Shopee to focus on growing market share in SEA

read the original version on: www.retailnews.asia

Singaporean online shopping business Shopee is aiming to boost its market share in Southeast Asia. The firm is targeting an expected exponential increase in the number of online shoppers in the region, according to a recent interview published in Yahoo Finance Singapore with Shopee’s CCO Zhou Junjie. “We believe that there should be a lot […]

The post Shopee to focus on growing market share in SEA appeared first on Retail News Asia.

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Top 5 eCommerce Posts for October

Every Company Should Have Some Type of Employee Recognition Culture. – Inc. Employee recognition is widely recognized as an important tool for encouraging employees to do their best work 7 SEO ‘Rules’ to Ignore for Ecommerce – Practical Ecommerce Search engine optimization tools have evolved into measuring hundreds of variables. But not all of them […]

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Posti opens Box, ecommerce-focused premises

Tomorrow, Posti will open a new premises in Helsinki, which is focused on ecommerce for its consumer customers and online retailers. The initiative, called Box, is equipped with fitting rooms, a big parcel locker and a digital kiosk.

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4 Spooky Black Hat SEO Tactics You Need to Avoid

In the world of search engine optimization, there’s a menacing, ghoulish tale that Search Engine Specialists tell late at night around the eerie, incandescent glow of our computer screens. It involves a shift-shaping creature so macabre it incites the deepest of fears among those of us who work diligently on the tangled and twisted web sphere. This frightening creature crawls websites inflicting damage so significant it impacts the overall organic health of your website. What is this creature? It’s the terrifying Black Hat of SEO!

If you’re not shaking in your pants by now, then let us delve into this grisly tale. Since the rise of search engine rankings, there have been those that have attempted to game the system for a more favorable position in search engine results. Over time, however, search engines have improved their algorithms (a set of signal updates to determine the authoritativeness and reputation of your website), in order to make the web safer and more useful. Many of these unannounced updates have even included a series of penalties to “punish” websites who utilize these deceptive practices. In the spooky spirit of Halloween, we’re here to warn you about some Black Hat SEO tactics that, whether purposefully or not, do much more harm than good and should be avoided!

1. Keyword Stuffing

The foundation of much common SEO knowledge is the utilization of keywords and while well-researched keywords are a great way to optimize your website, more is definitely not better. Keyword stuffing is referred to as over-optimizing and search engines have been staunch in advocating against it. Avoid stuffing your title tags, meta descriptions and on-page content with a slew of keywords separated by commas. A general guideline is about 70 characters for the title tag and about 155 characters for the meta description. Utilize a free, online tool to craft these tags! For on-page content, write a few paragraphs of helpful information that a customer will find valuable. Focus on readability and overall usefulness.

Even if a customer does land on your page because of this deceptive strategy, they will more than likely quickly bounce from your site since the page does not offer what they were looking for.

2. Keyword Irrelevancy

Another tactic to avoid is utilizing keywords that don’t relate to your product or category in an attempt to rank for that key term. Even if a customer does land on your page because of this deceptive strategy, they will more than likely quickly bounce from your site since the page does not offer what they were looking for, further damaging your site’s authoritativeness. Search engines are also a lot faster in determining the true subject of each web page. It’s a lose-lose situation. Instead, focus on keyword quality and choose keywords that are relevant to each page of your website and products.

3. Duplicate Content

Utilizing duplicated content on your category and product descriptions can be tempting, especially if you are selling items that you have not manufactured. You understand that content is important so borrowing these lines of text may seem like an easy fix. However, duplicate content may lead to a weakening of your website’s trust factor because when there are multiple versions of the exact same content, search engines have to choose which version is more relevant. This relevancy could be determined by which is older, has more traffic, or has a higher trust metric. If you have only recently opened your ecommerce store, this probably means your site won’t be chosen. Search engines favor useful AND unique content. Take some time to write unique product description where applicable. You’ll have a much better chance at being organically found.

Before you click that "Create” button on a random business directory, take into consideration the quality of that site.

4. Creating Low-Quality Directory Links

If you have some familiarity with the importance of a quality backlink profile, it might be tempting to create business listings on online business directories in order to garner a link back to your website or you might feel the need to create a business listing because if seems like “everyone else has a profile.” We’re here to dispel that myth. Before you click that "Create” button on a random business directory, take into consideration the quality of that site. If it’s a local business directory and you don’t have a brick and mortar location where you actually sell products, then you really don’t have to create it. There are instances where business owners receive surprise visits from customers to their warehouses because they found a business directory saying the business was open and decided to pop in! Remember, all links are not created equal. Just like you shouldn’t write content that is not applicable to your site, don’t build links that are not applicable to your business.

Don’t get caught up the rank: a better measure of your success is your traffic numbers and revenue.

If you have utilized these tactics in the past, there is a curse to this curse. With diligent White Hat SEO tactics that include building a robust, long-term strategy, your site can begin to gain SEO traction once more. However, a better tactic is not to utilize them at all. It’s also important to remember that page rank is only one of hundreds of other factors that contribute to the visibility of your website. Don’t get caught up the rank: a better measure of your success is your traffic numbers and revenue. You don’t have to be number one for each one of your keywords in search engine results to be profitable. Remember to approach the optimization of your website by writing and creating content with a customer in mind. Search engines are constantly tweaking these algorithms to reward websites that are useful to humans! They are after all the ones that will be pulling out their credit cards to buy your product, so aim to provide a pleasant user experience from your website’s template to the category names.

Happy Halloween, and Happy Selling!

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Wix vs WordPress: Which Comes Out on Top?

No doubt you’ve been browsing the web for a while, and on your journey through the digital universe, you'll have come across the names of two website builders: Wix and WordPress. If you're thinking about launching a website, these were likely the first two providers to pop into your head. In light of that, we're here to outline Wix vs WordPress so you can see exactly what these two giants can do for you.

So, read on for a comprehensive review of both services. Wix vs WordPress! Which will it be for you?

What's a Website Builder?

If you’re new to all things web design, you'd be forgiven for thinking the process of building a website was somewhat elusive and complex. This couldn't be further from the truth.

With the help of a website builder, you'll need next-to-no programming or design skills. So, this begs the question; what's a website builder, and what can it do for you?

Back in the good old days, creating a website was no easy task. You needed to know how to write HTML and CSS code, perhaps even some Javascript, to make a site perform and look as you intended it to.

Each line of text, each box, and the image would need to be placed by numerically indicating the padding and margins between each element. Sounds complicated, right?

Luckily nowadays, there are several website builders and content management systems available to us.

These services provide user-friendly and visual interfaces for you to create a website. Often, you start with an existing ‘theme.' This assures a cohesive design across the entirety of your website. From there, you can then add your own content to the template by altering the text, adding images, etc.

Some website builders still allow you to edit the HTML and CSS code via the backend of their program. Needless to say, you'll have to do this manually. This is great for entrepreneurs who want more control over the design and functionality of their website.

While other website builders are entirely based on a drag and drop system, this sort of web page editor lets you grab an element you like and place it somewhere on the page.

With most website builders, you can be up and running within an hour. Free plans are often accompanied by banner advertising on your website promoting your chosen software, fewer features, and limited storage space. This is why most entrepreneurs eventually upgrade from the free plan to one of their website builder's premium packages.

Now we know what a website builder can do for you, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty of this review: Wix vs WordPress.

Wix

Wix was created in 2006, as one of the earliest and most successful follow-ups to WordPress. Wix has become famous through its advertisement campaigns, and its name's often dropped by big-time content creators who use this platform to fuel their site.

The website builder prides itself on its easy-to-use drag and drop interface. This gives you plenty of freedom to customize a design to complement your artistic tastes. With over 150 million users worldwide, Wix is a market-leading and well-recognized kit for building websites.

Below you’ll find the different premium plans and what you can expect from them.

Pricing

The Free Plan ($0):

If you opt for Wix's free package, this what you'll get:

• Wix website ads and favicon plastered all over your site
• Your website URL displayed on a Wix subdomain.
• 500 MB of storage
• A choice of over 400 templates
• Complete design functionality

The Combo Plan ($13 a month):

This package is intended for personal use.

• 2 GB worth of bandwidth
• 3 GB worth of storage
• You can connect and use your own web domain
• None of Wix's ads on your site
• 30 video minutes
• A free web domain for one year (this comes in handy if you don't already have one)

The Unlimited Plan ($17 a month):

This is best for freelancers and entrepreneurs.

• Unlimited bandwidth
• 10 GB worth of storage
• One video hour
• $300 ad vouchers
• Access to the Site Booster and Visitor Analytics Apps

The Pro Plan ($22 a month):

Everything in the previous plans, plus:

• 20 GB of storage
• Two video hours
• A professional logo
• Social media logo files
• An events calendar

The VIP Plan ($39 a month):

This is Wix‘s most expensive website package. Needless to say, you'll get all the features in the above plans as well as priority response and VIP support from Wix's customer care team.

Wix also offers several premium plans that are created explicitly with ecommerce and business in mind. These plans are all commission-free and allow users to accept online payments. As they're all higher-tier payment plans, they all include unlimited bandwidth, the option of connecting your own web domain, none of Wix's ads, as well as access to Google Analytics and ad vouchers.

Here are the key differences:

Business Basics ($23 a month):

• 20 GB storage
• Five video Hours

Business Unlimited ($27 a month):

• 35 GB storage
• Ten video hours
• Social media logo files
• A professional Logo

Business VIP ($49 a month):

• 50 GB storage
• Unlimited video hours
• Priority response
• VIP support

Enterprise ($500 a month)

This is what Wix call their ‘end-to-end business solution,' and it provides you with the following:

• The benefits of planning, developing, and launching your project (or scaling an existing one) with the advice of the pros at Wix.
• It's easy to track, optimize, and scale your business because your project is monitored continually
• You can safeguard your site with Wix's yearly security audits and sophisticated web protection features.
• You can communicate directly with a dedicated expert

The Advantages of Wix

• Even on the cheapest plans, Wix gives you access to hundreds of themes that can be easily customized and altered. These themes are categorized into portfolios, blogs, personal websites, etc., so you can quickly find the right professional look for your website.
• The interface is easy to use thanks to its full drag and drop editor. Creating a website doesn’t take long, and no coding skills are required to use any of Wix's features.
• Wix has an app store that lets you easily integrate plugins into your site.
• Wix has a blog feature with an easy-to-use editor.
• Wix walks you through ways to improve your SEO and allows you to quickly name all your files and images to enhance your ranking.
• Ecommerce functionality is already built-in with the Business and Ecommerce premium plans.

The Drawbacks of Wix

• Customization beyond the drag and drop design features is limited. So, more sophisticated features may be missing.
• Simplistic templates are hard to customize (in-depth).
• A lack of blogging features (beyond posts and categories). The blog post editor is also less advanced, with fewer options for modifying the layout.
• Wix allows you to edit the mobile view of your website separately. But, the success of this depends partly on the theme you've chosen. Namely, because without full customizability options or access to the code, it's challenging to achieve the perfect look on mobile.

Who Should Use Wix?

Wix is a great website builder for anyone who cares for a plentiful choice of easy-to-customize and professional template designs. It's user-friendly, which makes it quick and intuitive to use. All in all,  it's a good call for beginners and anyone wanting to avoid the programming side of things.

Its built-in ecommerce features on the higher-tier plans are also great for small brick and mortar businesses who want to start selling online.

WordPress

WordPress is the most famous and undoubtedly the most powerful blogging and content management system on the internet. Not only is it used to power 33% of sites on the web, but you'll also no doubt recognize many of its users; The Obama Foundation, The City University of New York, Canada.com — just to name a few!

It was released 16 years ago, so it's had plenty of time to gain experience and traction. So, if you’re serious about creating a website and committed to building a professional brand, there's absolutely no doubt that WordPress is an excellent choice (providing you use it correctly). The features and options available are virtually endless.

Many years ago, WordPress was primarily a tool for creating blogs. But since then, it's advanced to becoming one of the go-to options for businesses, ecommerce, portfolios, and much, much more.

It’s worth clarifying; there are two different WordPress services:

1. WordPress.org

This is an open-source content management system, so it's entirely free to use, and its code's accessible for anyone to work on. This service allows for full customization as you can dive right in and alter the PHP code.

Consequently, WordPress’ full power unfolds to those with a bit of programming know-how. With some experience in web design and coding, this version of WordPress can be used without limitations.

2. WordPress.com

On the other hand, WordPress.com is a website builder that more easily compares to Wix. But, on the lower tier plans, you don’t enjoy the same level of customizability that the open-source software offers. You don’t, however, need any programming knowledge to create a website using WordPress.com.

With their paid plans, this service provides you with web hosting and a whole array of features. So, if you're a beginner, you don't have to waste your time and energy learning how to code.

💡 You should note: As WordPress.com is the service more similar to what Wix provides, this is what we'll focus on in this article.

Pricing

WordPress.com has several different plans. Put simply, the more you pay, the greater number features you get — which, when you think about it, makes sense.

However, there's a free plan you can get started with, which might be more than enough if you’re just dangling your toe in the water and testing your content.

But, if you’re looking to create a more professional appearance, it's worth getting (at least) their cheapest paid-for plan. This removes WordPress' ads from your site, which goes a long way for boosting the credibility of your brand.

All of WordPress' programs are more affordable if you opt for yearly billing. So we've listed the monthly costs for the annual payment plans below:

The Free Plan ($0):

The free WordPress plan is an excellent starting point for testing the waters and personal blogging. With this package you'll get:

• Dozens of free themes
• Includes essential website-building functionality
• 3 GB of storage space
• WordPress ads on your site

The Personal Plan:

This package increases your storage allowance to 6 GB and removes WordPress‘ ads. It's best for either a simple blog or a personal website. You get the same access to the themes on the free plan, a free domain for one year, and access to email and live chat support.

The Premium Plan:

This plan adds marketing and monetization tools into the mix. This comes in handy for anyone taking the monetization of their site seriously. With this package you get:

• Unlimited access to premium themes
• Advanced design customization
• A Google Analytics integration
• Advanced social media tools
• 13 GB storage
• Site monetization

The Business Plan:

This comes with everything we've already listed, but you'll also get:

• SEO tools
• The option of installing plugins
• Personalized help
• You can upload themes
• 2000 GB storage
• The complete removal of WordPress' branding

The Ecommerce Plan:

Last but not least, there's WordPress‘ Ecommerce plan, their most extensive bundle. This permits you to:

• Sell unlimited products or services
• Accept payment from over 60 different countries
• Ecommerce marketing tools
• Integrations with top shipping carriers

The Advantages of Using WordPress

• WordPress is a very customizable and powerful website builder, especially if you have programming knowledge. The sky's the limit; virtually anything is possible with WordPress.
• WordPress provides thousands of themes to choose from and a massive variety of plugins to increase the overall functionality of your site
• The Personal and Premium plans are very affordable with stable hosting and excellent optimization, especially for blogs.

The Drawbacks of Using WordPress

• If you don’t know your way around a bit of code or don’t want to follow instructions and tutorials, you might occasionally run into problems that are difficult for you to fix. To fully use WordPress's powerful system, a bit of programming know-how is required. As such, it's not quite as easy to use as its competitor Wix.
• While there are options for SEO, these are limited. WordPress users might want to install a plugin to handle their SEO needs better. Most WordPress users report that Yoast is an excellent option.
• If you require more storage, you'll quickly find WordPress to be a pricier option than some of its competitors.

When's WordPress the Right Choice?

If you have some coding knowledge already or aren’t afraid to learn and follow tutorials, WordPress is an excellent choice for you. With its high degree of customizability and it's vast library of plugins, you're sure to be able to bring your dream website to life.

It almost goes without saying, WordPress.com is also a brilliant option if you're a business with an in-house web designer. You simply won’t find another CMS more popular back end programmers. Period.

WordPress.com is also the right option if you’re focused on blogging and want more functionality out of your blog. Again, this requires a bit of know-how. Still, in comparison to its competitors, WordPress (usually) allows for more customization and layout options in each of your blog posts. That's as well as other features like categorizations, RSS, and tags.

If you're entirely new to building websites, don’t want to spend too much on your online presence, or simply want an easy-to-use program to throw up a good-looking page, WordPress might be too advanced for your needs and cost more time and effort than necessary.

 

Wix vs WordPress: The Core Differences Summarized

Okay, let's delve a little deeper into the Wix vs WordPress comparison.

Wix vs WordPress: Pricing and Scalability

WordPress offers more storage at a lower price but jumps straight into their pricier options if you require much more space. The premium plans scale up to as much as 200 GB worth of storage, whereas, Wix caps its storage space at 50 GB.

While this is plenty for the majority of website owners, WordPress can facilitate enterprises of any size. Also, in comparison to Wix, WordPress is known to be a more stable choice for bigger sites.

Overall, Wix’s premium plans are cheaper than WordPress’, but depending on the size of your site and business, the extra cost of a limitless WordPress site might be worth the price tag.

But, if space isn't an issue, Wix is more generous with what you get in their cheaper plans. They provide access to their full design functionality and a higher number of themes to choose from, from the get-go.

Wix vs WordPress: Customizability

WordPress is hands down the more customizable of the two. It allows you to make changes under the hood that Wix doesn’t provide any access to. As a result, with the right knowledge, you can achieve pretty much anything you want with WordPress.

That being said, Wix is by no means limiting. With over 400 different and stylish themes available, it's safe to say; you have plenty of options. Not to mention, their drag and drop system, while not without its limitations, makes customization a lot easier.

If you’re unlikely to use the advanced and more technical options WordPress provides, Wix's drag and drop interface makes customization much easier overall. It provides plenty of opportunities to change the design, so don't worry too much about that.

Wix vs WordPress: Ease of Use

Wix wins when it comes to ease of use. Their drag and drop functionality requires little to no explanation.

Whereas, WordPress requires a bit of technical know-how to fix whatever's gone wrong.

An inexperienced designer might run into an issue and be stuck. This forces them to look into tutorials and teach themselves a broader toolset to overcome the problem. WordPress has a much steeper learning curve and, while rewarding, might not be worth studying if your only objective is producing a simple, elegant, and functional website.

Plugins, Blogs, and Ecommerce:

WordPress, with its open-source software base, provides access to thousands of plugins created by users all over the world. As a result, users are spoilt for choice and bound to find what they need to extend the functionality of their site.

The drawback to this is that some plugins might not work as intended as they're not quality controlled by WordPress itself, so without technical know-how, it might be challenging to make some of these apps work.

Wix has much less choice when it comes to plug-ins, but they're all tried and tested. The trade-off is variety and potentially endless functionality versus basic but certain functionality. As you can see, it's swings and roundabouts.

Wix vs WordPress: Which is the Best Ecommerce Website Builder?

For smaller businesses, Wix's features are usually sufficient for selling both e-commerce and digital products. However, larger companies might benefit from a platform like WordPress, which is more tailored to their needs and easier to scale. WordPress simply allows for more options thanks to the thousands of plugins on offer and the fact its open-source software.

As a blogging platform, WordPress takes center stage. Namely, because it's explicitly designed for bloggers. It's not as easy to use but will allow full-time bloggers to customize their content and categorize it efficiently. Wix’s inbuilt blog is lacking some of that functionality, but will likely be entirely sufficient for hobby bloggers who just want to add a bit of content to their sites.

In Summary…

• WordPress has a steeper learning curve and is harder to use than Wix.
• Wix requires no coding knowledge whatsoever and boasts an easy-to-use drag and drop system, whereas a complete beginner may fall into some technical limitations with WordPress.
• WordPress, if used with skill and experience, can be customized without limitation.
• Wix offers a greater number of themes and designs to start off with
• WordPress relies on plugins for added functionality like SEO or ecommerce. Alternatively, you can custom-tailor these things (if you know how). Whereas, Wix offers more basic but easy-to-use inbuilt options for these kinds of functionalities.
• WordPress is pricier for the upper-tier plans but more scalable for larger businesses. It's stabler for high-bandwidth sites and allows for much more storage.

Wix vs WordPress: Are You Ready to Take Your Pick?

Both WordPress and Wix are giants in the website builder industry for a good reason. You won’t go wrong with either of them. With the comparison above, perhaps you'll now have an easier time figuring out which one better suits your needs. We’d love to hear which one you prefer — Wix vs WordPress which is your choice? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Wix vs WordPress: Which Comes Out on Top? appeared first on Ecommerce Platforms.

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Top B2B eCommerce Trends That You Should Look Out For

Keeping up with the latest trends is vital for anyone running a business. Dedicated entrepreneurs and online store owners should always be vigilant of the newest developments in technology, as well as the most recent research on customer behavior. If you are aware enough and quick-witted enough, you can make more informed decisions about everything related to your overall strategy: which innovations to use, which directions to take, and which updates to make on your website. Watching the trends for long enough may even allow you to set the trends yourself, placing you at the vanguard of your industry.

This is especially crucial for businesses that rely on B2B transactions. The average consumer has little need for studying the changes in the online market, nor for learning about the best new tools and resources in the world of eCommerce. However, if your customers are businesses, they may be learning everything they can about precisely those subjects, so they, too, can apply their knowledge to their own strategies. If you plan to sell to a customer, you must think like a customer. If you run a B2B enterprise, you must not just think like a business, but rather like a business customer.

Luckily, more than a few organizations and private companies on the internet also think like business customers. They know that plenty of people want to stay on top of any current developments, so they conduct research and release their findings. To help you stay one step ahead of competitors and customers alike, we have amassed some of the more notable results of recent studies. Feel free to take inspiration from our list of B2B eCommerce trends.

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Singapore’s Qoo10 acquires Indian online marketplace ShopClues

Qoo10, a Singapore-based e-commerce firm has acquired India’s online marketplace ShopClues in an all-stock deal, the two companies said Thursday. The deal, which per a person familiar with the matter valued ShopClues at $100 million, ends years-long struggle at once thriving Indian firm to find a new home. The new deal will see ShopClues merged with eBay-backed Qoo10.

More to follow…

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Today is not Brexit Day – Will a General Election resolve matters?

Today is not Brexit Day, due to what Boris Johnson would describe as more dithering by Parliament and the Labour party, and what his opponents in the commons would describe as his headlong rush to get Brexit done on an unreasonable timetable and avoid proper scrutiny.

Regardless of who’s fault missing the promised Brexit Date is, we are now heading to a General Election on the 12th of December and the country gets to make a choice on who they want to take the country forward.

Jeremy Corbyn will try to move the conversation to non-Brexit issues, for many a blessed relief, but his popularity is low and the Labour Party with a confused Brexit position could bleed remain supporters to the Lib Dems and, almost unthinkable a few years ago, traditional leave Labour supporters could even vote Conservative.

Boris Johnson will be attacked for failing his “do or die in a ditch” Brexit deadline of today. It remains to be seen if votors forgive and blame yet another delay on Parliament and if the Conservatives also lose seats to the Lib Dems due to votors who wish to remain in the EU. Currently Boris appears to have annexed the Brexit Party, but they too could make a come back if the Conservative campaign doesn’t go well.

Polls are a dangerous thing to trust, polls in recent elections and referendums have been way off the mark but currently they’re putting the Conservatives in with a healthy lead.

YouGov poll for The Times	Survation Poll
CON: 36% (-) LAB: 21% (-2) LDEM: 18% (-) BREX: 13% (+1) GRN: 6% (-)	CON: 34% (+2) LAB: 26% (+2) LDEM: 19% (-2) BREX: 12% (-1) GRN: 1% (-1)

 
Whilst the Conservatives are currently ahead in the polls, it wouldn’t take much of a swing for the country to return another hung Parliament. It’s also not entirely outside the realms of possibility that the Lib Dems could steal enough seats to become the official opposition. With their very clear message of cancelling Article 50 on their first day on office they could appeal to votors from both the right and the left.

With around 60 MPs standing down at this election, some constituents will also have less clear choices with all candidates being unknowns, although some may have previously stood and lost.

The challenge for all parties will be to separate their Brexit Day message from their other campaign commitments. Conservatives will be clearly leave as soon as possible with Lid Dems occupying the opposite position of cancel Brexit and remain. Labour are still putting out confused message of negotiating a better deal, probably with a customs union, and then probably holding a referendum and campaigning against their own deal in favour of remaining. It’s fair to ask how voters can balance voting for a party that is aligned with the Brexit or no Brexit preference whilst at the same time considering other issues such as the NHS, housing, schools, police and generally running the country… which is high time politicians got back to doing.

If you’ve already decided how you will be voting then you’re probably well ahead of most of the country. If you’d like to take a guess at the result of the General Election, let us know in comments below.

Brexit Webinar

One thing is certain, if the Conservatives win a majority we’ll be leaving imminently with the deal Boris negotiated and a new Brexit Day date will be set, possibly seeing us out of the EU on New Year’s Day rather than the 31st of January.

The Boris deal will impact every online trader as, even if currently you only ship domestically, there will be customs paperwork required for many products destined for Northern Ireland. We are holding a Brexit Webinar with shipping experts GFS on the 20th of November, so make sure you attend to get a full update on how Brexit will affect you and what you need to know for trading internationally with the rest of the world in 2020.

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Google Ads Automation for eCommerce: 4 Winning Strategies for Your Online Store

Google’s automated ad types are becoming practically required for eCommerce brands to retain their competitive edge in PPC. Google is moving toward automation for a few reasons:

1. As more people use Google’s search engine for shopping, Google wants to find the relevant ad type to show depending on how somebody is searching.
2. To accomplish this, they are using their machine learning AI to figure out which ad type is “relevant” to a given search.
3. As a result, advertisers who use Google Ads (formerly AdWords) automations tend to get their products in front of a broader audience who they may not have necessarily targeted manually.

We often encourage our clients to adopt these newer Google Ads types to help prevent being left behind as the competition starts to use them. We’ve already used automated campaigns to expand traffic, boost awareness of our clients’ brands, and improve efficiency.

This graph shows the growth in both traffic and transactions that we have accomplished using Google Ads automations. There is a spend increase of 115% due to the success, and Transactions are up 323%, Revenue is up 182% and ROAS is up 31%:

What can Google automate in terms of PPC? 

Quite a lot, and more is likely on the horizon. The Google Ads automation features we have seen some of the most client success thus far are:

1. Automated bidding
2. Smart Shopping
3. Smart Display Ads
4. Dynamic Search Ads
   

Below, we’ll illustrate how these Google automation capabilities play a big role in how we manage our client accounts and some crucial things to keep in mind when using them.

Want us to automate and optimize your eCommerce store’s paid search and PPC campaigns? Get in touch to see if we can help.

1. Google Ads Automated Bidding Campaigns

For larger accounts such as enterprise eCommerce stores, there usually isn’t enough time in the day for manual bid management to adjust the max CPC of individual keywords (and in doing so, optimize the campaigns).

Automated bidding takes care of optimizing the max CPC of keywords for specific goals, using strategies that Google has built into their AI.

Google’s automated bidding strategies and their goals are:

Note: Target CPA, Target ROAS, and Maximize Conversions are part of a subset of automated bidding strategies called Smart Bidding.

Which automated bid strategy should you use, and when? 

It depends on your business objectives. 

What KPIs are you focusing on?

• If conversions are your primary goal, then you may use the Maximize Conversions bid strategy in order to focus on maximizing conversion volume.
• If you want to get more conversion value out of your budget: Maximize Conversion Value.
• If it’s traffic, then Maximize Clicks and Target Impression Share may be the best bid strategies. We have also used Target Impression Share to ensure we are maximizing impression share on brand. And we have leveraged this bid strategy to target and outrank specific competitors.
• Often, our clients have a target ROAS and conversion rate in mind. We’ve found that Target ROAS and Target CPA are useful in reaching their goal numbers because these 2 KPIs tend to be more directly correlated to profitability.

Keep in mind, there are some other things to note about using Target ROAS and Target CPA:

Target ROAS

Target ROAS is useful if your goal is to increase the return on investment (ROI) and/or ROAS from PPC.

For example, one of our clients was struggling to hit their strict ROAS goal. We had refined a tiered Shopping campaign strategy to segment search queries and prioritize bids based on different performance buckets for those search queries. This was very successful in directing search queries to these different tiers, but we were struggling to hit their strict ROAS goal.

We tested adding a Target ROAS bidding strategy and saw a gradual, but steady lift in performance. With the ROAS goal set at a higher number than what we typically see, we assumed this would limit our targeting. However, automated bidding was able to find efficiency without decreasing our traffic.

For Target ROAS to work: It’s important to adjust the Target ROAS up toward the goal in increments. You want to “massage” the campaign by gradually increasing the Target ROAS. In our experience, Google’s machine learning algorithm will better adjust to this as opposed to a large jump.

Additionally, Target ROAS requires existing conversion data (such as 30-50 conversions within a 30-day window) in order to work well. We have seen that this is also true when using Target CPA.

Target CPA

If a client wants a specific return, or if they are concerned about specific margins and don’t want to invest too much, Target CPA may be the right approach.

Margins become a concern when selling higher-priced products because marketing them via PPC can sometimes (but not always) be more expensive from a keyword perspective. Higher priced items have longer conversion and lead times, so CPA can be more efficient.

For example: A home heater priced at $2400 may very well have a margin of $150. Anything over that is a straight loss, and if the sales cost $150 in ad spend that break-even amount simply went to pay for a conversion. For a successful campaign, ROAS in this case would be 16x or 1600%. In most campaigns, that ROAS would be incredible! But that’s why margins are so important to consider in any strategy.

We’ll usually work with clients to determine what the Target CPA and Target ROAS will be. Target CPA ads have also been good for generating leads at a cost that makes sense for our clients to acquire them.

For Target CPA to work: Like Target ROAS, Target CPA bid strategies require existing conversion data so that Google’s artificial intelligence has a model from which to spend your ad budget.

Note: Target CPA and Target ROAS can work especially well If you have a competitor with a manual CPC and yours is automatic. In our experience, Google seems to be more incentivized to hit target CPA or ROAS for the automatic campaign when one competitor is not using it.

Is there still room for manual bidding?

Automated bidding may be the future of PPC marketing overall, with algorithms that will rely on conversion data more than ever for its improved efficiency, better budget spend, and opportunities to pursue more fresh and broad targeting opportunities.

That said, it may not work across all campaigns. Depending on the competitor landscape, manual bidding will still be useful when the AI doesn’t work.

Strategically, manual bidding makes sense in certain cases. Such as campaigns that do a “scorched earth approach” of Maximizing Impression Share to dominate a search query or category. Or, to run a manual campaign that gathers the minimum conversion volume needed to run an effective automated campaign.

Smart Shopping Campaigns

Smart Shopping automates bidding and ad placement in a combination of Standard Shopping and remarketing Display Ad campaigns.

An example of a Shopping Ad (which could be either a Smart or a regular Shopping Ad)

We like to use Smart Shopping campaigns to fill in the gaps our Standard Shopping campaigns leave open.

For example: One of our clients had a very efficient Standard Shopping campaign that was performing well, but wasn’t bringing in the transaction and revenue volume they wanted. Although this campaign was converting well, we were struggling to find growth for it.

When we introduced a Smart Shopping campaign, we immediately saw a boost in transaction volume without sacrificing our efficiency. The Smart Shopping campaigns allowed us to increase spend and discover new pockets of relevant traffic. This also increased our year-over-year revenue by 200% while maintaining the account’s ROAS.

As another example: We started using Smart Shopping in another account last Fall. This was one of the first accounts we had tested this campaign type on and we were unsure if this would boost performance. However, we began to see results almost instantly.

Within a month, shopping ROAS had doubled. By the third month, we broke our ROAS record at 1500%. Revenue has also consistently been up 200-300% year over year. 

Best Practices for Smart Shopping Campaigns

An optimized product feed is important for both automated and manual shopping campaigns. For SMART shopping in particular, you really need a highly optimized shopping feed to give Google the signals it needs to find your product relevant to a search.

For example, we especially look at titles, descriptions, and keywords, making it relevant to the product. If it’s a yellow T-shirt then we need the size, color, and material of it in the product feed.

Because of the nature of smart shopping campaigns, you don’t have any visibility into which search terms are triggering products to display. Optimizing the data feed will help ensure that search terms remain relevant and accurate to the product they trigger.

With that said, certain businesses need a lot of control over the search terms and audience that they’re targeting.

For example, large name brands may decide not to go in the automated direction because they need to know how their brand terms are being used or associated. They also need to have control over what they are targeting and what audiences based on specific brand guidelines and user demographics. Certain campaigns like Smart Shopping take away that control and insight.

Smart Display Ads

Smart Display is another automation type we have begun incorporating into our overall account strategies. Smart Display campaigns use automated bidding, automated targeting, and automated ad creation based on information about your products and their performance. Google displays the ads across the Google Display Network to reach customers outside of your manually targeted campaigns.

Smart Shopping Ads are also shown as Smart Display Ads in the Display Network.

We have used Smart Display campaigns primarily as a branding play to increase awareness and attract users to our client’s sites whom we might not typically target. It has been a powerful traffic driver, and we have capitalized on this increased volume by utilizing remarketing lists to continue re-engaging people who have visited a client’s website. This has enabled us to nurture these top of funnel, less targeted users into potential conversions by reaching that at multiple points in the buying cycle.

Smart Display campaigns are based on a Target CPA strategy that continually optimizes for conversions (and it’s another case where your store’s performance data is integral). So make sure to set the Target CPA at a rate that would get a viable return.

Dynamic Search Ads

Dynamic search ads have been helpful in our accounts. It seems that Google has larger eCommerce stores with a wide inventory in mind for this ad type.

What’s interesting about how they work is that Google uses a landing page from your website to create the copy for the ad when someone searches for a keyword that is relevant to that landing page. It’s “dynamic” in that it pulls information from your website to create the text ads within search results in real time. These ads are also dynamic in the keywords they match and target.

For example, if someone searches Google for “rain jacket women” and you have a landing page for women’s jackets, they will see your Dynamic Search ad with the headline “rain jacket women” if Google’s algorithm finds it relevant to the search and decides to display it:

An example of a dynamic search ad.

We frequently use this campaign type when launching new accounts to ensure we have coverage on all relevant keywords. We also use it to identify new pockets of traffic in existing accounts that we are trying to expand. Not only is this a good keyword mining tool, but we also find that it may foster strong performance when paired with a target ROAS or target CPA bidding strategy.

To make Dynamic Search ads work: First, think of them as a very basic ad type. We like to look at them as research tools because these ads frequently look at areas you aren’t necessarily targeting.

Second, understand that they revolve and change. These ads will continue to target new keywords and new ad copy and thus they fill in temporary gaps, but they will not necessarily continue targeting any one keyword.

Above all, Dynamic Search ads are an ongoing strategy. As Google creates these ads and you see what resulted in conversions, you can use that information to expand your thinking for other campaigns.

Conclusion

We hope this has given you some insight into several main automated strategies that Google provides. In our view, it can’t be overstated that using these strategies are a requirement to stay competitive in the eCommerce PPC landscape.

If you don’t use these automated strategies, chances are that your competitors will…and their stores may benefit from the increasing opportunities these strategies open up instead of yours.

To recap:

• We have used Google’s automated ads to both expand traffic as well as increase efficiency for our eCommerce clients. The ad types we’ve seen the most success with are:
  • Automated bidding
  • Smart Shopping
  • Smart Display Ads
  • Dynamic Search Ads
• We have also used these campaigns to boost brand awareness and build a wider funnel for a more holistic marketing approach that takes a broader consideration in what and who to target (thanks to Google doing that targeting for us).
• Maybe most importantly, these automated bidding strategies have helped us to improve our PPC metrics and divert time toward higher-level strategic initiatives that may normally be spent on granular adjustments to the campaigns.

Your turn: The first step and key for any eCommerce business to begin using automated strategies effectively is to gather their conversion data. With that, Google’s AI can effectively target a broader audience than manual ads will allow.

Wondering what you could be automating in terms of PPC? If you’re interested in getting started with these automated strategies, please get in touch to see how we can help you with them as a marketing agency. Or, take advantage of our other growth-focused eCommerce SEO, SEM, PPC, and CRO services.

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Alibaba launches 2019 11.11 Global Shopping Festival

read the original version on: www.retailnews.asia

Alibaba Group has launched its 2019 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, taking the annual event into its second decade. The shopping holiday this year focused on “new consumption,” “new business” and actively contributing to a greener society. “Our goal is to stimulate consumption demand and support lifestyle upgrade in China through new brands and products,” said […]

The post Alibaba launches 2019 11.11 Global Shopping Festival appeared first on Retail News Asia.

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Does Selling Online Make Sense for Hyperlocal Businesses?

If you're a small local business and you're used to selling to people in your community, does it make sense to start selling your wares or services online?

In short, yes. Even if your business is niche and has traditionally targeted a certain type of customer in specific geographic locations, selling online could introduce your unique products to an entire new customer base.

Here are the benefits of selling online, even for the smallest businesses — and how you can get started.

Why customers love a hyperlocal business

The thing that sets hyperlocal businesses apart from others is their relationship with their customers. Because of the close proximity, the same local customers end up visiting the same shops. They get to know the owners and others associated with the business, and build a trust that doesn’t exist between customers and larger national chains.

Another reason hyperlocal businesses stand out is their local ecosystems. The entire supply chain of a hyperlocal business is generally in close physical proximity to the customer. This builds greater trust and enhances the overall customer experience because buyers can see all the steps involved in the making and delivery of the products, from sourcing to current location.

The entire supply chain of a hyperlocal business is generally in close physical proximity to the customer.

For instance, when you visit a local grocery store, stop for a chat with the owner. You might learn that the cheese featured is from a nearby farm and that the wine is from a local family-run winery that’s been around for decades.

These businesses can also deliver products and services much faster than their larger retailers. If you buy groceries from a large nationwide store, you might have to wait one or two days to get your delivery. But a small neighborhood market can get you your groceries the same day. The immediate delivery capabilities of hyperlocal businesses mean that they don’t have to deal with stocking items in multiple warehouses and long distance transportation.

So consider this: Selling online can, in effect, eliminate these two advantages for small local businesses. When you sell online, you potentially lose your emotional connection with your customers, and you’ll need to start competing with bigger companies on shipping costs — a difficult battle to win.

With that in mind, what are the benefits of selling online for hyper-local businesses?

Why it’s time to get online

The most obvious benefit to selling online is that you can sell your wares to whomever, wherever, whenever. As crazy as it sounds, your business is no longer limited by time and space. If someone across the country wants to buy something from you at midnight, they can do that — and you can send it to them.

This expanded market can boost revenue and keep you one step ahead of the competition. One poll found that 43% of business owners experience significant revenue growth from online sales. Nearly 70% said marketplaces like Amazon and eBay have helped increase sales, and 81% believe ecommerce is crucial to business success.

81% of business owners believe ecommerce is crucial to business success.

In addition, selling online doesn’t just make “selling” easier for small businesses. You’ll also enter a new and more robust world of digital marketing (including email marketing and social media marketing) that can help you build a stronger relationship with your customers — which is important, considering how much of your revenue comes from returning as opposed to new customers.  

Interestingly, selling online isn’t just a way to boost your out-of-community profits. In fact, your online presence can also boost foot traffic in your physical store. A study by Google found 50% of consumers visit a physical store a day after discovering the store on their smartphone.

Your online presence can also boost foot traffic in your physical store.

As a local business owner, you might enjoy the simple pleasures of inexpensive shipping fees and the face-to-face interactions you’ve had with customers. Still, even if your physical store has a following and people in the community know about your unique products and superb in-store interactions, you can’t ignore ecommerce.

Ecommerce options for hyperlocal businesses

As intimidating as it might sound, opening up the marketplace to distant parts of the country (and the world!) is easier than ever, thanks to a variety of ecommerce options.

Facebook Marketplace

Selling on Facebook is a good option to start with because it’s simple and free. The feature defaults to buyers in your local community and has the potential to reach thousands of new customers every day.

Putting your stuff on Facebook takes little time and effort, which is good. There is no protection for either the seller or the buyer, which is not so good. You are responsible for all shipping fees and any returns or service issues the customer might have.

If you find that the marketplace takes off, you might want to try a fulfillment service like dropshipping which does not require you to manage your own inventory. That means no need to fork over a big initial investment to buy goods and keep them in stock to have available whenever there’s a sale.

If you find that the marketplace takes off, you might want to try a fulfillment service like dropshipping which does not require you to manage your own inventory.

Instead, whenever a customer places an order from your online store, you purchase the product from a third-party supplier, who then ships the product to the customer. This method is popular for business owners who are new to the ecommerce world and want to keep online sales simple, manageable, and mostly out of their own hands.

A method like dropshipping might be a good idea for those who want to dip their toe in online sales, but if you’re all in, it might be time to look at ecommerce platforms that cater to small business owners.

Amazon

Amazon is one of the first sites that come to mind when people think about selling online — because who doesn’t shop on Amazon? For smaller business owners, there are two selling plans:

1. The Professional plan comes with a $39.99 monthly subscription plus per-item selling fees. This option is best for power merchants who plan on selling more than 40 items per month and comes with many benefits, including access to inventory tools, seller reports, top placement on product detail pages, and customized shipping rates.
2. The Individual plan does not come with a monthly subscription, but sellers will have to pay $0.99 for each item sold plus selling fees. It comes with many of the same perks as the Professional plan and is best if you sell less than 40 items per month on Amazon.

Aside from its easy-to-use platform and broad reach, Amazon is also a top choice for small businesses because of the ease of using its Fulfillment by Amazon option. The service picks up, packs, and ships your products, and takes care of all customer service issues. That means Amazon handles the customer service inquiry and return process. This option allows you to scale your business and reach a broader marketplace without having to spend all your time packing and shipping items sold.

[Fufillment by Amazon] allows you to scale your business and reach a broader marketplace without having to spend all your time packing and shipping items sold.

Keep in mind, selling on Amazon is a controversial tactic for small businesses, as there have been instances of copycats, or Amazon itself allegedly manipulating search results to feature its own products first. That being said, this platform is the premier marketplace on the web right now.

Build your own online store

With ecommerce platforms like Volusion that help you build your own shop, you can fine-tune marketing efforts so that you only target local or regional buyers, which makes it an excellent choice for hyperlocal businesses.

There are a variety of ecommerce platforms you can use to build your own store, and they’ll help you set up your payment processing, shipping, and logistics. The majority of your workload will be customizing your online store so that it matches your existing branding.

eBay

As one of the first ecommerce platforms, eBay is widely known and used across the globe. If you’ve ever taken a look around eBay, you will find all categories of items, so no matter what you sell, there are people on eBay who want it. The company bought the data startup Terapeak in 2017 to provide supply, demand and pricing insights to help “sellers know what to sell, when to sell it and at what price”.

If you choose to go with eBay, you are responsible for delivery and shipping of items sold. eBay charges an insertion fee when you post an item on its platform, and you are charged a final value fee when the item sells. The company also partnered with PayPal, which protects payment transactions for both the buyer and seller.

The bottom line on selling online

No matter how niche or hyperlocal your business is, selling online is an increasingly important revenue stream. Ecommerce provides you with tools and opportunities to reach new customers. Think of it much like the different marketing campaigns you use to target consumers. You might go low-tech to show a bit of your personality in posted signs around the neighborhood, and you might also capitalize on Instagram shopping features.

Integrating the old and the new is a smart way to stay ahead of the competition and find new revenue models. In much the same way, setting up an ecommerce store can only boost sales for your hyperlocal business.

Integrating the old and the new is a smart way to stay ahead of the competition and find new revenue models.

In fact, these days, we see that customer satisfaction comes from a combination of in-store interactions and online experiences. A customer might come across your business online, and decide that they want to visit your store. Once they've visited your physical location and enjoyed the interaction they had with you, customer satisfaction goes up. And now you have another loyal customer.

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Walmart now offers alcohol pickup at 2,000 U.S. stores

The online grocery wars continue. Amazon this week just made grocery delivery free, so Walmart is now touting how its grocery service offers the booze. The retailer today announced a new milestone in terms of giving its customers the ability to shop for alcohol online, noting that over 2,000 Walmart locations across 29 states will now let you pick up wine and beer along with your other grocery purchases.

The alcohol pickup service has to abide by local laws, which limits its expansion in some cases.

In addition, Walmart says that now over 200 stores in California and Florida are also offering alcohol delivery. It plans expansions on this front, as well.

Walmart has been slowly ramping up its online alcohol shopping options, in accordance with local, county and state regulations for some time. Its Sam’s Club subsidiary has offered this option, too, by way of Instacart. In the latter case, Sam’s Club has been able to offer delivery of spirits, like Tito’s vodka or those from Sam’s Club own “Member’s Mark” brand, among others.

Today, there are a number of ways to shop alcohol online, depending on where you live.

Target-owned Shipt delivers alcohol from some of its supported retailers (including Target) in some markets. Instacart, BJ’s and Amazon (Prime Now) do as well, in select cities, states and stores. And finally, services like Drizly, Saucey, Postmates and Uber Eats can help fill in the gaps, in some markets.

The problem with all these services is that consumers often don’t know which retailers will offer alcohol delivery, or which app they should use. If you live in a more permissive state, this may not be as big of a problem — you’ll likely encounter an abundance of choice for same-day alcohol delivery. But in a more conservative state, your options may be more limited — or not available at all. And when consumers have to launch a half dozen apps just to figure out how to order booze online, most people will just give up and drive to the store.

That’s in conflict with Walmart’s larger goal, which is to allow shoppers to take advantage of its online grocery shopping to fully replace the traditional grocery shopping trip to the store. After all, if consumers are driving to the store, they’ll likely choose their local grocer, not necessarily Walmart.

To meet the needs of the online shopper, Walmart Grocery has to offer it all — not just food, but also adult beverages.  If successful on speeding this option to market, Walmart’s brand could become known as the place to order everything you need from the grocery store online. And that, in turn, could help boost sales.

Walmart’s alcohol shopping feature works just like shopping for groceries — you just search for what you want, add it to the cart, then check out. The only difference is that, upon pickup or delivery, you’ll be required to show your ID so the Walmart team member can verify your age.

Alcohol pickup is available in big states like California, Florida, and Texas, and dozens of others, while delivery is limited to the first two states, for the time being.

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Looka Review 2019 (Formerly LogoJoy)

It’s no secret that machines have been ruling the world of production for quite some time now. But, admittedly, we never thought they’d start taking over even the field of design this early.

All in all, welcome to the era of AI design! And more specifically, welcome aboard the as we roll out the red carpet for AI-based logo creators.

So far, Looka is one of the few that are increasingly generating buzz not only among designers, but also online businesses, plus digital marketers. And for a good reason, it seems.

You see, it might seem like an ordinary logo maker at first. But the fact is, nothing could be further from the truth. Under its hood is a machine learning engine that drives its entire logo design framework. And that’s the one thing that sets it apart from most of the other design software.

How good is it though? Can you rely on Looka to design an attractive logo for your business?

Stick with me as we uncover every critical thing about the whole platform. This Looka review goes deep into its underlying AI foundation to reveal how it works, its overall effectiveness, as well as the potential weaknesses.

Looka Review: Overview

If you haven’t heard about it yet, then perhaps “LogoJoy” would sound familiar?

Ok, whichever term you prefer, they are one and the same thing. LogoJoy was launched as a logo maker back in 2016 and it later rebranded to Looka. But, despite the name change, the company baseline has remained the same.

Looka, in essence, was built to give entrepreneurs the chance to leverage the power of artificial intelligence for simple and low-cost designing of high-quality logos.

An experienced graphic designer named Dawson came up with the idea after he noticed a common problem that most small startup entrepreneurs faced.

They desired great logos to help their brands hit the ground running but they couldn’t afford to retain professional designers. And the few that tried handling the job themselves always had problems coping with various design software.

So, he turned to AI for a possible solution. And the subsequent result, Looka, has since placed entrepreneurs at the center of their logo design processes. The solution’s machine learning engine managed to replace professional designers while considerably reducing the accompanying design costs.

How?

Well, the process is pretty straightforward. At first, Looka essentially uses a complex machine learning framework to assess your business needs and design preferences. Its artificial intelligence system then generates an unlimited collection of relevant but unique logo options for your brand.

It doesn’t stop there though. Looka proceeds to hand you simple tools for customizing any logo you select from its generated options.

And no, you don’t need any experience or training to work on them. The process of making adjustments is as easy as tweaking your phone’s display settings. While you’re at it, Looka allows you to customize pretty much all the elements you’d expect typical design composition- including graphics, icons, fonts, etc.

All things considered, Looka is much faster than a professional designer using regular editing software. It only takes a couple of seconds to generate logos from your design preferences.

And you know what? In addition to all that, Looka is substantially cheaper than hiring a professional graphic designer.

So, of course, it’s something you might want to try out. Besides, designing with Looka is entirely free of charge. Well, at least until you get to the logo download stage. You can only acquire your logo in high definition after purchasing one of the plans.

But, we’ll cover all that in the Looka pricing section, along with the extras that come with its logo downloads- including Looka’s social media kit and a corresponding business card design.

Looka Review: Main Features

Logo Design Process

Thankfully, getting started here won’t cost you even a single cent. And since Looka is entirely web-based, you should be able to design your logo without installing any additional software.

The process begins right from Looka’s homepage. You’ll find a field, on which you can enter your company’s name to get started.

Then next comes the business nature stage. The primary goal here is to understand what your business is all about, and subsequently, determine the type of logo options that would be relevant for your field. So, go ahead and enter keywords that describe your business type.

After that is the part where things get more interesting. Looka will display a range of logo styles, from which you’re supposed to pick five or more options you consider to be the most attractive. This, of course, gives Looka an idea of your design taste and preferences.

Therefore, the more you choose, the better it’ll understand your personal inclinations.

The next stage is all about colors. More specifically, Looka will try to comprehend the precise color schemes you’d want on your logo. So, make your style selections and then specify 3 of your favorite color pallets.

With that information, Looka will proceed to request additional business details, including the name as well as the corresponding slogan. Your answers will ultimately be incorporated into some of the generated logos.

Looka will then request you to sign up by entering your name, email and account password. Or alternatively, you could simply register through your Twitter, Facebook or Gmail account.

With all the information it has collected so far, Looka’s AI system goes ahead and generates an unlimited number of logo options to choose from.

Personally, I found the designs to be pretty attractive. Every single logo was unique and came with its own set of characters. So, I must admit- I was overwhelmed and spoilt for choice.

Well, the trick here is to take your time scanning through the collection. Try to assess as many options as possible before making a final selection.

If you’re lucky enough, you might spot a perfect logo that won’t require any adjustments. Otherwise, you’ll have to choose a decent one that you can customize further to align the design with your business.

But, get this. It’s possible to influence Looka further at this point by introducing additional symbols. You just need to search for them from the top right corner of the screen, and then select up to 5 based on your design preferences.

Now, don’t get me wrong though. Your logo options are not limited to one. Rather, you’re free to choose and edit as many as you want. You can play around with the editing tools until you have your perfect logo.

The editor itself provides multiple previews of your logo designs to help you get a good idea of how it’ll ultimately appear on branded items.

Another notable thing about this Logo Maker is its extensive flexibility. If you don’t like your logo options, for example, you can go back and restart the whole process from the beginning over and over again. There are no restrictions at all.

However, the most you can do after customizing your logos is saving or sharing them with friends. Downloads are only allowed after purchasing one of the plans, which we’ll discuss in detail shortly.

Unlimited Mockups

Looka’s system seemingly never backs down. It usually generates an unlimited number of design mockups to help you find that perfect logo for your business. That’s why every single page refresh translates to a new set of options.

Then guess what? It doesn’t stop there. Looka allows you to edit as many logos as you want while saving them.

That said, don’t expect to run out of logo designs anytime soon. You can rest assured that’s one thing that will never happen.

Branding Resources

If you choose to proceed beyond the customization stage, you’ll notice that purchasing a Looka plan entitles you to more than just a plain logo.

Now, remember the fundamental goal behind logo creation is branding? Well, Looka seemingly takes that very seriously because, in addition to the logo, it allows you to download a supplementary branding guide.

This resource comes with all the information you’d need about the colors and fonts used on your logo. Consequently, you won’t have any problem reproducing the logo over and over again as part of your branding process.

Color Varieties

Let’s face it. You can’t possibly use a logo in its original color every time. It’s always advisable to reproduce a logo in different colors so it can blend into a variety of backgrounds.

And that’s precisely what Looka does with your logo. It supplements the original design with additional versions of different colors for a seamless and easy branding process.

In essence, you’ll get a transparent background version, plus white and black variations on top of the original color. Subsequently, you can use the white and black versions to brand physical items for marketing, the transparent one on your site and products, while the official colored one would blend well with posters and business cards.

Vector File Options

Since you might want to resize your logo from time to time, Looka generates your logo downloads in different vector file options.

EPS and SVG, for instance, are two particularly outstanding vector files when it comes to that. So, Looka produces both of these alongside other file versions to help you adjust your logo dimensions without affecting the quality.

In other words, you should be able to use larger versions of your logo without necessarily compromising their pixels.

Social Media Kit

Social media is an integral part of digital brand marketing campaigns. So, to save you the trouble of re-editing your logo, Looka provides a complete social media kit with all the logo versions you’d need over the long haul.

When it comes to Facebook, for instance, the system generates ready logo image sizes that can fit on ad banners as well as company profiles. And the same applies to all the other popular social platforms, including Etsy, YouTube, Twitter, etc. Looka offers various logo files for each of them.

Ultimately, this helps you maintain a consistent brand image across all the social media platforms.

Lifetime Technical Support

Even after you’re done purchasing and downloading your logos, Looka will still have your back. It grants you endless technical support to provide assistance in case of any problems along the way.

Therefore, it’s totally acceptable to get in touch with Looka’s support team years after downloading your logo kit. They’ll proceed to help you with your logo just like any regular user.

Looka Review: Pricing

After customizing your logo design, Looka will hit you with three different purchasing options. Here are their details:

• Basic – At a one-off payment of $20, Basic is the cheapest pricing option on Looka. But, it only comes with one logo file without any additional versions. Not even the transparent ones.
• Premium – This costs $65 and it’s ideal for entrepreneurs who need high resolution logo files for branding, printing and website display. The plan offers lifetime technical support, full ownership of the logo, unlimited logo changes, several color variations, and multiple high-resolution file types.
• Enterprise – At $80, Enterprise is the most expensive option and provides extras above the Premium plan. You can expect supplementaries like $100 worth of Google Ads credit, business card designs, and a social media kit.

Who Should Consider Using Looka Logo Creator?

All things considered, the principal reason why they developed Looka was to cut out the middleman. Yes, that’s right. In short, Looka replaces the usual professionals in the logo design process by giving you’re the power to create your own logos.

So, of course, Looka is worth considering if you’re tired of the difficulties and complications of dealing with graphic designers. This tool seems to not only be cheaper, but also much faster compared to hiring typical graphical designers. Besides, its AI engine happens to be exceptionally accurate in reading our minds plus assessing the corresponding business needs.

The post Looka Review 2019 (Formerly LogoJoy) appeared first on Ecommerce Platforms.

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