Segmentation of your market is sometimes a necessary step to take when you need to fine-tune your marketing strategies. To make the most of your investment with your ad strategies, it helps to analyze what you are doing and how it could be changed to target a more specific audience.

How to Remarket Successfully

The problem that many people have with remarketing is that they go about it in the wrong way. They either do it too much, not enough, too forcefully, or just generally tacky in their approach. Remember that remarketing and retargeting is all about learning from past mistakes and not making the same ones again.

Google AdWords has some interesting points about the remarketing process. Some of their key points are listed below.

1. Having access to the people who are most likely to buy– One of the main reasons you should focus on a remarketing campaign is the fact that you’ll be able to cut through the factors that have not been successful. Then you can look at the ones that will produce the success you are after.

2. Focusing on specific advertising goals– There is a saying that entrepreneurs often say, “Do everything that leads you to your goal but nothing that does not.” In other words, you need to plan your ad strategies based on actions that will lead to the achievement of your business goals.

By focusing on the specific goals that you have for your ad strategies, you will likely make better decisions in your remarketing activities that will lead you closer to your goals.

3. Using automated bid strategies– You can employ the use of automated bid strategies such as setting it to get you the most clicks possible within your budget. Target CPA, another traditional automated bid strategy, will allow you to get as many conversions for your ads as possible within the specified budget you designate for a given ad campaign.

Any of these techniques can add to your results when retargeting your ad strategies and ad campaigns. Much of these actions you can do through Google Adwords as well as other forms of PPC advertising like Facebook and Twitter.

4. Find customers who are searching for you– Using specific tools that help you locate your clients who are looking for you and your products or services will help you to leverage the power of retargeting and remarketing.

Retool, Redo, or Retire

Remember that using remarketing techniques does not mean that your initial ad strategy was unsuccessful, wrong, or ineffective. It just means that, because it did not yield you the results you wanted, you need to take a step back, reanalyze, and segment your population into the “maybes” and the “probablys.” In other words, try to locate the people who are most likely to buy from you. Don’t waste time with those who have no interest, even if your original data might have led you to the conclusion that they were viable prospects.

Weed your garden

Part of this process of weeding out unlikely candidates is to go through your email contact list, Facebook and other social media accounts, and newsletter sign-up list and delete the members that you have never received a response from.

Just using logic and common sense, you can figure out that, if someone has never responded to anything you sent them or offered them, the chances are likely that they are just not interested. If they respond occasionally, they may have enough interest that they may not be a customer yet, but they may be later on.

Weeding out the people who have not shown enough interest in your brand can help improve your mailing list and ad campaign strategies immensely and save you time and money in the long run.

5. Use video to remarket for increased results– If your main goal is to increase your level of credibility, try retargeting and remarketing by using media such as video. Add a personal message as the CEO to your target audience. Let people know who you are. Take the opportunity to let them know that you care about what interests them and that you want to hear from them.

This simple but important technique and talking to your viewers “face-to-face,” has been highly successful for many business owners who utilize the power of video to reach their most important prospects.

Connect with Influencers

One of the ways that you can improve your credibility as you are marketing your brand is to connect with social influencers. Social influencers are anyone who has had an impact on your industry in a way that would complement what you do with your brand.

You need to make sure that the individual that you get to help you with your remarketing is enthusiastic about your brand. Don’t expect them to be as excited as you are about it. But they should understand that you want to engage in a mutual exchange of favors, where you allow them to appear on your site, a podcast, video, or another digital asset in exchange for a plug for your brand.

Keep in mind that, the more famous the person is, the more expensive it may be to get them to do this. This is not greed on their part in most cases. Rather, it is just a fact that, when someone is well-known their time is not their own as it was when they could do whatever they wanted without the demands on their time.

You might have to pay a well-known social influencer $300 or more to get them to endorse you, but it might be one of the best investments you make.

Just vet your applicants and the people you connect to. Make sure it’s someone with whose values your values align as much as possible and someone that you would want to speak for your brand.

Having a Great Website to Reach Your Goals

If you want to improve your credibility, bring in more customers, and increase your web presence, use remarketing. Utilize the tools you have available to recreate hype for your ad or rework it completely to reach those you missed the first time around.

Learn to look for any factor that will influence the results and change something up each time, then measure your results regularly. It is only by consistent and accurate measurement of your marketing strategies that you will be able to tap into the secret bullet of success.

Start with a great website that is designed by a professional web design team. That’s us. We create awesome infographics for a wide variety of purposes and advertising strategies. Visit us today to learn more.

The post How to Use Remarketing to Improve Your Website Credibility appeared first on Web Design Blog - Web Design Team.

What is a call-to-action?

Probably most business site owners know what a call-to-action is. But it helps to remind us of the reasons it is so important. A call-to-action is meant to incite action once someone has had time to visit your site and checked out your content. Motivating people to do what you want them to do is the key that you should focus on. So, first, think about what you want them to do.

How to Decide on the best CTA

Before you decide where to put your CTA, think about what you want your call-to-action to be. There are many different types of actions that you can ask people to do. Some of the most common actions are listed below.

• Subscribe– One of the most popular actions that site owners use in their call-to-action is to ask them to subscribe. You may want them to subscribe to your newsletter or to your website, or some other digital asset you are offering. The goal in the subscriptions is usually to make money if it is a monthly subscription service but it may be for the purpose of generating leads. If your subscription is a membership that you want to use to increase your views and follows, you should make your subscription free. If you want to make money with it, you should focus on selling the subscription in a way that will appeal to your target customers.
• Share– You may want to ask people to share your content, website, or product links with others. If getting people to become brand evangelists and cheerleaders for your brand with others is your primary goal, you should focus your CTA on this.
• Purchase– Making sales on your website is important to growing your business and your revenue. If you want your call-to-action to increase your sales, you should do a good job of selling the product or service you want to focus on in your CTA.
• Sign up– Getting people to sign up for a newsletter or other opt-in is one of the reasons for a call-to-action on your site. Think about what you want them to do and ask them to click your CTA to go to the next step.
• Shop– Sometimes all you need to do is to ask customers to shop on your site. Asking them to shop on your site and offering a shopping button makes the process easier for the customers and may encourage more purchases.

Placing Your CTA in the Right Places

Once you have decided on what your call-to-action should be, you should consider where to place it on your page. There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but it should be located in a natural position on your site, based on what you are asking them to do.

Some of the best places to place your CTA are listed below:

• Within a video (clickable screen link)
• At the end of a video
• At the bottom of an ad
• At the bottom of your page

If you put your CTA only at the end of the video or at the bottom of the page, remember, that you may need to remind them it’s there along the way by placing a “scroll down” reminder within your page so that they will follow through to your call-to-action.

Using Video to Increase CTA Results

One of the best ways to improve the results you get with your call-to-action is to create a video that you can place in the center of your site that gets the interest of your target audience. Then put the CTA at the end of the video. Using explainer video to explain a product or the benefits of something you are offering and then placing a CTA at the end is one of the best ways to increase your ROI on your videos and web assets.

YouTube makes it easy to place your CTA in a viable place on their platform, as well. When you upload a video to YouTube, make sure that you place your call-to-action in your video description and remind them of the video to subscribe or perform the action that you need them to do.

Don’t clutter the message

Remember that your CTA should be about one thing at a time. This is an important fact to remember when placing it on your site. If you try to ask customers to do too much at once, they may be confused as to what the CTA is about and bounce off of your page to avoid doing something they do not want to do.

Also, remember that you cannot sell your entire company to someone in one call-to-action. Only focus on one product, one subscription, or one service that you want to sell or promote. If it’s for the purpose of generating leads, you should just focus on putting up a CTA that will draw more followers or subscribers. Then you can use the list you get to sell them a variety of products.

Intermittent CTAs

While it’s best to put your CTA at the end of your page, your video, or your podcast, it’s a good idea to put reminders about the call-to-action within the main part of the video as well to encourage more people to act on. Remember, too, that not everyone will stay with your video til the end, so you have to include what you want them to do for those who desert your message too early.

Create a call-to-action could be considered the last step of your sales funnel that you must set up ahead of time to see results on your website. Part of the process of setting up this system is in designing a streamlined website that works well through every step of your sales funnel and process.

Create Separate CTAs for Different Products

It’s understandable why many online experts agree that you should create a separate page, ordering process, and call-to-action for every different product or service. It’s because your CTA must be highly focused so as not to confuse the customer on what they are doing.

People can only really focus on one thing at a time. Despite this world of multi-tasking that we live in, the brain only functions well with one stimulus at a time. Distractions can take them away from your CTA and the purpose of your site. So make sure your CTA is highly focused and placed in a location that allows them to think about what you are asking them to do.

If you need help building or improving on your site or placing your CTA in a proper place, contact us at webdesignteam.com. We understand the various aspects of a website and how they must all work together to lead the customer to your CTA.

Let’s work together to lead your client to the result you want.

That’s webdesignteam.com.

The post 4 of the Best Places to Put a Call to Action on Websites appeared first on Web Design Blog - Web Design Team.

Perhaps your company does pretty well, and you are turning a regular profit. If so, congratulations. Keeping afloat is the most fundamental goal of any entrepreneur and business owner. But most business owners want to do more than that. They want to create a world class organization that gets them increased revenue, attention, and an increased return on their investment.

Are you looking for a way to help your business thrive online? Using digital assets to boost your business is one of the best ways you can achieve your goals. If your goal is to make your online business stand out among the thousands of businesses out there, you’re in the right place.

Using Digital Assets to Boost Your Brand

Using digital assets to boost your brand and create a world class online eCommerce business should be the goal of any modern business owner. In addition to this fact, there are plenty of valid reasons as to why you should consider your digital assets as some of the most important properties you own. Even USAToday Magazine and Forbes Magazine agree, due to the increasing number of documents, online storage solutions, and media files that are housed in digital form these days. They recommend that people take a close look at the various digital assets they have in their possession and think about how they will guard and protect these assets as part of their estate planning.

13 Must-Have Digital Assets to Make Your Business Soar

If you want to leverage the value of your digital properties, try the following digital assets to create a world-class online business and watch your business grow into a true investment that you’ll be proud of.

1. Information and data– Information that you house in any digital form is valuable because of the potential value it holds for customers as well as yourself and others. If you have relevant information, make sure to store it in a database that is safe from third parties. Like trade secrets, some ideas are so valuable that you just cannot afford anyone to see them or use them without your knowledge.

2. Software– If you have created software or even if you are just a user of software for your business, you should understand the importance of keeping it safe at all times. The way that you choose to use software is unique to your business. Some firms even have customized software created for their business, so the value of this is even more important.

3. Podcasts and Videos– Did you know that you can increase the financial worth of your business simply by producing media for your company? If the topics you cover are considered valuable to others, you have the power to sell, rent out, or create hard media copies of your videos and podcasts.

4. Logos and designs– Your logo is an important digital asset of your business because it is an integral part of your branding. Protect your logo and make sure you have it trademarked.

5. Company policies and legal– One of the most important assets that help to define your business is your legal policy. The way that you run your company is important and unique to your identity as a business owner. You should document this as a digital asset by saving it as a PDF, MS Word document, or another format. Any legal policies, contracts with your employees or independent contractors should also be housed in a digital system though you should also have a physical copy handy in your office or workspace.

6. Digital currencies– If you do business online, you have to have digital currency. This is an online payment system that allows you to do business with others from other locations. There are many different types of payment systems so you should look into different types and decide which is best for you.

7. Music and art– If you have a business that has art or music assets, you should store these in a digital format such as mp4 and mp3 files in a secure storage system. Whether you own the rights to the works of art and music or not, they are valuable to your company and should be protected.

8. Intellectual property– Intellectual property is any work that is created in a tangible form by you or your company. It involves copyright and patented works, and you should consider this a big part of your branding and identity. Common law copyright allows you to claim the copyright of any completed work that you create yourself, but you should make sure and keep a digital footprint of when you first uploaded the work to prove that it was yours, in case you are ever challenged.

9. Notes and ideas– Your notes and ideas are important to the future of your company. Even if you do not use every idea you come up with, you should keep a digital copy of these ideas for later reference. There are plenty of digital applications available now to do this such as Trello, Notes for Android, and Evernote.

10. Trade secrets– Steve Jobs, the guru that we all refer to often on what to do regarding business and technology, kept his trade secrets so secret that he even refused to reveal anything about his invention until the day of its release. Once you create something of value, everyone will be out to imitate it or steal it, so it’s understandable why he worked so hard to protect his trade secrets.

11. Customer data– Another irreplaceable asset is your customer data. Customers trust you with their sensitive information, so it’s important to house it in a secure, digital format and protect it from third party infiltration.

12. Documentation and tax forms– Your company documentation on any matter and your tax information should be documented through a tax preparation program or other financial software and saves in digital format for later retrieval.

13. Websites and blogs– Did you know that the minute you create anything online in digital format, that it becomes the property of you and your company automatically. This protection runs for the life of the creator plus 70 years! This is found in copyright law and is legal evidence of authorship and intellectual property. Protect your website, blog, and other digital assets with a secure digital system.

What We Do to Help You Build Value

If you have yet to create a website that you want to add to your growing list of digital assets, call on us. We are the web design experts, and we create digital assets for companies every day including:

• Graphic designs and logos
• Animation
• Web design
• Infographics

People judge you today by your virtual property and digital assets. Build your company value and visit us at webdesignteam.com and start creating the digital assets you need to make your business a world-class organization.

The post 13 Must Have Digital Assets To Make Your Online Business World Class appeared first on Web Design Blog - Web Design Team.

You have to be a marketer with your content if you want to improve your level of engagement and leads for your brand. If you have a video that you need to promote, we hope that you will benefit from our post today. We’ll talk about how to cross-promote your content whether you’re trying to develop a video or other content.

Tips to Promote Your Content

If you need to promote your content, here are a few tips to do this in a way that will increase your views, leads, and conversions that Google will reward.

• Start with your video description.– Your video description is the place where you should use SEO and other marketing techniques to improve your search results. Start by creating an engaging video description and by using keywords that the search engines will pick up. Try using the same keywords in your title as the first line of your description. Also, include meta tags at the bottom of the YouTube description area so that you will increase your SEO power.
• Link or embed your video on your main page.– Linking to your videos on YouTube from your main page is good, but it’s better to “embed” your video front and center on your page if you want to create a maximum focus on your video content. Refrain from using the “autoplay” function as this has been shown to annoy some viewers.But embed the video in the middle of the page so that visitors can start it themselves.
• Cross-link your videos on YouTube.– One of the best possible ways to cross-promote your material is to link your videos to each other on YouTube. If you have more than one video (and you should), you can place a link to other relevant videos so that users who are viewing the other videos will also have easy access to your other content. This will increase traffic to all videos that you are cross-linking, and it can prove to be a very effective way to promote all of your video content.
• Feature multiple videos and cross promote them.– As mentioned above, you should have more than one video. This will increase the chances of getting more people to check out your content and to become loyal followers of your content as well.
• Share links with relevant sites.– If you have business partners or friends with websites that host content that is similar to yours, you could exchange links and create more hype for both your site and your friend’s site. Make sure the content is relevant and related to your niche area to avoid being penalized by Google.

The Social Media Factor

We cannot forget the importance of social media when it comes to promoting your content. Use Facebook, Twitter, and all of your other social media accounts to place links to your YouTube content to increase engagement. You can also embed new videos in your Facebook feed, and that is highly recommended! The more you can show your content and make it appear on the radar of your target audience, the more you will increase your leads and conversions. 

Integrated Media

The key to success in creating a great promotion is to cross-market your video and web content across several different platforms including YouTube, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), and to create a network of backlinks to your content on reputable sites.

Google will not penalize you for cross promotions. There is a bit of a rumor online that this is the case, but it’s not correct. Some website owners got this idea because they have penalized some sites for having too many keywords or including content that was not relevant to their site. Just make sure you follow these Google standards, and you won’t be penalized for your cross promotions.

• Stay relevant.– Google’s main requirement for online content is that it is relevant to what you are linking out to. This includes what you link between your content as well as linking out to other people’s content. If you use keywords that are not relevant to your content, you can be penalized by Google for leading visitors to content that is not relevant to your purpose.
• Offer value.– Offering value includes producing high-quality video content and other content that your visitors will find valuable to them. People value different things, but if you know what your customers and prospects want, you can provide them with the content that they will appreciate. Matching content between searchers and your content is the ultimate goal for Google.
• Be mobile-friendly.– Google also wants web owners to remember their mobile users and to provide content that is easy to access and take in by mobile customers. Make your site optimized using Google’s optimization tools and other methods and check your payment system to make sure it is working properly for these people.
• Avoid spam or keyword stuffing.– When sharing and cross-promoting your content, avoid using keyword stuffing. This is the unethical use of too many keywords that are used primarily to get people to click out to certain links whether they are relevant to your content or not.

If you follow these standards, you shouldn’t have any trouble in promoting your content, whether it be video or web links. Just remember to provide value in your descriptions and promote your content in a way that will be advantageous to your target audience.

Good Guys Finish First

Avoid the use of overuse of keywords, while using them naturally within your text. This is what your customers want, too. Using “black hat” and unethical practices within your content will only serve to make you lose people who could have been customers. Even if you get them to buy from you once, they may not do so again because they do not trust you to deliver relevant content on a regular basis. Use ethical standards in everything you do and instead of one sale you’ll get a customer for life.

Start with a great video.

Before you can cross-promote your videos, you need a good video, right? If you do not have one yet, contact us. We are animatedvideo.com, and we specialize in producing the kind of video that people will respond to and appreciate.

Check out our online portfolio and see some of our work. Even if you don’t see something you like on our portfolio page, contact us, and we can tell you more about what we can do for your business to promote your content.

Start with a great video and then cross-promote it in the ways we have described above. You’ll be amazed at the results. That’s animatedvideo.com.

The post Cross-Marketing Online Video and Web Content – What Works Best? appeared first on Web Design Blog - Web Design Team.

If you run Facebook ad campaigns, it’s a good idea to find some resources that you can use to help you with your ad campaigns. The process of placing an ad on Facebook is a simple one, but there are some things you need to consider if you want to make it the best it can be.

In this post, we will show you seven expert resource guides that will help you to make the most out of your Facebook ad campaigns so that you will increase your return on investment (ROI) and contribute to improving your brand’s engagement online.

The Moz Blog

The Moz Blog features a helpful resource that takes you through the steps of creating a great ad campaign. In this resource, they recommend spending $1 per day. If you do this, you will spend about .25 per 1000 impressions or $1 per day for 4000 impressions. This will allow you to get in front of 4000 people per day that you normally wouldn’t.

This amounts to $30 per month for 30,000 impressions. This kind of action can do a lot of good toward improving your brand presence and increasing your revenue.

This article also emphasizes that you should track and monitor your Facebook ads to see the level of success they are having and adjust accordingly. You may want to change the way your ad looks if you are not getting the results you want. The important thing is to monitor your results and does something different if you are not getting results. You should strive to focus on the target behavior that you signed up for with your Facebook ads and then adjust your ad as needed.

The Complete Guide to Getting Started with Facebook Ads

In this guide to getting started with Facebook ads, they lay out four of the major types of Facebook ads for you to choose from. Many business owners may not even realize that there are four different types of ads. Below, we outline each one and how you can use them to increase your revenue, click-through rates, and conversions.

• Marketplace ads– Marketplace ads are often woven into news type stories that appeal to people who are looking for information on that topic. This is a good way to use native advertising techniques within your Facebook ad campaigns if you want to be more subtle and provide valuable information to your viewers.
• Page post ads– Page post ads are the standard Facebook ads that many people use to promote their brand. These are more obvious ads for your business that are displayed in front of potential customers on Facebook who may be interested in your business.
• Sponsored ads– With sponsored ads, your ad will appear in front of people who are searching or reading about a particular topic or product that matches your niche area.
• Promoted posts– With promoted posts, you write a post and then promote it through Facebook ads. If you have a particular post that is important to get to your key audience, this is a great way to do it.

You should choose which ad works best for you or vary the types of ads as the need arises. You don’t have to stick to only one type of ad. Just do what works and monitor your results.

Social Media Today

Social Media Today shows you two basic methods of advertising with Facebook that won’t break the bank. They recommend “page likes” and “post boosts” as your staple means of Facebook advertising if you are on a tight budget.

Page likes or Post “likes” can be integrated within your Facebook ads, and you can use these as the actions that you are paying for when you pay for your ads. This is an inexpensive way to promote your brand without branching out too much into the other ways to advertise until you see your results.

Hubspot

Hubspot has a helpful guide on how to make your Facebook ads more successful. They recommend making your ads more visual, relevant, valuable, and including a good call-to-action that people will take direct action on. They have much more details in the article so make sure and check it out by following our link above. Hubspot is known for helping small businesses increase their impact online and improving their click through and conversion rates.

Read their exact tips by following our link above and see what you can apply to your Facebook ad campaigns.

Kabbage

Kabbage, the company that offers lending programs for small businesses to fund their startups, offers a helpful guide for running effective Facebook ad campaigns.

It is entitled “The Complete Beginner’s Resource Guide to Learning to Run Ads on Facebook,” and it offers several valuable tips on how to use video, blogs, and other aspects about your Facebook ads to produce better results.

The Search Marketer’s Guide to Successful Facebook Ads

Marin Software has a guide on their website that offers several tips on various aspects of how to improve your Facebook ads. You can download the guide, The Search Market’s Guide to Successful Facebook Ads on their site.

Behave.org

Behave.org offers a free eBook on their site that is a great resource for your Facebook ad campaigns. The guide is called, “A Marketer’s Guide to Facebook Advertising.” You can download it above and use it as an ongoing resource for your Facebook ad campaigns.

How to Use These Resources to Your Benefit with Facebook Ads

If you want to maximize your impact with Facebook ads, you should keep and bookmark these resources for future use with your Facebook ad campaigns. Some are blogs with tips that are helpful while others are full eBooks full of information to help you increase your impact with your Facebook ads.

Facebook is a powerful tool that you should utilize to improve your brand presence, increase your ROI and conversions, and reach your goals.

If you need help with your website, that’s our department. We can help you design a website that is perfect for your target audience that people will want to look into. Then advertise your newly designed site with Facebook ads to increase your reach.

How We Can Help!

At webdesignteam.com, we understand the importance of having a first-class website for your target audience. You need to make it social-media friendly and think about your primary audience that you are trying to connect with via Facebook ads.

There are many components of a great website. We can include anything you need including coding languages, WordPress themes, 2D and 3D animations, video, and much more. Visit us today and see how we can help you achieve your goals through an effective Facebook ad campaign and a stunning website that will turn heads.

The post 7 Expert Resource Guides for Running Effective Facebook Ad Campaigns appeared first on Web Design Blog - Web Design Team.

If you are interested in buying and selling websites, we have put together a list of sites you can look into to start doing this. Whether you are wanting to just buy domains or create working websites that you can sell later, this post should help you by providing you with the resources to do this.

How to Flip Websites

You may have heard of flipping real estate property in order to turn a profit. You can think of website flipping as the same thing, except that you do it with web properties instead. Some people only buy the domain and then sell the domain immediately. In this case, you are just selling the name. The key to success in this is to do your keyword research and then try to purchase domains that have a high value among possible customers who are looking for the domain for their business.

One way to do this with domains only is to find out what is popular and find a market where people might be looking for those domains. Some people prefer to buy web domains and then actually get a website going on that domain and then try to market the finished website.

You could do this through forums or social media. Alternately, you can find markets that offer domains or domains with finished websites to sell them on. There are many different sites that offer you the ability to sell your domains or websites online. You should look into their rules and learn how it works and then start shopping for domains that will turn you a profit.

Below are some of the top online marketplaces that you can use to either buy or selling websites and domains.

Flippa

Flippa.com is the largest and most successful online marketplace for buying and selling websites. They also recently added domain names and mobile application to their marketplace as well.

Since the launch of the site just a few years ago, Flippa has already had nearly $200 million in sales produced through their site. On a weekly basis, it’s not uncommon to find nearly 10,000 bids taking place why hitting around a high six-figures in sales per week. Flippa takes a 15% transaction fee on all successful site sales, while also having placement fees when a listing goes live.

The power and strength of Flippa lies within their marketplace ratings, customer feedback and the massive amount of traffic flowing through their site.

GoDaddy.com

GoDaddy.com is probably the most popular site online that allows you to buy and sell domains. You can sign up for a free account in order to purchase websites. If you want to sell domains, you will need to sign up for the premium plan which is $4.99 per year. This will allow you to list domains for sale, including premium domains (those that cost much more when sold).

This yearly fee allows you access to the GoDaddy Auctions platform. Once you get into the auctions listing site, you can immediately see the value of any current domains and you can list new domains.

Some people spend a few hours a month shopping for popular domain names and doing keyword research to see what is the most popular and then relisting the domains on GoDaddy.com. Some people who have learned to master this system have made up to $20,000 on one domain that they only paid $50 for! Now that’s a great profit margin!

It takes some time to figure out how to purchase domains that are likely to sell. You have to be willing to do some serious research to make this work. But it just may be worth it if you want to buy and sell domains for a profit.

Digital Point

Digital Point is actually a forum that has also grown into a market that includes articles, templates for websites, web domains, and more. You have to set up an account in order to use it or to post anything for sale.

Once you have a free membership, you may list domains on their site under the Marketplace tab on their site. You can ask any price you think the market will bear and put it up for sale. Once you sell the domain, you will be responsible for transferring the domain to the new site owner. This takes some organization on your part but it may be worth it if you want to make this a regular residual income.

Ebay.com

You’ve always heard that you can sell “anything” on eBay.com. It’s almost true. Web domains are one of the many things that you can sell on their platform. To sell and list a domain on eBay, go to “Sell a product,” then choose the “Business and industrial” category and the “Websites and Businesses” option to list your website or domain.

Many people report that they have had pretty good luck putting domains up on eBay. You will just have to handle the website domain transferral process and make sure that your buyer gets their domain transferred in a timely manner.

Study the rules of domain transfer

Before you set up a business to buy and sell websites and domains remember that you need to understand the industry. It is an industry in and of itself and it to your benefit to make sure you understand the rules that apply to this process.

In general, if you have a new domain that you are selling, you can sell it immediately and have it transferred within a few days. But, if you resell a domain that has been used before, there may be a waiting period before you can actually transfer the domain to the new owner.

If you are selling a web domain that resides on a server and is listed under a certain website server, you may have to wait up to 60 days to transfer it.

You should check up on this and find out how long it will take before listing your domain name or website and then make that a part of your description so that buyers will know this.

Do it Yourself

Instead of following one of these sites to find sites or domains to buy and sell, you could just purchase a domain at any site that offers them and then resells on your own using one of the markets we mentioned or others. If you break out on your own with this, just make sure that you check out the source and know that you are dealing with legitimate people or domain businesses before purchasing or listing.

What about your website and domain?

Well, now that you know some places you can start a domain or website business, what about your own website? No matter whether you are in the website sales business or any other type of business, the most basic element of your business is your website.

If your website or domain needs a makeover or you don’t like the server you are on, you should visit with us online at webdesignteam.com.

We are professional web designers and we can provide everything you need to create and maintain your website. Check out our work online and contact us for a free quote.

Some of the things we can do with your website are listed below.

• Graphics design
• Website design and development
• 2D and 3D animation
• Infographic design

Buying and selling websites and domains can be a full-time career or a nice residual side income for your business. Check out the sites we told you about in this article and then contact us so we can get started building your customized website today!

The post Top Online Marketplaces for Buying and Selling Websites appeared first on Web Design Blog - Web Design Team.

In this post, we will explore some ways that you can increase your level of credibility through your website and how you can use some practical techniques to accomplish this.

Use Videos and Testimonials

Online video is a powerful medium in and of itself and can be used to increase your validity and credibility. The fact that you have videos on YouTube also help you get more views on YouTube with their internal search engine. In addition, videos can be shared with others which can eventually lead to a higher level of respect for your company.

Videos are also a favorite medium of shoppers and they all that help determine whether someone purchases or not.

Testimonials, which can be done via either video or other means, are effective in increasing the credibility of your brand. This is because people tend to believe other people who are like them over company owners or members of the staff of your corporation. It is one thing for you to say that you have a good product or service and another when they see others agree who have purchased your products.

Use Guest Bloggers

One way that you can increase your credibility is to featured guest bloggers on your page. By having guest bloggers who are experts in their fields to write things about your brand or related topic, you will increase the likelihood that people will trust your brand. There is something to be said about others who agree with your viewpoint or do things in a similar way that add credibility to what you were doing. Just make sure that the guest bloggers that you have to write for your side are also credible.

Use Infographics

Infographics are another great way to increase your credibility on your site. With the effective use of infographics, you can include information regarding your company, show a timeline of how long you been in business, and how your business has evolved, and answer any questions that customers might have within the infographic itself.

In addition, infographics can be used for testimonials from customers who are pleased with your service, they can include important research and bar graphs that show your sales trends or any other various types of information and data that you wish to share with your audience.

Use Social Media

The use of social media is one of the single best ways that you can increase the credibility of your brand. By putting yourself in front of more people with your message, you will increase the sharing factor and bring in more people who will testify as to the validity and credibility of your brand idea.

Social media can be used to enhance your reputation in your niche area, help you to establish yourself as an expert in your field, and you can also promote ebooks or other media that you have created for your brand through social media channels. Make sure you don’t miss out on this important opportunity to increase your visibility and brand awareness.

Backlinks

The use of relevant backlinks is also an effective way to increase your credibility on your website. Use back links and cross links to your videos, your blog, and any other internal pages that you want to increase your traffic. In addition, make sure and include external links to other sites but only ones that win credibility to your brand as well. Remember that everything you do should have a positive effect not a negative one or it is really in vain. Use all of these ideas to increase your credibility by pooling the resources of other people who also have credibility that will contribute to your brand’s overall validity and trustworthiness in the minds of your fans.

Do live Webinars and Web Events

Another great way to increase your credibility using your website is to create webinars and live video feeds. You can use Facebook’s live video tool if you choose to, YouTube or any other tools you wish to use to do that. The point is to create more hype for your website. Live events are very popular with people and they enjoy seeing something unfolding in real time. Increase your credibility further by having guest speakers who have a good following in their niche area or whose niche area complements your own.

Hosting live discussion groups or open forums about a topic that is popular in your niche area may also serve to increase the amount of brand awareness of your company through your website.

Another way to increase the level of credibility of your brand is to answer questions and develop a reputation as an expert in your industry area. When people deal with a brand or company, they want to know that the CEO and managers of the company know what they are talking about. By the use of various types of media, as well as social media presence and so forth, you can greatly increase your brand credibility.

Be visible, write eBooks, do videos, and integrate all of this together for maximum effect. This will be a huge step toward increasing the validity and credibility of your brand. When people see you as an expert, they are more likely to do business with you and to bring others with them.

Create Brand Evangelists

When you create brand evangelists, you are building a larger following for your company and your brand and increasing your credibility exponentially. Social media is a very useful tool in accomplishing this thing along with video and the other tools that you use to do that. Social media and YouTube videos are two crucial ways that you can accomplish this.

A great example of this can also be seen in our expert roundup posts where we interview experts within the industry to provide their best advice and feedback to our site visitors. This is a great way to create original content for your site, while also establishing yourself with many other experts and brands within your space.

Start with a Winning Website

As with anything regarding your brand of your company, you should start with a great website. Web design is just the vehicle by which you get your message across that gives you a site to host your brand on it. Your brand is not your website but your website should look attractive, should be navigable, and have a high degree of UX. The more mobile-friendly and user-friendly and responsive your website is, the more people will remain on your page to hear your message to the end.

If you do not have a website that works for you, go to our main page at webdesignteam.com and check out our portfolio. Webdesign.com is a well-known platform for web design. We have been in the business of creating professional-looking websites for businesses for years.

Check out our portfolio and see for yourself. We can include all of the elements you need to increase your credibility including interactive video, social media integration, 2D and 3D animations, infographics, and much more.

Nothing stands in isolation when it comes to helping your website to be more effective or in increasing your online reputation or credibility. By integrating all of the assets and tools that you have at your disposal, you will improve your brand identity and increase your credibility online.

It is the wise website owner who uses all the tools available to them to improve your branding. We can help you to channel this in the best way by utilizing all of the best elements of web design and integrating it with your platform of choice. Visit us today and see what we can do for you.

The post How Business Site Owners Can Increase Credibility Through their Website appeared first on Web Design Blog - Web Design Team.

This post will examine and compare three of the top eCommerce solutions that are popular with users so to help you decide which solution you should use for your website. The three we will examine are Shopify, Wix, and WordPress.

Shopify.com

Shopify is on the top of our list because of the people that endorse it, as well as a host of other good reasons. Daymond John of FUBU and Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, both endorse Shopify.com as a great platform to sell your products from.

They like the platform because of some of the same reasons we do (listed below).

Multiple Selling Options

One of the most attractive features of the Shopify platform is the fact that you have several different options to sell your products.

• Online store– The most basic benefit of the Shopify platform is that you have an instant online store. The ease at which anyone can set up a working online storefront is amazing and impressive. The look is professional, and there are multiple templates to choose from.
• Retail package– The retail package is an upgrade to the basic Shopify store and allows you to have a complete, robust platform that is both versatile and real-world accessible. With this upgrade, you will be able to transport your Shopify platform to your real-world store as well and make your local business work seamlessly with your online stores.
• Buy buttons– The use of “buy buttons” is an excellent silent “call-to-action” that allows you to tell online shoppers what you want them to do without being too pushy about it.
• Facebook shop integration– Many people make lots of money with their Facebook stores and Shopify gives you instant Facebook integration to help you make this a reality.

Brand Control

With Shopify’s easy point-of-sale assets, you will be able to control every aspect of your brand. With the use of Shopify’s many hardware and software solutions, you will be able to take your brand to new levels and keep control of your brand either offline or online. The various industry-related themes and other perks allow you to create a custom branded approach to your online store.

Customizable Feature

The many features on Shopify’s platform allow you to create a custom experience for your business and your customers. You can finally give customers what they want and deliver every time.

Impressive Stats and Visibility

The statistics of Shopify show that it is a highly successful platform. Over 325,000 people are currently on Shopify, and they have grossed over $24 billion worth of merchandise using Shopify. They also let you choose your type of payment processing such as Paypal or a multitude of other payment options.

These statistics, along with the high visibility of the Shopify platform make it stand out as one of the best online platforms to use for your online store plans.

Wix.com

Wix is a robust online web design platform that allows you to set up an online store quickly and easily. They have multiple easy themes to integrate into various industry areas, like Shopify and the look is professional and clean-looking.

Wix is always adding new templates which add to the excitement of people who are using this platform. You can browse through the various options and find the best features that appeal to you for your brand and easily add the extra add-ons to your site.

Slideshows

Slideshows indicate how Wix is reinventing the wheel when it comes to online presentations. They offer this free online tool that allows you to show off the best features of your website and brand within an easy slideshow. This gives you a free tool to use anytime to showcase your products and doesn’t require that you create an offline Powerpoint or use Slideshare to do it.

Store Features on Wix

The store features that you can get on the Wix platform include but are not limited to:

• Beautiful storefront
• Store manager
• Product pages
• Coupons
• Multiple payment methods

All of these components of the Wix storefront help you create, manage, analyze, and maintain a beautiful store that your customers will appreciate. There are several additional tools that you can also use online at the Wix site to help you maximize your impact with your store. The versatility of Wix is outstanding and offers a great eCommerce solution all in one place.

WordPress.org

WordPress is a standalone hosting solution that allows website owners, bloggers, and businesses to host a site on their platform. While it is not specifically dedicated as an eCommerce solution, if you like WordPress and use it, you may download eCommerce store plugins such as the WP e-Commerce app that allows you to include an online store on your WP site.

If you are a WP fanatic, do check out the various eCommerce solutions they offer and decide which ones have the features you need. As far as the overall WP platform, it is plenty robust enough to allow you to conduct business on your site, provided you have the essential plugins and backend server options to operate your store. Also take a look at the many comparisons between WordPress.com and .org versions.

Many well-known companies host their site on WordPress, and it is considered the second most popular blogging platform as well, second only to Blogger.com, which is owned by Google.

Conclusion

All of these platforms will serve you well if you are looking for an online store solution to house and sell your wares. However, you should check out the various specific features of each one so that you can make a more educated decision about the options that you need for your business.

You should always start with a great website, no matter where you host it. To do that, you need a plan to develop top-quality web content that you can host on a reliable platform that will work for you and your brand.

One place to start is to talk to the professional design team at Web Design Team. We have years of experience in setting up both standard business websites as well as eCommerce websites that are fully functional and integrative with the WP platform and others.

Contact us today, and we can analyze and assess your situation and get an idea of what you want to do with your site and then make sound recommendations as to how you can proceed. You don’t want to make choices that cost you money down the road. Give us a call and visit us online and we’ll be happy to help.

Web design is what we do.

Once you get your design and content worked out, the rest is easy.

The post Shopify vs. Wix. vs. WordPress – Which eCommerce Solution is Right for You? appeared first on Web Design Blog - Web Design Team.