Web Hosting - A Guide for Beginners | Thaidoweb 2008

So you’re looking to learn about web hosting and what it has to offer or you may not know much about web hosting? There is no shame in not knowing this information. Everyone has to start at the beginning at some point. On that note, lets begin learning about web hosting.

First off, what is web hosting and how does it work?

Web hosting is the business practice of providing space and
bandwidth on a high-powered computer server that is connected to
the Internet at very high speeds. Hosting companies maintain
large networks of high-powered web server computers in a
physical location known as a data center. These computer servers
are connected to a very fast, and generally redundant, Internet
connection. The data centers have primary and backup power, a
fast connection to the Internet, and a security monitoring staff.

The web hosting companies provide a share of disk space and
available bandwidth to a customer for a monthly fee. Once the
customer is signed up, they can upload files to their personal
space on the web server and the information is then viewable to
anyone interested on the Internet. The monthly fee the web
hosting company charges is much less than what it would cost to
run a server out of your own home or data center. This is the
reason these companies exist. They take care of all the
hardware, software, and other technical needs for you.

Types of web hosting

There are many different types of web hosting offers, but the
main three are shared, reseller, and dedicated. Each type of
hosting is for a different purpose.

Shared Web Hosting

Shared web hosting is the most popular form of hosting. Shared
hosting is a portion of disk space and bandwidth provided to you
by the web hosting company on a high-powered server. There are
many other web sites hosted on this server, and the hosting
company is likely to have quite a few of these servers in a
large data center. The resources of the server are shared by as
many other websites as are allocated to that computer.

Shared web hosting is the best form of web hosting if you are
looking for a great price and don’t have more than a couple
thousand daily visitors to your site.

Reseller Web Hosting

Reseller web hosting is a popular, low-cost solution to starting
your own web hosting business. There are two types of reseller
hosting, private-label and a reseller of services.

The private-label is the best type of reseller plan because it
allows you to retain full control over your customer’s websites.
A private-label plan allows the reseller to keep the full
monthly payment of the web-hosting customer, but the reseller
must pay a monthly fee to the larger hosting company for the
reseller space. The more hosting accounts a private-label
reseller can sell, the higher the profit for them. Private-label
hosting allows you to host many more websites than if you were
using shared hosting for each. This is a great solution for
someone who has many sites they need to host in one location to
save money.

The reseller of services plans resell the regular web hosting
plans of a larger web hosting company, but you get a discounted
price for providing the customer and earn a monthly fee for as
long as they remain a customer. This plan does not allow control
over customer web sites and you only keep a portion of the
potentially monthly revenue.

Dedicated Web Hosting

Dedicated web hosting is the most powerful and cost effective
solution of hosting a busy web site without resorting to buying
your own equipment and paying hundreds of dollars per month for
a fast Internet connection. Dedicated hosting consists of single
server with no one else hosting on that computer. This allows
for the greatest of configuration options. Anyone who has a busy
website will find dedicated hosting is the necessary choice.

Web Hosting Considerations

Wondering about all the other information listed in web hosting
plans? In this section, I will explain the most important
considerations in choosing a good web host.

Price

The price of web hosting services is one of the most important.
There are many hosting companies out there with cheap hosting
packages, but they may be lacking in other areas. Don’t let the
price of a hosting package fool you. There are some hosting
companies out there who have great prices and the other features
are just as good. Price may be one of the most important
decisions of a web hosting plan, but there is much more to
consider in choosing a quality web host.

Disk Space / Storage Space

Disk space is the amount of physical storage space a web host
gives to you to store your web files. Hosting companies these
days have plans with disk space being measured mostly in terms
of gigabytes, but some are still offering plans in the megabytes
for storage space. Depending on your needs for file storage
space, you may need more or less. Generally the more disk space
offered, the better.

Bandwidth / Data Transfer

The amount of bandwidth available can make a big difference in
choosing a quality hosting plan. In general, the more bandwidth
a hosting company makes available to you, the better. This means
you can support more traffic to your web site as your business
grows. Be wary of web hosting companies that offer unlimited or
unmetered bandwidth. While many of these are legitimate offers,
there are some out there who are overselling their bandwidth in
hopes the average user won’t use much.

Customer Support

In any business, it is very important to provide exception
customer service. Web hosting is no exception to this. Many of
the hosting companies are available all day and night in case
you have a problem with your web site, but there are some who
are just available specific hours of the day. If your web site
goes down in the middle of the night when they′re not available,
this means lost revenue for a business. You should make sure the
web host you select is always available for support.

Money Back Guarantee

Most web hosting companies will provide a thirty-day money back
guarantee. Some will provide one even long, but be wary of the
ones who offer no money back guarantee. I would not purchase web
hosting services from a company who does not offer at least a 30
day money back guarantee, unless they have proven themselves to
be a leader in the industry and have an excellent reputation.

Operating System

An operating system is a piece of software that controls the
interaction between the computer user and the physical hardware
of the machine. A vast majority of all web sites on the Internet
run on the Linux operation system. Linux is generally much more
stable than Windows. Stability is critical in running a web
site. For this reason, I prefer to host my web sites on the
Linux operating system. Some sites have specific requirements
that only the Windows operating system can satisfy, but there
are always alternatives to those requirements.

Backup

A good web hosting company will have a regular schedule to
backup the data on all the web servers. The more often the data
is backed up, the better. At the very least, a web hosting
company should backup web site files daily.

Control Panel

The control panel is the point of contact the web site
administrator will have between the host server and their own
machine connected via the Internet. It is essential to have a
well organized and easy to use control panel interface. My
favorite control panel is cPanel, which is one of the leading
web hosting control panels out there today. Plesk is another
good one, and many companies will create their own control panel
for you to use. Most web hosting companies will provide a link
to a demo of the control panel they use with their hosting
plans. The control panel used is a matter of preference, but it
should be user friendly.

Email

Email is essential part of communication on the Internet. Most
web hosting companies out there will give you more email
addresses and more space to hold email messages than you will
ever need. What you need to watch out for is the companies that
have decided to be a little strict on their email accounts and
only offer a small number or a small amount of message space.

Uptime

Uptime is a term used to describe how often the average web site
hosted by a company is available online. No company should be
expected to provide an exact 100% uptime. This is impossible due
to things such as hardware, software, and power failures. A vast
majority of the companies are very good with uptime, and they
guarantee it. It is still a good idea to be conscious of the
uptimes posted by the company. If it is not at least 99.5%, it
is probably not worth hosting with that company.

Statistics

As a webmaster, it is nice to know how many visitors you’ve had,
where they came from, how long they stay on your site, and how
much bandwidth they′ve used. This information is collected by
the web server and is placed in a log file. A statistics
software package can read this data and provide meaningful
information to the webmaster. The information gathered from
these logs can be very valuable in improved services to the
viewers of the web site.

FTP

FTP stands for file transfer protocol. It is a way of quickly
uploading or downloading many files to and from a web server.
Most web hosting companies will allow their customers access to
their web hosting accounts via FTP. FTP is very useful and is a
great feature to have when paying for a web hosting account.

Scripting

Since the World Wide Web began, many scripting languages have
been created and have evolved into the dynamic and interactive
environment we enjoy today. A scripting language is a way of
adding functionality to a web site, whether it be to calculate
numbers or to load information from an external database.
Scripting languages have made electronic commerce possible. Some
of these languages include PHP, ASP, JSP, Coldfusion, VBscript,
Javascript, and Perl. I won’t go into the details of these in
this article for the sake of complexity. If you know how to use
these languages, you should know what to look for in a web
server for them.

Databases

A database is a place to store data that can be used in a large
variety of ways. Databases are used on the Internet for
applications such as shopping carts, message boards, and product
catalogues. The more databases the web hosting provider allows
you to create, the most applications you can deploy on your web
server. Databases are used by the more advanced web master, but
information is freely available online should you be interested.

Conclusions

Web hosting can be a very difficult decision with the many
thousands of hosting companies out there. It is critical to find
a plan that fits your needs and to have a good hosting company.
I hope this article was useful in making your decision about
which company to host with. Happy Hosting!

Choosing a Web Hosting Company

Web hosting is a big business on the internet nowadays…so big, in fact, that it can be difficult to choose from amongst the myriad of options.

How do you know you’re going to get reliable service and customer support at reasonable prices? And how do you compare what one company offers versus another?

A web hosting review site can help you sift through the multiple options by showing you the good, the bad and the ugly of web hosts. A good review site like http://www.hosting-review.com basically does the homework for you - you can compare prices and packages easily in one place, as well as read detailed information about various web hosts, as written by webmasters who have both user experience and customer feedback on the different hosting companies.

Still not sure what to do? Let’s go through some of the different criteria you should consider when evaluating the best web host for your needs:

Space & Bandwidth
Your needs for space and bandwidth will depend on how large and/or graphics-heavy your site is, as well as your expected volume of traffic. Most plans typically offer at least 50 MB. However, make sure that you are not going to get charged extra for features such as mail, system programs, and other elements of your web site as these may or may not be included in disk space limit provided. The same goes for bandwidth - 500 MB is typical for many average-sized sites, but you may need more or substantially less.

Price
How much does the hosting package cost? (remember, the lowest price is not necessarily the way to go here). Is payment monthly or annual? Is a contract required? Some hosting companies offer substantial discounts when you sign up for a multi-year contract. What price implications are there if you go over your bandwidth limit? Read the fine print!

Scalability
If you run out of space or use up all your bandwidth and need to upgrade to a more robust package, what are the implications? Are you able to upgrade packages easily if required?

Technical Support

What types of help are offered, what are support hours, and is support free? You’d be surprised - web hosts range from offering virtually no support all the way up to free phone, fax, email and chat support 24 hours, 7 days a week. Also, beware that some hosts charge for certain types of support. This is more info you’ll get from those hosting reviews.

Domain Registration

Does the web host supply domain registration services or must you register your domain yourself? How portable is your domain name? You will want to be able to take it with you if you ever change hosting providers.

Additional Services

What additional services are offered with your package? This can include free scripts, web traffic statistics tools, shopping carts, design help, and many other features and functions. Many of these can be very useful and are worth checking out. On the flip side, try not to pay for what you won’t use.

Speed &amp Uptime

Above all, you want a reliable site that does not bog down or go down. It is a nightmare to have visitors leave your site because it is not working or it is so slow that they lose interest. A good web host will have an uptime guarantee and will notify you of any scheduled downtime.

Email Addresses
Ensure that your chosen web host package gives you enough email addresses for your needs. Remember, too, that if you’re a one-man show, it can′t hurt to have multiple email addresses (eg. sales@mysite .com, customerservice@mysite .com, etc) - even if they all go to your inbox, you look like a bigger company, which can add to your credibility.

Choosing that hosting company can be time-consuming and complicated, so use hosting reviews to your advantage - after all, these are webmasters who have used different hosts themselves!

Hosting-Review.com is an independent source for finding the best web host to match your needs. Find out the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to web hosts. Our professional webmasters regularly review web hosting companies and their packages to help make your web hosting choice easy!

Electronic checks

This week we launched a new feature for users of our QuickBooks Merchant Service - the ability to process checks electronically! We’re really jazzed about this feature for a few reasons

1. Most small businesses we’ve talked to accept checks (even more so than credit cards) when invoicing
2. It’s important for a small business to get paid FAST. Waiting even days for a payment on an invoice to arrive can really hurt the bottom line.
3. Processing checks electronically will allow you to get paid instantly!

All Billing Manager users who sign up for QuickBooks Merchant Service will now get electronic check processing capability in addition to their existing credit card processing. For your customers, all they’ll have to do to pay you with a check electronically is enter their routing and account number along with their personal info. Take a look at the screenshot below:

What do you Recommend? A Guide to Ecommerce Cross-sells | Get Elastic

Cross-sells and up-sells are popular because they can increase average order size for a single customer. But can they be distracting and hurt conversion? Many online retailers avoid placing cross-sells or up-sells at sensitive buying stages such as the start of the checkout process. …

But let’s go back a bit: Tracking your visitors’ every move on your ecommerce site to understand what they liked, disliked, browsed to, selected, etc. (behavior tracking, personalization) can be considered to be either:

1. Really cool because visitors may feel they have their own personal shopper that will continue to recommend other items they may enjoy
2. Intrusive because every movement the visitor makes on the site is tracked and recorded
3. Annoying because the selling just won’t stop

Retail Examples of Cross-Sells and Up-Sells

Cross-sells and up-sells are used on the majority of ecommerce websites, and are rather successful. In the most primitive cases, an ecommerce store will manually set up cross-sells and up-sells via product catalog administration. In the more complex scenarios, ecommerce companies rely on recommendation software that monitors a customer’s activity on the site from what they are browsing, to what items they select to place inside their cart. Based on that activity the recommendation software suggests cross-sells and up-sells to the site visitor.

Below is a cross-sell on a product page of Lancome.com:

In this case, I was looking at the product page for eyeliner product. Lancome successfully recommended complimentary items.

When I added the eyeliner to my cart, again Lancome successfully displayed cross-sells recommendations under a title “Complete this Product with.”

Amazon.com bases cross-sells and up-sells on information they gather from the activity of other customers who purchased or viewed the same items being viewed or selected:

On the product page of a denim skirt I wanted to purchase, Amazon.com displayed the following recommendations:

After I placed the items in the cart: two types of recommendation displays appear:

1. Recommendations for items across our store…
2. Customers who bought items in your shopping cart also bought…

So when I place a denim skirt in my cart, I am presented with:

• 2 other non-denim skirts
• A whitepaper (which is really random)

Sometimes the recommendations are repeated, but the above screen shots display the standard Amazon response to cross-sells and up-sells.

Where is it most effective place to display cross-sells and up-sells?

Clearly, with every ecommerce company, there are variations to when and where to suggest recommendations for the user.

Common practices of placing cross-sells and up-sells:

• Product page
• Shopping cart view
• Initial stages of the checkout process
• After an order is placed

Many ecommerce companies in general feel that displaying product recommendations during the checkout process can increase cart abandonment rates and lower conversion significantly.

A deeper look at Shopping Cart Cross-Sells:

Studies show that visitors who enter their shopping cart and decide to continue shopping may not return 75% of the time. Offering customers cross-sells could potentially encourage customers to navigate away from the shopping cart to view the items, possibly to never return.

However, a study conducted by MyBuys.com based on the experience of 1,345 ecommerce shoppers indicates that the majority of consumers expect online merchants to make additional recommendations. Additionally, 77% of consumers have made additional purchases when encountered with personalized recommendations.

Let’s examine two e-tailers different approaches to shopping cart cross-sells:

When I was ready to complete my order at Victoria’s Secret, I was directed to my shopping bag, the first step in the checkout process. Victoria’s Secret offers an exclusive sale item pop-up right within my shopping cart. The Cotton Rib Henley Sale item was an attempt at a cross-sell:

I click on the “Buy Now” button on the pop-up, and I am re-directed to the Cotton Rib Henley Shirt Page:

I was navigated away from the shopping cart, and I simply can’t add the Cotton Rib Henley Sweater! I have to scroll down through the other cross-sells in order to add to cart and get back to the shopping cart (and be bombarded once more with additional pop-up cross-sells).

Lancome.com does it a bit differently. My shopping bag opens up alongside the product page and indicates that I can “Complete this Product with” a variety of different items. If my cursor scrolls on top of the recommended cross-sell products, a pink icon “Quick Shop” appears.

After clicking on the icon, I haven’t navigated away from the cart nor the product page, but another pop-up with the newly selected product appears.

Each approach is completely different; Victoria’s Secret directed me to their product page ultimately navigating me away from the checkout process. Lancome’s approach, although untraditional, kept me on the first page of the checkout process in the background and I actually completed the order.

What product selection should you recommend within the shopping cart?

a. Complimentary items: Ecommerce companies and recommendation specialists find that listing complimentary items is the most effective way to avoid raising cart abandonment rates and raise average order size. I was interested to see what type of cross-sell recommendations I would receive at an electronics ecommerce site such as BestBuy.com. Not surprisingly, a cross-sell to purchase their service plan pops up:

Best Buy could benefit from including an add to cart option immediately within this pop-up rather than forcing the user to click on the service plan details, get to another pop up page and add the item. I realize Best Buy’s struggle — there are details related to the service plan that must be addressed by the buyer before the actual purchase. When I clicked on the service plan cross-sell, I am presented with another pop-up that describes the service plan and asks me to select my state before I can add it to my cart:

They do not force the user to navigate away from the cart, which is a plus.

After seeing what ecommerce electronic stores do, I moved onto a very different category: pets. Petsmart.com offers complimentary items on the right side of the shopping cart.

By giving consumers complimentary recommendations you are helping them avoid going back out to the online store and locate these items. However, I am forced to navigate away from my cart being directed to the product page to view the selected item.

b. Mismatching items: Offering items that are unrelated to the shopping cart contents can be more challenging. After arriving on the Stacksandstacks website, I added “mini basting brushes” to my cart:

Stacks and Stacks offers unrelated cross-sells within my cart, such as a closet shoe rack, wall tie organizer, etc. The issue from the perspective of the buyer is that when a buyer visits a site with something in particular in mind (a list of what he/she wants to buy), cross-selling with unrelated items may not be an effective approach. MyBuys.com research found only 2% of visitors felt that product recommendations related to them.

If you decide to offer unrelated cross sells within the cart keep a few things in mind:

• Offering sale items is more lucrative and encouraging for the buyer to consider
• Offer items with “Free Shipping” option can also be an incentive to purchase
• In our tests, we noticed that instead of labeling the recommendations as “You May Also Like”, you can do a lot better by using the phrase “Customers who purchased your item also enjoyed.” The second phrase draws more attention the site visitor because you are combining common interests which appeals to the humanistic visitor. Of course there are no set rules, so test both labels and see what works better for your site.

I visited Headsets.com where I added the Plantronics noise-canceling wireless headset to my cart:

Headsets.com recommends a list of items that are mix between mismatches and items that are complementary. They also have the recommendations labeled as: “Customers Who Bought the Above Item Also Bought” which again is a helpful way of creating feelings of commonality and association.

c. Recently Viewed: Amazon sums it up best by offering on the right side of my shopping cart a clear display of all the items I browsed through during my shopping experience. Any reluctance that I may have had in selecting one of the recently viewed items might be rehashed, encouraging me to go back and explore the item once more. Amazon.com has always pushed the fold in ecommerce implementations and design:

Notice that the items are just listed without the images except the “featured item” at the bottom of the list.

d. Matching Items or hybrid: If I’ve recently viewed golf gloves and made a selection, offering me more golf gloves may not be effective since I just placed a pair in my cart.

Golfsmith.com offers a hybrid of choices. I had selected a pair of gloves, and the cross-sells included a different pair of gloves. There are also complementary items that may appeal to a golfer in general: golf balls and a pack of tees. Usually, adding an item such as golf-gloves is because of a need that I have for them, so offering me more gloves may not be useful.

One of the biggest fears of displaying items in the shopping cart is losing the customer to a growing statistic of cart abandonment. However, if you are able to increase average order size by understand what appeals to your site visitor through optimization and testing, cross-selling is a great way to accomplish that.

YouTube teams with iTunes, Amazon to offer e-commerce feature | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

That’s why you’ve seen the launches of music streaming services within MySpace and Google’s AdSense program extended into Web-based video games. Now, YouTube has partnered with Amazon and iTunes to to incorporate an e-commerce element into its video pages. The idea is that, with a click, you can buy and download anything from music, books, games and other products related to the content within the YouTube video directly from the YouTube platform.

The company said its eCommerce Platform will be rolled out on a larger scale over the coming months to allow a number of industries - music, film, TV and publishing - to identify a new channel for selling their content to consumers who are already engaged with it - without having to click away from it. For now, it’s only available in the U.S.

Google paid $1.65 billion for YouTube not quite two years ago but the video site, while a popular destination and brand name, has not had a solid revenue model for monetizing that brand equity. Sure, there are some ads on the site itself, but a good chunk of YouTube’s traffic - and appeal - stems from the feature that allows users to embed YouTube videos into their own blogs and Web pages. In those instances, there are no ads.

The traffic and the eyeballs are already in place. If a user is tuning into music videos or movie clips on YouTube, there’s a fair chance that the user might actually like what he or she is hearing or seeing enough to make a purchase. They may not be inclined to go search for that song or DVD on iTunes or Amazon. But if it were right there in front of their face - just like the candy bars at the grocery store - suddenly, that translates into a quick sale.

Deloitte and Sterling Commerce Enter Strategic Alliance to Help Companies Transform Their Cross-Channel Selling and Fulfillment Processes - MarketWatch

COLUMBUS, OH and NEW YORK, NY, Oct 08, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Deloitte and Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc company, today announced a strategic alliance agreement. Under this alliance agreement, Sterling Commerce software solutions and Deloitte's advisory and implementation related services have been brought together in a market offering designed to help companies in their effort to improve their multichannel eCommerce selling and fulfillment processes.

"Virtually all retailers are in a race to improve the profitability of their ecommerce channel along with their traditional brick-and-mortar stores and, in some cases, their catalogue operations," said Dave Gully, principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP and Deloitte's Sterling Commerce alliance leader. "We also believe that retailers who are committed to growing multichannel capabilities could have the potential to realize better and more profitable customer relationships than those developing channels independently."

Working together, Deloitte and Sterling Commerce can offer retailers, direct-to-consumer manufacturers and other multichannel companies a combination of products and services to help them address specific business problems. Deloitte provides process, strategy and technology-related consulting capabilities, focused on key industries and has access to audit, tax and financial advisory services capabilities, as well.

Deloitte combines its industry experience, broad capabilities and deep alliances to help companies transform the way they do business around the commerce lifecycle with their customers, alliances and suppliers.

Sterling Commerce products include Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite and Sterling Commerce integration solutions for managed file transfer and business-to-business (B2B) connectivity and collaboration.

"Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and deep local experience, knowledge and skills to help clients in their efforts to succeed wherever they operate," said Joel Reed, senior vice president, Corporate Marketing and Strategic Alliances, at Sterling Commerce. "The synergies between Deloitte and Sterling Commerce build on a strong track record of success in helping companies through transformational processes."

First Data and CardinalCommerce team on alternative payments

First Data, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment services, and CardinalCommerce Corporation, the worldwide leading provider of payment brands, have joined forces to bring First Data merchants a complete eCommerce solution for authentication programs and alternative payment brands.

Through this agreement, First Data becomes the first payment processor with the ability to offer all major alternative payment brands to their 100,000+ eCommerce merchants. This solution provides one of the fastest, easiest technical integrations for merchants, backed up with 24/7/365 support from CardinalCommerce. In addition, First Data will offer payer authentication service that leverages online payment verification offered by both Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode programs.

"First Data is focused on developing robust and secure Software-as-a-Service payment solutions for our expanding online merchant community," said Souheil Badran, senior vice president and general manager, First Data eCommerce Solutions. "We're pleased to add the CardinalCommerce established solution to our scalable suite of services. Our goal is to offer a positive return on our merchants' investment while continually mitigating their fraud risk."

Now First Data merchants will have access to the most comprehensive online payment options available in the marketplace to increase sales and average order values, minimize fraud and the costs of order acceptance, and to help customers make eCommerce purchases with confidence. Through the First Data Global Gateway service, merchants will be able to receive the benefits of Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode, as well as PayPal, Google Checkout, and more.

"Cardinal is extremely excited to work with a company as distinguished in their field as First Data," said Mike Keresman, CEO, CardinalCommerce. "We're thrilled that the world's largest payment processor has confidence in our Cardinal Centinel technology and we look forward to assisting their aggressive growth strategies in the eCommerce sector."

EU proposes increased rights for Internet shoppers

EU proposes increased rights for Internet shoppers

(AP) -- The European Commission wants to give Internet shoppers more rights and better protection, in an effort to boost Internet shopping across the continent and provide consumers with more competitive prices."

Paying your Chinese Supplier – Know your payment terms and options in advance | SourceJuice

Paying your Chinese Supplier – Know your payment terms and options in advance | SourceJuice: "Paying your Chinese Supplier – Know your payment terms and options in advance

Here at SourceJuice.com we get many questions from those beginning to source and import from China on how to pay Chinese suppliers from small to medium sized businesses to individuals starting their own business. For most people new to sourcing and importing from China, paying a Chinese supplier can be a very tough task and involve significant financial risk. Starting with this article, we will cover a variety of payment terms and resources from various websites that will help you learn from the experiences of many people and companies. In future articles we will go into more detail on the most widely used payment terms listed below which will be reviewed here.

The Six Building Blocks of a Good E-Commerce Website

1. Navigation - You want your visitors and potential customers to be able to easily get around your website and find what they want. Your online store needs to show numerous items at once, while giving your visitors the options to view more information. Allow your customers to enjoy browsing your products. Prior to any new website being designed, you need a plan. Learn by visiting your competition and analyising their good points and how they are selling/trading online. Sit down and layout your website and then consult with an e-commerce specialist web designer and developer (yes, two or more different individuals). It will be worth it and it will save you hundreds of pounds in the long run!


2. Display of the product - Visitors and potential clients want to be able to see what they are buying! Depending on what you are selling, offer different angles, dimensions, videos etc. Set up your product displays so that other related products are included, for example if the product is suits, show shirts, ties, shoes etc.


3. Website readability - Similar to how you display the product, readability is a function of design. Readability is concerned with how easy is it to see your descriptions, instructions and crisp clear images. If a visitor cannot read about your product because the typeface or photos are too small or faint, what happens? If you visit a website that you cannot read, what do you do? Yes, you leave without taking any action!


4. Website copywriting - Product descriptions should be well written and interesting. Yes, you need to provide basic information with the features, however the main aim of the content is to focus on the benefits. Why should your visitor purchase your product? The aim is to connect your visitors with your products. To give visitors confidence, clearly explain the ordering process, how products are returned and give detailed customer service information.


5. Website build - It is so important that the software you purchase to build your website is search engine friendly, secure and adaptable. There are so many poor software packages on the market that do not provide any search engine or online marketing potential! Well, unless you are a specialist in the programming that has been utilised. Please avoid these, you will only get frustrated! I have a lot of examples of individuals and companies discussing their pride and joy ecommerce website with my specialisits to be told that there is nothing that can be done and it will have to be re-built! The best option is to have your e-commerce website built built by a team of specialists in design, programming and online marketing. This will again save you money, stress and time!


6. Ease of purchasing - It is also critical that you make the ordering and the process of buying from your online store as easy as possible. One of the major reasons why individuals buy online is to save time and it makes life a lot easier. If a visitor and potential customer has to go through five or more steps to complete a transaction, they might give up! It should take no more than three clicks from one page to another to make a purchase. Carefully research the software that you want to use.

Site Search, SEO and Email Marketing Ranked Top Three E-Commerce Technology Tools of Choice by U.S. Retailers, Reports SLI Systems Survey - MarketWatch

Site Search, SEO and Email Marketing Ranked Top Three E-Commerce Technology Tools of Choice by U.S. Retailers, Reports SLI Systems Survey - MarketWatch

eBay-backed community site Tokoni leaves beta | The Social - CNET News

Tokoni, a community site for "sharing stories," has formally launched after nearly a year of public beta. It has taken investment backing from eBay as well as the auction giant's founder, Pierre Omidyar, and was founded by former eBay executive Mary Lou Song and Alex Kazim, former president of the eBay-owned Skype. Kazim serves as Tokoni's CEO.

"We created Tokoni to fill the distinct need for an online community where individual stories of life's experiences have a voice and are valued, and where the collective wisdom of the community is celebrated," Kazim said in a release. "The growth of social media has enabled people to control how they create, consume, and share content and personal experiences online; however, participation in the social Web is still daunting to the mainstream. Tokoni makes sharing your own story easy."

Indeed, as an adult-focused "community" site rather than a social network, Tokoni's target audience is one that hasn't caught on to the blogging and Twittering craze, and offers a more Luddite-friendly forum for conversation by encouraging the posting, reading, and discussing of personal stories and experiences. Another site with a similar slant is Gather.

With the U.S. presidential election approaching, Tokoni (which means "help" in Tongan) has partnered with WomenCount.org to provide a forum for women to discuss political issues.

SSL alırken nelere dikkat etmek gerekir?

  Sertifikanızı “Tarafsız ve Güvenilir Üçüncü Parti Sertifika Otoritesi”nden aldığınızdan emin olmalısınız.
  Dijital sertifikanızın şifreleme standartı Dünya Standart’ı olan 128 bit'den aşağı olmamalıdır.
  Sertifikanızın geçerliliğini ilgili Sertifika Otoritesi'nin “Sertifika İptal Liste (CRL)”lerinden gerçek zamanlı kontrol edilip edilmediğini öğrenmelisiniz.
  Sertifikanızın “Sigorta Kapsam”ında olup olmadığını öğrenmelisiniz.
  Dijital Sertifikalar sanal ortamdaki dijital kimliğiniz olduğu için kimlik doğrulama evraklarının sertifika otoritesi tarafından tam olarak istendiğinden emin olmalısınız.
  Sertifika Uygulama Prosedürlerini (Evrakların kontrolü, sertifikanın yayınlanması vs.) kaç gün içerisinde yerine getirdiklerini öğrenmelisiniz.
  Sertifika otoritesinin kök sertifikalarının IE ve Netscape gibi günümüzde kullanılan popüler browser’larda yüklü olup olmadığını kontrol etmelisiniz.
  Kurulum ve ileride karşılaşabileceğiniz problemler karşısında teknik destek alabileceğinizden emin olmalısınız. (Anonim Anahtar Yaratma Süreci (CSR), Sertifikanın server’a kurulması, Sertifika yedeğini alınması, Sertifika yedeğinin kurulması vs...)

Email kampanyası yapmak

Email kampanyaları satışları artırmak,marka bilincini güçlendirmek, çapraz satış yapmak ve müşterilerinizle ilişkilerinizi geliştirmek için kullanabileceğiniz ideal yollardan biridir.

Önce kampanya hedeflerinizi belirleyin;

Kampanyanızı başarılı olarak kabul edebilmek için gerekli olan hedefleri belirlemelisiniz.
Bu gönderim ile satışlarınızın ne kadar artmasını bekliyorsunuz yada kaç kişinin üye olacağını tahmin ediyorsunuz. Burada koyacağınız gerçekçi hedefler kampanyanızın gerçekten başarılı olup olmadığını gösterecektir.

Hedef kitlenizi belirleyin;

Gerçekten kimlere ulaşmak istiyorsunuz? Kampanya öncesinde hedef kitleye ilişkin ciddi bir demografik çalışma yapmalısınız.Öte yandan gönderilecek kitlenin demografik yapısı, gönderilecek mesajlarında farklılaşması anlamına gelecektir.

Vermek istediğiniz mesajı belirleyin ;

Mesajınızı alanların ne yapmalarını bekliyorsunuz?
-Ürünü satın almalarını mı?
-Bir programı bilgisayarlarına yüklemelerini mi?
-Çapraz satış yapmayı mı?
-Sitenize üye olmalarını mı?
-Yeni bir email grubuna üye olmalarını mı?
-Spesifik bir internet sitesini ziyaret etmelerini mi?', 'Gizlilik taahüdünüzü ve Antispam politikanızı belirleyin;

Kullanıcılar sizin emaillerinizi nerede aldığınızı, nasıl kullanacağınızı ve bu listeden nasıl çıkarabileceklerini bilmek isterler. Mesajınızda gizlilik taahhüdünüzü belirtmeyi ve tamamının görülebileceği bir link’i de üyelikten çıkma linkinin yanına koymalısınız.

Listenizi seçin;

Eğer elinizde belirlenmiş bir liste var ise ki bunun iki faydası vardır; Birincisi bu listedekiler mesajı sizin gönderdiğinizi bilecekler ve yanıt almanız kolaylaşacak. İkincisi ise seçili bir kullanıcı listesi ile daha az maliyetli bir kampanya yapmış olacaksınız.

Bir listeye email gönderirken dikkat edilmesi gereken en önemli şey:

O listedekilerin bu mesajı almak isteyip istemedikleridir.Bu yüzden listenizi oluştururken mesajınızı almak isteyenleri seçmelisiniz. Herhangi bir üyelik vb. kayıt esnasında sonradan gönderilecek mesajları almak isteyip istemediklerini sormalısınız.

Mesaj formatınızı seçin;

Gönderilecek mesajın içeriği ve mesajı doğrultusunda mesajın formatı belirlenir. Bilinen mesaj formatları html, text, richtext vb.dir.


İçeriğinizi Belirleyin;

Mesajınızı açık ve net olarak vermelisiniz. Mesajınız hedefinize ulaşmak için gerekli yaratıcı done’lerle donatılmış olsa da mutlaka yer alması gereken mesajlar vardır;
-Kullanıcının emailini nereden bulduğunuz ve nasıl kullanacağınız yöntemi
-Kolay ve net üyelikten çıkma yöntemi
-Gizlilik taahhüdüne link
-Mesajın kişiselleştirilmesi iyi bir fikir olarak her zaman efektif sonuçlar vermektedir.(Ör. Merhaba Ali Kaplan)
-Firmanıza ilişkin bir email gelmesi
Böylece kullanıcılar yorumlarını gönderebilirler.
İçeriğinizi belirlerken yanlış kitleye yanlış mesaj göndermemeye gayret edin. Örneğin bir bayana bir erkek ayakkabı mesajı gönderilmesi amatör bir kampanya yürütüldüğü imajı doğurabilecektir.

Mesaj tasarımının yapılması ;

Gönderilecek email’de verilmek istenen mesaja gore bir tasarım yapılması çok önemlidir.

Gönderme Metodunun Belirlenmesi ;

Email''i iç kaynaklarınızla mı yoksa dış firma vasıtasıyla mı göndereceğinize karar vermelisiniz.Eğer içerden gönderecekseniz network’ünüzün bu yükü kaldırabileceğinden emin olun. Bilgi işlem bölümü uyarılmadan gönderilen toplu email’lerde sistem problemleri yaşanabilir. Email gönderimlerinin profesyonel email yazılımları ile gönderilmesi uygun bir çözüm olacaktır. Eğer 25.000 ve üstü mesaj gönderimi olacaksa bu tip yazılımlar çok olumlu sonuçlar vermektedir.

Eğer dış firma ile çalışılacaksa firmalarda bazı özellikler aranmalıdır;

-Mesajların tasarımı yada efektifliği konusunda destek veriyorlar mı?
-Sadece gönderim mi yapıyorlar?
-Mesaj listesini size sağlıyorlar mı?
-Yeni email listesi sunuyorlar mı?
-Bounce eden yada üyelikten çıkanların listesini veriyorlar mı?
-Mesajlara ilişkin tıklama yada geri dönüm konusunda raporlama yapıyorlar mı?

Kampanyada yapılacak emailing tutarını belirleyin?

Sadece tek bir mesaj mı gönderilecektir yoksa zaman içerisinde periyodik bir emailing mi yapılacaktır?
Aynı mesaj farklı teklifler ve içerikle mi gönderilecek? Yoksa farklı mesajlar aynı şeyi yaptırmak için mi gönderilecek?
Gönderilecek mesaj sayısının bilinmesi açısından faydalı olacaktır.

Yanıt izleme sisteminin kurulması;

Kampanyanın basında beklenen yanıt oranları belirlenmeye çalışılmalıdır.
-Eğer Kampanya başarılı olursa hangi bilgi elde edilmiş olmalıdır?
-Kampanya’dan hangi istatistiki sonuçlar beklenmektedir?
-Mesaj okunma oranları isteniyor mu?
-Tıklama oranları isteniyor mu?
-Üyelikten çıkma oranları isteniyor mu?
-Yanlış email oranları isteniyor mu?
-Mesajı forward edenlerin oranı?
-Gelen yanıtları yönetmek için iç kaynakları koordine edin.

Eğer kampanyanız başarılı olduysa kullanıcılardan yanıtlar gelmeye başlayacaktır.
Kullanıcılara yanıt verebilmek çok önemlidir. Gelecek telefon yada tıklamalara sisteminiz yanıt verebilmelidir. Bu konuda gerekli kaynaklar koordine edilmelidir. Bu yüzden email gönderimi öncesi Bilgi işlem ve Çağrı Merkezi Birimlerinin uyarılması gerekmektedir.

Üyelikten çıkmalara ve bounce’lara hazırlıklı olmak;

Üyelikten çıkmak için otomatik bir proses var mıdır?
Kullanıcıların isteklerini gönderebilecekleri bir email adresleri var mıdır?
Küçük ama önemli bir detay olan bu konu kolay ve net bir şekilde belirlenebilmelidir.Ne kadar mesajın bounce ettiğini ölçebiliyor musunuz?
Bounce eden mesajların sisteme getirdiği yükü görebiliyor musunuz?
Gönderdiğiniz mesajların %2-20 oranında bounce edeceğini unutmayınız.Bounce etme 2 sebeple olabilir;
-Email bulunamadı
-Email serveri kapalı yada kullanıcı inbox''ı dolu.

Veritabanınızı nasıl güncelleyeceğinizi belirlemelisiniz. Bounce’ları sebeplerine gore ayırmalısınız. Spesifik bir email adresi belirleyerek bounce eden mesaları yönlendirebilir ve analiz edebilirsiniz. Email Bulunamadı mesajı olan emailler silinmeli, diğer tip bounce mesajlar birkaç deneme sonrası silinmelidirler.

Mesaj Test Planı Geliştirilmelidir;

Mesaj Listenizi farklı öneriler için yada test için segmente etmelisiniz.Mesajını farklı browser’larda, firma dışında okunabiliyor olmalıdır. Bir çok mesajda ya karakter yada imla hataları, html hataları yada çalışmayan link gibi hatalara rastlanmaktadır. Mesajın outlook ekspress, hotmail vb. farklı yazılımlarda okunabildiğinden emin olun.

Beklentilerinizi Yönetin;

Birçok raporda email kampanyalarının ne kadar başarılı olduğu konusunda yazılarla karşılaşırsınız.Bu her ne kadar doğru olsada iyi tasarlanmamış bir kampanya herhangi bir şekilde başarılı olamaz.

Internet’ten pazarlama mevcut satışlarımı nasıl etkiler?

Öncelikle neden firmaların internet üzerinden pazarlamaya girişitiklerine bakmak gerekir. Örneğin dijital ürün satanlar(yazılım, müzik, cep telefonu melodisi vb.) için birçok avantaj söz konusudur. Ayrıca kendi bölgesi dışına çıkıp ülke yada dünya genelinde satış yapmakta çok önemli bir nedendir.

Öte yandan rekabet’te firmaları interneti kullanmaya yönlendirmektedir. Ayrıca müşterilere tüm ürünlere ilişkin açıklamaları sunmak, müşterilerin siparişlerine göre planları düzenlemek, müşterilerle anında iletişime geçmek gibi bir çok neden sayılabilir.

Bu konuda bazı yabancı kaynaklar yardımcı olabilir:

http://www.adsguide.com/

http://www.undp.org/info21/e-com/e4.html

http://www.wilsonweb.com

http://www.clickz.com