SEOblog has once again awarded Capitol Tech Solutions with a prestigious SEOblog Agency Award. These awards are bestowed annually to recognize some of the best SEO agencies in California. This is the second time that Capitol Tech Solutions user experience team has been recognized for their SEO expertise by SEOblog.

“This award is another sign that our user experience and SEO team continues to deliver amazing and quantifiable results for our clients,” said Capitol Tech Solutions CEO Bobby Reed. “Our team of SEO experts have strived to stay ahead of industry search trends that allow us to implement effective and innovative SEO strategies for our clients.”

CTS Continues SEO Success

The user experience team at Capitol Tech Solutions pride themselves on continually working to improve their SEO expertise and knowledge, learning to implement successful new strategies that really help their clients’ businesses succeed online.

SEOblog was launched in 2013 and has long been a destination spot for anyone wanting to learn more about the ever-changing world of search engine optimization. SEOblog quickly established itself as a go-to platform for SEO resources, tools and content. They annually recognize digital agencies like Capitol Tech Solutions with their SEO awards.

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Earlier this year our web design team was presented with the AVA digital award for their web design work on Sacramento’s local PBS station, KVIE. Most recently we received a web award for outstanding achievement for our work on MCE conferences’ website. The most recent honor is our second web design award in 2020 and our third time receiving a web award from the WMA. The continued roll of recognition is a testament to the design work and Q/A inspection our team goes through with each web design project.

The CTS team has continued to expand our web design knowledge working on a variety of eCommerce website builds and customer booking websites with advanced API integrations. Continuing to diversify our website design clientele and technical requirements improves our teams knowledge and design skill for each new project.

Criteria & Levels of WebAward Winners

Websites that enter the WebAwards are submitted online and separated into over 90 categories based on the industry of the website, among other factors. For example, our winning entry for KVIE competed in broadcasting category and was judged on its mobile design.

Each website is reviewed by a panel of independent judges in areas such as:

• Design
• Easy of use
• Copywriting
• Interactivity
• Use if Technology
• Innovation
• Content

Websites are evaluated on these areas and the best among them are awarded one of four award levels. Our own CTS website design team received the standard of excellence award for demonstrating above average web design and development for our work on the MCE Conferences website.

The recognition was well received amongst the team and our client MCE Conferences who has partnered with us for website updates, hosting and other user experience related services.

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Before office building 2830 G St. in Midtown Sacramento closed escrow this month, it had to overcome numerous hurdles.

According to broker John Mudgett of Turton Commercial Real Estate, these issues included a lockdown stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, stock market uncertainty for the same reason, then an eviction moratorium on commercial tenants and a request for a price reduction and more from the eventual buyer.

Capitol Tech Solutions, one of Sacramento’s leading digital agencies, bought the two-story, 11,309-square-foot building for $2.15 million, according to Turton Commercial.

Bobby Reed, Capitol Tech’s CEO, said his company already owns neighboring 2831 G St., so he was familiar with 2830 G St. “I see it every day,” he said.

Continued Growth Fosters CTS Team Expansion

Buying the building will support future expansion of the CTS team and provide economies of scale, as well as space for future expansion. The company is already planning to occupy much of the new purchase, he added, moving out of 2831 G St.

The key element to getting the sale to go through, Mudgett said, was Turton finding a tenant at Capitol Tech Solutions’ request for about 3,500 square feet of vacant space. A nonprofit that lobbies at the state Capitol became that tenant, represented by Alexis Garrett of JLL Sacramento.

Mudgett said Capitol Tech Solutions will also renovate common areas, bathrooms and building exteriors for 2830 G St. “The buyer was able to close with a property fully stabilized,” he said. “There is more work that’s required that goes into each transaction, but there are deals to be done.”

According to property records, the seller was 2822 South Orange Avenue LLC, with a Modesto address. A message left at a phone number affiliated with that address was not returned. The seller bought the building in 2007 for $750,000, according to real estate data service Reonomy.

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Capitol Tech Solutions Marketing Implementation Specialist Kevin Olson recently acquired his certification in Shopify Product Fundamentals. Shopify is the world’s leading eCommerce website platform with millions of online store fronts across 175 countries. Completing the product fundamentals certification helps us increase our knowledge of the platform and build custom eCommerce solutions for our clients.

What Does it Mean to be Certified in Shopify Product Fundamentals

The Shopify product fundamentals certification consist of a series of courses and a final exam where you need to earn 65% or higher in order to pass. The product fundamental courses give you an in-depth insight into the Shopify platform. They teach Shopify partners how to utilize various Shopify features in order to help all their clients. For instance, you are taught about a specific Shopify feature, and then they will explain how this feature can help x, y, and z client, and each client sells a different product or service. These courses are designed for agencies who have Shopify clients. This is helpful because it allows agencies like Capitol Tech Solutions to learn how to utilize Shopify for clients from a wide variety of niches.

The exam itself tests you on the advanced functionality of Shopify. This includes Shopify API, the programming languages that are used within Shopify, tools for programmers, the website and app development process, and more advanced Shopify features.

Leveraging our eCommerce Expertise to Help Our Partners Thrive

Continuing to advance the knowledge and skill set of our eCommerce team builds on our ability to provide cutting edge eCommerce solutions to optimize our clients’ businesses. From developing full eCommerce website, creating custom order forms or creating monthly subscription-based products, our eCommerce team can help your business succeed online.

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Along with providing on demand scalability Azure also provides industry leading security and privacy to safeguard all your data. Overall Azure provides critical IaaS and PaaS services to optimize the entire workflow of enterprise applications.

What Does it Mean to be Certified in Microsoft Azure Fundamentals?

Skills Measured During the Certification Exam:

• Understand cloud concepts (15-20%)
• Understand core Azure services (30-35%)
• Understand security, privacy, compliance, and trust (25-30%)
• Understand Azure pricing and support (20-25%)

Building on Our Existing Azure Knowledge Leads to Better Cloud Solutions

Although we already utilize Azure services, investing in certifications enhances our knowledge and improves our use of cloud capabilities. This is particularly important as more and more clients turn to cloud services to build and scale their business.

According to Wired, cloud services are estimated to grow to $191 billion by the end of 2020. Our cloud architects and software developers have put greater emphasis on knowledge gathering to provide leading edge solutions using cloud based efficiencies.

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How Microsoft Teams Eliminates Communication Roadblocks

We’ve also begun to use Teams to quickly communicate with our clients by adding them as a guest user. This process is simple and allows us to seamless share project assets and easily conduct meetings to trouble shoot any project road blocks.

Using Zoho Cloud Software Suite & SaaS Applications to Serve Our Clients

Remote Access to Project Assets Through Cloud File Storage

Protecting Assets with Two Factor Authentication

Have any questions or concerns? Need assistance with working remotely or help setting up virtual meetings? We remain ready and committed to assisting our clients during these extraordinary times. We are all in this together, and we look forward to working with you.

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5 Communication Tips for Small Business Amidst COVID-19

In light of the recent COVID-19 developments, many businesses are facing reduction of staff, shortened work hours or even temporary closures. During this time of uncertainty, it is critical to be transparent in how your business operations may be affected by county, state or national efforts to reduce in-person contact. This is especially important when it comes to maintaining client satisfaction. Client satisfaction is reached by meeting and exceeding expectations even during odd or unprecedented circumstances. Businesses need to be proactive and responsive to create proper expectations especially during times of uncertainty. Utilizing these five communication tips will help your business set expectations and maintain high levels of customer or client satisfaction.

Updating Your Website Contact Page

When updating your contact information there is really no more central of a place than your website contact page. If your hours of operation have been affected, prepare a simple explanation that will allow customers or clients to understand the reason for the changes, the duration of the changes and any new supported contact methods.

Example

Given the uncertainly around COVID-19, we have made the difficult decision to limit our practice to emergencies only for the next two weeks from 3/16—3/29 to ensure the safety of our patients and your family members. This follows the recommendation issued by the CDC and guidance offered by state and local officials. We will continue to be available by phone and email to answer questions and schedule future appointments. Thank You.

The three sentences above concisely inform any new and current clients what to expect from this business in the coming weeks. The content clearly states what measures are being taken, why they are being taken and how clients can contact the business for future appointments or questions.

Monitor & Update Your Google My Business & Apple Maps Listings

When customers or clients are looking for your contact information, they will rely on the information on your Google My Business which appears in Google maps along with the information in Apple maps. It’s important to update the information provided by both Google and Apple to ensure clients or customers can easily contact your business. While you may not think to update this information for short windows of time like holidays or periods of social distancing like we are experiencing with COVID-19, it is worth reflecting your accurate business hours as much as possible. Most business directories, like Google My Business, make updating your hours a quick process allowing you to temporarily set specialty hours for periods of time, which can be set in advance.

Don’t forget to make similar adjustments with any other directories that your client base utilizes to contact you. Here at Capitol Tech Solutions, we utilize YEXT, a tool that sends business contact information out to multiple directories all at one time.

Create Informative Pop-ups

Although the sentiment around website pop-ups are not always positive, they are still a quick and effective way of to get your brief message across. Here are some best practices with pop-ups that will help keep the user experience positive.

1. Keep the pop-up message short and sweet. If you have more content to share, implement a learn more button within the pop-up linking users to more information.
2. Set a reasonable delay time for the pop-up. Something around 3 to 5 seconds is a good place to start.
3. Enable cookies and set a time span for the pop-up. If you enable cookies, you can create a time span that will disable the pop-up for returning visitors. This allows people to come back to your website and not get hit with the same pop-up over and over again.

Set Up an Email Announcement

Email is a proven way to get your critical information to clients and customers. If your company already utilizes an email marketing platform this process is even easier for you. If you do not already use an email marketing tool, here are a few recommended newsletter platforms: (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Drip). When setting up your announcement, be sure to review your branding and style guide to select fonts and colors that fit your branding. When creating content for newsletters, utilize blocks of content between 50 and 125 characters. Don’t forget to include your contact information or link to your website’s contact page.

Create Social Media Posts

Social media posts are a fast and low barrier approach to sharing all types of company announcements. While the primary value of most announcements is in the written content, you should never overlook your visual image choice when creating a social media post. Your chosen image should convey the tone and foreshadow the written content that follows. In the caption, summarize the announcement; most announcements made through social media cannot be covered entirely within the post caption. If you are posting on Facebook or LinkedIn, you can link to additional information within the post itself. The rules for Instagram are a little different. You can link to content with a link in your bio, but not the post itself. For accounts with ten thousand followers or more, you can post an announcement in your story and utilize the swipe-up feature to link to a specific page.

Bonus Tip: Post a Flyer on the Entrance of Your Business

When you have exhausted all your digital avenues to inform your clients or customers of any changes to your business operations or hours there is one thing left to do: Print and post a flyer. Inevitably someone will miss your digital messages but a flyer on the business door is almost sure to catch any customers or clients coming to your business. Be sure that your message covers why the business has chosen to momentarily change operations or hours. Provide a timeline for how long the new policies will be in place. Lastly, provide an easy avenue for all current and future clients to contact your business.

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