At Sprout, we’re big into keeping things stress-free.

When we say we partner with small businesses to improve their marketing and increase sales, we mean it. For the ones who like to collaborate, we’ve put together a helpful resource that addresses some common questions. 

Whether we’ve updated your website or we’re posting to your social media accounts, we hope you’ll find something in here that clears up some stress!

1) Refresh your browser after web updates.

If you’ve had work done on your website recently, that’s great! If you’re not seeing them right away, don’t sweat it. All you need to do is click refresh on your screen, or F5 on your keyboard, and the changes will be visible. Remember that you have to do this for every page that’s been updated, not just your home page. 

If you don’t see the changes, try clearing your cache. If it’s still not working, then give us a shout. You can always reach us on our website. Just visit our support page, and we’ll get back to you within a day!

2) Uploading your own images? Resize them first.

Are you planning to add pictures to your website gallery or blog? Awesome! Just make sure you resize them first. If you upload a photo that’s too large or has a massive file size, it will slow your site down, and it might have trouble displaying.

Ask us for the proper dimensions and optimum file size for your gallery or blog. We know that stuff! We’d hate to see you accidentally bog your website down when all it takes is some simple editing.

3) Posting on social media? Represent your brand well.

If you’re having Sprout manage your social media and you want to continue posting yourself, go for it! Just remember, at Sprout, we call ourselves the guardians of your brand. This is an important concept that we’ll outline in a future blog, but for now, remember this: creating brand-consistent content is not as easy as it looks. 

We’re not just posting to your accounts or sending emails for you. We design and write with creative strategy and messaging. We do this for a living, remember. We know a thing or two about digital marketing! We’ve had business owners hurt their own branding by doing things themselves.

Business owners should be their own brand guardians, and that means you’re not off the hook. You may want to think twice before you share that divisive meme, or that picture of your cat wearing lederhosen. Remember your posts should be for your audience, not for you.

4) Searching for yourself on Google? Redirect your old pages!

When clients have us work on their website, especially with SEO boosts or other technical updates, the first thing they do is search for themselves in Google. While enthusiasm is a good thing, you have to realize that Google takes some time to process your site’s updates. It will need up to a week (or two, or three) to make the rounds and reach your corner of the web. 

The best thing you can do is ensure your old pages are redirected to the new ones. This is something we handle when we design your new site, and as long as you give us the info we need, you'll be all set. Once that's done, it's time to get patient and let SEO work its magic.

5) Sending your own emails? Target your messaging.

Some of our email clients like to send one-off emails here and there. It’s your account, so you’re welcome to do this! Just remember what we talked about earlier with guarding your brand.

This biggest issue we see when businesses send their own emails is in targeting. 

If you serve multiple types of clients, don’t send to everybody! For example, if you’re a tax company, “tax tips for small business owners” shouldn’t be sent to individuals. They’ll instantly label you as sending them irrelevant content, and you might not get another open from them.

This is where segmenting your contact lists comes into play. If you don’t target your messaging, you’ll see a decline in open rates and ultimately, a higher unsubscribe rate. We work hard on cultivating your messaging and your audience to help your business grow. Let’s make sure we’re all working towards the same goal!

Got Marketing Questions? Reach out to Sprout!

We’re here to help you grow as a company by increasing your brand awareness and your leads and inquiries. We want to know your questions, concerns, and needs! Fill out our form and we’ll get back to you with some answers.