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How To Improve Your Email Marketing With Mailchimp

September 2, 2020/in E-Commerce, Marketing /by Kevin Richards

Our goal at Ventura Web Design and Marketing is to be educated on and utilize new services and tools so that our clients get maximum results. The goal of this blog is to explain what the email creation software, Mailchimp is, its different features, and explain how you can use it to reach your customers with creative emails based on analytics within the software.

 

What Is Mailchimp?

Mailchimp allows you to create marketing emails, Google and social media ads, websites, landing pages, surveys, social posts, sign-up forms, and postcards. For the purposes of this blog, we will be focusing just on their email services. 

 

Types Of Emails Mailchimp Provides

Mailchimp has an in-depth, but easy to use email generator section with premade templates to customize. There’s no coding required to make these emails, but if you’re tech-savvy and want to give coding a go Mailchimp still gives you that option. 

One-time Emails

Great for:

    • Announcements
    • Product specials
    • Blogs. 

Automated Emails

Used for:

    • sending welcoming emails new subscribers
    • Sending birthday messages
    • Delivering abandoned cart offers

Plain-Text Emails

Used for sending out emails that are:

    • Text only
    • Free of images
    • Not formatted using their software
    • Hyperlink-free

A/B Test Emails

Great for testing different styles of emails on your subscribers. Test:

    • How well images/GIF’s work
    • Most effective subject lines
    • What days of the week are your emails most effective

 

Effective Email Marketing Strategies

When sending out your marketing emails think about what content a friend would want to read. While big brands send out super detailed design heavy emails with large (somewhat aggressive) eyecatching font would you send an email like that to a friend? Probably not. Here are a few ideas to try when sending your marketing emails:

Storytelling 

Rather than just focusing on a tip or promotion, tell a story. Maybe its something that happened while working with a client. Explain this story in as much detail and as creatively as possible.

Incorporate Videos

Video viewership and videos in marketing have exploded in popularity. There’s many guesses as to why this may be from an anthropological perspective, but the simple explanation is a well-made video is entertaining and easy to follow. When sending an email that includes a video subject indicate it in the subject line like this:

“Video: How To Make A Peanut Butter Sandwich”

While that’s a silly video example writing your subject line like that will increase open rates by 6% according to SuperOffice. 

Automated Content Series

This is for businesses that have enough content to string together a few weeks of content pieces to create a series. This process will prompt potential customers or current customers to subscribe to this free content with their email. You will then create an automated email series with content that is released on a weekly basis. Content that lends itself well to this type of series is podcasts, videos, or blogs.

Segmentation Tracks

This is a unique way to market to customers. You provide freebies sent via email for customers based on a subject they chose that you have email series set up for. You can start by releasing free content about two or three subjects related to your business. Let’s refer to these subjects as X, Y, and Z. Someone signs up for the freebie information on subject X, they would then be sent emails in a series relating to that subject while people that may choose subject Y and Z receive different tailored emails related to their subjects.

 

Tips To Get More Opened Emails

Editing Your Mailing List

When your emails are consistently left unopened it signals to an email provider like Gmail or Hotmail that your content is spam. This can cause your emails to be automatically be filtered into the spam folder by email providers.

Along the same lines if you send out emails that are causing people to unsubscribe email providers can again interpret your content as spam. 

To prevent this you should go through your email list and only keep the people most likely to engage with your content.

 

Creating Emails For Client’s Subscribers

When we are creating emails for our client we consider a few different factors like what color schemes, paragraph structure, and content that will appeal most to your subscribers. 

Contact us online or by phone to find out how your business can take advantage of a service like Mailchimp to improve your marketing emails and convert subscribers to customers. The phone number for our Las Vegas office is (702) 515-2057 and the number for the Tampa office is (813) 556-7990.

BigCommerce Named The Best E-commerce Platform

August 27, 2020/in BigCommerce, E-Commerce /by Kevin Richards

Have you been thinking about transitioning your website to BigCommerce? At Ventura Web Design and Marketing, we support BigCommerce and recommend it to most of our clients, but don’t just take our word for it. 

EcommerceCEO, eCommerce ratings, and reviews site ranked BigCommerce as the best e-commerce platform for small businesses for the second year in a row. It beat out 20 other platforms for the top spot.

Rating Categories

BigCommerce was rated on:

  • Performance
  • Features
  • Scalability
  • Ease of use

BigCommerce Score

They received a 90 out of 100, the second-place e-commerce platform trailed by six points. One of the biggest perks of BigCommerce is its ease of use. There are no complicated apps to install that can potentially slow down your website or complicated formatting. 

BigCommerce said while they’re delighted to have won the #1 spot, they will not stop improving the platform. They are set to release new features and speed improvements this year.

We Can Help You Transition

Switch your website over to BigCommerce today to start increasing your revenue. We are well-versed migrating from any platform to a BigCommerce website, as we have done it for countless satisfied clients. Contact us online or by phone at (813) 556-7990.

BigCommerce Named The Best E-commerce Platform

August 25, 2020/in BigCommerce, E-Commerce /by Kevin Richards

Have you been thinking about transitioning your website to BigCommerce? At Ventura Web Design and Marketing we support BigCommerce and recommend it to most of our clients, but don’t just take our word for it. 

EcommerceCEO, an eCommerce ratings and reviews site ranked BigCommerce as the best e-commerce platform for small businesses for the second year in a row. It beat out 20 other platforms for the top spot.

 

Rating Categories

BigCommerce was rated on:

  • Performance
  • Features
  • Scalability
  • Ease of use

 

BigCommerce Score

They received a 90 out of 100, the second-place e-commerce platform trailed by six points. One of the biggest perks of BigCommerce is its ease of use. There are no complicated apps to install that can potentially slow down your website or complicated formatting. 

BigCommerce said while they’re elated to have won the #1 spot, they aren’t going to stop improving the platform. They are set to release new features and speed improvements this year.

 

We Can Help You Transition

Switch your website over to BigCommerce today to start increasing your revenue. We are well versed in how to transition to a BigCommerce website, as we have done it for countless satisfied clients. Contact us online or by phone at (813) 556-7990.

10 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Page

August 22, 2020/in Design, E-Commerce, Marketing /by Kevin Richards
Did you know your Facebook page could be one of your best tools for increasing your revenue? With the proper relevance and frequency of your posts you could tap a whole new market you didn’t even know existed!

Read more

5 Things Website Viewers Want To See

August 21, 2020/in Design, E-Commerce, Mobile Web Design /by Kevin Richards

Your website home page should entice viewers to buy from you or work with you. People make very quick judgments when viewing a site…about a two-second judgment to be exact. So, implement the five things covered in this blog to convert web traffic into revenue.

 

Clear and concise messaging

People spend 5.94 seconds looking at the main page of a website so its important to have a clear and concise messaging to get your point across. 

It’s best to have one main focal point on the page with easily digestible text…chunky paragraphs are a major no-no. 

Every website main page should contain:

  • What you do
  • Why you do it
  • Benefits of your business/product
  • Hours of operation
  • Contact section
  • Call to action

 

Reduced options

Some may think its better to give people 20 options as opposed to a handful of options. While it may feel contradictory, it’s actually better to give people just a few choices. 

Hicks Law states that the more choices a person has the longer they will take to make a decision. 

This is not what you want when someone visits your site. You want to convert that visitor into a customer, therefore, giving them fewer options to pick from is better since the longer it takes them to choose an item the more likely they will be to second guess the purchase altogether and leave the site. 

 

Easy navigation

How many clicks it takes to complete a task and how easy options are to find are two factors people look for when browsing sites. 

Make your site easy to browse and buy from. Minimal things to click on the homepage is usually best. Here’s an example of CarMax’s homepage.

The page tells you what they do, has a large call to action button, and quality photos.

Use photos to enhance your page

As shown in the example above good photos are crucial to people’s perception of your business and what you do. Avoid using stock images, as it seems impersonal and makes a customer less likely to trust you. 

Your images should be high quality and compressed or zipped files to prevent the page from lagging when loading.

 

Provide proof for your claims

Provide reviews of past customers on your website. As people, we are more likely to follow the crowd so posting other satisfied reviews will make people more likely to choose your business. Providing reviews shows you can back up claims or provide a quality product or service. Let’s use our website as an example. We have put reviews on our website to back up our claims.

Contact Us

After reading this do you think your website could be spruced up? Contact us and we can handle redesigning, rewriting, and reworking your website so it can effectively grab the attention of potential customers. We have two locations to serve you. Contact us by phone in Tampa at (813) 556-7990 or in Las Vegas at (702) 515-2057. You can also contact us online.

Facebook Shops: The New Way To Sell Online

August 21, 2020/in E-Commerce, Social Media /by Kevin Richards

Merchants of any size who are looking for ways to grow should take note of the latest entrant to the e-commerce space.  Facebook announced its latest feature, Facebook Shops, which would be compatible with both Shopify and BigCommerce. If you are currently using these e-commerce platforms, you have a huge advantage over your competitors. If you’re on another system, talk to Ventura Web Design about how you can move your store to BigCommerce or Shopify today. 

Facebook Shops was rolled out on Facebook and Instagram, giving business owners the opportunity to capitalize on the online e-commerce trend and lack of in-person foot traffic due to the pandemic. 

Shops allows business owners with existing e-commerce websites to export products from their eCommerce sites to their Facebook Shop.  It’s also easy to upload products that don’t exist already on the web directly into Facebook Shops. 

 

How To Setup Facebook Shop

Before continuing to create your shop setup, make sure you have a Facebook page dedicated to your business with admin capabilities.

 

The new feature was created so businesses can easily publish listings for products. It’s simple to set up your shop. Follow these steps:

  1. Go to your Facebook page
  2. Click Settings in the top right corner
  3. Click on Templates and Tabs
  4. Click Add a Tab at the bottom of the page
  5. Click Add Tab next to the Shop option
  6. Go back to your page and click the Shop button from the left panel
  7. Agree to the Terms and Conditions
  8. From the pop-up window choose Message to Buy or Checkout Another Website to choose how customers will view/buy products
  9. Describe your store and what you sell in the description box and save the changes

 

How To Add Products

  1. Click Add Product
  2. Add photos/videos of the product
  3. Give the product a name 
  4. Fill in the price
  5. Add a product description
  6. Click Save 

 

Want to Outsource Your Facebook Shop Setup?

Whether you’re too busy or simply don’t have the technical ability or patience to set up your shop, we can take it off your hands. At Ventura Web Design and Marketing, we specialize in e-commerce. We can ensure not only your Facebook Shop page is optimized, but your e-commerce site is too. If you want to increase your revenue, contact us online or by phone. The number for the Tampa location is 813-556-7990, and the number for the Las Vegas location is 702-515-2057.

 

How To Set Up Payment

For shops in the U.S, customers can pay directly through the shop page. For those outside the U.S, you have to use an e-commerce platform like Shopify or Big Commerce to process payments.

 

How To Set Up Facebook Product Catalog Ads

Catalogs allow Shop owners to retarget those who have viewed shop ads. By choosing the Dynamic Ad option you can serve an ad to the potential customer that already viewed that product. You can also choose the generic ad option to drive traffic to your shop, but that won’t be as targeted. 

  1. Access the Facebook Business Manager
  2. Click on the dropdown menu in the top left corner
  3. Click Catalogs under the Assets section
  4. Click on the Diagnostics tab
  5. Choose between a generic ad and a Dynamic Ad
  6. Create your ad according to your business demographics and preferences

 

Connect Your Facebook Shop To Your Ecommerce Website

Shopify:

  1. From your Shopify admin, click the + button beside the Sales channels heading.
  2. On the Add sales channel dialog, click Facebook Shop to learn more about the sales channel.
  3. Click Add channel.
  4. Connect the Facebook account you want your store to appear on:
  5. Go to Facebook Shop > Account
  6. Click Connect account
  7. Confirm that you’re using the correct Facebook account. If you’re not logged in, enter your Facebook login credentials.
  8. Follow the prompts on the Log in with Facebook dialog to allow Shopify to connect with your business’s Facebook page.

Facebook will take up to 48 hours to review your store. You will receive an email when your shop is approved.

BigCommerce

  1. On your BigCommerce shop account click on Channel Manager and then Facebook
  2. Confirm you’re using compatible currency then click Get Started
  3. Fill in your business info on the following pages 
    1. You’ll need your Facebook business page name, business manager account, business address, business email address, list of states you have offices in, shipping options offered, and return policy)
  4. Set up Facebook payments
    1. You’ll need your social security number or EIN (employee identification number) and your preferred bank account number

Once you have completed the steps above, your catalogs will begin to export to Facebook. This may take a while depending on the number of products you have

You can check the status of the export in the Export tab of the Facebook Channel Manager page.

Once the export is complete, Facebook will notify you within 48 hours to let you know if your products conform with their guidelines. 

 

We’re Here To Help

Set up a free consultation to allow us to review your website and assess your needs. Contact us online or by phone. The number for the Tampa location is 813-556-7990, and the number for the Las Vegas location is 702-515-2057.

 

Person typing on laptop with SEO text

Guide To Ecommerce SEO Services

April 22, 2020/in E-Commerce, SEO /by Kevin Richards

Why Your Business Needs A Professional Ecommerce SEO Agency

Your ecommerce business depends on customers finding you online. Agencies specializing in SEO for ecommerce give you the advantage over competitors and get you more visibility online.

Get More Traffic To Your Website

Your webpages already have titles that display at the top of each page. These titles let your customers know what information you’re about to give them so they can find what they’re looking for. There’s a very important step before this, though. Your customer has to get to your webpage first and that’s likely through the search engine results pages (also known as the SERPs).

Customers are going to see what’s called meta titles and meta descriptions for each website that shows up on Google after they search for something. If your meta titles and descriptions aren’t enticing enough, your potential customer is going to move on to someone else. Your meta information also helps Google and other search engines learn what your page is about. By keeping your meta titles and meta descriptions on brand, in active voice, and by including the right keywords, your website gets boosted in the rankings as well.

A major step towards getting more people to click on your website from a Google search results page is drawing them in with the right titles and descriptions. SEO agencies specialize in writing meta information to get you ranking and get more website traffic.

Increase Website Sessions

Now that your customers have made it to your website from Google, it’s time to keep them there for a while and keep them coming back. There are several ways to accomplish these goals. The general rule of thumb is to make your website engaging and easy. What do your customers want from your ecommerce website? What are their goals? Once you’ve narrowed down what customers are looking for, give it to them.

You’ll need precise and informative content, that’s also entertaining, easy to read, and nice to look at. Build your internal links so customers stay engrossed in your website, opening multiple tabs. The more helpful you are, the more likely your customers are to bookmark pages from your site and even share them with friends or family.

Some of this you can do on your own. But to do it well, ecommerce sites should invest in using an SEO agency as an extension of their team. Not only can an experienced ecommerce agency do this faster and better, it’s usually less expensive than hiring another employee of your own.

Rank Better On Google (And Other Search Engines)

Obviously this is what most people think of when they realize they need SEO services. Ranking better on search engines increases the chances of customers reaching your website, which increases the changes of them making a purchase. Adding or sprucing up your meta titles and meta descriptions are certainly helpful and necessary. Ensuring that your content is top notch is imperative. But what about ongoing SEO maintenance? What about your competition who is constantly optimizing their website?

Even if your content is outperforming your competitors, they’re going to catch on. Google algorithms impact keyword rankings overnight and out of the blue. Technical issues come up with your website. SEO isn’t a “one and done” process. It’s ongoing and necessary as long as the Internet is still relevant (and we don’t see the Internet going anywhere any time soon), especially for ecommerce stores.

Only the best ecommerce SEO agency is going to actively monitor your SERP performance, research your competition, and keep up with important SEO trends and changes. If you don’t have an SEO agency on your side, it’s time you get one. If you already have an SEO agency, think about the results you’re getting, evaluate whether it’s time to make a change, and partner with an agency who gives you quality and longevity.

Grow Ecommerce Sales

You’re an ecommerce business and you want to generate revenue. Customers can’t purchase your products if they don’t know who you are or can’t find you. Most of the time, customers know the product they want but don’t know where to find it. Ecommerce business owners need to guide customers towards their own online store. Whether you have a Shopify or BigCommerce store, you need SEO to help generate revenue and improve visibility.

When is the last time you looked at your product descriptions? Do you have an ongoing news, events, or blog section on your website? Search engines look at your content, compare it against their algorithms, and rank you based off of how helpful they think you’ll be to someone searching the Internet. By constantly improving your content and adjusting to important SEO updates, you become more helpful to customers which increases your changes of generating revenue.

Ventura Web Design & Marketing is the best ecommerce SEO agency in the Tampa Bay area. For decades, we’ve been helping our ecommerce clients rank better in the search engines, improve their content, and generate website traffic and revenue through customized SEO. Contact us today and start growing your ecommerce business is more ways than one with SEO services tailored to your needs.

Your Go-To Guide for Holiday Marketing

Your Go-To Guide For Holiday Marketing

November 11, 2019/in E-Commerce, Marketing, Small Business, Social Media /by Kevin Richards

Holiday Season 2020 is Here Now!
The Holiday Season is starting early in 2020.  Business owners need to plan out thier marketing now to ensure that they’re reaching their maximum potential, and customers don’t shop elsewhere.  Below are some of the key dates to plan for.

DOWNLOAD THE 2020 HOLIDAY MARKETING CALENDAR

November 1st-15th
This is the time to ensure all new products are uploaded on your site. It is a great time to review your product categories and organization to ensure that the customer can easily find items in your store.  Work with your web designer and marketing team (Ventura Web Design & Marketing) to ensure that all marketing materials are in place and ready to go.

November 15th- November 25th
A few weeks before Thanksgiving is usually when companies begin promoting the deals they will be running the following week. This is the perfect time to start drumming up hype for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions.

Cyber 5 – The Biggest Days of the Year

 

Thanksgiving Day

November 26th
More companies than ever before will begin Black Friday promotions on Thanksgiving Day. As soon as everyone has enjoyed their second helping of turkey, the race to get the best deals is on.  Use discounts, promotions, and scarcity in your marketing to bring urgency to the buying experience.

Black Friday

November 27th
The granddaddy of holiday marketing, Black Friday, is the single busiest shopping day of the year. Your Black Friday promotions should be promoted heavily for a week or two before the actual date. Some businesses choose to extend Black Friday promotions into the weekend, then head right into Cyber Monday.  Just imagine that huge stack of orders that will await your team on Monday.  Perhaps you should consider asking your team to work Friday, Saturday, and even Sunday to keep up with the orders… That is if you’ve done your marketing in advance.

Small Business Saturday

November 28th
Small businesses can keep the Black Friday hype train steaming ahead to Small Business Saturday. This holiday is a unique opportunity for small businesses to get their holiday sales off to a strong start.  Remember to tap into the excitement both online and in person.

Sale Sunday

November 29th
Sale Sunday is a newer date added to the cyber shopping weekend. Many people will be traveling home and searching online for new and interesting gift ideas for those “hard to shop for friends and family.”  Experience and personalized gifts will be a big hit in 2020. You may want to promote your specialized gifts that can be personalized on Sale Sunday.

Cyber Monday

November 30th
Another behemoth, Cyber Monday, is the biggest day of the year for online shopping. In 2018, consumers spent over 6 billion dollarson Cyber Monday in the U.S. alone. Much like Black Friday, you should start promoting your Cyber Monday deals at least a week or two beforehand.

Free Shipping Day and Green Monday!

December 14th
Free Shipping Day and Green Monday land on the same day in 2020! Don’t miss out on taking full advantage of this hectic shopping day. This is when the holiday season really gets into full swing. Green Monday is the 2nd Monday of December and is typically the best online sales day for the month.  For the last several years, retailers big and small have teamed up to promote “Free Shipping Day.” This year combine them and see the revenue pour in!

Expedited Shipping

December 14th – 20th
Though specific dates may vary among businesses, it’s important to consider the time period where you can guarantee delivery by Christmas. This is an excellent time to run promotions on shipping.


Super Saturday / Gift Card Promos

December 19th
The procrastinator’s favorite holiday! Super Saturday (sometimes referred to as “Panic Saturday”) is the last Saturday before Christmas Day. It’s a good idea to think about running a one day sale specifically tailored to last-minute shoppers. This is the perfect time to offer Gift cards at a slightly discounted rate to bump up your after Christmas sales and traffic.


Christmas Eve & Christmas

December 24th & 25th
For the master procrastinators, this is their last chance to purchase gifts for friends and family.

After Christmas Specials

December 26th – January 2nd
Ring in the new year with promotions for both New Year’s Eve and New Years Day. Promote your clearance sales to make room for your new 2021 products and promotions. Then pat yourself on the back for executing another successful holiday marketing campaign!

13 Ways to Sell Products Online

13 Ways to Sell Products Online

August 16, 2018/in E-Commerce, Marketing, SEO /by Kevin Richards

Selling online can be tougher than it seems. For many store owners and service professionals, this can be daunting. Many solutions found online can be difficult or expensive.

Every day that your product isn’t selling is a loss in revenue. This is especially true for physical products! The frustration builds when you spend a lot of time trying to sell your product without results.
Read more

Add a Photo Gallery to your Yahoo Store

Add a Photo Gallery to your Yahoo Store

July 26, 2018/in Design, E-Commerce, Yahoo /by Kevin Richards

Do you have a cool idea for how you can increase sales by customizing your Yahoo Store? The great team at Basic Copper asked us to develop a photo gallery so that they could showcase the cool projects that their customers are producing with Basic Copper products.
Read more

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