Tiny_Coast

hello! 
I offer digital marketing and web design services for small business owners.  Stepping out and working on my own rather than agency or in house positions has been a great new adventure. 
You can learn more at tinycoastdigital.com
Looking forward to learning about everyone's businesses 😊 
 

The best thing you can do before you start with paid social is to get clear with what you are trying to accomplish. For example, is this a branding exercise? Are you looking for email signups or engagement with a free trial? Or are you looking for someone to make a purchase? 
From there, you can make sure you have the necessary tracking in place to measure what you are trying to achieve. You can also place a dollar amount on different metrics. 
If you are using paid social to drive conversions, but the acquisition cost is more than your product (and margins), paid social may not be worth it.  
A better route may be using google search ads because people have more search intent and are more likely to convert. However, it is always essential to think about your corresponding landing page experience to understand where the disconnect arises if you have a great click-through rate on your ads but aren't seeing the results you'd like.
If, however, paid social is excellent for bringing in people who are eager to do a free trial, and each new client is worth more than the cost of acquisition, social may be a great channel for you.  
In my experience, start with a small budget, and test a few different types of messaging, and creative and see if people are engaging with your creative. Try a few different formats, and landing pages, and once you start to get some traction, you can increase your ad spend. In time, hopefully, you'll have a rough idea how much an email sign up, or download, or purchase usually costs via different ad channels. 
Different types of ads are better suited to branding vs people actively searching out a solution. Before you start with paid social you want to consider: 
1. goals of your paid social efforts
2. your audience (personas?) 
3.  messaging - what kind of messaging resonates? 
4. creative - what kind of ad formats resonate? 
5. social channel - what channel is best suited to your audience (LinkedIn, instagram etc)
6. call to action  - what do you want people to do 
7. landing page experience  and URL (where are you sending people, and does your ad messaging mirror your landing page?) 
8. Cost (is this channel helping your business financially)

It is a lot of effort, but I do think one of the best things you can do is offer something of value. That may come in the form of tutorials, discounts, free trials, information, engaging content, etc).
It is important to establish what your audience finds valuable, and when (do they need a free trial to consider purchasing your product, or a discount to encourage them to buy from you again. 
Different people are likely at different stages of the buyers journey and have different interests - so digging into web analytics, social comments, sending out surveys, or doing some of your own experimentation can help you determine what kinds of offers / content to offer your audience at different stages of the buyers journey. 

Nice website @Leaf! 🌟
Love the unique font, and how you used the ”leaf” to form three different icons. The colors are also superb.
The content and structure is straightforward.
I don’t have many improvements as I think the website is great. The only thing I would change is the font on the ”objects” page. Change to your main font, and your main color.
Good luck!

Site URL: https://www.leafsilver.com/
Hello!
My name is Leaf, I'm an artist and designer working as a freelance website designer splitting time between Vermont and Chicago. I am interested in growing my client base and as a first step towards that, my website. I just attended Sophia Ojha's webinar on the Client on-boarding process, which was illuminating! I have a lot more to work on now :))
I just published an update to my personal website to include my freelance services as a way for clients to learn more, find my work and contact me. I'm still working on fleshing out client case studies for my portfolio but in the mean time would really appreciate any feedback or suggestions on my site's layout and information architecture from y'all. I'm very much still in the process of tweaking and It would be helpful to have some thoughts to guide my process going forward.
Thanks! 
 

Hi there, 
In my experience, if you have both GA and tag manager running on a page (rather than just tag manager) it can sometimes be interpreted as a duplicate view and skew the bounce rate very low. Hopefully this issues clears up for you 🙂

I always try to make articles with interesting topics. People tend to click and share them more, which is great for SEO. Also, those types of topics are more fun to make too 🙂 
Keyword research is always a good idea to do too (I use Keywords Everywhere). 

Successful SEO strategies depend on many factors and are usually the product of a lot of time spent on market research, competitor analysis, and social trends. Once this work is done, search engine algorithms will still need to crawl your site and determine its rankings. It’s a long, steady process that requires trial and error, and lots of patience. What happens if your main strategy doesn’t work how you expect? In this case, do what the pros do: experiment!

According to the SEO and marketing blog, Search Metrics, SEO experiments will help you answer the question, “will this tactic work for my business?” Here’s a few of their recommendations on experiments you can try:
A/B Tests Font, color, and CTA (call to action) changes Tweaking your website copy and metadata Targeting search keywords with low search volume The site Semrush also has some innovative SEO experiments you can check out. 
How did you get your SEO strategy in shape? Share your insights and experiments in the comments below!
 

hello! 
I offer digital marketing and web design services for small business owners.  Stepping out and working on my own rather than agency or in house positions has been a great new adventure. 
You can learn more at tinycoastdigital.com
Looking forward to learning about everyone's businesses 😊 
 

Hello! 
My name is Jasmine Sweeting! I'm a copywriter just starting out. My background is in public health specifically epidemiology. I want to use my creativity to inspire and benefit others!  Check out my website and I welcome any feedback!
 

Hey everyone 👋🏽
I'm the guy behind SqspThemes.com, the largest directory of 3rd party Squarespace templates.
I launched the site back in 2015 as a marketing case study. I'd been been struggling as a freelancer and decided I needed to niche down and build something that could ultimately liberate me from client work.
Since then we've empowered tens of thousands of Squarespace users and advised plenty of fellow entrepreneurs on the same path.
Happy to be here and a part of this helpful community. 

 

It is a lot of effort, but I do think one of the best things you can do is offer something of value. That may come in the form of tutorials, discounts, free trials, information, engaging content, etc).
It is important to establish what your audience finds valuable, and when (do they need a free trial to consider purchasing your product, or a discount to encourage them to buy from you again. 
Different people are likely at different stages of the buyers journey and have different interests - so digging into web analytics, social comments, sending out surveys, or doing some of your own experimentation can help you determine what kinds of offers / content to offer your audience at different stages of the buyers journey. 

Site URL: http://www.simpledomus.com
Hello!
I am looking to release a new interior design blog within the next weeks, I've worked on design and had great help from this community, so I just wanted to see if anyone has any other feedback on this?
Right now the site is only in spanish, but I am looking to offer also an english version within the next months following this guide from tuanphan https://beaverhero.com/squarespace-2-languages/.
 
I am specially worried about loading times, I don't know if it takes too long too load. I tested it on pingdom and gt metrix and tried to change as much as I could, but I really don't want to reduce even more on css/gifs/typefaces as I think it would ruin the whole design...
If you see a design issue or have any other general thoughts or opinions please do not hesitate to share. I am open to all feedback!
 
Thank you so much for your time!
Paula.
 

Starting a new business can be an exciting, yet scary, process –from coming up with the idea for your products to drawing up a business plan that works for you, creating your brand, and finally bringing your business to life. There’s no one size fits all method to starting a business, but there are certain steps you can take to prepare yourself to launch your big idea. Forbes recommends considering these questions:
Does your business idea solve a problem for you or someone else? Have you researched your potential market?  Do you have a defined audience? Have you validated your idea?  As an example, Squarespace customers Ergo Chic and Soul Cap considered their own needs and the needs of people around them to create businesses that solved existing gaps in the market. 
What was the first step you took to make your business idea a reality? What recommendations do you have for emerging entrepreneurs? Share your experiences and learnings in the comments below!
 

Two complications where I see people get stuck:
Planning their business too much (then realizing it takes too much effort to continue). Losing motivation. Having too high expectations. Losing motivation. My advice: Start small
Start small with someting you love, as a complement to your current job or school. This way you will not have as high expectations, and view every small success as a win (= motivation).  
What I did:
I'm sure other peoples have other views to this which is great, but I started small and it worked perfectly for me. I started my first company when I was 18. Only earned $200 the first year, but as I continued growing I eventually dropped out of college to run my business full time.
Wish everyone good luck with their business ideas!🙌😊
 

ETA: If you are on the newer Squarespace 7.1, this post has a walkthrough: How to Show a Different Banner Image on Mobile in Squarespace
 
Hi @Joeyearthly,
If you are using an index page, I have a different workaround that I like a bit better, since you can make whole area specific for mobile instead of just the banner image. I create two "sub-pages" at the top of the index page, one for desktop view (with the URL slug home-banner) and one for mobile view (with the URL slug home-banner-mobile). Then I add the following code to Custom CSS. (Note that if you want to edit the mobile from your desktop, you'll need to briefly comment out the code so you can see that page on desktop.)
/* show home page block dependent on screen size */ @media only screen and (max-width: 780px) { #home-banner { display: none; } } @media only screen and (min-width: 781px) { #home-banner-mobile { display: none; } }  

First, gotta say as a pro UX designer I'd heavily advise against this design. It's a usability nightmare ❤️ 
 
But if you're sure you can use this Custom CSS
//section[data-section-id="61d0cc9a2781d3429ac31abd"]{ a:before{ display: block; z-index: 9; display: none; position: absolute; top: 50%; left: 50%; transform: translate(-120%, -55%); content: ''; background-position: center center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: contain; width: 300px; height: 300px; -webkit-transition: all 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: all 0.2s linear; -o-transition: all 0.2s linear; -ms-transition: all 0.2s linear; transition: all 0.2s linear; background-size: contain!important; box-sizing: border-box; } a:hover{ &:before{ display:block; } } //set the background image based on link destination here a[href*="/whatever"]::before{ background: url(https://hoodzpahdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Bright.gif) center center no-repeat!important; } a[href*="/somethingelse"]::before{ background: url(https://hoodzpahdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Bright.gif) center center no-repeat!important; } //}  
Demo at https://caribou-wolf-8lbn.squarespace.com/ 
with password: "a"
 

 
 
Then:
- uncomment the first line (section ID)  and add the section ID you're using. Or block id. Remove the double slashes. Otherwise you'll add this to all links on your site.
- set the background url for each link depending on the link destination (href)

 
p.s. If you ever wanna to hire a Squarespace developer, feel free to hit me up 

Site URL: https://hoodzpahdesign.com/
Hello,
I am trying to create an effect similar to Hoodzpah Design's intro sentence, where you can hover over links and a gif pops up but goes away when you move the cursor.
I have done some searching but can't seem to find the right combination of css to make it happen.
Thanks!
Kate
katemelvin.com 

Site URL: https://www.thepennmoviegoer.com/
Hi everyone!
We run a student movie review website at https://www.thepennmoviegoer.com/. We recently redesigned the site to make extensive use of blog templates, content tags and a new set of templates.
We'd love to hear what you think we might be able to do better here, specifically around different things we could be doing with our article experiences, and other things we can do to get users to read more than one thing during a visit.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, and for supporting student journalism!
Cheers,
Matt

Hi all, 
I put together a free marketing resources page to kick off the new year. It includes worksheets for campaign planning, defining your services and products, and getting clear on your audience. Hope some of you find it helpful 🙂
https://tinycoastdigital.com/digital-marketing-resources

Hi all, 
I put together a free marketing resources page to kick off the new year. It includes worksheets for campaign planning, defining your services and products, and getting clear on your audience. Hope some of you find it helpful 🙂
https://tinycoastdigital.com/digital-marketing-resources

When it comes to putting your brand in front of your audience, it’s easy to rely on the tried and true methods for marketing –a website, an ad campaign, maybe an email campaign and some social media posts. However, these methods are not enough in 2022, as most consumers have adopted new communication and social media channels, such as TikTok, affiliate marketing, influencers, and paid social media, among others. 
Here’s where multi-channel marketing comes in. Reaching your customers in the different channels they tend to gravitate towards helps you build a cohesive brand experience, interact with your customers, and find new leads. According to Business2Community, matching your customer’s journey and across multiple channels will go a long way towards realizing your sales goals. Some strategies you can try are:
Combining email campaigns with social media efforts Content marketing Partnership marketing (influencers or other brands) Social media activations
The site Fool.com also has a great blueprint on how to diversify your marketing channels.  How have you used multi-channel marketing to boost your business? Share your tips and experiences with the community below!

Real community engagement is a long term game, according to the writers at The Social Shakeup. This especially true of social media, as holding the attention of your audience and having them contribute positively to your community takes time, effort, and showing up with interesting and useful content daily. Clicks and shares are important, but more and more social media algorithms are prioritizing interactions and saved posts in order to surface the most relevant content for audiences. So, how can you engage your community and promote your brand at the same time? Here are some tips from The Social Shakeup:
Get to know your community and interact with them on their preferred platforms Ask questions and ask for feedback Promote user generated content  Host contests Connect with them emotionally  Tailor your content to your audience’s interests  How do you engage with your community? We’d love to hear your stories! Share them in the comments. 
 

1) Use headings to help google understand and prioritize your content and to help improve usability for website visitors. 

2) Don't create spammy copy for the sake of SEO. Also, don't get so caught up in clever copy that you miss out on SEO. Strive to create content that considers SEO and brand voice. 

3) Write as you naturally would. Yes, add headings and keywords, but do so in a way that it would happen organically. 

hello! 
I offer digital marketing and web design services for small business owners.  Stepping out and working on my own rather than agency or in house positions has been a great new adventure. 
You can learn more at tinycoastdigital.com
Looking forward to learning about everyone's businesses 😊