Articles & Media
Magento How-To Tutorials:
How to Create a Coupon Code for a Percentage Discount in Magento 2
Coupon codes are a simple, yet powerful tool that you can use to keep customers coming back to your store. Learn how to set up a coupon code for a percentage off discount with Customer Paradigm Project Manager Britt Marlier!
read moreTake Advantage of Admin Roles To Manage Your Magento 2 Store With Ease
The User Roles functionality in Magento 2 allows store owners to define permissions for specific groups of admin users depending on their store’s needs. Learn how to create Admin Roles in Magento 2 with Customer Paradigm’s Senior Project Manager Jared Shields!
read moreHow to Create Categories in Magento 2.0
Creating new product category pages is one of the most basic functions any Magento store owner or admin should learn. Keeping products organized by category is important for user experience, organization and SEO. Read more to learn how!
read moreQuick Fix Friday #2 – Magento 2.0 Admin Session Timeout
Administrator session length is a problem for both Magento 2.0 store administrators and developers. Learn how to lengthen your admin session time in Magento 2.0
read moreEmergency Bypass: Magento's Saved Credit Card Option
Last Tuesday (and for a little while on Wednesday), Authorize.net's payment gateway was down. Authorize.net is one of the top ways that eCommerce stores take payments, so it meant a lot of lost sales yesterday for companies all around the Internet. It's very...
read moreBe Paranoid About Backing Up Your Site
I received quite a bit of feedback from last week's email about hacking. And one of the key things that I was asked was, "Is there an easy way to back my site?" Fortunately, there is. Backing up your site: Like any process, I'd recommend having multiple processes in...
read moreMagento Enterprise: How to Use Customer Segmentation
One of the big themes from the Magento Imagine show was personalization. (And beyond just mail-merging in your name). The idea is to personalize a site, based on information you have from a user, so that their user experience is not like everyone else's. There...
read moreMagento Tutorial: How to Set Pricing in Magento
I hope you enjoyed last week's article about the six types of Magento products (Simple, Virtual, Downloadable, Configurable, Grouped and Bundled.) This week, I want to delve into how pricing works within Magento. Why? This is another area that can be complex, and not...
read moreMagento Tutorial: The Six Different Types of Magento Products – Built In
One common theme I've heard from many of our Magento clients is that they don't always know all of the features their eCommerce site has - out of the box. Over the next several weeks, I'll start to explore key features inside Magento - both Community and Enterprise -...
read moreSEO Myths Debunked:
SEO Myths Debunked #7: Top #1 Position on Google
This week`s SEO Myth Debunked article discusses one of the most common myths: We`ll get you to the #1 position on Google. Read More Below >> SEO Myths Debunked #7: Top #1 Position on Google The Myth: "We guarantee that you will get the top #1 ranking on Google."...
read moreSEO Myths Debunked #6: We`ll Get Thousands of Links To Your Site
This week`s SEO Myth Debunked article is about link farms, and how they can actually do more harm than good for a website. Read More Below >> SEO Myths Debunked #6: We`ll Get Thousands of Links To Your Site The Myth: "The most important thing to Google is...
read moreSEO Myths Debunked #5: Unsolicited SEO Offers Via Web Contact Forms
I`ve had a lot of positive feedback from website owners who are happy to know the truth when it comes to SEO myths. This week, I`ll tackle a constant trend: Unsolicited SEO offers via your website`s contact form. SEO Myths Debunked #5: Unsolicited SEO Offers...
read moreSEO Myths Debunked #4: We took a look at your site, and there are some things in the HTML code that are not optimized for search engines
We had a great response to last week`s SEO Myth concerning hand-submission to Google. This week`s SEO Myth Debunked looks at one of the most common tactics people use to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt with Website owners. SEO Myths Debunked #4: We took a look at...
read moreSEO Myths Debunked #3: We'll Hand-Submit Your Site to Search Engines
I hope you enjoyed last week`s SEO Myth debunked. I`ve posted them here on our redesigned Customer Paradigm website: www.customerparadigm.com/articles-media/ This week`s SEO Myth we hear quite a bit: we`ll hand-submit your site. Read more below >> SEO Myths...
read moreSEO Myths Debunked #2: Our Process is Secret – We Can't Tell You What We Do. But Trust Us.
I hope you found last week`s SEO Myth Debunked helpful. This week`s SEO Myth debunked focuses on transparency. R ead more below >> SEO Myths Debunked #2: Our Process is Secret – We Can`t Tell You What We Do. But Trust Us. The Myth: "Our process is secret. We do...
read moreSEO Myths Debunked #1: We have an inside person at Google
Search rankings really do matter. Showing up when a potential customer does a search means you have a chance to interact with them. Not showing up in the top ten means that a competitor gets this chance instead. In many industries, a page one ranking for a quality,...
read moreFour Tips to Get Your Magento Website Ready for the Holidays:
4 Tips to Get Your Website Ready for the Holidays: #4 – Offer Gift Certificates for Last Minute Purchasers
I thought about joining the procrastination club, but I just didn`t get around to it this year.... On a serious note, many consumers put off holiday purchasing to the absolute last minute. And that`s where gift cards can save the day - to the tune of $100...
read more4 Tips to Get Your Website Ready for the Holidays: #3 – Check your SSL certificate and domain name for expiration date
This week, we`ll focus on something you should check now, before you are scrambling and losing sales from a website that is down. 7 Tips to Get Your Website Ready for the Holidays: Check SSL and Domain Name Expiration Dates Before you get into the busy holiday...
read more4 Tips to Get Your Website Ready for the Holidays: #2 – Payment Methods
Did you know that 12% of eCommerce transactions in the US use PayPal? One of the key tips for making sure your website will perform properly for the upcoming holidays is making sure that you have all of the payment options installed that customers expect. Read...
read more4 Tips to Get Your Website Ready for the Holidays: # 1 – Site Load Speed (Follow Up)
In a follow-up to the previous week`s Site Load Speed Test article, one company took us up on helping them speed up their site. 96% Website Speed Increase: 60 seconds --> 2.17 seconds. Before, the site TVPartsOutlet.com took more than 60 seconds to load. (The...
read more4 Tips to Get Your Website Ready for the Holidays: #1 – Site Load Speed
USA Pro Challenge Race in Boulder, Colorado, near Customer Paradigm`s office. Photo by Jeff Finkelstein. For many in the US, Labor Day Weekend marks the end of the summer. Students are back in school, and businesses are focused on the always critical fourth...
read moreTop 7 SEO Mistakes to Avoid on Magento Websites:
Top 7 SEO Mistakes to avoid in Magento: #7 – Not Using RDFa Microtagging
You`ve heard of Web 2.0? That`s where sites like Facebook, Flicker and others use interactive Web applications to help people interact. Web 1.0 were the static HTML web pages that might have a form, but lack interactivity (although these static HTML pages still...
Top 7 SEO Mistakes to avoid in Magento: #6 – Duplicate Content Via Magento File Structure
Search rankings often boil down to two main things: relevant content and inbound links. There`s other stuff that matters, too, including social media mentions, domain age, page load time, etc. One thing that will hurt you is duplicate content. And by default,...
Top 7 SEO Mistakes to avoid in Magento: #5 – Default Subdomains
Many Magento sites are developed in a sub-domain (i.e. shop.yourdomain.com) during a testing phase, and then when it`s time to go live with the site, the store is just left in the subdomain... because it`s easier. This is another top Magento eCommerce SEO...
Top 7 SEO Mistakes to avoid in Magento: #4 – www vs. non-WWW domain structure
Is your site set to use the www or the non-WWW version of your domain? This is a top SEO mistake to avoid with Magento, and is one of the most common mistakes we see (read more below). If you`re not happy with your Cost-Per-Click marketing efforts or how you are...
Top 7 SEO Mistakes to avoid in Magento: #3 – Targeting the wrong keywords
One of the biggest Magento eCommerce SEO mistakes is not targeting the correct keywords for your site. People usually optimize for words that people don`t search for, or words that are way too broad and competitive and have no chance at ever ranking for. Read...
Top 7 SEO Mistakes to avoid in Magento: #2 Default title tags – set as Magento Commerce
I hope you enjoyed last week`s article about robot.txt files. We helped find three instances for other clients that were preventing Google and other search engines from indexing their site. For this week`s tip, we`ll make sure that the default title tags aren`t...
Top 7 SEO Mistakes to avoid in Magento: #1 Robot.txt file – is this on?
Our next eLearning series is geared to Magento eCommerce store owners. In it, we`re going to cover the Top 10 SEO Mistakes to Avoid with Magento. Why? As I`m sure most of you know, it`s not enough to simply build a website and hope for sales. You need a strategy to...
2012 Internet Marketing Trend Series:
What are API’s and why accountants should care…
As technology continues to advance and reshape various industries, it's becoming increasingly important for accountants to stay up-to-date with the latest developments. One area that is particularly relevant is the world of application programming interfaces (APIs)....
read moreWhy you need to automate your accounting processes…
As businesses grow and evolve, it becomes increasingly important to streamline operations and improve efficiency wherever possible. One area where this is particularly crucial is accounting. Integrating accounting systems and automating processes can help businesses...
read moreWant to be found on Google? Here’s where you should start…
Choosing the right keywords for your business is crucial for attracting the right audience to your website and increasing your online visibility. Keywords are terms or phrases that people use when searching for products or services online, and the right keywords can...
read moreWhy you should be using AI Programming Services
AI programming services for PHP and MySQL databases are rapidly becoming a popular choice for businesses and organizations looking to improve their operations. In this blog post, we’ll explore the benefits of AI programming services, why PHP and MySQL are great...
read moreAre you wasting money on PPC ads?
Have you ever checked your Google Ads dashboard to see that you’ve already spent your daily budget – and it’s not even lunchtime? That’s because knowing how much budget to set is one of the biggest challenges. It's a new year and a great time to be thinking about...
read moreThis Week’s PPC Mistake – Not Having Specific (Enough!) PPC Goals
For those new to digital marketing, the world of paid advertising can seem downright complicated at best and impenetrable at worst. With all the recommended best practices, campaign optimizations and bidding strategies, it's easy to feel lost. In this article, we're...
read moreThis Week’s Mistake to Avoid – Not Using Geo-Targeting
Here’s a common scenario, you’re scrolling through your social media and an ad pops up about a business near the exact location to where you are standing. This can come across two ways, one, you find it a little disturbing or two, you find it incredibly useful - as...
read moreVoice Search Optimization
“Hey Google, what is the easiest way to search thousands of websites and millions of products?” The digital marketing field is an ever changing landscape of platforms, technologies and ideas. One of the latest and greatest is voice search. You have probably used...
read moreThis Week’s Mistake to Avoid – Mistargeting
One of the biggest pitfalls when setting up a PPC campaign is targeting the wrong keywords or using the wrong keyword match types. Here's what you can do to avoid this - Using keyword match types in Google Ads lets you control when your ads appear as people are...
read moreCommon & Costly PPC Mistakes to Avoid
When Google Ads launched in 2002, it solved a critical need: getting the right ad in front of a customer right at their time of need. Google Ads is incredibly powerful tool for business. Done right, it's amazing. But if you don't pay attention to details, it's really...
read moreTop Ten Tips for eCommerce Success on Your Website:
Top Ten eCommerce Tips for Your Website #8: Take PayPal
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Many eCommerce websites are losing out on 12% or more by not accepting PayPal on their website. eCommerce Tip #8: Take PayPal Make It Easy to Purchase With PayPal Did you know that PayPal handles 12% of the eCommerce...
read moreTop Ten eCommerce Tips for Your Website #7: Online Donations in Wake of Haiti
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein In the wake of unspeakable tragedy in Haiti, today's eCommerce tip focuses on secure online donations - and the pros and cons of the different mediums. I encourage you to give if you're able. eCommerce Tip #7: Online Donations Best...
read moreTop Ten eCommerce Tips for Your Website #6: Do The Math
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Today's eCommerce tip focuses on doing the math for people. For most people, a 10% discount doesn't mean anything until you translate it into actual numbers. With over 10 years of testing, I'll discuss the best ways to display...
read moreTop Ten eCommerce Tips for Your Website #5: Recently Viewed Items
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Today's tip - displaying recently viewed items - can help people better navigate your site and increase sales. eCommerce Tip #5: Recently Viewed Items I Can't Figure Out How To Get Back To That Product! If you're like me, you've...
read moreTop Ten eCommerce Tips for Your Website #4: RDFa Microformatting
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein For eCommerce websites, a new technology called RDFa tagging can help people find your products quickly and easily. Some of the sites we've tagged with RDFa informatoin have seen dramatic increases in sales. eCommerce Tip #4: RDFa...
read moreTop Ten eCommerce Tips for Your Website #3: Use A Perpetual Shopping Cart
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein One of the key elements on an eCommerce site is a perpetual shopping cart that allows you to see what's in your cart, without having to click to go to another page. It's a small detail, but a recent study found 64% of eCommerce...
read moreTop Ten eCommerce Tips for Your Website #2: Easy Shopping Carts
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein When I want to make a purchase on a website, I want the checkout process to be as quick as possible. I don't want to have to create an account, go through six slow pages before I can enter in my credit card information, or take...
read moreTop Ten eCommerce Tips for Your Website #1: How Fast Does Your Site Load
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Our next eLearning Series will focus on top tips for eCommerce sites. But even if your website doesn't sell a product, many of these tips still apply. eCommerce Tips: How Fast Does Your Site Load? More than a few seconds, and...
read moreTop Ten eCommerce Tips for Your Website #10: Tribute To Carol Susan Roth
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein It's with a heavy heart this week that we at Customer Paradigm mourn the passing of a wonderful client, Carol Susan Roth. After a long battle with brain cancer, she passed away earlier this week. She was my wife's literary agent...
read moreTop Ten eCommerce Tips for Your Website #9: Unique Selling Proposition
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein As a follow-up to tip #1, How Fast Does Your Site Load? we recently upgraded the DiscountDecorating.com site to a newer and faster server. (The older server couldn't handle the 575,000 pages per day of traffic and was slowing down...
read more12 Critical Strategies for Effective Email Communication:
Tip#1: One Main Message Per Email
Tip#2: Keep It Short
Tip#3: Keep It Relevant
Tip#4: Reply Early & Reply Often
Tip#5: The From Line
Tip#6: The Subject Line
Tip#7: Personalize Each Message
Tip#8: Always Include Your Contact Information
Tip#9: Strong Call To Action
Tip#10: Paste Links to Get On Same Page
Tip#11: Use Folders & Filters
Tip#12: Know When Email Doesn’t Work
Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid For Your Website
12 Strategies for Effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO Tip #12. Measure & Track Your SEO Efforts
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 12. Measure & Track Your SEO Efforts How do you know if your search engine optimization is working? The quick answer is this: You need to measure and track how people come to your site. If someone makes a purchase from the...
read moreSEO Tip #9. Reverse Archeology
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 9. Reverse Archaeology Archeology, of course, is the systematic method to uncover artifacts from the past that have been buried or forgotten. One of our more famous clients is an archeologist who has been labeled a "real life...
read moreSEO Tip #8. Age & Experience Matter
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 8. Age & Experience Matter. Google's continuing mission is to deliver the best search results possible to its end users. So how can a search engine like Google differentiate between a company that is brand new (and might be a...
read moreSEO Tip #7. Naming Your Images for SEO Sucess
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 7. Naming Your Images for SEO Success Even though search engines can't read words inside graphics, they do use the name of the file and other contextual information to increase your rankings. One of the biggest missed opportunities...
read moreSEO Tip #5. Why Sitemaps Are Baby Food For Search Engines
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 5. Why Sitemaps are Baby Food For Search Engines Just a few years ago, the philosophy about sitemaps went something like this: If your customers need to use a sitemap to find their way around your website, you haven't done your job...
read moreSEO Tip #4. What does a search engine look for?
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 4. What does a search engine look for? At the end of the day, a search engine is in business to help you find the most relevant results possible when you conduct a search. Search engines make their money by selling relevant...
read moreSEO Tip #3. Title Tags & Why They Matter
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 3. Title Tags & Why They Matter When you search in Google, the search results on the next page each start with a blue underlined link. Here's an example: What displays in this blue link is usually what is contained in...
read moreSEO Tip #2. Don't Confuse The Search Engines With Graphics
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 2. Don't Confuse The Search Engines With Graphics Search engines are really good at reading text. But they're very easily confused. And if Google gets confused when it crawls through your site, you won't rank very high in...
read moreSEO Tip #1. Local Search Engine Advertising
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 1. Local Search Engine Advertising For businesses that serve specific geographic regions (i.e. Denver, Colorado), you can create search engine ads in Google and Yahoo that only appear to people in your area. How does this work? A...
read moreTop 10 Mistakes to Avoid in Direct Marketing:
Mistake #10: One Shot Mailing vs Multi-step Campaign
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 10. One shot mailing vs. multi-step campaign In this tight economy, many companies are slashing their marketing budgets. One of the ways that you can stay ahead of the competition is to use a multi-step marketing campaign to...
read moreMistake #9: Cheap Paper
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 9. Cheap Paper Many years ago, I built custom homes up in the mountains of Colorado, near some of the large ski resorts. I didn’t want to pay for real business cards, so I printed out a few using my inkjet printer and...
read moreMistake #8: Sending too early or too late
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 8. Sending too early or too late Send too early, and they’ll misplace your mailing. Send too late, and they’ve already made plans, or they don’t have enough time to respond before the deadline. In business, as with much of life,...
read moreMistake #7: No Source Code Tracking
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 7. No Source Code Tracking Let’s say that you own a small retail store, and want to know what marketing is working to get people into the store to buy. You know you need to spend some money to drive traffic. But where is your money...
read moreMistake #6: Lack of Personalization
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 6. Lack of Personalization Hello! PERSONALIZATION WORKS! According to Personalized & Database Printing: The Complete Guide, personalization can increase the size of a customer’s order by 25%. For repeat customers, the...
read moreMistake #5: Graphics don't match marketing concept
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 5. Graphics don't match marketing concept One of my all time favorite marketing blunders was very subtle. It was for a financial services company who wanted "to make your investments soar." They created an oversized postcard that...
read moreMistake #4: Sending mail to dead people
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 4. Sending mail to dead people With all of the election fervor in the air, I'm reminded of an election in East St. Louis a few years back, where they had 125% of the population vote. How did this happen? Fraud, mostly. A later...
read moreMistake #3: Not including a way to respond
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 3. Not including a way to respond Some print designers naïvely assume that a customer will understand how the recipient is supposed to respond: Oh, they'll just pick up the phone and call. Or visit our store. Or visit the website....
read moreMistake #2: Not making an offer
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 2. Not making an offer One of the top mistakes we see again and again in direct mail marketing is not making an offer. This is different than a call to action, which is also important to get people to act in a timely manner. What's...
read moreMistake #1: Not doing any direct mail marketing at all
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 1. Not doing any direct mail marketing at all While online marketing, including email campaigns and search engine advertising, is extremely cost effective, the fact is that some people respond better to a printed piece of...
read more6 Tips for Increasing Business in a Tight Economy:
Tip #3: Use incentives to get people to act
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein President Obama took the oath of office this week (twice, just to be sure), it's likely going to be some time before the economy is back to where the Dow tops 14,000 again. One of the quickest ways to increase business in a tight...
read moreTip #2: Listen to Customers With Surveys
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein If you're like 90% of most customers, when you have a bad experience at a restaurant, you usually won't complain. You just won't go back. I know this was true for me (although I've gotten better about speaking up recently). My wife...
read moreTip #5: Redesign or Update Your Website
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein So, in full disclosure, I know that this is a self-serving tip. After all, we do help people design, build and update their websites. But this week's tip goes out to those who have websites that are out of date or don't fully...
read moreTip #4: Offer an Educational Webinar
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein In these tight economic times, people are often looking for leadership. The organizations that can get ahead of the issues, and let people know what they should be doing in order to achieve success (both personally and...
read moreTip #6: Reach Out With An Oversized Postcard
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein One of the most cost-effective ways to get in front of new and existing customers is to send an oversized postcard. While email is also a valuable way to stay in touch, the fact is that some people respond better to direct mail....
read moreTip #1: Ask For Referrals
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein If you're like me, you've been barraged with news of colleagues, friends and family losing their jobs, or businesses that are having a tough time weathering the current economic climate. With banks failing, companies shedding jobs,...
read more8 Ways to Drive Targeted Traffic To Your Website:
8 Ways To Drive Targeted Traffic #3: Host A Contest (Acquire + Retain)
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein This week's tip - Hosting a Contest - can create excitement and increase traffic to your website. (And as part of this tip, we have a small fun contest of our own). Read more below >> (Note: this contest expired in March...
read more8 Ways To Drive Targeted Traffic #4: Cost Per Click Advertising (Acquire)
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein We're digging ourselves out of a huge snowstorm here in Boulder, Colorado. The main road into Boulder (US 36) was closed for most of Thursday, and we had about 15" of heavy snow. Crazy stuff! Congratulations to Susan R. who won...
read more8 Ways To Drive Targeted Traffic #5: Email Messaging (Retain)
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein While the media loves to focus on the latest and greatest newfangled technology (i.e. Twitter), the reality is that the newest flavor-of-the-month technology doesn't always perform as well as many of the tried and true methods. Tip...
read more8 Ways To Drive Targeted Traffic #6: Print Advertising (Acquire)
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Another great way to get people to visit your website is to reach out with an old-school medium: print advertising. With newspapers struggling for ad revenue, now's one of the best times to place ads. Prices are low, and you have a...
read more8 Ways To Drive Targeted Traffic #7: Build A Useful Web Application
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein This week's tip to drive traffic to your website gives your site visitors something useful... while allowing you to keep in front of them with a branded message. Eight Ways to Drive Traffic To Your Website Tip #7: Build A Useful...
read more8 Ways To Drive Targeted Traffic #8: Translate your Site
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein We took off a couple of weeks since sending the last newsletter to focus on the Search Engine Optimization Workshop we put on last week. It was a great group who participated in the five hour session! Below is the eighth and final...
read more8 Ways To Drive Targeted Traffic #1: Give Away Something for Free
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein A website is a destination. Like a store that you have to get into your car and drive to, you have to entice people to come to the site. This next series, Eight Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website, is designed to help you come up...
read more8 Ways To Drive Targeted Traffic #2: Write an Article & Put on Your Website (Acquire)
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Eight Ways to Drive Traffic To Your Website Tip #2: Write an Article & Put on Your Website (Acquire) When someone has a problem, one of the first things that they do is go to a search engine like Google and look for relevant...
read more10 Ways to Use PHP on Your Website:
10 Ways to Use PHP On Your Website #1: What is PHP & Why Should I Care?
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Our next eLearning series, Top Ten Ways To Use PHP On Your Website, focuses on how you can use the php programming language to deliver a more compelling user experience. What is php and why should I care? Read more below >>...
read more10 Ways To Use PHP On Your Website #2: PHP Programming & Geolocation
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Thanks for all of the feedback about the new series last week - it sounds like this is a great topic for many people. This week, we'll explore how php programming can be used to customize a website, depending on where a user is...
read more10 Ways To Use PHP On Your Website #3: Random Quotes and Testimonials
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Testimonials are a great way to make people feel from comfortable about your website. But nobody actually reads testimonial pages. The answer... read below >> Ten Ways to Use PHP On Your Website Tip #3: Random Quotes &...
read more10 Ways To Use PHP On Your Website #4: Using PHP on HTML Pages
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Have you ever wanted to make a site more dynamic, but didn't want to have to change all of the page names? There's an easy way to do this... read more below >> Ten Ways to Use PHP On Your Website Tip #4: Using PHP on HTML...
read more10 Ways To Use PHP On Your Website #5: Emergency Contact Information
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein PHP can help you do more than just create web pages. This week's example highlights how you can keep employee's emergency contact information in one place and easily accessible. Read more below >> (Note: we are making this...
read more10 Ways To Use PHP On Your Website #7: PHP auto-detect mobile visitors to your website
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein We took off last week as we were trying to keep up with all of the influx of work. We've hired two new people to our team so that we can crank out projects faster. This week's PHP tip uses programming to automatically detect if...
read more10 Ways To Use PHP On Your Website #8: Use PHP to Personalize Your Website With Customers Names
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein We're thrilled to welcome Boulder, CO-based PlayFair Toys to our client list this week - we're going to be using PHP to help bring their eCommerce site to the next level. Doesn't it make you feel good when someone you've met before...
read more10 Ways To Use PHP On Your Website #9: Use PHP to Send Emails From Your Site
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein PHP can also be used to send email message from a website. This week's PHP tip shows how. Read more below >> Ten Ways to Use PHP On Your Website Tip #9: Use PHP To Send an Email From Your Site Confirmation and Alert Emails If...
read more10 Ways To Use PHP On Your Website #10: Use PHP to Backup mySQL Databases
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein PHP can be used to easily back up a database from a website. This week's PHP tip shows how. Read more below >> Ten Ways to Use PHP On Your Website Tip #10: Use PHP To Back Up A Database From Your Site Backing Things Up Most...
read moreSocial Media Marketing Tips & Strategies:
Why Remove .php and .html From the End of URLs
You might have noticed that the end of your website’s URLs have .php or .html at the end of it whereas others do not. Should you remove yours? URL rewriting doesn’t actually remove the index.php but instead hides it. While your website won’t suffer leaving them on,...
read moreFacebook Decreases Business Page Views to Followers
Many businesses are noticing that their Facebook pages are reaching less and less people compared to before. In fact, many businesses are protesting and even shutting down their Facebook pages. Eat24 wrote a breakup letter to Facebook on March 27th and shut down its...
read moreHow Pinterest Helps Businesses
If you have a business or a website that depends on customers stopping by to read a blog or buy something and you aren’t using Pinterest, it’s time to start taking advantage of what it has to offer. As of July 2013, Pinterest had a total of 70 million users. To...
read moreTips to Increase Your Business’ Facebook Conversations
So your business has a Facebook page but is it losing out on customers? Many businesses are taking advantage of advertising on Facebook and why wouldn’t they? It’s free, you can talk directly to your target, and they can share your business with their friends as...
read moreWhat Social Media & SEO Looks Like in 2014
This year in social media, there is an even greater emphasis on mobile and tablet. If your website does not have responsive design implemented, you better add it to the top of your list of things to do. More people are looking up things on the go and, yes, many are...
read moreSocial Media Strategies for the Holidays
The winter holidays are already underway and it may or may not be kicked off with the re-launch of Starbucks’ Peppermint Mocha. For businesses looking to tap into the holiday sales, it is crucial to follow suit and rev up your holiday social media promotions before...
read moreHow Facebook Graph Search Helps Businesses
Facebook rolled out a new layout again, this time with a significant change to the top of the page with a large white search bar and a boxy Facebook logo. Like many of Facebook’s updates, people wonder, “Why did they change it?” At first click, the search function...
read more5 Must Know eBusiness Stats for 2012
Facebook Plans for A Search Engine: Opinions of The Crowds
Confirmed: Facebook is Building a "Search Related" Tool Oh how the opinions are coming out as Mark Zuckerberg founder of the social media platform Facebook brings his serious face to discuss the growth into a Facebook search engine. As he calmly boasts without...
read moreTwitter Stepping Up SEO Factors
The wildest SEO moves by big companies are done in the secrets of the night. You may not know this, but Twitter has launched a user directory which contains every twitter account. The full directory is accessible when you are logged out of Twitter, it is located in...
read moreEmail Marketing – CAN-SPAN Act Summary:
Understanding the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
Download a summary to make sure your emails comply with the law. Read More > >
Web Marketing Case Studies:
Miami Everglades Connection | Case Study
The Miami Everglades Connection team turned to Customer Paradigm to create a targeted Google Ads PPC campaign that made the phones ring. Our team found that while other people were advertising in the space, there were significant opportunities to generate leads through a Google Ads campaign. Based on our keyword research, we were able to help the client set a daily and monthly budget, and forecast demand based on the existing volume of monthly searches.
read moreThe Bottom Line Store | Case Study
About Our Client Bottom Line Store is passionate about helping customer’s live a happier, healthier lifestyle with a curated selection of high quality personal-care, household and organic products. Bottom Line Store takes the stress out of buying products for a...
read moreBottlestore.com – an O.Berk Company | Case Study
About Our Client Want to call the Bottlestore.com Phone #? Bottlestore.com Phone number: (888) 842-0506 Bottlestore.com is a O.Berk company. Bottlestore.com provides packaging solutions for sale online as a division of O.Berk – a company founded in 1910 to...
read more3zero3 Motor Sports Inc. | Case Study
About Our Client 3zero3 Motorsports is dedicated to automotive maintenance, repair, and performance upgrades. Servicing Audi, BMW, Porsche, Volkswagen, and Mini Cooper in the Denver, CO metro area. They needed a partner who could help them migrate to a more powerful...
read moreTechnical Articles by Customer Paradigm:
Magento Bug: Magento Customer Create Date Juxtaposition
Magento Bug Report Summary: The Customer Account Creation Date is often wrong (i.e. Customer Account Create Date is in the past or future). Magento versions affected: Magento Community 1.8, 1.9; Magento Enterprise 1.12, 1.13, 1.14 Description of the Magento Bug: We’ve...
read moreMagento Security Vulnerability with Open Git Directory
Is your Magento .git repository exposed and vulnerable? Git is an amazing platform that allows for version control on many sites, including Magento commerce sites. According to the official Git website, Git is a "free and open source distributed version control system...
read moreEmergency Bypass: Magento's Saved Credit Card Option
Last Tuesday (and for a little while on Wednesday), Authorize.net's payment gateway was down. Authorize.net is one of the top ways that eCommerce stores take payments, so it meant a lot of lost sales yesterday for companies all around the Internet. It's very...
read moreMagento API Shipping Email Notification Bug (Solved)
Godaddy Crons Not Working / Not Firing
Over the weekend (May 9, 2015) , a couple of cron functions stopped working for a client that is hosted on Godaddy. For whatever reason, the site's path to execute the cron was not working. And even the Godaddy hosting system that allows you to create a cron didn't...
read moreExpert Tip for Magento – Searching The Entire Magento Database
If you're trying to find a specific piece of content in the Magento database, there's usually not an easy way to search through all of the tables quickly and easily. (At least without a lot of higher-end access to the system.) You could run a shell script that...
read moreMagento Admin – Changing Passwords to Lock Out Older Users
A quick note about changing Magento Admin users to lock out older users that you no longer want to have in your Magento admin area: If you have an older employee that you want to remove access for, make sure that you delete the user vs. just changing the password. If...
read moreMagento Community USPS Shipping Error Bug – 1.9.1.0
USPS Shipping Bug in Magento (Solved!) Magento Bug Report: USPS Shipping Not Working in Magento Community 1.9.1.0 Cause of Bug: ZIP+4 vs. ZIP code - fails via USPS API Magento Error Message: Magento USPS Error Message: (Default) This shipping method is...
read moreMagento Enterprise Home Page Error 404 Bug Solved
From the (Linux) Desktop of a Certified Magento Developer: Magento Enterprise Error 404 for Home Page (Solved!) Are you having difficulty with a Magento Enterprise site's home page showing a 404 error? We recently were doing an upgrade, and found a (bug) in the...
read moreHow to turn on Template Hints for the Magento Admin Area
Need a quick way to turn on Template Hints for the Magento admin area? It's easy to turn them on for the front-end of the site, but if you need to do this for your Magento Admin area (for example, you're building new modules or funtionality into the Magento admin...
read morePrivacy Articles by Customer Paradigm:
Your Cell Phone Tracks Your Every Movement
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Your Cell Phone Tracks Your Every Movement Boulder, CO - Someday in the not-too-distant future, you'll be visiting a new city - lost - but your cell phone company will know exactly where you are and may market products and services...
read moreContact Me Now option can help boost Web sales
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Q: We're not getting any sales leads from our Web site. I know we have lots of visitors (according to our statistics program), but we're not converting them into prospects. A: Put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer....
read more45% of U.S. Population Has Email.
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein The Dot-Com hype is long, long dead. And the economy is trying to shrug off a recession. Anyone who currently has a job at a technology startup is nervous. And most of the Venture Capitalists are still licking their wounds. The...
read moreAvoiding Pitfalls of Outsoucing your PHP Programming
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein If you're looking for a way to have php programming done for your website (perhaps for a content management system, a customized blog, or other web application that needs to tie into a mySQL database), you have several different...
read moreAre your email messages being blocked or filtered?
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Are your email messages being blocked or filtered? Make sure that your messages get through. On average, 15 percent of messages sent by companies do not get through to their customer's inbox. Despite strong filters and blacklists,...
read moreGEMI SD Planner – Sustainable Development Software Tool
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Today, the Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) released a new interactive version of its sustainable development tool, the GEMI "SD Planner™", as well as a new tool, the GEMI "SD Planner™ Gateway." "GEMI's mission is...
read moreIs Your Business Information Safe?
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein Officials at Indiana State University confirmed in recent weeks that the names and social security numbers of 10,420 students attending the university during the 1996 to 1997 school year were posted on the Internet due to a mistake...
read moreHotel Privacy: Minor Human Negligence Can Lead to Major Invasion of Privacy
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein I've written before about how businesses need to carefully safeguard the privacy of their customer's information, but a recent privacy incident nearly took my breath away because it struck so close to home. It's not because of what...
read moreJeff Finkelstein to be Keynote Speaker for Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein BOULDER, CO, May 22, 2003 Jeff Finkelstein, founder and president of Customer Paradigm, a Boulder-based privacy consulting and Web marketing company, will be the keynote speaker for the RMDMA's June 5th Meeting at the Arvada Center...
read moreOne Year Later: Privacy in the Post-September 11 World
eLearning Series by Jeff Finkelstein 8/29/2002 BOULDER, CO Privacy articles are often a lot like science fiction stories: they both take the latest trends, such as wireless location tracking via cell phones, and attempt to predict or prevent an Orwellian,...
read more