World Source Tech Software Engineering and Internet Marketing Blog

Marketing Center: Your Complete Command Center for Campaign Performance

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 22:51:01 GMT

Marketing Center: Your Complete Command Center for Campaign Performance

The Marketing Center inside Central is where strategy, performance, and collaboration come together.

Designed for both clarity and depth, it gives you full visibility into your marketing efforts—while making it easy to analyze data, collaborate with your team, and make smarter decisions faster.

Whether you’re reviewing performance at a high level or diving into granular details, everything you need lives here.

A Unified Overview of Your Marketing Performance

When you enter the Marketing Center, you’ll land on the Overview page .

This is your starting point—a clean, consolidated snapshot of all campaigns managed by World Source Tech.

Here, you can quickly:

Understand overall performance across accounts
Identify trends and momentum
Get a sense of where things stand without digging into reports

It’s designed to answer one simple question instantly: “How are we doing?”

Campaign-Level Visibility and Control

From the Overview, the Campaigns tab allows you to go deeper.

You’ll see performance broken down by individual campaigns, giving you a clearer picture of:

Which campaigns are driving results
Where optimizations may be needed
How performance changes over time

You can also adjust date ranges on the fly—whether you want to analyze last month, compare time periods, or review a custom range.

This flexibility allows you to move beyond static reporting and into real analysis.

Audience & Targeting Insights: Understanding the “Why”

Data becomes significantly more valuable when you understand the story behind it.

Inside Audience & Targeting Insights , you can explore:

Demographics – Who your audience is
Locations – Where your engagement is coming from
Devices – How users are interacting with your campaigns
Keywords – What people are searching for and responding to

These insights help you move from surface-level metrics to strategic understanding.

Even more powerful—this data can be viewed at multiple levels:

Account-wide
Campaign
Ad group
Individual ad

This allows you to pinpoint exactly where performance is being driven—or lost.

Ad-Level Insights and Real-Time Collaboration

The Ads section gives you a detailed look at your creative performance.

You can:

View live previews of your ads
Cycle through variations
Review asset-level performance (such as headline effectiveness)

But what truly sets this apart is built-in collaboration.

You can highlight any part of an ad—like a headline or description—and leave a comment directly in context.

Ask questions
Suggest changes
Tag your account team using “@”

This eliminates long email threads and keeps communication exactly where it matters—next to the data and creative itself.

Full Keyword Transparency

Inside the Keywords tab , you’ll find complete visibility into:

Active keywords driving traffic
Negative keywords filtering out unwanted searches

This ensures you understand not just what’s working—but also what’s being intentionally excluded to improve efficiency and performance.

Revenue Tracking and ROI Insights

The Revenue Tracker allows you to connect actual business outcomes to your campaigns.

You can input revenue data tied to your marketing efforts, enabling:

More accurate performance analysis
Deeper insights into return on ad spend (ROAS)
Better alignment between marketing activity and business results

All inputs are flexible—so you can provide as much or as little data as you have available.

Google Analytics Integration

When connected, the Google Analytics section adds another layer of visibility.

You’ll be able to view:

User behavior
Traffic patterns
On-site engagement

This helps bridge the gap between ad performance and what happens after the click.

Smarter Reporting with Business Context

Inside the Analysis tab , reporting becomes more intelligent.

By adding Business Context —your goals, priorities, and key business details—you enable more meaningful and tailored performance insights.

This ensures that analysis isn’t just data-driven—it’s business-driven .

Your account manager will typically configure this, but it can be updated anytime to reflect evolving priorities.

Research & Strategic Planning Tools

The Research tab is designed to support campaign planning and expansion.

You can generate insights into:

Target audiences
Psychographics
Market dynamics
Competitive landscape

From there, key findings can be saved and organized for future use.

This turns the Marketing Center into not just a reporting tool—but a strategy engine .

Visual Planning with Boards

The Boards feature provides a flexible, visual workspace for organizing ideas and strategy.

You can:

Map out campaign concepts
Save research insights
Upload and organize creative assets

It’s a collaborative environment where strategy and execution come together.

Competitive Intelligence

The Ad Intelligence section gives you visibility into how competitors are advertising.

This helps you:

Identify trends in your industry
Understand competitive positioning
Discover new opportunities

Access to this feature may vary based on your plan, but it’s a powerful addition for staying ahead.

Built for Clarity, Speed, and Collaboration

The Marketing Center was designed with one goal in mind:

To give you complete clarity and control over your marketing performance—without complexity.

It combines:

Real-time data
Deep insights
Seamless collaboration
Strategic planning tools

All in one place.

A Better Way to Manage Marketing

With the Marketing Center, you’re no longer waiting for reports or piecing together information from multiple platforms.

Everything is accessible, organized, and actionable—right when you need it.

Clarity. Insight. Collaboration.

This is the new standard for marketing performance.

Introducing Central: The Future of Project Management at World Source Tech

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 22:45:46 GMT

Introducing Central: The Future of Project Management at World Source Tech

At World Source Tech, we’re always looking for ways to improve how our clients experience project management, communication, and account visibility.

Today, we’re excited to officially announce the transition from Hub to our new and significantly enhanced platform: Central .

Why We Built Central

Over time, Hub has served as a reliable place for managing projects and staying connected. But as our services, clients, and capabilities have grown, we recognized the need for something more powerful, more intuitive, and more aligned with how modern teams operate.

Central was built from the ground up to be exactly that.

It’s not just an upgrade—it’s a complete evolution.

What Is Central?

Central is your new command center for everything related to your account with World Source Tech.

Inside Central, you’ll be able to:

Track projects in real time
Access campaign and marketing performance
Review deliverables and updates
Communicate with our team more efficiently
Manage key account details in one place

Everything you need—organized, streamlined, and easy to navigate.

What’s Improved

Central brings a number of major enhancements designed to save you time and give you greater clarity:

1. A More Intuitive Experience

Cleaner navigation and a more modern interface make it easier to find what you need quickly.

2. Enhanced Visibility

From campaign performance to project progress, you’ll have deeper insight into what’s happening and what’s next.

3. Better Organization

All account-related information is centralized—no more jumping between tools or emails to piece things together.

4. Scalable for Growth

Central is designed to grow with you, supporting more advanced workflows, reporting, and integrations over time.

Rollout Timeline

We’ll be rolling out Central in phases:

Late March – Initial rollout begins
Early April (First Week) – Full transition complete

During this period, you’ll receive access instructions and guidance to help you get started smoothly. Once live, you will no longer login with your password but rather use our secure 'magic link' login. Simply enter your email and use the link from your inbox to access your account.

What This Means for You

The transition is designed to be seamless. You’ll simply access Central via a secure login (using a magic link), and everything will be ready for you. Click the "Feedback" tab on the right side of the screen and leave us feedback on any feature or anytime something didn't work as you expected.

Our team will be available every step of the way to ensure a smooth onboarding experience.

Looking Ahead

Central is more than just a platform—it’s a foundation for how we continue to deliver high-level service, transparency, and results for our clients.

We’re incredibly excited about what this means for your experience with World Source Tech, and we can’t wait for you to start using it.

If you have any questions during the rollout, don’t hesitate to reach out to help@projects.worldsourcetech.com or chat live with us on our website a www.worldsourcetech.com

Welcome to Central.

Managing Orders in WST Native Store

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 01:57:20 GMT

How to manage orders in WST Native Store

Streamline FB and IG Conversations in Boostify CRM

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 21:50:12 GMT

Boostify Payments Setup Stripe

help@worldsourcetech.com (WST Support Team) — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 21:47:19 GMT

How to Manage Conversations in Boostify CRM

help@worldsourcetech.com (WST Support Team) — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 21:42:47 GMT

How to Create a New Contact in Boostify CRM

help@worldsourcetech.com (WST Support Team) — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 21:37:43 GMT

Managing Pipelines in Boostify

help@worldsourcetech.com (WST Support Team) — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 17:30:08 GMT

Boostify Payments - Setup PayPal

help@worldsourcetech.com (WST Support Team) — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 21:44:45 GMT

Improved Load Time Means Increased Results

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 21:38:28 GMT

Faster load times could increase lead gen.

Improved Load Time Means Increased Results

In the digital age, the need for speed cannot be overstated. Especially when it comes to the load time of your business’ website. Research from Google demonstrates that a delay as brief as half a second can cause significant losses in visitors and conversions. To stay competitive, it is crucial for any business to optimize their website speed, especially mid-size manufacturing, consulting, and service companies. So, what does fast website design have to offer? Our team at World Source Tech is here to explain it all to you.

The Vital Role of Website Speed

Faster is always better when it comes to website loading times. According to a study by MachMetrics , a site that loads in 5 seconds compared to one that takes 19 seconds is 70% longer in terms of page sessions, has a 35% lower bounce rate, and 25% higher ad viewability. The impact is clear – faster loading times provide a superior user experience, retain visitors for longer, and potentially lead to higher conversions, making fast web developers an essential investment for any business aiming to secure an online edge.

Optimizing Your Website for Speed

Improving your website speed involves a combination of design, development, and hosting strategies. Here are some key steps to consider:

Minimize HTTP Requests – Simplify your site's design by reducing the number of components each webpage needs to load, like scripts, images, and stylesheets.
Enable Compression – Use software to reduce the size of your CSS, HTML, and JavaScript files larger than 150 bytes.
Optimize Images – Ensure your images are in the right format and size for your site.

Enter Fast Web Developers

This may seem overwhelming to juggle along with your primary business operations; that's where fast web developers come in. At World Source Tech, our team specializes in balancing custom website design, user experience, and optimal performance to ensure a smooth and speedy website. We understand the importance of site speed and how to implement the right strategies to achieve it.

Experience the Benefits of Speed with World Source Tech

Mid-size manufacturing companies, consulting firms or larger agencies needing third-party white label agencies, and mid-sized service businesses can all benefit from our expertise. Our award-winning team of web developers has a proven record of delivering fast website design and enhancing site speed, helping you navigate the digital realm with confidence.

Beyond improved customer experience, a fast loading website has a host of other benefits. It improves your SEO ranking – Google prioritizes websites that load faster. The speedier your website, the more it is likely to be found, increasing your visibility and potentially leading to higher traffic stats and conversions.

At World Source Tech, we're committed to providing comprehensive web development and digital marketing solutions for businesses of all sizes. Faster load times translate to better results, and we’re here to ensure you experience these benefits. Let us help you develop a speedy, responsive, SEO-friendly website that serves your business needs and keeps your customers satisfied.

Looking for fast web developers who understand the game-changing role of speed? Contact us at World Source Tech today!

Ready to Improve Your Website Speed & Results?

Setting Up Payments in Boostify

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 17:09:02 GMT

Invoicing in Boostify

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 17:04:00 GMT

Boostify Lead Connector Mobile App

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 17:03:09 GMT

How to Create Compelling Call to Actions

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 20:59:01 GMT

Getting People to Take Action on Your Website Depends on a Compelling Call To Action...

This week, we're going to explore the power of compelling calls-to-action (CTAs) and how they can significantly impact your lead-generation efforts.

A strong CTA grabs your website visitors' attention and motivates them to take action. Here are a few tips to make your CTAs more effective:

1. Use action-oriented language: Verbs like "Discover," "Get," "Join," or "Start" create a sense of urgency and encourage users to act, such as

2. Offer value: Clearly communicate the benefits users will gain by clicking your CTA. For example, "Unlock Exclusive Discounts" or "Download Your Free E-Book."

3. Make it visually appealing: Use contrasting colors, larger fonts, and compelling design to make your CTA stand out.

4. Position on the page: Generally speaking, in English-speaking countries, buttons positioned to the right get more clicks because we first read the information on the left and end on the right where the next step is likely to be placed.

Remember, your CTA should be relevant to the content it accompanies and should be placed prominently on your website in a strategic position to increase the click-through rate.

Want to Audit or Improve Your Website Call to Actions?

Improving Website Speed

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 20:33:52 GMT

Website speed and performance affect ratings and results.

Website speed is crucial for retaining visitors and improving search engine rankings.

Slow-loading websites can lead to higher bounce rates and reduced conversions. Search engines also penalize slow loading sites, so if your site is slow, it may show up lower on results pages letting your competition win valuable leads.

To improve website speed start by compressing images without compromising quality.

Use tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim to reduce image file sizes significantly.

Additionally, enable browser caching, which stores copies of your website's pages on a user's device, reducing load times for return visitors. Minimizing server response time is another vital step.

Choose a reliable hosting provider, and consider using Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to distribute your website's resources across multiple servers, optimizing delivery.

If you're working with us, we use CloudFlare CDN and several other tools to speed up your website for max performance. If you want to see if you can get your site to load even faster or perform better for search engines, Book a Consultation to review your current site so we can see what we can do to increase speed and overall performance.

How to Use Hub at World Source Tech for Project Success

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 23:20:51 GMT

Keep your project on pace with Hub: 3 Minute How To

Hub is our project management and account management system at World Source Tech. It has tons of features but in this video we show you how to keep it simple using the Project Discussions tab to comment, upload files, and communicate with everyone who has access to your project at World Source Tech. Login to hub.worldsourcetech.com to follow along!

Maximizing Your Digital Marketing Potential with Kartra: The Advantage of Done-for-You Services

Mon, 22 May 2023 21:09:13 GMT

How Done For You Kartra Services Might Help You Grow

Are you eager to unlock the full potential of your digital marketing strategy, drive successful product launches, and boost your recurring revenue? Look no further! In this informative article, we'll delve into the remarkable world of Kartra and how our comprehensive done-for-you services can help you seize every opportunity.

Let's begin by understanding why Kartra might be the perfect fit for your business.

Kartra is a robust digital marketing system equipped with integrated features designed to streamline your operations. From orchestrating seamless product launches to building captivating courses, managing membership portals, implementing recurring billing, creating high-converting checkout pages, and delivering top-notch customer support, Kartra serves as a powerful funnel machine. While it may not suit every business, if you're utilizing at least three of these influential features, Kartra emerges as an exceptional choice.

Yet, we recognize the challenges that come with adopting a new system like Kartra. The learning curve and time investment required to become proficient can be overwhelming. Merely mastering the basics of the drag-and-drop editor or publishing a product page may fall short of launching a truly successful campaign on Kartra or any other platform.

The truth is, digital marketing funnels encompass multiple components, each with its own complexities. For instance, becoming an industry expert solely in landing pages can be a daunting task. That's where engaging an experienced agency, such as WST, becomes invaluable. By availing yourself of our expertise, you can accelerate your journey from idea to sales, achieving higher conversion rates and faster results.

If you're considering hiring an in-house professional to manage your digital marketing and Kartra platform, we have a game-changing alternative for you. Request a proposal from us to compare the benefits and cost-effectiveness of our agency services against the expenses associated with hiring a full-time employee. You'll be pleasantly surprised to discover that our agency can deliver exceptional results at a fraction of the cost.

Here's a glimpse into the impact of digital marketing funnels:

Conversion Boost: Companies that implement optimized funnels experience an average conversion rate increase of 73%. By leveraging Kartra's features, you can significantly enhance your conversion rates and achieve impressive results.
Revenue Growth: According to recent studies, businesses with well-structured funnels generate 10 times more revenue than those without them. By harnessing Kartra's capabilities, you can tap into this tremendous growth potential.
Streamlined Customer Journey: Digital marketing funnels offer a strategic framework to guide customers from initial contact to purchase. By leveraging Kartra's integrated tools, you can create a seamless and engaging customer experience, fostering loyalty and driving repeat sales.

By partnering with our skilled team, you gain access to invaluable knowledge and expertise in maximizing the potential of Kartra's digital marketing funnels. We handle the complexities, allowing you to focus on what you do best—expanding your business and delivering exceptional customer value. Let us empower you to achieve digital marketing success with Kartra.

Embrace the challenge of Kartra's learning curve! Contact us today to explore how our done-for-you Kartra services can educate, support, and drive your business toward remarkable results. Together, we'll unlock the true power of Kartra, fuel your growth, and revolutionize your digital marketing strategy.

Stay Secure - Don't Get Caught in a Phishing Scam

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 00:37:38 GMT

Email Phishing Scams are On The Rise. Watch out for some of these tell tale signs.

Phishing scams are a type of cybercrime that involves tricking people into giving out sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers, by posing as a trustworthy entity. These scams can be sophisticated and difficult to spot, but there are ways to protect yourself. In addition to protecting your personal email and information, it is also important to protect your business with security tools that monitor, prevent, and if necessary clean malware infections and virus issues precipitated from phishing.

Here are some of the most common phishing scams and how to avoid becoming a victim. These are just examples, and this is not specific advice for anyone. We're just sharing some simple tips here that can help you avoid compromising your personal information online.

Email Phishing

Sketchy Attachments

Other Common Types of Phishing

Smishing: Smishing is a type of phishing scam that takes place via text message. The text will often contain a link that leads to a fake website where the scammer can steal your information. To avoid falling for this scam, do not click on links in text messages from numbers you do not recognize, and do not respond to text messages that ask for personal information.
Voice Phishing: Voice phishing, also known as vishing, is a type of phishing scam that takes place over the phone. The scammer will call and pretend to be a representative of a bank or other organization, asking for personal information. To avoid falling for this scam, never give out personal information over the phone, especially if the call is unsolicited.
Clone Websites: Clone websites are fake websites that are designed to look exactly like a legitimate website. They are often used in phishing scams to trick people into giving out sensitive information. To avoid falling for this scam, always double-check the URL of a website before entering any personal information, and look for a padlock icon in the address bar, which indicates a secure connection.

In conclusion, phishing scams can be difficult to spot, but by being cautious and taking steps to protect your personal information, you can avoid becoming a victim. Remember to be skeptical of unsolicited emails, text messages, and phone calls, and never give out personal information unless you are certain of the identity of the person or organization you are communicating with.

Hosting Your Custom Application Code

Tue, 18 Oct 2022 02:03:06 GMT

Why Hosting With World Source Tech, is a better strategy for your business

World Source Tech Custom Code Hosting and DNS Management is a service that provides hosting while improving the performance of your website and custom applications.

Choosing the right hosting provider and DNS management strategy is crucial to ensuring the smooth functioning of your digital assets. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of having World Source Tech host your custom application code and manage your DNS, compared to self-hosting and management.

1. Seamless Integration and Enhanced Performance:

By opting for World Source Tech's hosting services, you ensure that your custom applications and website components are seamlessly integrated into a unified system. This integration helps in eliminating potential compatibility issues that might arise when managing different aspects independently.

Additionally, World Source Tech provides access to essential features like Cloudflare CDN, which improves your website's loading speed and security through SSL encryption. Such features are often overlooked when self-hosting, leading to a subpar user experience and possibly lower search engine rankings due to slower loading times.

2. Cost Savings and Simplicity:

With World Source Tech's managed DNS and hosting services, you gain access to various SEO features without any additional monthly charges. This can lead to significant cost savings, especially when compared to self-managed DNS services that often come with additional fees for advanced features.

Furthermore, managing your DNS and hosting through a single provider, World Source Tech, simplifies the process and reduces the chance of misconfigurations or potential downtime. This convenience allows you to focus on your core business activities while leaving the technical aspects to the experts.

3. Expert Support and Security:

Maintaining a self-hosted environment on platforms like AWS can be complex and requires a dedicated technical skill set. World Source Tech's hosting services relieve you of the burden of security scanning, malware detection, backups, and other essential maintenance tasks. Their team of experts takes care of all these aspects, ensuring that your applications and data are secure and always up-to-date.

4. Hassle-Free Custom Integrations:

If you've relied on World Source Tech to develop custom integrations for your business, it's advantageous to host those integrations with us as well. This seamless collaboration guarantees that all components work harmoniously, providing a hassle-free user experience for both you and your customers.

5. Trustworthy Technology Partner:

By choosing World Source Tech as your hosting and DNS management provider, you gain a trusted technology partner. They understand your applications and requirements intimately, making them well-equipped to handle any future adjustments or enhancements seamlessly. This collaborative approach fosters a long-term relationship, ensuring consistent support and reliability for your digital assets.

World Source Tech's hosting and managed DNS services offer an array of benefits for businesses seeking reliable, efficient, and secure solutions. From enhanced performance to cost savings and expert support, their comprehensive approach ensures that your custom applications and website components operate at their best.

Remember, technology is a powerful tool, and choosing the right partners can make all the difference. So, entrust your hosting and DNS management to World Source Tech, and rest assured that your online presence is in capable hands.

If you're interested in exploring the services offered by World Source Tech or have any further inquiries, don't hesitate to reach out to their team. They will gladly assist you in finding the best hosting solutions tailored to your business needs.

*Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post is based on the details provided for World Source Tech's services at the time of writing. Be sure to verify the most current offerings and prices with World Source Tech before making any decisions.

5 Steps to Creating a Winning Digital Marketing Funnel for Small to Medium Businesses

mw@worldsourcetech.com (Michael Wetizman) — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 22:15:37 GMT

Plan and Implement a Winning Digital Marketing Funnel

By now, most small businesses are aware that marketing themselves on the internet is a key to success. It’s no secret that the majority of consumers look first to Google when actively searching for a product or service they are considering for purchase. But how does a small business owner achieve presence on the first page of google, how do they show up when customers search for products and services they provide, and once they do show up, then what?

This article explains the process of winning at digital marketing for small business owners. We’ll include five steps to create and implement a digital marketing strategy that get’s your small business found and, when implemented correctly, generates qualified leads and sales.

Who is this article for: Small business owners generating between $250,000 - 2 Million per year in revenue that know they need a professional online presence and a winning digital marketing strategy.

Read time: 10-15 minutes.

TLDR (that means too long didn’t read) : Follow these steps to DIY or hire us to deliver an unlimited digital marketing service that grows your business.

Prefer a video? Watch this content on a video instead!

Step 1: Plan Your Funnel

Plan your funnel → Use our free funnel planner to send yourself a starter blueprint of your new marketing funnel.

Having an overview of the process your potential customers will go through when considering, search for, finding, and ultimately engaging with your business is the first step to success.

Answer the Ten Essential Questions to Developing a Blueprint of the Customer Journe y.

Step 2. Implement Your Funnel

Complete these six steps to implement your funnel plan.

Create your top of funnel content
Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram Ads / Posts
Create your landing page on your website
How to create a landing page using WSTs easy web marketing platform
Create your follow up email sequence
You can use any email marketing platform, we’ll show you how we use Agile CRM and 'Sendy' in these two videos
Set your budget -
Use our Ad Budget Calculator to Estimate Ad Spend and Results
Reverse engineer the number of site visitors you need to achieve your lead or sales goal. If you have a 3% conversion rate and you want 100 new leads, you’ll need _____ clicks on your ads. At $1.50 per click, your budget for the month will need to be around ______.
Use our easy budget calculator to determine your ad spend.
Test Test Test
Spell check, grammar check, image check, and link check. Make sure all ads and content point to the right place
Use this pre-campaign checklist to make sure you’re ready to launch.

Step 3. Launch Your Ads

Planning an ad campaign is one thing, actually launching can me more of a hassle than it's worth to DIY. But if you are intent on doing it yourself and have the time and money to learn and make mistakes during the learning process (common), we have some videos that show you how to setup your own ads in this article " Seven Steps to Generate Fast Traffic to Your Website ".

We recommend using a smaller budget to practice with before going 'all in' on your funnel plan - this will help you minimize the risk of wasting budget on your learning curve. Most small businesses with at least 250k in revenue can find some budget to hire us to help them with this process so that they can make the most out of their advertising online and focus on what they do best, leaving the online advertising to us. If this sounds more like your style, just drop us a line and we'll setup a time to chat: https://www.worldsourcetech.com/contact.

Step 4. Measure and Adjust

Use our ROI calculator to figure out if your campaign is profitable.

Measuring your results is the only way to make sure your time and money invested into your digital marketing is working for you. So, how do you do this?
Use Google Analytics
Video: How to install Google Analytics on Your Website
Use Google Conversion Code
Video: How to install Google Conversion Code on Your Website
Use Facebook Tracking Pixels
Video: How To install Facebook Pixel on your website.
Read the reports and make changes based on the results
This is perhaps one of the biggest cases for using an agency for your digital marketing. What’s that you ask? It’s creating and implementing changes to improve performance based on data on a regular basis. If you hire us to do your social media and digital marketing, we’ll constantly update your ad campaigns to help you increase traffic and leads while making the most of your online budget by reducing the cost per click and therefore the cost per lead.

Step 5. Tweak, Extend, Repeat

5.Tweak and Repeat

What could be improved in your campaign? Consider testing different headlines in your ads, different text in your social media posts, a different call to action button on your Facebook page.

Do you need help? If this is all so overwhelming that you want to quit before you start, fill out a contact request to speak with a digital marketing specialist who can find a plan that fits your budget. We offer a free trial, unlimited contact with your digital marketing specialist and plans that support just facebook posts all the way to advanced advertising campaigns using a multitude of different platforms and software applications. From micro to enterprise business we will deliver results based digital campaigns.

Do you have questions?

Chime in using the comments below, email us at help@worldsourcetech.com or submit a contact request here!

Ten Essential Questions to Developing a Digital Marketing Funnel Plan

mw@worldsourcetech.com (Michael Wetizman) — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 22:15:23 GMT

Answer these questions and email yourself a funnel draft for free using our Funnel Planning Tool

Who is my ideal customer?
Note: This is not your only customer, but think about your top 10 paying customers, what do they have in common - build a persona based on those common traits. This allows you to focus your efforts on the customer group that will bring you the most sales.
What are the top five keyword phrases that my ideal customer would type into google to find what I have to offer?
How do I want to show up when I show up on Google
What will my google title (the blue link) say
What will my description say
What is my call to action
Where will my customer go once they click on the ad
The home page ? Try again!
A specific landing page that matches the messaging and tone of the ad and continues to lead the prospect to becoming a lead by providing their contact info or a customer by completing the purchase.
Your minimum goal is getting an email address
How will I target customers who click my ads but take no action on their visit to the landing page
This is where retargeting comes into play. A small snippet of code from Google, Facebook, and other ad platforms places a cookie on site visitors computer. If those visitors never made it to the “Thank you” page after completing a lead form or purchase, they can be shown ads later on down the road to remind them of you so they visit the website again. It can take up to 7 touches for a customer to engage a company so retargeting is very important. We’ll have an article just on retargeting for you shortly.
What is my offer? What value am I offering to capture this lead’s information or consummate a sale.
Sell the sizzle, not the steak! Why should I give you my name and email, what will I receive in return? Do I want to even receive that? Think about PDF guides, producing pricing that is not published, appointments, free reviews, or for product sales - discounts, specials, or limited edition offers. If you’re not into discounting your product, we get it - make it more exclusive by adding time restraints and vip access options instead. Another post on that to come.
Once I capture lead information or a sale, what is my follow up process from there.
How will you consummate the sale through this process? Is it a weekly or bi weekly email drip series with tips on the industry? Is it a free consultation? Is it a weekly video or podcast offered until they purchase? If they do purchase, what is the process to upgrade and / or cross sell the customer?
What will be the funnel inputs?
Where will the traffic come from? Here are some ideas, each will be linked shortly to articles with videos explaining how to use each platform to generate traffic into your funnel in detail.
Google organic search
Google Ads
Email Marketing
Facebook Posts
Facebook Ads
Instagram Ads
LinkedIn Ads
Blogger Outreach Posts
What percentage of people who enter my funnel turn into leads...clients?
eg: Click on your ad, will convert to becoming a lead. And of those leads, what percentage do you think will become a customer. Use our Ad Results Calculator to See Potential Performance Numbers from a Pay Per Click Ad Campaign.
2.6% is a good starting point for the conversion rate of new visitors to lead. From there, use your own (true, don’t just guess) of how many people you convert. Divide your total effort of proposals or meetings, etc by the number of sales you actually make * 100 to get this percentage). I will tell you now, it’s not 99%. Be conservative here so you will be more aggressive with your traffic generation efforts.
Use this calculator to figure out how many customers you’ll get from your pay per click ad efforts in your funnel.

How to collaborate on your website at World Source Tech

Sun, 01 May 2022 18:14:21 GMT

Site Comments is a feedback tool that enables you to request changes and updates on your site by clicking on any element and leaving us a comment.

The entire review process is faster, clearer and more accurate, giving you the best service, faster go-live, and allowing more time to scale your business. It also eliminates the need for alternative methods of communication (such as email, messages, phone calls, etc.) and creates a single channel for receiving feedback and responding to it.

See the videos below to learn how to use site comments!

Add Site Comments

To add site comment:

Click the plus + icon on the comments bar. Comments can be added to any element on the site.
Click on an element to add a comment. Hover on the element to help position the comment accurately.
Choose whether you want the comment to be internal or visible to clients and your team.
Enter your comment in the input field. You can also add an image as a comment by clicking on image icon in the bottom right corner of the comment field.
Click Submit .

Note:

Comments always retain the same visibility settings, meaning if a comment starts as Internal it will remain Internal and if a comment starts visible to the client it will stay visible to clients.

Reply To Site Comments

To reply to site comments:

Open the comment you want to reply to. You can reply to comments via the comment itself or in the comments log. To open the comments log, click the Comments Log () icon.
Click the comment text field, or click Reply in the comments log, and enter your reply.
Click Submit .

Edit and Delete Site Comments

Comments can be edited or deleted by the person who creates them or by a team member.

Open the comment you want to edit or delete.
Hover over the comment, and click the more icon.
Click Edit or Delete .

Warning

Deleted comments cannot be restored and are not displayed in the comments log. There is no undo for edited comments.

Resolve Site Comments

To resolve a comment and leave a record of it in the comments log click Resolve in the upper-right corner of the comment.

Comments Log

To see a list of all comments and display and reopen resolved comments, use the filter in the comments log. To open the comments log, click the Comments Log button.

Hide Comments

To hide comments on a site, click the Hide Comments () icon.

How To Get Real Estate Leads Online

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 13:24:36 GMT

10 things you can start doing today to get more real estate leads from your online presence

Generating qualified leads is what many top producing real estate agents are challenged with today. Instead of paying out for people’s contact details, you need to drive traffic to your website and enhance your organic search engine results. You want people who are serious about buying, so it’s not just about persuading everybody to click on your site. It’s all about the quality of your leads, which can be easily achieved using tried and tested methods. So make a worthwhile return on your investment and maximize your results using some of the following simple techniques.

1.MLS Listing

Advertising on a multiple listing service is fundamental to capturing leads from your website. Sometimes having MLS listings fed to your site can be costly, however you might be able to link to a major real estate company, in which case listings can be free of charge. Generally, you will simply need a HTML code that is inserted in the website, so it points people in the right direction for information. If you are able to turn on lead capture for leads searching MLS listings on your website that’s a great first step. Similarly, you should also ensure your website integrates with the local MLS if possible.

2. Customized Meta Data

If you want people to click onto your website, you need a carefully thought out meta description. This small block of text will appear beneath your title in search engine results and needs to catch the eye of the user. In around 200 characters you need to persuade people to click on your link, so think carefully about what to include. Use active language to encourage the reader to click through and make sure you use a couple of your thoroughly researched keywords. Creating your own custom meta descriptions is a great way to control the information that is being displayed on search engines.

3. Include Useful Tools

When it comes to capturing real estate leads, you need to include useful tools that appeal to prospective buyers. Calculators, maps and check lists make a visual impact on potential leads and are persuasive tools for your website. Don’t forget to include high quality photos too, along with very detailed information about the property in question. Interactive maps are also very useful as it gives leads an insight into neighborhoods, schools and local attractions.

4. Blog, Blog and Blog Some More

The power of blogging should never be underestimated. When you create innovative content that hits the relevant keywords, your website will climb up the rankings on search engines. For optimum real estate lead generation, you should aim for up to sixteen blog posts a week. Think about hiring guest bloggers in order to keep the content flowing and make sure you keep posting as consistent as possible.

5. Use Facebook and Google Ads

Facebook and Google Ads are invaluable tools that can be used to appeal to specific audiences you are targets. In order to differentiate your PPC ads from others you need to hone in on your unique selling point. Think about what make your company different. Do you specialize in certain type of property? Are your office opening hours particularly flexible? Hold onto those key traits and use this in you ads to grab the readers’ attention.

6. Audit Your SEO

When it comes to real estate SEO, you need to be constantly auditing and improving it. Use Google’s AdWords Keyword Planner to make sure your keywords are always as relevant as possible. Don’t forget the importance of geographic modifiers to your keyword terms too, as this will attract high quality leads. Narrowly focusing your keywords using specific neighborhoods, housing types or even school districts will dramatically improve your SEO. Similarly, SEO can also be affected by your website loading times and labels on your pictures and videos. Carry out a thorough audit right now and see where you could make improvements.

7. Get Savvy With Social Media

As well as your real estate website, you need to focus on social media platforms too. When you take the time to understand and utilize social media effectively, your leads will dramatically increase. Nowadays, businesses don’t operate to their full potential without social media; it is the single most important advertising tool you can have. With very little effort you can have a multitude of platforms to promote your real estate business. What’s even more impressive is that you can use social media scheduling tools so that your posts go out automatically. All you need to do is spend a little time each week scheduling your posts and they will be uploaded to the relevant platforms at the right time of day that is specified by you.

8. Create a Desirable End Picture for Prospects

By laying out your website in a logical manner, it literally guides your prospects through each stage. When navigation is unclear and the customer journey is overlooked it can create confusion and it causes the lead to give up quickly. You want to encourage your lead to take action and take the next step in the sales funnel. This can be achieved by creating a desirable end picture for your potential clients using emotive and active language. Tap into the way they might be feeling when searching for a home and relate to them on another level. Partner this will plenty of calls to action and they will glide through your website smoothly and seamlessly.

Take Action Now

If you can incorporate these techniques right now you will be able to attract more qualified online visitors to your website. Your online platform will soon become a go to resource that prospective home buyers resort to every single day. In truth, every real estate business will be intriguing to somebody; it doesn’t matter what type of company you are running. Your goal is to find that niche group of people who will be attracted to your business. By creating content that is specific to your audience demographic, your website will appeal to the right people. This, in turn, will help increase your real estate leads from your online platform.

How to Decide Whether to Have a Custom Website or Build Your Own

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 04:00:00 GMT

You know your business needs a website. Perhaps you already have one. If you don’t, rest assured that creating an online presence is as simple as registering a domain name, finding a reliable partner to host your site, and deciding whether to have a custom website or build your own.

Of course, there are a number of ways business owners can create a website – code it on your own from the bottom up, build your own based on a template from one of the thousands of DIY platforms on the market, or hire a professional web developer.

To help you choose the best one for your business, we will break down the options in order of highest to lowest level of technical know-how required.

Let’s start with the option of building your own site. Developing your own custom site from the ground up requires some knowledge of a number of different technologies – HTML5, CSS, SQL, PHP, etc. Alternately, if you aren’t a web developer but you do have limited skills with HTML and CSS, you can still build your own site using an application like Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression, or with a content management system like WordPress or Joomla!. The advantage of building your own site is that it is a relatively affordable option, and your options are limited only by the amount of time and expertise you have to develop your site.

For those with some technical confidence but no interest in programming, you can still choose to build your own site by purchasing a web-based application that allows you to select a template. This references the thousands of automated website builders on the market that allow you to point, click, drag, and drop until you have something that looks relatively professional. You might even feel proud of yourself.

After selecting a template (one that thousands of other businesses also selected), you can add your own text and images, often in a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) manner similar to a word processing program.

These types of programs are usually quite affordable and easy to administer, although they allow only a certain amount of design flexibility, and can look cookie-cutter and offer little in the way of results when it comes to attracting new customers.

The final option is to develop a vision for your custom site with an experienced web designer, and leave the site creation, and sometimes even the maintenance, to a professional. This option will have more up-front cost than the other two and it will cost you more each year as well. However this cost can easily be justified by the increase in results a professionally designed web presence brings in.

A professionally designed website can quickly deliver exactly the site you want to represent your business, with very few limitations. An experienced site designer can offer suggestions to intrigue users and provide the return on investment that you seek.

If you’re still weighing what option is best for your business, search the web, note the differences in the quality of websites, and decide which types of websites you prefer and how you want to represent your business. Any of the approaches we outlined can create a successful site for you.

Once you do have a website, you can use a tool like the free Website Grader that enables you to measure your site’s SEO, website traffic, the blogosphere, and social media and ensure you are getting a return on your investment. However you choose to invest, you want to make sure you are receiving a return on that investment. Many of World Source Tech's programs offer guaranteed leads for example - something most DIY and even other developers can't offer.

The decision about how to create your site often boils down to the technical skills you possess, the amount of time you want to devote, and your budget. If you are considering a custom site, contact us for a consultation about the website and custom marketing plans we offer. We can get you quickly started with a results-driven site that you will be proud to call your own.

Five Manufacturing Website Musts

Mon, 18 Feb 2019 16:51:15 GMT

This is what potential customers are looking for when they visit your manufacturing website.

A professional look and feel

If you did your website yourself, or the office admin did it, try again. Potential clients with high profit or volume potential are looking for a professional manufacturing or CNC firm with attention to detail. Your website should be professionally designed and must look great on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

A list of machines, services, and or capabilities

Prospective customers need to know what you can do for them and at what capacity. Listing your machines and capabilities gives them an idea of the size and capacity of your operation and it allows them to see if there is a fit for the product they are trying to produce. If your machinery, plant floor, or process is impressive and not too proprietary, consider including photos or videos to further engage prospects on the website.

An easy way to request a quote or estimate

Make sure prospective clients can easily submit their request for information or quotation on every page of your website. Either a quote request button in the header of every page or a simple quote request form on the right hand side of each page is great. Ensure prospects can upload plans, specs, or other pertinent documentation with their request.

A way to stay in-front of prospects who have visited your site after the leave

The practice of retargeting clients using display advertising on search engines and social networks is a proven effective way to re-attract the prospect back to the website to request a quote or further engage with your company. This practice helps to ensure you convert site visitors in the research phase of the vendor selection process to clients when they are ready to make their decision.

A blog with relevant industry articles and helpful information for customers

The content on your website matters and it should be regularly updated with information that interests your potential customers. Using a blog is the most effective way to achieve the addition of new content on a regular basis and site visitors are used to reading blogs for additional information about products and services that might interest them. Articles about manufacturing processes, new technologies, and industry news make great blog posts that serve both for search engine optimization and prospect engagement.

Top Ten Checklist for Manufacturing Websites

help@worldsourcetech.com (WST Support Team) — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 07:22:40 GMT

Make sure your manufacturing website hits these 10 points for a competitive edge

1. Professional Design targeted for manufacturing leads

Gone are the days when you can build your own basic website for 1.99 a year and have it be good enough. Your front office staff person is not a web designer, and they shouldn't be charged with creating the primary first impression for your firm. A professionally designed, well planned website that captivates your target client is required if you are to be competitive. When we design manufacturing websites we take time to understand the firm's goals, ideal client profile, products, services, and process. From this information we can create a website that supports the firm goals, generates new leads, and provides a competitive, credible appearance online.

2. Proper Page Titles

Titles on search engines like Google and Bing give your potential customers a quick insight into the content of a result and why its relevant to their search. Many times this is the primary piece of information used to decide which result to click on. This means it is essential to use a high-quality title on each page within the website.

Page titles should be descriptive and concise. Avoid vague descriptors like "Home" for your home page, or "Profile" for a specific person. Avoid unnecessarily long or verbose titles, which are likely to get truncated when they show up in the search results Try to keep page titles short, i.e. less than 60 characters. A professional design company will include properly named page titles for each page prior to the launch of your site. Some companies may charge extra for this initial optimization and others will include it as a value add (we include

3. Page Responsiveness

Your website will load on all devices but it should be designed to load specifically on any given device. Pinching and zooming on a phone to access a menu link is circa 1992 and unacceptable, the website must be responsive for all devices.

Responsive websites use the viewport setting and modify elements on the page to load in a way that makes it easy for the visitor t use the website on their specific device. For example, menus and buttons on the mobile version will be larger and located in a "hamburger" menu rather than in a vertical or horizontal header position.

A viewport dictates how a web page should be displayed on a mobile device. If a viewport is not specified then a mobile device will display the page as if it were a desktop screen and not scaled to fit the device (again 1992 and unacceptable). Setting a viewport gives control over the page's width and scaling on different devices.

With this in mind, screen dimensions vary widely across devices so always configure the viewport in such a way that your pages render correctly on many different devices. Always try to make sure that the web page content doesn't rely on a particular viewport width to render well.

Lastly, buttons that are small or too close together are more difficult for users to press on a touchscreen than with a traditional mouse cursor. The average adult finger pad size is about 10mm wide, and it is recommended to have a minimum tap target size of roughly 7mm or 48 CSS pixels on a site with a correctly set mobile viewport.

4. Page Speed

Your page speed (as measured by Google Page Speed) should be 95 or higher. If your site loads slowly it can affect your search engine results ranking, and more importantly your traffic. If potential clients have to wait for your site to load, they will close the browser, re search and go to a competitor website that does load fast. Multiple factors go into ensuring a fast page load time from server response time, to ensuring javascript files are minified. Talk to your web designer to ensure the website is optimized to load quickly on all devices. Use our top 10 SEO tool for manufacturing websites to see how your site currently stacks up.

5. On Page SEO

The ideal ratio of text to HTML code must be between 20 to 60%. If it is less than 20%, consider adding more text. If your page has more than 60%, it might be considered as spam. In addition to great photography, with appropriate layout you'll need supporting text in the right quantity that accurately describes your products and services. Use keyword phrases in normal, natural sentences where possible but don't just list out a bunch of keywords hoping to show up at the top of a search results page, in fact if you try this tactic your site's ranking will likely be penalized. Major search engines look for authentic content that is useful to human beings that might actually be interested in learning more about your product or service.

Unique words are words that reflect your sites features and information. Search engine metrics are not intended to use unique words as ranking factor but it is still useful to get a proper picture of your site contents.

Using positive unique words like complete, perfect, shiny, would be a good idea for a better user experience. In search engines, a stop word is a commonly used word (such as 'the') that a search engine has been programmed to ignore, both when indexing entries for searching and when retrieving them as the result of a search query

6. Landing Pages

Having specific pages for site visitors to use for requesting more information is a key way to generate leads from your website. For example if you are a CNC shop targeting tier 2 automotive customers, having a landing page about your equipment and capabilities for working with these customers would be key. This landing page would provide summary detail and offer a downloadable PDF with more details, in exchange for the leads name, company name, and email address.

7. Lead Forms

How will you capture lead information? Lead forms! Both current and potential customers will need a way to contact you and picking up the phone is inconvenient. Make it easy for them by providing ample amount of contact forms, quote request forms, and info request forms throughout the website. Ideally these forms integrate directly into your CRM and ERP systems to the lead can easily tracked and followed up with throughout the entire sales process.

8. Call to Action

When it comes to engagement on your manufacturing website, if you don't ask, you don't get. Well placed instructions that ask the site visitor to take a desired action are called "Calls to Action". For example, a "Request a Quote" button in the upper right hand corner of your website header would be a call to action. Placement, verbiage, color, and context are all important inputs when deciding on which call to actions to use and where to use them. When you plan your website design or redesign, be sure to think through which calls to action you'll use and where.

9. Reviews and Testimonials

Building credibility with prospects you've never spoken with is difficult. One way to accomplish trust and credibility with new prospects on your website is through the use of testimonials and reviews from previous clients. Including reviews from Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and direct testimonials submitted through email and other means will give potential clients a way to verify that you can do a good job for them.

Both written and video testimonials are great ways to show prospects that you can be trusted with their business. Video testimonials are more verifiable by their nature but written testimonials are also useful. Include a mix of video and written testimonials on a reviews page within your website. Make sure written testimonials are also present on major social media review systems like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

10. Followup System (Funnels)

What do you do once you have your professionally designed website with winning page titles, fast loading pages on all devices, lead forms and calls to action throughout, reviews and testimonials that generate credibility, and landing pages that capture new leads?

You follow up with prospects in a methodical, planned, and targeted manner that is both personalized and automated. We use our custom ERP and CRM system for clients to create drip campaigns and lead funnels that nurture prospects until they are ready to request a quote or get started on their manufacturing project.

If you found these top 10 interesting and would like to chat more about implementing them for your manufacturing firm,
get in touch !

10 ways to get new manufacturing prospects and convert them to customers

help@worldsourcetech.com (WST Support Team) — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 05:15:19 GMT

How to use your website, CRM/ERP system, and internet marketing to generate new b2b customers (and keep them)

Getting new manufacturing clients means standing out from your competition where it means the most. Of course quality of product and service speak for themselves, but to get that new customer, your first impression counts the most. These ten tips show you how to attract new manufacturing customers using your website and some internet marketing tools.

1. Have an amazingly professional manufacturing website

The first thing that new prospects will see when looking for a company to make their product will be the google search result, and then of course the website homepage. Don't lose potential customers with a "Do it yourself" website that looks ameature and unprofessional.

Captivate new potential customers with a custom designed professional website (logo / colors / images all matter here). This will communicate that you are capable of attention to detail and doing a professional job for potential clients.

You can see if your website stacks up by using our manufacturing website audit and seo tool.

2. Make it easy for website visitors to request a quote

The option to request a quote should be present on every page. Allow customers to upload PDF files, CAD files, or anything else your team might need in order to create a comprehensive quote.

Placement and design of quote request forms and call to action buttons like "Request a Quote" is important. Typically these should be on the right hand side of the page, well balanced in 1/3 of the page with the other content, and only capture the essential information (Name, Email, maybe phone and company but that's pushing it).

Once a prospect completes a quote form, be sure to send them to a thank-you page on your website that indicates when you'll be contacting them, provides links to other important areas on your website, and that emails them immediately confirming their submission was received.

Don't stop there, make sure this new lead information is added to your CRM or ERP system so you can start a funnel marketing campaign and have the sales team follow up and log their activity on this lead so everyone knows what's going on with this new prospect.

3. List and show your machine, manufacturing, and shipping / distribution capabilities clearly on your website

Make sure prospective customers can see exactly what you do. Show photos of your machines, operations, and team with descriptions that generate trust and an overall sense of competency. Be detailed on these pages and provide use cases and examples of work commonly completed by your company. Doing this will help search engines show prospects what your manufacturing website is about and what your company does when they search for related keywords.

4. Use email addresses and first names in periodic drip campaigns to stay in front of prospects

When prospects visit your website for the first time, they may not be ready to get started just yet because they are only in the research or comparison phase of their procurement journey. For this reason, it is imperative that we get them to provide an email address and first name during this first visit. How do we do this? By offering interesting and helpful information related to their website visit. Articles, blog posts, case studies, free quotes, video tutorials, email courses, and more are all great ways to collect a first time visitor's email address.

5. Score each lead by their actions

If a lead open an email, give them 5 points, if they visit the website again, another 5 points (our CRM and ERP systems do this automatically).

So, a prospect googles "Laser Cutter Indiana", finds the website, and lands on the homepage. It's professional, they click around see some of the machines used, previous clients and projects and decide it could be a good fit to produce their new assembly widget. Next, they fill out the quote request form which immediately adds them to the ERP / CRM system as a lead, sends them a thank you email, alerts sales of the prospect and redirects the prospect to the thank you page on the website with more info to help them learn more about the company and solidify their decision to engage.

After this, the lead will get a follow up call or email from sales and may receive weekly or monthly "drip" emails with useful information about manufacturing. These weekly or monthly information nuggets keep the company "top of mind" for the customer and help to ensure repeat business. The cross sell and reorder opportunities are endless here, multiple campaigns can be created, prospects and customers can be added to different campaigns based on how many emails they open, if they click on a link within an email, etc. This is the personalized web marketing that is completely measurable, low cost, and effective at generating new and repeat manufacturing and industrial b2b sales.

6. Follow Up by personal email or phone call with leads that hit a certain score

We mentioned earlier that some leads may not be ready for a phone conversation after their first visit to the website. However, if we were able to capture their email and send them a weekly or bi weekly email series, we can increase their interest score based on their behavior. For example each time a prospect opens one of these emails we can increase their score, and each time they click on a link within the email, say to the company blog or a landing page on the website for example, we can further increase their lead score in the CRM/ERP system. Once the lead hits a certain score, we can automatically place the followup to-do item on the calendar for sales to touch base with a personal email or phone call to see if they are ready to order.

7. Keep leads and customers in evergreen campaigns that send out periodic company emails with useful information

Hire a firm (like us for example) to write these emails and blog posts for you so they are optimized for both search engines and readers. This content is different from weekly / bi weekly or monthly emails that you send to prospects. This evergreen content is for existing clients that have ordered in the past but are currently dormant. Sending these periodic emails automatically will keep you in front of them as a first choice if / when they need to re-order and / or if the opportunity to refer a manufacturing/distribution firm crosses them, your company will be the first one in mind.

8. Automatically schedule 30, 60, and 90 day follow ups for sales

Once a lead is added to your ERP/CRM system from your website, have the system auto generate calendar items for a personal phone call or email at the 30, 60 and every 90 day mark until the lead is marked "lost" or "won" as a customer. Once "won" as a customer, have the system continue to schedule follow ups at the interval that works best for your established sales process (we find at least every 90 days for existing customers, if not more often).

9. Used paid advertising on Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn

Using paid advertising on Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn is one of the fastest ways to generate new prospects for any business. This is also one of the most cost effective and measurable forms of advertising that exists. The fact is that most people, including b2b decision makers have an account on at least one of these platforms, and these platforms allow us to specifically target people by job title, annual income, geographic location, interests, and behaviors making your ad spend highly effective. The reporting for this type of advertising is more than you will ever get from traditional printed or billboard ads and addresses your very specific niche market of decision makers who need a product made or distributed from a company like yours.

10. Don't go it alone

DIY websites and advertising campaigns are obvious, look amteur, and will lose you business. Hire a competent technology and internet marketing firm that can create a professional custom website for you, generate professional interesting content for your site visitors, and drive qualified prospects to your manufacturing website using proven advertising techniques on platforms your potential clients use every day like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn. If you would like to learn more about how we can make all of this happen for you, get in touch and we'll give you call within one business day to discuss.

How to Get More Visitors to Your Website

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Once you have a business website, you want to make sure that your site can be found, and found first, when someone needs your product or service. There are several different ways that users navigate the web and even more ways to increase your traffic. A simple way to get more visitors to your site is to focus on the most common way that users navigate – search engines like Google and Bing – and use search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to make sure your site appears on the first page of organic search results.

Each search engine works a little differently, but in general, they use the same elements to determine where your page should rank in search results, so with a few tips you should be able to improve your ranking.

Keyword Phrases (in your content)

First, think of about 7 phrases that someone might type in to a search engine to find your business. Got them? Good, those are your keywords. You’ll need to use those important keyword phrases in the places where search engines look for them.

Page Content – On each page, use about 300-700 words in your text, and use your keyword phrases a few times. Make sure to write naturally and readably. Search engines have become very sophisticated in demoting sites that overuse keywords.

Title Tag – The title tag appears in the browser’s title bar and in the title for your listing in search engine results. Each page in your site should have a unique title that is shorter than 65 characters, and again, should incorporate specific keyword phrases.

Description Tag – The description or meta tag displays below your website’s link in search results, so it will help motivate users to click on your link when it appears in search results. Include a description for each page on your site, and use your keywords. Keep your description to fewer than 250 characters, and use only alphanumeric characters.

Header (H1) Tag – Make sure each page in your site includes one (and only one) H1 tag, which should be no longer than a short sentence. The H1 tag should tell the reader what the page is about.

Image Tag – Try to use an image on each page, and make sure it is formatted with an ALT attribute that incorporates the keywords on the page. The ALT tag is the way a search engine crawler can tell what the subject of an image is.

Navigation

Make sure your website contains no broken links, either within your own site or to outside sites. You will probably need to run a link checker from time to time and fix any broken links. Sites with broken links are ranked lower in search engine results.

Site Map

Your website should include a site map to enable a search engine’s “crawlers” to index every page. It’s not really important how a search engine crawler uses a site map – it’s enough to know that it helps the search engines find and analyze all your pages when they analyze your site, so sites with a site map rank higher in search engine results.

Link Building

Create links within your content, either to other pages on your website (called interlinks) or from other websites to your website (called backlinks). Both types of links improve your ranking in search engines, and backlinks in particular will improve your score. A few ways to get backlinks are to send out press releases, to get listed in online directories, or to trade backlinks with another business.

These general tips should give you a good start in optimizing your website for search engines, and improving your traffic. At World Source Tech, we know it’s a huge endeavor to physically move your office or business location. But to move your website up in the page rankings? That’s our specialty. If your website traffic could use a boost, contact us to start the conversation about how World Source Tech can drive more traffic, leads and customers to your bottom line!

How much does it cost to make an app?

help@worldsourcetech.com (WST Support Team) — Thu, 12 Oct 2017 15:27:46 GMT

How to estimate taking your idea to a working app for iPhone, Android, or the Web

So you have the next big app idea. Or maybe you have mapped out the perfect system to run your business (that you can't already buy off the shelf). How much could it really cost? Maybe you think it doesn't seem "too difficult or complicated" or perhaps you know that your business process is complex and so your application will need a lot of heavy lifting. Web apps can cost anywhere from $20,000 to 1,000,000 and a quick google search of " how much does it cost to build an app " returns an answer starting at 100k. While apps are not 'cheap' to develop, you don't have to fork over a small house in one chunk to get a working prototype going.

In this post we'll take a look at how move forward with application development , how much it costs, and how to manage that cost into payments that allow you to move forward with your project.

Here's what you need to know:

1. Every application, every single one requires software engineering.
When you say "It doesn't seem that complicated", in some ways you're right. Instagram doesn't seem that complicated, people take pictures, upload them, and comment / like them and message each other. The fact remains however, that someone has to write all of that code to make it happen. Thousands of lines (sometimes hundreds of thousands) of code go into creating an enterprise application. It is important be cognizant that even the most simple seeming app takes hours and hours of work by multiple talented developers; there is no "copy and paste'. Custom applications are, well, custom and should be coded from scratch. This doesn't mean you should have to pay to re-invent the wheel, it just means that it will help you during the development process if you understand that a seemingly simple idea of the working product does not translate to simplicity in the making of said product. In fact, simplifying a user experience can sometimes require far more engineering talent to do all of the heavy lifting 'behind the scenes' so the user has an intuitive experience.

With that said, here is what we think you should expect to pay and how you can work within a budget to get there.

a) Most agencies with really talented developers charge about $150 per hour and if you google "How much does it cost to make an app" you will find $50,000 as the low end price tag and 500k - 1,000,000 as a common price tag for larger organizations. Don't fret, your app does not have to cost 100k at first (or ever for that matter).

b) You can outsource to another country for a fraction of the cost, be we don't recommend that for anyone that is not already an experienced software engineer. If you do, good luck unless you speak that language, and have an understanding of the work and cultural values of your newly hired freelancer. Many projects outsourced by novice developers or entrepreneurs are never completed or launched due to lack of communication, poor code quality (due to lack of communication or experience), and lack of budget (due to length of time to debug and fix a plethora of preventable bugs) caused also by, you guessed it, lack of communication.

c) You can insource to a USA based agency (like us for example) who is experienced working with internal and external teams to quickly bring your idea to a working prototype (many times within weeks). Producing a quick prototype of your idea in working form is called the minimum viable product or (MVP) and it allows you to get a hands on feel for what your product will do and how it will work before you have paid for the entire project.

2. You Should Start with an MVP and then iterate

The M inimum V iable P roduct is the bare bones of your application. It doesn't need to have every single feature or module that you ever thought of, it just needs to look the way you envision the app and handle the minimum basic process around your idea or business. This is where you really have to sit down and make a list of "Must Have" features and "Nice to Have" features. Must have features make it in the MVP and Nice to Have features are backlogged for future updates.

The MVP process is a huge time and money saver when you are first creating your application. At World Source Tech, we encourage clients to define the minimum viable product and 'nice to have features' at the beginning of the project. Then, we allow clients to pay monthly, associating each payment with a deliverable of one to three features that will be delivered at the end of a 4 week (sometimes 8 week) period, known as a sprint. Every payment you make goes toward producing usable functionality in your minimum viable product.

Monthly retainers for application development start around $5,000 per month. An average is probably $7,500 per month with a list of deliverable features attached to each retainer payment (or over a 2 month period if one feature set is quite large). This process allows for agile development rather than waterfall development. With waterfall development you pay a deposit, progress payment and final payment. We allow clients to take either approach but highly recommend an agile approach with monthly retainer so that feature sets are associated with each payment. This monthly payment / deliverable attachment makes the project run in a way that produces a chunk of features that can be physically tested in the application in monthly or bi monthly intervals.

3. Take your MVP to the next level - testing

Once you have your MVP working, you are ready for alpha and beta testing. Testing is a key component to application success wether you are making an iPhone app, a CRM/ERP system, or a game . It is imperative that you ensure the general audience you'll be serving understands how to use your application, can do so easily, and that the application achieves the overall business goal. During the testing phase you'll pay for hours spent collecting, interpreting, and refining based on user feedback. You will want to first collect user experience data using surveys and in person testing events, generate a "punch list" for refinements, and then repeat the process. You'll continue doing this until you have a product you can launch to a limited audience for beta testing.

4. Beta testing

You have a working app, and your smaller test groups like it after their feedback has been used to make the appropriate changes. Before you scale to the masses, let's make sure everyone using your application knows it is still in 'beta', and let's continue to keep the number of users small so we can get more generalized feedback, making refinements based on input from a larger, yet still controlled audience.

5. Launch 1

Your first launch will be the delivery of your refined minimum viable product. This should be the end of the initial development cycle and at this point you'll be paying for hosting and support but not for development (unless you keep development engaged to continue refining and adding features).

6. Bells and Whistles Launch

Now that you have your live application, it's time to take a look at our feature backlog which includes those 'nice to have' features. Now is the time to bring in the next most important feature that will improve the experience and expand the audience for your web or phone application.

We also recommend paying for these additional development items in chunks overtime using with a similar process used to develop the MVP. Select the features, determine the time they will take to develop, and divide the cost into monthly payments over that period of time. Try connecting each payment to a set of deliverables if possible.

Creating an app is not a 'cheap' process, and it shouldn't be. You want a talented development team bringing your idea to life so your application can achieve the goals you've set for it. However, you shouldn't have to fork over 100k+ at the start of the project. Instead, try breaking payments down into a monthly retainer associated with specific deliverables at the end of each sprint. Doing this will get you to a working MVP that you can continue to iterate on over time.

To learn more about estimating the cost to develop your next web, iPhone, or Android application, say hello to get a call from one of our application development experts. We'll walk through the application development process in a no pressure conversation. If you're interested in moving forward with an application development project to bring your idea or system to life, we'll prepare a detailed proposal to get you started.

10 Quick Steps to Start Advertising on Google

Sat, 05 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMT

If your business is not yet showing up in the top organic search results despite your efforts to optimize your website for search engines, then Google paid advertising can be effective for driving traffic to your website. A paid advertisement on Google can get your business name and message displayed above and to the side of the organic search results when users type in their keywords. Google AdWords is the Google search advertising product that allows you to pay to have your business’s message listed in the paid results.

To get started advertising on Google:

1. Determine your advertising objective. In general, the benefit is that you can deliver your message at the moment someone is searching for the type of product or service you offer. You may want to see if a paid Google advertisement can get users to your website, and whether they then subscribe to your newsletter, order a product, or request a contact.
2. Decide on your budge t for Google advertising, which could be a portion of your monthly advertising budget. For CPC ads, you pay when someone clicks on your ad. You will get an idea of how far your budget will take you when you test your keywords later on and when you set up your ad. For now, just know that you can start by setting your budget in Google AdWords to $5/day or some low amount, and Google will just stop displaying your ad after the daily limit has been reached. You will also need to bid for placement for each click. If you want to start with a low budget, you can set a low amount for placement such as $1, which may not place you at the top of the list.
3. Install Google Analytics. You will need this later on to measure the success of your ad and to target your advertising goals.
4. Choose keywords carefully using the Google AdWords Keyword tool. The Google AdWords Keyword tool will help you select keywords to target, and will give you an idea of cost per click so you can see what you will get for your budget. Choose keywords that relate closely to your offerings so you receive the most likely prospects. For your initial ad, you can select a broad match, which are somewhat less targeted than exact or phrase matches.
5. Set up a Google AdWords account. You may decide not to include your billing information until after you have set up your ad.
6. Create a new campaign and create your ad in Google AdWords. Your ad can have a headline, two lines of text, and two URLs. Your headline should include your main search term, and the copy can include two lines – often benefit and a feature. The final two lines should be URLs – one for your website and another for your landing page. The most effective ad text often includes prices, special offers, and unique selling points.
7. If you are a local business , consider geotargeting when you create ad groups. You can also choose the time of day you want your ad to display, and whether you want it to display on mobile phones, computers, or both.
8. Set up Conversion Tracking , a free tool that allows you to see what the user does after they click on your ad. This tool will help you see whether your advertising is working to get your audience to sign up for a newsletter, buy a product, fill out a form, or whatever you would like them to do on your website.
9. Launch your campaign. You should begin to view your metrics almost immediately.
10. Measure the success of your ads! Check Google Analytics and/or Conversion Tracking early and often to see how your new ad is working for you. See if your ads are being displayed often enough, if your bids are too low, whether the keywords are bringing the right visitors to your site, whether your click-through rate is high enough, and whether you’re bidding too high and getting first position but burning through your budget too fast. If you started with a low budget, you may want to increase that as you learn more about how Google advertising works.

Paid search engine advertising can help you increase your visibility in search results, and several good books have been written about the easiest ways to use AdWords. At World Source Tech, we stay up to date on changing technologies to make sure your clients find your business on the web. Whenever you need expert assistance advertising on Google, contact us at 616-717-5802 or http://www.worldsourcetech.com/getinfo .

Photo: Afromusing

7 Tips for Having a Successful Blog

Sat, 05 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMT

You have probably noticed that everyone seems to be blogging these days, from school kids to grandmothers. It’s amazingly easy to create a blog. It’s a little trickier to create a successful blog – especially a successful business blog.

When you go to the effort of maintaining a business blog, you want to make sure it adds something to your marketing portfolio. Goals for your business blog might include:

Generating visitors to your blog or business

Improving your page rank through SEO (search engine optimization)

Establishing your business as an authority, or establishing your product/service as a unique offering

Driving sales or retention of your services

Communicating with your target audience

Developing a relationship with your visitors so they become readers

Once you know what you want your blog to do for you, you can better focus your efforts to increase your blog’s success. These general tips should help make any business blog successful:

1. Understand who you are blogging to.

Picture what type of person would read your blog and become engaged in your business, and what type of person would subscribe to your blog. Try to imagine a person who represents an ideal client for your business. Once you have that persona in mind, you can more easily choose engaging blog topics, select the tone and level of your writing, and build a readership that includes your target customers.

2. Post regularly.

You can post once a week or several times a week, but the important thing is to decide how frequently you will blog, and stick to that general schedule. Try to post on the same day(s) of the week/month, same time of day. Set your site visitors’ expectations so they know how often they should check your site for new content. Set your subscribers’ expectations for how often you will be visiting their email in-box.

3. Optimize your posts for search engines.

Ideally, the key words you are trying to optimize for should be in a few places – your title, within the first paragraph, and then within the content of the article. Make sure that these keywords don’t affect the readability of your post! And select keywords that are non-branded, meaning keywords other than your company name or product names. Non-branded keywords draw people to your site who are searching for general terms, and help optimize your site for organic search.

4. Include a CTA (call to action) in your posts. ( Request a call from us now if your site does not have CTAs)

You can include these in various places, but the important thing is to ask the reader to engage with you – subscribe to your blog, visit a page describing your products, request a call, sign up for a webinar, etc. Use each post as an opportunity to generate leads. The goal is to retain readers and engage them in your website and content, start qualifying prospects, moving them along the path to become customers.

5. Interact with your readers.

Check for comments on your posts, and if someone comments on a post, always try to respond quickly.

6. Use images.

The web is a visual medium, and images engage readers. Try to use images that represent the subject of the blog post, and include an ALT tag on images to boost your SEO.

7. Measure your success.

Check your website’s metrics to see which posts are most popular and which generate the most leads. You can use this information to see what type of posts your readers and ideal customers find relevant.

In order to define success, it pays to assess what you want your blog to do for your business. At World Source Tech, we help our clients use the web to achieve marketing goals with blogs, websites, and other web marketing strategies. Contact us today to make the web work for you.

Photo: P4BLoX

Seven steps to generate fast traffic for your small business website

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Weather your website is new or you have had it for a while with little luck generating any real leads, it is important to look at how (and if) you are doing anything to drive traffic to your website.

After having a beautiful website, ready to convert leads with well designed landing pages, forms, check out pages, etc your next step is to get people to that website. This is called generating traffic. This post focuses on how and why you should use paid online advertising like Google Adwords to drive traffic to your website. Of course there are many methods of driving traffic that produce varying results with varying levels of measurability. However, none that in our opinion really compare to cost per click based online advertising on search engines and social media sites.

So without further ado, if you're committed to being a DIYer for your online marketing, these steps will help. If you would rather hire us to win for you online, request a call or check out our flexible, no contract online marketing service plans .

Step 1: Learn how AdWords works

Watch these videos on Google Adwords express. I also recommend checking out the full featured version of AdWords but this is a great start to learning how it works.

How to start your first campaign

Step 2: Decide what you want your leads to do

Determine what it is you want your users to do. Should they "request a quote" by filling out a form, are they buying a pizza, are they signing up for an email list? Make a list of steps your prospects will take from the time your prospect sits down at their computer to the time they purchase or request what it is your website is selling.

Step 3: Designate the landing page(s) for your users

Landing pages are the pages that your prospects will land on once they click on your Ad. Ensure your landing page has the form you want them to fill out (or a button leading to this form) or the product you want them to purchase, or the action you want your prospect to take can be done on this page. Think about how you navigate a website, and what makes you close out of a website quickly to ensure your landing page doesn't have any of these deterrents. After all, you're paying for visitors so you want them to stay a while and complete the desired action. Is this landing page your homepage? It probably shouldn't be. Try being more purposeful in driving traffic to specific pages designed to appeal to the specific person clicking on a specific ad.

Step 4: Setup conversion tracking

This tracking will let you know how many "clickers" on your ads, actually did what you wanted them to do (filled out the request a quote form, ordered a pizza, purchased a widget, etc). Watch this video:

Learn about Google Conversion Tracking

Step 5: Launch one campaign with one or two ad groups

If you're a small business, try a budget of $10 per day or less to get the hang of online advertising. Enter your keywords, and even try entering some "negative keywords" so that people who enter something that is potentially mistaken for your product or service won't see your ads. Create several variations of the same ad experimenting with different headlines and ad copy so you can see what performs best.

Step 6: Check your AdWords account daily for results

Which keywords are performing and which ones are not? After a week or so, pause the keywords with low CTR and no conversions. Do this same process for your ads.

Step 7: Make changes to your landing pages

The point of making landing page changes is to try and increase those conversions. It's awesome to start getting some exposure on Google and even better when you are getting more traffic than ever from those ads. However, what really counts is conversions or the number of visitors who become solid leads or customers by completing the form or buying the product. While your Ads do need to be optimized, the webpage your visitors land on needs to make sense, offer the information the prospect is looking for, and provide a clear value in exchange for their information or purchase.

We're not saying AdWords is the only way to generate traffic and leads. Traffic generation can happen several ways, but most are pretty ineffective and far more expensive than online advertising. Below are a few ways you can get people to your website:

1. Word of mouth (you tell people to visit your website and they listen). This might get you 1-2 visits a month.

2. Traditional advertising like business cards (a few visits), mailers (a few more visits), large scale advertising like billboards (potentially hundreds of visits or more), and radio (similar to billboard results).

3. Organic search traffic (potentially thousands of visitors but as little as zero).

4. Paid search traffic

Again, this post really focuses on paid search traffic; specifically, Google Adwords. Why? Paid search traffic is the fastest, most cost effective, and measurable way to generate real prospects coming to your website. Within 24 hours you can have hundreds or even thousands of visitors coming to your website. You can see where they are coming from, what they clicked on to find your website, what keywords they entered to find your advertising, how long they spent on your website, and what pages they visited while on your website.

Please tell me, what other traditional advertising methods provide such detailed statistics in close to real time? That's correct if you said none. The truth is that traditional advertising has its place, but for small business it is costly and highly un-measuarble. Traditional advertising also produces little traffic to the first place new customers go before doing business with you, your website.

Want to do this yourself? Well first you're going to need to learn a bit more. If not, you can just stop and request a call (look right) from us now and we can continue this conversation by phone,SKYPE or in person. :-)

If you're convinced you want to manage your own Google Adwords, the seven starter steps below will help. However, if you feel in any way that this might be outside of your comfort zone, we recommend using us to win for you online.

Check out our inbound marketing plans which include Search Engine Marketing like Google Adwords. No contracts or long term commitments.

Additional tips for traffic and leads

Making changes to the layout of the page, positioning of the sign up form, pricing, and more can all make a difference to your success with search engine marketing. In the beginning you can make small changes and test over time. However as you get better you will want to implement A/B testing so you can run multiple versions of the same landing page at the same time. Google AdWords can track the performance of each page and favor the one that does best so you get more conversions.

My goal here is for you, the small business owner to get a taste of just how valuable search engine marketing like using Google Adwords is. With all of the stats mentioned above, you can make quick decisions about your budget (you can change that any time by the way, can you do that with a billboard or direct mail?), you can pause keywords that are not performing so the other keywords get more play, and you can pause ads that are duds to preference the ones that are getting more clicks, and more importantly more customers!

But how do you know if the ads are getting customers (see tip #4 above)? This is again an amazing feature that your direct mail campaign just cannot boast, not that I have anything against direct mail ;). Adwords provides a snippet of code called "Conversion Tracking Code" which is placed on the "Thank You" page of your website. This is a page that visitors can only see after purchasing your product, requesting a quote by filling out a form, requesting a call by filling out a form, or signing up for your email list.

Some conversions have value like product purchases, quote, and call requests, while others have future value like email list signups. Either way, Google Adwords allows you to track every single lead. You can see your top performing ads by the number of leads they have produced and make decisions on how to spend future advertising dollars. This is not new people, however so many people shy away from this and choose traditional advertising methods because they are more familiar with them. If that sounds like you, that familiarity is costing you thousands of dollars and lost business.

Many new small business clients are shy to even approach paid online advertising thinking it will be too expensive or ineffective. Some small business owners have even tried using Google Adwords on their own, only to have a bad taste in their mouth from wasted money on clicks with no leads. This is actually common. The problem is that unless you are an internet marketing professional, online advertising can be a crap shoot. To be really successful with DIY advertising you need to spend a lot of time learning how to modify your website, write great headlines, install tracking code, make landing pages, create drip campaigns, and oh yea run your business.

Look, I'm a huge supporter of DIY projects. I just did my own bathroom backsplash after watching a YouTube video. It looks 92% professional. Do I think you can do this yourself? Yes. Do I think you will win for your business by doing it your self? I'm 92% sure the answer here is no but if you do try, stay committed to working in your campaign every day and keep your budget low until you think you've got the hang of things. Of course you can always request a quick call using the form on the right and we'll pair you with a Marketing Professional who can rock your world when it comes to driving traffic and generating leads through your website.

10 Reasons You Should Love Blogging

mw@worldsourcetech.com (Michael Wetizman) — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 16:37:00 GMT

Blog posts are a great way to get recognized within your community and share your voice. Here are the top 10 reasons you should love writing blog posts.

Anyone can make one:
For better or worse, anyone can write a blog post about anything they want. Everyone has a voice and the best voices will rise to the top.

The writer can show their personality:
In blog posts, the writer has more leeway to add in their voice and personality than other types of writing.

Blogs are a great form of mass communication:
You can help people, learn new things, entertain your audience—the possibilities are endless and amazing. Blogging opens up all of these to a very wide audience.

You can make money:
Get the right blog going and you can make a lot of money through advertising and sponsored posts.

It allows people to craft better thoughts:
Instead of reading haphazard, uneducated Facebook statuses, it’s much better to see people’s thought process in a well-written blog post.

You can establish a community:
Blogging allows you to connect with other individuals who share the same interests. Sharing ideas and opinions within your community helps establish yourself as a thought leader.

Good for SEO:
Keeping content on your site fresh and relevant, you can use your blog to boost the search engine ranking (SEO) of your site and your business.

It brings people back to your site:
If your blog is strong enough and updated regularly, people will come back looking for more and bring traffic back to your site as well.

It’s free:
It costs you a grand total of zero dollars to post to the blog, so if you have something to say, there’s nothing to stop you.

You can establish yourself as a thought leader:
A blog is a great place for your original thoughts, and it can be a wonderful way to show off your individuality. If people like your ideas, you can become a thought leader in your industry!

What else do you love about blogs? Let me know!

5 Step Quick Start to Using Facebook Ads

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

With more than 1.4 billion people having a Facebook profile and more than 900 million site visits, Facebook is the 21st century marketing hub. Facebook creates an easy way to market and reach out to your potential audiences- launching Facebook Ads. So, what are Facebook Ads? Facebook Ads from a users perspective, show advertisements that are relevant to you and your friend’s interests.

As a business owner, these ads are shown to your potential customers. The ads will appear on the news feed (desktop or mobile) and in the right column of Facebook desktop. Facebook decides which ads users end up seeing by: the information users share on Facebook (likes), other info from the account (demographics), & activity on websites or apps off of Facebook. So how as a small business owner use Facebook Ads?

Step 1- Create

With an advertising method in mind, log onto your personal account, click the drop down button on the upper right corner, and click create an ad. Your small business does not actually need a Facebook page to advertise (although we recommend it for marketing campaigns) the owner/manager of the advertisement needs a personal Facebook account to be able to manage and pay for the ads (note-the ads will not link to your profile). Pick your advertising objective, if promoting a website, you will need to provide a URL which will link to your website and let the ad be underway!

Step 2- Target

Facebook ads created a brilliant feature- you pick who you market to. You can select who views your ad using multiple variables. When the ad is created you can pick the type of people who can see the ad by choosing certain traits and keywords. Facebook lets you target by region/location, age, gender, education, workplace, hobbies, relationships, and keywords. Through the provided information shared on your Facebook profile, Facebook generates keywords that are relatable to your website, event, etc. that you are trying to advertise. That is what makes it different from traditional advertising; Facebook can get your ads to the right people at the right time- via ones newsfeed.

Step 3- Design

Facebook ads will have a 25-character headline, a 90-character body description, and thumbnail photograph. Who knew so little content could expand business? Less is more these days, am I right? However, don’t get nervous because these can be updated in real-time. So really feel free to experiment with what looks best. Facebook does have a lengthy set of standards and rules to abide by while using their advertisements. You can refer to the advertising guidelines here.

Step 4- Budget

Facebook ads, like most things in the world, are not free. Select a Cost Per Click (CPC) pricing and you will be charged every time someone clicks on the ad or sponsored story. An alternative route is per thousand impression (CPM); you pay every time 1,000 people see the ad. Then tell Facebook how much money you are willing to spend (daily budget or lump sum of total spending while the ad is featured). You can pay with credit, debit, PayPal, or Facebook Ads coupon and the billing is monthly. For more information and clarification on how budgeting for your ad works, please watch this informational tutorial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HZSlaU6Zz4

Step 5- Analyze

You should monitor your ads regularly, as Facebook does allow trial and error. If the ad is not getting as much attention as expected you can pause the ad to edit the text, increase/decrease bid, or adjust the target audience as you go. Another great feature from Facebook is the Ad Manager. This will show you all the details about your campaign- budget, spending, and scheduling. Then click on the campaign to show how many people have view, clicked, and how often it shows on peoples feeds!

The great thing about Facebook Ads is how it connects the consumer to the business- raising brand awareness. The relevant and engaging photos, videos, and links make Facebook Ads a powerful way to find new customers and build brand loyalty (Facebook, 2015). If you feel like this is over your head or really want to win with your online advertising just fill out the quick call request form on the right hand side of this page!

Are you getting anywhere with your website?

Tue, 29 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Questions and Answers to help you get some action with your website and web marketing

Are you doing anything that is getting you anywhere?

Eight Things That Get You Somewhere with Internet Marketing

1. Use Google Adwords to drive keyword targeted traffic to specific landing pages

2. Use Facebook Ads to drive demographic and psychographic targeted traffic to specific landing pages

3. Have landing pages without menu items and with custom forms that send lead info to your CRM system

4. Use a CRM system that supports funnel marketing (sending automated emails based on the lead's score / actions)

5. Score your leads! For example, if a lead opens an email, 1 point; if they click a link 5 points, etc.

6. Use professionally created social media accounts that match your brand on every network you have a potential audience

7. Post daily, relevant content on each social network, categorize content and post when the highest number of potential viewers are online

8. Measure everything. Know your stats! Use Google Anatlyics and a CRM / Funnel marketing system that has awesome stats. You don't know how you're doing if you can't measure!

Do you have real leads coming in from your website?

Eight tips to get and nurture real leads coming in from your website

1. Make sure your ads match your landing pages

2. Offer great content on your landing pages, in exchange for name and email

3. Make sure every page of your website has a request a call, request more info, or requst a quote form

4. Create different followup paths for leads in your CRM system based on the action they take. For example, if lead A opens email B, then put them in list C so they receive next months special offer, etc.

5. Offer relevant, engaging downloads like white papers,free reports, video access, and tips in exchange for an email address

6. Be transparent and advertise the action you want users to take. For example if you're a dentist, advertise that users can request an appointment online and be sure that the ad drives users to a landing page where users can do just that!

7. Give people a good reason to request your service or provie their info.

8. Make sure leads feel secure on your site by using premium SSL certificates that show a green browser bar, lock and https in the url. This increases the comfort for providing information and actually secures the transmission of such information, a win win.

Do you even show up on the first page of Google when someone types in what you do?

The two main ways to quikcly show up on Google

1. Advertise on Google using AdWords. Don't waste your time or money doing it yourself. Most people who manage their own Adowrds end up unhappy because they got nothing.

This is because it takes some time and expertise to research keywords, setup landing pages, measure results, and make adjustments. Working with an agency like us means you have professional team working daily on your account to generate results. Usually advertising on Google Adwords, we can have you on page one within 72 hours.

2. Blog at least twice a week, creating content that is interesting, relevant, and easy to read. Your audience needs to love your blog, they need to look forward to reading what you write. If you can't write, hire an agency (egh em) to ghost write for you. Crosspost this content to social media netowrks and try to get it linked on other websites that cater to your audience. The more readable, engaging, and usefull content on your site, the better you will eventually do with organic listings on major search engines.

What about email marketing?
Can you track any revenue from those efforts?

How we generate an average of $15,000 per email sent

Every time I send a campaign to my personal contact list, the return is about $15,000 in revenue within two weeks of the campaign being sent. This didn't happen overnight but now that we know our audience and understand how to provide real value in both the information we deliver at no charge and in the services and products we provide, our emails generate true revenue. I must say $15,000 on a campagin that costs maybe $5 to send is a pretty good return.

1. Know who your audience is and what would actually help them out. If you have the experience and knowledge to provide some value to your audience then by all means put together an intro email and send it to those people. Don't just blast the email to every person in your list, segment the people in your list who can and want to benefit from what you're writing.

2. Use a subject that piques curiosity. I try not to be too descriptive yet not too vague in my email subjects. I want people to be curious enough to open the email yet not spammy. Usually I ask a question or use a word that is likely to get people thinking about their business. This is because my emails are generally focused on having business owners take a higher level look at their web and marketing presence, so my emails attempt to get people in "strategy mode".

3. Offer something but don't sell sell sell. I have tested various ways of email marketing and by far the best results come from providing truly usefull information that someone can take on their own and do something with. At the end of the email, offering some help or providng a call to action for your services if they "don't want to go it alone", for example is appropriate. Afterall, you're in business to generate some revenue not just provide free advice.

4. Check to see who is opening your emails and how many times they are opening them. Are they clicking the links? Are they forwarding? Does your CRM/Email marketing system allow you to track this? Can you score leads based on their activities? Using these tools lets you know who to followup with and when.

5. Any lead that takes more than three actions is (three opens, an open and two clicks, an open, forward, and click, etc) is a good prospect for a phone call to followup. This is where the money making happens, you must followup with your interested leads, indicated usually by the number of times they interact with the communication you have sent them.

6. If your list is not huge, invite people to respond directly to you. I almost always do this for two reasons. First, I like interacting with my clients, it's fun to have a personal connection even if I am not always the one handling their account. Second, it is easier for people to reply to an email than it is for them to follow a link to a landing page, fill out a form, yadda yadda yadda. If however your product or service just can't scale with that type of personal, one on one communication, then you will have to use the landing page and form method for your emails which is fine, just less personal and a little less convenient.

7. Track the revenue back to the campaign. If you're using a CRM system like we do (we love Vtiger), you'll be able to track any opportunities and closed business back to the initial email campaign. This is how you can determine the cost and return from your email campaigns (as well as other marketing campaigns).

8. Utilize the autoresponder / funnel features of your CRM. If a user opens the email, have another action setup in your system to followup with them. If she clicks a link, or gets to a score of 5, have your system generate a followup alert for you so you know to call. Automate your lead nurturing process so you can focus on converting the leads that are ready into new or repeat customers!

9. And of course, call your leads to action . If you want help with this, or anyof the steps above just email [email protected] or [email protected] (my personal email) and we can talk about one of our hugely effective internet marketing programs to get you the internet presence you deserve.

How is your social media presence? Can you track any business from it?

Managing your social media networks can be daunting. What do you say, where do you post, how often, and when? In a nutshell, you need to be everywhere your ideal audience is and you need to post when most of them are online and likelyto see your content. Before they see this content however, you'll need to get them to like your page, follow your Instagram, connect with you on LinkedIn, and follow your Twitter handle. Going this alone can be a full time job but you can do it! You can also just hire us and we'll do it for you. Either way, I hope these tips give you a good start and dabbling with online marketing for your own edification. If/when you're ready to professionalize your interent presence and get some real results, you know how to find us ( [email protected] / 616-419-5514).

When I first started in this business (12 years ago), having a blog and some social media accounts was really cutting edge. Now, this alone won't get you anywhere on the Internet. Today, ranking on Google, driving traffic, and getting leads from your website and social media require fresh, engaging content, a stunning blog layout, presence on multiple social media networks (Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more). Your messaging has to be carefully planned, authentic, and relevant. Your publishing needs to be consistent in a way that makes people look forward to your next blog, post or upload.

For most businesses I have found that this process can be cumbersome, overwhelming and lacking in results (because they're doing it wrong).

So, I invite you to email [email protected] or [email protected] with your questions or interest in getting real exposure on the first page of Google, real engagement on major social networks, real traffic to your website, and real leads from all of this activity. We're offering a 20% bonus for clients who sign onto marketing service plans through the month of October.

Effective, ROI generating marketing service plans start at $299 per month and go up to $999 per month plus Google Advertising budgets. This amount is less than a tenth of what it would cost to hire a person on at your company to tackle online marketing.

You can learn more about our plans using the links below or by requesting a quick quote using the form on this page. You can also email [email protected] or me directly [email protected]

Funnel & CRM Marketing Plans

Full Service Web Marketing Plans

Let me know how I can help!

Stop chasing cold leads and make customers come to you with B2B Inbound Marketing

Tue, 22 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The traditional marketing strategy relies on chasing "cold leads" - directing advertising materials to an audience who has not necessarily expressed interest in your business's offerings, using methods like cold calling and door to door marketing campaigns. This technique is also known as outbound marketing. Although outbound marketing can produce some sales, the conversion rate is generally low while the costs are relatively high.

In contrast, using a B2B inbound marketing strategy can help you build relationships with qualified leads before they come to you for your products. This strategy can help businesses operating on a wide range of advertising budgets, and it's increasingly expected by both business clients and consumer customers.

The Problem with Outbound Marketing

Although still appropriate in some cases, there are numerous problems with traditional marketing, both in financial terms and in the way it shapes your interaction with leads and clients. In a sense, outbound marketing requires you to basically harass clients to make a sale by knocking on doors and making calls until you convince someone to purchase.

Perhaps the biggest problem with outbound marketing is the amount of resources it uses in relation to the number of qualified leads reached. Because outbound marketing does not discriminate between people who have expressed interest and meet qualifications, versus people who are not interested or qualified, that responsibility is left up to the sales team.

At the same time, both businesses and consumers are becoming increasingly skeptical of and uninterested in traditional marketing techniques. In an age where every high-profile businesses has a website, social media, and a multiplatform marketing strategy, clients have come to expect that companies make an effort to connect with them online by providing content that interests them.

Inbound Marketing Basics

Inbound marketing is any technique which reaches potential clients with your message so that clients come ask you for your service or product. Examples include:

Social media networks
Email marketing campaigns
Blogging
Pay-per-click campaigns

The goal of all of these techniques is to entice customers to contact you about your product or service. These leads are much more likely to be qualified, and can be passed on to your sale team once they are vetted, thus saving resources in that arena.

So, how does B2B inbound marketing encourage leads to reach out to you about your products and services? B2B inbound marketing takes a different angle than traditional marketing strategies. While it's appropriate to focus mainly on products when making a cold call or running a print advertisement, B2B inbound marketing outlets like social media and blogging allow your business to build a relationship with your audience.

Your goal is to provide information that your company is in a unique place to provide, thus building trust and thought leadership in your industry. In contrast, if your potential clients don't get information they need from you, they'll get it from a company who is using B2B inbound marketing to its fullest potential.

What a B2B Inbound Marketing Agency Does

A B2B inbound marketing agency's job is to shape and run your B2B inbound marketing campaign. This may include running social media pages like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; Facebook advertising; blogging; email marketing; and Google Adwords.

Hiring an Agency

World Source Tech provides comprehensive web design and inbound marketing services. Our experts would be happy to speak with you about developing a B2B inbound marketing strategy for your business. To learn more, please give us a call at 616-419-5515 or Request a Call .

Photo Credit

How to Choose the Right Domain Name for Your Business

Wed, 16 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

A domain name is the unique name that identifies a website, like the “worldsourcetech” part of www.worldsourcetech.com . Choosing the right domain name for your business can take almost as much thought as choosing your business’s name in the first place. Since we regularly help clients choose domain names, we have picked up several tips over the years to simplify domain name selection.

When it comes to choosing a domain name, it’s important to keep in mind how it will be used to identify and promote your business. People will need to be able to spell it, remember it, and type it, and they should also be able to guess how it’s spelled when they hear it. You will probably use the domain name in all your other marketing efforts, and you may use it for your email addresses, so it will become closely tied to your business for years to come.

Short domain names work best, and it’s a good idea to incorporate keywords related to your business or services. Many simple domain names are already registered, so if your business is local, you could also try including your city in the name. Including the city or state will make it less likely that the name is already in use, and will also help local customers find and remember it easily. When you choose your name, also keep in mind that you have other options besides a .com address. You may also be able to use .biz, .info, or .net, for example.

Once you have thought of your domain name, test it out on a friend to make sure it’s catchy and memorable, and that there aren’t any possible misinterpretations. Then research to make sure that the name isn’t already in use, and isn’t trademarked or copyrighted. If the name is available, the next step is to register the name to protect it, and within quick order you should be able to create a website for your new domain.

You may want to consider registering other versions of your domain name, several related domains, or different top-level domains (e.g., .biz, .net). There are generally two reasons for registering multiple domains: to make sure that clients find your site even if they make a mistake, and also to prevent competitors or “squatters” from registering domains where your customers may look for you. If you register multiple domains, you can use one domain name as your primary domain, and then redirect each of your other domain names to your primary domain.

World Source Tech can help you both register and use your domain names. Request a call, or call us at 616-717-5802, to get started with a new domain name that’s right for your business.

Image: Alan O'Rourke

How To Profit From AdWords

Thu, 03 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Costs associated with marketing and advertising are very often the highest any business incurs--especially because they are often recurring and in need of regular renewing. Fortunately, the internet has made it easier, more inexpensive, and more efficient than ever before not only to increase business exposure, but more importantly to target the audience that will result in the best Return on Investment.

Google AdWords can be a valuable tool for any marketing or advertising campaign. Google, as one of the most frequented websites visited daily, offers businesses of all shapes and sizes a valuable program for generating both web traffic, as well as the profits they will lead to. Google AdWords is such a comprehensive and effective tool for marketing that hiring an AdWords professional that specializes in internet marketing can make the sky the limit for profits.

Not only is setting up an account free, but advertising with AdWords offers many other benefits as well--including, but not limited to:

Ability to monitor a budget: This may be the biggest asset AdWords offers--a business has the ability to set a specific budget without fear of overspending. The budget is generally on a daily basis, and the account is only charged when the ad is actually clicked on.
Comprehensive traffic reports: The AdWords program offers businesses up to the minute reporting on how their advertising campaign is performing. This includes very complex reports of analytics--right down to the time and the source of each individual click.
Targeting an audience: Although web traffic is a good indication of a marketing campaign's success, clicks cannot be quantified into dollars and cents. Google is by nature a search engine, and therefore strives to connect individuals to exactly what they are looking for most efficiently. Whether by industry type, product, service, or geographic location, AdWords can get advertisements to the people who will use them.

Although Google AdWords is a great marketing tool for businesses, there are also many intricate details that go into monitoring, tweaking, and targeting these advertisements. Even though AdWords gives users increased control over their budget, a failed campaign is still time and money lost.

When advertising with Google AdWords, you should consult a professional digital media agency for the best possible results. Always up to date on constantly evolving concepts and technology--including creating and maintaining an advertisement campaign, which can often take adjusting to see the best results possible. In addition, it can be very difficult to read these analytic reports--much less altering your ad to reflect it. A digital marketing agency like World Source Tech will work with your business to customize keywords, targeted areas, and your online presence to drive up profits and exposure.

The digital marketing industry leaders at World Source Tech will not only make sure your Google AdWords campaign is successful, but actually generate business. For any and all of your web design and marketing needs, contact World Source Tech to lower your marketing costs and increase your profits today.

How to Build a Healthy Email List

Fri, 07 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

When you first decide to employ email marketing, it can be a very exciting time. After all, how instant is email?! And how cost effective?! Before you launch your campaign, it’s important to know that your email marketing is only as effective as your list. And in order to maximize your investment of time and effort in this important piece of your online marketing strategy, it pays to build an awesome list.

How do you start?

You can start slow. You may have a small number of subscribers for your initial communications, and that is OK. These early subscribers can be the most valuable on your list, because they will forward your message to more subscribers, and your list will grow organically. Just be sure your messages include a link to the subscription form on your web page so these potential subscribers will have an easy way to add themselves.

Offer an inducement for joining the list. It should be an exclusive discount or an early notification of an event – something that shows the value of being on the list. Provide some industry tips and tricks, or a behind-the-scenes look at your business.

Make sign-ups easy! Put a link to a sign-up form on your Facebook page, your website, your email signature, and anyplace you have a web presence. If you are at a special event, be sure to collect subscribers for your list, possibly by running a raffle. And encourage your clients to sign up at the point of purchase or during account creation. Always spotlight the value your email list will provide these new subscribers.

Archive your email marketing messages on your website so potential subscribers can see what they’ve missed! Include a link to your sign-up form.

Let’s also review some ways not to start: be sure you don’t buy an email list, or use your own existing database of email addresses unless the clients specifically signed up for your email list. Apart from being an ineffective way to communicate with valuable contacts, either of those methods could blemish your business’s credibility. You might annoy customers, get blacklisted, or get in legal trouble for breaking anti-spamming laws. Instead, when you gradually build a permission-based email marketing list, your messages will be more effective and welcome.

When you build your email list, you can also query your customers to get a better idea of how to tailor your messages to their specific interests and needs. Offer the option, during sign-up or during a subsequent survey, for clients to fill in a few simple demographics, interests, and activities. By specifically developing your messages with your audience’s needs in mind, you can build a stronger relationship with your clients. After all, customers who are already engaged with your business tend to spend 33% more than new customers.

Finally, even if you have already started email marketing, you can still employ some of these strategies to improve your list. And make sure you send your marketing blasts on a consistent schedule so you will gain new users each time as your existing subscribers forward your valuable offers.

A healthy email list can be a great way to keep clients engaged with your business. Whenever you would like help to make your email marketing sizzle, contact World Source Tech for assistance developing this valuable marketing strategy for your business.

Photo: St0rmz

We're hiring in Grand Rapids - Business Development and Marketing Professional

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Business Development and Marketing Professional, Grand Rapids, MI

Position Description:

The Business Development & Marketing Professional (BDP) is a sales, marketing, and customer service role that focuses on local small and medium sized businesses. In this role, the candidate works to help clients develop an effective presence online. This is achieved by recommending and implementing the appropriate web design packages, marketing products, and services offered by World Source Tech, LLC.

The BDP prospects, networks, and develops leads into viable opportunities and is able to “win the deal”, establishing a strong, long term relationship with the client. Additionally, the BDP obtains all of the necessary project documentation for our web design and marketing program manager. The BDP maintains an ongoing relationship with our clients and ensures they are satisfied. Moreover, the BDP continuously consults with renewing customers to ensure they are happy with their web marketing products and services.

The Business Development Professional keeps detailed notes and contact / client information in our CRM system and reports sales prospects, opportunities, and closed sales via the CRM system.

The Business Development Professional is Responsible For

Prospecting for lead generation
Writing detailed proposals
Attending a weekly networking meeting at 7:00AM
Meeting with clients on a regular basis (three per day is common)
Recommending the appropriate products and service package based on client needs
Closing sales with clients and maintaining long term relationships to ensure renewals
Participating in regular company product and service trainings
Working directly with clients to resolve support issues
Collecting detailed notes for submission to design and project managers
Taking inbound phone calls, and making outbound phone calls to generate sales and support existing clients
Making minor updates to client websites, social media accounts, and email marketing campaigns
Assisting co-workers with client projects as needed/as possible
Managing Google Adwords for a select portfolio of clients
Managing Blogs for a select portfolio of clients
Managing social media for a select portfolio of clients
Working regularly with program manager to ensure the on time completion of all projects

Work with some of the best:

Our team of Web Design and Internet Marketing Professionals have over 20 years of experience and have even won awards for design and customer service. We are known as leaders in Real Estate web design but also service clients in almost any industry you can think of. We deliver Raving Fans customer service and results our clients can take to the bank. If you want to be part of a growing company who values long term relationships, building our client's business, and developing the careers of their team then we might just be a match.

The “gist” of who we are looking for:

We are hiring a sales team member who is happy, enthusiastic, professional, tenacious, honest, and ethical. Our ideal candidate knows they have the ability to make an excellent living based on their sales efforts of our proven products and services.

The ideal candidate wants to develop a client base of local businesses through offering our web design and marketing services. Additionally, this person is always excited to learn more about the web!

We want someone who is excited to work out of our Downtown office in Grand Rapids, MI. This is an on site position and requires daily presence at the office for kick start meetings, customer meetings and de brief meetings. Additionally, this position requires local travel to visit various prospects and clients at their location.

Requirements:

Bachelors degree in Marketing, Advertising, or Management Information Systems
is desired but not required.
Experience in web / digital marketing such as Google Adwords is desired but not required.
Experience using Adobe Creative Suite (Fireworks, Photoshop, etc) is desired but not required.
Proven track record in sales is desired but not required.
Customer service experience is required.

Compensation:

This position includes a base, initial commission, and residual commissions on renewals.

Candidates should submit their resume and cover letter to careers@worldsourcetech.com with the subject “Business Development Professional”.

Ten Reasons You Need a Custom Real Estate Website

Sat, 03 May 2014 00:00:00 GMT

What ever happened to the Yellow Pages? Of course they still exist, but for most people those bulky yellow books are the last resort. There’s one inescapable truth in the internet age: people search the web for any type of service, and when making any type of purchasing decision. For a real estate professional, if you want to present your best image, or even to be found at all, consider the importance of a top-notch professionally designed website.

These are the top 10 reasons real estate professionals choose a custom website:

1. Branding. Your brand is the message that reaches out to your target clientele. Your website should support your message with a quality, consistent design that does three important things: offers appropriate information, intrigues potential clients, and doesn’t overwhelm the image you want to convey.

2. SEO (search engine optimization). Prospective clients search the web in all kinds of ways – not just for the MLS or real estate agencies. You want to make sure clients find you, and the way to do that is to optimize your site to be found by major search engines. Measurably effective SEO requires the expertise of a professional web designer familiar with your market.

3. Professional design. You need SEO to get clients to your website, and you need good design to keep them longer than a minute. It’s an emotional reaction similar to curb appeal. In order to achieve the impression you want with your website, the web design must be done well, following current web standards.

4. IDX management. By using integrated IDX management on your custom site, you can ensure that the latest listings are available through your site as soon as they hit the MLS. If you send potential clients to your own site with MLS listings, all leads generated go directly to you.

5. Professional image and expertise. Leverage your website to establish your expertise. You can maintain your professional ethos by incorporating a blog or other custom content that sets you apart.

6. Lead generation. A custom website should generate leads and incorporate lead management. In today’s competitive market, personal touch still important, but your website is key in generating leads.

7. Personality. New clients need to feel your personality and style in the design of your website before they get to you in person. Clients should understand what sets you apart from others as soon as they land on your site. From the first moment a client lands on your home page, custom content draws in prospects and sets you apart from others.

8. Time. With a custom website, you spend less time working with technology and more time on your other important activities – working with your clients and personally marketing yourself. Invest your time in what you do best. Real estate professionals often advise sellers not to attempt FSBO for the same reason.

9. Presence. It goes without saying that you need a web presence in today’s market so prospective clients can find you. Your website should also be leveraged as a landing spot where your other marketing – business cards, brochures, email campaigns, etc. – directs existing and prospective clients.

10. Relevance. Your website design should be both timeless and persuasive, but it should be regularly maintained with new content to remain fresh and relevant (and improve SEO).

Whenever you see a beautifully designed real estate website, you can tell that it is both the product and the predictor of success. World Source Tech’s real estate clients are able to see the results achieved by their custom websites, and they absolutely love the results they see. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.

Go Mobile or Go Home

Wed, 07 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The era of mobile devices is here! In 2013, more people will be browsing the internet from their smartphones than from a PC. Whether or not your business already has a website, and whether or not you already employ online marketing strategies, this is a prime time to target the still-growing mobile audience. Given the reality of how people are browsing the web, now is the time to go mobile or go home!

If you have browsed the web on a mobile device, certainly you have noticed some sites that are optimized for mobile and some that are not. Sites that are optimized have faster file load times and smaller file sizes, so the sites load faster over wireless connections. Usability is simplified with thoughtfully selected design, layout, and navigation, to take advantage of smaller screen sizes. Sites that are not optimized are often difficult to read, and may be impossible to navigate on a mobile device.

The newest trend in designing a website for multiple targets is responsive web design – using the latest technologies like CSS3, HTML5, and web fonts to scale to any device. Of course the most important thing to think about is the experience of the mobile user when they visit your site. Sites that are optimized for mobile have been proven to lead to mobile purchases. And if a site is not optimized for mobile, it not only affects perception of your brand, but it also can cause clients to look elsewhere in frustration.

Mobile users are accustomed to consulting their mobile device as they go, often for buying decisions or to locate a business. They can be connected anywhere, at any time. Online marketing for this audience needs to consider not only the screen size and connectivity constraints of the mobile audience, but also the interests and needs, how they search, and what information they are looking for.

Once you have your website optimized, you can consider other creative mobile marketing strategies. Most smartphones and mobile devices provide web browsing, GPS, cameras, and video. To tap in on this market, you can develop creative promotions with text messages and location-based social networks. Remind your walk-in traffic to “like” you on Facebook or check in at your location. Use QR codes to take users to a mobile-optimized landing page on your website.

If now is the time for your business to go mobile, contact World Source Tech at 616-717-5802 or http://www.worldsourcetech.com/getinfo for advice on how to get there. Remember: Go mobile or go home!

Photo: Sean MacEntee

Do Your Own Marketing or Have It Done?

Wed, 07 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Business owners and managers face dozens of decisions every day, large and small. Here’s just one example: should you do your own online marketing, or engage the services of an outside agency?

If you are making such a choice, it helps to define the process of implementing online marketing first. Regardless of the medium, implementing an online marketing strategy often includes these steps:

Define your marketing goals. The goal of most online marketing efforts falls in one of a few areas: attract visitors to your website, convert visitors to leads, and convert leads to clients. Naturally you want to attract the best clients for your business, and to generate revenue from those clients. One of the factors you must consider is the return on your marketing investment per client transaction.
Investigate alternative online marketing strategies. These can include email marketing campaigns, search engine advertising, or creation, modification, or optimization of your website.
Select and implement up a strategy to achieve your goals.
Measure your results – website analytics, clickthroughs, conversions, phone number tracking, landing pages, or whatever is appropriate for your strategy. Monitor the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Repeat! Your goals and strategies may remain the same, or you may find that you need to tweak your goals or your marketing. With online marketing, the landscape is always changing, so it’s important to stay up to date with changes to online marketing channels, tools, and trends.

Now how do you decide whether to do it yourself? Online marketing requires a mixture of tech savvy, media savvy, creativity, and charisma. You need media savvy to navigate what online marketing tools are available and select the best tool(s) for your purposes. You need technical skills to implement your solutions – build a website, set up your search engine ads, implement your email marketing program, etc. You or your staff may already have those skills and the necessary time to implement a successful online marketing effort.

Whether you do your own marketing or engage a partner, the important thing is to be sure that you are following a plan, and that your plan will achieve the business results you want. With so many strategies available, online marketing is a matter of learning about which strategy you are going to employ, implementing it, and keeping it going. Whether online marketing is already critical to your business, or remains an opportunity, contact World Source Tech to review your online marketing strategy.

Photo: Vivid Image

How to Promote Your Business with Email Marketing

Wed, 07 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Email marketing can be an amazingly cost effective way to promote your business to existing clients and potential customers alike. Email marketing has been around for quite a while, and the best practices for email marketing have evolved over time, but it can still be a powerful marketing tool. Whether or not you have already tapped in to email marketing as part of your online marketing strategy, here are a few tips to improve your results.

Readers are deluged with email these days, so your marketing email needs to grab the little attention that readers have available. Make sure that your subscribers can see, in a glance, three key pieces of information:

What is the email about?
Why should they care?
What should they do about it?

What is the email about?

The subject line should be no more than 30 to 50 characters, and should let readers know what to expect when they open your email. The latest effective trend is to use a friendly and casual subject line that still shows the purpose of your email. Also, because of the way email works on mobile devices, subject lines need to be short, and need to relate to the first line of the email (and not repeat it).

Why should they care?

Your email subscribers signed up because they are somehow engaged with your business, and email users will generally only open email from a sender or a business they know. Therefore, when you launch your email marketing program, give some thought to what person’s name or business name will be used as the “From” line, since this should remain the same for the life of your email marketing effort.

If you have a great incentive (“Enter to win an iPad!”), be sure to use that in your subject line. This will increase the percentage of subscribers who will actually open the email.

What should they do about it?

Always remember to include a CTA (call to action) in your email marketing. Tell your readers what it is you want them to do after reading your message – visit your website, make a reservation, request an appointment, etc. If you use a button for your CTA, you will not only make it incredibly clear what you would like the reader to do, but also make it easy for even a mobile device user to do it. Use the same CTA a few times within the body of the email.

When you complete your email marketing message, send it to a friend or colleague to make sure the key pieces of information are there before hitting Send. Also make sure you have a landing page. And be consistent with how frequently you send your messages. It can be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or whatever works for you, but make sure you stick with the same schedule.

An email marketing program can be a great way to engage your customers and potential customers in your business. Whenever you need assistance to launch or revitalize your email marketing campaigns, contact World Source Tech for proven expertise in email marketing. Request a call or call us at 616-717-5802.

Photo: Hazzat

How to Choose the Best Blog Topics

Tue, 06 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT

If you maintain a business blog, you have probably spent time pondering what topic would be worthwhile to address in the next blog post. The very best business blog topics do two things: reach your target audience and enhance your website’s SEO in the process. Luckily there are some proven strategies for selecting exactly the type of topics that can help you achieve your goals.

Consider Your Audience

First of all, you can find inspiration if you consider the type of posts that engage most readers:

Topics related to your clients’ biggest problems are often the most popular. One approach to engage your audience and find topics at the same time is to send a query to your email marketing list to get feedback on their top questions, concerns, and problems. Surveying your clients by email is a sure way to make sure your posts are of interest to at least some of your audience, to get potential clients to visit your blog, and to start a conversation that some of your clients are likely to engage in.

Readers are likely to read content that seems relevant to them at the moment. Make your blog relevant by relating your business or expertise to current events and news stories, or events of local interest. Choose a local article to reference or review.

Check your blog metrics to see which of your previous posts were most viewed, and then come up with topics related to your most viewed previous posts (assuming that is the audience you want). There are two reasons to do this. One reason is that your audience responded to something within the previous posts. Continue the conversation and keep them coming back for more! The other reason is that blogging on a topic similar to your previous post can improve your page rank. Link to the previous related post, which will also give you a backlink to improve your SEO.

Optimize for Keywords

Speaking of SEO, another way to choose topics is to focus on keywords to improve SEO.

One source of great topics is Google Analytics, the free tool that you can run on your website to see (among other things) what keyword phrases bring readers to your site. Check your Google Analytics for 3 and 4 word keywords used to find your site with longer page view time. Once you review your analytics, you can come up with a new topic incorporating those keywords.

Another option is to make your blog post titles reflect the keywords for which you want to be found. You can probably come up with these terms on your own, or you can search Google AdWords Keyword Tool to get ideas for keywords related to your blog. There are also free keyword list generators that can give you ideas.

Be sure to think about long tail keywords, the longer keyword phrases that are more specific and targeted than “head” (or shorter) keywords. Long tail keywords drive most search engine traffic.

There are many ways to find potential topics to keep your blog fresh and useful, but these are a few tried-and-true strategies to give you a starting point next time you are searching for effective topics. Any time you would like help maximizing the marketing potential of your blog, be sure to contact the experts at World Source Tech .

Photo: Bright Meadow

10 Quick Steps to Start Advertising on Facebook

Tue, 06 Aug 2013 00:00:00 GMT

If you have a Facebook business page, the next step for many businesses is to try a Facebook ad or an advertising campaign. Your goal may be to increase your number of likes or to promote a specific post or event. Luckily, if you can use Facebook, you can fairly easily place a Facebook ad to test the waters, so to speak.

Assuming you have a Facebook page (and you should! It’s free!), below are some quick steps to get started advertising:

1. 1. Determine your goal. If you are just getting started with Facebook advertising or testing the waters, perhaps you want to see if you can get more likes for your page.
2. 2. Determine what specifically you want to advertise. You may want to start with advertising your Facebook page, website URL, or a Facebook event that you want to promote. Are you having an event like a grand opening? Are you having a major special that you would like to advertise to your current Facebook audience? Are you just trying to increase your Facebook audience because you’re starting to leverage your Facebook site? You can also advertise a Facebook application, a place, a domain, or Facebook URL. Or you can promote a particular post.
3. 3. Determine your budget. You can spend from $1 to $5000/day. When you create the ad, you will be able to set a budget – either daily for a certain period of time or an overall “bid” budget not to be exceeded.
4. 4. Decide whether you will pay per impression (which is the default) or pay per click (for which you need to choose Advanced Options). If you choose Pay Per Click, the ad will be seen to the left or the right of the page to grab the attention of users, and you pay when a user clicks on the ad. If you choose Pay Per Impression, you pay per thousand "impressions," or in other words per thousand times your ad is displayed.
5. 5. Decide your audience. You can target by gender, age, location, and specific interests. When you create your ad and set up your targets, you will see the estimated number of Facebook users in your target audience.
6. 6. Unless you are promoting a post, you will need to write your ad copy in 90 characters or less , and be sure to include a call to action. This is important but sometimes forgotten. You have already decided what you want users to do. Make sure you ask them to do it.
7. 7. Include a graphic . Close ups of faces work well, or bright colors. You can just use your logo or an image associated with your business, or a more targeted image that would appeal to the audience you are targeting.
8. 8. Put it out there! If you’re going to be promoting a post or event, make sure that the post or event is created in Facebook, and then create and post your ad on Facebook. You should be able to create your ad quickly if you have your image, your ad copy, and your payment information.
9. 9. Check your metrics in the Ads Manager. This is the fun part, where you see the number of likes, joins, etc. that were generated from your ad, and you can see how well your Facebook advertising is working.
10. 10. See if small changes in your ad make a difference in your metrics. You may want to create a couple of different ads to test out how well each ad works. You can do that in a couple of different ways. You can create separate campaigns and run them at the same time, or you can tweak your ad and compare your metrics from one day to the next.

Facebook advertising can be very effective for getting customers engaged with your business and increasing your sales. At World Source Tech, we specialize in maximizing your social media presence with targeted, effective marketing. When you need expertise about the ever-changing social media landscape, contact us at 616-419-5515 or http://worldsourcetech.com/contact .

Photo: Owen W Brown

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