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Tag Archives: ecommerce

HorizonTrust.com

Posted on October 30, 2011 by in

“Can you start tomorrow?”  Those are words that we hear frequently here at Propel Point.  In this case, we are so thrilled that we were able to say – YES we can!  That phone call started a beautiful client relationship that continues to grow.

The Horizon Trust website was designed with a balance of old-world financial stature, and new modern feel.  This group needed to stand out against their competitors.  They needed a warm welcoming site that communicated to their clients what they REALLY do – offer financial stability, control and security.  In an industry full of stoic boring, the Horizon site is stands out with its vibrant family feel, its welcoming warmth, and its user friendliness.

The site was more than just a design project.  We also assisted them with back-end production flow and technical connectivity between the site and their existing systems.  We even created a book for their clients while we were at it!

The streamlines submission process and upgraded client forms were a hit.  We heard nothing but satisfaction and praise, not only from the client – but from their clients.  There are few things more rewarding than that!

Just when we thought we were through – oh no!  With the domain having been purchased from an existing company, the site was not displaying in the search engines the way it should have.  What did we do?  We called in the troops and got them not only displaying correctly, but to the top of the search results in all of the engines.  We are by no means SEO experts, nor do we want to pursue that line-of-business.  But, we were quite proud of our ability to perform the analysis, implement the required fixes and solve the problem.  It was a proud geek moment at Propel Point :)

If you are interested in self-directed investing, or just want to check out the site, visit : http://www.horizontrust.com/

Remember, There is no Shelf Life Anymore

Posted on January 19, 2011 by in Dave Cole

I’ve got a pretty wide spectrum of musical tastes these days. Depending on my mood, I’ll flip from pop music, rap / hip-hop, metal, electronic, and even some jazz or Frank Sinatra when the mood strikes. Since reading Christopher Anderson’s book The Long Tail, I’ve been fixated on his notion that there really is no cost to carry inventory on digital products. It just sits there – with virtually no cost to stay on the web for as long as anyone could possibly ever want it.

The Long Tail book coverIt struck me last night especially, as I was listening to some music on Pandora – essentially the only place that I get new music input nowadays. Not paying much attention, a song came on, but by the end of it I found myself compelled to learn who had created it. Sure enough, there’s the bio about the band (called God Is An Astronaut, for those keeping score). And, just like Chris Anderson predicted many years ago, the Long Tail was keeping up with it’s promise. Here was a song that was completely fresh to me here in 2011 that had been written and released in 2006, completely unbeknownst to me. I bought the album (thanks Dad for the iTunes gift card at Christmas), and even as I’m writing this, I’m listening to the new tunes.

So what does this have to do with the seminar business? Well, plenty – it’s an information business! What is music other than information? We’re all so busy working on putting together our latest projects and making sure people know how everything is NEW! and FRESH! that sometimes it’s good to remember that many things that were true a decade ago are still true now – especially in the resources and training that you’re offering your students.

Long Tail economics visualizedThere is no concept of “shelf life” anymore. Your products can live online forever – so are you offering everything that you’ve created in the past? Even things like the contents of your past forums and FAQ’s might be of value to new students or people thinking about breaking in to the vertical that you serve. Obviously, there weren’t things like “social media marketing guides” a decade ago, and many of the rules have changed. But, if you’re looking for a new way to generate revenue in 2011 and create a new avenue of growth for your business today and beyond, perhaps it’s time you took a look at your past. Putting up an ecommerce shopping cart is quick & easy in Infusionsoft or 1ShoppingCart, and with just a simple link from your website, you might be able to tap in to some new revenue streams with the materials that you already have.

The old is new again, so dust off those old resources, put ‘em online, and see what happens. If you need some help, let us know.

Add “Group Shopping” to your WordPress site

Posted on January 11, 2011 by in Dave Cole

Okay, we all know that “group shopping” is the hot new marketing move that’s sweeping the world by storm. GroupOn turns down Google’s multibillion-dollar offer, and raises itself “Like, a billion dollars.” Personally, I think group-shopping discounts is a neat marketing campaign, but I don’t think it’s the solution to all the worlds’ problems. And I definitely don’t think there’s a whole lot stopping competition from popping up in the space.

Group Shopping ScreenshotOne of the coolest things that I stumbled upon recently was the creation of the WordPress Group Deals theme by GetShopped / Zao Web Design that’s basically a part-for-part clone of the highly popular GroupOn service. I see a ton of applications for a site like this in the seminar industry space; most notably being the ability to tap in to consumer buzz & excitement around group shopping opportunities. After all – what is a seminar event than a group of like-minded consumers!

The deployment of this is all in beta still, but I may take a crack at checking out how all these parts work together to see how stable it is. It seems like the platform is trying to do quite a bit, but I imagine the core pieces are probably running well (doubt they’d have released a beta if everything is broken). So, stay tuned for more. If you’re interested in setting something like this on your website (even tied to Infusionsoft or 1shoppingcart rather than a WordPress eCommerce solution) let us know – we’ll be happy to take a look and see how this might work for your business.