Selling online is a big step to take for your business. It can help you grow your business in ways you could not have imagined. Taking such a massive action requires time and research to ensure you’re picking the best platform for your business.
When picking a platform, you need to consider how customizable it is, the cost of getting started, and where your audience is? However, the number one thing you need to consider is how much they’re taking off your product’s sales. All of this can seem overwhelming and time-consuming, which is why we’ve done the hard part for you. We’ve compiled a list of four e-commerce platforms and covered all the things you need to know about each platform. So let’s get started!
Wix
Wix is an excellent place for beginners to start. It’s low cost and very easy to use. Wix also has a library of pre-made templates to help you get your online store up and running quickly. Don’t be fooled though, Wix still has some downfalls, such as being weak for search engine optimization (SEO) and e-commerce only being available to those with paid plans. You will also need to pay additional fees for integrations and add-ons. These are just things to keep in mind when picking a platform for your online store.
Shopify
Shopify is a Canadian platform and is a great budget-friendly option. It’s more complicated than Wix but still comes with professional themes. Shopify also has a variety of apps and add-ons, which helps with functionality. Like any online platform, they do come with some cons that should be considered. Shopify is limited to what you can do and is a higher price point for enterprise-level plans. Also, there are transaction fees for specific payment gateways. Shopify also makes it challenging to pull external data sources. We love using Shopify, but it’s critical to note that they do take a percentage of your sales, which means it’s good to look at options later down the road as the business begins to grow.
Big Commerce
Big Commerce comes with a lot of features that the previous platforms don’t give you. It’s also fully hosted and easily scalable. However, Big Commerce price lockdowns force you into enterprise accounts when you exceed a certain amount of income. It also lacks robust content management. You’ll have to decide if the pros outweigh the cons on this platform.
Woocommerce
Woocommerce comes with a lot of pros to it. For one thing, it’s free and open-sourced. It’s also highly customizable and comes with lots of support. Woocommerce also integrates with many other platforms and payment gateways. In all, Woocommerce gives you a lot of control and doesn’t take a cut of the profits. This is all great, but unfortunately, it does come with some cons. Since Woocommerce is created for WordPress, you’ll need a WordPress website. It also requires extensions for large-scale product inventory, and attachments can be expensive.
Whether you’re just starting or you’ve been selling online for years, selling online is a vital part of your business’s growth. That’s why having in-depth knowledge of all the e-commerce platforms will help you decide which platform is best for your business. We recommend that you keep researching, and if you have questions about e-commerce that Google can’t help you with, you can always contact the experts at Treefrog.
Connect With Treefrog Inc. Today!
At Treefrog Inc., we understand that starting an ecommerce business is hard, and we want to help! Our Frogs are experts in many fields that can be beneficial to your online marketplace. For more information on how our team can help, give us a call at 905-836-4442.
2021 is almost here. At this time of year, people are so focused on Christmas; they neglect to think about how to prepare their business for the new year.
Businesses need to start thinking ahead to the new year and asking themselves, what drives sales and interest in our product or services? The simple answer is a marketing strategy.
Out of all of the years we’ve done this, this is the year to share one of our most valuable tools for planning upcoming marketing. Right now is the perfect time to reflect on your business. Ask yourself what worked and what didn’t and what you should focus on in the new year to grow your business?
Treefrog’s Marketing Strategy Planner for 2021
Use this plan as your guide to marketing your business in the new year. It’s simple, free and easy to use. We’ve done all the work for you, and all you need to do is fill in the dates you want to complete the job.
At the very least, it’s a lot easier to decide what marketing activities aren’t part of your plan for 2021, so you don’t waste any energy wondering what could have been.
If we can help you with your strategy or any other tactics in 2021, let us know! We can help you design, build and execute your plan once it’s been intelligently reviewed and aligned with your budget and business goals for the next decade.
Fill out the form below and your copy of the 2021 Marketing Strategy Planner will be emailed to you.
Treefrog specializes in helping companies ensure their websites are AODA compliant.
Does your organization or business fall under any of the categories below?
Businesses and non-profits with 50 or more employees
Municipalities
Libraries (all public and those private libraries with 50 or more employees);
Public-sector organizations; and
Public and private-sector educational institutions (regardless of staffing)
If so, by June 30, 2021, the expectation, as outlined in AODA, is that all websites and web content must be accessible, as per WCAG 2.0 Level AA compliance metrics.
Also, businesses and organizations with over 20 employees must file an accessibility compliance report with the Government of Ontario by June 30, 2021, which was recently extended from Dec 30, 2020.
Businesses and nonprofits must meet the standards of Accessibility rules in Ontario. The Province of Ontario’s website has a full list of accessibility rules and guidelines that should be followed and any critical updates.
What are the top 5 Accessibility Compliance Issues?
1. No alt-text on images
Simply stated, all images require an alt tag.
If an image discloses information that helps understand the message, you must provide alternative text that describes the information.
For more complex images, like a graphic, table, pie chart, etc, your alternative text must summarize the image’s content.
Logos are an exception, but they should have null alt text to allow adaptive technologies to skim over them.
Including backlink on your website is a great way to strengthen your SEO, but with the new AODA rules, you have to be more careful. If you are using terms like “click here” or “learn more,” unfortunately, that is not enough. You now must explain where the link is going before it gets clicked. For example, an acceptable alteration would be “Learn more on how to be AODA compliant.”
You should also avoid opening links in a new window, and you should avoid having multiple links directing to different locations that share the same text.
In some cases, having a particular colour combination can be challenging for someone to see. In the case of a dark background, you need to make the fonts lighter and when you are using a light background, you need to make the fonts darker.
Your contrast ratio should be 4.5:1 for standard text and 3:1 for large text. According to WCAG 2.1, the large-scale text must have at least 18 point or 14 point bold font size.
4. Social media platforms
In essence, social media platforms should be used to supplement your webpage. If you do link your social media content to your website, it must also be accessible to the best of your ability.
5. Audio and video
All prerecorded audio and video must have closed captions and a text transcript. The text transcript must be as descriptive as possible.
The user must have full control over the video, which means they should be able to pause, stop and rewind all audio and video files.
What’s the next step?
Do your research and make sure you are compliant. In case you aren’t taking this seriously, you could receive a fine of up to $100,000 a day if your website doesn’t align with AODA standards. This is a risk you do not want to take.
Visiting the Government of Ontario’s website can help with gathering information, but if you seem to be overwhelmed by the situation, don’t worry. Thankfully our team of web design experts can help you avoid any unforeseen charges.
Whether you are starting a new business, have been in business for decades, or are just starting out in the world of marketing, social media is an ever-changing game.
When was the last time you did an audit on your social media accounts, and how they impact your business?
Regardless of your activity levels on social media, having a plan is essential. As things change globally, social media evolves as well. Now the question begs: Where should I spend my time and money?
Let’s take a look at each platform to see which ones, if not all, are right for your business!
1. Facebook
With over 2 billion monthly users, chances are everyone you know is on Facebook, and maybe even their pets are too! Facebook’s biggest asset is being able to turn your customer base into a family, or a welcomed community.
Creating a Facebook group is very simple, free, and creates an environment for your followers to exchange information and form a sense of community. Photos and videos are what drives success on Facebook. The key is to stand out and show a different side of your company. Don’t be afraid to step outside the box and get creative with your visuals.
If you have some money set aside for paid ads, then Facebook’s ads manager, with it’s sophisticated targeting options, is a great way to grow your business.
2. Twitter (X)
Twitter is all about timely and immediate information. With approximately 330 million monthly active users, it is a great way to raise brand awareness.
Keep in mind that you have 280 characters to convey your message, once you get the copywriting down packed, with just a simple share or like, your tweet can reach a broad audience fast!
3. Instagram
With a whopping 1 billion monthly active users, it’s hard to pass on this visual platform. If your target audience is younger, then Instagram is the right platform for you. 50 percent of users are 34 years old and under. These users are also very comfortable with the following brands on the platform and are even buying products right from the app.
Quick fun fact: 80% of users follow at least one brand on Instagram.
If influencer marketing is something you are interested in, this is the place to be. Influencer marketing is a content marketing strategy that allows you to promote products, services, or brands by partnering with an influencer.
An influencer is someone who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of their relationship with their followers. These influencers have a distinct niche, and usually have a following of over 10,000 on Instagram.
Some of the most successful brands are built around influencer marketing.
4. LinkedIn
If you are selling business to business (B2B), then LinkedIn is your best bet! With 303 million monthly users, LinkedIn should not be overlooked.
LinkedIn is a great way to showcase your brand and the knowledge that you have around your business. By building your brand’s authority and sharing insightful content, you will gain connections that can lead to conversations and sales.
Some content examples are blog posts, curated content, quick tips from an industry expert, and infographics with updated statistics.
5. Pinterest
This is one of the social media platforms where the majority of its users are female. If you are in the food, fashion, décor, art, wedding, travel business, or can produce beautiful images weekly, you may find Pinterest very helpful!
Pinterest is a great way to showcase your products. This platform is not for every business, but if implemented correctly, you will be surprised at how many people will come in contact with your beautiful crafted “pins.”
6. Tiktok
The new kid on the block. Since they launched internationally in September 2017, Tiktok has gained over 850 million monthly active users.
Tiktok really wants you to be creative and to have fun. Like other social media platforms, you can use paid advertising, organic content, and influencer marketing to promote your brand. There is a fun way that Tiktok has allowed brands to go viral, and that is hashtag challenges.
A branded hashtag challenge is when a company asks Tiktok users to perform a particular task and tag them using a specific hashtag. The brand usually gives the winning video free products.
Best of all, you don’t have to invest a lot of money in creating high-quality videos. It is all about how creative you can be!
Contact the Social Media Connoisseurs at Treefrog
There are many other social media platforms out there, and it can get overwhelming because they all offer a unique opportunity for your brand. That is why agencies like Treefrog have experts who are constantly studying these platforms and keeping up to date with the latest tools and trends.
Our goal is to provide you with the results that your brand deserves.
That being said, you can also give the social media game a shot. To give you a head start, we have a special treat. A social media posting calendar:
Are you keeping up to date with the Instagram algorithm? Instagram is continuously evolving, and keeping up with these changes will help you perform better in the platform and create a unique bond with your Instagram community!
Instagram finally broke its silence and put some rumours to rest about how the algorithm actually works. Here are the 6 key factors, as broken down by our social media team at Treefrog:
Let’s learn more about these factors, so you don’t get left behind!
1. How interesting are your posts?
The Instagram algorithm is smarter than you think. The days of trying to trick it are over. Your feed is based on how likely you are to be interested in a particular post, and this is formulated on your actions within the app.
For example, if you are liking, watching, commenting and sharing dog content from your favourite dog influencer, then that type of content will be at the top of your news feed.
To sum it up, the friends that you are interacting with the most, the stories you watch, and even the pictures you are tagged in contribute to your behaviour in the app, which determines who and what pops up in your news feed.
Have you ever wondered why your top stories are always the same accounts? It’s because the same formula applies to Instagram stories as well!
2. Timing is, in fact, everything.
Consider Instagram as the cool kid in class, someone who wants to always be up to date with the latest news and trends. You won’t find them showing you a Halloween post when it’s Christmas season.
That being said, using your Instagram Insights tool will help you see when your followers are the most active on the platform. That’s the time to release your content in order to set yourself up for success. It may seem like a small detail, but it is an essential piece of the Instagram algorithm puzzle.
3. Relationship Goals
Instagram doesn’t want you to miss posts from your friends and family, or favourite brands and celebrities. It values your relationships and doesn’t like one-night stands. Content from accounts you engage with more often will rank higher in the feed. For example, if you search for the same profile often, they will become one of your popular friends, and you will see their content more often.
For a content creator, that means it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get posting. You want your followers to engage with your content and form a relationship.
With this tactic, the more you post, the more followers will see your posts. Keep in mind; quality does trump quantity. The key is to find a happy balance.
We all don’t have the manpower of Gary V. So posting 3 times a week constantly while throwing Instagram Stories into the mix will help you see an increase in your engagement.
4. How frequently are you opening the app?
Take a look at your daily screentime. How many minutes, or should I say hours, have you spent on Instagram today? If you have some self-control and are on the app less often, your news feed will be sorted for what it thinks you will like best!
If you are a frequent Instagram visitor, your feed may start to look more chronological. This is because Instagram is trying it’s best to show you the best posts since you’ve last started scrolling.
5. No follower is left behind, well, not really.
Another thing to take into consideration is the number of people you follow. If you follow more people, the app has more content to choose from. This means, you’ll likely see fewer posts from each account, and for many accounts, you may not even see their posts on your feed.
As a business and content creator, the tricky part is to become a part of their Instagram family. That is easier said than done. By the end of this article, you will know how to achieve just that, so keep reading!
6. Usage: Daily or Hourly?
Do you open your Instagram app daily or hourly? It’s pretty straightforward, the more time you spend on the app, the more content you will see, and the deeper Instagram digs into it’s catalog of content to show you posts.
However, if you spend only a few minutes on the app each day, the algorithm will only show you highlights of the day’s posts.
Start Stepping Up Your Instagram Game Today!
Instagram is a great social media platform for visual storytelling. No matter your industry, it’s an incredible online community where businesses can connect with potential customers and grow their business organically. Whether you have a personal account, creator account or business account, Instagram could be the platform for you to grow your online presence.
The key is to educate yourself and stay up to date with trends.
Start applying what you learned from this blog into your Instagram strategy! We’ll help get you started with our free Social Media Calendar, now available for download! Plan out your Instagram content, collaborate with team members, research hashtags and track all your images all in one organized excel sheet.
Download Our Social Calendar Template
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Don’t Do Social, Be Social!
At Treefrog, we believe that social media strategy is a delicate mix of both art and science. Our social media team combines compelling visuals with data-driven analytics to engage with the audiences of our clients in real time – so that their message gets heard and people are inspired to take action.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Instagram experts at Treefrog! You can also connect with us via email, on our website or on social media to stay up to date on Instagram tools, tricks and tips!
We can do all the dirty work for you, keep you informed and help your Instagram game reach a new level!
2020 is almost upon us. At this time of year, we see many articles reflecting on the year that’s just past. We know what happened in 2019 – but are we prepared for 2020?
The definition of “foresight” is: “the ability to predict or the action of predicting what will happen or be needed in the future.” And yet, we often forget, when planning for our business success in the coming year, what drives sales and interest in our product or services: marketing strategy.
Towards this end, we have decided this year to share one of our most valuable tools for planning upcoming marketing with our “Marketing Partners” (i.e. people who use us for their outsourced marketing needs). After your Christmas Turkey has settled and your gifts have been unwrapped and stowed away – this is the perfect time to reflect on what worked last year and what actions you should take next year to grow your business.
The Treefrog 2020 Marketing Calendar Worksheet
This worksheet is an easy-to use spreadsheet of various marketing activities to stimulate your brain into thinking about how to gear up over the coming year for growth. If you are a CEO or business owner, you should have this plan in front of you. If you are a marketing person, you should be creating and customizing this plan based on a budget or what you already know works.
At the very least, it’s certainly a lot easier to decide what marketing activities aren’t part of your plan for 2020, so you don’t waste any energy wondering what could have been.
Here is an example of it in action;
If we can help you with your strategy or with any of the tactics in 2020, let us know! We can help you design, build and execute your strategy once it’s been intelligently reviewed and lined up with your budget and business goals for the next decade.
At least, with a little elbow grease in the coming week or so, you’ll know what you are doing to grow your business going into the new year.
Happy Holidays!
How to Use this Document
It’s easy. Go through the document, line by line. Decide what week you would or should be working on components of your marketing. Color in the weeks that you believe you should be doing a marketing activity of that type (each square represents the Monday of a new week).
This document contains an example of how a marketing strategy should look. You might start by erasing it all and starting again! Or perhaps just edit from the example input already in the document.
We at Treefrog take these draft strategies and put them into a professional project management tool (we use Wrike) – but this document is a perfectly good substitute to get your mind engaged and get your creative and strategic juices flowing.
Enjoy!
Fill out the form below and your copy of the 2020 Marketing Calendar Worksheet will be emailed to you
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Not sure where to start? Or Don’t you have time as you work in the business to work on your marketing? Let’s chat. We can offer a complimentary 30-minute consult to get you started, and help you design, build and execute your strategy once it’s been intelligently reviewed and lined up with your budget and business goals for the next decade.
Social media sites have become popular platforms for brands looking to communicate with their customers, and they provide an opportunity to deliver stellar customer service experiences. Social media is useful for improving people’s impressions of brands compared to traditional means of communication because when you solve problems for your customers online, thousands of others may also see your great response.
That being said, the risk still exists for things to go wrong. We’ve outlined a few best practices for providing exceptional customer service on social media that will make sure you kill it, and not your brand image.
Find Your Customers
Providing exceptional customer service takes time and resources, and you should allocate these wisely by determining which social media sites your customers use the most. For most companies, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are popular but depending on your industry, your audience might be more engaged through Instagram or YouTube.
The social media sites where you are having the most success (most shares, likes, and other engagements) should be the platforms you invest in since they are where:
Your target audience is most active.
Your customers are more likely to contact you if they have a concern.
Once you have identified your audiences watering holes for information, reviews and engagement. It’s important to have a strategy for engagement.
Listen, Listen, Listen!
Social media has changed the way customers interact with brands and vise versa. Marketing is no longer placing ads in front of people that communicate your brand message, product and telling what the end-user should feel or think about your brand. Social Media has created two-way communication between your customers, potential customers and you. It’s now an outlet to directly respond to you and express their thoughts about your product or services. Therefore, you must pay attention to what people are saying to you and about you, and respond accordingly.
Doing this involves more than just checking your direct messages or having an auto-responder set to reply when you can not. You need to have a plan in place for ongoing checks for negative (and positive) comments left on your posts and also check for posts outside your accounts where people may comment about you. By using tools like Hootsuite, you can be notified whenever someone mentions your brand, regardless of whether or not they mention you or contact you directly.
People don’t just message brands, they Tweet at them – which is out there for the world to see.
Respond, Always!
No one likes being ignored, and making sure you respond to people who communicate with your brand is crucial. Negative comments that go unanswered remain there for the world to see and make your brand look careless and cold.
Also, never delete negative comments. People who are willing to go to the effort of posting a negative comment are more than willing to point out when their comments have been deleted, and this can spell social suicide for you. Instead, own how you take their criticism (it will make you look good) and try to turn the negative situation into a positive one, turning the relationship around.
Responding to positive feedback is also a good idea as it builds profitable relationships with people and makes your brand appear positive and proactive to others – especially if these conversations happen in public places like comments.
Tim Horton’s constantly monitors comments on its Facebook posts, and responds promptly to frustrated customers.
Make things Efficient
Optimize your social media profiles so that communicating with your brand is as easy as possible for consumers. This is important if you receive or expect to receive a high volume of messages. Below are just some tips for accomplishing this goal:
For Facebook pages, enable instant replies or initial messages to let customers know you’ll be responding and addressing their concerns as soon as possible.
Add a “message” button directly to your Facebook page as well as various contact buttons onto your Instagram page – increasing accessibility for those looking to contact you.
It’s a good habit to have your social profiles downloaded and accessible on your phone so that you can respond at all times (rocking social media means living on it!).
If quick response time isn’t possible, you can set your Facebook messenger status to ‘away’ so that people at least know when you’re not available.
Keep in mind: Facebook calculates your average response time to messages and will display this to everyone who visits your page. Replying quickly is therefore crucial.
Facebook replies can be automated to let people know you will be with them shortly.
Monitoring social media to reply to customer service issues can be impossible if you don’t have the time. At Treefrog, our social media team specialises in reputation management and can keep up with what’s being said about your brand 24/7 – so that you maintain a positive brand image online.
Facebook replies can be automated to let people know you will be with them shortly.
Social media isn’t a question of if, but how. Before engaging, think about what, when and how. Having a strong strategy of which channels you are going to communicate what message and the level of activity are all factors in your success. Especially when it comes to providing exceptional customer service through one of the fast-growing communication mechanisms.
Don’t have the time?
At Treefrog, our social media team specializes in branding, account security, strategy, calendering, content curation and reputation management. Whether you are just starting out or have been on the road of social media for some time now, we can help get you set up and tracking with a social media plan that meets your time and interest or better yet, your customers’ appetite on social.
Let’s chat. Call or email today for a free quote at 905-836-4442 today!
It is not uncommon for a company, country, or an individual to have an annual theme. At Treefrog, our CEO has set one for the company each year, and while most often they have remained internal; this year, we’ve decided to launch a marketing theme along with an internal monologue:
“What does Treefrog do?”
While this might seem like a strange question to be asking after nearly 20-years of business, as a digital agency, we have evolved incredibly over the last two decades; from CD burning to website development, creating a content management system (LEAP), to the additions of search ranking and social, to bleeding edge innovation around AI, AR, and IoT. And throughout all of this change, we hold one common theme: innovation and ideation.
But, we are no longer the people in a basement designing websites by day and coding them by night. We’ve grown into a 40+ team. Our clients have matured and grown, just as the small Town of Newmarket has too.
There comes a time in every organization where you need to step back and ask: Based on our growth, are our clients of yesterday still our clients today? And will they be our clients of tomorrow?
At the end of 2018, we set out to answer this very question.
Let us share how we did this:
Our goal was to identify ten words or fewer that would succinctly recognize who our client is. We began by listing out a variety of clients (both past and present), what types of services they offer, and the successes we’ve had with them. This was followed by a lengthy exercise of identifying attributes of these many customers and how we work with our clients.
During the process, we started to notice patterns in the clients and attributes. While some clients were our long-time partners of 15+ years, others had been working with us for less than two years. Some clients were multi-million dollar organizations, with operations around the world, and others were less than five team members and under half million in revenue.
Fascinating similarities in connection for all clients regardless of size, location, industry or income started to emerge. Attributes such as:
Relationship-focused
Growth-Oriented
Collaborative
Curious
Patient
Experts in their field
We then categorized the attributes, in the hopes of boiling our brainstorming session down into one sentence that was evident in all the clients that we selected, both prosperous and less successful (yes we looked at our failures too).
In all cases, we were dealing with the CEO or lead decision-maker; even in the $80-million company, we had a direct line to the CEO.
However, we also realized that in focusing on our clients, what they asked of us was only part of the equation. How we behave, and our values played an essential role in this process too.
As we mingled our values with the attributes of our clients, we landed on something very close to “who” our ideal client is. This included a definition of each client, and a description that would be lasting regardless of the services that we offer or the ways to which we provide support.
“Courageous, aspirational decision-makers concerned about being digitally underdeveloped who want an invested partner.”
It’s not marketing speak. It’s not meant to be pretty. It’s an internal dialogue for whom we define as our partner. Let’s unpack this definition:
Courageous
Courage defined as ‘being afraid of something and doing it anyway.’
Starting a company, inheriting a company, or gaining the position of leader in an organization is an act of courage. Sometimes it’s the only act of courage a leader makes (that’s an article for another time). But, taking on that role can be scary. Leading an organization takes courage, on a daily basis.
This word was especially crucial to our team, as many of the clients we looked at need a lot of courage in both their companies and industries. Also, when you think about technologies and the digital industry, there are a lot of unknowns, it’s intimidating to many individuals, yet the courageous person moves forward even in the face of uncertainty.
Aspirational
Aspirational or Aspiration has a dual significance in the hope or ambition to go-after or achieve something paired with the action or process to get it. Aspirational individuals are decisive, visionary, curious, and willing to take risks. At Treefrog, we are aspirational; we take risks, we go after big ideas with curiosity and joy. Our best clients are aspirational, taking risks in business, achieving something beautiful.
Decision-Maker
Let’s be real. We all want to be dealing with the decision-maker, that’s a given. But, this decision-maker is unique, they go after new things, and they embrace or welcome innovation, thinking outside the box. They are not just any decision-maker but one who eagerly craves success.
Concerned
This word is especially significant in our definition. Several businesses in the world are happily digitally underdeveloped or non-existent. These are not our clients. We are not seeking to find these decision-makers.
We have one of these businesses leaders on our team right now, a hired consultant working with us part-time: but she is not our client, as she isn’t concerned about her digital footprint.
We are instead interested in working with (and for) companies and decision-makers who are worried about their place in the digital space, who fear missing out, who recognize they are lagging in the digital arena even though they may be experts in their industry.
Digitally Underdeveloped
What does it mean to be digitally underdeveloped? It is relative to the business, knowledge holders, competitors in the industry, and the company itself. It could mean a variety of status points, having an out-dated website, lagging in social engagements, using antiquated systems such as Excel for essential business functions, and more.
This is the one area we’ve spent the most amount of time on, defining and understanding what this could mean to many businesses including our past, current, and future clients. Stay tuned for part two of this article next month, as we will unpack this even more.
Want
Desire. Need. Want. Again, another impactful word in our definition as it describes the mental state of the decision-maker. They aren’t merely looking to fill a gap; this is something they crave or seek. It’s like breathing or nourishment to them, and they see the importance, they are willing to explore and find more than just the bare minimum.
Invested Partner
Lastly, a partner, yet not just any partner but one who is there for the long journey. At Treefrog, this is one of our strongest values, almost to a fault. We think of our clients and their businesses as if they are our businesses and our families. We pride our relationships with authenticity and love. When we engage in a new project, we look at the contract like that of the full depth and sanctity. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish. We are there side-by-side with our clients.
What’s next for Treefrog?
Now that we have a defined a clear path of the types of individuals for whom we have seen through evidence-based work and by aligned values, partnership, and longevity, we can start to examine the ‘what’ in: What does Treefrog do?
We hope you’ve found this article informative as to how we discovered our “who,” a question most businesses struggle to articulate.
At Treefrog, we encourage innovation and thought leadership in all that we do. If you would like help in finding your “who,” we offer no-charge innovation ideation sessions for our clients. We merely ask for a 10-15 minute pre-call to learn about your business and what keeps you up at night.
Owning an e-commerce business can be challenging (to say the least), as many factors that can damage a reputation, a brand, and an end product.
If you wish to be successful online, look like a credible business, and be known worldwide, it is important to avoid making these five e-commerce business mistakes:
1. Under Researching Your Competition
Research, research, and more research is key to starting any business. Understanding the market and studying up on your competition will get you one step closer to owning a successful online brand.
Reading case studies on other e-commerce businesses in your market to see what you may want to do better or differently is a good start. In this process, we suggest that you learn how to conduct a competitive analysis.
What is a competitive analysis?
A competitive analysis is an evaluation of what makes you unique when compared to other competing brands. This process will allow you to more clearly differentiate yourself from the competition and make more informed decisions in your marketing strategy.
Search Engine Optimization helps to generate more organic traffic to your website. Before building an online store, you should understand how search engine optimization works and how to use it to your advantage.
When a website is created with Google and other search engines in mind, it is more successful. In other words, it will have a better chance of being found, viewed, and enjoyed.
The higher your website appears organically on a Google results page, the better and more relevant it has been ranked.
Learning how to use the right keywords for your site is a good start when studying and writing for SEO. At Treefrog, we can help you to improve your SEO with a suite of strategies and best practices. We will also help you create, organize, and optimize your web content so that you will be visible when it matters – when your potential customers are looking for services you provide.
3. Choosing The Wrong Web Platform
When starting a business, it is often confusing which website platform to use. If you use a website platform that fits with your business requirements, it must also be reputable and good quality.
The landing page of a website is the first thing users will see when they enter your site. Some elements a website should have to keep potential customers on your site include:
Appealing Design: This will ensure your e-commerce business looks like a professional store, as some web users feel uneasy when shopping online.
Easy Navigation
Category Pages: If you sell a large variety of products in your e-commerce business, this will organize the items so users can find exactly what they are looking for
At Treefrog, we work in many platforms to ensure our clients receive the best website for their specific needs. Some of these include; WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Magento, Drupal, Leap, and custom systems.
4. Neglecting To Optimize Your Site For Mobile Users
Many people have ditched desktop and laptop computers for their mobile devices, which are easier to handle and use on the go. Therefore, it should be of no surprise that mobile commerce is vastly growing.
A research study conducted through Think with Google states that if people have a negative online experience from a mobile device, they are 62% less likely to purchase from your e-commerce store in the future.
As more people are using their phones or tablets when looking to order furniture, clothing, or the latest gadget, it is essential to make sure your website is responsive (mobile-friendly). Mobile optimization will create a more frictionless buyer’s experience.
5. Settling For Slow
We live in an age where everyone is in a rush; we can now order coffee from our phone, we can choose a self checkout lane at the grocery store, and we expect packages to be shipped in a day.
The quickness of technology may be convenient at times, but we’d argue it has created some very impatient people. This is especially true when it comes to your website.
For example, if someone is waiting more than three seconds for your website’s page to load, it is highly likely they will close the page and look for information elsewhere. Therefore, a slow loading page can profoundly impact a website’s conversion rate, engagement, and brand reputation.
Why is page speed so critical?
It is vital to have a fast-loading page so users can get to where they want to go quickly.
Amazon stated that just one second of leg load time on their website would cause a loss of $1.6 billion in sales each year. That’s billion with a B!
Google has the same issue, stating an addition of 0.5 seconds of loading to its search pages causes traffic to drop by 20%.
At Treefrog Inc., we understand that starting an e-commerce business is hard and we want to help! Our Frogs are experts in many fields that can be beneficial to your online marketplace.
Visit our website at www.treefrog.ca for more information, or give us a call at 905-836-4442.
Over the years, we’ve had several co-op students at Treefrog. They’ve worked with a variety of pods from social and content to programming and project management. This year, we asked our content co-op student, Madeline, to share her thoughts on her internship and what the co-op experience meant to her.
Discovering The World Of Digital Marketing
At the start of grade 11, I had no idea what my passion was or how to uncover it. This was really scary since I only have two years left to figure out what’s next in this journey called life. After completing and finding interest in my marketing course, I talked to my school guidance counsellor who suggested I take a cooperative education course to help me get a sense of how the field really works. I decide to take her advice and began my research for a company in Newmarket that could fill this need.
Through my research, I found Treefrog and decided to reach out to see if they would be interested in a co-op student. Luckily, they responded and invited me for an interview. At first, I was very nervous, as I’ve never had a job before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I interviewed with Kellie, Dylan and Laurie, and they were welcoming and easy to talk to. I was overjoyed when they offered me a placement, which I value greatly to this day.
My Co-op Experience At Treefrog
On my first day at Treefrog, I was very shy, as I didn’t know anyone or much about how Treefrog worked. It was like going into a new class with all new class mates, only these people were the real deal. Everyone was so kind and instantly made me feel accepted.
The relaxed atmosphere made coming to Treefrog every day fun. Everyone made jokes, listened to music or just talked about current events happening in the world around us. I didn’t feel like I was working even though we were accomplishing a lot every day.
My first couple of projects were pretty simple, with the team being extremely supportive if I needed guidance. I’ve always thought of my writing skills as one of my strengths, but when I was asked to write a blog article, I was pretty nervous about what the outcome would be. After writing a draft and getting it edited by my supervisor I was surprised that I had just wrote my very own article! And it got posted, check it out here.
I’ve always had a love for social media and sharing my opinions online, so being able to write about topics that interested me was so much fun. After five months of writing blogs for different clients on topics ranging from personality to environmental issues and mental heath to professional services, I’ve discovered a passion for writing that I never knew I had and gained confidence in my writing skills.
During my time at Treefrog, I often got invited into meetings with clients, mostly for the purpose of taking notes. While this might seem boring, it was really interesting and helped me learn about the wide variety of clients and their different needs. This expanded my knowledge on things such as search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing.
As I was the youngest in the office, I was often asked for my opinion as a high school student. This made me feel valued as often my ideas and input would be considered and put into action.
“Having such a supportive and inclusive team helped me step out of my comfort zone to voice my own opinions and not worry about if my opinion was right or wrong.”
Going into my co-op, I had very little experience, but during my time at Treefrog I was able to learn about Facebook analytics, website tracking, SEO, content creation and social media as more than just “posts” online. I learned how to cater to different companies and how all the different Treefrog pods fit together. While being immersed in the workplace, I was exposed to a variety of different roles, from sales, to programming, to design.
After an amazing 5 months, I know I will always value and be grateful for this co-op experience. I’ve met so many talented people who have helped me learn about Treefrog and the workplace. I’ve learned so much about digital marketing, SEO and social media that I’ve developed a love for this and hope to continue my studies in this field for post secondary.
Interested in a high school coop placement with Treefrog? Please email us for availabilities.
