Webconnex

Right now, there is a local pastor who has decided to do something crazy: live on the streets until he raises enough money for the homeless. Right now, he is the local celebrity as news stations, newspapers and social media is abuzz about his outrageous campaign that is raising tens of thousands of dollars every day. It’s taking off and now famous rockstars and prominent businessmen are joining him and taking part.

I’m thankful to have our software powering the tech side of this campaign, but more so, I am thankful that I had the privilege of being in the room while Pastor Rick Cole dialoged the potential of the idea.

If you are following the updates, Rick Cole details what it’s like living in shelters, on the streets and even panhandling. Its eye-opening to say the least. It sounds incredibly difficult for most people to comprehend (as most of us are currently in an air conditioned rooms with 8+ hours of sleep likely reading this from your new iPhone).

But people miss the most difficult part of what Rick Cole has done. The hardest part was not planning to go homeless, losing the comforts of your home, being away from family or even the difficulties of physically sleeping on a street. The hardest part was what he did in order to commit 100% to the idea.

It’s easy to celebrate the idea now that it’s raising tens of thousands of dollars and is featured on the news frequently. What people don’t realize is what a huge chance this was. This was either going to be a homerun or a humiliating strikeout. There was an unspoken uneasiness among those who knew this was being considered.

Having a pastor of one of the largest churches become a homeless man had a very high chance of coming across insensitive and degrading to those who are permanently homeless. The entire campaign likely could have been resoundingly rejected as being in poor taste.

Pastor Rick Cole had a lot to lose: The support of thousands of his own congregants; a viral firestorm of criticism on social media; rebuke from organizations supporting the homeless near and far; and public humiliation that would mar his entire career in the local and faith communities. One thing was for sure… if this was a failure, Rick Cole would lose his reputation in the city forever.

All that weighed on his heart and mind as he courageously stepped forward and committed to it. His commitment was headfirst and all-in. This was like game 7 of the world series with two outs and Rick decided that it was not enough to get on base. He wanted a game winning homerun.

It occurred to me that the motions of a championship winning homerun and a humiliating strikeout are both the same. One will enshrine you in the hall of fame forever, while the other will cause you to be scorn of millions. The motions of each are identical.

That’s one reason that success is so incredible — the very same effort could have resulted in utter failure. But even that is not enough. There was something even more that Rick Cole did that required an incredible amount of guts* to do this (*I would prefer to use a more crass term, but my mom might be reading).

In committing to this audacious dream, Rick Cole had to abandon fear of public criticism.

It’s not the fear of failure that stops people from doing great things, it’s the fear of criticism should the great idea become a failure. The courage to face the consequences of a bad idea is foundational to someone who changes the world.  

The difference between whether or not you will do something great is determined by how much you fear the criticism of people.

I am reminded of a great quote by Bill Johnson: “If you don’t live according to the praise of men, you will not die by their criticism.” 

I most admire Rick Cole not for the money that he raised nor the huge spotlight that has been shown on this issue. I admire Rick Cole because he publicly demonstrated what it means to be a servant of Christ while rejecting the immense pressure to please people.

It’s one thing to do something outrageous when you have zero audience. You’ll be lucky to have anyone remember your failure. Rick on the other hand, had an entire city watching — and they would remember this for a lifetime no matter the outcome.

This campaign is not only a homerun, it’s a grandslam. I am thankful for the lesson that in order to commit to something great, you must first abandon fear of criticism.  And for that, Rick Cole will forever be one of my heroes.

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!”

Here are three easy steps to create coupon codes that are set to apply per ticket; as well as, how to customize the per ticket discount.

Step 1: Edit your campaign, enter the coupon tab and select Add Coupon. There you will type in the coupon, the description and campaign you would like it to apply to; just as you would for any other coupon.

Step 2: Then you will enter the amount (fixed dollar or percentage) of the discount and choose either “percent off tickets” or dollar “amount per ticket”.Note: Only use these options if you actually are using the Ticket Box Field in the layout tab of your campaign.

Step 3: Once this option has been selected additional options will appear for you to select the specific type of ticket(s) that you want the coupon to apply to as well as additional customization options.Below you can see how the coupon will function on your form.

For any additional questions or clarification on the per ticket coupon code functionality; don’t hesitate to hop on the chat, email or call into our customer support. Phone: 888.317.4539 ext. 709

Who doesn’t love a good facelift? Referring, to your forms, of course! We recently updated the design tab with more templates to make designing your from a breeze.

To choose a graphic design template for your form, simply edit the campaign, then enter the Design tab and select “Try one of our free graphic design templates here.” There you can easily select or preview the designs that you would like to use to customize your form. Below are some of the templates to take note of.

Brand Spankin’ New Templates - Burbon, Canvas, Formaility, Simpleton Dark/Light, Wander lust

You will notice some of these templates have customized submit buttons, input fields, with new header and background images as well as additional CSS. Once a design is chosen feel free to customize it further by adjusting font styles, colors, header images and more!

Our team here at Webconnex always enjoys a swift kick in the pants from a good book. So much so, our Webconnex library of butt kicking books is constantly growing. We figured while we’re devouring these books we would share our favorites with you.

We recently read Fred Factor, by Mark Sanborn. Fred Factor is a quick and easy ready with a powerful message leaving you ready to make the most of every encounter, act of service and mundane task. The book features a postal delivery man named Fred and his knack for making the most ordinary of circumstances extraordinary. It covers who “Fred” is, how you can be a “Fred” and how to hire a “Fred”.                                    After reading Fred Factor, we sat down to chat about our individual takeaway’s from the book. It was fascinating, while not surprising, to see how we each connected with three different aspects from the book, all fitting with who we are and our role on our team.

Aaron, our intellectual, philosophical and harmonious Customer Support Ninja learned from Fred, what a difference one person can make performing even a menial task or job. This quote from the book summarizes it best, ”The person doing the work determines the difference between the mundane and the magnificent.” So something as simple as answering people’s questions over the phone can mean positive, memorable experiences when done with passion and excellence.

Maci our empathetic, Happiness Advocate, who loves investing in others, most resonated with this quote, “Be Kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a tough battle”, by Philo Judaeus. When we pick up a support phone call or answer an email, we must keep in mind that each person has a life that has led them to the moment of this conversation. This can drive their approach to their questions and we must be empathetic; because our response has the opportunity to add to their value and make their day brighter.

Ashley our enthusiastic, people oriented, and work centered Director of Awesome First Impressions, focused on how a “Fred” is the kind of employee who will give your company a competitive advantage. The work environment should cultivate the space to allow folks to take risks, be themselves and have some fun. You can also convert your job into one you love, not by doing a different job, but by doing the one you have differently!

We understand, not everyone has a nerdy knack for custom coding (me included).  Sometimes I walk in our developers’ office and feel as though I’ve just stepped into a scene from the Matrix. 

Get ready to have your nerd IQ jump a few notches as we show you a couple coding tricks to spice up your form.  Buckle up!  It’s about to get nerdy! HOW TO ADD A BORDER AROUND THE BODY OF YOUR FORM

Step 1:  Edit your formStep 2:  Click to the Design tab

Step 3:  Scroll down to “Additional CSS”

Step 4:  Copy and paste the below code into the Additional CSS field

.form_wrap border: 1px solid #000000; margin: 20px auto !important;

It should look something like this….

EDITING THE CODE:

Adjust border thickness:  Edit “border: 1px” to be a larger number ie “border: 7px”.

Adjust border color:  Edit “#00000″ If you’d like help finding the correct color code, you can click here: http://html-color-codes.info/

Shrink or grow the open space at the top of the form:  Edit “margin: 20px”  Make the number larger for a bigger space, or smaller for no space.

That wasn’t so terrible was it?  Now go make your form look awesome!  Your team will be shocked at your new nerdy knowledge.

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.

We can all agree a genuine thank you, goes a long way. Here are four things you can do to ensure donors feel appreciated after they have generously given to your organization.

1.  Tell donors how their funds directly impact the cause.  Give their donation a face value, this will provide your donor with confidence that their donation is making a difference and increase the chances of continued support.

2.  Explain to donors how their donations are impacting overall fundraising. Paint a picture of the progress, donations like theirs, have made, while also sharing your future goals can build your donors excitement for your organization.

3.  Give donors other opportunities to continually be involved. Now that they have given their money to your organization, they feel personally connected to your cause. Provide donors with opportunities to continually be involved with your organization, even in ways beyond financial investment.

4.  Ask for continued support. After thanking a donor, it is important to briefly explain why continued support is needed in order to help sustain your organization. Click here for more tips on how to gain confidence to ask.

Many of us were taught manners as children; one of these was, we must never impose or ask for too much. Instead, we should simply be thankful for what have. A successful non-profit organization can only exist by receiving donations from others; this requires us to step outside of our comfort zone. Here are five helpful ways to gain the confidence to ask in 2014!

1.  Know your facts. It is important to be knowledgeable about the cause your organization is fundraising for. When a potential donor is inquiring about your organization, you will be at ease to confidently provide the information needed to lead them to give.

2.  Be able to say in a few sentences why you are moved by the cause. Humans are emotional beings. When others express how the cause has moved them, it has the potential of pulling on the heart strings of the potential donor. This can lead to future donations and commitment to your organization.

3.  Address how you are invested in the cause. Explaining your evolvement will allow a potential donor to picture their potential investment in the organization; whether it be emotionally, financially, or physically.

4.  Give a specific need and tie a dollar amount to it. For example, "$150 donation will cover a week's worth of groceries for a family of four". Providing a donor with specifics of what their money is going toward makes their donation tangible.

5.  Ask. Just ask. No need to be afraid especially after preparing yourself with the above steps you will be ready to answer any question that my arise.

Bonus Tip! Now that you've asked, be sure to make giving super easy. Be prepared to email them a link or direct them on their smart phone where they can give.

Each year, Webconnex sets out to make waves in each industry in which we operate.  For the past 5 years, we have consistently broken personal records and grown at a steady pace.  This year, we are gearing up for what we believe will be our biggest year yet!

Here are some fun and some serious ways we plan on kicking butt in 2014!

We will be sure everyone stays amp’d for the awesomeness with our daily dose of Red Bull!

We will be announcing the release of our highly anticipated Webconnex 4.0 platform!

We will be getting fit – as a team!  Even our developers will be breaking a sweat while training for their first 5k.  (Stay tuned for photos and updates.  They are hilarious)

We will be changing the world with our incredibly innovative, never before seen features and functionalities.

We will be growing.  With the release of our new platform, we are already anticipating the influx of new sign-ups and want to ensure our growing client base continues to receive top notch support.  Again, stay tuned for the announcement of ‘Employee #9”, we are confident you will love him!

We will be actively posting on our blog with feature releases, announcements and great industry tips and tricks.

We will be giving back.  In 2014, Webconnex will donate a (soon to be announced) amount of money to some very worthy causes.  What we do day to day empowers us to multiply the efforts of others.

A very happy Thanksgiving from the Webconnex family. Today we especially want to thank our clients, because they are truly THE BEST around. We want to say thank you for the many ways you make our jobs awesome.

Thank you for swinging by our office just to say hi and to meet us in person.

Thank you for inviting us to attend your events.

Thank you for using your wit, simply to make us laugh.

Thank you for the sweet free swag!

Thank you for suggesting joint company ski trips with Webconnex.

Thank you for hopping on the chat just to say "Hi" and "You Rock".

Thank you for signing onto the chat as celebs like "Lady Gaga", "Eminem" or "Jennifer Anniston".

Thank you for sharing your love and excitement for Webconnex products to others.

Needing to restrict registration to only a select group of people? Use an invite code to ensure only those exclusively invited are allowed to register. 

Step 1. Once you have created a campaign using a template, you will need to edit the campaign, enter the layout tab then select the green Add button. There you will add a new Page under Design Elements. Next you will drag and drop all fields onto the second page beginning with the field on the top of your first page to ensure the fields are placed in the exact same order. Note : You may wan to leave a few of the basic information fields on the first page.

Step 2. Next, on page one, select the green Add button to add a Coupon Code field. You can label it Invite Code (or whatever is fitting for your event), then be sure to chose the option to make the field required. This means anyone who would like to get to the second page to register must provide an invite code to continue on. 

Step 3. In the layout tab you will add a Submit button to be placed at the bottom of the page, to ensure folks can actually make it to the second page of your form.

Step 4. Next you will actually need to create the invite code. Enter the coupons tab and select Add Coupon. Similar to an actual coupon code you can either simply have one coupon code and then control the supply to be limited if you would like; or you can select the option to import a unique series of coupon codes so that each individual will have their own unique code. Your first page of your form could look something like this.

With all online transaction experiences, efficiency and natural flow are key elements to keep in mind, in order to provide a streamlined process for customers. With every click of a mouse or switch of a page, there are mere seconds of opportunity for the distracted mind of your customer to rethink their transaction or move on from your website to the bazillion other websites they can access. It is always important to eliminate as many questions, concerns or hesitations your customer can run into throughout this process.

With Webconnex you can customize your forms to feel like an organic extension of your website, so that most of your customers will never even notice that they have moved from your website to our secure servers, when submitting their transaction. One small yet important part to creating a natural flow when linking a button or text on your website that will send folks to your registration, ticket sales or donation page; is to be sure the link is set to open in the same window and tab that they are currently using to browse your website.

We suggest walking through every step of the process your customer will experience. While doing so, ask your self if parts of the process are distracting or could potentially stir up confusion. Understanding what others will experience will help you make adjustments to streamline the process. Ultimately an easier and faster user experience will result in more successful transactions.