How alternative financing may refresh your business success
Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) are also in the mix, beginning with prepaid cards, bank transfers, loyalty programs, and delayed payment/installment options. Consider that by 2026, the use of digital wallets likely will have grown by 53 percent. Security and ease are equal motivators for shoppers sliding into higher-tech solutions. They already rely on PayPal and Venmo to complete transactions, and Amazon loyalists already store their card information. But there are snags that can get in the way. Card issuers will demand updated address information, and consumers often don’t remember to do that. Analysts point out that impatient shoppers may abandon a purchase if their first payment attempt fails. They may intend to return, and then forget. In that vein, as financial institutions pay closer attention to anti-fraud efforts, they may place flags and holds on cards, making customers even more frustrated. A growing trend among shoppers is to utilize non-bank post-payment options through outfits such as Affirm, Klarna, and others that briefly screen for eligibility. They will set up an installment payment plan through digital card numbers, some even dangling a no-interest option. The palatability of spending $300 may sit better if you’re not coughing up the full amount upfront. No, these pay-later plans are not materially different from standard credit card or even debit card financing. But if purchasing power on existing cards is an issue, these services are extremely attractive – not to mention relatively simple to nail down. Another huge win for consumers? They reflect on credit reports as installment loans, creating a better mix of debt types. Study the possibilities of how you will make it easy for new and existing customers to pad your revenue pockets. Find out which of these alternative payment options might raise more problems than they solve, considering refunds, overpayments, and high vendor fees. You may discover that your sales could sail beyond your wildest dreams. As long as you’ve conducted due diligence, experts say it’s well worth considering. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
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Part 3: Free Tools for Keyword Research
Optimized content helps your audience find you when they’re ready to make a purchase. And the more precise and defined we can be in our keywords, the better traffic we cand rive to our site – the kind of traffic that makes purchases. Keywords allow you to connect with your audience by understanding and targeting what it is they’re searching for.
We can do some of this research by talking to customers, hanging out in relevant forums and groups and investigating SERP features like ‘Related Searches’ and ‘People Also Ask.’ And while there’s value in all of these, they’re also time consuming. So let’s take a look at good free tools to jumpstart your keyword research: AnswerThePublic We love this one – you input a keyword and it’ll give back popular queries based on that keyword. It’ll even give you a cool graphic representation with phrase and questions related to your keyword. This gives you valuable insight into the desires and concerns of potential customers, allowing you to craft content specifically to address them. Ahrefs Keyword Difficulty This particular tool is going to tell you just how tough it’ll be to rank for a specific keyword – valuable information that allows you to target your efforts most efficiently and effectively. Keywords Everywhere Keywords Everywhere provides data on search volume, CPC and competition for a massive list of search sites, making it a must-have for most SEO professionals. Available for Chrome and Firefox, this one is absolutely worth playing around with as you search for the most effective and efficient keywords. Glimpse The Google Trends search extension for Chrome, Glimpse brings Trends into your browser for maximum efficiency. It delivers impeccable insight into trending topics, allowing you to stay on top of current interests and emerging trends. Definitely a valuable add-on to Chrome. Seed Keywords Leverage your network to do a little research with Seed Keywords. You’ll use it to ask a question or investigate a topic, sending it to your contacts to ask about the keywords they’d use to find the answer. It’s an organic extension of the initial research we all do, making it a valuable tool in your arsenal. Wordtracker Scout This tool is specifically focused on the keywords users search when they’re ready to make a purchase. You can search by domain – maybe a competitor or market leader – or by search, adding versatility to your toolkit. There are myriad more free tools in this category, many more than we can highlight, and we’d love to hear from you about your favorites in the comments below. Part 2: Free Tools for Crawling and Indexing ![]() In part 1 of our Toolkit series, we explored a few of the best free options for SEO analytics. This time, we’re diving into free tools that improve your indexing and crawling. In order for a search engine to return your site in the results of a user search, your site needs to be indexed – because it’s really the index that Google (or Yahoo, or Bing, or…) is searching, not the entire internet, when you ask it how to fix your dishwasher or to find you a modern glass coffee table. But even before Google can index your site, it’s got to crawl it. Think of it this way – there are three building blocks to getting Google to return your site.
Ultimately, that’s your goal – to RANK on Google. Here’s a good explainer on how search engines work if you want a deeper dive. So let’s take a look at good free tools for those first two – Crawling & Indexing: Redirect Path Chrome Extension This is a great little plug-in that flags 301, 302, 404, and 500 status codes and meta and JavaScript redirects, giving you a better understanding of where your site is missing the mark. An added bonus, all of these details are easily copied to your clipboard to share in greater detail with your team or add to a technical audit. Link Redirect Trace Another Chrome extension, this one helps you to ensure that all your link redirects are actually taking people (and crawlers!) exactly where you want them to go within your site. Think of it as a quick QA tool that helps keep the train on its tracks. Screaming Frog SEO Spider and Log File Analyzer Technically, this is two tools – the Spider crawls your site (it’s not creepy, we swear) to allow you to discover things like HTTP header errors, excess HTML, crawl mistakes, duplicated content, JavaScript errors, and more. The Log File Analyzer allows you to upload your log files and then works its magic to tell you that yes, the search engine bots have visits, which URLs they’ve crawled, and helps you to study search bot data in greater detail. Together, they’re hugely helpful in getting your site crawled efficiently and effectively. Robots.txt Generator This one is used to tell search engine bots how to crawl your site. As it sounds, it creates a correct robots.txt file and advanced users can even customize their files. XML Sitemaps This one allows you to create a site map of up to 500 pages for free, without requiring registration. You’ll download your site map as an XML file or receive it via email, saving time (and probably a good bit of aggravation, as well). SERP Checker This one ties into your keyword use – determining potential ranking difficulties with a free tool from Ahrefs. Without using location-specific IP addresses or proxies, you can, from any location, check the top 10 search ranking results using this tool. A few honorable mentions in this category – which is chock-full of free tools:
Play around with a few and let us know what’s the most useful for your site. Next up for us is part 3, which delves into keyword research. Part 1: Free Tools to Amp Up your SEO Analytics
Let’s take a look at a few of the top choice for SEO Analytics: Google Analytics 4 If you only use one tool, this is the one. It’s the favorite for a reason, offering an invaluable resource that delivers abundant data about your website/s. From site visits to locations demographics and traffic drivers and sources, Google Analytics gives you all the nitty gritty detail you need. All this data makes it easy to tweak strategies and drive growth of both site metrics and revenue streams. Looker Studio Previously known as Data Studio, Looker is a Google tool that allows you to seamlessly merge data sources to creates easy, sharable visualizations. This is what you’re looking for when you need incredible dashboards and customized reporting. Looker Studio is great for tracking KPIs, visualizing trends and comparing performance across time. Mozcast It’s designed to track all the changes to Google’s search algorithms, from the big ones we all hear about to the little ones that you might not notice. Mozcast is great at helping you keep on top of all the changes so you’re sure to be doing everything necessary for the best SERPs. It bills itself as a “weather tracker” for Google and we think it’s a pretty adept analogy. Keyword Hero Keyword Hero integrates with Google Analytics to put organic keywords back into your SEO strategies. It fetches data from your Analytics and uses advanced math and machine learning to generate keywords. In addition, it’ll provide data like semantic clusters they belong to, brand vs non brand, CTR, and more, to provide you a complete picture. While it’s technically free, there is a cap, and you can pay for additional access – perfect when you’re just getting started. Google Search Console Enhancer The first in a series of Chrome extensions, Enhancer works with your GSC to provide additional insights and features. Think of it like a turbo charge that allows you to fine-tune your Seo approach with detailed, usable data points. Better Regex in Search Console Another Chrome extension, this one amps up your GSC experience when you’re craving nitty gritty data. Its aim is to help you create modern sophisticated search patterns that allow you a deeper dive into query data from your website. It features presets specifically designed for SEO use and allows you to create and save your own – the best of both worlds. Lost Impressions Index Check Finally, Lost Impressions Index Check is from TameTheBots and its goal is to help you identify where you’re losing visibility in search results. It’s essentially a URL inspection test, allowing you to compare one time period to another, helping to identify gaps and fix them quickly. Now that you know where to start, go play with a few of these tools and let us know what you think in the comments below. We’ll be here working on additional posts in this Toolkit series, looking at more free tools for crawling and indexing, keyword research, dealing with linking, and mobile SEO.
Bottom Up Let’s start at ground level. Solving pet mess issues is a constant struggle, leading flooring manufacturers to come up with smart solutions. What if your design-forward flooring were primed to resist urine stains? And better yet, is resistant to seeping and damaging floorboards? It’s a reality with conventional products, but a new approach developed by a Seattle contractor is specially engineered to mitigate harm. Pet Decorator® by Tami Michaels creates a permanent solution for a long life of making homes pet-friendly. Once the first layer is in place, you’re free to set up spaces both inside and out to improve livability for the canine set. With no shortage of fancy dog beds and even more elaborate couches on the market, let’s get real: they’d rather be sitting with the fam. Check out this assortment of sofas and furniture that tolerate and even resist pet hair, from Coaster. And since they usually allow you to sleep in your bed with them, but might need assistance getting there, ramps with step grids make access a breeze. Or opt for a more designer look and choose fabric-covered steps that add a less obtrusive glam factor. Dinner time! Add a chic look to feeding stations with a tilted dog bowl designed both for aesthetics and avoiding messes. If your fuzzy friend acts more like a vacuum cleaner than an animal, she may benefit from a true cognitive challenge that will slow the pace and improve digestion with a puzzle-style feeder, both fun and productive. Al fresco entertaining is a big hit with the four-leggeds, and though grass-rolling may be a fun gig, they need a shade break just like we do. This wicker outdoor dog sofa delivers a stylish open-air experience with the aesthetics of a people house, and plenty of space for relaxation. Now that you’re up to speed with a few ideas on how to tackle interior and exterior décor from a pet perspective, consult with the true experts (you know who they are) to nail down their preferences, and shape a household conducive to co-existence and supreme comfort. Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
The surprising benefits of ecommerce contests![]() If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’ll agree that going above and beyond to find sales strategies is a standard operating procedure. Pouring your heart and soul (and dollars) into marketing should naturally include gratuities, which – if done right – can be an impressively effective tool for customer acquisition and retention. Straight, uncomplicated advertising is the mainstay of gaining recognition for an online store competing with millions of others. Though it’s a necessary expense, it may fall flat in results. Smart merchants sweeten the pot with giveaways aimed at both existing and potential buyers, and most are discovering the increasingly positive net gain they bring.
A strong marketing campaign consists of multiple parts, not the least of which is a social media presence. More and more merchants solicit contact information via email addresses, but when only a nominal product discount is offered, weary consumers may shy away. The trick is to boost up your efforts with a legitimately free product. Few enticements are more intriguing than a no-cost way to try something they’re already interested in. Engage with just the right approach, and you may wonder why you hadn’t thought of this in the first place. How does it work? Giveaway campaigns take many forms, some less of a sacrifice for you, the merchant. If your sales are strong and your brand is familiar, a straight giveaway without the contest angle is your best shot. Pitched correctly, your existing fans will be thrilled – thrilled enough to share the good news, hooking new customers and establishing a reputation of being an out-of-the-box vendor. If straight gifting is a bridge too far, the random drawing strategy is also a winner. Whether requiring a purchase to enter or merely setting up a campaign, the model looks something like this: Your web site, your social media posts, and your outreach emails make a big splash with an obvious notification advertising the freebie contest. When consumers know they have an opportunity to win a prize without making a purchase, they become interested. Experts advise you collect their contact e-mail with a promise to not make future contacts there, or (especially) not to sell or trade the address. Here is how a beauty products seller waged a wildly successful giveaway campaign. Melted Soapery jumped onto Instagram to wave free full-sized products as a tempting contest prize. Intrigued customers faced non-committal requirements including following the company on social media; sharing the post on their own accounts; tagging a friend (a trusted endorsement is often successful), or multiple friends, since each tag counts as one contest entry. Within a few days, one winner is announced. Should you choose this model over an occasional bonus gift with a purchase by regular customers, be sure to embrace the industry-standard requirements of high-quality graphics of the exact product(s) with well-written content about the gifts and the offer itself. Visual impact and captivating text are key when it comes to an online campaign, and whether an individual decides to enter your contest, you have passively gained informed future customers. Want ideas on the various way online sellers have hit a home run with giveaways? RafflePress is happy to share. Exploring consumer demand for quick delivery ![]() Instant gratification is not exactly a new phenomenon. Impulse shopping is a mainstay among consumers, and it accounts for a decent percentage of all buying in brick-and-mortar stores. The challenge for retailers is to never minimize its impact, whether you sell from a physical location accessible to customers, or operate exclusively online, joining hundreds of thousands of e-commerce merchants. Supply chain issues reared their ugly heads following the start of the global Covid-19 pandemic, but they did not resolve themselves quickly. In fact. Four years after the initial business and personal trauma related to shutdowns and global disruptions, there are still elements needing ironing out. Brick-and-mortar stores are not receiving timely deliveries, due in part to inventory shortages and to backlogs and glitches at international ports. For e-commerce sellers, this is a double whammy. Acquiring inventory takes longer, even if your delivery to consumers is handled by a third party or shipped direct from distributors. And if you manage your own shipping duties, you’ve noticed the dramatic increase in costs spread among all entities (USPS, UPS, FedEx, and more). At the same time, shipping services continue to stretch out delivery dates. It’s a genuine problem. Your business model is based on the rapid turnaround time consumers expect. So what do you do? Analysts have a few pieces of advice, though no quick fixes. Consider these options:
Finally, the emergence of AS (Anticipatory Shipping) has been a lifesaver for mid- to higher-volume merchants taking advantage of tools that evaluate and project consumer purchases. These will streamline choices of delivery agents. techDetector explains this masterfully. Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
To browse seamlessly, with all the info they need to make an informed purchase decision at their fingertips. From product description and specifications to price and shipping terms, everything should be easy to find and understand. And it needs to look nice – professional, seamless – we keep going back to that word for a reason – and both easy to navigate and trustworthy. So what are some solutions you can implement now? There are a number that will depend on your business and good direct and indirect research is necessary on that front. (Think post-sale surveys, social media engagement, and consultation with your customer service team.) Beyond that, here are a few places you can make immediate improvements to customer experience:
Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash
2024 Color of the Year Makes Waves |
The numbers 13-1023 may not mean much to you, but to Pantone® – the aficionado of all things color – it’s a designation paying tribute to their annual Color of the Year. Pantone® is a go-to source for pure, legitimate color in the eyes of interior designers, graphic designers, and anyone in search of pigment for projects and palettes. “Peach Fuzz” connotes a bevy of heart-warming sentiments, and now it’s a springboard for how to weave in a blush of sensual color to interior décor. In keeping with its eagle-eye ability to spot the best, Pantone® recognizes the power of peach, with an even more earthy embellishment. Reminiscent of a tropical cocktail, “Peach Fuzz” already enjoys an extra-dimensional appeal. The objective this year is to internalize and customize it for aesthetical ends. |
One of the first qualities following this hue’s name is obvious. Pantone® asks us to immerse ourselves in the living extravagance of texture, feeling for what is sensory while still soaking up the solace of a beautiful tone. With warmth; with harmony. A natural shade with lush color infuses mood changes in art, rugs, lamps, and furnishings.
Beyond that, “Peach Fuzz” provides inspiration for stepping out of the box and welcoming the pastel-ish hue on walls and even floors. Suitable for a host of style motifs. Texture helps, whether it’s subtle, gritty, fluffy, or flamboyant. And blending to create a mish-mash of hues, or accent the warmth of “Peach Fuzz” with stark bold shades -- or earthy, rich tones -- yields a surprising dominance in the color that represents one of our all-time favorite fruits.
The passion of peach rekindles nostalgic charm of yesteryear as an iconic retro shade. “Peach Fuzz” is as much about the heavenly texture as it is about the softened rich tone. It expounds on a retro flavor with contemporary texture, hue, and ethereal warmth. Pantone® invites you to make it your own.
Take a bite.
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