A Merchants Guide to Internet Marketing

How to use email for your marketing

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Sending emails for marketing presents some challenges and opportunities for the small business. The first concern is a mailing list. If you are fortunate to have a list developed already then you ahead of the game. Let's start with no list and use some of the ideas for building an existing list.

Send Me a Message

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:35:55 GMT

Developing a strategy around keeping interested people updated on happenings within your business can really create brain freeze in the best of us. Let's look at some methods for communicating with your audience.

Building a Website is Not Building the Internet

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:54:59 GMT

When thinking about building a website or going for a refresher it's important to view your site as a tool for generating attention. If you are a business it's critcial to think about the message you want to present, and the answer you want back. Looking for leads? Then it's important to develop a strategy on several fronts:

How are prospects going to contact you?
How are you going to respond, your follow up?
What information will you provide on your website, and when you respond to your prospect?

Web Site Designer

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Web site design is more an art than a science. To be exact it it's virtualized graphic art. Science or not website design is the 'skin' of the site and it's appearance. A balance of form and function with a focus on performance. Website developers can look to a website designer to create a theme or 'style'. The interior designer of the Internet: web designers don't build sites but they hang the drapes, position the love sofa and match the wallpaper. In no means a putdown as much like building a house a web site has many different trades associated with it. Many times there is confusion about designers and developers, depending on the size of the job you may see one or 6 different trades all working together to develop a content rich Website or ecommerce site.

What are Key Performance Indicators for Websites?

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 19:32:19 GMT

Website Analytics Explained

KPI, or Key Performance Indicators are statistical data collected from a Website. Think of them as a speedometer and tachometer in an car with further gauges to monitor the health of the Website 'motor'. A special tracking code is added to the Website that places an anonymous cookie on a visitors browser which creates a unique number and date/time information.

The basics are:

Visitors
Page views
Bounce rate

eCommerce articles

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:13:46 GMT

Over at Business Communication Group We have released a three part series on e-Commerce

B2B Sellers of the eCommerce Seas: Promise of the Shopping Cart

B2B Sellers of the eCommerce Seas: The Key to an Overflowing Treasure Chest

and the final article, fresh off the press,

B2B Sellers of the eCommerce Seas: At Shopping Cart’s End

It's a great overview of the trials and tribulations of eCommerce with a nautical flavor to it. I had to do something to make it more interesting. Sadly it really is that complicated when you have to deal with money transactions. Give it a read and a comment over at b2bcommunications.com

Thinking Outside the Box

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:56:23 GMT

What exactly does thinking outside the box mean?

There is a tendancy to think humans have original thoughts when in fact we tend to gravitate to things we feel safe with. With that said is the 'box' our comfort zone? I have heard this statement from desperate business people who are at a loss to explain why their company is doing poorly. As if thinking outside the box will solve the immediate problem and bring about some critical change. Could it really be that thinking outside the box is really the road to destruction? Is daydreaming any replacement for knowledge and skill?

Website Application Programmer

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 05:00:00 GMT

A Website Application Programmer designs database driven applications that store sales transactions, customer data, email address lists and other client management functions. Website programmers typically specialize in Microsoft based programming like .NET SQL while other programmers use MySQL and PHP which are open source programming languages. Open-source provides a community supported application whereas closed-source is owned and supported by a corporation. By it's nature open-source projects are non-profit. It's hard to determine which is better off hand as many closed source software applications started as a open source project.

Many times a website application programmer is confused with a webmaster, web designer or a website developer. The roles are largely different and deal with different issues. An website application programmer's primary focus is the logic of the application and the accomplishment of various requirements. As many things can be done different ways it becomes the interaction with the website designer, website developer and end users that helps guide the programmer build for the greatest usability. Website developers can have programming skills but usually by the nature of project management and the multitude of roles required that programmers stick close to meeting the requirements specified the application

Requirements specified in Scope of Work (SOW) by client
Collaborate with website designer and developer
Develop logic framework for application
Design user interface (UI)
Test and Release

eCommerce Platforms for Small Business

Mon, 17 May 2010 23:57:38 GMT

There is a great deal of interest in a small scale eCommerce platform. Let's break out a couple of scenarios in which a small business would require on-line payment services. I will try to keep it simple and around a limited amount of products that do not require a full scale eCommerce shopping cart. Let's say no more then 10 products or services. Before we dive into the various online services there are some merchant requirements to consider.

A business account is required.
Merchant Account
Payment Gateway

You can use an existing business account to open an merchant account and then open a payment gateway account or you can get the merchant account and payment combined as one like authorize.net, Google Checkout, PayPal and SimplePay. Some of it is around brand and all lot is about functionality. A merchant account allows you to accept credit card payments, that is process and deposit with a 'slight' charge for the trouble. The payment gateway provide an connection between the Internet and the banks's secure network. You need a account with both or a single provider of both services to transact sales.

Website Developer

Sat, 08 May 2010 05:00:00 GMT

A Website Developer plans, designs and manages a website development project. To really get ahold of this concept one has to think of a website as a giant book that is not bound together by glue and thread, instead they are bound by hyperlinks. A web site developer plans all the pages and how they connect. Menus, links, image rendering, all require a method a 'appearing' in a visitors browser. A developer can build a web site from 'scratch' but usually some kind of Content Management System with a template is the typical solution. The CMS, as Content Management Systems are called, provides the web pages in a database, or dynamically. This creates a consistency in the website and continuity in menu link structure. Linking is an extremely important function that on the surface may appear straight forward but has it's own complexities better managed by a CMS. This avoids broken links and and lost visitors leaving the website.

What does one look for in a website developer?

Background in Content Managment Systems is very helpful, especially if you have a CMS in mind
website design skills. An eye for layout and execution.
Broad knowledge of other server based applications to add services like RSS, podcasts, forums, shopping carts.
Search Engine Marketing is very important