Be a Pro Packer

When shipping orders, the first step is to package your products. Packaging should always be cost-effective, functional, and customer friendly.

Packaging Materials

The customer’s unboxing experience is your chance to make a good first impression. It can also provide an experience that customers may want to share and post on social media. Social media influencers, beauty accounts, and more are known for creating “unboxing” videos with new products.

There are many different options when it comes to eCommerce packaging materials for your orders. Many carriers also offer free packaging with a specific shipping rate.

Save Time Buying Shipping Labels

You can avoid extra trips to the post office by buying discounted shipping labels from your eCommerce company such as Shopify. Once purchased, you can print off your shipping label and attach it to your package.

Get Your Orders Delivered Right

Today there are an array of shipping types and delivery methods available. Brands can now send products to customers via more innovative options than traditional mail such as local delivery or in-store pickup.

Local Delivery

Local delivery may be a good option if your customers are located nearby. You may also hire a dedicated staff member to deliver your orders or leverage a third-party service to pick up the orders and deliver them to a customer’s address.

Local delivery is also a great fulfillment method for brick-and-mortar retailers. It can effectively improve sales, especially if you have large items to transport.

Taxes

When you are selling products across state or country lines, it is important to understand the different tax obligations. You or your customers may owe taxes to the state in which you are operating, as well as the state in which the order is delivered. Each state has its own unique tax guidelines.

International Shipping

If you are interested in tapping into the global economy, selling internationally is one way to do so. However, this tactic comes with logistical challenges, including international shipping. With international shipping, you will need to use different carriers or a combination of carriers to account for higher costs and longer shipping times. You may also have to change your tax settings.

Optimize Your Ecommerce Shipping Processes

If you have an established eCommerce process, you probably already have some shipping processes in place. However, sometimes you can change what you have already set in place without a major overhaul.

Communicate Shipping Delays

Whenever you experience a shipping delay, it is important to communicate it. This means notifying the customers directly and also speaking with your supply chain, logistics team, operations, and whoever else may be impacted.

It is vital to stay in communication with your customers to keep them up to date on the shipping process. Sending an email to your subscribers can help to keep them in the loop. Also, don’t forget to update your shipping policy regularly.

Offer Free Shipping for Large Orders

Free shipping is no longer just a bonus, as many consumers consider it now to be the norm. While you may not be able to offer free shipping on all of your orders you may want to consider creating an order minimum. Customers who make a purchase above the order minimum will receive free shipping.

Build Your eCommerce Store with DLM Today

At DLM, we are dedicated to proving you with a user-friendly eCommerce store. If you are interested in starting an eCommerce store or would like to improve your current store contact DLM to schedule a 15-minute demo today! We can’t wait to speak with you.

The post Effective Shipping Practices for Ecommerce Businesses appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

1. Times Have Changed

It can be easy to get stuck in the past, but you might want to consider that the most popular medical office from twenty years ago maybe isn’t so popular anymore. Furthermore, new businesses have developed in that span of time that you should be aware of. Besides, look at how much has changed in just a few years: online presence, technology such as AI, and new marketing strategies. It makes sense your competition will change as time passes.

2. Online Competition

As a practice with a physical location, you may not be considering the online presence of other practices. Many online services are now available in the medical industry, such as virtual appointments and online stores for products sold by your practice.

3. Narrow Thinking

You may be thinking too narrowly about who your competitors are. For example, if you own a general dental office, you might just be looking at other dental practices in the area. What about orthodontists, oral surgeons, specialty dentists, or pediatric dentists? Some of these practices might be your competitors, too.

4. New Competition

You may be basing your competitors on those who have been around for some time or those that you have heard of. New companies that have had a strong start and gained a large client pool within their first few years of development may also be some of your top competitors.

5. Reliance on SERP

If you are only looking at the search engine results page (SERP), your perspective on your competitors may be shifted. SERP is based on national results, and although you may have some national competitors based on the services you offer, a more local perspective could be more accurate when trying to boost the relevance of your practice.

Gain a New Perspective and New Marketing Strategy

Once you know who your top competitors are, you can compare their practice to yours and use this as inspiration to alter and improve your marketing strategy. This can be a lot of work, but luckily, Digital Limelight Media is here to help! Let our marketing and design specialists redesign and rebrand your website to put your practice at the top of Google’s search results. Schedule a quick demo with us today to learn about the services we offer.

The post 5 Reasons Why Traditional Competitor Analysis Isn’t Enough appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

With this in mind, the process of redesigning your website can seem intimidating or complicated. That’s why we’re breaking it down into five basic steps so you know what to expect.

Step One: Choose Your Redesign Team

If you want to set yourself up for success, you need to assemble the right team. When you work with Digital Limelight Media, we choose the designer, content writer, marketing specialist, and developers that are best suited to your project from our team of experts. Internally, you should also identify stakeholders in the project and clearly define their roles. Throughout the process, make sure that these people stay informed when they need to be and are aware of the milestones that matter to their roles. It’s important to have multiple eyes on different stages of your project to ensure the best outcomes and catch mistakes, but too many opinions can over-complicate the process. Before you begin, clearly outline each person’s roles. Your marketing specialist can help organize meetings and share updates and materials accordingly.

Step Two: Audit Your Current Website

Before you begin redesigning, you should audit the materials you already have and determine what needs to change, what needs to be edited, and what’s missing. This helps you prepare for the project, understanding how extensive the redesign will be, and allow you to budget time and money accordingly. There are several steps that you should take to audit your site.

First, a technical audit should be performed. This is important to check your site’s performance and scan for any missed opportunities in your SEO strategy. We’ll check for things like common issues in written content or slow load times, which can negatively affect your SEO.

You will also need to perform a design audit. This checks for problems like inconsistent branding, usability issues, accessibility oversights, or difficulty making routine updates.

Step Three: Get Inspired for Your Redesign

Your website should reflect the personality and mission of your business. If you’re not sure where to start, check out other sites to get inspired and see the full range of possibilities. Take a look at DLM’s portfolio for some ideas. Take note of what you like and what doesn’t resonate so you can communicate your ideas clearly with your team.

Step Four: Set Your Budget

With the updates you need to make clearly identified through your site audit, you’re ready to set a budget. Remember that your website makes the first impression for your business and is a crucial way for new customers or patients to choose you over a competitor. A functional, beautiful, and SEO-friendly website can offer a significant return on investment.

As you set your budget, you will need to consider several factors that impact the final price. This can include:

• The number of pages you’re including on your site
• Functionality, like contact forms, photo galleries, and calendars
• Content writing hours
• Design hours

Step Five: Set Goals for Success

If you’re thinking about redesigning your website, you probably already have some goals in mind, like increasing the number of leads you receive or improving your search rankings.

As you move through the redesign process, set realistic and measurable goals. Focus on ROI while you identify metrics like your conversion rate or a goal for organic traffic. Choose a set time frame to measure and reach these goals after your redesign is complete.

Contact DLM

Ready to get started with a website redesign? Contact DLM on our website or call (616) 222-3735. Our team looks forward to working with you.

The post Your Guide to Redesigning Your Website appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

There are many elements that go into launching a new site spanning many specialty areas, from copywriting, to software development, to design, and search engine optimization (SEO). To aid in the process of your website launch, we’ve created a handy list compiling essential aspects of a successful website launch. 

What to Do Before Launching Your Site

Before pressing publish on your brand new site, there are some items you should consider before your site makes its debut. Make sure you’ve taken proper steps beforehand to ensure a smooth website launch. 

Make sure you are on track with your website redesign strategy. 

Ensuring alignment with your website redesign strategy allows you to make sure you’re hitting key benchmarks and staying on task to attain your goals. Read more about why you need a website redesign strategy here.

Benchmark your current site analytics.

Getting your site rankings to where you want them requires knowing where your site currently ranks. Utilize your current analytic measurements to note key performance indicators (KPIs) that you can compare against later on, after site launch, to make sure your site is performing as designed. 

Stick to your branding. 

Designing a website is a chance to put your best foot forward to your target audience. Ensure that your brand identity is felt throughout your entire site. If something doesn’t feel quite right, don’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board to make it your own before launching your site.

Review, Review, Review.

The bulk of content on a site is typically text. With menu headings, in-depth page copy, contact information, and informational blogs, there’s a lot of content to review. It’s essential to get as many eyes on this copy as possible. Because nothing breaks your audience’s trust as much as simple grammatical errors. 

Test your conversion points.

Capturing your website users’ information is imperative to converting leads. Testing your contact form, and how a user gets there, is a common oversight that can have disastrous repercussions. Go through your site conversion path as if you were a new user and ensure your forms are converting correctly.

Ensure you are following all relevant laws.

Each industry has different standards and laws when it comes to online discourse. It’s best to consult legal counsel to ensure all relevant laws for your industry are being recognized on your site, before launching.

Develop a comprehensive SEO strategy.

Understanding how to work SEO into your site design and management is imperative to success in the online world today. This plan should include developing meta titles and descriptions, optimizing site content for relevant keywords, and responsive design– to name a few. If you’re feeling lost when it comes to SEO, we can help.

Set up analytics for your new site.

Launching a site without Google Analytics causes you to miss out on rich data regarding site performance, traffic, and user engagement. Make sure analytics is up and running upon launch to make sure you aren’t missing out on important information that can help you make smart business decisions in the future.

Test the user experience.

Give your website multiple run-throughs from a new user’s perspective. It’s easy to assume your site has a seamless user experience (UX) when you’ve been working with it for so long. Have different members of your team test the site and take notes of pain points that could cause confusion for a new user. Make sure to address these items before launch.

Test all plugins, injects, and videos.

There are many moving parts to a website including plugins for added functionality, custom plugins, and embedded videos. Be sure to test all functional elements of your site to make sure all code is presenting properly on the front end. 

Enact a promotion strategy.

Get excited! Designing a new website is something to celebrate. Get your staff and clients excited for the launch by developing exciting ways to encourage engagement with your new site. Host a site ribbon-cutting party or create a countdown on your social media. If you’re excited, your audience will be too!

List too long? Bring in the Professionals

Launching a website successfully is a big feat. It’s helpful to have a team of professionals to walk you through the process and help you feel comfortable launching a new site. Digital Limelight Media (DLM) specializes in medical marketing site redesign with SEO infused into every element of your website. We have systems in place to streamline the process and have experience creating sites that convert at a high rate, remain secure and are HIPPA compliant. If you’re considering launching a new site, see if our services are right for you, give us a call, or schedule a time to chat with us.

The post How to Prepare for a Successful  Website Launch appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

With this in mind, the process of redesigning your website can seem intimidating or complicated. That’s why we’re breaking it down into five basic steps so you know what to expect.

Step One: Choose Your Redesign Team

If you want to set yourself up for success, you need to assemble the right team. When you work with Digital Limelight Media, we choose the designer, content writer, marketing specialist, and developers that are best suited to your project from our team of experts. Internally, you should also identify stakeholders in the project and clearly define their roles. Throughout the process, make sure that these people stay informed when they need to be and are aware of the milestones that matter to their roles. It’s important to have multiple eyes on different stages of your project to ensure the best outcomes and catch mistakes, but too many opinions can over-complicate the process. Before you begin, clearly outline each person’s roles. Your marketing specialist can help organize meetings and share updates and materials accordingly.

Step Two: Audit Your Current Website

Before you begin redesigning, you should audit the materials you already have and determine what needs to change, what needs to be edited, and what’s missing. This helps you prepare for the project, understanding how extensive the redesign will be, and allow you to budget time and money accordingly. There are several steps that you should take to audit your site.

First, a technical audit should be performed. This is important to check your site’s performance and scan for any missed opportunities in your SEO strategy. We’ll check for things like common issues in written content or slow load times, which can negatively affect your SEO.

You will also need to perform a design audit. This checks for problems like inconsistent branding, usability issues, accessibility oversights, or difficulty making routine updates.

Step Three: Get Inspired for Your Redesign

Your website should reflect the personality and mission of your business. If you’re not sure where to start, check out other sites to get inspired and see the full range of possibilities. Take a look at DLM’s portfolio for some ideas. Take note of what you like and what doesn’t resonate so you can communicate your ideas clearly with your team.

Step Four: Set Your Budget

With the updates you need to make clearly identified through your site audit, you’re ready to set a budget. Remember that your website makes the first impression for your business and is a crucial way for new customers or patients to choose you over a competitor. A functional, beautiful, and SEO-friendly website can offer a significant return on investment.

As you set your budget, you will need to consider several factors that impact the final price. This can include:

• The number of pages you’re including on your site
• Functionality, like contact forms, photo galleries, and calendars
• Content writing hours
• Design hours

Step Five: Set Goals for Success

If you’re thinking about redesigning your website, you probably already have some goals in mind, like increasing the number of leads you receive or improving your search rankings.

As you move through the redesign process, set realistic and measurable goals. Focus on ROI while you identify metrics like your conversion rate or a goal for organic traffic. Choose a set time frame to measure and reach these goals after your redesign is complete.

Contact DLM

Ready to get started with a website redesign? Contact DLM on our website or call (616) 222-3735. Our team looks forward to working with you.

The post Your Guide to Redesigning Your Website appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

Customizable Sites Are Based On Templates

Customizable sites begin with a host like WordPress where you can select from a variety of different templates. These templates allow you to easily build a site from preselected fonts, layouts, color schemes, photos, and more. Customizable sites are a quick and easy way to make a consistently attractive website if you don’t have any website building experience. They also allow you to easily exchange things like photos, layouts, or content based on your needs. With the right template, chances are your site will be decent and provide a good user experience.

Customizable sites, however, can be cookie-cutter. Because it’s easy to set up a decent site using templates on widely used hosts like WordPress, it’s likely that your site will be similar in some ways to other existing sites. Ultimately, everyone winds up with a different combination of the same ingredients. It won’t be unique, nor will it allow you to make it totally unique. With a customizable site, you can only make changes within the preset template which simply takes your assets and plugs them in. This comes at a cost, too – you’ll be paying to host your website and use the template, as well as the ability to make changes.

Custom Sites Are Built From the Ground Up

A custom site begins with a discussion with your marketing team to determine your needs from a website – then, it’s built completely from scratch. This includes design elements like a logo and color scheme, content elements like text, video, and gallery photos; and user elements like site layout and accessibility. In short, you’ll oversee every aspect of your custom site creation and offer input at every step. Because custom sites are truly unique, they’re designed to impress. Your customers can associate your brand with its own one-of-a-kind website, just like they would associate your practice with its own one-of-a-kind approach and services.

There are many more benefits that come with custom sites, like better technical support, marketing expertise, customized search engine optimization campaigns, better rank results, and the ability to customize your site to your exact needs. In short, a custom site comes with an experienced team to support every aspect of your new site along the way, even after launch. Your marketing specialist can guide you through the best ways to deliver your site to patients and track your results. Overall, it’s hard to beat custom sites when it comes to making an investment in your business as a whole.

Meet With Our Team

At Digital Limelight Media, we offer everything you need for a successful website launch and beyond. Your dedicated team can help you make the most out of your custom site in every area with professional designers, content marketers, marketing specialists, developers, SEO experts, and more.  We also offer industry-leading tools to help your website maximize its return with CRM insights, easy-to-use gallery tools, and real-time EMR integration. If you’re ready to get in touch and begin your personalized website experience, contact us by calling or filling out our online form.

The post What’s the Difference Between a Custom and Customizable Site? appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

Navigation

In order for your visitors to successfully find their way throughout your website, good navigation is key to a quality user experience. When you visit a website, you will most likely search for the navigation menu, which is an organized list of links to internal pages. The navigation menu is most commonly found along with the page header of the website for quick access. This element will allow users to quickly and easily find the information they are searching for, such as a procedure page or a blog post.

Pages

Once you click on a link in the navigation, it will bring you to the corresponding web page. A web page is displayed on a website to provide information to your viewer. Web pages can contain pictures or videos to help illustrate certain topics, as well as quality writing to inform visitors. Multiple web pages together make up a website.

Posts

At DLM, our web publishing software of choice is WordPress, which allows us to create posts on a website. Posts are blog content that is listed in reverse chronological order (newest to oldest). This allows for your newest posts to be quickly available for posting, while older posts are archived based on the month and year.  Blogs can be very beneficial for spreading useful information, which helps your business to stand out as a trusted source of information in your industry.

Footers

If you scroll to the bottom of a web page, you will come across a section of content called the footer. It commonly contains information such as a logo, contact information, copyright notice, privacy policy, social media icons, etc. This space allows for a quick one-stop spot for users to find information that may not be found in the navigation.

Media

Have you ever visited a web page that contained images, videos, or audio files? If so, you have come across what is known as “media”. Media is important because it provides imagery or sound to aid in the user’s journey.  Humans are naturally visible beings, so images tend to attract our attention quite easily. A website that contains appealing media is more likely to achieve more views and clicks, which is exactly what you want!

Banners

A web banner, also known as a banner ad, is a form of advertising that is shown in the header, footer, or sidebar. Banners are commonly considered to be an affordable form of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising that is ideal for increasing brand awareness or customer engagement.

Take the First Step

So, does everyone need a new website? No. However, if it has been a while since you have updated your site or you are noticing that your site is missing some of these key elements, it would be beneficial to your brand to explore the possibility of re-design. If you are looking to improve your website in 2022, our team is here to help. Fill out our online contact form to get started.

The post Do I Need a New Website in 2022? appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

Choose the Right Platform

The first and most important thing when considering hosting an event is to make sure you meet your customers where they’re at. Although you may personally spend your free time browsing Facebook, your customers may engage more through Instagram Live or YouTube. Don’t discredit apps and platforms designed specifically for virtual events, either – like Twitter Spaces, Zoom, Twitch, Clubhouse, Reddit AMAs, or GoToWebinar. If you stick to what you’re familiar with, you may miss out on your target audience. Rely on your marketing team’s expertise on where to find new potential customers – and don’t just abandon your chosen platform once your event is done. Continue engaging so your one-time customers become regular ones.

Have the Right Goal for Your Event

Although it might seem fun to host a fun virtual event, it’s important to always keep in mind that your customers need a reason to tune in. If your goal is too niche and doesn’t attract a broad customer base, then it’s likely only a few people will be interested. Instead of live streaming games and hijinks around the office to your followers, consider hosting an informational session where you workshop patient questions, demonstrate tutorials, or interact with viewers to encourage eCommerce sales. Make sure to host guests to break up the event and help your viewers stay engaged. As with any goal, make sure it’s also measurable with different metrics that can help you track leads and gather data for what works and what doesn’t.

Consider Your Timeframe

Although your schedule may be free during weekday mornings, that doesn’t mean it’s the ideal time to host a virtual event – that’s because many people are at work. Make use of your social platforms’ metrics to find out when your followers are most active and rearrange your schedule accordingly. Make sure to take into account different time zones, holidays, and even different countries! Your goal is to allow as many people as possible to access your event, so stay flexible.

Create a Schedule

A rookie mistake is to allow yourself and your guests to just “go with the flow” during your event. If you’ve ever hosted an in-person event or lecture, you know that disruptions happen, discussions go off track, and questions come up. Make sure to account for the same things during your virtual event. Create a schedule ahead of time and stick to it, with specific times for questions, intermissions, and introductions. Additionally, make sure you have a clear agenda for the event and don’t let your viewers wait around for long periods of time in between guests.

Familiarize Yourself

If you’ve never hosted a virtual event before, the best thing you can do is learn about them. Check out other virtual events in your market and pick them apart to determine what worked and what you’d do differently. Additionally, make sure to spend time learning about your chosen platform so there aren’t technical disruptions that delay or disrupt your event. Finally, touch base with your marketing team to learn about what metrics to look for and how you can optimize your event for maximum impact.

Let’s Get in Touch

Looking to expand your online reach with effective, engaging events? Our team can help. With industry-leading EMR reporting and knowledgeable approaches to social media, we can set you up to succeed in the virtual market. To get started, fill out our online contact form and learn more.

The post Top 5 Necessities for Hosting Your Online Event appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

So, I decided to put together a list of the MOST IMPORTANT steps to ensure your website and digital footprint are in fact HIPAA Compliant. Below are seven steps to ensure your website is HIPAA Complaint.

1. TRANSPORT ENCRYPTION: A fully secure website that is encrypted as it is transmitted across the internet.
2. BACKUP: Data is never lost, should be backed up on the server daily.
3. AUTHORIZATION: Authorized personnel should be able to access the website.
4. INTEGRITY: Is impenetrable from hacks. 
5. STORAGE ENCRYPTION: Backed up data should be encrypted.
6. DISPOSAL: Can be removed and deleted permanently.
7. OMBIBUS/HITECH: Is located on the web server and covered by the HIPAA Business Agreement.

If you would like to learn more about each of these steps as well as how to implement them within your practice, click the button below to download our guide to a HIPAA Compliant Website. 

The post How to Setup a HIPAA Compliant Website appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.

What Makes A Good Mini Site?

A great mini site should be built with the visitor in mind. It should target a specific product or service, giving its visitors the information they are seeking. If you want to get the most out of your medical mini site, it should include the following:

• Give value to its visitors.
• Focus on a specific service or procedure.
• Go into extensive detail about the service or procedure it is built for.
• Answer common questions patient may have
• Include before and after pictures of that procedure only
• Incorporate the overall brand of your medical practice

By doing this, you will have built a mini site that delivers value to potential patients and answers possible questions they may have had. This helps convert more of these visitors to actual patients who come into your practice.

What are the Benefits of Mini Websites?

There are many benefits mini sites can have on your medical practice. Here are three of the main benefits:

1. More Exposure

By targeting specific services or procedures, mini sites rank really well in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. They bring highly targeted patients to your medical practice who are seeking the services the mini website was built for. This helps get your practice more exposure, by having multiple online platforms that showcase your brand.

2. Higher Conversions

Mini websites maximize the visitors experience giving them the necessary information they are seeking. This prevents the visitor from getting lost in a website covering a broad range of services in little detail. Instead, they get detailed information that answers their questions and addresses the concerns they may have for visiting the website. This results in more patients taking action to book the consultation or surgery and has an immediate effect on your bottom line.

3. Better Rankings

Mini sites do a lot more than just generate more visitors to your medical practice. One of the greatest benefits is the effect it has in search engines when linking back to your main website (or any other site). Mini sites have the power to push your main website higher up the search engines, helping it rank on the first page for multiple keywords you are targetting.

Online Real Estate You Control

Mini Websites are a cost effective way to get more exposure to your medical practice. Mini sites cost a fraction of what a normal website would cost. They are online real estate that you control and if set up correctly, can deliver substantial traffic exposure to the practice for the services it was intended for.

If you would like to learn more about mini website creation to see how it can impact your practice contact us today.

The post Will Mini Websites Benefit My Medical Practice? appeared first on Digital Limelight Media.