Stephen KH Chan

Dreamhost recently released a new webpage editor toolkit call RemixerTool. I’ve gave it a try and here are my opinions about it.

The best thing is it’s free! The competitive advantage of the Remixer is, from start to launching a site is FAST, it takes only a few minutes to launch a site. Given that you still need to write your own content. But it’s got a great amount of pre-made themes for you to choose from:

These are all very standard themes, so don’t expect material design animations or other fancy features. It is a free tool so cookie cutter design is just what I expect.

Let’s drill in deeper with the tool itself. Like any other web editor, the Remixer tool also works in rows. By adding new rows you get to choose your own “components”. I am very impressed with their choices and flexibility here. You can do a lot of fancy layouts and components such as social media, maps, comment sections, contact form etc. All the essential features that you see from a website can be found here (except e-commerce)

The downside for this again is custom integrations, perhaps I have yet to discovered but there is no way for me to insert custom html/css/js anywhere

Some of you have experience with building landing pages may know what I am referring to. For example Unbounce allows you to insert js/css in the headings so you can custom load fonts, animations, marketing tags etc. This feature is apparently missing from the Dreamhost Remixer. The only thing you can edit is the markup, which is pretty useless to me because why would I look at markup when I am using this tool. (Again yet to be improved.)

Finally, launching pages are extremely easy. Because the tool is authorized through Dreamhost, it automatically detects all the domains you own and with just one click of a button you will be able to launch with minutes (also cute animations afterwards too).

So we all know that there are lots of features, sliders, blocks etc. on Impreza Responsive Theme. So many attractive layouts that are flexible, but there will be times when you get stuck and not sure how something can be built when a designer passed a mockup for you.

You’ll find yourself going back to the impreza.us-theme.com and find reference many times for reference.

Well, ever wonder how something was built? You can take a peak at their backend! yes! 

All you need to do is go back to themeforest site and search for the Impreza theme. There is a “try free now” button. It will then ask you for your email address, make sure you provide your real email address here as you need to receive login credential to the backend.

Once you received the email with the credential, you may login the backend and take a peak at how something was built! 

Make sure you do that under 5 minutes though, as that’s how long the backend will be available for you.

So I’ve been a fan using the Impreza - Retina Responsive WordPress Theme since 2 years ago and their updates have been great. It’s now the 3rd generation of updates so the theme is pretty mature in terms of features and security.

Recently I came across a bug on the header designer tool. When you place the logo in the center, and place menu items around it both sides, your logo will get “squished” if you resize your browser. See my example below.

To fix this, you need add your own media queries in your child theme style.css if you inspect the logo you will notice the logo has a class of .w-img and img

Just apply it on the affected width area, which means, if you realize the logo gets squished between 820px and 974px then use the media queries below:

@media screen and (min-width: 820px) and (max-width: 974px) { .w-img img {max-width: none !important;}

}

Toronto Public Library recently has provided access to Lynda.com for general public. Encourage your team to invest in themselves and learn. This is great for startups with low budgets! Learning is a life long process, if we stop growing we die.  Setup group learning workshops, checkin progress with your team, whether you’re the CEO, manager, director or team lead. A support group who helps each other through the learning progress is great for team members. Now that the budget is out of the question, it’s time to thrive business and grow!

Your business is growing, you notice other businesses and competitors are leveraging the web to generate revenue. So you plan on hiring a web expert to help grow your business.

Where should you start?

I believe first and foremost you need to understand your business goals. Do you need a generalist “web expert” or someone specific under the branch such as a good web designer or a good online marketer. These are very different people and it’s important for you to evaluate what you need.

Somebody who is expert at designing a website is not necessarily great at marketing it online. Although there are many people who claimed to be online marketing expert (e.g. SEO, Adwords, social media etc.), they are often not very good at design.

Certainly there are professionals and web agencies who are good at both. Therefore it’s your responsibility to evaluate their strength and to really understand the difference between the two. At the end of the day, designers are creative, right-brainers and good marketers are usually left-brainers and more analytical.

When it comes to hiring a web designer or developer on your own, try to look at their previous work and see if it fits your need. Some designers may have certain style that might not fit your business goals. For example if you manage a corporate identity and the designer you’re looking at is more familiar with startups and edgy design. Then you might need to consider somebody who’s more comfortable with corporate design.

When you’re looking for a web marketer or somebody who’s expert in growing your website traffic, try to seek tangible, measurable results they have delivered for their past clients. Such as 10k fans within 6 months, or 5k views on Youtube channel.

Also do spend the time to reach out to their past client. It’s less of a background check but rather a reassurance of the marketer is building a great rapport with his/her existing clients. That way you will know you will be getting the same treatment down the road.

Few traits that you will experience when talking to a skilled web marketing expert:

They ask LOTS of questions They ask loads of questions about your business and genuinely want to help you out, for example:

what’s your business’ unique selling proposition and how are you different from your competition?

who are your competitors and what are they doing online? This will let them understand and develop strategies around them.

what is your objective of your website (e.g. lead generation, drive conversion, or offer customer service etc)

what are other marketing initiatives do you have for your business that is currently working or not?

what challenges and problems are you experiencing and what’s causing them? (This allows them to come up with tailored solutions for you)

They tend to be very specific If they make suggestions that are specific to your business needs are usually great at what they are doing. Because anyone can make generic recommendations without considering what you are trying to achieve. On the flip side it will be your responsibility to think ahead about what your objectives are before meeting anyone. 

Going into a meeting with an “I don’t know” attitude will not benefit anyone. The reason is because when the designer/marketer asks you questions and you often don’t have the answer, it will a. jack up the price of the work b. scope will be so broad that it will take forever to accomplished.

They are patient with you If you’re new to web development and digital marketing don’t be afraid to ask questions. Experienced professional are willing to take their time to educate their clients, and they will not be afraid to share you as much information as possible. At the end of the day they are there to help you save time and to offer expert opinion on what and how to execute your initiatives.

They push limits and take the extra mile Lastly to really pick out the best ones, they often don’t just repeat and solve your existing problems. Rather they would add tremendous value in terms of either new requirements or a better/more efficient solution to what you originally requested. These experts usually will be the ones you get the most ROI and also assist you in the long run in your business.

Are you working full time Monday to Friday and have a small business service running on the side during nights and weekends? Most of us do, and it’s very common at some point you start considering to begin accepting credit card as a form of payment.

Most small business owners that provide a service only receive cash and cheques and it’s working fine for them. However as technology advances some customers are starting to adapt and ask for alternative payment method.

The question now is, should you accept credit card as an alternative payment method? What’s my investments and what are the benefits?

This article assumes you’re dealing with service type of business. If you’re a business selling physical products, then you should be already accepting credit cards, there are no excuses.

Basically there are 3 things that you must consider first before diving into card payments:

Transaction value

Listen to your customers

Can you cover the fees?

Transaction value The universe is moving towards digital - EVERYTHING. People don’t even like carrying cash anymore. For as little as $3 a coffee, consumers have adapted to pay via credit card or by phone.

If your service involves large transaction value, most likely people will be more comfortable paying by credit card or email transfers, because paying by cash and mailing a cheque is just a hassle.

The downside for accepting credit cards of course is the fees that may incur, therefore you might need to consider points 2 and 3.

Listen to your customers Really what do your customers really want? Lots of business owners fail to listen. Are they asking you to pay via credit card? If so why? Sometimes finding out through your current customers are the best way to understand what people really want.

Fees Afterall, there’s this fear that we all face. The fees. Can you afford it? Most credit card portals roughly takes away 3% of the transaction value as a fee. Which makes sense because they have built a nice portal for the ease of use.

One way to test this out is, sign up a credit card service demo for a month or two, advertise that you are now accepting credit cards on your existing channels. Then measure your results. Here’s a little algorithm that helps you make that decision whether you should continue accepting credit cards:

(change in sales % * average transaction value) - (credit card fees % * avg. transaction value)

If you get a negative number then that means you can’t afford the fees. However (which most likely) if you get a positive number, then by all means go for it. It is helping your business!

Finally, you maybe asking, what about credit card frauds and charge backs? Most portals deal with these issues already, if you sign up with a good one. Here are a list of recommended apps/portals that help you get started with accepting credit card payments:

Waveapps The company's core product, Accounting by Wave, is a double entry accounting tool. Services include direct bank data imports, invoicing and expense tracking. Accounting by Wave integrates with expense tracking software Shoeboxed, and e-commerce website Etsy.

Freshbook FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting software service designed for owners of the types of small client-service businesses that send invoices to clients and get paid for their time and expertise.

Shopify In August 2013, Shopify announced the launch of Shopify Payments, which allowed merchants to accept credit cards without requiring a third party payment gateway. The company also announced the launch of an iPad-centric POS system for in-store purchases.

Paypal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American company operating a worldwide online payments system. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to traditional paper methods like checks and money orders. PayPal is one of the world's largest internet payment companies.[6] The company operates as an acquirer, performing payment processing for online vendors, auction sites and other commercial users, for which it charges a fee.

Square Square, Inc. is a financial services, merchant services aggregator and mobile payment company based in San Francisco, California. The company markets several software and hardware payments products, including Square Register and Square Reader, and has expanded into small business services such as Square Capital, a financing program, and Square Payroll.

Hack If you still can’t decide whether to move to credit card payments you can always start with Email transfer!

Email transfer is a little hack that I did before accepting credit cards. Because the fee is absorbed by the person sending money. Not the receiver. Not only does it enhance your professionality it also make things very efficient for customers who are just too “lazy” to pay by cheque or cash. Email transfer fee are usually quite low $1 - $2 (not a %) but has a limited amount usually. Hey it’s a good way to start though!

Conclusion Before considering accepting credit card payments for your small medium size business. Always keep in mind of these three things: 

What’s your average transaction value? Is it high enough to produce inconvenience for your customers to pay in cash? Or is it too high to be paid by credit card?

Listen to what your customers say. Do you have customers asking you if they could pay by credit card? Often missed by business owners, but you’ll be surprised how much insights you will get from your existing customers to improve your quality of the business.

Great web design example from a Canadian space technology company, really taking it to the next level! With parallax background image, space video background, smooth scrolling and custom fonts, everything done right! White text on black background really creating good contrasts. www.thothx.com