Awantego

Katharina Berger

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What is a WordPress Theme?

The way your website looks is crucial. Everything needs to look good together, needs to work together properly, and needs to be easy for potential customers to read through. It’s important to have a basic style that’s consistent through all of your pages so your customers recognize they’re on your website and know where to find the information they need. This is where a WordPress Theme comes in handy.

what you need to know about wp themes

What is a WordPress Theme?

A WordPress theme is basically the view of your website. It’s a collection of templates and stylesheets that create the overall look of your website, ensuring every page looks the same to your customers. Themes can include different design elements, basic layouts, and other features. Some themes are designed to work well for just about anyone while others are geared towards a certain topic. Most themes can be modified to suit your individual needs but can be used as-is when you’re first getting started.

What to Consider When Choosing a WordPress Theme

 

When you’re choosing a theme for your website, make sure you look through your options and find one that’s going to work well for you. Beyond just thinking about how the theme looks, consider the following points anytime you’re shopping for a new theme.

  • Type of Website – Some themes are designed for specific purposes. For instance, some are designed just for photography bloggers. If you don’t have a photography blog, the theme isn’t designed for your business and might not work as well as other themes for your business.
  • Functions of Theme – Make sure the theme has everything your website might need, whether that’s certain functions already built in or the ability to use plugins.
  • Security of Theme – Always make sure you get a theme from a reputable source. Check reviews to see if others have had a good experience. Make sure the theme is updated frequently as well since this can include security patches to help keep your website secure.
  • Responsiveness – Today’s consumers use their smartphone when they’re shopping. Make sure any theme you choose is going to be responsive so your customers can visit your website on any device they want.

Most Popular WordPress Theme Marketplaces

 

WordPress Themes can be free or paid. When you’re ready to start shopping for a theme, you’ll want to visit one of the top marketplaces. This helps you ensure you’re getting a theme from a trustworthy source. Some of the top marketplaces today include the following.

  • Themeforest – Themeforest offers some of the top selling WordPress themes. Most themes are offered with a 6-month license and you can see the reviews, rating, and more before you decide to purchase the theme. All themes from this marketplace are thoroughly reviewed and tested before being available for purchase.
  • WordPress.org – WordPress has its own theme marketplace for free themes you can use. They do not offer some of the features paid themes might use, but all of them must adhere to the WordPress guidelines and follow official best practices to be available in this marketplace. Each theme goes through a review process before they can be offered.
  • Elegant Themes – One of the oldest marketplaces for WordPress themes, this marketplace offers premium themes they develop on their own. They have an easy to understand pricing model and their themes are designed for speed, performance, and compatibility.

Most Popular WordPress Themes Today

If you’re ready to start using a theme for your WordPress website, there are a few themes you’ll want to check out first. The following are some of the top themes available right now.

  • Divi – This is a theme that includes a drag-and-drop website builder that can be used to create just about any layout. Custom layouts can easily be saved so they can be reused. Available from Elegant Themes, this is one of the most popular WordPress themes available.
  • TheGem – Another multi-purpose theme, this includes more than 50 concepts to choose from as well as many different styles, demos and more to use. The entire theme was designed to meet very high standards, so it works well for a variety of different websites.
  • Avada – This theme has been a top selling theme for a number of years. It includes advanced options and allows you to create designs without having to know any code. It also includes many pre-built layouts, advanced header options, optimization for SEO, and more.

WordPress themes make your website look professional, help make sure every page looks the same and allows your customers to know what to expect from your website. Check out the top theme marketplaces or the top themes listed here to start using a WordPress theme today.

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Online Marketing Buzzwords: Customer Journey

Online Marketing Buzzwords: Customer Journey

The customer journey is the path a site visitor takes before they make a purchase decision. Most people don’t decide to buy something immediately after they discover it; typically, they look at brands and products several times before acting. Known as touchpoints, these steps can best be visualized via journey mapping. Read on to learn more about the customer journey, its phases, and why it’s important.

Why Online Advertising Makes it Easier to Map the Customer Journey

In print advertising, it’s almost impossible to map the customer journey because it’s hard to tell how people found out about a product. People get recommendations from various sources, such as newspaper ads, flyers, and family members. While qualitative surveys may provide some insight as to why customers have come to your store, they’re costly to conduct. New, more budget-friendly approaches such as WiFi tracking make it easier for brick-and-mortar retailers to recreate the customer journey. With online ads, however, every potential customer’s contact points can be monitored and tracked across numerous channels.

An Example of the Customer Journey

Here, we’ll use smartphones as an example. A potential buyer reads about the latest device in an online forum, and they do some online research on the device’s technical specifications and features. They become more interested, and they want to see what others are saying. Others’ glowing reviews make the visitor want to buy the device. Then, they visit the phone manufacturer’s website to find out where it’s being sold before visiting the online store and making a purchase. In this hypothetical example, there are multiple touchpoints, such as:

• The online forum
• The site that provided the phone’s tech specifications
• The review site
• The device manufacturer’s website
• The phone dealer’s online store

Almost any sort of marketing message can be regarded as a touchpoint, from TV and radio ads to billboards, newspaper ads, and other print media. While these ads are useful, it’s almost impossible to track them. Online touchpoints are more effective, as they can be more easily tracked and monitored.

The Journey’s Different Phases

The customer journey is divided into phases in different ways, depending on who you ask. However, all approaches have one thing in common: they assume that the buyer’s decision isn’t made right away. For that to happen, you’ll need to make your target market aware of the product, pique their interest, and wait for them to act. That action isn’t always an order or purchase; you may want your visitors to sign up for a newsletter or request information. Here are the most commonly cited stages:

  • Awareness. Here, potential customers familiarize themselves with your brand via word-of-mouth, advertising, and other channels.
  • Consideration. At this point, the visitor realizes they have an unmet need, and they’re actively considering making a purchase.
  • Purchase. This one’s self-explanatory; the visitor becomes a buyer.
  • Retention. After the customer buys your product, they may seek guidance from you or other users. This is a great opportunity to reach out to them and turn them into a repeat buyer.
  • Advocacy. Your customers will undoubtedly tell others about your product, whether they’ve formed a positive or negative opinion.

It seems simple, doesn’t it? Offering a quality experience at every stage in the user journey should be easy, but things aren’t always as they seem. Today’s customers are increasingly demanding, and as such, they’re taking on the buyer journey in new and complicated ways.

Why Mapping the Customer Journey is Important

With 67% of the buyer’s journey happening online, it’s important to understand where your customers are coming from and to regularly provide them with high-quality, relevant, and accessible content. With an effective map, you’ll be better equipped to turn leads into customers. Here’s how to get started.

  • Use the sales funnel. Your brand should already have a sales funnel that routes leads through your content toward a purchase. This step will tell you how many touchpoints buyers have with your brand, and how these interactions are connected.
  • Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. It’s hard to think like a buyer, even with the wide availability of customer data. Everyone is unique, and it’s your job to understand how your customers are moving through your sales funnel. Although it’s impossible to predict their movements with perfect accuracy, by moving through your own process, you can align customers’ goals with each part of the funnel.
  • Develop touchpoints. Here, you’ll create places where customers can get information about your product or engage with your brand.
  • Implement the map and do your research. Enlist the help of a graphic designer to compile your touchpoints and findings into a logical and compelling sequence. Tools such as Google Analytics are useful if you’re trying to determine where customers are leaving the journey. With the information gathered here, you can analyze your touchpoints and make improvements.

What’s the Purpose of the Customer’s Journey, and How Can I Analyze It?

For marketers, there’s only one reason to consider the customer journey: to find out more about buyers’ behavior. Because the touchpoints we’ve listed above are highly visible, it’s easy to tailor them in ways that elicit the desired reaction from your buyers. Tools like cross-device or cross-domain trackers can help you find out how your customers are accessing the site, and with the information you gather, you can alter your marketing strategies accordingly.

Problems In the Customer Journey

Each stage in the journey contributes to customers’ purchase decisions to some extent, but everyone is different. If the buyer hadn’t learned about your product in the beginning, they may never have discovered it at all. Without reading all those positive online reviews, their interest may not have turned into action. Because of new strategies and rules on data protection, analysis may be problematic as well. You won’t be able to reconstruct the journey if your users are using anti-tracking tools or deleting their cookies, and the gathering of certain data may not be allowed in every circumstance. Depending on the nature of the data you find, it may be hard to tell which touchpoint turned a visitor into a customer.

In Closing

Offering potential customers an enjoyable, simplified online experience will increase engagement and sales. When you understand customers’ preferences, it’s easy to increase productivity by focusing your marketing efforts on the touchpoints that are most in need of improvement. With the tips and information in this guide, you can create a consistent customer experience across all platforms.

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What Digital Marketers Must Know About the New ePrivacy Regulation

The GDPR has come into effect, changing how personal data is stored. Now, the next step is finalizing and implementing the new ePrivacy regulation. For online marketers, the ePrivacy regulation could have more of an impact on what is done to collect data, how it’s collected and stored, and how consent is obtained to collect, store and use the data. For digital marketers anywhere, this could lead to big changes.

What is the ePrivacy Regulation?

The ePrivacy regulation is designed to enable people to decide how they want their online activity data to be used. Instead of choosing this for every website they visit, they’ll make the decision on each internet-enabled device they own. Basically, they’ll be able to make this decision through each browser, not for every website. The idea is to make it easier for everyone to control how their data is used.

When Will the ePrivacy Regulation Start?

The exact start date is not known at this time. It was intended to start alongside the GDPR, but the regulations have not been finalized yet. Experts believe it should be in place within a year of the GDPR being implemented, as the adjustments needed to finalize it could take some time. However, it may not be ready for implementation until late 2019 or early 2020.

How is This Different From the GDPR?

The ePrivacy regulation and the GDPR are both intended to cover the same subject, but the ePrivacy regulation would override the GDPR. GDPR was created on the basis of protecting personal data. The ePrivacy regulation is intended to protect a person’s private life. It focuses more on the end-user instead of the data itself in an effort to protect the user’s privacy the entire time they’re online. Both of these are designed to complement each other and to work together to protect the privacy of anyone who is online.

Who is Impacted by the ePrivacy Regulation?

Like GDPR, the ePrivacy regulation is an EU policy. However, this doesn’t mean that other countries will not be impacted. All digital companies need to be aware of the new regulations, what they handle, and how to comply with them as the policies are focused on EU consumers, not EU businesses. Businesses, no matter the location, will need to comply with the ePrivacy regulation if they have any customers or website visitors in the EU. This means all digital marketing professionals will need to be aware of the ePrivacy regulation.

The Differences in Using Cookies for Advertising

One of the biggest differences is how cookies will be used for advertising. Basically, users will need to give their express consent to have their data used by a website through cookies, software updates, and other means. Right now, companies can block their website from being accessed if the person does not consent to having their data used by the website. This will change, as this is a way to force consumers to allow their data to be used. With the ePrivacy regulation, the consumer will have to be able to give their consent freely, without being coerced into giving it, when they visit a website.

How This Impacts Digital Marketing Professionals

Digital marketing professionals will need to make sure they comply with the new ePrivacy regulation when it goes into effect. Right now, the data collected makes it possible for digital marketing professionals to target their audience anywhere they are online, enables them to target potential customers based on their online behavior, and helps the companies they work with see the impact their digital advertisements are having. This can make a huge difference in how much businesses will spend on advertising online as well as how digital marketing professionals can reach target customers.

How Can Digital Marketers Prepare for ePrivacy Regulations?

Preparation begins with following updated information on the ePrivacy regulation and how it might change before it’s implemented. Digital marketing professionals should make sure they understand exactly what the new ePrivacy regulations entail and what they can do to continue to target consumers, to show relevant data to the businesses they work with, and how they can make sure they are compliant with the regulations.

While the ePrivacy regulations are not in effect yet, understanding what they include and what they will impact is crucial. Digital marketing professionals today should keep a close eye on the ePrivacy regulation as it is finalized and start working on preparations today to ensure they will be compliant to minimize the impact it might have on their business.

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11 Alternatives to Google You Need to Try

Search Engine AlternativesWhile Google is the top search engine today, it’s not the only option if you need to look something up online. In fact, there are hundreds of different search engines that can be used for general or specific searches and that offer features Google doesn’t offer.

You may want to try a different search engine for more privacy, to find certain types of content, to view uncensored results, or just because you want to try something a little different. Whatever you might be interested in, there’s likely a search engine that’s suitable for you. Try out each of these search engines to see the best of what they have to offer.

Bing

Bing LogoSecond in line for the most-used search engine, Bing is a search engine developed by Microsoft. It has been in development since 2009, is known for having excellent add-ons, generates comprehensive search results, and includes an easily accessible search history. The downsides include weak searches with few relevant results in some cases, can be sluggish at times, and it tends to bury news results off the main page.

Bing is probably best used for local or travel topics, or for image searches. It excels at these types of searches and includes add-ons you can use to make your searches more effective or to give you better results that are more in line with your own interests. Today, it’s included as the default search engine for Windows computers, tablets, and smartphones.

Yahoo

Though it’s only the third most frequently used search engine, it has been around for a long time. In fact, Yahoo was incorporated in 1995, before both Google and Bing. Yahoo is known for having comprehensive results, having more shopping options than other search engines, and for having mobile apps to download and use. The main downside to Yahoo as a search engine is that it’s hard to determine if a search result is an ad or not.

Yahoo is best suited for shopping or as a social platform. Those who are interested in purchasing an item will find more results on Yahoo than they might with other search engines. It also includes directories, news, Yahoo answers, mail, groups, finances, and more.

Ecosia

Screenshot of the Ecosia Search EngineEcosia is a search engine partnered with Bing to help plant trees. Basically, when someone searches for something on Ecosia, the money generated from ads they click helps pay for a tree to be planted. Ecosia uses Bing for its searches but does show you how many trees you’ve helped plant whenever you use their search engine.

The pros for Ecosia are that it’s easy to use, that it takes your privacy seriously and that it is used to help the environment. One con is that a tree is planted for around every 45 searches. This means tons of searches need to be done to actually make an impact. However, you do use it regularly for various searches, you can see the impact your searches can have.

DuckDuckGo

Logo DuckDuckGo Search EngineDuckDuckGo is a search engine designed for those who are concerned about their privacy online. Though it does generate revenue by using sponsored links, it does not track users. This search engine is based on Yahoo and does deliver fast results for searches. It can be used for just about any basic searches you might want to do that you might want to be kept private for any reason.

The main upside to DuckDuckGo is to be able to search without worrying about user data being sold to third-parties. Instead, it has ads it uses to generate revenue to continue to enable people to use the search engine. It also offers infinite-scrolling so you can just scroll down to see more results. The main downside is that it doesn’t have everything the bigger search engines have. It is, basically, just a search engine. It’s best suited for searches where you’re concerned with your privacy and where you don’t need more features than a basic search.

Qwant

Qwant Logo

Most search engines track your activity and basic data and sell that information to other companies. Like DuckDuckGo, Qwant is a search engine that’s concerned about your privacy. Also, like DuckDuckGo, Qwant uses ads to make money. However, what sets it apart is that it is a fully-featured search engine.

Qwant is most suitable for any searches where your privacy may be a concern or when you want to make sure your personal data is not sold. It’s also great for music searches. Downsides include being slow to provide search results and that it doesn’t offer a personalized experience since it doesn’t track your activities.

StartPage

Screenshot of StartPage search engineStartPage is another search engine designed with privacy in mind. The big difference is that StartPage uses Google for its search results. StartPage is actually a proxy for Google that allows you to do searches on Google, but without the identifying details like your IP address that Google would normally track.

StartPage is excellent for those who want the speed and results from Google but who are worried about their privacy online. It doesn’t track your searches and is incredibly fast. The main downside is that it’s not quite as easy to use for searches as features like auto-completion are not automatically turned on.

CC Search

Dedicated to copyright-free content, CC search is an excellent search engine for those who need any type of content that has been tagged as Creative Commons. It’s mainly used for those who want music, images, or other copyright-free material for websites or creative endeavors.

Logo of CC SearchCC Search is best suited for finding materials with a Creative Commons license. It has the ability to search for blog posts, music, and images. The downside is that, while it does try to only provide results that have a Creative Commons license, the results aren’t guaranteed to be free to use. Anyone using the website should check before using what they find.

Search Encrypt

Designed from the beginning for privacy, Search Encrypt does more than just avoid tracking your searches. It offers auto-delete for your browser history and searches, and it offers encrypted searches. Even if you share a computer, the searches you do will not be seen by anyone else.

Search Encrypt is best used when you are on a shared computer or believe someone else may be using your computer as it enables you to be completely private with your searches. It’s a great option for privacy and offers an auto-delete option as well as encrypted searches. The main cons are that it is a relatively new search engine and that, due to privacy, it doesn’t provide personalized search results.

SearX

Opensource and designed with privacy in mind, SearX is a great alternative to Google and other top search engines. The results it provides are obtained from several different search engines and are designed to be unbiased. It is also easy to customize and offers special features that enable you to get better search results whenever you use it.

SearX is suitable for a wide variety of searches and used by those who want better, unbiased results. It uses a variety of search engines to find results and is easily customizable. It is open source so anyone can view the source and add their own contributions. It also allows searchers to view their search under certain subtopics, including news or social media.

Boardreader

Serach Engine BoardreaderForums are a huge way for internet users to connect with others to discuss a topic. Yet, those who are new to the topic might not know where to find a good forum to check out or how to find the information they’re looking for in these forums. Boardreader is a search engine specifically for searching through the forums online.

Boardreader is best suited for those who want to find information written by average people on forums and messaging boards. It is easy to use and offers an advanced search feature to make it easier for you to find what you need on a specific forum or on any forum about the subject you’re interested in. The content in the search results, however, may not be accurate because it is written by the average person, not necessarily by professionals.

Gibiru

Gibiru Serach EngineCensorship may be a concern when searching for certain topics or information. Gibiru helps to minimize censorship and privacy issues when searching online. It does not save search queries and records are deleted after a search is done.

Gibiru is often used for searches where censorship of the topic is expected or possible. It makes searching for uncensored information easy and offers more privacy during searches. The main downside is that it can be complicated to set up as it is used by downloading a Firefox plugin so it can use a proxy for all searches.

Many alternatives to Google exist today. Whether you’re looking for more privacy, for a way to find certain types of content or just something new to try, all of these search engines might be a good choice. Try a new search engine today to see what a difference it can make in what you can find and how relevant your results might be.

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Boost Your Visibility When Selling Products on eBay

Selling products on ebayYour business needs new customers. Where do you find them? You may want to try using eBay to find new customers who are looking for your products. Selling products on eBay gives you the chance to sell excess inventory as well as the chance to extend your outreach so you can sell your products to as many potential customers as possible.

Once you’ve decided to sell your products on eBay, you’ll need to make sure your business is as visible as possible. Right now, there are an estimated 25 million sellers on eBay, which is a huge amount of competition. Yet, this doesn’t mean you can’t sell products on eBay. You just need to make sure you use the right techniques to boost your visibility so more potential customers will see your business and make a purchase.

Posting items on eBay is relatively simple, but you won’t want to stop there. You’ll want to read through the list below to learn more about what you should watch out for when you’re placing products on eBay to sell and what you should do to improve the ranking of your products.

Watch Out for Formatting Errors or Store that Isn’t Unique

Poor formatting can lead to customers backing out of your eBay store page and looking elsewhere for what they want. A store that’s not unique is not going to stand out very well and many customers might not notice it at all.

Your eBay store is a representation of your business. You need it to stand out, but you do need to make sure everything is formatted properly. Test the appearance of your store on multiple devices to get an idea of how it looks and make sure nothing looks “funny” or out of place.

Watch Out for Poor Listings

Titles and subtitles that have symbols or weird spellings, or that simply say “Look!” are not attractive to potential buyers. In fact, most buyers will skip over these listings because they don’t tell the buyer what the listing is actually for or they’re too difficult to read.

Instead, carefully construct titles, subtitles, and descriptions for every listing. Using SEO techniques in each of these fields can be beneficial, but you will still want to make sure they’re attractive to the buyer. They shouldn’t notice keyword stuffing throughout the description or have to wonder what exactly the product is because there’s just a list of generic keywords in the title.

Watch Out for Spelling Mistakes and Other Errors

Spelling mistakes can drive customers away and can lower the visibility of your eBay store simply because you don’t have any customers. Many customers won’t want to purchase anything from a shop that has multiple spelling or grammar errors in their descriptions.

Run every title, subtitle, and description through a grammar checking app or program before publishing it in the listing. Even if you don’t catch every single thing, minimizing spelling and grammar mistakes can help boost your chance of a customer purchasing your product.

Watch Out for Multiple Item Listings

Multiple item listings look like a great idea. You get to create one listing and have multiple products for sale in it. However, this isn’t as good of an idea as you might think. In fact, it could lower the visibility of your listings on eBay.

Each listing has a spot in the search results. When you combine listings into a multiple-item listing, you have one listing show up in the search results. If you’re selling 20 of the same item, you want it to show up 20 times, not once. Have each product listed separately so they’ll show up separately in the search results. The more it shows up in the search results, the more likely it is customers will see your items, not your competitor’s.

Watch Out for High Shipping Prices

It’s easy to pass the shipping price onto the customer when you sell items on eBay. You can price your products much lower this way, so it might seem like this would be a good idea.

Save money thanks to free shipping.
Customers love to save money and get something for free.

Unfortunately, when you pass the shipping price onto the customer, it can lead to your listings being ranked lower.

Listings that include free shipping, even though the item price may be a little higher, can boost the ranking for your listings. Plus, customers love to get things for free. Even though they may pay a little bit more for the product, the free shipping can make your listing more attractive. The more attractive it is, the higher it’s going to rank and the more likely it is the product will sell.

Do Use Keywords Throughout Store and Listings

Although you should be careful to avoid keyword stuffing, you will want to use keywords throughout your store and your listings. This is the main component of search engine optimization and one you’ll want to use correctly. All parts of your store, such as the seller bio, should be filled out with carefully-chosen keywords to help optimize your eBay store for the searches.

Make sure you use short and long-tail keywords, and make sure you choose keywords that customers are using to find products like the ones you sell. All keywords should be relevant and placed in the content naturally.

Do Use Photos in Listings

Photos do more than just show buyers what your product looks like. You can also use alt tags with keywords for each photo you upload for your product. The alt tags allow the search engine to “read” the photos and know what they’re about. This is another way to use keywords in your store and help boost the store’s visibility in search results.

Do Use Adaptive Formatting for Your Listings

While you will want to make sure your store stands out, you’ll also want to make sure the formatting is adaptive. A recent study showed that mobile use was involved in more than 60% of eBay transactions.

Optimize your listings for mobile devices.

Whether it’s to view the listing initially, to make the purchase, or to check the listing, the buyer was on mobile at least once.

When you carefully format your listings so they can be viewed on mobile devices, you’re making it easier for buyers to see what your product offers and why they will want it. You’re also making it easier for them to make a quick decision to purchase the products and, the more sales you have, the higher your ranking will be.

Do Provide as Much Information as Possible About Your Products

You’re trying to sell your products, so you need to tell customers why they need these products. You want them to be excited about purchasing it so they don’t hesitate and end up choosing something else. Putting as much information as possible in the description gives you the chance to get customers excited about purchasing the product and shows them why they need to purchase it.

Choosing the words for the description carefully is vital. You’ll want to insert keywords, but make sure you’re not using too many. You’ll also want to make the description as educational as possible as this can help boost your ranking as much as the keywords will. The better your description, the more likely it is the viewer will purchase the product.

Do Respond to Customers Quickly

How customers view your business is crucial. If your customers aren’t happy, your rankings will drop. A large part of optimizing your eBay store is making sure your customers are happy so you’ll have a higher seller rating. One of the parts of the seller rating you can directly impact is how fast you respond to your customers.

Have a way to check your eBay messages often so you can respond to any questions or comments as quickly as possible. Customers expect a fast response nowadays. The faster you can respond, the happier they’ll be with their interaction with you and the higher your seller rating will be.

Do Provide Tracking Information for Your Products

Products being delivered late can negatively impact your seller rating quickly and drastically. You can add tracking information when you ship your products to help avoid this and make sure you don’t suffer because of the delivery times.

If you do not provide a tracking number and the item does not arrive by the time you stated, the customer can complain about the late delivery and your seller rating will decrease. However, if you do provide eBay with a tracking number, it will show your product was shipped on time. This shows you did everything possible to get the product to the customer, so if it is delivered late because of the shipping company, it will not negatively impact your business.

 

Selling items on eBay, just like amazon, gives your business the chance to branch out and reach more customers. However, you will want to be careful to make sure your listings are attractive to potential buyers and properly optimized so your eBay store will stand out amongst the competition. Start working on this today to get the chance to reach more customers tomorrow.

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A Short Guide to Subconscious Marketing

When most people think of Subconscious marketing, they think of science fiction and brainwashing. However, the term can have positive associations as well, and it can change customers’ perceptions when used ethically.

The Two Sides of Subliminal Advertising

According to Harvard research, the human mind can unconsciously register words that flash across a screen too fast for the conscious mind to observe. This was a significant breakthrough because it showed that consumers didn’t have to register an ad for it to be effective.

While the technique has many benefits, there’s also a dark side to Subconscious marketing. A method that uses flashing images and words can put an idea in the viewer’s mind without their even realizing where it came from. That idea has some unpleasant connotations, and thankfully, most countries have banned the practice. There are ways to use the same ideas to enhance a marketing strategy and effectively control customers’ subconscious judgments about the company. If a company owner is looking for innovative ways to get ahead of the competition, the below techniques may be beneficial.

Reworking the Corporate Logo Design

The company’s logo is an extremely important branding tool. Whether or not customers know they’re doing it, they will inevitably judge the company based on its logo and other graphic styling cues. To make the most of that fact, the company should use its logo to convey an important message. Some shapes make strong suggestions to a person’s unconscious mind, and many unique logo designs use white spaces and lines to portray a hidden meaning. It’s a brand strategy commonly seen in logos from world-famous companies, but thankfully, this strategy can be used by a business of any size. When a company reworks its logo, it’s the perfect chance to say something to potential customers.

Use Color to Gain an Advantage

Any discussion on graphic design would be incomplete without a mention of color. Every color has a different subliminal connotation, and using it wisely can help a company enhance and change its image. Below are a few Subconscious marketing messages sent when certain colors are chosen.

  • Red. It signifies urgency, defiance, strength, and courage.
  • Yellow. This optimistic color denotes friendliness, creativity, and youth.
  • Green. It’s a relaxing color that has connotations of restoration, health, balance, and the environment.
  • Purple. It’s the traditional color of royalty and also signifies quality, luxury, and spirituality
  • Blue. This color signifies intellectualism, logic, communication, loyalty, and coolness

Colors can be used in Subconscious marketing in a variety of ways. For instance, an art supply store could be painted a cheery shade of yellow, or a yoga studio could be painted a pastel green.

Consider Product Placement

Product Placement

This Subconscious marketing technique occurs when a company pays filmmakers and TV show producers to use its products. A common example of this is when sitcom characters drink a certain soft drink or when billboards show real ads. This is very effective, as viewers subconsciously make an association between the product and the characters’ lifestyle.

Getting a top-level product placement can be a real budget-killer, and it’s typically not within the reach of startups and small businesses. However, an owner may be able to tweak this method for smaller-scale benefits. Consider working with a blogger or local media outlet to practice product placement without breaking the bank.

Think Before Choosing Advertising Models

When a company shoots photographs or videos for use in a future marketing campaign, the advertising team should give great consideration to the people they choose to star in them. While this type of judgment may seem superficial, it’s based on biology. Everyone makes inferences about a company’s services and products based on outward appearances. Many people make subconscious assumptions about the product being advertised, which is why most Subconscious marketing involves physically attractive actors and models. While it’s not necessary to photograph beautiful people, it’s important to think deeply about how the actors and models fulfill the target market’s ideals. Minor changes to accessories, clothing, and hairstyles can make a significant subconscious difference.

While there are plenty of dishonest ways to engage in Subconscious marketing efforts, the white-hat approach is infinitely more effective. Skip the flashing images and words to the sci-fi movies, and use these four methods to improve customer satisfaction and increase sales.