SHAKESPEARE WOULD'VE MADE A TERRIBLE WEB WRITER

SHAKESPEARE DIDN'T GIVE A HOOT

ABOUT KEYWORD PLACEMENT:

WORST WEB WRITER EVER!

Five Can’t Miss Web Writing Tips

Writing for the web is a little different from writing for the local newspaper or writing your autobiography. Different things are important to both search engine spiders and to site visitors.

As a web writer, you have less than 10 seconds (6.4 seconds according to one study) to capture the attention of a site visitor before s/he bounces – that is, leaves without exploring the site further. So, your headlines better be attention grabbers. And remember, not all visitors will enter a site through the home page. Almost any site page can be the entry way in to a site so each page has to have an attention grabbing something – headline, picture, chart – something that keeps the visitor on site.

So, in no particular order, if you’re writing for the web, take these tips to heart.

1. Write like you talk. Even the best web writers miss this one.

You don’t say “I will go in to the kitchen to cook supper.” Too stiff. Instead, you and everyone else would say, “I’ll go cook up something for supper.” More casual.

Use contractions to make your writing more engaging and “listenable.” Getting rid of that stiff ‘writers’ tone is easy if you just say the words in your head and type what comes out, i.e. write like you talk.

2. Feed the beast, aka search engines. Your web writing not only has to maintain the interest of human eyeballs, it also has to appeal to search engine spiders. So, some of the ways to do this include:

- using keywords in headers (but no header stuffing, please. All things in moderation.)

- embed text links to other site pages to provide spiders with a clear path to all pages of

your client’s site

- keep keyword density to no more than 5%, i.e. within every 100 words of text use five

keywords. Work them in naturally so that humans don’t find the text awkward.

- make sure on-site and HTML keywords synch up. If it doesn’t make sense to a spider

(dumber than dirt) you won’t be indexed, or properly indexed, within the search engine

taxonomy (sorting system).

3. Use a lot of bullet points (see #2 above). Think about it. You don’t read big chunks of text on line. Bullet lists of everything from product specs to service features are more easily scanned than detailed, paragraphs of product descriptions.

4. Don’t use abbreviations. When describing a place, spell out the state name. Not NY but New York. Same with lbs, in, km, etc. Bots aren’t real good at figuring out abbreviations, though they are getting better.

5. Every word you write is sales text. If you’re writing a piece on using a hearing aid, you sell the concept of a hearing aid purchase. Cars, health insurance, divorce mediation – whatever the topic, you’re selling something in a subtle way.

This is also true of site text. Typically, you’ll write an About Us page, a Contact page and other “administrative” pages within a web site. Don’t waste these opportunities to sell the product, service or company. For example, which is better:

Contact Us:

XYZ Manufacturing

123 main Street

Anywhere, Vermont, 12345

((802) 555-1234

or

At XYZ Industries, we’re here to help you in any way we can. You can reach us in different ways so getting answers to your questions or placing an order is a call or click away.

At XYZ, you’re always first in line.

XYZ Manufacturing

123 main Street

Anywhere, Vermont, 12345

((802) 555-1234

http://www.xyzindustriesllc.com

customerservice@xyzindustriesllc.com

Web writers take note. It takes a good storyteller to keep a reader on site. So tell your clients’ stories. Keep it casual, cut the hyperbole and engage your reader like an old friend.

Why? Because that’s what you want your readers to become – old friends.

When you need some quality copy for your site, call me. Google likes quality writing.

Later,

Webwordslinger.com

DON'T BREAK THE BANK. SAVE MONEY AND STILL MAKE THE SALE

Do You Need a Merchant Account For Your Site?

Not Really, Though It Might Help

When first-time, online entrepreneurs start to put together a budget they often overlook what will almost certainly be a significant expense – the cost of a merchant account. A merchant account is simply an account with a credit card company or companies that allows you to accept credit card orders. Without a merchant account, no credit cards please.

Now, credit cards are the most popular way to pay for items or on-line services, but check out some of the merchant account providers – resellers of merchant accounts that assume some of the risk of granting you credit. (In effect, that’s what a merchant account does. It grants you, the site owner, credit which you then pass on to your buying customers.)

These merchant account resellers often require you to sign a one- or two-year contract that means you’re going to pay a monthly fee of $30 or more for 24 months even if your site closes after two months. And that monthly ‘service charge’ never goes away. Not a problem for active, profitable sites, but a $30 bite each month might actually mean the difference between success and failure for a pushcart, start-up site selling a single ebook download and hoping to generate AdWords revenues to put the kids through college.

You’ll also get dinged a ‘per transaction fee’ (anywhere from 25 cents to 75 cents) and pay the merchant account provider a percentage of each sale on a sliding scale. Those online commercial sites that process thousands of orders daily pay the least – maybe 0.5% of each transaction. Online businesses that only process a few orders each day may pay as much as 3% of each order’s total.

So add it up. Monthly fee = $30 minimum. 25-75 cents per transaction. Plus 0.5 – 3% of the total order. Those fees, expenses and percentages are certainly going to nibble away at your bottom line, even though they don’t sound too bad. But let’s say you’re operating at a 24% margin on a small number of monthly sales. Merchant account fees can decrease your margins by as much as 20%, and that’s a big hit when you’re just starting out.

Don’t forget to add merchant account cost to your line item site budget.

And one more thing: no matter how much the merchant account reseller charges, you still may not be able to get an account – especially if you have a less-than-stellar credit history. Also, even though the merchant account will be set up in the name of your online business, you are personally responsible for all business activities and payments, whether you make a single sale or not. You pay.

It actually might make sense to skip the merchant account altogether, at least for the first few months until you start to see actual incoming revenue.

But then, how is the buyer going to pay for services rendered or goods shipped without a credit card?

Alternative Payment Methods

There are, of course, alternatives to the credit card and, with some creative copywriting on your part you can turn a negative into a positive using these alternative payment methods.

Let’s start with good, old-fashioned snail mail. Mail in a check for the order amount (six business days), wait for the check to clear (three business days) and snail mail order delivery (add another seven business days to account for handling at the warehouse). You could easily forget the order before it even arrives it takes so long to get to you. Especially in this age of one-click shopping and free overnight delivery. Using snail mail is one possibility, but you won’t get rich depending on your letter carrier’s daily visit.

However, there are web-based payment gateways that most knowledgeable web users recognize and accept. And if you construct your checkout to “highlight” the benefits of these alternative payment methods, you might actually convince a few buyers to make that first purchase.

One alternative payment method is 2checkout. Low fees, no long term contracts and available to even those whose credit records look like a disaster in the making. 2checkout, like other gateways, doesn’t actually extend credit to you or your buyer. It is simply a processing service for individuals who already have credit cards. So, because the risk is lessened, so, too, are the costs.

Another option is payQuake, another order processing service with more merchant account features that 2checkout. payQuake offers tiered services depending on the size of your online enterprise – from lite (perfect for small established sites and start-ups) all the way up to the PRO version, perfect for online businesses that process lots of orders and generate a pile of revenue. payQuake, as its website states, “[provides] merchant controlled payment processing solutions…[payQuake] is a Real Merchant Account.”

payQuake offers complete ecommerce accounts, swiped card accounts for brick and mortar outlets, international accounts, specialty merchant accounts for high risk (read high end) transactions and electronic checking.

Finally, you’ll want to open a www.PayPal.com account. PayPal, which is owned by eBay, enables buyers to charge purchases on their own credit cards or to pay by direct transfer from their checking or saving accounts. PayPal is the most recognized name in cash transferal services – one most buyers will recognize immediately. And one that most buyers will have confidence in.

Turning a Negative Into a Positive

WE DON’T WANT YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER!

Now that’ll grab a lot of eyeballs. Since when do e-tailors NOT want credit card numbers. When they want to protect the sensitive data of their customers or clients.

Make a point to remind customers about online credit card fraud and the risks they take whenever they give out a credit card number online. You don’t want to put your valuable customers at risk so you don’t accept credit card information directly – only through processing services like payQuake and PayPal.

Further, point out that buyers can eliminate credit card charges and over-limit fees by using PayPal to electronically transfer funds directly from the buyer’s checking or savings account into your business account. No numbers exchange hands. Just the payment. Many people prefer this method of purchase. It doesn’t run up large credit card bills and actually prevents the buyer from over-spending because, if the money isn’t in the account, the transaction won’t be made.

In other words, describe the benefits of using PayPal, payQuake and 2checkout. Lower costs (We pass the savings on to you!) and less likelihood of credit card fraud because the buyer’s credit card numbers are all stored in one place instead of dozens of big and small online sites. Buyers have confidence in PayPal and similar services because of their amazing, trouble-free histories.

So, skip the merchant account until you determine that (1) you need one and (2) that you can afford one. As a start up, every entrepreneurial penny should go into building an attractive site and promoting that site. Keep cash close at hand and hold on to every cent until you see whether this thing is actually going to fly.

You may someday decide to get a merchant account. You’ve heard many pundits state that the more payment gateways you offer, the more sales you generate. That may be true – at some point. But on the day you launch your site you may not see a single visitor. They don’t know you’re there yet. So why pay $30 a month to accept a Visa purchase that never takes place.

Wait to see how things go. You’ll know soon enough whether a merchant account is something you want or need. And, if you go with a web host that’s established and reliable, you may be able to get a break on some of those merchant account charges through your web host (and merchant account reseller, but one that actually cares that your site be successful.)

Ready to launch? Drop me a line or give me a call before you do. Don't screw this up.

Later, young entrepreneurs,

Webwordslinger.com

ARE YOU BLOG WORTHY? GET THE MOST FROM YOUR POST

Is Your Blog Worthy?

Getting the Most from Your Post

If you don’t have a blog, build one. It’s easy using blog modules that plug in to your existing site. Then start posting content. Then get listed in blog directories. Then keep it fresh. Oh man, that’s a lot of work – especially when this is your second job!

Blogs build traffic and keep it coming back. However, too many site owners either don’t maintain a blog or don’t promote it for maximum benefit. So, here are some tips from your web host provider on maximizing the usefulness of a blog.

Post Your Thoughts on Topic-Related Sites

One way to get noticed, especially by those in the know, is to make posts on other topic-related blogs. You can provide your URL so that readers who find your astute insight are able to follow the trail back to your blog archives.

Blog Archives

And speaking of blog archives, keep a good one. Sort each blog post by date and general subject, i.e. conversion optimization. Unless you’re a great writer with plenty of time on your hands, good content is expensive to develop. Think of blog content as a commodity. An asset for you and others interested in what you have to say.

Stay Focused

And speaking of what you have to say, stay on topic. If your readership (whether 10 or 10,000) turns to you for certain information, meet expectations. If you occasionally go off on a tangent expressing your political views, for example, you’ll lose readership.

Keep It Unique

A change in the Google algorithm will be the topic of the week, and virtually every webmaster blog and forum will be crammed full of erudite opinions on the affect this change will have. In other words, they’ll be so much written on a major topic, you can afford to cover something else. And get noticed.

Make it Attractive

It’s human nature to become bored easily on the dynamic web where things change faster than you can say “keyword stuffing.” So, paragraph after paragraph of text is going to bore even the most dedicated reader or subscriber.

Add some relevant images. Charts and graphs. Eye candy to maintain the reader’s interest. Skip the endless pages of “just” text.

Perform Regular Blog Analysis

Good tracking software will tell you which posts are popular with visitors and which get passed over for whatever reason. Use these metrics to more specifically target the wants and needs of your readers.

The things you want to measure regularly are: number of page views, time spent on site and the source (link) and destination of the reader after leaving your site (do they go to the site or bounce off to another site?). Regular metrics analysis will provide concrete data to demonstrate whether your site blog is performing to expectations.

Write Like You Talk

This is the best advice any blogger or writer will ever receive. Something happens to people when they sit down at the keyboard to write the next blog entry. They become walking thesauruses. They use big, impressive words and long, run-on sentences. Don’t. That kind of writing is great for a master’s dissertation but it does nothing for the readers (except bore them).

Blogs as Linkbait

Some posts are better than others. Market your best posts only. Posts can be tagged and show up on human-based search engines like digg.com and del.icio.us – sites where readers determine how good you are. Don’t oversell every blog entry you write. You’ll start to pickup negative user feedback when readers have seen your post everywhere, or it’s a so-so post.

Blogs make great linkbait (a reason for another site to link to your site) but your efforts to “sell” your content to expand your presence may blow up and backfire with readers and search engines alike.

Use High Traffic Days to Build Your Reputation

When one of your posts is front page news on digg.com or reddit.com, you’re going to see a lot more blog traffic that day sniffing out this high quality linkbait. Use these days, when your traffic jumps 100%, to build on a good thing. Immediately follow up with top-of-the-line posts – as good as the one tagged by enough readers to make it to the top of user-driven search engines. This will establish you as an authority, and your site one worth visiting for the latest.

Don’t Hide Your Blog

Your blog is designed to create stickiness and/or to provide something to subscribers. So, make it easy for users to access your blog. All tags, of course, link to the blog. But, do you have a big, well-labeled blog link on your home page? Is there a BLOG button on the navigation bar? If not, there should be. Make it easy to find your blog and more visitors will find (and read and return because of) it.

Don’t Host Your Blog on a Separate Domain

Some site owners do this to keep things simple. Business side. Blog side. But they’re missing a critical benefit of maintaining a blog (in a subfolder) as a sub-section of their primary domain. Blogs attract all kinds of good stuff. Links, improved PR, “buzz,” new readers and customers (showing up as more traffic in SERPs) offers to contribute to other blogs and so on. Maintain your blog as a section of your main domain to get all of the benefits that come with maintaining a blog.

Start the Conversation

Blogs should generate discussion among readers. They should provoke readers to add a comment – good, bad or indifferent. But what if your posts don’t elicit any response? What should you do?

Shill. Fake it. Salt your posts with a comment or two. Many readers are shy about leaving the first post but will happily jump in once they see what other posters have said. There’s nothing deceitful in starting a conversation – one that grows your site’s popularity.

An up-to-date blog – one that contains useful information for a particular market segment – is a great way to build site traffic and to maintain customer or subscriber interest. But, there are certainly things that every blogger can do to increase readership and squeeze out a few other benefits from blog building. After all, it’s time consuming. You might as well get all you can out of the time you invest.

Later,

Webwordslinger.com

10 DUMBEST WEB DESIGN MISTAKES: SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE FOOT

DON'T MAKE IT HARDER THAN IT HAS TO BE.

START COUNTING CLICKS. THE FEWER CLICKS, THE MORE MDAS.

The Top 10 Dumbest Site Design Practices:

Be Smart. Web Success Is Hard Enough

Despite some of the posts on SEOmoz.org, site optimization is NOT a science. Science requires accurate, contestable data. No metrics or analytics deliver empirical data so it ain’t no science. SEO Pros don’t even agree on which weighting factors have the most impact on PR and TR.

However, it doesn’t take rock solid numbers to identify dumb design decisions – decisions that prevent access, make buying difficult and make site navigation a wonderland of surprises.

Thus, I offer the 10 Dumbest Design Practices IMHO.

10. Flyouts or drop down menus that cover site text. Umm, yes I want to navigate to that page but that flyout covers home page content that I want to read. Dumber still? No way to close the flyout. Duh.

9. Limited payment gateways. DIY site owners happily launch with PayPal as their only payment gateway. A lot of buyers have never even heard of PayPal, they don’t have an account and they’re not going to the trouble to open one.

The more payment gateways, the more orders you’ll receive. Get a merchant account.

8. Spamglish. Yep, it’s still out there on critical pages that, ostensibly, are designed for humans. Keyword density, as a factor in PR and TR is losing significance so why stuff pages with keywords.

7. Critical site information in graphics. Bots can’t read graphics, so important indexing data may be lost, tucked in a bitmap somewhere.

6. No telephone number. This one is a poser. As a site owner, you went to a great deal of trouble, time and money to get that visitor on site. Wouldn’t it be great to have a telephone number (toll free) so visitors could call with questions or, better yet, orders?

5. Ambiguous navigation. The assumption, here, is that site visitors know what a link labeled “Damsels” means – kinda like those rest room signs in theme restaurants, i.e. “Buoys and Gulls.”

4. No site map. Come on, you guys. You can buy a site map generator for less than $25. And, in creating this remarkable map, you help visitors and bots find their ways around.

3. Dated, duplicate content. We’ve all encountered the entrepreneur who wants a low-ball site populated with public domain and syndicated content and 1,200 affiliate links. The site is dated the day it launches.

2. The long-form sales letter. I’m sure Dan Kennedy meant no harm but these endless pages of mixed type faces, heaps of hype and the never ending (literally) PS, PPS and PPPS bonuses are insulting to the intelligent of a chimp.

1. Home page opt ins. Are you nuts? I don’t even know what I’m opting for (or against). If I have to give you my email address knowing that you’re going to back sell me to the grave, I want to know what I’m getting.

Why place this HUGE stumbling block on page uno. I’m bouncing.

Start counting clicks. How many clicks are required for the site visitor to perform the most desired action or MDA. The fewer clicks, the more MDAs. Call me to discuss your site performance. beleive me, this ain't brain surgery.

Later,

Webwordslinger.com

There are dozens (100s) of mistakes that even experienced site designers make - especially the designer who's cranking out the sausage 24/7. Know what makes a high-functioning site. Then tell your programmer how to build it.

Have fun,

Webwordslinger.com

webwordslinger.com

TELECOMS WANT YOUR CONTENT. GO MOBI.

YOUR PROSPECTS ARE OUT THERE!

UNCHAIN THEM.

Mobi or Web:

Who Wins the Mobile Search War?

Mobile search is being touted as the next major, digital battleground with both the powerhouse players in communications (Verizon, ATT, etc.) pitted against the titans of Silicon Valley and points west such as Google and Yahoo!

The winner stands to reap billions in mobile search ad revenues, and if you run an online business or a brick-and-mortar, some of those revenues are going to come out of your bottom line. However, you’ll also see a nice revenue boost in your commercial establishment in the mall.

The Battle Lines Have Been Drawn

He who controls mobile search controls the world.

Okay, that’s not true but whoever wins this battle for mobile search supremacy is going to make some big bucks. Why? Because a user can search for the closest shoe repair place and even see a map providing directions on how to get there.

No big deal, right? You can do that when you download Google Earth with maps showing how to get from here to there. Mapquest and other similar sites offer the same service. Enter whatever it is you’re looking for – an address or the name of a commercial establishment – and GPS and some digital gymnastics does the rest.

The technology to direct buyers to retailers exists on both sides of the trenches. Telecom offers the advantage of an in-place infrastructure. Cell towers are now being placed in church steeples to hide them from the public eye. (Thankfully.)

On the other hand, the web has the power of knowledge with literally billions of web pages indexed in Google, Yahoo, Inktomi and 4,000 other online search engines. So, telecom has the means to deliver the information where needed. The web giants have the information that users are going to want – like where to get a pizza in the next 10 minutes.

One Giant Leap

With cells functioning as sales devices literally pointing buyers in the direction of paying advertisers, mobile search is the most dynamic interface since the appearance of the touchtone key pad back sometime before most of us were born. This ability to deliver, on demand, advertising in the form of street directions changes everything. The cell phone is no longer simply a communications device. Or a device that can capture pix and video or play downloads – all user-driven activities.

The cell phone becomes an extremely effective outlet for advertisers and that means ker-ching for whichever side wins this war of wheres.

Revenue Rivers

Forget revenue streams. This new technology is going to generate revenue rivers of ad dollars for the companies delivering the information. And where’s this cash flood coming from? Click to call on the web side; pay per call on the telecom side.

With improved localization of search engine results, how far are we from an online ad for John’s Best Pizza that connects you VoIP to John’s to place your order. Dominoes already offers online ordering. The tsunami is coming.

On the telecom side of “no man’s land” is pay per call (PPC). Using GPS technology, cell phones become maps and with a click, you can call John’s Best Pizza and have it piping hot when you arrive.

The numbers are enough to make any e-commerce professional sit up and take notice.

By 2010 there will be close to one billion mobile search users around the world. That’s up from 300 million today – a 300%+ increase in people looking for your business via their souped up cells.

More numbers? Ad revenues in five years will exceed $2.4 billion dollars for mobile search. Right now, that number is a little over $7 million dollars.

In the U.S. alone, the ad revenues will go from the current 2.1 million to over $700 million in the next few years. And you’re going to want that access to new customers. You know what else, you’ll be willing to pay for it. Why?

Mobile searchers are NOT browsers. They’re buyers. They’re looking for a place to buy a dinner or a new couch right now, whether researching the local web or using their cells to find the closest furniture outlet. These buyers are needs-driven and those are the best buyers you can have. They need what you’re selling.

So, How Will This Play Out?

You’ll be surprised to know that for such a major shift in communications, not many experts can answer that question though a couple of points are obvious.

1. The telecom industry will become more desperate for content in the years ahead. That’s good for writers, syndicators, news outlets (CNN, e.g.) the town newspaper and other content sources. Telecom will pay for the content (they already are) to keep up with the flood of web content that hits the W3 every day.

And on the web side of things? Well, how does a Googlephone sound? Or a Yahoo phone or an AOL phone. Portals and search engines will be moving in the other direction, looking for ways to get that massive mass of content out to cell users. Don’t be surprised if you see the Gphone from Google in the next few years. It’s virtually inevitable, and one of the major cash highways still open to Google.

And Finally, There’s You

The little guy trying to get a little recognition on the cell, the web or in the yellow pages of the telephone book. (Wonder if they’ll still have those in 10 years…).

That means that your advertising budget will increase, but so will your business. It will mean that you’ll have to allocate online/telecom advertising dollars based on your own research (a simple A-B test).

And it’s going to lead to a new advertising design industry – one that leaves behind the archaic advertising dinosaurs like buyer loyalty and building trust. If you’re driving in your Hummer and you’ve got a hankerin’ for a tofu salad, you can toss customer loyalty right out the window. You’re going to the closest tofu place that shows up on your cell or your installed GPS.

This is a major shift. It can’t be stopped, it never sleeps and it has one mission (kinda like The Terminator huh?). And that is to win the mobile search war by offering business owners (you) more services for less dollars.

That’s the fun side of competition and this is going to be a competition like nothing we’ve seen to date. We’re still at the baby step stage but in a few years, it’s iron man time.

Be ready.

Got your own Blackberry app, or just want to hawk your goods or services via cells and PDAs? call me. Don't limit yourself to folks @ computers. Go mobi, babe.

Later,

Webwordslinger.com

CUSTOMER RETENTION: WANT THEM TO COME BACK?

Customer Retention:

Keep Them Locked In Place

How much did it cost you to get your latest customer? $0.50? You should be so lucky. $5.00? Ummmm, maybe. $10.00? You’re getting warmer.

The fact is, most site owners don’t have a clue how much it cost them to acquire a customer. More importantly, they don’t know if the customer made enough of an initial purchase to even cover customer acquisition costs such as Google AdWords, a press release, syndicated content or some other means of attracting attention on the W3.

However, you can get a rough estimate of cost per customer by totaling up marketing and promotion expenses and dividing by the number of customers – not just site visitors but visitors who converted to buyers. And this is far from a pointless exercise. When you determine just how much it cost you to recruit a customer – a paying customer – you’re going to want to keep that person coming back time and time again.

The Importance of Customer Retention to Site Success

It’s called customer retention and if you’re just starting out in the wild world of e-commerce, you’ll soon realize how critical customer retention is to your long-term success. And, even if you’ve been doing this a while, there are plenty of steps you can take to retain the customers you’ve accumulated over the years. Is it worth it? What do you think?

So here are a few tips that have worked for companies as diverse as Amazon and Netflix. And both of those e-businesses are doing well with their customer retention strategies.

Personalize the Buying Experience

You can do this using your database to deliver customized content to each visitor. You can welcome each customer by name and offer suggestions for purchase based on their past buying history.

Gather Customer Data

Two ways to do this: either through the use of metrics software or by providing repeat buyers (those are the ones you love) a form to write both gripes and praise. Fix the gripes. Expand the praiseworthy features. Easy. Oh, and don’t forget to mention that this form is for repeat customers only so you can improve both your products and services to enhance that repeat buyer’s on-site experience.

By the way, this kind of “personalized” input will probably reveal problems that never occurred to you. Conversely, it’ll point out your site’s under-utilized strengths like a one-click checkout, for instance.

Stay In Touch

Even small sites have new products and special sales. Use your database to provide email announcements for “customers” only.

Now don’t overdo this or your emails will end up in the recycling bin. However, the judicious use of email is very effective. Check out ajferrari.com. It’s a relatively small site that does big business in selling authentic Italian olive oils and other hard-to-find foods from Italy.

During the holiday season and a few weeks before Mother’s or Father’s day, this company sends out an email announcing gift ideas – and these emails pull big time.

Create a Customers Only Section

This requires a log in name and a password but it provides lots of useful informational content about the company’s products or services. Again, not too much hype. Keep the content informational to provide a little bonus for your regulars.

You may also want to consider adding a customer’s forum in this section – a place where regulars can share their experiences – good or bad – with your company (fix the bad) – they can exchange recipes, strategies, ask and answer questions. It’s a great way to build a site community – a group that returns to your site on a regular basis. And buys stuff.

Reward Loyalty

Free stuff. That’s always a nice reward. Offer free shipping to all of your regulars or offer a free gift with their next purchase. A free ebook download – anything that says “Thank you, we appreciate your patronage.”

BTW, these loyalty rewards may do better when placed in the “Customer Only” section so you don’t alienate newcomers to your site.

Surprise Savings

Regular customers will stay that way when you offer surprise savings on certain items. As items are placed in the shopping cart, you can flash a “Surprise Savings” icon announcing that “because you’re a regular customer, this item is only $5.99 instead of the $10.99 new customers pay.” Think of the old-time Blue Light Specials. It’s like free money and your regulars will definitely appreciate it.

Coupons work, too. Place them throughout your site so that visitors have to search for them, like a treasure hunt. Coupons can knock 10% off your total purchase price, provide free shipping and handling or offer a free thank-you gift – a show of appreciation for the customer’s regular patronage. And the customer gets the benefit today at the POP!

Simplify Everything

Keep things simple for regulars. Provide a one click checkout so these regulars can load up their shopping carts, make a single checkout click and their goods are on the way. Easy.

Provide a 24-hour customer service line. And even if you’re just starting out and cash is tight, this might be worth outsourcing. Otherwise you may end up spending your days handling customer care – not a happy thought – when you could put your time and energy to better use – like growing the business!

Make returns easy, too. Larger online businesses keep complete records of the buying practices of their customers. So, if you call in with a problem, your account pops up on screen telling the representative everything s/he needs to know about you.

If you’re a big spender and a regular, the service rep will do handstands to make sure you’re happy – even if it means the business loses money on this one sale. Your customer profile shows you’re worth keeping.

However, if you’re a first-time buyer or, worse, a customer who complains about every purchase, don’t expect the same treatment that good customers receive. Good customers are worth the effort. Problem buyers aren’t.

Always Over Deliver

One online company that caters to new brides always includes a little extra gift no matter how small the order. One woman ordered two bed side lamps and received, as a gift, four place mats – which probably cost as much as the two lamps she ordered. Think that customer will be back? She will.

This is a great way to get rid of excess inventory and maintain customer retention. But it doesn’t have to be a gift. It can be going the extra mile – overnight delivery or a special order – anything that makes the buyer feel as though you care – because you do care…a lot.

It costs you money for every buyer you get so it just makes sense that once they’ve become a customer, you keep them coming back by creating customer loyalty in lots of little ways.

Finally, No Unpleasant Surprises, Please.

Don’t forget to eliminate any unpleasant surprises. For example, a customer places a $9.95 order only to discover at the checkout that there’s a $7.95 shipping and handling fee. There’s an abandoned shopping cart and rest assured, that customer won’t be back.

Or, how about advertising an item on site only to inform the buyer that the item has been back ordered and won’t ship until the boat arrives from China. Think that customer will be pleased upon hearing that? How about orders that take six weeks to fill? That’s a no-no for sure.

Look you worked hard and paid for every one of your customers so everything you can do to keep them customers is, in the long run, going to improve your bottom line.

Back in the day, there was the view among merchants that “The customer is always right.” Somewhere along the way, that idea got lost. But in the intensely competitive world of e-commerce, the idea is making a comeback.

So, have a sign made up. Hang it where all employees (including you) can see it. In big bold letters, it should read:

THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. ALWAYS!

That’s the best way to keep the customer base you’ve worked so hard to build.

Hey, it costs 10 times the dough to find a new client than to keep an existing client. Doesn't it make sense to keep the clients you have? Call me. Let's talk.

Later,

Webwordslinger.com

MySQL and Why You Need It

What’s MySQL and Why Do I Need It?

Put Your Site’s Data To Work For You

Even the smallest on-line business quickly collects data. Lots of it. Customer data – names, mailing addresses, email addresses, credit card information and other consumer information.

Then, there’s inventory data – what’s on the shelves, how much are you selling, when do you need to reorder, product specs – you get the idea.

Affiliate data, order and shipping info, PPC data – the facts and figures come fast and furious the minute your site goes live. And keeping straight these data records isn’t something you want to do with a pencil and paper.

What you need is an RDBMS.

A what? A relational database management system or RDBMS. It’s basically a really smart, intuitive database that enables you to manipulate, access and store data in lots of useful ways. Now you can go out and spend a bundle on RDBMS software, but you don’t have to. In fact, you can get the industry standard relational database software as an open source application. That means it’s free – always a good thing.

MySQL is a database the enables you to use and deploy specific data quickly through a variety of search and sort options. SQL stands for structured query language – a simple programming language that opens your database to more uses and better analytics without you having to learn a bunch of code. So, for example, if you wanted to conduct a search of all customer information from a particular zip code, a few clicks and all of your buyer information for that particular area is accessed and presented (quickly) on your computer screen.

Add some additional filters, like cutomers from that zip code who spent more than $200 and you’re on your way to developing the “Golden Mailing List” so prized in marketing and promotion.

MySQL

MySQL is open source, though there are restrictions on its use. However, for start-ups and even mid-sized online businesses, use restrictions aren’t a concern.

MySQL has become the most popular database within the realm of ecommerce for several solid reasons:

It’s free. (Best reason of all.)

It’s fast. (That’s always nice.)

It’s easy to install. (No, it really is.)

It runs on Linux and many other popular server platforms. (Important.)

It adapts well to HTML, the standard for site construction. (Essential.)

It works well with all popular Web server software, e.g. Apache. (Nice.)

When partnered with PHP, you can accomplish marketing miracles. MySQL and PHP make for a powerful combo – even for small commercial sites with a keen eye on rapid growth.

What’s PHP?

PHP stands for “PHP hypertext preprocessor” (sort of). Simply put, PHP is a server side scripting language. Like MySQL, PHP is open source (free). It’s highly intuitive, easy to learn and it dovetails with all HTML coding.

Server side scripting simply means that the PHP scripting is processed by your web host server rather than on your biz-system desktop. The server manipulates PHP scripting and delivers simple HTML scripting back to a visitor’s browser, eliminating all compatibility issues.

With the MySQL-PHP, one-two punch, you can streamline everything from order taking to marketing to data harvesting. You can collect data entered into online forms by visitors. This data is then automatically correlated into the powerful MySQL database. 24 caret marketing gold.

Using MySQL and PHP in tandem, you can create dynamic page content – content targeted at a specific visitor based on that visitor’s past purchase history. Think Amazon.com and its personalized approach to selling you more stuff. Amazon knows what you like and generates dynamic pages customized to your tastes. Of course, with a company that size it’s got one, big, honkin’ database.

MySQL enables you to send and receive cookies to improve your site’s performance for repeat visitors – even if the visitors haven’t “officially” registered at your site.

MySQL and PHP are both cross-platform applications. This allows you to create in Windows and deliver content through a Unix-based server. (Ask your web host if your sever is Unix-based.).

PHP also delivers a stack of other cool features. Visitor and credit card authentication, for example, are a snap when PHP is combined with the data stored in your MySQL d-base. Customizable pdf development is another cool feature, enabling you to create totally dynamic content in pdf format.

You might not need it today, but you will tomorrow.

If you’re just testing the waters, MySQL may not be critical to your venture. You can get by using MS Access, Informix, Sybase, Oracle and other data manipulation software. However, as your business grows, you may quickly discover that transferring data from one of these d-base packs to MySQL is somewhat of a headache.

And, since both MySQL and PHP are free and totally symbiotic, it makes sense to start with an RDBMS that is fully scaleable – growing right along with your bottom line.

Is your site data-driven?

Any commercial site is data driven. Info on products, orders, shipping and so on. But many non-commercial sites also hold and deliver heaps of information to visitors. Government sites, educational institutions, NFPs, survey sites and the like will also benefit from the power-packed MySQL, especially when coupled with the expansive features offered by PHP server side scripting.

Need a little help with your d-base design? All this stuff is free so drop me a line or call me. Use your site to collect marketing data and really grow BIG. FAST.

Later,

Webwordslinger.com