Internet Marketing and Website Tips

Website builder from Clip Magic

2010-03-24T17:31:00.003+11:00

Website builder | Clip Magic Discover for yourself Clip Magic's new online website builder. Whether your a professional designer or an absolute beginner, there's a package for you - and you can't get much better than the starting price of NOTHING! Yes, that's right, for free you get all the features and functionality such as hosting, blogs, forms, calendars, ecommerce, photo galleries and more. It's easy to use and just brilliant.

Click here to start creating your new website now!

Prue Rowland
Clip Magic Web design :: SEO :: Email Marketing

About Me

My sales and marketing career has taken me all over the world. I've also had the benefit of seeing the business scenario from the 'back-end' having been a business analyst in research and development roles.
My business philosophy is grounded experience. Starting out as a Customer Service Representative, I view technology as a means to an end, not the end itself. I believe in using technology to help people in their day-to-day activities; strive constantly to improve communication between people both on a social and business-to-business level and actively seek new ways to assist clients achieve their internet marketing goals.
Visit my website at www.clipmagic.com.au

BigCommerce - The Easiest Way to Sell Online! - Review

2010-02-10T23:26:00.008+11:00

BigCommerce is an all-in-one, feature rich ecommerce platform that allows even the most novice users to create a fully functional online store and sell both physical and digital products online.Utilizing an easy to use interface, online retailers can publish products in seconds, accept credit cards, use multiple shipping methods, run effective marketing campaigns and more. Built from the ground up to support search engine optimization features such as search engine friendly links, effective use of heading tags, alt tags and per product and per page title tags.

BigCommerce also features a built in content management system to allow easy publishing of website content including web pages, news items, blogs, promotional banners and coupon codes.

BigCommerce Feature List

With BigCommerce anyone can quickly and easily create their own online store without any technical experience. Unique features such as Drag & Drop Design Mode make it easy to completely customize the look and layout of your store using just your mouse. BigCommerce has built-in search engine optimization features which help your online store rank at the top of all major search engines including Google and Yahoo. Below is a complete list of BigCommerce features:

Storefront

Full product catalog
Online checkout system
"Call for pricing" option
One click add to cart
Optimized for usability
Product comparisons
Order status updates
Live order tracking
Email/print invoices
Customer address book
Private wish lists
Public wish lists
Order messaging system
Related products
Suggestive cart
"You may also like"...

Marketing and Promotions

Trackable coupon codes
Coupon expiry date
Coupon limited uses
Google Analytics integration
Bulk discounts per product
Online certificate use
Promotional banners
Discount rules system
Buy one get one free, etc
Free shipping over $x
$x on orders over $y
Newsletter subscriptions
Export to Google Base
Affiliate tracking system
Gift certificates
RSS feeds
Google AdWords export
Yahoo Search Marketing export
Popular products list
New products list
Top sellers list
Quick search popup box
"Did you mean?" spelling
Integrates with any live chat software
LivePerson Express 30 day trial

Payment & Shipping

Accept credit cards online
Support for 50+ gateways
PayPal, Google Checkout, etc
Support for secure checkout
Support for "offline" payments
COD, pay in store, cheque, etc
Take orders over the phone
Sell in multiple currencies
Real time conversion rate updates
Auto-detect location for currency
Real time shipping quotes
UPS, USPS, FedEx, Aus Post, etc
Define your own shipping rates
Limit shipping methods by country
Limit shipping methods by state
Limit shipping methods by zipcode
Various free shipping options
Add handling cost to orders

Order & Checkout Features

Single page checkout
Shipping quote estimates
Guest checkout option
Refunds and store credits
Custom checkout form fields
Delivery/event dates
Shipping tracking numbers
Email order confirmation
Agree to terms before ordering
Add multiple items to cart
Create order shipments
Order messaging system
One click re-order

Hosting & Security

Premium hosting for all stores
SAS 70 Type II certified hosting
Powerful Intel quad CPU servers
Daily offsite backups
99.99% uptime track record
3 co-located data centers
Create unlimited email accounts
FTP access to HTML and CSS files
Complete disaster and recovery support
128 bit SSL certificate support
Hacker deterrent security provisioning
On-demand virtual data center
Geographic diversity
Three redundant network architectures
Best-in-class infrastructure
High speed, redundant connectivity
Hardware firewalls
Load balancing
Cisco hardware and networking
Denial-of-service protection
Free regular software updates
Network intrusion detection system

Search Engine Optimization

Fully SEO optimized HTML
Optimized by SEO experts
Per-page optimization (title, etc)
Proper use of H1...H6 tags
Automatically generated robots.txt file
Search engine friendly links
Alt tags on product images
Automatic sitemap XML file
W3C valid templates
Tableless CSS driven templates

Technical Support and Training

Unlimited free email support
Unlimited free phone support
Hundreds of "how to" articles
Comprehensive user guide
Dozens of training videos
Weekly training Webinars
Built-in popup help tips

Design and Customization

Dozens of templates to choose from
W3C/XHTML compliant templates
Easily integrate your existing design
Edit templates in Dreamweaver
Drag and drop layout customization
Edit HTML and CSS in your browser
Upload a logo or use the logo editor
Change website text using your mouse
Edit email templates from control panel
Works in all popular web browsers
Web-based control panel

Tax

State-based taxes
Country-based taxes
Unlimited tax rates
Prices inc/ex tax
Flat tax option
Tax rate display in store
Tax shown on invoices, etc
Flexible tax rules and flow

Content Management Features

Full CMS functionality
100% browser based
Publish web pages
Display returns policies, etc
Easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor
Page dropdown/pop out menus
SEO-friendly pages
Restrict to customer groups
Publish content from RSS
Contact forms on pages
Responses sent via email
Display page as home page
Recent news items
Banners and promotions

Search Features

Search suggest
"Did you mean?" suggestions
Related searches list
Advanced search options
Fiter by price
Filter by availability
Filter by free shipping
Search tips and advice
Shop by brand
Shop by price
Saved searches and views
Advanced order/product search
Search and export results (admin)
Search customers by name, email, etc
Quick Search popup in store
Search query reporting

Import/Export Features

Import existing products easily
Extremely flexible import system
Export products to CSV/XML
Sync to Intuit Quickbooks
Export to MYOB, Peachtree
Export to StoneEdge
Export in custom formats

Customer Features

Customer groups
Wholesale/retail pricing
Per-group pricing
Per-group discounts
Category level discounts
Product level discounts
Storewide group discounts
Move customers between groups
Add new customers to group
Filter customers by group
Export customers by group

Reporting Features

25+ performance reports
Daily conversion rate
Top 20 customers
Best selling products
Order locations (Google maps)
Orders by item sold
Orders by revenue
Popular products
Inventory report
Customers by date
Revenue per customer
Search keywords with results
Search keywords without results
Best performing keywords
Worst performing keywords
Search term corrections

Product & Inventory Features

Per-product inventory levels
Automatic inventory control
Inventory reminder indicators
Sell physical & digital items
Product variations (size, color, etc)
Configurable purchase fields
Gift wrapping options
Per-product gift wrapping
Live shipping quotes
Product reviews & comments

* Feature list correct as of September 2009. Features are constantly updated, the latest feature list can be found on the BigCommerce website.

Prue Rowland
Clip Magic
Web design :: SEO :: Email Marketing

About Me

Make money from your PASSIONS!

2010-01-18T11:50:00.003+11:00

To make money online many people jump right in before they are properly prepared. You know that to be a rocket scientist, a doctor, a brick layer, a construction worker, an office worker, a teacher there are prerequisites, things you must learn, before you can be successful, you don't just jump right in unprepared.

The same applies to the Internet marketing industry even though there are unsavory people out there who'd have you believe it's a "Walk in the Park" and requires no more than the belief that you can just do it.

And I'll have to admit, it is a walk in the park compared to what you have to put up with in the working world punching a clock being a subordinate to someone who does not have your interests in mind, but there are still rules you have to follow and pitfalls you must avoid to actually make Internet marketing work for you.

Most people will not make a cent online and yet there are others who will make more in one month than most people make in a whole year. Why is that?

My answer begins with the age-old chicken or egg question, "what comes first the chicken or the egg"? Personally I vote for, well never mind, each argument you or I make comes back to the same old conclusion - I have no clue and I don't think many of us do either.

But one thing I do have a clue about and know for sure is that to make money online you must first have Passion for the company products and/or service of any Internet business from which you expect to make money.

Passion in this sense simply means that you've researched and like the company and products or services. It is then that you translate that like (or Passion) into the education, excitement and work that usually accompany Passion.

I will have to say that many online entrepreneurs are so good at what they do that they ignore passion because they can sell anything. But I'm concerned about those of you who are not so knowledgeable at working an online business successfully.

Now, I'm not trying to make anyone believe that Passion is the only thing necessary. To be successful you must also have a good website, good marketing, widespread advertising, company support, effective keywords, and etc. Those things are often learned from the company you join and Clip Magic can help you there as well - but sidestep Passion and you reduce your chances for success dramatically.

It therefore follows that, if you have no Passion for the company and the products and services provided by that company, again, you won't attempt to do the work you are being taught.

Internet marketing work is typically not all that difficult or time consuming but it does take motivation caused by Passion to get you off and running with a sustained effort so that you won't stumble.

You have a great resource in the Internet search engines to search about the Internet Marketing industry for business opportunities, USE IT!

Your research should uncover a company that you like and have confidence in. It should be solid, founded on great principles, and easy to understand with great products and services that are sell-able for which you can have Passion. If you don't find it move on.

You can find the right opportunity containing the attributes identified HERE.

Comments like, well, that one sounds good and the compensation plan is excellent so I guess I'll start that business - does not sound like a decision based on anything near Passion. Keep in mind that when you hear that an Internet "guru" does that, don't be tempted. As I said earlier they are experienced and can sell just about anything, without being Passionate about the company products and services.

Note: By the way it's your goal to get to the point where you can sell about anything online. That end skill and goal is a worthy one indeed.

Remember, there are other steps you must make before you step into Internet Marketing but if you don't first find the right company products and services to be passionate about, all of those other steps may just cause you a lot of frustration instead of bringing you great success.

Not being Passionate about a company and products and services that has market proof that it will sell is a pitfall you simply must avoid.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Maverick Money Makers is a private
society that will teach you how to
build a six-figure a month business
on the internet.

If you want to make money online,
Maverick Money Makers, join now!.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Prue Rowland
Clip Magic
Web design :: SEO :: Email Marketing

About Me

Product Review: High Traffic Mart

2010-01-01T11:24:00.000+11:00

My first impression was the site looks professional and clean, with an attractive look and feel. It is easy to read and understand. Joining the site was easy and painless--they do offer 2 upgrade options but they are not required to gain the benefits.

The Members Area is very well laid out and intuitive--I could figure out what to do after only a few minutes and was able to get up and running in less than 5 minutes. Inside the site, you create links and ads--the links you simply enter any URL links you use into the generator and it transforms them into "High Traffic Mart" links. You create ads for anything you want to promote using the High Traffic Mart Ad Generator, which is very easy to use. You can create as many links and as many ads as you like. And they are organized in a logical way--links are displayed in the order you create them but also your 5 most recent links appear on the main page for quick reference. Also, since the link generator is the tool you'll use most, it is also right at the top of the main page when you login. Very smart!

After you've created at least 1 link and 1 ad you can start to generate traffic. Just use and promote the new High Traffic Mart link instead of the original source link you had. Every time the High Traffic Mart link is clicked, the page loads followed by a cool slide-up ad window at the bottom. It displays an ad PLUS an image with your affiliate link that goes back to High Traffic Mart. So if anyone clicks the High Traffic Mart image they see the site, and if they signup they become your referral. It's a great viral feature because you can build referrals without even trying to just by using the site.

Now every time the ad window displays (your High Traffic Mart links get clicked) you earn credits that get YOUR ad displayed in the ad windows when other members' links get clicked. So the more clicks, the more times your ads get displayed.

And this works virally--meaning as you make referrals into High Traffic Mart (either by promoting it or just using it and visitors click the High Traffic Mart image on the ad window to join) you also earn ad credits on THEIR link clicks. And this works up to 5 levels deep. So you can create a massive amount of free ad views and web traffic by referring others to High Traffic Mart also.

I didn't get to test the full effect of a big downline yet (I just got the tool) but I can tell you the rest of the site works exactly as stated--my links got clicked, I earned credits, and my ads got displayed. High Traffic Mart even tracked my results so I know how many clicks and how many ad displays. That was an impressive unadvertised extra feature.

There is one more benefit and feature which might be the best of them all--downline emailing. You can email your downline with offers, promotions, or whatever you like, and here is where High Traffic Mart really shines. They took time to make the emailing often enough that it's valuable as a user, but no so often that it's a burden to your downline. But the best part about this feature (and actually the credit earning too) is that it tells you exactly how long until you can mail again. Now THAT's cool.

Overall I have to say I am impressed with High Traffic Mart. It is simple yet powerful, and delivers on its promises. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to increase traffic and advertising.

Click here to see High Traffic Mart and join.

Prue Rowland
Clip Magic
Web design :: SEO :: Email Marketing

About Me

Avoid The Squeeze Page “One Time Offer” Trap

2009-12-16T15:09:00.004+11:00

Don’t be fooled. You will not die, contract an incurable disease or be the single cause of global warming should you choose not to take up the “One Time Offer”, known in the trade as “OTO”, on squeeze pages.

Squeeze pages are those rubbishy-looking online advertisements, typically screenloads long that invite you to buy or download a special offer RIGHT NOW! Psychology is at work on even the most basic squeeze pages – a topic I’ll discuss in another article. There is no doubt that squeeze pages are effective.

What really angers me are the OTOs with which you’re presented after you’ve entered your name and email and then moved on to page 2 of the process. By the way, the key purpose of squeeze pages in NOT to give you access to some life-changing product or opportunity – it’s to collect your name and email address and put you on the site owner’s mailing list.

There, before I can received the product is yet another page telling me that I am now one of the privileged few who are able to grab an even better offer. All I have to do is pay (more) money.

To get past this OTO, I again have to scroll down multiple screenloads and find. usually at the bottom of the page though not always, a link that says something like “No, thanks. I understand that I will never again be offered this fantastic deal.” Another click.

Do I now get my product? Nooooo, I’m given another OTO, either a further discount on the page 2 OTO or a slightly different product/price configuration. No matter which, in order to get to my original page 1 offer, more scrolling.

At the bottom of this, page 3, when I search hard enough, I’ll find yet another “No, thanks. I understand that I will never again be offered this fantastic deal.” Click again and if I’m lucky, I might just get to the product that I originally ordered on page 1.

Why do I go through this tedious process? Simple, I’ve made commitment, I want my product and the internet marketer knows it. He/she has a captive audience for their real money-spinner.

It’s a clever technique and it drives me insane.

When I go shopping, real-life shopping that is, in a department store, supermarket, bookstore, whatever, I’m given the opportunity to browse. I’m there to buy should something take my fancy. In other words, I’m given the opportunity to research until I find a product I consider to be of value to me.

I can see, if not use, the goods on offer and I’m allowed to ask questions before committing to a purchase.

Sales professionals who are on hand to answer questions and give advice – perhaps on alternative products and/or up-sells – add to the experience. I’m being educated, not pressured.

Whether I buy anything on that visit or not is almost irrelevant. My experience on this occasion will determine whether or not I’ll return or recommend the shop to others.

A good experience that builds buyer confidence and trust will convert me from a one-time potential into an unpaid affiliate and return customer.

It’s a proven, repeatable process.

The worst example of online internet marketing one-time-offer promotions happened to me earlier this week. Last week I went through the squeeze page/OTO, harder-to-climb-than-Mt-Everest sales process that had at least 2 if not 3 ‘never-to-be-repeated’ special offers.

I declined all but the original offer which involved of course, submitting my name and email address. Something I was prepared to do.

Three days later I received an email from the site owner advising me that there had been a ‘glitch’ in their system the day I joined. In case I’d not seen my once-in-a-life-time-offer due to the problem, it was again being offered to me BUT ONLY ONCE AND FOR A VERY LIMITED PERIOD! The call to action was loud and clear.

I received three emails with the same content that day from three different sources. What frauds! I’m glad I refused their one-time-offer – the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth times!

I’d tell you the name of the site so you can avoid it but as someone once said, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” and I wont do them the favour.

All I suggest is that you be alert to these kinds of emotional ploys and don’t fall victim to the hype.

When decide to commit to a page 1 squeeze page offer, get the that offer only and evaluate whether or not it’s of value to you. If it is and you would like to upgrade, you can always return to the site and USE A DIFFERENT EMAIL ADDRESS to get to the subsequent offers. Yes, you’ll get double their mailings but you can always unsubscribe or at least block them with your email anti-spam software.

Even if the site has integrity and the offer has ended, there’ll be plenty of others to take its place.

There is one internet marketing program I’ve discovered however that takes an entirely different approach. It’s a free eBook by ClickBank expert, Harvey Segal.

The download is instant. You don’t need to enter your name or email address, let alone go through the tortuous OTOs on subsequent pages. So what’s the catch? I’m sure he’s not an internet philanthropist. What does he get out of this? I’ll tell you. Harvey gets, only when you elect to take up the offer after reading the eBook, you on his mailing list. It’s not an OTO.

I downloaded Harvey Segal's eBook, read it and learnt some valuable internet marketing insights. I’m now an affiliate. There’s no point in me explaining Harvey’s ingenious process now. The eBook is truly free and I repeat, you don’t need to enter your name or email address to access it.

Download it for yourself and make your own value judgement without the hype and pressure of squeeze page OTOs.

Prue Rowland
Clip Magic
Web design :: SEO :: Email Marketing

About Me

My website and my car are alike

2009-12-08T17:08:00.002+11:00

"Are you mad?" you may well ask. Possibly, but that’s not under discussion in this article. Let me explain the idea.

There are some obvious differences. My car has physical properties such as size and weight. My website doesn’t even exist in the physical world! It’s just coloured lights (pixels) on my screen turned on or off in a particular pattern so that I’m fooled into believing it’s a page.

The first thing to do is to think of them conceptually.

Both vehicles are designed to transport people from one place to another.

My car does this in the physical world. My website does it in the virtual world.
Having made that mental leap, I began to see more and more parallels between my website and my car.

The real reason to get a website/car

This is the point were Reason and Emotion go head-to-head. I buy something on impulse and then can ALWAYS justify the purchase later. However with something as important as my business website/car, while Emotion comes into play, it’s Reason that leads the way.

My case

I need both for my business. The website advertises my products and services and acts as a point of contact. My car enables me to quickly perform tasks associated with my business such as visiting clients, going to the bank, etc.

Question for you

Why do you want a website/car?

The right number of websites/cars for me

The answer to this depends on your circumstances. It’s much easier and less draining on resources to have a number of websites dedicated to a particular topic than to have a car for every occasion.

My case

I have one car and a number of websites. My car has to be multi-purpose – business and pleasure. Each of my websites tend to be dedicated to a single purpose.

Question for you

How many websites/cars do you need?

Doing the work

The question of who actually does the work lies in your level of knowledge, your level of interest, the value you place on your time and the importance of your website/car.

My case

Building websites is what I do for a living. DIY’ing my own website is a no-brainer.
Much as it pains me at times though, I’m also aware of my limitations. There are people out there with certain skills that completely outshine my own in some aspects of website creation. Other times I’m way too busy working on client projects to work on my own site. When that happens I engage experts for those individual tasks.
As for my car, I know how to drive it and have a license. I can put petrol in the tank, check the oil and water and wash it. That about sums up my level of car maintenance knowledge.
Learning is great fun and knowing more about car mechanics would be useful. To do so, I’d have to enrol in a course under the tutelage of an experienced teacher.
No way would I use my own car for my course homework. That car is a necessary part of my business and not for fooling around with, to say nothing of the danger it could pose to me, other road users and my business should I screw up.
Life has taught me that the best thing to do when learning is to do it ‘offline’ out of harm’s way!
On an ongoing basis, the garage mechanic keeps my car in good running order and when needed, I hire other experts to perform specific tasks such as replacing worn tyres with new and installing a new feature such as a tow-bar or sound system.
I've no interest in building a car from scratch so I went through the same process as most people. It came from a dealership, registered, insured and ready to go.
Before swapping the money for the keys, I’d done a bit of research and decided on my preferred model, features and price range. That narrowed my search criteria, making it easy to find my new car.

Question for you

For your website/car do you DIY or engage an expert?

Conclusion

Conceptually, my website and my car are alike. To get the best from both, I mentally go through a checklist:

What's its primary purpose?
How valuable is it to me and my business?
What's the best way to get it?
How much maintenance should I do myself?
Do I know what I’m doing?
Will it matter if I screw something up?
When do I need to call in an expert?

Go through the same process yourself and your final decision will be an informed choice with the outcome having a greater chance of success than gambling your life, real and virtual, on a wild guess.
Prue Rowland
Clip Magic

Web design :: SEO :: Email Marketing

About Me

Joomla or CMS Made Simple?

2009-11-11T00:28:00.006+11:00

For many years, I have been an advocate of CMS Made Simple for Content Managment Systems. It's actually showing my age that I first chose it, ummm let's say "over five years ago", due to its support of Smarty templates.

Why, when Joomla (in the guise of Mambo) and CMSMS started out at the same time, did one out run the other?

Long before the craze of Model, View, Controller web development practices, there was Smarty. It did all the MVC stuff, it just didn't name it that. Database operations, information processing and the end-user view were all separated which were a good thing for a dummy like me. I needed some control over what was displayed but NO WAY did I want to get in amongst the core programming.

Then came all the biz about valid HTML, X/HTML, CSS, div's vs tables, clean markeup, etc etc. Nearly drove round the bend! Won't even go near the question of cross-browser compatibility. Let's just say that, thanks to Microsoft, that's an on-going challenge.

Seems funny today. Now, when the programming doesn't deliver on the screen, I use CSS and jQuery to paint the picture. The code remains in tact. I can make sure it validates, can put things on the screen where I want them, can make them disappear too! Wonderful stuff.

So again, why, when Joomla and CMSMS started out at the same time, did one out run the other?

It's important to understand that I have the greatest respect for both CMSMS and Joomla and their core application developers. There are just some questions buzzing in my head that go beyond the actual code.

From my perspective:

Ease of use: CMSMS

Ease of customization: CMSMS

Design flexibility: CMSMS

Just plain human-brain thinking about things such as menus, content, etc - CMSMS

Availability: CMSMS. The true nature of the GPL license, ie FREE'ly available code: Both core applications are free, just what you get for free differs greatly.

Extensibility for an End-User: Joomla. A plethora (just wanted to use that word!) of extensions exist for Joomla without question. CMSMS extensions are very limited.

Extensibility for a Developer: CMSMS. While Joomla has more 'off-the-shelf' code, CMSMS is easier to develop modules/plugins/components, call-them-what-you-will, add-ons.

Customer support: NOT CMSMS and Joomla I haven't really tested yet

Documentation: Neither shines. Joomla has so much doco that I get lost and waste time trying to wade through it. CMSMS doco is so scarce it's not funny.

Demonstration facilities: Joomla

'Extensibility' and 'Availability' are tied together. Joomla extensions can make Joomla do lots of stuff, it's just that the extensions cost money. CMSMS has lots more inbuilt, or truly free/cost = $0.00 functionality. The catch here is that there is typically very little if any CMSMS doco and the developer actually has to think! Goodness me!

The only answers I can come up with, and not necessarily in order of preference, are:

1. Captive audience: Joomla programmers make their money not from delivering good websites, but from charging other developers for bits of code. It's in their interests to encourage other developers to make Joomla websites.

2. Marketing. Joomla is better at marketing its product, especially within its own developer community. Even during the great upheaval of Mambo becoming Joomla, Joomla shone. That was one BIG missed opportunity for other CMS systems.

From every web site developer I know (so it's only hearsay), CMSMS is far better in terms of ease of use, ease of development and site management.

Recently a client asked me why I recommended CMSMS for his new website. He said "I Googled both CMSMS developers in Australia and Joomla developers in Australia. CMSMS returned 580. Joomla returned 58,000".

I'm not here to advocate one over the other. Both serve their purpose. I just find it strange that in their differences, they REALLY differ...

Let me know what you think.

Prue Rowland

Clip magic

Web design :: SEO :: Email Marketing