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Date: 6/17/2021 10:13 AM MST

Coming Soon! Google Core Web Vitals


 NOTE: This post was created by our preferred website platform, maWebCenters

Over the past few years, Google has used the unparalleled influence of its search algorithm to move the web in a more user-friendly direction. This is the reason why metrics, like mobile friendliness and page speed, are now included as ranking factors. This month, Google is poised to push for better usability on all websites with its Core Web Vitals initiative.

 

maWebCenters® has been preparing for Core Web Vitals for months, working behind the scenes to ensure the websites built on our platform are ready, and you don’t have to do a thing.

We’re very happy to report that, on average, more Oasis websites receive “Good” scores for two of these key metrics (Largest Contentful Paint and First Input Delay) than other industry competitors, based on data provided by the Google Chrome User Experience (CrUX) Report. Oasis websites also showed strong results for the other Core Web Vital (Cumulative Layout Shift), with further improvement expected in the coming months.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are new metrics from Google that are used to evaluate the performance of a web page. There are three Core Web Vitals that measure page load –speed, page responsiveness, and visual stability.

On live websites, Core Web Vitals are measured over a 28-day period, based on actual website visits. Google Lighthouse lab data and other tools can be used to estimate Core Web Vitals performance, but the release of Core Web Vitals marks the first time Google will use real-world data to evaluate page experience in this way.  Google will officially add Core Web Vitals as a search engine ranking factor this month (June 2021).

The three metrics that currently comprise Core Web Vitals are: 

  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – a metric that measures how long it takes for the largest image or text block visible within the viewport to display, relative to when the page first started loading.
  • First Input Delay (FID) ­– a metric that helps measure a visitor’s first impression of a website’s interactivity and responsiveness. For example, it measures the time from when a user first interacts with a page (i.e., Clicks on a link or taps on a button) to the time when the browser begins responding to that interaction.
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) ­– a metric that quantifies how often users experience unexpected shifts in website layout. These shifts are annoying and can harm the user experience. For example, if a user goes to click on a button and the position of that button moves because the layout moves, visitors will end up clicking on nothing.

Why do Core Web Vitals matter?

Core Web Vitals will be added as a ranking factor in Google’s search algorithm this month (June 2021). It’s expected that these scores will have a noticeable impact on the search rankings of websites around the world as the algorithm update is rolled out.

Web professionals that serve small businesses are particularly concerned with this Google update. “Roughly 92 percent of web pros feel these updates will eventually have a moderate to significant impact on their websites’ search rankings,” according to a recent study. In the same study, more than half of respondents indicated “the majority of their websites were not yet ready for any Google algorithm change that emphasized the importance of Core Web Vitals.”

Digital agencies and web professionals that prepare their websites now set themselves up to weather the rollout well and, potentially, improve search rankings. Those that fail to properly prepare risk seeing their websites drop in rankings, which will almost certainly lead to a decrease in website engagement, online conversions and monetizable transactions.

How do Oasis websites stack up against competitors?

The majority of Oasis websites consistently receive “Good” scores for all three Core Web Vitals. Additionally, a higher percentage of Oasis websites receive “Good” scores for the two speed metrics (LCP and FID) than other industry competitors.

  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – Oasis leads the pack in the percentage of websites built on its platform that receive “Good” LCP scores. 70.48% of Oasis websites receive a “Good” LCP score, solidly beating out Weebly, Wix and WordPress.
  • First Input Delay (FID) – More than 92% of Oasis websites receive a “Good” FID score. This is higher than any other industry competitor.
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – As of today, 68.72% of Oasis websites receive a “Good” score for CLS. Our team is dedicated to improving the scores of the websites built on our platform, and we expect to push that percentage even higher in the near future.

How has WebCenters prepared websites for Core Web Vitals?

 To ensure websites built on our platform are ready for Google’s new metrics, we have a dedicated team to continuously evaluate and improve the infrastructure that drives “Good” Core Web Vitals scores. Below are brief summaries of the steps taken.

Optimizations for LCP

Render-blocking CSS and JavaScript

  • Issue: Render-blocking CSS and JavaScript.

It used to be that when a visitor landed on an Oasis website, all of the website’s assets were downloaded in the <head> section. This is a blocking operation which halts the rendering process until all resources have been loaded – a potentially significant impediment to a good LCP score.

  • Solution: Implement critical CSS.

Oasis automatically calculates the necessary CSS to render above-the-fold content. This CSS chunk is inlined in the <head> section and doesn’t require any network calls. All other scripts and styles are moved down to the body end. This completely removes all render-blocking requests and provides a dramatic improvement to LCP.

Image Size Optimization

  • Issue: Image sizes that are not optimized.

Image files that are not properly optimized for the device they are being viewed on (e.g., Mobile) will take a lot longer to load than they should and result in a poor LCP score.

  • Solution: Resize and compress images.

All images loaded to Oasis go through an automatic, behind-the-scenes image resizing process using imagemagick. The proper image size is then served to the proper device type and container size. We also use lossy compression to reduce image file sizes. Lossy compression eliminates redundant data and can enable file size reduction by up to 80%. This optimization also applies to images that are included in custom widgets.

Bulk Image Loading vs. Lazy Loading

  • Issue: Loading all images at once.

Historically, all images (except in photo galleries) and widgets on Oasis web pages were fully loaded when a visitor landed on a page. This meant that if a website had a lot of images or widgets, it could take a few extra moments to load — obviously, a problem for LCP.

  • Solution: Lazy load images and widgets.

Now all images and widgets at the top of a website (above the fold) are marked as “important.” All remaining images (marked as “unimportant”) are set to load after the page finishes loading or as they come into view while scrolling.

Image File Type Optimization

  • Issue: Image file types are larger than required.

JPG and PNG files are used across every type of browser, which makes them universally applicable. However, there are now more compressed file types that deliver images more efficiently.

  • Solution: Serve WebP images when possible.

Oasis now converts uploaded images to the WebP format. WebP has about a 35% reduction in size as compared to JPGs, and has long been supported by Chrome with other browsers adding support all the time. We also ensure there are fallbacks in place for browsers that don’t support WebP yet.

CSS Loading Priorities

  • Issue: CSS loading priorities.

Browsers have to make many decisions about what type of content and resources to load and when. Oasis automatically generates all of the required styles needed to load above-the-fold content, so we already know which resources do not need to load first.

  • Solution: CSS loading priorities hints.

Oasis gives browsers hints about which resources they should prioritize when downloading page content. This helps browsers focus on the required content and resources for faster page loading.

Background Image Slider Optimization

  • Issue: Background slider image loading.

Background image sliders can be big and heavy to load, especially when there are multiple images that take up the same space on a web page. Previously, Oasis loaded all background images of a background image slider at the same time.

  • Solution: Optimize background image slider loading.

Oasis prioritizes loading the first image in the Image Slider, and then lazy-loads the other images, improving how quickly the first image loads.

Optimizations for CLS

Image Layout Shifting

  • Issue: Image layout shifting.

Image loading is the biggest cause of layout shifting on the web, because browsers have no way of knowing the dimensions/size of an image before it’s fully downloaded. So, once an image is actually downloaded, browsers load and shift all content around it.

  • Solution: Add image width & height.

Oasis automatically identifies the width and height of an image (even inside custom images), and sets these attributes on the image HTML tag, which allows browsers to reserve the right amount of space while the image downloads. It’s important to note that setting height and width does not make an image non-responsive. Instead, browsers use the image’s width/height attributes for calculating its aspect ratio so images automatically take up the correct space.

Loading Above-the-fold Fonts

  • Issue: Loading above-the-fold fonts.

Nearly every website today includes some form of custom fonts, usually from Google’s huge Font Library. Fonts are often big and heavy, and browsers usually first load a system font, such Arial, Georgia, Sans, etc. Once the custom font is done loading, the browser adds the custom font, something which causes the font to jump on the website, and has a negative impact on the visitor’s experience.

  • Solution: Embed fonts.

Oasis automatically detects which custom fonts are used in above-the-fold content on each page, downloads that font, and embeds it directly into the HTML of the page (up to a max size of 50kb). This means browsers don’t need to go and fetch the custom font and can display it immediately.

Cookie Notification Placement

  • Issue: Cookie notification placement.

In the past, cookie notifications were displayed above the header with an animation, pushing all the content down. This resulted in CLS.

  • Solution: Place cookie notifications at the bottom of pages.

We changed our cookie notification to be positioned at the bottom of the viewport and be displayed as an overlay. It uses CSS animations which are not considered as layout shifts.

Photo Gallery Layout Shifting

  • Issue: Photo gallery layout shifting.

Photo galleries with lots of images can vary in height due to the lazy loading. Many galleries change their height while scrolling as the default behavior. Also, photo gallery widgets load dynamically based on their settings.

  • Solution: Set min-height.

Oasis sets the min-height CSS property of the photo gallery to reserve space on the page for loading the photo gallery. This prevents content below the gallery from being pushed down as the images load, something which would cause the layout to shift.

Optimizations for Both LCP & CLS

Widgets with Images

  • Issue: Widget image sizing.

Many widgets, especially those built using the Widget Builder, feature images. Previously, these images were not sized to the correct screen size and did not automatically have width/height dimensions added to them.

  • Solution: Optimize images in widgets.

The image width/height improvements described above are now implemented for images within widgets, too.

Conclusion

The addition of Core Web Vitals to its algorithm is likely to be one of the most impactful Google search updates the industry has seen over the past few years. We can also expect the company to continue pushing web developers and designers to improve user experiences on web pages as time goes on.

Now is the time to address these vitally important SEO imperatives on the websites you manage. The last thing you want is to wake up the day after the update and realize all of your customers’ websites have lost ground in search engine results pages.

However, if you’re building websites with Oasis, there’s no reason to worry! maWebCenters has your back and proactively handles many of the optimization tasks necessary for “Good” Core Web Vitals scores.

If you are looking to update your website to our platform, you can check out our website features and request a demo of our platform.


Posted by danwidth | Post a Comment

Date: 10/5/2020 3:43 PM MST

5 Must-Haves for the Best Barber and Beauty Professional's websites

 When you are in the beauty industry, staying on top of the trends is a must. Every year, every season, you must be aware of what is the new style, then new look, the new....everything. In order to keep up with the trends, you gotta go to events and do your research so that your new and prospective clients know that when they show you a picture and say, "can you make me look like that?!?" They know you can deliver.

Your website is one way that you can convey that. Since your audience is Tech savvy. your website should be too. Here are a few "must haves" for your website in the Beauty Industry.

Social Media Feed

Many stylists and beauticians rely heavily on Social Media to engage with their audience. While that is a fantastic way to do that, it is limited to the people that you currently know. If your website has your social media feed embedded in it, your posts are automatically updated to your websites so someone how finds your site can see and become a new follower right from your website. Our website editor makes putting your feed into your site a snap.


Blog

This is the best way to reach new clients who are searching for something educational. Creating a blog allows you to create an impulse purchase based on an educational topic. For example, Let's say you are a barber and you write a blog about the "Benefits of Using a Beard Elixir."  Wouldn't it be awesome if there was a way for someone to purchase that right from the blog, you didn't need to pack or ship it, and you received a referral fee? That is a WIN-WIN-WIN!! Kinda of like what you see below. Go ahead, you can try it out.

Online Scheduling/Click to Call/Online Chat

Now that they've found your site, engage with them right there. Your mobile site should all ow them to call you, or your desktop site can give them an option to chat or send you a message on your site, or better yet, integrate your schedule so they can book a service right there. That frees up you to keep doing what you do best.

Reviews

Word of mouth advertising is the best. If you take care of your customers, they will take care of you. If you DON'T take care of your customer they will ALSO take care of you. One is far better than the other. Posting your reviews right on your site will allow your new clients to be able to see what kind of service they can expect from you.


Exclusive Products

This a game changer. Salons and Stylists can build share of customer by offering a products purchase to their clients, but what happens when they run out, they search for it online and buy there, often cheaper than in your salon. What if you could offer exclusive product that they can only get through you, even if they went somewhere else? Imagine offering a beauty cocktail that encourages skin, hair, and nail health with a recipe that you give them that has a QR Code so they can order directly through you. Or maybe while the color treatment is setting you are whipping up a custom matched foundation that they can only get through you. 

At Danwidth, we specialize in creating a beautiful, engaging websites and pairing you with exclusive products that build your share of customer. Give us a call and we can start the conversation that can build your beauty business so you can work smarter without working harder

Posted by danwidth | Post a Comment

Date: 9/24/2020 6:09 PM MST

Are You Getting the Most out of Your Blog?


Do you have a Blog? Maybe you publish recipes. Maybe you need to explain what your "Iron Clad Guarantee" is. Blogs are a great way to find new customers, and engage with current ones. Blogs are a great way to increase your SEO and drive traffic to your existing website. Once you have a post written, you can repurpose that content into social media posts

Do you know what you want to say?

Most people don't fancy themselves as writers, but one thing a business owner LOVES to do is talk about their own business. My good friend, Dave Young has developed a great brainstorming activity where you can generate a YEARS worth of blog post topics in an hour. You can check it our for free over at his website. Now that you have some topics, just jot down what you would want people to know about it. If you have trouble with that, Dave has a service where he can pull that out of you, too. We also have content writing services as well here.

Now that you have a post, you can share that with your current audience through an email newsletter, social media, text marketing, or, well.....however you want.

Add More Value....to you

Now that you are in the groove of posting valuable content regularly. You can enhance your post to your audience by providing pertinent product placement (That's a lot of P's). While people are reading your post, you can embed contextual products that if someone should happen to make a purchase, you receive a referral fee. We do this with an APN widget. APN stands for Affiliate Publisher Network. It connects to a large internet retailer with millions of products that you can customize the widget to show a selection of product that match to the content you are posting about. Maybe you're an insurance business, and your post about distracted driving could show some phone dash mounts. It's up to you, and it's FREE. There's no inventory to purchase, hold, or sell. You only get paid when someone makes a sale through your blog. It's a great way to add an additional stream of revenue for something you are already doing anyway.

Shoot us an e-mail at dan@danwidth.com and we can help you get started!

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Date: 3/30/2020 11:55 AM MST

4 Options for Keeping Cash Flow Incoming When Your Doors are Closed

We are in day (whatever) of the COVID-19 pandemic, and every day brings new challenges to businesses. As states and municipalities issue more and more “stay at home” guidelines and ask “non-essential” businesses to temporarily close their doors, I can’t help but wonder about the types of businesses that exist based on close contact. Hair & Nail salons, massage therapists, Acupuncturist, anyone who needs to touch their client, is literally shut down. restaurants and bars, are only open for delivery and take out. Businesses are having to find ways to become creative and adapt in order to survive.

We want to help! We found some resources that might help you navigate this season of your business.

Option #1 Apply for an SBA loan. 

Maybe you just need an influx of cash. My friend, Matthew Fulton and his Partner, Michael Snelson) of Parkway Business Solutions created a great video to guide you through this process. he also issues updates to keep you up to date on this ever changing scenario

Option #2: Intuit and GoFundMe

Intuit (maker of QuickBooks) has partnered with GoFundMe to help you receive donations from all of it's employees as well as others looking to help out a business. Click here for their landing page so you can find out more information. They are donating funds and providing employee selected donations to assist you in this time.


Option #3: Take your business online.

E-Commerce is a fantastic way to remain relevant and solvent during this time. We have an end-to-end retail solution that can take your "Brick and Mortar" store to "Click and Order" Click here for more information. Send us an email if you have any questions. Online ordering and delivery is a way your customers can order from you, but you need to have an easy check out option so that nothing gets lost in the shuffle. Adding on online shopping cart is one way, however it may not seamlessly integrate into your current business workflows.


Option #4: Sell Gift Certificates

Buy now service later. If you can be with your clients now, maybe they can pre-pay for services through gift certificates. Our websites have a free option where you can set that up, but if you can't sell them online now, reach out to me and we can set you up with a free landing page through my own website so you can use that for the time being until you can begin meeting with clients.

Posted by danwidth | Post a Comment

Date: 3/16/2020 3:38 PM MST

What's your Plan B?

Here we are in the midst of one of the worst downward spirals one can imagine. Businesses are being shut down, entire industries are being impacted, schools closed, and people being required to work from home. Tomorrow I'm sure there will something else no one ever thought of. Yesterday, I was reading a community forum post where one of the commenters owned a skating rink. This current climate is crippling them. People in the beauty industry are dealing with cancellations from close contact reactions. It's a scary time. The scariest part is we don't know how long it will last and what it will look like on the other side.

I read Multiple Streams of Income many years ago. The basic concept is that your wealth is like a lake. In order to keep your lake full, you should have many streams feeding into it. That way if one stream stops flowing, you are not crippled and slip into a crisis.

The main streams are:

  • Salary - Your main source of trading time for money
  • Investing in the Stock Market - Making your money work for you. There are a variety of strategies laid out in the book
  • Real Estate - Again there are multiple different strategies laid out in the book. 
  • Network Marketing - Yes network marketing. The key here is finding the right company so you don't lose your shirt
  • Infopreneuring - Being an expert and finding an avenue for people to pay for your kind of information - YouTube is full of these.
  • Licensing - Creating something that pays you residually when other people buy it.
  • The Internet - Buying/Selling Products on the web.
Most people have one (maybe 2) streams. If those streams are the first two on this list, well, you get the picture. Real Estate takes money and practice, as do Infopreneuring, Licensing, and the Internet in order to come up with ideas and implement them. Network Marketing seems to be the only thing left that can be implemented in a short period of time, but which one?? Only you can answer that, but one thing is clear today. Online shopping will surely benefit from the current landscape even more so than in the past. Shopping online is about the only way we can navigate this landscape of social distancing. 

What is your Plan B? What is your additional stream in these uncertain times? Have you found something? If you are looking, here's what I'm doing now. I feel it's a perfect alignment of the current landscape, market trends, and personal habits. The company aligns with this multiple streams of income philosophy so I don't have to abandon the company, just shift focus. I'd love to hear your feedback on it.

Posted by danwidth | 1 Comment

Date: 3/11/2020 8:21 AM MST

Next Day Funding with QBO Payments - Can it be true??

I've been seeing a lot of questions about the funding time with QBO Payments lately, which means I've been answering the same questions over and over about the funding time with QBO Payments. So I thought it would be a good idea to put all those answers in one place, but first a story.

Yesterday I was on-site doing some installation work for a new desktop client (Thank you Becky H. for the referral!!) after the work was done, my plan was to send them an invoice from QBO and give them the option to get paid. They were a little apprehensive about paying anything online, nothing wrong with that. She asked, "Do you take credit cards?" Of COURSE I do!!! I converted their estimate to an invoice, and took the payment right there all from within my QBO App. Bookkeeping....done!! Billing...done!! Payments received....done!! This morning I wanted to check the bank balances and I was a little surprised to find that the money had already been deposited. (insert ka-ching sound here). The time between CC charge and money deposited was less that 24 hours. Woohoo!! The added benefit of the transactions being recorded as a deposit in my QBO is even more exciting.

Since there is a little confusion around the funding times, I thought I'd gather what I know and what's out there to make a comprehensive resource, so here goes:

First keep in mind that this is dealing with QBO payments. If you have QB Desktop, there is likely a different story, but I would guess that desktop payment accounts will catch up soon enough, but who knows.

Next Day Funding Explained

It's important to note that the speed of the funds is not actually going faster, but the funding source is changed. Knowing the "behind the scenes" process, might help explain what you're experiencing. In order to accomplish next day funding, the payment process, in this case Intuit, will speed of the funds in your account by "fronting" you the money. They will deposit the amount in your bank account, and recover those funds from the payee. That means if the transaction doesn't go through, Intuit, not you is now out the funds. Trying to recover the funds is much harder than depositing the initial transaction so Intuit needs to ensure that this risk is minimized. Will it still happen? sure, but this is the best option for all parties.

Deposit speed at Gear>Account & Settings>Payments
Ultimately both credit cards AND ACH payments are supposed to be funded next day, but when you start an account, it can take some time to get there. You can check your current funding time in your QBO, by going to the Gear>Account and Settings>Payments.  That will show you what your current funding delay is. New Accounts created after 5/21/2019 are set to 1 day for Credit Cards, and 5 days for Bank Transfer (ACH). Here is the best article out there that explains this process. If yours says next business day, HOORAY!! If you charge a card or Bank Transfer before 3PM PST, the funds will be in your bank account the next day.

But what if it's not?? 


How do I get it to be 1 Business day? Let's talk about possible reasons why it's not at the "promised land" and steps you can take to correct it.

Older account - If you've been using QBO payments for some time, your funding setting might not have flipped over, you can opt in, there should have been an email or prompt within the software to switch. So you might have missed it, disregarded it, or never received it. Your best option is to to contact Intuit Payment support and ask if you can be switched. If the answer is no, you can sign up for a new account. If you have an older account, your rates might be higher than they need to be. I can help you get lower rates with a new account.

Lower rates than applying within product

You are in the "Review period" - For newer accounts, your transactions might be being reviewed. There is nothing you can do to speed up this process. You simply have to wait it out. Let me explain:

In an effort to speed up the on-boarding precess, Intuit has changed their policy which has some great benefits to decrease the time from "Account approved" to "Accepting your first payment." Once your account is approved and connected to your QBO, you can take a payment right away. These first payments are then manually reviewed for consistency by Intuit's risk team. Basically they are looking for abnormalities, or red flags. These could include, high dollar transactions, multiple transactions to the same card, transactions to the business owner, etc. During this review process. the funding delay is usually 4-5 days for BOTH credit card and bank transfer. So if you have many transactions, they will all be help up in this review process until that first transaction is deposited, then all others behind it will be deposited and you will be switch to next day funding for credit cards. Bank Transfers are reviewed independently, because the rules are different. chargebacks and dispute timelines and risks are much higher so it takes longer to establish a good history. That process could take 1-4 weeks. Yes, I said weeks!!! Once you're out of this period, you'll get an email and you'll see the Deposit Speed setting update automatically.

Hopefully that helps explain the funding delay quandary out there. Feel free to ask questions in the comment. Here is an article about common question in general about QBO Payments. I also created an entire course on QBO Payments as well to walk you though every step of the way.


Posted by danwidth | Post a Comment

Date: 1/15/2020 9:01 AM MST

7 Uses for Text Marketing in Business

As we roll into the new decade, the way we communicate continues to roll with us. Study after study is reporting that people prefer texting over voice communication, from 2011, it was 33% of all people to 2016 report of 75% of millennials, it is clear that this trend is not diverting anytime soon. The studies give various reasons why this preference is so, such as:

  • Convenience
  • Easy to remember
  • Less Stressful
  • Easier than voice mail
As a business, communication with your new and existing customers is key, especially if you are in a long buying cycle. When it comes time to buy whatever you have to offer, you will want to be on the top of their mind when it comes time to make that decision. Staying in communication with your customers is a key part of that. You might create social media posts, but if they don't engage with you, it might never be seen. You might send a newsletter, but email is soon going the way of direct mail. If you can connect with your customer in a way they prefer, that would be a win-win. Here are some applications.

Deadlines - If you are a business that works on date driven deadlines for your clients (Accounting, Bookkeeping, Taxes, etc), texting all your clients at once would be a create way to communicate. "I need your bank statements" "1099's are due" can be sent all or some of your clients to keep them up to date on what's coming up to avoid surprises.

Announcements - New offerings or services, grand openings, introducing new employees, weather-related closures can be sent to your customers. Seasonal updates like "Time to change your heating filters" that are value added news for your customers is also a good was to stay in touch.

Promotions - Happy hour, coupon codes, promotional sales can be blasted out to your new and repeat customers in a way they prefer to be communicated with on a device they have with them all the time so they can easily find you and redeem the promotion.

Appointments - Confirming appointment, cancelations, rescheduling can be done from a reception area by anyone who can access the texting service.

General info about business - Hours of operation, location, links to your website for more information can be sent to your customers.

Sending Quotes - You can communicate with customers during a project to keep them updated in a way that multiple people can see the entire communication.

Customer Service - Set up auto replies based on keywords to be able to streamline your business practices. multiple people can carry on a single conversation so one person does not have to wonder what was said to a customer.

Text marketing is valuable, but also not giving out your personal mobile number is priceless. There are a lot of texting services out there, but here at Danwidth, we offer one that is comprehensive, customizable, and affordable. Morse Connect is a great way to communicate with your customers through texting without adding a huge learning curve. It's easy to get started, no contracts, and no overage fees. Give us a call  or schedule a consultation if you have any questions on this service. Happy Texting!!


Posted by danwidth | Post a Comment

Date: 1/9/2020 10:35 AM MST

Ala Carte or Buffet? What makes our Websolution different?

If you know anything about me, I like to eat (insert #nomnomnom here0. Most of my analogies revolve around food. That's when I realized how this analogy relates to our website solution, it really hit home (stomach) for me.

When I talk to people about what I do, I compare myself to a waiter. I talk to businesses, find out what they are hungry for, and offer up a menu of solutions. I then take those solutions back to the , where our master chefs prepare and plate those solutions for me to serve. I'm not a designer, I'm not a coder, I'm not a marketer, but I have all of those back in the kitchen. I just need to know what a business is "hungry" for.

I saw this blog post about what makes our websolution unique, and this part really brings it home:

"No other company offers everything maWebCenters provides.  There are website-builders, web designers, hosting companies, email marketing companies, social media agencies, SEO firms, and full-scale marketing agencies, but maWebCenters pulls all of the resources, tools, technologies, and support under one roof. This makes managing an online presence simple, effective, and streamlined."

 This made me realize that our solution is like a buffet, a smorgasbord if you will, of offerings all under one roof. When you go to your favorite restaurant, and you pick what you want off the menu, you get to eat, but if you want to customize, add more, or have dessert, there will be an upcharge for that. When you go to buffet, you can put on your plate exactly what you want to the first time, and go back for more if you want to try something different. Drinks and dessert are included. Our websolution is a buffet of everything you could possibly want for your online presence. There's no limits on pages, changes, bandwidth, storage, email addresses, or tech support. It's all you can "eat."

 If you're tired of picking your websolution ala carte off the menu and would like to come to the buffet, Schedule a free consultation to see if you like what "in the kitchen!!"


Posted by danwidth | Post a Comment

Date: 7/17/2019 8:18 AM MST

Getting Paid Faster and Save Money with QuickBooks Payments



Getting paid from your customer can be a real hassle. If you have to wait for someone to pay you, it ties up your cash flow and has an impact of all of your business workflows. I created a video overview of a better way!!


Now, If you are billing your customers from QuickBooks, setting up a QuickBooks payments account will help you get paid faster because it makes it extremely easy for your customers to pay you whether it’s in person, online, or over the phone. You’ll be able to accept all major credit cards as well as bank transfers. You can even set up recurring transactions. The fees are competitive from all other payment processors, and the best feature of using QuickBooks payments is the integration into your QuickBooks. Using a payment account will automatically download and apply payments to invoices and make deposit transactions for you, and track the fees for you as well. Speaking of fees, I am partnered with one of the largest Solution Providers in the country and we pass along our volume discounts to you. Click this link to ensure you are getting the best possible rates for life!! 

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Date: 2/15/2019 11:41 AM MST

Well?!? How did I get here?

The Talking Head's "Once in a Lifetime" asks that poignant question. As I sit and reflect on it, I believe we all can take an inventory of the life choices we've made that have resulted in arriving "Here." I wanted to take a little time and reflect on one of the major choices that put me where I am today, the decision to partner with maWebCenters.

 For those that don't know, maWebCenters is a division of Market America that provides a complete web solution for small and medium sized businesses. maWebCenters offers a suite of B2B services covering everything that a small business would want to increase traffic to their website, as well as their physical location. In the future, I'll take a deeper dive into some of these services, but the main idea is I have access to leverage all of these services from day 1.

 maWebCenters has afforded me the opportunity to "Learn as I Earn." I don't have to know everything. As time goes on, and I become more familiar with the platform, I can keep the areas I am comfortable with and still leverage the teams of professionals to handle things I am still learning, or not at all. That is the beauty of this relationship, the choice is up to me. I don't have to be an expert, I just need to know where to go to find the answer, which is usually as simple as a phone call or chat. This affords other people the opportunity to add this division into their existing business to leverage this powerful and lucrative revenue stream.

 My first job out of college was for a water treatment company (think the Culligan Man). Basically my job was to canvass neighborhoods, going door-to-door in the summer in Phoenix to collect water samples. I would then qualify the samples, test the water, and then hand off to the appointment department who would call them and book an appointment for the sales team. My scope of work was to find the right people, to weed out the renters, people who already treated their water, or the people just not interested. That is precisely what I'm doing with my relationship with maWebCenters. I am merely qualifying their needs and then handing that off to the right team of professionals. The sales, design, marketing, and customer care teams are already established. I'm simply "collecting the water samples" and then leveraging the pros to handle the rest.

In June of 2018, there was a training on maWebCenters in Phoenix. I took the training to see what this division was all about, and it immediately spoke to me as a great division to get into. My plan was to get started after the Greensboro convention. As fate would have it, they were offering a free activation to maWebCenters promotion, just like they are now. If you are thinking to get into this division, now is a great time because the cost to get started is eliminated.

 So now what?? What's next?? I've started, but what do I do?? For me, I joined BNI, it was a great way to market my business and build relationships. The business model for both BNI and maWebCenters aligns. Sit down with business owners to learn more about their business and try to see how you can help each other. For me it has been a great way to start. I would highly encourage you to join a chapter, but there are other networking groups, chamber of commerce, etc. that will put you in front of other businesses to work with. Once you activate your WebCenter, you can register for the Level-Up contest which will provide you with weekly trainings, accountability partners, and incentives to get you off on the right foot

 For me, this division aligns with my passions and current network of people. I worked in the Accountant division of a tech company for over a decade and am very excited to expand my business with the WebCenter Pro Partnership. The internship program is also a fantastic way to duplicate and expand your business providing a risk free way for someone to launch themselves into this division.

 So you may ask yourself, "Where does that highway go to?" There is is no way of knowing unless you get in the car and start the engine. If you you don't try, life will be "Same as it ever was."

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