Need More Insight to
Real-Time Status via Automated Portal
We will set up and communicate with you – real-time status updates – through our Project, Task, Workload, and Communication Management and Platform tool called Monday.com
We have found that Monday.com is the most effective way to keep you, the strategists, the team, the client success and project leaders in the loop and on the same page. The tool provides instant message notification, place to upload and share files, and track progress status. Don’t worry… we will train you on how we use the tool.
We provide you access to the account as a guest (no cost to you!) and progress status updates (real-time!).
We do this by providing you access to 3 boards within the tool:
- Project Goals (ex: your responses to questionnaires)
- Weekly task activities and subcategory breakdowns against project goals
- Assets (logo, website info (themes, theme builder, etc.), final versions of content, etc.)
Communication Management
In Valeh’s 3rd book, Supercharge Workforce Communication, she provides effective communication exercises she has used in her projects over the years.
For example, when communicating your ideas around your desired content – you are the business owner. The ideas need to be your own, even though the copywriter will research and write. So, you need to get the vision from your mind, across to the team.
You do this effectively by providing bullets of the flow for how you want your idea presented. Or provide examples of someone’s writing style you like so that it can be modeled from (we do not copy, but we can model a style you like).
One of our favorite tools to communicate and share screen examples is Loom, which is a free screen and video recording software. Because Loom captures voice, it helps the entire team understand the way you are thinking through an idea or process.
Task Organization
Additionally, in Valeh’s same book, Supercharge Workforce Communication, she has a formula for discussing tasks and projects in an efficient and effective manner. She calls it The 3E Model.
This is how we are able to move fast and get a lot done in a super efficient and effective manner – it is our mindset and the way we collaborate!
Task Review & Acceptance
How can we work on so many tasks per week?
Because we are experts and not virtual assistants or interns who need training. We have subject matter knowledge on the tools and platforms that we support and thus able to turn around tasks at rapid speed.
That is also why we cannot support every marketing tool out in the market.
Schedule Coordination
Often, the team will be working in parallel to bring weekly tasks to life.
For example, the lead magnet task involves the web tech, design, automation, and content team to be working individually on their own, yet it is an integrated task that needs to come together, be tested, then approved to come alive.
Schedule coordination, communication, and focus is important.
Communicating Feedback
The way feedback is provided is imperative.
Our ability to work quickly and achieve your desired result is highly dependent on how well we communicate and receive feedback from you.
For example, if you provide self-care insights to those aged 50+, and based on your persona questionnaire we provide images related to your target audience, yet you decide to have a specific site page post for females only, please provide that updated info to us.
Don’t just say “I don’t like the image” – provide us more details (ex: change this because X, or update this so that X).
We are an extended part of your business and need to learn more about your vision and what goes on in your mind.
Yes, we are able to create some magic, but often our mind reading skills need confirmation.
Revisit Revision Changes
There are different types of changes and revisions requests that we keep a tracking log throughout (like – esthetics, technical, etc.) Some we detect are necessary (example – plugin or integration issues) and some you uncover.
Each task gets up to 2 revisions for editing when you are providing feedback. This is to help us meet our intense and streamlined timeline. That is why briefing the team – clearly and in detail – your ideas and vision is critical.
However, for tasks that might need a couple of additional revisions because something might have changed along the way, we will mark, monitor, and update as we progress forward through the program.
Example of this might be during the logo design. As can be shown in this video below. The client changed the domain URL, color, and meaning behind the desired intent of the logo. By working in collaboration and receiving quick client feedback and approval, we were able to make the changes and stay within the timeline.
Logo Design Process – Engage 2 Engage Client Example
Timeline Review
Internally, within Monday.com application, we use the timeline project view to manage the tasks within your project(s).
This is how as a team, we collaboratively understand the schedule and review activities. This is how we know we are on track to meet your project deadline, like campaigns. Our team understands the workflow, the time restraints, and who’s in charge of what task (and when that task is due).
This is how we track important details so they are not missed. And this is how we can confidently sleep at night knowing we are on track.
Goals & Metrics Review
Goal setting is important. Your goal will help us create your roadmap to help you get there.
During your Zoom meetings with our strategist, you will be discussing your goals for different stages (ex: current need, 3 Months from now, 6 Months from now, long term goals, etc.)
Valeh has written a few articles to help align with your goals. Access them here and scroll towards the middle of the page.
To know if you are on track for meeting your goals you need to measure and have indicators to ensure you are making progress.
We will also discuss with you performance measures to track.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Please find below answers to our most frequently asked questions.
Our Graphic Design experts work in platforms like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, other Adobe Creative Cloud apps, and Canva.
Their job is to create and manipulate images, format PDF documents, and in general help you make your marketing look more professional and visually appealing.
Some of the activities during the Program could include:
- Site design images like Blog Post Feature Image, Banners, Footer Widget Graphic, Landing Page mockup, Funnel Page mockup, and more.
- Social Media graphics
- Digital material – PDFs, lead magnets, worksheets, email newsletters, infographics / flyers, and more
- Business brand style – logos and style guides
For your site, you might not need to purchase additional license upgrades. Upgrades can be purchased at a later point in time as you grow your business and have needs. We will initially assess, and see at what stage your business is in, and if you qualify for the free web tools and plug-ins, or if you are at a stage that your business needs more. Examples of tools we might be reviewing are:
- WordPress
- Elementor
- WooCommerce
- Yoast SEO
- Cloudflare
- Wordfence
- Zapier
- Stripe
- Forminator
- Zoom
- Appointlet
- Social Media Share Buttons
- etc.
There are tools that are not free and you would need to get which Engage 2 Engage will pay for as long as you are enrolled as a client of ours, such as:
- ActiveCampaign
- Cartflows
- Gravity Forms
- LearnDash
During our program you can expect weekly tasks to be delivered based on your project goal needs.
What you should not expect is the number of social media likes, followers, or shares.
You should also not expect the number of email leads.
This program is about getting tasks done and delivered for you. We have other programs to help you promote, convert, and more, and can be discussed.
Throughout your journey with you, we can discuss current situation, resources, and your goals.
For example, if you are not looking to hire employees for another few months, then your probably don’t need to engage with an HR company, however, we might review what you need to consider (handbook, payroll, benefits, training, etc.) and make some recommendations.
Some other activities might be, something like, if you are unsure of your business name and do not have a domain identified yet, then you probably need to address that before you engage legal / accounting to set-up your tax paperwork. Otherwise, you will might need to do a rework with legal / accounting. These are discussions you can have with us.
When it comes to website compliance like Cookies, Privacy Policy, GDPR / CCPA, etc., we will share when we will need that information from you to have the technical team add it to your site. How do you get that information? We will also discuss that with you.
Our program is to help get your business set-up, organized, running efficiently and effectively. Our strategist have been in business for nearly 3 decades and have helped countless people with various business dealings over the years. Our passion is to help entrepreneurs the right way. So, we can guide you, provide recommendations, and more, depending on your direction.
We craft an outline that we can all agree to for something specific just for you based on your near term goals that will help you achieve your long-term goals.
Our goal at Engage 2 Engage is to make sure you are maintaining consistency with your content (blogs, social media, email campaigns / nurtures / etc.) and have systems in place that are automated and secure.
And of course having us as your resource to help you grow your programs, offers, message, movement, passion, and whatever it is that you want to share with the community and world!
Our general means of communication is through email [[email protected]]
As a signed-up member of our Program, your Client Success Manager (CSM) will communicate with you in our Project, Task, and Workload Management tool called Monday.com
As a way for the CSM and team to gain insight into your project goal we give you access to 3 boards within the tool:
- Project Goals
- Task submission and breakdowns against project goals
- Assets (logo, website info (themes, theme builder, etc.), final versions of content, etc.)
We are also a big fan of Loom.
You will have frequent progress via Zoom.
This is optional. Because we consider ourselves an extension of your team, your marketing team, and we need to move really fast with regards to setting up your marketing start-up launch initiative, we have found it best to have an email created specific for us with your domain. For example, [email protected]
We will cover the monthly license cost for the Gmail account.
There are many activities we need to verify during set-up like forms.
There are many testing we need to do to verify proper routing. For example, email automation from lead magnet sign up.
We also need to schedule and send out your social media postings.
We will keep all of your account information within the Monday.com communication platform which you will have access to.
Plus, if you wish, we will also add passwords to a new created LastPass account for you.
With this Gmail account, should you ever need us to hand over the account to you, you just need to change the Gmail and LastPass passwords – that way you are not spending time, energy, and effort trying to figure out all the accounts to change over, and everything continues to run smoothly for you.
Our goal is for you to be operational, grow, thrive, and succeed!! Regardless if we are doing business together or not – we want to continue cheering you on in your journey forward!
During onboarding your site, we will add your site onto our own backup and management system.
This is for your site’s safety and security while we work on your Website tasks.
Having our own backup assures you that anything should happen while working on a web task, we can do a quick fix.
It allows us to track what was the root cause, where the error came from. This is helpful to avoid from happening again in the future.
Within our program, your website will be hosted on Engage 2 Engage’s Speed and Security Optimized Servers, unless you advise otherwise. This is 100% optional and included in our program.
Speed and security of your WordPress site is critical in businesses today. Often the biggest factor in security and performance of a site is related to the hosting provider.
That is why we include hosting as a complimentary bonus in this program to those who meet the requirements.
What are the requirements?
- Website must be WordPress
- Total website size (including database and files) must be less than 1 GB
- Domain is not to be used for email. It should use a 3rd party (non-hosted) email server like Office365 or Google Workspace.
What hosting provider do you recommend outside your program?
You aren’t forced to use our hosting; we can work with any hosts that can provide us FTP access and a control panel (commonly CPanel) to change settings and access your database.
If you are looking to change hosts and aren’t eligible for our hosting or for some other reason you don’t wish to host with us, our recommended WordPress hosts are SiteGround and WP Engine.
Site Ground is best for the budget sensitive. This one is well priced and offers good hosting services.
WP Engine provides top performance and optimized speed for WordPress hosting.
Regardless of your hosting decision, your sites are monitored 24/7 for downtime
Most downtime events on a website are related to a hosting issue. We monitor your websites online/offline status 24 hours 7 days a week and receive alerts when an issue occurs.
If we see an issue recurring with constant downtimes and then uptimes again shortly after, we start a dialog with your hosting company on your behalf to investigate the issues before making a recommendation.
If a downtime occurs and your site is still down, you should definitely report it to us, but there’s a good chance we are already aware and working behind the scenes on a fix.
Your site is regularly evaluated and optimized for performance improvements
As the speed of internet increases, advanced elements that uses more data increases. The transfer of data causes the performance speed to decrease, which results in dissatisfied prospects, which results in conversion rates to go down.
For businesses to remain profitable, website load speed needs to be fast.
Our security expert team are regularly evaluating your websites for ways to improve performance. That may be changing a setting on your hosting, it may be recommending a different plugin, it may even mean recommending switching to a new host provider (like Engage 2 Engage Speed and Security Optimized Servers).
We will continue to evaluate without bothering you, as we know how busy you are. We will notify you if we need your permission on changing a plugin or suggesting a change in host settings, etc.
Yes! Our website security tech experts take cybersecurity, risk management, and vulnerability testing seriously. Our goal is keeping your website safe and secure. As long as you are our client, we update your plugins, themes, and check for security issues while cleaning up virus infections too.
We are experts in server configurations and troubleshooting issues when a plugin or theme update breaks and much more.
How do we take proactive measures?
- Your website is being backed up every day to an offsite secure server. Backups for your website are the insurance that if something goes wrong it can be rebuilt quickly and easily. That’s why every single day your website is being backed up offsite to our secure servers.
How does your backup reduce performance load to minimize impact to user experience and conversions?
Our backup platform backs up only the last changes, rather than a full back up every time. This minimizes the time it takes to create a backup which reduces performance load on the website and makes for smaller backup files to be transferred offsite.
How do you avoid data loss?
Some backups roll back the server to the point in time at the backup point. This causes losing all files and data that changed after that backup point. For example, you would lose new users, new order entries, form submission records, blog posts, etc…
Our approach is different. Our backups allow us to restore individual database tables or individual files that have changed, making our restores more precise. Our method helps avoid data loss.
If we need to restore a specific plugin, a specific version of a file, or a specific page, etc., we easily can.
Note: We fix rather than restore in many cases. Once we evaluate what has changed between each backup and know where the problem started, we can backtrack what database tables or files changed to find the issue and fix that specific issue. This avoids the need to restore the site at all in many cases.
- We research, test, and update your WordPress and Plugin updates. WordPress is a great platform due to its flexibility of installing new plugins to add features.
The problem with this is if you don’t keep them up to date, they can have vulnerabilities and compatibility issues, just like software on your phones and computers.
If left not updated, these vulnerabilities can allow hackers to gain access to your site and bring it down or install viruses on your visitors’ computers. (That’s not good for business!)
Our approach to updates is different…
Before we roll out any new WordPress update, our security team first research for conflicts with your installed plugins to minimize the chance of a breakage occurring after the update.
Once research is conducted, if an update is approved, the update is manually done and monitored the whole way allowing for troubleshooting and quick restores when, and if, necessary.
Our security team regularly scans your site for plugins with updates needed, then we research the updates to see if any of them have patch known security vulnerabilities, and if they do, we then roll out the update within 48 hours of detection.
This means your site is never left vulnerable to a known security hole from an outdated plugin.
Our focus is on ensuring security of your website, over functionality enhancements, which is why you may see some updates left waiting for a few months.
As mentioned, before any plugin update that contains a fix for a known security vulnerability is updated within 48 hours of its release, we do this to ensure your site is kept protected.
Then for other plugin updates that are more feature based rather than security or compatibility, these get scheduled for review each month for research and testing before being updated to avoid site breakages.
We do research and testing. Once our head of security has signed off on an update is it allowed to be updated. Why? This is because many updates can in fact introduce new security vulnerabilities, or break existing functionality due to compatibility issues or poor coding in themes etc.
If you see a plugin not updated for a few months, it likely means the plugin has a compatibility issue or our research has us wanting to hold off on the update.
NOTE: If we do detect a plugin having vulnerability issues with a specific version, we will bring it to your attention to decide if you want to update the plugin (usually you have to pay an additional fee to the plugin software company) or change to another plugin option. Our tech team can provide some options and suggestions best for your scenario.
Disclosure: we use the paid versions for both Wordfence and Cloudflare. Why both? Well my security web expert explained it best:
Wordfence keeps your website safe (if there are already malware or infection embedded on the system)
Cloudflare keeps hackers from testing and penetrating your websites for exploits
Cloudflare keeps hackers from testing and penetrating your websites for exploits
Laymans term and example:
Wordfence = is your medicine and cure against COVID
Cloudflare = this would be your vaccine and your vitamin C
ADDITIONAL NOTE: Why we don’t recommend clicking “Update All” is because 20% of the time something might break or introduces a new security vulnerability that gets the site hacked.
- 94% of the time we’ll detect a hacker and prevent them from hacking your site.
Unfortunately, sometimes hackers get through. We’ll fix the issue without you even knowing. Of course, we will send you an email letting you know we fixed the problem.
If you do notice the issue before we do, send us a notice to stop the hacker, and we will work on immediately getting the site cleaned.
NOTE: Advanced security plugins might be necessary to prevent new hacking techniques. If they are, we will notify you if there is a plugin in fee that you will have to pay the software company for.
- Why rely on Engage 2 Engage and why you shouldn’t do it yourself?
Look, you absolutely CAN do it yourself (or have one of your staff members do it).
You can also do your taxes and your electrical wiring yourself too. Absolutely!
Yet wouldn’t it be easier to delegate it to the experts who do this all day every day?
You and your team can stay focused on high value activities you are experts in, and sleep soundly knowing your online business is protected.
We’ve also found that most businesses who say they will do this themselves, don’t do it on a regular basis to mitigate the business risks, and then lack the skills to troubleshoot when something does go wrong. They lose data and files, which means losing new users, new order entries, form submission records, and more.
Absolutely! You always retain ownership rights to the website, content, and design contained within your site.
That is also why we chose to build websites with WordPress.
If (in a very unlikely event) you decide to take your website elsewhere, it’s very simple to migrate your website to a new hosting platform.
We’re not interested in holding anyone captive.
Here's More of What You'll Get
GATHERING DATA FOR YOUR PROJECT & SITE:
We will work with you on the following items (and don’t worry if you don’t have any of these yet – we will guide and do the set-up with you):
- Domain name
- Hosting your site on Engage 2 Engage’s Speed and Security Optimized Servers. This is 100% optional and included.
- G-suite for emails
- DNS records
- Social media access
For the website theme builder, if you need us to design or redesign a website for you, we will be using WordPress Astra for Elementor version because we have found that it is more compatible with other plug-ins and has less security issues – [we will guide you on selecting a theme style you desire]
ON-BOARDING PROCESS:
Behind the scenes, our team has a lot to do, like:
- Set-up communication portal via Monday.com application – and granting you access
- Connecting your website to backup and WordPress management system
- Website security and site audit task to further secure and/or improve your site’s security. [NOTE: we will conduct a thorough site audit after the website is built]
USER JOURNEY AND USER EXPERIENCE REVIEW:
Based on your goals for your target market and audience, we will breakdown and discuss the path for:
- creating and capturing attention, leads, and engagement
- why people will be visiting your site (your unique value proposition),
- how to attract – then connect and convert,
- crafting your brand message,
- sharing your message (blogging, social media)
- Call-to-actions (CTAs), and more
Read, How Call to Actions (CTAs) Optimize Conversion in Your Marketing
BRAND DESIGN:
- Logo design
- Favicon image
- Lead magnet / opt-in offer document
What are lead magnets? A lead magnet is a marketing tool that provides a site visitor with some incentive in exchange for personal contact information. Here is more info (don’t worry we will craft ideas with you, design it for you, and have the process digitally automated!)
DESIGNING & BUILDING YOUR SITE:
Here are a few blogs for some of the items we will be covering under this launch program to help get your project going on the right track:
CONTENT & DESIGN TO MAXIMIZE ENGAGEMENT:
At Engage 2 Engage we have the mindset for how the conversational content should flow and the design to appeal to maximize customer engagement and conversion. Click here to read our approach and reasoning to which should come first: content or design.
Additionally, here is another insightful blog: Communicating Site Design Elements with Clarity
FUNNEL PAGES:
Here is a standard way to create a 5 page funnel with an order form:
Here is a standard way to create a 5 page funnel with a booking calendar consultation:
Throughout there are several activities that need to be taken care of, like:
- Lead Magnet Page
- Written Sales Letter (WSL) Page
- Order Form Page
- Upsell Page
- Thank You Page
Here is a standard way to create a 5 page funnel with a booking calendar consultation:
- Lead Magnet Page
- Written Sales Letter (WSL) Page
- Booking Calendar Page
- Application Form Page
- Thank You Page
Throughout there are several activities that need to be taken care of, like:
- Email Fulfillment Message
- Integrate with ActiveCampaign CRM
- Set-up Stripe – Payment Processing tool
- Create Display Image of the Lead Magnet
- Build Lead Magnet Form
- Set-up the Lead Magnet Information and Upload to WordPress
- Booking Calendar Integration
- Build Order or Application Form
- Testing
FORM TYPE & AUTOMATION:
There are WordPress forms we have tested that has several features that you can expand your needs into with zero to minimal cost – Gravity Forms.
This form brand integrates well with ActiveCampaign CRM tool.
And ActiveCampaign has its own form as well that we could use too.
Different forms have different features that we will guide you on based on your desired needs – pointing out the pros and cons.
After trying several other form types in the market, these are the forms we use in-house to help accommodate our growing needs at a very low cost.
Here is what you get during form process:
- Set-up form fields
- Automation and workflow set-up within the form
- Embed form on a WordPress landing page
- Set-up form confirmation message
- Set-up form email fulfillment message
- Set-up form integration with ActiveCampaign
- Set-up Stripe Payment Processing information
- Set-up reCAPTCHA
Here is additional information:
CALENDAR BOOKING INTEGRATION:
Valeh loves using this in her other consulting services business. Everything is automated and seemless. People visit her WordPress website. She uses Appointlet / Calendly for her calendar and integrates it with Zoom. Confirmations and reminders are automated too.
If you are looking to do consulting, and want this set up, here is what you get:
- Set-up booking calendar
- Integration with your Google calendar
- Embed calendar on a WordPress landing page (if desired)
- Set-up cancellations and rescheduling within calendar system
- Integrate calendar system with Zoom – system will auto send links to your calendar and the prospect / client.
- Testing as 2 roles – system admin and end user.
CONTENT CALENDAR:
We will work on a content calendar strategy with you to get you going. This is for your site blogs, email marketing campaign, and social media.
Here I have a few blogs with more insight:
DETERMINE SOCIAL MEDIA GOALS:
Social media following and engagement is best when the connection is authentic. What should you be paying attention to track your campaign, for growth, and expansion?
The end goal target metric of your social media activities should be realistic and aligned with your vision. Is the number of followers more important than the conversion rate? What data do you want to track? Maybe it is to drive awareness and thus impressions, reach, and shares are important.
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS TO GENERATE ENGAGEMENT & FOLLOWING:
We will help you get the momentum going for social media posts before campaign launches.
Why do we have weeks of social media postings before a campaign launch?
Because imagine someone visiting a social media canvas after you make your announcement and there is no communication about it. It is similar to going to an art gallery and the canvas is white – the artist hasn’t posted any paintings yet.
We want people to visit your “art” after you make your announcement.
Here are a few blog articles that describes some of our approach:
