What strikes your mind when you feel like buying a product or service? What do you do? Where do you go next? The answer for most of us is going to be to search online! A business website surely rings a bell, as that will be your destination. If that’s what you do, it’s probable that hundreds of millions of people out there do the same. In this era of technology, where the internet has revolutionized our experience of shopping goods and services, websites for small businesses has become our go-to place. That’s why it is highly essential to have a website because that’s where your customers are.

Creating a small business website is as easy as ABC. You don’t need anything physical. Just decide a brand name (if your business is new), buy a domain and a hosting service. But your work isn’t done yet. You need to have space on a WORLDWIDE WEB with a user interface that your customers would want to visit again and again. The primary platform is WordPress, which is not only comfortable but economical and user-friendly.  To dive deeper into hosting and domain services would be a topic for another article.  If you are interested in learning more about what host is right for you, I recommend researching your specific niche.  Some great companies to start with would be GoDaddy, WPEngine, or BlueHost.

 

Research different themes

 

 

Before you start making your website, similar research businesses, check which themes they are using.  The theme is the generalized structure of a site; different templates allow for various features.  Then, match your theme according to your logo and your essential brand’s color style. While ‘theme’ sounds as one word, remember that it comprises of overall fonts and color palettes that your webpage will use. Best website designers for small businesses suggest that you buy an economic theme – as it is ready-made and doesn’t require you to do a lot of website coding on the back end. It is a little investment, but it can do wonders for your small business website.  I typically recommend utilizing an Elegant Theme’s “Divi Theme” for easy accessibility and gorgeous design elements.

 

Start from an ‘about me’ Statement

 

Sometimes, it’s not the products that your people want to buy. They want to buy it from you and your brand!  For that, you must make your first classy impression via your ‘about statement.’ It’s the first thing you should craft once you h on a theme. Your statement can quote your interests, your causes, your expertise, favorites, and maybe the name of your favorite pet!

 

It’s a virtual tour of your Office

 

Remember that your website – be it for a small business or a giant, established one, should provide a virtual tour of your business premises. While visiting your website, your customers and your target audience should feel how they would if they had been there in one of your stores or branches. And so, your website is your storefront. It has to be classy and should contain stuff that distinguishes your brand. You have to have a logo, banners with related color shades, slogan, and anything else that relates directly to the products and services you offer.

 

Buy Some Cool Plugins

 

 

The major hype around WordPress is because of the neat plugins it offers. While it has several free plugins, the paid ones are the best because they can add instant life to your website. Also, these plugins can be bought one by one throughout your business era. And believe me, the first time you buy a crazy plugin, you’d love it and instantly wish to buy another. However, it is a bit challenging to use different plugins altogether yourself, and you may need some professional help. For that, there are hundreds of WordPress web designers in Arizona, who offer expert advice and excellent service against a cost you’d love!

 

Offer a freebie

 

Clients love it when they can take something back after visiting your WordPress website. You can offer them a beginner’s guide to doing something, a checklist, a planner page, a sticker, a business plan, a home organizer, or a simple worksheet that would make them come back to your website – which is also your storefront. A lot of times, these customers keep lingering on your website in search of other digital freebies and find something they had wanted to buy for ages.  Something we offer as a freebie is a free SEO audit of your website!

 

A website isn’t enough!

 

If you hire a professional website designer, he/she will walk you through the whole process of setting up an online presence for your brand. But, making a website for small businesses can be a hassle. There will be times when you’d want to focus more on creating new products and services – rather than looking at your webpage and even marketing it. Therefore, to make this process hassle-free, we always suggest our followers hire the best website designer for their small business and let this person do the rest for you! They’ll help you connect your website to different social media platforms, collect email marketing data for you, and so on!

Gone are the days when people would linger around shops and stores. People no longer spend hours looking for their favorite turquoise hoodie or their plum lip color in physical stores. That’s because businesses are growing, and so are the customers’ expectations – so are the selling strategies, and so are your competitors. This expansion has lead both large and small companies to shift to an online business model.  Still, there can be nothing more thrilling and industrious to launch an eCommerce websites from scratch and watch your sales skyrocket.

Now how do you get started?  Umm, it’s more or less like a recipe you’ve been reading twice or thrice or more than that. And so, it’s a different feeling when you start doing stuff – mixing your research with your existing business plans and then grinding it with the market insights for your desired niches. So, here is an ultimate guide for beginners who plan to start an eCommerce store, the hassle-free way, in 2020.

Step 1 – Research the market

Like any other business, Ecommerce also requires you to dedicate time, energy, and efforts. Before you sign up for stores or something like that, make sure to study the market trends, barriers to entry and exit, and participate in online discussions about this business. Otherwise, once you start without the necessary knowledge, it may get exceedingly tedious later on to understand the technical vocabulary, ratios, and insights of your business.

 

 

During your research phase, you need to decide which niche you’d target – which depends upon your interest. If you know a great deal about the newest cellphone models, and you choose to open an eCommerce store that exclusively sells handmade scarves, art, crafts, and paintings – you’d soon regret your decision to launch this business.  All your ideas, website, and offerings need to flow together to give the customer a consistent message.

Bonus Tip: Your research should include cross-checking the market trends as well as your interests! Knowing this information will help you direct your efforts while choosing product lines and target audience.  The longer you spend on research, the less you will need to do in the later phases.

Step 2 – Establish your brand and store

An eCommerce store is essentially a conventional store where you hand in physical goods or services to your clients. So, deal with it the same way. Establish your brand – logo, store name, products, vendors, delivery channels, payment methods, business licenses, work permits, etc. Also, consider any other business obligations as required by your local government or compliance authorities.  Failing to do so could result in unpaid taxes or fines that nobody wants to deal with.

Then, choose a platform for starting your eCommerce websites. Evaluate carefully before you decide on one. Selecting a cart option may seem more comfortable, but it’s something entirely different from just looking at them.  Our recommendation is to use the WordPress CMS platform with an eCommerce theme or plugin. Popular options include WooCommerce and Shopify. Remember that your eCommerce has a high loading speed, the available templates relate to your business model, there are different payment channels available, and that it has any other necessary features and storage.  Striking a balance between a lean, fast website, and one that is robust with information is critical.

Bonus Tip: It’s better to hire an eCommerce web designing expert from Arizona if you’re new to all of this. You may have to bear a financial cost for these services, but that’s way convenient than doing it on your own for the first time and destroying the first impression of your store.  Plus, Kallen Media has been working with these eCommerce websites for years!

Step 3: Choose relevant marketing channels

Time to market your store! Deciding the right platform advertise your products and your store is equally important as the design. For example, if you are offering some WordPress themes, digital downloads, research reports, or maybe some furniture for offices and business premises – you better work with LinkedIn. Similarly, if you have a girly brand and pink products, makeup items, or some undergarments – then prefer using Facebook Business. In short, your platforms will differ based on your target audience, and it is so vital for your business to engage with the community via the right channel and media.

Bonus Tip: There are some sponsored marketing tools available on different platforms. For example, LinkedIn has a premium account. Similarly, Facebook posts can also be boosted against a nominal cost. Go for that. Or, if you want to avoid taking long routes for these necessary tasks, outsource your worries to a digital marketing agency in Arizona who can manage everything else for you. A number of these digital marketing agencies offer great SEO and blog posting services.

Are you in Phoenix?

Get in touch with the best digital marketing agency that will take care of your eCommerce websites as a professional. These companies in Phoenix offer solutions to all of your problems – from eCommerce web designing to higher ranking campaigns in SEO. They have inhouse teams who provide creative advice, expert consultancy, and excellent customer care with mind-blowing eCommerce store management services that you’d love for ages!  For more information, you can contact [email protected] or call (773)524-1483.

What Is Structured Data?

Today I am going to cover an introduction to structured data and why it is essential for your website. Most people are familiar with using search engines to find results based on their search. However, what people may not be as familiar with is why your search results look the way they do.  Before we dive in, I want to start with an introduction to structured data that may seem more familiar. Take a look at the image below. You may notice a variety of differences within each result that comes up for the “casserole recipe.”  This structure is because of structured data written on the backend of the website.

At the top of the search results are card-like structures.  Instead of a standard link, you get the recipe name, author, review ranking, and even some ingredients.  All of this is thanks to the structured data. Google uses data from a website’s “site map” to show more detailed results.  When you add a specific piece of code to your website that is structured data, it allows Google to augment your listing. When standing out from the competition is vital, this will give you an advantage. All of this together is why structured data is becoming such an essential holistic search engine optimization practice.

Where Does Structured Data Come From?

Structured data is what tells Google and other search engines what is important and what it should be displaying.  The project is primarily based on a web project called Schema.org. This website is a database for a markup language used to communicate with the search engines.  The communication happens by using a method of encoding data called JSON-LD. There are other ways available, but for this article, we will be focusing on Schema.org and JSON-LD.

Now you know that structured data is composed of JSON-LD markup.  The markup taken from Schema.org can now convert to structured data. Within the website, there are a variety of sections that highlights the type of data that can be composed.  Some great examples would be recipes, business hours, or author name. Not all posts or page types can break down into structured data for all search engines.  This is why it is essential to also take a look at the Google-approved markup. By doing this, you will ensure that the largest search engine can correctly index your website.  Indexing a website is when Google sends out their bots, which go from website to website capturing data. These bots are often called crawlers and are critical factors in how your website ranks in search results.

Website Integration

 

But now lies the question, what do we do, and how do we integrate it within our website?

Most people are not going to want to learn the code and backend of JSON-LD.  Luckily, there are a wide variety of other ways that you can implement your Schema markup.  The most common is going to be through utilizing a plugin. Currently, there are a wide variety of broad SEO plugins on the market.  These plugins are going to be the most comfortable option for most users. This will allow you to fill out data about your website and posts from a smooth user interface.  Some great examples of plugins to use would be the Moz or Yoast plugins. These companies offer both free and paid options that vary on the amount of support and opportunities given. This research is a significant first step in creating an optimized website while still being introduced to structured data.

A great alternative for people who may want to dive a bit deeper into their website would be to utilize Google Structured Data Testing Tool. Before we do that, I want to show you what the JSON-LD code for structured data will look like.  Don’t be overwhelmed by the code. If you focus on the few key points that I highlight, you will be able to use templates on most of your pages.  The first picture represents the JSON-LD code put in while the second represents that outcome.

Google Tools

After looking at the picture you should be able to see that there is a connection between the left and right sides.  This means that you will check Schema.org for the parts of markup required. For the example above, I used an article from Kallen Media.  The “@context” and “@type” will always start on the JSON-LD code side.  Below that is where you begin to describe to search engines what your page is composed of.  The reason we do this is that it is harder for computers to understand the meaning and context compared to humans.  By assigning values to names and specific aspects, it tells the search engines what it should be showing searchers. These values can change based on what type of post or page you are making your structured data markup.

Using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool is one of my top recommendations when first getting acquainted with JSON-LD and Schema.org.  This is because it will tell you the errors that will occur for Google. This is important since Google is the top search engine and you want your website showing up!

Once you have created the markup that you want to add to your site, there are a few options for how to install it.  The easiest and most effective way is going to be using Google Tag Manager.  This interface allows you only to have to add a few pieces of Global site code to your website, instead of every bit of structured data you have done.  If you do not feel comfortable doing this, we offer search engine optimization services that include structure data creation for your website.

Finalize Your Data

Google Tag Manager will allow you to enter in the JSON-LD added to your database.  This then will allow all search engines to read the structured data snippets that you have.  However, you will need to slightly change your code for Google to accept it. The easiest way to do this is to paste the code into Yoast’s Script Helper.

Once you have done this, you can test your tags from within Google to make sure they are activated.  Once complete, your structured data should be ready to go for your website. This will mean that search engines will be able to read your content more accessible.  That means that your website should start standing out from competitors who invested in structured data. We are eager to see how structured data impacts businesses we work with.  If you have your website showing up using structured data snippets, let us know in the comments! Finally, if you need assistance setting-up SEO practices for your website, please reach out to [email protected] for more information on getting introduced to structured data.

There’s many good reasons to choose WordPress.  First, WordPress powers approximately 33% of all websites which are currently active on the Internet. When you think about it, that is a staggering statistic. The single system is so popular and so prevalent online, that one-third of all sites are powered by it.

It’s not just a blogging platform, although that is what many people use it. It’s also a very powerful website builder and is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) on the market today. A primary factor for the popularity of WordPress is that it’s so flexible and easy to use. Although, web designers use different software to build a website however, WordPress stands on top. Some of the biggest corporations in the world have their websites powered by WordPress, which is one reason why you should too. If you’re looking for some other reasons to choose a CMS, consider these reasons to choose WordPress.

Easy to customize

The vast majority of people who use WordPress start with no real web design or programming skills. Simplicity is the ideal solution for people who were not tech-savvy and don’t have any specialized knowledge of web design or development. There are thousands of free website templates ready to start online. However, to have a fully optimized website, there are a variety of guidelines to follow.

No matter what kind of business you’re in, there are formats and templates available to get started right away! There are probably WordPress templates that you can use as your base template. One of the things that makes WordPress so easy to customize is the template’s customization options. These allow you to change the background, colors, upload your logo, and make changes to fit your needs. Kallen Media LLC, leading Tempe web design service, is happy to take the worry out by offering fully integrated WordPress services.

It’s also straightforward to add or change functionality on your website through plug-ins. Combining these plug-ins allows for intricate website design without spending hours coding.

Easy to manage

WordPress comes fully equipped with its update management system, and that allows you to do any updating you need of plug-ins or themes, right from your administrator dashboard. Whenever a new version is available, your account becomes notified about it, and you can apply the update by simply clicking on a button. Be sure to do a bit of research before. Updating your website before checking could lead to breaking your back end, rendering your site useless.

You can enhance your security by adding a WordPress backup plug-in. The plug-in automatically creates backups for you, safeguarding your data in a remote location. It’s even possible to manage your WordPress away from home or while you’re on the go.

SEO friendly

All WordPress software created through the use of high-quality computer code. This means Google and most of the other popular search engines favor WordPress. This is one of the big reasons why most WordPress websites tend to rank higher than others. Additionally, this is one of the most persuasive arguments for using WordPress if you’re trying to draw traffic to your site.

Right out of the box, WordPress is exceptionally SEO-friendly. Still, you can also make use of several plug-ins that will optimize your site even further if you want to improve your website ranking, making use of some of these as SEO plug-ins will do the trick.  This is another one of the reasons to choose WordPress.

Flexibility

Although WordPress has gotten recognition as a terrific platform for bloggers, it is far from a text-only kind of software. It has its own built-in media uploader so that it’s very easy to manage all your audio and video files, as well as any images you want to transfer to your website. You can also embed all kinds of photos and videos just by pasting the URL in the post editor.

Site owners have used WordPress to build everything from the most straightforward website to a complex e-commerce marketplace. There are as many different types of WordPress websites as there are businesses. You can make your business website, you can start up an online store, you can sell online courses, and you can even establish your membership website. People have been very creative in their usage of WordPress to build websites, and you’d probably be amazed at some of the innovative ideas incorporated into today’s modern websites.

Making common mistakes while designing a business website is a fact, however, as compared to other CMS programs, WordPress is flexible enough to allow you to quickly restore and make fixes on your website immediately.

WordPress is free!

WordPress software is free, which means you can download it, install it, and use it any way you want. You can also use it to create any WordPress website design you can think up. All you need to get online is a domain name and a web host, so the website is online. The domain name is your website address on the Internet, while the web host will provide actual server space.

Undoubtedly, the fact that WordPress is free has contributed to its tremendous popularity. That’s yet another reason why developers all around the world have created a plethora of plug-ins WordPress compatible. Any specific function that you could dream up developers has probably created. Once developed, it can be made into a plug-in which anyone can make use of. All things considered, it’s not at all surprising that one-third of all Internet websites today are powered by WordPress.

If you are like many business owners, you probably decided to go the route of creating a WordPress website.  This reasoning is due to the immense amount of plugins and creative freedom provided by the platform. While it is easy to throw together a website and forget about it, that won’t generate you much traffic.  Today we are here to go over how to keep your WordPress website fast and up to date.

1. Choose a dedicated hosting plan

Believe it or not, the first step to having a speedy website is determined by your hosting provider.  It can be easy to go down the path of choosing the cheapest provider, but this also comes with its downsides.  Many of the most affordable hosting plans from large companies like GoDaddy and HostGator.  While the affordable prices seem appealing, they arrive at the cost of service.  These providers offer shared hosting.

Shared hosting means that the server that your website is on is shared. This website becomes paired with hundreds, if not thousands, of other websites.  Naturally, this leads to slower speeds from the get-go. Our recommendation is to look for a dedicated server to host your website.  These plans can cost a bit more money, but if you are planning on growing your business digitally, it is the way to go. Recommendations for possible platforms would be Kinsta and WP Engine.  Both offer excellent support with quality dedicated servers to maximize your website’s speed.

2. Update your PHP

PHP is another language of computer coding language that WordPress is built.  Like most current software, it needs to be updated. Currently, we are on PHP 7.3.  Before choosing providers or plans, you will want to make sure that your hosting company uses cPanel.  This is where you will go to find the PHP version tab. Here you will want to make sure that it is at 7.3.  If you are on an older version, it is smart to check your websites compatible with the new PHP version. By doing so, you can prevent your site from breaking with old or unusable code within the backend.

3. Update WordPress

Now you should be at the point that your back end is entirely up to date.  Keeping updated will allow you to start focusing on the front end of your WordPress website.  Once you have logged into your WordPress website by going to your domain and adding wp-admin at the end, you will be on the WordPress menu screen.

Here you will be prompted by options that will let you know if your version of WordPress is up to date or not.  The smartest thing to do is to update your version before starting any work. This update ensures that you will not run into the issue of breaking old plugins down the road.  Updating WordPress should only take a few minutes, and once it is done, the prompts will go away, telling you to upgrade.

4. Reliable Theme

Time to start adding in the building blocks of your website.  Your theme is going to be the core of how your website is structured.  There are tons of different WordPress themes to choose from. Our recommendation for a great free theme is going to be Ocean WP linked with the Elementor builder.  For our premium recommendation, it is going to be the Divi theme and builder from Elegant Themes.  Divi can be used on unlimited websites and is the perfect option to get started with your website.

Both of the recommendations come with fully integrated visual builders.  These allow the user to bypass coding and quickly build gorgeous websites at lightning speeds.  There are also a plethora of videos on Youtube and guides online to help you create the perfect site from the builders I described.

5. Plugin Optimization

Plugins are going to be your best friend if this is your first website, and you are not familiar with coding or back end logistics.  A crucial point is keeping the number of plugins you use limited, and the plugins you use quality. By following those rules, your website will be able to be faster than ever.

The following are our recommendations for quality free WordPress plugins that will both speed up and further optimize your WordPress website:

Autoptimize – Use this plugin to make your website faster through optimizing your JSS, CSS, HTML, and images.

Google Analytics – If you want to implement tracking onto your website, this is a must-have.  Integrating this is as easy as creating a Google Analytics account and then logging into your website, and adding in the tracking code, you will be provided.

Limit Login Attempts – Security should always be at the top of your mind.  A great way to provide that is through this plugin that does as its name says, prevents unlimited login attempts by potential intruders.

UPDraftPlus – Backing up your website should always be in mind.  This will save you from losing all your data and hard work in the case of any problems.  Our recommendation is to backup both locally and to a 3rd party application like Google for additional security.

Yoast SEO – SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  Yoast is a premier plugin in SEO. This plugin will allow you to see how your posts and pages rank on various levels.  I would highly recommend this for websites using blogs, as this gives you useful guidelines.

Conclusion

There is a plethora of other great plugins and premium plugins, but these should create an excellent foundation for your website.  By following this guide, you will ensure that your website gets off the ground as fast as possible. For more information about how to create a WordPress website, get in contact with us!  Kallen Media LLC is happy to teach and design WordPress websites for small businesses and individuals alike.