eCommerce - Old City Web Services

OldCity Web Services – Highlights of 2017

January 12, 2018 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Check out a few highlights from our year in 2017.
From website and print designs to new content services, SEO efforts, and pro bono projects – we’ve been busy!

Advertorials

Advertising and Content

In 2017 we implemented a new type of advertising on OldCity.com, called advertorials. We now offer a 300-word blog, made-to-order for our clients. Advertisers can use advertorials to spread the word on sales, services, general awareness and more. Our first client was the franchisee of the local chain, Dunkin’ Donuts. Check it out.

Content Writing

St. Augustine Historic Inns

In other content news, the St. Augustine Historic Inns requested we create intriguing blogs for their customers, which are then published on the bottom of their Home Page. The blogs vary in topic, but all pertain to things-to-do, holidays, and events in St. Augustine. Now, when potential customers navigate to the Inn’s website, they are greeted with material that is persuasive, making them more inclined to book a trip to exciting St. Augustine!

Print Design

Bluewater Adventure

Front and back of rack card designed for Bluewater Adventure.

Bluewater Adventure’s made a big move from the waters of South Carolina to the Old City that prompted them to redesign their rack card, which was no longer accurate. Our team decided the only way to fully capture their quality tours was by taking on the Intercoastal Waterway ourselves! We set up a Bluewater Adventure photo shoot and scored photos of the catamarans in action along with phenomenal photos of The Great Cross and Castillo de San Marcos. Now, on the front of the rack card is a proper representation of the sightseeing opportunities you have when sailing with Bluewater Adventure.

Magazine Advertisement Design

Gator Door East Inc.

Gator Door East used this advertisement for their big debut in St. Johns County Parade of Homes magazine! After learning they’d be a featured business, Gator Door sat down with our team to create an influential and compelling ad to catch the attention of shoppers! Don’t you just a-door this ad?

Business Card and Site Design

Jack Ward Fire

Jack Ward Fire, recently under new ownership, desired a brand with a haute look, reflecting their field of work. Working through fire and flames, we presented them with what is now their company’s business card. They were so pleased with the fire-hot cards, that our design team is currently working with them on a smokin’ hot site.

: Gator Door magazine ad for St. Johns County Parade of Homes.

: Jack Ward employee business cards.

E-commerce Solutions

Minorcan Datil

After facing multiple issues with X-Cart commerce solutions, Minorcan owner decided to upgrade to a more modern system, WordPress. Our development team knew that WordPress’s, user-friendly, Woo-commerce theme would satisfy her desire to add new products, edit old products, and raise her customer satisfactory level. Now, Minorcan can concentrate on managing customers and products without the hassle of learning how to navigate a difficult system.

Site and Logo Redesign

Rodbender Fishing Charters

The fishing charter industry in Northeast Florida can be compared to a shark tank, it’s a competitive field and standing out in the crowd can be difficult. After a consultation, it was clear to Chuck Stearns, owner, that Rodbender Fishing Charters needed a fresh logo and easy-to-navigate site. The design team created a few mockups and Chuck decided on this creative logo and simple site. Now, the Homepage of his site subtly answers frequently asked questions and has three call-to-action charter packages. As for the logo, if you can think of a better design, let minnow.

Site Design and Launch

R.V. Cooper Construction

R.V. Cooper Construction is a local construction company servicing St. Augustine and surrounding areas. Remarkably, since 1998, the company has relied on word of mouth to reach new clients; their quality workmanship and attentiveness in guiding customers was their business strategy. However, the competitive nature of the construction field prompted them to make their web presence concrete. Ricky Cooper, the owner, desired a platform that would showcase the construction process, to ease the customer experience. Our team raised the roof by creating Cooper’s beautiful new site; straightforward, simple and user-friendly.

: R.V. Cooper Construction’s Home Page.

: Hook, line, and sinker logo for Rodbender Fishing Charters.

Search Engine Optimization

Ranking Efforts

Search engine optimization (SEO), is imperative for every business to incorporate into their business plan. In 2017, our SEO team worked with nearly a dozen local businesses, developing key-terms and strategies to gain a higher ranking in their search engine results.

Multipurpose Online Designs

St. Joseph Academy

Old City Web Services also did a few pro-bono projects in 2017. One of our favorites was creating a series of 14 athletic-banners for St. Joseph Academy’s sports teams, the Flashes. It was important that the banners could be transferred and size-well whether they were added to newsletters, emails, print media, or their site. Our team sparked the Flashes interest with a lightning bolt and bold imagery. Go team!

Logo Design

The Ponce Hotel

Upon branching out from under the franchise, Magnuson Hotels, The Ponce Hotel needed a fresh look and logo. Our design team worked with the new interior designer at the Ponce on matching the color scheme used inside the hotel. In conclusion, they decided on the simple yet elegant logo.

Love what you see? Call us for a consultation.

Check out other work we've done for clients.

Two things clients can do to push security efforts is to never trust embedded URLs or unsolicited mail. This may seem obvious, but you wouldn’t believe the number of times a client is hacked because they thought they recognized the “From:” address in a spam mail. Also, be on guard for shady apps requesting unusual permission’s – especially mobile ones!

Mission Statement

Our mission at Old City Web Services is to navigate the world of web design, web development, and advertising for our clients so that they can focus on what they do best – running their business! Our business intentions go beyond the metrics of graphics, coding, and SEO. Located on Florida’s First Coast, we run a personable home front service and consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership in their success. If you are looking to increase your business’ visibility give us a call at 904-867-4112 or contact us today.

Sharing and re-posting this blog is encouraged. Please credit Old City Web Services when sharing.
Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information on Old City Web Services Blog.
Photo credits: Old City Web Services

Website Trends for 2018

January 2, 2018 by anoadmin

In 2017 several website trends caught traction which will remain popular throughout 2018. In the past year, we have noticed a major evolution in the design of small business sites. Cluttered pages, a lack of direction, and M.I.A. contact forms are a thing of the past. The message has been conveyed; business owners are realizing that strong photos, clear messages, and prompt customer service is what makes a positive user experience. A positive experience results in potential customers to stay on a site for longer. Therefore, websites are being designed with a specific goal to convey a clear message and make it as easy as possible for the user. More sites are sticking to a clean site format, incorporating a call to action (CTAs) and chatbots.

Clean Sites and Good Photo Quality

Old City Web Services designs a site that is clear and focused.

This is an example of a site that Old City Web Services redesigned not too long ago. Notice the simple color scheme, clear text, and simplicity of the site.Above all else, a clean and focused website is a top priority for businesses. A cluttered site can be distracting and push potential customers out of your cyber-door. Since sites only have a few seconds to grab the attention of a user, distracting elements like blurry photos, a mismatched color-scheme, and too short or too long of content, is damaging.

Call to Action (CTA)

St. Augustine Record CTA

In this CTA, the St. Augustine Record advertises a local attorneys office.The purpose of a CTA is to prompt the user to take a specific action while on your site. A CTA usually takes the form of a button, link, or pop-up and requests the user to “sign up”, make a purchase, download a coupon, or read more information.

Every site should have a CTA, especially e-commerce sites. They provide a direction for users, measure the success of a site, and let’s not forget they increase conversion. The proof is in the pudding. Nearly every large corporation site has several CTAs and small businesses are following suit in 2018.

CTA’s are for you if you have an e-commerce site, use email as a form of marketing, host events or sales, or provide coupons.

If you are interested in adding a CTA or expanding your current site into an ecommerce site, call us to schedule a free consultation.

Screenshot: Chat automation by thinkingchat.com. An example of what chat automation can look like for your business' site.

Chatbots

Customer service will be more complex than ever in 2018. In the past, customers with an inquiry resorted to dialing a number for a resolution, but in 2018 they will resort to clicking; chatbots are the key to high customer satisfaction.

Consumers are interested in what is most convenient for them and phone calls have become inconvenient. Since users often use the internet and social media pages, such as Facebook, to find information, connecting with them online is more important than ever. Consequently, chatbots are taking the place of phone calls. As you may have noticed on some Facebook Business Pages, it is no longer necessary to dial a number for an answer. Chatbots make it convenient to answer frequently asked questions such as the price of items, event times, locations, and the purchase of tickets. While large enterprises have a customer support person on the other side of their chat box to answer questions, small businesses may not have the manpower to answer individual questions. However, small businesses can rely on chat automation, which provides pre-written responses to FAQ. Chatbots is beneficial for more than just the consumer. In fact, small businesses profit as well because customers are satisfied and better customer data is collected.

The technology behind chatbots is sophisticated but surprisingly inexpensive. Interested in knowing if chatbots are the way to the hearts of your customers? We can help you.

Mission Statement

Is Google Turning Into a Helicopter Parent?

October 1, 2017 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Terms you Need to Know

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol): how we send and receive information on the web. For example, by typing "fall activities in St. Augustine," in Google's search box, you are actually sending a command to a server. In return the server fetches the information.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer): is the technology that allows information to be encrypted between the web server and browser. An SSL Certificate can vary in cost depending on the level of security needed. If you are in need of an SSL Certificate, contact Old City Web Services today

HTTPs (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure): is a secure way to send and receive information. The information you would normally get through HTTP is encrypted through HTTPs.

: Example of HTTPs URL (Secure)

: Example of HTTP URL (Not Secure)

Is Google Serious?

This past January, Google Chrome decided to become that uncool mom - who is so cautious that it is literally crippling. The number one search engine began marking websites that require sensitive information, like credit cards, social security numbers, and passwords, without the HTTPs in the URL as not-secure.

But, this crazy soccer mom, is only getting started. This October, they are taking security to the next level and will mark ANY website you interact with, that does not have HTTPs in the URL, as not-secure. So far they are defining interaction as, anything you enter into a text box, including search boxes. To promote a safer internet they are placing icons at the beginning of URLs.

: Secure

: More Info/ Not Secure

: Dangerous/ Not Secure

Will Google Standards Effect Your Business?

A secure website undoubtedly brings users comfort while they browse your site, but, it is not detrimental to your business plan. If you are requesting sensitive information, OCWS suggests you spend the few extra bucks and become SSL certified - to protect your clients and yourself from liability. The bummer is that adding SSL Certification to your website slows down the streaming of your page, because there is an extra step in place - which encrypts information. The good news is that it is possible to only certify certain pages or forms!

If you are interested in SSL certifying your website, or individual pages, OCWS works with GeoTrust, to provide certifications for our clients. Contact us today!

Rumor has it that Google's new standard will cause search results to place HTTPs sites above HTTP sites. We have not noticed this as yet. The reliability of information on your website at large, remains to be what will predominantly effect your SEO.

A tip for success:
Create A Newsletter
One simple way to stay in-touch with your customers is to create a newsletter. It can then be sent directly to your audiences' inbox wherever they are and they will know what's going with your business. Newsletters are also an awesome way to share current specials and events with your audience.

Sharing and re-posting this blog is encouraged. Please credit Old City Web Services when sharing.
Disclaimer: Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information on Old City Web Services Blog.

4 Ways to Prepare Businesses for the Holidays

September 10, 2017 by anoadmin

Prepare your business for the holidays

Fall is just a few days away, and that means the holidays will be here before you know it. While it seems like we’re still in the midst of summer, people start prepping for the holidays months in advance. According to the National Retail Foundation, more than half of consumers begin research in September and October or earlier.

If you haven’t already done so, now is a great time to prepare your business for the biggest shopping days of the year. Small adjustments now could make a big impact when it comes to your overall holiday sales. Just as the number of people shopping will increase drastically, so will your competition. So, how do you stand out?

Plan out your holiday advertising.

Now is the time to plan out how you are going to spend your holiday advertising budget. Take a look at where your current customer base is coming from. What is the most effective way to reach them? There are a multitude of ways you can advertise including print publications, online advertisements such as Google Ads, advertising through websites such as OldCity.com, social media marketing campaigns, and more.

Take advantage of the biggest shopping days.

It goes without saying that there are a few days in the holiday season that seem to have become a holiday of their own. We’re talking about Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday. What makes these days so popular? Fantastic deals and the appeal of getting most, if not all, of your holiday shopping done in a matter of hours. It’s all about convenience these days.

So, how do you compete?

Know which days you want to target. You don’t have to participate in each of the four days. Choose which of the four match up with your company. For example, if you have a local boutique, Small Business Saturday would be perfect for you. And if you have an online shopping website, you could also participate in Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
Decide ahead of time which deals you will be offering. Making decisions months in advance allows you the opportunity to make sure you have plenty of inventory in stock.
Advertise this through your website, social media accounts, and emails. The only way your customers or potential customers will know about your sales is if you tell them, so spread the word.

Invest in SEO now to be found later.

We can’t stress this enough. Investing in Search Engine Optimization is key to being found online. You could have the best website, but, without SEO, it’s likely not too many people will see it. By incorporating SEO now, you’re giving your website time to build ranking among search engines – the better the ranking, the better chance your audience has of finding you.

Make sure your website is efficient and up-to-date.

The holiday season is a time to put your best foot forward and make sure your website is in order. Last year, 44 percent of shopping during Thanksgiving weekend took place online. Your website says just as much about you as your brick and mortar store does. It’s often the first impression you make to potential customers, so it’s best to make sure it reflects your business well.

Check to make sure you have the following:

Responsiveness
- Is your site easy to navigate? Does it work well on all devices?
An efficient checkout process
- Make sure your checkout process is quick and simple. A slow or complicated check out could lose a sale and a customer.
Current design
- When was the last time you updated your website or logo? Does your website reflect your business? It is important for all aspects of your business to be cohesive, and since more people will be looking at your website during the holiday season, there's never been a better time to consider upgrading your look.
Good quality photos
- When people are shopping online, they equate the quality of the photo to the quality of the product. It's really all they have to go on, so it has to be well-done.
Relevant, well-written content
- When was the last time you updated your content? Take a few minutes to read through your website. Could it use some refreshing? Well-written content not only paints a picture for your customers but also helps you with your ranking online. The organic use of relevant keywords helps boost your rankings with search engines.
Current on updates and maintenance
- Is your site working to its potential? If not, now is the best time to perform updates and maintenance on your site.

We can help.

Planning for the holidays while trying to run a business can be overwhelming. Let us help you! Whether you need an updated website, photos for your products or services, help with SEO, or a strategic marketing campaign, our team is here to help with any project you may have. Contact us today for a free consultation to help you get prepared for the holiday season!

What Goes into an eCommerce Site?

August 10, 2017 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

ecommerce image

Chances are you've heard the term eCommerce website thrown around, and if you own a business, you've probably considered having one. But what goes into an eCommerce site? What makes it different than a regular website? And what steps can you take to lead you to success? You've come to the right place! Just as with any other aspect of your business, eCommerce sites are an investment, and it's important to know the basics before getting started.

What exactly is an eCommerce site?

An eCommerce website we designed for Racer Walsh Co.

An eCommerce - electronic commerce - website is a website where you sell products and services online.

According to a study by Bigcommerce, 51% of Americans prefer to shop online, and eCommerce is growing 23% year-over-year, yet 46% of American small businesses don't have a website. Let that sink in for a minute. Online shopping websites are a quickly growing part of the business world. The longer you go without one, the longer you miss out on a lucrative investment and a way to get your products and services seen by individuals who might not have the chance to step into your brick and mortar store.

What should I do before I start building the site?

Define your audience. Know who you're selling to and who your target market is. This is absolutely essential. The more you know about your audience, the more easily you'll be able to reach potential customers. When defining your audience, you should look at your current customers, competition, and who your products/services are made for and answer these questions:
- How old are they?
- Where are they located?
- What do they do?
- What are they interested in?
- What is the best avenue to reach them?

Decide what to put on your website. Each product needs a price, a detailed description, product number, and good quality photo(s). Remember, customers won't get to try out your products before they buy them, so the more details the better. It's important to let them know exactly what to expect from their purchase.
Determine how products will be organized and categorized on your website. Organization is key for websites. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to find what they're looking for. Your website is an extension of your business and should be operated with as much care and coordination as your storefront.
Designate the price of your items and services. Be sure to do your market research on pricing from industry competitors.

What are things I can do to have a successful site?

Make sure your website is easy to navigate and responsive. According to Bigcommerce, 21% of shoppers find unattractive or hard-to-navigate websites frustrating when buying online.
Ensure the checkout process is quick, easy, and efficient.
- If people have issues while checking out, they're likely to abandon the cart and go elsewhere. The less complicated the process, the more likely a customer is to complete a sale. The checkout method will greatly determine the customer experience, as it is the last thing they will do on your site. While we're on the topic of checking out, you should also make your return/exchange policy clear and easy to find on your website.
Make sure your website's performance is optimized. A website's load time is critical. You have just seconds to get and keep someone's attention before they abandon your page.
Invest in SEO. Search Engine Optimization is how to get noticed organically online. When you invest in SEO, your ranking among search engines improves, traffic is driven to your website, and it increases awareness in search engines. Search engines are how most consumers will find your website. And if search engines can't find you, chances are your consumers can't either.

Things to remember

Having an eCommerce site is like adding a whole new aspect to your business. It requires time, dedication, and money just like any other aspect of your business. Online shopping sites can be a great tool to grow your business if done right and maintained, but they can also fail if not utilized well.
Just like with any other website, eCommerce sites require maintenance and upkeep. It is necessary to leave room in your budget for reoccurring costs and maintenance work. These fees could include merchant transaction fees, hosting fees, annual SSL certificates, and a monthly tax calculation fee.
Make sure you keep up with your domain, keep your information current on your domain, and keep track of when your domain needs to be renewed. Those who fail to renew their domain on time run the risk of paying higher renewal fees or losing ownership of their site. This is where it pays to have someone to manage your domain for you. It takes the stress away and allows you to concentrate on other aspects of your business.

How we can help

Starting from scratch or updating an existing eCommerce site can be an overwhelming process. For years, we've been helping our clients build websites they're proud to call their own. Working with our team takes the guesswork out of what could be an otherwise tricky process. Our comprehensive services allow for us to not only build a user-friendly, modern website but also to market it to your target audience.

Take a minute to view our work, and if you're interested in working with our team, contact us for a free consultation!

Updating Your Website – More Important Than You Might Think

May 12, 2017 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

As a business owner, you know that your website is important, but how often do you update your website? We're not just talking about making sure you have new photos and fresh content. We're talking about website updates for the back end of your website. While updates may seem like a hassle or just another thing taking time away from important projects, they're actually important and vital to the functionality and protection of your site.

Updates of any kind can seem like a hassle and waste of time when you could be doing other things. So, often times, we put updates off until later...and later...and later. We've all been there. A notification pops up on our computer or phone saying it needs to update to a new version of the software, and we think, "This software seems to work just fine." We ignore the notifications or click "Remind me later." But our devices and websites don't remind us just for fun. Technology companies don't come up with updates unless they're important.

So, why is updating your website so important?

Security

We cannot stress enough how important updating is for your website's security.

"With WordPress in particular, the majority of minor-version updates are to fix various security issues that have been discovered," said Jordan Hazen, technical system administrator at Old City Web Services. "WordPress can be configured to keep its core software updated automatically, and it's a good idea to have this enabled."

If you are looking to get your WordPress to update automatically, go to your Easy Updates Manager in WordPress and enable that setting. If you would like, WordPress can also send emails when a new update is available. To set up that service, go to WordPress settings and enable your Updates Notifier. It is important to note that if you do an automatic update, your site can break. If we do your site update and it breaks, we are there to fix it for you right when it happens.

Although your host's servers may have tight security, a website that is behind on updates becomes vulnerable to security threats. It makes you more susceptible to hackers and viruses. A big target of hackers is websites, such as e-commerce sites, that contain sensitive information such as credit card numbers. A website using old software has a much higher risk of being hacked. An old plugin might have stored credit card numbers in plain English while a new version would encrypt the numbers for safety. If your site got hacked, you could be subject to legal action from those whose credit cards were stolen. They could state that you did not store their information properly. So, not only is your site at risk but also the wellbeing of your company.

New Features

With new updates come new features. This is a good reminder that website updates really are there to help you and work in your favor, and they're an incentive to update to see what new cool features are available to make your work and website better overall. Each update comes out with new features unique to the update. One of the most recent updates is WordPress 4.7 which was released at the end of 2016 and presented a new default WordPress theme for 2017.

Here's a video introducing the new update:

The new features include immersive featured images, video headers, and subtle animations. The update was mainly focused on business websites. Some of the more technical features include the ability to edit shortcuts icons, the ability to add pages in your menu, the ability to add live custom CSS, and more.

Better performance

When you update your website, you will notice that your site's performance will improve overall. Updates often improve plugins, themes, and WordPress in general. WordPress releases updates when they know they can help things run more efficiently, so you're always working with the best tools. Think of it as car maintenance. If you have a car part that is older, it might be wearing down and not working as well as it once could. Once you put a new part in your car, you'll notice the difference in performance. Just as it is important to maintain your car along the way, it's important to make updates to your website along the way for optimum functionality.

Bug Fixes

Nothing is perfect and no website is ever done. WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world, not because they did everything perfectly the first time they released the program but because they are constantly working to improve their product. A common reason for updates is fixing something that was not working to its potential previously. These updates will also help with the functionality and speed of your website.

How we can help

As you can see, updating your website is crucial to its security and performance. It's important to maintain the best website you can for your business. We know that as a business owner, your to-do list is neverending. This is why we offer services to update clients' websites for them. Working with our knowledgeable team takes the guesswork out of the process and assures you that you are taking the best steps to protect and enhance your website.

If you are interested in our services, contact us to set up a free consultation and let us show you how we can help!

More Internet Terminology Explained

November 17, 2015 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

It can be a challenging task to keep up with both your small business and your online presence when often the terminology can leave you confused. Here are some useful definitions to help you as you work on your website so you understand what is important.

Browser – A browser is the software application you use to retrieve information from the internet. It may not seem important what browser you use or your site visitors are using, but often it is. If you use an outdated browser, the webpages viewed may appear broken and all the elements that you worked so hard on for building your website won’t look good. Having an up to date, user friendly browser like Firefox or Chrome is best when using the web.

Blog – a blog is a website or place on your website where you add recurring information. It can be a personal blog, editorial, informational, or sales. A blog is a great way to regularly update your website, which Google loves for search rankings if you are using the right keywords.

Keywords – Speaking of keywords, here’s what that means: keywords are words used in your webpage that both describe the work that you do and make your site relevant for showing up in search engines. You can make your website or webpage show up in popular searches by using keywords, but make sure that the words you are using are relevant to your site. You want people to not only come to your site, but to stay because they’ve found your information useful.

E-Commerce – this is the use of the internet to sell products. You can leverage your website to not just draw people to call you or come into your store, but you can also sell directly to them online. Consider setting up an e-commerce shop online to increase your sales reach.

Plugin – a plugin extends or expands the functionality of your website. Plugins are easy-to- use additions to the backend of your website that make things like building forms, displaying photos, and even adding an online shop much simpler and more streamlined and easy to maintain.

All of these are things that we can help you with to maximize your website, too. Contact us today to learn more!

eCommerce Holiday Gift Ideas

December 4, 2013 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

It's time to start selling holiday-themed gifts online!

Cyber Monday isn't the only day shoppers go online to purchase great gifts for the holidays. Almost every day in December leading up to Christmas proves to be a profitable time for online storefronts. In fact, US eCommerce and Online Retail holiday sales reached $33.8 billion last year, up 13% from 2011. What does this mean to you? It means it's time to get creative by offering great products that make even better gifts! Below are a couple suggestions to get you started:

Gift Cards Make Great Gifts

Millions of people give the gift of cash on a card for Christmas. This is the easiest way to guarantee your gift will be used and appreciated. It's also a simple way for you to generate more revenue online even without an eCommerce shop. Who will buy your gift cards? Your loyal following and people who who have seen or used your products or services time and time again. Give your customers an incentive to purchase online that will intrigue them to come back to you. Christmas themed cards are nice, but even if you use traditional certificates, get creative with the envelope you put it in!

A Little Taste of Everything

Gift baskets or gift stockings make excellent holiday presents because they appeal to a larger group of consumers. Buyers like them because they make great stocking-stuffers and offer a variety of items for those they don't know very well.

Select small, inexpensive products and place them in a woven basket or unique stocking. Then, fill it with Christmas-themed decorations, candy or other goodies. Don't forget a business card and printed coupon for them to remember you by!

Finally, take a picture of the final product and upload it to the Home page of your site or if you have an online shop, put it as the featured or seasonal item. Visitors from all over the world will be able to purchase your gift baskets online and then let them choose to pick it up in-store or have it shipped directly to the recipient in time for the holidays!

Want to make sure your customers are quickly and easily finding your holiday-themed gifts online? Contact us for more info: letusmarketyou@oldcity.com or 904-867-4112

Why use PayPal?

July 17, 2013 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

If you're thinking about selling products or services online, you may want to consider PayPal as your method for securing online transactions. PayPal is great for integrating into Content Management Systems and makes it easy to place a link directly on your site. PayPal also works well with many handy plugins. Below are four reasons PayPal makes it easy for small businesses to sell merchandise online:

1. Set-up made easy!

The first step is to sign-up for a free PayPal account. There are various types of PayPal accounts. If you are just starting out and don't plan on selling very high-ticket items, you may want to choose the personal account for the first couple of months. You can always upgrade to the Premier or Business account anytime you want.

2. Notifications

Once a customer submits their online payment through your PayPal account, you will receive an email notification sent to the primary email address on your account. Even if a buyer pays with an e-check, PayPal will let you know the transaction is pending approval. This makes for easy bookkeeping and organization of your online transactions.

3. Shipping Capabilities

PayPal will handle all of your shipping needs using standard shipping rates depending on the service you choose. PayPal allows you to print invoices quickly and easily. Hint: For larger items or customers that choose expedited shipping, compare shipping rates between USPS, UPS and Fed Ex to guarantee the best rate.

4. Reporting Tools

PayPal's Reporting Tools provide you with the information you need to effectively measure and manage your small business. These tools are important in tracking transactions, comparing customer trends and will make you more profitable. With PayPal's Reporting Tools, you can:

Analyze your revenue sources to better understand your customers' buying behavior
Automate time-consuming bookkeeping tasks
Accurately settle and reconcile transactions

Want to know more about PayPal for your business? Old City Web Services can help! From determining the best type of account for your business needs to integrating PayPal into your existing or new website. We'll minimize your stress and get you on your way to online payment success. Give us a call: 904.829.2772 or email us: letusmarketyou@oldcity.com for more information.

eCommerce + Content Management

April 3, 2013 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

With more and more people shopping online, considering an eCommerce shopping cart system for your website may be just what you need. Integrating an eCommerce system into your existing site will allow you to sell your products or services online and keep the same look and feel of your current site. Whether its books, accessories, groceries, clothes and more, the Internet allows consumers to purchase products quickly and get it shipped within a matter of days.

Here is a list of some eCommerce features:

Unlimited number of products
Products assigned to an unlimited number of categories
Multiple product images
Ability to highlight featured products
Generate discount coupon codes and gift certificates
Several online payment modules
FedEx and UPS shipping calculation
Inventory tracking
Password-protected administrative access
Google Analytic's integration
Dashboard widgets to easily view sales and product history
Control the cart from anywhere in the world using your web browser

*Not all of these features are included in our eCommerce systems, therefore additional charges may apply for select features.

ECommerce systems are considered to be a cost-effective and favorable alternative for small businesses who wish to expand nationally and larger businesses who wish to expand internationally.

Old City Web Services offers eCommerce solutions that fit your specific business needs. Not only will we add the first 5 products to your online store, but we'll teach you how to manage it yourself! Let us help you expand your growth and become more profitable by giving us a call at: 904.829.2772 or emailing us: letusmarketyou@oldcity.com to set up your free consultation!