The Importance of Ecommerce for Retail Businesses

The Importance of Ecommerce for Retail Businesses

Category: Tips and Tricks
March 15, 2019

Ecommerce has grown dramatically in its importance and its ability to be the deciding factor between whether a business is a success or not.

This was more clearer than ever from the findings in the 2019 PwC Irish Retail & Consumer Report which provides a vast array of interesting insights about consumers and the current state of the retail sector in 2019.

One of the prevailing recurring themes of the report was the need for retail businesses in this day and age to not only have a website but an Ecommerce website where customers can purchase products online.

Two key insights found in the report in relation to Ecommerce was that 20% of Irish consumers shop online weekly or more often via their mobile devices and also 30% of consumers purchased online weekly or more often in 2018, compared to 24% in 2017.

There are many reasons why you should consider having an Ecommerce website for your business if you haven’t already. Here are 3 great reasons why you should have an Ecommerce website:

Better Customer Experience

By having an Ecommerce website it is extremely convenient and easy for customers to browse your online store and purchase a product whenever they wish. By having an online store you remove the need for the customer to make the journey to your bricks and mortar location and purchase their product of choice. By giving them the convenience to do this at home they will be more at eased and relaxed. A happy customer is a buying customer.

Reach a Broader Global Market

By bringing your retail business into the digital market you will open yourself up to a whole new market that can potentially have a global reach. When you are a bricks and mortar business your customers will be generally just those in the immediate area as it would be inconvenient for others from further afield to travel just to shop at your store. By restricting yourself to only the local populace you have not only greatly reduced your target market but also reduced your potential earnings. By having an Ecommerce website you remove this restriction and your market is virtually endless in its reach.

Passive Earnings

By having an online store you are always open for business 24/7! This is a great advantage over a traditional shop which is open for a certain amount of hours and usually only on certain days also. When your store is online and always open for business people can purchase off you any day at any time. By giving them this convenient option you have endless opportunities to earn money as you are no longer restricted by traditional business hours.

While there is and will always still be a place for traditional physical retail businesses it cannot be denied that those choosing to shop online are increasing and will continue to do so into the future. By not having an Ecommerce website you’re not only restricting your potential earnings but you are ignoring an ever growing and important part of the retail market.

If you would like more information or would like to inquire about getting an Ecommerce website created and developed please contact 2Cubed and get your business the traffic and success it deserves. You can call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website!

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Wexford Business Awards 2019

Wexford Social Media & Digital Marketing Excellence Award 2019

March 11, 2019

The Wexford Business Awards which are now in their eleventh year, are county wide awards which recognise the entrepreneurialism, innovation, diversity and talent of businesses across all sectors in the county. The Wexford Business Awards honour Wexford’s industry leaders through the acknowledgement of their innovative business processes, product development, enterprise, sustainability and overall business success.

This year 2Cubed are delighted to be the official sponsor for the Wexford Social Media & Digital Marketing Excellence Award. The purpose of the Wexford Social Media & Digital Marketing Excellence Award is to recognize and honour Wexford based businesses who have achieved success in their sales and marketing by successfully utilizing the very best of the latest business thinking, creativity and technology to put themselves apart from all competition and to be number one in the frontier of social media engagement.

An independent panel of Judges will come together to discuss and decide who will be the lucky recipient of the 2019 Overall Wexford Business of the Year Award. They will choose the recipient of the  2019 Overall Wexford Business of the Year Award from the pool of winners of each existing category. The winners and runners-up in each of the award categories and the overall Wexford Business of the Year Award 2019 will be announced at the official County Wexford Business Awards Gala Ceremony, on Friday, 24th May 2019 in Clayton Whites Hotel, Abbey Street, Wexford.

2Cubed wish the best of luck to all involved in the 2019 Wexford Business Awards.

For any and all website support and queries please contact 2Cubed. You can also call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website!

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Google PageSpeed Insights

Google PageSpeed Insights and why it’s so important!

Category: Tips and Tricks
March 6, 2019

Google PageSpeed Insights is a free tool offered by Google which is designed to report and make an informed determination of the performance of a specific web pages performance on both Desktop and Mobile devices. Google PageSpeed Insights also provide suggestions on how that specific web page can be improved.

The report that is provided by Google PageSpeed Insights provides you with information such as field data and lab data about your submitted web page. Lab data is a type of data that can be used to aid with debugging performance issues whereas field data’s main use is that it captures real-time user experience metrics which can be helpful.

As mentioned previously since PageSpeed Insights are a free tool offered by Google anyone can simply search “Google PageSpeed Insights” and enter their website URL to get a live up to date results for their PageSpeed on Desktop and Mobile devices. Entering a URL and hitting “Analyze” will quickly get you a detailed report of what’s slowing that web page based on two parameters and this report will also come with recommendations on how to fix it. When you enter your url your website will be analyzed and within a few seconds you will receive a score for both desktop and mobile which will be a percentage out of 100. 0%-49% is considered slow, 50%-89% is average whereas 90%-100% is considered fast by industry standards.

The reason these scores are important is because they play a factor alongside general SEO optimisation when it comes to google’s algorithm of ranking websites. Basically the better your Google PageSpeed Insights score is the more likely you will be to rank higher than others provided your general SEO optimisation is done efficiently as well of course.

Google recently changed how PageSpeed Insights judge websites and since Google have made this change a lot of websites are finding that their once higher score has now fallen and they are struggling to get it back to it’s once former glory. When your website is analyzed by Google PageSpeed Insights as part of their analysis summary they will provide diagnostics and opportunities for improvement. By following these suggestions you can improve your overall score again.

Google PageSpeed Insights true to their name provide a great insight in to the health and strength of your website by giving you accurate reports on it’s page speed. As it’s a free tool there is no excuse to not avail of it and use it’s useful information.

IMPROVE YOUR GOOGLE PAGESPEED INSIGHTS SCORE

To inquire about improving your score on Google PageSpeed Insights please contact 2Cubed and get your business the traffic and success it deserves. You can also call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website!

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Website Content & SEO Value - 2Cubed Web Design

The Importance of Good Content for SEO Value

Category: Tips and Tricks
February 25, 2019

Content and SEO are two important elements of a website that when both done well can elevate a website to new levels of success. However when neither are done well or even just one done well then the website will without a doubt suffer.

The reason for this and the reason that content and SEO accommodate each other so well is because strong content that is seen by google to have SEO value will rank more highly than others who are deemed not to be of such value so basically when your content has value to search engines the SEO work that you will have done on this page already will cause your page to rank highly on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).

So what is SEO value exactly you may find yourself asking? To explain what SEO value is one should first be clear on how Google as a search engine works. Google uses algorithms when people input a search to generate results which based on Google’s algorithms are what they believe to be the best and most relevant to the term/search query inputted by the user. The results that Google will display to the user are generated from content that is available throughout the web and content which is then ranked in order of its usefulness to the user’s search. So to ensure that your content is shown here in the relevant results you need to ensure it has SEO value and to ensure that it does have SEO value your content simply put needs to be beneficial to searchers, it needs to provide answers or at least information that will aid the user.

To ensure that your content provides the right beneficial information and that it has SEO value be sure to ask yourself these questions when creating your content:

  • Does my content provide useful information?
  • Is my content easy and engaging to read and interact with?
  • Does my content have a professional and credible tone?
  • Is my content more beneficial than competitor’s content?

If you can honestly answer yes to these questions then your content has the correct elements in place that are required to achieve the true potential of the SEO value of your content. If your answer to these questions is no then it’s time to go back to the drawing board and rewrite your content to achieve some true SEO value.

Please contact 2Cubed and get your business the traffic and success it deserves. You can call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website!

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Web Design Wexford

Web Designers Wexford

Website Design is one of the most important components of a website alongside functionality. The design and look of your website can be the deciding factor on whether your website is a success or not. This is of course because the design of your website provides the first impression to users. If the impression is good users may proceed and navigate further throughout your website whereas if the impression is bad they may bounce straightaway from your website which will be a potential conversion lost forever.

Web Design Wexford

It’s no secret that websites which deliver a great user experience tend to always have a far superior conversion rate than those who don’t. While creating a brilliant website design can seem costly you need to view it as an investment in the future of the success of your website and that by not investing in a great web design now the cost may be far greater than anything monetary.

2Cubed Web Design Wexford & Dublin design and develop websites across all industries and sectors, including eCommerce websites, multilingual websites, as well as projects which include custom functionality and specific database and software integration. 2Cubed Web Design Wexford & Dublin specialises in Website Development, Web Design,  App Development, eCommerce Website Design, Website Marketing and Content Management (CMS). We can work with a variety of Content Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress and Magento, and can give your existing website a re-design making it responsive and moving it into the 21st century.

Our creative web designers are ready to design, code & market your project. We provide websites nationally designed by our highly skilled web design team. 

To view our full portfolio of work please click here.

To get your dream website designed today please feel free to contact us on 01 905 8114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie

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How to Use Adwords - Adwords Agency Wexford

How to Use Adwords

Category: Tips and Tricks
February 15, 2019

Google ads formerly known as google adwords is an online based advertising tool that businesses can use to promote their website and acts as Google’s platform for pay per click ads.

Google ads give businesses complete control over all aspects such as the ads they create, when those ads start and stop, how much money they wish to spend with daily budget options available and you can even set specific goals which you wish to achieve with your ad such as increasing website visits and product sales to conversions for completion of contact forms etc..

Google adwords basically works like an auction with businesses bidding on keywords and search terms and phrases that are used to match your specific ad with the similar terms that your target demographic is inputting in their searches online. When people search for keywords relevant to your ad the chances that google will display your ad to them are greatly increased.

A great thing about using CPC (Cost per Click) advertising through a tool such as Google ads is that you will only ever be charged when people actually click on your ad. This means that you are not generally wasting money as you are guaranteed that these people are at least visiting your website. The key however is to make sure it’s the right people visiting your site, your target demographic which would be the people in which you will generate conversions from. To ensure that you are targeting and reaching the right audience with your ads google offer excellent tools such as the keyword planner tool which will aid you when doing keyword research which is a vital thing to ensure you have done before embarking on any advertising campaign as it will inform your strategy.

While there is no cost to set up a Google Ads account, it will cost you to have your ads appear. To have your ads run successfully Google Ads will have you bid on the keywords you most wish to target just like an auction. Google follows the CPC (cost per click) bidding model for most of its ad services which means that if you tell google that your maximum daily budget is €20 and the click costs €5 your budget will buy you 4 clicks for the day.

When used wrongly adwords can be a waste of money but when used correctly as part of a structured and cohesive targeted campaign it can generate you a lot of conversions and success that make the cost per click well worth the price.

If you would like more information or would like to inquire about using cost per click advertising through Google Ads we can help. Please contact 2Cubed and get your business the traffic and success it deserves. You can call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website!

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LEO Trading Online Voucher

LEO Trading Online Voucher

Category: News
February 12, 2019

The LEO Trading Online Voucher has proven to be a huge success for many of 2Cubed’s clients in the past.

The Trading Online Voucher scheme offered by local enterprise offices has proven to be a great support to many businesses and start ups as many have been awarded grants up to €2500 to help grow their business.

The purpose behind the Trading Online Voucher scheme is to not only provide financial assistance up to €2500 to aid businesses to trade online but also to provide training and advice on how best your respective business can operate and thrive successfully in an online environment.

Who is eligible to apply for a Trading Online Voucher?

  • The vouchers are targeted at businesses that have a limited online trading presence
  • less than 10 employees
  • turnover less than €2 million
  • applicants must be registered and trading for minimum of 12 months

The Trading Online Voucher is used regularly by businesses for:

  • IT consultation;
  • Development or upgrade of an e-commerce website;
  • Implementing Online payments or booking systems;
  • Purchase of Internet related software;
  • Purchase of online advertising (this purchase cannot make up any more than 30% of approved Voucher costs and can only be drawn down in one payment phase);
  • Developing an app (or multi-platform webpages)
  • Implementing a digital marketing strategy i.e. Social media marketing;
  • Consultation with ICT experts for early stage adopters of online strategy;
  • Training/skills development specifically to establish and manage an online trading activity.

Download the Trading Online Voucher Application Form

To download the Trading Online Voucher application form click here.

If you would like your company to benefit from the Trading Online Voucher which covers for funding up to 50% of your expenditure, please contact 2Cubed for more details. You can call us on 01-9058114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie or else get in touch using the live chat on our website!

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Shopify Website Design

Using Shopify Themes for Your Website Design

Category: Tips and Tricks
January 31, 2019

In our previous post about Shopify we discussed how it’s popularity was due to the 3 main reasons being the following:

    • Shopify gives you the power to create and personally customize your own E-commerce store  

 

    • Shopify allows you the ability to sell your product/service online in many different areas whether it’s mobile, social media, web, pop-up shops etc… 

 

  • Shopify allows you to manage products, payments, shipping etc…

In this post on Shopify we will be placing a special focus in particular on Shopify Design and designing your website with a Shopify theme. 

Shopify’s theme store contains hundreds of professional website designs to choose from when picking a theme for your new website. Many of Shopify’s themes have actually been previously designed by world renowned professional graphic designers. Choosing a Shopify web design theme means you can get a great visually beautiful web design without paying the higher price that a custom made bespoke web design would cost you.

2Cubed have experts who are experienced with working with Shopify’s web designs and themes and incorporating them into the end product of a great website design. As Shopify is such a designer friendly platform it allows our expert graphic designer the ability to have full uninhibited control over the complete visual look and feel of your website, this means that our graphic designer will be able to perfectly bring your vision to life as they have the freedom to do so thanks to Shopify.

To find out more about getting your website designed through using a Shopify theme web design please Contact 2Cubed today!

You can also contact us on 01 905 8114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie

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Website Maintenance Ireland

Website Maintenance Ireland

Category: Projects
January 18, 2019

2Cubed provides website maintenance and website management for 100s of companies across Ireland, from large businesses in Dublin to smaller, regional companies in rural areas. Ensuring that you have an effective website maintenance plan in place is vital if your website is to be safe and successful. Without a website maintenance plan in place you will place your website at risk to malicious threats such as being hacked.

As part of our website maintenance plans 2Cubed will schedule changes and security updates to your website to ensure that it is protected and performing efficiently. Whatever the size or scale of your company, we can manage and maintain your website, keeping it updated and secure, leaving you to get on with the day-to-day running of your business.

To make things easier for people to outsource their website management to us, we launched our new sister site Website Maintenance which allows new customers to come on board and select the website maintenance package that is suitable for their needs.

2Cubed can help fix your website after it has been hacked, update and secure it with latest patches, install security and SSL certificates, provide web hosting, and set up or migrate email.

For information on website maintenance plans and help with your website maintenance and website management needs, contact 2Cubed today!

Importance of Web Maintenance

Why website maintenance is so important!

Category: Tips and Tricks
January 16, 2019

When most people get a website designed their main focus is the visual look and the physical content of the website. Most people will spend the majority of the development process focusing on these two things. Once they are happy with both and the website goes live many people think the job is done.

This assumption would be wrong as when a website goes live it is of vital importance that they have a long-term website maintenance plan in place. A big part of any website maintenance plan is the regular enforcing and checking of security updates on your website. These updates ensure that all plugins and functions continue to run efficiently and are updated when required, these security updates also help to increase the safety of the website as it reduces malicious threats such as being hacked.

While avoiding being hacked is the most obvious reason for websites to keep on top of their website maintenance and security updates there are other risks that can occur when website maintenance is neglected or treated as an afterthought.

Three pitfalls that you can encounter if you fail to or simply take too long to do your security updates are as follows:

Decreasing of Website Speed

One of the main reasons applying updates consistently to websites is such a good thing is because each update brings with it improvements which true to their name “update” the quality and performance of the website in key factors such as speed & performance. By ignoring updates and holding on to older versions of plugins you will find your website’s speed is slower than your competitors which in turn will hurt your SEO as website speed is a ranking factor.

Broken Website

As mentioned above website updates not only improve key factors such as website speed and performance but also can provide additional new features so to not update consistently when possible would be a very silly thing to do. If you fail to make updates, plugins and functions can become so out of date that they are no longer supported which can cause your website to be broken and will cause a terrible user experience for your users.

Rising Time & Monetary Costs

When you don’t make updates and problems occur, not only will it cost you time to fix but it can also cause you a considerable amount of money. This is because it can cause a developer to have to spend much more time applying the update than originally would have been required as they now have to fix the broken issues before first updating the website. This will cost you time and money.

To conclude having a long term website maintenance plan in place is something that every website should have and it should always be a priority. If you don’t you risk your site being hacked amongst a whole other plethora of pitfalls that can occur. To inquire about website maintenance and website maintenance plans please contact 2Cubed today!

You can also contact us on 01 905 8114 or 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie

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