• Only one in ten small businesses update their web site on a daily basis. Regular content updates are extremely important for good search engine rankings.
• More than half of the companies surveyed do not perform any type of search engine marketing (SEO & PPC). If you are not engaging in some form of search engine marketing, you are losing potential clients on a daily basis.
• More than a third of firms do not understand how to track their web site statistics. Detailed return on investment tracking is one of the most important advantages that advertising on the Internet offers over traditional methods.

If you find yourself in one or more of the above groups, please contact Net-Craft.com today to learn how we can help you.

To counteract this negative trend it is important to understand the main reasons for shopping cart abandonment.

The top reasons based on a recent study by Forrester Research are:

1. Shipping and handling costs were too high
2. Not quite ready to make a purchase
3. Wanted to price compare with other sites
4. Item was too expensive
5. Saved products in cart for later

The good news is that none of the above reasons are hard to fix. They can be addressed quickly and easily.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Offer reduced pricing or FREE shipping.

As you can see the price charged for shipping is very important to users. If offering no cost shipping is not an option, you may try a reduced rate or even a tiered rate that is lower depending on the amount of a users purchase. Shopping carts can be designed with sophisticated calculations to allow for shipping discounts.

• Users not ready to purchase? Give them options.

Give your customers the ability to email themselves more information about a product. In addition allow them to sign-up for promotional offers and discount codes. If a potential customer leaves their cart but you have their email address you can send them follow-up offers that may entice them to buy in the future.

• Analyze data the data.

Make sure your shopping cart system keeps a log of items present in the users shopping cart when the abandonment was made. If you notice trends such as a particular item having a higher abandonment rate, you may want to adjust pricing or do some competitor analysis. One client of ours discovered that a competitor was offering the same item at the same price but they were throwing in a free item. Once our client adjusted his offer to match, the cart abandonment rate for that item lowered considerably.

• Make sure you offer a checkout as guest feature.

Many customers leave before completing a sale because they do not want to create an account and the web site requires the user to do so. Offer a check-out as guest feature to remove this customer concern.

• Shopping carts that remember.

Known as persistent shopping carts, these remember what users had in their carts when they leave and then come back. This is useful for users who inadvertently leave your site and then come back later. The time for remembering can be adjusted by the software but a safe time period is 30 days. If this is not a feature of your e-commerce store, it is wise to look into adding it as it has been shown to reduce shopping cart abandonment rates.

In conclusion

If you would to add or modify the eCommerce software on your website, please contact us for a free shopping cart analysis and review.

Bing has a local business listing service that allows you to create a profile, upload images and verify your map listing on Bing Maps. Simply visit https://ssl.bing.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx and add/ verify your business listing. This is free for business owners.

Yahoo has their own local business map listing service as well. Yahoo offers a similar service to Google and Bing, business owners should claim their listing at http://listings.local.yahoo.com/ .

The next step should be to create or verify your listing at Yelp. Yelp began as a website that allowed consumers to post reviews about places to shop, eat and drink. Now Yelp has expanded to cover almost all business categories. It is important to check if your site is listed at Yelp and then verify the information about your business is correct. If it is not listed, you can add it for free. Your information at Yelp is also used by search engines such as Google when determining search rankings. Check-out yelp at www.yelp.com. CitySearch.com is a similar service to Yelp and you should claim / verify your business listing on their site as well.

The next step is to increase the amount of times you mention your company name, phone number and address on third-party sites. These are very important for improving the rankings of your map listing entries. Search giant Google puts more weight on citations from trusted resources like Yelp and CitySearch.

Finally, your efforts to improve and maintain your local search-engine ranking should be a consistent one. Since your local profile pages are in a constant state of flux, make a recurring task in your calendar to review them. If details such as phone number, location, hours, services offered, etc. change, be sure to update them. This will also allow you to review and in some cases respond to negative reviews you may have received. Using the strategies outlined above will help your company receive more targeted local traffic.

Highlights of the study include:

1. Almost one-third of users will begin leaving a site id it seems to be loading slowly after one to five seconds.
2. Over eighty percent only attempt a slow responding website a few times before leaving.
3. Almost forty percent indicate that speed is more important than functionality for most websites.
4. Slow loading times are common and they make users frustrated.
5. Almost two thirds of users find a slow performing website a few times a week or more.
6. More than a third of users said they would not return to a slow site, and more than twenty-five percent would likely go to a competitor’s site.

It is apparent that users are demanding a quick, fast loading web site. Only a few seconds can make the difference between a negative and a positive outcome. If you would like to review your web site’s loading speed, please contact Net-Craft.com today for a free consultation.

Search-engine giant Google recently turned on their real-time-search or instant search function. If you have a web site, this is an important development to take note of. The new mechanism returns search results below the Google search box as quickly as the user types their query. This makes it much easier for users to adjust their search on the fly and reduce the number of pages they need to look through to find their target.

With real-time / instant search, users can quickly and easily find out what is going on in the web world. Specific examples where the new tool will be useful include, competitor analysis, online shopping, management of your online reputation, and news research. The implementation of instant search will definitely change the way consumers search for data.

A few other notes:

• Instant search currently does not apply to the search field in your browser it is only available directly at Google
• Other search engines such as Bing/Yahoo will definitely implement their own versions soon.

If you would like to review your businesses search engine strategy with one of our consultants, please contact us today for a free internet marketing analysis.

1. Search giant Google compiles a separate index for mobile websites.

Not only does Google include a separate index for mobile content, but it is also new and content added now will have primary position over content added later. The sooner you add a mobile website to Google’s mobile index the better.

2. Navigating regular websites is difficult on a mobile device.

Even with today’s smart phones such as the Apple iPhone and Android, there is an extremely limited amount of screen space. A user quickly becomes tired of pinching, zooming and scrolling side to side to read web site information and will click away. Worse they may become frustrated with your web site on their mobile device and associate that frustration with your company.

3. More than 20% of mobile users in the USA use the mobile web each day.

This phenomenal mobile percentage use is growing every year. If your company is not specifically addressing this customer base, it is only a matter of time for your competition to seize the opportunity themselves.

4. The Mobile web will surpass the desktop within 4-5 years.

Usage and adoption by new users is growing at a much faster pace than the desktop did.

In the future, most of your web site visitors will likely be from a mobile device.

5. Almost $ billion in goods and services was purchased from a mobile device in 2009.

Probably the most exciting statistic regarding the mobile web. This means that web site visitors are not only lookers but buyers as well. As comfort levels, security and more sophisticated devices are developed this number has nowhere to go but up.

6. Over 92% of United States adults own a cell phone.

Sure, not every cell phone has Internet access, but the that is the trend. Even non smartphones usually have some form of internet access.

7. Spending on mobile advertising will be more than $6.5 billion in 2012.

Advertising spending is a good indicator of the current economic status of an industry. Mobile advertising spending is increasing year after year.

8. Estimates indicate over 2 billion cell phones worldwide.

Yes that’s a lot of cell phones, the mobile web is trending up and has a phenomenal amount of room to grow.

Now is a great time to review your mobile internet strategy. If you would like to speak to one of our consultants about an iPhone or Android app and/or mobile website version. Please contact us today for a free mobile strategy consultation.

1) Tell your Customers what they’re Getting and then tell them Again

Infomercials are great at repeating the same information over and over again. This is done for a reason. They are setting their potential customers expectations. For your own marketing efforts, explain in detail what products and / or services you provide and the benefits that come with it.

2) Use Real Customer Testimonials

It is extremely important to let your customers tell your story. Ask for testimonials from current and past clientele. Let your customers do that for you. Real customer testimonials are extremely effective at building trust.

3) Present a Problem and then Solve it

All infomercials present the audience with a problem or a need and they solve or fill it. Ensure that your website clearly defines both.

4) Present a Clear Specific Offer.

Infomercials all include some limited time special offer. They do not include lots of confusing options or choices to select. Rather they offer a simple to understand choice, purchase or don’t purchase. This may not work for your situation, but the lesson is clear, keep it simple. Lastly, give an incentive for customers to act quickly. Examples include a timed discount, limited supply or availability, or a combination of both.

Yes some clients will object, but as your costs go up, inevitably you must pass along a portion of these costs to your clients. Most of my clients insist that they cannot raise their rates, yet I don’t know of anyone to date who has done this and lost all their clients. In EVERY case, they add an instant increase to their bottom line and barely hear a grumble from their clients. If anything, it acts as price-shopper pest control for their business and helps them avoid wasting time with price-sensitive clients. How do you do it? Have the guts to – there aren’t any secrets here and it is that simple and straightforward.

2. Turn one time buyers into repeat customers.

Stay in front of your customers with a monthly mailing, eNewsletter, or special offer. Let past customers know about new services you offer or recent industry opportunities that may be relevant to them.

3. Begin a subscription based product or service to increase purchase rates.

Otherwise known as “managed services” or “continuity income.” Offer to perform a regular service for a client on an agreed upon rate. For example, Net-Craft.com offers our clients discounted hourly blocks of web site maintenance services on a monthly basis.

4. Increase your average transaction size.

Make sure to let prospective client know about all of the complimentary services you offer. Many times a client will not even be aware of all of the services you offer. For example, we recently completed a large web design project for a local builder. Turns out he also needed business card, and postcard mailer design as well as an interactive DVD. We only found out about these needs because we asked if there were any other services he needed.

5. Actively track and improve your conversion rate.

You are probably tracking the number of people visiting your website on a daily and monthly basis. However are you tracking the number of people that click on a Request for Quote form or calling a phone number or purchasing a product? These amounts are known as your conversion rate. These ‘calls to action’ can be based on general web site visitors, PPC campaigns or even traditional advertising. Once you have established baseline conversion rates you can test different marketing pieces, special offers and pricing structures to see what works to improve those rates.

Please check the video below: