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Sep 22
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Why Etsy Shops Need A Website

By | Uncategorized | No Comments

Etsy is a very popular platform for hobbyist, creators, and aspiring entrepreneurs to sell their goods online. It gives people that are not familiar with coding, hosting, or even buying a domain an easy way to have a place to sell. There are so many good things that Etsy does, it is easy to see why it has become the giant that it is today.

However, it is important to keep in mind its limitations and see the benefit of not putting all of your professional eggs in one basket… even if that basket is a billion dollar company.

First the benefits of Etsy:

  • Etsy is incredibly easy to get started with.
  • Reasonable Fees
  • Built in Search/ Marketplace
  • Authority

 

With all of those benefits, why should anyone consider something other than Etsy?

Never put your eggs all your eggs in one basket.

You probably heard this at some point in your life. The idea is to diversify your risk, so that if something happens to one basket, you don’t lose everything. This applies to so many things in life, but is vitally important in your business. HTML Labs recommends never giving full control of your business to someone who doesn’t have your business interests in mind. Year after year, there are changes to Google’s algorithm, updates to how Facebook allows businesses to post and share, and other kinds of disruptions that force business owners to adapt. Just like we wouldn’t recommend you rely only on organic search traffic, we don’t recommend Etsy shop owners to put their whole business in trust of Etsy.

At some point, Etsy may decide to up fees, significantly change how they list shops, or otherwise make changes for which you don’t care. Building up a following that you can sell to direct via social media, email list, through your own website, or in a local setting, are all ways Etsy shop owners can diverisfy their risk. If you haven’t started these, we recommend starting immediately.

Our Recommendation for Etsy Shops

Keep your store on Etsy, but begin pushing users to interact and purchase on your own website. You can be more insulated from risk if you have your own website. Having a second place to sell from will increase your work some, but with proper organization you shouldn’t have any significant trouble.

Etsy entrepreneurs should build a website on Shopify.

Shopify is a very popular ecommerce platform that makes it easy for shop owners to keep track of inventory and sell across multiple sales channels. There is a bit of a learning curve to getting as website setup correctly, but by the end you will have a fully functional website on your own domain. After adding products, you can sell on your website, directly on Facebook, Pinterest, or in person using the point of sale card swipe.

If you need help setting up a Shopify store or have any questions, HTML Labs can help.

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10 Signs Your Company Website Needs an Update

By | HTML Labs | No Comments

At one point, your website probably looked great.  You spent thousands of dollars to get it designed and built to your liking, but how do you know when it is time to update or overhaul it?

HTML Labs put together a list of non-technical indicators that your company website needs an update.

design-1htmllabsThe Copyright date on your website is more than 3 years old.

Times change, styles evolve, and capabilities expand.  We get it, you spent a lot of time and money to get your site put up in 2008.  But it is time to at least make some significant updates if your website is more than 2-3 years old.  Three years on the internet is like a decade in any other industry.

Flash animations are on your website

This would indicate your website is likely quite old.  Flash is usually slow, is out of style, and most phones will not even play the animations.  If your website has flash, it is time for an overhaul.

Music plays when someone navigates to your website

This is a terrible practice, and an awful thing to do to your customers.  Playing music automatically when your get to a page should be left for Myspace profiles.

Your Nephew that who is ” good with computers” spent an afternoon building it

Ok, maybe he is good with computers, but should something as important as your company website be left in control with your nephew?

You don’t remember the last time someone told you they liked your website

It is probably a decent indicator that something is wrong, or maybe it is just blah.

Your company moved, changed phone numbers, or made other substantial changes, but your website doesn’t indicate the change.

If any of these apply, you definitely need to update your website.

Links on your most important pages return 404 errors, or errors of any kind.reddit_404

You may be losing sales if potential customers can’t find the information they are looking for because of 404 errors.  Search engines hate 404 pages, and sites with too many may see negative effects on their rankings.

You don’t know if your website gets traffic, or if it is converting to sales

Your website should be treated like the asset it is.  If you don’t know how your website is doing, it may not need a design overhaul, but you definitely need a plan to track and improve its effectiveness.

The website loads slowly

In the age of highspeed internet, nobody waits more than 3 seconds for a webpage to load.  Search engines hate slow websites too!

The website isn’t mobile friendly.

Nearly 50% of internet traffic is now on mobile devices.  If your website isn’t mobile friendly, you are losing sales.  In 2015, Google announced that websites that were not mobile friendly would see negative effects on their search rankings.  In 2016, it has moved even farther with AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages).  Google is now giving benefit to sites that use AMP for near instant loads on mobile.

If one or more of these applied to you, contact us today for a free consult.

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