genius eCommerce. This is who we are and what we do and we stay up to date to provide you with the most updated trends in eCommerce and tips for bettering your digital marketing. Follow the Genius eCommerce blog for more.

November 16, 2018

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How You Can Make Your Contact Page Stand Out

When putting together a new website, including a contact page seems like common sense. Of course, you want to provide your information, it’s necessary for potential customers to be able to reach you.

But how much does a contact page really work? It feels like it can easily be ignored so many times.

There are ways that you can turn your contact page into a landing page so people want to reach out to you with questions and work with you to find the products they want. Today, we’ll review some of the ways you can create an effective contact page.

Easy Navigation – One of the most important things is to simply get website visitors to the contact page. So, make it easy. Give users a way to get to your contact page in the main navigation bar and in the footer of every website page so there is always a path to contact information. There’s no sense in having a contact page if no one can find it.

Make it Welcoming – Obviously having a contact page is meant to give website visitors a way to contact you whether by phone, email, or a contact form that can be filled out on the page. But, how easy is it really for visitors to contact you once they are on the contact page? Do they have to go through a number of steps just to get information to you? Users like for things to be easy and not consume too much of their time. The harder you make it for customers to contact you, the more you are essentially saying that you don’t welcome questions, comments, or concerns. Make the copy on your contact page genuine and welcoming and let them know how much you actually want to hear from them or get feedback from them.

Be Relevant – Many web pages include an email address and a form that allows customers to fill out some basic information and have it sent to your email. But you should not limit information to just those contact options. If you have a business phone number, include it. If you have a physical store address in addition to your online store, use a map to show where you are located for locals to visit for purchases. Social media information is also valuable on a contact page. Other relevant information includes additional email addresses for different departments or employees, business hours for a physical store, or contact hours for customer service teams.

Call to Action – The obvious goal of the contact page is for people to fill out a form to contact you. However, not everyone will visit the page and take the time to fill out the information. Instead of just hoping that customers will fill out the form, include additional calls to action to try to prompt different responses. Have customers sign up for a newsletter, view products that are on sale or specials, or follow your social media accounts.

Brand Representation – If you have a brand that is strong and reflects your business, bring that into the elements of your contact page. A contact page can easily become boring with copy that is very basic and dry. Brighten things up by keeping the voice and color scheme the same throughout the website, including the contact page.

Did you find these tips for improving your contact page helpful? Want to keep learning more about what you can do to get the most out of your eCommerce website? Stay with Genius eCommerce for more tips, tricks, updates, and trends to keep you informed on the latest in eCommerce. This is who we are and what we do! Follow the Genius eCommerce blog for the latest.

November 14, 2018

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Tips for Effective Link Building for Small Businesses

If you have done any search on link building in the past, you likely saw the same message throughout. Link building isn’t easy.

That’s certainly true and it doesn’t matter if you are a large corporation or a small business. Of course, small businesses are going to have even more difficulty establishing a great SEO plan and online presence.

You may not have the staff size to produce the amount of content it takes to start effective link building. You may not have a staffer who handles SEO and you may just think it is impossible for you to draw much attention as a small business to be linked by a well-known brand.

At Genius eCommerce, we have some tips on how you can get your link building game off the ground. With tips on all things eCommerce and in website design and development, this is who we are and what we do!

So, how can you improve your link building and make it effective as a small business? The first thing you will need is fairly obvious but important to remember nonetheless. It takes time, effort and patience to be effective with link building.

But, in addition to putting time and effort into your link building, there are a few things you can do to try to boost the effectiveness of your link building.

Support Your Community – With your target audience in mind, support a local charity or non-profit that your customers will care about. Sponsor a fundraiser. If you sponsor something that your customers can relate to and care about, you can increase traffic. This is something that will cost money, but it can also be a faster track than other link building efforts.

Connect with Local Bloggers – One of the best ways to build a brand or audience and aid your link building efforts is to work directly with some people who can assist. Connecting with local bloggers or bloggers who share the interest or niche are likely to share your website and blog posts, helping to create links and a natural relationship with more mentions coming over time. Be active in their own content, as well. At the beginning of the relationship, read their posts and see where you fit or if there are any ideas you can come up with where you can add value to their posts.

Write Guest Posts – Writing posts for other websites certainly takes more time and effort than others, but it can be worth the time. A guest post is essentially a way to directly get in front of your target audience, especially if the blog or website you are writing for has a strong following. You get qualified traffic out of it and actually being the name behind the post gives you more credibility and more of a voice for your brand.

Offer Case Studies and Testimonials – This can be one of the easiest ways to build links. If you use a product or service and are happy with the results, write a testimonial. Good publicity for a business is something they want to promote, so you are more likely to get acknowledgment from a testimonial or a share to build your following.

Promotion, Promotion, Promotion – You are probably already writing blog posts or sharing posts for your small business. However, go beyond the simple share on social media. There are online blogs that allow for syndication like Medium or LinkedIn and help rank target keywords for you. In addition to sharing on social media, use online message boards to get your links out there.

Were these tips on link building helpful to you? Stay tuned for even more from the Genius eCommerce blog! We stay informed and provide tips to you so you can feel like an eCommerce expert. This is who we are and what we do!

November 09, 2018

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Improving the User Experience of Your eCommerce Website

The best way to understand the user experience of a website is to put yourself in the shoes of your customer. Conduct a user research so that you know exactly who your customer is and consider their thoughts and feelings when viewing your website and reading about your business and brand.

The first few things you should keep in mind when looking into the ux design of your website are: Does it grab your attention? Is it easy to navigate? Does it make you want to stay longer than five seconds?

These are all things to consider from the user’s standpoint. Good user experience is a key selling point that can convert a visitor into a customer. A user-centered design can make sure your customers are getting a quality experience that encourages purchasing.

At Genius eCommerce, we know the importance of user experience in an eCommerce website, what it can do for your business, and how it can influence purchases and activity. This is who we are and what we do and we want to share our expertise, tips, tricks, and updates with you.

Today, I will present a few tips on improving your eCommerce site’s user experience for customers:

Use White Space – Many people think that white space can make a website too boring and leaves valuable space without any content. It can be widely considered a waste. However, white space can actually be good for user experience. If you leave white space and allow your text to breathe, it makes a website feel more open, modern, and clean and can increase user’s attention by 20 percent. However, there is a way to leave too much white space, so work on finding an appropriate balance.

Optimization for Page Speed – The last thing users want when they click to your website is to wait for the page to load. If the page doesn’t load within a few seconds, you likely have already lost business before the customer even saw the home page or desired destination. Compressing images is just one way to reduce the size of files so a page can load faster and keep customers happy.

Calls to Action – To effectively get people to go where you want them to go, you need to use calls to action that prompt purchasing. This isn’t just in the wording. Use colors and designs on buttons that draw in users and get them to act. Of course, words are important as well, so you want to be convincing and persuasive without being pushy.

Differentiate Hyperlinks – There may be times when you are posting content that includes links that you would like the user to visit. When you do this, you need to make sure the links stand out and are different from the rest of your text, so underline and color links differently. Also, avoid using one or two-word hyperlinks that can easily get lost and make your links longer to help them get identified.

Image Usage – Images are an important part to the user experience because humans are such visual creatures, so we are naturally drawn to photos. The important aspect of using photos is the connection you can create by using your own photos as opposed to stock photos. Using stock photos can damage trust with potential customers and create a bad image for your business. Using your own photos helps to express your business and brand and establish a connection with a customer.

Quality Headlines – Headings carry more weight when it comes to search engines than the body of text, so you want your headings to be carefully constructed. This is a great place to focus on keywords and target words that your audience may use in searches. You can also give these headings a great visual design that jumps off the page and captures your audience, so get creative with the heading design as well.

Consistency in Pages – Once you establish a design, you need to keep it consistent throughout all pages. Heading sizes, fonts, colors, buttons, even little details like spacing and photo choices should remain consistent. Making too many changes from one page to another can confuse a user and lead them to click away or bounce from the page.

Catch Errors – One thing you need to be aware of is page errors like 404s. Search engines will still recognize and promote these pages even if they are not functioning properly, and while you want a search engine to work to push your pages higher in search rankings, a result that leads to a 404 error will create a trust issue with a user and instantly lead them in a different direction. Avoid that kind of judgment from users by keeping up on your pages and any errors.

Responsive and Mobile-Friendly Web Pages – Your website needs to function well in general, but with so many people on mobile devices and tablets, it is necessary for you to have a responsive design that fits all devices and make your website mobile-friendly so it is easy to read and navigate on a smaller device. Google is now starting to rank websites based on how mobile-friendly they are or if they are optimized for mobile, so this is more crucial than ever.

Were these tips about creating great user experience useful to you? There is more where that came from with Genius eCommerce. This is who we are and what we do, and we continue to stay up to date so we can provide the most recent tips, tricks, trends, and updates in eCommerce. Check out the Genius eCommerce blog for more.

Send us a message or leave a comment; we’re always happy to answer questions you might have about your eCommerce store.

November 07, 2018

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Design Tips for a Better Magento Website

Designing a new website for eCommerce can be confusing. There’s so much to consider in the design and development, especially when it impacts the future of your eCommerce business. As a Magento user, you want to make sure you get the most out of the platform you are choosing.

At Genius eCommerce, we are here to help. We know the ins and outs of Magento and how to use the platform. We also know how important it is to get the most out of the platform you are using for eCommerce and can help you do that with your Magento store. This is who we are and what we do!

Today we will review some tips and aspects to a design that are important to improving your Magento website.

Put Consideration in the Theme – Before you even get started with putting together the store, you want to make sure you are choosing the right theme. You will want to choose a theme by considering how much work is needed to customize it and what the cost will be. Your theme should fit your needs, be functional, be customizable, current, and responsive.

Use Your Theme’s Features – Once you choose your theme, you should get more informed on your theme so you can appropriately take advantage of the features that come with it. Knowing what options you have when it comes to the design can give you more freedom and flexibility in getting the most out of your theme.

Highlight the Important Information – Your information needs to be organized neatly and visible throughout the website so customers never have to go far to find it. Things like an email address, phone number, and other contact information should always be visible. You should also have information like a shipping policy, return policy, privacy policy and other frequently asked questions available easily from navigation so that people can get there in just seconds. Other information or links that can appear in the header of a website include social media icons, checkout, and a newsletter sign up.

Navigation – When it comes to designing a website on Magento, having crisp and clean navigation is essential. Your customers will want to be able to quickly find what they are looking for and browse between pages. Not only should the navigation from one page to another be easy, but you should also consider how your products are placed throughout the site and presented. The easier you can make it for your customers, the better.

Images – One of the best ways to make a design better is to add high-quality images that can draw customers in and get their attention. Don’t be cheap here. Not only do you want the images to be high in quality, but make them original and use photos of the actual product, not just stock photos. It gives your website more credibility when customers are able to see the product that you will be selling and shipping to them as opposed to a generic image of the product. It’s a professional look and feel that can take your website and put it over the top.

Now that you know about maximizing your design in Magento, start to put these tips into action. Did you find these tips helpful? Check out the Genius eCommerce blog for more tips, updates, trends and more in eCommerce.

November 02, 2018

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