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Lots of Dads use Pinterest

I know! Right? Since about 2012 I have loved Pinterest. I like the layout, the search bar, I especially like how each image has a different background color while it’s loading. But this is all typical since I am female AND a designer who loves color. While minding my own business at WordCamp 2019, I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard about how Dad’s use Pinterest Now! Later on, what goes through my mind is – “this makes sense, after all, today there are lots more Dad’s who are responsible for getting their kids ready for the day.” Dads on Pinterest make high salaries. 82% find new products on Pinterest, and 45% make over $100,000 per year while raising kids. Dads on Pinterest truly want to know… they search 50% more than the average user. “Home” is the biggest category for Dads on Pinterest. They are looking for indoor and outdoor projects that are fun for the family. Some popular food related search terms Dads use on Pinterest are: Kitchen Appliances, Bar Ideas, fire pits, Outdoor kitchens and Patios.…

What Should (and Shouldn’t) be on a landing page.

I’m flipping through my notes from WordCamp last week, looking for a session that could directly benefit our AWG retail members. This guy, Mat Casner, really drew a big crowd considering his session was next to last at 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon. Mat first caught my attention by asking the audience, “How many of you work for someone who would like more customers?” I raised my hand. After that I was pretty much glued to his every word, which I put in italics below. Customer Acquisition is a Constant Cycle Get Attention: They must be aware of your existence Convert Attention: They must like something of value you are offering Keep Attention: They must be willing to trust you enough to risk a financial investment in exchange for value The key to any business relationship is trust. It is our responsibility to reduce as many barriers as possible that are keeping your customers from trusting you. Here, I’d like to insert further focus on “barriers”. Your customers today rely on multiple mediums to get information. Gone are the days…

What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

88 percent of consumers research products online before purchasing online or in-store. Wonder how you can take advantage of these searches? Search Engine Marketing (SEM) has grown with the number of consumers researching and shopping for products online. It may sound intuitive, but according to Wikipedia, Search Engine Marketing is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising. SEM may incorporate search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content and site architecture to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages to enhance pay-per-click (PPC) listings. As defined by Wikipedia, here are the definitions of some SEM activities and terms: Paid search advertising: When Ads are set up using an auction-based, PPC model which show digital ads on search engine results pages such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. How often your ads appear, the rankings, and how much you pay per click — are all determined from your bid and Quality Score. Quality Score: Once you create an ad and…

SEO and SEM graphic

How SEO can Strengthen your Digital Store Brand Identity

Have you ever searched for something on the Internet and found yourself looking at an entry on the 4th or 5th page? Me neither. Who has the time? There are several tasks a business can do to increase their website’s rankings. Some of these tasks are free to do yourself, while other tasks will cost you. The free tasks will take 3-6 months to see results, and depending on your technical comfort level, might end up getting farmed out anyway. If you choose the paid route, results will be more immediate. I like how Gilco Digital defined Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of affecting the online visibility of a website in a web search engine’s unpaid results—often referred to as “natural,” “organic,” or “earned” results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a website appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users; these visitors can then be converted into customers. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, video search,…

Persona spectrum for touch

Inclusive Design

I attended a meetup this week put on by the KC .NET User Group, “Designing for Accessibility: Thinking outside the box – by John Alexander. Inclusive design is for those who want to make great products for the greatest number of people. -Microsoft Design Many steer away from providing more access options for a service or product because they fear the high cost. They also think only a few people will actually benefit. This presentation helped me think differently about how more access options provides opportunities to grow your customer group. Maybe that’s why AWG provides so many different marketing services? When I’m about to start a new website project for someone I haven’t worked with before, one of my first questions is, “Who is your target audience?” “Everybody” is the normal response. “Greatest number of people = Everybody” Consider how adaptable humans are when using tools, I mean, who hasn’t used a butter knife as a screwdriver? Another example is the Closed Captioning (CC) setting on a TV. At first, CC was for people who are deaf or hard…

360° Store Views on Google Street View

A few months ago my co-worker Sean and I had a conversation about a 360° camera and how he thought using the camera at store locations could turn out to be a good service for us to offer. I agreed, but then remembered my days of marketing for real estate, and how complex setting up 360° house views were. So I didn’t look any further. Fast forward to yesterday when I was looking at some new features in Google My Business and noticed a section about Google Virtual Tours. A link to the Google Maps Street View was in the popup window, so here is where my story really begins. The phone app “Google Street View” can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play. The app serves two purposes: To explore places you haven’t been to by viewing “photo spheres”. To physically go to a location, shoot your own “photo sphere” then upload it to a location in google maps for others to see. Using the app, you can shoot a photo sphere 3 ways: Link to an…

ART + World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) + Grocery Store Marketing

Last December my choices of non-Christmas Marketing events were kind of slim here in KC. I signed up for a Creative Morning session: “Rob Schamberger – When Success Turns into Chaos” not sure what to expect. The time I spent waiting for the video to post on the KC Creative Morning website also lent me time to ponder how to find relatable topics on ART + World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) + Grocery Store Marketing. Find your niche. Every store has something they do better than the competition, so that’s their “niche”. It’s what you hang your marketing hat on for store branding. It can be anything from better customer service, store made salads or local produce. Some businesses find their niche early on while others might change mid stream. Other niche’s can be so broad they cover several areas at once, or can be applied to anything new. Creative Morning session: “Rob Schamberger – When Success Turns into Chaos”. Rob first wanted to be a comic book artist but found the profession to be over crowded with lots of competition.…

Tis’ the season for Party Trays

If your store has a website and you sell Party Trays you have landed on the right page. Over the years, we have accumulated several options to lessen the task of ordering party trays for your customers. First, if you have online shopping on your website contact our Online Shopping Specialist –  Jimmy. Now, if you have a website but don’t have online shopping feel free to check out what we have to offer below. If you see something you like, scroll down to the bottom of this blog post to: “Party Tray Photo Order Form” and order a custom Party Tray Order Form for your website. Online Shopping I know I told you to call Jimmy if you have Online Shopping, but if you want to see what it will look like when it’s done take a look at the screenshots below. WUFOO Forms We have a subscription to Wufoo where we can iframe a form in using html. However, recently I figured out how to put in images with descriptions. With each selection in the drop down menu…

What should I send to my web designer for a new website?

You weighed your options and decided to sign up for AWG Sales Services to make a website for your store. Now what? Use this form to help you send us what we need to get started. You don’t need to fill out every blank spot, this form is more of a guide/checklist so big sections of content don’t get forgotten. This is meant to be a tool to help jog your mind and point out what your customers might be looking for once they get to your site. The first four spaces are the only required spaces so we can contact you if we have questions. [wufoo username=”awgadv” formhash=”p9zqkj0yzrvr3″ autoresize=”true” height=”2683″ header=”show” ssl=”true”]