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7 Golden Rules of Online Customer Service
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, December 31, 2011
7 Golden Rules of Online Customer Service
1. Don’t hide behind the legalese
Don’t expect your customer to page through a multi-page, small print document and read and understand all of your stipulations, especially if they’re written in legalese rather than simpler English. If you put unfavorable or difficult terms in your Terms of Service agreement and your customer signs it, sure, you have legal protection to back up whatever terms they stipulated to with their signature. But, will the wrangling over those terms be worth it in the end? If you have terms that your customer might not find favorable at a later date, be sure and point those out to him in the beginning. Don’t expect him to figure it out on his own, and don’t hide behind the cowardly excuse, “Well, you should have read the Terms of Service thoroughly There’s nothing I can do.”
2. Walk a mile in your customer’s shoes
Would you want to be treated the way you’re treating them? If what you’re doing to your customers makes you queasy and uneasy, that’s your instinct telling you that what you’re doing isn’t just and proper. Moreover, how would you feel if you were treated in this fashion?
3. Make it simple to do business with you
Don’t make your customer have to hire an attorney to understand your contract or to do business with you. I’m not advocating that you completely ignore legal help and advice. However, an attorney’s job is to protect you from ALL liability, even those things that have a very small likelihood of actually occurring. Consequently, this usually translates into a very long document that’s very difficult to read and comprehend. Work with your attorney to transform any contracts or Terms of Service agreements that you have into ones that are easily read and understood by the average person.
4. Don’t do customer support via email
When you’re first starting out, using email to answer service problems is ok, but as it becomes more and more difficult to send and receive legitimate business email, you’ll find that you start to lose inquiries as your business grows larger and as your number of inquiries increase. At that point, think about installing a virtual support desk. This is a website that contains common FAQs and answers, as well as offers your customers the ability to open a ticket to report a problem. All correspondence occurs within the site, so you lessen the possibility of lost email. One of the more popular programs is Kayako, www.kayako.com.
5. Make it easy to contact you
Nothing is more irritating than wanting to speak to a real, live person for help and all you find is a contact form or an email address. Don’t leave your customers out in the cold. Offer several options for contacting you, whether that’s by email, phone, instant messaging system, live chat on your website, or a help desk/trouble ticket system.
6. Make it easy to stop doing business with you
I learned a valuable lesson from the Director of Admissions when I worked as a student affairs administrator at a small college and was trying to change a student’s mind about dropping out of school. He told me, “Once they’re already decided to leave, their minds are made up and there’s no turning back. Just let them go.” This applies to your customers as well. There may be a small percentage that you can salvage as a customer in this process, but the overwhelming majority have already made their final decision. Don’t make them jump through hoops to cancel their business with you — make it as easy and painless as possible. However, do follow up with a phone call or email or survey to determine the reason for their departure, but don’t force them to go through this process to exit. Remember the AOL service cancellation call that was recorded and posted online that became a huge embarrassment for AOL? Don’t let your cancellation policy become the next big Internet joke.
7. If in doubt, ask your customer what to do
If you and your customer can’t come to a resolution that feels equitable to both parties, ask your customer what he believes is the fair thing to do. I believe that generally people are good and fair and that most will treat you humanely if they’ve been humanely treated by you. The final decision may not be everything that you want, but it’s probably not everything that your customer wants, either. You can use this strategy to end on a positive note, and while the customer may not return to you, he probably also won’t tell everyone he meets that you’re an ogre, either.
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10 Tips for Copywriting Success
While video and multimedia technologies are rapidly expanding, the Web remains a largely a text-oriented system. Text utilizes far less space than video or audio, and remains the go-to medium for the majority of the web’s public content. This means that there is a lot of copy on the web, so a savvy copywriter should be on the lookout for any technique that will improve the material he puts forward.
Tip 1 – Know Yourself
This piece of advice has been kicking around for several thousand years, and it has persisted for a reason – people make better decisions when they know their strengths and limits. If your writing lends itself to narrative structures, find ways to tell stories about the product, perhaps in the form of a testimonial or an interview. If you aren’t capable of writing technical articles, don’t try to bluff it.
Tip 2 – Improve Yourself
The web changes, language changes, people change, products change… in short, everything changes. This is a good thing. Improvement and training are important changes that everyone must go through in some degree if they want to remain relevant. You may want to consider enrolling in a writing course, study new SEO and copywriting tips, pick up a highly rated style manual, or continue refining your skills in some other way.
Tip 3 – Target Your Language to the Audience
There is always an audience. Whether writing a letter specifically to one individual or composing for a website to be viewed by international customers, take the time to find out who your audience is and tailor the writing accordingly. Academics will have different writing standards than a DIY auto repair services, and neither will appreciate receiving articles targeted to the other.
Tip 4 – Write Coherently
Compare the following two statements:
* The Large Hadron Collider, created and maintained by CERN in Geneva, is designed to locate and study the Higgs-Boson particle, which will provide insight into the origin of the universe.
* CERN intends to use the Large Hadron Collider to locate and study the Higgs-Boson particle in an attempt to gain insight into the origin of the universe.
The first sentence is full of asides and parenthetical statements while the second conveys the information more fluidly. There are times when asides and references are important, but as a general rule, take any opportunity you can to simplify your writing. Your message will be stronger and clearer for the effort.
Tip 5 – Write Specifically
Again, consider this ambiguous sentence; “Anti-nuclear protestors released live cockroaches inside the White House Friday, and these were arrested when they left and blocked a security gate.”
While it seems innocuous enough on the surface, this statement does illustrate the problem with ambiguous grammar. Good copywriting is precise and unambiguous. Here it comes across as funny, but if your customers aren’t coming to your site to laugh, go with a clearer example.
Tip 6 – Write Concisely
Strunk and White’s ‘The Elements of Style’ sums this up as ‘Omit needless words.’ Stick to short, clear paragraphs and sentences. Elaborate where needed, but focus on efficient writing that gets the message across without pointless extras.
Tip 7 – Start Strong
Journalism focuses on a technique known as the lede. In short, this is all the relevant detail of the story conveyed in one sentence, and it always comes at the start of the article. “A local man was arrested today in connection with the recent kidnapping of a foreign exchange student.” Notice it doesn’t give names or quotes, just the hard-core facts. While online copywriting rarely needs to emulate this exact approach, it still illustrates a key point; good articles present their best facts quickly while hooking the reader.
Tip 8 – End Strong
There are countless examples of writing that start out with the proverbial ‘bang,’ only to wander off pointlessly. Focus your writing on its key message and make sure the final statement is as strong as the first. Write your beginning statement and ending statement at the same time and make sure the article is always leading toward that killer end sentence that ties the article up in a powerful way.
Tip 9 – Read
While this partially falls under the idea of improving yourself, it’s also a specific example that deserves its own mention. Read constantly. Read good articles and bad, seeing what works and what does not. People who are widely read write better than comparable writers who don’t read as much.
Tip 10 – Write Constantly
Copywriting is a talent like any other. Daily practice with writing will expand your ability to try new ideas and reinforce good habits. Even if you have no copywriting assignment at the moment, browse the web looking for websites in your area of expertise, and see if you can’t improve their copy. Then you can either consider it free practice, or perhaps give the authors a call to see if they’re interested.
Conversion Secrets
Once you’re online business website is live, generating targeted traffic is your next hurdle. But to maximize your online success you need to go beyond traffic generation. You need to focus on web site conversion. Many online marketers spend lots of time and money on traffic generation. And they fail to pay attention to website conversions.
Here are 7 website conversion secrets to help you get more customers and make more money. Period. Lets start…
Conversion Secret #1
Pay attention to the buying experience. Put your self in your buyer’s shoes. How would you rate your site? The most important rule of thumb is to make everything drop-dead easy. No hoops allowed! Minimize the number of clicks in your ordering process. If they have to register… make it a one-step process. I recently read that up to 40% of ecommerce shopping carts are Abandoned without an order because the order process was confusing.
When your customers get confused, they get frustrated or angry and then they leave. Not sure how you’re doing? Be smart. Test. That’s the only way. Or contact your customers and ask them to rate their buying experience at your site. Just find out and you’ll know! Very simple.
Conversion Secret #2
Optimize your site structure. Sounds easy enough. And it is! But you’d be shocked to know how many marketers Don’t. Make it well organized and stupid simple to navigate. Prioritize your themes and sub-themes and structure accordingly. You have less than 6 to 8 seconds to capture your visitor’s attention and get them interested. Most people don’t sit there and analyze. They respond to unconscious feelings and the famous ‘gut’ feeling.
Conversion Secret #3
What is the goal of your site? Your conversion goal? What is the purpose of the page they’re on? I hope you have thought about this. If not… do it now! Do you have 12 options for them to click on? Ever consider they might get confused because there ARE so many options? You can have many options for them. And if you do then it’s critically important to have a very clearly defined navigation structure.
Conversion Secret #4
Make sure your site or page loads fast! The faster, the better. You know how impatient we’ve all become. Your site needs to be fully loaded in less than 6 to 8 seconds! Fully visible. Research shows again and again that up to half of your visitors will Leave if your site is more than 6 to 8 seconds to load.
Conversion Secret #5
Do you have an effective and clear call to action? Here’s something that has been known for many decades. Courtesy of direct mail pioneers who came way before the internet. But it’s still true! People need to be told what to do next.
Absolutely still true. Don’t be afraid to ‘politely’ inform them of what to do next, or just what to do! Tell them! Don’t expect the website visitor to know what to do next. You can alleviate fears of the unknown by telling them, in some fashion, what their next action will do. Click to order your product… click here to register for your free download, etc. People need to be reassured and you’ll do that by telling them what result will happen from their next action.
Conversion Secret #6
Do you have a strong message? This is different from call to action. I’m talking about a clear, strong, and consistent message throughout your page. If you’re talking about a particular product, theme, service… whatever it is, stay on topic and focus on it.
Conversion Secret #7
Test, test, and test again. Increasing your conversions takes time and is an ongoing process. There are lots of programs available to do this. Find out how much time people are spending on your pages. What do they click on? Find out what’s strong and improve on it. See if you can expand on it. Find out what’s weak and see if you can improve on it.
Your profits will soar if you do only half of what I’ve shown you here today. But why would do that? Do All of them. And there’s even more to be learned. Failing to work on your conversions is like running on half empty, or running on misfiring cylinders. So don’t do it!
Make Your Ezine Make You Money
Writing a regular ezine (online newsletter) can sometimes feel like hard work. So if you’re putting in the time and effort to give your readers valuable content, consider implementing at least a few of the strategies in this article to help your efforts pay off in profits.
Here are 4 ways to help your ezine make you more money:
1. Self-promote
Besides giving valuable content in each issue of your ezine, don’t forget to add a little self-promotion as well. After all, it is one of your best marketing tools, and you want to make sure that you’re letting your subscribers know what products and services you have available for them. It’s best to do this in a separate section of your ezine, instead of in the copy of the article you write for your readers. A short blurb about you and what you offer, as well as a bit about one of your products and services with a link to more information is all you really need to do.
A tip: If space allows, consider adding one or two short testimonials from your clients/customers who are raving fans, too.
Depending on the method through which you are publishing your ezine, you can track how many times your links are clicked on, which gives you valuable market research information about what your readers are interested in finding out more about.
2. Give Options
If you are a service professional, know that there are many people who would like to hire you one-on-one but that option doesn’t fit into their budget just yet. If you offer them other options, and promote those offerings in your ezine, you’ll turn some of those prospects into paying clients.
For example, if you coach or consult one-on-one, consider offering a group coaching program with a price point that would be much more accessible than your private fees would be. Or take your knowledge and package it into an ebook, or a series of teleseminars, or an ecourse, and price them reasonably. Then promote them in your ezine.
3. Offer specials
Your readers may find the content of your free ezine valuable and would really like more, but they might need a bit of encouragement to buy from you. So give your subscribers a special discount on something you offer, with a time limit for purchasing (which really does encourage people to “act now”).
For example, offer a 2-for-1 deal on your ebooks, or 20% off one of your programs if they register within a week. This strategy will move some of your readers from the “free” part of your funnel into the “fee” part of your funnel, which is exactly what you want.
4. Offer recommendations
I get so many questions about the services I use in my business that I periodically give recommendations in my ezine. These products and services are ones I truly believe are of high quality, because I have used them personally or because they come highly recommended to me by my mentor coaches. Some of these I am a reseller of (an affiliate), meaning I make a small commission on every sale I refer, and others are products and services I love and know would be of value to my subscribers.
Don’t forget that your number one priority with your ezine is to provide valuable content for your subscribers. Proportion 10-20% of your content with promoting you and your offerings, and you will be working smarter and not harder.
Also remember that with each issue you put out, you are building trust and rapport with your list, becoming known as an expert in your niche, and gaining lots of exposure (especially if you submit your ezine articles to article submission services), all of which are so important to the overall success of your business.
The Benefts of Professional Article Services
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Benefts of Professional Article Services
Professional article services can provide you with effective article marketing campaigns that can turn a failing online business into an unexpected success by giving you the time to focus on the more important aspects of your business.
This is not to suggest that you cannot write articles yourself – of course you can – but it can be time-consuming to write in a manner that attracts readers, keeps them reading and then compels them to click the links in your resource to reach your website.
Sure, you can do that yourself, but do you have the time? Probably not, since the majority that are developing their online businesses want to spend their time doing that and expanding their range of products or services. What time is left to write compelling articles and submit them? Next to none!
Article services can do that for you – not only write your articles but also submit them. However, there is always an associated cost, and you have to determine what the cost of your article services are in respect of the benefits you receive. There are two basic ways of looking at this, and while it is not possible to quantify them for individual cases, you can at least consider them with respect to yourself, individually:
1. Saving Time
It takes time to write a good article. Those that claim to teach you how to write a great winning article in 15 minutes are taking nonsense. You might write 300 words about your product, but that won’t impress anybody, and won’t be accepted by many of the important directories that require a minimum 500 word count or even more.
Also, can you write compellingly? Can you persuade a reader that your product is better than the next guys without being allowed to mention your product or even your website? That doesn’t seem very easy, does it. You won’t learn that skill quickly! How long will it take? I know people that work for an hour or more on a 500 word article just to get the spelling and grammar right!
Spelling is extremely important, and any errors in these days of spell checkers will be regarded as unacceptable and careless, but no spell check will tell you that ‘there’ should be ‘there’ or ‘to’ should be ‘too’. In spite of what you have heard, grammar also counts with a number of people. An article with no errors in its grammar will attract more visitors to the link on the resource than the same article full of schoolboy errors. That’s a fact, not an opinion!
So, how long will it take you? Figure that out against the cost of the article from a site offering professional article services. If the money spent is worth the time saved, then it makes sense. If not, then it doesn’t. Your choice, but it is a logical and economic one as all business choices should be – not based upon opinion but on facts.
2. Now for the benefits
Until you are aware of the its benefits, you will be unable to determine the real benefit of the time you will save by using professional article services to help with your article marketing strategy. There are four main benefits:
* You can have your articles published on ezines and article directories. For each of these that accept your article you will receive a share of the PageRank of the web page on which your article is published. The Page Rank cited for the Home Page of the article directory is irrelevant – that is immaterial because the ranking points you receive are related only to the page on which your article is published, and also the other links leaving that page. However, it improves your Google PageRank score.
* Contrary to what many believe, visitors to article directories read the articles. You can get several hundred people reading your article each month if the title attracts them.
* Many people use published articles as content for their websites. This is particularly popular with those that use Adsense and other contextual advertising systems to monetize pages on their sites. To do so, they must also include your resource that publishes your website links, so you get Google PageRank points from the links back to your website from the page on which your article has been used.
* Naturally, anybody visiting that other website can click on your links and visit a page on your website. That page must lead readers to a page that relates to the topic of the article you have written, and also contain a link at least to your home page.
All things considered, when you take into account every benefit that a successful article marketing campaign can provide for you, then using professional article services might make sense rather than trying to do it yourself.
A professional article will be more likely to attract readers and keep them on the page till they click on your link. After that it is up to you, but the same service can also be used to provide the content that will them keep the visitor on that page and perhaps even purchase your products or services.
Is it worth it to you? That is for you to decide, but just as you would consider professional SEO services, advertising services and emailing services as possibilities to help you market your business, so article marketing is an aspect of advertising that good, professional article services can look after for you, leaving you to do what you do best. Make money!
How To “Big Brother” Your Own Website?
How Well Do You Really Know Your Website?
If you’re like most webmasters, you have probably spent years building your site. You have spent years adding content, building links and cultivating traffic – but how well do you really know your website?
How well do you know the intricate details of your website’s traffic? Where do your site’s visitors come from? How long do they stay on your site? Just where do they go to on your site and how well do they convert into buyers or subscribers?
Do you know your site’s rankings in the major search engines? What are your site’s top keywords? What’s your site’s Google PageRank? Who are your IP neighbors? What your site looks like in other browsers? How much is your site worth?
These are just some of the questions you should know, mainly because the more knowledge you possess about your site, the better equipped you will be at improving it. So here’s a simple list of free site checking tools/sites that will let you “Big Brother” (monitor and watch) your site:
1. Google Analytics
Perhaps one of the most helpful analytical tools you can use on your site. Google Analytics will give you a wealth of information about your site’s traffic. Where it comes from, how long it stays on your site, where it goes on your site, how well your content converts… invaluable information every webmaster should have in their possession. ( www.google.com/analytics )
2. NetMechanic Toolbox
Check your site’s mechanics – find broken links, check browser compatibility, find bad HTML code, spot slow-loading pages, and check your spelling… all by using the NetMechanic Toolbox: ( www.netmechanic.com )
3. Keyword Suggestion Tool
This free keyword suggestion tool will tell you how many searches are done in WordTracker and Overture for your site’s keywords. Extremely valuable information since much of web’s traffic and ecommerce is keyword driven. ( www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/)
4. Iwebtool
This is another free site which offers many valuable webmaster’s tools that will give you information about your/any site. Google PageRank, PageRank Prediction, Link Popularity, Search Engine Positions for Keywords, Backlink Checker… also Visual PageRank where you can see all the PR values of all the links on a given page – both internal and external. ( www.iwebtool.com )
5. Alexa Traffic Rankings
Alexa tracks the web’s traffic by using the Alexa bar in a surfer’s browser. Most people know it is not an accurate assessment of the traffic on the net but is a handy measuring stick, nonetheless. It is also a handy tool for comparing sites and seeing the long-tern traffic trends of different sites, including your own. ( www.alexa.com )
6. Your Site’s Traffic Logs
Most webmasters know your raw traffic logs are worth checking and reading. It contains valuable information about your site. Especially helpful if you’re checking for broken links on your site, you don’t want to see those 302’s everywhere. Close examination and regular checking of your traffic logs and stats will point out the profitable keywords on your site.
7. BetterWhois
You can use this site to find out the domain information about your site. Do you have control of your domain? Many webmasters buy their domain name thru their web hosting company, while this is not a problem in itself, however, if any dispute should arise who has administrative control of your domain; you or your hosting company? Can you change hosting companies? ( www.betterwhois.com )
8. Google Alerts
Another valuable tool from Google which notifies you by email when your link or site is found anywhere on the web. Great for keeping track of any new links your site is getting. Many webmasters also use this handy tool to keep track of their competitor’s sites. They also use Google Alerts to keep track of whenever their own name is mentioned anywhere on the web. This one would even make Orwell proud. ( www.google.com/alerts )
9. IP Neighbors
Many webmasters have their site hosted on shared hosting plans, which means there can be hundreds of sites sharing the same IP address. This site lets you discover who your IP neighbors are. Why would you want to know your IP neighbors? Well like neighbors everywhere; there are good ones and there are bad ones. For example, if you have a neighboring site that uses email to spam, it could get your IP address blocked or shut down. ( www.myipneighbors.com )
10. Any Browser
Use to this handy site to discover what your site looks like in different browsers; you could be in for a real shock. ( www.anybrowser.com )
11. Google Toolbar
The Google Toolbar can be placed on your browser so that when you’re surfing you can see the Google PageRank of each page/site you’re visiting. Many SEO experts believe Google is not giving us the true PR of a page and this bar is rather useless. However, like the Alexa rankings it is a handy measuring stick, nonetheless. ( www.toolbar.google.com )
12. What Is Your Site Worth?
Please take this last analyzing tool with “a large grain of salt”, but it is fun to use and to see how much your site is worth. Measurement here is done largely by the amount of links you have coming into your site. ( directory.sootle.com/website-worth )
5 Resources Every Copywriter Must Have
Copywriting is one of the most vital elements of effective online marketing. The art and science of copywriting includes strategically writing words that will promote a person, a product, business, opinion, or ideas with the ultimate intention of having the reader take some form of action.
Whether you are looking into selling something over the internet or in building traffic by earning links from others, you will need to tell moving stories that will grab attention and will connect with people so that they will respond in the way that you want.
There are many copywriting tutorials and great online copywriting course that you can find online. Some of these online copywriting courses and tutorials are packed with comprehensive lessons and tips in doing the job properly. Some even include in-depth copywriting training complete with references and recommendations from professionals. An online copywriting course that is available in the internet can be downloaded or be bought in a DVD format.
Among the many topics discussed in an online copywriting course are the things that every aspiring copywriter should know how to write. Such topics are:
1. Print Ads
Since most copywriters land in advertising jobs, rookie copywriters should spend some time learning about print advertising. When you understand what makes a print ad effective and sellable, you can then move into learning about other medium such as flyers, yellow pages ads and newsletters. Writing print ads can also be a good way to start creating samples for your own portfolio.
2. Brochures
It is not enough that you sit down and try to write to brochure. You should learn the fundamentals in writing one – how the brochure fits into the buying process, if the brochure will stand alone or be tied in with other mediums and what the selling points will be. You have to know the different types of brochures and then start finding your niche among them.
3. Direct Mail
Writing direct mails broadens your knowledge of writing brochures. Every direct mail package is different. Some may include a sales letter or a response card. Others could include a sales letter and a brochure. Being familiar with direct mails helps you be exposed to a different side of advertising that some advertising agencies specialize in exclusively. This can be a great tool to have if you find out that you enjoy writing direct mails.
4. Commercials
Television commercials will help you learn how to write a matching audio and video output. Creating a 30-second TV commercial script can already be a very good exposure in the world of copywriting. Your script needs to have perfect timing. And while you incorporate audio and video, you will also learn about the use of fonts, graphics and will learn how to play with other effects in the commercial. You can also check out writing for radio commercials as well, while you’re at it. You can make use of both TV and radio commercials as additional materials in your portfolio.
5. Websites
Being able to write copy for websites is a necessity for every copywriter. Even large companies that do not sell products online need a website, so having someone maintaining the company’s website is something every company should do. And this is where you being the copywriter comes in.
Who Is Your Online Writing Role Model?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Article Marketing Tip: Who Is Your Online Writing Role Model?
If you do not already have an online writing role model, find one. This is perhaps the best article marketing tip that I can give you to help you grow in your writing.
When you start article marketing, each month you will need to produce a steady stream of articles. At first you may have an initial burst of creative energy that helps you consistently produce your articles, but after a while it’s very easy to lose your focus and your inspiration.
This is where an online writing role model comes in. Not just any type of writing role model, but one who writes for the internet. Online writing is different from any other type of writing.
If you have someone who you can look up to, who you can see producing quality writing on the net, you have a built in motivator. It’s encouraging to think, “If he can do it, so can I!”
Having an web writing role model also helps you to learn. As you watch this person you admire write, you will continuously pick up some of his or her positive writing habits and characteristics.
This is not to say that your writing will mimic someone else’s–quite the contrary. By having someone whose writing you look up to, you will learn from them and have the confidence to develop your own style.
I have a select few web writers who I really look up to, and I’d like to share some of the crucial lessons I’ve learned from them:
* Lesson 1 – Your articles should provide a generous amount of helpful information
When writing an article, the idea is to serve your reader by providing valuable information that is not found elsewhere. Aim to give your reader more than he is expecting. When you write in this fashion, your articles will convey a sense of professionalism, quality, and dedication that readers appreciate.
* Lesson 2 – Focus on teaching in your articles
Not sales, not links, not anything that is directly geared to benefit you. The body of your article is for your readers, and the reason why a reader wants to read your article is to LEARN something. Each article should teach something new. You can be writing on the same topic, but each article should offer new tips, new information, new angles on your topic.
* Lesson 3 – It is never a waste of time to thoroughly think through your article structure and proofread it several times
We’ve all seen articles that are obviously thrown together with little thought for how the article is organized and with numerous spelling or grammar errors. What do you think when you see an article like that? Readers can form some pretty powerful opinions about an author, the author’s business, and the author’s products when the article is obviously low quality. It pays to spend time writing an article that makes sense, has proper spelling and grammar, and offers valuable information to the reader. Writing quality articles takes time, but it’s worth it.
* Lesson 4 – Learn to write on your topic from every angle possible
Publishers do not appreciate seeing virtually the same article being submitted repeatedly. No matter what your topic is, you must come up with a way to offer fresh content. Think about how a beginner would view your topic. Also write articles with more advanced content. Get creative with your approaches to your topic in each article. Any topic can be exciting, depending on how you write about it.
* Lesson 5 – Be yourself
Your articles should demonstrate your expertise, but there’s no need to try to be someone that you’re not. Write about lessons that you’ve learned the hard way. Admit to not always doing things perfectly. Your readers will appreciate your honesty, and they will have the benefit of learning from your experience.
These are some of the major lessons I’ve learned from watching online writers that I admire. Do you have a web writing role model yet? What has he or she taught you?
8 Reasons Why You Need Audio on Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, December 23, 2011
8 Reasons Why You Need Audio on Your Website
1. Customers remember what they hear more than what they read. Did you know that people remember only 20% of what they read while they remember an astonishing 70% of what they hear? That’s three and a half times more! Your audio message will help you to stick into the minds of your customers longer.
2. Audio boosts your credibility. The sound of your voice adds personality to your website and helps customers identify with you. Customers buy from people who they feel they know and trust, and using audio can help you achieve this.
3. Audio keeps customers on your site longer. Audio can keep customers on your site longer and you give you more time to make the sale. It can be used as an additional resource or tool for customers to familiarize themselves with your product or service while browsing your site.
4. Audio increases your subscription rate. Using a personal audio message to get customers to sign up for your newsletter can raise subscription levels by up to 400% more than using traditional subscription marketing techniques. You can also use audio as a part of an online course that people can subscribe to. The lesson that includes an audio in our free online meditation course gets opened most, leads to the largest number of sales and receives the best feedback.
5. Audio enhances newsletters, ezines and blogs – which leads to profits. You can spice up your newsletter, ezine or blog by using audio to provide special tips or product updates that keep customers interested and motivated to buy.
6. Audio puts you light years ahead of your competitors. Using audio successfully on your site gives you a competitive advantage. Most internet businesses overlook using this effective marketing tool so be sure you’re not one of them!
7. Audio is easy to use. Being able to put audio on your website isn’t limited to just techies – anyone can do it! Many of the programs available don’t even require you to know HTML or flash. They’re designed to be user friendly so you shouldn’t have any problems taking your website to the next level.
8. Audio is cheap. You can add audio to your site for as little as $19.95. More advanced audio solutions will only cost you around $97 – a small price to pay considering the many benefits it provides to your website and your customers.
In short, audio gives you an edge over your competitors and allows you to build a personal bond with your customers in a way that’s not possible with traditional websites. When customers feel they know you and can identify with you, they will be more likely to buy from you.
How To Write A Press Release?: 12 Top Tips
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 22, 2011
How To Write A Press Release?: 12 Top Tips
A press release is the standard way to alert the media, and increasingly, the online public, about what you are doing or selling.
The press release forms part of the public relations artillery and should be used wisely. Though mostly written and distributed by PR professionals, you too can competently write your own press releases, if you keep the following 12 key points in mind:
1. Think of the 5 ‘Ws’:
The press release mantra is WWWWW. Before you do anything, think Who, What, When, Where and Why. Fail to include this vital information and it’s a total Waste of time
2. The golden first paragraph:
This is your chance to grab the media’s attention, so make it punchy. The first, short paragraph should announce the ‘5 ‘W’s’ and the rest of the press release will expand upon it
3. Newsworthy:
We call it the ‘news’ because it is ‘new.’ What makes your story press-worthy? What is new about what you are doing? Is there new research? The media love stories about anything that is the biggest, smallest, fastest, world’s first or most exciting. Think of all the ways your story is new, include them, and back up your claims
4. Concise:
A press release should never, ever be longer than two pages of A4. One page is ideal. Keep the font neutral and the layout clear — a 1.5 line spacing is bes
5. Contact:
Always include your contact details at the bottom of the press release. That’s your full name, phone number, mobile and email address
6. Personal touch:
Include a quotation which communicates your key messages in a lively way. Sound ‘thrilled’ or ‘excited’ about what you are announcing. If it’s not really interesting or exciting news, you shouldn’t bother the press with it
7. Proof, proof and proof again:
It is unacceptable to send out a press release full of grammatical errors. Get someone else to proof it, then print it out and proof it again
8. When emailing your press release, include it clearly in the main body of your email. The media probably won’t bother opening your word document attachment
9. Balance:
It’s a fine, fine line between spin and being downright misleading. Go for an attention grabbing headline, but don’t lie or over-hype your story and “Never use Capitals as it will only annoy people”.
10. Write for the task in hand:
Your press release is not a submission for a prose writing competition. Keep it clear, informative and as factual as possible. Have fun with the headline, but don’t over use ‘fluffy language’ in the main body of the release
11. It is not a sales pitch:
Refrain from ’sales speak’; this is not the place. A press release serves to inform the media about a newsworthy event, not flog a product like in an advert (although, that is the desired byproduct of course)
12. And lastly:
Use press releases wisely. Expanding your home office into a purpose built garden shed may be big news in your family, but probably less so on the global stage. Put out strong stories and get a good name for yourself. Put out rubbish and, well, it’s your reputation that’ll be at stake.
Top Five Ways Your Virtual Assistant Can Help You Make More Money
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Top Five Ways Your Virtual Assistant Can Help You Make More Money
1. Ezine
An email newsletter will help you get prospective clients into your marketing funnel. Your VA can format the plain text and HTML versions of your email newsletter. All you need to do is write your primary and filler articles each week and forward those to your VA to format and send the finished product out to your newsletter list.
2. Media
Have your VA research an industry-specific media list . This value of this list is in developing relationships with these media contacts so that you’re the expert they immediately think of when they’re doing a story on your area of expertise.
3. Article Marketing
Write once and have that article work for you again and again. Have your VA submit articles you’ve written to online article databases to increase the number of links back to your website and to send more visitors to your website.
4. Strategic Alliances
Once of the quickest ways to grow your business is by creating strategic alliance or joint venture relationships. Have your VA research potential strategic alliance or joint venture partners who provide a service to a similar audience or whose client base could benefit from your product or service.
5. Product Development
Got recorded interviews sitting around gathering dust on your hard drive? How about information you’ve created for presentations that you’ve never done anything with? Have your VA coordinate the transcript and audio editing of any recorded files you might have and help you polish those into saleable products. Your VA can also help your format printed material into an ebook, ecourse, special report, etc. and before you know you, you’ll become an information marketer!
Writer’s block
Writer’s block is the scourge of all writers: whether authors of popular fiction, factual content writers or journalists. It’s seemingly random descent can cast doubts on the feasibility of meeting deadlines and cause general unrest. This strange affliction often comes on unprovoked and seems to strike at the most inopportune of moments. Although there is no cure as such (most notably because it is not an ailment per se) there are certainly things that can be done to stimulate the creative zones of your brain back into action to get you back on track.
In many cases, writer’s block is simply an absence of motivation or a prevalence of distractions. Spending too long poring over a written task or spending an inordinate amount of time attempting to re-work or rewrite existing passages can really drain the will to work. Quite simply, writer’s block is generally a side effect of boredom, lack of urgency or pre-occupation. In order to counter this there are a number of techniques, the effectiveness of which is dictated as much by the nature of the individual as it is by the situation.
If you’re unable to complete a piece, article or chapter due to a temporary inability to focus then the first thing to do is step back from the work. Quickly assess your emotions: are you tired, hungry, worried, excited? Although such a seemingly simple, even silly thing to do: by distancing yourself from the task at hand you are more able to focus on the underlying issue. Having established the root of the distraction action can be taken to remedy the problem and regain focus. Obviously time constraints are important here: if you’re exhausted but have a strict deadline then unfortunately short-term remedies such as a boost of caffeine or a brisk walk may be on the agenda. Equally if your distraction spawns from worry about something else then you may not have time to fully address this external problem. A sound alternative in this instance would be to spend a few minutes planning how you will remedy the issue responsible for the distraction once you’ve finished the more urgent writing task- giving you at least some relief and a little more focus.
Some people react well with tight deadlines: others react in the exact opposite manner. The key is to mentally organise yourself in the manner which is most effective for you. If you have no set deadline for completing a task and work best when you do have a deadline then set yourself one! Conversely, if you have a tight deadline but are dwelling on the pressure of completing in time then set yourself smaller deadlines with incremental rewards leading up to completion in the set time.
Writer’s block is a purely mental phenomenon and can be resolved by learning as much as you can about the circumstances in which you work best. Once you know the ideal environment and form of motivation for you then it is easy to go about tailoring the situation to induce maximum productivity.
5 Reasons Why You Should Start Using Article Templates Right Now
Are you a small business owner or internet marketer who’s pulling hair out, grinding teeth and wiping sweat from your brow trying to figure out how to write articles that drive targeted traffic to your website?
Well, then it’s a good thing you’re reading this article, because I’m going to give you the power to get out of that dark, cold, gloomy corner and see the light.
* How?
First, I’m going to explain in detail what article writing templates are – and how they can help you overcome your writer’s block. Then, I’m going to give you an opportunity to get 3 of my instant article writing templates for free! These article templates are guaranteed to help you write articles faster – and in many cases, you’ll be able to write articles in 30 minutes or less. So keep reading.
* What Are Instant Article Writing Templates?
Article templates serve as a blueprint for building great articles in a particular style. They provide the guidance and inspiration you need to quickly and easily build an incredible inventory of high-quality, original articles.
For example, when you get my instant article writing templates at http://www.StartWritingArticlesFaster.com you get worksheets that guide you throughout the process.. Each template is in chart format. All you have to do is put the information that’s in your head and put it exactly where I ask you to. Once the template is complete, all you have to do is copy each section and paste it into a new document – and you’ll have a finished article.
* 5 Reasons Why You Need to Start Using Instant Article Writing Templates Now
1) Inspiration
Are you stuck at the gate? Are you confused on how to begin your article? Are you stuck for ideas? Just browsing through through article templates will help you spark an idea for your next set of articles.
2) Speed
Are you thinking in your head right now – It takes too much time to write articles. That’s because most of your article writing time is spent staring at a blank, white screen. Then, you focus a tremendous amount of time trying to organize your ideas in a flowing manner. But, when you use article writing templates, you’re given a structure and format. So you can write articles faster. Rather than spending time on creating the proper structure for your articles, you can now invest the time you save into writing new articles!
3) Ease
Using the right instant article writing templates make it easy to build high-quality articles that are designed to inform readers while also driving traffic back to your website.
4) Clarity
Since these templates have been well thought out in advance, you’re articles will flow smoothly and have a clear introduction, body and conclusion that will make your articles clear and easy to understand.
5) Style
I can’t tell you how many of my article marketing clients sacrificed speed for quality. They had NO flow, NO organization, NO easy transitions. If I had submitted their articles as-is, their articles would not generate results. So, for the last couple of years, I’ve worked hard to solve these article marketing problems that hinder your chances of getting more prospects and sales online. I’ve analyzed hundreds of articles that I’ve written for my blog, for my newsletter and for article submission. I spent hours reviewing all of my client’s articles that I have proofread, formatted and optimized so it can get published on top websites like About.com, I looked for clear patterns and structures that you can use to write your articles right now. You want to use proven article templates that are designed specifically to give you an article layout and structure that insures an attractive, easy-to-read article that’s almost guaranteed to get results.
* Where Can You Get Instant Article Writing Templates?
Now, if you go to http://www.TryMyFreeArticleTemplates.com, I’ll give you 3 of my article templates for free! All you have to do is enter your name and email in the provided box, and you’ll immediately receive the article templates download.
Top 10 Things to Look For in a Web Host
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Top 10 Things to Look For in a Web Host
Let us consider the top 10 things to look for in a web host:
1. Reliability (“uptime”)
Your host should be reliable, stable and fast, and should guarantee its uptime, the minimum figure for which should be 99%. A straight 99% is actually considered low these days, as 99.5% or higher is rapidly becoming the new standard. Check to see if the host provides a prorated refund if uptime falls below the stated benchmark. With how much business a company can lose any time their website is down this crucial aspect of web hosting probably does deserve to be in the #1 spot, but read on for other important info.
2. Data transfer (traffic or “bandwidth”)
Data transfer mean the number of bytes delivered from your site to its visitors as they browse. If a web host advertises “unlimited bandwidth,” find out how much traffic the particular deal you’re considering really allows. Most new sites that are not archives, storage or “drop-send” sites normally use less than 3GB of bandwidth per month. If you expect your traffic requirements to increase over time, check the host’s policy for “overages.” If there is a charge (usually per additional GB) over the allowed bandwidth, you need to determine if it’s cheaper to pay it once in a while (if it will not be ongoing) or to upgrade your service level.
3. Disk space
Be on guard against the “unlimited disk space” deals, too, and view them with the same skepticism as you just observed being applied to data transfer. The vast majority of sites need no more than 10-20MB of web space, so don’t fall prey to enticements like 500MB, or “unlimited space.” To get an idea of relative size, a site with about 200 pages and the usual assortment of text, pictures and motion graphics will use only about 10-15 MB for all of the pages and supporting files.
4. Technical support
Is the tech support 24/7/365? You should probably avoid a host that has no staff working weekends or holidays since things have a habit of breaking down at the worst possible times. A claim of “24/7 support” is not always true, so test the sales pitch by e-mailing or calling on a Friday night or holiday. Measure how long it takes for you to connect with a human being on the other end. In addition response time, ensure that the support personnel are technically proficient. Believe it or not, some tech support personnel are converted sales people “learning on the job,” which is not the kind of help you need in an emergency that threatens your business.
5. Technical features (FTP, PHP, CGI-BIN access, SSI, etc.)
What once were luxuries are now necessities. Fact is, you simply must have all of these. There are many commercial hosts that require getting their approval to install PHP or CGI scripts, which means that you cannot implement a feature on your site when you so desire. You need these functions if you want to customize error pages, maintain databases, set up additional security measures and so forth. Make sure you have full access to these tools, and find out about any restrictions on their use.
6. Server type
The operating system and server can be very important, and there are good, practical reasons for choosing one server over another. If you intend to take advantage of ASP, for example, it is available only on a Windows NT/2000/XP server. However, it is often cheaper to go with a Unix system running the Apache server software, which is stable and dependable. Another advantage of Unix-based hosts –using Linux, FreeBSD, etc. – is that an Apache web server lets you create and manage error pages, block IP addresses, stop email harvesters and more, without needing your host to install or approve a thing. Finally, if you plan to do some e-commerce on your site, find out if you get SSL (Secure Socket Layer), MySQL and a shopping cart. At the very least, you will need SSL if you plan to get credit card information from your customers over the Internet.
7. Email services
You have your own domain now, so you probably want e-mail addresses with the domain name. Although the vast majority of plans include e-mail services, find out about the quality and level of auto-responders, mail forwarding? and list management. Ensure that you also have web access to your mail (“webmail”) and investigate the spam tools that are provided.
8. Control panel
It may be called this, it may be called your “Net Tool Kit,” but all hosts give you a set of utilities to manage the particulars of your web account, and a web page from which to do it, too. You need to be able to manage your e-mail, change passwords, block spammers and so on. These are all standard maintenance chores for webmasters and if you have to wait on your host’s tech support to take care of things, you will lose important control over your business.
9. Price and payment plans
Naturally, price is always a consideration, but remember that the most expensive hosts are not necessarily the best. Factor in price, and be wary of great price differentials on similar plans. Most web hosts offer annual or even quarterly payment plans that discount the monthly rate, but if you are using a new or less-well-known host, you should consider paying monthly until you establish their reliability. When you are satisfied with the host, you can change your payment plan and grab that discount.
10. Reviews
What do others say about the hosts? Use Google to track down both complaints and congratulations, and consider the source of each comment. There’s a lot to do, but with your business possibly at stake – or at least the fate of those model train photos – you can’t be too careful. Get the information you need to make an informed decision, and weigh things carefully. You will save yourself a good deal of frustration if you do.
Article Templates That Will Help You Attract More Clients Like Magnets
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Article Templates That Will Help You Attract More Clients Like Magnets
Some business owners attract clients and customers like magnets. Their marketing seems effortless. They don’t advertise. They haven’t made a cold call in years. They charge more. They’re regularly asked to speak at conferences and are featured in newspapers and magazines. Their articles are found on top websites and ezines. They’re invited to be guest bloggers on very influential blogs. And, everyone knows their name, and they get all the business they can handle.
It’s almost as though they were famous.
Their names come to mind when people are looking for a particular product or service. They get more business – not only more, but the right kind of business. Unlike you, they don’t have to work so hard to get it.
Why?
Because they have become a thought leader in their industry. You can too if you start writing articles with the idea of becoming a thought leader.
3 New Article Templates for a Thought Leader WannaBe:
Article template #1 – A Little Bit of Controversy
An article stating a controversial opinion can attract interest and readers if it is written well and based on facts and if it avoids inflammatory statements or personal judgments. Although “controversial” implies disagreement, you don’t have to use words that intentionally create divisions among readers and set one group of readers against the other.
Your goal as a thought leader should be to tell the truth, even if it’s uncomfortable or challenges common assumptions. Make controversy a side effect of your article rather than its goal.
Article Template #2 – Predictions
It’s generally believed that authors who make informed, reliable predictions gain credibility in their field. Good predictions are based on knowledge, experience and an ability to recognize and explain trends, developments and signals. They provide a glimpse of what lies ahead and are highly sought after by those not yet in-the-know.
Using this article template, you can quickly tap into your particular knowledge and expertise to generate articles that are both enticing and provide a high-value insider perspective for your readers.
Article Template #3 – Traps and How to Escape Them Article Template
We’ve all been trapped from time to time on almost every plane of possibility, whether it was a physical, mental, emotional, spiritual or financial challenge. With this article template you get to save the day with your expertise by delivering the “escape plan” followed with a Resource Box where they can learn how to further escape from the trap.
Now, I’d like to help you escape your challenges of becoming a thought leader so you can start attracting more clients and customers like magnet. So, I’m going to invite you to claim 3 of my instant article writing templates for free at http://www.TryMyFreeArticleTemplates.com
This way you can start writing articles more articles, faster. And, then submit your articles to become the expert in your field.
5 Steps to a perfect review landing page
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, December 16, 2011
5 Steps to a perfect review landing page
The reason a review page works so well is because it doesn’t just hard sell you on a specific product but instead gives you a choice, based on actual reasons why or why not a product is worth the money/time/effort and whether or not it is any good.
So if you’re thinking of making more money as an affiliate marketer online, then I suggest you not only incorporate review pages into your sales process, but make sure you do it right using the following blueprint:
Step 1. The Headline
The headline will draw people in and create excitement and desire to continue reading. The headline must include a clear benefit and address the reader as personally as possible. Always state what they will be gaining from reading on, based on the specific problem that they are experiencing.
Step 2. The Body
The entire body is elaborating on the headline and getting the reader involved. This might include telling a short story (only needs to be a paragraph here), in order to connect with the reader, and give a clear reason why you’ve bothered to do a review of these particular products.
Step 3. The products
Many people still do a review on one product and leave nothing to compare it against. I think this is a big mistake, because a comparison of similar products will help prevent the reader from leaving your page to compare the product you’ve reviewed with similar products elsewhere. In other words, why not get them to do their entire research on your page instead?
Step 4. Believability
If you make out as if the winning product is perfect in every sense, then you’ll lose sales. Why? Because people will believe a balanced review over a blatant sales pitch any day of the week. Pick out a few minor bad points and contrast them with the good points so as not to kill the sale.
Step 5. Call to action
Once you’ve written your reviews of each product, make the winning product the most prominent on the page, at the top before the fold. This will prevent visitors clicking away and will be able to clearly see which product is worth looking into. Make all of your links stand out, even on the losing products and be sure to use phrases that ask the visitor to take action, such as “click here to get rid of x..”.
If you apply these techniques to your review pages, you can expect to increase your conversions significantly. What you really need to consider is that more people are doing review type pre-selling every day, so in order for you to stand out; I would highly recommend you do a proper review and not just a “fake” review where you are talking out of your behind! So, you would do well to actually buy the products you are reviewing and make balanced points good AND bad and simply let the visitor make the decision, not you.
If you follow this advice, I can assure you that you’ll always be ahead of the competition by giving your visitors valuable help in buying through affiliate links. Trust me, your visitors will actually appreciate this more than you’d think, and you’re still going to be picking up the affiliate pay checks at the end of the month too.
Top 5 Tools to Analyze Your Website
When you manage a website there are some things that you need to know. For example, might it be a good idea to ask yourself questions such as; is the site effective and does it accomplish what it should? Getting answers to such questions is not always the easiest thing in the world. That is – at least not if you haven’t looked at any website statistics. Thankfully there are several great tools on the market that can help you understand how your website is performing. If you know this, you’ll be able to optimize and make the site more sticky and converting. To help you get started we’ll list what we believe to be the top 5 tools to analyze your website:
1. SEO Analyzer:
The SEO Design Analyzer from Raven is free to use and it will give you tons of useful information. Simply type in your URL and you’ll get the data you need to get a good understanding of what you’re doing right and what needs to be better optimized. It’s all very easy and it only takes seconds to get the results.
Some of the information that you’ll get to know are the download time, obsolete HTML, inline styles and at the end you’ll get an overall score for the design. One big plus with this tool is that it covers as good as every area of an average SEO process. If you really want the best of the best you might want to take a look at the SEO Pro version. It will cost you $100 a month but the features that are included could very well be worth it – depending on your requirements. Take advantage of this tool and create a user friendly site with top conversion.
This is perhaps not a web analytics tool in its full meaning as it’s probably better explained as a log analyzer. Nevertheless it is very useful and as it’s an open source program, it’s free to download and use. Due to, or thanks to, its popularity, it comes in several different languages, making it easlily accessible for people all over the world.
What it actually does is “generating advanced web, streaming, ftp or mail server statistics graphically” in a HTML report. AWStats surely will give you everything you might be looking for in a statistics tool. Most log file formats are supported by AWStats – such as Apache, IIS (W3C) and WebStar. Take advantage of this tool and get an easy overview of who your visitors are, what search engines they’re using and what time of day they’re visiting your site.
2. Website Grader:
The Website Grader is somewhat similar to SEO Analyzer and it will also provide you with all the necessary data you need to optimize your site. It’s free to use and we must say that we are impressed with the detailed data that appears after only a couple of seconds. Even though your site might be strong, it will always have some weak links that could be worth improving.
Some of the results that you get are heading summary, image summary, number of del.ici.ous bookmarks, on page SEO and off page SEO. Are you for example using too many images and not enough metadata? Website Grader can help you understand all these things for free and when done you can show your visitors the site’s score, with a badge from Website Grader. Try it out – we think that you might really like this tool.
3. AWStats:
This is perhaps not a web analytics tool in its full meaning as it’s probably better explained as a log analyzer. Nevertheless it is very useful and as it’s an open source program, it’s free to download and use. Due to, or thanks to, its popularity, it comes in several different languages, making it easlily accessible for people all over the world.
What it actually does is “generating advanced web, streaming, ftp or mail server statistics graphically” in a HTML report. AWStats surely will give you everything you might be looking for in a statistics tool. Most log file formats are supported by AWStats – such as Apache, IIS (W3C) and WebStar. Take advantage of this tool and get an easy overview of who your visitors are, what search engines they’re using and what time of day they’re visiting your site.
4. Crazy Egg:
The Crazy Egg tool comes in three different versions; standard, plus and pro. The standard version is free and the others cost a bit, but they are in no way pricey. With the help of this tool you’ll be able to see what your visitors are doing on your site – right down to their precise mouse movements. In fact, what we loved the most about this tool is the heatmap.
With the heatmap you’ll be able to see what’s hot and what’s not on your site via an image showing you where your visitors are the most active – every click by your users is recorded. Its simple design makes it very user-friendly as well. The standard version will give you plenty of useful info but if you really want to dig into the core of your site, we would recommend you to pay for the plus or pro version.
5. Mint:
The Mint analytics tool will cost you $30 per site but it will be money well spent. With Mint you’ll get data such as number of visits, unique referrers, most popular pages and much, much more. As this is a tool that you’ll have to pay for, you can expect a little extra – and we can promise you that it will deliver. Mint uses a plugin system, called Pepper, which allows adding extra extensibility to your base script.
We understand that it might seem unnecessary to pay for something that you can get for free elsewhere but remember that $30 is still a cheap way of getting that much data and your site is worth all the attention it can get. All-in-all, mint is a very good analyzing tool.
5 Sizzling Tips For Choosing The Right Web Hosting Company
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
5 Sizzling Tips For Choosing The Right Web Hosting Company
If you want to set up a personal blog, a company website, or even a multi-million dollar social network, choosing the right hosting company for your website is paramount. Without laying this essential foundation, your internet site may experience frequent downtime, or worse still you could lose all of your important data.
With the five tips below I will show you how to make the right choice when it comes to choosing a company that can responsibly manage your website or blog.
Tip #1 – What is their advertising campaign?
If you head over to your local bookstore and go to the magazine section you will probably find a few magazines targeted to the web developer crowd. Often in these magazines there will be advertisements for web hosting companies that flaunt their impressive stats such as “99.9% server uptime” and others.
If a company is not running a legitimate operation, they would likely not be able to afford this type of advertising and also the magazine would pull the ad immediately if they began to receive a lot of negative feedback about this company. Any hosting company that you find this way will probably be a very safe bet for your business, because the more customers they have the more they have to keep their servers up 24/7 and put in place proper data backup procedures.
Tip #2 – What are other people saying about them?
One of the best ways to check and see if your web hosting company has a good track record is to see what kinds of reviews other people are giving them. Bring up any popular search engine and type in your host’s name with the word “review” afterwards and see if the feedback is positive or negative.
Tip #3 – How much does their shared hosting cost?
While the cost of website hosting has gone down dramatically in recent times and you likely can find a reliable hosting company for under 7 dollars per month for a small site, there is a scam that some shady hosting companies use which is to overload the amount of shared hosting accounts.
For your small monthly fee you may get a large amount of space and bandwidth, but the host counts on the fact that you are only going to use a small percent of it, so they will put more shared accounts on a single server than the server could handle if everyone used up all of their allocated capacity.
This means that with this type of account if someone else who had a shared account went over their bandwidth limit, it could bring your website down. Not a safe bet for someone who wants constant uptime.
Tip #4 – What kind of guarantee do they offer?
Even to this day the website hosting industry remains semi-anonymous, and there are a great deal of sob stories about people who lost all of their valuable data and literally their entire business overnight. But if your hosting company has a plan to take your money and run, it is not likely that they will offer a refund policy and money-back guarantee that is fair for customers.
Check to see what your hosting company’s policy for refunds is, and if they hold themselves to strict measures of transparency and accountability than it is probably a reliable company.
Tip #5 – Do you feel safe trusting them with your business?
Sometimes the most important tip you could follow is your gut feeling about whether or not this is a competent company. If they have a poorly designed website and no customer service then maybe it is not a safe bet for you.
And even if they do have all the bells and whistles on their website, if they do not return your email requests in a timely fashion then it may turn out that they are not a safe and reliable web hosting company.
5 Types Of Titles That Can Get More People To Read Your Article
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, December 9, 2011
5 Types Of Titles That Can Get More People To Read Your Article
You probably already know that article marketing is a great way to get your story in front of people that can benefit from it. It helps to drive targeted traffic to your website and is the beginning of the relationship that you build with your customers.
But in today’s fast paced world where visitors take only about 4 seconds to scan a webpage, you are competing with thousands of other article writers so you need to write a compelling title that draws in readers like a magnet so that your article stands out from the crowd.
Here are 5 different types of titles that are sure to get more people “clicking in” to read your article:
A) The Question Title
People are curious by nature, so phrasing your title as a question can cause an irresistible pull for them to satisfy that curiosity.
But not any type of question will do. You need to use an open ended question – one that compels the reader to click into your article to find the answer. This is a question that has more than just a “yes” or “no” answer.
For example, you might want to use the title:
“Do You Know The 1 Trick That Will Stop Your Dog From Jumping?”
As opposed to:
“Do You Want To Stop Your Dog From Jumping?”
See, how the first title peaks your curiosity more? What is the 1 trick? Do you know it already? Even if you do, you feel compelled to click into the article to see what the author knows that you might not.
B) The List Of Tips Title
Another great way to get people to click on your title is to formulate your article into a list of ideas or tips. For some reason people love a list of tips. Not only will that help make your title compelling, but having a list format in your article with subheadings for each “point” on the list is a great way to structure the article itself and makes for easy reading.
Almost any topic can be written as a list, you just need to think vertically instead of horizontally when writing your article.
Then once you have the topic and the number of “points” on your list, you simply write the title in this format:
“X Ways To {Solve Your Problem}”
So, you might try something like:
* 10 Ways To Help You Lose Belly Fat
* 5 Ways To Get Your Dog To Obey You
* 6 Tips For Growing Bigger Tomatoes
…. And so on
Does this type of title work? Well, it enticed you to click into this article, didn’t you?
C) The How To Title
Let’s face it, most people are surfing the web looking for information on “how to” do something. Whether it’s buying a product or trying to figure out how to do something related to a hobby, or clearing up their acne, there’s a “How To” for it.
So why not just give them what they want?
* “How To Teach Your Dog To Sit”
* “How To Choose The Best Laptop”
* “How To Clean A Saltwater Aquarium”
Think about what you search the web for – wouldn’t an article with the title of “How To” followed by your subject matter be something you would want to read?
D) The Benefits Title
If you can, you should try to work your benefit into every title – even the other types listed on this page. But sometimes, it’s just not feasible to combine these different types and you might want to simply use the benefit as your title.
Benefits are very powerful because the illicit emotion in the reader. Benefits are what make people pull out their wallets and buy.
Yet, a lot of people confuse features with benefits and end up highlighting the wrong things!
A benefit is something that you can feel – that makes someone’s life a little better, less painful or easier. A feature is something about the physical product or service.
For example, someone who has insomnia doesn’t want a list of herbal remedies or relaxation techniques, what they really want is to get a good nights sleep. The “good nights sleep” is the benefit.
So, you would want to use a title like:
“Get A Good Nights Sleep Tomorrow By Using These Relaxation Techniques Today”
Tell them what the end benefit will be and you’ll have more people clicking into your article to learn how they can realize that benefit for themselves.
E) The Why Title
They word “Why” grabs attention – after all, who doesn’t want to know “Why”? Using “Why” in your title can turn a boring drab title into one that commands interest in your readers.
Consider this title:
“A Memory Foam Mattress Helps Ease Back Pain”
Now add the word “Why” in the front:
“Why A Memory Foam Mattress Helps Ease Back Pain”
Which one seems more interesting to you?
Using “Why” is actually one of the easiest ways to make your titles more engaging. You can add it to almost any title you currently have and make that title more interesting.
The next time you write an article and are considering the title, try to fit your subject into one of these types of titles and I think you will see that you get a better click through rate into your article.
But, of course, the title is only the first part of getting the visitor to your site. Next, you must deliver on the information you promised in the title by answering the questions or listing the tips indicated and, of course, making your article body and resource box compelling enough to get the click to your website or offer.
By using an irresistible title, you’ve done the critical first step of getting the reader into your article – the rest is up to you!
Article Submission: Services How To Find A Good One
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Article Submission: Services How To Find A Good One
So, you’ve finally made the decision to make your life easier by employing the services of an automatic article submitter. That is a very wise decision, because if you choose the right service you can save a ton of time and vastly increase the effectiveness of your articles.
When you’re evaluating article submission services, keep these tips in mind:
1) A referral from someone who has actually used the service is your best bet in finding an excellent article submission service
If you haven’t been referred by anyone, check the website of the article submitter you’re investigating and look for testimonials. If the service is good, its customers should readily volunteer their recommendations for it.
2) Look for a service that has stood the test of time
In the online world, a service that is 5+ years old is a veteran one, and the longevity of the service speaks to its stability.
3) Is it known for its customer service?
When you need help, you want to know that you can get timely and accurate answers. When considering a friend’s referral or testimonials that you are reading about the article submitter, is the business’ customer care complimented?
4) You will want to use an article distribution business that has professional editors on staff who review each and every article
Why? You want your article to be pre-screened for any obvious issues that might prevent it from being accepted by publishers.
5) Does the service update their distribution network on pretty much a daily basis?
The distribution network is the list of publishers to whom your articles are sent. Having a well-maintained list is crucial, as these types of lists can go out of date pretty quickly if they are not attended to regularly.
It’s a perk if the service has a good reputation with publishers. If the publishers directly request to receive articles from the article submitter, then they are much more likely to approve your articles for publication.
6) How many article submission are you allowed?
The most flexible option would be unlimited submissions, although I must caution you that when you are submitting automatically you need to submit far fewer articles than when submitting manually. Usually 8 articles per website is enough when submitting automatically to a large network of publishers.
7) How about scheduling your articles?
This type of feature allows you to submit your article and then have it be distributed at a later date. This is particularly helpful if you are going on vacation and want your article marketing campaign to continue when you are away. Many people also like to submit all their articles at the beginning of the month and schedule them to be distributed at various dates throughout the month.
Can you “trickle” your article distribution?
Normally when you submit through an automatic article submitter your article would be sent to the entire distribution network all at one time. However, there are SEO benefits to having your article submitted to a few publishers a day, perhaps over the course of a month or so.
This creates a more organic accumulation of links, which Google appreciates. Check to see if the service you are interested in will allow you to submit in this “trickled”
fashion.
9) What kind of article spinning features are available?
It’s great if a service allows you to create article variations so that the same article is not sent to every publisher.
10) Is the article submitter committed to ongoing education?
Most article submission services concentrate on the technical aspects of article distribution, rather than on teaching their customers how to improve their article marketing. If you find a service that offers ongoing training, that is a plus!
It may take you a while to find the article submitter that works for your unique needs, but it’s worth the time and effort to do this investigating. The more information you can gather about the service beforehand, the more likely you are to be satisfied.
The Art and Science of Article Marketing
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The Art and Science of Article Marketing
I’ve noticed lately, a lot of writers (and I use that term loosely) are saying article marketing no longer works. They’re complaining, no one is reading their articles, and their pageviews are in the toilet. Well, maybe there’s a good reason for that. Maybe they aren’t giving readers what they want.
Look, contrary to popular belief, article marketing isn’t just writing a bunch of words, submitting them to EzineArticles and other top directories, and magically getting back a ton of traffic and a gazillion backlinks. It just doesn’t work that way. It just isn’t that easy. Believe it or not. There’s actually an art and science to article marketing.
* The Art and Science of Article Marketing
For example, according to a readability study conducted by Jakob Nielsen of UseIt.com, 79% of Internet users rarely read web pages? Instead they scan, picking out individual words, sentences and paragraphs.
What? You didn’t know that? You see, there really is an art and science to article marketing. Okay, now that you know, how can you use this knowledge to your advantage?
Well, if you want people to read your articles, the first thing you have to do is get their attention. And the best way to do that is with compelling article titles. Stay away from boring, unimaginative titles that are likely to be ignored or skimmed over. Get readers excited! More importantly, get their attention.
Are you attracted to boring titles? Of course not, and neither are your readers. So when writing your article titles, put on your thinking cap, and be creative. Following are a few examples of article titles designed to get the readers attention:
-The 10 Biggest SEO Myths Exposed
-The Pervasion of Disrespectful Marketing
-The Seduction of Internet Marketing Newbies
-Article Marketing Success Tips: How to Write and Promote Articles
-How to Write Headlines That Make Readers Slam On Their Eyeball Brakes
If you’ll notice, the last title on that list is a “How To” title. It’s an article I wrote recently titled, How to Write Headlines That Make Readers Slam On Their Eyeball Brakes. In that article, I offer tips and advice on how to write better headlines for your ads and/or sales letters. But, the information applies to article titles as well. So you should definitely Google the title, and read the article.
Speaking of titles, “How To” titles are very effective at getting attention. Always have been. So use them as often as possible. By the way, all of the above titles are from real articles. In fact, I’m the author of each of those articles. You may have even read one or two of them. Notice how each title peaks your curiosity, and makes you want to read more?
But as compelling as those article titles are, a great title is only the beginning. Remember, Internet users are notorious scanners. That means you have to give them plenty of additional eye candy, in the form of subheads, bite size paragraphs, bullet points, etc. And having a well-written, interesting and informative article doesn’t hurt either.
Oh, one last thing. While we’re on the subject of titles. Always put your keywords in your article titles. It’s been my experience, it really doesn’t matter where in the title your keywords are placed, just as long as they’re in there. After all, if you’re going to write articles, you might well get some SEO benefits out of the deal.
* Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
In addition to the readability study I cited earlier, I also read a very interesting study on “findability” that was also conducted by Jakob Nielsen. In the study, he was discussing how having too many so-called “new” words can actually ruin your search rankings, as well as diminish your website’s value. Because all those new words are unlikely to appear in search queries.
For example, many website owners attempt to coin new search terms because they’re under the mistaken impression they can own the top search position, if the new search term becomes in vogue and catches on. But the reality is, more often than not, people will continue to use their old terminology, because it’s what they’re used to.
Here’s a quote from Jakob Nielson’s study titled, Use Old Words When Writing for Findability:
“Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won’t find your site.
If you fill your pages with fancy new words, you’ll lose the most powerful tool in Internet marketing: the ability for users to find you in search. Making the search listings is a crucial first step, but it’s not the only step: users must also click your entry, and your site must have a good conversion rate.
There’s more to website success than simply being found, but it is the first step. Use old words and you’ll be that step ahead of the competition and their useless new words.”
* Consistent Promotion is the Key
As I stated at the beginning of this article, article marketing isn’t just writing a bunch of words, and submitting them to EzineArticles and other top directories. There’s actually an art and science to the process.
That being said, art and science notwithstanding, even if you do all the things I mentioned in this article, it will all be for naught, unless you consistently promote your articles, like there’s no tomorrow!
Promote them on article directories, promote them on your website or blog, promote them through social media, promote them on social bookmarking sites, promote them on RSS directories, promote them in your newsletter.
Using Articles To Build URL Backlinks
If you’ve got an internet business and interested in making more revenues, URL backlinks may be the secret to your success. Before anything else, what are URL backlinks?
Essentially, these are hyperlinks from other sites that point back to your site or blog. Because of backlinks, other people’s sites are going to be connected to your own. This short article presents the importance of inbound links for your online business and in what way article marketing can help you create backlinks.
It’s recommended that you receive in-links from first-rate web pages because these would boost your site’s ratings. A good illustration of a top-notch web page is authority websites. Authority sites contain plenty of content and people frequently visit these websites when they look for certain information. Needless to say, it is difficult, if not impossible, to challenge authority websites, so you should rely on them in order to pull in more page views and have more earnings.
You might be anxious to know exactly how you can achieve this without shelling out lots of money. Have you heard about article marketing? If you haven’t, then you are totally missing out on an excellent opportunity. Article marketing is a zero-cost as well as effective strategy to let everyone know about your web page, services and products. It involves the production and also submission of content pieces to various article directory websites to publicize your internet business. Unlike other tactics, you won’t waste your time and money with article marketing. As expected, there are some qualifications that you need to adhere to in order for this to be conceivable.
To begin with, this particular method is cost-free so long as you craft your articles yourself. If you choose to write your articles all on your own, be prepared to devote a great deal of time doing it. What you should do is to implement a schedule for content creation; this is important since you also require time to handle the other elements of your internet business. You should reserve a specific number of hours to craft your content pieces, and you should abide by that schedule without fail. You’ll need many content pieces on a single theme in order to be effective, and you can’t go around this requirement.
This might appear to be an unattainable task for many web-based business operators, including yourself. If you have no time to carry this out on a regular basis or do not have the self-assurance to craft impressive content pieces, you could give this certain activity to independent content writers or content creation services. Their rates are tremendously lower than those of regular ghostwriters, and they can create a significant amount of write-ups in a short time. It’s important that you contract skillful, experienced and also dependable copy writers to write your content pieces; the popularity as well as level of traffic that your site will have would rely on them, so make certain that you engage folks who really know what they are doing.
Each time your articles are posted on the web, your website or blog brings in more publicity. The link that you include at the conclusion of your content pieces would serve as a mini-advertisement for your online business. Article submission websites do not charge you whenever you put in incoming links for your site, so it is a win-win situation: you receive more publicity, page views and profits while article directory sites would have more users for their service.
You’re free to send as much write-ups as you wish. In fact, sending many content pieces is highly encouraged. Just make certain that you abide by each and every online directory’s author as well as sending protocols, peruse their list of frequently asked questions and stay away from trouble. Otherwise, your account is going to be suspended and your content pieces would not be posted. As with everything, you have to get used to the different policies, but the whole routine becomes simple after a few submissions along with a brief adjustment period.
If you are not employing article promotion to create URL backlinks, then you’re surely missing out. Why do you think there are countless write-ups in all those article directories? The answer’s obvious: most of the articles posted there are done by internet marketers. When you implement article promotion, you will see why many folks depend on this strategy to generate URL backlinks.
Write For Your Readers Or Search Engines?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Article Marketing Tip: Write For Your Readers Or Search Engines?
Should you write for your readers or for the search engines? That is a really good question to consider.
Search engines are still the best sources of warm and targeted traffic. They aim to provide online users with quality content.
That is why they put much weight on articles that are informative and content-rich. If you can offer these kinds of articles, you can be assured that the search engines will help you better connect with your potential clients so you can boost your sales and revenue.
Here’s how you can improve your article marketing by writing for your readers and letting the search engines benefit from it:
1. Write for your readers
You need to know how to impress online users so you can maximize the benefits that you can get from your articles.
Start by giving them content that they will find useful and relevant to their lives. Offer answers to their most frequent questions. Empower them to do things on their own by offering them step-by-step guides.
Offer solutions to their pressing issues, and share information that can help them better understand their problems and their areas of interest.
Then, ensure that your articles are easy to understand, easy to skim through, and concise. Remember, you do not want to waste the time of your readers as they have short attention span.
2. Talk about your products and services
Article marketing is one of the best ways to promote your offerings without burning your pockets.
You can highlight the benefits and features that your products can offer and communicate how they can help your potential clients improve the quality of their lives.
You just have to make sure that you don’t fill your articles with marketing hype and sales pitches. You need to do the selling in a subtle way so your copies will not be rejected by the publishers. And the search engines will love you more as well.
3. Create a killer resource box
You would want your readers to click on your resource box as this is the only way to get them to visit your website or your squeeze page.
You can get them to act on your favor by making sure that your resource box is benefit-driven. Tell your readers what they can expect to get from your website or offer them with exciting freebies like vouchers and free e-books.
When people know that they will benefit from something, they will surely do it in a heartbeat. This can lead to enormous conversion rate that can help in growing your e-business exponentially.
Follow these article marketing tips and write for your readers. The search engines will find you too.
How To Get Great Copy Without Hiring A Copywriter?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, December 3, 2011
How To Get Great Copy Without Hiring A Copywriter?
Most business owners now understand the importance of strong copy. What many business owners don’t realize is there are other alternatives to paying a fortune for great copy.
Most of these do require a nominal investment. But nothing compared to the huge fees for copywriting. A big part of the value a copywriter brings to the table (aside from marketing knowledge and being a wordsmith) is a fresh perspective. It’s that second set of eyes from a new perspective that can catch mistakes and provide more successful approaches.
Unfortunately, copywriting is deceptively simple. Almost anyone that can write to any degree thinks they can write great copy. Creating a piece of copy that causes the reader to take the action of spending money simply from reading words on a page is no easy task.
1) How A Simple Copy Critique Can Improve Your Copy
Perhaps the simplest way to improve your copy is getting a copy critique. In the direct marketing industry this is a common term. Professional copywriters use copy critiques to sharpen each other’s skills and copy. You can either hire someone to do this for a few hundred dollars typically, or you might be able to find someone to do it for free. Just be careful that you are getting someone who knows what they are talking about.
The biggest value here is having things pointed out to you that you missed. It could be a headline that’s unclear. Or a part of the copy that causes the reader to stop or bail out. Even your entire approach may be all wrong. These are all things you can find out with a simple copy critique.
If professional copywriters can improve from a copy critique, imagine what it can do for someone who’s not a copywriter.
2) How A Simple Rewrite Of Your Copy Can Help
The next step up from a copy critique would be a copy makeover. Not all copywriters offer this, because sometimes if the copy is way off track, it’s more work to rewrite it than just starting from scratch. The key to this is you are doing most of the legwork. Not recommended for rank beginners at copywriting. However, if you’ve got a sense of good copy and you can get something together in rough form, sometimes a simple rewrite of your rough draft can produce some great copy. And again, because it takes a lot less time than writing from scratch, you’ll save a bundle on copywriting fees.
Be careful because not everyone has the same definition or scope of what a rewrite entails. Some just fix the worst parts. Others do a complete rewrite and edit of what you’ve written. So read the fine print and find out exactly what you are getting before you commit.
A rewrite is more expensive, but still a fraction of hiring a freelance copywriter to create your copy from scratch.
3) Get A Free Consult From A Marketing Consultant Or A Professional Copywriter
Most copywriters and marketing consultants offer a free consult upfront. There’s nothing wrong with calling a few of them to get some contrasting opinions. In the process you’ll most likely pick up some great ideas that you can apply to your copy. Just having a short conversation with someone who knows marketing can give you some great insights.
You can generally tell pretty quickly whether you are dealing with an experienced copywriter verses a rookie. Be careful in putting too much stock in anything they say.
Test it out for yourself first. Make sure that it’s a direct response copywriter/marketing consultant. They are the only one’s who use methods proven to sell, as opposed to just creating general awareness of your business.
If you are speaking with a marketing consultant focus the conversation on the sales strategy and positioning of your product. If you are speaking with a copywriter focus more on the specific aspects of your copy. The most important parts of your copy are the headline/opening and your offer.
4) Model Your Copy After Proven Marketing Promotions
If you have to do the copywriting yourself without any help, be sure to have a successful model available. Avoid generic templates. Model your copy after an example that’s already proven to work. Only then will you be sure to at least have the structure in place that follows proven sales formulas.
What you want to do is copy the structure, not the content. Try to stay close to the structure because the further away you get from the original the less likely you’ll end up with a winner. For example, when modeling this classic headline, “They laughed when I set down at the piano, but when I played…” I’ve seen some people leave off the second half of the sentence. That destroys the curiosity building power of the headline.
Also changing it from “laughed” to some other emotion like cried can be risky. So be careful. Try to make a fill in the blank template out of it.
Here’s a simple example. “They laughed when I _______, but when I _____.” Do this with every sentence in the copy, not just the headline.
This is probably the single best way to write your copy if you aren’t a professional.
5) Record Your Best Sales Pitch And Then Have The Recording Transcribed And Edited
The other simple way to write copy yourself is to do this. You need someone that knows how to sell. If you aren’t good at sales then have someone else in your company or else have a friend help you.
The key to this working is to have a good sales person, record their best “pitch” live and uncensored. Then have it transcribed and edit it to take out the um, ah, etc. Do NOT edit into something that takes away the conversational tone. Be careful to maintain the essence of what they said.
That’s why you really don’t need to write copy. You can record it being spoken by a sales person. You end up with the same end result. Just make sure you have a good sales person and they know your product well so they can make the best pitch possible.
These are the five best ways I know to improve existing copy or create it from scratch. The power is in getting an outside perspective, using proven principles of selling, and using the time saving of rewriting rather than starting from scratch.
Is Your Website Springing a Leak?
Imagine that you own a beautifully designed yacht. It looks great on the surface of the water, with superb lines, gleaming decks, a well-appointed galley… but you’re having real trouble getting out of the harbor and you can’t figure out why!
You investigate, and you find that beneath the surface your beautiful boat has a number of slow, silent, leaks. None of them are big enough to sink you on their own, so there’s no obvious immediate crisis – just a constant drain on your efficiency and your speed.
I’ve been reviewing Web traffic reports for over 10 years, and I believe that this analogy applies very well to almost all business websites. Very few sites are so terrible or have something so wrong with them that they’re clearly a disaster. Yet just about every site has some area where it’s quietly losing traffic, losing potential business or the opportunity to create relationships – or failing to attract visitors in the first place.
If you’re not regularly reviewing your traffic analysis, you can’t know for sure if your site is leak proof. In this article, I’ll show you a few of the most common areas where you can look for – and fix – those silent leaks:
1. Leaks in your Brand & Positioning
The excellent folks at MarketingExperiments online research laboratories have shown that clearly articulated and differentiating value propositions have a critical effect on Website conversion rates. (The conversion rate is the measurement of visitors fulfilling your desired outcomes – which might include calling you, buying a product at your site, signing up for your newsletter or blog feed, etc.) Your value proposition should be front and center on your home page. It should answer the classic question: “Why should we do business with you instead of your competition?”
Although this question isn’t a Web strategy issue in itself, it is one that many people struggle to answer. But the lack of a compelling opening message can be a major impediment to your online success.
How to check for this leak: Even if they don’t enter your site at the home page, most visitors who don’t know you will go there as the second page they look at to find out more about you and your business. If visitors are taking a quick look at your home page and then immediately leaving, something is wrong. Your copy is failing to pique their curiosity or to answer their questions: “Can this company meet my needs?” and “Should I explore further?” You have a leak!
2. Leaks in Visitor Engagement
Popular theory says that you have 10 seconds to engage a visitor – i.e. convince them to stay on your site before they click away in search of something more interesting.
While I don’t believe that it’s quite that simple, there are some definite ways to get rid of visitors fast before they’ve had a chance to really check you out. The best of these is probably the infamous splash page – the entry page to your site that your Web designer persuaded you to have because it “does cool stuff”. Hopefully there’s a “Skip Intro” button somewhere on the page! In all my reviews of traffic reports I’ve seen a consistent leak of up to 30% of visitors leaving from this page alone – before they’ve ever seen who you are or what you offer.
How to check for this leak: Easy – look for the splash page in your traffic reports and see how many visitors exit at that point. If it’s more than a small percentage, you have a leak – take the page out today!
The other major area where you should watch for leaks in visitor engagement is in what are called “landing pages”. These are inside pages of your Website which turn out to be the first page that a visitor sees, usually because you have some well-indexed content that they’ve found in a search engine.
Here it’s absolutely critical to understand the visitor’s mindset. Each visitor is at your site looking for something specific, they may well have found you by accident, so they may have no idea who you are – and worse, no interest in you.
The first page that they see on your Website must engage them immediately in accordance with their needs, and it must have enough context to draw them into other areas, and to want to find out more about you. It’s not enough to give great information on this page – they’ll soak that up, and then leave.
How to check for this leak: Hopefully your traffic reports are sophisticated enough to show you which keywords bring visitors to each specific page of your site. This shows you each visitor’s “mindset”.
If visitors are leaving a page very quickly, then it probably isn’t satisfying their informational needs, so you should review the content.
If visitors are reading the page (your traffic reports should show the time spent at each page) and then leaving, you’ve given them what they wanted but failed to draw them into the rest of your site. This can be fixed with more compelling navigation and calls to action.
Either way, you have a leak!
3. Leaks in Directions & Outcomes
I’m constantly amazed by the number of Web pages that give great information and content – and then just end abruptly – perhaps with some navigation tabs if you’re lucky!
Steve Krug in his excellent book “Don’t Make Me Think!” describes how crucial it is to direct visitors to the next step that you want them to take. If you don’t do this, and rely on your visitors to figure this out for themselves, there’s a strong chance that they’ll make a different choice than the one you want – or they’ll leave your site altogether, creating leaks in your potential revenue stream.
Every page of your site needs strong calls to action that stand out visually and click directly to where the visitor can fulfill the outcome that you want (e.g. “buy now!”, “sign up for our newsletter / RSS feed”.) Pages can have more than one call to action, and there’s nothing wrong with repeating them on longer pages so that they’re always within eyeshot.
And by the way, “Back to top” is not a call to action!
How to check for this leak: If your traffic reports show this information, look at the paths that visitors take through your site – where do visitors go next from each page? If many of them are exiting the site and / or they fan out across many pages with no clear pattern or direction, you have a possible leak.
4. Leaks in your Credibility Building
MarketingExperiments research has also shown that powerful, specific, and authoritative testimonials can have a major impact on your site’s conversion rates.
Consider this statement: “Documented results show that just a few hours with [ expert ] can increase lead generation by 125%”. Imagine how much stronger that assertion would be if there were some examples of the “documented results” and some customer quotes to that effect.
However, including a page on your site called “What Customers Say” doesn’t do it – I can safely say that visitors don’t go to those pages. And it’s not just traffic reports that tell me this – whenever I ask a live audience “Would you click this link?” there’s always a resounding “No!”
How to check for this leak: This is a much more subtle leak to detect, but it’s an important one. The question here is whether you are potentially losing business because your site fails adequately to establish your value and credibility.
My recommended approach is to review your site for credibility-building content such as client lists, testimonials and case studies. You need to spread your testimonials through your site, using short one or two line excerpts that are relevant to the content of each page – whether it’s about a product or a service, or the value of subscribing to your newsletter or blog.
Make sure that all of this material is linked to from other pages so that it’s easily found by visitors. If you then experience an increase in calls, or in the quality of your leads, then you might have just fixed a leak!
10 Useful Tips To Attract People To Your Web Site
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 1, 2011
10 Useful Tips To Attract People To Your Web Site
Combinations of two or more of the tips below are being used by many successful sites today. Use your imagination and see what you can do with them. Because there are so many web sites on the internet today visitors are spread quite thinly and web traffic is one of the scarcest commodities on the internet today. Without it your online business does not exist:
1. Give people a free subscription to your newsletter
Almost everyone is publishing a newsletter nowadays so it is important to give something extra with the free subscription. You need to set yourself apart from the other internet marketers out there. This might be done by offering a gift or free advertising when people subscribe.
2. Provide visitors with new and original content
Your content will be more attractive to your visitors if it is up-to-date or original. You could also offer people the option to reprint the content in their newsletter or web site. You will need to change your content frequently if you do this. But the benefits are worth the effort. The search engines will love your site and keep coming back. Your site will rank highly in their results and your visitors will keep coming back for the latest updates.
3. Use PPC directories
You can advertise in pay per click directories. With PPC you only pay when some one clicks on your link. If no one clicks you pay nothing. This method is very good if you are selling a product at your site. It is easy to assess the cost of each sale and measure you success.
There are lots of PPC sites out there now. Google and Yahoo! are not the only ones. You can often get a better deal at these other sites depending on the competition for the keyword you are using. Shop around. There is probably a site out there with your keyword going cheap. But, Make sure that it can deliver the traffic. You can do this by checking its Alexa rank. If it is not getting much traffic itself, how is it going to direct traffic to you?
4. Give visitors a free ebook
You could write your own and include an ad in the ebook linking to your site and allow other people to sell it or give it away. If you don’t want to take the time to write one, you could ask other writers permission to use their articles and assemble an article eBook. Or commission an eBook. There are plenty of writers around willing to write a fresh eBook for you at a fair price.
5. Hold free online classes or seminars
They could be held in your web site’s chat room. The idea of “live” information will entice people to visit your web site. You will become known as an expert on the topic.
6. Offer free consulting to your web site visitors
You could do this via e-mail or by telephone. People will consider this a huge value because consulting fees can be very expensive. Use a separate business line if you use the phone or you will have calls coming in to your home phone around the clock as the world turns. If your site becomes known for this service you may need to employ people to help keep up. If this happens you can bring in a two tier system whereby you have a free service and a paid service offering something extra.
7. Give visitors a free entry into a contest
The prizes should be something of interest or value to your visitors or relevant to your site’s topics. Most people who enter will continually revisit your web site to get the results. Do not be discouraged if the first one or two contests do not set the world on fire. The word has to get out. People will talk to their friends about this site that is running this great contest, and before too long your site will have a name for running contests. There are people out there who really go for that sort of thing and will visit your site regularly.
8. Let visitors download free software
It could be freeware, shareware, demos etc. You could even turn part of your site into a free software area and let other people sell it or give it away from this area. You do not need to produce the free software yourself. There are plenty of sources on the web. All you have to do is link to them. If you gather a significant amount of software of a type relevant to the topic of your site you will make your site a valuable resource for your visitors and they will keep coming back to get more.
9. Offer free online services or utilities
They could be search engine submitting, copy writing proofreading etc. The service or utility should be helpful to your target audience.
10. Give your visitors a free membership to an online club
People like to feel that they belong to something, why not your online club. You could also give away a free newsletter for club members only. The members will very likely want to contribute a large part of its content making it easy to source articles. If you offer them a link back to their own site your members will be queuing up to put content in your newsletter.
It goes without saying that all of the above should be relevant to the topic of your site in order to be of interest to your visitors. Do not keep changing the topic of your site. I see this happening all too often. The webmaster has a site for three months or so and becomes disheartened because his site not taken off as he hoped, so he decides to try a different topic.
Doing so he / she loses the regular visitors he / she had and has to start at the beginning again in the new topic. Also, the search engines will very likely be slow to change to the new topic, confusing everyone who visits from there. It may also affect the PR of the site as the new topic may initially be viewed as unrelated content.
The Ten Most Effective Ways To Promote Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Ten Most Effective Ways To Promote Your Website
In a nut shell, this is what I’ve found that will help promote your website. These methods are very effective. Keep this blog post as a reference and make sure you are doing all these things. Ok here it goes:
1. Adwords (or any search engine ads at all)
Of course we all know that Google is the top dog but there are many other decent search engines that will get you the same good traffic. For $40 bucks a day I get over 100 unique hits on my website. Every little bit helps
2. Blogging
Even if hate to write, just post relevant information regarding your site just make sure you give credit to who wrote your blog post. Oh and link on your blog post like crazy. I didn’t believe in this method at first but trust me I have learned the ways of the blog.
3. Mailing List
This is a tough area. Its like you need money to make money. But in this case you need email addresses to send emails. Do your best in trying to provoke your customers into signing up for your mailing list. Offer something for free (not a free newsletter) something legit. This will help you by encouraging repeat visits. Its better to keep the same visitor than trying to get new ones, plus it’s easier. Oh and it’s good for word of mouth (which is still the best way to advertise)
4. List, Register & Sign Up!
Spend at least one whole day signing up for every freaking search engine, directory and relevant search site you can. The more you name and website are out on the internet, the better you are ranked by the search engines
5. Links
Ok this is tricky, yes you want your link on as many websites as you can but even better than that is getting your website linked on a website that is really big. If you are officially linked to a big website that will look very good to search engines. Think of your link as a vote to get you to the top of the search engine. And think of a big website and your link like a campaign contribution. That’s right, get the big guys behind you and they’ll help you climb your way to the top. It’s all about who you know.
6. SEO
If you don’t know what this is, then learn. SEO (Search Engine optimization) is very important. The whole point to internet marketing is to get to the top or as high as you can on search engines. They are the number one way people find things on the internet. So in order to help your chances make sure you website is riddled with good keywords, relevant ones. If you are having a hard time with this, follow this logic: If you are online and you wanted to find a website like yours, what would you do? What would you type into a search engine. Ask yourself that question and then ask that question to everybody you know. That way you get a better understanding on what people are searching for.
Also add meta tags like keywords, descriptions and alt tags to all your pages. You can do this all at the end if you want.
7. The No Brainer
Just make sure your site looks good. If you have a crappy looking website then chances are no one will want to stay. For instance if you never cleaned your house do you think new guest will want to sleep over. Nope. And if you suck at making a website look awesome enlist a professional or someone with a clue to help.
8. The Little Things
Do these little things to your site: Add a “Tell A Friend About This Site” Button (For word of mouth, the best marketing), Add a “Bookmark Us” button to your site, give away free stuff, lure customers with contests, make jokes, get an RSS Feed (if you don’t know what that is, then learn, if you are a website designer then you should already know), put some fun things to do on your site to get people to stay. Case in point: Your having guest over for coffee but your TV is broke, all your board games are missing and you just recently started not talking to anyone, your guest will want to leave because it’s boring and it sucks.
9. Get On Myspace or Facebook
If your website is looking for a younger audience then get on anyone of these site and make friends will as many people as you can. Spend hours a day doing this. Make sure your page is chock full of ways to get to your site. This will boost traffic like nobody’s business.
10. Last But Not Least
Be consistent. If you want to have a high traffic website ,then you need to dedicate yourself to the cause. You need to be on the internet doing these things every single day. It’s just like exercising or dieting, if you don’t stick to it everyday, you will fail. But I have faith in you, do as the Romans do.
Outsourcing: Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Outsourcing: Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
As a busy Internet marketer, you will be most likely be swamped at some point with the amount of work involved getting your websites designed and online. You will be desperate to find quality help quickly.
* Some of the major tasks you have to deal with include:
1. Creating your own products to sell.
2. Marketing your products in ways that drive traffic to the site.
3. Building your online reputation and constantly networking to build your online presence…to name a few.
The truth is that you are likely to get buried in details and get lost along the way.
At some point, it might occur to you that you do not have much free time nor are you having much fun and you’ll start thinking that you are unable to work from home and tend to the other aspects of your life, like family and a job.
Overloaded to-do lists are a common problem with new marketers facing all the labor-intensive details you never thought about when you first got involved in creating an online income.
The most popular solution to this common dilemma is to outsource those tasks that you either do not have time to complete yourself or tasks that are not appealing to you.
* Outsourcing is transferring some of your tasks to external service providers
Those tasks can include:
1. Ghostwriting
2. Help desk management
3. Customer service
4. Site design
And that’s just a short list. Literally, it can include any task that you want to outsource.
It is very common in the information marketing niche to escalate viral marketing results with articles submitted to article directories or ebooks written by ghostwriters.
As in any business transaction, problems can arise and mistakes will happen. One of the most critical is lack of clear and frequent communication between you and your Outsourcer. You, as the client, have to make your goals and expectations very clear and ensure that you are being understood.
Since outsourcing often occurs with agencies that are located in countries other than your own, you must interview your prospective outsourcer as completely as you can.
Check the company or service agency just as closely. Look for online reviews of their service and get referrals, if you can. Additionally, its a good idea to ask for samples of their work.
Another problem that could cost you a lot of money is a poorly managed budget for the work you want done. Decide how much money you want to spend and make your budget accordingly.
Not all outsourcing contractors or service agencies follow the same payment plans for projects. Some charge by the project with a one-time payment, while others expect retainers on a time frame, like monthly for long projects.
There should be a specifically written contract with all expectations, delivery deadlines and payment schedules outlined in detail so there’s no angry misunderstandings later.
Another mistake you could easily make that would be a costly one would be to avoid building a relationship with the people tending to your business, particularly the business owner and the contractor you’ve hired.
When you are outsourcing you need crystal clear, two-way lines of communication. Although your contractors are working for you, do not make the mistake of treating them like normal emplyees.
You might not be their only client, which means they are not working exclusively for you. Setting up milestones for your project will help to keep you to keep track of your project’s progress as well as allowing you to keep an eye on any possible delays to the scheduled delivery date.
One final caution is to remember that you are hiring a professional to do a professional job for you and your business. When you have a contractor you can work with, use them for as many other jobs as they are qualified to do for you. They will know what you want and expect and you will know what type of support you will get in return.
When you establish a business relationship with a contractor, you might be able to negotiate lower rates if you are a frequent client.
If you’ve found a reliable Outsourcer that completes projects correctly and efficiently, be loyal and give them as much work as you can afford. Most likely you will also earn their loyalty…and, that’s a good thing.
Four Powerful Ways to Keep Your Customers Informed
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, November 28, 2011
Four Powerful Ways to Keep Your Customers Informed
These days, it’s hard to walk down the street without seeing some sort of news headline or hearing about the latest story. With instant messaging, internet on our phones, and simply talking to our friends, we are constantly bombarded with the latest updates. However, when it comes to your website, you need to act in the same way. Though you might not be able to report on anything catastrophic on your website, in order to be memorable, you do need to start looking at ways to keep your customers informed:
1) Mailing Lists Do Work
Though many websites have eschewed the use of mailing lists to inform their customers, when done right, these are highly effective reminders for customers. The key to doing these mailing lists well is to get the mailing lists on your own – don’t buy them from marketing groups. While it’s true you will get longer lists from the marketing groups, you might also be getting a lot of negative feedback from people who didn’t want to receive your information in the first place.
On your website, create a way for interested visitors to sign up for a weekly email from you. All they should need to do is to give you their email address and their first name and they can find out what’s new with your site each week. This email shouldn’t be a sales letter, but more of a note about what’s going on and what people might want to stop by your site to see.
2) eZines are Still Going Out to Customers
To extend on the idea of a mass email list, you might want to look into making a magazine for your mailing list, or an ezine. This piece of information should be longer than your weekly email, but it should also contain some sales language about things that are coming up for your business.
This is the perfect way for you to update and inform your visitors about your market, while also showing that you are knowledgeable about your chosen business. Try talking about new findings in your market, for example, if you are selling nutritional products. Think about ways to give your site visitors something that they might not have learned on their own.
3) Daily Blogging is a Fun Avenue
Of course, if your business is a little less formal, you might want to opt for a business blog. This can be from the point of view of yourself or perhaps a fictional worker in your company. By simply talking about the latest news and what it means for the site visitor, you can create a modern dialogue that allows you to show your casual side, while still being informative.
You can also talk about loyal customers or about new innovations to products that are in the works.
4) Try Sending Out a Press Release
If all else fails, the press release is still the best way to rest the maximum amount of potential visitors that want to see your site. However, since these releases are generally send to a larger audience, it’s harder to target the customers you really want to target. If you can, you might want to try to submit the press release to publications that your target audience will be looking at as well as posting it on your website to help spread the word about a new product or service.
When it comes to informing your customers, you need to make sure you explore as many possibilities for doing this as possible. While you don’t want to be the only thing on your customer’s mind, you do want to be one fo the top ten.
7 Killer Ways To Make People Click on Your Ads
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, November 27, 2011
7 Killer Ways To Make People Click on Your Ads
Fed up with wasting money on ads that don’t work? Here are some killer ways to turn things around and get writing ads that pull in the clicks, visitors and sales in droves:
1. Reverse Psychology
This is where you encourage people to do the opposite of what you really do want them to. For instance, if you want them to sign up for your marketing newsletter say something like “If you’ve got all the sales, visitors and profits you need, don’t sign up for our SuccessNewsletter”. Just remember that people don’t want to be told what to do, or what not to do, so out of sheer cussedness, and a helping of curiosity they will click.
2. Use exciting and appealing words
People respond best to words that appeal to their emotions and to their desire for money, so use words that aim at these two aspects of the human psyche. Use words such as You, Ultimate, Free, Master, Power, Discovery, Easy, Guaranteed, Love, Money, New, Scientific, Profits, Proven, Results, Incredible, Discover, Breakthrough, Secret, Private, Cash, Shocked, Shocking, Revealed, Uncovered, Hidden, Exciting, Sizzling, Hot and so on. Be careful not to overdo it as less is more when it comes to emotive words.
3. Offer a discount
The Internet started out as the place to get things free. Usually this meant information in the early days, so capitalise on this basic human instinct of wanting ’something for nothing’ and offer your visitors a discount if they buy NOW! Alternatively off a free bonus. Make it compatible with the product you’re selling so that they both form a useful combo.
4. Include testimonials
If you have people write or email you thanking you for your product, get back to them and ask if you can quote them in your advertising. Mostly they will be happy for you to do so. This lets prospective buyers know that a real person has got a real benefit from your product or eBook etc. Don’t be afraid to ask for a testimonial. Send buyers a follow-up email to see if they have benefited from your product and ask them to tell you why (if they have). Testimonials are one of the most persuasive tactics there are.
5. Use a guarantee
Always use a strong guarantee in your ad. One guarantee you often see on downloadable products is ‘Try this eBook for 8 Weeks’ because this is now the length of time ClickBank will offer an automatic money back facility. Other payment providers may differ. Include the guarantee in your headline: ‘Our eBook Will Save You Money – Guaranteed!’
6. Tell your customers what to do
People will often act on an instruction such as ‘Click Here Now’. It may be stating the obvious but this is again the psychology of the prospect. They often need just that little nudge to make them take action.
7. State the major benefit of your product or website
Make sure you tell people what the major benefit of your product is. Even in a classified ad you must answer the question ‘What’s in it for me?’ With some products this is not difficult. For instance if you product is a cure for acne, make you can say something like ‘Our product can cure your acne in 21 days’. If you are selling something less obvious you could say ‘Our Nirvana CDs will soothe and relax you after a hard day’. Make it clear what benefit your product or website has to offer.
Now take a good look at your current ads and apply one or more of the tactics given above and you will begin to see some real results. When you do, why not email me and let me know? I like to get testimonials too!
The 10 Best Ways To Promote Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, November 26, 2011
The 10 Best Ways To Promote Your Website
To make money on the internet you need an effective marketing plan. So here are the best marketing tips that you must follow to make your website a powerful magnet for traffic and sales:
1) Banner Advertising
Although many marketers already know about pay-per-click advertising, very few are purchasing guaranteed banner click-thru’s that are available on hundred’s of sites. Look for sites that cater to your target market and look for, or ask for, their advertising rates. Slowly but surely most of the sites that sold banner impressions are starting to offer performance advertising in the form of pay-per-click.
2) Write articles
Writing Articles is an excellent way to promote your website and best of all you can get recognize as an internet business expert. You can submit your article to ezine or article directory.
3) Exchange links
Exchanging links is one of the best method for getting web site traffic and ranking higher. When you start a site you should exchange many as possable links with sites that are Related to Your site. Robots are eager to find new links and fresh information.
4) Mailing List
Having a mailing list can bring wonders to a web site, not only will it help bring old visitors back , but they will send the newsletter to their friends (If they like it).This is like gold for you. The only real purpose for a consumer website is to capture leads and to sell products. Send out a monthly e-zine that offers FREE valuable information and mentions similar products they may be interested in. Search Engine Optimization It is no secret that search engines are the number one traffic generating method for driving visitors to web sites. Search engines are very useful in helping people find the relevant information they seek on the Internet. The major search engines develop and maintain their own gigantic database of web sites that can be searched by a user typing in a keyword or keyword phrase in the search box.
5) Search engine optimization
(SEO) is the process of studying the search engines in an effort to determine how to get your web site to rank high on user searches. Depending on the statistical information reviewed, search engines account for over 80% of the visitor traffic to web sites.
6) Free online forum
One forum can be about “Online Business”. Another forum can be about ” Joint Ventures”. When people join those forums, make sure that they need to come to your site first and log in from there, if they want to log on and post on the forum.
7) Market Statistic
You can use features on your website such as visitor polls, online surveys and your website statistics to find out what your customers like more and how they feel about certain aspects of your business to determine how you can improve your product and the way you do business.
Free Advertising
There is alot of Free Advertising on the Internet. There is Classified Ads. Free For All Pages (FFA), Ezine, Article Submission and Newsgroup of course and many more.
9) Blogging
Blogs are a relatively new and popular way to publish content on the Internet. They allow the blogger to publish content; very quickly and get feedback from the people that read it. Because they are new and content is created regularly, search engines love indexing them – and if search engines love them, you should too.
10) Real Syndicated Content
RSS marketing is a tool used by many on the Internet to deliver articles, advertisements, emails, customer support responses, ezines to clients and potential clients.
Constructing A Website That Works
Before you even consider starting to build your first website, you need to think very carefully about what you are going to include in it. For instance, you should not create a site that promotes numerous unrelated affiliate products. As you can imagine, a potential customer will not want to wade through fishing tackle supplies when she came to your site looking for handbags! What’s more, the search engines won’t approve of it either; they won’t be able to distinguish what it is you are trying to sell and therefore won’t rank it well for any of your products. The more products you have on your site means that they have to compete with each other to be viewed when what you really want is a fewer amount of related products that complement and enhance each other.
Here is a basic list of things that you must consider when creating your first and each subsequent website.
* The website needs to be clearly laid out, with separate pages for different topics within the overall subject matter.
* The site will need to focus on a specific subject which is aimed at a distinct audience.
* Both outgoing and incoming links to and from worthwhile and excellent top quality websites should be included.
* Diverse pages should link into each other where relevant.
* There should be plenty of superb content packed with useful information.
* Any affiliate or referral links need to be sprinkled throughout the web page in the relevant places; they need to be tested to see what works the best.
* The correct use of keywords and phrases which will help attract visitors and improve positioning within the search engines need to be used.
* And finally, you must include an internet site map to make it less difficult for visitors to move around the internet site and find what they need. This is often considered redundant in the process of building a website, and that is indeed the fact if you made a sitemap just for the sake of having one.
A sitemap literally acts as a map of your site. They can always refer to your sitemap to see where they are, and navigate through your pages with the utmost ease. There is no need to get the “big picture” of your site by reading through each page, and by doing that you will be saving your visitors’ time.
When you create a sitemap, you are actually creating a single page which contains links to every single page on your site. Imagine what happens when search engine robots hit this page — they will follow the links on the sitemap and naturally every single page of your site gets indexed by search engines! It is also for this purpose that a link to the sitemap has to be placed prominently on the front page of your website.
Don’t get overwhelmed by the amount of things on this list, they may take a little time to put together but they are not difficult by any means. Once they are in place, you can tweak and test your site and add new content to keep it fresh and interesting which in turn will keep the search engines and your website visitors very happy indeed!
Using a 302 Redirect in Place of a 404 Error is a Bad Idea
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Using a 302 Redirect in Place of a 404 Error is a Bad Idea
If your site is currently treating unavailable pages (404 errors) like temporary redirects (302 redirects) you may not have any problems with the search engines but your site is losing out on some important advantages of a proper 404 error.
- The Way a 404 Normally Works
This is how a 404 normally works on a website when a search engine, let’s use Google, visits a URL (i.e address) on your website that cannot be found that was previously spidered/indexed as functional:
1. The visit produces a 404 error from the server. A 404 error is provided by your server when an Internet client (i.e. a browser, search engine, etc.) reaches a URL on your site that can not be produced by your server because it is no longer there or it is incorrect.
2. The first time Google encounters this 404 error, it does not remove your URL but it takes note the page is not available and the broken link/missing address will be mentioned in your Google Webmaster Tools dashboard for you to fix ASAP.
3. The second time Google encounters the 404 error it is a good bet the page will be removed from its index and the error will remain in your Webmaster Tools dashboard for fixing. Google will continue to find the broken link until it is fixed, at which point any associated rankings you had for this page can work their way back up to where they were.
- Using a 302 Redirect Response Instead of a 404 Error Response
Here is the situation: when a search engine visits a URL that no longer exists, your server delivers a 302 redirect response instead of the proper 404 response. The 302 response is essentially this – “this page is being temporarily redirected” to a page you defined (i.e. your home page). As a result, Google does not see the 404 and Google will retain any search rankings the URL may have because it is expecting the old URL to resurface. In theory, that sounds like a good thing because you get to keep your old ranking (temporarily) while Google visitors are redirected seamlessly to your home page (the page you chose to redirect to).
- Why Isn’t this a Good Idea?
1. Visitors end up being rerouted to your home page oblivious to the redirect and end up on a page that may or may not have any relevance to their original search. Not only is this likely to cause an undesirable reaction but it also makes Google look incompetent… something the search engine is not likely to favour you for.
2. Since a 404 is not triggered, there is no way to determine if pages are broken on your website (unless a custom report has been created).
3. 302 redirects do not pass PageRank – so unless the original page is restored, much of the benefit from the links to your old content will evaporate with time.
4. If this practice is utilized site-wide it is conceivable your website rankings would diminish due to the myriad of confusing “temporary” signals provided by your site.
- What is the Best Solution?
1. If you have been using 302 redirects in place of a 404, then I strongly recommend restoring the 404 protocol.
2. Create a custom error page for 404s which will give visitors that encounter your error page an indication of how to get back on track. Once Google finds the 404 errors on your site they will be reported to you in your Google Webmaster Tools.
3. Whenever you, as a webmaster, encounter a reported 404 error on your website it is best to quickly 301 (permanently) redirect old URLs to content that is closely relevant to the past content. Not only will this help you to keep visitors to your site happy but 301 redirects will pass forward the critical PageRank (ie. Google credibility) that may have been built on the old URL.
- Additional Relevant Content
Here are some tools and articles that are relevant to this article:
* Server Header Checker Tool: using this tool you can see what responses particular web pages on any website are providing to Internet client (i.e. a browser, search engine, etc.)
* Permanent 301 versus Temporary 302 Redirects: read Scott Van Achte’s article on how these two redirects differ and when each is best utilized.
* Increase Your Links with Google Webmaster Tools: here is a simple trick to use the reports in Google Webmaster Tools to increase your site’s chances for success.
* How to 301 Redirect Non-WWW to WWW URLs: This is a tutorial on how to redirect your non-www domain (http://yourdomain.com) to your www version (http://www.yourdomain.com) in order to consolidate PageRank and minimize one form of duplicate listings/content in search engines.
* How to Redirect an Old Domain to a New Domain
* A page full of Free Web Site Marketing Tutorials and SEO Tips
* Our Recommended Web Marketing Tools: tried and true tools for search engine optimization (SEO), competitor analysis tools and even useful programs like a powerful password manager we couldn’t live without (direct link), can all be found here.
Tips for Increasing Online Sales
I’m going to let you in on a very dirty secret:
There is one question that is being dodged by experts in EVERY market. Answer that question and you’ll corner the market, be worshipped forever and get more customers and sales.
If it was that easy, why aren’t other experts answering these questions?
It’s because they fear an informed audience. That’s outright silly! But, we’re not going to tell them that. While your competitors run scared, you’ll be getting more sales since you’re going to follow the steps I outline in the article below. You will educate your targeted audiences, get more website traffic, teach people how to buy from you and increase your sales.
Now, are you ready?
Step 1: Find the questions that are being dodged by other experts in your industry
I can’t tell you what these questions are. It will vary from industry to industry. . So, how do you find these golden questions to answer?
* Go to Yahoo Answers and type in your keyword. Examine the questions carefully and see which ones keep popping up. If people are asking the same questions, that means that people have the same questions. There’s a need that’s NOT being fulfilled.
* Go to forums and watch what your audience is discussing
* Survey your clients, customers and list of prospects
Step 2: Answer the questions in as many formats as possible
For each question create a blog post. Do NOT date these blog posts – you will see why later on. Once you create your blog post, expand it into an article. Then, turn your article into a video, special report, podcast and audio interview. You should also create online press releases. If you need help with writing your articles and blog postings, I have templates that will help you write your articles in 30 minutes or less. Just go to http://www.StartWritingArticlesFaster.com
Step 3: Answer the Questions in As Many Places As Possible
* You should submit your blog posts to as many RSS feeds as possible
* You should bookmark your blog posts using Digg, Technorati and De.li.cious
* You should submit your articles to the top websites, ezines and article directories that accept article submissions. We can do this for you at http://www.IWantMoreProspects.com
* You should submit your videos to YouTube and Viddler. You may even want to think about investing in the TrafficGeyser.com video submission service
* You should post links to your blog, articles and videos on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and Linked In.
* You should post your articles on social marketing websites sites like Scribd and Squidoo
* You should submit your press releases through PR Web or Webwire. If you use Webwire.com, all you have to pay is $20. But, I do suggest comparing the two services and see which one matches your needs.
* Videos teaching people how to buy from you or how to use your product should be on your website.
* When people opt-in for your special reports, ebooks or other free offering, you should have an auto-responder series that gets people to go back to your blog or website. If you have lots of blog postings that answers your prospects’ top questions – all you have to do is create a summary for each blog posting and send people back to your blog every day. This way each blog posting will get the visibility it deserves. And, by not showing the date, these postings become evergreen.
Follow these steps and you will increase website traffic and get more sales, because you’ll be educating your prospects, answering their questions and teaching them how to buy from you.
Computer Virus: Remove The Dangers
Computer viruses have risen in the recent years and for some, the hassle of removing a particular nasty one is part headache and part frustration when it comes to protecting your computer. While there are several varieties of computer viruses, most of the solutions can be applied to nearly all. This article will give a brief description of the types of viruses you may encounter, the damage that can be done, and how you would go about getting rid of one.
A computer virus in the simplest of terms is a program that can move from computer to computer and has the capability of disrupting the daily operations of a computer. What makes viruses so intrusive and difficult is that there are a wide variety; there are worms, trojan horses, file infectors, boot infectors, etc. With the emergence of the Internet and the ability to go anywhere and be anywhere from the comfort of your home or location, the probability of becoming infected with a virus is very high.
Symptoms of a computer that may have a virus include slow performance, programs no longer working as they should or programs that were there are no longer (seemingly) installed, installed anti-virus programs no longer running or you’ve lost the ability to install any type of anti-virus program, etc.
It seems rather easy and simple to have a computer infected with a virus, but it is also easy and simple to get rid of one and making sure to lessen the chances of getting another. One important factor is making sure you have an anti-virus program. There are a variety, which can be free or for purchase; it is however the user’s choice and preference on which they feel will work for them. For free anti-virus, check out the popular Avast Home version or AVG; for paid, there is the popular McAfee and Trend Micro.
Do be careful in the selection of an anti-virus if you currently do not have one; one of the new types of virus are those that pretend to be actual anti-virus programs.
Things like Anti-Virus 2010 or PC Secure are NOT actual anti-virus programs; they are in fact rogue programs designed to take your money.
Once you have chosen an anti-virus program, make sure you run it immediately. If the program has a quick scan, run it to see if there are any infections on your computer. If it does find something, make sure you select any option that will delete the virus and its subprograms. When the scan is complete, run a full scan to make sure that any leftovers (or any that may have not shown in the quick scan) are caught. Make sure you also run any anti-spyware, anti-malware software that you have or obtain a copy of such a program. Many free programs include Search and Destroy, Malware Bytes, and Ad-Aware.
When it seems like everything has been caught, run any system updates, program updates to ensure that your system is current. Make sure that you are conscious of things that you receive through email or through downloads, as well as sites that you may browse.
Getting a computer virus is bad news for any computer, however by following the steps above, you will be able to remove any current viruses. The tip to make sure that you don’t get any other occurrences is to make sure that you keep your system and its programs current and up to date. Be wary of receiving emails from people you don’t know or attachments that look suspicious; be careful of downloads that seem sketchy; lastly, be careful of websites that you browse.
How to Optimize your Website for Local Search
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, November 18, 2011
How to Optimize your Website for Local Search
As the search engines take “search” to next level, more and more people are beginning to narrow down their searches to their cities or neighborhoods. This is because of the rising need among visitors to know who they are dealing with. They want to personally visit your business location. Thus, targeting local visitors along with global visitors does help your website get the best of both worlds.
* 3 Reasons to Optimize for Local Search
1. Build Brand Awareness
Optimize your website for local keywords to increase brand awareness geographically.
2. Leverage Trust
If local visitors trust your brand, this can translate on to the web and capture the attention of global visitors. This superiority will set your website apart from your competitors.
3. Increase ROI
A recent survey shows that, local seo tends to convert more often, is cost effective and leads to increased ROI.
* How to Optimize your Website for Local Search?
Optimizing a website for a locally oriented business includes all the steps of on page and off page optimization along with a few tweaks and additions. The following steps will ensure that your website marks its presence in the local results.
1. Add Your City Name to the Meta Tags
It is highly important to add the name of your local city to your original keywords and place them accordingly in the title, keyword tag and description tag of the web page. While crawling and indexing the website, the searchbots interpret the emphasis on the name of the city; then use the city name for the search engine results pages from the database.
2. Use Other Localized Metadata Available
There are various other Meta Tags present in HTML which favor local website optimization. Some of them are present under the Meta name as ‘country’, ‘geo position’ or ‘ICMB’. Meta Name – country can be used to input the name of the country where your target visitors reside. Meta Name – geo position or ICMB can be used to input the latitude and longitude coordinates of your business city. Every country has its own unique ICMB code. These details give the search engines more favorable data to rank well locally.
3. Submit Your Website to Google Local Business Center
Google lets you submit your business listing free of cost to its local business center. You can add business details like address, area of operation, contact number and hours of operation to the listing. All these details are available on the screen with a snapshot of a map which shows the detailed location of your business. All you have to do is add the listing in the local business center by going through a quick verification process and the visitors will find their way to your business website.
4. Build High Quality Backlinks
Link building is the most important aspect of search engine optimization. Search engines give a lot of importance to incoming links and consider it as a measure of a website’s popularity. You can build quality backlinks by submitting your site to high PR search directories, internet yellow pages, local search engines and Google webmasters tool.
5. Select the Correct Service Provider
If your business is based in UK and your domain (.com) is hosted with a service provider whose servers are based in its Australian data centers, then chances of your website ranking well in Australia are more. This is because; the search engine will interpret your website to be an Australian website making it harder to rank well in UK search engines (.co.uk). Thus, hosting your website in the country where most of your customers live is a practical decision.
Website optimization for local search is a must for websites with service based businesses to increase lead generation, sales and ROI.
Top 10 Firefox Addons Essential for Web Design
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Top 10 Firefox Addons Essential for Web Design
Doing your site’s design is not only strenuous and exhausting but may be confusing as well when switching between your browser and designing software. Furthermore, looking at other website’s design can be a good inspiration – the design, colors and fonts can give ideas certainly for our own.
So there’s a reason behind the popularity of Firefox with designers across the board: it offers a variety of add-on plugins that make the designer’s (and the design lover’s) life easier and more productive. The following are 10 of the best add-ons out there – click on the links to go directly to the download page:
1) Codetech
With this add-on you can edit your files without leaving your browser. Works like a lite and handy avatar of Dreamweaver, with all essential functionalities built in.
2) Web Developer
An all-in-one plugin that lets you write code, edit CSS, try new styles and troubleshoot problems easily.
3) FireShot
If you like bookmarking inspirational designs, you’ll like Fireshot, a tool that allows you to grab screen captures and add notes and graphics directly on to it, and then save the capture on your computer, FireShot’s own servers, and/or email it to yourself or others.
4) Colorzilla
Want to use a specific color from a different website? Colorzilla makes it easy to find the exact value of any color on a web site with the use of an eyedropper tool. You can also quickly find CSS rules for a given color, analyze different colors and measure distances between different points on a page.
5) MeasureIt
This add-on overlays a ruler on any page you want and enables you to quickly measure the width, alignment and height of various elements.
6) Browser Window Resizer
Curious on how your designed page would look on different screens? With the use of this little add-on, you can test as many screen sizes as you want without having to use many computers!
7) CSS Validator/HTML Validator
Does what it says right in the title, but remember that the page you’re trying to validate must have a CSS file associated with it for this tool to work.
IE Tab
Given that lots of web users still use Internet Explorer, this is a great tool to test how your site works in IE without having to switch browsers.
9) Font Finder
With this add-on you can find out what font is being used on any site. Simply add to Firefox, highlight the text whose font value you want to know, and right-click to select “Font Finder”. Very handy for font-lovers and designers alike!
10) CSS Viewer
Easily view the CSS properties of any element on a page.
8 Steps to a Customer Focused Website that Turbo-Charges Sales
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
8 Steps to a Customer Focused Website that Turbo-Charges Sales
For any serious, professional, website investment, the user testing phase has become an integral part of the path to making more money online. Before your site is published, usability testing gathers feedback from the very people it is intended for -, with its main objective to ensure you’re creating a website that has an intuitive and easy to use interface, targeted to all users. But how do you reap the fullest benefits from your user testing sessions?
1. Choosing Your Subjects
The results of your session well depend largely on the people you test it on. Do not get people who may be biased, such as family, friends and workers from your company. People who have prior exposure to your project may yield flawed results and rate your site high in web accessibility when in fact, it is not. Assemble a focus group, people who fit a specific profile, to be the subjects. You can ask a market research firm or a temp agency to source out your participants. Subjects must not know the name of your company or other details to maintain objectivity.
2. Before Starting the Usability Testing Session
The atmosphere of the web usability study session must be as normal as possible. To achieve the best results, participants should be at ease and feel like they are using the site at home or work. Make sure the participants know the exact location of the testing session; if necessary, meet them at local stations. Do not use technical terms such as “usability testing” or “market research’ as these will only cause confusion and create tension. Inform your subjects beforehand of the length of time the testing will take and the type of tasks they are expected to do. When the participants have familiarized themselves with the environment, it is time for the signing of legal documents. Use simple English language that is easy to understand and make your forms as short as possible. Legal papers can add to a subject’s nervousness. Assure him that the tests are completely confidential and you only need his permission to use the information generated during the test as part of the results.
3. Starting the Usability Testing
Acquaint the subjects with their surroundings before going to the main tasks. Tell them the name of the website and the URL and get their initial thoughts, like what they expect from the site or what they would like the site to be. Record the terms or phrases they use; this shows you value their opinions and feedback. These terms may also be used as pointers for future references in functionality and navigation concerns. Next, let them visit the business website they’ll be testing. Find out what their initial reactions are before allowing them to get familiar with the site. Such inputs may give you ideas on how they evaluate a site for web credibility. Assure the subjects that their tasks will not be difficult and, most of all, that they are not the ones being tested.
4. Choosing Tasks
Choose tasks that your potential customers will consider important to their decision of whether to purchase or not. These play a significant role in ensuring the success of your business website. Such tasks are: Buying productsPaying billsContacting the client Encourage the participants to give suggestions of other tasks they want included. You can determine their expectations and requirements from their suggestions and set new functionality and priorities.
5. How to Express Tasks
People respond and perform in more natural way if they are given scenarios instead of instructions. In phrasing the tasks, it is more effective to say “Scenario A has occurred, and you need to ring the company urgently – find the telephone number” rather than “find the contact us section of the site”.
6. Presentation of Tasks
Give participants one task at a time. Simultaneous tasks may intimidate them, or alter their normal approach to the testing. If you require the subjects to use inputs from outside the test (e.g. an email giving them a password to the site), give them these inputs in the form they will be presented. This will provide useful feedback on all elements of the process, rather than simply the site.
7. What Your Behavior Ought To Be During Testing
Always keep in mind that the object being tested is the website, not you or the participant. All input is treated as important; this needs to be clearly pointed out to the participant. If there’s a step or a task that participants struggle with, it’s really important to tell them it’s not their fault. During the test, it’s important not to be “seen or heard”. You must not do the following actions: provide clues, suggest directions or react to what they say or do. These could alter the test results. So keep your actions neutral, even a shaking of your head or huffing is a no-no. The only time participants should hear from you is when they need help in giving an opinion or clarifying a response. Because they have invested much time and money in the project, clients often find it hard to keep quiet during tests. If your client wants to be present, put him in a separate room and provide an audio/video link.
8. When the Usability Testing Is Done
Upon completion of all tasks, gather and document as much information as possible. Ask for overall impressions of the website and detailed feedback on each task. You will be able to measure their experience, whether expectations were met and if their views have changed during the process. Always welcome suggestions- they will be useful in providing insights to improve web usability and accessibility and creates goodwill between you and the participants. Finally, ask the participants what they remember about the site structure and its functions. If they remember these clearly, it is a confirmation that the site is structured logically and this will help identify any labeling issues you may have missed.
Ways To Drive Free Targeted Traffic To Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Ways To Drive Free Targeted Traffic To Your Website
It’s a sad thing to know when you have a website developed at great cost and then it doesn’t get any visitors. When the launching party is over, then you begin waiting for any good signs, but soon you find out that the visitor counter remains at zero. If you’re one of these unlucky website owners, there is no need to despair. It’s probably only because you do not know how to drive free targeted traffic to your website.
The very first step you should take is to submit the URL of your website to the many search engines and search directories on the web. Overtime, most of the search engines will pick up your site, but this can take quite long. Search directories do not really crawl the web, so they won’t find your site. You have to manually submit it. The general search directories are important for another reason as well – quite a lot of the small search engines use directory listings for their search results.
Then you also get niche directories for specific interest groups. Should you for example have an affiliate website where you try to sell website hosting, you will find a large number of web hosting directories where website owners can submit their URL for free. Even if you are a blog owner, there should be more than one specific directory to which you can submit the URL.
Social bookmarking sites are becoming more and more popular. Many people are nowadays using them to locate what they’re looking for instead of the search engines, simply because the results are more targeted. With social bookmarking sites, you rely on your fellow web searchers to provide you with websites they deem important enough to visit.
A further great way to drive free targeted traffic to your website is by publishing a press release. There are a surprising number of free press release services where you can submit a press release about your company for free. They will not only publish it, but also submit it to other sites in their group.
Article submission is another way of promoting a website that is fast gaining popularity. The way this works is that you write an article about any subject, but preferably something that relates to your own site. You’re allowed to add a link to your own website at the bottom. You then submit this article to one or more of the various free article directories found all over the net.
Last but certainly not the least, there are the growing number of social media websites. Getting your own page at one of these means you can promote your blog or website for free. You can also network online and meet many potential customers. And what is very important is, your page will be included in their website’s search results, making it possible for potentially millions of visitors to find you – surely an excellent way to drive free targeted to your website.
7 Different Levels of Web Hosting for Your Site
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, November 14, 2011
7 Different Levels of Web Hosting for Your Site
The different levels of web hosting are shared hosting, reseller hosting, cloud hosting, Virtual private server hosting, dedicated server, co-location, and self service.
As an online merchandiser, it is always vital to keep track of the growth of your online business. When your business meets higher demands, then your web hosting should be upgraded to accommodate all of it. Here’s a comparison of the different levels of web hosting you can use:
1) Shared hosting
With shared hosting, your site is set up on a server that is shared with other websites. This type of hosting is handy for those who are just starting or have a limited budget. Fees can be as low as $5-$-10 a month, because of the shared cost. One drawback, though, is that the cost also depends on the other shared websites. A site that has more traffic can affect your own performance.
2) Reseller hosting
Generally similar to shared hosting, reseller hosting has extra tools and options which assist you in reselling hosting space. Usually included in a reseller hosting package are free website templates, white label technical support, and servers under private names. This option is more costly than the shared hosting at $15-$50 per month, depending on the features.
3) Cloud hosting
Cloud or grid hosting is a more advanced hosting feature that allows many servers to seemingly fuse making it look like a giant single server. While the number of sites continues to grow, a new hardware can easily be added to accommodate them. The price you pay is parallel to the degree of service you are receiving. Fees for extra bandwidth and memory usage may be charged.
4) Virtual private server
A virtual private server, or VPS, acts like separate servers but actually shares only one server. They each have a specific program of the computing resources, though it is just sharing hardware resources. It spares your website from getting down from your hosting neighbors while at the same time evading higher costs. Prices usually range from $50-$200.
5) Dedicated server
You are entitled to one rental physical server from a hosting service when you have a dedicated server. This gives you full control of it. These options are much more expensive and may cost a least $100 per month.
6) Co-location
In this set-up, you rent a space in a date service provider. You have your own server hardware, while they provide power, internet uplink and other necessities. You are in-charge of your own software and data and are responsible for any drawbacks from your hardware.
7) Self-service
This is do-it-yourself set-up and is considered the best option of all. You purchase the servers and do all the configurations by yourself. Things you might need are extra bandwidth, server hardware, systems administrator, data back-up and more.
Web hosting is important. Customers always go for the website which is accessible and convenient. If your site is slow due to heavy traffic or it needs a better web server, try getting a new one, or you may lose some potential customers.
What do I do If my Windows Registry is Damaged?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, November 13, 2011
What do I do If my Windows Registry is Damaged?
This question is asked by many people from all over. The registry is a complex storage system in all versions of Windows. Its easy to understand why so many people ask this. Educating yourself on how the registry works and how to properly maintain it is important to keep your PC functioning correctly.
The purpose of the registry is to store configuration settings for Windows operating systems. The operating system uses the registry to access vital information for software and hardware settings.
If the registry gets damaged or corrupt in can cause many frustrating symptoms. Also if the registry gets filled with too much information it can also cause these symptoms. The symptoms of a corrupt registry can vary depending on what is damaged in the registry. Slow startups, sluggish performance, annoying error messages, lockups and crashes are the most common. These can all get worse over time if not taken care of.
Your Windows registry can be damaged from installing and uninstalling software and hardware. Viruses and other malware can also cause damage to your systems registry. Regular use of your PC will eventually lead to registry issues as well.
There are several way of repairing or maintaining the Windows registry. Using a registry editor to manually change the registry is one way. This method is only recommended to users with PC repair experience. You can create problems and make issues worse. Another method is to just reinstall Windows. This should be used as a last resort as it can be a tedious process especially for someone who has never done it. Or you can use a highly rated registry cleaner to repair and maintain the registry.
The use of a registry repair tool makes it easy enough for anyone to repair corrupt registry and to properly maintain it. Used in conjunction with virus/spyware protection and disk defrag it makes it simple to keep your PC’s performance and reliability at 100%
Think of your PC as your car or even your own body. All 3 are complex machines that from time to time require repairs. You can go to a specialist which usually requires more money then most are willing to pay. Learn how the registry works and try and repair it yourself or use programs made to safely repair and maintain it with little effort.
Why Your Legitimate Online Businesses Websites Need to be Self-Hosted?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Why Your Legitimate Online Businesses Websites Need to be Self-Hosted?
To establish a presence on the web it is vitally important that your legitimate online businesses websites are maintained. Unfortunately there are many small businesses who don’t realize the necessity of having self-hosted websites and they tend to use the free alternatives instead.
So let’s take a look at why self-hosting websites are so much better for establishing your own online presence.
1. You Get Your Own Domain!
With free hosting you do not get to use your own domain and owning your own domain is vital in establishing a good web presence. Some of the reasons why this is so are; you don’t ever need to worry about the content on your website where as when using free hosting, if they stop operating for any reason at all or go out of business you will lose everything on your site.
They also have the right to dictate what you put on your website and this includes the advertisements, plus they can put their own ads on your website and they don’t need your permission to do it. When the ownership of your domain name is yours then you have total control over where people can find your website.
2. Freedom of Functionality
When using self-hosting the choice of software is yours alone and that means that you can make the decision about what type of software will best serve your needs. This includes the kind of software you choose to use on your blog to connect to possible customers through social media. With free hosting you do not get this choice.
To have the flexibility to run your legitimate online businesses the way you want, never even consider using free hosting, in fact you need to ascertain that the paid hosting company you decide on is of good quality if you wish to have flexibility with the way you operate.
3. Your Online Businesses will look more Professional
If you expect people to take both you and your online businesses seriously then YOU must also take your business seriously. When you use free hosting what you are saying to anyone who visits your website is that it really is not worth their time. Free website hosting companies are using your website to advertise their own products and this will automatically detract from your own business opportunities.
Once people leave your website chances are pretty good that they are not going to return to take advantage of any of your services or products that you have on offer.
In case you haven’t noticed yet, everything we have discussed up to this point comes down to one thing – Control.
Why would you want any other company to have control over your legitimate online businesses website? Self hosting not only gives your website a more professional look but it also allows you to make your own choices to create the website exactly as you want it to be.
Unless you are willing to treat your business seriously don’t expect that anyone else will do so. Free hosting will never give you the same advantages that self hosting will and in order to brand yourself and your online businesses you must have a professional and flexible website.
Five Essential Elements Every Business Website Should Have
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, November 11, 2011
Five Essential Elements Every Business Website Should Have
Although business owners and marketer’s are coming to recognize the importance of having a website for their business, how those websites are being designed and built is still very much a problem. In most cases, a website that replicates an online brochure is what most businesses have. The result thereof is ultimately a poor return on investment for the (often large amounts of) money they have spent on the site. Here are five essential elements that every business website should have:
1) Sign-up Form
Having hundreds or thousands of visitors to your website every month is no use if you are only capturing the details of a small percentage of them from people who actually inquire. What you need is a sign-up form that offers a freebie (a free report of interest to your visitors), a newsletter or something similar. This way, you are able to capture the details (name and email address) of the visitors to your site, as well as build your list of prospects.
2) Highly Visible Contact Details
The purpose of your a small business website is generally to encourage inquiries, which will ultimately lead to sales. It is therefore essential that your website has your company’s contact details clearly displayed on every page. Ideally, you should place the contact details in the header, or in the top right area of the page. Also, try to provide as many contact formats (telephone, fax, email, Skype) as possible.
3) Dedicated Sales Pages
This one is a little tricky, depending on your business. Ideally, you should try to have a separate page for each product/service, or group of products/services. This allows you to focus on marketing each product or service’s benefits, features, and so forth to its specific target market. It also gives you the freedom to provide extensive information on each product or service, as opposed to merely providing a product name or model number. Furthermore, this additional content assists in terms of search engine optimization (SEO).
4) Testimonials
Why should anyone who visits your website trust what you have to say about yourself? You are, after all, trying to sell yourself online. It is therefore always wise to feature testimonials on each sales or product page. Ideally, you want to place testimonials about each product or service on their respective page. I usually recommend placing them down the right-hand side column of your page, but it all depends on your layout.
5) Blog
You may think that blogging is some weird, new age concept that only the “arty” and creative people of this world indulge in – you’re wrong. Setting up a blog allows you to write about anything related to your business, for example: new products or services, events, how-to’s, insights and opinions. Be sure to feature a “subscribe” option on your blog, so that you can build that database of prospects as well. Blogging also assists from an SEO perspective, by continuously adding fresh, original content to your website, which Google loves.
As an added bonus to these five essentials, I always recommend using an analytics or tracking program, such as Google Analytics (which is free), to track the goings-on of your website and assess how much and where your traffic (visitors) is coming from. As with anything, commit to learning about the topic, in this case, internet marketing, and keep an eye out for new trends that may benefit your business’ website.
Top Tube Video Downloader Tools
YouTube has become a household name for entertainment and anything else involving videos, which is why a tube video downloader is such a useful tool. Everything from short goofy clips to involved online tutorials is available through the popular website with the only minor drawback being viewing access. You have to be on the internet, log in to find your favorites or search for the video and hope that your bandwidth is running at optimum performance so you can watch the video uninterrupted. But now you can enjoy the convenience of downloading videos on to your computer, this is made possible through a few different devices.
First off, the logical solution to this problem would be for YouTube to make the content downloadable. YouTube is in the testing phase of giving video uploaders the option to make their videos downloadable for a price or for free. This will eliminate any outside problems of copyrights or law breaking since no matter how videos are shared after download they will still contain the original users YouTube source. This will most likely become a standard option, instead of just a test, in the not so distant future.
For now though, other options are still available for downloading pleasure. One well known option with unknown abilities is RealPlayer. Most RealPlayer versions can be used as a tube video downloader to download YouTube videos directly from the site. When you move over the video screen an option appears to download the video straight to your RealPlayer library. RealPlayer is also capable of burning the files to DVD, but this usually requires a version available through upgrade, meaning it isn’t free.
Other software options such as Savevid.com or Keepvid.com will still let you download the videos just not directly from the site. The process is slightly more involved but still not complicated. Simply copy the video URL or web address onto the toolbar and hit download. There are two different quality options, the higher MP4 version or its original FLV type. The FLV or flash format usually isn’t supported by normal video players so a converter will have to be downloaded as well if this option is chosen. You can find one easily by searching the web for an FLV converter.
One of the easiest to use is the Tube Video Downloader add-on. It’s compatible with Explorer and Firefox, which are the two most popular browsers. Once installed for free, you simply go to the video you’re interested in and hit save. That’s it!
After downloading your favorite videos it’s easy to unlink from your computer by simply downloading the video onto a media storage device or mp3 player with video playback. As discussed, some programs will even enable you to make your own DVD from the content. Beyond browser compatibility and certain attached fees, it’s a cut and dry process anyone can do in a matter of minutes. You can now watch hamsters do a back flips as many times as you want without even connecting to the internet!
The Top Time Tracking Tools to Use for Outsourcing Your Web Development
Outsourcing is a valuable tool if you hope to succeed as a small business online. The simple reason behind this is that outsourcing to trusted freelancers will cut down dramatically on labor costs, leaving you the extra time and money to better spend in promoting your business through marketing and product development.
Of course, you must make wise decisions as an online company when it comes to outsourcing by using outsourced employees for the more menial tasks, like writing content, administration, web development, link building, and blog management, while leaving the more important projects for yourself and your top staff members, like market research, managing social media profiles, and networking with other companies in your niche.
Once you have hired several freelancers as your outsourced staff, using the best tools will cut down on serious stress, disorganization, and potential pitfalls within any project that you embark on. In fact, it is not recommended to outsource without using these time tracking tools under any circumstance, or you could risk long-term problems in the productivity and success of your company:
* RescueTime
RescueTime is an ideal tool for outsourcing that helps you to control and better understand how your outsourced staff spends their attention and time. One of the best portions of this tool is that it does not require any data entry, and all you have to do is install a small application that will track what websites and software are being used by your employees. This is best to manage a team of several people, especially if they are not working in a physical office with you. This tool alone will keep your staff accountable for their time and work within any project that you hire them for.
* ClockingIt
This tool is a free hosting application that will help you to keep track of time and tasks for any freelance project. ClockingIt offers project management features so that you can plan, see the project schedule, and know if any outsourced employees have fallen behind. The Time Tracking alone is a valuable feature that will give you reports to offer to your clients on which tasks were completed within a project in a certain amount of time.
* BaseCamp
BaseCamp is helpful software for outsourcing to several employees, which will offer features like web based documents, milestone management, to-do lists, time tracking, file sharing, and a messaging system. This tool is, in fact, perfect for outsourcing to people all over the country or outside of the country so that they can collaborate, communicate, and upload their work within a project for further editing or feedback.
* ProjectPier
This is a free PHP application that is used for managing teams and projects with a user-friendly web interface. This tool needs to be downloaded and installed into your own server, and it will help your staff collaborate, facilitate communication, and complete tasks in an organized manner as an outsourced team. For any small businesses starting out in outsourcing, this is an invaluable free tool that will give you the freedom to manage several employees within other areas of the country.
* ActiveCollab
ActiveCollab is fantastic project management software that allows you to collaborate within your own server or local network. You can work with your own staff and outsourced employees in a simple environment that will help you control and manage all project data. Some of the features of ActiveCollab include tracking progress on projects, assigning tasks, team communication, e-mail support, shared files, notifications, time trackers, milestone management, and the ability to invite new freelance employees to a project.
The truth is that as a small business, there are no better tools that you can use to manage freelance or outsourced employees. Outsourcing has its own slew of benefits when done properly, and these tools will make the process much more organized so that you can delay or even prevent using a physical staff for years into the future. Speaking of future, outsourcing is truly a modern concept that is becoming more and more popular as small businesses turn to freelancers online for many of their day-to-day tasks and support. In the same manner, numerous skilled professionals are turning to freelance careers in work-for-hire so that they can outsource to online companies based on their specific skills and qualifications.
With the multitude of skilled professionals available for outsourcing, this is the perfect resource to enhance the success and productivity of your small online business!
Dedicated Server Provider Checklist
I recently read with interest an article on pcmag.com which gave advice on what to look for when buying a server. The comments were well thought through for those purchasing their own server – perhaps for installation into an on-site corporate data center. For those who need to rent a dedicated server from an external hosting provider, there are a few other important items to consider. The following is a list to refer to when contemplating selecting and using a dedicated server provider. Thanks go out to dedicated server provider 34SP.com for contributing expertise to this piece.
* Security
A top priority for those outsourcing their servers is security. The data and processes that are most frequently running on dedicated servers are mission-critical to businesses or contain highly sensitive corporate or consumer information. There are specific security requirements for the most sensitive data such as credit card transactions. For example, it is well known that to process credit cards one needs a secure certificate often referred to as an SSL certificate. Any hosting provider can accommodate this requirement, however, you will also want a hosting provider to be PCI compliant as well. You can read all the details on PCI compliance on the website of the PCI Security Standards Council. You can visit the TrustWave website if you need to buy an SSL certificate.
The other important security issues are based around malicious activity – someone hacking your server. No hosting provider or server will ever be completely immune to malicious activity. There are simply too many exploits, worms, DDOS attacks and brute force password hacks to thwart them all 100 percent of the time. That being said, you should select a dedicated server provider that is hyper vigilant to the security of your server and will jump in very quickly to resolve any issues. You can assess the company’s security preparedness by asking for an outline of their security practices and what steps they take in the event of an incident.
* Backups and Recovery
In the unfortunate event that your server is compromised at some point you will need to recover your data and processes quickly to minimize the damage. While every hosting provider touts their ability to backup and recover data, it is well worth your time to investigate these processes thoroughly. For example, how often are backups made? Also important – look for a company that has off site backups. This is important in the event of a facility emergency such as fire or flood. Your server and or hard drives may be damaged and if the backups are sitting right next to the server in the data center – then the backups may become corrupt as well. Then you are stuck. If the data is backed up off site then there is a much better chance that the initial disaster will not effect your ability to get your server back up quickly. Of course you will also want to create your own backups of your critical data and only rely on the hosting provider as a last resort. This gives you an added layer of redundancy.
* Connectivity and Reliability
If you have your own corporate data center, then all the myriad issues of Internet connectivity and reliability are covered. With an external dedicated server provider, however, the reliability of the server hardware is only as good as the reliability of the network and connectivity. That is – if your server is unable to connect to the Internet for any reason then your server will be down. Any decent dedicated server provider will use capable hardware and switches, so it is usually how the network is configured and traffic routing that makes a difference. There is also an issue of multiple redundant bandwidth providers, and the ability to switch seamlessly between them in the event of a connectivity disruption. To judge a service provider on this metric, look for third party independent measurements of uptime and reliability such as Netcraft.com. The company publishes a list of the most reliable websites each month as rated by connectivity failures from a network of collector sites distributed around the globe. You can also view a real-time list of hosting providers network performance. Be certain to select a dedicated server provider with a low failure rate for the network – otherwise your server will be subject to unwanted downtime.
* Server Maintenance
There are two types of server administrators: hands-on and hands-off. You should know which category you fall into. Your server will require patches and updates from time to time. The server will undoubtedly need rebooting occasionally. There will be rogue processes which need chasing down and correcting. Also as mentioned above, someone needs to be hyper vigilant regarding server security. If you are hands-on them you will be fine with an unmanaged server. The unmanaged server saves money in that the responsibility for the admin tasks lies squarely on the user. If you are hands-off then you need a managed server provider who will conduct the server tasks necessary for the proper maintenance of the server for you. With a managed server the monthly service fees may be slightly higher to account for an engineer’s time to maintain your server, however this frees you up to do other important tasks for your business. So in the end the costs are really not that different.
* Service and Support
The cornerstone of all the above considerations are the service and support provided by the Linux dedicated server provider. You are resting the future of your business in the hands of your hosting provider. You need to be confidant that they will come through for you during an emergency – and there will be an emergency. In fact, there will be many emergencies over the life of your server – some small and some more serious. It is imperative that the service and support are of the highest order. Look for having a 24 x 7 x 365 dedicated server engineer on call for your server at the other end of a phone call. You can assess the capabilities through online forums such as webhostingtalk.com or search for a provider’s name on Google or use a Twitter real-time search for the brand name.
Spamming Techniques That You Should Avoid
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, November 7, 2011
Spamming Techniques That You Should Avoid
There are many ways to spam search engines and trick search engine spider to increase traffic to websites. Some of these popular methods are better known as ’search engine spamming.’ Let’s know more about these methods in order to gain clarity:
* Keyword Stuffing
It is commonly known as the repeated use of word or phrase in order to make a page look more relevant. There is a specific way of including keywords in a webpage. Determine your exact keywords and use them in different ways to include in the page.
* Invisible Text
In this method, spammers usually insert text that is a combination of repetitive use of keywords on a webpage. The main aspect of this kind of process is that it is discolored and make to look similar as the background color so as to making invisible for common users.
* Tiny Text
Many times, spammers use small font size to place their content. By doing so again and again, search engines may penalize the website.
* Page Spoofing / Meta Refresh / Redirection
This is a process that automatically redirects users to a newly developed webpage. Usually, spammers create a separate page for particular keywords. So, when users click on the link, it will lead users to a different page with very content with no relation with the mentioned keywords. Therefore, most search engines simply decline such pages.
* Meta Tag Stuffing
Usually, adding keywords to a webpage without putting in excess keywords is an accepted form of search engine popularizing. However, many people place high traffic keywords which are directly not related with a webpage in any way.
Common spam indexing techniques are content spam and link spam. Content spam may include: keyword stuffing, hidden or invisible, meta tag stuffing, gateway or doorway pages, scraper sites, article spinning. Link spam includes: hidden links, link building using automated software, page hijacking, cookie stuffing, Sybil attacks and link farms.
Other spam indexing techniques are cloaking, URL redirection.
The Long Tail: Opportunities and Threats
In 2004 Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine, Chris Anderson, popularized the long tail theory in an article called “The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More.” In retail terms, the long tail describes a niche strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities.
The increasing popularity of online retailers presents an interesting opportunity for artists and suppliers alike. Because it doesn’t cost ecommerce sites like Amazon.com any more money to list a marginalized book title then it does to list a bestseller, they can afford to do so. A brick-and-mortar shop however, with rent and overheads to pay, cannot. The advantage of this to the supplier (Amazon) is that they are making another sale. The advantage to the artist (novelist) is that their book is being sold and potentially recommended by the websites various recommendation channels and features.
With regards to web content providers, the long tail theory suggests that smaller web sites, focusing solely on a niche area, might come to threaten larger search engines that cover a vast array of subjects.
Social media and marketing expert Seth Godin warns us against getting too comfortable in the theory of the long tail. In his blog post entitled “When the Long Tail is Underwater” he acknowledges that the long tail is real, and that given the choice, people will find what’s perfect for them. However, he rightly points out that there are still millions of songs on iTunes that are never bought and millions of blogs on the web that are never read. While he encourages us all to continue to think outside of the box and design our business plans slightly outside of the lines, he warns against going too far, to point where people are no longer interested.
When designing a business plan a company should always look at the competition. What similar things are currently available, how are they being marketed and how successful have they been? If it turns out there is a market for your product or idea, then by all means, launch it and input your own twists. If there isn’t a market though, it might be worth asking yourself why. There is likely to be a good reason.
Similarly, when you market a product or design a website, consider how your competitors have done it. Marketing strategies, website designs and content are the time to be unique and create a sense of company individuality and avant-garde thinking. So if you’re going to splash out, splash out there.
7 Strategies for Reducing your Website Development Costs
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, November 5, 2011
7 Strategies for Reducing your Website Development Costs
Completing the following steps prior to starting a new website development or enhancement project can ensure that your project stays on budget and on schedule:
1. Identify the person(s) that will assist you in developing a detailed plan for your site
Before starting your project, ensure that you and your team are on the same page concerning the final vision for your site. This will minimize (eliminate) any mid-development confusion between your team members and ensures that once the development/design activities begin, they can proceed with a clear definition of the end product. Website projects that are less defined can incur unexpected expenses due to “scope creep”. Generally, scope creep occurs when unexpected tasks are added to a project. This leads to higher than planned project costs and an extension of the project deadline. When new tasks are added to your project, determine if these are necessary items to complete during this phase or if a second phase is needed. If you decide to increase the scope of your project, be sure to ask your website developer for a printout of the additional costs and an indication of how the new task will affect your deadline.
2. Identify the person responsible for communicating with your website developer
Also, identify how often you need to communicate with the developer during the development process. Generally, the more meetings you have with your website developer the more it will cost you. If you have a well defined project, your meetings will be shorter meetings to determine if you’re on schedule. Particularly with short web development projects or projects with budget constraints, you want to avoid ongoing requirements gathering meetings. If the project is not well defined, you risks staying in the “requirements gathering” phase for the duration of the project. This is always more costly than identifying, approving and finalizing your requirements before any work is performed. For larger (and longer) projects, you should identify a requirements gathering phase at the onset of the project to ensure that the deliverables and phases are well defined.
3. If your website project involves a site design or redesign, have a vision before you contact a website designer
Having a vision of your preferred site design reduces the number of revisions required. Design revisions can add to the cost of your site if you are unsure of what you want. Starting a design project with an “I’ll know it when I see it” approach can increase your project cost and timeline due to an excessive number of revisions or increased scope. If you absolutely do not have a vision, make a list of comparable websites that appeal to you. Be sure to note any required elements that you’d like to include on your website.
4. Finish writing your content or have someone write the content just as you would like it to appear on the site
You can not (should not) launch a website with incomplete content. If your content is not ready, consider a brochure site (one page) website instead of investing in a larger inadequately defined website project. A website is meaningless without effective content. If your content is not ready, your website is not complete.
5. Once your content is written in web-ready format, organize your content by function or section (e.g. company information, services, testimonials etc.)
This will help determine the scope of your project (i.e. # of pages, navigational items etc.).
6. Identify how you would like your visitors to interact with your website
This ensures that you and your website developer have a clear understanding of the overall scope of the project. A five-page static website is much different than a five-page website with interactive or dynamic features or a five-page website integrated with a third-party shopping cart. Generally, any feature that requires advanced scripting, programming services or integration with a third-party application will add to the cost of your project. Therefore, it is important for you to be clear about your requirements prior to signing the contract.
7. Before you request or approve any new features, revisit your original scope and answer the following questions:
- Does this new tasks fall within the original scope of the project?
- How does this addition contribute to my final product? Is it important?
- How does this affect my deadline?
- What are the additional costs?
- Do I need to include this activity in a second phase?
- How does this addition affect other tasks? Does this eliminate another task or duplicate a previously completed effort (e.g. going back to drawing board on a completed and approved redesign)? If you find that the new task is a duplicate of an already completed effort, before any further work is done, take some time to rethink your project and ensure that money is not being wasted on an ill-defined product.
Performing these activities ensures that everyone at the table shares the same vision, allows your web professional to provide an adequate quote for your project and helps everyone stay on schedule.
Issues on Privacy Concerns on Facebook
It seems that you can barely log into the internet today without finding dire warnings about the privacy of your FaceBook account. Hundreds (and possibly thousands) of users have declared May 31, 2010 as “Leave FaceBook Day”. Since the dawn of the internet, privacy has been a concern. However, if you put a google search in for “Facebook Privacy Concerns” it returns 17,400,000 results while Twitter returns 15,500,000 results and LinkedIn at the bottom of the pile returns 667,000 results.
In a viewpoint, Facebook is approximated to have the largest number of users among the three. And truthfully, the three (although often lumped together) are really different and have different audiences. With that said, how concerned should you be about your FaceBook security?
Well, like anything else that’s on the internet, it’s not hack-proof. Even the strongest privacy policy isn’t going to protect you if someone really wants to get at your information. Changes on the privacy policy on Facebook however seem to be on a craze and they don’t really mind how many protests they receive, it is more like a “woops” to them. Then there is the audacity of Facebook founders to tell you that having multiple “online” identities is displaying unethical behavior? He’s simply letting you know that your account for business and personal account on Facebook must be one and the same or you don’t have the ethics. And the answer to that?
Probably not – most of us tend to like to keep our “personal” and our “business” lives (especially online) separate as much as possible. I mean seriously – do your children really care if the company that you are promoting has already reached 1000 blog readers? Do those people who follows your company really need to know that your grand daughter is a part of a cheerleading tournament? Probably the answer to both of these is “not so much”.
Given the number of issues that have come around you’ll find hundreds of articles including a very interesting one from the New York Times where they referred to FaceBook privacy options as “A Bewildering Tangle of Options”. Unless you are willing to spend the time to verify all of these potential options, you might just want to rethink your FaceBook account. However, keep something else in mind – deleting your FaceBook account borders on amusing and is certainly confusing for most.
- Words of Caution:
* Disabling your Facebook account and deleting it are NOT the same thing!
* Links shared by other users after you posted them don’t get removed
* Photos that you shared who others shared don’t get removed
* There are other restrictions that can still cause you privacy issues.
* If you get through the delete process and don’t stay out of Facebook it negates the entire process!!
With that here are some options to help:
* A 33 slide show on how to lock down your privacy at Facebook
* Video instructions on how to delete your Facebook account
* Make sure you read some of the information and make an informed decision.
24 Essential Pages to include on Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, November 3, 2011
24 Essential Pages to include on Your Website
Wondering what pages to include on your website and why? Here is a list of important information that should be included on your site.
Before you start thinking about what to write, it is important that you create a plan, which outlines what each page will contain. That way you won’t repeat yourself or forget vital information. The most common pages on successful websites include:
1. Home Page (First Page)
This is your “sales” page and should provide information about what you can do for your customers. It should also give your visitors a brief overview of what they can find on your site.
2. Products / Services
It is useful to have a separate page for each product/service and write as much detail about each as possible. Start each page with a brief summary of the product/service, then provide whatever information you can. When people are searching for information on the internet, they want to know it NOW. They don’t want to wait until tomorrow when they can speak to you on the phone.
3. Contact Us
Place contact details in as many places as possible. Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Create a special “Contact Us” page, include your details in “About Us” page and also at the bottom of each page. Information to include: business name, physical address, mailing address, telephone, fax, email, emergency number, website address.
4. Pricing
Whenever possible include the price of your products/services. Even if you can’t be specific. It is helpful to put at least a range of prices, eg. Carpet cleaning ranges between $40 – $60 per room.
5. Testimonials / Product Reviews / Before & After
Include testimonials from your current customer to show your potential clients that you are trustworthy, reliable and that you offer great service and/or products. Make sure the testimonials are real and if possible provide contact details of the person who supplied you with the testimonial. If you don’t have any right now, get them! Simply email your customers and ask for their feedback on your business and service.
You could also include before and after photos. Show the problem picture and beside it show the picture of resolution, with an explanation of your product’s benefits.
6. Frequently Asked Questions
This has proven to be a great time saver for many companies. Instead of having to answer the same questions over and over again, place them on your website and keep adding to them. The more information you have on your website, the less time you will need to spend answering questions by email or phone.
Frequently Asked Questions should address your customer’s concerns that may otherwise be an obstacle to making a sale.
7. Response form such as “Subscribe” or “Enquiry” form
An absolute must if you want to build a mailing list. Most people don’t like giving out too much information, so ask only the basics, such as Name and Email Address. Then keep in touch with your customers on a regular basis by sending out information that may be of interest to them. You may even wish to develop your own on-line magazine (ezine). There are many fantastic free or inexpensive programs that can handle this for you.
8. On-line Magazine or Newsletter
This is a great marketing tool. Not only does it help you keep in touch with your customers, but provides your website with fresh content. You can set up your Ezine in 2 different ways:
(a) Email subscribers on a regular basis or (b) Publish it on your website.
Or both. Include information about your business, industry or anything that may be of interest to your customers.
9. Resources/Articles
Add value to your business. Provide information that is complementary to what you do. For example, if you sell wedding dresses include information about reception venues, wedding planners, wedding cakes, flowers. By adding extra information you encourage more hits.
10. About Us
This is a very important page as it tells your customer about who you are and why they should buy your products, services and/or trust your organization. It can also feature your business hours (if you have a bricks and mortar store) or when they can speak to someone on the phone. Many companies also include their mission, details of their staff (photos, biographies, qualifications), recently completed projects, ACN or ABN, logo, directions to your store/office. It is also useful to include details of trade associations you belong to, trade and insurance certificates and any awards you may have won.
11. Guarantee
Offer a money back guarantee. The longer the guarantee, the more effective it will be. It could be 30 days, 60 days, 1 year or lifetime.
12. Survey
Find out what customers think about your website, business or product.
13. Events Calendar
This can relate to your business or industry. If you are an artist, you can feature dates where and when your art will be displayed or if you are a singer, where you will be performing.
14. Search My Website Feature
Some visitors to your side may not know exactly what they want but if you include a search function on your site, they can look for it very easily. Like search engines, this feature will allow your visitors to type in a word or phrase and then search for it on your site. It’s like having your own mini search engines, only instead of it searching the world wide web, it just searches your website.
15. Return/Refund Policy
To make your customers feel more comfortable when making a transaction at your website, you should provide then with your return/refund policy. Ensure it is easy to understand and spelt out step by step.
16. Privacy Policy
Privacy continues to be a major issue for customers shopping online. Concerns about how their information is going to be used is a major barrier when making a sale. Internet shopping experience is built on trust and privacy is the number one ingredient in trust.
17. Site Map
A site map is similar to a contents. It shows visitors how the site is laid out and which sections are where.
18. Copyright Information
Your website should carry a copyright notice to protect its intellectual property. It is generally in the form of “Copyright © 2004, Your Company Name”.
19. Links
Here you can place links to the manufacturers of your products, trade associations or complementary services. When you place links to other businesses, you can request they do the same for you. This will not only bring you more visitors, but may improve your search engine ranking.
20. Media Information
Include any information, articles, photos of your products, staff etc that have appeared in the media – print, TV, radio or internet.
21. News
This can include news about your products/services or about your industry.
22. On-line store
An on-line store allows you sell products directly on the internet 24 hours a day/7 days a week. When building an online store it is important to take in a number of key concepts.
* Make sure that when visitors arrive at your store the navigational mechanisms are simple and effective
* The actual process of placing the order must be simple
* Make sure you accept common and convenient methods of payment
* Continually test your store so you understand your customer’s shopping experience
23. Blog
A blog is a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger.” Blogs are typically updated daily or weekly using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Blogs are a great tool as they help with:
1. Communicating with your customers. Blogs provide a way for you to communicate with your customers directly. And it is a two-way communication. You can post a message on your blog and your visitors can easily respond.
2. Search Engine Marketing Blogs give you an increased presence on search engines, like Yahoo! and Google. If you use Blogger (Google’s Blogging Tool), every message you post creates a new page on Google so in a very short time you could have lots of pages pointing to your website
3. Stay Ahead of Your Competition Blogs are relatively new and chances are your competition does not yet use them. So you will be seen as an expert in your industry when you post your knowledge and expertise.
4. Media & Public Relations Blogs are excellent PR tools. You can post your Media Releases and articles and have them picked up by the media.
5. Free or Low Cost
24. Photo Gallery
Even if you do not wish to sell your products on-line, you may wish to showcase your goods or services in a special photo gallery – show how your products or services are being used by your customers. They say “pictures speak a thousand words” and on your website it is particularly important.
Ten Tips For User Friendly Online Registration Forms
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Ten Tips For User Friendly Online Registration Forms
Have you ever registered or attempted to register for an event and spent half an hour trying to figure out what you needed to do? Or have you used an online registration form that lost your data or was so complicated that it seemed like more work than faxing the form?
When used properly, online registration is an extremely powerful tool that makes registration easy for event participants. If used improperly, event participants can be left extremely frustrated and in some cases reluctant to attend the event.
We have put together a list of ten design tips to help you create user friendly registration forms and give your event participants a positive registration experience.
1. Make the registration form easy to access
Make the link to the online registration form very obvious. Event participants may not be familiar with your website and will become frustrated if they have to hunt for the registration form. If you are sending a URL (web address) in printed material make the address as simple as possible so participants aren’t entering a long string of characters. Also, only put a registration form in a password protected part of your website when absolutely necessary. People often forget their passwords, which will cause more frustration and possibly generate calls and emails to the event planner.
2. Make your form familiar and secure
Event participants need to be reassured that their data is secure. A good way to do this is to brand the online form to match your website. This way, the transition to the online from is seamless and event participants will remain comfortable with the process. Also, make sure that appropriate security icons such as the lock symbol in your browser appear when collecting credit card numbers.
3. Make the registration form clear and easy to use
A well laid out and visually appealing registration form encourages event participants to register. On the form, keep text to a minimum and make it clear what you want participants to do. Use logic to guide participants through the form and give warnings if something is wrong.
4. Have appropriate payment options
If you have a fee associated with your event, make sure the payment methods you offer are appropriate for the people registering. For example, large companies may require an invoice before a check can be issued and some groups of people may not have credit cards.
5. Make sure it works
There is nothing worse than entering all of your registration data and then getting an error when you click submit and losing the data. Before going live, be sure to test your form several times selecting all of the different options to be sure everything will work for the event participants.
6. Display your privacy policy
Many people are concerned about who will have access to their information and how it will be used. Make sure you have a privacy statement available on the online form to reassure participants that you are protecting their information.
7. Anticipate questions participants may have
Don’t overload the form with information (tip 3), but have information on the form that you think may be useful when registering such as prices, dates or special instructions. It’s inconvenient for participants to have to click back to search for the information on your website and in some cases clicking “back” will delete the data in a partially complete form.
8. Only request necessary data
The less information people have to provide the more comfortable they will be with the process and the quicker they will be able to complete the form. If you are asking for personal information such as birthdate it helps to add a note saying why you are requesting the information.
9. Don’t over use mandatory fields
Mandatory fields help to get fully complete registration forms, but too many mandatory fields can frustrate an event participant. This is especially true if there is information that is not readily known such as the fax number for someone else in their group.
10. Avoid making participants sign up with another company before they can register for your event
Some online registration companies require that people registering for your events first sign up as a member with them. A system like this has its place, but many event participants will be turned off providing information to a third party.
6 RSS Steps to Syndicate Your Feed
1. Apply Feed Reader Syndication
Some notable feed readers are Google Reader and MyYahoo!. All you have to do is, add a subscribe button on your blog and personalize it for the common types of readers available.
2. Include an Email Subscription Box
This is one of the quickest ways to get all the updates and latest information. Feedburner and Feedblitz provide email subscription capabilities and metrics. Visitors can simply enter their email address in the input box and subscribe to your blog’s RSS Feed. All the latest news and articles will be directed to the specified email.
3. Submit RSS Feed Directly To Major Search Engines
All the major search engines have made it really simple to submit your blog’s feed. All you need to do is log into Google, MyYahoo! and MyMsn and submit your blog feed to them. This is also one of the easiest ways to get your blog indexed by searchbots.
4. Ping Search Engines
There are a number of pinging services available online where you can enter your blog or feed URL and ping the search engines. A pinging service like Ping-O-Matic gets your blog indexed at multiple websites like Technorati, Feedster etc.
5. Use PHP Syndication
It is commonly known that searchbots cannot index JavaScript. So, if you want your feed links to get indexed, JavaScript Syndication is not a favorable option. Here, PHP syndicated code has the upper hand over JavaScript syndication. It provides backlinks and helps in indexing web pages.
6. Provide JavaScript Code for Syndication
JavaScript syndication is used to display a third party RSS feed on your website. There are a lot of JavaScript syndicators online, which provide code. Simply put the code in the sidebar of your website or blog and visitors can copy and paste it onto their website.
Statistics prove that RSS Feeds are useful in pulling a large number of visitors to a blog. Today no blog is complete without an RSS Feed option. Even Twitter, the micro blogging site provides an option to subscribe to individual RSS Feeds.
Online Retail is booming even in the current economic climate
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Online Retail is booming even in the current economic climate
Online retail is booming, even in the current economic climate, and has been growing significantly year after year for the past 6 years. However the online shopping landscape is changing, with declining customer loyalty; larger retailers focusing on price alone, severe price competition, the increase in cost comparison web sites and multibrand synergies.
Similarly consumers shopping behaviors are constantly evolving, with consumers now normally researching prior to purchases on multiple sites, often referring to comparison sites, and using search features within sites when looking for specific products. Sites must no longer just offer the best value for money (including price, service, mix of products, etc.), but they have to offer an exceptional user experience, which engages the consumer.
* So what are today’s online consumers looking for?
Price is the most important factors for the majority of consumers. To ‘catch’ these consumers, key web pages have to stress savings, but just ‘shouting’ about the price is not enough, consumers must be able to find what they are looking for, once on a site, with ease. And they must feel that the site is providing the right type of product information.
Research conducted by fhios has continually shown that consumers look for the following ‘reassurances’ when deciding to buy from an online retailer. These are listed from most important:
- That they are saving money or have value for money
- Free shipping, rebates/coupons, sales, etc.
- Privacy policies and guarantees, particularly early in the check-out process
- Order tracking
- Customer ratings and reviews
- Customer service, including live help, in-store returns, etc.
- Email alerts on promotions and offers
Interestingly, this prioritized list of ‘reassurances’ does change when considering ‘loyal’ consumers; once a relationship has been built between the consumer and the retailer some of the ‘reassurances’ are taken for guaranteed and other factors become more important. We have observed that customer ratings and customer satisfaction, as well as alerts are far more important for ‘loyal’ customers.
So in a changing online retail environment, there is the contradiction between ‘price hunters’ and ‘loyal followers’. To turn the ‘price hunters’ into ‘loyal followers’ is about ticking the primary needs of the consumer, and then ensuring the online experience goes beyond their expectations by building in loyalty programs to keep them interested.
To create an effective loyalty program, retailers need some kind of discount to lure customers into the program, but then they also need to create other means of locking the customers in (ensuring long-term loyalty) once they are part of the program. Retailers create these switching costs by moving beyond discounts to delivering an array of targeted benefits and services to their loyalty program members. Here are some guidelines we recommend to retailers:
- Provide benefits that appeal to each targeted group’s unique needs and desires.
- Focus on rewarding desired changes in behaviour, not just giving member’s benefits for taking actions they would have taken anyway.
- Encourage members to unify their purchases by offering increasingly valuable rewards the more they spend.
- Offer rewards that are cost-effective and provide both immediate and inspirational incentives.
- Influence customers at multiple points in their purchase decision-making cycle (for example, at home, when they enter the store, while shopping online, etc.)
Different consumer segments will respond differently to different types of rewards, it is just a matter of identifying the needs of the individual customer groups and focusing the loyalty program for that group.
Loyalty programs have much to offer retailers in terms of increased customer insight, improved reputation, brand equity, etc, as well as decreasing price competition, increasing customer retention, decreasing marketing costs and allows a more comprehensive understanding of the customer.
Know eBay’s Different Auction Types
Over the years, eBay has introduced all sorts of different auction types, in an effort to give people more options when they buy and sell their things on eBay.
For every seller who doesn’t like the idea that their item might sell for a far lower price than they intend, there’s another who wants to shift hundreds of the same item quickly. eBay tries to cater to all tastes. This email gives you an overview of the different kinds of auctions and their advantages for you.
* Normal Auctions
These are the bread-and-butter of eBay, the auctions everyone knows: buyers bid, others outbid them, they bid again, and the winner gets the item. Simple.
* Reserve Auctions
Reserve auctions are for sellers who don’t want their items to sell for less than a certain price – a concept you’ll know about if you’re familiar with real auctions. They work just like normal auctions on eBay, except that the buyer will be told if their bid does not meet the reserve price you set, and they’ll need to bid again if they want the item. If no-one is willing to meet your price, then the auction is cancelled, and you keep the item.
* Fixed Price (’Buy it Now’) Auctions
Buy it Now auctions can work in one of two ways. You can add a Buy it Now button to a normal auction, meaning that buyers can choose either to bid normally or to simply pay the asking price and avoid the whole bidding process. Some sellers, though, now cut out the auction process altogether and simply list all their items at fixed price. This lets you avoid all the complications of the auction format and simply list your items for how much you want them to sell for.
Recently, eBay added a twist to fixed price auctions: the ‘best offer’. This means that buyers can contact you to negotiate a price, which could be a good way to get sell some extra stock at a small discount. The only downside to reserve and fixed price auctions is that you pay a small extra fee to use these formats. In general, it is more worth using reserve auctions for higher-priced items and fixed price auctions for lower-priced ones – but remembers that you can combine the two formats.
* Multiple Item (’Dutch’) Auctions
These are auctions where you can sell more than one of a certain item. Dutch auctions can be done by bidding. Buyers bid a price and say how many items they want, and then everyone pays the lowest price that was bid by one of the winning bidders. If you have trouble getting your head around that then doesn’t worry – everyone else does too! These auctions are very rare.
What is more common is when a seller has a lot of one item, and lists it using a combination of two auction types: a multiple-item fixed price auction. This just means that you can just say how many of the item you they have, and offer them at a fixed price per unit. Buyers can enter how many they want and then just click Buy it Now to get them.
Now that you know about the different types of auctions, you should make sure that the items you plan to sell don’t violate eBay’s listing policies.
How to Supercharge Your Selling Online
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
How to Supercharge Your Selling Online
The Internet has changed the way we do business, and the way we do marketing. Ten years ago, it was enough to have a print ad in the Yellow Pages and a quick radio spot to spread the word about your business. Now there are new ways to market your business on the Web, and they\’re wonderfully cost-efficient.
The internet is such a huge market place. People from all points of the globe are going online on a daily basis looking for products to buy. This huge demand has prompted a lot of marketers to take their business on the World Wide Web. Are you one of them?
Whether you are selling your own products or promoting affiliate products, it is very important that you know the elements and the tools that you need to use in order to secure great sales potential in the online arena.
Here\’s how you can sell more over the internet:
1. The first thing that you need to do is to create your own website
No matter how good you are and no matter how great your products are, people will not possibly take you seriously if you don\’t have your own place over the internet. Hire a professional web designer to create an ecommerce website for you where you can showcase your products and services. Ensure that your website is easy to navigate, secure, and loaded with valuable information that are closely related to your offerings and to your chosen niche.
2. Drive traffic to your website
Think of your website as a shopping mall. You will need to attract people to give it a visit before you can actually make a sale. Use different traffic-generating tools that can help you drive interested people to your website. You can promote your website on relevant forums, blogs, discussion boards, and social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, etc.). You can also use article marketing and various link building campaigns that can make your website highly valuable to the eyes of various search engines.
3. Promote your products
Promote product awareness by properly advertising your offerings online. For this, you can use PPC advertising, search engine marketing, paid links, banner ads, ezine publishing, email marketing, etc. Since promoting your products using all available tools can be exhausting and time-consuming, you may opt to hire professional internet marketers to help you out. You will need to share a certain percentage of your earnings with these people in exchange of their services.
4. Take good care of your customers
As they say, the most effective advertising strategy is word-of-mouth advertising. Ensure that you keep all your customers happy and satisfied through your products and through your customer service. By doing so, these people will surely recommend you to their friends and family members who might need your offerings.
Using Selling Manager To Boost Your eBay Home Business
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Using Selling Manager To Boost Your eBay Home Business
One of the wonderful things about eBay is that they offer a wide variety of different tools to help sellers generate more business. One of the more popular tools that eBay offers its sellers in the eBay Selling Manager, which is a sales management tool that can help you manage your auctions more efficiently. eBay also offers a more inclusive version of their selling tool, called Selling Manager Pro. Both of these tools do come with a low monthly fee that is added to your eBay statement, unless you run an eBay store, in which case it is free.
Deciding which version of the eBay selling tool you need can be tough. To start out, go for the basic package. You can always upgrade if you find you need to later. At the present time, the basic version is only $4.99 per month, so it won’t put a big dent in your budget. If you have a small to medium amount of sales to manage per month, this is all you need. You also get a 30 day free trial with the basic version, so if you decide it’s not right for you and your business needs, you can cancel before your trial is up and not waste any money.
The Pro version offers more tools for higher volumes of sales. If you have a large inventory to manage, the Pro version is probably a better choice for your business. At the moment, the pro version is just $14.99 per month, and it also offers a 30 days free trial. The basic Selling Manager is also free for basic store subscribers, and the Selling Manager Pro tool is available for free to those with a premium or anchored store.
Both tools have software that needs to be downloaded to be utilized. Both software programs support just about any operating system, so you shouldn’t have a problem with compatibility issues. Once the software is downloaded, your eBay selling links will automatically be replaced with your Selling Manager links, making it easy to use the selling tool with your current selling methods.
The software makes it easy to list and re-list your auctions, view scheduled listings, sold items, and closed auctions. You can track your sales, sent bulk invoices and e-mails to customers, and easily leave feedback for all of your buyers using the software. For record keeping purposes, the Selling Manager also lets you download or import your sale information to your computer or into a new Excel spreadsheet, making it easy to track your sales for tax purposes, or for your bookkeeping needs.
The Selling Manager can make boring and tedious tasks quick and easy to manage. You can keep track of your auctions with ease, and stay in contact with your buyers with the click of a button. This eBay tool makes it simple to manage your eBay home business right from your computer without needing to log into eBay, and can boost your efficiency, working like a dedicated employee for you around the clock
On eBay, Pricing Is Key To Selling Your Items
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, January 22, 2011
On eBay, Pricing Is Key To Selling Your Items
Pricing your items that you want to list on eBay can be difficult for those who have never done it before. List your items too high, and you won’t receive any bidders. List your items too low, however, and you run the risk of not making money – or worse, landing yourself in the negative. If you consistently price your items incorrectly, you can find yourself with little to no business, or owing money at the end of the day. Pricing your items correctly from the get go can severely cut down on how often this happens.
When you have done your research and know what items are popular on eBay, you should know what items you are looking for and their average selling costs. If not, you need to look up the most popular items on eBay by category, narrow down the products that you are interested in selling, and figure out what the average final selling price for each item you are interested in is. When you have a general idea, then you can start looking for where to purchase the item.
Purchasing items to resell on eBay can be tricky. You don’t want to spend too much money up front and risk having overstock that doesn’t sell, but you also don’t want to spend more money on each item by buying less at a time, leaving you a smaller margin of profit. The best route to go is to find an item you want to sell going for at least half the price of what you want to sell it at. This gives you plenty of wiggle room to make money, without setting your starting bid to high.
When you list your items on eBay, list them as low as possible for you to break even. This includes your final value fee, your listing fee, and your shipping costs, along with the total price you paid for one item. If the item you are selling cost you $50, and additional costs, including eBay fees, totals $10, then the absolute lowest starting price for your item should be $60. This way, if only one person bids, you will at least break even on the transaction.
If you are feeling a bit risky, you may even want to list your item slightly lower than what your total costs for it are. Starting your bid lower than the other bids for the same item on eBay can get you more hits, and in turn, more bids. Many sellers often balk at the idea of setting their starting bid too low, but really, these are the sellers who probably see the most money for their auctions. Buyers are drawn to what they think is a deal, and once they get caught in a bidding war, there’s no telling how high the final price could soar.
Be cautious not to set your starting bid too high, or you could effectively drive away potential bidders. Bids that start close to what the final price of the item should be, or bids that are significantly higher than the starting bids for the same items from other sellers, are far more likely to be passed over with no bids.
Cancelling A Listing On eBay
When you are running your own home business on eBay, you may find occasionally that you’ve listed something in error, or someone wants you to split an auction, so you need to cancel a current listing you are running. Cancelling a listing is easy, it’s perfectly okay to do on eBay. There are some things to know before you start, however.
Cancelling a listing is not necessary if you simply need to make changes to your current auction. Simply go in and edit the erroneous information, and it should be updated immediately. If you are making a drastic change, however, you must have no bidders on your auction to do so.
Cancelling an auction simply because the bidding price is not high enough is against eBay’s terms of service, and can get you suspended or banned from eBay if you do so.
If you need to cancel your eBay auction listing, log into your account on eBay. Visit your selling section, and you will see a current list of all the items you are currently selling, both active and inactive. Find the listing that you need to cancel, and copy the item number of that listing. Visit “Related Links,” and choose “More.” You’ll see an option for ending your listing early; this is where to input your auction number.
If your listing currently has bids when you want to cancel it, you have the choice to either cancel all of the existing bids, or award the item to the highest bidder. If you have decided to cancel all of your bids, or you had no bids before cancelling the item, you will then need to explain to eBay why you are cancelling the auction. After you submit this information, the listing will be cancelled.
Reasons for cancelling your eBay auction may include restructuring a listing for a potential buyer – for instance, if you have multiple items in one listing, and a buyer only wants to purchase one of the items, you may want to “split” the auction for them and create a new listing so that they can purchase the single item. There is no guarantee that the buyer will bid and purchase the item, however, so exercise caution, because the potential buyer is not required to bid solely because you created a special auction for them. You may also want to end the listing early to award the item to the highest bidder if you have reached the price you were hoping for, and want to hurry up and ship out the item.
It is also important to note that eBay does not refund the listing fee for cancelled auctions. While you won’t have to pay a final value fee – unless you award the auction to the highest bidder at the time of cancellation – you still have to pay the original fee that you were charged when you listed the item. This is usually very small, but for larger auctions, this may be something to consider before cancelling an auction if you don’t want to lose a lot of money.
How To Make Your eBay Business Seem More Reputable
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, January 20, 2011
How To Make Your eBay Business Seem More Reputable
Your home business on eBay depends on your reputation. Without a good reputation, you’ve got nothing. Your buyers don’t know who you are, they don’t know if they can trust you, and you won’t drum up much business. But when you are just starting out on eBay, building up a good reputation can be tough. It’s a bit of a catch-22: without a reputation, you won’t make any sales, but without any sales, you won’t build up a good reputation. So what can you do to make your eBay home business seem more reputable?
When you are just starting as a seller on eBay, the easiest, and perhaps most surprising way, to build up a good reputation is actually by buying. Starting out as a buyer not only gives you a great way to build up your positive feedback, it helps you better understand the buyer process. When you understand how the buying process works, you can offer your customers better service as a seller.
To get started as a buyer, you don’t have to spend a lot of money. Purchase the things you would normally need to purchase on eBay instead of going to the store. Spending money you would have had to spend anyway won’t leave you in the negative. You can also bid on some cheap auctions to build up your feedback. One you have received the item, be sure to leave positive feedback for the seller to illicit a response. If you don’t receive one after a few days, you can always contact the seller to explain you are trying to build up your feedback so you can start selling. Since they have also been in your position at one point in time, they are likely to return the favor.
Once you have a good, solid list of positive feedbacks under your belt, you can focus your attention on building your customer service policy. Offering your buyers a generous return policy, if only during the start up of your business, can help gain potential customers’ trust. Offer to accept returns within a certain about of time with no questions asked, for a full refund. This will help your customers feel much better about their purchase, if they know they can return it with no hassle if they discover they have a problem with the item.
Work hard to keep your positive feedback up. You can do this by leaving feedback as soon as you know the buyer has received their item, to boost your chances of receiving reciprocal feedback. Give your customers no reason to leave you anything but positive feedback by going the extra mile: offer your contact information directly on your auctions for customers to reach you with questions, and try to add something extra with your own personal touch to each package you send out. As your customers see how far you go to make them happy, they’ll not only leave you positive feedback, they’ll be more than glad to spread the word about your eBay business. A happy customer is the most reputable form of marketing you can receive, so strive to impress every buyer you get, and you’ll see your eBay home business take off in no time.
3 Tips to Avoid Liability For Actions of Your Online Resellers
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
3 Tips to Avoid Liability For Actions of Your Online Resellers
Recent case law confirms once again: if online agreements are presented properly to end-users, they’re legally enforceable.
This continuing trend is good news for websites that contract with registered users though SaaS Agreements, Membership Agreements, Subscription Agreements, Terms of Sale, Content License Agreements, and the like.
Why? Among other things, this means that important legal disclaimers and limitations of liability are legally enforceable.
But what about liability exposure arising out of customer contracts entered into by your resellers? Are you liable for actions of your resellers?
* The Direct Revenue Case
In the case of People v. Direct Revenue, the New York Attorney General in 2008 attempted to nail Direct Revenue for its distribution of software that served pop-up advertising software on consumers’ computers.
Direct Revenue is in the advertising business. It’s software client serves pop-up advertisements to consumer’s computer screens through the Internet. Direct Revenue does not charge fees to consumers. Instead, it charges fees to the companies whose products it advertises.
It’s interesting to note that one line of attack by the New York Attorney General focused on Direct Revenue’s “click-wrapped” (where the user clicks on “I ACCEPT”) end user license agreement (EULA) and Direct Revenue’s alleged deceptive and illegal practices. The court granted Direct Revenue’s motion to dismiss the claims noting that sufficient disclosure was given in the EULA, and the required elements for an enforceable agreement were followed.
Having failed with its first line of attack, New York’s additional line of attack focused on the customer agreements of Direct Revenue’s resellers in an attempt to hold Direct Revenue liable. The result was the same as with the EULA — Direct Revenue was held not liable.
New York conceded that Direct Revenue’s resellers were independent contractors rather than agents. Generally, a principal is not liable for acts of an independent contractor due to the lack of control over how the contractor’s work is performed. In addition, the court noted that Direct Revenue’s software distribution agreement required its distributors to obtain consent of consumers consistent with the EULA and prohibited distributors from holding themselves out as agents of Direct Revenue.
New York argued that Direct Revenue should be liable because it’s servers interacted with the consumers’ computers in the software installation process. The court pointed out that participation in installation was not enough for liability in the absence of participation in deceptive conduct that induced the installation.
Finally, New York argued that Direct Revenue should be held liable for the actions of its resellers on the ground that Direct Revenue ratified the conduct of its resellers. The court ruled that mere knowledge of consumer complaints was insufficient to impose liability on Direct Revenue, especially in light of the fact that when Direct Revenue had actual knowledge of a reseller misconduct, it took steps to remedy the problem.
* 3 Tips To Avoid Liability For Actions of Resellers
Potential liability for acts of online resellers is a major concern of ecommerce businesses which use reseller networks.
The Direct Revenue case teaches us that ecommerce sites may not be held liable for actions of their resellers if these 3 tips are followed:
1. If you transfer anything to a user’s computer, require your resellers to obtain consent of end-users consistent with your EULA – this means consent in clear and easy-to-understand (not deceptive) terms,
2. Prohibit your resellers from holding themselves out as your agents, and
3. If a reseller does engage in misconduct, take affirmative steps to deal with the situation, including termination, if warranted (particularly if the reseller’s actions tend to indicate an agency relationship).
These 3 tips won’t guarantee that you have no exposure, but they’ll go a long way to protecting you from liability for actions of your resellers.
7 ecommerce strategies for standing out in a digital world
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, January 17, 2011
7 ecommerce strategies for standing out in a digital world
Even in a dismal economy internet sales are growing. As people become more confident with ecommerce transactions and savvy with search, selling online just makes good business sense. The drawback is that more and more businesses are vying for a piece of the pie. As your customer reach expands so does the level of competition. The internet is gigantic and your customers are an impatient bunch.
Be unique or go home
That is why it is so important for web marketplaces and ecommerce stores to differentiate themselves from the crowd. It’s no longer sufficient to declare you have the best prices or selection, because the fact is, your visitors can compare these statements faster than you can spell them out on the page. The good news it that technology and creativity now make it easier than ever for small web stores to offer a shopping experience second to none.
Here are 7 ecommerce strategies for standing out in a digital world.
1. Use expanded descriptions, multiple product views to convey the real value of your products. You wouldn’t nail down shirts in a clothing store so why would you only offer one view of your products? This doesn’t have to use elaborate or expensive technology, multiple views, close-ups and live use photos can provide a lot of information other stores don’t bother to share.
2. Invite customer opinion with customer product reviews and real life testimonials. Consider adding customer comments as audio clips. Adding customers audio testimonials can be a simple as taping a phone conversation. (With permission of course) Using audio clips is simple, inexpensive and does not require technical expertise or expensive online tools. By itself an audio testimonial may not make the sale but it is a very effective tipping tool, helping to nudge reticent buyers over their hesitation and into a sale.
3. Offer relevant information that doesn’t sell. You heard me right, give people information for free without trying to sell them anything. Remember that the main reason people are online is to get information -period. That is the primary goal especially before they buy. Statistics show that the longer people stay on your website the more likely they are to buy from your store (even if they decide to buy at a brick and mortar store) Use an irresistible giveaway to capture emails of people not yet ready to buy and use your content to keep them engaged until they are ready.
You can write articles, give teleclasses, offer whitepapers, provide downloads, share interviews, recipes or helpful hints. Make sure the information is informative, entertaining and relevant to your customers rather than a veiled attempt to sell. People can smell hype a mile away and this is the kiss of death online. Always remember your competitors are only a click away.
4. Get into video. A brief welcome message that shares your value proposition can give s a call to action can engage visitors and move them down the buying path. Use videos to educate your visitors on product uses or assembly. Create a short comparing product features or demonstrate the product in use. Keep your videos short (under 3 minutes) and clear. Host your videos on public sites like Viddler or Youtube and post them on your website. Here are a few examples talking about connecting with your website visitors.
It might seem that video clips within product descriptions are a luxury but I foresee video product descriptions as being the norm within 5 years. According to Internet tracking firm comScore’s Video Metrix, Americans watched about 14.8 billion videos in January 2009, or roughly 101 videos per U.S. Internet user. Todays online shoppers are using alternate avenues like YouTube to research product. Get a jump on the competition by giving your online shoppers a bigger experience, not by lowering your prices.
5. Put a face on your store – people buy form people not computers. Yes they use the computer to do it but they want to know there are real people who will back up their purchases, especially with higher ticket items, or products they are not sure they need. This will become increasingly important in a slow economy because buyers are not as willing to risk a purchase if they feel their concerns will get lost in cyberspace.
Consider adding human pictures to your about us page. Include staff picks or reviews and encourage your employees to write on the blog, social media sites and to contribute articles. After all these are the people your virtual customers will interact with. Don’t hide behind a virtual storefront – don’t be afraid to let your customers get to know the people they are buying from.
6. Make sure your online store has a clear value proposition that speaks to your target market. This value statement must answer the question that is on your best customers mind; “Why should I buy form you over the other guys?” If your website cannot convey this critical piece of information then your visitors will definitely miss it. Your ideal customer should immediately recognize that they are in the perfect place when they land on your ecommerce site.
Many online stores resist crafting a clear value proposition that targets a particular type of customer for fear of alienating other visitors. Look at your statistics and you might see that you make most of your money from a niche group or groups. A clear value proposition targets these customers and tells them exactly why you are the best solution to their problem.
7. Use social media to establish relationships and get feedback. Believe it or not your customers are hanging out in communities online. No, you may not visit Facebook or Linked in but social media sites are doubling every year. They aren’t just for teenagers anymore. The purpose of social media sites is to share opinions and interests. Connect with target market through blogs, twitter, linked in, Facebook, Stumbleupon or any of the dozens of niche social media sites.
Your customers are having conversations with or without you so schedule in an hour a week to schmooze online. This is a way to make connections, not sales – keep it authentic , informative and reap the benefits of worldwide word of mouth referrals.
The way people buy has changed forever with internet ecommerce. The world is literally your marketplace and customers can live just about anywhere. Using just one of these suggestions could immediately increase your ecommerce store profits. Now imagine what implementing all 7 could do!
These simple ecommerce strategies can help your online store stand out in a digital world.
Your Shopping Cart Setup: How To Grease the Tube
How is your online shopping cart setup? Does it make the transition from interest to closing the sale slippery so the prospect just slides along and automatically hits the Pay button? Or are there catches along the way which frustrate the client so they end up abandoning the shopping cart?
It is obvious that ‘greasing the tube’ so the client effortlessly glides through the ordering and payment procedure can make a huge difference to your profits. If you just reduced shopping cart abandonment by 10-20%, what would that do for your business?
When thinking about your shopping cart setup, it’s always helpful to compare your online shopping process with your own personal offline shopping experience. When you select items in a shop and make your way to the Pay Desk, what things irritate you or would irritate you? Have you ever selected a number of items and then had to look around for the Pay Desk. If it is hidden in some corner and you go round for 10 minutes trying to find it you know how you feel by the time you get there.
What if the cashier delayed your check out by trying to offer you other items, even trying a hard sell approach? Some may not mind, but I suggest that the vast majority would prefer to just take their items straight to the check out, pay for them, and leave the store to get on to other business.
Is a potential customer’s mindset any different online? Not really. Most people see what they want, and then just want to pay for it, and move on.
With the offline shopping experience in mind, here is a list of key points to bear in mind when considering your online shopping cart setup:
1. If you have “Add to Cart” buttons by each product, be sure to include a “Check Out” button beside it so the customer can easily go and pay for whatever they have selected quickly.
2. Let the customer check out easily with trying to push extra products on them. This is not to say you can’t try an upsell arrangement, but it has to be done gently and discreetly. One main domain registrar I use, mainly their prices are low, does irritate me with the number of options and extra bells and whistles they try to thrust on you before you can check out. At times I have a problem finding the checkout button because the page is so loaded with offers. I find that annoying and frustrating. Perhaps you do to.
On the other hand, Amazon have mastered the art of discreet upselling. Along the bottom of the screen once you have made your selection they gently tell you that other customers who were interested in ‘this’, were also interested in ‘that’. When I buy on Amazon, I don’t get the pressured feeling I do on the domain registrar site. The whole upsell process is carefully and discreetly woven into the shopping cart setup.
3. Make it easy for your customers to change their order. Your shopping cart should provide the option to delete or change the quantity of any item at any time with a convenient button in the cart.
4. Reassure, reassure, and reassure the customer that their ordering information is secure. Briefly explain the security measures you have in place or put badges and certificates alongside that indicate the whole procedure is going through a secure connection.
5. Minimize the number of steps to the final Pay button and make the buttons clear. Don’t confuse the issue with gawdy graphics and unnecessary steps. It’s a good idea to count how many times the user has to hit the enter key or mouse button from the time they add an item to the cart, to the click on the Pay button which actually processes the transaction. Your aim should be to eliminate any unnecessary steps. So within 2 to 4 clicks, the whole thing is finished and the payment is in your account.
If you’ve ever enjoyed a day at a water park with the family and taken a ride down the water chute, you know once you take that first step over the edge, there is no going back! You are on your way. Likewise with your shopping cart setup. Be sure to grease the tube by making the payment process, clean, simple, and as effortless as possible.
Scrutinize every step, familiarize yourself with all your shopping cart setup features, and utilize them fully. Rather than throwing money at more advertising, why not re-examine your shopping cart setup and add to your profits considerably.
Make More Money With Reports and Bundles
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Internet Shopping Cart: Make More Money With Reports and Bundles
Most internet shopping cart software packages come with a host of features. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the potential of your shopping cart. This article examines how to use reports and bundle offers so you don’t run the risk of leaving money on the table with each customer who engages the shopping cart process.
First off, let’s see how internet shopping cart reports can save you money and make you money.
Here are three examples:
a) Filter Sales By Customer
If your shopping cart software allows you to filter the database according to client, you will be able to see where most of your sales are coming from.
You need to extract from the report the volume of sales for each client so you can target this group of customers with special discounts for bulk orders or something similiar.
b) Filter Sales By Date
Use this feature to see if there are specific times in the year when sales volume dramatically increases. You may have a general idea and know which month(s) are the peak sales months.
However, by using a Sales By Date feature you can pinpoint specific times in the year you may not be aware of where sales volume is higher than normal, especially if those times are spread over just one or two weeks. Increase advertising dollars and promotions accordingly at those times and bring in even more sales.
c) Filter Sales By Credit Card
Do you know which credit cards most of your customers are using? Probably Visa or Mastercard. What about other credit cards such as Discover, American Express, Diner’s Club, Delta? What are your merchant account charges for those other cards?
By checking on Sales By Credit Card you will see whether it is economically viable to continue offering those cards as an option relative to the number of sales you get. If it’s not, drop the uneconomical ones and save money.
Surely this underscores the importance of getting internet shopping cart software that provides a robust reporting feature.
Now we will turn our attention to another way you can increase sales and make more money from your internet shopping cart. It involves bundle offers.
An internet shopping cart setup can learn much from the bricks and mortar world. The Happy Meal by McDonalds is an example. Travel agents do it with their package deals. What are we talking about?
Bundle offers or the upsell – an amazingly simple way to increase sales value and revenue yet so under-developed in many internet shopping carts.
Once a customer has already committed themselves to buying you simply add on related items and increase the value.
If for example you are selling exercise equipment, exercise clothing, or body care products could be put together with the original purchase at a discount price to make a Bundle Offer.
Good internet shopping cart software packages should have this feature included with simple setup instructions. Once the client gets to the page that reviews the contents of the shopping cart, the Bundle Offer can appear. The client can then add the bonus items with just one mouse click.
d) Push Without Being Pushy
Carefully choose the wording when describing the Bundle Offer to avoid coming over too pushy which may turn clients off. Don’t just make a slashed price offer. Be sure to emphasise the benefits to the user as well.
For example, “Enjoy a refreshing, invigorating shower after your workout with our exercise equipment, with the all natural, herbal shower gel (brand name). For an additional $x you can have a pack of 5 sent with your order.”
When choosing an internet shopping cart, make sure you have this facility so you don’t leave money on the table.
The beauty of this is that bundle offers don’t really require much extra effort yet they can produce substantial sales over the months. The customer is already in the buy mode, having committed to the first purchase. The second purchase is much easier!
My 7 Secrets Will Teach You How to Sell On eBay For Maximum Profits
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, January 14, 2011
My 7 Secrets Will Teach You How to Sell On eBay For Maximum Profits
If you are looking to make money online to either supplement your current income or as a full time income, learning how to sell on eBay UK is by far the best place to start. This way, one of the hardest parts of running a successful online business has already been done for you. This is marketing. Driving potential customers to your products and making sales. Once you list your products ready to sell on eBay, you have the potential to attract millions of buyers from all over the world, not just from the UK. Worldwide, people spend more time on eBay than any other website!
Where else can you start an online business in just a few hours that allows you to attract immediate traffic to your products? Learn how to sell on eBay and you will find that this is a fantastic opportunity to make as much or as little money as you want. Whoever you are, you can learn how to sell on eBay and make money.
Here are 7 ‘How To Sell On eBay’ tips to help you:
How To Sell On eBay 1:
Your eBay listings must have a relevant title. This is extremely important when learning how to sell on eBay because if your title is not relevant and does not contain the right keywords relating to your product, then eBay buyers searching will not be able to find it. Include all the related keywords you can think of and don’t use up your limited title space with words that are not required.
How To Sell On eBay 2:
Write a detailed description. Make sure that your eBay listing includes all the important details about your product. This might include the size, colour, brand, model number, whether new or used, any special features etc. Highlight the good things about the product but don’t forget to mention if there are any flaws or faults with the item too, but make these less obvious. Learning how to sell on eBay includes being honest in your eBay listing description.
How To Sell On eBay 3:
Spell-check your listing. eBay buyers are put off by listings littered with spelling errors and it looks very unprofessional. When you are learning how to sell on eBay, thoroughly check before you submit your eBay listing and make sure that important points are bold.
How To Sell On eBay 4:
Use good quality photographs. People like to see before they buy. Use a good digital camera and take 2 or 3 photographs from different angles to use as your gallery picture and within your eBay listing. This will attract more bidders and buyers and will help you get more experience as you learn how to sell on eBay.
How To Sell On eBay 5:
Always answer questions from potential bidders. You will receive questions and queries from potential buyers. And you must remember that this is exactly what they are – POTENTIAL BUYERS. Always try and answer any questions that come through eBay messages, within 24 hours, sooner if you can, even if you feel that it’s a silly question. If you frequently receive the same question then post it to your eBay listing so that everyone can see it.
How To Sell On eBay 6:
Be polite and friendly. eBay buyers like friendliness and professionalism from eBay sellers. So, it’s best to be polite and enthusiastic when corresponding, but not too casual. Don’t use ‘text speak’ in your emails as this is very unprofessional, but show a good sense of humour, honesty and politeness.
How To Sell On eBay 7:
Dispatch goods promptly. eBay buyers do not like to be kept waiting! So, make it your business to dispatch all orders promptly, preferably within a couple of days maximum. This is good service and will ensure that you get positive feedback whilst you are still learning how to sell on eBay!
A Phone of Promise, With Flaws
Doesn’t it realize that Apple has a three-year, 70-million-phone, 300,000-app head start? And that Google’s Android phone software has a two-year, estimated 30-million-phone, 100,000-app head start?
And does Microsoft really think that the world needs yet another black rectangular multitouch app phone design?
Well, clearly, the answer to the last question is yes. Windows Phone 7 is new software that Microsoft hopes will run on new phones from various manufacturers and cellular networks. I tried it out on the nearly identical Samsung Focus (AT&T), HTC Surround (AT&T) and HTC HD7 (T-Mobile). Each will go on sale in the coming weeks for $200 (with two-year contract).
The name “Windows Phone 7” is misleading twice. First, it’s not Windows. It doesn’t look or work like Windows, doesn’t run Windows software, doesn’t even require a Windows PC. (There’s an iTunes-like program for loading the phone with music and videos, but it’s available for both Mac and Windows.)
Second, this is not “7.” That number implies some relationship to Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft’s latest phone software attempt, which is corporate, cramped and complicated. No, Windows Phone 7 is most definitely a 1.0 release.
That may sound like a slam. But “1.0” can mean “unfinished” as well as “a fresh start loaded with innovations.” So while Windows Phone 7 shows some real genius, it is missing an embarrassingly long list of features that are standard on iPhone and Android. Ready?
There’s no copy and paste. No folders for organizing your apps. No way to add new ringtones. No way to send videos to other phones as MMS messages. No video chat. No front-facing cameras.
And there’s no multitasking. You can play your own songs while working in other programs, but you can’t listen to, say, Pandora Internet radio.
Sound familiar? These are precisely the features that were missing from iPhone 1.0, too. Furthermore, there’s a search button, but it can’t search your whole phone at once (for apps, contacts and e-mail simultaneously, for example). There’s no visual voice mail. And there’s no tethering option (where you pay an extra $20 a month to use the phone as a glorified Internet antenna for your laptop).
Like the iPhone, the Web browser doesn’t play Flash videos on the Web — but it also won’t play the HTML5 videos that the iPhone plays, or even videos in Microsoft’s own Silverlight format. So, no YouTube, no Hulu, no online news videos.
The e-mail program can’t unify your e-mail accounts into a single in-box. In fact, each e-mail account winds up as a separate icon on your home screen. There’s no message threading.
The calendar can sync with online calendars like Yahoo’s or Google’s. But, incredibly, it can show only one category at a time, like home or work. If you’ve color-coded your life’s appointments, then this feature is all but useless.
The address book has the opposite problem: it displays everyone from all of your accounts, including Facebook, in one long list. If you have hundreds of Facebook friends, they clutter up the list of people you call often. (There’s no Twitter integration at all, only a separate app.) That sounds like quite a lengthy to-do list for Microsoft, and it is. But heaven knows, if any company is famous for its slow, dogged, multiyear, multimillion-dollar approach to software improvement, it’s Microsoft. The company swears that it’s going to make Windows Phone 7 a contender. At the least, it’s safe to assume that it won’t kill the project completely after only two months, as it did with its Microsoft Kin cellphones this summer.
Here’s the thing: WP7 is a 1.0 release in a good way, too. It’s a complete rethinking of app phone software design. Somehow, Microsoft has pulled off the inconceivably difficult task of coming up with a fresh, joyous, beautiful new software design that doesn’t look anything like iPhone or Android.
The WP7 home screen doesn’t have evenly spaced app icons on multiple side-by-side home screens, like Android or iPhone. Instead, you see two columns of scrolling, multicolored rectangular tiles. Each represents an app, a speed-dial person, a favorite Web page, a music playlist — whatever you want to put there. They’re easy to rearrange, organize and remove. (Thank goodness. Microsoft lets cell carriers, like AT&T or T-Mobile, install their own junkware. At least you can delete it on Day 1.)
These big, finger-friendly tiles are also informative. A number on a tile tells you how many voice mail messages, e-mail messages or app updates are waiting. The music tile shows album art, the calendar tile identifies your next appointment, and so on.
A Brief History of Spyware
“Spyware” has evolved in the cyber era as the most dangerous, damaging and menacing technological appliance in current history. It is no aggravation of statement that if you are linked to the Internet, there’s every chance of being affected by this nuisance. So, it is a good time for us to possess a peripheral view about “spyware”.
It was on 16th October 1996, when the word “spyware” was used in the public for the first time. It appeared on the Usenet. Basically it was on an article sarcastically aimed at the business strategies of the global leader Microsoft. Later still, around about the year 1999, its usage was synonymous to spy equipment like microphone bugs or miniature cameras. Later that year in a press release of Zone Alarm Personal Firewall by the Zone Labs Company it was used in the meaning we know it today.
The word “spyware” was an instant hit in the mass media and among the general mass and soon after in June 2000, the first anti-spyware application OptOut was released by Steve Gibson. Gibson planned to market its OptOut for a very competitive price but they faced tough competition from Lavasoft, around the middle of 2000 with their free anti-spyware software version 1.0 offered absolutely for free. Lavasoft’s application was more competent as a spyware removal component and already was performing multi-tasking applications. As a result Gibson had to abscent himself from the race leaving their OptOut with no more development. Nevertheless, OptOut could be termed as the pioneer of anti-spyware applications.
It must be stated that the term “spyware” yields a bit of confusion. Though the word renders a notion of information being send back to certain individuals, not all spyware applications may perform this job. Many computer personnel dealing with data security management prefer the word “malware” in place of “spyware” as it indicates a software that is particularly detrimental to the computer system. Another word “adware” is also popular to specify software applications like keyloggers and Trojans, which are nothing but “spyware” in usage.
According to a once celebrated cyber report, an explicit spyware application was put forward to numerous internet users under the covering of a free, exceedingly user friendly and a mass alluring game software named “Elf Bowling”. This occurrence took place in around the 1999s. At present, and in general, the Windows operating system is the more favorable target of the spyware applications.
A few of the most iniquitous spyware programming are Xupiter, Gator, XXXDial, DirectRevenue, Euniverse, CoolWebSearch, 180 Solutions, Bonzi Buddy and Cydoor. One thing is to be noted. All these applications attack only Microsoft Windows operating systems. Platforms like Linux and Mac OS X are never ever reported to be affected in anyway by these spyware applications.
In October 2004, America Online and the National Cyber-Security Alliance performed a survey. The result was startling. About 80% of all internet users have their system affected by spyware and about 93% of spyware components are present in each of the computers and 89% of the computer users were unaware of their existence. Out of the affected parties almost all, about 95% confessed that they never granted permission to install them.
Legally speaking, spyware cannot be entitled as a virus as it never replicates itself. As a result it remains undetected when anti-virus applications are used. What’s more, you actually agree to be spied upon while you click the ‘I agree’ button on the screen while you install software which contains spyware files (often bundled in). Unfortunately, people rarely read end user licence agreements while downloading and, if they were to read them, the documents are written in legalize. People never refer to a lawyer while doing such things as downloading or installing.
To safely enumerate what spyware actually is, we can easily quote what Dick Hazeleger, famous for his “Spyware List”, said, “Spyware is the name which was given to software that – without the user of the program knowing that the software performs this kind of action – traces the user’s usage of the internet and sends this information – again without the user knowing this is happening – to a computer (”Server”) designated by the developer of the Spyware software. By performing these actions, detailed user profiles may be collected – without the user’s knowledge and approval – which then can be used for commercial or other purposes. By gathering and sending this information both resources on the user’s computer as well as bandwidth on the Internet is abusively used, not to mention the breach of privacy such a User profile would be.”
The state of Utah has already gone a step ahead of others and announced that several tasks performed by spyware would be strictly proscribed. Even the US Congress is preparing to follow the same line of operation. House Resolution 2929–the Spy Act has been prepared to control this menace.
This is what Utah’s antispyware law, the Spyware Control Act, has to say, “… we would not consider any application that uses pop-ups, is distributed through file sharing such as Kazaa or is not removable. Beyond that, we would look for applications that provide consumers value and would be installed on their own if people knew about them. The aggressive tactics of some advertising-supported software has given the whole sector a bad name. But if the software is fully disclosed and doesn’t rely on intrusive methods such as pop-ups, the consumer should have a choice to view ads in return for software. What’s more, the developer should have a right to make money. Beyond these guidelines, the legal risks and moral problems become clear, and legitimate businesses should stay away from these practices.”
At present Microsoft can champion about its anti spyware application release and it is mandatory for the software developers to be certified by the International Charter as Spyware Free.
What Can We Do About Spam?
I receive approximately 5,000 emails containing spam each and every day. Well, maybe not that many, but it sure seems like it. Spam is spiraling out of control and shows no signs of stopping. The question is, where does spam come from, and can you do anything about it?
Most of the spam I receive in my inbox is sexually explicit, but I still like to look at it because some of this junk is actually quite entertaining. My personal favorites are offers to purchase discounted Canadian Viagra, ads for pornographic websites, and bogus work-from-home programs.
How do these people get their grimy hands on your email address? One way they can get it is through opt-in email. When you order something online, as part of the subscription or service that you signed up for, you may have inadvertently agreed to receive offers via email from that company in the future.
As a result, said company adds you to their mailing list and begins to send you email. This is perfectly legal as long as the company provides you with a way to unsubscribe from their mailing list. If they do not provide you with a means to unsubscribe, then the emails they are sending you are considered spam.
To make matters worse, a spammer will sell your email address and any other information you submitted to them to hundreds or even thousands of other companies who are looking for leads. Before you know it, your email address has been circulated everywhere. Once this happens, there is almost no way to prevent spam from reaching your inbox.
Another common way your email address can end up on a mailing list is when an internet marketer purchases a list of email addresses from someone else, and then sends a joke or an interesting cartoon to everyone on that list and asks you to forward it along to all your friends and relatives.
Once you forward the message, the email has a program attached to it that will copy the list of addresses that the message has been forwarded to and send that list back to the person who originally sent you the email. So now, that person not only has your email address, but also has the email address of everyone you forwarded the message to.
Another popular technique is known as harvesting. This is accomplished by writing a simple retrieval program that searches through every web site listed on a search engine for a certain keyword, and then grabs any any email addresses that are posted on those sites, and subsequently sends them back to the harvester. Using this technology, it is possible to acquire thousands of email addresses in an hour or less.
Harvesting has become a legal dilemma. The email marketing community feels that they should be allowed to harvest email addresses that are posted on public websites. In their opinion, if someone has posted their email address for all to see, then other people have the right to contact that person and ask them questions or send them offers.
However, web sites where email addresses are posted have threatened legal action against anyone that harvests email addresses from their site and uses them to build spam lists. Unfortunately, these web sites really have no way to prevent this, and it will only get worse in the future.
We will never stop spam completely. Both big businesses and small businesses have a strong incentive to send bulk email, because it costs nothing, and is a valuable tool for increasing their customer base. Sending regular mail or hiring a telemarketer costs a lot of money and is extremely ineffective. As a result, most companies would prefer to send massive amounts of email. So, expect your inbox to be chock full of spam for many years to come.
Scam Alert: Domain Hijacking
There’s a frightening new batch of scams going around now that can damage your reputation as domain “squatters” steal your domain name.
There are a number of ways the “game” is played. The first is entirely legal, if more than a little questionable. In this version, the name of a city or geographic area is grabbed by a domain squatter and pointed to… “sites that you wouldn’t want your children visiting. (ie: porn)”
A prominent notice is placed on the sites, offering them for sale at prices that range from $2500 to as much as $500,000!
The idea here is that city officials will feel that enough damage is being done to the reputations of their towns that they’ll pay to keep them from being associated with that type of material.
It’s obviously safe to say that it’s not appropriate to pop those kinds of images into people’s faces while they’re looking for info on a completely different topic.
That’s where the pressure on the cities comes from, and why this is such a disgusting scheme.
In essence, the domain squatter says: “Pay us, or continue to watch as your city’s reputation suffers.”
Many would call this blackmail…
The second variation on the theme is not always legal. When someone takes a trademarked name (or variation of the spelling of one) or a famous person’s name, and does the same thing.
For trademarks or close variations, there’s a specific procedure for addressing the problem. (See the resource section at the end of this issue.)
For the names of famous people, there MAY be a remedy. But, it can be tricky and expensive.
For example, if someone named John Jones registered http://WalterCronkite.com and pointed it to one of “those” sites, Walter Cronkite could probably force the domain away from him.
However, if someone named Steve Cronkite registered http://Cronkite.com and did the same thing, Walter Cronkite would have no recourse. It would be very hard to demonstrate that Steve registered the domain in bad faith. And if Steve’s son’s name is Walter, the same is true for http://WalterCronkite.com.
If you feel that your name is likely to be typed into a browser when people are looking for information on you, you should consider getting both the .com and .net versions of the domain if they’re available.
It will cost you a few bucks to prevent the problem. Fixing it, assuming you win, will cost you hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars.
And there’s no guarantee you’ll win.
A third version is a bit more benign. It’s common among members of affiliate programs. In this version, names very close to, or even including, the trademark are registered. The sites are created to drive traffic to the affiliates’ URL at the main site.
This may or may not be acceptable to the affiliate program owner. If it is, it’s a good technique for getting traffic. If not, it could get you into hot water. Check with the owner of the trademark before doing this. Less benign is an alternative version of this technique where someone grabs domain names that are close to the trademark of a competitor and uses them to grab competitor type-in traffic. This is often done by finding out the most common misspellings of the real domain name or trademark. Watch for people doing this with your domain. Here’s the worst version of this — and it can hit anyone if they have enough traffic and don’t pay close attention to when their domain registrations expire.
In this situation, someone grabs expired domain names and points them to “those” kinds of sites. This is a “no lose” for the hijacker, as they will profit from the traffic even if the previous owner doesn’t pay the requested ransom for the domain.
The more traffic the URL gets, the greater the clickthrough value to the hijacker. This means more potential damage to the original owner and a higher ransom to get it back.
In effect, your own popularity is your worst enemy in this case.The solution to this one is simple — and very important: Don’t let your domain names expire!
An Apple Mac: Reasons for Choosing to Own One
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, January 6, 2011
An Apple Mac: Reasons for Choosing to Own One
When people are looking to buy a new computer, whether for work or home use, they tend to opt out of buying an Apple Mac. Choosing an Apple Mac is perhaps one of the most wonderful computer investments you will ever make. There are a lot of companies that offer them at very affordable rates; comparing prices will of course save you a lot of money.
There are a lot of people who later decide against purchasing an Apple Mac because they are a little bit afraid that they may not be able to conveniently connect with others, because they erroneously feel that a Mac is not compatible with other systems.
You will discover that one of the biggest problems faced by people, who would love to buy a Mac to replace their computer, is that they are unsure as to whether they will be able to conveniently transfer data from their old computer to the new one. This is certainly no longer a problem; Microsoft has now allowed their “Office Programs” to be effectively applied to Apple Macs.
Users also have the opportunity to conveniently access other types of popular software programs too. These days you will discover that Apple Macs also come with these three;
- Adobe Photoshop
- Access to iTunes
- MSN Messenger
If you find out that there are certain files you have on your old PC and your Apple Mac does not seem to have the application to use them, fret not. There are lots of programs which are available that can assist you in transferring the files that are quite common for different types of computers to your Apple Mac, utilizing the right type of application.
You need to understand that there are certain programs i.e. Microsoft Publisher (which usually does not allow users to convert their files into an Apple Mac format) – thankfully, Apple has corrected this problem. These days, all the Intel based Apple Macs will allow users to boot up directly into MS Windows and allow users to make the required changes from Microsoft Publisher into an Apple Mac Application instead.
So you see you can get an Apple Mac, not only because it is beautiful and lightweight, but because it will meet all of your requirements whether you are using it at work or at home. Using a Mac is always special and it will keep you stay out of the crowd.
7 Steps to Effectively Take Control Of Your Inbox And Reduce Spam
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
7 Steps to Effectively Take Control Of Your Inbox And Reduce Spam
Everbody hates spam! I am sure spammers hate getting spam too, but they still continue to dish it out. Why? Because it is still effective. Believe it or not, many of us still click on the links or follow-up with the spam message. As long as we continue to do this, spam will exist. If everybody understood this and paid no attention to spam, the spammers will eventually give up because it costs them realy money to send out emails. It is hard to quantify what the cost of sending out one, two or fifty emails is, but 1 million or 5 million emails certainly has a cost that is not negligible. When the payback starts to get so small that the spammers cannot make a decent living, they will find something else to do. This day will come and I cannot wait for it to arrive.
In the meantime, what can we do about it. Well, I am not going to tell you that there is a perfect solution that will stop all spam, but what I will tell you is that there is a way to reduce the problem and manage it effectively using the 7 steps outlined below.
Step #1: Get Your Own Domain Name
Fighting spam effectively starts with getting your own domain name. For example if your name is Andy Williams, you would purchase a domain name called andywilliams.com, which is of course already owned by the famous singer. This has some unique advantages over using an ISP given domain name or a webmail service such as Hotmail or Gmail. It also has some minor disadvantages. Let’s examine these.
One major advantage is that you control the entire email address. You could create emails addresses like andy@andywilliams.com, info@andywilliams.com, sales@andywilliams.com and so on. This is in stark contract to an ISP assigned name like andywilliams@comcast.net. If you wanted another one, you’d have to open up another account or pay extra for each additional ISP assigned address. If you ever decided to switch ISP’s, you would lose that email address and have to start over using a new one, and inform everyone you communicated with about it – a very messy proposition.
Many get around this problem by getting a Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Gmail account which you can access from anywhere as long as you have internet access. These types of email accounts definitely have a place in your email toolchest, but do not suffice as your primary personal email address. One reason is that you do not have access to your email messages and address books when you are not online, like during a long flight. Anotehr drawback is that they do not allow you to export the online address books making portability very tedious.
I prefer owning my own domain name which I call my permanent email address. I will always have this email address as long as I renew this domain name every year. The cost of registering a domain name varies from $4 to $8 per year for most common ones. This is a small price to pay for the advantages it brings you.
The one minor disadvantage of owning your own domain name is that you need to manage it yourself, or have someone do it for you. This in my opinion is far outweighed by the advantages mentioned above.
Step #2: Create Private Email Adresses
A private email address is one that nobody but your inner circle knows about. Every person that you give your personal email address to is someone that you trust and want to receive email from.
Setup one private email address for every person who is going to need to receive messages. This could be you and 5 other members of your family or 12 employees that work for you. This part is quite straightforward, you simply login to your email control panel and create new accounts for each email address that is going to be used to receive email.
Step #3: Create Public Email Addresses As Aliases
A public email address is generally known to the public. It can be specific like andyw@andywilliams.com or generic like receptionist@andywilliams.com.
A public email address is created as an email alias. An email alias is not a real email address, but an address that gets redirected to a real email address. For example, you setup receptionist@andywilliams.com as an alias that redirects to mary@andywilliams.com. Whenever some sends an email to receptionist@andywilliams.com, it will end up in Mary’s inbox. If you change receptionists, you simple modify the redirect for a very elegant solution. You can then publish this public email address on a website, in a brochure, on print advertising, business cards etc. without giving away your personal email address and without having to make much changes if Mary leaves and a new receptionist is hired. This is a huge benefit and maintains your privacy as well as those of others you have created email adresses for.
How does this help with spam, you ask? By using email aliases in a smart fashion, you could very easily shut down any spam that starts coming in. Let’s examine how this can be done.
Step #4: Setup the Default or Catch-all Email Address
Your email control panel will have something called a “default address” or it is also sometimes called a “catch-all address”. This is a valid email address that all unresolved emails go to. If you set this up to be your personal email address for example, then you will receive all emails that are addressed to “anything”@andywilliams.com, this includes sales@andywilliams.com, joe@andywilliams.com, andrew@andywilliams.com etc. Herein lies the secret to combat spam.
Step #5: Create Specific Named Public Email Addresses As And When Required
When you are forced to register on a website where you want to get some information from, you are usually asked for a valid email address. Well guess what, you now have an unlimited supply of valid email adresses. I usually use a specific format when registering at websites – it is “websitename”@andywilliams.com. So if I am registering at a website called www.get-rich-quick.com, I would use the address get-rich-quick@andywilliams.com as my valid email address. When the site sends me an email, it gets redirected to my personal email or whatever the default or catch-all address is.
Step #6: Send Spam Back To Where It Came From, If Possible
Here comes the real bonus, if you subsequently start receiving spam addressed to none other than get-rich-quick@andywilliams.com, you simple create an email alias for get-rich-quick@andywilliams.com and redirect the email back to exactly where it came from, for example georg-bush@get-rick-quick.com. You will then never get another email from anyone using that email address ever again. This is cool and is my favourite part. Bear in mind that spammers usually send email from an address that is not their own, so if you see an address like noreply@get-rick-quick.com, then you would redirect it somewhere else, for example a Hotmail address that you setup just for redirection purposes. Please exercise some discretion here because spammers often use the email addresses of real people and we don’t want these innocent people getting redirected email.
Step #7: Be Diligent In The Ongoing Management Of Your Domain
If you do this diligently for each website where you register by identifying the website name, you will very quickly know which websites are selling email addresses and which ones honor their promise not to share your information. ALl this while, nobody by your personal inner circle knows your private email address.
A real-life example in my case: I use a specific email alias for my Paypal account which nobody but Paypal knows. I have never ever received spam on this address, but I have received hundreds of spam messages on other email aliases that I have created. All of these emails supposedly come from Paypal and address me as “Dear Valued Paypal Member” or something similar, warning me that my account is going to be closed or suspended unless I click on their link and update my credit card information.
I hope that I have given you some food for thought on how to manage the ever growing spam problem by protecting yourself by taking some initiative and getting your own domain name. The added benefit is that you now have a permanent email address no matter where you choose to live or which ISP you use to connect to the internet.
Are Your Websites Secure Or Is The Back Door Wide Open?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Are Your Websites Secure Or Is The Back Door Wide Open?
One of the topics that all of us online business people are aware of but usually don’t feel totally on top of is website security.
Coming from a background of having spent over 20 years in the U.S. military, and having spent four years as a software tester, I have a greater awareness of the need for continuous vigilance in this area than your average marketer.
I also know that you can never make your websites or your computers completely secure. Instead, you can only do things that reduce the risk.
Given that you spend a lot of time, money, and energy, building your online business, it only makes sense that you set aside time periodically to review security related issues, and to look for problems that can be easily minimized.
Here are a few easy “fixes” that you can implement today that will increase the security of your online business:
1) Delete outdated scripts that you no longer use from your server. Many of “the bad guys” have studied the exact same scripts that you use to power your websites, and they know where the backdoors and vulnerabilities are. They know exactly which file will allow them to create all kinds of havoc.
If you have old programs on your server that you are not using, simply delete them.
2) Update older scripts that you are using. Often, the reason that updates are released for a script IS to patch a vulnerability that the developer has become aware of.
YES, upgrading can seem time consuming, and it can be tempting to skip an update, and just wait for the next one. When you wake up one day and can’t access your server, or all of your websites have been defaced or erased, you’ll see the wisdom in ALWAYS keeping the scripts powering your websites completely updated.
If you are as non-techie as I am, you simply hire a trusted programmer to perform this task.
3) Change the default setting when installing scripts on your servers. Many scripts have default passwords, and default locations for critical directories that make these scripts work flawlessly. Since everyone obtaining a copy of these script have these settings, you probably want to change them, and you also may want to rename certain directories.
4) Secure your web logs. Many web hosts have a standard location for the website’s logs and statistics on each hosting account. The files that allow you to access, read, download, and manipulate this data often aren’t secured. At a minimum, password protect that directory.
The danger in someone readily accessing your logs is that they can see the names and paths of the files on your server, including your download pages and the file names of files that may actually be for sale products 
There are not only people who search on your product name, looking for unsecured files – there are also people who enjoy posting those links on sites where this type of information is shared.
5) Put an index page in every directory on your server. If someone surfs to the domain name of one of the directories on your server, and there is no index page in that directory, they will get a directory tree… showing them all of the files in that directory, and allowing them to simply click in a given file name to access it.
Servers can be configured to prevent this, but for many people, the quickest and simplest way to protect their directories from prying eyes is to stick an index page in each directory.
6) Give your download pages hard to guess names. Don’t use urls like YourDomain.com/ProductName/download.html Instead you want to give download pages names comprised of a random sequence of letters and numbers, perhaps stick them in directories not even associated with a given product, or use a “download guard-type” script that gives each customer a unique download link and protects your files.
There are a lots of other things that you can do to easily close common holes in your website’s security. This article barely scrapes the surface, and is intended more to make you aware of the problem, and to get your thinking about it. Make regularly reading articles and reports on the topic a part of your education in how to operate a successful online business.
The Secret to a Speedy Computer
When you purchase a new computer, the speed of your computer is at its fastest. However, over time you will notice that the speed of your computer will begin to slow. The speed of your computer will continue to deplete over time the longer that you have the computer and use it.
However, just because your computer is a few years old does not mean that you need to go out and purchase a brand new computer. Over time, you install and download a good bit of information on your computer. Some of this information is removed over time but it is likely that some of this information is still lurking on your computer’s memory.
For the most part, it is probably safe to say that you do not use everything that is downloaded or installed on your computer. If you do not, then these files are simply sitting in the memory of your computer just taking up space. When these files take up space, they are slowing down your computer. If you do not need all of this information or use all of it, then what is the point of letting it stay on your computer where it takes up space and slows down your computer? If it is not needed or is not used, it is best to remove it from your computer instead of letting it alter the performance of your computer.
A great way to speed up a computer is to remove unused and unneeded information and files. This can be done by cleaning out the registry of your computer. Your registry is like the brain of your computer where all of the files and information is stored. However, if you are not using all of these pieces of information or the files, it is just taking up space in the registry. By removing the unneeded or unwanted files, you are making room in your computer’s registry.
You may not realize how much information is stored in your computer’s registry until you clean the registry out. Once you get a look at how much information is removed, you will realize why the speed of your computer was becoming slower over time. Performing regular registry clean ups on your computer is a great way to clean out your computer of unwanted or unneeded information that may be slowing your computer down. By performing a registry clean up, you are less likely to have trouble with the speed of your computer slowing down.
Who Created Google?
Do you want to know a secret? The answer to the question in the title of this article is me. That’s right, I created Google. No, really, and so did you. You don’t believe me? Okay, maybe that is because you have already heard the story of how Google was created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, PhD’s of Stanford University, and how the concept for Google was born of Page’s dissertation idea to investigate the mathematical properties at work online. It is truly a great story and Page and Brin do get the credit for creating the company known as Google, but they are not solely responsible for the popularity of the company. This is where you and I come into the picture.
Well, before we come into the picture I have to admit the marketing team at Google also played a significant role in the success of Google. While Page and Brin put together the concept behind the page rank system, it is their marketing staff who really helped to promote Google as the superior choice in search engines. The fact that Google produces reliable results is important, but there are other search engines out there such as Yahoo! and Bing that are also doing this, but they are not nearly as popular as Google.
Think about when your friend asks you the name of a song and you can’t think of the answer. Do you tell him to just DogPile it? Do you tell them to Yahoo! it? No, you are much more likely to tell him to Google it. That is because the marketing team at Google has done such an excellent job of branding this company that their name has come to mean search engine in the minds of many internet users. It is the first place many of them turn for any information they want.
Which brings us to why I created Google! Right, it wasn’t just me, you helped too. Page and Brin created the concept their marketing team promoted, but it is the users of the internet who embraced it so wholeheartedly. It is also the users of the internet who have remained loyal to the brand. While other fads on the internet have come and gone, this search engine is showing no signs of losing popularity because the internet users are happy with the results they receive when they use Google.
Cool Combination: Internet And TV
Households without internet and a television set are hard to find. How about the advantages of a combination of the two? Try internet and tv.
It sounds logical to combine internet and tv. Let’s face it, everyone has internet and very few people don’t own a tv. But it’s not so clear for many what exactly the combination of internet and tv really is. Let alone how you can get it and what it takes to install it. It really isn’t that complicated. Promised!
* What are the advantages?
Internet and tv is nothing more than a combination of the two in one package. With a lot of cool perks! For example, you’ll get to know the superb sensation that is digital tv. It’s possible to choose the channels you want to watch. Less costs. But you do need to make sure you’ve got a decent (or at least the one that suits you best) internet connection.
* Can I select the channels myself?
No and yes. With internet and tv you can dedide which channels you want to watch. But they come in packages (choose between two) so you won’t be able to pick out the channels one by one. There’s two packages to choose from; a standard package and a premium package. The standard package contains all the channels you’ve got on your tv right now. The premium package extends the channel offer. Pick for example Eredivisie Live (all the Dutch football games live on tv) a theme channel (travel, cooking) or HD TV. With HD TV you’ll watch tv in a whole new way. Thanks to a higher resolution the colors are brighter, the sounds are better (depends a bit on your stereo though) and everything is sharper.
* What do I need for internet and tv?
One of the most important ingredients has got to be a phone line. Not even a connection to that line (so you don’t need a phone at home) but just the line itself. It should be hidden in your house somewhere, just look for a little box. Then of course, you’ll need an internet connection. But you definitely don’t need to get the fastest, most expensive connection. That depends on what you do online.
* Which internet connection should I choose?
There are severel internet connections to choose from. Make sure you get the right one, in other words the one that isn’t overprized. For internet and tv you don’t necessarily need an expensive, rapid connection. Just think about how you use your internet. Are you online to look up stuff and to send emails? Then the standard connection will do. But are you one of those downloading freaks with several computers at home (several people using the same connection) you should opt for the connection with high download speed.
* What about the installation?
It’s possible to install internet and tv yourself. The user guide is clear and convenient and with a bit of knowledge you should be able to fix things yourself. However, there are always adjusters available if you do need any help. Try it yourself first though! You don’t want to pay a guy that fixes things you easily could’ve done yourself.
Ten Reasons Why Interactive TV Is A Must
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Ten Reasons Why Interactive TV Is A Must
* Not as complicated as it seems
Interactive tv? Sounds complicated but really it isn’t. Interactive tv is a form of digital tv and that means nothing more than razor sharp images with lots of details.
* Better quality and sound
Because interactive tv actually is digital tv, you’ll experience a unique way of watching tv. Brighter colors and a killer sound: everything is clear and it feels like you’re right into the middle of it all. With interactive tv you’ll have the same kick ass quality as digital tv.
* You get to choose
With digital tv you no longer depend on your tv guide. It doesn’t matter anymore if you miss a show or two. With interactive tv you can watch whatever you want, whenever you feel like it. Just the way you like it.
* Create the ideal tv evening
You can now create the perfect evening of television. Just select your favorite shows and/or movies and watch them in the order that suits you best. There’s always something on with interactive tv!
* Pause
You’re the one who’s in control with interactive tv. Walk the dog while your watching? Just pause it! Interrupting airings is possible when you feel like it and you can resume watching. when it suits you. You no longer need to miss parts of the programs you were watching. Just pause and continue, whenever you’re ready.
* Record
Does your partner want to watch the big game but you actually want to watch a movie? No problem, just tape it! You can watch it when the time’s ready. Your time. When you’re ready. That actually goes for that big game as well, but is might be more fun to watch is you don’t know the score.
* No more commercials
Because you can fast-forward through movies and programs, you no longer need to endure those endless annoying commercial breaks. Toilet paper, tampons, shampoo…from now on they’re only in your own bathroom, not on tv!
* Movies on demand
With interactive tv you’ll get the video store right into your living room. Just press the button and there’s a wide selection of new, cool movies. Apart from movies you can choose from the best and most popular tv series as well. No need to go outside on a rainy day. Sit back, relax and watch some movies!
* Missed airings
Although you create your own tv guide with interactive tv, it can still happen that for some reason you miss something on tv you actually want to watch. With interactive tv it’s possible to watch programs that have already aired and you forgot to tape. The main three stations offer their programs from today and yesterday. You can also watch aired programs from other channels, but you need to arrange this yourself. Just adjust your subscription details.
* Participate on tv
With interactive tv you can actually be part of what’s on the tube. Give the answers in a game show, guess the questions during a test; just use the remote control to vote or to select your answer.
ABC’s of RSS
Implementing RSS (Really Simple Syndication) can be aided by an understanding of the terms relating to RSS.
Learn the ABCs of RSS:
A – AutoDiscovery
Auto Discovery is code that is inserted into the header of an HTML web page, which then indicates to readers that an RSS feed is available for the content.
B – Blogs
Blogs are web logs that are updated regularly, usually on a daily basis. Blogs generally contain information related to a specific topic. In some cases, blogs are used as daily diaries about people’s personal lives, political views, or even as social commentaries. The truth of the matter is that blogs can be shaped into whatever the author wants them to be. While initially thought of as diaries or online journals, blogs have evolved into the latest fresh web content.
C – Cache
Cache is a temporary storage area for frequently-accessed or recently-accessed data. Having certain data stored in a cache area speeds up the operation of the computer. Using a cache with RSS feeds will help minimize bandwidth and display an RSS feed’s content quicker.
D – Display
RSS Many webmasters post the content of an RSS feed on their website. They use either PHP, ASP, or javascript for such purposes. If done properly, the feed’s content will dynamically update as the content of the feed changes.
E – Elements
Within an RSS feed, there are various feed elements. The elements of an RSS feed are defined by tags.
F – Filter
Many RSS feeds contain duplicate or similar content. Publishers can filter RSS feeds so that they only see content that they wish to see, by filtering out duplicate postings.
G – GUID
GUID stands for Globally Unique IDentifier. The RSS specification strongly suggests that each RSS feed item have a unique GUID. If you are creating feeds, a GUID is important because GUIDs are often used by feed readers and aggregators to determine if a feed item is new or simply an existing item that has been updated. Each item in the RSS feed should have a unique GUID.
H – HTML
HTML, which is the acronym for HyperText Markup Language, is frequently used to design websites.
I – iTunes Namespace
The iTunes Namespace allows the user to add the information necessary to have a podcast listed on the Apple iTunes Music Store (ITMS). J – JavaScript Javascript can be used to display the content of an RSS feed.
K – Keywords
Keywords should be integrated into the RSS feed to help search engines determine what the RSS feed is about.
L – Links
Links are used to direct RSS readers to the original webpage containing information that directly relates to the feed.
M – Mashup
A mashup is a combination of multiple RSS feeds that have been merged together to create a new, single feed.
N – Namespace Extensions
The RSS specification allows you to create and use your own custom elements (tags) in any RSS feed by declaring your own namespace. Doing this is 100% in line with the RSS specification and the feed will validate. However, you should have a specific and well-planned reason to do so. No RSS readers, or other RSS processing applications, will be able to use your custom info for any purpose. Adding elements (tags) would typically be used only in an in-house situation where both the writing application and the reading application have prior knowledge of the new tags.
O – OPML
OPML, or Outline Processor Markup Language, is a file format standard that can be used to exchange subscription lists between programs. OPML is used as a standard to import or export groups of RSS feed subscriptions. OPML was initially designed by Radio UserLand as a file format for outlines. The purpose of this format is to provide a way to exchange information between outliners and Internet services. OPML has since been adopted for other uses, the most common being to exchange lists of RSS feeds between RSS aggregators. OPML is an open format, allowing other services to extend the format. While OPML was not initially designed as a vehicle to share RSS feeds, it has become the de facto standard. OPML, like RSS, is based on RSS, and because of the similarities, those familiar with RSS have embraced OPML as a way to share RSS feed collections
P – Podcasting
Podcasting is online audio content that is delivered via an RSS feed. Many people equate podcasting to “radio on demand”. However, in reality, podcasting gives the listener far more options than radio does, in terms of content and programming. In addition, podcast listeners can determine their own time and the place for listening, meaning they decide what programming they want to receive, and when they want to listen to it. Listeners can retain audio archives to listen to later, at their leisure. While blogs have turned many bloggers into journalists, podcasting has the potential to turn podcasters into radio personalities.
Q – Query
Webmasters can create RSS feeds based on search queries for their websites.
R – RSS
RSS is a standard format for syndicating content on the Internet. The content can be anything! Information contained in an RSS feed is often syndicated on other sites, which expands its reach. Website visitors love RSS because they choose which feeds they wish to subscribe to. If at any point they are unhappy with the content contained in the RSS feed, they simply unsubscribe and no longer receive notification of feed updates. RSS is really a win-win for both subscribers and publishers. In order to get a better understanding of how RSS works, download an RSS reader or use a web aggregator and subscribe to an RSS feed (they are usually indicated by a small orange icon).
S – Syndication
Syndication is the supply of material for reuse and integration with other material.
T – Template
Many webmasters use templates to layout the contents of their RSS feed and make it match there website.
U – URL
URLs can be embedded into the description of the RSS feed items, so that when the feed is syndicated, the content originator gains backlinks.
V- Validate
Feed validation is important. If a feed is not properly formed, it will not always be valid for reading.
W – Website
Updates RSS feeds can be set up to notify visitors when a website changes.
X – XML
RSS is a subset of XML, or eXtensible Markup Language.
Y – Yahoo Answers
Yahoo’s interactive system of questions and answers can be tracked using RSS feeds. You can create keyword or category feeds for anything in Yahoo Answers.
Z – Zero Feeds
Not having RSS feeds for your website puts you at a competitive disadvantage. RSS feeds bring traffic and help the stickiness of your website.
Choosing the Right Merchant Processor
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Choosing the Right Merchant Processor: What to Look For?
Almost all the businesses today accept credit cards. If your business doesn’t then its high time it began accepting debit and credit cards, as they are being increasingly used by customers to make purchases on account of the convenience factor.
The credit card industry has revolutionized the way people make their payments and are constantly coming out with new innovations like cash-back bonuses, mileage credits, and numerous others to make them more acceptable for customers. Small, online business owners are circumspect about processing sale on a credit card, because they are unsure about choosing the right merchant processor.
Given below are a few tips that would help you select the right merchant processor. So without further ado here they are:
* Your Business Bank can be a Good Option
Your search for a good merchant processor can end with the bank you are doing business with. However, not all banks offer merchant services to start-ups or new businesses. The standard practice of most banks is to avoid offering merchant processor services to a business that has been in operation for less than a year.
However, if you can convince the bank, you can’t choose a safer merchant processor than where you do your business banking.
* Peer Referrals
Choose a merchant processor that your peers might refer to you. A peer might have been using the services of particular merchant processor company for a significant period of time, and hence can give you his feedback and enable you to make the correct choice.
* The Transaction Fee and Percentage
You will find that there is not a single transaction fee and percentage across all banks. The transaction fee and percentage for credit card purchases as well as debit card purchases differ from bank to bank. Do extensive research on the specific rates offered by each bank pertinent to specific cards like MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express etc.
At times various businesses come together through a trade association to negotiate rates with a merchant processor. Herein, the processor might just charge less, as compared to the existing market rates. Explore this opportunity to see if you can get some benefits.
* The Independent Sales Organizations
Try not to choose those merchant processors who act as an agent for an independent sales organization (ISO). Pick an ISO who works with major banks. You won’t go wrong there. Your local chamber of commerce might be able to help you out in this regard or the local board of trade.
* The Primary Bank
Choose a merchant processor who is associated with a big-time primary bank. This ensures good services and timely payments to your checking account, which is an absolutely must for any business.
* Track-record and Clientele
Find out how long your merchant processor has been in business. This should not be your only parameter of selection, but it does give you a good indication of what you can expect from the merchant processor. Moreover, it will be infinitely easier to work with a well-established merchant processor.
You must also try to get some idea about the clients who have formed an association with a particular merchant processor. The more the clients the better it will be. More importantly if the processors have some big clients up their sleeves, then the better for you.
* Contract Length
Most banks would ask you to sign a 3 year contract. If this is the case, then select the services of a bank that gives you good rates with respect to the time frame. Always try and choose the bank that offers you advantageous rates if it asks for a long term contract.
* Manual Processing of Cards
Choose a merchant processor who gives you an option to manually process the cards. This makes for a great convenience if you have a power cut.
* Customer Support
Your merchant processor must be known for its superior brand of customer support. The hours of operation must be commensurate with the hours of functioning of your business. You also might want to get in touch with your merchant processor at odd hours at times, in case of problems. Choose somebody by taking into account all these aspects.
We hope these pointers would enable you to choose a merchant processor who you can have a successful working association with. Study all your options thoroughly before making your choice.
What Does This Mean For Google’s Future?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Google Acquires SocialDeck: What Does This Mean For Google’s Future?
It seems that in recent times, Google has made some mistakes when coming up with new programs. Google Accelerator, Google Answers, and Google Wave are all examples of programs that flopped. And with the recent merger of Yahoo and Bing, Google might be losing its grip on the search engine monopoly. However, it seems that Google may have something up its sleeve. Recent acquisitions reveal that the Internet giant has big plans for their social network platform that is currently under development. And it seems they are taking every measure to ensure that this next project of theirs won’t be a flop, and can even rival social media giant Facebook.
This is evident by the fact that Google recently purchased social gaming developer SocialDeck, which is one of five acquisitions made in August. The popular games created by SocialDeck, such as Pet Hero and Color Connect, are available across a variety of platforms, including Blackberry, iPhone, and Facebook. SocialDeck uses their own social gaming platform technology, which enables simultaneous game play across mobile devices and social networks.
With the acquisition of SocialDeck, Google will be able to integrate SocialDeck’s games into their future social network. In addition, Google is looking to either purchase or work out deals with other social gaming companies which work over multiple platforms, such as Zynga, Playdom, and Playfish, which all currently produce games popular on Facebook, such as Mafia Wars.
It seems Google may have some big plans in store. Chris Morrison of InsideSocialGames.com mentioned the possibility that Google is working on a viral platform for the web and its own mobile devices, like Android. Earlier this summer, Google purchased social application developer Slide, and also has purchased other companies involved in social gaming and other aspects of social networking. Just days before acquiring SocialDeck, Google purchased Angstro, which developed Knx.to, an address book that combines a user’s connections from social networks. Google also has acquired Jambool, which makes “virtual currency,” and visual shopping engine Like.com. Each acquisition is another piece to the puzzle of what Google is planning.
Google’s activity has been generating a lot of buzz over the Internet. Many speculate, “Will this social network,” rumored to be called Google Me, “be the ultimate social network? Will it dethrone Facebook as king of social media?” While the growing popularity of Facebook caused many people to flee from MySpace, there is no guarantee we’ll see people fleeing from Facebook to join Google Me in the same manner, but it’s certainly a possibility. With confusing and ever-changing privacy policies, some Facebook users might be eager to make the transition to a new social network. There are also rumors that the way Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was negatively portrayed in box-office smash The Social Network might turn away Facebook users if they have another option for social media.
While some are predicting success for Google, others are not so optimistic. Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of Search Engine Land, has taken note of Google’s unsuccessful attempts at social media, such as Google Buzz, and doesn’t foresee Google Me as an instant success. He states, “So far, Google’s failed to have a hit in the social-networking space, swinging and largely missing with both Orkut and Buzz. It’s unclear whether a third, new service (or a renamed Buzz) will do that much better.”
Negative press regarding Google Buzz alone has caused some to be doubtful that Google can gain a foothold in the realm of social media. Harry McCracken, the founder of tech site Technologizer.com, believes that the failure of Buzz shows that people may not want their relationship with Google to be a foundation for social networking.
When Google’s social platform emerges, possibly later this year, we’ll see how these applications integrate and whether or not Google will achieve the success it’s after. If Google has made wise choices and can provide a social site that provides users what they want, and has features not found on Facebook, including clear-cut privacy policies, Google Me just might prove to not be another Google Wave.
Tips That Will Help You Easily Locate The Best Netbook Sleeve For You
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, December 17, 2010
Tips That Will Help You Easily Locate The Best Netbook Sleeve For You
Having a netbook sleeve to protect your computer is a smart idea, but locating the best one is not always easy. There are some tips that you can use to help you easily find the sleeve for your netbook that will make your search easier and less time consuming.
The following are the tips that you have to know, remember and use to find the best sleeve without wasting a lot of time:
1. Cost
This is one of the first things you need to consider. It is important to know how much you will be able to afford for a sleeve. Everyone these days is on a budget, so having an idea of what yours is before shopping is definitely smart.
This will prevent you from wasting your time on sleeves you can’t afford, which will cut down on your search time.
2. Your computer or the sleeve
There are many different styles of sleeves these days. This means that one of the first things you need to decide is if you want the design and style on the sleeve, or if you want to find one that is clear that will show of the style and design of your computer?
Sleeves come in many different colors, designs and styles that knowing what you are searching for will save you a lot of time. Many people like the sleeve that you can easily see through so that they can display their computer and also provide protection for it.
You have to decide what you are searching for because this will make it much easier to locate exactly what you want.
3. Take advantage of the internet
Going online to do your search to locate the best sleeve will save you a lot of time. Plus, you can shop from the comfort of your own home when you have time for it.
By using the internet, you will be able to look at your different options for sleeves. So that you can easily choose the type that you want the most, this will help you get a sense of what is available.
Just be sure you look at all your options so you are happy with your final choice. Also, be sure you find one that will protect your computer the best, since that is the main function of these sleeves.
Now that you have these tips in mind, you will not have a hard time locating the best netbook sleeve for you. Start your search now and before you know it, your computer will be protected and you will have a sleeve that fits your personality the best.
12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 16, 2010
12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert
If you’re like me, you probably use Google many times a day. But, chances are, unless you are a technology geek, you probably still use Google in its simplest form. If your current use of Google is limited to typing a few words in, and changing your query until you find what you’re looking for, then I’m here to tell you that there’s a better way – and it’s not hard to learn. On the other hand, if you are a technology geek, and can use Google like the best of them already, then I suggest you bookmark this article of Google search tips. You’ll then have the tips on hand when you are ready to pull your hair out in frustration when watching a neophyte repeatedly type in basic queries in a desperate attempt to find something.
The following Google search tips are based on my own experience and things that I actually find useful. The list is by no means comprehensive. But, I assure you that by learning and using the 12 tips below, you’ll rank up there with the best of the Google experts out there. I’ve kept the descriptions of the search tips intentionally terse as you’re likely to grasp most of these simply by looking at the example from Google anyways.
* 12 Expert Google Search Tips
1. Explicit Phrase:
Lets say you are looking for content about internet marketing. Instead of just typing internet marketing into the Google search box, you will likely be better off searching explicitly for the phrase. To do this, simply enclose the search phrase within double quotes.
Example: “internet marketing”
2. Exclude Words:
Lets say you want to search for content about internet marketing, but you want to exclude any results that contain the term advertising. To do this, simply use the “-” sign in front of the word you want to exclude.
Example Search: internet marketing -advertising
3. Site Specific Search:
Often, you want to search a specific website for content that matches a certain phrase. Even if the site doesn’t support a built-in search feature, you can use Google to search the site for your term. Simply use the “site:somesite.com” modifier.
Example: “internet marketing” site:www.smallbusinesshub.com
4. Similar Words and Synonyms:
Let’s say you are want to include a word in your search, but want to include results that contain similar words or synonyms. To do this, use the “~” in front of the word.
Example: “internet marketing” ~professional
5. Specific Document Types:
If you’re looking to find results that are of a specific type, you can use the modifier “filetype:”. For example, you might want to find only PowerPoint presentations related to internet marketing.
Example: “internet marketing” filetype:ppt
6. This OR That:
By default, when you do a search, Google will include all the terms specified in the search. If you are looking for any one of one or more terms to match, then you can use the OR operator. (Note: The OR has to be capitalized).
Example: internet marketing OR advertising
7. Phone Listing:
Let’s say someone calls you on your mobile number and you don’t know how it is. If all you have is a phone number, you can look it up on Google using the phonebook feature.
Example: phonebook:617-555-1212 (note: the provided number does not work – you’ll have to use a real number to get any results).
8. Area Code Lookup:
If all you need to do is to look-up the area code for a phone number, just enter the 3-digit area code and Google will tell you where it’s from.
Example: 617
9. Numeric Ranges:
This is a rarely used, but highly useful tip. Let’s say you want to find results that contain any of a range of numbers. You can do this by using the X..Y modifier (in case this is hard to read, what’s between the X and Y are two periods. This type of search is useful for years (as shown below), prices or anywhere where you want to provide a series of numbers.
Example: president 1940..1950
10. Stock (Ticker Symbol):
Just enter a valid ticker symbol as your search term and Google will give you the current financials and a quick thumb-nail chart for the stock.
Example: GOOG
11. Calculator:
The next time you need to do a quick calculation, instead of bringing up the Calculator applet, you can just type your expression in to Google.
Example: 48512 * 1.02
12. Word Definitions:
If you need to quickly look up the definition of a word or phrase, simply use the “define:” command.
Example: define:plethora
Hope this list of Google search tips proves useful in your future Google searches. If there are any of your favorite Google expert power tips that I’ve missed, please feel free to share them in the comments.
Find Out What Makes A Good Backup Software
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Find Out What Makes A Good Backup Software
If you store valuable information on your computer, it is wise to use backup software. System backup software stores information you have on your computer. It is like having another copy of everything that you keep on your computer.
Performing data backup software is especially useful when your work is done on a laptop, whether at the office or at home. So, in case something bad happens to your hard disk, the information on that drive can be restored, once the drive is fixed or replaced, with your back up files.
The concept of retrieving the data you saved on your laptop is the primary benefit you can get from pc backup software. This is very important particularly in corporations and business enterprises that view information as revenues. Losing data can cost millions of dollars.
Having backup software enables you to save time. Imagine the amount of time you can save if you use software to backup all files, programs, and special applications on your computer and then the next day your hard drive crashes. There is even an automatic backup software that immediately performs backup whenever new data is saved on the hard drive or whenever you have set a backup schedule.
The backup software is compatible with different media and devices. However, if you choose a built-in software, the capability of doing backup is limited. External software allows you to conveniently do backup on your data to any device, optical media and storage systems. You can even initiate partitioning tasks with backup applications. Thus, you can zip your data into smaller bits and store them in many media.
Almost all backup software is capable of encryption. Many of the best backup software available in the market can automatically encrypt your data during transfer and backup operations. Hence, you can have the confidence to transfer files onto another disk drive without worrying about data leakage. Encryption is essential, if you are transferring data to a web server.
Backup software comes in many types to meet the varying needs of the persons and enterprises. For example, there is specifically designed enterprise backup software. Depending on the operating system you are using, there is software that is compatible for your computer.
So, if you are using windows, you can enjoy the benefits of backup using windows xp backup software, vista backup software, windows server backup software and Microsoft backup software. There is also linux backup software for linux operating systems.
For remote operations, choose the appropriate remote backup software or offsite backup software. If you are transferring files to a web, it is good to have the online backup software. Data recovery is a feature of backup software that is very convenient.
In case of disasters, your data is not lost. It can be retrieved and restored back into your systems as if nothing happened. The best software does not even require special hardware or complicated software to make things happen the way you should want them to be.
For more information about the backup software that best suits your need, check out the web for resources. You can also read reviews on products , forum discussions and articles.
Blogging: What Is It All About?
Blogging is hard even if you’re a natural or trained writer. It’s difficult to write and write well on a consistent basis, let alone every day. It is all about sharing knowledge and experience. Thus it is important, that you must have lots of knowledge relevant to your blog niche.
Blogging is an art form in its own and is a valuable resource in this day-and-age. Print media simply CAN NOT keep up with the digital world (or the public’s demand) and for a company that, as the author has pointed out, has tons of money invested in blogging, it’s pretty damn stupid to go and insult that which gives you money. It is still the center of the social media universe. Now you could easily argue I am a bit biased on that point but the facts support the argument. Blogging is much closer to the informal discussions you have in the hallway or via email than it is to peer-reviewed papers. We have to convince faculty members (and other people involved in science) that blogging is the new email.
Blogging is the perfect small business marketing tool. If you’re selling and gaining leads via the web, then the web is also your main marketing super-channel. It isn’t just a hobby, it’s a way of experiencing the world. Blogging isn’t dead in my eyes. I think a person’s first instinct is to give up if their blog isn’t popular, but all it means is that they have to get better.
Blogging is often taken as informal writing. While this may be true, it does not mean that it is okay for a blogger to disregard writing rules. It is about not following a form, but making your own form. To all those bloggers out there who say you “have to be a niche blogger” in order to be successfull I say . Blogging is not for the faint of heart!
Blogging is one of those things which has inserted itself into American culture whether we like it or not. According to the BlogWorld site, of the 147 million Americans who use the internet, almost 40% of them read blogs. Blogging is a GREAT way to achieve that level of communication. Blogging is a reflection in the mirror of what we want to show to the world. For the most part, blogging is about us.
Blogging is not a unique concept, its simply one of the oldest concepts applied to HTML rather than pen and paper. In this matter the buzz word blog and ever possible tense there of are nothing more than keeping a journal and using HTML rather than Pen and Paper to do it.
How To Eliminate The Lag In Your Computer?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, December 12, 2010
How To Eliminate The Lag In Your Computer?
Technology has definitely came a long way. With all of the advancements in technology, it seems really ridiculous to experience computer problems. But, that is the problem with technology, it is not perfect. Since technology is not perfect and we do experience troubles with it from time to time, we should look for ways to fix it rather than hope for perfect pieces of technology. Fortunately, this is a much more logical expectation. If you are experiencing a lag in your computer, do not get frustrated with technology. You do not need to shrug it off to the age of the computer. Purchasing a new computer is not the only solution. There are ways to fix the issues with technology.
A lag in your computer can be the result of multiple different things. However, you do not need to assume that you will need to get out a check list and spend hours going through the possibilities. The most common thing to do is assume that it is one of the common reasons and solve that first.
The most common reasons for a lag in a computer is due to the following things:
- The computer has little to no storage space left.
- The computer has a slow speed that is likely continuing to decrease over time.
- Or it could be a mixture of both options.
Regardless of which option it is, neither of them are good for your computer and if it is both possibilities, then that definitely is not good for the computer. However, they are both quite fixable. The easiest way and quickest way to deal with these two possibilities is to perform a clean up scan on the computer’s registry.
The clean up scan is a scan that will be conducted on the computer’s registry. Just like the name of the scan, it will “clean up” the computer’s registry. This means that any information located in the registry of the computer that is no longer used or needed will be removed in order to make more space in the registry. With more space being freed up in the registry, it also means that the speed of the computer will increase. If any information stored in the registry is found to be broken, the scan will also notify the user and allow repairs to be made to the broken files. The clean up scan should be done once a month.
How to Avoid Four Surefire Ways to Kill Your Brand
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, December 11, 2010
How to Avoid Four Surefire Ways to Kill Your Brand
There are no guarantees of success when developing a modern brand. There is no switch that will pour out money, there are no stunts that will automatically create attention, and there is no how-to manual that, if assiduously followed, will assure your brand’s place in the annals of the great Internet legends. Brands are driven as much by the customer as they are by the originator, and the customer doesn’t always want what’s being sold.
That said there are certain behaviors and practices that are guaranteed to kill a brand, virtually without fail. There are always exceptions to the rule, but by and large you can at least count on these ‘do nots’ as fairly ironclad rules. What follows are four ways you can miss the point, and some advice for avoiding them.
Misfire #1 – Number Chasing
This may feel like a complete turnaround from previous articles. After all, we’ve discussed metrics and their usefulness in measuring success, haven’t we? Surely the larger an audience the better a brand is doing.
The problem with this logic is that it confuses the goal with the measurement. Instead of focusing on satisfying customer demands for particular content or a certain product quality, the company focuses on making sure web traffic stays high. This kind of thinking disconnects you from the actual cause-and-effect of working on the product you’re pitching, and creates an artificial reality that will do your brand no good.
As a rule of thumb for avoiding this behavior, consider the way you set goals. If you find the goal focusing on increasing audience numbers or some abstract figure instead of refining your core product, it’s time to re-evaluate.
Misfire #2 – Going by Rote
Part of maintaining a modern brand is providing regular content. Updating frequently enough to maintain viewer interest is vital for any service, and making sure the physical product is advertised for the public’s awareness is equally important if sales are the goal.
That said, there is a problem inherent in a scheduled updating system that can sneak into the provider’s routine. Specifically we’re speaking of the tendency to update without purpose. You see it frequently on twitter or certain blogs, where the provider is strapped for ideas and just posts a bit of airy, fluffy filler because ‘it’s time to post.’ While this does meet the customer’s expectation, this can work against you, as it leaves a bit of the ‘what was the point?’ question in their minds.
Instead, consider missing out a day if you genuinely don’t have content to provide. It happens, there are slow days for everyone. Missing the routine for a day will give you time to pull up some new content, and when the audience chimes in and sees there isn’t an update, they’ll be curious and more likely to check back the next time.
Misfire #3 – Fadding Out
The difference between a movement and a fad is that a fad sits on the surface of things, changing very little; whereas a movement alters the very basics of how the world functions. ‘Virtual Reality’ was a fad. People hyped it up, but there was no way the majority of people were going to shell out thousands for VR systems and their ten-pound headsets. Twitter is a movement, having developed a broad appeal and fundamentally changed the way people think about spreading information.
We have spoken of the need for innovation and the ability to take risks in brand development, and these things are still true. However, how innovative is it to jump on board something someone else has created? Instead of following the trends, focus on what your brand needs and how it functions. If adding in an element makes sense, do so without hesitation. If you have to force it, forget it.
Misfire #4 – Losing Focus
At this point it’s virtually ancient history, but there is a lesson for modern brand development in the Video Game Crash of the 1980s. The short of it is that every single company worth mentioning decided video games were the future, and opened up a video game division. They launched these efforts without any serious dedication to the craft of game design, and some succeeded while others failed. The most bizarre entrant was Quaker Oats, the people that make oatmeal. The result was a complete disaster.
What business would an oatmeal company have making games? On the surface, any business they desired. Perhaps it was always their secret passion, who knows? However, they lacked any serious experience in the venture, and you probably can’t find ten people out of a thousand who remember what game or games they put out.
Focus on your message. This ties in with the idea of fads, but warrants its own point. If you have to stretch yourself or come up with a new department to accommodate a new idea, it’s time to sit down and decide just how essential this idea is to your core message.
How to Resolve a Corrupt File?
Have you ever went to open a file on your computer only to receive an error message instead of the folder and its contents? Corrupted files can happen to anyone, but that sure does not make them any less annoying. A lot of times, when an individual receives an error message regarding a corrupt file they give it up for lint. Instead of trying to solve the problem with the file, they just chalk it up as a lost cause. However, you no longer have to do that. It is possible to get passed the annoying error message regarding the file.
Fixing a corrupt file can be done by just about anyone thanks to registry clean up scans. A registry clean up scan is a scanning procedure of your computer’s entire registry.
- The scan will go through the entire registry until it locates the file that is corrupted.
- When the file is located, the registry clean up scan will prompt the computer user of the find.
- The prompt provided by the computer will provide crucial details regarding the file and the problem with the file.
- You can choose to resolve the problem with the corrupt file through various different ways. How you choose to fix the problem is entirely up to you.
- Most registry clean up programs will provide you with a brief understanding of what each choice means and how it will effect the computer. This will allow you to choose the choice that is best for you and your computer.
You do not need to worry about manually going through the registry since the scan of the registry is an automated scan. There is an option to manually scan the computer’s registry but that option is reserved for individuals who have an extensive knowledge of computers.
There is no need to panic about knowing whether or not you are making the right choice since the vast majority of registry clean up scanning programs will provide you with a brief bit of information regarding your solution options. You can read over your options and determine what each option will mean for your computer and that particular file and base your decision off of that. There is no need to be a computer expert with this program. It is easy enough that a person with a limited knowledge of computers can operate the program. All you have to do is take some action !
Dedicated Server Hosting in UK
Dedicated server hosting is a form of website hosting protocol that is specifically designed and implemented to run the services of only one particular client. This form of server hosting is essential for organizations that wish to keep their online activities robust and have them running smoothly 24×7.
One of the issues that arise with website hosting is caused not by the creation of the site itself, but by the actual implementation i.e. the web server. This is because there are several factors involved. For example: The type of server on which the server sits; the server installation & build, monitoring the operational status and carrying out regular maintenance work. Here, IT firms have the upper hand as their employees generally have the desired skill set for carrying out these jobs. But what can non IT organizations do? Hiring dedicated network administrators for this job might not always be in the interest of such businesses. This is why it may be a good idea for them to outsource such services to dedicated server maintenance firms.
* Shared versus Dedicated Server Hosting in the UK
The world of web hosting is divided into two categories, shared and dedicated. Here, shared server hosting means running several websites on a single server. This implies the sharing of vital hardware resources such as network connectivity, CPU speed, memory and disk access. To maintain equality, certain restrictions are placed on the extent to which such resources can be used by any particular website. Despite this, such websites are sometimes unable to perform effectively. Data loss, slow response rates and long load times are some of the common drawbacks.
Dedicated server hosting does away with all the shortcomings of the shared format. Here, the whole server is designed to support only one business client and their website. This means that the network port and processing power are focused on a single role. However, these servers can be a little bit more costly than the standard shared models.
So, which server hosting is best suited for your website? The budget is probably the first parameter that can help answer the question. You will also have to consider the expected net traffic the website will attract daily and the level of security that you need to provide to them. For organizations that wish to use the website for advertisement of the online sale of products and services, dedicated server hosting is a serious option.
* Factoring the Cost in Managed Dedicated Servers
Assuming you decide on dedicated server hosting for your website, you then need to choose how to look after your server’s needs – its configuration and maintenance. Without in-house technical resources to call on, managed dedicated servers could be the perfect solution.
With these servers, you decide on the server that meets your requirements (for the non-techies, a good hosting company will help you decide which server is best). A service contract is set up and then, the rest is handled by the server management team.
Here are some of the benefits of using an organisation providing dedicated server hosting in the UK:
• state of the art systems with redundancy features to provide 99.995% uptime.
• 24/7 support ticketing for server management issues.
• Secure and resilient hosting.
• Using economies of scale to provide high levels of equipment and services (such as high speed communication links) not normally available to small businesses
However, hiring all these services might mean paying a good amount of money each month. So, what can you do if you have a limited budget? Cheap dedicated servers are the best option for you. Here are a list of options you might want to look out for:
• Processing Power: Either a quad or dual core CPU
• Connectivity of 100Mbps – capable of supplying 300,000 typical Web pages each hour
• Protection against disk failure (uses RAID technology)
• Your chosen web platform may be limited to specific operating systems, so at least one of these should be supported by the dedicated server
• The option of monthly billing, which makes it easy to budget for and to spread the cost
As you can see, the word ‘cheap’ is relative in this case, as even these servers can come packed with power.
Several Reasons to Buy Your Gifts Online
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, December 6, 2010
Several Reasons to Buy Your Gifts Online
These days, online shopping is increasingly becoming a preferred method for a lot of people, and for good reason. The internet has certainly provided an effective avenue for local as well as international consumerism to flourish and now, it is continuing to be an amazing tool for sellers as well as buyers.
If for instance you are looking to purchase a gift for someone special, you might want to buy your gifts online. Here are the top 4 reasons why you should:
* Wide Variety in Product Choices
The internet is a veritable marketplace for a lot of products and if there is one thing you can expect from it, it is that there is a plethora of choices from which you can choose. Regardless of the type of product you are looking for, you will get the chance to pursue as many of its kind as possible.
* Budget Friendly Prices
Just as online shoppers have the opportunity to choose from among a wide product selection, they can also choose affordable gift items that suit their budget. If you are looking to spend as little money as possible, online stores would be the perfect place for you to shop. You would also be pleased to know that there are several deals you can score if you know which websites to go to..
* Convenience in Shopping
While it can be fun to purchase gift items at the mall, not everyone has the time to do it, especially when you have a full time job and other responsibilities. With online shopping, all you need to do is enter the site and check out the available products they have available. When you are done choosing, a few clicks will finalize the transaction. In addition, you do not have to carry items home with you because everything will be shipped to you within a day or two.
* Tips
When purchasing items online, you have to take advantage of the choices. That is, it would be beneficial if you compare product quality as well as prices before making a decision. Shop around first and see what else is being offered so you can get the best deal there is.
Buy only from reputable online sites. Keep in mind that you run the risk of getting sub standard products if you are not careful in choosing which online stores to buy from.
In all, shopping for gifts online can be incredibly rewarding not only for you but also to those whom you will give the present.
The Ebook Revolution
Electronic books or ebooks as they are commonly known, are “books” published in digital format. Files that you can immediately download to your computer or just save on your desktop. Green publishing. Instant information. Now any author can publish! You can shop virtual book stores at any time of the day or night and have the information you need instantly.
You might be wondering “Why would I buy information when everything is available for free somewhere on the Internet?” Well why would anyone buy a paper book? Simply value! Your time is valuable. Yes, almost any information can be found somewhere on the Internet…but you have to do the hours of work. Searching, Sifting, then compiling all that information and that takes a lot of time and effort. After all that work you may not find exactly what you’re looking for anyway. You buy information, whether digital or on paper because of value. Exactly what you’re looking for when you need it. Someone else has done the research, the writing, and organizing of the information you need now. That’s value!
Another big plus for ebooks:
Ebooks can be multimedia! If you’re looking for lessons, like guitar, voice or even cooking, you will find ebooks that incorporate audio, video and pictures in addition to the written part of the book. Think of the possibilities! For example, if you’re a parent or a teacher…
A teaching program has been created, lets say math or reading lessons for young children using multimedia. You buy the ebook or eprogram and use it to teach your child or students. Now kids who don’t learn as well from audio lessons, have visual help too. If the student learns better through reading, there it is. All learning styles are supported. Yes, a teacher might have the ability to create their own ebook, but if they don’t have the time or inclination to make videos, create audio, and write the ebook, the one time purchase of an ebook or program already done will be a godsend and can be used year after year for one low cost! That’s value!
Music lessons are another perfect example. Audio, video, print. All combined to help you learn. Sure, if you want to learn the piano you will no doubt find free videos on YouTube, or posted somewhere on the Internet, but how good are they really? Or you can pay $40. (or more) for each private lesson. However, if you can get a beautifully put together, comprehensive, structured lesson plan that will take you through the process of learning with audio, videos and printed lessons that you can review again and again for under $50 bucks…well, that’s value!
There are ebooks written on every subject imaginable. From cooking to home remedies. Lessons, directions, information.The information you need when you need it. Another great thing about ebooks is, when purchased through a responsible third party such as Clickbank your purchase is always guaranteed and can be refunded if you find the information is not what you need, or you feel it’s not useful. It’s much harder to return a printed book to a major bricks and mortar bookstore if it can be returned at all.
Ebooks are an exciting new way to learn what you want and need to know. Epublishing is opening up amazing possibilities to writers looking to publish. A wave of creativity and knowledge is coming our way!
Increase Conversions by Decreasing Shopping Cart Abandonment
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Increase Conversions by Decreasing Shopping Cart Abandonment
A Checkout process can be a number of steps, and each step is its own little mini-conversion. You really want to know where in the shopping cart process folks get frustrated enough to say goodbye, because that’s the point where the carts conversion process is failing. If you’ve got a tidy little cyber shop and still want to improve your shopping cart abandonment rates, then here are some ideas on how to fix your cart:
1. Check how many steps are in your checkout process
This is usually a prime knee-jerk target for results. But we have found that whether you have one step, or seven, it is not all that critical. We had one client whose checkout process we were able to bring down from six steps to one, but there was no correlation in reduction of the abandonment rate to the number of steps. Once people found what they came for, they found a way and the time to checkout no matter how many steps were involved. Should you change the number of steps? No. It may not be worth the time, effort, and expense of trying to reduce the steps in the checkout process. Try some of these other ideas first.
2. Include a progress indicator (e.g., step 2 of 5) on each checkout page
No matter how many steps you have in your checkout process, keep shoppers oriented by letting them know exactly where they are in the checkout process by step number. Be sure to clearly label the task to be completed at each step. Always give them an opportunity to review what they did in the previous steps and a way to return to their current step if they do go back.
3. Provide a link back to the product
When an item is placed in the shopping cart, include a link back to the product page, so shoppers can easily jump back to make sure they have selected the right item. Your own experience probably parallels ours. Recently, while shopping for a CD/DVD printer, we wanted to know how many and what color cartridges come with the printer. It wasn’t obvious where we should click to review what came with the printer, so we had to navigate using our “back” button until we were able to get our questions answered. Not all consumers are willing to take on this navigational challenge and choose, instead, to abandon their carts.
4. Add pictures inside the basket
Just as adding a link back to the product details page inside the checkout process reduces abandonment, placing a thumbnail image of the product inside the basket can increase conversions by as much as 10 percent.
5. Provide shipping costs as early in the process as possible
If possible, provide an estimated cost while they browse. Your visitors want to buy; they just want the answers to all their questions, when they want it, and total cost is one of those critical questions. Also, if the shipping information is the same as the billing information, include a box that shoppers can check to automatically fill in the same information. Don’t waste their time while testing their keyboard skills.
6. Show stock availability on the product page
Shoppers should not have to wait until checkout to find out that a product is out of stock. One thing that we also like to see is “Estimated Delivery Date” or this product usually ships in x days. Deal with the “I want it now” mentality, and let them know when they should expect to get their product.
7. Make it obvious what to click next
Include a prominent Next Step or Continue with Checkout button on each checkout page. If possible, give the shopper a visual cue as to where they are in the process. Make the button you want them to click next the most obvious. One Top 50 e-tailer mistakenly placed visually similar Remove from Cart and Checkout buttons right next to each other. As you can imagine, many people click before they read. At this site, they ended up clearing their cart. And when they want to checkout and found nothing in their shopping cart, they immediately abandoned the site in frustration.
8. Make it easy for the shopper to edit the shopping cart
If a product comes in multiple sizes or colors, make it easy to select or change values in the shopping cart. How many times have you bought a pair of trousers online, and wanted the same shirt in two different colors? Make it easy for your consumers to add to and edit the contents of their shopping carts. It should be simple to change quantities or options or to delete an item from the shopping cart.
9. Make it your fault
If information is missing or filled out incorrectly during checkout, give a meaningful error message that is distinctly visible. It should clearly tell your visitor what needs to be corrected. The tone should intimate that the system was unable to understand what they entered, not that they made a foolish mistake.
10. Make shoppers aware that you are a real entity
Checkout is the time when peoples concerns start to flare up. Let them know you are a real company by giving full contact info during the checkout process.
Look out for part 2 of Increase Conversions by Decreasing Shopping Cart Abandonment, where we have another 10 top tips for you to increase your conversion rates.
Choosing the Right One for You: Video Conferencing or Telepresence
Sometime, there is a level of confusion between the terms – video conferencing and telepresence. The line of distinction gets blurred, as web conferencing technology continues to improve. It is easy for inexperienced persons to get confused with the various collaborative technologies. There are a number of factors that must be explored for a balanced assessment. For instance, image resolution, bandwidth requirements and connection stability.
* Which is Better?
Since being introduced in 2006, telepresence has gained momentum in the communications field. It seeks to create a more immersive experience than that offered by video conferencing or web conferencing solutions. Many business people are satisfied with the video conferencing hence they consider it as a highly evolved technology than telepresence. With the help of large screens, participants are presented life sized and it is the combination of both video and audio communications between two or more end users.
Ultimately selecting one over the other depends on the end user’s requirements. There is wisdom in using an online collaboration solution that grows as the company grows, hence the popularity of web or video conferencing. For smaller companies the cost of telepresence technology is prohibitive. There are efforts underway to develop reasonably priced options to capture all segments of the market.
Telepresence might be the best option for the people who consider “immersive” aspect vital to the success of a meeting. Users of video conferencing are generally happy with their choice, notwithstanding the possibility of connectivity and image quality issues.
The only real option that successfully combines the best of both worlds is web conferencing. These two options are seen as appealing to different sectors of the market often. Nonetheless, both online meeting options serve the same but bit differently. Web conferencing not only allows interactive web conferencing, it enhances it with a number of useful features such as:
- Whiteboards
- Application sharing
- Meeting recording
- Remote access and remote support
While companies like RHUB Communications have helped to define the communications landscape, some end users still have questions. This company and other providers have delivered quality web conference solutions that are easy to use, reliable and help to cut costs.
Learning How to Make Money Online
When you begin learning how to make money online you must first have goal. Without a clear goal in mind you will find it difficult to set targets, and without targets you will find it more difficult to make money. That is why all businesses have a gaol and set regular targets that are the subject of business plans.
It has often been said that a failure to plan is a plan to failure, and nothing could be truer. As a simple goal, decide how much money you want to make in your first year. You could be silly and decide on a million dollars, but you are unlikely to achieve that, so be realistic: say $75,000 in your first year.
You can then break that down into monthly amounts, starting small and increasing each month, which will give you the basis of your targets. You should then plan how to meet these monthly targets. That is a good sound basis of a strong business.
However, you now have the problem of how you are going to make that money. There is a large number of ways in which you can make money online, some of the most popular being|:
1. Creating your own product or service
Perhaps you have a skill or specialized knowledge that others will pay for. You might be a children’s entertainer or a hypnotherapist. Perhaps you can write en eBook about breeding dogs, or make a video series on maintaining your own car.
I know of one person that made a fortune by making series of short videos of how to carry out simple household maintenance tasks, such as changing an electrical plug, changing a tap or faucet washer, and even putting in a new sink and laying a carpet. A simple idea, yet something that had a massive customer base. Think of all those women living alone, or even guys that don’t know why a screwdriver has a flat end.
Think of what you are good at, or what you have knowledge of, and work out a way of packaging that knowledge or these skills in a way that would sell. I am a good writer, and make money online writing articles to help others to promote their websites.
2. Sell somebody else’s product
If you are unable to produce a product of your own, then sell somebody else’s. Everybody trying to learn how to make money online has heard of affiliate marketing, even if they don’t recognise the word. Affiliate marketing is selling a product for somebody else in return for a commission.
If that product can be delivered electronically – by email or downloaded – then that commission could be 50% or higher, since there is no replacement cost. Unlike a tub of vitamins, an eBook or software application doesn’t have to be produced again once it has been sold, so the vast majority of the selling price is profit. You can therefore be paid more for selling it. 50% is about minimum for such items, and some go as high as 75% or even 80%.
3. Others
Among other ways of making money online are multi-level marketing (MLM), where you recruit others to sell products for you, you receiving a commission on their sales, buying on eBay, and selling the same items for more than you paid for them, buying items in bulk when they are in high supply, and selling at a high price when they are scarce (e.g. certain toys at Christmas time), and many others.
Each of these ways of making money online has one thing in common: you have to learn how to go about it and how to promote whatever it is that you are doing. Even your eBay business has to be promoted by means of your ‘product description’.
Most businesses need a web presence, either as a traditional website or some other presence on the web such as a Squidoo lens or participation in social networking. They might also need software, and knowledge of how to use it, and knowledge of how to attract traffic – potential customers. Without customers, your business will fail.
This is where most people begin to fail. In fact 99 people out of every 100 that try to earn a living online fail. They fail for one of 4 reasons:
1. Lack of Planning
They did not have a clear objective in mind and did not plan properly. The started their business on shaky ground and looked on it as a hobby. They fell into one of the main traps of working at home: worked part-time, and took time off whenever they felt like it rather than set out the daily tasks needed to meet their targets and work until they were completed.
2. Lack of focus: Information Overload
They did not focus, and jumped from one program to another. They had too much information, and were unable to give any one method of making money online the time to work for them. They tried too much at one time and so failed in everything.
3. Lack of Perseverance
They gave up to soon. It takes time to build up a successful online business. Except for a very fortunate few, there is no ‘get rich quick scheme’. Making money online is hard work, and those that persevere tend to succeed. Most don’t!
4. Lack of Knowledge
This is the least reason for failure. There is no need for lack of knowledge in the internet age – everything you need to know is out there, yet many people try to do it themselves without getting the information they need. Learn from the work of others: do not reinvent the wheel. Trite, I know, but true nevertheless.
Use whatever training courses are available out there. It could be expensive, I know, but there are ways to learn all you need to know without spending a lot of money.
It is important that you do not fail for any one of the above reasons because they are all avoidable. It is a shame that so many dreams are shattered for a lack of planning, focus, commitment and perseverance, and a lack of knowledge. All are avoidable.
Internet Network Terminology Explained
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Internet Network Terminology Explained
If networking terms puzzle you, this should hopefully explain some of the main ones:
a) ADSL – Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, is the most popular form of net connection in the UK
b) IPTransit – An internet connection provided by a transit provider.
c) Atom – Is like traditional RSS, but with more options. It is still being developed but is becoming more common place. The technology is based on RSS.
d) Bandwidth – Refers to data transfer from one location to another. Bandwidth is generally measured in megabits per second.
e) Blog – Similar to an online diary where a person or society may publish its thoughts or opinions, but can also publish facts. Most bloggers update once a week, where blogs are chronologically arranged.
f) A generic high speed internet connection – Faster than a standard modem.
g) Co-location – Where an ISP hosted an individual or companies server or hardware on their behalf.
h) DHCP – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol distributes IP addresses dynamically to clients on a network.
i) DNS – Domain Name System is used to translate domain names into IP address, with a DNS server providing the translation service.
j) Domain name – All websites have a unique domain name. Domain names have three sections to them- in the center a dot, separating the name, and at the end a tld or domain ending such as .com.
k) Ethernet – A standard networking method via a LAN, with varying speeds.
l) Firewall – Can be either hardware or software based to prevent access to another network for security reasons.
m) FTP or File Transfer Protocol – Is a method used to transfer files to and from the internet.
n) Host – A client on a network that provides services to other computers or clients on that network.
o) HTTP – HyperText Transfer Protocol is used for moving hypertext files around the internet. HTTP is best known for loading websites.
p) IMAP – Is gradually replacing POP as the main protocol used by email clients in communicating with email servers. Using IMAP, an email client program can not only retrieve email but can also manipulate content stored on the server, without having to actually retrieve the messages. So messages can be deleted, have their status changed, multiple mail boxes can be managed, etc.
q) IPv4 – Internet Protocol version 4, this is the most widely used version of the internet protocol. IPv4 has a maximum of four billion IP Numbers (technically 232) but due to the way it was designed this is actually less than that due to some inefficiencies.
r) IPv6 – Is the next generation of IPv4 with over a sextillion addresses (theoretically 2128) deployment of IPv6 is slow currently but will get great when more and more devices cover it.
s) LAN – Local area network, which is normally defined as being inside the same building or floor of a building.
t) Network – When two or more computers are connected together to share resources.
Where would a company find these services? IP transit provider would be able to provided these hosting services for a company or individual.
Sell on eBay: How To Write Profitable Listings?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, November 19, 2010
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