Plan for failure and beat the hackers

This is a great white paper on companies that were hacked and how they reacted. You must follow safty protocols, allow our company to guide you.  Here is the white paper:

Plan for failure

More info tidbits

"Google Inc. will launch buy buttons on its search-result pages in coming weeks, a controversial step by the company toward becoming an online marketplace rivaling those run by Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. [...]

If shoppers click on the buy buttons, they will be taken to another Google product page to complete the purchase."

This will give us more options and it should be a good addition!

Oh yes 1st page rankings how do we do it??

Step 1: You have to know what you're doing

Don't just blindly follow the advice of gurus and self-proclaimed SEO exports. Don't believe everything that you read. When it comes to search engine optimization, most things are opinions instead of facts.
Do your own tests. Create a website just for testing purposes and find out what works and what doesn't. Educate yourself and keep current. That is very important because SEO changes rapidly.

Step 2: You have to work with your web pages

Some people think that search engine optimization is a one-shot thing, or that SEO can be done on auto-pilot. Unfortunately, that doesn't work.
If you want to succeed, you have to invest a lot of time and effort in your search engine optimization activities. There are several things that you have to do to make sure that your website becomes a success: keyword research, optimizing pages, fixing technical errors, etc.
Without investing time and work into your web pages, you won't get the best results. Fortunately, there are tools that will help you to get things done as efficiently as possible.

Step 3: Show search engines that you're serious about it

Google wants to rank high quality websites in the search results. This is the mysterious "authority" that is often mentioned in SEO articles.
To build a website that has ranking authority, you have to do several things: create web pages that have good content, present that content in an attractive way and engage with your audience. Basically, your website has to deliver what the web searchers wants.

Step 4: Be smarter than your competitors
Everybody wants to be listed on Google's first results page. The person who does more, will get better rankings. If your competitors invest more time in search engine optimization, they will get better rankings.

Finnaly and most important:

Step 5: Be patient

Website promotion takes time. It is possible to get some quick wins but lasting results that will deliver a steady stream of new visitors to your website take some time.
It takes time to research the right keywords, it takes time to optimize your web pages, it takes time to fix the architecture of your website, etc. Be patient, do the right things, and your website will get the rankings that it deserves.

More to come!

Will SEO work for you?

The next several paragraphs from Axandra are oh so true. I have often been asked to market a product that quite frankly is unmarketable. It is the old Blue dog versus red dog syndrome and that is you may have the best red dog but if they want blue dogs there is little you can do!  So here are some thoughts:

Check your market

If you enter a highly saturated market, you have to invest a lot of time and money to succeed. If you start a new dating site, don't expect to get high rankings with a few 'secret tricks' that you've found on a shady website.
The more competitive the market, the more you have to invest to succeed.

 Check your product

If there are only 20 people who search for your product or service in a month, then search engine optimization won't get you far. Fortunately, good search engine optimization tools and research tools will help you to locate demands.

 Check your website

         If you only get visitors who do not buy from you, website promotion does not make     sense.  If you have an ugly website with a bad checkout process, then you won't get many customers. You need a great looking website that also works on mobile devices and you need web pages that convert visitors into customers. Otherwise, getting visitors to your website will be pointless.

        You also have to check the technical aspects of your site. The technology that supports your marketing activities must work. If your order form doesn't work, it's no wonder that you don't get sales.

        Remember, your job is to run your business not to be a web expert. If you take away valuable hours learning SEO and experimenting are you not taking away valuable hours in making your business better?  We can help you, give me a call at 913-244-6132.

Until next time.

Joe

To shopping cart or not to shopping cart?

To shopping cart or not to shopping cart, that is the question:) The days of the brick and mortar stores is still very viable but they are shrinking as more and more people buy on line. Statistics are showing more and more people are using their phones to surf and buy a trend that I believe will only increase. I know I am going to buy my mothers day gifts on line because I just do not have time to go to multiple stores to buy them. I will save time and in some cases money! Bottom line is do you have a product that would play well to the immediate sale? If you do have that item or items then the use of an on-line store I believe would be helpful. The immediacy of the sale must not be missed. Once they move on they are usually gone for good.

From Wiki:

Electronic commerce, commonly known as E-commerce or eCommerce, is trading in products or services using computer networks, such as the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle, although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail.
E-commerce businesses may employ some or all of the following:

• Online shopping web sites for retail sales direct to consumers
• Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales
• Business-to-business buying and selling
• Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media
• Business-to-business electronic data interchange
• Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example, with newsletters)
• Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services

That last one is important launching a new product or service, do not be shy, tell the world!

Business applications

An example of an automated online assistant on a merchandising website.

Some common applications related to electronic commerce are:

• Document automation in supply chain and logistics
• Domestic and international payment systems
• Enterprise content management
• Group buying
• Print on demand
• Automated online assistant
• Newsgroups
• Online shopping and order tracking
• Online banking
• Online office suites
• Shopping cart software
• Teleconferencing
• Electronic tickets
• Social networking
• Instant messaging
• Pretail

There are many more but I interact with Online Shopping the most and it is here that a company can really get that instant buy the impulse.

What people forget is that you must keep it current,  you must update it and yes it takes time and it will be work but well worth it.

Enough for now, if you want to know more about e commerce just text or call or e mail me and I will help you.

Joe Rossini
913-244-6132
jrossini@rossini.com

More interesting facts

Using Mobile For What

The study also found that while shoppers do indeed research information in store, they are using their phones for more than just that.
The top 6 ways are this:

• Price Comparisons
• Maintain Shopping Lists
• Take/Share product photos
• Find Product Information
• Use Coupons/Discounts
• Access Social Media

Don’t focus on traffic but on conversions

One of the major goals for a blogger, entrepreneur or company is to drive more traffic to their website. Having a steady stream of new visitors means growing our chance to convert a lead into a client.
But is the number of visitors so important? Yes, but primarily the most important thing are conversions. A conversion is a goal or an action your visitors complete on your website. It can be for example subscribing to your newsletter, download a white-paper or follow your social accounts.
Approximately 98% of visitors will never return to your website, that’s why it’s so important to retain them the best way possible. So the first goal is not getting traffic, but attract to convert.

How true this is. Content, and make it important that they come back. I advise a reason for you to come back like a newsletter or a coupon or a special buy one get one free.  Let your people keep coming back again and again.

Social Media Drives Sales
Interestingly, of these top 6 ways, they found that Social Media may play a driving force in the customer making a purchase.
Social media has such a large influence on buyers. 45% of those interviewed ended up making an online purchase in-store after they had first been on social media.
This shouldn’t be surprising given the fact that social media encourages social proof, when humans look to others to make a decision.
Since it’s been proven that consumers use their phones to check social media in store and then make a purchase online, to combat online purchases retailers can use social media to drive in store sales. This can be done through using their social outlets to communicate directly to in store consumers by offering in store only offers and promotions.

I have always said this, the times are changing fast and people are more and more surfing with phones and tablets. Do not lose the sale! Drive them to you.

More soon

Joe