Lansing Video Production Archives - Page 19 of 104

Guest Post: Avoid Customer Friction Using These Slick Techniques

Regardless of what type of business you run, when it comes to generating conversions on your website, it’s important to make the process as simple as possible. A user may not take a desired action if doing so involves too many steps.

While you may not have a slick digital agency auditing your customer journey, there are some things you can do on your own to reduce “friction” for the user. To do so, keep the following tips in mind:

Improve Site Speed

The number of steps required to take a particular action isn’t the only factor that prevents users from converting. If your pages load too slowly, users will leave the site. In fact, Google research has confirmed that most mobile users leave pages that take more than three seconds to load.

Review your site’s code with your developer. They may identify areas where it can be cleaned up to improve page speed.

Make Recommendations

Artificial intelligence has made it easier than ever to provide users with personalized options when they visit your site. This can help you guard against the effects of decision fatigue.

Maybe you run an ecommerce shop. If your shop offers many different products, guests might feel overwhelmed. They won’t make a single purchase because they won’t know how to decide which product is worth their money. With AI, that’s not a problem. You can simply provide recommendations tailored to their specific preferences. With that being said, boosting some of your top performing products through an Amazon marketing campaign can capture the attention of a potential customer at the very moment they are considering and searching for related products. This helps remove decision fatigue from the equation.

Offer Multiple Payment Options

Don’t limit your payment options to one or two methods. Quite simply, the more options you provide, the more users you can appeal to.

Reduce Fields

With any sort of website conversion, whether it’s signing up for an email list or making a purchase, users will often be required to provide some information to complete the process.

Make sure you’re not requiring users to provide too much information. Again, the longer it takes to complete a task, the greater the odds a user will abandon it. Review all your website’s forms and look for ways you can simplify them to prevent this.

Offer Guest Checkout Options

You shouldn’t require users to create an account before making a purchase or taking a similar action on your site. While you may want to recommend creating an account, as this can boost the chances of a user becoming a repeat customer, you don’t want to prohibit users from taking action without an account. Make sure there is a “guest checkout” option for all conversions you wish to generate.

Of course, it’s also important to monitor your progress after making these changes. You need to confirm the steps you’ve taken are actually delivering results. Luckily, if you follow these tips, you’re very likely to generate many more conversions than you currently are.

Rae is a graduate of Tufts University with a combined International Relations and Chinese degree. After spending time living and working abroad in China, she returned to NYC to pursue her career and continue curating quality content. Rae is passionate about travel, food, and writing (of course).

New Video: Child and Family Charities – Igniting Hope

At this year’s Child and Family Charities Igniting Hope Fundraising Breakfast, we told three stories from three different programs, Behavioral Health, Gateway Youth Services and Child Welfare. We follow the stories of Lisa, Raquell and Cynthia as they sought out the help of these services and how they were positively impacted.

For more information: https://www.childandfamily.org/

#BetterCallPaul – November 2019 Recap

With the end of November looming, let’s take a look at some of the videos we launched last month. We enjoyed videos from Ingham County Health Department, DayStarr Communications, The Firecracker Foundation and Child and Family Charities.

#BetterCallPaul – Giving Tuesday Promotion 2019

Giving Tuesday is on December 3rd this year and we are partnering up with mConnexions to develop a new page to tally the votes!

We are giving away a 60 second video to a local, Greater Lansing Area based non-profit. You can vote as many times as you would like, however, you cannot be a previous winner.

To vote, go to either:
https://unodeuce.superwebpros.com/
or
https://mconnexions.com/giving-tuesday/

New Video: Ingham County Health Department – Dental Care During Pregnancy

In this 1st of 3 videos produced for the Ingham County Health Department on early dentistry care, the first focus is on caring for your teeth during pregnancy.

For more information: http://hd.ingham.org/

New Video: The Firecracker Foundation – Take a Tour

In this video, Tashmica, the executive director, invites you into the facility and introduces you to the space and some of the staff.

For more information: http://thefirecrackerfoundation.org/

Guest Post: What Kinds of Retirement Benefits Should a Small Company Provide?

An easy way to obtain the best employees in your field is by offering workplace benefits. Retirement benefits are something that workers all want to have to ensure their financial stability in their older years. Here are some of the most common types of retirement benefits you should be offering employees at your small company.

MyRA

If you’re looking for simplicity, then MyRA is right up your alley. This is as simple a retirement account as you’ll find anywhere. MyRA provides Roth IRA accounts for employees. They contribute their after-tax income into their IRA account. There’s no matching on the employer’s end when it comes to funding a MyRA account. Your employees can contribute up to 5,500 dollars per year to this account or 6,500 dollars if they’re over the age of 50. Interest earned is based on the G fund of the government’s Thrift Savings Plan.

Simple 401k

A simple 401k plan is another popular choice of small businesses. Simple means that this is a Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees. It requires employers to contribute to their employees’ 401k accounts each year. As a good 401k advisor can tell you, employees are not required to contribute to their 401k account on an annual basis. The main difference between a simple 401k and a simple IRA is that the 401k plan can allow for loans while the IRA cannot.

SEP-IRAs

Simplified employee pension plans allow employers to contribute to an IRA for their employees without the hassle of filing paperwork with the government. Most optimal for sole proprietorships and partnerships, employers are required to provide the same contribution to every employee. Employers can contribute annually up to 25 percent of an employee’s net compensation. Employees can contribute up to 5,500 dollars per year or 6,500 dollars if they’re over the age of 50.

Simple IRA

The last retirement account we’re going to discuss is the simple IRA. Again, simple stands for Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees. This type of IRA account works for businesses that have 100 employees or less. Your employees can opt to contribute if they so choose, but they’re not required to. The employer is required to contribute on an annual basis for this type of account. Employees are allowed to contribute up to 12,500 dollars per year.

As a small business owner, planning your retirement and the retirement of your employees is a must. Many employees will turn down job offers due to a lack of proper retirement benefits. Be sure that you stick to offering one of the main benefit programs above so you don’t lose viable talent.

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter: @BrookeChaplan

New Video: DayStarr Communications – What to Expect When You’re Expecting…Fiber Internet

In this video, we help DayStarr carefully detail what customers should expect when they get their fiber internet installed.

For more information: https://daystarr.net

Guest Post: Resources for Business: How to Manage Marketing Data

The appropriate management of marketing data ensures the future success of your business model. If your data gets lost or corrupted, you’ll have to start over from scratch. Here are some of the techniques that you should invest in to streamline the management process.

Enable Security Features

Software and hardware updates should be completed in a timely fashion. This is what protects your systems to data breaches and loses. Making security your top priority is more than just good customer service. If you manage sensitive customer information as a part of your marketing database, having this information stolen gives your company a bad reputation in the industry. You don’t want to have to inform your customers that their information was stolen when you could have prevented it.

Invest in Database Management

Database management can be a time consuming task if you don’t have the right tools in place to help you handle it. Using cloud managed services for cloud data and IT support gets you started down the right path. What this essentially does is takes those tasks off of your plate so that you can focus on the matters of running your business. Queries for information can be formulated for the specific needs of your business and eliminate lost productivity time.

Focus on Backups

Backups can occur in a variety of manners. Using cloud based software is becoming one of the more common ways to store your information offsite. This can be especially important if one of your systems crashes or introduces a virus into your whole network. Restoring from these backups takes out some of the risk that may be associated with doing business. Another reason for a backup is that you won’t lose data from your server platform.

Clear out Obsolete Files

When marketing files or profiles are no longer valid, clearing them out saves on the amount of data that you need to store. It also eliminates the chance of sending out old data to your customers. You won’t make the mistake of not being able to anticipate the needs of your customers if you’ve kept your marketing files up-to-date. Another aspect to this involves developing a user interface that’s intuitive so that your customers can update their own information in a reliable manner.

The importance of managing your data works to increase your chances of success in the business world. Use these strategies to keep performing at an optimal level when it comes to your marketing platform.

Bio: Rachelle Wilber is a freelance writer living in the San Diego, California area. She graduated from San Diego State University with her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Media Studies. She tries to find an interest in all topics and themes, which prompts her writing. When she isn’t on her porch writing in the sun, you can find her shopping, at the beach, or at the gym. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @RachelleWilber; https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009221637700

New Video: A Fahrenheit Massage Story

Kristin is not your normal massage therapist. Her ability to know where your pain is and to focus on that area is an art. Also, her knowledge of how your body is responding to that pain and what to do between trips to see her. She is based in Lansing, MI and you can schedule some time with her on her website.

For more information: https://www.fahrenheitmassage.com