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Monday, March 01, 2010
Risks of insecure systems
There are basically three overlapping types of risk that we need to worry about on systems connected to the Internet:
As a small business owner you need to be aware of these risks and take steps to insure that your website is not vulnerable to them - or promoting them. To do this you waill want to make sure you are using a reputable hosting provider that will monitor your site for denial of service attacks and other server side problems. You will want to make sure you use SSL to encrypt all sensitive data transmission between yourself and your users. You will want to make sure any software you use on your site (e.g. plug-ins, guest books etc) are from reputable providers so you do not pass viruses to your users. Finally, you will want to use strong passwords to log into your ftp site so that no one can "hack" your site and upload bad "viral" content or steal private programs or data from you.
- Bugs or misconfiguration problems in the Web server that allow unauthorized remote users to:
- Steal confidential documents not intended for their eyes.
- Execute commands on the server host machine, allowing them to modify the system.
- Gain information about the Web server's host machine that will allow them to break into the system.
- Launch denial-of-service attacks, rendering the machine temporarily unusable.
- Browser-side risks, including:
- Active content that crashes the browser, damages the user's system, breaches the user's privacy, or merely creates an annoyance.
- The misuse of personal information knowingly or unknowingly provided by the end-user.
- e.g. Identity theft or Session hijacking
- Interception of network data sent between browser and server via eavesdropping. Eavesdroppers operate from any point on the path between browser and server:
- The network on the browser's side of the connection.
- The network on the server's side of the connection (including intranets).
- The client or server's Internet service provider (ISP).
- Either ISPs' regional access provider.
As a small business owner you need to be aware of these risks and take steps to insure that your website is not vulnerable to them - or promoting them. To do this you waill want to make sure you are using a reputable hosting provider that will monitor your site for denial of service attacks and other server side problems. You will want to make sure you use SSL to encrypt all sensitive data transmission between yourself and your users. You will want to make sure any software you use on your site (e.g. plug-ins, guest books etc) are from reputable providers so you do not pass viruses to your users. Finally, you will want to use strong passwords to log into your ftp site so that no one can "hack" your site and upload bad "viral" content or steal private programs or data from you.
Labels: security, website tips
Monday, February 22, 2010
On-line Payment Mechanisms
Frequently online businesses want to be able to collect payments over the Internet. This is usually accomplished through some sort of Payment Gateway, which is is an e-commerce service that authorizes payments for e-businesses and online retailers.
There are numerous Merchant Payment Gateway providers:
Advantages: merchant payment services is that it provides the merchant with a fully functional, externally managed payment processing system that allows:
Personal payment services cater to small businesses that do not want to set-up their own online payment mechanisms.
Personal payment services cater has a number of options that allows users to quickly set-up online payment mechanisms on their Web sites:
If you dynamically generate portions of your site, you can populate your Buy Now buttons dynamically and save time by updating the variables with information from your database. To use the button above for a different item, you would only need to edit two variables: item_name, and amount.
PayPal Shopping Cart: When you use PayPal's free Shopping Cart on your website, your customers can purchase multiple items with a single payment, browse your entire selection, and view a consolidated list of all their items before purchasing. The PayPal Shopping Cart is a low-cost way for you to accept credit card and bank account payments, and can be fully integrated with your website in a few easy steps.
When a buyer clicks the "Add to Cart" button, a new window will appear listing the contents of the buyer's PayPal Shopping Cart, including the item just added. To make the purchase, the buyer clicks "Checkout" from this window.
Personal payment services charge fees based on the type of account you set-up and how much you sell. Currently the fees for PayPal, Amazon Payments and Google Checkout are the same and are paid per transaction:
Advantages: The advantages of personal payment services is that they are lower cost for small payment volumes and they are very easy to set up.
Disadvantages: The customer completes the transaction on the payment service website - which can look less professional than having your own integrated payment mechanism.
Whatever payment service you choose, it is your responsibility as an Internet merchant to use a reputable payment service that will handle credit card information with care, minimizing the likelihood that information for your customers will be lost, stolen or misused in any way.
- It is the equivalent of a physical POS (Point-of-sale) terminal located in most retail outlets.
- Payment gateways encrypt sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, to ensure that information passes securely between the customer and the merchant.
- The customer
- The merchant (through their website)
- Credit Card companies (by verifying information)
- Internet Merchant accounts that relay order information from the gateway to the merchant's bank account.
- Merchant Payment Services
- Personal Payment Services
Merchant Payment Services
Merchant Payment Gateways use specialized software on the merchant's server to provide for secure payments across the Internet.There are numerous Merchant Payment Gateway providers:
- VeriSign Payment Services
- Authorize.net
- Get an Internet approved merchant account from an affiliated merchant bank.
- An Internet merchant account is configured to allow you to accept "card not present" transactions which are specifically designated as originating through the Internet.
- Select (or create) code that will be installed on your server that allows you to take payments on your website.
- Buy Now Buttons that send payments directly to the Merchant Payment Service
- Select a pre built shopping cart that automatically connects your Web site to the payment gateway and to a database on your server, allowing you to accept payments immediately and write orders and other customer information to your database.
- Register with with the merchant payment gateway provider: The online registration guides you through the process of setting up your web page to process payments.
- Step 1: The merchant submits a credit card transaction to the Merchant Payment Gateway on behalf of a customer via secure Web site connection, retail store, MOTO center or wireless device (using the buy now buttons or shopping cart provided by the merchant payment service provider).
- Step 2: The Merchant Payment Gateway receives the secure transaction information and passes it via a secure connection to the Merchant Bank's Processor.
- Step 3: The Merchant Bank's Processor submits the transaction to the Credit Card Network (a system of financial entities that communicate to manage the processing, clearing, and settlement of credit card transactions).
- Step 4: The Credit Card Network routes the transaction to the Customer's Credit Card Issuing Bank.
- Step 5: The Customer's Credit Card Issuing Bank approves or declines the transaction based on the customer's available funds and passes the transaction results back to the Credit Card Network.
- Step 6: The Credit Card Network relays the transaction results to the Merchant Bank's Processor.
- Step 7: The Merchant Bank's Processor relays the transaction results to the Merchant Payment Gateway.
- Step 8: The Merchant Payment Gateway stores the transaction results and sends them to the customer and/or the merchant. This step completes the authorization process – all in about three seconds or less!
- Step 9: The Customer's Credit Card Issuing Bank sends the appropriate funds for the transaction to the Credit Card Network, which passes the funds to the Merchant's Bank. The bank then deposits the funds into the merchant's bank account. This step is known as the settlement process and typically the transaction funds are deposited into your primary bank account within two to four business days.
- Risk Management – Sensitive data is stored in the payment service data center, never on your computer.
- Accept a Variety of Payments – Most merchant services will allow you to accept all major credit cards, eCheck.Net (electronic checks from bank accounts), gift cards, and signature debit cards.
- Manage Your Transactions – Most merchant services provide a Merchant Interface which will allow you to to monitor and control payments through your Web site.
- Prevent Fraud – Many tools can help to identify suspicious transactions using fraud tools.
- Receive Payments Quickly – Your funds are automatically deposited into your merchant bank account within days.
- Free Help – Most services provide live technical and account support to merchants, as well as access to online documentation and user guides
- While you have access to all transaction-critical information, VeriSign protects credit card data with the highest level of security, so you never have to worry about compromising your customer's sensitive credit card data.
- Setup Fee: $99.00
- Monthly Gateway Fee: $20.00
- Per-Transaction Fee: $0.10
Personal Payment Services
PayPal, Amazon Payments & Google Payments enables any individual or business with an email address to securely, easily and quickly send and receive payments online.Personal payment services cater to small businesses that do not want to set-up their own online payment mechanisms.
Personal payment services cater has a number of options that allows users to quickly set-up online payment mechanisms on their Web sites:
- Request Money just enter the recipient's email address and the amount you are requesting. The recipient gets an email and instructions on how to pay you using PayPal at www.paypal.com.
- Buy Now Buttons Buy Now Buttons or Pay now buttons are a low-cost way for you to accept credit card and bank account payments, and can be fully integrated with your website in a few easy steps.
- Subscriptions allows you to set-up subscriptions for recurring payments from customers.
- When a buyer clicks the Buy Now button, he will be taken to a secure PayPal payment page, where he can log in to an existing PayPal account or sign up for a new one, and quickly complete the purchase.
If you dynamically generate portions of your site, you can populate your Buy Now buttons dynamically and save time by updating the variables with information from your database. To use the button above for a different item, you would only need to edit two variables: item_name, and amount.
PayPal Shopping Cart: When you use PayPal's free Shopping Cart on your website, your customers can purchase multiple items with a single payment, browse your entire selection, and view a consolidated list of all their items before purchasing. The PayPal Shopping Cart is a low-cost way for you to accept credit card and bank account payments, and can be fully integrated with your website in a few easy steps.
When a buyer clicks the "Add to Cart" button, a new window will appear listing the contents of the buyer's PayPal Shopping Cart, including the item just added. To make the purchase, the buyer clicks "Checkout" from this window.
| Premier/Business Account | |
|---|---|
| Open an Account | Free |
| Send Money | Free |
| Withdraw Funds | Free for US bank accounts |
| Add Funds | Free |
| Receive Funds | 2.2% + $0.30 USD to 2.9% + $0.30 USD |
| Multiple Currency Transactions | Exchange rate includes a 2.5% fee* |
Advantages: The advantages of personal payment services is that they are lower cost for small payment volumes and they are very easy to set up.
Disadvantages: The customer completes the transaction on the payment service website - which can look less professional than having your own integrated payment mechanism.
Whatever payment service you choose, it is your responsibility as an Internet merchant to use a reputable payment service that will handle credit card information with care, minimizing the likelihood that information for your customers will be lost, stolen or misused in any way.
Labels: payments, website tips
Friday, February 05, 2010
Using Webinars for Sales and Marketing
Webinars are online seminars or presentations used to provide information about any subject your company feels your potential customers might be interested in. They can be interactive or not. One big advantage of webinars is they presented live and then placed in archives for others to view later.
I personally have used webinars extensively for training, usually when we launch product upgrade we take the opportunity to conduct a webinar on how to the new features. We also conduct periodic webinars just to stay connected with our user base. The response to our webinars varies depending on the topic, ranging from only a few participants to fifty or more. Based on the number of registrants and attendees we have had at our webinars demonstrates that most of our users are comfortable with the technology.
During the course of the webinar, we get the opportunity to ask questions of our audience. We also record all our webinars (minus the audience interaction) and made it available on our website for people to view at their convenience. Given the positive response to the webinar and the positive feedback we have received, we believe that our webinars will increase our subscriber “stickiness.”
In addition, offering instructional content on your website can significantly increase the likelihood of visitors “returning another time to learn something more, and ultimately make a purchase.” According to Ken Zwerdling (CEO of Foreign Translations) “Some visitors just want to learn more about the service and the industry before they make the decision to [make a purchase].” Stephanie Chandler, author of From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur, agrees, saying that by adding informational content to your company’s website you have greater power to attract traffic from search engines. Chandler has built her business around the power of marketing with web content. webinars can be an important part of the instructional content you offer on your site.
While training is the most common use for webinars, they can also be used to reach your target audience and help you increase sales of services or products. Some Internet marketers use them to help teach potential customers about the products they are selling. Most webinar tools have a registration feature which allows you to identify prospects who register and then see if they actually attend the event and for how long. This can give you a pretty good feeling as to how interested a prospect is in the products you are selling.
Many Internet users are more willing to view a webinar about a subject than to just read about it. This allows Internet marketers can to use them as teasers or bait to help convert prospects. Webinars gives you a portal to provide information in a way that helps you build branding, image, and customer loyalty.
There are a wide variety of webinar tools available online and I have tried several of them. When choosing a webinar tool things to look for include the number of concurrent visitors the tool allows, polling capabilities, ability to invinte participants, require registration, track attendance and record the webinar. If you are interested in exploring how a webinar tool might be used for your organization, you might want to look at DimDim. They offer a webinar tool that is free for up to 20 participants. While the tool lacks some of the features of some of the full feature commercial tools, it is more than adequate for webinars for a small number of attendees.
I have found webinars to be a great way to connect with customers and potential customers and to build a library of content that contributes to the credibility of my company.
---------------------------------------------------------------
References:
Free Coaching on How to Market Using Webinars http://www.squidoo.com/marketingwithwebinars
A Case for using Webinars: http://www.ctinnovations.com/blog/?p=355
Drive Sales with Tutorials http://bestwebtutor.com/wordpress/?p=383
I personally have used webinars extensively for training, usually when we launch product upgrade we take the opportunity to conduct a webinar on how to the new features. We also conduct periodic webinars just to stay connected with our user base. The response to our webinars varies depending on the topic, ranging from only a few participants to fifty or more. Based on the number of registrants and attendees we have had at our webinars demonstrates that most of our users are comfortable with the technology.
During the course of the webinar, we get the opportunity to ask questions of our audience. We also record all our webinars (minus the audience interaction) and made it available on our website for people to view at their convenience. Given the positive response to the webinar and the positive feedback we have received, we believe that our webinars will increase our subscriber “stickiness.”
In addition, offering instructional content on your website can significantly increase the likelihood of visitors “returning another time to learn something more, and ultimately make a purchase.” According to Ken Zwerdling (CEO of Foreign Translations) “Some visitors just want to learn more about the service and the industry before they make the decision to [make a purchase].” Stephanie Chandler, author of From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur, agrees, saying that by adding informational content to your company’s website you have greater power to attract traffic from search engines. Chandler has built her business around the power of marketing with web content. webinars can be an important part of the instructional content you offer on your site.
While training is the most common use for webinars, they can also be used to reach your target audience and help you increase sales of services or products. Some Internet marketers use them to help teach potential customers about the products they are selling. Most webinar tools have a registration feature which allows you to identify prospects who register and then see if they actually attend the event and for how long. This can give you a pretty good feeling as to how interested a prospect is in the products you are selling.
Many Internet users are more willing to view a webinar about a subject than to just read about it. This allows Internet marketers can to use them as teasers or bait to help convert prospects. Webinars gives you a portal to provide information in a way that helps you build branding, image, and customer loyalty.
There are a wide variety of webinar tools available online and I have tried several of them. When choosing a webinar tool things to look for include the number of concurrent visitors the tool allows, polling capabilities, ability to invinte participants, require registration, track attendance and record the webinar. If you are interested in exploring how a webinar tool might be used for your organization, you might want to look at DimDim. They offer a webinar tool that is free for up to 20 participants. While the tool lacks some of the features of some of the full feature commercial tools, it is more than adequate for webinars for a small number of attendees.
I have found webinars to be a great way to connect with customers and potential customers and to build a library of content that contributes to the credibility of my company.
---------------------------------------------------------------
References:
Free Coaching on How to Market Using Webinars http://www.squidoo.com/marketingwithwebinars
A Case for using Webinars: http://www.ctinnovations.com/blog/?p=355
Drive Sales with Tutorials http://bestwebtutor.com/wordpress/?p=383
Labels: online marketing, social media, website tips
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Should you use personal payment services?
Personal payment services are an easy way for small businesses to take payments online. Personal payment services like PayPal, Amazon Payments & Google Payments enables any individual or business with an email address to securely, easily and quickly send and receive payments online. They can provide a number of benefits to small online businesses, including:
- Personal payment services cater to small businesses that do not want to set-up their own online payment mechanisms.
- Personal payment services cater has a number of options that allows users to quickly set-up online payment mechanisms on their Web sites:
- Send Money allows you to pay anyone with an email address.
- Request Money just enter the recipient's email address and the amount you are requesting. The recipient gets an email and instructions on how to pay you using PayPal at www.paypal.com.
- Buy Now Buttons Buy Now Buttons or Pay now buttons are a low-cost way for you to accept credit card and bank account payments, and can be fully integrated with your website in a few easy steps.
- Personal payment services usually only accept debit and credit cards
- Because PayPal, Amazon Payments and Google Checkout true payment gateway, there are some extra steps you need to go through in order to deposit money from your personal payment account into your bank account.
- Perhaps the biggest disadvantage is that using a personal payment service establishes you as a small vendor which could negatively impact your credibility online.
Labels: payments, website tips
Sunday, December 27, 2009
What are cookies and should you be using them?
A Cookie is a data file that is written on the user's computer by a program within a Web page. Cookies are often used to store information about:
- Which pages a user has viewed
- How many times a user has visited a Web site
- What information the user has entered on past visits (e.g. login name and password or customer data)
- What items a user has selected to purchase (shopping cart)
- A cookie stores information in pairs of variable names and associated values. Each name/value pair is separated by a semicolon (
;):
userid=mkellog;password=hello; - Information in cookies is essentially private. Cookies can only be read by the same Web site domain name or IP address that created them.
Labels: web programming, website tips
Monday, December 21, 2009
Writing for the web: What entrepreneurs need to know
Creating good content for your website is the essential and most overlooked aspect of website design. Many people focus on the aesthetic aspects of a site without thinking on what they want to say an how they want to say it. Many people assume that the same words that work for print campaigns or materials can just be copied and pasted for the web, but that’s just not true. Research indicates that users read hypertext very differently than printed information. Here are four rules for writing for the web.
1. Know Your Objective
One advantage to writing for a website is that it websites are divided into a series of pages, each of which is designed to convey a specific piece of information. When writing an individual page you need to know what purpose that page serves within the overall context of the site. Once you know the objective, you’ll be able to more clearly articulate what you need to get across to your customers in your copy, and you’ll be able to eliminate any text that does not support the objective.
2. Know Your Audience
This should be the the guiding principle behind all aspects of your web design. You need to know who your customer is and what information they will be looking for on your website. Knowing your audience and understanding what they are looking for and help you with the next rule as well.
3. Keep it Short
Studies have found that the more words you add to a web page the less time people spend reading it. A general rule of thumb is to use half the words that you use in printed material when writing for the web. One study found that users only spend about 4.4 seconds on a page for every 100 words of content. That suggests that if you keep your content as short as possible. Ideally you should limit yourself to one idea per paragraph (users will usually skip over any additional ideas). Additionally, you should start your paragraphs with the conclusion, then add details.
4. Make it Scannable
According to Jacob Nielsen's Alertbox people rarely read websites word by word; instead they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In research on how people read websites Nielsen found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word. As a result you need to make your website scannable this includes:
Research suggests that website visitors do not like sites that use a promotional writing style with boastful subjective claims ("hottest ever"). Web users are seeking straightforward honest information when they are browsing the web and are more likely to trust sites that use neutral objective language.
Customizing your writing style specifically for the web can dramatically improve the usability of your website. It can make users read more of your content, improving the likelihood users will act on the information they find.
-----------------------------------
References:
Jacob Nielsen, How Users Read on the Web, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
Josh Catone, 5 Rules for Better Web Writing, http://mashable.com/2009/09/08/web-writing/
1. Know Your Objective
One advantage to writing for a website is that it websites are divided into a series of pages, each of which is designed to convey a specific piece of information. When writing an individual page you need to know what purpose that page serves within the overall context of the site. Once you know the objective, you’ll be able to more clearly articulate what you need to get across to your customers in your copy, and you’ll be able to eliminate any text that does not support the objective.
2. Know Your Audience
This should be the the guiding principle behind all aspects of your web design. You need to know who your customer is and what information they will be looking for on your website. Knowing your audience and understanding what they are looking for and help you with the next rule as well.
3. Keep it Short
Studies have found that the more words you add to a web page the less time people spend reading it. A general rule of thumb is to use half the words that you use in printed material when writing for the web. One study found that users only spend about 4.4 seconds on a page for every 100 words of content. That suggests that if you keep your content as short as possible. Ideally you should limit yourself to one idea per paragraph (users will usually skip over any additional ideas). Additionally, you should start your paragraphs with the conclusion, then add details.
4. Make it Scannable
According to Jacob Nielsen's Alertbox people rarely read websites word by word; instead they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In research on how people read websites Nielsen found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word. As a result you need to make your website scannable this includes:
- Highlight keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
- Use meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)
- Use bulleted lists
Research suggests that website visitors do not like sites that use a promotional writing style with boastful subjective claims ("hottest ever"). Web users are seeking straightforward honest information when they are browsing the web and are more likely to trust sites that use neutral objective language.
Customizing your writing style specifically for the web can dramatically improve the usability of your website. It can make users read more of your content, improving the likelihood users will act on the information they find.
-----------------------------------
References:
Jacob Nielsen, How Users Read on the Web, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
Josh Catone, 5 Rules for Better Web Writing, http://mashable.com/2009/09/08/web-writing/
Labels: website tips, writing
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Testing and Validating Your Web Pages
One of the biggest problems with the internet it the wide array of browsers and devices that your site can be viewed on. A website that looks lovely on your browser can look bad (very bad) on a different browser. Some of the problems you can see as you move from browser to browser may include having elements on your page overlap or having content wrap strangely. Both of these flaws can make your site difficult to use or could even hide some critical parts of you page making your site difficult to navigate.
On of the first things you can test is that your web pages are validly constructed. Having pages that are validly constructed helps improve the odds that your page will display correctly. Unfortunately, just because they validate doesn't mean they will look good in different web browsers. Here are tools to test the appearance and validate the code.
Using these tools can help you insure that your website looks good in a variety of browsers on a variety of platforms. It is the first step in an effective website testing program. Other things to test include usability testing, accessibility testing and content testing. I will discuss these types of testing in future blog posts.
On of the first things you can test is that your web pages are validly constructed. Having pages that are validly constructed helps improve the odds that your page will display correctly. Unfortunately, just because they validate doesn't mean they will look good in different web browsers. Here are tools to test the appearance and validate the code.
- CSE HTML Validator Lite They bill it as "...the most powerful, easy to use, and user configurable HTML, XHTML, CSS, link, spelling, and accessibility checker available for Microsoft Windows." It's free, but it's fairly limited. If you're a serious designer, you should at least get the standard version (at $69).
- BrowserCam It's not free and it's only cheap if you use it for one month to check out your site (if it takes longer than that...).
- LynxViewer is a service that allows web authors to see what their pages will look like (sort of) when viewed with Lynx, a text-mode web browser.
Using these tools can help you insure that your website looks good in a variety of browsers on a variety of platforms. It is the first step in an effective website testing program. Other things to test include usability testing, accessibility testing and content testing. I will discuss these types of testing in future blog posts.
Labels: testing, tools, website tips
Friday, November 20, 2009
Good Web Design for Entrepreneurs
For the most part good web design is a matter of keeping your content clear, targeted and well organized. You want your site to look clean and professional. You want your site to reflect the purpose of your business not your own agenda as an entrepreneur.
My advice is to start small and build your site up as you discover a need for more content. I would build a simple web page "template" that you use for the entire site so people know what to expect when they move from page to page.
Here are the top issues you need to address when you are designing your site.
Site Navigation
Site navigation is how visitors move from one page to another to find the information they are looking for within your site. It is essential that your site navigation is as simple as possible. The last thing you want to do is make it hard for your site visitors to find the information they are looking for. One advantage entrepreneurs have is that their websites generally are smaller that that for larger more established organizations. This is a good thing because it makes it easier for you to design a site navigation system that works well.
You want your site navigation to be clear and consistent from page to page. You want to avoid anything that makes it more difficult to find the information or pages people are looking for. You should:
Writing for the web is totally different than writing for print media. People generally scan websites instead of reading them. So you need to write in shorter sentences for easier reading. Use bulletted lists, headings and links to highlight the things that are important.
Use a Professional (if you can afford one)
Your website signals visitors how credible your business is. If your site looks like it was designed by an amateur customers are more likely to look elsewhere for someone to do business with. You can get a professional to create the overall design for your site but make sure you know how to add and update content (site maintenance is key).
Calls to Action
One of the most common mistakes we see on websites is a failure to incorporate a clear call to action. A call to action can be "Buy Now", "Click here for more information", "Sign up for our Newsletter", "Request a Quote." Decide what your Calls to Action are and make it very very very easy for people to execute them. If your site has been designed properly, your visitors will get a clear idea of how you can help them, so may wish to sign up for your newsletters or fill in a simple inquiry form. Calls to action are how you turn browsers into customers so don't forget them.
---------------------------
References:
http://www.inplymouth.com/businessnewsindetail.asp?category=Internet&serialnumber=109
My advice is to start small and build your site up as you discover a need for more content. I would build a simple web page "template" that you use for the entire site so people know what to expect when they move from page to page.
Here are the top issues you need to address when you are designing your site.
Site Navigation
Site navigation is how visitors move from one page to another to find the information they are looking for within your site. It is essential that your site navigation is as simple as possible. The last thing you want to do is make it hard for your site visitors to find the information they are looking for. One advantage entrepreneurs have is that their websites generally are smaller that that for larger more established organizations. This is a good thing because it makes it easier for you to design a site navigation system that works well.
You want your site navigation to be clear and consistent from page to page. You want to avoid anything that makes it more difficult to find the information or pages people are looking for. You should:
- Avoid multiple navigation systems. It is common to see sites with a navigation bar along the top as well as down the side. This can be confusing and is usually unnecessary.
- Avoid using 'mystery meat' navigation. These are strange icons do not explain themselves to visitors on menus. There's nothing wrong with using words on a navigation menu.
Great Design
Great design is not so much about how your site looks - it is about knowing what your customers are interested in providing that on your website. Before building your website you need to knwo what needs it is designed to address. Your website may be about attracting publicity; it may be a tool to increase sales; it may a way to communicate with customers or investors. It can, in fact be almost anything. Your website be designed to do its job efficiently without unnecessary decoration that can get in the way.
Writing for the web
Great design is not so much about how your site looks - it is about knowing what your customers are interested in providing that on your website. Before building your website you need to knwo what needs it is designed to address. Your website may be about attracting publicity; it may be a tool to increase sales; it may a way to communicate with customers or investors. It can, in fact be almost anything. Your website be designed to do its job efficiently without unnecessary decoration that can get in the way.
Writing for the web
Writing for the web is totally different than writing for print media. People generally scan websites instead of reading them. So you need to write in shorter sentences for easier reading. Use bulletted lists, headings and links to highlight the things that are important.
Your website signals visitors how credible your business is. If your site looks like it was designed by an amateur customers are more likely to look elsewhere for someone to do business with. You can get a professional to create the overall design for your site but make sure you know how to add and update content (site maintenance is key).
Calls to Action
One of the most common mistakes we see on websites is a failure to incorporate a clear call to action. A call to action can be "Buy Now", "Click here for more information", "Sign up for our Newsletter", "Request a Quote." Decide what your Calls to Action are and make it very very very easy for people to execute them. If your site has been designed properly, your visitors will get a clear idea of how you can help them, so may wish to sign up for your newsletters or fill in a simple inquiry form. Calls to action are how you turn browsers into customers so don't forget them.
---------------------------
References:
http://www.inplymouth.com/businessnewsindetail.asp?category=Internet&serialnumber=109
Labels: design, website tips
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Improving your PageRank with Google
With millions of pages on the Web it can be difficult to get your Web site noticed. This can be especially difficult for entrepreneurs launching a brand new website. One of the first instincts for a new website owner might be to produce a website quickly and then register it with every search engine and wait for the visitors to come. However, this strategy can wind up backfiring if your site does not portray your company in the best way possible and if your site is not optimized to appear well in search results.
If you don't optimize your site it could be weeks before the friendly Google bot returns to reindex your site after their initial visit, causing you to lose customers before they even get to your site. It is now widely accepted that if you are not listed in the first 3 pages of results from a search engine then you will not be found by that potential customer. The majority of people will simply go to a competitor's site that does appear in those results or try new search criteria assuming that they have failed to find what they are looking for.
Before you register your Web site with a Search Engine you should enhance your Web site to make sure it displays well within Search Engine results. According to Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (produced by Google) there are a few things you can do to enhance your search engine placement. Here are a few of their top suggestions:
Use Meaningful Titles:
All pages on your Web site need meaningful titles. Some search engines read only the title when indexing the Web site. The title is also what shows up in a user's favorites or bookmark list. Here is a set of title selection Dos and Don'ts
Use META elements
You can use META elements to raise on your Web site listing with certain search engines. AltaVista, Excite, Inktomi and HotBot use them but some other search engines ignore them.
You should make sure to use the description META element and the keywords META element in your document. This description may be used in Google's search results (depending on the user's query) and the keywords element helps search engines classify your results. Here are some dos and don'ts for creating a good description for your web page:
Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guideis an excellent resourse for entrepreneurs interested in improving their visibility on Google and other search engines. And it is free.
If you don't optimize your site it could be weeks before the friendly Google bot returns to reindex your site after their initial visit, causing you to lose customers before they even get to your site. It is now widely accepted that if you are not listed in the first 3 pages of results from a search engine then you will not be found by that potential customer. The majority of people will simply go to a competitor's site that does appear in those results or try new search criteria assuming that they have failed to find what they are looking for.
Before you register your Web site with a Search Engine you should enhance your Web site to make sure it displays well within Search Engine results. According to Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (produced by Google) there are a few things you can do to enhance your search engine placement. Here are a few of their top suggestions:
Use Meaningful Titles:
All pages on your Web site need meaningful titles. Some search engines read only the title when indexing the Web site. The title is also what shows up in a user's favorites or bookmark list. Here is a set of title selection Dos and Don'ts
- Do choose a title that communicates the content of the page
- Do make sure your title is the first tag in the HEAD element of your page
- Don't use titles like “untitled” or titles that have nothing to do with the content.
- Don't add unnecessary keywords in your title tags
- Don't use ALL CAPS titles.
- Do keep your title short (if the title more than 60 characters it may be shortened in the search results).
- Do minimize the use of stop words in your title (Words such as "and, on, a, the, for, to, about, are, that, were, by, of" and other auxiliary words are ignored by search engines)
Use META elements
You can use META elements to raise on your Web site listing with certain search engines. AltaVista, Excite, Inktomi and HotBot use them but some other search engines ignore them.
- META Elements go in the HEAD section of the document and let you specify information about the document that is invisible to the user.
- Common META elements are Author, Description, Keywords and Generator.
You should make sure to use the description META element and the keywords META element in your document. This description may be used in Google's search results (depending on the user's query) and the keywords element helps search engines classify your results. Here are some dos and don'ts for creating a good description for your web page:
- Do summarize the page's content completely
- Do keep your description within 160 characters
- Do use unique descriptions for each page of the site too.
- Don't simply make your descriptions a list of keywords for the page or site.
- Do include keywords you want your page to be found under in the keywords list
- Do make your keyword list targeted and specific
- Don't use the same keywords on every page for your site
Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guideis an excellent resourse for entrepreneurs interested in improving their visibility on Google and other search engines. And it is free.
Labels: google, search engine optimization, website tips
Saturday, September 19, 2009
What information should your website include?
There is no one size fits all solution for new businesses when it comes to deciding what content you need to put on your website. Each business is unique and the website needs to be designed to meet the unique needs of your target audience. Thus it is important that you know why you are creating the website and target information content to the primary purpose of the site.
I was recently involved in a series of research studies the looked specifically at the type of content small businesses needed to put on their sites, from a user's perspective. Not surprisingly the studies demonstrated that they type of content varied based on the primary business the company and what the purpose of the site was (Walczak & Gregg 2010, Hasley & Gregg 2008).
Companies that are selling things online must provide accurate, believable product information that includes all "important" product characteristics. For example: ingredients is an important product characteristic for specialty food sites and book reviews are very important for author and other book selling sites. Of course price is important if you are selling things but studies show that including a price can actually be detrimental for higher end service sites (e.g. law firms and medical procedures).
Companies that are using their websites for recruiting or to attract investors also need to have accurate believable information but they need to include additional corporate information that is not required for sales only sites.
Regardless of what you are using your website for you need to realize that content is king, so make sure all of the information on your site is accurate, believable and up to date.
--------------------------
I was recently involved in a series of research studies the looked specifically at the type of content small businesses needed to put on their sites, from a user's perspective. Not surprisingly the studies demonstrated that they type of content varied based on the primary business the company and what the purpose of the site was (Walczak & Gregg 2010, Hasley & Gregg 2008).
Companies that are selling things online must provide accurate, believable product information that includes all "important" product characteristics. For example: ingredients is an important product characteristic for specialty food sites and book reviews are very important for author and other book selling sites. Of course price is important if you are selling things but studies show that including a price can actually be detrimental for higher end service sites (e.g. law firms and medical procedures).
Companies that are using their websites for recruiting or to attract investors also need to have accurate believable information but they need to include additional corporate information that is not required for sales only sites.
Regardless of what you are using your website for you need to realize that content is king, so make sure all of the information on your site is accurate, believable and up to date.
--------------------------
- S. Walczak and D. Gregg, "Factors Influencing Corporate Online Identity: A New Paradigm," forthcoming Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 2009/2010.
- J.P. Hasley and D. Gregg "Understanding and Managing Web Site Information Content: The WICS Method," Working Paper, July 2008.
Labels: design, research, website tips
Monday, September 14, 2009
Creating and deploying your website
One of the biggest hurdles small businesses face when developing their website often is deciding how to build their site and how to get it online - in front of customers eyes. Building a simple website is not that hard, certainly no harder than creating a business plan. But without the right tools and some basic knowledge it can seem like an insurmountable hurdle to overcome.
Build or buy?
The biggest first question is will you build it yourself or are you going to hire someone? Do you have 30-40 hours you will likely spend building a Web site yourself? Does your site require complex tools and features you do not know how o create and do not have time o learn? Do you have at least $1,500-$15,000 to hire someone reputable? Answer these questions first, then you can move on to the rest of your implementation!
If you decide to build your website yourself then you will need to learn to use some basic web development tools and invest the time (fifty to a few hundred hours) to learn the tools and build the site. Some common tools are:
If you decide to hire someone doing it on the cheap is not necessarily the best choice to make. You want to beware of the solo Web site designer/builder. They are less likely to give you a quality website and may not be available to update your site. Instead look for a true HTML/JavaScript coder who's up to date with the best coding techniques. Also look for a company that has been in business for a while and will be available when you need to change the site dramatically.
Even when you hire someone you want to make sure they are willing to show you how to make small edits to the sites content yourself. You do not want to have to wait for some designer to be available when you want to change your product description or price (and you do not want to have to pay them to make those minor changes).
Hosting and Email
Every website needs a host. A website hosting company maintains the computer (server) where your website files are placed. They can also set you up email addresses using your domain name (free email accounts like Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail are fine for personal use, but actually damage the credibility for your business).
When looking for a hosting provider you want to find a reliable hosting company that provides some sort of uptime guarantee for their servers. If possible you will want to speak to satisfied customers to see how quick the company is to respond to problems and if there have been any issues with their account. You may also want to look at a hosting review site like http://hosting-review.com/ to see what they have to say about different hosting sites.
Site Maintenance
It is surprising how many small companies believe that creating their website is a end in itself. That once it is deployed it is done. Your website needs to be a living document that evolves with changes in your company and in the competitive environment. This means you need to have a plan for updating your site. You need to know which pages and content need to be updated and how often. Finally, you need to know what technologies are needed to maintain your site before you build it.
It is surprising how many sites I visit that have outdated or obsolete information. Remember: your website is one of your most public faces to the world. As I mentioned in a prior blog post (Your website and your credibility), a well designed website can help establish the credibility of a new venture. However a poorly maintained website can damage that reputation even faster.
Build or buy?
The biggest first question is will you build it yourself or are you going to hire someone? Do you have 30-40 hours you will likely spend building a Web site yourself? Does your site require complex tools and features you do not know how o create and do not have time o learn? Do you have at least $1,500-$15,000 to hire someone reputable? Answer these questions first, then you can move on to the rest of your implementation!
If you decide to build your website yourself then you will need to learn to use some basic web development tools and invest the time (fifty to a few hundred hours) to learn the tools and build the site. Some common tools are:
- Dreamweaver, Expressions: HTML Web pages
- PhotoShop: Images
- FTP software: To upload your site to the Web.
If you decide to hire someone doing it on the cheap is not necessarily the best choice to make. You want to beware of the solo Web site designer/builder. They are less likely to give you a quality website and may not be available to update your site. Instead look for a true HTML/JavaScript coder who's up to date with the best coding techniques. Also look for a company that has been in business for a while and will be available when you need to change the site dramatically.
Even when you hire someone you want to make sure they are willing to show you how to make small edits to the sites content yourself. You do not want to have to wait for some designer to be available when you want to change your product description or price (and you do not want to have to pay them to make those minor changes).
Hosting and Email
Every website needs a host. A website hosting company maintains the computer (server) where your website files are placed. They can also set you up email addresses using your domain name (free email accounts like Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail are fine for personal use, but actually damage the credibility for your business).
When looking for a hosting provider you want to find a reliable hosting company that provides some sort of uptime guarantee for their servers. If possible you will want to speak to satisfied customers to see how quick the company is to respond to problems and if there have been any issues with their account. You may also want to look at a hosting review site like http://hosting-review.com/ to see what they have to say about different hosting sites.
Site Maintenance
It is surprising how many small companies believe that creating their website is a end in itself. That once it is deployed it is done. Your website needs to be a living document that evolves with changes in your company and in the competitive environment. This means you need to have a plan for updating your site. You need to know which pages and content need to be updated and how often. Finally, you need to know what technologies are needed to maintain your site before you build it.
It is surprising how many sites I visit that have outdated or obsolete information. Remember: your website is one of your most public faces to the world. As I mentioned in a prior blog post (Your website and your credibility), a well designed website can help establish the credibility of a new venture. However a poorly maintained website can damage that reputation even faster.
Labels: design, implementation, website tips
Friday, September 11, 2009
Getting your website started
When deciding to create (or recreate) a website for your small business there is no substitute for proper planning. Planning is essential to determine if you are equipped to build the site yourself or whether you need to hire someone to do the job for you. It helps you determine the scope of the project and what features are essential before you launch the site (and what can be added later).
Here are some of the things you need to think about when deciding to start a website:
Domain Name
Your company name and your domain name should match. Period. Sometimes companies that cannot get a domain name that matches their company name will add extra words to the name like "companyinfo.com." This is not a good idea. If you cannot get a domain name that matches your company mane you might want to consider changing your company name to one that has an available domain name. Otherwise, the time and money you spend marketing your company will be sending traffic to someone else's Web site!
Logo
Do you have one?
Is it any good?
Your Web site design should match your logo in color and style. If you don't have a logo yet, you need to get one. It is important for both your online and offline marketing efforts. When getting a logo you need to trade off the expense of a custom logo with the aesthetic appeal of simple one. A custom logo design can cost fro $300 to $15,000 which is money many entrepreneurs do not have. If you decide to design your logo yourself (or get a friend to do it) you want to avoid using clip art for your logo because it will look cheap. There are a few of online tools that can help you with your logo design: logoyes.com or logoworks.com (easy, inexpensive logos!) or flamingtext.com which helps you create (free banners/buttons).
Design
Generally it is good to avoid a home-grown site design if you're not a Web designer. Home-grown designs often look less professional and thus do little to enhance your credibility online. If you decide not to go with a home grown design you face a decision. You can either use a design template or you can get a custom design.
The biggest advantage of design templates is obviously the price. Many design templates can be purchased for less than $100. Some are terrible but some are fantastic and when you purchase a design template you get to see exactly what you're getting up front. Custom designs can be expensive and time consuming but they do allow you to control the look of your site and the image you portray.
Structure
Once you have settled on a basic design you need to come up with the structure for your site.
Content
Content refers to your site's text and images. It is the meat and potatoes of all websites. It does not matter how beautiful your website looks or how many gadgets you put on it. If your content is lacking people will stop coming.
Most small business owners write copy for their websites themselves. After all you are the ones that know your products and/or services the best. When writing copy for the web, it is important to remember to use half the words (or less) than you would in traditional print materials. You also need to organize the content for easy scanning by using headings, links and bulleted lists in place of paragraphs.
When creating the content for your website don't forget the images. Images create the mood and can more quickly convey the purpose of the site than text alone. When choosing images remember most images online are copyrighted so you will want to either take your images yourself, hire a photographer or buy the images from one of the many photo/image sites available online. I personally like istockphoto for inexpensive royalty free photos.
Site Marketing
You will want to think about site marketing as a part of your original site design. You should think of thing like:
You also want to identify the pages on your site that are "Call's to Action". That is, you need to identify the pages that will get users to contact you for more information, sign up for a newsletter, watch a video or buy your product. These are the most important pages on your site and you will want to make sure they actually encourage people to do something with your company.
Summary
That should be enough to get you started with your website creation process. Check back for my next posting which will cover building and deploying your site.
Here are some of the things you need to think about when deciding to start a website:
Domain Name
Your company name and your domain name should match. Period. Sometimes companies that cannot get a domain name that matches their company name will add extra words to the name like "companyinfo.com." This is not a good idea. If you cannot get a domain name that matches your company mane you might want to consider changing your company name to one that has an available domain name. Otherwise, the time and money you spend marketing your company will be sending traffic to someone else's Web site!
Logo
Do you have one?
Is it any good?
Your Web site design should match your logo in color and style. If you don't have a logo yet, you need to get one. It is important for both your online and offline marketing efforts. When getting a logo you need to trade off the expense of a custom logo with the aesthetic appeal of simple one. A custom logo design can cost fro $300 to $15,000 which is money many entrepreneurs do not have. If you decide to design your logo yourself (or get a friend to do it) you want to avoid using clip art for your logo because it will look cheap. There are a few of online tools that can help you with your logo design: logoyes.com or logoworks.com (easy, inexpensive logos!) or flamingtext.com which helps you create (free banners/buttons).
Design
Generally it is good to avoid a home-grown site design if you're not a Web designer. Home-grown designs often look less professional and thus do little to enhance your credibility online. If you decide not to go with a home grown design you face a decision. You can either use a design template or you can get a custom design.
The biggest advantage of design templates is obviously the price. Many design templates can be purchased for less than $100. Some are terrible but some are fantastic and when you purchase a design template you get to see exactly what you're getting up front. Custom designs can be expensive and time consuming but they do allow you to control the look of your site and the image you portray.
Structure
Once you have settled on a basic design you need to come up with the structure for your site.
- What pages do you need?
- How will they be organized and linked together?
Content
Content refers to your site's text and images. It is the meat and potatoes of all websites. It does not matter how beautiful your website looks or how many gadgets you put on it. If your content is lacking people will stop coming.
Most small business owners write copy for their websites themselves. After all you are the ones that know your products and/or services the best. When writing copy for the web, it is important to remember to use half the words (or less) than you would in traditional print materials. You also need to organize the content for easy scanning by using headings, links and bulleted lists in place of paragraphs.
When creating the content for your website don't forget the images. Images create the mood and can more quickly convey the purpose of the site than text alone. When choosing images remember most images online are copyrighted so you will want to either take your images yourself, hire a photographer or buy the images from one of the many photo/image sites available online. I personally like istockphoto for inexpensive royalty free photos.
Site Marketing
You will want to think about site marketing as a part of your original site design. You should think of thing like:
- How will people find your site?
- What keywords do you think they will use to search for your business?
You also want to identify the pages on your site that are "Call's to Action". That is, you need to identify the pages that will get users to contact you for more information, sign up for a newsletter, watch a video or buy your product. These are the most important pages on your site and you will want to make sure they actually encourage people to do something with your company.
Summary
That should be enough to get you started with your website creation process. Check back for my next posting which will cover building and deploying your site.
Labels: design, planning, website tips