#redpodium

Maci is an amazing team player who always thinks of the team before herself.  She is incredibly dependable and would do anything to help someone else.  As one of our outstanding customer support rockstars, she always goes above and beyond to delight our clients.  If you’ve ever worked with her, I’m sure she left you feeling amazed that such personal and incredible  customer support still exists. 

What do you love most about being part of the Webconnex Team?

I have been a part of the Webconnex team for almost two years now (crazy how time flies) and I simply love the team itself. I love working with folks who are incredibly supportive and encouraging of my work and personal life.

When you have a free Saturday to do whatever you want, what do you do?

My free Saturday would probably include a quiet morning walk with my hubby, around the lake near our house. We’d wrap up our walk by meeting up at brunch with friends eating and talking for a couple of hours. Then we’d head home to rest, watch a movie or nap in the afternoon. Our Saturday evening would entail entertaining friends or family with a casual outdoor dinner and games on our patio.

What are some plans you have for this year?

Well, I plan on having a baby any day now! Yep, I am 9 months pregnant with our first child, a girl!  We are beyond excited and anxious for her arrival. So that is pretty much what all of plans include this year.

What is something we don’t know about you?

It is kind of an office joke, but I eat my lunch, almost without fail, everyday at 11AM.  I am a schedule-oriented person, I guess.  I am also a vegan.

What is your favorite YouTube video right now?

Cody is an invaluable asset to our Webconnex team.  His big personality, genuine care for our clients and constant pursuit of excellence is unmatched.  He brings laughter and vibrance to our office daily.  We are excited for you to get to know him.

What do you love most about being part of the Webconnex Team?

Being part of the Webconnex team has been such an incredible blessing. In every aspect of the job, there is a level of fun and passion. From the random karaoke sessions, to seeing our customers’ events and fundraising go above and beyond expectations, there is never a dull moment in our office.  We have a great company culture.

The thing that I love the most is knowing we are making a difference every day with our software. We build software that helps individuals and organizations reach their dreams. Whether that’s them running a 5k or an organization fighting sex trafficking all over the world, they are finding a simple solution to make it financially possible for them to go out and make a difference. It’s also extremely rewarding working with individuals that have the same passion and want to make a difference with the way we live our lives,  but also the way we conduct business.

When you have a free Saturday to do whatever you want, what do you do?

I would start off by making a huge breakfast. I have an intense passion for some good eggs and potatoes and coffee every morning; cool fact right? Follow that with some sort of physical activity such as street bike riding, motocross, working out, running, or cycling. Assuming I don’t hurt myself with the previous activity, I would then move on to making a killer lunch that most likely would consist of homemade pizza… Okay I know what you’re thinking, this kid’s life revolves around food. It’s only partially true, okay so maybe I love food. Stop judging me.

In the evening I would love to go swing dance, to a country concert, or to the river. Somewhere in there I would incorporate another foodie session for dinner. Chipotle, or some sort of taqueria. I can never say no to a good burrito. Ending it with a relaxing time in the hot tub would cap off the day rather well. Though, I did just read a horrible article about how much bacteria and feces’ are in the common hot tub… I’ll find a friend who has one that I know has good hygiene. Problem solved; or so I hope.

What are some plans you have for this year?

This year I plan to step out of my comfort zone to do something bigger than myself. This fall I am heading to Moldova to help with shelters that house orphans and girls rescued from sex trafficking. I have always had an intense passion to go to this region to show the love of Jesus to children and young adults who have only known a life of poverty and desperation. I believe love changes everything. This year I also want to run my first triathlon. I am excited to step into a new arena of fitness in order to push myself.

What is your favorite YouTube video right now? The Ojai Taxidermy Commercial. It’s so ridiculous it’s funny.

What’s your favorite song and/or YouTube video right now?

As far as songs go, I would say Rend Collective “My Lighthouse” would be at the top of my list.

Have you ever spent a bunch of time constructing the ‘perfect’ email, only for it to end up in the dark abyss of your recipients’ spam box?  Well I have, and I want to save you from the same headache.  Spam filters look for some key elements to determine whether your email will be considered spam or not.

Here are 4 tips to keep your emails out of the spam folder:

Don’t use ‘spammy’ words.  Whether in the subject line or body of your email, resist the urge to use any of the following words, phrases, or overuse of punctuation. They will surely throw a red flag and fast-track your email right to spam.

Sign Up Now

Try It Free

Free

Limited Time

!!!!

 Don’t send one big image.  If you are constructing an email that contains all of the text and content within an image, that is a surefire way to get blocked.  Not to mention, if your demographic isn’t very email savvy, they might not realize they need to download the images in order to read your email, therefore, ending up in the trash.

Don’t use info@, support@, contact@, etc.  Be more specific and unique with your email address.  Rather than using contact@…. Someone could use ashley@ or raceteam@…..

Don’t use a generic gmail, yahoo, aol or Hotmail account.  For best results, be sure to send/receive from an email address belonging to your organization’s domain name.  For instance, rather than using [email protected], I use [email protected].  Having the domain name in the email address brings credibility to the receiver and to the spam filters.

Last Sunday, three of our team members rocked Fleet Feet Sacramento’s 10th Annual Blue Diamond Almonds Shamrock’n Half Marathon.

It was the perfect day for a PR.  Cody ran down a personal best with a finish time of 1:33:01, while Ashley and Aaron completed the day with their first half marathon finish in the books.

Aaron and his awesome wife Amber were able to share in the first time finisher experience.  ”It’s really incredible what consistent training can do”, says Aaron.  ”At the beginning of 2014 neither my wife or I were ‘runners’. We had set a goal to do a 5k, and were somehow talked into a half marathon. By starting small and each day pushing ourselves a little further past what we had done the day before, we were able to accomplish something we never imagined.  It’s only March and we blew way past our 5k goal!”

I’m sure by this point you’ve heard the phrase, “content is king”.  If not, maybe you’ve been living under a rock, or maybe you are fresh into your online marketing.  Either way, providing great content is a key way to drive traffic and sales.  This is great news, if you’re a good writer….

What about those of us who struggle to put words together in a cognitive sentence?  Or who are constantly bogged down by writer’s block?  I’m here to tell you, there are more kinds of content than just textual.

Here are five ways to snap out of writer’s block:

1.  Get to snapping:  My favorite way to bust loose from writers block is to start snapping photos.  Now, you’ve shortened your multiple paragraph blog post down to a simple photo caption.  According to HubSpot, photos receive 54% more likes and 104% more comments than text based posts.

2.  Caption this:  Better yet, let your followers come up with a witty caption for you!  People love sharing their two cents.  Simply post a photo with a caption that states, “Caption this!” and you are bound to have an inflow of comments.  Make mention that you will choose the best caption and repost the photo later with the winner.  You just saved yourself the time of coming up with a great caption, while engaging with your followers.  Score!

3.  Let it roll:  If you aren’t adding video to your online content, your media might be a little bland and dry.  Spice things up with a quick, fun video.  Maybe you’re better at talking than you are writing.  If so, totally go the video route.  It has a double bonus, because your constituents are able to put a face to the name and you get to add a little personality to your company.

4.  Fact or fiction:  Post some fun or interesting facts on your company, organization or industry.  You can even encourage and increase engagement by turning this into a fun contest by asking people to vote fact or fiction.

5.  Interview:  Instead of you coming up with all of the content, just come up with some interesting questions and let your interviewee provide you with all the content you need.Give these five tactics a try to quickly snap out of writer’s block and into some awesome posts.

Do you ever wonder how the revenue of your current event is doing in comparison to a previous event?  Well wonder no longer because we have your answer.  As you may have seen in this morning's newsletter, we recently released a reporting feature that allows you to compare the progress of two events.

With an easy to understand graph and list format, you can see day-by-day progress of your events.  Use one of our default dates, or set a custom range.

This report will give you a piece of mind and a clear understanding of how your event is doing.  You can even use the compare report to see if registrations spiked around a particular promotion or price increase.  Evaluate the information to see what has effective and how you could market your event moving forward.

Below are screen shots of the Compare Report in action.  If you wish to see a step-by-step guide on how to create a Compare Report, click here.

If you are not currently a Webconnex client, but would like to take advantage of this reporting feature, click here.

Webconnex Helps Customers Reach $100M

Webconnex, LLC based in Sacramento, California surpassed 100 million dollars in customer volume this week.  Webconnex is a small firm that makes unique software products for event registration and online fundraising.  Webconnex top products include: RedPodium race registration, TicketSpice online ticketing, GivingFuel online fundraising, and RegFox online registration.   Each product specializes in the needs of a unique market niche.

Founded in 2008, Webconnex turned four years old this summer.  In a short time, many of their products have become industry leaders being used by companies such as RedBull, The Salvation Army, The GAP, Toyota, Fleet Feet, American Red Cross, Disney, Focus on the Family, Transworld Media, Food for the Hungry and thousands of other organizations.

Unlike many technology companies today, Webconnex is a privately owned self-funded software company which has two founders: Eric Knopf in Sacramento, CA and John Russell in Newport Beach, CA.

Their vision was to create simple and affordable solutions that would allow any person to register or donate in less than a minute. The Webconnex management team prefers to break from conventional wisdom when it comes to technology, features, pricing and customer service. They have been successful in creating products that drive sales for the clients who use them.   

Eric Knopf, Co-Founder of Webconnex says “From day one, Webconnex has been focused on solutions that help others generate and keep more money.  Our customers consistently tell us that our technology is the simplest to use and has helped them exceed their event or fundraising goals. It’s common to hear of events and non-profits raising more money than they ever have before – even during this recession.”  

Webconnex says their payment conversion rates are the highest in the industry because they understand what it’s like to be in the shoes of an attendee or donor. Co-founder John Russell explains, “We spend a lot of time understanding the trends, desires and pain points of the average person. Not only is the product easy for an organization to manage, it is even simpler to use as a consumer.”

Webconnex maintains a small team of 9 employees while serving over 2500 customers nationwide. Russell continues, “Reaching $100M in customer processing is very exciting because we have done things very differently and we think it’s paid off. Everyone on our team loves what they do and we can’t wait until we celebrate a billion dollars in online transactions!”

About Webconnex: 

BCS Marathon is in their 2nd year with RedPodium and as an event.  Their first year was a great success!  With close to 2,000 registered runners, the BCS Marathon looks to double their registered participants in 2012.

The Mercy Project Founder/Executive Director, Chris Field, started the BCS Marathon in order to save the 7,000+ children enslaved in Ghana, Africa.  The BCS Marathon raised over $26,000 for the Mercy Project in 2011.  They are working

hard to implement economic development projects in various villages and communities in Ghana to provide new economic opportunities and give an alternative to the forced child labor present today.

Still six months out from their December 9th event date, the BCS Marathon already has over 1,300 registrants, receiving the first 200 in the first hour registration was open.  They are well on their way to hitting their 1,250 full marathon and 2,750 half marathon capacities.

Chris and his team work hard to draw many spectators to their event.  “One thing that makes a marathon a great marathon is having lots and lots of spectators.” says Chris.  The BCS team feels it is a wonderful way to display great community support from Bryan/College Station area as well as provide an encouraging experience for the runners.

T

he BCS Marathon is utilizing both RedPodium and GroupRev for registration and fundraising efforts towards the Mercy Project.  When asked about his experience working with Webconnex, Chris’ response was, “Fantastic!  I cannot say enough good things about the entire Webconnex team.  Any question I have is answered immediately as if I’m their only customer.  Not to mention the level of savings we’ve experienced and the ability to customize our own forms has been great as well.”