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How You’re Doing Branding Wrong, And What To Do About It

The post How You’re Doing Branding Wrong, And What To Do About It appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . Having a consistent and clear brand will help you build a business that lasts for the long-term. At the core of your branding should be a connection between you and your customer. The role of your brand is to communicate your value to your customer in the clearest manner possible. Only by understanding your customer can you truly create a brand that lasts. Most companies go about branding from the opposite approach and end up with a brand that speaks to no one. Below you’ll find some of the most common branding mistakes and what you can do to fix them.   1. Trusting Instinct Alone It’s easy to fall in love with your business idea. But, if it isn’t serving anyone, or no one is going to buy what you’re offering. Then it’s better left as a hobby than an actual business. Instead of focusing on building your brand identity and other activities to solidify your brand you should be talking with actual customers to verify your idea and uncover their needs. Only then does it make sense to invest more time into your project. After all, by going of instinct alone you’re essentially flying blind and will have no idea if anyone even wants what you’re offering until it hits the market.   2. Little To No Engagement or Feedback Like we mentioned above, if you’re relying directly on the assumptions you have about your target market you’re going to have a difficult time nurturing a brand over the long-run . The best brands speak directly to their target market’s needs and nothing more. Acting on instinct alone puts you at risk for attempting to raise awareness around your brand for years, with nothing to show for it. A better route is to find people in your target market, or people who already interact with your company and ask them some of the following questions: How would you feel if your product or service ceased to exist? What alternatives to your product or service would you use instead? Why do you choose to work with us over our competitors? How can we improve our offerings to serve you in deeper ways? By working with these answers you’ll be able to better refine your brand (if you have an existing company), and figure out how to position your offers to your fans in a more compelling and attractive manner.   3. Being Consistent When you have a stable brand it can be tempting to change up subtle elements of your brand just for fun. Although most brands go through design overhauls and image shifts over time they’re usually structured and thought out. However, even subtle inconsistencies within your logo, colors, and messaging can throw off your users and start to erode your trust. Make sure you keep an eye on brand consistency, once you’ve developed a strong brand and don’t stray from what you’ve created. Brands aren’t built overnight. The take consistent time, effort, work and refinement. However, by taking the time to incorporate feedback, and consistently engineering your brand towards service you’ll build a brand that works for you , instead of against you. web hosting Continue reading

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Small Business Tips For Improving Customer Loyalty

The post Small Business Tips For Improving Customer Loyalty appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . Living in a city built around a tourism based economy has shown me the businesses who survive aren’t those with the best marketing strategy, but those who have managed to retain loyal customers, both local and returning visitors, throughout every season of the year. The feeling a customer gets coming back to the business often means more than the quality of the service being offered. For instance, one of the most popular coffee shops in my town thrives due largely in part to offering a location in which people want to be seen. As a self-proclaimed coffee critique I can tell you the difference in product would not be enough to create this much separation in popularity. The trick is in the x-factor, in this case providing a hub in which people can see friends, come to get work done, and really gain a secondary experience through visiting the business altogether. However, earning the adoration of customers is easier said than done. Like any metric in business it involves a variety of factors, a lot of which boil down to good customer service and unique products of high quality. Small businesses are making a come back, and if yours is to contend in the realm of people defining themselves through brands and products it’s important to start gaining customer loyalty right now. Here are some great tips to get you started.   Focus On Your Most Valuable Customers Value can be a subjective term, but in this regard a valuable customer should be measured strictly on what they offer your business financially. Think of those who have recurrent faces first, the ones that are consistently coming back to your business and providing regular revenue. I like to think of these customers as ‘buffers’ because in times when business is slow they provide the difference between a strong month or just barely making it. Financial value may be variant depending on what you’re selling, also. A coffee house may have valued customers based on them appearing most mornings for a cheap cup of coffee; a painting business on the other hand may have a most valued customer just by getting a couple gigs a year. In either circumstance both add up to lifetime value and your energy and attention needs to cater to those already serving your success. Taking the time to show appreciation and remembrance for their regular support also turns into referrals as word of mouth, which is the most valuable form of marketing.   Invest In Your Customers Loyalty While this is an old trick, providing reward incentives has proven to be one of the most effective ways to bring customers back in times when they have options for products. Large companies like Safeway have advanced rewards programs by offering discounts on gasoline when you spend money in their grocery outlets. Many unit based businesses will offer frequent shopper cards, on which you’ll receive a free product after so many purchases. I know when I’m hungry I’ll tend to see if I have any punch cards in my wallet knowing my purchase will be even more valuable later.   Listen To Their Feedback and Actually Make Changes This one can be tricky depending on how you’re choosing to receive feedback. Less than 5% of customers will respond to surveys when sent out via email, or posted on Social Media. Rather, take the time to scour sites on the Internet where reviews have already been posted, and take action to improve areas that seem to have recurring complaints or suggestions. Not every gripe has to do with the integrity of your business, but more often than not there’s areas of your regular operation that go unnoticed to staff and employees. What I like to call a two-for-one is putting a survey on the receipt and offering a small discount on the customers next purchase just for returning the survey. Let the customer know you want to hear from them personally and that their return is extremely valuable, because it is!   Meaningful Customer Service Do you ever feel like certain customer service requirements are a little overboard? Perhaps less genuine even? Part of gaining a customers loyalty is making them feel a sense of personal connection to your business and that their time spent there is with recognition. Many small businesses put emphasis on employees learning their frequent customer’s names, along with encouraging conversations that contain more depth than just asking how their day is going. Humans crave attention, even if that’s coming from someone who only knows them in one environment. As your business becomes more well known, try employing these tactics to ensure your product or service means more than just business as usual. Working to gain your customers loyalty will add up to more than just dollar signs for you, it will make your business meaningful to the lives of others which is a great feeling. web hosting Continue reading

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Presenting Optimized WordPress!

The post Presenting Optimized WordPress! appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . We are extremely happy to announce the launch of our Optimized WordPress hosting platform! WordPress is, quite frankly, one of the best back-ends for your website, period. This very blog you are reading runs on WordPress, and so do the websites for CNN, Forbes, and even Justin Beiber. We are experts on WordPress, and we’ve created a hosting package that we believe will actually simplify your life and allow you to focus on your business instead of on the management of your website. Optimized WordPress begins with a custom caching and global content delivery network (CDN), which allows for blazing fast page loads from anywhere int he world. You have access to premium WP themes in order to customize the look and feel of your site. We then pre-configure your WordPress install with the ideal suite of plugins to provide the perfect mix of additional features, including Google Analytics! We took everything a step further by also including industry-standard security features, daily malware scans and automatic malware removal, as well as automatic off-site backups (including one-click restores). We started with the idea of how to simplify your hosting experience so that you could instead spend your valuable time on your business or actual website content, and after months of development and testing, we are now proudly presenting Optimized WordPress hosting. There’s many more features including in this great offering, you can find out the full information by simply clicking the button below:   Get Optimized WordPress!   web hosting Continue reading

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How To Find The Right WordPress Theme

The post How To Find The Right WordPress Theme appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . Having been a blogger for over a decade now, it has been a first-hand experience of how difficult it can be to maintain a WordPress theme to keep up with the latest standards and demands. Sometimes I would find myself switching styles as frequently as every few weeks, but time has taught me an invaluable lesson — stick to what works for everyone, not just you. A good WordPress theme is one that serves the purpose of the website flawlessly, and the most important thing being the readability and accessibility of the content that you’re presenting. In my own experience, sometimes going through a hundred different designs might actually prove to be more rewarding than settling for a single theme you enjoy, since seeing more of what is out there — gives you an idea of which direction to take.   Free or Premium The most important decision you’re going to make about your WordPress theme is whether you wish for it to be free or premium. The difference in overall design can be pretty staggering. And the biggest advantages premium has over free are: It’s easier to switch styles and colors since most premium themes come with multiple styles. Features such as related posts and social buttons are automatically integrated within the theme. An extensive options panel that gives you access to modify the theme to your own liking, without any coding. I’m currently a customer over at MH Themes who provide nice and flexible themes for bloggers, magazine owners and small businesses who need a reliable solution to modern web requirements. Before that, I was constantly a user of free themes (even though I do have coding skills), but found that a premium theme can save me a lot of time that could be spent making more content, than trying to optimize the site for it.   Personal or Business One more thing I have learned to take into consideration is the overall audience of the blog/website that you’re building, is it going to be more of a personal blog that talks about your life and all the experiences you’re having, or is it going to be on a more business level — sharing stories and content that everyone can relate to? On the left side we have an example of a very simple and clean personal blog, no extra images or content, just a list of posts and that’s all. While on the right side we have an example of a magazine style blog, which is aimed at a global audience and is powered by all the latest gadgets of the web development world.   The Type of Content I think this is the one where you will spend most of your time on, to find a theme that resonates with the type of content you want to produce the most. For list posts, roundups and similar content types — a simple blogging/magazine theme will be just fine, but what about themes that compliment proper and insightful storytelling? Then there are websites like BuzzFeed , who focus on both roundups and also polls, quizzes and surveys type of content. Before you settle for a final theme, ask yourself these important questions about your content choices, and whether the theme you’re choosing is going to be able to reflect those answers. Amongst other things, look out for complete and total responsive integration (mobile support), make sure that the theme has been updated in the last year or so, that there are no previous security issues that might not have been taken care of, and avoid going for themes from shady and unverified sources, more often than not they’re polluted with encoded scripts that will rob you of your rankings and credibility.   ***** Alex Ivanovs is an online entrepreneur who has been writing about technology, business and developer topics for over a decade. He currently manages CodeCondo — an aspiring community for designers and developers. web hosting Continue reading

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Are You Creating Deep Connections With Your Customers?

The post Are You Creating Deep Connections With Your Customers? appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . Are there any brands you love so deeply you wouldn’t know what to do if they suddenly vanished? This could be your favorite brand of coffee, the type of computer your use, or even something as simple as the style of pen you love to write with. The examples are endless and I bet there are lot of companies you maintain a nonsensical love for. The reason this connection exists is because you feel supported and loved, you feel like this company speaks for you and gets you in some deeper way. A humans we crave this connection and need to be seen. If you can create this level of bond with your customers and clients you’ll find yourself with an army that’s willing to stand behind everything you do. The good news is it all starts with developing and nurturing a deep connection with your audience — all of us are capable of doing this.   Know Yourself First Without knowing your company on a deep level you won’t have a backbone on which to base this relationship. You may know exactly what you’re selling, or the service you’re offering, but you still need to uncover your deeper operating principles. Once you know the deeper values you stand for you can bring these to light for your customer to see. For example, you may simply sell exercise equipment for women. But, really you’re selling the feeling of having the beautiful body that you adore. Connecting with this desire will give you a lot of momentum moving forward. Find your deep why and don’t be afraid to communicate it.   Understand To Whom You’re Speaking Every company has an ideal customer they’re going to be speaking to. It’s your job to know this person inside and out. What are their core desires? How do they want to feel when they’re done interacting with you? Does your company give them any social boost? You’ll need to go beyond demographics and truly get into their head and emotional states.   Create Memorable Experiences When you think back to an astonishing experience you had with a company, I bet it stands out because it’s extremely memorable. They did something that was above and beyond the norm. You’ll want to create these experiences for you customers. Especially early on in your relationship. A good rule of thumb is delight early and often.   Take A Stand For Your Loyal Customers Do you have any customers that have been with you a long time? A great way to deepen this relationship is by rewarding them for standing by your side so long. This can be something as simple as a customer loyalty program. Or, you can go above and beyond the norm and create a totally unique reward. It’s entirely up to you.   Don’t Be Afraid To Fail Sometimes you’ll make mistakes. This can be a marketing campaign gone awry, a product that you don’t feel good about, or a simple email exchange that was misinterpreted. Recognizing that you’ve failed and moving forward in a powerful manner is how you’ll strengthen these bonds with your customers. Admit where you were wrong, learn from your mistakes and start to move in a powerful direction. The bond you form with your customers is one of the most important parts of your business. Take the time to nourish this relationship and your business will thank you. web hosting Continue reading

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