Buchanan Bicycles

Hi Jon!

Thank you for taking the time to fill out the website questionnaire. We are excited about your new business venture and would love to help you on your journey.

We specialize in helping small businesses build a lasting brand, grow their customer base, and market their business in both the physical and digital world.

After reviewing your information and doing some research, we have put together some options for you to consider. There are a number of things that will help you be successful online. We are making our recommendations based on our experience and what we believe will best equip you for success in the long-term.

We provide a variety of web development, graphic design, and marketing services that you may find beneficial. We are happy to work with clients and provide the level of service they desire. Some are most comfortable with having everything handled for them, others like to have some control and to be taught how to do things themselves. We welcome clients of all kinds and budgets and we will do our best to serve you.

Since you already have a website, this proposal will focus on a redesign and optimizing your website to improve your website’s prospects to customer conversion rates, as well as copywriting, logo design, and social media marketing.

Beyond a website, you may be interested in our graphic design and printing services. We can design business cards, brochures, flyers, and more. We also work with printing companies that offer some of the lowest rates available in the country. We can design materials for print, place the order with the printing company, and they will have it delivered right to your door.

We can also do professional promotional videos, including hiring voice actors to help promote your products and services. If that is something that interests you, let us know and we can discuss it. Cost is fairly flexible, so it depends on what you’re looking for and your budget.

Website Redesign

A fresh look for your website will go along way towards modernizing your website and making it more attractive to your customers, while also helping you to stand out from the competition. To figure out the best look for your website, here are the top Oklahoma businesses with at least somewhat modern websites:

Neighborhood (https://www.neighborhoodbicycles.com)

Celestial Cycles (https://www.celestialcycles.com)

Spokelahoma (https://www.spokelahoma.com)

KGS Bikes (https://www.kgsbikes.com) – this one is actually in Texas

We found that the Phat Tire Bike Shop (https://www.phattirebikeshop.com) is using the same bike shop system as you are.

We can come up with a design for you that will be eye-catching, professional, and stand out.

How We Can Make Your Business Can Stand Out

One of the things that would help your business stand out is the use of a video background on the homepage. We can create video backgrounds using stock footage or videos you provide. The video would loop in the background continuously. On smaller screens it can load a static image to improve the speed of the site, or if you choose, it can also display the video.

The next thing we can do to help you stand out is with a professional logo. We design logos and provide you with variations of the logo so that you can use it on your signage and marketing materials. Logos can be simple text logos, or we can design a logo with an icon. Our logo design services include the logo files in a variety of formats and sizes to make it easy for you to use in whatever you need.

In researching some bicycle shop logos, there are a variety of designs you could go with. We recommend a modern, simplistic design that is easy to read. The look and style of the logo should reflect the service and personality of your business. Here are some examples of different bicycle shop logos.

Website Structure

Your website structure contains the following pages:

• Homepage
• Shop Bikes
• About
  • Covid-19 Resources
  • Store (hours and location information)
• Services
• Contact Us

Proposed Structure:

• Homepage
• Shop
• Services
• About
• FAQs
• Contact

The only change to the site structure we recommend making would be the Covid-19 resources page and the store page. The store information should appear on the contact us page with a contact form so people can send you an email easily from the website. The Covid-19 resources page is less likely to be as relevant as it used to be since restrictions have been lifted, but an FAQ page that has information about shipping, pickup, and other similar information could be setup instead to answer any commonly asked questions.

Website CMS and Infrastructure

Your website appears to be using the SmartEtailing bike shop system and was built using WordPress. We assume that for their monthly charge they are providing you with website hosting, themes, and the shopping cart system, in addition to some other features.

If you are happy with their service and want to continue using them to host your website and online store, we will be happy to work on your website using their system. However, if you are looking to cut costs or are interested in other solutions, we would be happy to help you with that as well.

Alternative Hosting Solutions

We may be able to reduce your long-term website operation costs by using separate services – this would involve moving your website to a different hosting service, setting up a new shopping cart system and importing your products into it, and moving your email accounts to either a specialized email hosting service or hosting it with the website. The exact cost and setup would depend on your needs and budget. In choosing a lower-cost setup, you exchange some convenience for some complexity, but you get a lot more flexibility at a lower cost.

Typically, for most small businesses, a standard shared hosting plan is sufficient. With shared hosting, it is easy to host one or more email accounts on the same server as the website, thus, eliminating the need to pay for separate email hosting. There are a variety of different hosting options, but shared hosting is probably sufficient for your needs.

To make things simple and easier for our clients, we offer website hosting. In doing so, it is easier for us to serve our clients and provide the best service we can. We provide you with an administrative login to access the hosting controls for the account, providing you complete file access, and more. We will never lock you in or make you completely dependent on us. If you ever want to switch to another hosting company, say the word and we will help you transfer over to whichever platform is compatible with your website.

Online Shop

If you move away from using the SmartEtailing system for your online shop, you would need to replace it with something else. The system we typically recommend to our clients is a system called Ecwid (https://makingtheimpact.com/go/ecwid/).

Ecwid
Ecwid is a powerful online ecommerce system that integrates with multiple marketplaces. This means that not only could you sell your products through your shop, you could also simultaneously sell them through Facebook, eBay, Amazon, Etsy, as well as in-store. If you have a logistics company to handle statewide or nationwide product sales, this may be a great solution for you.  Ecwid has solutions for local businesses including the ability to help you sell on Google, Instagram, and more. They also have a store management app you can use. Their unlimited plan is $99/month.

Woocommerce
There is another ecommerce system that could be added to your website as well, it is called Woocommerce. The basic system is free and but there are a variety of plugins that can extend the functionality of it. There are plugins for handling shipping, payments, store management, and more. The possibilities and limitations depend on your needs and budget.

If you choose to stay with the SmartEtailing system, please be aware that at this stage we don’t know what level of control or customization is allowed on their system. They may prevent the use of certain plugins, themes, or have other restrictions that would require a different solution than what we propose.

If you choose to switch, some things may be difficult to import, or may not be compatible with the new system. For example, Ecwid has their own user system, it is independent of WordPress, but Woocommerce does not. Some product details or information may be difficult to import or transfer over if it is only available in the SmartEtailing system.

It is a big decision, so if you are interested in switching, we will require more details from you to determine what the best solutions are for you. Whatever hosting and ecommerce option you feel is best for your company is what we will work with.

Website Design and Content

Homepage
We would recommend that the homepage of your website feature a background video with a big headline, a call to action, and a button that directs customers to the online shop. The categories for the bicycles that appear below the featured image on the homepage of your current website are good, but could be changed to a fresh look, and a button or category for accessories could be added to make it easy to see other you offer. The sections below that could be redesigned to feature a large background image with text shown on top of it. The services section could be featured first, followed by the about information.

Shop Bikes
The online shop should make it easy to find and search products. The actual look and layout of the page, categories, and system will be completely dependent on the ecommerce solution you choose to use for the site. We would recommend having a page that shows some featured products and that makes it easy to browse the different product categories.

About
We recommend having an about page that features high-resolution images of your shop. Things that you can include that can really help your customers trust your business is using staff photos, some information about your business history, and any information on experience, awards, or certifications that you can highlight.

Services
We recommend adding some more details about the service provided. We recommend a fresh design for your pricing lists and service packages. Instead of just having a button telling people to contact you, if you wanted to, you could use a booking system that would allow people to set appointments for service and even pay online when they make the appointment. If you are interested in that, we can put together an estimate for you.

FAQs
We recommend replacing the Covid-19 page with an FAQs page. The page could have some categories, such as General, Bikes, Maintenance, Shipping and Delivery, and a section on your store policies on handling returns, any warranties, etc. This would address any of the typical questions prospective customers might have before, during, and after doing business with you.

Contact
The contact page should have information about your store hours, contact information, a contact form, and the map of your store location. Currently, this information seems rather spread out, and your website does not have a contact form.

An online contact form is a simple form that enables customers to send you an email directly from your website. It prompts them to provide their name, email address, and message, then it sends you an email with their message to you. Contact forms help prevent spam and scammers. If you simply list your email address on your website, malicious actors can capture it and add you to lists to send you spam and scam emails.

Navigation Menu

We noticed the menu on your current website is a bit awkward. Users must click the menu to see the dropdown menu. On mobile, the menu is actually less awkward to use, but on wider screens, the large number of menu items under the Shop Bikes menu is a bit overwhelming as there is a lot to look at. If possible, we recommend making that menu simpler which may make it a bit easier to navigate for first-time customers. We also noticed that clicking About and Services on the menu displays a dropdown menu, rather than taking people to the page directly. This seems a bit redundant and could be simplified to improve the user experience. We also recommend a redesign of the look of the menu.

Proposed Options

To provide you with the most flexibility to fit your needs and budget, we put together 3 options for you. We have applied a 5% discount because you were referred by Tom.

Option 1: Website Redesign – $771.40

Our first you choose to keep your existing website hosting and online shop setup. We will focus on the redesign of your website by customizing and modifying the existing theme. If the system permits us, we will create a customized version of the theme you choose that is compatible with the system. We will then modify the theme to use a modern and fresh design while ensuring that the website can be updated without losing the changes. The customizations can include the creation of a video background, transition animations, and other styles that match your new branding. This option also includes access to our page and form builders, the logo, contact form, content writing, and plugins to help with security and search engine optimization.

Option 2: Website Redesign with Our Theme – $486.40

The availability of this option will depend on what is permitted with your current system setup. It is basically the same as Option 1, but instead of using one of the system’s themes, we would use our customizable theme. Our theme gives us a lot of flexibility with our designs and it receives regular updates. In being able to use this theme instead, we would be able to redesign the website more easily and quickly than we can through customizing one of their themes.

Option 3: Website Overhaul – $646.95 ($99/year after the first year)

With this option, you get the same features, but use different hosting. Since you already have a domain name, that is not included in this estimate. If you would like to purchase a secondary domain name, we charge $20/year for standard domain names (.com and .net). This cost includes us taking care of the setup for it and ensuring it doesn’t expire and cause your website to go down. Like the other options, this also includes a simple logo design, content, shop setup, and website redesign.

You can choose to host your site with us for $99/year or you can choose another hosting provider. If you choose this option, we download a copy of your website and rebuild it on the new hosting and switch your site to use a shopping cart system of your choice. If you choose to host your website somewhere else, the total would be $552.90 for the cost of the website.

For your shop, you could use Ecwid, Woocommerce, or another system. The pricing and functionality for that system will depend on your needs and budget, and what is most compatible with your products. There will be a higher upfront cost with this, but depending on the system you choose to go with, the monthly and annual costs may be lower than what you are paying now.

Woocommerce is free, but some plugins for it are not. It is possible to use entirely free options, however, there are often limitations and it can be harder to achieve the results you want.

If you want to sell outside of the local area, Ecwid is a great option as it would allow you to sell across multiple platforms and you can ship your items to your customers, if you have the logistics solution. You could sell your products on eBay, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and more. Ecwid also makes it possible to manage the store inventory using their app. Their highest full-featured plan is $99 a month, which includes support for in-store sales, gift cards, discount codes, and all kinds of tools designed to help you sell more. It offers greater opportunities to sell your products and expand your reach with the help of its powerful marketing tools and integrations.

There are a lot of different shopping cart systems and options you could choose to go with. These are just 3 options we put together based on our recommendations and what we think would work for you.

If you wish to go with a different option or would like more to choose from, please email us and we’ll be happy to put together some alternative solutions for you to consider. It does take some time to put together information and do the proper research, so it may take a couple days for us to get all the information put together for you.

Social Media Marketing Solutions

Enhancing your social media presence has never been easier. Let us create custom profile and banner images that match the color and style of your branding for only $30. Our graphics are tailored to fit the size and format required by each social media platform, and we even offer animated banner options for platforms that support it. Additionally, we can make updates to your social media pages for $20 per profile/page, ensuring all information is current and up-to-date.

Our social media posting service is designed to engage and appeal to your target audience. For $24, we will create and post up to 2 engaging and interesting posts on one or more social media platforms. Each additional platform is only $5. If you prefer daily posts, our monthly rate is $718. Let us take the hassle out of managing your social media presence.

Running ads on social media can help to drive traffic to your website and promote your business to a targeted audience. Our social media advertising management services can help businesses of all sizes to effectively reach their target audience and achieve their marketing goals. We will work with you to create a customized advertising strategy that fits your business objectives and budget. We will help you to identify your target audience, select the appropriate social media platforms, and create engaging and effective ads. We will also monitor and analyze the performance of your ads, making adjustments as needed to optimize results. Our services can include creating, managing and analyzing the performance of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media platform ad campaigns, as well as remarketing campaigns, conversion tracking and more. With our help, you can improve your brand awareness, increase website traffic, and drive more sales and conversions. The cost for this service varies depending on exactly what services are needed.

We Stand By Our Work

We always strive to do our best to meet and exceed our client’s expectations. If for whatever reason you are unsatisfied, we will do our best to provide a solution to address whatever concerns you have. If you ever have an issue with the site, you can submit a ticket by clicking here or going to https://support.makingtheimpact.com. You can also check the FAQs section for answers to common questions or send an email to us directly at customerservice@makingtheimpact.com.

If you are interested in seeing some of our most recent work, here are some examples of simple website designs we’ve done:

Oklahoma Racing Company (https://oklahomaracecompany.com/)

Gary Robert Pinnell (https://garyrobertpinnell.com/)

Kingdom Kidz Childcare (https://kingdomkidzcare.com/)

Stephens Professional Cleaning Company (https://stephensproclean.com/)

Macon It Happen (https://maconithappen.org/)

You can also check our BBB listing if you would like to read some reviews.

In the sections that follow, you will see a more detailed breakdown of the pricing, timeframes, and more regarding our services. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

If you would like to set an appointment to discuss your project, you can click here.

Thank you again for reaching out to us and considering us for helping you in your business venture. Whatever you decide, we wish you the very best in all your endeavors.

Best Regards,

Melissa (Lisa) Li
Making The Impact LLC