Atlantic Business Technologies, Inc.

Category: Strategy & Design

  • 3 Keys to Getting Started with Google Shopping

    If you sell online, you know how tough it can be to connect with buyers. It’s a noisy landscape and standing out from your competitors can be tough. But late last month, Google made it just a little bit easier with the formal transition to Google Shopping campaigns in AdWords. In this blog post, we’ll explore Google Shopping and provide you with 3 keys to getting started with Google Shopping.

    What is Google Shopping?

    Google Shopping campaigns are the next generation of Product Listing Ads (PLAs), a solution Google first launched in 2010. Google Shopping campaigns use a product data feed from your Web site connected to Google Merchant Center to create ads that use a thumbnail image of the product and include a sales price. The ads are usually given a very prominent position (typically the upper right-hand corner) and are great at driving buyers to your site. Google Shopping campaigns build on the concept of PLAs, but they also introduce new possibilities such as managing your product by “product groups” instead of product targets.

    So, if you run an eCommerce Web site, you may be interested in getting started with Google Shopping. But where do you begin and what do you need to know? Below are three key points you’ll want to keep in mind.

    3 Keys to Getting Started with Google Shopping

    1. Understand what type of eCommerce platform you are using. There are a lot of eCommerce platforms available today for businesses to use to sell their products online. Magento, WooCommerce and Shopify are just a few of the leading solutions among many, including plenty of custom-built solutions. We recommend that you have a good understanding of what eCommerce platform you are using and how your products are categorized so when you create your data feed for Google Merchant Center you’ll know how your data will be stored and presented for creation of the ads.

    2. Create a reliable data feed for Google Merchant Center. Google Merchant Center is like a data broker that sits in between your Web site’s store and Google AdWords. Merchant Center needs to know what you sell so it can tell AdWords what type of items are available for your campaigns. That’s where the data feed comes in. The data feed for your site must be well-maintained so that Merchant Center and AdWords always know what you have available on your site. If the feed gets interrupted or is outdated, your ads will be ineffective. As a result, a reliable, accurate data feed is a must for creating effective Google Shopping campaigns.

    3. Group your products together correctly. By default, Google Shopping will take your data feed and deposit everything you sell into the “all products” campaign. For a simple clothing site, this means that shirts, hats, pants and shoes will all be placed into one campaign. As you can imagine, these types of campaigns are fairly unfocused and could end up costing you a lot of money. Better campaigns will use product categories that mirror your site’s product offerings. This will allow you to be very focused with your advertising. It will also allow you to measure results and find out which product category produces the best results within your advertising campaign.

    Need Help Getting Started with Google Shopping?

    Google Shopping has the potential to dramatically boost your eCommerce performance through targeted and qualified paid search ads. By setting up your campaigns correctly from the beginning, you’ll be in a great position to capture sales that you may have missed out on in the past. Are you ready to get started with Google Shopping campaigns for your eCommerce site? Contact the Atlantic BT team today and let us help you explore your options and find out whether or not Google Shopping is a good fit for your business.

    About Jon Parks

    Jon Parks is a Sr. Consultant with Atlantic BT. With more than 15 years in the digital marketing and communications fields, Jon’s focus has been in  helping companies develop digital marketing strategies to achieve their online marketing goals. You can follow Jon on Twitter (@jonparks), circle him on Google Plus or connect with him on LinkedIn.

  • Is Your Business Ready for mCommerce?

    Recently, InternetRetailer.com released their annual “Internet Retailer Mobile 500” report which examines the trends impacting the top 500 online retailers. The study found that by the end of 2014, sales that take place on smartphone and tablet devices– known as mCommerce– will approach $84 billion and represent about 21% of all online sales for these 500 retailers. Not to be outdone, research firm Forrester is projecting mCommerce to total 4 billion in the U.S. by the end of this year.

    $84 billion or $114 billion: either way you slice it, that’s a lot of transactions and a tremendous amount of revenue. So the critical question to ask: is your business ready for mCommerce? In this post, we’ll show you what you need to do to get your business ready for an mCommerce environment.

    Is mCommerce Right for Your Business?

    Just because mCommerce is growing at a rapid rate doesn’t mean that you need to rush right out and get ready for mobile shoppers. In some instances, your customers may not be ready to make the jump to buying from you on mobile devices. If that’s the case, you’ll be better off applying your marketing and development dollars to other, more effective areas. But, you may ask, how can you tell if it is time to make the jump to mCommerce? Consider the following:

    How much mobile traffic do you get today? A great place to start is to open up your Web analytics and take a look at how much traffic your Web site currently receive from mobile sources such as tablets and smartphones. Tools such as Google Analytics do a good job of breaking out this data so you can easily answer this question. Look at that traffic. Is it growing over time? Has it risen to what you would consider a significant level? Just having mobile traffic isn’t enough, so you’ll need to go one step further. Segment your mobile traffic and look at it for sales to see if you have any visitors currently trying to purchase from you on mobile devices. Are you finding any attempts? Is it growing over time? If so, you may have an audience that is ready to buy from you on mobile devices.

    Are your products/services a good fit for mobile devices? Would a reasonable person expect to be able to make a purchase from you on a mobile device? I recommend taking a dispassionate look at what you sell and try to make a purchase on a mobile device. Does it work? Would it make sense to complete the transaction that way? There’s a big difference between purchasing a book on a mobile device and trying to complete the purchase of a car via your smartphone.

    What are your competitors doing? Like any good business, you probably have a handle on what your competitors are doing. Take a look at their site. Can you purchase from them on a mobile device? Do they use dedicated mobile apps? Do they have a responsive designed site that makes it easy to buy using a smartphone or tablet? If your competitors are already inching toward mCommerce, chances are you will need to also.

    3 Steps to Getting Started with mCommerce

    So, you’ve looked around, checked the data and it seems like mCommerce is a good fit with what you sell online. The next critical question: how do you get started with mCommerce? Let’s take a look at three key steps to getting started with mCommerce.

    1. Mobile app or responsive Web site? Mobile apps are great for specific types of purchases such as booking and paying for a hotel reservation. In this instance you’ll need to make certain that the app framework will work well with your eCommerce platform. On the other hand, if you have a large product catalog, a responsive Web site might be a better fit.

    2. Involve a good user experience (UX) designer to create a focused design. Good design is important to creating a buying experience that will lead to conversions (sales). Whether you create a mobile app or a responsive site design, working with a UX designer can help you eliminate unnecessary design elements and clutter from the overall design. This creates a more focused experience for the buyer and provides a clear path to purchase.

    3. Get ready to measure your efforts. One of the best things about digital marketing is that you can measure your efforts. MCommerce is no exception. Prior to going live with your mCommerce offerings, you’ll need to develop a marketing analytics strategy that is focused on what you need to measure to evaluate success. Your mCommerce analytics strategy should be able to help you identify what parts of the mobile environment create the best results (sales). This data can be used as part of an ongoing effort to fine tune your digital marketing efforts to drive more mCommerce sales.

    Take the Next Step with mCommerce

    As you can see, mCommerce is an area with a lot of potential. And while many of the traditional concepts of digital marketing are applicable to mCommerce, there are a few specific considerations you’ll want to pay attention to as you explore this for your business. Atlantic BT has helped many leading companies create and establish their eCommerce presence, including mCommerce. Contact our consulting team today to learn more about how we can help you capitalize on this growing avenue.

    About Jon Parks

    Jon Parks is Director of Marketing with Atlantic BT. In his work with Atlantic BT and through the digital marketing consultancy, Dijital Farm, Jon has experience helping companies develop digital marketing strategies to achieve their online marketing goals. You can follow Jon on Twitter (@jonparks), circle him on Google Plus or connect with him on LinkedIn.

  • Apple’s New Focus and How it Impacts Your Business

    Apple made their big announcement this week that they are releasing two new phone models and a smartwatch.  Apple loyalists are quick to praise every decision and announcement coming out of Cupertino, but to me, this keynote highlights the fact that Apple is now more focused on making their products fit into the marketplace rather than producing radical innovations as they did under Steve Jobs. In this post, I take a look at the new hardware and technology introduced by Apple and what it means for the mobile marketing environment.

    A Larger iPhone

    As competition created bigger and bigger Android phones, Apple has always defended the size of their phones as intentional.  They cited the ability to access the entire screen with one hand.  It’s now clear that they have succumbed to the pressure of the marketplace and completely abandoned the screen size that they’ve used for 6 years.  By the end of this month, the starting screen size for an iPhone (the iPhone 6) will be 4.7 inches which matches popular Android offerings like the Moto X and HTC One.  The other option is a 5.5 inch screen which is clearly an attempt to attract the growing user base of Samsung’s Galaxy line.

    Apple’s Use of NFC Technology

    Another big announcement was the addition of near field communication (NFC) technology in the phone which allows for mobile payments.  Once again, this has been around in the Android marketplace for years but Apple is pushing hard for user adoption by partnering with a lot of major brands to use their payment service.  In this case, we’re seeing Apple use their size and influence to push a technology rather than create a technology which could be a shrewd move.  Google and others have not been able to do much with NFC and Apple has an opportunity to take over this market.

    The Apple Watch

    For their “One more thing” moment, Apple introduced the Apple Watch.  I’ve been eagerly awaiting their watch announcement since I am a watch aficionado.  Personally, I’m not excited by the looks of the device.  Square watches just don’t quite look right in my opinion and this option has too many rounded edges.   If you are going to go rectangular, let the thing have some angles on it.  I do like the use of the crown as a control option.  Functionally, it seems to be a conglomeration of all the smartwatch functions that have been released to date.  Nothing groundbreaking but they have covered their bases.  Unfortunately, for $350 and having to wait until spring to get one, I’m skeptical that I will purchase one of these.  Watches like the Moto 360 and LG G Watch R just look so much better and fit in more with my perception of a watch as a fashion accessory.

    What does the Apple announcement mean for your business?

    A big portion of Apple’s keynote was devoted to iOS 8, Apple’s new mobile operating system.  Once again, nothing groundbreaking, but a lot of improvements.  The biggest update is probably the addition of Healthkit which is an API that allows health data to be securely transferred to and from the device.  This could have a big impact on the health services industry and anyone wishing to include health information in an app.  Most of the other improvements focus on better integrations with Apple’s ecosystem which is great but not that exciting if you are a windows user.

    Anyone with an iOS application or developing an iOS application needs to pay attention to the new screen sizes to make sure their apps are functional at the very least.  The new hardware options like the watch and NFC allow for completely new functionality that should be considered if they can provide a valuable experience for your users. (See this post from my colleague Daniel Marcus on “4 Critical Rules for Keeping Mobile Apps Up-to-Date).

    In my opinion, Apple has become less of a technology innovator and more of a technology improver. They have the best music marketplace, the best app marketplace, and they look to be making a strong push into the mobile payment space so I wouldn’t count them out of anything.  Besides, how much innovation can be done to slab of touch sensitive glass?  They already invented the smartphone as we know it. The next innovation should come from somewhere else.

    About John Proctor

    John Proctor is a Senior Solutions Consultant with Atlantic BT.  John helps companies develop strategies that leverage Atlantic BT’s expertise in web and mobile applications.  Keeping up with the latest technologies helps provide our clients with best possible solutions for their needs.  Outside of Atlantic BT, John is a gamer, mountain biker, sports fan, tech geek, and father.

  • Evaluating Web Design Companies – 5 Disruptive Ideas

    Evaluating Atlantic BT

    Atlantic BT is an idea as much as a company. We know your project, no matter what it is, will need to disrupt existing competitors since every business segment is a “red ocean” of furious online competition. Instead of evaluating Atlantic BT in traditional ways (award winning design, SEO, customer service), this post suggest 5 new “disruptive” ideas to consider when searching for a web and software design partner.

    * Tech Agnostic, Solution Focused.
    * Innovative Process Engineering (like CQS).
    * Magic of Place.
    * Spirit.
    * Understanding.

    If your web or mobile application needs any of the 5 disruptive ideas listed call us at 919.518.0670 #6.

    We look forward to hearing about your project.

    Disruptive Idea #1: Tech Agnostic, Solution Focused

    We are “agnostic” to a project’s “how”. With more than 80 programmers, Internet marketers, graphic designers and project managers coming to work at the Atlantic BT Center daily we can program a project in any system. Instead of forcing round peg problems into square holes we customize solutions to fit customer online marketing and mobile communications needs.

    You want a company to be tech agnostic and solution focused.

    We pull ideas from a vast “application archive” created since our 1998 founding.  Chances are good we’ve built something similar since our designs span everything from fast minimal viable products (MVPs) websites for startups to redesigns for million dollar ecommerce platforms on Magento or .Net. Being one of the largest web and software development firms in the southeast means diversity of solution and thinking protects your project.

    Diversity protects your project’s ability to scale and evolve. Diversity is a CSF (Critical Success Factor) to developing “mission critical” web or software projects to disrupt and generate return.

    Disruptive Idea #2: Innovative Process Engineering

    We agree with Dov Siedman’s book How: Why How You Do Anything Means Everything. Process matters in creating great websites and mobile applications. From our GoTo Timer to Continuous Quality Score (CQS) our dedication to innovative process engineering and creative project management is clear. Our “Agile” project management process defines who did what and our Continuous Quality Score provides feedback used during all company “stand up” meetings every Friday, meetings that inspire and motivate. Innovative process engineering is proof a web and software design company can innovate on your dime.

    Disruptive Idea #3: Magic of Place – Atlantic BT Center

    We believe in the magic of “place”.  Bringing a company together in the same place daily is a valuable “throwback” idea. Atlantic BT team members create unique community every day at the Atlantic BT Center (across from Macy’s Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh).

    Many companies outsource large portions of projects. We prefer to “hire in” expertise needed. We ask these “deep category experts” to come together, teach, learn and improve because knowledge transfer takes place in many unplanned and unanticipated ways. Casual conversations in the hall or thoughts over lunch can make a difference. Some benefits created by being in the same building email and Skype will never replicate.

    Disruptive Idea #4: Spirit

    Spirit may be the most important aspect of “fit” between two companies where one seeks services provided by the other.  Atlantic BT likes challenge. We hire people comfortable in the deep end of the pool because they’ve been there before and may have had to learn to swim again and on the fly.  Much like our home city of Raleigh, NC, we are scrappy, confident and growing.

    Our 5th Inc. 5000 award (2013) as one of America “fastest growing companies” helped Atlantic BT achieve something less than 10% of Inc. 5000 accomplish. Getting on the Inc. 5000 list is an accomplishment. Staying on the Inc. 5000 list for five years straight is almost impossible. Winning a “growth race” is more meaningful when combined with Atlantic BT’s second year as a Triangle Business Journal Best Places To Work.

    Toss in an IndyWeek.com “Best In The Triangle” award for web and software design and Atlantic BT’s creative “can do” spirit is present and accounted for.

    Disruptive Idea #5:Understanding

    Web design companies pitch on three to five key ideas such as “award winning design”, “customer satisfaction” or “SEO expertise”. All important ideas, but how relevant is the past to your project? Your project is happening NOW and will be launched into the web of tomorrow.

    We suggest thinking like Venture Capitalists (VC) when evaluating web and software design firms. VC invest in teams not widgets. Widgets change, VC know TEAM is where return lives. Hire a team who sees your project’s dimensions, opportunities and possibilities. Hire a team who understands something that, at its core, can never be fully understood – websites and Internet marketing.

    The web is changing even as you read this. We’ve learned the folly of trying to collar the web. Better to float on a board capable of surfing any wave. We could match competitors in any static measurement, but we suggest adding new dimensions to your evaluation. We aren’t the only web design firm who can surf the web’s new waves, but no wave scares us and we match our ability to understand, change and create ROI against anyone.

    That said, we also know Atlantic BT isn’t a perfect fit for every project.

    Recently we referred a very cool project, The IndyWeek.com Give Guide, to a great competitor in Hillsborough. Why give up such a cool project? Part of “understanding” is knowing when a project can be better served. Calling a competitor, asking for help and letting a cool project go requires courage. Our loyalty is to our customers and their work. The courage of our convictions helps us understand not every project is a fit. When we treat our customers as we want to be treated our Continuous Quality Scores (CQS) stay high and a new generation of work finds us.

  • The Future is Clearer: How to Display High Resolution Textures on Apple’s Retina Display

    Yesterday here at Atlantic BT, we hosted the first meeting for our new local design community meetup group, Crop. Our first event was about discussing ways to design and develop interesting textures.

    For our Tips and Tricks segment, I gave a presentation on how to properly use your textures and display them on Apple’s Retina Display supported devices. Know how to properly setup your documents and use CSS3 media queries to achieve crystal-clear results!

    Presentation on Slideshare

  • An Internet Spin on the Ails of Traditional Retailers

    A number of traditional retailers have been hurt by the economic downturn and have closed up shop. Possibly one of the most notable is Circuit City. The question is, could the Internet’s influence on the marketplace be an equally large factor in its demise?

    Case in Point: Circuit City

    traditional-retailers-online-marketing

    If you think about it the business that Circuit City is in (ie. consumer electronics) is highly commoditized and Circuit City doesn’t seem to have done what little it possibly could have done to differentiate itself in this type of market. What I mean by that is the margin and volume available in local consumer electronics has been steadily eroded by competition on the Internet.

    If all you’re looking for is price then its almost impossible for Circuit City to compete. After all how could having a huge physical store, sales people, local advertising, shipping, and taxes be more efficient than an Internet merchant who just has a website and a warehouse? (behind the scenes of course you have layers of management, warehousing and distribution, insurance, etc.)

    Even if Circuit City can get close on price their margin isn’t enough to sustain the massive costs. This doesn’t mean that people never buy things offline – I often buy electronics locally rather than on the Internet, but the margins have been so reduced by the need to compete that even when a sale is made the profit isn’t sufficient.

    How are Other Retailers Fairing?

    While the closing of Circuit City may be good news for BestBuy and other traditional electronics retailers they should take note of the underlying reason why a 60 year-old company failed. In a commoditized market you must find and promote major differentiators to win profitable business. Some of those differentiators are natural advantages such as convenience and immediacy but that’s not enough to justify creating the margin that they need. Without heavily deconstructing BestBuy’s revenue we can see that their gross margin is about 2.75 billion on 11.5 billion in sales. This is roughly 20%. Compared to Lowes (home improvement) which has similar revenue but a roughly 34% margin you can see where the trouble is. I think historically, traditional retailers aimed for 40-50% gross margins to sustain a viable profit. Lowes business is much less affected by the Internet and commoditization and I think that is supported in their gross margin. After all how often are you going to buy a 2×4 online and have it shipped to your door? If you feel like your business will need help adapting to the changing e-Commerce environment, contact ABT.