Big Commerce Shopping Cart Review
There are hundreds of shopping carts to choose from, which makes it a very time consuming process to find the best cart for your business. Over the years I’ve used Pinnacle Cart, X-Cart, Shopify, and a few other carts. The carts have some great features, yet none of these carts had all the features I needed and the customer service may not have been up to par.
A few months ago I was out to breakfast with a fellow entrepreneur and very successful internet retailer. He switched over to a full service shopping cart named Big Commerce and has been thrilled with it. He explained how they are using cutting edge technology to integrate the cart with mobile devices, Ipads, and other tablets. The cart also integrates with newsletters (such as MailChimp and Icontact), RSS feeds, Facebook, and many marketing tools that help get your product found by potential buyers.
Click here to try BigCommerce – the best way to sell online!
I ended up taking the plunge and purchasing Big Commerce after a free 15 day trial. It was extremely easy to setup, had all kinds of templates, and has a very detailed backend that is great for the logistics of your business.
The templates and easy drag and drop features make it easy to create an online store and eliminate the need to learn coding. Big Commerce has a feature that allows you to create contact forms and custom forms for your business. Continue reading
Google Voice Phone Number – 100% Free
Google voice is yet another free program offered by Google. What is Google voice? Google voice is a free phone number you can get by simply signing up for an account. This Google voice number is great for businesses.
Here are Google’s descriptions of the program:
- One number: a single phone number that rings all your phones
- Free SMS: send, receive & store text messages online
- Block calls: send unwanted callers straight to voicemail
- Record calls: record phone calls and store them online
- Conference calls: join several people into a single call
- Screen callers: hear who is calling before you pick up
Why I love Google voice:
I own a small business and don’t have a landline at my office. I run my business completely off of my cell phone and employee’s cell phones. Google voice gives us the option to have one sole business number. Whenever the google number is called, the call is forwarded to any of the cell phones we choose. We can also manage all voice mails nicely on the Google voice Blackberry application or online at www.google.com/voice. Since we are closed on the weekends, I choose to only have our Google business calls forwarded on weekdays. On the weekends, it goes directly to voicemail.
Voicemail can be checked online at any computer. It includes a great transcription program that will enable you to simply read voicemails if you choose not to listen to them. It actually does a great job. You can also send out SMS text messages from the Google voice number online in mass quantities.
A widget can also be added on your website. Say you want to add a button on the site to enable visitors to call you. Simply grab the code from Google voice and you’ll be just a click away from your customers.
Google Voice is another free and amazing program by Google. Google voice is currently available by invite only. However, you can request an invite and will typically get one in about a week or so. Let us know how google voice is helping your business! Pleas post any questions or comments.
Chat widget for web page
A great way to interact with visitors to your website is by using a chat widget. I’ve operated websites using chat widgets in both the printing business and in technology consulting. Visitors to your site can simply click on the chat icon (if you are also online), and begin an instant chat.
Chatting with customers allows you to instantly communicate with potential customers about questions dealing with your products or services. This is a great tool which allows customers who don’t want to pick up a phone to communicate with you.
One of my favorites is Google’s chatback widget. This widget is easy to integrate and is free. You must have a gmail account to get started.
Click on this link to get the widget.
http://www.google.com/talk/service/badge/New
Videos will engage prospective clients
Are you trying to come up with ideas on how to educate customers about your business? We’ve found that videos really help. Entrepreneurs young and old are creating simple Youtube videos using everyday software. If you have a PC with Windows, simply film and then edit in Windows Movie Maker. On a Mac you can use Apple Imovie. Both will work great and give you good results.
A doctor in Bozeman, Montana recently let us know about his new video. Dr. Rising is a chiropractor and an avid entrepreneur. His web tactics are helping the client base grow. Check out the video below to see what he has done to engage new customers.
www.gallatinvalleychiropractic.com
Brief steps to create a video:
1. Purchase or borrow a digital video camera. Digital video cameras have come down in price and are becoming more affordable.
2. Come up with an idea for a video and shoot it. Don’t forget to use a tripod!
3. Upload the video to a computer. You can usually hook the video camera directly to the computer using a firewire or usb cable.
4. Edit the video with video software on your computer.
5. Create a Youtube account and upload the video to the world wide web.
6. Embed the Youtube code in your website.
7. Share your video with your customers around the world!
In addition to engaging clients, videos will help with your search engine optimization.
Good luck!
How to easily create a website for your business
Have you been trying to figure out a way to get your business online? Maybe you just need a few pointers to get your feet wet. If that’s the case, this information will help you in making a website for your business. Here are Think Entrepreneurship’s steps to creating a website.
1. Decide on a domain name for your website. A domain name is basically the address of your site (like ThinkEntrepreneurship.com, yahoo.com, etc). To see what names are still available, go to GoDaddy.com – World’s No.1 Domain Name Registrar and do a domain name search. Once you find a domain which is still available, you may purchase it. I really like Godaddy as a host and domain name business because they are affordable, it is easy to integrate 3rd party software, and is very reliable. They also have 24/7 customer service.
2. At the time you are purchasing your domain name you will also want to purchase hosting. Hosting is what stores your information on the web. I would recommend the economy hosting package which is about $4 or $5 per month. If you purchase your domain at the same time as hosting, your domain will only be $1.99 vs $9.99 without.
3. Once you’ve purchased these items, you’ll need to login to your new Godaddy account and link your hosting account to your domain (it’s easy, just requires a few clicks).
4. Now you’ll have to decide what software to use in order to create your site. I’ve used a program called Dreamweaver in the past. It works well but has a little learning curve. The software runs a few hundred dollars. If you are wanting to do a website on the cheaper side, I’d recommend using open source software called Wordpress. Wordpress is very well known for creating blogs. You can easily create websites with it with the help of a program I mention below. Lots of information can be found at www.wordpress.org. We’ll explain how to setup wordpress in this article.
5. To set up wordpress with a Godaddy account, you’ll need to go into your hosting section of your Godaddy account. Next go to applications and look for wordpress (under the blogging tools section).
6. Set wordpress up for the domain you’d like, and then wait 15 minutes or so for Godaddy to set up wordpress on your new site.
7. Once it is set up, you’ll be able to work on your site by going to www.yourdomain.com/wp-login. (fill in your domain with the name you chose)
8. You’ll need to play around with the dashboard tools in order to figure out how wordpress works. To add a page, you’ll need to go to pages – add new – and then type the content or attach pictures etc to a page. Editing a page is very similar to creating a word document.
9. The most important thing you’ll need to do once you’ve got wordpress setup on your domain is to create a theme. A theme is the background, header, and overall styling of the page.
I have played around with many themes created by other wordpress users. Themes can be found at www.wordpress.org. However, I never seem to be able to find one that is customized exactly how I want it. After frustrations in trying to learn css and advanced coding, I found a program called Artisteer. The link to find the software is in the banner below. This program eliminated my frustrations and made website creation a breeze. It is very easy to use and eliminates the need for coding. It runs about $50 and is the best investment I’ve made for creating websites and blogs. A few of the websites I’ve created with this software and wordpress include http://www.thinkentrepreneurship.com , www.huffingforstuffing.com , and www.montanaoutdoorfabric.com .
If you have any questions about this process feel free to post them to the article. If you think setting up a website is still a bit more than what you’d like to do, contact us via our contact page and you can hire us to help with the setup and theme creation to get your site started.
