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Adobe Business Catalyst (BC) is an all-in-one business website and online marketing solution, built for web designers. Using our unified platform and without back-end coding, you can build everything from amazing websites to powerful online stores, beautiful brochure-ware sites to lead generation mini-sites.

Receive 20% commissions on all of your clients hosting requirements!

Say goodbye to integration nightmares and plugin patches. Business Catalyst's hosted solution helps you build powerful business websites, in less time and without server-side coding.

one-stop approach to content management takes the hassle out of building your website, without locking you in to constrictive theme frameworks. Choose a pre-built template, or use your own HTML/CSS – give's you complete control over the look and feel of your sites.

Save time with templates, pages and modules, preserve consistency and avoid duplication with templates. Simply insert the page elements you want to reuse in the template, and wrap your pages in them. To add extra functionality, just layer on our built-in modules with a point and click approach.

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Search engine optimization is essential for any website, but begins with a system that supports best practices. Business Catalyst comes with the right features out-of-the-box, with 301 redirects, SEO friendly URLS, customizable meta-tags, and integration with Google's webmaster tools.

Create unique mobile experiences

Completely customize the look and feel of your site across a growing range of phone and tablet devices with Business Catalyst's built-in device detection tag. We're continually updating our database of device types, meaning you can say goodbye to manually adding detection code for the latest devices

The bookings module makes collecting bookings for a class, performance, or other event simple. Each event receives a sign-up form for customers to reserve their spot – payment collection included if the event requires it. Set capacity limits and automate follow-up emails prior to the actual event date.

Business Catalyst’s “Web Apps” framework provides a powerfully simple way to build basic web applications using a point and click approach. From real estate listings to business directories, you can define mini-databases of “items” and allows users to add new items via an intuitive interface.

Business Catalyst comes with eCommerce capabilities built right into the platform, meaning you can set up a powerful, SEO-friendly online store without the pain of custom coding or tedious configuration.

built-in CRM database comes integrated with all of our web form, eCommerce, membership and content management features, enabling you to better service your customers - all without coding or configuration.

Send targeted email newsletters, with Business Catalyst’s CRM database building a customer database in the background, you can easily create targeted recipient lists and send personalized email marketing campaigns with just a few clicks.
Get 10,000 email newsletters a month at no extra cost

Create an unlimited number of campaigns and send as many newsletters as you like. Extra emails cost less than 1 cent per newsletter.

Powerful reporting suite for every aspect of your online business – from web page views through to online store orders, we record every interaction customers have with your site and give you the tools to track them – no extra tracking code required.

If you would like to trial Adobe Business Catalyst for free please send an email to info@helpineeda.com or reply back to this thread with a contact email address

Thank you

David

Make Use of HTML
Hosted on the powerful Adobe Business Catalyst network
24/7 support with Live Chat
Use of an extremely high end CMS worth £1000's a month
Very easy to use and customise
Pages come inbuilt with the latest SEO features
Create infinite amount of web pages in a few clicks
Easily import existing websites
Use of 100's of payment gateways including Paypal, Stripe, Mastercard
Create multiple domains under one, that can act as separate websites
Inbuilt email marketing campaigns
Inbuilt customer database management
Inbuilt highly detailed website analytics

For more details please follow the link http://www.helpineeda.com/free-html-websites

For Deeper Info Visit http://www.helpineeda.com/blog/finding-clients-is-easy-but-getting-them-to-pay-what-your-worth-is-hard

When I first started out along the entrepreneurial journey I remember thinking to myself how would I find clientele, when I gained my first client, after a while of working with them I realised that people always need some form of services done, it was like what a friend of mine said "what you will find in business is that getting clients is easy, but getting clients who will pay you what you want, now that's the hard part!"

You see when starting of in business I would find clients who had a certain budget and instead of using that budget they would want me to give premium services for less than their budget! would I take these jobs on? Yes simply because at the time I believed more job opportunities would come or I would eventually be paid more, now in a few cases that was the truth, but in a lot of cases it ended up not being worthwhile.

Now this is not a rant, but it's more of an introduction to the next part and how you can use some concepts in your own business.

Starting out in business, at the time you just want customers, and for most of us we will work as slave's just to keep these customers happy, but what I have realised now was that there was always alternatives, you see at the time what I could of offered for clients with a small budget, was services that matched their requirements but ultimately would be cost and time worthy for me. For instance instead of carrying out marketing for them I could of created an email support service or guidance notes for them to read over, giving my expertise on how to generate traffic and sales while being cost effective for both myself and the client.

A strategy like this allows you to reach a wide community of people, who may not initially have the budget for your services but through you creating a low cost option they now have a way of being introduced to you and the professional services you provide.

The great thing about having low cost options on a website such as having downloadable products, is that the process of a customer buying and than downloading your professional service takes place automatically this leaves you with more time to concentrate on larger projects.
So what I would suggest for you is to think of ways you can develop easy to create low cost products for your target audience as this puts you inline to create a profitable scaleable business.

If You Have A Website And Are Looking For Ways To Generate Sales And Traffic Follow This Link http://www.helpineeda.com/landing-page/ultimate-cheat-sheet-to-gaining-traffic-and-sales

To go to the website please follow the link http://www.helpineeda.com/blog/prejudices-of-the-real-world-are-still-true-for-the-digital-world

The strange thing about the online world though it seems vast and strange, at its essence it works on the same principles as the real world, including all of the prejudices that some of us hold, i think in the online world people more freely express their prejudices, because there's more anonymity, to an extent less accountability.

Now I'm sure your wondering how does this relate to web traffic and sales. Everything!
For many of us, if we see a person who looks scruffy and it looks as if there in a bad space, it will be unlikely that we'll want to do any business with them if they suggested, though i know a few of us will give a sympathetic ear, for many our first perceptions and prejudices will take over.
These same prejudices come into play when viewing a badly designed website. I know for myself when i see a website that has PayPal buttons i will not purchase from the site simply because the website has done nothing to lay to rest my prejudices that the site will not mismanage my money or use my details for fraud!
Believe it or not, but many of us hold these same ideas and if we are uncertain about a website we will instantly leave.
Are job as online business owners is to lay these fears to rest.

For a detailed step by step guide on how to obtain web traffic and sales please follow the link http://www.helpineeda.com/landing-page/ultimate-cheat-sheet-to-gaining-traffic-and-sales

Visit the web page here http://www.helpineeda.com/blog/My-Thoughts-Is-That-Services-Like-itunes-Hold-Out-On-Artists

How does it make sense that as an artist, you do the hard work of gaining fans who buy your music, but than itunes takes a percentage of your music sales, gives you no direct access to your fans and all itunes essentially does is act as a gateway for purchasing music!
(Warning Long Article)


I'm going to give you a scenario, lets imagine in your spare time you like to sell peanuts, peanuts by the bag, now lets say you have customers who you have built up a relationship with, now imagine a "Peter" see's what you are doing and see's the potential of these peanuts and says to you " let me sell the peanuts for you, you stay in your house and relax..." now this goes on for a little while and true to his word Peter sells the peanuts on your behalf to your old clients while also gaining new clients due to the quality of your peanuts.

My question to you is who is in control Peter or you?

Let's progress the scenario, Peter works directly with your previous clients, building up relationships with them to the point they decide to exchange numbers, Peter finds he can get a better deal on the peanuts he gets from you and decides to go else where, taking your previous clients and new clients with him, as you're no longer able to contact your old customers,
You have to start back from scratch

But what could of been done differently?

For me I say if you had a peanut shop where customers could go to eat your peanuts, you wouldn't have to worry about having others handle your customers, because the customers would know that to get these peanuts that they enjoy, they need to go back to your shop. You have complete control of the customer experience.

The music business runs on these same principles, but currently for many artists they have been taking the "Peter" route. They have been doing the initial hardwork of gaining a fanbase but when there fanbase go to buy their music, itunes aka "Peter" steps in selling your music, on your behalf and taking a percentage! but giving you no access to your fanbase.
When you think about it you brought your customers into itunes shop!

Some may not agree with this and say "but I know who my fans are because they follow me on twitter, facebook etc," but I simply think there is a big difference between a person who follows you on twitter and a person who actually buys your music, these twitter followers may help share your content raising your profile, (I have issues with just brand awareness http://www.helpineeda.com/blog/the-problem-with-just-brand-awareness) but ultimately it's just that raising profile! sales is what will fund your passion.
I remember talking to a friend of mine about my thoughts on itunes and he told me, "but every month they send me a report, so I know my last sale came from Japan so I know to target Japan." But I had to tell him, Japan is a very large place, finding that customer will not be easy or at a minimum it will cost you. Me personally I prefer to know that Daniel Cole with his full mailing address and email address purchased my track, because with these details I can easily and at no cost find Daniel Cole again, this information allows me to easyily treat Daniel Cole for being such a loyal fan, so I can send him merchandise or invite him to listening parties.

Loyal fans is what will keep your music business going

When in business you will find that what keeps your business ticking over is regular customers who spend with you month in month out, most businesses will look after these customers as they know their true value and will give them incentives like you get in supermarkets such as Tesco's and Sainsbury's who have reward card system. But for this to work knowing who your customers are is essential, services like itunes, google play etc keep your fanbase to themselves, so how will you know who your customers are?

It really surprises me when I see so few music artists with an ecommerce website, having a website is like having the shop that your customers can come to. When built well a website acts as a shop on the high street, allowing visitors to look around and if they like what they see, they can easily make a purchase, fully confident that there card details are secure just as if they were shopping in a physical store. The plus of having a website is that this sales cycle is maximized to full effect working around the clock 24/7! if your sales process is right you will find your website will make money for you all hours of the day.

Here's an example of a a website selling cycle

You've been promoting your track on lets say twitter, a person visits your website from your promotion they look through your music, they like what they see and they purchase your track which is automatically emailed to them. This cycle will continue because for your next music release you can send an email campaign to your fan letting them know about your latest track and again if they like they can buy, what I will add from experience and working with a range of businesses is that if someone buy's from you once it's highly likely they will buy from you again (repeat custom). With this cycle you can start adding in further things such as selling new merchandise or using some of your profits to purchase relevant ads but the same cycle foundation is retained.
Now tell me where is itunes needed?

In my "Ultimate Cheat Sheet, The Easiest Way To Gain Relevant Traffic And Sales To Your Website" I talk in depth on this sales process step by step, you can buy the the guide for for £1 http://www.helpineeda.com/landing-page/ultimate-cheat-sheet-to-gaining-traffic-and-sales


Lastly I will leave with this as food for thought, Tech n9ne who constantly makes the forbes riches rapper list (http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eeel45emedh/16-tech-n9ne-8-million-tie/) is an independent artist and co owner of "Strange Music" have a look at their website https://www.strangemusicinc.net/ and look at the only way fans can by there music and merchandise.
If I've sparked an interest and you would like to know more about websites, marketing and how I can help feel free to contact me, where not strangers to this. The latest ecommerce website we have worked on is www.slewdemmafia.com

http://www.helpineeda.com/blog/relationships-and-business-go-hand-in-hand

When you think about it relationships and business will always go hand in hand.

Forming relationships is a big part of our development, and due to our experiences we usually will find people similar to us to form relationships with. Even for businesses these same principles apply, market traders who have taken time to develop relationships with the locals will find they get repeat business simply because the local's have grown to trust them. Even in supermarkets the same principle's apply as one person may shop in Waitrose as they trust that Waitrose will provide them higher quality food than the other supermarkets, while another person may shop in ASDA simply because they trust ASDA will give them the best value for money.

Though simple these little forms of information we are given help us build up an assessment of people and businesses. I believe that's the reason for slogans such as Tescos "Every little helps" because they are gearing themselves towards a certain customer.

The one thing that is needed for relationships to work is that in the beginning there is consistency and quality value being passed, whether this is in conversations, outings, all sorts of things, there just needs to be quality. The thing about when you have a quality relationship is that even if you may not of spoken to someone for years when you do speak again it's like you have seen each other only just yesterday.

So I'm sure many are wondering how does this relate to gaining traffic to a website? The simple answer is everything. If you've taken time to build a credible rapport with customers/ clients you will still be able to contact them later down the line and they will take note.

Before the internet this process of building relationships in business must of been a lengthy process, but today where able to communicate with are audience in so many different ways its crazy, so the real issue changes from less about finding our audience to more about what message our we sending to our audience, why would they be interested in us? and ultimately why would they purchase from us.

Now to this part I'll be honest and say I'm speculating, but I believe that to engage with our audience we need to remember what made us, us. When we got to know new people and form relationships what did we show. I believe if we put "ourselves" in front of our audience we will find those who can relate to our perspective. When were writing blogs or sending sales articles if we write for are audience we will begin to find people who are interested in what we have to say and so will eagerly await our next announcement/ product etc.

Is that not how music artists are created?

Or how brands like Apple always have mass hysteria when their releasing new products?

Be consistent, but more importantly be real with your audience, especially in the days of social media, as it's very easy to get found out!


To buy the ultimate guide to obtaining website traffic and sales for the special price of £1 or N292 please follow the link http://www.helpineeda.com/landing-page/ultimate-cheat-sheet-to-gaining-traffic-and-sales

Starting a business as a new years resolution? 
Here are some tips to get you started in the online business world

This article is based on the assumption that you are familiar with/ are an expert of the industry that you want to get into.

First things first in the digital world, having your domain name sorted is very important, as your domain name is what people will search for when looking you up online for example, if you have a bakery it would make sense to name your website johndoebakery.com as the reference to your self and your bakery services makes it simple for a person to remember your website address, remember if your potential customers can not find you online they will go to a competitor, so take time to invest in a good domain name! what I will also add here is that when selecting a domain name make sure it has no hyphens (-) like johndoe-baker.com as again the searcher may not remember the hyphen and so end up at your competitors page.

Your domain name is something that you should be in control of at all times! DO NOT let anybody obtain your domain name on your behalf, because they will be in control of it and you may find like with a client of mine that when you want to use a different service provider (web designer) you have to pay them a fee for them to transfer YOUR domain name to you.
Some of the domain name providers you can use are Go Daddy, 123 reg, 1 and 1, Fasthosts + many more, however after helping to set up countless domain names for clients I personally have found fasthosts to be great as it's very simple to use.

Right the next thing to consider is finding a web designer and this can be difficult. As there are many people who make websites but only a few know how to create websites for business, let me explain, when a person is on oxford street and they see something in the shop window that catches there eye, they may decide to enter the shop, look around at all available information and depending on if everything meets there approval they may decide to buy. A website works on these exact same principles, only difference is where a shop may only be able to manage thousands of customers a day a website can handle a limitless amount. But for this to happen the website needs a simple sales funnel in place, so that when a customer arrives they can easily view products, they can quickly locate necessary information on the product and if needs be have options of being able to talk with someone directly and be in full confidence that when they go to purchase that their card details are secure through industry standard encryption.
Why this is so important is that, in a physical shop if a persons at a checkout it's unlikely they will change their mind and put back items, simply because being in the line is a sort of added pressure for them to buy, but a person at your website has none of these real world pressures so it's VERY EASY for them to abandon the items when there at the checkout stage. That's why many ecommerce websites have high abandon rates at checkout!
A good web designer needs to have a very good working understanding of these processes.

So things I would suggest to look for in a web designer is checking there portfolio, seeing who there previous clients are, checking previous client sites to see if their still up and running, as this can be a sign of bad site design or mismanagement, as usually a client will stay with their chosen web designer. Also it makes sense to ask the web designer how many projects they are currently working on, because if they have too many projects either they will not be able to give your project the time it requires or they may take a long time in developing your website;

Next ask the web designer what cms (content management system) they use, (we use adobe business catalyst but other popular ones are wordpress).
With a content management system when the web designer has finished making your website you will be able to access the backend of the site and make changes add content and check your site stats.

For the pricing of Wordpress Ecommerce https://store./plans/business/
For the Pricing of Shopify https://www.shopify.co.uk/pricing
For the pricing of Adobe Business Catalyst http://businesscatalyst.com/pricing/monthly

What I will add is that we use Business Catalyst as it's a cost effective solution with a built in sales funnel, for instance if a person purchases from your site you have the option to add automatic auto responders that are emailed to your customer with your message, they will than be added into a customer database so that when you have a new product to sell you can simply send them an email campaign. I have used this feature many times to turn stagnating businesses into ones that flourish.

When your website is live the next thing to do is in planning how to market it, this will be based on knowing who your audience is and the budget you have to reach this audience (in my ultimate cheat sheet to sales and traffic i explain these procedures very in depth and it only costs £1 ! http://www.helpineeda.com/landing-page/ultimate-cheat-sheet-to-gaining-traffic-and-sales)
 What i will add to this, is spend time and really know, as believe me, from personal experience this will save you a lot of time and money!
 I will also mention as part of your marketing strategy you should look into email campaign systems ( email campaigns are inbuilt into the websites we build, but other providers to use are mailchimp) a good email campaign strategy can be very productive! (I explain this more in my ultimate cheat sheet)

Lastly I will add that even with all of these things in place, it will be down to you how far it goes, the effort you put in is what will come back out, and it has to be more than just a three month new years resolution hype, it needs to be an everyday doing something consistently and than you will start to see the fruits of your labour!

If you like what you have read you can get more free info by visiting my website http://www.helpineeda.com/blog