Cascade e-Commerce Solutions, Inc.

Blog

small stacks of coins next to a wood cut out of a house

Setting Your Price

Originally by Elizabeth Paulsen on May 26, 2009, updated 1/22/2020.   I enjoy mentoring new businesses. One of the most common questions I hear from new business owners is “How should I set my price?” This is what I tell them.  Know your competitors’ prices. Gather as much information as possible about your competitors’ prices

Read the full article…

Why We Build Websites in WordPress

According to a W3Techs survey, 35% of the world’s websites use WordPress.1 This is more than 12 times as much as the second most popular content management system, Joomla, and 22 times as much as popular competing website creation tools Squarespace and Wix.2 This same survey also shows that WordPress is still the fastest-growing content

Read the full article…

people gathered around table

What Is the Chamber and Why Should a Small Business Join?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a chamber of commerce is “an organization consisting of people in business, who work together to improve business in their town or local area.”1 When my husband and I first founded our business in SeaTac, WA in Fall 1998, we felt we could not afford the modest annual membership fee.

Read the full article…

close up of phone screen displaying social media apps

Which Digital Marketing Medium When

It’s been over ten years since I originally wrote the article below (May 26, 2019) under the title “Which Medium When.” Yet, most of it still applies in December 2019. In italics are notes I have added since initial publication. Although I make a living by helping businesses attract new customers and sales online, I

Read the full article…

puzzle piece with red silhouette printed on it, fits perfectly with other pieces

Roles Found in Successful Businesses

While every business is unique, successful businesses are built with the support of the following roles. The optimist – On a daily basis this individual envisions and speaks of success and exhorts others to do the same. This individual’s optimism is so strong that it is contagious. Staff, prospects and vendors all have an opportunity

Read the full article…

Commercial for sale sign

Tips for Preparing to Sell Your Business

Preparing to sell your business can be both exciting and scary. Considering that many business owners have worked hard to build, grow and maintain their businesses, it can feel very uncertain handing off years of hard work. For others, it can be freeing. But, I think we can all agree that if you try to

Read the full article…

red paper airplane changes direction from the rest of the white airplanes

Is Your Business Improving?

While some business owners look to their financials to determine whether their business is doing better, many small business owners also look to the following indicators. They know business is better when: Management isn’t panicked when some high maintenance customers go elsewhere. Management begins to test new services and markets. Pay raises and/or year-end bonuses are

Read the full article…

hand braking through red background to show "stop"

20 Ways to Keep Google from Listing Your Web Pages in Search Results

In twenty years of optimizing websites for the search engines, I’ve often been called in to remedy business websites that have had disastrous results in the search engines. In each case a prior webmaster or search engine optimization (SEO) service provider had employed abusive and/or neglectful strategies. 20 of these abuses and neglectful practices are

Read the full article…

Classic analog typewriter vs Modern digital hi-tech laptop computer

10 Ways to Know It’s Time to Update Your Website

You know it’s time to remake your company’s website when… A first-time visitor says, “Ahh, I see your website is older than I am.” Only your mother can find it. A new customer comes to your store, sits down and cries, “It didn’t look like this online!” Your staff tells you that the website just

Read the full article…

cartoon lady sitting with laptop and phone , looking at graphs and reviews

Why Implement Reputation Management?

Every company has service or product failures. Customers: Don’t care why the service or product failures happened and don’t want excuses. Do want to know that the business has identified and remedied the cause of those failures. May stay with (or return to) a business that has identified and remedied the cause of past failures.

Read the full article…