White Knight

Lately, the catch phrases and buzzwords in the ecommerce design and custom web design world centre on search engine optimisation and social media optimisation. Self-proclaimed experts lurk within the ether and are perfectly willing to give advice on how your Web site can be ranked higher than the competition by using their foolproof SEO and SMO techniques. Of course, all of this is for a price.

Different SEO and SMO techniques are valid, but there is no magic bullet that will catapult your Web site into the heavens. Frankly, it requires dedication and work, but the results will be well worth the effort. Following are some social media implementation techniques that will help raise the visibility of your Web site among your target audience.

Links Generate Higher Search Engine Rankings

Within your e-commerce website you should be creating links to and from different pages within your own site and also linking to relevant content outside of your site. One of the most important aspects of link generation is using social networks to create linkbacks. Facebook, Digg, Twitter, mySpace and other sites are a perfect venue for placing your links within a group that you’ve created. Another way to generate links is to ask different Web site owners that have similar content on their sites to link back to your site when you link to theirs.

Tagging and Bookmarking

One of the easiest ways to generate new and return traffic to your custom designed website is through the use of highly visible tag or bookmark buttons. Within your site, make sure that all content has a very visible tag button or bookmark button. At the end of articles or content pages, be sure to encourage your audience to bookmark your material. Social media sites pick up on these tags and bookmarks and generate tag clouds of meta-data and content from your site that users can click on.

Be Involved and Interact With Your Audience

Discussion boards, wikis, Facebook and mySpace groups are all excellent ways to engage your target audience. By continually interacting with your users, you’ll ensure that they are up to date on your site’s latest content and at the same time generate buzz about your site.

Reward Your Users

Everyone likes a bit of recognition now and then. Whenever someone visits your site and leaves a message or a helpful bit of information on your discussion board or wiki, be sure to thank that person for their effort and knowledge. By doing this, they’ll be sure to return and contribute to your site.

Understand Target Audience Demographics

This seems pretty basic. It’s one of the most important aspects of any marketing campaign, yet so many people who are building ecommerce and social media sites overlook it. MySpace users are generally teens and early twenty-something’s. If your product or service is targeted at an audience that is over thirty, it’s probably a waste of time to advertise or form a group on MySpace. By understanding who your target audience is, you can implement a strategy that incorporates the social media outlets that are most suited for your business.

Content is Still King

One of the final keys to implementing a social media strategy is remembering that your Web site’s content needs to be current, relevant and interesting. It’s up to you to make sure that you’re keeping your content updated. Also keep in mind that today’s world is about up-to-the-second information. If your Web site has content that is outdated and irrelevant, you can utilise social media to try
and find users until you’re blue in the face. However, it won’t work. People realise very quickly when a Web site doesn’t live up to its own advertising.

Following these principals requires a certain amount of discipline and hard work, but the benefits of applying them are undeniable. Social media can be a powerful ally in your quest to generate new and return Web traffic.

Imagine being able to access all of your applications and all of your documents regardless of whether you’re at your desk, at home or on your mobile device. What if you never have to worry about maintaining your own network or hardware? This is the reality of cloud computing.

By definition, cloud computing is a way of providing software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure and hardware as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS), either individually or in different combinations. The basis of cloud computing is that all of these services are offered via a network connection to a server or servers within the “cloud” of the Internet using some type of networked appliance.

Why Use Cloud Computing?

Whether you’re an individual or a small or large business, cloud computing offers a reliable, low-maintenance way to provide a scalable solution for on-demand services at a fraction of the cost of having licensed locally installed copies of software, IT infrastructure and hardware that quickly becomes outdated. Cloud computing also eliminates the need for a large staff of IT personnel and it also allows you, as a business owner, to decide which services you actually need and which you don’t.

Using infrastructure as a service provides limitless server capacity available on a pay-as-you-use basis or on a monthly payment structure. Having this storage capability makes it easy for businesses to store all of their integral information in a secure, centralised area without worrying about costly upgrades. The software as a service model in cloud computing allows individuals or businesses to use only the software they need, on an as-needed basis while upgrades are taken care of by the service provider. Finally, platform as a service offers a software development environment that is not restricted to a localised area. This means that software and upgrades being developed within a cloud computing platform can be delivered to consumers faster and easier.

Will Cloud Computing Work for Me?

Regardless of what type of business you operate, if you rely on an IT services that always has a need for increased capacity, continued software upgrades or constant hardware and software maintenance, it’s easy to recognise the advantages of cloud computing. The question that should be asked is, “What business wouldn’t benefit from having unlimited infrastructure, consistent software upgrades or a world wide platform for delivering its products?” The most important aspect of cloud computing is that it allows you to run your business the way you need to run it without constantly roadblocks such as downtime, continuous upgrades and outdated equipment.

Unlimited Access

From a practical standpoint, cloud computing offers freedom from the desk or office and access from a huge selection of portable devices such as netbooks, laptops and web-enabled mobile devices. How often does this scenario happen? Your team is on the road pitching a client and at the last minute you realise that you’ve left an important part of your presentation sitting back at your office on your desktop computer. The presentation doesn’t go well and your potential client shows you the door. If your business had been using infrastructure as a service, that integral piece of your presentation would have been accessible to your laptop or mobile phone and you wouldn’t have missed a single beat.

A Solid Customisable Solution

Cloud computing is a solution that can be scaled directly to the size of your business. It eliminates software licensing costs, downtime, obsolete software and equipment and the possibility of losing the documents and information that are important to the success of your business. Ultimately, one of the most beneficial aspects of cloud computing is its cost-effectiveness when compared to other localised solutions.

The movement toward this model will continue and successful businesses will reap the benefits of this new shift. When it comes right down to it, businesses not using cloud computing will find it much harder to succeed.

The lure of businesses to create an eCommerce presence is increasing due to the lower investment necessary to set-up a complete online business.

As more and more businesses make the transition from Bricks and Mortar to eCommerce it is critical that they gain an insight into the proven elements of a successful eCommerce site. This initial understanding will prevent future frustration and disillusionment toward their eCommerce experience and future online success.

Why many eCommerce Sites fail

Although Australia eCommerce is still in its very early stages, there are many Australian based websites that perform very well, all implementing similar principles to convert first time visitors to create eventual return customers.

Unfortunately many sites fail when it comes to basic principles and as a result are unable to convince a potential customer to purchase on their online store.

Trust in the Site you are buying from

One of the difficult hurdles to overcome is in gaining the trust of your potential customer. With constant reports on Internet Scams and dodgy online schemes, how is a customer supposed to trust you are a legitimate business offering a legitimate service or product?

An interesting excerpt from the VeriSign website mentions, “Fraud and identity theft have created a chilling effect on e-commerce. Of online consumers, 65% shop only at sites they know and trust, and 65% of online shoppers have abandoned a shopping cart because they did not “trust” the transaction.”

Unlike a conventional bricks and mortar store, your customer cannot actually see your store and understand whether it is reliable or trustworthy.

Fortunately there are several recommended ‘Trust Factors’ that can assist your customer in feeling more at ease when visiting your online store and convince them you are a legitimate business.

Make it easy to contact you

Ensure your contact details are easy to locate on your site. A majority of people won’t actually call, but it’s a good trust builder for your customer to see they can actually call if they need to.

There are customers that still feel uncomfortable completing a credit card transaction over the internet and simply want to talk with a real person. This succeeds in capturing customers that you would normally lose as you are offering an additional point of contact then sites that only offer an email address as a contact point.

They may also have questions that couldn’t be answered on your site. Remember a customer you convert once can become a customer for life buying from you time after time.

Is a Customers Transaction Secure?

Any potential customer offering their financial details over the internet needs to feel safe and secure that an unscrupulous dealer will not take their information and lead them to financial ruin. Although many credit card companies have systems in place to cover unauthorised transactions, your customer needs to
feel ‘peace of mind’ when purchasing from you.

What type of security does your site offer and how do you inform your customers of your security features?

In order for a new customer to feel safe with their transaction they should clearly and easily see the safety features before purchasing from you.

A Professionally designed and well laid out eCommerce site

Imagine 2 physical businesses you’ve never heard of a selling exactly the same product.

One business has its name written on the front window in marker pen, is  fairly dark inside and their products sit on a mismatch of tables covered in different coloured sheets. The other business has a professional shop front displaying their business name, mood music, is well lit and uses professionally designed, matching cases. If their products were the exactly the same price, which shop would you be inclined to choose?

This is the same when you compare an eCommerce site that is self made and one that is designed by a professional with experience in website development. An eCommerce solution should be simple to navigate, well laid out and your customer should be able to find what they are searching for quickly and intuitively.

Consistent and up-to-date Quality Content

It is fairly common for web browsers to loose confidence or trust when a website is out of date or presents inaccurate information.

An report released by Forrester Research discussing the issues with eCommerce websites stated, “Major problems included missing content, meager function, and frequent errors — weakness that thwart users as they pursue typical goals.”

Your customers want to make a well informed decision when purchasing from you and it’s your responsibility as the eCommerce site owner to provide them with accurate, complete and up to date information. If you believe you are not able to write the content for the areas of your site, enlist the services of a copy writer.

The Proof is in the Pudding

These are a tiny excerpt of many other important ‘Trust Factors’, yet are the most important when determining your eCommerce success.

If you are ever in doubt, take a look at the top 15 Australian eCommerce websites published by ZD Net. Every one takes advantage of these basic principles and uses it to their advantage.

Remember, an eCommerce website is on show 24/7 and is the online representation of your business. When your customers visit your site they will decide in less than 60 seconds whether they should make a purchase from you. If they don’t feel enough ‘Trust’ in the product or service you offer they will move onto your competitor and you will have lost the life time value of that customer.

Like most of us, from time to time you would get emails, mostly purporting to be from Paypal, that tell you to log in via a link to change some personal information.  These emails look authentic.  They can even mimic the actual email address of the organisation they are supposed to have originated from.  Generally there is some call to action that these emails have to try and “hook”, “Bait” whatever you want to call it, the user into clicking on that link and giving over their personal information.  The hook is usually that your account will be suspended or deactivated if you fail to provide your personal information.

These are fraudulent emails known as “phish“, hence the hook that resides within these phishs.  These phish emails are constructed by scammers, from all over the world, but typically, according to the ACCC from Nigeria and China.

The other issues that can be hidden within these emails are the malicious viruses in the attachments or links.  This is known as malware, and this malware can sometimes allow phishers to retrieve personal data direct from your computer, even take control of the PC to launch further attacks on other unsuspecting users.

According to Scientific American (Article “Can Phishing be Foiled?, December 2008 Edn, pp: 74 - 79): The Anti Phishing Working Group, an international consortium of organizations committed to wiping out Internet Scams and Fraud, including the number of unique phishing sites detected every month.  In 2007 monthly totals ranges as high as 55,643.  During each month in 2007, anywhere from 92 to 178 different company brands were phished - meaning their names or logos were used to fool victims into dealing with a trusted institution.  According to research and consulting firm Gartner, an estimated 3.6 million Americans fell victim to phishing last year, leading to losses of more than 3.2 billion USD”

This is terrible to think that so many people have fallen prey to scammers on the internet.  Even here in Australia, I have received emails purporting to be from Westpac, The Commonwealth Bank etc.  Because Paypal is a global company, its easier to be suspicious about those types of emails, but I can understand why some Australians fall victim to phish emails that use Australian banking disguises.

The good news is that if are educated on what to look out for, scams like this are easily avoidable.  There is some good work being done by organisations in Australia and around the world in reducing the threat.

If you think you have received a suspicious email, please always confirm with your banking institution before clicking or opening anything in that email.