The Official LexiConn Blog

Best Practices – Owning Your Domain Name

Rich A. — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:37:53 +0000

While most websites all use their own domain name (ex: lexiconn.com, cnn.com, etc) it’s always a good idea to make sure you actually “own” your domain name.

Sometimes when a new customer migrates their website to us we find they do not have any control over their domain name. Maybe it was purchased for them by a friend, a former coworker, or their current web host. To avoid surprises in the future it’s a good idea to check the owner now to make sure you actually own and control the domain name that you use, before you need to make any changes.

Whois

For domain names there is a search system called “Whois”. With a Whois search you can determine who the owner of a domain is, the contact information, and who the registrar is.

Whois data is public information, so registrars allow domain owners to purchase a “privacy” option which hides the true owner and displays alternate contact information. Emails can still be sent to the account holder and it will forward through the privacy system, so if you see a privacy contact on your domain name you can still email the account holder to determine who the contact is if you don’t remember turning privacy on yourself.

A Whois search can be performed on a variety of websites and we have listed two below:

Contact Records

A Whois report will display a variety of details about your domain name. We’ll point out the most important sections below:

Registrant: This is the official owner of the domain name
Administrative Contact: The owner’s contact details
Technical Contact: Additional contact details, usually of the web host or a technical contact with the owner
Registration Service Provider (or Registrar): Your domain name provider. You would contact this company with questions or go to their website to manage your domain name.

Do You Own It?

Your company should be listed as the Registrant and the Administrative Contact. Most importantly, you want the email address for the Administrative Contact to be a valid email account that you have access to. This is the email address that would be used to confirm ownership of the domain name and you can have your Registrar send the login details for your account to this address.

Making Changes

If you need to make changes to the details you see on the Whois report, you can usually do so at the Registrar’s website. Check the “Registration Service Provider” or “Registrar” section of the Whois report and look for your Registrar’s details.

For example, this section may look something like this:

Registration Service Provider:
Your Domain Registar, Inc.
http://domains.your-registrar.com

You would go to the website listed in the results for your domain name, but if your Whois details do not show a website in that section check for other contact details for the Registar. You may need to email or call them to find out how to make changes to your domain name.

You can also contact the Technical Contact on your domain name, using the “Technical Contact” section of the Whois report. They may be able to help you with making changes or could point you in the right direction.

While it’s not a complicated process to update your domain ownership and contact details, it’s still not something you want to have to do in a rush. There’s no time better then now to run a Whois search on your domain, check the details, and make sure everything is accurate before the time comes that you need to make a change and find you don’t have access.

ShopSite 10 Service Pack 2 (SP2) – Lots of Cool New Features

Rob Mangiafico — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:57:58 +0000

ShopSite has just released the latest version of their ecommerce software:
Version 10 Service Pack 2 (SP2)

ShopSite has a list of new features on their website. I thought I’d highlight a few of the new features in more detail.

Inventory Tracking for ordering options

This is the big one in SP2. It’s been a highly requested feature, and is now a reality. Merchants can now do a number of new things with ordering options (like size, color, etc..) (also known as product variations or variances):

Track inventory for ordering options (either one option like size, or specific combinations like size and color)

Assign a new SKU for a specific ordering option combination

Assign an optional additional weight or additional price for any combination of options

Assign a specific image for any ordering option combination. The image can change when a customer selects those options on a more information page. The alternate image is also displayed in the cart.

Not allow certain combinations to be ordered (i.e. you do not carry a blue size 10 shoe)

ShopSite’s implementation allows for dynamic dropdown menus on a moreinfo page. This means that the second or third dropdown is based on what the customer chose in the first/second dropdown.

Example: So if size is the first dropdown, the customer chooses small, and you do not offer a small red shirt, red will not appear in the second dropdown where they choose “color”.

Try our demo store more information page to see this in action.

Back office screen shot (click image to enlarge)

All of this can be managed from the web based back office interface, or via a product upload. We have a detailed tutorial about advanced ordering option product uploads.

Advanced Social Media Integration

Beyond the “share with friends” feature in ShopSite, merchants can now more closely tie their website with their Facebook page and Twitter account. Using features such as the new Facebook Like Button or better Twitter integration can be a big plus for merchants using social media in their marketing.

Facebook Config Screen (click image to enlarge)

Twitter Config Screen (click to enlarge)

Backoffice Dashboard

I love this new feature. It lets you personalize the admin back office interface. You can add statistics like recent sales, popular products, top customers, popular searches, and more.

You can easily move things around to your liking (a la an iGoogle personal page). ShopSite also included a feed reader module so you can display any RSS feed (like our blog!) right on your start page.

New dashboard interface (click image to enlarge)

Mobile backoffice interface

A nice touch for the merchant on the go. Log into the backoffice from your iPhone (or any other cell phone) and see a mobile optimized page showing recent orders and activity in your store. It’s quite handy when you need to check in remotely.

More email options

An expanded email configuration section allows merchants flexibility when it comes to email receipts to both the customer and the merchant. Find these new settings under:
Commerce Setup -> Order System -> Email

Email Config Screen (click image to enlarge)

Odds and ends…

Customers can now enter a shipping address right after signing up when using customer registration.

FedEx Web Services is now supported for real-time shipping (updated service)

Asynchronous Google Analytics is now supported (Loads Google Analytics code at the same time the web page is loading). Google’s blog post explains this in more detail.

ShopSite’s Template Cookbook has a new article for New Template Tags for ShopSite Version 10 SP2.

Mastercard And Discover Relax Requirements for Debit and Pre-paid Cards

Rob Mangiafico — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:13:57 +0000

Back in April, I wrote about Mastercard And Discover Requiring New Rules when it came to debit and pre-paid credit cards. They set deadlines that have already passed, although Authorize.net got this deadline extended until June 30, 2011.

These new rules added requirements for:

showing a balance to customers using gift cards, debit, or pre-paid cards.

providing partial approvals when the balance on a card is exceeded.

merchants to be able to reverse a charge right away if the balance on a card is exceeded and the customer does not want to complete the sale.

Two out of three requirements are now optional

In a recent email, Authorize.net sent its merchants the following:

RECENTLY MASTERCARD AND DISCOVER RELAXED THE REQUIREMENTS FOR E-COMMERCE MERCHANTS SO THAT SUPPORT FOR PARTIAL AUTHORIZATIONS AND BALANCE RESPONSES ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED, BUT RECOMMENDED BEST PRACTICES. All retail and mobile merchants, however, must still support the requirements.

Additionally, all merchants are still required to support authorization reversals for any non-settled authorizations. The deadline for all Authorize.Net merchants to support the requirements is still June 30, 2011.

The email went on to say that Authorize.net will still provide support for all 3 rules, and encourages all merchants and software vendors to provide support for them as well.

So what does this mean?

Based on the email and change of heart from Mastercard / Discover (I’m sure they got lots of feedback about the monumental task to fully support balances and partial auths in every shopping cart), the only real change is your gateway / processing solution must now be able to reverse a charge if the charge causes a card to go over its limit.

This allows card owners to have their funds immediately freed so they are not waiting days or weeks for a hold to expire.

…

Authorize.net has an extensive FAQ that covers these new rules, and a timeline for full support in their gateway.

RECENTLY MASTERCARD AND DISCOVER RELAXED THE REQUIREMENTS FOR E-COMMERCE
MERCHANTS SO THAT SUPPORT FOR PARTIAL AUTHORIZATIONS AND BALANCE RESPONSES
ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED, BUT RECOMMENDED BEST PRACTICES. All retail and
mobile merchants, however, must still support the requirements.

Are Web Hosts Following The Trend of Doctors?

Rob Mangiafico — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:02:37 +0000

I was reading a recent article over at Amex’s Open Forum about the Death of Private Practice. In the article, it discusses how the private practice doctor that knows his or her patients is becoming a thing of the past. In its place is a huge corporate machine that is replacing “personal” with the business of health care.

It got me thinking about how web hosting is closely tied to this change for doctors…

The power of the machine

Instead of your friendly local doctor, you now often have a large corporation running a group of doctors. Add to this a large patient list, and the objective has now become get the patients in and out as quickly as possible.

It often feels like departing an airplane – The doctors have a nice smile and say nice things, but they are clearly more interested in getting you out the door then listening to your story and getting to know you.

Web hosting is leaning heavily in this direction as well. The days of the smaller hosts that offered great personal service are dwindling. Instead, large corporations and investment groups run these behemoth hosts. Sure, many may offer rock bottom prices, but support is either missing or severely lacking in expertise, and you are referred to by a customer number instead of your name.

It’s a shame, because web hosting done right is all about understanding the client and offering personal service that solves problems quickly.

Personal often means better service

I visited my doctor recently. He’s a great physician, and knows who I am when he walks in the door. I had a pain in my side, and wanted to make sure it was nothing serious (turned out to be inflamed cartilage). The doctor said it was nothing to worry about.

However, he knew I liked to play golf, and asked if it bothered me during my swing. I said it did, but it was something I could live with. He suggested a cortisone shot to numb the pain so I could play without it bothering me.

The moral of the story? If he did not have a personal relationship with me, the visit would have ended with him saying it’s nothing to worry about, and I would have had a painful golf season.

Hosting is no different when it comes to personal service

If your web host knows you and understands your business, it can lead to help and suggestions that you otherwise would have missed out on. It’s these little benefits that can really make a difference for your website and your bottom line.

Some specific examples here at LexiConn include:

Zip code question leads to better usability
A client emailed asking what caused the zip code to appear on their shopping cart page. We gave him the answer and reasons, but we also noticed the text was just “zip code”. Knowing that this is often a point of confusion for some shoppers (as this is actually the shipping / ship-to zip code), we suggested renaming the text to be more clear. We heard back from the client that this simple change cut down on support emails and calls from their customers.

Google checkout question improves checkout flow
A client calls and ask how to add Google Checkout to their shopping cart. We explain the simple steps to enable this payment option in their ShopSite ® store. We also notice they are not running the latest version, which makes Google Checkout more customer friendly (by removing a pre-Google screen). We get the client upgraded and explain how to disable the extra screen. Bottom line: Avoided confusion for their customers.

Dedicated server client asks if server supports software – faster page loads as a result
A managed dedicated server client asks if the server they have will support a specific software application. The simple answer was “yes”. However, we knew they had a busy site that was already using a lot of resources on the server. So we suggested implementing caching and off-loading some intensive dynamic portions to be static. The end result: Loading on the server dropped, and their pages loaded faster and they had more room to grow.

Choose a host that understands you and your business

Who you host with matters. If you want your site and online business to be the best it can be, saving a few dollars a month or choosing a big name host may prove to be quite costly down the road. Instead, find a web host that caters to your line of business, and can offer truly exceptional personal service. This “synergy” will pay for itself in no time.

…

What do you think? Have you experienced either great personal service or have you been let down by cold, impersonal support?

photo credit

LexiConn Summer Specials and Offers

Rob Mangiafico — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:05:08 +0000

I thought I’d take a moment to highlight a few of the specials we are currently offering, as well as a few services we provide that you may not know about…

Transferring a ShopSite ® ecommerce store from another web host

When a client signs up and has an existing ShopSite store at another host / location, we can migrate their existing website, ShopSite settings, products, images, etc… seamlessly at no additional charge. We have a great migration process we’ve refined over the years that makes this process painless for the merchant.

We’ve helped hundreds of merchants move their ShopSite store over to us with no downtime, and very little to no re-work needed. As long as we have access to the ShopSite data files and web files, we can move any version ShopSite store intact. We have a detailed ShopSite migration process on our website.

Once migrated, we can help integrate any number of our ShopSite add-on modules, most at no additional charge.

GeoTrust Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates special offer

Through August 31st, 2010, GeoTrust EV SSL Certificates are discounted over 40%. Save $300 on a one year EV cert, or $540 for a two year EV certificate.

Should you have an EV certificate?

TrueShip ReadyReturns Special Offer

Do you spend a lot of time dealing with returned items from customers in your online store? Sick of dealing with RMAs and manually processing these returns?

True Ship has a new product named ReadyReturns that automates the process of returns for your ecommerce store. It makes it a snap for customers to request a return, print a return label, and find the nearest drop box.

One of our ShopSite ecommerce hosting clients provided a great success story for ReadyReturns.

The cost for this service is normally $49.95/month, but for hosting clients of LexiConn, there is a 20% discount! Just let them know you host your website with us, and they can provide the 20% discount.

Five Year Domain Renewal / Purchases

Did you know we offer a 20% discount on domain registration and renewals when you register/renew for 5 or more years? Normally $25 per year, this drops to $20 per year for any registration/renewal of 5 years or longer.

Once your domain is with us, we’ll make sure your domain does not expire, and can help with any domain related questions quickly and expertly (as you would expect from LexiConn).

The Hackers Are Up To Something…

Rob Mangiafico — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:23:00 +0000

As a web host, we deal with a lot of hacker related activity as it pertains to attacks on websites we host. In the past six months, we’ve seen a lot of FTP iframe injection attacks on websites.

However, in the past two weeks, we’ve seen a new level of probing and attacks…

Our IDS is lit up like a Christmas tree

On all of our servers we use Intrustion Detection Software (IDS) that looks for malicious attempts at logging into an account (FTP, POP3, IMAP, etc…) and blocks these type of attempts. Normally, this level of probing and active “brute force” attempts is somewhat consistent, and we’ve come to expect a certain level of activity.

In the last two weeks though, our IDS is blocking IPs left, right and sideways! Thousands of FTP login attempts from all over the globe, trying to guess website usernames and passwords, are hammering away at our servers. Our IDS is easily detecting and blocking these generic attempts, but the volume has increased 50 fold.

It seems a new network has sprung up that has control of thousands of infected computers and servers, and is collecting information / logins. To what end? I don’t know, but it sure is a large effort by the hackers.

POP3 compromises up as well

We’ve also seen a higher rate of compromised POP3 mailboxes, where the attacker either guesses the POP3 mailbox password, or obtains it through a compromised PC that stores the mailbox login information. The hackers have been trying to send thousands of phishing and malware infected emails to further grow their network (known as a “botnet”).

DDOS attacks on the rise

In the last week we’ve seen a few Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks where thousands of compromised PC’s are directed by a hacker at a specific website. Our firewalls and routers are able to filter out most of the traffic, making this more of a nuisance, but we normally do not see very many of these types of attacks.

…

Put this all together, and we’re seeing a much higher activity level from hackers as of late. We’re glad our security systems are operating as they should, but it always raises an eyebrow as to what they may be up to in the grand scheme of things.

What can you do as a website owner to stay safe?

Keep your FTP and POP3 passwords safe and secure
This means not choosing an easily guessable password, and changing it regularly.

Be careful who has your password
Only give out your password to developers, designers, and employees that absolutely must have it. When a designer/developer is done with their work, change the password in case their systems become infected in the future.

Keep your PC clean
I recommend having both an anti-virus/spyware software suite (such as Trend Micro, McAfee, or Symantec/Norton) *and* a specific malware scanner like Malwarebytes (commercial version). Make sure both software applications are running in the background, and are actively scanning all activity.

Use Firefox or Chrome as your web browser
Both Firefox and Chrome integrate with Google’s Safebrowsing black list. This means they will warn you if you try to go to a website where Google has detected malware / malicious code on the website. Internet Explorer does not do this. Going to an infected website (often times a safe site that was compromised itself) is often a popular way hackers infect personal computers.

photo credit

Connect To Your Customers With Multiple Product Images

Rich A. — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:15:50 +0000

Now that you’ve been fine tuning your products with creative descriptions and quality photos it’s time to look at expanding a bit more with multiple product images.

The more images you include, the more comfortable your customers will be, knowing that they have sufficient information to purchase that item from you.
mysolutionspot.com

Along with your product description, the images of your products are the key to connecting to your customers. Without them your customers can only imagine what your product looks like – so don’t let that happen – show them your products with not just a single clear photo but with multiple photos providing what a customer would see if they held the product in their hands.

An Amazon Example

Amazon Kindle

Let’s take Amazon.com for example, one of the leading online marketers, to see what they are doing for one of their products. To the right we have a screen shot of a portion of the page for the Amazon Kindle.

As you can see they have a nice clean primary photo, but below that are thumbnails for additional images. When you move your mouse over these images the larger window automatically shows you the selected image. [Click here to see Amazon's site and how the multiple images work.]

If you have poor quality photos without multiple angles or zoom, it’s like locking up all of your inventory behind a huge glass wall and not letting anyone handle your merchandise before they choose to buy.
Rick Wilson – practicalecommerce.com

Not only is Amazon showing additional images – but they are showing us what we may not even be able to see in a store – size comparison. Unless we carry a pencil or a book in our pockets we wouldn’t be able to easily compare a Kindle in our hands like they do in their photos. One of the selling points for a Kindle is it’s convenient size, and they show this extremely well in their photos.

In many cases enabling users to see items from multiple angles – and close up – can be a powerful way to impart a sense of contact with the product.
Mike B. Fisher – completeusability.com

Adding The Photos

Many of the online store systems currently available support multiple product photos so you should be able to easily add additional photos to your products. If you’re running a ShopSite® store, we have a tutorial here about using their system to add additional photos and it works just like Amazon where you can mouse-over the thumbnail to see the primary image change:

ShopSite Tutorial – Multiple Product Images

Whether you add images to show size, colors, different angles or other features – these additional photos will allow you to connect with your customers and help them see on your website what they may have only expected to see in person.

Get Creative With Your Product Descriptions?

Rob Mangiafico — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:11:46 +0000

Ever notice how the same product on multiple sites has the same manufacturer’s description? It’s usually a features list, boring text, and is not that descriptive. Why do they do this? Laziness? Copy/paste? Using the same product feed?

Stand out from the crowd by mixing it up…

Don’t be boring

Inc.com wrote a recent article about Awful, Boring Business Writing. It’s a great look into the boring text many online businesses have, and how to break free and be creative.

When you write like everyone else and sound like everyone else and act like everyone else, you’re saying, “Our products are like everyone else’s, too.”

Having your text stand out and be different from the other sites selling similar products can leave a lasting impression. Or at the very least get a potential buyer’s attention for more than a millisecond.

A few ideas to start the process

So you’ve decided to be different with your product descriptions. I’d still recommend having a small section that uses standard feature lists and specifications so the details are still on the page. But beyond that, try experimenting with various ways to get your shopper’s attention:

Owner’s take on the product
If the owner is passionate about the industry, and is quite knowledgeable about the product, have a small section where he or she gives their opinion. Straight talk from the owner can be helpful to shoppers trying to make a decision.

Sell pet products – What did your dog/cat think?
If, for example, you’re selling pet products, have your pet try out the toys, the pet food, etc… and capture their “feedback” in they way of a video, commentary, or pictures. This will not only grab people’s attention, but give your store a unique angle most other stores are missing.

Specific examples / uses
Think up a unique way your product can be used, and cite that as one of the benefits. A rain suit that doubles as a great tool to help give your dog a bath. A swiss army knife that every grandfather should have for helping open presents for the grandkids on their birthdays.

Silliness can sell
If you have the knack for humor, try injecting a bit of laughter into your product descriptions. At the very least you may illicit a smile from a potential customer. If it goes over well, it could lead to links on Facebook and Twitter, and hopefully to increased sales once you have their attention.

Maybe you should use standardized text?

As I was writing this post, I came across a blog post from an ecommerce expert, John Lawson. John’s post is about how long and unique descriptions are bad for business. His opinion is that with the plethora of options out there for finding products (shopping comparison sites and services, product finders, etc…), products need to be quickly categorized and easily identified. John believes that short, standardized text for products is a good thing.

With too many people having too many descriptions about the same “blue widget,” it no longer is an asset, it is now a liability for search optimization, management and storage, so they are streamlining it to make it easier to find.

He’s not advocating for no creativity. Instead, he feels the creative unique element is best left to blog posts, videos, and customer reviews. It’s definitely not mainstream thinking, but it is something to consider.

…

So which way works best? Unique and descriptive product descriptions, or short / standard text for better cataloging? I believe you can combine the best of both worlds, by providing specific feeds with standard text to the shopping comparison engines, including some manufacturers features/text, and making your products stand out with unique words and pictures.

What do you think? Which method works best for your store? Please share your comments with your fellow readers.

photo credit

The Official LexiConn Blog

Top Ecommerce Blog Posts and Articles for July 2010

Best Practices – Owning Your Domain Name

Whois

Contact Records

Do You Own It?

Making Changes

ShopSite 10 Service Pack 2 (SP2) – Lots of Cool New Features

Inventory Tracking for ordering options

Advanced Social Media Integration

Backoffice Dashboard

Mobile backoffice interface

More email options

Odds and ends…

Mastercard And Discover Relax Requirements for Debit and Pre-paid Cards

Two out of three requirements are now optional

So what does this mean?

Are Web Hosts Following The Trend of Doctors?

The power of the machine

Personal often means better service

Hosting is no different when it comes to personal service

Choose a host that understands you and your business

LexiConn Summer Specials and Offers

Transferring a ShopSite ® ecommerce store from another web host

GeoTrust Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates special offer

TrueShip ReadyReturns Special Offer

Five Year Domain Renewal / Purchases

Top Ecommerce Blog Posts And Articles For June 2010

The Hackers Are Up To Something…

Our IDS is lit up like a Christmas tree

POP3 compromises up as well

DDOS attacks on the rise

What can you do as a website owner to stay safe?

Connect To Your Customers With Multiple Product Images

An Amazon Example

Adding The Photos

Get Creative With Your Product Descriptions?

Don’t be boring

A few ideas to start the process

Maybe you should use standardized text?