Small changes can significantly increase sales

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.

Ten insider secrets to making real money

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

Ten insider secrets to making real money

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

You worked really hard on your business. You mopped the floors, prepared a business plan, and hired top-notch people to help you grow it. You did everything you were supposed to do: got the perfect location, professional business cards, great signage and a decent-looking website. Sometimes you wonder if you are working too hard and if there is anything (anyone) out there who can make it easier on you.

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!