Category: Business Insurance

You may not know all the best practices for website navigation, but you can probably tell when they haven’t been followed. Have you ever landed on a website and been unsure of where to click in the top navigation? Or, felt overwhelmed by crammed stacks of links in the footer?

If you have, that confusion was likely created by a mix of communication, website design and site hierarchy problems, and it could all be fixed using best practices for website navigation.

What is website navigation?

Website navigation refers to the menus on a website that direct users to internal pages on that site. It includes the top menu bar, links in the footer and sidebar menus. But, website navigation design is much more than that.

Internal link architecture is a sort … Read the rest

A year ago, Elsie Russell watched as her home décor shop, 2 Chicks Home and Market, was heavily damaged by a fire that ripped through the 300 block of historic downtown Denison, Texas.

“I just stood across the street with a crowd of people, watching it burn,” she says. “I was thinking ‘I’ve lost everything. Maybe I just need to shut the business down.’”

Naturally, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to attend a boot camp for small business owners that was already scheduled for later that month. Still, friends convinced Russell to attend, and there, among other things, she learned the importance of ecommerce and online business.

She set up new services like curbside pickup and free local delivery through her website. And now, thanks in … Read the rest

How many hours each week do you spend emailing clients? Once recent study from CNBC suggests the average worker commits more than five hours a day to tapping away at emails. That’s a lot of time you could get back — and at GoDaddy Pro, we’re all about taking back those hours. It’s why we’re creating a series of free email templates that web pros like designers and developers can use to save themselves serious time.

For many of us, our primary money-making skill doesn’t have much to do with writing. It’s about perfecting a .CSS stylesheet or editing images until (as clients are fond of saying) they have that “pop.” Ask us to handle those techie tasks and we’re all over it. But ask us to write a simple message, say, asking a client to send in content, and it’s a delete-and-repeat ordeal to finally get that email out … Read the rest

As per the nature of 2020, many businesses downsized or have fewer full-time staff. On the bright side, increased online traffic led to other businesses pivoting to digital or offering more virtual products/services. No matter the case, business owners and entrepreneurs still need support, a gap that can be easily filled by working with freelancers or contractors.

In a complex digital landscape, you can’t do it all; it’s not sustainable for your health or sanity (business owner anxiety is on the rise, especially for females).

Moreover, it’s not practical for the growth of your business.

But working with a freelancer for the first time can be a daunting prospect.

I’ve managed freelancers for multiple companies and I’ve been a self-employed contractor, so I understand both sides of the relationship. As such, I’m … Read the rest

We recently caught up with Brandon LaVere, owner of LaVere Web Design, a web design agency based in the metro area of Phoenix. You can find LaVere Web Design on Facebook, Calendly and Google Maps.

The who:

Looks like you’re launching a new website for your business. Congrats! Is that a symptom of leveling up your operation, or more of an overdue task? 

I’m always pushing myself to stay on top of the web development world by producing the latest and greatest website, to showcase to my customers what LaVere Web Design is capable of delivering. In 2021, customers will be able to experience a website where animation and design explore new levels of creativity and practicality.

You’re based in the Phoenix area, which has changed enormously over the last decade or so. Has that affected your business in any way? 

Living in Phoenix has actually caused … Read the rest

This article was originally published on Jan. 3, 2019, and was updated on Jan. 8, 2020 and Jan. 4, 2021. 

This content should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Always consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific legal or tax situation.

As a small business owner, it can feel like tax deadlines constantly sneak up. Quarterly estimated taxes? Sending 1099s to contractors? Income tax day? It can be all too easy for busy business owners to overlook the tax calendar, missing a due date and facing a penalty.

And then there’s COVID-19. The pandemic threw the 2020 tax calendar into a frenzy, with the usual April 15th due date moving forward two months to July 15, 2020. The good news is that, as of right now, all tax deadlines for 2021 remain unchanged.

Launching an online store for your client means celebrating the end of a long, often challenging job. But it’s also an opportunity to add value to services rendered. More so than with other websites, the ecommerce site presents an ongoing list of necessary tasks — and marketing is a high-ranking item, whether that by email or other channels like social.

Add a little more value to your services by giving clients this ecommerce promo calendar for the site you just completed (or use it as a reason to check back in with them). This U.S.-based calendar includes key dates for each month of 2021, as well as recommended start dates for the campaigns.

Encourage your clients to kick off their own campaigns with the email template provided below, and then reference the ecommerce promo calendar or upload it to their email platform.

The email template

To begin campaigns, your clients … Read the rest

2020 was a chaotic year, especially when it came down to traditional marketing strategies. But while we saw plenty of business and marketing changes in 2020, it’s time to also look at new trends emerging for 2021. Here are six key marketing trends to watch for your business.

6 marketing trends that will shape the year ahead

Jump on these marketing trends to make 2021 a banner year for your business online.

1. Personality and connection-based marketing.
2. Social media shopping.
3. Focus on UGC and micro-influencers.
4. SEO shifts to featured snippets.
5. Optimize for page experience to improve SEO.
6. Third-party cookie changes.

From changes in SEO to diving into social media shopping, let’s get started.

1. Personality and connection-based marketing

Since 2020 pushed so many of us to social distancing and even quarantine, building personal connections – yes, even with businesses – is more critical than ever. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, customers … Read the rest

Resolutions aren’t just about reading more books or getting to bed earlier or finally breaking your addiction to oatmeal creme pies. Resolutions, like the marketing resolutions here, are also great tools to help you make critical decisions and improvements in your business.

Try out these marketing resolutions

Here are five marketing resolutions to make in your business for 2021:

1. Trust the data.
2. Align your content.
3. Try something new.
4. Manage your planning.
5. Reduce, reuse, repurpose.

Let’s get started!

Resolution 1: Trust the data

When you’re caught up in your business’s day-to-day activities, it can be easy to start relying on your gut instinct to see what’s working (and what’s not).

In 2021, resolve to review and act on the in-depth data available from your marketing systems. Here are some key things to look at:

• Overall website traffic: Are you getting more or less traffic to your website? Are your site

With a distinctly streamlined model for project management, Philip Levine runs South Florida Web Advisors, a web development agency serving the West Palm Beach, Florida area. You can find South Florida Web Advisors on Twitter and Facebook.

Tell us about yourself. Who are you and how does your process work?

I’m Philip Levine of South Florida Web Advisors in the West Palm Beach area. I’ve run this agency since 2004, but I’ve been doing this sort of work since 1997.

Assuming the client doesn’t already have a website, I like to start with a template. It speeds up the development process. We find a WordPress template that works for their industry and interest. It gives them direction. They know what they need to fill in.

Then I walk through it with them. They develop the content, collaborating with me. I walk them through best practices. For example, I … Read the rest