Watch out for upcoming videos from HEROweb! We recently installed a green screen in our office and are psyched to create quality videos that give you great information on web marketing, ecommerce, internet how-to’s, and a range of other topics.

Check out our first video where HEROweb Marketing Director, Mike Brown, answers frequently asked questions about PPC.

Keep your eyes peeled because we will be posting more videos soon. If you are interested in creating video content for your own web site give us a call at 541-746-6418 or 1-888-257-2567.

I have noticed a lot of people creating Facebook profiles for their business rather than Facebook pages. This article explains the difference between Facebook Profiles, Groups, and Pages, and why you should opt for a Facebook Page for your business.

Profiles
To do anything on Facebook you first need a Facebook Profile. Profiles are meant for individuals. They represent a person. Profiles are meant to represent you, not your business. Other Facebook users interact with you by adding you as a friend. Depending on your privacy settings, your friends can now view your wall posts, photos, and the other actions you take on Facebook. You can also view the same things on your friends’ Profiles. The actions your friends take will appear in your News Feed.

Pages
Pages are meant to represent an organization, business, celebrity, or band. You can create a Page if you are an official representative of your business. Facebook users interact with a Page by clicking the “Like” button. Fans of the Page can interact with the business in much the same way that they interact with friends of their profile. The difference is that interaction with your fans ONLY takes place on your business Page. You can not view your fans’ profiles. This is an advantage. Facebook users are more likely to “Like” your Page than to add your business as a friend and give a stranger access to their profile. Also, if you saw your fans updates, your News Feed would become cluttered with information irrelevant to your business goals. Likewise, your fans do not have access to your personal profile. This keeps your personal life and your business life separate.

Groups
Groups can be started by anyone and help to connect people with a common interest. Group pages do not have the same level of functionality as a Page. All interaction with the Group occurs on the Group page. Groups are not optimized for businesses and you should never choose to create a group for your business.

Top Reasons to create a Facebook PAGE for your Business

1. Facebook intended Pages to be used for businesses. This means they have many features built in specifically to help businesses succeed on Facebook. (e.g. Facebook Ads, multiple page administrators, and Page Insights.)
2. It is against Facebook’s Terms of Service for a Profile to represent a business. That’s right. Facebook can technically close down an account that does not represent an individual. If this happened you would lose all your connections and you would have to start from scratch.
3. Facebook Users like to “Like” Users are far more likely to click “Like” than they are to add a business as a friend. Clicking to “Like” a business is a Facebook standard recognized by users and makes your business appear more official. The business page to fan relationship keeps you out of your fans’ personal lives and that’s the way they like it.
4. Facebook Ads are only available for Pages. Ads allow you to advertise your business and get more fans.
5. Facebook Insights are only available for Pages. Page Insights highlight the successful posts on your page as well as the types of people reading your posts. Graphs display the number of interactions on your page as well as the demographics of your fan base.
6. Static FBML is only available for Pages. Static FBML (Facebook Mark-up Language) allows you to create custom tabs to give your profile a unique look and increased functionality. It’s like a mini website on your Page. To see our FBML example click here.

To create a Page for your business, you will first need to click here to sign up for Facebook by creating a personal profile. If you already have a personal profile, click here to get started creating an official PAGE for your business. You will be pleased with the power of Pages and how they are optimized for your business. Stay tuned for more posts on how to use Pages.

There is nothing new about mobile devices. Hundreds of millions of people have their Iphone, Droid, or Nexus glued to their palm. But as wireless networks mature in the US in the next 12-24 months and the competition of the top platforms builds drives more sophisticated application development, we have the all the pieces in place for the wireless ecommerce revolution to begin.

Smartphones and mobile devices are rapidly transforming from being utilized as website browsing devices to website shopping devices.

If you are an Ecommerce site owner it is time to make sure that you have a mobile strategy in place that will give you maximum exposure across all platforms where your customers are living their online lives.

Check out some of my thoughts on this top in a 2/16/10 Mobile Commerce Strategy Post over at Practical Ecommerce. Do you need a mobile site? Your own Iphone app? Those are important questions to consider.

Here at MightyMerchant, we are putting the finishing touches on our Mobile MightyMerchant product. We are excited to be a part of the mobile extravaganza. Come join us for the show!

Hey, it’s good to be back! Time to kick it into gear. For today, I have an interesting SEO-related question: how important is an ip address change to your SEO fortunes?

To expand on the question: if a site needs to be relocated to a different physical machine – whether with the same hosting company or a new provider – it is often necessary to change the numerical internet address associated with that website. Will Google look down on such a change?

As with most questions SEO, there is no absolute answer. Given the evidence we see with migrating many sites from other providers and between our own servers, we have yet to seen any penalty or search ranking change due to an IP address shift.

But, given the fact that many of our customers live or die by their search placement, we like to err on the side of caution.  Every change we make on a website needs to be given due consideration.

Let us know if you have seen downward slides after an IP switch. Moving your site into a “bad neighborhood” could be problematic. But, beyond that, is an ip change penalty a real issue or an urban legend? Let us know your thoughts?

Yesterday I read a post on another blogger’s site and immediately knew I had quite a bit to add to the discussion. This morning, I read a post that is so complete and so important, the best I can do is say “Awesome Post!” and encourage you to check it out.

The topic is “Google’s Indexation Cap“. The author is Rand Fishkin over at SEOmoz.

Rand’s post dives into the nitty gritty of why Google does not index all the pages on a site. This is a vexing question for many of our customers. As Rand’s post indicates, Google is becoming smarter and smarter about what makes a high-value site and raising the bar for what you need to do to build authority.

SEO is out of the Dark Ages and into the Middle Ages. Google is smarter. And you need to be smarter, too.

Have a look at what Rand has to say: Google’s Indexation Cap

I just read an article over at http://www.problogger.com from Darren Rowse about what to do when your Google traffic disappears. Darren made some good points, as he always does, but I thought there were some more details to add to the discussion. Here is my view on the actions you should take when you wake up one morning to discover you traffic is gone.

1. Review Google Webmaster Guidelines. Google is great. They tell you in no uncertain terms what their recommendations are. Take a few minutes to review the latest version of Google Webmaster Guidelines. Google sets the rules. You need to play by them.

2. Install Necessary Tools. In order to fully analyze/diagnose what is going on with your site, you NEED to be using Google Webmaster Tools. Installation is free and easy. Just do it. I will mention in a moment what to do with Webmaster Tools. You also need an industrial strength web traffic analysis package. Google Analytics is the obvious choice, but there are many others out there to do the job. The main point, is to move beyond gut feelings about what is gong on with your site and wild theories about what might have caused your demise. You need to be working with some hard, cold numbers.

3. Do Competitive Analysis. Create a list of your top ten phrases and look closely at the other sites that are coming up ahead of you. It is important to determine whether you have completely disappeared from Google or if you have just dropped off your previously stellar listings. If you have completely disappeared you need to start looking at whether you have been penalized or banned. Maybe Google has been unable to reach your site. But, the other, more likely situation is that your competitors have gotten better at SEO and you have done nothing in the five years since you gained #1 status for your coveted terms. You might need to do some work to regain your mojo!

4. Analyze Traffic and Indexing Patterns. Now it is time to jump into Google Webmaster Tools. Under the Diagnostics area you can see how often GoogleBot (Google’s indexing spider) is visiting your site. Ideally, it should be every few days. You can also see what errors Google is reporting and how many pages are being indexed. These valuable statistics give you a baseline for taking action.

If you have been banned, it will be clear that Google is not indexing any of your pages. Time to jump back to the Webmaster Guidelines and learn about the steps you need to take.

5. Evaluate your Incoming Links. More so than ever, Google rankings are about the link authority that your site has. In other words, who is linking to you, how they are linking, and the trust that Google puts in those sites are all important factors. If you have done nothing over time to fortify your incoming links you will start to  suffer (because you have competitors out there who are working hard). It is possible that Google has done a recent update that devalued your site because your incoming links are on the decline.

6. Look at a Broad Range of Keywords. Is your conclusion that Google has dumped you in the dog house due to a drop-off on one term or is there an across-the-board decline? Before you panic, take a look at a range of phrases. If you are suffering with just a few terms, some focused work on your home page could get you back in the game. If your whole site is suffering, it is back to Webmaster Guidelines to do a point-by-point review of where you falling short of Google’s expectations, or, where your competitors are trumping you.

7. Assess All Changes. This recommendation is huge! Make sure you review whether you, your web designer, or your CMS (if you have a hosted CMS) have made any recent changes. It is possible that significant changes have happened on your site that you are unaware of. As an example: we worked with someone who unwittingly turned off their SEO-friendly urls in WordPress, which completely changed their internal linking on the their website. Or, it is possible your Ecommerce provider has done a major update that has changed all your page titles. Talk to the people you are working with and see if they can give you any insights. You can also look at Google’s cache to compare your current page with a recent version, or, possibly use a service like http://www.archive.org to do some comparison of the current version of your site with past versions to see if the html has changed.

8. See If You Are Alone. Here is another pre-panic step: do some Googling to find out if your case is an isolated issue or if many others are reporting issues. Your change in rankings could be a result of a sea-change on Google’s end. This doesn’t mean you need to sit idly by and fret, but your approach will be significantly different than if your ranking drop-off is isolated.

9. Set up Google Analytics Intelligence. Google Analytics has a brand new feature (as of 11/09) that is awesome. Analytics Intelligence lets you set up custom alarms so you can receive an email notification if there are anomalies in your traffic. Although this tool won’t help you go back in time and address past problems, it will be a great aid as you move forward with a more scientific approach to controlling your rankings and traffic.

10. Be Systematic. Our overarching recommendation is to be systematic in tackling your SEO decline. You need to identify the list of factors and then analyze and address them one-by-one.

There are no shortcuts to working with Google, but if you play by their rules and pay attention to every detail, you can likely be successful in regaining your Google rankings and traffic.

To make it in the Ecommerce game there are a lot of details to stay on top of. I like to think of these details as your assets. Each asset needs to be tracked and cared for. Here is a list of some of the top assets you need to manage:

Your Website. If you are in the Ecommerce biz, it goes without saying that you have a website. Hopefully you have a CMS (Content Management System) for updating your website info, products, and pricing. If not, you better start looking around since being able to actively manage your own website is of paramount importance for running a successful Ecommerce business.

Advertising Spend. If you are doing any type of paid advertising, make sure you have some automated reporting set up so you can stay on top of your advertising spending as well as your Return on Ad Spend. Letting a paid advertising campaign run on cruise control can cause you to burn through a lot of money. So be sure to either track your own campaigns or work with a pro to do the analysis for you.

Domains. Time and again we see site-owners let their domains lapse. Why? Because they have changed their email accounts and never updated their domain registration account. When the renewal notice goes out, they never see it. Be sure to work with a reputable registrar and keep your domain records up-to-date. If you have multiple domains consolidate them with one registrar and do a yearly review of your registrations.

Passwords. I just wrote a post a few days ago on selecting good passwords. As an extension of that discussion you need to put a system in place for managing all your passwords. If you are going full-tilt with Ecommerce, you could easily have a dozen username/password combos to manage. Our quick recommendations: come up with a password creation system and create a list that includes accounts, usernames, and password hints. Don’t keep an easily accessible list of all your usernames and passwords in one place. Such a list represents a significant security vulnerability for your business.

Customer database. There is a strong correlation between your ability to build long term relationships with your customers and your success in the Ecommerce world. Each online order should go into a database that you can utilize later for follow-up offers and customer connections. Equally important is a list of contacts who might not have purchased from you in the past but have expressed an interest in your business or products. If you engage in email marketing, be sure to use industry-accepted practices. You do not want to send emails to customers who don’t want to receive them and you should give your customers the option to opt into your email promotions.

Links. Your success in obtaining top placement in the major search engines relies, in  part, on the links coming into your site. It is your job to encourage links, request them, and do your best to ensure that links coming into your site use link text related to your keyword phrases.

Reputation. In an increasingly social world, more and more customers and associates will have something to say about your business in a range of online venues. Perhaps people will be talking about you on Facebook, private blogs, or review sites like Yelp.com. You want to be in-the-know about what is being said about you and respond when appropriate.

You very well may have other assets that are important to your online business. By putting systems in place to manage all your assets you will be in an excellent position to grow a healthy ecommerce business.

One of the best sources of wisdom about your products, service, and industry is your customers. And no better way to find out what they think than to talk with them.

That’s right. Pick up the phone and give them a call. Not to discount all the great interactive technologies like review sites, online surveys, and the range of social platforms, but some well-placed one-on-one conversations can give you an important and candid perspective on the way you are delivering your services and where you are succeeding and failing.

If you run your business on a skeleton crew you probably don’t have a lot of time for individualized market research, but a few hours could be time well spent. I would seek out customers who only used your service once and did not return or customers who have been absent for a while. You might also have certain key customers who you know are intelligent consumers and could have some great insights for you. Many people will be happy to share their thoughts when they see that you genuinely care what they think. You might learn some helpful information from them and you just might win back a customer.

Find out what what they are looking for in an Ecommerce site (if they have decided to go elsewhere) and what are the key factors in their online purchasing decisions. Maybe you can find out about some key product lines they are interested in. Of course you could ask the same questions via an email survey, but spending some time with the group that is least likely to take the time to answer an survey can be quite educational.

Hopefully the information you learn will be something you can take action on to improve your presentation and offerings, and it might inspire you to come up with creative ways of communicating with your customer base on a broader scale.

The message in this Saturday evening fortune cookie is: reach out and connect with your customers on a personal level – good things will come.

If I dare bring up the subject of “passwords” to a customer I typically get an immediate response of an uncomfortable groan or moan. With the proliferation of social media sites, web service accounts, and other logins, managing passwords has become ever more daunting.

But, as painful as they are, good password policies are the cornerstone of any  sound security program. And, if you have an Ecommerce site and are serious about PCI Compliance, you want to formulate a password policy for your business and stick by it.

Here is a simple idea to help you with creating good passwords. You can think of it as a word game of sorts.

1. Start with a group of names that mean something to you. Perhaps the characters from Star Wars. Or maybe, your past spouses (okay, that one will only work if you have had a checkered marital past!).

2. Then layer on top a group of numbers that are already etched into your mind. Perhaps it could be the birthdates of your kids. Or it could be the uniform numbers of your five favorite basketball players.

3. And then think of a substitution you can use. For example, you will replace instances of the letter A with an Ampersand.

Using this methodology, I have come up with the following password: Y69d12n03&

What is that pattern, you ask? It is my brother’s name, Andy, spelled backwards, with his birthdate interspersed between the letters. For good measure, I swapped out the A with an Ampersand and led things off with an uppercase Y.

Compare this password to something like “Andy1234″ which would immediately flunk any password test. Why? Because a password with recognizable words, names, and number sequences is an easy target for a password cracking program. My more complex pattern only make sense to me.

If I used my password formula in conjunction with my other siblings’ names and meaningful dates, I could have a set of passwords that would be relatively easy for me to remember, but difficult to get hacked. The key is if I remember my formula, I can come up with a complex combination of characters without actually having to memorize a bunch of gibberish. The goal is meaningful gibberish.

Passwords and security are a dead-serious topic. But by having a little fun with your password selection you will help yourself in creating strong passwords that will serve your business well.

I love @chrisbrogan’s approach because he has the ability – on a daily basis – to ask simple, focused questions that always seem to be appropriate to what I am grappling with at the time. Of course, I realize I am one of hundreds who is simultaneously going through the same experience, but it feels like Chris is talking directly to me. Ahh, the genius of a great communicator.

Today’s question from Chris: What are the results of all your hard work?

Simple enough. And, on a day like Thanksgiving, after a wonderful afternoon of sharing with family, it is a good time for me to “go deep” and think about why it is I’m pushing so hard each day.

The results Staci and I have created:

1. A “family” of awesome customers – many of whom are able to live their dream of having a successful ecommerce business.

2. A workplace that provides an engaging, challenging atmosphere for our dedicated team.

3. An opportunity for Staci and I to work together to build our vision and exercise our creativity on a daily basis.

4. A model for my kids about what it looks like to put your heart into an endeavor, to live each day with determination and conviction.

We are lucky, indeed. Every day presents new challenges – some which seem overwhelming – but all having an elegant solution waiting to be discovered.

I am logging off for now, but I will see you on the Internet in the morning, ready to go for it, once again.