1. 1. Do you plan to use an email campaign provider (e.g., MailChimp, Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, Emma)? If yes, skip to 5.
   2. If you’re not planning to use an email campaign provider, how will you send your emails: Using an internal mailing list manager software such as ListMessenger, or using an email client such as Outlook? If list manager software, skip to 5.
   3. Have you tested your email client to see if it can successfully send HTML emails to your desired recipients? If yes, skip to 9.
   4. If you haven’t already tested your email client for sending bulk HTML emails, here are some pitfalls you should be aware of:
      • You won’t be able to track the email delivery, open rate, or clickthrough rate.
      • Can’t send a multipart email (HTML + text) so you must be sure that all recipients can view HTML.
      • Email clients (the applications that an individual uses to send and receive email, such as Outlook, Apple Mail, Google Gmail) vary widely in their ability to properly display HTML emails. If your recipients are not all on the same client, or you don’t know what they’re on, you could have big problems.
      • You won’t be compliant with CAN SPAM regulations, which require, among other things, an opt-in list and an unsubscribe option.
      • If you still want to move ahead with this approach, you must test thoroughly by sending test emails to a wide sample of recipients.
   5. If you’re using an internal list manager or an email campaign provider: Do you already have the software or service set up? If yes, skip to 7.
   6. Do you need assistance setting up your system or your account? Do you have time to set up and thoroughly learn and test the system before the desired launch date?
   7. Have you successfully sent HTML emails previously with the system you intend to use? If yes, skip to 9.
   8. We recommend that you test thoroughly by sending test emails to a wide sample of recipients.
   9. Once the system you will use has been selected, set up, and tested, you’re ready to write, design, and code your email. Be sure to follow email design best practices.

The post Step by Step for Sending Emails to a List appeared first on Eight Trails.

Eight Trails built the original website for the Fiesta Invitational tournament in 2010, and we’ve continued to manage the site for the nonprofit in the eight years since. Each year, we update sponsor logos, event details, and photos, and assist with marketing. This year we provided a complete reorganization and redesign of the site to bring it in line with modern coding standards and to make it look and work great on tablets and smartphones.

We’re proud to provide web design, development, and marketing services in support of the Fiesta Invitational and Child Crisis Arizona, and we’d be proud to do the same for your event or business.

The post New Website for Fiesta Invitational Tournament Supports Child Crisis Arizona appeared first on Eight Trails.

If you own a small business or do payroll for a small business, or even if you’re a single-member corporation whose only employee on payroll is yourself, I HIGHLY recommend that you look at Gusto. If you already use a payroll service, you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised at the lower fees that Gusto charges. And if you’ve never used a payroll service, perhaps because you only pay yourself, for example, then you’ll be amazed at what a relief it is to divest yourself of all the paperwork, payments, and reporting.

You know what I’m talking about? Here in Arizona, Eight Trails is required to file the following every quarter:

• a federal 1040ES for my estimated income tax
• a federal 941 for payroll withholding reporting
• a federal 941V if I’m depositing payroll withholding
• a state 140ES for my estimated income tax
• a state A1-QRT for payroll withholding reporting
• a state UC018 for unemployment tax payment

All of that is on top of processing regular payroll—weekly, biweekly, monthly, whatever—and managing all of the withholding and payments that accompany that.

Gusto’s customer service is friendly, responsive, and knowledgeable, but the service runs so smoothly and their automated reminders are so efficient and effective that I’ve rarely needed their help. Once you set it up, Gusto just runs, reliably and error-free, and allows me to focus on revenue-generating activities.

Give Gusto a try and grab that $100 Amazon gift card as a bonus.

  
Photo credit: Helloquence

The post $100 Rebate on Gusto Online Payroll Services appeared first on Eight Trails.

I was on the phone with a friend last week, looking for a good place to meet for a bánh mì.* I searched for “banh mi phoenix,” he searched for “banh mi phoenix,” and we got different search results. Why? Because Google has gone hyperlocal.
In their continuing effort to deliver the most relevant search results, Google now delivers search results that are strongly influenced by the searcher’s physical location. So I see bánh mì restaurants near my office in northeast Phoenix, and my friend sees different options near his office in downtown Phoenix.

How We Track Search Ranking in a Hyperlocal Search World

For the typical Google searcher, this hyperlocal personalization is exactly what you want. Why drive 18 miles for a bánh mì if there’s a good Vietnamese restaurant in your neighborhood? But for SEOs (those of us working to help our clients get the best search ranking for their websites), the results can be confusing, because what one sees in a casual Google search is NOT an accurate indication of how the business is appearing in search results for ALL searchers.

The search rank tracking tool we use allows us to track search ranking using a variety of factors:

• Search Engine – Google, Bing, Yahoo
• Desktop or Mobile
• Organic Local
• Local Pack (Snack Pack)
• Local Finder (Expanded Snack Pack)
• YouTube Video
• Amazon Listing

That’s a lot of options for the seemingly simple task of tracking search results. When deciding which of those options to use in our search rank tracking, we consider the following issues:

• Is most of our client’s business conducted online or in person?
• If our client’s business is conducted in person, is it done at our client’s location or at their customers’ locations?
• Do most of our client’s customers come from within their neighborhood (pizza delivery, grocery), from their area (restaurant, nightclub, movie theater), or from a broader geographic area (hotels, tourist attractions, recreation destinations)?
• Is our client’s product or service something that their prospective customers will research thoroughly before purchasing (which is typically a desktop computer activity) or is it an impulse purchase like “Let’s find some good street tacos” or “Where’s the cheapest gas in this part of town?”, both of which are examples of typical smartphone searches.

Here’s the takeaway

Hyperlocal search results on Google are great for searchers. They require more nuanced planning and tracking for businesses and search engine optimizers.

*If you haven’t yet enjoyed a bánh mì—a Vietnamese-French sandwich typically packed with thinly sliced roast pork, paté, jalapeño slices, fresh cilantro and mint, pickled cucumber, pickled carrot and daikon radish, mayo, and a drizzle of sriracha served on a crusty baguette—then get yourself on Google immediately and find a purveyor near you. Comment below with your favorite!

Image by Stephen O under CC BY-SA 2.0 license.

The post Google Searches Go Hyperlocal appeared first on Eight Trails.

1. Make sure that your most important info – headline, call to action – is delivered in text, not an image.
2. Use an opt-in list.
3. Provide an unsubscribe option in your email footer.
4. Provide your physical address and contact info in the footer
5. Send the email as both HTML and text (multipart). Most email campaign providers do this for you automatically.
6. Use images thoughtfully and sparingly. Clickthrough rates are highest for emails with 3 or fewer images.
7. Use ALT text for all images, so if they don’t load, as is common on smartphones, the reader knows what is missing and is enticed to load images.
8. 16px is a good size for text to be readable on mobile devices.
9. Provide a link to view the email online for those who have problems viewing it in their email client.
10. Keep the layout to 600 pixels wide or less.
11. Use a single column or mobile responsive design or template.
12. Write clean HTML – ugly HTML can trigger spam filters.
13. Avoid all-image emails. They can trigger spam filters.

Also check out our step-by-step instructions for getting an email marketing system set up for your business.

The post Email Design Best Practices (A Brief Checklist) appeared first on Eight Trails.

Behind the scenes, we provided custom development to pull that year/make/model information over the internet into an easy-to-use set of dropdowns on the website home page. Once the customer chooses their year/make/model, we pass that information on to another form that collects the customer’s personal information, then the site packages all of the information together, stores it in a database that’s accessible through the WordPress admin login, and transmits a copy via email to AutoWarranty123 headquarters.

And of course, all of that behind-the-scenes custom functionality and API integration is wrapped up in an attractive and fully responsive site that looks and works as well on mobile devices as it does on desktop.

What can we make for your business?

February 2018 Update: Edmunds shut down their public auto data API, so AutoWarranty123 had us recode the site to use static data in the dropdown fields. Still works fine, just requires minor updates each year.

The post Custom Development Pulls Auto Data into New AutoWarranty123.com Website appeared first on Eight Trails.

That’s a problem, because I have a website and you have a website and there are a lot of websites.

I have a few ideas about the solution, so buckle up and power through this text, even though it’s on your screen rather than a sheet of paper.

Studies Show That Print Beats Online for Comprehension and Retention

Researchers at San Diego State University found that readers of the New York Times print edition remembered significantly more stories, facts, and ideas than online news readers did.¹  They conclude that this is true because print editors use placement, prominence, and type size to signal what’s most important. Conversely, when you read online you’re frequently interrupted by intrusive ads and the need to click through to second and third pages.

A second study compared student’s scores on multiple choice tests after reading material on a tablet or in print.²  This study came to a similar conclusion: Recall was higher for the print readers.

What Does This Mean for Website Owners?

Now, most of us aren’t publishing newspapers or proctoring tests for students, but the core lesson is valuable for anyone who publishes content online. We need to do everything within our power to improve readability—which directly influences comprehension and recall—and that starts with following the best practices of newspaper designers.

Content Design Best Practices

Here are some of the time-tested tactics from print design (and a few from online readability studies) that you can immediately apply to your website:

• Use Type to Communicate Importance — We read larger and bolder headings as more important. On a website, this is referred to as “semantic” coding: “semantic” is a term that means “carrying meaning,” so semantic coding implies using page and type design (through code) in a meaningful way, rather than a decorative way.
• Use the Visual Space to Communicate Importance — In English-speaking countries, we read from top to bottom and left to right. That means our focus is on the top left. Put your most important stuff there. To make your text most readable, put it in a wide column on the left side of your page.
• Use Visuals to Add Information, Not to Decorate — This is another tenet of good design, and it sounds very much like semantic coding. Everything you do with design should mean something, should add information. Videos and infographics are good examples of visuals that typically add information to your text; stock photos of smiling people are examples of visuals that only decorate and thus distract from your text.
• Choose the Right Typeface — In print, serif type is easier to read, because the little curls at the top and feet at the bottom of letters make it easier for the eye to recognize the shapes. On a screen, however, sans-serif type is easier to read. I’m not sure why this is—it probably has something to do with screen resolution—but eye-tracking studies bear this out. So use sans-serif (or modern type, which is a hybrid of serif and sans serif) for your body text. Larger type in headings or pull quotes can still be serif for contrast and emphasis.
• Break It Up — I don’t mean that you should interrupt your text with decorative images or ads or other distracting elements. However, it is easier to read long text if it is strategically broken up by using subheads (which add meaning) or bulleted or numbered lists (which organize information).

Because we know that it’s harder to retain information that is read online, we all need to work harder to make it easier. For more tips, see my earlier blog post on writing for the web.

References

¹https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290447035_Print_Readers_Recall_More_than_Do_Online_Readers
²https://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/9/paper-or-tablet-reading-recall-and-comprehension

The post Reading On a Screen Is Harder, So Let’s Work to Make It Easier appeared first on Eight Trails.

Previously, Google localized your search results based on a combination of your location and the Google site you used (e.g. Google.uk for England). Beginning Friday, the Google site/domain you use is no longer a factor in localizing your results. Instead, Google uses only your location. You can see which location Google is using at the bottom of your search results page, as indicated in the screenshots for desktop and mobile.

Temporarily Change the Location for Your Google Search Results

If you want to change the locale you’re searching—maybe you’re planning a European vacation, for example—you can change your search location (see the screenshot below for an example from mobile):

1. Scroll to the bottom of your search results
2. Click on Settings
3. Choose Search Settings
4. Find the Region for Search Results section and change your location
5. Don’t forget to change it back or set it to “Current Region” when you’re done

The post Google Now Serves and Labels Searches Solely by Searcher’s Location appeared first on Eight Trails.

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The new site is fully responsive for optimal viewing on desktop and mobile browsers, and it features some interesting custom functionality developed by Eight Trails. The slideshow on the home page, which you can see in the featured image above, automatically pulls images and text from two different post categories: Specials and Slides.

Specials are promotions or events that are date sensitive, and when those are created by a Midtown Roots employee as a WordPress post<—>with simple text and point-and-click image uploading<—>they automatically appear on the Specials page, as well as creating a clickable slide on the home page. And when the promotion reaches its end date, both the post and the home page slide automatically disappear from the site.

Slides are also created as posts in WordPress, but they don’t appear on the Specials page and because they are not date-specific they don’t expire automatically. Eight Trails built this custom functionality so the Midtown Roots staff could create attractive slides for the home page without needing a separate design program.

Also on the site are an embedded menu with online ordering, which pulls product information from the Baker database and displays it in a searchable, sortable, and filterable listing of product names, prices, and ratings (shown at right), as well as an extensive education section detailing the medical benefits of cannabinoids and terpenoids, the primary components of medical cannabis (shown below).

Eight Trails provided website planning, writing, design, and development, managed WordPress hosting and ongoing site management, SSL protection, and assistance in setting up an email promotions system and embedding its signup form on the site.

Can we help you take your website and online advertising to a higher level? Contact us today!

The post New Website for Medical Cannabis Dispensary Midtown Roots appeared first on Eight Trails.