SEEKING WORK | San Mateo, CA | COVID-Remote or Perm. Remote
Analytically skilled UX/Interaction designer & VUI specialist: I create research-driven experiences to offer meaningful solutions. Looking for full-time work on interesting and challenging business projects. In addition to 1-2 yrs of UX work, I bring in 5+ yrs of cross-disciplinary work exp. as a design educator, historian and copywriter.
Creative advertising gives you more bang for your buck, and Snapchat is a perfect channel to showcase this; but how much do Snapchat ads cost? Here’s the thing about advertising on social media channels such as Snapchat: you’re in control of the costs. You can constantly tweak your approach to improve your ROI. Snapchat may … Continue reading How Much Do Snapchat Ads Cost?
Whether you’re just starting out or are an old pro, who doesn’t want to be a more successful entrepreneur?
Owning a business gives you a sense of freedom and empowerment. You can build things and watch them grow.
Entrepreneurs make decisions for themselves, realize their creative visions, and develop lasting relationships with other entrepreneurs, customers, and vendors.
It’s a great way to live. That’s why I’ve founded so many companies — I can’t get enough.
I’ve put together these tips to help you to become more successful, too.
1. Get Gritty
Grit is perseverance. Grit is the go-get-’em attitude that we expect of entrepreneurs. Grit is the ability to keep working when everyone tells you that you should give up.
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be gritty.
2. To Become a Successful Entrepreneur, You Must Challenge Yourself
If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to challenge yourself. No one else is going to push you, so it’s up to you to do it.
Challenges keep entrepreneurs nimble and on their toes. If you’re constantly looking for the next challenge, you’ll always be prepared for what comes your way.
Consider this example:
You’re going to the gym to build your upper body strength. You start doing bicep curls with a 10-pound weight. It feels pretty heavy at first. As you build up your strength, it gets easier.
Would you stop there? No!
Then it’s time to do bicep curls with a 20-pound weight. Once you’ve done bicep curls with a 20-pound weight, going back to a 10-pound weight will feel easy.
Challenging yourself with new and difficult tasks will make your other tasks seem even simpler. As an entrepreneur, you always have to be looking for the next big challenge.
3. Successful Entrepreneurs Are Passionate about Their Work
If you don’t love what you do, don’t do it. I truly believe it’s as simple as that.
As an entrepreneur, you’re going to have to put in long hours and make sacrifices for your business.
If you’re not passionate about what you do, you’re not going to have the motivation to keep going when you’re stressed and tired.
Have you ever noticed those entrepreneurs who never seem to get tired? Those entrepreneurs who get that gleam in their eye when they talk about what they do? That’s passion.
If you’re passionate about what you do, being an entrepreneur gets just a little bit easier.
4. To Become a Successful Entrepreneur, You Must Take Risks
Humans are generally risk-averse, but part of being an entrepreneur is recognizing the risks that you should take.
Successful entrepreneurs also know which risks to take and which they shouldn’t. Learn to recognize the risks that will benefit your business and take them.
Taking risks has a dangerous side, but the opportunities they present often far outweigh the potential dangers.
Learn how to identify which risks are worth taking and you’ll likely become a more successful entrepreneur.
5. Trust Yourself
If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?
Being a successful entrepreneur means that you’ve learned to listen to your intuition and rely on your wisdom when making decisions.
Your ability to trust and believe in yourself will show your confidence. People are more likely to follow and trust confident leaders.
Trusting in your own skills will also take some of the pain of uncertainty out of being an entrepreneur.
When you feel uncertain, remember how much experience and knowledge you have. Most entrepreneurs start their business after years of experience working for someone else.
There’s nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it or turning to a mentor for advice, but you also have to learn to trust yourself and your own judgment without input from others.
Learn to trust yourself and you’re already starting down the path of entrepreneurial success.
6. Reduce Fear
Fear stops action. Entrepreneurs have to be able to pivot and quickly take action when they see an opportunity or recognize a mistake.
With fear riding on your shoulder, you won’t be a successful entrepreneur.
As an entrepreneur, if you let fear be your guide, you won’t be able to listen to your intuition, you’ll be afraid to take the necessary risks, and your judgment will be clouded by emotion.
If you can find ways to reduce and manage your fear and you’ll be a much more successful entrepreneur.
Keep in mind that fear has to do with your perspective. For example, studies have shown that the more true crime you consume, the more scared you are of crime.
My favorite tip for managing fear as an entrepreneur is to do confidence-building exercises.
For me, I like to take a few moments at night to think of the decisions I made that day that had a successful outcome.
Thinking each day about the decisions that you made that benefited you, others, or your business will help you to quickly build your confidence and reduce fear.
7. Successful Entrepreneurs Visualize their Goals
This tip is less abstract than you might think, so bear with me.
When I recommend that entrepreneurs visualize their goals, I don’t intend for them to close their eyes and see the goal in front of them.
What I want you to do to visualize your goal is to define it so clearly that it’s real and tangible.
For example, which of these is a more accomplishable:
I want to become a successful entrepreneur.
I will become a successful entrepreneur by starting a business that solves a problem for this specific niche of my audience.
The second one, right?
When you can clearly articulate and visualize your goal, it becomes more achievable.
You can tell someone, such as a friend or business partner, or take photographs that represent your goal. Go with your strengths.
When you ask a successful entrepreneur what their goal is, they can tell you in great detail what it is that they’re working to achieve.
8. Hire Great Partners to Help You Become a Successful Entrepreneur
I’ll admit that this one might be a little bit obvious.
Successful entrepreneurs aren’t successful within a vacuum. We all have a great team and support network behind us.
When I recommend hiring great partners, I don’t just mean someone who can do the job you’re hiring them for. You should seek partners who have great character and whom you like and respect.
You and your partners will be working long hours together and making stressful decisions. If you don’t respect your partner(s), your team won’t last long.
Fill your team with people who have great character and you’re well on your way to success.
When choosing your partners and team members, always remember that you can teach skills, but you can’t teach character.
9. To Become a Successful Entrepreneur, You Must ActFast
Talk only delays action.
Successful entrepreneurs act.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in planning, considering potential failures, discussing funding, and talking in meetings with board members. If all you do is talk, you’ll get nothing done.
At some point, you have to halt the talking and make something happen.
10. Successful Entrepreneurs Spend Time on Important Tasks and Are Patient to See Results
Do you think that there’s such a thing as an overnight success? I recommend that you take a closer look.
Upon examination, the people and businesses that became “overnight sensations and successes” actually worked really hard and long for their achievements.
When you think you’ve found an overnight success, check again and examine closely the hours, days, and years that went into their success.
Take a look at their life, the things they learned, and how many times they failed.
Successful entrepreneurs take the time that’s required to reach success. And many of them have failures along the way.
If you think it’s taking too long to find success, give yourself a break.
Keep plugging along, putting in the hours, and before long, you’ll be a successful entrepreneur.
Just imagine looking back at all the hard work and knowing it paid off. Keep that image in your head to motivate you forward through the long, slogging hours.
11. Plan Your Finances
Startups and entrepreneurial businesses need money. It’s just a part of the lifestyle.
Many entrepreneurs spend too much time looking for money and not enough acting, but that doesn’t mean that you can leap into the abyss without a plan.
Decide which is best for you, and plan out your finances in the beginning. Try to stick to your budget, but know that the plan will have to be adapted along the way.
12. Who’s Your Customer? Successful Entrepreneurs Know the Answer
One of the most common reasons that entrepreneurial businesses fail is that there isn’t a customer.
If you start a business or make a product but don’t know who will buy it, that person might not actually exist.
Before you make a financial plan, raise capital, or even choose a name, make sure that there’s a customer who would buy your product or use your services.
Without a customer, you don’t have a business.
Successful entrepreneurs know who their customers and target market are.
13. Successful Entrepreneurs Listen to Complaints
This is one of the tips that I think is the most important for entrepreneurs to learn.
Your customer’s complaints are how you identify your business’s weaknesses.
Similarly to the last tip, without customers, you can’t have a successful business. There’s another possible scenario, though.
You might have customers who are interested in your product or service, but if you don’t listen to their complaints, you soon will have no customers.
Take your customers seriously, treat their complaints with respect, and listen.
As an entrepreneur, you’ll be inundated with your business, needing to take care of it all the time. When you get home and have some leisure time, you might be tempted to read fiction or books for entertainment.
There’s always something to learn from those who have already done it.
I especially think it’s important to learn from the mistakes of others. If you learn from their mistakes, you won’t have to make those mistakes yourself.
The more you learn from their mistakes and successes, the faster you can grow your business and become a successful entrepreneur.
17. Successful Entrepreneurs Self-Promote
Many people don’t want to self-promote or talk about their business too much for fear of sounding like an egomaniac; but if you don’t promote your business, who will?
Egotistical self-promotion and self-promotion can be differentiated.
Know your business, know some key stats, and have your 15-second elevator pitch polished and ready to go. Then, when someone asks you about your business, you can promote it factually and quickly.
Another way to self-promote without sounding cocky is to know what your customers say about your business. When someone asks how your business is going, you can tell them your customer feedback.
Don’t forget to provide some of the bad as well as the good.
18. Successful Entrepreneurs Set and Oversee a Positive Company Culture
There may have been a time when company culture wasn’t important, but with social media and the 24-hour news cycle, your company and employees are always under scrutiny.
Set a positive company culture from day one and you’ll be more likely to work with people you enjoy and who inspire you as well as attract great customers.
Many entrepreneurs are working with family, from home, and even across borders. It’s important to set and know what you want your company culture to look like.
19. Network, Network, Network
There is no such thing as too much networking (well unless it’s getting in the way of building your business, of course).
What I mean to say is that you shouldn’t ever stop networking because you never know where your next lead will come from.
Chances are, if you network with enough people, you’ll bump into another entrepreneur who might have the ideas and connections you need.
You might find a new connection while grabbing a beer at the airport bar, you might meet your next business partner in an elevator on your way to a meeting, and you just never know who’s sitting next to you on the bus.
Meet everyone you come into contact with and have a short chat. You never know who you’re sitting next to and what connections or resources they might be able to offer you.
20. Learn and Create
The successful entrepreneur mindset is that of learning and creation. As an entrepreneur, you always want to be taking in new information and creating.
To stay in the learner and creator mindset, stay away from TV, social media, and movies. These types of entertainment cause us to be passive and just take in information.
Pursue everything in moderation, but in general, these activities are time-wasters for entrepreneurs. Limiting your entertainment time is a sacrifice that must be made to become a successful entrepreneur.
Instead of watching TV and movies, read case studies and meditate. Take care of your mind and body in constructive, healing ways.
It may “feel good” to watch TV, but it’s not actually a rejuvenating way to relax.
To be a successful entrepreneur, find relaxing activities that help to restore your learner and creator mindset.
21. Successful Entrepreneurs Deliver, Not Sell
Honestly, no one likes to be sold to. I mean seriously, who enjoys going to the car lot and buying a new car? We all know what we’re getting ourselves into and dread it.
Instead of selling to your potential customers, deliver. Offer them a free trial and deliver a great product.
When your company delivers a great product or service, you’ll build customer loyalty faster than you can say, “successful entrepreneur.”
22. Take Baby Steps to Become a Successful Entrepreneur
Building a successful entrepreneurial business can seem daunting, and that’s okay. Building a business from the ground up is a massive undertaking.
Luckily I have a foolproof tactic: break it down.
Any problem that seems insurmountable, break it down into baby steps.
Once you’ve broken it down into baby steps, take them one at a time. Before you know it, just by placing one foot in front of the other, you’ll be halfway up the mountain.
With grit and perseverance, baby steps will get you far toward becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Think something doesn’t need to be on your calendar? It does.
Put your meetings, quiet work periods, time with friends, happy-hour business meetings, kids’ soccer games, workouts, meal times, and anything else that you do on your calendar.
Once something is on your calendar, then everyone who needs to meet with you knows that time isn’t available.
An additional benefit is that once everything is on your calendar, there aren’t excuses for not getting things done.
I want to also draw your attention to one of the items I included: quiet work time. That is time when you can work, solve problems, or think creatively without being interrupted.
Everyone needs these periods of time. To be a successful entrepreneur, guard your quiet work times with your life. The success of your business may depend upon them.
24. Exercise to Become a More Successful Entrepreneur
Did you know that sitting down all day long is bad for your health? It is.
Being a successful entrepreneur doesn’t just mean running a profitable business. Run yourself too ragged managing that business and you might not be around to enjoy its success.
Learn to focus and take time to do just one task. Giving one task your full attention will mean that you’re more likely to get it done and do it well.
It’s also important to know that too many tasks on your to-do list can make you ineffective and distracted.
Learn to focus your to-do list on the tasks that you’re capable of finishing in the amount of time you’ve allotted for them.
For example, each night, set the three tasks that you’ll complete the following day. Each month, set the overarching goal for your company that you want to achieve in the next 30 days.
These techniques can help you to learn how to focus and more effectively manage your business.
26. Take Time Off
We finally made it to the tip that I think it the toughest for successful entrepreneurs to put into practice.
You might not need time off every day or every week, but you do need to take time off. If all you do is work, you’ll burn out. Fast.
I think this is the most challenging for entrepreneurs because they often see themselves as invincible or believe that they must be invincible. This just isn’t true; we’re all humans and we need time off.
Time off allows your brain to roam, to rest, and to think. Ever wonder why you think of so many ideas in the shower? It’s because your brain has free range to just think and roam.
Even the most successful entrepreneurs don’t work all the time. Everyone needs time off, so don’t shame yourself for being human and normal.
When you do take time off, notify your staff ahead of time and let them know why it’s important to you.
Teaching your staff the importance of time off will help them to respect your time away and to recognize when they need time off.
Take time off before you need it and recognize that it’s important for healing, creating, and becoming a more successful entrepreneur.
27. Successful Entrepreneurs Ask Questions
You don’t know everything. No one does.
You should ask for help, advice, mentors, and everything else you need as you get your business set up and running. Asking questions is a valuable skill to have as an entrepreneur.
The more information you have, the more you will know and be able to take into consideration.
Asking questions also helps you to remain in a learner mindset, ready to accept advice and information.
Learners and those who ask questions are more likely to become successful entrepreneurs.
Better to accept it now then later. You will fail at some point. It’s how you adjust to these failures that will make or break your business.
Failure is an aspect of becoming a successful entrepreneur, so you’d better get used to it now.
If your first business does fail, keep in mind that you can create another with the lessons you learned from your first.
29. Get Inspired
Being an entrepreneur is a creative pursuit. As an entrepreneur, you have to make connections, solve problems, and create new things that no one has thought of before.
Creators and creatives need to be inspired.
Successful entrepreneurs take time for the things that inspire them.
Maybe your inspiration comes from being in an art museum, maybe it’s reading books, maybe it’s doodling —whatever it is that inspires you, do it. It’s good for your business.
Successful entrepreneurs are inspired. Don’t let that magic slip for too long. Whenever you can, and definitely when you’re feeling burned out, get out there and get inspired.
Inspiration is the spark for ideas. Ideas make successful entrepreneurs.
30. Successful Entrepreneurs Lend a Helping Hand
Entrepreneurs are busy, so this tip sometimes trips them up. It’s easy to think, “I don’t have time to help anyone else! I’m so busy already!”
However, helping others can be inspiring and massively beneficial. It makes you feel good.
Furthermore, as an entrepreneur, you have a network with whom you can share your expertise and jobs you can hire people for. Why wouldn’t you help out when you can?
When you help someone, they will likely find a way to help you. It might not be today or tomorrow, but somewhere in the future, they will be there to help you when you need it.
Helping others is also a great way to build a loyal and supportive network around you.
Conclusion
Succeeding in business doesn’t come overnight. It takes a lot of planning, preparation, creativity, grit, and patience to become a successful entrepreneur.
The 30 tips I provided in this guide will help you with a long-term strategy and build it in baby steps until your business becomes a success.
If you need help defining and implementing a digital strategy as you start to build your business, let us know if we can assist you. We even offer custom packages for businesses on a strict budget!
Creative advertising gives you more bang for your buck, and Snapchat is a perfect channel to showcase this; but how much do Snapchat ads cost? Here’s the thing about advertising on social media channels such as Snapchat: you’re in control of the costs. You can constantly tweak your approach to improve your ROI. Snapchat may …
There is a lot of talk out there about Accion small business loans. When it comes to this type of alternative lender, it can be hard to know for certain what you are getting into. There are so many predatory lenders in the industry these days, you can never be too careful. You should research any lender before you apply for a loan from them. In this review, we’ve done the work for you to help you make an educated decision.
Is An Accion Business Loan for You?
The thing is, Accion isn’t for everyone. Some of their loans are specific to certain regions. Others are for pretty much anyone nationwide. What’s what, and what’s right for you?
What is Accion?
They are a nonprofit lending network dedicated to helping small businesses. They offer small business loans, some grant opportunities, and other resources designed to help both startups and established small businesses grow and thrive.
Globally they have been working their magic for 55 years across 4 continents. Tens of millions of entrepreneurs have been helped by them. They came to the United States in 1991.
They lend to small business owners in general, from all backgrounds and most industries. However, they specialize in underserved populations. These may include:
Women-owned businesses
Veteran-owned businesses
Businesses owned by Native Americans
Business owners with disabilities
And Minority Owned businesses
They also boast specificallying helping to fund salon owners, green businesses, and those in the restaurant, food, and beverage industries.
What Types of Small Business Loans Do They Offer?
There are a few different types of loans. However, two of them are only available in certain areas of California. These are the Rapid Loans and the COVID-19 Relief Loan program.
Alternatively, they also have SBA Community Advantage loans that are available nationwide. These loans range from $50,000 to $250,000. These are for established businesses with less than 100 employees. It is also available to partially funded startups that need larger loans to scale.
You can also see more options that may be available to you by specifying which area of the country you are in by zip code. Interest rates vary by region and risk factors, ranging from 7% to 34% APR.
What Makes Them Different From Other Lenders?
They do not rely as heavily on credit score in the decision making process as more traditional lenders do. Rather, they look closely at the whole financial picture. If your credit isn’t great, they work with you to help determine your business strengths. Then, they help you determine which products they offer may be a good fit for your business.
The application process is completely online. However, you are not left wondering if you qualify or not, or why you do not if that is the case. Within 2 days you will receive a personal phone call walking you through your approval status. If you are approved, they will work with you on the rest of the process.
If you are not approved, they don’t just say “see you later.” They offer help and resources to improve your situation. You can reapply in 3 to 6 months.
Do You Have to Have Good Credit to Qualify for an Accion Loan?
They do not rely as heavily on credit as traditional lenders. However, they do require a minimum personal credit score of 575. That is, except for the Community Advantage program which requires a minimum of 525. In addition, they have strict requirements related to debt and financing. These include:
You must be current, described by Accion as no more than 30 days late, on all debt and bills.
If you are late, within the 30 days, it must be by less than $3,000.
You can have no bankruptcy in the past year.
There can be no foreclosures in the past 2 years.
There must be at least 2 years worth of revenue.
You must have the cash flow to repay the loan.
For startups, the 2 most recent pay stubs must also be provided, along with a partner referral from an organization such as SCORE or an SBDC. Theremust also be a business plan with a cash flow projection, and the owner must have at least 20% of the total cost invested.
Other restrictions may apply based on a number of factors.
Do They Have a Good Reputation?
As part of a review, it is always good to look at other online reviews and ratings on sites such as the Better Business Bureau and Trust Pilot. The organization is not rated on either of these. In fact, there are not a ton of reviews out there at all. However, their longevity and lack of substantial negative reviews speaks volumes.
Accion Pros and Cons
The major pro of working with Accion is the accessibility to underserved populations. They are a nonprofit organization with a mission to help, not hinder, small businesses.
The big con is that their product options are severely limited if your business is not in California. Also, the interest rates can get high, depending on where you are and what risk factors are present.
What to Do If You Do Not Qualify
What if you do not qualify for a loan with Accion? Well, there are a number of options. However, as mentioned, they will help you understand the reasons why you did not qualify, and help you figure out how to change that.
What they do not do is help you find other funding options, or help you build your business credit. All of their loans are business loans, and therefore guaranteed by the business. Most, however, will also require a personal guarantee. They will offer coaching to help you correct the issues keeping you from loan approval with them, but they do not work on establishing and building a business credit score. This is hugely important to overall company fundability.
This is where the business credit experts at Credit Suite can help. These experts can help you assess your fundability, and walk you through the process of correcting it. In addition, they already work with reputable lenders, and can help you find the lenders and funding options that best fit your needs and eligibility right now.
Conclusion
This is the real deal, and they offer great options for those in underserved populations or that do not have great credit. It’s concerning that they do not list more solid interest rates on their website, but this is for a very good reason. Rates vary widely based on location. However, the online application process is fast. You should know what, if anything, is available to you in a couple of days.
Also, keep in mind that whether or not you can get a loan from Accion, Credit Suite’s experts are available to help you build fundability, increase your business credit score, and make sure your business is in the best position to get the funding it needs at the best rates and terms available.
People always ask me the same question about AdWords:
“What’s a ‘good’ cost per click?”
My response back to them is always the same:
“Why do you care?”
See, most people have AdWords wrong. They obsess over the costs.
They know that more and more competitors are advertising on the platform, which drives up prices.
So they’re zeroed-in on how much they’re going to have to spend.
That’s the wrong approach.
Instead, they should be concerned with what they’re going to get back in return.
I know this sounds counterintuitive. However, I almost never worry about the Cost Per Click for keywords.
In fact, I almost always ignore them.
I’m going to show you why CPC’s don’t matter in many cases. I’ll show you how worrying about keyword costs can mislead you time and time again.
Then, I’ll show what you should be analyzing to make sure you’re not leaving tons of money on the table.
Why Cost Per Click Doesn’t Matter (and What to Analyze Instead)
Each year, companies analyze the most expensive keywords in the country.
These are typically competitive phrases in law or insurance and can cost as much $50 for just a single click.
The insane thing is almost none of those clicks will turn into customers immediately.
Instead, they’ll usually opt-into a form, first.
That means you might have to front the bill for 50 or 100 clicks before someone ever converts.
We’re talking thousands of dollars for a single customer.
It makes sense on the surface; CPC ultimately determines how much you need to spend.
WordStream, for example, always releases an annual update on Cost Per Click benchmarks across industries.
The businesses I own are all software-related. But we work with clients across different industries. So it’s always interesting to look at these cost breakdowns.
Average ecommerce CPC’s might only be around a dollar, while law might run up to around six dollars (these are higher than most Bing Shopping campaigns, which should be considered for e-commerce businesses as well).
To be honest, though, I don’t obsess over costs, alone.
The first reason comes down to what the study says at the top: Averages.
Average CPCs don’t really mean all that much.
Popular, generic terms aren’t usually all that expensive.
Only a tiny percentage of the people who ever click on those will convert. Whereas, a more commercial long-tail keyword will be incredibly expensive.
Just compare the difference in costs between “tax” and “file back taxes”:
See? It’s not even close.
That makes it hard to use a standard, “industry average benchmark” for any in-depth analysis.
There’s another reason why I don’t like to just look at costs — because you’re often forgetting the other side of the equation.
Conversions ultimately have a much bigger impact than costs.
If you remember, the industry average CPC for ecommerce was only around a dollar. In fact, it was one of cheapest CPC’s on the entire list.
But if you now look at the average conversion rates, you’ll see why.
Their conversion rates are also among the lowest.
What does it matter if CPCs are ‘inexpensive’ if the conversions are equally low?
That’s why you often want to look at the Cost Per Action (or Acquisition) when putting together advertising estimates.
This is the effective price you pay to generate a lead, for instance.
It’s a performance ratio. It starts to take into account things like costs vs. conversions to help you determine a much better figure: ROI.
The industry average Cost Per Action for ecommerce lines up with education on the search network.
So from an ROI standpoint, there’s almost no difference.
This is why CPC is almost meaningless.
Yes, it’s important to a point because it drives things like your Cost Per Action.
However, what’s ultimately more important is the revenue you can generate.
It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about Google AdWords, Facebook, or even Twitter ads. The message is still the same.
Digital Marketer once ran a Twitter Lead Gen campaign, testing the effective Cost Per Action (or Lead).
One campaign was able to see a $7.81 cost per lead.
They then ran the same study with the same ad and audience targeting. But this time, they optimized the campaigns to increase conversions.
It generated a $1.38 Cost Per Lead, which came out to a five time lead increase on the same ad budget.
They were able to 5X conversions simply by focusing on conversions and Cost Per Lead. They didn’t even have to touch the CPC.
You can see this time and time again.
Jacob Baadsgaard of Disruptive Advertising confirms that the best PPC metrics are revenue-focused. They track lead data all the way through to closed sales.
Then, and only then, will they make a decision about which ad campaign is best.
It’s not that costs don’t matter. They do, of course. But they only matter in context to how much revenue you can generate from it.
Here’s a very simple example to illustrate.
Let’s say you run two ad campaigns side-by-side.
The Cost Per Click for the second campaign is twice as much as the first. But because the conversion rate is 2% instead of 1%, you’re able to double revenue.
Would you pay twice as high a Cost Per Click to generate twice as much revenue? Of course you would!
This is after reducing revenue by your ad costs. So it’s already accounting for the higher ad budget.
At the end of the day, you’re still doubling revenue. It’s totally worth it!
Obsessing over CPC doesn’t just leave money on the table. It can also make you waste a ton of what you’re already spending.
Here are a few examples.
Obsessing Over CPCs Can Make You Pull The Plug Too Early (or Too Late)
There are many things that separate big companies from small ones.
But here’s one of the biggest: Big companies spend more on advertising than small ones do.
Duh, right? Of course big companies have bigger budgets.
We’re not just talking about dollars spent, but percentage of revenue
Because you still might leave a lot of money on the table.
If your CPCs start edging up, the campaigns will back off or stop.
Then your lead flow will stop, too.
That’s why I like using CPAs as targets if possible, instead of CPCs.
Watch CPA Instead of CPC
Cost Per Action is a better performance than Cost Per Click.
It’s not as good as Revenue, though–and there’s the problem.
CPAs can still be subjective.
Is a ‘high’ CPA bad? Maybe, maybe not.
If your CPA is over $100 in ecommerce, that might be bad.
Almost every single campaign CPA will be over $100 in law, for example. So it’s not bad at all.
Its still a much better metric to control ad campaign performance, though.
You can still figure out an upper range that starts to make ad campaigns unprofitable. You’ll base this on your average sale per customer. (More on this later.)
For starters, you can set automated rules to increase or decrease the total budget based on your CPA.
Inside AdWords, you can go to “Bulk Actions” and create new “Rules” for these ranges:
Under “Change budgets,” you can set an automated rule to either increase or decrease budgets based on cost per conversion numbers.
This tells AdWords to automatically increase your daily budget 25 percent if the CPA is within a certain dollar range.
You can do this same exact strategy inside Facebook, too.
You’ll set a rule to increase, decrease, or stop a campaign if the CPA hits a certain threshold.
Managing ad campaigns by CPA can net you more customers and revenue.
There’s still one big section we’re forgetting.
Keyword pricing or competitive pressure aren’t the only factors to worry about.
Many times, your customer base could be going through their own issues, and that’s not something you can change.
That’s why focusing on revenue is always the best approach.
Increase the Revenue-Side of the Equation to Overcome Outside Factors
Spearmint Love is one my favorite success stories.
The craziest part is that it almost didn’t happen.
They were growing like a weed, until…everything just stopped.
Results were declining across the board and they couldn’t figure out why.
Until, one day while on a walk, it dawned on one of the co-founders.
Parents will buy baby clothes until that baby grows up. In other words, their customers were kind of ‘moving on’ from the company.
The ad campaign decline had nothing to do with costs or his ad campaigns per se.
It had everything to do with their customer base.
How on Earth do you solve this problem?
By focusing on increasing revenue — not touching costs.
If the CPA is ‘too high’ to make your numbers work, start by increasing average order values.
Upsells are easy, for example, when you bundle similar products.
Think about the last time you flew somewhere. Chances are, you bought a travel-sized product at a store before going through TSA.
But that product probably only cost a few bucks, right?
Check out what Jack Black does here, bundling several travel products together.
You arguably need all of these products if you’re flying somewhere.
Instead of only charging you a few bucks each, they’re charging you $35 for the whole pack!
Simply bundling similar products allows them to charge 10x more. Which means you can afford a much higher initial advertising cost now, too.
You can also cross-sell products to try and raise the average order value.
For example, right underneath this travel bundle, Jack Black offers a few related products to take with you:
One interesting thing to note is the price of all three items. They’re all slightly less than the initial $35 purchase.
Why?
They’re using price anchoring effect to make these additional products seem less expensive.
The Economist included a middle pricing tier for a print-only subscription. It was the same exact price as the ‘big’ plan for both the print and web editions.
Most people chose the combined third option because it seemed like the best deal.
There’s only one reason to spend money on ads at the end of the day: to make money.
Chasing the keywords with the lowest CPC is a losing proposition.
If anything, you should be spending more money. You should actually search out the highest CPC’s in your industry.
Why?
Often, they offer the most potential. You want to maximize the most sales per dollar spent.
So you know all those “industry benchmark CPC” numbers? Don’t worry about them.
Instead, start focusing on CPA. That’s the number it costs for you to acquire each new customer.
It’s not perfect by any stretch. But it’s a better number to optimize around than CPC.
From there, try to dig into revenue numbers.
Can you bundle a few products to raise the average order value? Can you cross-sell recommended products and use price anchoring to lower their perceived cost?
Then, figure out how you can keep customers around longer.
That might mean introducing new, related product lines. Or it might mean introducing ‘consumable’ products that people need to repurchase again and again and again.
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.
Wix takes the prize for simplifying the process of making a website. Its drag-and-drop interface, hundreds of apps, and wider pricing options mean anybody can whip up a website without breaking a sweat.
Squarespace has a better selection of design templates but its customization options require more technical confidence. Squarespace also outperforms Wix’s blogging and ecommerce tools by a very small margin, but the more flexible Wix has something for everyone.
Squarespace or Wix: Which is Better?
Squarespace’s sleeker, more professional-looking template designs are best for creatives who place a high value on aesthetics. Its grid-style editor requires a little bit of time to get to grips with, making it better for those with technical experience. Turn your ideas into a visually-appealing Squarespace website for free.
Wix is best for beginners who want an easy way to create a website pronto. It has a drag-and-drop interface so building a website is as straightforward as solving a kiddie puzzle. It also comes with hundreds of templates and features to give users creative freedom regardless of their skill level. Start your own free and stunning Wix website today.
A Review of The Best Website Builders.
A good website builder spells the difference between an idea that grows into something big and one that fizzles out. To give you a head start, I’ve mustered up my experiences with building websites and reviewed the top website builders that may fit your needs.
Wix has proven once again why it’s considered a major player in the industry. Squarespace, though not included in the list, has its own perks that appeal to those with a specific set of criteria.
Squarespace Wins
Unlimited storage space: All of Squarespace premium plans come with unlimited bandwidth and storage so you can host unlimited files while ensuring media files will download smoothly. While the majority of Wix plans do offer unlimited bandwidth, none of them provide unlimited storage so you can’t just upload any files to your heart’s content.
Structured page editor: Squarespace doesn’t have the exact drag-and-drop functionality Wix is famous for. Its page elements are packed inside content blocks which you can move around and snap into rows and columns. Restrictive as it may appear, though, this feature helps you create your page within a more controlled environment, which can help prevent inadvertently sloppy designs.
High-quality, professional-grade template designs: Wix may offer more template choices but Squarespace trumps its competitor in terms of quality. It has over 60 template designs that are not only aesthetically superior but also easier to navigate both for the builder and viewer. Regardless of what template you choose initially, you can customize or replace it with another one anytime.
One-click color palette customization: Squarespace takes the guesswork out of choosing the right color theme that matches your brand. All you have to do is select a palette and Squarespace will apply it throughout your website.
Like Wix, Squarespace also offers the freedom to pick specific colors for individual elements. But since most users don’t have a design sense, Squarespace’s preselected color schemes take the headache and guesswork out of your site’s aesthetics.
Well-thought-out in-house features: Squarespace may have fewer features than Wix but what it lacks in numbers it makes up for in execution. Its in-house features are meticulously designed and built into its editor so you can manage your website even without installing third-party extensions.
Its restaurant menu editor, for example, uses a markup language so adding items is like filling out a simple form. In contrast, Wix accomplishes the same task through a relatively more tedious process that requires several clicks.
Squarespace’s donation system is likewise superior to Wix’s because it goes beyond providing a donation button by offering donor-specific checkout, donor email receipts, and suggested amounts.
Seamless podcast syndication: Starting a podcast? Squarespace also beats Wix’s basic podcast player by being the only one in the industry to offer syndication. With this feature, you can submit your podcast to Spotify or Apple Podcasts where a legion of potential fans can discover you.
Curated third-party apps: Whatever Squarespace lacks in-house, it offers as a third-party extension. Even Wix’s in-house features that Squarespace doesn’t have can be matched by a third-party counterpart so you won’t miss out on anything.
For example, the Wix Events app enables visitors to book tickets online whereas Squarespace can be integrated with Eventbrite to do the same thing. Similarly, integrating Memberstack with Squarespace accomplishes the same thing as the Wix Members app.
Ready-to-use blogging tools: With Squarespace, you can start blogging and showcase your best content to the world right off the bat. Unlike Wix that requires you to install a separate blog app, Squarespace has built-in blogging tools.
Basic features like post tagging, categories, comment moderation, and drafts will help you create professional-looking blogs regardless of your industry. Working with multiple authors is also a breeze as Squarespace allows you to collaborate with them on a single post or assign them different roles.
Sophisticated ecommerce functionality: When it comes to building your online store, Squarespace gives Wix a run for its money. It offers the same basic features you’ll find in Wix like custom email receipts, point of sale system, and automated cart recovery.
To maximize your profits, however, Squarespace steps up its game by offering features that Wix doesn’t. These include gift cards to help with your brand promotion. You can also use “back in stock” and “low stock” notifications to create a sense of urgency without being too pushy.
24/7 online support: Should you encounter technical issues with your Squarespace website, you can reach out to their customer support team via email, Twitter, or live chat. These online channels allow their team to get to the bottom of your issue faster.
Squarespace has excluded phone support because their existing support channels allow them to troubleshoot your issues comprehensively without the need to put you on hold.
Squarespace Losses
Lacks intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Squarespace’s page editor works like a minimalist grid system so you can’t drag and drop elements as freely as you can. Less freedom means less opportunity to play around with the design. It also takes a longer time to get used to so Squarespace is not as beginner-friendly as Wix.
Limited creative control: Squarespace’s biggest advantage is also its disadvantage. The “structured” editor may enable you to customize a website design within the realm of what’s acceptable but it also means you have less creative control.
The templates are on par with professional designs but you can’t edit, move, resize, or re-color the page elements as easily as you can with Wix. You also can’t display both the site title and logo at the same time.
Limited template designs. Fewer design choices also make it more difficult to stand out. Most photographers, for instance, trust Squarespace to host their portfolio sites.
With limited templates to choose from, they’re more likely to pick the same template. As a result, they may end up with portfolio websites that have the same look and feel as other sites in their industry.
Less generous ecommerce plans: Squarespace outnumbers Wix’s ecommerce features but you won’t benefit as much if you’re only subscribed to its basic plan.
Squarespace’s basic ecommerce features cost $18 per month (Business plan) while its Wix counterpart is a tad higher at $23 per month (Basic Business plan). However, you won’t save as much with a basic plan as Squarespace charges a 3% transaction fee unless you upgrade.
You also won’t have access to some crucial features like abandoned cart recovery if you’re not under the Advanced Commerce Plan that costs $40 per month.
By contrast, Wix charges no transaction fee on any of its ecommerce plans and offers abandoned cart recovery even to those in the basic plan.
Wix Wins
Scalable pricing: Wix has a wider range of pricing options so you can start your website anytime and easily scale as it grows. The free plan is available for beginners who are still learning the ropes and are not bothered by Wix-sponsored ads and subdomains.
If you want a custom domain, you can switch to the most basic plan for only $4.50 a month. From here, you can upgrade to any of the three higher website plans or start an online store for as low as $17 per month for the Business Basic Plan. Squarespace, on the other hand, only offers four pricing tiers starting with the Personal plan at $12 per month. It doesn’t come with a free plan and most of the important features are only available in higher plans.
Beginner-friendly interface: Wix’s drag-and-drop editor remains its top selling point. It gives you a template to create a simple website in minutes without learning how to code. Squarespace is also a “no-coding” website builder, but its grid-style editor makes it cumbersome for some beginners. With Wix, you can have full control of the layout and even add functionality by dragging and dropping widgets on your page.
More in-house apps: Name any feature you want your website to have and Wix has an app for it. Do you want to create a forum? Look for Wix Forum in the App Market and install it for free. Planning to add a live chat to connect with your visitors in real-time? Try Wix Chat, another in-house app you can add for free. If none of the built-in Wix apps is what you’re looking for, don’t worry as there are still over 200 free and premium third-party extensions to choose from.
Free email marketing tools: With this built-in feature, you can send email campaigns to your contact list and even create workflows to manage your own sales funnel. Measure how well each of your campaigns is doing through the stats tracker that lets you see how many people open and engage with your emails.
Wix’s email marketing tools are part of the Ascend all-in-one business solution that gives you access to other marketing tools like live chat, social media integration, and SEO tools. The best part is you can have access to a limited number of features for free or upgrade to one of the three paid plans to enjoy the full benefit.
Robust SEO features: Wix has its own game plan to help your content rank high on Google. What’s great is Wix puts all its strategies in one place so users can learn SEO themselves and improve their online presence. The SEO Wiz contains step-by-step tutorials, achievement updates, and tons of other learning materials so you can start improving your site’s visibility even if you never heard about SEO before.
Multiple customer support channels: Unlike Squarespace, Wix offers phone support so you can rest assured that humans and not bots are handling your concern. Wix also provides support through forums, social media, and email but not through live chat. In case you get stuck or confused while working on the page editor, there are small question marks on the screen that you can also click to get quick solutions without leaving the page.
Automatic backup-and-restore feature: Wix is a proactive website builder that anticipates unfortunate events and has developed a counteracting feature in case they happen.
Through Site History which you can find inside your site Settings, you can restore a previous version of your website. You can restore revised versions of your site regardless if it’s saved manually or automatically.
Best of all, the previously saved version of your site can be restored without affecting published blog posts and changes made in your email list.
Wix Losses
Underwhelming template designs: Wix focuses on quantity over quality when it comes to design. Its over 500 customizable templates easily beat Squarespace’s 70+ designs. But with more choices comes more time wasted picking and overanalyzing which one suits a website idea best.
A “quantity over quality” approach also leads to many Wix templates failing to make a great first impression. While there are hidden gems, it takes time to find them as they are outnumbered by generic templates, some of which are downright cheesy.
Unstructured page editor: Wix’s drag-and-drop interface has its own flaws. While it helps even non-pros create websites quickly, the changes you make in the desktop version may not necessarily sync to its mobile version. For instance, when you move an image from the top of the page to the bottom, the same change won’t reflect in the mobile version unless you make the same change twice. With Squarespace’s structured editor, movements are much more restricted but any change you make will reflect in both screens.
Complicated color changes: Wix lacks the preselected color palettes that Squarespace has, so changing text and background colors are not as straightforward. This is the downside of having more freedom to manipulate page elements. You may be free to choose the colors of individual page elements but if you don’t have a background in design, knowing which colors will work best without preset recommendations can be really tough.
Limited bandwidth and storage space: Wix doesn’t have the unlimited resources that Squarespace offers in all its plans. Therefore, the cheaper your Wix plan is, the more restrictions you’ll get on how many files you can store and how much traffic your website can get per day.
Wix’s cheapest plans, Connect Domain and Combo, only offer a bandwidth of 1 GB and 2 GB, respectively. This is enough if your website receives only a handful of visitors per month. However, once a website gets at least 1,000 visitors a day, it will require about 8.5 GB of bandwidth monthly, something that Wix only provides starting with its Unlimited plan that costs $12.50 per month (billed annually).
Mediocre blogging tools: You can create a decent blog with Wix but if you’re looking for more features, you’ll get it from Squarespace. Wix is capable of scheduling posts, adding tags or categories, and saving drafts. However, it doesn’t allow comment moderation so you can’t filter comments and publish only those you approve of. On top of that, Wix doesn’t have a built-in blogging feature. You have to add the free Wix Blog app yourself before you can start creating content.
Limited flexibility for free plans: When you start a free website with Wix, you won’t pay for anything but it comes at the cost of flexibility. The Wix subdomain, ads, and the look of a free site tend to come off a lot less professional. If you want to experiment with a free site, that’s fine, but you’ll have to upgrade to premium Wix plans to really establish your own brand.
Comparing The Top Website Builders.
Do you want to build a website from scratch without touching any codes? With a website builder, you can do that and more. If you want to get started, here are the best website builders I recommend:
Wix is the undisputed website builder of choice if you want to quickly launch a website even without the technical know-how. Its drag-and-drop interface requires a short learning curve while its hundreds of templates and features allow you to elevate your website any way you want.
But for a more professional site with a stronger design aesthetic and more customization options, especially one you’re willing to take some time to build, Squarespace will be the better choice.
The tech-heavy index entered correction territory as stimulus hopes and brightening economic prospects sapped investors’ appetite for government bonds and the once highflying shares.
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