Case Study: Successful Implementation of CRM

Recently, a company spent $25 million in CRM system's execution.

The company has been one of the leading forest-products companies in the world but for the past several years , office products - pens, computers, desks etc., have comprised the largest segment of its annual sales.

One-third of the company's revenue is generated from its online business and because office product customers rely on flawless e-commerce site performance to help reduce their administrative overhead, competition within this sector is strong.

What Prompted The Company To Go For CRM? Of late, the company's application server was failing to meet volume and performance expectations.

The web site was not integrated with customer account information, so clients with questions about order position or account balances flooded the call centers. The customers were demanding and each customer had different needs.

As the company was in B2B business, managers of the contracted company were primarily treated as customers. After a lot of discussion, the management decided to go for CRM to:

Implement electronic report delivery - to eliminate report production costs

Scalability - to manage the growth of users and reports

Ease of use - to respond in a timely and precise manner to all users, both inside and outside of the organisation.

The initiative was started to invest in CRM to strengthen the company's internal processes and also to provide customers with a greater economic value.

Roadmap To Implement CRM

The implementation was planned in a phased manner. During the design phase of the implementation, a cross-functional team was chalked out of business and IT managers.

This was done to ensure that the IT department had a comprehensive understanding of the business strategies and customer's needs. Different sets of requirements were made for different customer profiles.

How each individual client interacted with the organisation was given chief importance. It was concluded that there were primarily three areas where client interaction was most - customer service center, dispatch department and online portal.

This process helped the company to focus on specific technologies that would improve customer service and discard those that weren't right for the company's goals.

Consequently, the company bought individual software applications (instead of a complete end-to-end CRM system) for customer interaction and operation management and integrated them with the existing order-processing technologies.

Putting CRM Into Operation

Once all the building blocks were placed in order, it wasn't a difficult task for the IT department to implement the CRM system.

It was decided to apply the new technology to the two largest customer channels, phone and web and so it was paramount that both remain fully functional.

As the company had a huge client base, most of the production deployment was done over the weekend when there were less number of client calls and when there were less number of people accessing the company's web site.

The data migration was another step which was carved out with utmost importance because it required cleansing of the 2.2 million customer records from multiple disparate databases into a single customer profile database.

Mantra For Successful Implementation of CRM The company was able to successfully implement CRM because much of its focus was on customer convenience.

It always maintained the sync between the business and IT departments, so as to ensure everyone was on the same page.

Vigilant and correct choice of CRM software was another major step that helped the company to move ahead with a smooth and successful implementation.

In the end, the company was rewarded with increased revenue, customer retention and positive feedback from all sectors - both in-house and out-house.

Ebay Prostores Review

Thinking about buying a new content management system for your E-commerce site? Is a customized solution too much or too complicated for you? Don't even know what a content management system is? Well, look no further because I'm going to tell you all you need to know.

Content Management Systems Content Management Systems are web based software that allows web developers to publish and sell goods and services on the internet. There are literally thousands of websites that profit from selling goods and services online, they range in size from small mom and pop hobby stores looking to make extra cash on auction sites like Ebay to the well known titans of E-commerce like Amazon. As a result, a whole new industry has sprung up to cater to their wants and needs.

Review There are 4 different levels to choose from, "ProStores Express", "ProStores Business", "ProStores Advanced", and "ProStores Enterprise". At time of publishing this article they cost $6.95, $29.95, $74.95, and $249.95 respectively.

The best thing about a ProStore is the instant boost your profit margins will receive if you're using a 3rd party payment gateway because it only charges a .5% transaction fee. Chances are, your merchant account is taking anywhere from 5% - 10% of the purchase price on every sale you make! If you're doing a $1000 a month in sales or more, the money you save in transaction charages alone would more than pay for the cost of a Pro Store. Better yet, all transactions are SSL encrypted and billed in real time which means customer information is safe, secure and charged instantly.

ProStores is also an Ebay Company, which means your E-business will be backed by one of the top internet companies in the world, with offices worldwide from Japan to Germany. You'll have many resources at your disposal, including access to its extremely popular Ebay auction site. ProStores also provides a consulting service that pairs you with an E-commerce veteran who will review your goals and needs and set up a customized E-commerce solution that fits your business model and budget.

Domain name comes standard with every ProStore subscription (Except ProStores Express) allowing you to create a domain that includes your business name. They also have professional design services that have created numerous successful site designs including the popular ZStore.

Disadvantages Unfortunately, ProStores isn't the easiest content management system to work with. While the ability to upload mass product feeds gives gives the user a huge advantage over other competitors, it lacks a simple and intuitive interface to add a manage products.

Advantages ProStores's order processing really stands out. Real time credit card processing, inventory management, and customer processing still make it a great choice for any current or potential E-merchant

Use your own domain name Quickbooks integration Different subscription levels to suit your needs and budget

Final Analysis Would I buy a ProStores system? Yes! Despite its drawbacks ProStores is a great choice because of its price. A custom system that includes all the features of the ProStores Express would cost at at least $1500 dollars! ProStores are also backed by Ebay, one of the most powerful companies on the internet today. It's a great solution for everyone from E-Commerce veterans to somebody who just started competing in the E-marketplace.

Web Design That Works

As the manager of a web design studio that handles three new projects every week and has to deal with 30 queries a day I can tell you first hand that web design…huh-huh, it’s like brain surgery. You can go at it with a good quality hacksaw and a pair of later gloves but we wouldn’t really advise you to do it.

It’s a good analogy, except it’s totally untrue. Web design, as the proliferation of people who call themselves web designers attests to, is neither like brain surgery nor rocket science. At its most basic it’s like building something using Lego blocks. A child can do it.

Ok. I know, this is where I pause for the stunned silence. You will ask me (and quite rightly so) if it’s that easy to design a website why does it cost so much? Why do major companies spend $40,000 on web design and why should you come to us?

Well, this is where I use analogies thick and fast. I said web design is like building with Lego bricks and I meant it. For about $100 you can pick up a template-driven WYSIWYG web design programme that will let you put a credible web site together without needing to know an ounce of coding, programming or anything else.

This the Lego principle at work which has made engineers and master builders out of kids for well over 50 years. If all you want is a personal site or a hobby site well this will do the job and wasting any more than $100 will be…a waste.

But just like Lego allows kids to play at putting buildings together so do the ready-made, engine-hidden-under-the-hood web site software programmes only play at building robust websites.

If your career or your earnings or your reputation depend on the website you need then a $100 web site building piece of software ain’t gonna do it for you. And here’s why:

1. Because beyond the basic programming a robust website also has to have:
1. Good design principles
2. Easy navigability
3. Built-in search-engine friendliness as standard
4. Kick-ass content
5. Text, pictures, graphics and meta tags optimized
6. Code streamlined for easy indexing

1. Because in order to have your website stand out from the four billion websites on the net it needs to have the kind of attention to detail that only a real studio that has separated the artistic, aesthetic design look from the coding can bring to bear.
2. Because if you’re thinking of integrating a database and some e-Commerce capability you need to have the kind of coding that will not be hacked the next day by the six year olds surfing the net from their infant school PC.
3. If you’re serious about your site you need a design that has at least a year’s lifespan (which in net time equals seven years) before it needs updating and re-freshing.
4. Because sites sometimes go wrong for no reason. Maybe your e-Commerce provider beefed-up the security measures of their servers, or maybe your hosting provider upgraded their servers, or even the gentle east wind blowing out of Madagascar suddenly turned southerly. The truth is websites do go wrong, they do go down and they need fixing fast!

The difference between a website you built using your spare time, your own experience and a $100 programme and a website built by a studio is akin to an all-weather tent and a house.

Pretty much anybody can put up an all-weather tent these days, but a house still needs an architect and a professional construction firm to make it happen.

Having said all this if I then went ahead and said that for your website you’d need to start thinking around five-six figure sums I’d be lying again. Web design studios bring the expertise of innovative, original design, robust programming and content optimization under one roof. They’re specialists, and like any specialist you’d expect to see cost optimizations take place.

So, a decent website with original design and good coding should start at around the $500 - $600 mark. From then on the figure starts to increase on the sheer man-hours needed to do the programming. Ask for something that’ll be database driven, easy to update via a back end, secure suite, with full database integration, e-Commerce capability and a few extra customizable applications and you begin to enter the $10K - $20K simply because you’re looking at a team of programmers who will write about 50,000 lines of code, test them and find that one line doesn’t work. They’ll then spend 48 hours straight testing each line until they find the right one and fix it!

So, now, knowing where the money goes you can decide how to spend it. That way at least you will feel in total control of your website design project and if you want web design that works will be able to decide exactly how much to spend. The web design world may be digital, but just like in the real world you get exactly what you pay for.

Dedicated Web Hosting - Who Needs It?

At some point in the web hosting selection process, prospective web site owners will be confronted with the question of whether to go with shared web hosting or invest in the more expensive dedicated hosting. In general, you'll only need dedicated web hosting if you are running an extremely large e-commerce web site.

If you are just starting out, or growing your small business, you can certainly stick with shared web hosting until you reach the point that your business requires the kind of performance that can only be provided by a dedicated web server.

Let's say you are just starting out. You've chosen your domain name, registered it and selected a web host.

What's next? Your web host has to give you certain information needed to get your website up and running.

This information includes passwords to get into your account, paths to the server directories where your files should be uploaded and, most importantly, what your domain name servers are called.

Connecting The Dots

Domain name servers (DNS) provide the link between your domain name (mysite.com) and its Internet Protocol (IP) address. The IP address is a series of numbers like this: 123.456.78.9. and every web server has its own IP address.

For a dedicated server hosting a single domain, the IP address is equivalent to the domain name. A site hosted on a dedicated server can be found on the Web as either 123.456.78.9 or as mysite.com.

Shared Servers

Conversely, a server providing shared web hosting contains multiple websites on the same computer but they all have the same IP address.

If you were to type in an IP address associated with a shared server, you'd get an error message or possibly would be redirected to the hosting company's main web site.

So domain names are mandatory for websites hosted on shared servers as they are the only way to access those web sites - they cannot be accessed by an IP address alone as they can be with dedicated web hosting.

Choosing a Web Host- Frequently Asked Questions

In this article my aim is to provide you with the information required to choose a web host. There are several things that you need to take into account when choosing a web hosting provider, below you will be provided with answers to frequently asked questions which will help you choose your next web hosting provider.

Q. How reliable is my chosen web hosting provider?

A. It is common for web hosting providers in this day and age to offer some form of uptime guarantee, if you are running a business website and the uptime of this site is a priority, choose a web host that offers an uptime guarantee. The reason for this is the host will do everything in their power to avoid an outage on your site as it will cost them money, usually in the form of extra months credited to your hosting account depending on the length of the outage. For a business related site, you should choose a host that offers an uptime guarantee of 99% or better.

Q. What kind of performance can I expect from my chosen web hosting provider?

A. A good hosting company will have multiple high speed connections to the internet, and will also be providing their own network infrastructure rather than on-selling another company's service. Also the servers should be fast, in the shared hosting space generally good providers will be using Pentium 4 machines with dual processors or better.

Q. Does your chosen host offer good phone support?

A. When choosing your host, look for one that offer 24/7 phone support that's always available with a live operator. To test this aspect, try calling your chosen hosts support line at differing times of the day and night and on weekends to get an understanding of their support lines reliability.

Q. How much should my chosen hosting cost me?

A. Entry level hosting in this day and age is very good value when you take into account what features are on offer. For $4 to $8 per month you can expect a host to offer a good amount of storage space and a good amount of bandwidth.

Q. How much bandwidth will I need for data transfer from my host?

A. Using this as a rough guide you can choose a plan based on the following figures. A typical personal website should get by with less than 2GB of bandwidth per month. A small to medium business website serving text and small images should allow around 5GB of transfer. A larger website serving files, videos, or audio files should allow 10GB or more per month depending on the amount of visitors the website receives.

Q. How does my chosen host handle security?

A. Usernames and passwords should be required to control the host and manage your website. Your host should also backup your files on a daily basis at a minimum and offer mechanisms to retrieve these backups in the event of a server failure.

Q. What about my hosts control panel?

A. Almost all hosting packages come with some form of a control panel. This control panel allows you to configure all aspects of your hosting though your web browser without learning how to use the server's operating system for configuration. Popular control panels include cPanel, Plesk, Ensim and Hsphere, with cPanel the most commonly used control panel. If you are a beginner to hosting, choose a provider that offers cPanel as this control panel is very easy to use.

Q. What about my hosts email support?

A. Almost all hosts offer POP3 mail accounts, be sure to choose a hosting plan that offers you enough accounts that you need to create for your users. Almost all hosting providers also offer spam and anti-virus options for email accounts which can be a great security feature if you are concerned about this.

Q. I want to run my own online store, what do I need?

A. If you have plans of running an online store, look for a hosting provider that offers E-commerce features. To run an E-commerce site firstly your site will need a security certificate, this is required to process credit card transactions, ideally you should use a 3rd party service to provide the certificate and handle the processing of credit card transactions eliminating the need for your server to have extra security features. Using a 3rd party for credit card transactions will generally cost a small percentage of each transactions value.

Q. I need help to make the final choice of hosting provider?

A. If your plans include having a website that you will be relying on for income or storing important data, you will need to make sure you choose a host with the best technical support possible. A lot of hosts these days offer forums for technical support as well, while these forums are a great help when solving small problems related to your hosting, they shouldn't be used for mission critical issues.

Final Words

Take your time and check what each host has to offer, there are many web hosting providers with many different plans on offer, you will find which service fits your needs after careful examination of each web hosting provider, take the time to compare each plan, its cost, the level of technical support offered and feature set and you should not have any problems choosing a web hosting provider.

Ecommerce Web Hosting Packages

E-commerce websites have different requirements than a personal website or standard product or business information site. On e-commerce sites you need the capability to display your products for online sales, as well as a few customized features. That is why companies offer separate e-commerce web hosting packages.

Let’s say you have a selection of products you would like to sell over the Internet. Your website will need to display the product and a description. Users will need to be able to select the product to add to their shopping cart. Your site will need a way to store customer information and accept credit cards. Specialized e-commerce web hosting packages will make all these tasks simpler and easier to manage.

Prices between the different e-commerce hosting companies can vary, as can their services and features. Take a while to shop around and research the different options. Try to locate current customers who are willing to answer your questions. You can probably find them on business forums or web development forums. Most people are generally willing to help out and answer some questions.

You may also need to find an e-commerce web hosting package that will also include the design. Getting the two tasks finished at once can save you a lot of time and money. You may also want a company to manage your new web site. That is where research is essential. It may be more cost effective to have one web hosting company perform all these tasks, but you may not be paying for the best quality.

So, in order to get the most out of your online presence, you may need to consider different e-commerce web hosting packages to find one that best fits your needs and budget. Prices, fees and services vary from one company to the other but the research will be well worth it.

Custom Web Site Designers

Business owners do not need to know and understand Web languages. It is possible to hire custom Web designers to transform trade ideas into useful Web sites. With the advent of the Internet, the demand for web designers grew. However, in modern times, development in technology and business needs have created huge growth options for custom Web designers.

Web designing is important for all businesses. These include informative, architectural, e-commerce, telecommunication and even small businesses. A company website provides a window for the world to know what a particular business is focused towards. Businesses may be competitive, but are never similar. Understanding this allows custom Web designers to create personal and customized Web site designs, which are tailor made for each client.

Businesses may hire freelance custom website designers or attain the services of a company specializing in this field. Initially, a design quote is agreed upon. Based on this, the specialized designer or team of designers study and understand company goals and purposes. In most cases, custom Web designers sketch a business outline and upload it on a personal Web hosting service. These include concept sketches, markups for desired effects and user-friendly navigation techniques. Upon approval, custom website designers continue to create graphics, HTML codes, and flash animations.

Custom Web designers almost always work together with business owners. This allows them to incorporate all business thoughts and concepts during website designing. A custom designed Web site helps providing an edge over the competitors, which is the key factor in attracting potential customers. Hiring these services allow businesses to make a good first impression.

In most cases, the original Web designer provides maintenance and updating services. This paves the way for better results, fewer problems and consequently lowers business-operating costs. While selecting, it is imperative to find an affordable and effective custom website designer who is able to provide adequate Web solutions. The purpose of employing a custom web designer is create an engaging Web site that is easy to navigate, quick loading, search engine friendly and up to date.

Business Webhosting - Important Aspects To Consider To Get The Right Service

There are a number of business webhosting services over the internet. It is important to choose a business webhosting service that caters to your needs. Do you require a business webhosting that is a dedicated server, a managed server or a shared server? A business website could be very simple or complicated depending on the entity. The business could sell one product and may only require a simple e-commerce site or a very complex pay per click engine complete with statistics and payment features.

There are a number (around thousands) of business webhosting services you can find online. These business hosting sites offer a number of features some even unfamiliar to you such as Miva Scripting, co-location services, virtual private servers, redundant backbone connection and many others. You must define your aim. And ask why you need a business webhosting company? This way you will only look for the services that you truly need for your business webhosting. And you will not end up paying for the services that you do not actually need.

A business webhosting site can fetch as low as $40 - $50 a month to thousands of dollars. The price range will usually depend on the dedicated servers and bandwidth capacity. Choosing a business webhosting service is a major consideration. This is because a down site or down time usually mean your business is down too.

You must consider a number of factors before committing to a business webhosting service. One factor is a business webhosting service must offer a money back, no questions guarantee. Another is an uptime guarantee. You should also consider the types of backups they offer. A business webhosting service should have redundant backbone connections to the internet or connected to the internet by more than one major backbone providers. A business webhosting service must offer 24-7 technical, phone and email support. You should also check the background of the business webhosting service, how long they have been in business and do they have business references of sites that they host. Also, a webhosting vendor should also make it easy for you to upgrade/down services. And finally, know if the webhosting service requires monthly or annual payments.

Choosing the right business webhosting service is essential for your business to grow. Your webhosting service could spell the difference between success and failure in your business. That is why great care should be exercised in choosing it.

Business Credit Cards - Smart Choice For Your Small Business?

In an age of on-line payments and multinational business ventures, many small business owners are finding business credit cards to be a smart choice for simplifying payments, organizing expenses, and expanding the capability and autonomy of employees both locally and abroad. Before diving right in and applying for a small business credit card, however, every responsible business owner should ask himself or herself: is a small business credit card the right choice for my business?

There are several factors that can help determine this, but one of the simplest is how long the company has been in existence. Until a company has been around for at least two years, many banks and credit card companies may be reluctant to draw enough conclusions about the company's financial responsibility to approve a large line of credit. In cases such as these, whether a business credit card is approved or not will depend on the personal financial and credit history of whatever individual--from business partner to simple employee--actually puts in the application for the card. This may not be a problem in the case of a rock-solid personal finance history, but if there's any doubt, acquiring a good business credit card may be a trickier proposition.

Another thing to watch out for in the case of a startup small business is the question of personal financial liability. Since Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad in 1886, corporations have had the legal status of individuals, except insofar as business credit cards for startup companies are concerned. The first years of any business are the hardest, and in the case of company bankruptcy, any outstanding financial obligations based on a business credit card will be the original applicant's responsibility to meet. In the case of a large financial obligation, this can be a disaster for personal finance. Of course this is no argument against small business credit cards in all cases--far from it. However, any company interested in setting up a small business credit card would be wise to double-check its business plan and make sure that, in the rare event that the worst occurs, a "Plan B" for paying off the credit balance is firmly in place.

Even established small businesses would do well to examine their financial needs before taking the plunge with a business credit card. In the case of a business which involves a great deal of travel on the part of its employees, a large on-line business component, or a wide variety of expenses that require the business to deal with a number of different suppliers, a small business credit card is virtually essential. However, some small businesses are largely local, largely service-based, or have only a handful of employees authorized to make purchases. In cases like this, the reluctance of a few business credit card providers to allow disputes over billing errors or payments may actually complicate expense reporting and year-end inventories--sometimes a very real problem in the case of small businesses that have expanded far beyond their original business plan or intentions, resulting in a draconian system of purchaser agreements and expense accounts. So the decision to apply for a small business credit card should be made carefully, with defined uses for the card well in place, and a possible light restructuring of the business might even be warranted in order to ensure that payment responsibilities and individual employee purchasing requirements are well-defined in order to avoid possible later problems.

With all of these caveats, are business credit cards ever a good idea? Absolutely: these caveats represent only a few problems, nothing compared to the wealth of tools a good small business credit card can provide for a burgeoning small business. A good business credit card can--and usually does--simplify inventory management and tax reporting, allow employees a greater degree of autonomy on travel, make e-commerce easy, and, depending on "rewards" or travel mileage options, can even directly offset a large share of the expenses for some businesses. So yes, a small business credit card is, in the majority of cases, the smart choice for a small business. But as with all financial matters, care should be taken to determine when that smart choice should be made, or whether the business is structured to take full advantage of it.

Shared Webhosting - An Affordable Solution For Your Business

Shared webhosting is housing and serving files for a web site. For individuals or small to medium scale businesses that cannot afford to gain an extreme robust connection to the internet for their web site on their own. This is where the virtual or shared webhosting businesses come in. They provide the customers a way to outsource their Internet requirements in a more affordable way.

The shared webhosting service allows individuals and companies to share the cost of a fast Internet connection for serving files. This is the basic, entry-level fee-based hosting service available to the customer. Shared webhosting allows clients to host their website on a powerful server at a minimal monthly cost. Shared webhosting provides individual sites with connectivity and guaranteed uptime. Shared webhosting is designed to host small-scale e-commerce sites web pages. Shared webhosting is used by first-time webmasters because you can have a reliable Web presence without having advanced technical know-how. Shared webhosting is good for small-scale consumer because they are assured of transparent services, domain name for its website and set of email addresses.

Shared webhosting’s low cost makes it very attractive to the consumers. A minimal monthly fee for a shared webhosting service is preferable than a dial-up service. Most small-scale business and individuals choose shared webhosting because of its low price and it provides basic services. Another reason for shared webhosting popularity is its convenience. Site activation and set-up time in shared webhosting usually takes a few minutes after purchasing the services.

Shared webhosting services are usually bundled. With a minimal monthly fee, it offers multi-platform website solutions. Bundled services include: minimum amount of disk storage space for web pages, minimum amount of data transfer, email forwarding services with physical email boxes that allows you email aliases at your domain name, unlimited file transfer protocol (FTP) services. Shared webhosting alos provide access to Web statistics for you to gage the number of internet clients visiting your web site. This service usually includes raw statistical logs. Also, shared webhosting will include free 24X7 technical supports.

Other services in a shared webhosting are daily tape backup of web site, anonymous FTP server for you to provide public access via file transfer protocol format and CGI-BIN access to upload scripts that will add features to your website.

Shared webhosting is truly a great way to avail of fast internet connection for your website at a very minimal monthly cost.

UK e-commerce sites: Top 10 flaws

UK customer credit card details and sensitive data is at risk because of simple e-commerce flaws, according to a study published this week.

Web server flaws, poor authentication mechanisms and faulty log-out facilities are the most widespread problems, with most flaws caused by relatively basic mistakes, according to security testing outfit NTA Monitor.
The top ten most common e-commerce flaws discovered by NTA Monitor, listed in order of frequency, are:

* Lack of security behind the 'front door' exposes 'root' access Web server flaws
* Logout facility not working: although the web site tells users they have logged out, they are actually still logged in, so anyone using the PC directly afterwards can continue the session with full access to their account
* Predictable authentication tokens: this makes it possible to guess valid authentication tokens to access other accounts on the system
* Web server allows unencrypted access to secure areas: this allows information to be sent in the clear across the Internet - and sniffed in transit
* Authentication token cookie is cached on disk: anyone using the PC directly afterwards can log back into the session with full access to their account
* Authentication fields are not obscured during entry: so people looking over a victim's shoulder can see access details
* Account lockout mechanism does not work: leaving data unprotected from malicious 'brute force' attacks
* No protection against keystroke loggers: this allows an attacker to log confidential information entered by the user
* Weak password mechanisms: system allows users to choose insecure passwords, or there is no facility to change password
* Account enumeration possible: this enables an attacker to repeat attempts until valid user accounts are confirmed

Roy Hills, technical director, NTA Monitor, said, "Our experience shows that simple faults are worryingly common - and on a level that can be exploited even by the most unsophisticated hackers. Given that security issues are the biggest inhibitor for online buyers, we were surprised to find that companies are not sealing their defences more thoroughly."

Customer Registration on E-Commerce Sites

Customer registration on your e-commerce site can offer some big advantages to you as a merchant.

MarketingSherpa's Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2006 notes that most larger retail sites (79%) have some kind of customer registration and profile system, though many (39%) don't do a good job of selling customers on why they should register. The majority (54%), however, explain that registration provides faster check-out blended with some sort of a discount plan as a carrot.

This information peaked my interest in customer registration and profile systems. Some of the better small business e-commerce software programs allow for customer profiles including: Yahoo! Merchant Solutions (formerly Yahoo Store), Storefront, ShopSite Pro, Monster Commerce, Miva Merchant, osCommerce, X-Cart, and others.

Shopping cart abandonment is the enemy of sales. When you have customer registration, you can you contact those who have abandoned carts (so long as they register before they abandon). One of the slickest ways to improve your conversion rate is to send (automatic or manual) e-mails to registered customers who have recently abandoned their shopping carts. Give them a URL where they can complete their transaction, tell them you'll answer any questions on the phone, and perhaps offer a 5% off coupon if they complete the transaction within 48 hours.

The other advantages of customer accounts, of course, are loyalty and marketing. Order history and wish lists are popular with customers. Plus, you'll have an easy way to contact your best prospects -- those who have purchased from you -- via e-mail.

If you do set up a customer registration system, don't make it mandatory or you'll drive away customers. Instead, induce customers to register by offering an incentive of some kind.

More AdSense revenue boosting strategies

AdSense - "Advertise on this site"

If you're already running AdSense, here's a few extra strategies that may help you increase your revenue.

Have you noticed the "Advertise on this site" link under your ad units? Check the link in the Adsense block on the right hand side of this page and you'll see what I mean.

This is a feature of Google's site targeting that allows advertisers to bid for advertising specifically for your site.

The link will open up a page to guide prospective advertisers through the Adwords advertising process. The big benefit for Adsense publishers is that the more advertisers who wish to promote their products and services via your site, the higher the bid prices will be, in turn increasing your revenue.
Customizing your Google AdWords page

Most AdSense publishers I've come across haven't latched on to this tip as yet - you can actually customize the "advertise on this site" landing page - and it's really easy to do!

Items that can be customized are your site logo, color scheme and description.

Here's how to do it:

1. Log into your Adsense account
2. Click on the My Account tab
3. Scroll down to "Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up"
4. Click "edit"
5. Ensure you tick the "Include me in Onsite Advertiser Sign-Up" box
6. Customize!

It doesn't end there; here's some other strategies you can use to boost your Adsense related revenue.
Maximize AdSense revenue - highly recommended
AdSense filters

If you're concerned about particular advertisers promoting on your site, you can filter out specific domains from ad displays
Default ads

If Google has no suitable inventory to display on your site, public service ads such as promotions for charities etc. are displayed; but you can configure your account to display an ad of your own choosing or for the public service ads not to appear at all.
AdSense for Search

AdSense for search allows you to provide a site/web search for your visitors with customized results pages. Aside from displaying results from your site, AdWords advertising units will be displayed at the top of the search page. If a visitor should click on one of those ads, you will receive a share of the revenue.

AdSense for search can be easily configured from your Adsense account interface. Once you have customized your search results page, it's just a matter of copying and pasting a few lines of code into your pages to create the search box.
Adsense referrals

By referring others to AdSense, you can earn some serious cash. Currently, Google pays you US $100 for each Adsense publisher that your refer who reaches US$100 in Adsense revenue. Google offers a wide range of referral buttons such as the one below.
Google also pays you for each user you refer who downloads Firefox and installs it for the first time.

Good luck with your forays into AdSense and don't forget to check out my previous article on boosting AdSense revenue and you can check my blog for other AdSense tips.

Marketing - recruiting and managing affiliates

Return to web marketing and ecommerce articles index
Marketing - recruiting and managing affiliates

In affiliate marketing, there's an abundance of myths on both sides of the fence. Many affiliates believe that it's simple to make a killing from promoting other peoples services and likewise, many merchants think they'll generate massive sales via an affiliate program.

Like any aspect of marketing, this can be the case, but not without some blood, sweat and tears. Even if you have a network of thousands of affiliates, chances are that just a few percent of those marketing your products will be responsible for over 90 percent of affiliate generated sales.

Before we move onto recruiting and managing affiliates, you'll need to have your affiliate software in place - manual recording of referrals just doesn't cut it these days and most good affiliates will not be interested in your program if you don't have an automated system with good reporting mechanisms.

If you haven't already selected an application; my affiliate software/services reviews may be of value to you.

Once your software is set up, you then need to start recruitment! This shouldn't just be left to having a "join our affiliate program" link on your site; you'll need to put in a bit more effort than that :).
Affiliate content pages

On-site content is very important, not only to explain your program to potential affiliates, but to give search engines some fodder to chew on. Many affiliates will use a search engine to search for new programs, so ideally, you'll optimize your affiliate pages for terms such as:

(product) affiliate program
best (product) affiliate program

... and similar.

Ensure you have plenty of content spread over a few pages; I suggest the following pages at the least

- Program overview
- Rates
- Terms
- Signup

The "rates" page shouldn't just have "earn x%", but also examples of earnings based on referral levels. Stay realistic with projected earnings.

By the way, on your "Terms" page, make it ultra-clear that you have zero tolerance for spamming and the use of malware for promoting your program; and make sure you enforce those policies. I'll explain why later in this article.

As with any sales process, it's important to have calls to action scattered throughout your content - after all, you're trying to sell your program to other marketers. Have plenty of signup links throughout, and ensure the signup process is simple.
Marketing your program

Once you've taken care of your marketing materials, go beyond your site and start spreading the good word. Treat this exercise much the same as you would in convincing a client to purchase your products. Slapped together spiels with little thought put into them will not attract the kinds of affiliates you want.
Affiliate program directories

There's many affiliate directories around, and these are an excellent place to begin advertising your program. Simply run a search on the term:

affiliate directory

.. and you'll be on your way. Many directories will list you in exchange for a link back to them, but some may charge you for a listing or want a cut of any earnings that affiliates they refer generate. This is where it's important to have selected appropriate affiliate software; 2nd tier payment functions are very handy in these situations.

When submitting to an affiliate directory, be sure to read the instructions very carefully. Incomplete or incorrect submissions are usually discarded Bear in mind that you'll be competing with many other program listings, so pay special attention to crafting attention grabbing descriptions.

Submitting to affiliate directories is a rather time intensive task; it can take days to complete. If you can spare the cash, I strongly recommend using an affiliate submission service such as AffiliateFirst. AffiliateFirst will submit your program to around 50 directories for $59. This is one of the cheapest services around, but by no means does the price reflect the quality. I've submitted a few programs via AffiliateFirst and have been very happy with their service.

Once your program is listed in affiliate directories, visit them all and see if there's a way to get a "premium" listing at a reasonable rate. With so many thousands of programs listed in most good directories, if you can raise the profile of your listing somehow you'll do better with recruitment.
Personal approaches

If you're looking for "power" or "super" affiliates; it's important to remember that they don't spend a lot of time looking for affiliate programs - merchants come to them :). Seek out the authority sites in your genre and approach them with a personalized note.

The more popular a site is, the more likely that they would already be aware of affiliate partnerships, so you don't really need to spell out what an affiliate program is :). It's been my experience that power affiliates are concerned with a number of issues:

a) Revenue share levels
b) Tracking accuracy
c) Payment reliability
d) Quality of product/service
e) Money back guarantees for people they refer
f) Good lines of communication
g) Extensive promotion resources
h) Merchant reputation

Address each of these points briefly in your recruitment note. It's fine to be excited about your program, but don't overdo it or exaggerate potential earnings - all the information you provide should be realistic. An experienced affiliate can see straight through any BS you may try to fling at them :).

You can also automate the recruitment side of things to a degree using applications such as the Super Affiliate Generator.
Screening affiliates

Once affiliates start signing up, even if you automatically approve them, it's wise to audit your network on a regular basis . The FTC is now making marketers responsible for the actions of their affiliates. If your affiliates run amok, it could literally cost you thousands in fines.

You'll have all sorts of affiliates signing up for your program; from those hobbyists with sites that look like banner shooting galleries, to spammers, to legit career webmasters and marketers. It's important that you review every single affiliate on a regular basis to ensure that the way they are promoting you is acceptable to your company, and more importantly - legal.

The following is a brief list of screening tips:

- Affiliates must have an active site. If they don't, chances are that they may be a spammer.

- Affiliate site content must be relevant to your product.

- Site should have appreciable levels of content. Web sites that primarily contain ads should be avoided, unless it's a popular destination.

- Watch for gambling and adult related advertising on the affiliate's site. If you're not geared towards an adult goods and services oriented market; then you probably don't want to be associated with an affiliate who is.

- Content misuse. Be very clear with your affiliates what content they can use from your site. I've seen cases where affiliates have basically copied all the content from a merchant's site. This can not only cause confusion for potential clients, but can impact on your search engine rankings. By supplying quality content and promotional materials to your affiliates, the incidence of this will be minimized.


Return to web marketing and ecommerce articles index
Marketing - recruiting and managing affiliates

In affiliate marketing, there's an abundance of myths on both sides of the fence. Many affiliates believe that it's simple to make a killing from promoting other peoples services and likewise, many merchants think they'll generate massive sales via an affiliate program.

Like any aspect of marketing, this can be the case, but not without some blood, sweat and tears. Even if you have a network of thousands of affiliates, chances are that just a few percent of those marketing your products will be responsible for over 90 percent of affiliate generated sales.

Before we move onto recruiting and managing affiliates, you'll need to have your affiliate software in place - manual recording of referrals just doesn't cut it these days and most good affiliates will not be interested in your program if you don't have an automated system with good reporting mechanisms.

If you haven't already selected an application; my affiliate software/services reviews may be of value to you.

Once your software is set up, you then need to start recruitment! This shouldn't just be left to having a "join our affiliate program" link on your site; you'll need to put in a bit more effort than that :).
Affiliate content pages

On-site content is very important, not only to explain your program to potential affiliates, but to give search engines some fodder to chew on. Many affiliates will use a search engine to search for new programs, so ideally, you'll optimize your affiliate pages for terms such as:

(product) affiliate program
best (product) affiliate program

... and similar.

Ensure you have plenty of content spread over a few pages; I suggest the following pages at the least

- Program overview
- Rates
- Terms
- Signup

The "rates" page shouldn't just have "earn x%", but also examples of earnings based on referral levels. Stay realistic with projected earnings.

By the way, on your "Terms" page, make it ultra-clear that you have zero tolerance for spamming and the use of malware for promoting your program; and make sure you enforce those policies. I'll explain why later in this article.

As with any sales process, it's important to have calls to action scattered throughout your content - after all, you're trying to sell your program to other marketers. Have plenty of signup links throughout, and ensure the signup process is simple.
Marketing your program

Once you've taken care of your marketing materials, go beyond your site and start spreading the good word. Treat this exercise much the same as you would in convincing a client to purchase your products. Slapped together spiels with little thought put into them will not attract the kinds of affiliates you want.
Affiliate program directories

There's many affiliate directories around, and these are an excellent place to begin advertising your program. Simply run a search on the term:

affiliate directory

.. and you'll be on your way. Many directories will list you in exchange for a link back to them, but some may charge you for a listing or want a cut of any earnings that affiliates they refer generate. This is where it's important to have selected appropriate affiliate software; 2nd tier payment functions are very handy in these situations.

When submitting to an affiliate directory, be sure to read the instructions very carefully. Incomplete or incorrect submissions are usually discarded Bear in mind that you'll be competing with many other program listings, so pay special attention to crafting attention grabbing descriptions.

Submitting to affiliate directories is a rather time intensive task; it can take days to complete. If you can spare the cash, I strongly recommend using an affiliate submission service such as AffiliateFirst. AffiliateFirst will submit your program to around 50 directories for $59. This is one of the cheapest services around, but by no means does the price reflect the quality. I've submitted a few programs via AffiliateFirst and have been very happy with their service.

Once your program is listed in affiliate directories, visit them all and see if there's a way to get a "premium" listing at a reasonable rate. With so many thousands of programs listed in most good directories, if you can raise the profile of your listing somehow you'll do better with recruitment.
Personal approaches

If you're looking for "power" or "super" affiliates; it's important to remember that they don't spend a lot of time looking for affiliate programs - merchants come to them :). Seek out the authority sites in your genre and approach them with a personalized note.

The more popular a site is, the more likely that they would already be aware of affiliate partnerships, so you don't really need to spell out what an affiliate program is :). It's been my experience that power affiliates are concerned with a number of issues:

a) Revenue share levels
b) Tracking accuracy
c) Payment reliability
d) Quality of product/service
e) Money back guarantees for people they refer
f) Good lines of communication
g) Extensive promotion resources
h) Merchant reputation

Address each of these points briefly in your recruitment note. It's fine to be excited about your program, but don't overdo it or exaggerate potential earnings - all the information you provide should be realistic. An experienced affiliate can see straight through any BS you may try to fling at them :).

You can also automate the recruitment side of things to a degree using applications such as the Super Affiliate Generator.
Screening affiliates

Once affiliates start signing up, even if you automatically approve them, it's wise to audit your network on a regular basis . The FTC is now making marketers responsible for the actions of their affiliates. If your affiliates run amok, it could literally cost you thousands in fines.

You'll have all sorts of affiliates signing up for your program; from those hobbyists with sites that look like banner shooting galleries, to spammers, to legit career webmasters and marketers. It's important that you review every single affiliate on a regular basis to ensure that the way they are promoting you is acceptable to your company, and more importantly - legal.

The following is a brief list of screening tips:

- Affiliates must have an active site. If they don't, chances are that they may be a spammer.

- Affiliate site content must be relevant to your product.

- Site should have appreciable levels of content. Web sites that primarily contain ads should be avoided, unless it's a popular destination.

- Watch for gambling and adult related advertising on the affiliate's site. If you're not geared towards an adult goods and services oriented market; then you probably don't want to be associated with an affiliate who is.

- Content misuse. Be very clear with your affiliates what content they can use from your site. I've seen cases where affiliates have basically copied all the content from a merchant's site. This can not only cause confusion for potential clients, but can impact on your search engine rankings. By supplying quality content and promotional materials to your affiliates, the incidence of this will be minimized.

- Misrepresentation of your products and services. If an affiliate has really hyped up your products and made outlandish claims, there's a possibility that the people they refer won't even bother to read the content on your own site - they'll just go ahead and purchase. That being the case, you may find yourself in a nasty position when the client finds that the product or service didn't perform "as advertised".


Return to web marketing and ecommerce articles index
Marketing - recruiting and managing affiliates

In affiliate marketing, there's an abundance of myths on both sides of the fence. Many affiliates believe that it's simple to make a killing from promoting other peoples services and likewise, many merchants think they'll generate massive sales via an affiliate program.

Like any aspect of marketing, this can be the case, but not without some blood, sweat and tears. Even if you have a network of thousands of affiliates, chances are that just a few percent of those marketing your products will be responsible for over 90 percent of affiliate generated sales.

Before we move onto recruiting and managing affiliates, you'll need to have your affiliate software in place - manual recording of referrals just doesn't cut it these days and most good affiliates will not be interested in your program if you don't have an automated system with good reporting mechanisms.

If you haven't already selected an application; my affiliate software/services reviews may be of value to you.

Once your software is set up, you then need to start recruitment! This shouldn't just be left to having a "join our affiliate program" link on your site; you'll need to put in a bit more effort than that :).
Affiliate content pages

On-site content is very important, not only to explain your program to potential affiliates, but to give search engines some fodder to chew on. Many affiliates will use a search engine to search for new programs, so ideally, you'll optimize your affiliate pages for terms such as:

(product) affiliate program
best (product) affiliate program

... and similar.

Ensure you have plenty of content spread over a few pages; I suggest the following pages at the least

- Program overview
- Rates
- Terms
- Signup

The "rates" page shouldn't just have "earn x%", but also examples of earnings based on referral levels. Stay realistic with projected earnings.

By the way, on your "Terms" page, make it ultra-clear that you have zero tolerance for spamming and the use of malware for promoting your program; and make sure you enforce those policies. I'll explain why later in this article.

As with any sales process, it's important to have calls to action scattered throughout your content - after all, you're trying to sell your program to other marketers. Have plenty of signup links throughout, and ensure the signup process is simple.
Marketing your program

Once you've taken care of your marketing materials, go beyond your site and start spreading the good word. Treat this exercise much the same as you would in convincing a client to purchase your products. Slapped together spiels with little thought put into them will not attract the kinds of affiliates you want.
Affiliate program directories

There's many affiliate directories around, and these are an excellent place to begin advertising your program. Simply run a search on the term:

affiliate directory

.. and you'll be on your way. Many directories will list you in exchange for a link back to them, but some may charge you for a listing or want a cut of any earnings that affiliates they refer generate. This is where it's important to have selected appropriate affiliate software; 2nd tier payment functions are very handy in these situations.

When submitting to an affiliate directory, be sure to read the instructions very carefully. Incomplete or incorrect submissions are usually discarded Bear in mind that you'll be competing with many other program listings, so pay special attention to crafting attention grabbing descriptions.

Submitting to affiliate directories is a rather time intensive task; it can take days to complete. If you can spare the cash, I strongly recommend using an affiliate submission service such as AffiliateFirst. AffiliateFirst will submit your program to around 50 directories for $59. This is one of the cheapest services around, but by no means does the price reflect the quality. I've submitted a few programs via AffiliateFirst and have been very happy with their service.

Once your program is listed in affiliate directories, visit them all and see if there's a way to get a "premium" listing at a reasonable rate. With so many thousands of programs listed in most good directories, if you can raise the profile of your listing somehow you'll do better with recruitment.
Personal approaches

If you're looking for "power" or "super" affiliates; it's important to remember that they don't spend a lot of time looking for affiliate programs - merchants come to them :). Seek out the authority sites in your genre and approach them with a personalized note.

The more popular a site is, the more likely that they would already be aware of affiliate partnerships, so you don't really need to spell out what an affiliate program is :). It's been my experience that power affiliates are concerned with a number of issues:

a) Revenue share levels
b) Tracking accuracy
c) Payment reliability
d) Quality of product/service
e) Money back guarantees for people they refer
f) Good lines of communication
g) Extensive promotion resources
h) Merchant reputation

Address each of these points briefly in your recruitment note. It's fine to be excited about your program, but don't overdo it or exaggerate potential earnings - all the information you provide should be realistic. An experienced affiliate can see straight through any BS you may try to fling at them :).

You can also automate the recruitment side of things to a degree using applications such as the Super Affiliate Generator.
Screening affiliates

Once affiliates start signing up, even if you automatically approve them, it's wise to audit your network on a regular basis . The FTC is now making marketers responsible for the actions of their affiliates. If your affiliates run amok, it could literally cost you thousands in fines.

You'll have all sorts of affiliates signing up for your program; from those hobbyists with sites that look like banner shooting galleries, to spammers, to legit career webmasters and marketers. It's important that you review every single affiliate on a regular basis to ensure that the way they are promoting you is acceptable to your company, and more importantly - legal.

The following is a brief list of screening tips:

- Affiliates must have an active site. If they don't, chances are that they may be a spammer.

- Affiliate site content must be relevant to your product.

- Site should have appreciable levels of content. Web sites that primarily contain ads should be avoided, unless it's a popular destination.

- Watch for gambling and adult related advertising on the affiliate's site. If you're not geared towards an adult goods and services oriented market; then you probably don't want to be associated with an affiliate who is.

- Content misuse. Be very clear with your affiliates what content they can use from your site. I've seen cases where affiliates have basically copied all the content from a merchant's site. This can not only cause confusion for potential clients, but can impact on your search engine rankings. By supplying quality content and promotional materials to your affiliates, the incidence of this will be minimized.

- Misrepresentation of your products and services. If an affiliate has really hyped up your products and made outlandish claims, there's a possibility that the people they refer won't even bother to read the content on your own site - they'll just go ahead and purchase. That being the case, you may find yourself in a nasty position when the client finds that the product or service didn't perform "as advertised".

Affiliate marketing - software

Looking for software or services to manage your affiliate program and commission tracking? Read our guide and review
Combating affiliate fraud

Affiliate fraud has been on the increase over the last couple of years unfortunately; another good reason to regularly screen your affiliate base.

The main types of fraud:

Malware: Some affiliates have developed software that is installed on a users machine, usually as part of a freebie download. When a person clicks on an affiliate link, the true affiliate's id is replaced with the fraudster's. If the malware application is widely used, this can result in genuine affiliates losing interest in your program.

If you see a particular affiliate generating a large number of sales from various sites that aren't listed in their profile, this may be the result of malware.

Fake purchases: If you have a high value product that returns large commissions to affiliates, you may find some unscrupulous parties signing up for your program, then using stolen credit card information to purchase products via their affiliate links.

To combat this, ensure that payment of commissions occurs well after the sale, but not so long that other affiliates are discouraged from signing up - 30 days (aka NET 30) after the end of the month in which a sale is made is sufficient and pretty much industry standard.
Communicating with your affiliates

Good affiliates are usually busy people - they can easily forget about your products and services. Over time, your offers can wind up in less visited areas of sites or accidentally deleted.

It's really important to stay in contact with your affiliates, especially the high performers. Don't wait for them to contact you, because if you do, it usually means they are reporting a problem. By taking the time to regularly make contact with your affiliate marketing sales force, you are demonstrating that you recognize their efforts and you are interested in the partnership.

You don't have to have a new product as an excuse to contact your power affiliates. Even just a brief note to say "hi" and to ask if they need anything can go a long way. Also use the opportunity for feedback on your program.

Managing an affiliate program is definitely not a task you can fully automate, the human element is vitally important in order to protect the integrity of your brand and also to ensure your affiliate marketers are happy. After all, happy affiliates are more productive, and the more money they are making, the more money that your company is making also :).

Instant messaging and live chat etiquette tips

Messages should be short and to the point.

Many Instant Messaging services limit the amount of text that can be sent in a single message and thankfully so :). There's nothing worse that receiving a 500 word IM message where the writer could have consolidated it into couple of dozen words. Again, bear in mind that you don't know what's happening on the other end, nor the other person's reading abilities or attention span. Keep your messages brief and relevant.
Don't "SHOUT"

TYPING YOUR MESSAGES IN UPPERCASE is extremely rude - it's considered shouting and very aggressive. If you're a slow typist, stick with all lowercase.
Give people time to respond

"Machine gun" messaging is a really good way to get people to totally ignore you in future. Multiple questions sent to a recipient before they've had a chance to answer can seem more like an interrogation rather than a conversation. Pose a question, then give the other person the opportunity to respond - they may not be as fast a typist as you or may have been distracted. Most IM and live chat applications these days will show in the status bar if the other person is typing out a response. As a courtesy, you should also only ask a single question in each message and acknowledge the person's answer when they do respond.
Remain polite and non-judgemental

While you may spend the majority of your life on a keyboard, I'm told there's many people who don't :). Not only may these people be slow to respond, but their responses may seem too brief, curt or bordering on what appears to be illiteracy! Try not to judge the person based on your initial conversations. If a person seems to be abrupt, there's no need to match the abruptness; remain professional but polite. Just because someone else may not use the terms "please" and "thank you", it's no reason for you not to.
Pay attention

If a person has taken the time to request a live chat with you; give them your attention. You know what it's like at a store when the person is serving you and also speaking on the phone; it's just plain rude.

Wherever possible, give the person you are communicating with your undivided attention. It's not just a sign of respect, but if you have multiple conversations happening or are allowing other issues to distract you, you may miss an important point in the other person's messages or lose the gist of the conversation.
Jargon, slang and abbreviations

Jargon, abbreviations and slang used in live chat and instant messaging conversations can help reduce keystrokes, but may come across as being unprofessional to the person you are communicating with. Worse still, if the other person isn't familiar with the lingo, it may totally confuse. Until you get to know the person better, or you see them using the same lingo, best to steer clear of it.
Humor - be cautious

Just as with email communications, be very careful about the use of humor in live chat and instant messaging communications. In fact, in initial business conversations steer clear of jokes etc. unless the other party initiates them, and even then be careful as to how far you push it. There are all sorts of cultural and personal differences among the population, so what may seem funny to you may be considered weak or even offensive to others.
Use emoticons

Most IM and Live Chat programs include emoticon features. Emoticons are a good way to clarify the feeling attached to a message. If you are going to joke with the other party, a smiley :) is a good way to clarify that's exactly what it is.
Don't use custom fonts, text sizes and colors

You might think that your message texts look groovy in 22pt. hot pink, but think of the other person. I've had some conversations where the other person has decided to be "creative" and I've very nearly had to wear sunglasses :). Just stick with standard type/size/color messaging fonts.
Probing questions

It's quite amazing what types of information people will ask over IM - including very personal questions or questions relating to business that would be considered very confidential. Don't ask such probing questions unless you know the party very well or it's directly related to the service/product you are offering - start digging too deep with a new contact about their business or personal life and you may scare them off.
Be careful with confidential information

Instant messaging and live chat applications are not very secure by default. If you need to relay or receive confidential information, some applications will allow you to run secure IM sessions - check the application help file for that feature.

In regards to live chat software, it's always best to run it via an SSL (https://) connection. While this may slow down sending and receiving as the data will need be encrypted and decrypted, it will demonstrate to your clients that you take security seriously.
Using canned text

Many live chat software applications have features that allow for storing texts that are used often; such as a response to a commonly asked question - this is called "canned" text. You select the title of the text you want, click a button and it then appears in your message window ready to send.

Canned text is a great time saving feature, but one that is routinely abused. Canned text is fine if it applies 100% to the question that the person has asked, but in most instances it should be edited to suit the situation - use canned text with care.
Think before hitting the enter key

I've been in a number of IM conversations where things become a little heated, but I always try to stop and think before hitting the enter key.

With email, you may have a few minutes before your response is sent, but with IM and Live Chat, hit that button and it's out there. So much damage is done through people not taking a few more seconds to consider the effect what they have written may have on a situation.

If you're in a conversation that's getting a little too fiery, either break it off to reconvene a little later, or finish it face-to-face or via the phone. As with email, Instant Messaging conversations lack the advantages of physical signals such as body language and vocal intonation. In situations where emotions are running high, one wrong word can turn a difficult situation into explosive.
Unexpected events

Before sending a file, image or "pushing" the person you're messaging to a particular web page; warn them/ask their permission first. With so much nasty stuff happening on the web these days, people are understandably apprehensive when something occurs during a conversation that isn't expected.
Ending a conversation

It's important to properly end an IM conversation - you may think the chat is over, but the other person may not. While you're off doing other things, they may be sitting there staring at the screen waiting for further communication from you :).

At the end of the conversation, summarize the discussion and points to be actioned, ask the other person if they have any more questions and if not, thank them for their time.
Use availability status features wisely

All Instant Messaging applications allow you to set your status; e.g. "available", "away" etc. and you can also customize status messages - use these features (wisely). If you're set to "available" but you are in fact away from the computer you can really tick people off while they sit and wait for a response that will never come :).

With live chat software, there's usually 2 status settings - "online" or "offline". When in offline status, the live chat button on your site will usually invited the person to leave a message. As with instant messaging, be sure to set your software correctly, bearing in mind that the more often you are available for live chat, the better conversions you'll experience - it really is a great way to improve your online sales.
Monitoring live chat conversations

If you run an online business where multiple staff members are engaging in live conversations with clients, take the time to review conversations for quality control purposes. These people are representing your company and you need to ensure that they are relaying the type of image regarding your operations that you want. Most live chat software applications allow for the storage and retrieval of transcripts; some will even send the transcript to the software administrator automatically via email.

Finally, as with email, bear in mind that messaging sessions can be stored, then copied and pasted elsewhere. I've seen many IM/live chat conversations being posted up around the web on forums etc. much to the embarassment of the company or persons being targeted. The term "confidential" is somewhat rubbery these days, so again, think before you hit that enter key :).

12 tips for online merchants for requesting support from providers

As webmasters and site owners, we are also consumers - we buy advertising and marketing services, software, hosting; in fact, as a group I'd say were are right up there in terms of average dollars spent online.

Even though we're familiar with the ways of the web, many of us still have challenges when requesting support via email from other merchants, suppliers and providers; particular in relation to software or other online services.

There's nothing worse than waiting hours for support request to be answered, only to receive a response that doesn't solve the problem. It's not always the merchant's fault - often it's a PEBCAK issue on your end (Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard) or it's a case of not describing accurately what the actual problem is. Take the time from the outset to get your initial support request right - it may save you much frustration.
1. What is the troublesome product/service?

Often I've seen one-line support requests such as "it doesn't work when I click the link", or "it's broken". Huh? What doesn't work and what link? Just because a web site advertises a single product, it doesn't mean the company behind the product doesn't have others - be specific in which product or service is affected, including the version number.
2. What operating system/browser are you using

It can be of great assistance to a support team to know what type of system you are running. For instance, in relation to web based applications, it's not unusual for certain apps not to work with specific browsers. Provide relevant details regarding any software that interacts with the service or application.
3. When did the problem start occurring

This is an important piece of information, especially when accompanied by a description of any changes you recently made to the system - regardless of whether you think it's related or not. During my servicing/hardware days, I would ask the question - "has anything changed on your system since just prior to this occurring", and get the response "No.". Hours later I'd find that something had changed, but the client didn't mention it because they thought it wouldn't have been related. In short, if you've found it necessary to have someone else try and fix your issue, answer any questions they ask - don't leave stuff out - they are the experts and will discern what's important and what isn't :).
4. How to reproduce the problem

Try to provide details of how the support team might be able to reproduce the error at their end. Computers and software are a little different to physical goods as there's so many more different combinations of things that can go wrong.
5. What have you done to try and fix the problem?

As we're mostly pretty resourceful people, we'll have a tendency to try and fix a problem ourselves before approaching support. It's a good idea to let the support team know exactly what you've done/checked already for two reasons:

a) It can save them time in trying the same possible solution or suggesting to you the same.
b) By trying to "fix" the problem, you may have actually dug yourself in deeper and they'll need to undo your work :).
6. What is your name/username?

Support teams don't solve issues by osmosis - they need basic information about you and your account. If you send a support request with an abbreviated name or just a first name and you're using a different email address from the one you registered with; you may have instantly created a hurdle that the support team has to jump through. If they can't find your account easily, they will write back to you asking for more details - more time wasted for both parties.
7. Quoting support replies in full

Many companies use support ticket systems which allow them to keep track of all the communications relating to a thread. That being the case, if you receive an autoresponse after initially submitting a ticket - read it. Quite often you'll find that the autoresponse specifically request that you don't reply with the full thread. The reason for this is that it can make a support thread in the merchants system unbelievably long. In instances where a ticketing system is used, you will also be provided with a password to view the full thread.
8. Send your request in plain text

As a security feature, many ticket systems don't allow for the display of HTML or scripting. While the system will strip out HTML code, it can still leave your request looking like a mess. This makes it more difficult for the support team to decipher the message. Wherever possible, just send your support request in plain text.
9. Don't send attachments initially

As another security measure, ticket systems may automatically strip off attachments - it's best to ask the support team that if they require screenshots etc; the email address of where you should send them to. Also, be considerate with your attachments when you do send them. A 30 megabtye screenshot won't win you any friends :).
10. Flagging things as urgent

Be really careful in flagging issues as being urgent - this should only be done when a problem is mission critical. If you continue to submit support requests with urgent flags and they really aren't, sooner or later the support team will give you less priority; usually around the time that you *really* need support urgently.
11. Keep it polite

Speak to a support team the way you would like to be addressed. They are human - by insulting and cursing, you're not setting up a very good environment to have your issues addressed in a timely manner. In many cases, your request will go to the bottom of the pile for a manager to review. That being the case, if the manager decides that your tone is way out of line - you may get a surprise and be told that your business is no longer appreciated. This is a stance that I take with people, and I encourage other managers to do the same. Life is too short to tolerate unnecessary abuse and your patronage will not be missed.

There's nothing wrong with expressing displeasure, just do so tactfully.
12. Lodging a complaint

Not everything will always go well even if you do follow all these guidelines and you're well within your rights to lodge a complaint. Complaints are a good thing as they give a company the opportunity to improve processes and alert management to a possible trend in support processes that can damage a company.

Probably the best way to lodge a complaint is in a response to the support team that you politely, but firmly, demand that the issue to be escalated to a manager, that the manager review the communication exchange to date and that you also be provided with the manager's contact details. If the manager is competent, he will soon identify that you're not just another loony customer threatening to sue, but that you're a logical, reasonable person who has a valid complaint. If he or she doesn't, then really, you don't want to be doing business with that company anyway - it's a sure sign of even worse things to come.
Special note - using "I'll sue"

I don't know how many times I've heard this in the last decade - and it's usually in connection with user error. I know in some parts of the world saying "I'll sue" is a little like saying hello, but my advice is to *never, ever* threaten to sue unless you fully intend to and have the means to. It's a little like the boy who cried wolf and will often backfire. I believe that in all my years online, I have only threatened legal action in regards to a supplier twice, and, yes, my lawyer was standing by ready to act on my behalf in each instance.

If you're finding yourself threatening to sue a provider every other day, you're either the most unluckiest person in the world or perhaps the attitude problem lies with you rather than the merchants you deal with :).

These tips may appear to be a lot to think about before submitting a support request; but if it decreases the amount of time you spend in back and forth overall, then surely the effort is worth it. Less time = less money lost.

As mentioned, following these tips won't ensure an excellent and speedy level of support in every instance and with every company, but they will definitely help towards that goal.

Think of your own online business and the frustrations you experience with clients - surely you don't wish to inflict the same upon a fellow merchant or provider? It just takes a little thought and a little extra time; but everyone wins and it helps to promote a more friendly online business environment.

Review: 120 Top Tips

Running your own e-commerce site can be difficult. Keeping up with trends, security problems, increasing or decreasing sales and marketing tricks can overwhelm many business owners. Wouldn't it be nice to have a handy guide to help you out once in a while? Fortunately, the folks at Actinic have done just that with Over 120 Top Tips for Running an Ecommerce Web Site.
Based in the United Kingdom, Actinic is an e-commerce Web developer specializing in solutions for small-to-medium-sized businesses. CEO Chris Barling and sales manager Bruce Townsend compiled what they consider to be the basics of running a successful e-commerce site, whether you're a newbie or old hat. "Top Tips," while small and sometimes redundant, is an ideal guide for any e-commerce business owner who needs a quick refresher or a new idea.

"In this guide we share the basic steps to setting up shop on the Web, together with the key lessons we have learned that can make the difference between success and failure," they write.

"120 Top Tips" is comprised of six chapters: Introduction to Selling Online, Marketing Your Web Site, Security and the Law, Shipping, Customer Relationship Management and Last Thoughts.

The beginning of Chapter One takes the reader through a necessary reality check every budding entrepreneur should think about. For example, "Make sure that e-commerce is right for you." Just because you sell electronics doesn't mean it's a good idea to do so online, given there are literally hundreds or thousands of established sites selling the exact same products.

Other tips in this section are more obvious, like making sure you control your costs, use technology solutions that already work (don't re-invent the wheel!) and find a reliable host. Even the decision to do everything yourself or outsource your operations needs serious consideration.

The authors focus (rightly so) a lot on security. Con artists are coming up with new tricks every day and it's important that experienced and not-so-experienced businesses owners make security a top priority or risk losing thousands of dollars — or even their entire business. For example, the authors urge, "It is sensible for merchants to put anti-fraud policies in place such as phoning to confirm orders that are (of) a particularly high value or that come from parts of the world more prone to fraud."

While this guide contains plenty of tips, the authors are guilty of throwing in answers to frequently asked questions ("Is e-commerce profitable?") and giving their opinions. There's also a bit of redundancy throughout the guide - which, it can be argued, is a good thing given that certain basics need to be drilled into any e-commerce business owner's head (again, think security).

My favorite section of "120 Top Tips" contains marketing advice for attracting buyers to an online store. Many of the tips are basic - but important to get right from the very beginning. Such as "Ask the question, what's working?" and "Learn from the Success of Others."

"Keep an eye on your competitors, and on successful sites in other market sectors. Don't just copy them; but do learn from what they are doing , and think about how you can adapt good ideas in appropriate ways," say the authors on learning from others.

Other tips they mention go largely ignored by many business owners online. But if followed, might yield plenty of benefit. For example, "Use forums and newsgroups."

"Provided that you participate responsibly and provide genuinely helpful advice, you can get the chance to talk about your company, products and offerings. In fact, done skillfully, people will end up asking you for information on your products and services, and that is really powerful," the authors advise. This doesn't mean you should spam hundreds of online forums. In other words, establish yourself as an expert and reliable resource and people will turn to you when they're ready to buy.

Readers must keep in mind that Actinic is based in the UK and some of the language is British English. There are also numerous references to British Pounds and the Euro, as well as the European Value Added Tax (VAT). For non-European readers, some of the information may be irrelevant, but some of the lessons translate no matter where you are. For example, you better make sure your sales tax structure is correct.

Perhaps the most useful section in "120 Top Tips" is "Ways to Show Customers You Care." No matter what you are selling online, it's likely you will have several competitors fighting for the same dollars you're fighting for. So what can make you stand out? The obvious answer is superb customer service. If your competitors aren't treating their customers right, then that's where you can shine. The authors suggest "Look(ing) for every opportunity to personalize your service" and urge site owners to "Review your service continually." How right they are.

Going Back to School with eBay U

According to spokesmen James Griffith, in August of 1996 eBay had 5,400 registered users, listed on the site alphabetically by their email addresses. Today, email addresses are no longer user ID's, and listing all eBayers would be problematic — being as how eBay has grown to over 147 million registered users world wide, making it perhaps the seventh or eighth largest 'nation' on the planet. On top of this, according to A.C. Neilson research, there are over 700,000 American sellers who claim to make a part or full-time living on eBay. Is it possible to expand on this fantastic growth?

eBay thinks so. To grow its sellers and increase sales and revenue, eBay launched the latest version of its traveling road show known as eBay University in June 2005, teaching three courses on how to successfully sell on the site. Since then and through the remainder of 2005, eBay University will have visited 34 cities, and plans to continue the program in 2006.

eBay University is touted to registered eBay users through emails and a link on the eBay site. The three, day-long courses are "eBay Basics," "Beyond The Basics" and "eBay For Business," all taught by a group of eBay and general business specialists, many of whom have written how-to books on successful selling strategies for the site or their areas of expertise. The fees are moderate — $59 for each course, with a 'package' price of $89 for the 'Basics' and "Beyond the Basics' classes.

The moderate fees cannot begin to cover eBay's costs for running a program such as this, but then eBay's agenda here is to promote the site, and the eBay University program does just that. Besides the "eBay Basics" course — which is intended to segue eBay buyers and non-users into the seller mode — the two advanced courses heavily promote PayPal, optional features, encourage International selling, and offer strategies designed to propel small volume and occasional eBay sellers into Power Seller status.

This reporter caught up with eBay U. at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City in late October and sat in on the "eBay For Business" and "Beyond The Basics" courses. Though selling on the site since 1999, I expected to find cues and tips that were useful in future selling. These I found, along with much general business and mail order information and insights that would be useful for anyone selling online.

Each course is accompanied by a 100-plus page book covering in detail what the presenters discuss. Some course instructors can be exuberant, with presentations sprinkled with such adjectives as "awesome" and "very awesome" (whatever that might be), but they are all skilled speakers, and the presentation issues are accompanied by a 20 foot projection screen, emphasizing and summarizing each point.

eBay for Business
Unlike the other two courses, eBay for Business is offered once rather than twice over the three-day program, possibly due to the schedule of its tax/legal issue instructor, attorney Cliff Ennico, a nationally syndicated columnist and author on the subject.

Issues include selecting from the various forms of business entities, that which suit's the individual situation — such as sole proprietorship, partnerships, "C" and "S" corporations, and limited liability companies — each presented with the pros and cons in a clear, concise manner.

The presentation moves on to legal liabilities for selling on eBay — warranties, express and implied, legal disclaimers, refund and return policies, etc. Under dealing with deadbeat bidders, you can call and threaten to sue, but it is advised that you cannot imply that the debtor has committed a crime, call in the middle of the night, or threaten to attach a debtor's wages or property — unless you actually intend to do it!

The final suggestion is to consult an attorney before calling a deadbeat bidder.

Tax issues are complex and covered in detail, beginning with the basics of tax compliance such as Federal and local tax ID's, filing on time, tax payment schedules, requirements for sales tax collection, and the like. Deducting home office space used to automatically trigger an audit, but this is no longer the case, though home office space must be precisely measured, and a baby's stroller or any other non-business item in the space kills the deduction.
Accounting and bookkeeping issues are also covered at length, including what to look for in an accountant or bookkeeper. Also covered are the legal aspects and responsibilities of hiring and firing employees. Under the delicate topic of firing a worker, it is advised to lock the employee out of the computer before the meeting, fire on a Monday, not a Friday, have a witness present, keep emotions out of it, and, strongly emphasized — the less said, the better.

In all, Ennico's presentation should provide valuable information to all but the most experienced and savvy entrepreneurs.

The Business course then segues into operating an eBay business, starting with setting goals, and the first of several pitches touting Power Seller status and why and how to achieve it. (Power Seller status begins at 'Bronze' with sales of at least $1,000 a month, and extends into the stratosphere to 'Titanium,' at $150,000 a month.)

There are common sense suggestions, such as avoiding the use of music in listings and keeping image sizes reasonable (since 50 percent of the U.S. still uses slow dial-up connections,) knowing your competition, avoiding spelling mistakes and combative seller terms, and, in general, making an attractive presentation in your sales.

The section on Research Tools should be useful to many eBay sellers. Selling something without researching the item's past performance is a recipe for wasting time and, often, losing or leaving money on the table. eBay offers several services that provide insight into what moves on the site with a link in it's Marketplace Research page, accessed via web browser at http://solutions.ebay.com

The first of these is the "What's Hot" page linked through Seller Central. By clicking on "Sell By Category," then "In Demand," a seller can determine currently popular items in most categories.

Relatively new to the site is the "Want It Now" page linked through the eBay home page. There, buyers post items they want but cannot find on the site.

For those who wish to tie their sales to eBay's promotions, there is the "Merchandising Calendar" linked through Seller Central that gives advance notice of promotions — a tool particularly useful to Store sellers.

The course segues into common sense solutions for finding merchandise to sell on eBay, suggesting the usual suspects — garage and estate sales, flea markets, thrift shops, auctions and the like, as well as cueing sellers into the "Whole Sale Lots" category on the site, then using search words such as 'bulk,' 'pallet,' 'case,' 'lot.' The problem with this strategy is that many sellers are wholesaling goods for a reason and it is often because the item cannot be sold individually on the site. In the "Beyond The Basics" course, finding independent eBay certified wholesalers is dealt with in detail.

The afternoon sessions offers micro detail cues on how to start, maintain and grow an eBay business in the auction and Stores formats — from pricing, listing, keyword strategies to shipping advice and virtually every issue in between. Interspersed throughout are touts for eBay products such as PayPal, payments that are offered by a large majority of eBay sellers. eBay claims that sellers who offer PayPal average 6-7 percent higher sell-through prices than those who don't.

eBay — Beyond the Basics
There is a certain amount of redundancy between the 'Business' and 'Beyond the Basics' courses, but deeper detail and additional presentations, such as International Selling, add to the value of this course.

International Selling covers an untapped source of revenue for many eBay sellers. In fact, eBay claims that 46 percent of their sales are now international, and that cross-border sales average 6.3 percent more than domestic sell-through prices. The presentation whets the appetite of the audience with the fact that someone in Germany was willing to pay $77 for a $3.99 five-pack of Oreo cookies. Whether anyone else will ever again pay $77 for the same cookies on eBay is another matter, but the point that many American products can do well overseas, is fact.

The presentation covers the basics of how to fill out a customs form, legal issues including accurate and honest declarations, the most cost efficient shipping (generally USPS), language and money conversions, and foreign buyer-friendly ways to list. And, again, pushing sellers to use PayPal. eBay claims that foreign sellers who accept PayPal payments average 16.7 higher sell-through prices. This makes sense because transferring funds from overseas can be costly and difficult for international buyers who do not have an expedient such as PayPal, Bidpay or Western Union checks payable on U.S. banks. For anyone who sells mainly or exclusively to overseas buyers, PayPal is a requisite.

In the "Beyond the Basics" course, eBay screams the following: Give the buyers what they want! To that end, a number of sophisticated search and marketing report tools that aid in nailing down what's hot and when, are covered. One such pay-for, eBay certified site is Terapeak, which offers sophisticated data on category results, key ratios, listing features and successful duration times, among other features. Free and optional eBay features such as "Sales Report Plus," are also covered in considerable detail.

Under the topic of search engine marketing, there is also an interesting presentation on the necessity of getting a 'top-30' search result placing on Google and Yahoo!, as well as methods of getting into the top five results, or "before the fold," which yields the best results in search engine queries. This is accomplished by bidding on a pay per click (PPC) basis for top placement on the search engines. Bids or prices paid per click-through range from a few pennies to $100. Also covered in detail are important keyword cues for linking with buyers and many other aspects of search engine marketing. This should be a fascinating presentation for all those, who like myself, are semi- to totally clueless on the process and its value.

While many aspects of the "Beyond The Basics" course are covered elsewhere, here they are covered in greater detail. Under finding merchandise to sell, for instance, eBay certified but independent wholesalers who do not sell on the site (and thus do not, theoretically, compete against you) are offered, as are others. (The rub here is that often you have to buy BIG: one speaker contacted a wholesaler on the minimum order for an item and was told it was five shipping containers — for $160,000.)

eBay claims that it takes 20 minutes to manually list a sale, and if you list one-of-a-kind-items as I do, this can certainly be the case. eBay offers a variety of free and optional charge automation tools such as Turbo Lister, which can be useful for any seller who deals in bulk listings. File Exchange, a new eBay tool that is platform independent, allows medium to high volume sellers to list o eBay auctions, fixed-price or Stores with a single application from an MS Excel spreadsheet, MS Access or other software.

Cross-merchandising and promotions are covered, as well as linking to stores and external web pages with free and optional eBay tools.

The remainder of the course offers advanced suggestions and solutions for virtually every other aspect of eBay selling — from photography, headers and descriptions through packing and shipping to feedbacks and sales and inventory management. It's noted that the dreaded task of packaging is not thankless: well-packed goods give a sense of professionalism, and do lead to more positive feedback — not to mention that the item does not spin back because it broke in transit.

The presentations are lively and upbeat, interspersed with anecdotes and eBay success stories with examples that could incite greed in a hermit, such as the free box at a garage sale which contained a fish lure that sold for $32,000. (On the screen we see a rather silly looking lure, in our hearts we feel money lust.)

eBay University is also offered online, but the live presentations are recommended. For most people, the impact of the live presentations accompanied by a 20-foot square projection screen and frequent question and answer periods should enhance and ease the learning experience over merely reading a downloaded book or PC screen.

Overall, eBay University with its moderate fees constitutes a bargain in today's ecommerce solutions marketplace, and should prove itself valuable for many, if not most, eBay sellers.