Very interesting:

More than seven in 10 customers that create an online shopping cart fail to complete a transaction, according to Charles Nicholls, founder and chief strategy officer of SeeWhy.

Why do website visitors abandon shopping carts so frequently? The answers might surprise even some veteran e-commerce executives. Research indicates that it has very little to do with the actual checkout process and a heck of a lot to do with shopper behavior.

A recent Forrester Research study shows that the cost associated with shipping and handling is the No. 1 cause of shopping cart abandonment; some 44 percent of consumers terminate their session when shipping fees are revealed. Nearly as many (41 percent) say they were not ready to purchase the product. Other reasons for shopping cart abandonment included the desire to compare prices on other sites (27 percent), product prices that were higher than they were willing to pay (25 percent) and wanting to save products in the cart for later consideration (24 percent).

Determining what causes shoppers to abandon their online carts solves only part of the problem. E-commerce executives need to figure out what they can do to recover abandoned shopping carts.

Nicholls recommends what he terms “remarketing.”

The key, he says, is to reconnect and “remarket” to the shopper in a way that keeps the store brand top of mind. “What continues to amaze me is that so few currently remarket to their site visitors (fewer than 20 percent, according to a recent survey), despite this being so well proven as a technique in driving sales,” Nicholls says, suggesting that others steal a page from Amazon’s book. “Amazon … is one of the biggest proponents of remarketing, yet it is done so subtly than many don’t realize that they are being remarketed to.”

Unfortunately, Craigslist does not yet support embedded video.  Sure, you can include a link in your post, but people are generally reluctant to click on them.

There is a neat workaround, though.  Here’s what you can do:

1.  Go to your YouTube page and take a screenshot of the video

2.  Edit the screenshot so it’s just the video screen – nothing else

3.  Host that image somewhere online.  Example: Flickr.com

4.  Create a Craigslist ad using this HTML code:

<a href=”http://www.YourYoutubeLink.com” rel=”nofollow”>
<img border=”0″ src=”http://www.YourImageLink.jpg” width=”480″
height=”295″>
</a>

5.  Post your ad

Using the above workaround, your ad will look like a video screenshot, but will actually by an image of a video which is linked to your YouTube video.  The user sees your ad, is enticed by the video pic, clicks on it to watch it, and voila!  The video plays.

Use this technique for all sorts of Craigs ads, including employment ads.

Here’s an example of a Craigslist ad I was playing with last Friday night: http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/com/1787869451.html

I love that joke.  But it’s also germane to this column’s topic.

First, I found the joke on Wikipedia.  I didn’t open the yellow pages. Nor did I go to the bookstore.  The internet is the new Encyclopedia Britannica.

Second, the joke is the product of research by Richard Wiseman, who created a website called LaughLab.  The purpose of LaughLab was to crowd-source the collection and ranking of jokes.  His mission was to find the funniest joke in the world – independent of culture, religion and socio-economic status.  Note:  The joke was the top joke in the UK.

Lastly, the joke serves as a good metaphor for your website.  You think your site is a cute baby, but actually it looks like a monkey.

If you want your company to stay competitive,  you must invest the time and resources into leveraging your company’s website.

This is what you need to know:

Yes, you need a website.

If you have a business, you need a website. Period.  Last year I met successful ‘old school’ executive who earns business the ‘old fashioned way’:  word of mouth.  That still works and should be encouraged.  But the world is bigger now and referrals may not span oceans.  The executive learned this the hard way when his company lost a big contract because the company on the mainlaind which was awarding the job found his competitors online but not his firm…because he didn’t have a website.  The bottom line is:  Your customers, vendors and even your competition have already moved online.  You have to do the same.

Action item:  If your company doesn’t have a website, go to GoDaddy.com and register a domain name.  It costs $15 per year.  While you are there, purchase the cheapest Linux hosting.  It’s cost $10/month or so.  Don’t buy any extras.  No need.  You can add more features later if you need to.

Keep it simple.

Internet users are like fast food junkies.  They want it and they want it now!  Don’t design your website like it’s the next Taj Mahal. Yes, it must be professional and it must capture your brand, but don’t over design it or over engineer it.

Too often, business owners approach web design with an excessive emphasis on design. They think more flash (pun) and more shazam is going to bring more business.  Wrong.  Web users want to find what they are looking for.  They don’t want to watch a splashy opening sequence and they definitely dont want to read paragraph upon paragraph of mundane text.

Skip the bun.  Just give them the meat.  Let the home page start selling right there.  Show the benefits of your product or service.  Ask for sale.  Make the call-to-action.

Action item:  Take an hour and pretend you’re a potential customer.  How would you search for your company’s product or service?  What do you expect to find on the website?  Decide your site’s primary purpose and make sure your it is solely focused on that target.

Go ahead, be crappy.

Voltaire said: “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.” The better is the enemy of the good.  I have seen clients spend a year trying to make their websites look perfect before launch.  Meanwhile, the competition got started with what they had and benefited from a year’s head start.

Your website will never be perfect.  There’s always something that you will want to change and improve.  But don’t let small things get in the way of big idea.  Example:  Facebook was conceived, coded and launched in less than six months.  Was the original version the same one currently used by 400 million people? Of course not.  It evolved over time.  Your site can do the same.

Action item:  If you have a site in the works, get the core of it done, make sure there are no bugs, fix all the typos and launch the damn thing.  Business is war.  Don’t waste time polishing the canon.  You can get to that later.  For now, just get going.

It takes three.

Who builds a winning site? Is it the graphic designer who makes the attractive comps? Is it the geek who takes that design and codes it into a real website?  A successful website actually requires three types of people.  And it’s very rare to find someone who has all three skill sets.

The first is the designer.  This is the person who chooses the right colors, fonts, layouts, etc.  He/she has a real talent for what the human eye likes to see.  Important.

The second is the web geek.  This is the person who takes the design and turns it a web page.  So if the designer is the architect, then the web geek is the engineer.  The web geek typically has no design sense but can program like a champ.

The third animal is the one with business sense.  Just because a site is visually attractive and just because it ‘works’ on the internet without hiccups, that doesn’t mean you have a good website.  At the end of the day, your website has to deliver results.  It has to perform.  The third person is the one who focuses on the user experience and the site’s overall utility. He/she weaves together the designer and the web geek to ensure the site meet its overriding purpose.

Action items:  Look at your site.  What are the calls-to-action?  Is it to sell something?  Or to capture an email?  Also, when someone new comes to your site, does he/she ‘get’ within a blink what your company does and how it can help?

You get what you pay for.

I have seen companies pay $15K for a site which was really only worth $5K and I’ve had people wanting a $5K site but willing to pay $500 for it.

Websites are labor intensive.  If you want quality, you have to be willing to pay for it.  But be careful not to overspend.

What should you expect in terms of cost?  Well, it depends on what you need.  If your company needs a professional site just to share information about your products and services, expect to spend $2000-$3000 for site which is search engine friendly and can be easily modified and upgraded down the road.

If you want to want ecommerce added to the site, budget another $1000.

And if you need a database running in the background so clients can create profiles,  manage info, etc, then you’ll need to allocate another $2000.

I have a client who wants to clone Groupon.com, an e-coupon site on the mainland.  That’s $5000 to do it right.  I have another client who wants to emulate the functionality of StudentsofFortune.com, where students can post questions and get answers.  The site may look simple from the end user’s perspective, but the backend (the guts of the site) is actually pretty big.  Expect to spend $6000 for something like that.

In general, the more complex the site, the more it’s going to cost and the longer it’s going to take to get the job done.

Action item:  There are good website designers and then there are beginners.  Look for responsiveness, professionalism and quality work.  Most will want a 50% deposit at time of order and the balance due upon delivery.  Make sure you own (control) the hosting, the domain name, and the site itself.  Get a backup and all relevant passwords when work is done.  Keep everything in your name.

Avoid subscriptions.

A number of web design companies offer subscription based solutions. You basically lease your website.  The upside is you don’t have to pay get going.  The downside is you don’t really own the site and over the long run you will spend more money.  Although subscription business is smart business, I don’t recommend it.

One of the biggest reasons is control.  Most subscription business models give you only limited control over the website itself.  This means you may not be able to optimize the site for search engines, add multiple languages, integrate metrics, etc.  The bottom line is you ultimately need autonomy.

We have a dental client who signed up for one of those subscription based solutions.  They signed a three year agreement.  Unfortunately, it isn’t workng out well for the dentist.  All changes to the site must first be approved by the vendor and often it takes a week or more for the vendor to respond to requests.  Not good.

Action item:  Cost of ownership must factor in lost opportunity.  It may be cheaper to get started with websites you can rent, but ultimately you want to own instead of lease – especially if you expect your business to thrive.  Make sure you receive a complete backup of your site from the web designer, make sure the domain name and hosting is in your name, and make sure you have all logins and passwords:  domain name registration, hosting control panel, and FTP.

And consider using WordPress for your website.  WordPress is free, open source, and fully featured.  It’s a terrific content manager, meaning you can use it to update your site and create pages without having to know any techy stuff.  Cnn.com, NYTimes.com and SuperGeeks.net are done in WordPress.

Test. Measure. Repeat.

The neat thing about internet business is you can change things on the fly. Amazon.com is always experimenting with slightly modified layouts and color schemes, new features, special offers, etc.  You should do the same. Did you know you can automatically serve different versions of your website to potential clients?  The visitor won’t know the difference.  The good news is you can measure conversions (how many people accept the call-to-action), look at the metrics and determine which layout and which message generates the best results.

Action item:  Add Google Analytics to your website. Google Analytics is a free tool for measuring how many people are visiting your site, where they are coming from, what they’re drilling into and how long they stay.  It’s super critical info.  Takes only 10-15 minutes to install and configure but the data is invaluable.  Let me know if you need help installing Google Analytics.  I will gladly do it for you free of charge.

Also, check out Bit.ly.  Bit.ly will enable you to create ‘smart’ hyperlinks, so you can get data on who is clicking on your links.  This is useful when posting content online.

Socialize it. Participate. Share.

Social media is the new rock and roll.

First there was the phone, then the telex, then the fax, the copier, and email…Now there’s social media.  It’s a powerful tool for nurturing business relationships and – like it or not – it’s here to stay.  Regardless of whether you understand it or not, just jump in and started using it.

The way we market and sell has changed dramatically over the last few years.  Traditonal marketing like TV and radio was deliberately disruptive.  The idea was to grab your attention and say, “Here I am.”

Contemporary marketing is all about social media.  It’s more like honey.  The idea is create compelling content and share it with everyone.  Be the expert.  Be helpful.  And the sales will come.

Action item:  Create Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube accounts.  Use tools like Ping.fm and HootSuite.com to weave all those accounts together so you can reduce the workload.  Do more by doing less.

Create a Facebook business page.

After you create your Facebook profile, be sure to create a page for your business.  It takes only a few minutes to get started.

Facebook has some 400 million users.  About 50% log into their accounts on any given day and spend an average 55 minutes there.  You can’t afford to miss those eyeballs.

Action Item:  Facebook will let you create a vanity page once you have 26 fans.  A vanity page has a vanity URL, like Facebook.com/yourcompanyname.  For example, ours is Facebook.com/supergeeks.  A vanity page is easier to promote on your biz cards, packaging, store doors, etc.

Also, take a look at customizing that business page.  Facebook offers lots of free software to make your business page do what you want, like offer coupons, play an intro video, show an online registration form, and much more.

Brand it.

With everyone scrambling to be everywhere online, it’s more important than ever to stand out in the crowd.  What makes your company different than your competitors’?  What’s your story?  How will people recognize your company in a blink?  All of these things must be answered over and over again.  This is especially true online, where there’s a lot of noise and where web users have the attention span of gnat.  Be clear, decisive and bold.

Action item:  Customize your social media accounts so all of them carry the same look and feel.  Make sure your slogan is prominent and easy to understand.  Really spell out what makes your business different.

All roads lead to Rome.

Your website is your best salesperson.  It speaks 13 different languages, works 24/7 and doesn’t need worker comp insurance.  Make your site the epicenter of your marketing campaigns.  It’s OK if all those roads leading to Rome are unpaved.  Web users will take dirt roads.  Just make its easy for people to stumble upon and follow those roads.

Action item:  Go to Google Business Listings (www.google.com/local/add) and add your company.  Take the time to customize your listing.  It will appear in Google Maps and other directories.

Rank higher organically.

It’s called search engine optimization and unfortunately there are a lot of scammers out there ready to trick you into purchasing a product or service you don’t need.

Search engine optimization is important.  You want your website to hit the first page of Google’s search results.

The key to getting there is two-fold.  First, don’t try to sell everyone everything.  Think laser.  If you can sell some of the people all of the time, your business will grow.

Two, make sure the search engines love your website.  Search engines regularly send automated bots to troll and categorize sites on the internet.  Do you think those bots have any patience for a site which is difficult to read?  No, the bots will just move onto the next site.  For this reason, make sure your site is visible to search engines.  Customize your page titles, your page descriptions and your page content.  Avoid certain technologies like Flash which aren’t search engines friendly  Note: Search engines love WordPress.

Action Item:  Go to Google Keyword Tool (www.google.com/sktool/) and look at the actual volume of searches per keywords.  You can see how competitive certain keywords are for click thru advertising.

Caution: Don’t compete with the big boys.  In other words, don’t try to optimize your site and search engine marketing where it’s most competitive.  You will loose that battle.  It’s like challenging Michael Phelps to the 100 meter butterfly.  Instead, choose less competitive keywords and build your campaign and your site around that.

Pay for clicks.

I love a qualified lead.  A qualified lead is someone who is genuinely interested in the product or service you offer.  For example, because we dont sell tires, I wouldn’t get too excited if 100 people line up in front of one of my service centers looking for tires.  However, if 10 people showed up wanting computer help, then I’m interested.

That’s the beauty of click-thru advertising.  Since you only pay for actual clicks, you’re basically paying only for qualified leads.  And if you know what’s an acceptable acquisition cost, you can determine how much you can afford to spend on a click-thru advertising.

Google is the biggest player in this market.  You can create a Google Adwords account within minutes and start advertising online by sundown. You can target certain geographic areas, like Honolulu, and you can set limits on when those ads run and how much you want to spend.  It’s great.

Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube offer similar advertising models.  Their platform is interesting because you can deliver ads to more narrow demographics.  For example, I can show a very targeted wedding ring ad solely to engaged females over age 30 living in Hawaii.

Action Item:  Click-thru advertising will bring more traffic to your site.  But don’t send the qualified lead to your home page.  Chances are your home page is too generic for that targeted ad.  Instead, craft a special landing page for that specific ad.  Play with the layout and the copy of that landing page.  Measure the conversions and find what works.  In the end, online advertising is just a math equation:  (Cost per click) x (number of clicks) / (number of conversions) = cost per actual sale.

Study the competition.

You can learn a lot by studying your competitors.  Hop on their websites, see what works and what doesn’t.  Find the leader in your industry and emulate their best practices.

Please do not think you have to create every brochure and every ad campaign from scratch.  In business, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.  Model success.

We regularly mystery shop our competitors and it’s not uncommon to find policies, procedures and materials which were clearly ‘borrowed’ from SuperGeeks.  I tell my team not to worry.  Our job is to innovate and to lead the industry.  Focus on widening that gap between us and all of them and we will be fine.

Action Item:  Look locally, nationally, and internationally.  Find who is excelling in your market and emulate their best practices.  (Don’t plagiarize.) And be sure to study companies outside your industry.  You may find good inspiration there, too.  For example, we regularly study automotive repair, retail, and health care for new ideas.

Use these free tools.

Use Website Grader to see how you can optimize your site for search engines: www.websitegrader.com

Use this tool to make sure your site’s HTML coding is compliant with major browsers: http://validator.w3.org/

Check for broken links on your site: http://validator.w3.org/checklink

I hope this column is useful.  Please let me know if I can help with anything: help@supergeeks.net

James Kerr – Chief Geek, SuperGeeks (Twitter: supergeeks)

Let SuperGeeks build your new site or redesign your existing one. We build creative, compelling, cutting-edge websites at affordable prices.

Request a FREE quote for your project.

• FREE site review (if you currently have a site)
• Help me build a new site

HTML Validator - http://validator.w3.org/

CSS Validator - http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

Link Checker - http://validator.w3.org/checklink

Competitor Analysis can be found at http://www.ineedhits.com/free-tools/competitor-analysis.aspx or http://www.alexa.com/ (also good for a page ranking of sorts)

Calculate your  Google Rank http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

Site grader:   http://website.grader.com/

I have very fond memories of a stay at the Ebisu Westin in Tokyo.  It was a brisk December night when I arrived from Narita airport.  The doorman greeted me with me with a polite bow and an open door.  The lobby was clean, inviting and well-decorated.  The bellman relieved me of my baggage while the front desk staff welcomed me with warmth and sincerity.   Everything was ready.  Just a quick signature and I was in my room with a terrific view of Tokyo’s citylights.  I felt like a king, gliding from the hotel taxi to the comfort on my room.  Quick, painless and professional.

That’s exactly how your company’s e-commerce site should be:  effortless, enjoyable, simple, and tasteful.

If you think about it, internet shoppers don’t have much patience.  They don’t want to see your fancy flash splash page, they don’t want to hear why you cannot ship to their destinations, and they don’t want to read paragraph after paragraph of mindless text.  Think lazy.  They don’t want to have to work hard for anything online.

Here’s what you need to know about e-commerce:

• Skip the fluff. Your home page must go straight to the sale.  Don’t waste time with flashy intros, sexy graphics, spooling videos, etc.  Start selling within the first micro second.  Disarm the shopper. Make them feel at-ease.  Take a look at Zappos.com (www.zappos.com):  Free shipping & Free 365 Day returns.  When I see that prominently displayed, I think, “Great!  I’m ready to shop!”

• Let them search. Internet shoppers are mission-oriented.  Chances are they didn’t just stumble across your site while browsing Congressional testimony online.  They are searching for something and thank goodness they are on your home page.  Make it easy for them to stay there.  Add a search function to your site and place it at the top above the fold so it’s easy to find and easy to use.  iStockphoto does it well: www.istockphoto.com

• Browsing is welcomed. Many ecommerce sites require shoppers to first register for an account before they can add items to their shopping carts.  That’s backwards.  There should be no barriers to shopping.  Let the shoppers shop.  Account registration can be done later at the point of purchase.  By letting the shoppers add items to their carts right away and by simplifying the account registration process, you will reduce cart abandonment and boost sales. See www.amazon.com as an example of how to do it right.

• Give them control. Online shoppers want to be the boss.  They want to control how many items are displayed on a page, they want easy access to the contents of their carts at any time, they want to be able to freely edit their carts while shopping, and they want quick answers to their questions. NetGrocer does a good job with a persistent cart on the right side of each page: www.netgrocer.com

• Breadcrumbs help. Breadcrumb navigation is a user interface term that comes from the Hasel and Gretel fairy tale. Online shoppers like to know here they are.  Use headlines, subheadings and breadcrumbs to make your site more useful.  Navigation must be easy and intuitive.  Remember, online shoppers want to buy.  Help them get what they want as quickly as possible.  Good example of breadcrumb navigation: www.newegg.com.

• Cross-sell. Your ecommerce site should be your best salesperson.  Always up, always ready, always asking for the sale.  No esteem issues, no sick days, no complaints.  Engineer your site to unobtrusively offer related items the shopper may be interested in purchasing.  I like the way all the big book sites do this.  Go to www.barnesandnoble.com, search on a book, and notice the section ‘Customers who bought this also bought…’  The Gap (www.gap.com) also does a good job by suggesting clothes and styles that may go well with what’s in your cart. Brilliant.

• Wish-lists are good. You want repeat business.  Maybe someone will buy something today, and come back later for more.  Or maybe the person shopping is not the one who will ultimately make the purchase. Wish-lists are especially relevant during gift giving seasons like Christmas and Valentine’s Day.  As you can imagine, Victoria’s Secret is big on wish-lists: www.victoriassecret.com

• Reminders are cool. If your product or service is event related, like a birthday or anniversary, you can leverage reminders to encourage your clients to send gifts.  And if you can integrate those reminders with addresses that account holders keep on file, then it’s very easy for repeat shoppers to buy from your site.  Look to American Greetings for inspiration: www.americangreetings.com

• Underscore security. Online shoppers can be distrustful – especially if you’re company’s name is not readily recognizable.  Wal-Mart, Sears, and Target have no problem here. They are globally recognized brands.  But for the rest of us, we have to give the online visitors confidence they are buying from a secure site and their personal information is safe.  Make sure your SSL certificate is updated so the lock icon appears on the secure pages.  And use trusted badges of security like Hacker Safe and Verisign to help mitigate shoppers’ fears.  To see what I mean, go to QVC’s site and scroll to the bottom:  www.iqvc.com

• Facilitate contact. One of the leading causes of cart abandonment is no one to contact.  You’ve probably been in that situation, where you’re shopping online and ready to submit your payment info but you have just one quick question…Make it easy for your customers to get answers to their questions every step of the way.  I like the way Lands End’s site is not bashful about their phone number and links to customer service: www.landsend.com.  They us chat technology very effectively, too.  See bottom left.

If you want to improve the performance of your ecommerce site, spend an hour or two poking around the sites of the brands you know well.  Be sure to examine the ones in your industry.  Note what works and what doesn’t.  Emulate the best practices.  Small changes to your ecommerce site can impact sales dramatically.

We can all use a few extra bucks.  But picking up a second (or third!) job just isn’t feasible with the kids’ afterschool activities and the long, rush-hour commutes.

Solution:  Find a product or a service you like and sell it globally.  It’s not as tough as you might think.  Here’s what you do:

Determine what you want to sell.  It’s best if it’s unique and easy to ship.

Go to GoDaddy.com and register your domain name. Choose something catchy, easy to spell, and easy to remember.  Get the .com version. Don’t worry about all the other .net, .org, etc.  Register the name for 5 years or more.  Search engines think 1 year domain registrants are spammers, so those domains aren’t ranked as high. GoDaddy (http://www.godaddy.com/) offers the best rates for domain registration.

Go to HostGator.com and purchase hosting services. HostGator (http://www.hostgator.com/) is good and cheap.  They also let you have deep technical control over your hosting – more than GoDaddy.  Buy the ‘Hatchling’ host package.  PS.  You can click on the Host Gator banner ad to the right of this post and receive a discount on hosting.  Have HostGator help you setup WordPress.  They will know what to do.

Choose a WordPress theme. WordPress (http://wordpress.org/) was originally designed for blogging.  It’s open source and free.  Over the last few years, though, WordPress has morphed into a very powerful content management system for websites.  In other words, using WordPress, you can update and edit your site just like you were using Microsoft Word.  No need to know any techy stuff.  WordPress also offers a bunch of powerful tools for search engine optimization.  Go here for free WordPress themes: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

Add pictures, video and text to your new site. Keep the site simple and intuitive.  Emulate the successful businesses like Amazon, Google, Target for ideas per layout and color schemes but focus like a laser on what your are selling. Remember, internet users want more meat, less bun.  Keep the text to a minimum.  Navigation or ‘flow’ through your site should be so natural even a caveman can do it.

Use PayPal for processing payments. PayPal gets the job done.  You don’t need a credit check and you don’t have to pay a ton of upfront fees.  Thirty minutes of setup gets you a robust merchant processing system which also support subscriptions, i.e. you can automatically charge clients monthly for ‘membership’ to your new service.

Install Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free service offered by Google.  Signup for it here: www.google.com/analytics/ It takes all of 5 minutes to get started.  You will need your FTP login and password to insert the code into your web site.  Once you’ve done that, though, you will have real-time data on critical metrics like:  who is visiting your site, where are they coming from, what are they looking at, how long are they on the site, and how many people leave your site without clicking on anything.  This kind of info is gold.  It will help you determine whether your marketing efforts are paying off and whether your site is facilitating real sales.

Get feedback. It’s amazing how often we think we’re communicating well but upon confirmation we discover we’re doing a good job.  Your website must convey the benefits of your products and services.  It must encourage and ultimately convince the potential client to buy.  Show your site to 5 different people.  Let them give you some feedback on their impressions of your site.  Don’t be combative or make excuses for anything.  Just shut and listen to what they have to say.  Listen to one thing and try to understand 10 things. You’re the boss.  You will decide what needs to be done after collecting sufficient input.  Five good people (potential buyers) should be enough to get most of what you need.  Strangers are fine.

Modify your design. A simple design change can dramatically boost conversion rates.  Conversion rate is how well you convert a potential client into an actual customer.  So, if 10 people visit your site but only 1 person buys, then you have a 10% conversion rate.  Higher the rate, the better.  Don’t neglect upsells.  An upsell is someone initially wants a coach seat but you sell him/her a business class seat instead.  And don’t forget to cross-sell.  A cross-sell is when someone wants a belt and you ultimately sell that person a belt, a pair of shoes and a suit!  Finally, repeat business is smart business.  It’s infinitely more efficient to generate repeat sales (multiple sales to the same customer) than to find many customers for one sale.  In any case, fine-tune your site’s layout so it’s very efficient in selling.  Think high conversion rates, fat gross profit margins, and repeat (subscription-based is best) sales.

Use Google AdWords. Many businesses fail simply because they are unwilling to spend money to make money.  Consider for a moment how successful companies like Apple and Lexus are and how easily we recognize their brands.  Yet, both companies continue to advertise aggressively to people like you and me.  Your business is no different.  You have to pay to play.  Skip the yellow pages and stay away from the gimmicky stuff online where someone will try to sign you up for a year of online advertising.  Instead, go straight to Google AdWords:  http://adwords.google.com/ You can create an account it minutes.  Google AdWords lets you create online ads.  You decide everything, including how much to spend per click through, how much to spend per month, where you want the ads to run, etc.  You have total control.  You can even start an ad today and pause it tomorrow.  But what makes Google AdWords really powerful are the qualified leads.  Only people who are interested in your product or service will click on the ad.  That means your ad will send you people who are genuinely interested in what you’re selling.  I would rather have 10 qualified leads than 1000 unqualified ones.  Get going with Google AdWords asap.  Experiment with different ads to see what works.

People often come to me wanting some kind of magic bullet to kick start their online business.  The good news is you can enjoy good success selling online.  The nor so good news is it requires effort.

Thomas Edison once said something like:  Opportunity often comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.

The same is true with your website.  Invest the time and effort into your site and it will pay off.  Let me know if I can help with anything.

Click here if you need help.

James Kerr is Chief Geek of SuperGeeks.  He can be reached at http://supergeeks.net/ and (808) 531-GEEK.  Twitter: SuperGeeks

This is post part 1 fo 2.

We can all use a few extra bucks.  But picking up a second (or third!) job just isn’t feasible with the kids’ afterschool activities and the long, rush-hour commutes.

Solution:  Find a product or a service you like and sell it globally.  It’s not as tough as you might think.  Here’s what you do:

• Determine what you want to sell.  It’s best if it’s unique and easy to ship.
• Go to GoDaddy.com and register your domain name. Choose something catchy, easy to spell, and easy to remember.  Get the .com version. Don’t worry about all the other .net, .org, etc.  Register the name for 5 years or more.  Search engines think 1 year domain registrants are spammers, so those domains aren’t ranked as high. GoDaddy (http://www.godaddy.com/) offers the best rates for domain registration.
• Go to HostGator.com and purchase hosting services. HostGator (http://www.hostgator.com/) is good and cheap.  They also let you have deep technical control over your hosting – more than GoDaddy.  Buy the ‘Hatchling’ host package.  PS.  You can go to http://supergeeks.net/ and click on the right-hand banner ad to receive a discount on hosting.  Have HostGator help you setup WordPress.  They will know what to do.
• Choose a WordPress theme. WordPress (http://wordpress.org/) was originally designed for blogging.  It’s open source and free.  Over the last few years, though, WordPress has morphed into a very powerful content management system for websites.  In other words, using WordPress, you can update and edit your site just like you were using Microsoft Word.  No need to know any techy stuff.  WordPress also offers a bunch of powerful tools for search engine optimization.  Go here for free WordPress themes: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
• Add pictures, video and text to your new site. Keep the site simple and intuitive.  Emulate the successful businesses like Amazon, Google, Target for ideas per layout and color schemes but focus like a laser on what your are selling. Remember, internet users want more meat, less bun.  Keep the text to a minimum.  Navigation or ‘flow’ through your site should be so natural even a caveman can do it.
• Use PayPal for processing payments. PayPal gets the job done.  You don’t need a credit check and you don’t have to pay a ton of upfront fees.  Thirty minutes of setup gets you a robust merchant processing system which also support subscriptions, i.e. you can automatically charge clients monthly for ‘membership’ to your new service.

This column is part 1.  To be continued next week…

James Kerr is Chief Geek of SuperGeeks.  He can be reached at http://supergeeks.net/ and (808) 531-GEEK.  Twitter: SuperGeeks

In fact, there is. Your website, if properly configured, can be an invaluable help. It can take some of your tasks on, including attracting new business and retaining existing customers. In these stormy economic conditions you definitely need all help you can get. Yes, it’s simpler to ignore it and continue to rely on a phone book and other traditional advertising to connect with your customers. However, traditional advertising is costly and its results are difficult to measure.

Optimizing your website will allow you to capture all of the customers who rely on Google or Yahoo to search for a product and service. Customers increasingly rely on uncle Google for advice. Who haven’t you seen piles of new phone books in an apartment complex’s mail room? As an experiment, try Googling a service that your company provides and locale, e.g. “dog grooming Honolulu” or “food catering Hilo” and take a look at the results. Is your business showing up anywhere on the first few pages? Is your competitor’s?

We often hear from local businesses: we get our business from existing customer referrals. That’s how we get most of our business too and it is truly a Hawaii way. However, no business has ever suffered from having too many customers. If your website brings additional (probably younger) customers, there is nothing wrong with that.

There are free and inexpensive ways to improve your company’s website’s performance.

Improve your content and design. Make sure your website is adequately educating your customers about services and products you offer. The language should be clean and free of technical terms. The layout should be nice and easy for reading. No giant blocks of text and ugly neon colors. As with a house you are trying to sell, the colors should cater to the public (think neutral) and not to your personal preferences (hot pink or chartreuse). Try to be very specific about what you offer. “We offer best personal care products in Honolulu” does not tell your prospective customer much. You need to specify what it is and why it’s better than another store down the road. Finally, lower the barrier to entry – offer free consultation, money back guarantee, or good FAQ section.

Make it easier for search engines to find you. Search engines are designed to look for a relevant and popular content. Thus, your site should be current and contain links and articles relevant to your line of business. For example, if you are in floral business, your site should have tips on flower arrangements, links to other websites with interesting information regarding flowers, and any upcoming festival which uses your leis. Participate in local forums and social media providing links to content to your website. Make sure you are on Yelp (or if you are in tourism industry – on Trip Advisor).

Leverage your connections. If you have a partnership with another business or group of businesses – exchange links to each other’s websites. For example, if you are a piano studio and provide lessons in one of the private schools – provide a link to the school on your site and ask them to do the same. Do the same for any professional organizations you belong to – bar association, Rotary, Small Businesses Hawaii, etc.

To evaluate the quality of your current website, go these sites: www.websitegrader.com or www.validator.w3.org. They will list some of the things you can do now to help turn your website into a sales monster. Get started today!

Imagine you’ve paid someone a good deal of money to develop a killer website for your business.  Imagine spending even more money to promote the site online and in print.  Imagine all the traffic you’re getting to your site…

Imagine discovering one day that the website you’ve come to know and love-the website that serves as a vital extension of your business-is not really yours but is technically owned by someone else.

It happens.  And lately, it has been happening quite often.

Case Study #1:

Representatives of a nonprofit recently called asking for help.  Years ago they had decided to use one of those cheaper, less popular hosting companies to save a few dollars per month.  All was well until they decided to change hosting companies.  To their complete surprise, the hosting company, which turned out to be quite cunning and ruthless, had secretly obtained ownership of the nonprofit’s domain name.  To date, that hosting company holds the site hostage, racking up ridiculous charges on the nonprofit’s credit card.

Case Study #2:

Just the other day a different organization called to say they had had a long-term “good working relationship” with their web head.  When that designer failed to deliver a requested makeover of the site, the company decided to find another designer to make the changes.  That’s when the organization learned that the ill-performing web head technically owns the domain name.

What can you do?

Unfortunately, when someone hijacks your website, legal recourse isn’t a viable alternative.  It is costly and time consuming.  Expect years and tens of thousands of dollars in costs.

However, if you have a website and want to be proactive, consider doing the following:

1.  Find out who owns the domain name.

Go to http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp, enter the domain name and click on Search.  The person or entity listed as “Registrant” actually owns the domain name. The Administrative and Technical contacts manage it.

If your site doesn’t have your company’s name for Registrant, Administrative, and Technical contacts, then you may be at risk for domain hijacking.

2.  Put everything in your name.

Contact the person who originally registered your domain name and ask for the registrar’s login and password.  Go to the website that was used to create your company’s domain name and enter the registrar’s login and password to access your account.

Create a new password.  Change the contact info to your company’s contact info.  Avoid using an email address that includes your domain name.

3.  Make sure you own the keys to the car.

While you’re on good terms with your web designer, be sure to ask for:

• FTP login and password.  The FTP login and password lets you access the site and make changes to it.
• Backup the website on CD.  The backup will be handy when the site goes down or your web designer is no longer responsive.

4.  Safeguard the crown jewels.

Write down the new logins and passwords and file it someplace safe.

I know all of this may seem overwhelming but it is very important.  If you have any questions or need help anything, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.  We are here to serve!