business tips Archives

Podcast | The Importance of Digital Presence with Jens Meggers

Hello Pleskians! This week we’re back and we’re kicking off Season 2 of the Official Plesk Podcast: Next Level Ops. In the episode, we’ve got Jens Meggers setting the stage for the entire season, as we talk about the importance of having a digital presence, and the growth of eCommerce in 2020.

In This Episode: You Need a Digital Presence, The Future of eCommerce, and how WebPros can help

COVID-19 and the global pandemic changed how many people are doing business. Anyone who relied on foot traffic and in-person shopping needed to make a serious pivot if they wanted to survive. As a result, eCommerce grew considerably. But as Jens points out, it’s not just a the website that matters:

“It’s all about getting the results fastest with the least amount of effort, because they also don’t necessarily want to hire a whole bunch of people…And it’s also not only just creating, it’s entire workflow. We already know that [a bagel shop] has bagels. But you want to pick your favorite bagel Monday morning 8am, without touching anyone. So the workflow and the automation around that is the most important thing.”

This lead us into the future of eCommerce. Jens believes there’s no going back to the way things were. We’ve shown customers what they can have, and we can’t take it away now. The convenience of ordering online and picking something up is too great. Similarly, lots of people are learning for the first time that they can make good money online. That’s the highest priority now, so we will see more people creating digital presences and better experiences. “As many experiences as possible will move into the virtual world,” says Jens.With that in mind, WebPros is equipped with all of the tools necessary to help all businesses create better digital experiences. cPanel and Plesk, their flagship products, are designed to help you create and manage your website, giving you a huge suite of tools to do so.

WHMCS, the fastest growing product, allows you to automate your hosting business. XOVI helps you see how traffic is being driven to your website. Jens says, “We see this as a responsibility…to help you after [your site launches]. SolusIO and SolusVM are virtual machines done right! They simplify virtual infrastructure management – an important task in an increasingly remote-work centric world.”

Key Takeaways

We saw industries digitize over the last 10 years. Video meetings, retail stores, digital price tags, and much more. This got accelerated with pandemic.
Customers thought, “Get me to the results faster.” It’s not just website, it’s workflow. And during the pandemic it needed to be good, fast, and cheap.
We have set the standard on digitization and business digitization, and it’s here to stay.
A lot of people are moving to transact and make money online. It is the highest priority for a lot of people.
WebPros supports business owners by supplying the technology that creates digital experiences (not just a shopping cart or web page). Their vision is to create a digital presence for anyone.
Soon, anything we can do in the physical world, we’ll be able to do in the virtual world.
“It’s always a good time to start a business if you have a good idea.”

The Official Plesk Podcast: Next Level Ops Featuring

Joe Casabona

Joe is a college-accredited course developer and podcast consultant. You can find him at Casabona.org.

Jens Meggers

Jens is the CEO of WebPros
Did you know we’re also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts? In fact, you can find us pretty much anywhere you get your daily dose of podcasts. As always, remember to update your daily podcast playlist with Next Level Ops. And stay on the lookout for our next episode!

Business in 2021 – Tips for Organizing Online Events

Covid-19 has changed what “normal” looks like for us all, and the events industry is no exception. Today, virtual events, also known as online events, have grown in popularity around the world and have become a part of our lives and our businesses.

A virtual event is very similar to an in-person one, but with some outstanding benefits. Virtual events could be online conferences and webinars, interviews and performances, training and courses, tutorials, classes, and more.

One of the biggest benefits of virtual events is not being restricted to a single place or location. This means that anyone from anywhere in the world with an internet connection and a device can join the event. Secondly, online events are cost-effective as they avoid booking venues, staff, producing merchandise, hiring or buying equipment and other staff you need for off-line events.

Last but not least, you may already know how important it is to measure any digital activity you perform. Thus, being easy to measure, online events give you the opportunity to measure your success, get data on overall engagement and number of attendees, and gauge the most popular speeches and downloaded materials. All these insights can help you to better plan for your next events.

However, even though there are benefits and tools to help you create an online event, organizing a successful online event may require time, effort and consideration.

Here are some top tips to help you host a successful online event:

1. Create a strategy

Before you start, think about why you’re planning the event. You can start by defining whether you’re targeting your current customers as part of an engagement strategy, or whether this is a lead generation activity to pick up new customers, or both. What kind of experience do you want to deliver? What outcomes are you looking for?

2. Find the right platform

Choosing the right platform mainly depends on your goals and the type of events you plan to organize. However, there are some important features every platform should include; chat, Q&A, live polls, the ability to upload slides or additional content. Also, consider which ones provide an option to run both live and on-demand events, and with access to the events from mobile devices.

Even if you find the perfect platform, don’t forget to anticipate any tech issues that your attendees may face while using the platform. On the day of the event, a couple of hours before, send out a notification email to your attendees. Make sure to log in to the platform 15-20 minutes earlier to give your speakers the administrative permissions, and during the event, make sure to mute all attendees.

3. Pick the right time

Choosing the right time for your online event is very important. Before reserving

the time for your event, consider the profile and the location of your audience. If you plan to go global and your targeted audience is based in different time zones, do your best to pick a time that works for as many of your customers and followers as possible. If you can’t find a suitable time for everyone, create accessible content and record live presentations for those who couldn’t attend.

Make sure not to plan your online event during public holidays or other similar events which could coincide with the date of your event.

4. Promote the event

It’s time to promote your online event. It is important to understand your audience and choose the right channels to promote your event. Depending on where your audience spends more time online, you can manage sign-ups: through the event platform directly, on a dedicated landing page on your website, via social media event pages like Facebook or LinkedIn, over email marketing, or all of the above. You may also consider running paid ad campaigns. The best time to start the promotion is two-three weeks before the event, depending on its size and scope.

5. Keep attendees engaged

Make your audience feel connected, involving them into the process so they stay longer and participate more. Here are some ideas:

Ask your audience questions during the event
Encourage debate
Use live content for presentation
Use the webcam all the time and encourage the audience to do the same
Leave time for Q&A sessions

After the event

No matter whether the event you are running is online or offline: it is always important to follow up with attendees. Sending a post-event survey to understand participants’ experience will show that you care and will help you to understand the outcome of the event. Also, include a sign-off thanking everyone, both participants and speakers. Share the meeting recording with those who missed it.

The new normal has boosted the world of online events. Many of you have moved your events online, and we hope this article helps you make them a success!

Need more answers on this topic? Let us know in the comments below, or if you are a Plesk Partner, get in touch with your Account Manager and they will be happy to provide whatever guidance they can.

business tips conferences digitalization events online events partners tips virtual events

5 Tech Updates to Boost Small Businesses During a Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough for all of us, but it’s been especially difficult for small business owners. If you own a small business, not only are you dealing with pandemic effects in your personal life. But you may also be trying to figure out how to keep your business thriving. Luckily, there are some tech tools that can make it easier to survive during these uncertain times. And save you some stress in terms of your small business.

Engaging and Utilitarian Websites

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, people were searching for businesses online before making a purchase. In fact, consumers looking for information on local small businesses conduct 46 percent of online searches. With stores closed and people staying home more these days, that percentage is bound to go up.

So, if your website is below par, you could end up losing out on sales that could help your business stay afloat. If you’re not sure where to begin with website improvements, hire freelancers to help you out. Freelance job boards make it simple to connect with website developers and other freelancers that can provide the edge you need to stay competitive right now. So be sure to check these sites out.

User-Friendly E-Commerce Options

E-commerce is another business element that was popular before COVID-19 but that’s even more essential with more consumers sticking closer to home. While a basic website can help your business stay relevant, incorporating e-commerce elements into your website can help your business continue to bring in profits during this crisis. This is something you can discuss with a freelance developer if you choose to go that route.

You should also ensure that your e-commerce shop includes essential user experiences. That will encourage your customers to complete their purchases and keep coming back for more. You can also look at options for setting up your store if you use WordPress with the help of e-commerce plugins.

Social Media Marketing Strategies

Once you’ve updated your website and added an e-commerce shop, you should also think about incorporating links to your social media pages. That’s because consumers also use social media outlets to find new local businesses, with Facebook being the most popular platform used for this purpose.

Establishing connections between your website and your social media accounts will encourage online shoppers to click through and really get to know your business. You can talk to a web designer or developer about adding social links. Or you can look into tools like Hootsuite, that can manage multiple social media accounts and give you insights into their performance.

Video Conferencing Tools and Options

If you have been talking with other business owners, chances are that you have heard them mention Zoom in the last few months. Zoom is one of the most popular video-conferencing systems right now. People are using this tool to connect to fitness classes, check-ins with friends and families, and, of course, small businesses.

You can use video conferencing for consultations or even as a means to provide other services for your customers. Of course, you can also use Zoom and other tools to meet with your staff and work on other projects. If you’re an enterprise, there are solutions for email and collaboration like Plesk Premium Email that make it easy to connect for remote teams.

COVID-19-Specific Health and Cleaning Tech

Last but not least, small businesses need to be aware of the tech that can keep their employees and customers safe during this ongoing pandemic. This tech could be as simple as infrared thermometers for temperature checks or contactless payment systems. The latter has been growing in popularity over the last few years but contactless payments are predicted to be the future for all in-person sales. If you are looking for an even simpler way to use tech to keep your business clean and safe, you can also use online tools to print signs and decals to remind customers of the COVID-19 rules while shopping in your store. Including social-distancing.

The COVID-19 pandemic makes running a small business and keeping it open challenging but it doesn’t have to make it impossible, especially when there are so many ways to use technology to improve your business and stay connected to your customers. You just need to figure out which tools will make the most difference for your small business.