Remember when you were a fledgling sole proprietor taking the leap to ecommerce, recruiting help from family and friends to set up a website and settle on basic marketing strategies? The simplicity of that time may sound refreshing, but it’s a bit too late. You’ve now reached the point experts refer to as mid-market, or an operation with anywhere from dozens to a thousand employees. Along with the change in corporate structure has come a demand for keeping up with contemporary consumer behaviors and the business tactics that must meet them.

You’re not the only one learning to adapt to new technologies and trends; remember, your customers are also evolving in their quest to satisfy their wants and needs by shopping in a vast cyber universe. In 2018, that means experimenting with voice technologies through smartphone apps and even in-home smart centers such as Amazon Echo and its growing list of copycats.
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A recent study found that in 2017, nearly 20 percent of all online shoppers made at least one purchase using a digital assistant, or voice-activated search. One-third expect to do so in 2018. It’s a staggering number considering the relative newness of the marriage between voice technology and commerce.  True: Most of these purchases have represented repeat buys of a commonly used good. But as the phenomenon grows, so will the possibilities.

In honor of Lunar New Year celebrations at home and abroad, Particles is taking the week off.

​We wish everyone a wonderful new year, and we'll see you back here next week!

Let’s face it, this last part of winter, when it seems like it’s been months since we felt the warmth of the sun, it’s not fun. But it doesn’t have to be so bad. We’re going to talk about warming up your decor for winter, getting through whatever the winter equivalent of the dog days of summer are.

Can we start with the obvious? It warms up your decor and you. Add a gorgeous, plush throw blanket to the back of a sofa or armchair. We’re partial to this one from Pottery Barn, because let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to curl up in all that softness. A soft gray shade adds a contemporary touch to an already-appealing design.

We like this one from Ethan Allan, too. An oversized cable knit reminds us of snowed in days spent at grandma’s house, while maintaining a modern, updated look for the living room. Not only does this throw add warmth, it delivers a substantial dose of texture, creating dimensionality in any space.
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Last throw we’re coveting this winter is from Wayfair, a cozy fleece Sherpa blanket that begs for an afternoon binging Netflix. It’s a classic for a reason, and softness and warmth simply radiate from this enticing throw. Great for the end of the bed and curling up in the afternoon, it’s stylish enough for the living room, too. 

Title Tag Optimization

Let’s get right to the point with a bit of friendly advice for creating effective title tags that drive traffic to your site. It may seem onerous, just like following good grammar principles when writing sales materials. But while prospective customers can overlook a typo or run-on sentence, a title tag with errors or poorly chosen terms can keep them from seeing your page entirely. Your first priority will be SEO, or search engine optimization.

Title tags are the words that fall within a hyperlink navigating to your page. They are the bait that captures search criteria and brings lookers to your site. Essential elements of any HTML page, they are essentially code requiring specificity. The order of keywords is surprisingly important, as even though searches may yield results if some of a searcher’s keyword string is entered, it’s becoming increasingly likely that they will get swallowed up in the vast Sea of Google. But if your title tags are on the mark, you’ll attract a lot more attention through simple or even complex searches.

Understand that the foundation of all keyword search optimization will center on Google. Resolve to accept the inevitability of Google’s unrelenting power over your internet presence. It won a protracted slug-fest to determine which search engine would be King of the Hill. Sounds like a monopoly—and it is, essentially—but the upside to that is a solitary platform with known variables. Consistency. No need to learn various sites’ tricks and hacks.
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Google selects which text it will display in your tags. For an example of this, conduct a Google search of your choice and observe the format and syntax of the results. Considering that half of all visitors to your site arrive there through a Google search, it’s critical to get it done right.