Building Your First Website – June 23, 2011

Website 101: Planning and Building Your First Website

You’ve launched your new business, congratulations! Now let’s plan a new website that will work hard for you 24/7.

If you’re promoting services only, or selling products online, there are significant differences you need to plan for when designing your new website. You’ll learn how to evaluate solution providers, common mistakes to avoid, and the most important best practices to follow to help you get listed in the major search engines – Google/Bing/Yahoo.

When & Where
Thursday, June 23, 2011, 9am-12pm
Location: Brookdale Community College
Building MAN 100, Parking Lot # 5
765 Newman Spring Rd
Lincroft, NJ 07738

Limited Seating. Register Today!
Fee and Code: $40, XBUSD 075
Register By Phone: 732-224-2315
Or Register Online.

Instructor:
Roland Reinhart, Reinhart Marketing Group

Designing An eCommerce Website – How To Increase Sales Conversions

I review a lot of eCommerce websites for business owners that I counsel, as well as for prospects who come to me for services.

Assuming they’ve done all the basics, and well thought out Search Engine Optimization, I usually uncover areas for improvement.

When designing an eCommerce website, while you might have a visually and technically accurate site, you still need to convince the prospect to buy. Here’s how:

• Write product descriptions that capture the reader’s imagination/fancy. (Like those old J.Peterman catalogs Seinfeld used to make fun of.)
• I’m a fan of suggestive selling. Tell me what the product would look good with, as well as related products.
• Add shopping by occasion to your navigation (i.e. Father’s Day, Graduation, Back To School, Birthday, Special Lady, Special Guy, Christmas/Hanukah, etc.).
• Set my expectations about Shipping fees/timing/options.
• Reassure me about your Satisfaction/Return Policy, secure checkout, etc.
• Test offer combinations (i.e. % off, $ off, bundles, etc.).

Hope you find this helpful. Please feel free to add in the comments below.
-Roland

Your Website Is Down – But Who’s Fault Is It?

Twice this week, my day started with an urgent email from a client saying: “My website is down!”

I’ve been through this routine enough times over the years to know not to panic. But it does take a few minutes before I start breathing again.

Trouble can occur at any number of places along the journey from your computer to a website:

1. The location that the end user connects to the Internet.
   The Internet Service Provider (ISP) may be experiencing a problem.
2. The “series of tubes” / nodes between the end user and the web server.
3. The website server / hosting provider.

As a business owner, I use several methods to try to ensure the quality of the services I provide.

• Frequent backups of client data and live websites.
• Automated monitoring of live websites to alert me of problems before a client becomes aware of it.
• Follow current security best practices.

When I get the frantic “My website is down” call/email, sometimes the problem is not on my end and there is nothing I can do about it.

Trouble At The Domain Registrar’s End

I don’t manage domain registrations for my clients. They can choose whatever provider they want to. But they can succumb to problems too:

• Hardware / technical failure — Usually corrected within a few hours.
• Distributed Denial Of Service Attack (DDOS) — Means there is a coordinated effort to overwhelm them with web traffic to make their website(s) unaccessible.

One of my clients uses DirectNIC. Not only did the client’s domain name not resolve to the hosted website, but the DirectNIC company website was down as well. (Read story)

So if you experience a problem with your website, be sure to examine all aspects that could be the cause.

So Why Would Someone Execute A DDOS Attack?

• It could be revenge against the company because they dropped a customer for Terms of Service violation.
• It could be attack against a specific website hosted by the company.
• It could be bored kids trying to cause mischief.

We live in an increasingly insecure world.

What Can You Do?

When the problem is with the domain registrar, there’s really nothing to do but wait. If we try to transfer the domain from them to another provider, that can take several days before web and email settings can be updated.

If the problem was with the web server/hosting, I could simply upload the website and database files somewhere else, then change the domain settings to point to new location. Between 6-24 hours later it would be resolving again to the new host.

Fall 2011 Classes

Join me for the following Fall 2011 classes at Raritan Valley Community College:

Get Found Online! An Introduction for Business Owners
Wed Sept 21, 2011, 6-9pm

Increase Your Website Traffic with Search Engine Optimization
Wed, Oct 5, 2011, 6-9pm

Drive Traffic to Your Website Using Search Engine Advertising – A Guide to Google AdWords & Google Analytics
Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 6-9pm

Creating Audio/Video Content For Your Website
Wed, Nov 2, 2011, 6-9pm

Register this summer at SBDCRVCC.com.

Avoid These DIY Email Marketing Mistakes

It’s Spring time. I’m proud that some of my clients have become enthusiastic and are rejuvenating their marketing efforts. What worries me is all the email marketing mistakes being made by do-it-yourself-ers who have ignored my advice. I’ve had a half dozen people lament to me in the past month about the negative backlash they received when sending promotional emails to their contacts.

The Worst Email Marketing Mistakes Begin With Denial

Oddly enough, some business owners see absolutely nothing wrong with sending the crappiest email messages. The common response I get is that they haven’t time to do anything better.

Well, how is that working for you? Is the phone ringing off the hook within the first 48 hours after sending that email? Guess what the answer is… NO!

If you’re planning to start sending promotional emails for your business, please avoid the following email marketing mistakes…

Understand What Permission Opt-in Means.

Just because you have my email address, it doesn’t mean you have permission to send me promotional messages. Ideally, you need to ask me to opt-in to receiving promotional messages from you.

Complying with U.S. law, CAN-SPAM email guidelines, it is okay to send commercial email to someone you have a transactional relationship with. That can be interpreted as:

• They inquired/requested information about something you offer — a Prospect
• They bought something from you — a Customer

If found my business card at a networking event attendee list, but never met/spoke to me, you should not add my email address to your list.

If we’ve talked a few times and have formed some sort of relationship, than it may be okay.

The best is to always ask permission. Invite people to join your mailing list because you guarantee they will receive some information of value in return.

Read The CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business.

Don’t Expose Everyone’s Email Addresses

I get very upset when someone sends a mass email with all the addresses in the “TO” field. You should never, never, never expose everyone’s email address like that. It often makes people angry to have their email address exposed to strangers and risk getting more junk mail.

Most importantly, you’ve lost my trust. When you collect Personally Identifiable information (PII) about consumers and businesses, you are expected to take reasonable steps to protect it.

Instead, a simple solution would be to use Blind Carbon Copy “BCC”.

Don’t Send Out Attachments

I guarantee this — I will never open any MS-Word document sent to me by someone I don’t know. Even if I do know you, I probably wont open the attachment unless it’s related to a project we’re actively working on. Opening infected attachments is a quick way to corrupting my software, so I often click [Delete].

Similarly I don’t like receiving massive file attachments by email. If you have something to say, put it in the body of the email. Or put it on a web page and include the link in your email.

Use A Proper Email Marketing Delivery Service

This is the preferred method for managing your list and campaigns. You’ll get functionality to collect email addresses, manage opt-ins, plan your campaigns and measure results.

Many providers offer free trials. I’ve previously explained all about How To Select Email Marketing Service Provider. While Constant Contact may seem to be very popular thanks to their aggressive advertising, there are many others with comparable sophistication and functionalty. MailChimp is free for the first 2,000 email addresses and works great.

Yes, this does require an investment of your precious time. But your output will look so much more professional. Of course, you could always hire an Email Marketing Consultant like me to do it for you.

Don’t Send Crappy Looking Emails

You know what I mean. I’m sure there are a few crappy looking emails in your inbox right now.

• Hideous colors
• Ridiculous images
• Awkward layouts
• Way too much information
• Too many topics
• Extremely self-serving

If you use an Email Marketing Service, they all provide dozens of free templates to get you started. Pick something clean and simple. Don’t make your emails so complicated that your primary message gets lost.

Graphical emails do not always render exactly the same across all the scores of possible web-based inboxes (i.e. Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Optonline, Verizon, etc.), desktop applications (i.e. MS-Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Entourage, etc.) and mobile devices.

In Summary…

• Quality counts
• Respect your audience
• Get permission
• Keep it simple and relevant
• Use the right tools
• Get help when you need it

What email marketing mistakes drive you crazy? Please share your thoughts and tips in the comments below.
-Roland

Concerns About Outsourcing Social Media Marketing

I was quoted in an article: “Should Entrepreneurs Outsource Social Media Marketing?”

Outsourcing Social Media Marketing tasks to a Virtual Assistant has pros and cons. As a Marketing Consultant I advice my clients:

1. Cheap is not always best. You often get what you pay for and a damaged reputation is not helpful.
2. Personality matters! Your V.A. must be able to represent your brand.
3. The V.A. must stick to the script! Carefully plan out what, when, where, how and why the V.A. should interact online.
4. Make sure the V.A. knows when and how to qualify a lead, and bring it to your attention for follow-up.

Read the entire article here.