The top 5 things to track in your Web analytics program</h1> <article> <h1>The top 5 things to track in your Web analytics program</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:26 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Over 20% of businesses don’t track how their web sites are used – don’t be one of them!</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;">Does your web site generate the number of visitors or sales you expected? Do you know how many visitors are landing on your web site? Do you know where visitors come from when they arrive at your website? Or where they go when they leave? Do you know what your visitors do on your site and which pages generate the most interest? Do you know which of your marketing campaigns generates the best return on investment from your web site? Without this information it is almost impossible to get the best results from your website. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">A web analytics manager is essential to getting the most from your web site</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;">An online <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-analytics/index.jsp" target="_blank">web analytics manager </a> is the easiest and most accurate way to learn about visitors and what they do on your web site. Web analytic software takes raw data and turns it into structured information in the form of reports. The web analytics manager will provide you with basic information about the number of visitors to your site, where they came from and what they did on your site. Some web hosting companies will provide you with a basic web analytics manager as part of your web site package, or more sophisticated ones can be purchased as an add-on feature. If your hosting company provides this service, it is easy to track your web site usage from within your web site account. Alternatively, there are stand alone packages you can find on the Internet that will enable you to add some code to your web pages and monitor traffic from a separate web analytics web site.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;">Here are five key things you should be tracking on your web site.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">1. How many visitors are coming to site?</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"> You can get a good feel for the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns by tracking whether the number of visitors is increasing or decreasing. Looking at the percentage of new versus returning visitors will tell you how useful or “sticky” your web site is. If everyone is a new visitor, you could be wasting a lot of marketing resource to attract people who will never return to your site.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">2. How do visitors find your site</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;">? If you have submitted your site to search engines, and done a good job of search engine optimization, you will probably find that a lot of your visitors are coming from search engines. However, you may find that there are a number of other sites, some that you didn’t even know about, that are sending you significant amounts of traffic! If so, cultivate these links and try to find other similar sites than might be willing to link to you. By creating individual landing pages for each promotional campaign, you can also measure the effectiveness of promotional campaigns, press releases and affiliate/partner programs. You can even generate separate advertising reports to measure the success of individual ad campaigns. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;">It is also important to look at the keywords people typed into the search engine to find you; this can provide excellent insight into what attracts people to your web site. You may find some unexpected keywords, or even misspellings, that people are using to find you. If this is the case, you can adjust your marketing campaigns to target these keywords.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">3. Where do visitors go after they leave your site</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;">? This is important, especially if they didn’t interact with your site by buying, or signing up for something. Look at the places they are going after they leave your site, and try to determine what those sites offer that yours doesn’t.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">4. What pages do your visitors look at? </span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;">If find that visitors only view one or two pages, or even worse, arrive and then leave on the same page, there could be a number of problems with your web site or your marketing. Think about how interesting the landing page is; does it have excellent content and a way to draw people into the site? Is your site loading too slowly?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"> </span>If you have this problem, you are immediately losing a large percentage of your visitors. If you are using online or Pay-per-click advertising, be absolutely sure that your advertising message is appropriate to the page visitors land on. Also, check for click fraud (link to click fraud article); a high ratio of single page visits could be from artificial clicks.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;">If you find that certain pages are particularly attractive to visitors, try creating some online marketing campaigns that use keywords mentioned on those pages, and direct traffic to those pages, rather than your home page.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">5. What is your conversion rate?</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"> Converting Web site visitors into customers is the most important but often neglected aspect of Internet marketing. A Web Analytics manager can help you test the effectiveness of your sales checkout by letting you test different messages and formats to find out which is the most effective at converting prospects into customers. It can also help you remove or modify pages that have a high exit rate. By measuring the number of visitors to your site, looking at what route they take through your site and the percentage that convert, you can optimize your entire sales process.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;">A good web analytics program can provide you with many more useful information points about your visitors. While the one’s discussed here are important, it is worth spending some time to fully understand your analytic manager – it can help you in more ways than one!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-family:Arial;"></span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Evaulating Web Site Performance</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:04:51 GMT</p> <p>Setting up a website is the very first step of an Internet marketing campaign, and the success or failure of your site depends greatly on how specifically you have defined your website goals. If you don't know what you want your site to accomplish, it will most likely fail to accomplish anything. Without goals to guide you in developing and monitoring your website, all your site will be is an online announcement that you are in business.<br /><br />If you expect your site to stimulate some form of action, whether it is visitors filling out a form so a representative can contact them, or purchasing a product, there are steps you can take to insure that your website is functioning at peak efficiency. One of the first indicators of how well your site is working for you is finding out the number of visitors in a given period of time. A good baseline measurement is a month in which you haven't been doing any unusual offline promotional activities.<br /><br />However, just because hoards of people have passed through your gates does not mean your site is successful. Usually, you want those visitors to actually do something there. It is equally important to monitor the number of visitors to your site who made a purchase. This figure is called the site conversion rate, and it is an essential element of the efficacy of your website.<br /><br />To find the site conversion rate, take the number of visitors per month and figure out the percentage of them that actually performed the action your site is set up for. For example, if you had 2,000 visitors to your site, but only 25 of them purchased your product, your site conversion rate equals 1.25%. To get this figure, take the number of visitors who made a purchase and divide that figure by your number of visitors. Then multiply that number by 100 and you will have your conversion rate percentage.<br /><br />If your <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/create-a-website/index.jsp">business website</a> is set-up to get visitors to fill out a form, make sure to then figure out what the difference is between your site conversion rate and your sales conversion rate. This is because not everyone who fills out your form will actually become your customer. However, whether your site is set-up to sell a service or product, or to get the visitor to fill out a form, the site conversion rate will measure the success or failure of your website whenever you make changes to the site.<br /><br />You may find that you need to implement some additional marketing strategies if you find that traffic to your site is extremely low. There are several effective methods to improve the flow of traffic to your website, particularly launching a search engine optimization campaign. This campaign is targeted at increasing your position in search engine results so that consumers can find your pages faster and easier. You can either research the steps you need to take to improve your search engine rankings, or employ a search engine optimization company to do the work for you. In either case, after your have improved your search engine positions, make sure you keep on top of them by regular monitoring and adjusting of your efforts to maintain high positions.<br /><br />Another factor to examine is how easy it is for a visitor to your website to accomplish the action the site is set-up for. For example, if your goal is for the visitor to fill out a form, is this form easily accessible, or does the visitor have to go through four levels to get to it? If it's too difficult to get to, the customer may just throw in the towel and move on to another site. Make sure your buttons are highly visible, and the path to your form or ordering page quickly accessible.<br /><br />Finally, have a professional evaluate the copy on your website. The goal is, of course, to get your visitor to make a purchase or fill out your form. Website copy must be specifically geared to your online campaign and not just a cut and paste job from your company brochure. The right copy can make the difference between profit and loss in your online campaign.<br /><br /><br /></p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Your Online Store: Best Practices for Design</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:37:46 GMT</p> <p>Congratulations on owning your own retail business!<br /><br />You've been up and running for some time now, and while you are making sales, your conversion rate is lower than it should be. You know that customers are getting to your site. Does it makes you wonder what you might be doing (or not doing) that is causing potential customers to leave without purchasing? Perhaps it is time to consider some changes.</p> <p>There are many factors that can contribute to sales on your store, but let's talk about what your potential customers see when they come to your store: the store design. Your home page is the "front door" of your store, so your design is very important. What can you do on your own to make your design better?<br /><b></b></p> <p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><b>Always Keep It Simple</b></span><br />When it comes to your online store, the basic principle of "Keep It Simple" should always apply. You want to everyone to feel that shopping online with you is an easy and pleasant experience. Here are some tips to make sure your design is working for you and not against you.<br /><br /><b>Tip #1 Using Colors</b><br />When it comes to using colors, less is more. It also pays to understand that the "current" fashionable colors can go out of style as quickly as they came in.</p> <ul> <li>Choose a background color that does not fight with other design elements. A dark background can make content difficult to read. It can also make your images less effective. </li> <li>Use one or two main colors with one additional color that complements the main color(s). </li> </ul> <p>Your color palette should depend upon three things:<br /><br />W<i>hat is your objective?</i><br />Well that's pretty obvious, you might think. Your objective is to sell your merchandise. But it is also to give your customers a good shopping experience, which equates to satisfied customers, and allows you to retain them. <br /><br /><i>What are you selling?</i><br />To a certain extent, your products will dictate the colors you use. However, be careful with your choices. Too many colors can be distracting. Don't use colors simply to "dress up" your store. Instead, choose colors that communicate your products or services for the best result. <br /><br /><i>Who are your target customers?</i><br />You need to know your target demographic and adjust your colors to that target. Young people are happy with bold colors and strong contrasts, whereas older adults may find them too aggressive or garish, and can actually be driven away by an extreme color palette. <br /><br /><b>Tip #2 The Rule of Three</b><br />When customers come to your Web site, give them no more than three places to land with their eyes. Any more than that and your page looks too busy. Customers can become overwhelmed and confused about where to start. They may look at the amount of initial information and decide that it will be too hard to find anything. They may click a few times and check around briefly, but ultimately some customers will go elsewhere. <br /><br />Include three columns horizontally on your home page: </p> <p><i>In the center column</i></p> <p>This is your main space. Place three of your best-selling products on your front page, with links to more information and additional products. On your category or subcategory page, show the products in rows of no more than three across. <br /><i><br />In the left column</i><br />This is typically where you may want to include a field for customers to sign up for your email newsletter or other future promotional emails. Also in this column you may provide some well-organized navigation links to the various pages in your site. Give your customers several ways to find products: shop by category, by color, by price, etc. The organization is the key to helping customers find what they are looking for with less guesswork and fewer clicks.<br /><br /><i>In the right column</i><br />One of the biggest mistakes store owners make is under-utilizing this area of the page. This is typically the last place customers will look. As such, you can use this area to reinforce your best sellers or featured products. If you offer a search function, place the entry field at the top of this column. Users are more likely to use your search function when it is placed here. <br /><br />Another thing you can offer your customers in this column is a display of their shopping cart information, so that they can see what is in their cart at any time during the shopping process without having to leave the page they are on. Extra convenience equates to happier customers.<br /><b><br />Tip #3 Headers and Footers</b><br />Another big mistake store owners make is not paying enough attention to the vertical layout of their pages. Have no more than three sections vertically: Header, Center, and Footer.<br /><br /><i>In the header</i><br />Besides your logo, include 3-5 things you want to point out, such as access to the shopping cart, shipping specials, customer account, wish/gift list access, etc. If you include a welcome message, make sure it is short and to the point. A verbose message can be irritating and is likely to be ignored.<br /><br /><i>In the center</i><br />This is where your main product information will go. Watch what goes "below the fold," that is, what you place below the viewable screen, where the user will have to scroll to see it. If there is something important, such as a free shipping graphic, or links to additional images, links to product reviews, etc., make sure that it appears in the viewable area of the screen. If customers have to scroll down to see that you offer free shipping on an item, they may never find that out and you could lose the sale. <br /><br /><i>In the footer</i><br />Use this area to link to various information pages that your customers might need to use, such as the Store Policies page, About Us page, an FAQ page, etc. Most importantly, link to your Security Policy. Customers need to know that their transactions are secure, especially if the URL changes at the top of your page when the customers enter the checkout process. Provide them the information on why this is happening and assure them in no uncertain terms that their information is secure and that it is safe to proceed with their purchases. If you don't explain this process, you may lose some sales. <br /><br /><br /><b>Tip #4 Products</b><br />When it comes to details on the product page, some stores have precious little information and that can make customers unsure about whether a particular product will meet their needs. Make sure your customers are getting sufficient information on your products. Not only can this help your sales, but it can also decrease the number of returns and exchanges. This, in turn, creates happy customers. There are two ways to give detailed information on the product page: text and images.<br /><br />Include as much text as possible on the product page. Describe each product in great detail. Make sure your customers know exactly what they are getting when they buy this product from you.<br /><br />Use multiple images on a product page. Most customers want to see what they are buying, so include an image of the item. Most online stores offer a thumbnail of the product and a link to a larger image for some additional detail. However, you can set yourself above the rest by taking that a step further and including more images from different angles of the product:</p> <ul> <li>Front and back </li> <li>Inside and outside</li> <li>Open and closed</li> </ul> <p>The more images you include, the more comfortable your customers will be, knowing that they have sufficient information to purchase that item from you. <br /><br />Offer product reviews. This is very good information for your prospective customers, since they can see what previous customers thought of a product after they bought it and used it. This can be an excellent selling tool for your merchandise. </p> <p><i>Note: It can also be a great way for you to find out what your customers think of your merchandise. If you have a product that is continually getting bad reviews, it may be time to re-think whether or not you should continue to stock that particular item. </i><br /><br /><b>Tip #5 Checkout</b><br />Your checkout process should be logical and as easy as possible for your customers to use. And that includes the starting point, your checkout button. Make that button as large and as prominent as possible on your store. A larger checkout button will result in a higher conversion rate. Also make sure that you use the same button on every page. Changing the location or the look of the checkout button can confuse customers. And confused customers often leave a store without completing a purchase.<br /><br />Do not ask too many questions during checkout. This slows down the process and makes it more likely that a customer will get frustrated and abandon the cart without completing the checkout process. <br /><br />There are many aspects of your site to consider when you are thinking about an update. People go online more and more these days to shop for the products they need. Choosing good advertising or including the right keywords for a search engine may get customers to your storefront, but your design can be the difference between whether they stay and shop or take their business elsewhere. <br /><br /><i>Note: For additional tips and advice to help you as a small business owner, please visit our <b>MySolutionSpot </b>Web page at <a>http://www.mysolutionspot.com</a>. This page offers featured articles from Network Solutions Web professionals, as well as contributions from other small business owners. </i></p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>It's Not Me, It's You: Focus on the Customer, and Serve Business Interests at the Same Time</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:09:28 GMT</p> <p>People who shop online generally do so because the virtual storefront is a low-pressure, convenient environment in which to shop. However, in the absence of physical human interaction, the operator of a virtual store may have to work harder to make the commitment to customer service obvious to online shoppers. (Remember, it's far easier for an online shopper to hit the Back button than it is to walk out of a real store.)<br /> <br /> And yet, all too often, stores suddenly change the customer-centered focus they take in their physical stores to a self-centered focus when they open their online stores. When a business takes to the Internet, it's more important than ever to clearly communicate to visitors that the visitor is the focus.<br /> <br /> To make the point, consider this: When is the last time you walked into a brick-and-mortar department store only to be greeted with a spiel about the store? <br /> <br /> <em>"Hi, and welcome to Uber-Mart! Uber-Mart was founded in 1946 by Stanley Uberfelt and Marty Smith. Since then, the pair has opened 20 stores throughout the Midwest ..."</em><br /> <br /> No one really speaks to customers that way, and the truth is, no customer would entertain that approach long enough to hear anything that employee has to say. People go to a store when they need or want something for themselves, from you. That's all they care about – nothing else. And, that's as it should be. This is why, upon entering a department store, one usually hears the following greeting: <br /> <br /> <em>"Hi, welcome to Uber-mart! Can I help you find something?"</em><br /> <br /> In this scenario, the greeter makes it clear that the goal is to help the visitor get what he wants. This is the point at which most customers ask the greeter where to find a specific product; the greeter points it out, lets the customer know she's there if he needs further assistance and politely steps aside. She's nearby if he needs help, but otherwise out of the way.<br /> <br /> <strong>Taking the Store Online</strong><br /> <br /> Online customers approach website visits with similar expectations. How often do you hear someone brag about his or her favorite store because the company has long history or 1 million items in stock? Rarely, if ever. These are things that don't directly affect the individual customer when they visit the business. <br /> <br /> What <em>does</em> affect the visitor? The convenience, availability and quality of the product or service, and the positive experience they have doing business with that company. If you want to keep visitors interested, demonstrate that you can deliver on the things that are important to them, not to you.<br /> <br /> So, how does one accomplish this? <br /> • Get to know the typical customer.<br /> • Focus on meeting the customer's needs, not touting business accomplishments.<br /> • Be a resource.<br /> • Make the shopping experience easy.<br /> <br /> <strong>Bringing Your Real-World Customer Focus to Your Online Store</strong><br /> <br /> There are a number of things an ecommerce business owner can do to build rapport with online shoppers and encourage them to buy. These are detailed in the following tips.<br /> <br /> <strong>More than anything, be selfless.</strong><br /> Take the focus away from how wonderful you are and place it on those things you believe your target customer is looking for. Remember, customers are surfing because they want something. By default, they're in a "me, me, me" mode. If they encounter a website crafted in the company's own "me, me, me" mode – rather than a "you, you, you" mode that focuses on their needs – they'll keep looking until they find a site that does.<br /> <em>Tip: Think about your own likes and dislikes as you do your own online browsing. Use those things that you especially enjoy to enhance the experience for visitors to your website.</em><br /> <br /> <strong>Learn your visitors' concerns, needs and wants.</strong><br /> Odds are, you did a great deal of market research when you started your business to determine who your target customer is and what that customer wants, and you focused your marketing efforts on that individual or type. That information can be valuable in your online efforts as well. Put it to good use and ...<br /> <br /> <strong>Consider your website part of your overall marketing/branding efforts.</strong><br /> However, instead of telling website visitors what you think is so wonderful about your business, show them how your products and services can solve a problem for them. <br /> <br /> <strong>Make doing business easy.</strong><br /> Remember the department store greeter who asked what the customer wanted, told them where to find it and stepped aside? Online shoppers want the same experience. <br /> <em>Tip: Make product categories and types easy to find and buy, give customers plenty of payment options, be nearby if they need help – and then stay out of the way.</em><br /> <br /> <strong>Become a resource for your visitors. </strong><br /> Business owners sometimes are turned off by the idea of offering how-to's and information pages because they dislike the idea that these articles focus very little on their business. But that's precisely the point: How-to's and information pages focus on your visitors and their wants and needs – and that's attractive to potential customers. By becoming a valuable resource to others, you set yourself up as a generous neighbor in the Web community and that good karma can be good for business.<br /> <em>Tip: Use search engine optimized articles to illustrate common problems and offer solutions using the types of products/services you offer.</em><br /> <br /> <strong>Put your accolades in perspective. </strong><br /> Unless the company history and racks of industry awards somehow help the customer get what he wants, odds are he's not likely to spend much time wading through it. If you can demonstrate to a movie collectibles enthusiast that your 40-year relationship with Universal Studios positions you to acquire sought-after memorabilia, you might have a case, but most of the time the value of your long history is not so clear to your visitors. That's not to say that your company's century of experience and truckload of awards have no place on your website. All else being equal, a shopper's decision about whether to buy from you or your competitor may at times hinge on the fact that you've been at it for 100 years and have been recognized for excellence.<br /> <em>Tip: Have background information readily available to your visitors on an About Us page. </em><br /> <br /> By thinking of your virtual store with an old-fashioned, brick-and-mortar frame of reference, you'll naturally offer your ecommerce visitors the same customer-centered shopping experience they love about their neighborhood shops. <br /> <br /> Network Solutions® has a team of copywriters who are skilled at targeting text to visitor’s needs, as well as creating optimized content that is search engine friendly. Visit Network Solutions to learn more about Search Engine Optimization services.<br /> </p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Best Web Practices: Building a Site Search Engines Can Easily Navigate</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:22:29 GMT</p> <p>With very few exceptions, a business puts a site on the Web in order to be found. This means that having a site that can easily be indexed by search engines is essential. In the early days of the Internet, the traditional way of thinking was that “if you build it, they (the visitors/customers/potential clients) will come.” This is no longer true. <br /> <br /> Design is no longer just about the look and feel of a website; the best practices for design also include following certain guidelines that encourage crawling by search engine spiders. This article will offer a few brief tips to designers and webmasters on how to make sure your site’s design is search engine friendly.<br /> <br /> <strong>Why is Integrating SEO into Your Design Important?</strong><br /> <br /> In fact of people searching online, 68% of click on a link within the first page of organic (unpaid) search results.* By tapping into this market with your design, you are one up on competitors relying only on Pay Per Click and other forms of Paid Search Advertising.<br /> <br /> Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is simply the process of making a website and its content highly relevant and visible to both search engines and searchers in an attempt to gain rankings in the organic search listings. Integrating SEO into your design is essential if your site is to reach the widest possible audience.<br /> <br /> <strong>Designing Your Site Like an SEO Architect</strong><br /> <br /> In order to reach the largest possible audience, you must begin the design process with the end in mind. This makes creating a solid site architecture imperative. But what does this mean?<br /> <br /> • The design is aesthetically pleasing.<br /> • Important information is easy to locate.<br /> • The site is easy to navigate.<br /> • URL structures and code are SEO-friendly.<br /> <br /> The entire goal of site architecture is to make a site’s <strong>content </strong>easy for search engine spiders to find. A search engine spider ranks sites by the amount of helpful, relevant content it finds as related to keyword phrases searched by the general populace. Designing for SEO means, on the most basic level, making it easy for the spiders to find that relevant content.<br /> <br /> <strong>Helping Spiders Find Content</strong><br /> <br /> There are a number of easy design elements that can help spiders find relevant content on the pages of the website you are designing. Always include keywords, not only in the text content of the site, but also in:<br /> <br /> • The title tag (before the company name) – in the code of your site this should appear as <title>Title of the document containing keyword phrase</title>. The text included in the title tag appears in the top bar of the Web browser when a site is pulled up.<br /> • The meta description tag – in the code of your site, this should appear as <META NAME=”Description” CONTENT=”Descriptive sentence containing keyword phrases.”>. The text included in the description tag is what appears in search engines when a site is found.<br /> • The meta keywords tag – in the code of your site, this should appear as <META NAME=”Keywords” CONTENT=”keyword phrase, another keyword phrase”>. These will not appear anywhere online other than in your source code, but it can assist search engines when indexing your site.<br /> <br /> Using keywords in descriptive names for page names and folders is also helpful (e.g. , www.yourwebsite.com/ourspecialties/bestproduct.com, etc.) Keywords should also be in <strong>hyperlink anchor tex</strong><strong>t </strong>(the links appearing in blue that can be clicked on to navigate through the site) throughout the text content of the site, and in <strong>alt tags</strong> (text descriptions of image content) for images on the site.<br /> <br /> Making the text content easy to find for the spiders means that content should be separate from presentation within the code. The use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is recommended to achieve this. Avoid inline styles by putting CSS in an external style sheet.<br /> <br /> Ideally, content should come <strong>before design</strong> in the code. Floats and positioning within CSS can achieve this. Semantic markup should be used to highlight important text (tags like <title>, <h1>, <strong> let search engines know words contained within them are important and belong in the spider’s catalogue of information). Content should <strong>never</strong> be placed in images, as these cannot be indexed by search engines. There must be <strong>text navigation</strong>.<br /> <br /> For search engines to take your site seriously, it should have a minimum of five pages of content, and each of these pages should have no fewer than 250 words. Contact information should be readily available on a “contact” page. Search engine spiders also look for “about us” pages.<br /> <br /> <strong>Links</strong> guide spiders through the website. Use descriptive anchor text for links (avoid “click here”). Use the <strong> tag to highlight important links within the text.<br /> <br /> Valid, clean code is also a major help to spiders. Always declare a doc type. Use the robots meta tag to tell search engines to index pages and follow links throughout the site. Move any image maps to the end of the code, just above the closing </body> tag. Use CSS or another form of table-less design. Create a robots.txt file and XML sitemap.<br /> <strong><br /> What to Avoid When Making Your Design SEO-Friendly<br /> </strong><br /> It is important to ensure that a site’s contents are fully crawlable by search engines by providing direct HTML links to each page. Avoid the following, as search engines cannot use them to follow or index:<br /> <br /> • JavaScript Navigation<br /> • DHTML Navigation<br /> • Flash navigation (elements of Flash to accent design are okay, however)<br /> • Using header tags for navigation<br /> <br /> <br /> <strong>Working with a Professional</strong><br /> <br /> When designing a website, there is a lot to keep in mind in order to make a site search engine friendly: not only keeping a site’s architecture clean and navigable but striking in its visual display. The professionals at Network Solutions® are well-versed in design and SEO. Visit Network Solutions to learn more about design and SEO services.<br /> <br /> *iProspect and Jupiter Research 2008 Marketing Plan<br /> </p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>How to use Blogging to compliment your web site: 5 ideas for generating traffic to your web site.</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:39 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">This subject was recently raised by a member of the Network Solutions community. To begin with, what exactly is a blog? A blog is a special type of Web page made up of multiple journal entries listed in reverse chronological order that include a title, a date, and time stamp. Each blog entry also will have its own unique Web page address (known as a Permalink), and readers may be allowed to post comments. Because of the comments feature, blogs are much more interactive than a normal web page. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The following list provides 5 ways you can use a business blog to compliment your web site:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <ol style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Blogs can be an excellent way to ask for feedback from your customers and have a discussion with them. Maybe you are thinking about developing adding a new feature to your web site or changing the design – you can post a question on your blog, e-mail your customers with the link and ask them to provide input in the comments section of your blog. </span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">A blog can help your site get more listings on search engines such as Google. You can notify the search engines when you post new articles using a process called “pinging”. As long as your content is fresh and original, the search engines will readily come and index your content. Remember search engines like to find new and useful content for their users.</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Set up an e-mail or RSS feed to bring readers back to your site. You can give visitors the option to enter their e-mail address and receive new posts that way, or by subscribing to an RSS feed. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries. An RSS feed contains either a summary of content from an associated blog entry or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs or filtered displays. RSS feeds are indicated on your site by an orange logo. At the end of each post, include the line “If you enjoyed this post, then make sure you subscribe to our RSS Feed.”</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Links to your web site. When writing your blog posts, link to pages on your main web site when it seems useful to do so. This will increase the amount of traffic to the main part of your web site.</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Generate traffic to your web site when your customers are not working! Most blogging packages will let you set an advanced date and time when each new post will be published. By releasing your new posts at certain times of day, in the evenings or on weekends, you may have a better chance of attracting the attention of your blog subscribers and encouraging them to visit your site.</span></li> </ol> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">So, in summary, there can be a lot of benefits to starting a <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-hosting/blogs.jsp" target="_blank">business blog</a> – but like everything in business, the benefits depend on your target audience, and it will only be successful if you put effort into it. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> </article> <article> <h1>What Is a Blog?</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:06:29 GMT</p> <p> The word "blog" is simply a contraction of Web and log. In basic terms, a Web log is a type of Web site that has software running in the background which makes it easy to add content to a Web site. <br /><br />Blogging started out as a very personal way for a small number of Internet trendsetters to communicate via an online diary or journal. Then, as you may recall, political blogs became mainstream leading up to the 2004 presidential election. Now, just a few years later, professional and business blogs are becoming more and more common for a number of reasons.<br /><br />In general, blogs are:</p> <ul> <li> Real-time. Since blogs are so easy to use, they tend to get frequent updates.</li> <li>Interactive. Many businesses use their blogs to test new ideas, get feedback and have customers share success stories.</li> <li> Conversational. Blogs are typically written in a casual, often edgy voice. It's okay if they have misspellings or are written as a stream of consciousness, rather than with carefully crafted language.</li> </ul> <p>Blogging has spawned its own vocabulary with terms like "blogosphere", the interconnected universe of blogs; "bloggerati", which is a knowledgeable inner circle of bloggers and "blogroll", which are links to a blogger's favorite blogs.<br /><br /><b>Anatomy of a Blog</b><br /><br /> When you look at a typical blog, you'll see a number of common elements, including:</p> <ol start="1"> <li>The <b>name of the blog</b> with a number of dated entries with optional comments</li> <li>A <b>sidebar</b> that contains additional information and links.</li> <li><b>Blog entries</b> that are usually dated with the most recent entries appearing first.</li> <li>And <b>archived entries </b>that can be accessed using links.</li> </ol> <p>Visitors comment and respond to other blog entries, with their comments appearing below the associated entry. Entries are arranged by date and the sidebar encourages others to contribute to the content.<br /><br />As a business owner/entrepreneur, you are a subject matter expert. You might want to consider blogging for a number of reasons. You could share ideas and contribute to the conversation in the blogosphere. You can also raise the visibility of your business' products and services by sharing your knowledge and insight. Additionally, you can be an authentic and transparent voice in the market. Your blog can provide access to <i>real people</i>, who do <i>real work</i>, and are <i>passionate</i> about their area of expertise.<br /><br /><b>Sidebars</b><br /><br /> Nearly every blogging tool comes with a sidebar that's packed with links and a collection of related information. Most bloggers have a "Who Am I?" link that lets readers learn about the blogger.<br /><br />It's important to include information about yourself in your blog, because blogging should foster a matter of trust. As you would expect, signed writings have more credibility than anonymous posts. So, unless you're really, really famous, it's not enough to simply say, "Joe Blogger writes the content for this blog." Readers want to know more about Joe. What is his experience in the field that he's commenting on? Even if you don't have formal credentials, readers will trust you more if you're honest about that fact. So tell about your informal experience, and explain the reasons for your enthusiasm.<br /><br />Sidebars contain other key elements that make it easy for readers to navigate. They include links to archives, categories that help organize entries so visitors can quickly identify and focus on areas of interest, and as mentioned earlier, there's a blogroll which link to the blogger's favorite blogs.<br /><br />Today, businesses of all sizes use blogs to communicate with customers and prospects, and they reap tremendous benefits in the process. Let your business stake out some space in the blogosphere!</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Basic Web Hosting Terms Explained</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:18:59 GMT</p> <p>At its most basic, Web hosting is a service where a Web hosting company provides space on its equipment (known as servers) so that companies and individuals can make their Web sites available on the Internet. <br /><br />Web hosting is a necessity for any Web site . It is the physical location of your Web site on the Internet – an online storage center that houses the information, images, video and other content that comprises your Web site. Web hosting service providers also manage the technology that makes your Web site connect to the Internet. Finally, your Web hosting company provides connectivity to the Internet so that users can access your site. <br /><br />When shopping for a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-hosting/index.jsp">Web hosting</a> service, keep in mind that there are three different types of Web hosting packages:<br /><br />1. <b>Dedicated Web Hosting</b>: With dedicated Web hosting, you'll be the only Web site on the server, meaning that all the space, bandwidth and server access is "dedicated" to hosting your Web site, alone. <br /><br />2. <b>Shared Web Hosting</b>: With shared Web site hosting, multiple Web sites are hosted on the same server and the cost of running the service is shared across those customers. Shared Web hosting is the most cost-effective Web hosting solution. Shared hosting may bring space and bandwidth shortage limitations that come with sharing servers. <br /><br />3. <b>VPS Hosting Services</b>: Virtual Private Server hosting (also known as virtual dedicated hosting) is a Web hosting solution that is a mix of shared and dedicated Web hosting. You will technically be sharing the same server with other websites, but that server will be divided into several "virtual" private servers. Each VPS operates independently and has its down dedicated disk space. <br /><br />Also, look for the following terms: <br /><br /><b>Disk Space</b>: With all the different Web Hosting plans available, it's important to know how much space you are going to need before you start searching for the right package. The amount of disk space you will need depends on what kind of Web site you have. The total should include all the files that you will use for the content on your Web and is measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). Plus, you will need to estimate the number of monthly visitors to your Web site and the number of pages they will view during a visit, multiplied by the average amount of content on each page.<br /><br /><b>Monthly Data Transfer</b>: Every time a Web page is viewed, changed, accessed, uploaded, or downloaded from your Web site, it uses part of the monthly data transfer your Web hosting provides. Monthly data transfer is also known as bandwidth, Web traffic, or usage. As your site gets busier, you may need to increase the amount of bandwidth in your plan.<br /><br /><b>Domain Pointers</b>: Domain pointers let you assign multiple domain names to your Hosting Package. This means that, for example, yourdomain.com, yourdomain.net and your-domain.org can all point to the same hosting package.<br /><br /><b>Directory Pointers</b>: A directory pointer will allow you to assign domains to a sub-directory within your hosting package so that different domain names can display different websites but all on the same hosting package.<br /></p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>YIKES! MY DOMAIN NAME IS TAKEN - WHAT DO I DO?</h1> <p>Kerstin Demko — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:32:24 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">A domain name is a crucial piece of your online business. It is the first thing customers think of when trying to find you online. People will search for your business using the most logical name so it's important that the name you choose ties back to your business and brand. The problem is you cannot always get the one perfect domain name that is exactly what you want. That's when you turn to the domain name aftermarket.<br /><br />The domain name aftermarket, like the real estate market, is highly competitive and subject to investment and speculation. Speculators will buy domain names (demand is highest for short and memorable .com domains), in the hope that they are wanted by a future business owner who wants an online presence or a current business trying to protect their brand. Many of these high-demand domains are bought solely for the purpose of resale. <br /><br />On the flip side, this robust aftermarket brings with it the tools you can use to find and secure the domain name you want, even if it's already taken.<br /><br /><b>Domain Resellers</b><br />With more than 75 million .com domains currently registered, chances are high that you will not be able to find the exact domain name you want. If you are not willing to consider a different extension (i.e., .net, .org, .biz) your next choice is to look for similar domain names which are currently registered but available at a premium price. These "premium names" are available for sale by the current domain holder and can be registered through a domain reseller.<br /><br />Premium domains are priced higher than unregistered domain names based on a variety of criteria including the number of years the domain has been registered, the relevancy and popularity of the keywords in the domain name, and the online traffic it generates. Resale domains are available for immediate registration at a price agreed upon between the domain registrar and the current registrant. No bidding or negotiations are required. You can get a list of premium resale domains with many registrars including the Network Solutions <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/domain-name-registration/premium-resale.jsp">Premium Resale Domains</a> inventory.<br /><br />If you are not interested in an alternative resale domain, there are other options available to obtain the name you want directly from the current registrant. You can make an offer to obtain it from the current registrant or you can back order the domain name from an expired list.<br /><br /><b>Make an Offer</b><br />Anyone can search the public <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp">WHOIS database</a> of domain names to find the contact information of the current holder of any registered domain name. You could do this yourself and then send a request to purchase the domain from the current registrant, or if your domain registrar has an <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/domain-name-registration/certified-offer.jsp">anonymous offer service</a>, you could let the registrar make the offer on your behalf. This is a very fast and efficient way to find out if the current holder of the domain name is interested in letting it go.<br /><br />Using an offer service allows you to remain anonymous and to stay out of the negotiation process. If the current domain name holder accepts your offer, the registrar will then oversee the payment and the transfer process to move the domain name into your account.<br /><br /><b>Expired Names</b><br />If you are unable to obtain your favorite domain name by making an offer, your next step is to check for names on an <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/domain-name-registration/pending.jsp">expired list</a>. Did you know that when a domain name term expires, the name is not immediately available for anyone to register? Most business owners aren't aware of the 30-day grace period place on all expired domains during which the current registrant can choose to renew. If you find a domain name on an expired list, you can place a backorder to register the domain as soon as it is released. This is done through an aftermarket domain name registrar like NameJet.com. Because others might be interested in the same domain name, placing a backorder does not guarantee the domain name will be yours, but it does give you the chance to bid for the name in a private auction. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.namejet.com">NameJet.com</a> will notify you if there are other bidders for the same domain name. If there are no other back-order requests, you should be able to register the domain as soon as the grace period has expired.<br /><br /><b>Advantages and Disadvantages of Expired Domains - Do Your Homework</b><br />Before registering an expired domain name, you should learn if websites associated with the domain name are compatible with your business and in favor of the search engines.<br /><br />If an expired domain name has a favorable Google® page rank, it may help you start out closer to the top of search engine results pages rather than spending time (and money) clawing your way up from the bottom. It's true that some expired domain names can help you get a jump start to online success, you'll need to do your homework to avoid choosing an expired domain - or a "used Web address" - that can cause trouble for your online business.<br /><br />Before registering an expired domain name, determine if the nature of the previous site's content could help or hurt you. While it's important to increase traffic to your site, your focus should be on attracting traffic which is relevant to your business. You can check domain names at Internet Archive, a non-profit website which stores copies of previous site versions dating back to 1996. You can view these sites by typing the domain name into the archive's Wayback Machine.<br /><br />Next, find out if the previous site remained on Google's good side. If it violated any search guidelines it could be difficult (if not impossible) for you to get indexed on the search engine's results pages. Just enter "cache:domainname.com" in the Google search box and you'll see a snapshot of the site taken by Google® the last time it crawled the Web. This version of the site was used to generate the index results - if you can't find it, there could be a problem. <br /><br />While you're at it, take a look at the backlinks (other websites which link to you) of expired domain names. Search engines tend to stick to the notion that you're only as relevant as those sites with which you associate, so avoid domains associated with spamming. You can check domain names for backlinks at Google by typing "link:domainname.com" in its search box.<br /><b><br />Alternative Extensions</b><br />When you have exhausted all your after-market attempts to secure your domain name of choice, it is time to consider using an alternative extension like .net, .org, .biz, or .us. While .com is the most popular domain extension, it can also be impossible to find the name you want using this extension. As the domain extension market expands people are also finding unique ways to take advantage of new extensions. For example, many country specific extensions can be used to represent a regional location, like .la for Los Angeles, or to represent an industry or activity, like .im for instant messaging. In fact, it is a smart move to protect your brand by registering multiple extensions of the same domain name. You can learn more about this in <a target="_self" href="http://www.mysolutionspot.com/maximizing-your-web-site-experience/why-you-should-register-more-than-just-com-1387/">"Why You Should Register More Than Just .Com." </a><br /><br />Once you get your domain, it's crucial to keep it safe by registering it with a stable and reputable registrar. You can set-up automatic renewals to ensure your domain name will not expire and protect it with tools like private registration and domain lock. Remember that your domain name is one of the most important aspects of your online business so take the time to find the name you want. Do not be afraid if the name you want is taken, there are options available to you to get a name that will work for your business.</span></p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> <article> <h1>Shared Hosting Gives Small Businesses Big Resources</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:40 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">All of the billions of pages and millions of sites on the Web have to be stored somewhere, which is where <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-hosting/index.jsp">web hosting services</a> comes in. Web hosting consists of computers called servers connected to the Internet, and managed by teams of technical experts who insure that all pages and sites are available at all times - <a target="_blank" href="http://customersupport.networksolutions.com/">24/7/365 reliability guaranteed</a>.<br /><br />There are two basic types of hosting:<br /></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;">Shared hosting: multiple customers share space and resources on the same server</span></li> <li><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;">Dedicated hosting: a single customer uses the resources of a server</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">Which is best for you and your web-based business?<br /><br />For most small (and many large) businesses, shared hosting services from an experienced, reliable web hosting company is the best, most affordable and most logical choice. Why? Because dedicated hosting is expensive, time-consuming and requires technical expertise and administration. Shared hosting is extremely beneficial to small businesses:<br /></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;">Costs decline dramatically for each individual customer since the business web hosting company provides server space and resources to multiple customer.</span></li> <li><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;">Many shared hosting companies provide technology and online infrastructure to companies that would not have access to these resources because of their size and expertise.</span></li> <li><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:small;">Reputable web hosting companies offer their shared hosting customers the same levels of speed, reliability, security, and excellent technical and customer support that dedicated hosting companies promise.</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">Top web hosting companies approach shared hosting as a means of providing shared resources for individual businesses. Large companies shoulder the infrastructure and technological overhead and smaller companies reap many benefits they could not before obtain. What gets shared is space on a server, not the commitment to serve each customer individually, economically and above all effectively.</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>The Benefits of Having a Web Site that Stands out from the Crowd</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:39 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">How many times have you searched for a product or information online and rejected a website because you didn’t like how it looked? Even if all the right information is presented, if you can’t find it easily, you move on to another site. If some element about the site bothers you, it’s usually passed up in favor of a more appealing one. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">You don’t want this to happen to your company’s web site. Now more than ever companies need to ensure that their websites are as appealing and user-friendly as possible. You are no longer just contending with local competitors. Companies from around the country and the world could be challenging you in the marketplace. This is why you need a website that can stand out in a crowd. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">If you prefer a hands-on approach, you can always build your own website. This option is very economical and gives you total control over design. The undertaking can seem daunting though for inexperienced individuals. <span> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">That’s why many companies opt to hire an outside <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/custom-website-packages/index.jsp" target="_blank">custom web design firm</a>. Your website builder will help you find the perfect web design to support your company’s branding and logo. This option will no doubt give you powerful web designs and can help with your website optimization. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The “do-it-for-me” option is preferred by companies without a web-savvy employee. It is guaranteed to give you cutting edge web design. You won’t have to worry about your site’s usability because your website builder will know all the website tips and tricks. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">They will show you the best options to suite your company’s needs. You will even be given website tips for increasing optimization. You can be sure your company will have powerful web designs.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">At the end of the process, your site will have an excellent design that encourages visitors to stay instead of going to the competition. When you have cutting edge web design, it supports usability and your idea of branding. These elements help you make sure your site can stand out. </span></p> </article> <article> <h1>How Design Can Influence Brand Image</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:39 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Because the internet has become so hugely popular, every company needs to step up their game and create the best looking website possible. Today it would be difficult to keep a customer’s attention with a page of straight text. People need something interesting to look at like a logo and other visuals. But an interesting looking website is not enough. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">When a company decides to create a website, the owners need to keep in mind that this set of pages will act as a public face for the company. They will be a form of corporate branding. The pages can look good and give the correct information, but if they do not reflect the company’s style, they are not helping. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">You no doubt have an image in your mind of how your company is represented.<span> </span>This brand image is probably a product, a logo, or a set of colors. All these images are important factors in creating a public persona. Companies’ brand logos say a great deal about the company itself. It can reflect the company’s line of work and tone at the same time. Is your logo very professional or playful? Is it strong or simple? </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">The tone you chose for your logo should also be reflected on your website. If your logo and brand image are playful, make your website playful. You could use interesting graphics, colors, and fonts. This way your internet branding will match your usual brand image. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">If you are unsure how to create the perfect web site that showcases your company’s style, try hiring a web designer to help you. Business web site design is becoming increasingly popular, so finding assistance should not be a problem. An experienced designer will be able to help you make decisions about the design themes, style, and content you’re looking for and execute them perfectly. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">After deciding on your ideal custom web design, you will be ready to show off your newest products. You can put your best face forward for customers everywhere to see. Now every element of your corporate branding will be perfectly in sync from your brand logos to web site design. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">To find out about pricing for a business web site design, check Network Solution’s <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/custom-website-packages/index.jsp" target="_blank">Website Design Pricing</a> center. It will help you decide which features and designs fit your style and budget. </span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Driving Conversion: Is Your Store Running on All Cylinders?</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:38 GMT</p> <h2>Nuts and Bolts: Site Functionality</h2> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">This stuff seems simple, but we think it's a good idea to always be on top of these basic components of your site. The difference between making a sale and turning a customer off can be as simple as a typo or broken link - or even unclear navigation. </span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Navigation</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"> - If customers can't peruse your site easily and efficiently, your chances of conversion drop. Anything that slows customers down or confuses them will encourage them to leave, so make sure your navigation is clear and customer-focused. Be sure that every page includes easy-to-find links to important info: contact, customer service, about, search and links/photos/buttons for cross-selling. Lead your customers where you want them to go in as few clicks as possible. Try showing subcategory links on the home page, rather than on an individual product page. Rather than just showing "Hammers," in your home page categories list, break this out into Titanium, Roofing, Drywall, Ball Pein, Sledge. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">On-site search</span></b> - Research shows that roughly 80% of online shoppers use a store's search box to quickly find what they want - so this is a no-brainer. Your online store should include comprehensive search functionality and allows you to set your search parameters, but you should still test your search box to make sure it delivers relevant results. The results page is also a place you'll want to merchandise - feature related products and specials for cross-selling to encourage higher sales. </span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Load Time</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"> - Faster loading sites convert better, so make sure your site isn't one of "those" sites that loads. r-e-a-l-l-y. s-l-o-o-o-w. With the need to offer multiple product images of varying sizes and angles, it is important to keep the amount of other graphics on your site to a minimum, and to optimize your images. Network Solutions offers <b><a target="_blank" href="http://ecommerce.networksolutions.com/support/TechServices.asp"><span style="font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;color:#000000;">image optimization services</span></a></b> to dramatically reduce your file size without degrading the quality of your images. </span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Errors </span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;">- Don't let the curse of the broken link, or worse - rampant typos - doom your store! These seemingly "no big deal" problems are, in fact, BIG deals when it comes to the shopping public's impression of your site. Dead links, broken images, spelling errors, links that don't go where they're supposed to - these are problems no e-commerce site can afford. So go through your site with a microscope and make sure it's trouble free. </span></p> <h2>Curb Cart Abandonment</h2> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;">Some simple alterations to your cart and checkout process can decrease your odds of abandonment and work to move the process forward. </span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">The Fold </span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;">- Your "Add to Cart" "Buy" and "Submit Order" buttons should be located above the fold (the bottom edge of the visible area of your site within the web browser). Coremetrics reports a 10% decrease in abandoned carts when the "Submit order" button is located above the fold during the last step of checkout. In fact, the entire checkout process should remain above the fold. Why make people scroll down if you can present everything you need them to do above the fold?</span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">"Add to Cart" vs. "Buy"</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"> - Go with "Add to Cart." It lessens the commitment factor for shoppers who may not be ready to actually "Buy" a product. Add to Cart is also a more accurate description of what shoppers are doing - they're simply setting a product aside, in their cart, to either save and come back for later (which your Network Solutions cart allows), or to hold onto while they continue to shop. "Buy" signifies that a visitor is done shopping and ready to checkout, which may or may not be the case. Why encourage checkout when "Add to Cart" encourages additional shopping?</span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Make Checkout Quick and Clear</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"> - Studies have shown that checkouts with fewer steps achieve consistently higher conversions, so it's important to make yours as efficient as possible. To make shoppers more comfortable, include your contact information on all pages of checkout - and display shipping information clearly, including any specials or discounts that may apply. Having your own, dedicated SSL security certificate increases conversions as well. Network Solutions studied over 40,000 client stores and found that those with a dedicated SSL achieved 4.5% higher orders. Network Solutions offers a variety of <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/SSL-certificates/index.jsp"><b>SSL Certificates</b></a> that can help you improve customer confidence in your site security and thus, increase your conversions.</span></p> <h2>Content that Sells</h2> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">How professional and appealing is your site? What products do you sell and how do you showcase them? Is your content engaging and compelling? These are all important questions to consider - whether you're improving an existing store or just starting out. You're in the business of selling, so every aspect of your operation must do just that - "sell" people on why they should buy from you. </span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">The Goods - Do your products measure up?</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;">Consumers are becoming more product savvy every day, fueled in part by the Internet and its seemingly endless cache of detailed product information. Comparison shopping has become a new national pastime. Of course, depending on the type of product you sell, your customers' level of "shopping around" will vary, but the point we're getting at here is this: you must be competitive! You can do everything else right, but if you don't offer the right product at the right price, visitors are likely to keep on clicking until they find it. So keep your offering fresh and study your competition. Put yourself in your target customer's shoes and shop around. As objectively as you can, try to decide whether you would buy from yourstore.com. What is it about your store and your offer that makes the difference? </span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;"><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Product Presentation</span></b></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;">In addition to having the "right" products, the way you display them can be just as important. If people aren't engaged right from your home page, or from an individual product page they've landed on via the search engines, you could lose them. Your design needs to be professional in look and created with e-commerce in mind. Your colors, images and photographs need to show off your products in an original, visually attractive format - all the while conveying to customers that you're a legitimate authority on the products you sell. </span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Product Images</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;">Needless to say, shopping online limits customers in terms of being able to touch, feel, fiddle with or try on products - all activities that are traditionally part of the consuming process. And even though many people shop the brick and mortars before going online to find deals, you can't assume they don't still want to get a really good look at what you sell. So make sure to offer high quality images of your products with as many alternate views as possible. People are visual and research has proven that products with even a simple "zoom in" or "click to enlarge" option convert higher than those with one static view. <b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Note: </span></b>Remember to optimize your images to avoid bogging down your site's performance. </span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Product Descriptions </span></b></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;">Creative and clearly written copy is key. You're selling a product, so give people benefits they can relate to. Too many online stores offer little or no product description - at their peril. Few products sell themselves on looks alone, so, working in tandem with your high-quality, optimized product imagery, your product descriptions should be unique and give customers compelling reasons to buy.</span></p> <h2>Conversion-boosting Marketing Tactics</h2> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;">Most forms of marketing are all about persuading customers to visit your store, but what about marketing AFTER they've arrived? In addition to your site's quality and aesthetics, here are a few proactive marketing tactics you can employ to give customers a few more reasons to buy, and then buy again. And again. And again. </span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Cross Sell! </span></b></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;">Would you like fries with that? Yeah, we know - you don't sell fast food - but if Skippy down at the local grease-atorium can master the time-honored sales tactic of cross-selling, so can, and should, you. Take the time to think about your products and which ones complement each other. Offering coffee to someone buying a coffee maker seems obvious, but e-tailers who fail to cross-promote related products are missing golden opportunities to increase orders and sales. </span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Offer Free Stuff</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;">One surefire way to a consumer's heart is by way of freebies. Start with free shipping, if it makes financial sense, and go from there. Buy one get one free. Buy two of these, get one of these free. Freebies are a great nudge to get customers over the conversion hump and provide your store yet another competitive edge. And another thing about free shipping: according to BizRate, free shipping with conditions caused over 40% of shoppers to make a purchase. So if you're not offering it, give it some hard thought.</span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Create Loyalty</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;"> </span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;">Customer loyalty programs - special offers given to returning or registered customers - are an established retail strategy, and on the rise online. Thee loyalty-boosting tactics are exclusive offers and events, regular promotions, and premium customer service. </span></p> <p><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">E-mail! </span></b></p> <p><span style="font-family:Arial;">E-mail continues to be the number one reason people go online, ahead of search, shopping, games and other "published" activities. So your efforts to market to customers via e-mail will not be in vain. Some simple e-mail marketing strategies:</span></p> <ul> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Send a post-sale e-mail that grants your customer "exclusive access" to a special sale or specials page. They've bought from you once, so inviting them into this "special" area of your site and offering discounts on hot items or products related to their sale will go a long way in "re-converting" a customer. </span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Send an email one or two weeks after a sale asking for feedback on the product(s). This will help you develop a relationship with your customers, as well as provide you invaluable consumer feedback on your products. Try sending a quick survey with a coupon as a reward for completing it. </span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Send an email after purchase that invites customers to shop related items. </span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Send an email alerting customers to sales on similar items. </span></li> </ul> </article> <article> <h1>Benchmarking your web site’s performance against your competition</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:26 GMT</p> <p>It is vital to benchmark the performance of your web site against your competition. You may think your web site is performing well for you, but unless you compare it against web sites that your potential customers may visit, you may be losing business without realizing it.<br /><br />There are a number of approaches to benchmarking your web site against your competition. Manual benchmarking involves the use of surveys and polls (see our article on using polls – “What polls can tell you about your customers”), along with usability studies to determine how attractive and user friendly your web site is compared to some of your main competitors. There are also automated tools that run on your computer or can be found on the Internet.<br /><br />Web site benchmarking should test your web site's performance within a number of areas. Specific tests that can be run either manually or automatically to compare your web site with your competition include:</p> <ul> <li><b>Download speed</b>: If your web pages load more slowly than your competition some visitors, especially those with slow internet connections, may abandon your site. </li> <li><b>Interactivity</b>: The use of forms for feedback and inquiries shows interactivity within your website. If your competitors offer this type of feature but you don’t, you may well be losing value sales inquiries. Other interactive features could a Rating/ Review System for your products or a customer Forum. A Forum within your website can encourage visitors to become part of an online community that is engaged with your products and services. </li> <li><b>Number of links</b>: The number and quality of inbound links to your site can have a significant impact on your search engine ranking. If you have less links than your competitors, consider implementing a link building campaign. A professional web design firm may be able to help you with this. </li> <li><b>Appropriate Images</b>: Images on a web page are a very important part of attractive content. Compare the images on your site with those of your competitors and if necessary add more to convey your message. </li> <li><b>The use of fonts</b>: Professional web designers today use Cascading Style Sheets which eliminate the use of the FONT tag. The FONT tag makes too many assumptions about the visitor's system, browser, and configuration. Over the years the FONT tag has become a major problem for cross-browser compatibility and is only used today by "drag and drop" web page software or novice web designers. </li> <li><b>The use of flash</b>: Flash on web pages typically lowers usability. If you have more flash content than your competitors, consider removing it. </li> <li><b>Background Sound</b>: Background sound is often annoying to the user who has no control over it. Ensure that none of your content is dependent on sound: many office cube dwellers do not have headphones and have to mute their speakers to avoid annoying their neighbors. </li> </ul> <p><br />If you are using a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.networksolutions.com/custom-website-packages/index.jsp">professional web design</a> company, you should not uncover any of the above issues when benchmarking your site against your competition. If you do discover problems, you should remedy them as soon as possible to avoid leaking business to your competition!</p> </article> <article> <h1>What polls can tell you about your customers?</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:26 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">People love to be asked their opinion about things. Adding an online poll to your Web site can be a valuable way to gain insights about your products and services from existing and potential customers. Visitors will enjoy taking the poll and it will add stickiness to your website, in adding to providing valuable market research. In fact, polls can be one of the most valuable Web site building tools available to you.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">There are many ways to use online surveys effectively. You can run one-off polls to test opinions on a particular subject. Or you can ask the same polling questions over a period of time to gauge trends in changing opinions. You might also run a series of several related polls, to really understand a particular issue.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">There is no reason why you can’t run multiple polls simultaneously on different parts of your site. You could have one poll on your homepage asking about a general topic, and other polls that relate to specific content on your site, located with that content. Polls can help you learn about product design, copy testing, purchase behavior, trends, customer preferences, reaction to promotions, and many other things.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Other uses can include adding surveys to your check out or member registration to get in-depth market research about your user base. If you have an online store you can also use a poll to get quick feedback on visitors’ shopping experience. Another option is to use <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/webmaster-resources/index.jsp" target="_blank">Web site building tools</a> to create forums and discussion groups, and then add polls to them to stimulate your online community.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Here are some quick tips to help you get the most out of polling your customers:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in;"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Keep each poll short – try to only ask one question and provide no more that 5 choices for the answer.</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Use poll survey software that protect your participants' information and their responses. </span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Thank people for participating in your poll to increase the likelihood they will join in another poll. </span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Track poll results in real-time in order to quickly ascertain what your target audience thinks of the questions posed in your online survey. </span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">Avoid spamming people with your survey. Instead target your online survey to your existing customer base and individuals or companies that would benefit from your product or service.</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;">By combining polls with other web site building tools, such as forums and e-mail lists, you can quickly gather a snap shot of opinion on just about any subject from your visitors!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;"></span></p> </article> <article> <h1>Adding forms to your website - a great way to get feedback from your customers</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:22 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">No one would invest hundreds or thousand of dollars on market research if it was not beneficial to recognize consumers’ expectations and perceptions. Knowing and understanding what your prospects think can help you better serve their needs and thus, help your business grow.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">As a business owner, you must determine which type of market research can effectively retrieve the information you are seeking. One type you must not overlook is the feedback form. Adding a simple feedback form, or contact form, to your Web site does not require a large financial investment, yet it will allow you to receive valuable information directly from your site visitors.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">Feedback forms enable your site visitors to freely communicate their questions and concerns. Make sure you include fields for the person’s name and contact information when creating an HTML contact form. You will need both in order to send your response. Asking for an email address is often most appropriate because people are often apprehensive about providing their phone numbers due to their detestation of telemarketers. You can, however, include a required email field and an optional phone number field so that visitors who are willing to volunteer their phone numbers can leave their numbers.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">Remember that the point of using a feedback form is not just to gain feedback. It is a way for you to provide feedback as well. Therefore, be responsive. Check the comments you receive frequently and consistently. Read all comments and reply to those that require your feedback as soon as possible. Also, keep a record of comments and complaints. They will help you identify issues, find resolutions and improve your offering. Implementing this feedback functionality is much like adding another form of <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-analytics/index.jsp">web site analytics</a>. In addition, try to identify trends in the types of questions you receive. If you start to receive many questions that are quite similar, then create a Frequently Asked Questions page on your Web site to display answers the most common questions. With a Frequently Asked Questions page, your site visitors can easily retrieve the answers they seek without having to contact you and wait for a response.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">Remember, once you have a feedback form up and running, you will received mixed messages. In most cases, you will receive more negative messages than positive ones. However, understand that people are more likely to voice their displeasure than give praise to something that simply meets their expectations. In fact, you will probably receive positive messages only when your visitors’ experiences are much better than they had expected. If you are not receiving any positive messages, then maybe it is time to re-evaluate your offerings and customer service.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">Feedback forms are more valuable then they look. They allow you to gain insight from your visitors on a consistent basis rather then just periodically. But, like all forms of market research, they require your involvement. Therefore, if you choose to create a comment form on your Web site, be sure to be attentive and responsive.</span></p> </article> <article> <h1>In Search Engine Optimization, Keyword Stuffing Makes for Too Much of a Good Thing</h1> <p>MySolutionSpot Editor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:39:18 GMT</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">When it comes to writing website content, SEO experts agree; use of keywords is essential. While this is sound advice, don’t insert keywords in awkward places or use unethical tactics because you’ll risk having your website penalized or banned by the search engines.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">Search engines are designed to help visitors find information regarding specific topics, so in order to return the most relevant results they have crack down on sites that employ black hat SEO. Unfortunately, in the short term unethical techniques work, but they’re not the best Internet marketing strategies because eventually the search engine spiders, or your competitors, will catch you and your site will most likely be penalized or even banned.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;"><b>Be Wary of Keyword Stuffing</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">One common unethical search engine optimization technique is known as keyword stuffing. This involves repeatedly using a word or phrase hoping to trick the engines into sending a site’s rankings soaring. While it is a good idea to use strategic keywords several times in your website’s text, especially in titles, headings and hyperlinks, it’s not wise to manipulate the search engines by using these words excessively.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;"><b>Unethical Over-Optimization Tactics to Avoid</b></span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">• Convoluting sentences with so many keywords that humans can’t digest the meaning</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">• Conducting search engine optimization for an irrelevant keyword with high traffic</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">• Creating a page for a particular keyword and then placing a fast meta refresh tag to redirect the visitor to a different site before submitting to the engines</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">• Excessive use of tiny text to hide lists of keywords</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">• Unnecessary bolding and italicizing of keywords</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">• Keyword loading meta tags</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:small;">By employing ethical website optimization, one of the best Internet marketing strategies, your site will ultimately gain better rankings and will appear credible to visitors as well as search spiders. Climbing to the top of the search engines takes a lot of work, but if a site is ethically optimized and maintained, but if a site is ethically optimized and maintained, you greatly increase your ability to obtain and retain top rankings.</span></p> </article> </main></body></html>