Constant Contact Founder Builds New Biz, Mobile-Optimized Sites

As someone who has listened to and observed small businesses for more than 20 years - to the point of camping out in them - Randy Parker, who previously founded Constant Contact, is an authority on the needs of small (and very small) businesses.

And right now, there is a rapidly increasing need for mobile-optimized websites. So it's no surprise that his new business, PagePart, targets this need and group. Parker's experience taught him that the day-to-day operations of SBs can be so frantic, that an hour to think about website strategies is a luxury often not afforded to this segment. They want the most bangs for their bucks and 15 minutes to do it in.

PagePart can create a mobile-optimized website in less time than that. For the unfamiliar, PagePart is an all-in-one platform that gets VSB and SMs fully engaged on the mobile Web, as well as on their existing site and on social media.

This platform is a blend of "do it for me" and "do it yourself." Web designers, development teams and consultants will find PagePart to be a structured platform, but with fully white-labeled, customizable options. These partners (as PagePart calls them) can create the website, and SBs can use the self-service dashboard to post promotions, view analytics, update social media or even change design elements. The partners will also have access to their own dashboard, where they can track all of their client's data, which they can use to proactively contact their clients to become a strategic mobile advisor.

PagePart also empowers partners with selling tools. Since recruiting SBs directly can be a very expensive game, PagePart strategically works with partners to recruit SBs on the platform's behalf. Selling tools include white labeled leave-behinds, statistics, studies and other material to get over the goal line.

"We're all in the business and understand the importance of mobile, but sometimes convincing small businesses to take the extra step is tough," said Parker.

PagePart hopes its Comparison Tool can help. It works by taking a SB's existing site and comparing it to the site created with PagePart (think before and after diet advertisement). Like any compelling visual, the Comparison Tool can relay what "mobile optimized" really means.

For example, Parker recently had a conversation with a partner who brought in eight SBs who all said they had mobile-optimized websites. Seven out of eight sites were not mobile optimized. By educating clients about what that truly means with the myriad specific use cases available, partners (Web designers, development teams and consultants) are able to bring clients on board for themselves and PagePart.

PagePart is also doing its part in meeting SBs where they are. And in the company's research, north of 70 percent of small businesses are on Facebook. SBs are actively engaged on their Facebook Pages, and in a structured way. So PagePart's automatic site-builder can generate a mobile site based on information in partners' clients' existing Facebook Pages.

Here are examples of SBs using PagePart for custom mobile websites.