Understand that protecting customers’ privacy is essential to maintaining and increasing sales and profits online.
Develop a privacy policy, post it on your web site, and live by your policy. For guidelines, visit three Web sites: www.privacyalliance.org, www.respectprivacy.com and www.privacyrights.org.
Put top-notch security systems in place to make sure that customer data is not lost, misused, altered or stolen.
Require that third parties with whom you deal provide similar data security.
Don’t provide personal information collected from customers to third parties unless you have explicit permission from the customers to do so.
Showing posts with label Web. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Web. Show all posts
Monday, September 6, 2010
5 Tips for Getting Noticed Online
Get your Web site listed on major search engines, such as Google or Yahoo! Two sites, Search Engine Watch at www.searchenginewatch.com and the Web Marketing Info Center at www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket, offer guidance.
Join a “banner exchange,” and trade advertising banners with other Web sites. Look under “banner exchange” on search engines.
Visit sites similar to or related to yours and offer to exchange links with them.
Write useful articles for other sites and include your Web address.
Get more online marketing help from such sites as www.zdnet.com/eweek/, workz.com and www.bcentral.com.
Join a “banner exchange,” and trade advertising banners with other Web sites. Look under “banner exchange” on search engines.
Visit sites similar to or related to yours and offer to exchange links with them.
Write useful articles for other sites and include your Web address.
Get more online marketing help from such sites as www.zdnet.com/eweek/, workz.com and www.bcentral.com.
5 Tips for Improving Your Web Site
Visit the sites of other companies to find out what you like and dislike. Do some sites seem to “work” while others don’t?
Decide what objectives you want your site to meet. Do you want it to be fun, funny, educational, “cool,” or all of those things?
Consider your corporate culture and your company image. Your site should support both.
Design or re-design the site to meet your objectives. Unless you have a real expert on staff, hire a consulting firm to do the job.
Get feedback. Ask customers how your site can be made more useful to them, and keep making improvements.
Decide what objectives you want your site to meet. Do you want it to be fun, funny, educational, “cool,” or all of those things?
Consider your corporate culture and your company image. Your site should support both.
Design or re-design the site to meet your objectives. Unless you have a real expert on staff, hire a consulting firm to do the job.
Get feedback. Ask customers how your site can be made more useful to them, and keep making improvements.
5 Tips for Making the Most of Bookmarking & Social Sharing Sites
Increase your business’ visibility by participating in popular online communities. Link Web site articles or blog entries to the most popular sites: Digg (http://www.digg.com), del.i.cio.us (http://www.delicious.com), and StumbleUpon (http://www.stumbleupon.com).
Use sites like del.i.cio.us to find like-minded people in the community who would be interested in your business. You can use tags, or bookmarks, to search other people’s content, and share your bookmarks with others in the community.
Create profiles in sites like Digg and StumbleUpon to create buzz for your Web site or blog so like-minded people in the community can find you through link sharing and link tagging.
Create links to the sites above in your toolbar for easy reference and submission.
Tag your Web pages with icons for bookmarks, so others can talk about and recommend your site.
Use sites like del.i.cio.us to find like-minded people in the community who would be interested in your business. You can use tags, or bookmarks, to search other people’s content, and share your bookmarks with others in the community.
Create profiles in sites like Digg and StumbleUpon to create buzz for your Web site or blog so like-minded people in the community can find you through link sharing and link tagging.
Create links to the sites above in your toolbar for easy reference and submission.
Tag your Web pages with icons for bookmarks, so others can talk about and recommend your site.
5 Tips on Running a Web Site
Find ways to attract customers. Link up with a variety of search engines so that when potential customers are searching for your product, they’ll find your company listed.
Make it easy for people to “navigate” your site. Hire a good Web site designer.
Help customers trust you. Provide information on the company’s history, mission, and values.
Enable customers to get in touch with you easily—via email, phone and regular mail—and respond promptly.
Provide top customer service along with the speed and good prices that technology offers. Think about how you will keep customers coming back.
Make it easy for people to “navigate” your site. Hire a good Web site designer.
Help customers trust you. Provide information on the company’s history, mission, and values.
Enable customers to get in touch with you easily—via email, phone and regular mail—and respond promptly.
Provide top customer service along with the speed and good prices that technology offers. Think about how you will keep customers coming back.
5 Tips for Taking Your Small Business Online
Your product line should be able to be delivered economically and conveniently through the mail or over the Internet.
The Web allows you to market to customers outside your geographical location. Your product should appeal to people nation-or-continent-wide.
Compare new “technology” costs to current bricks and mortar costs, e.g.: rent, labor, inventory and printing costs.
Realize that the World Wide Web levels the playing ground—you can look like a big company with a great Web site.
Draw visitors to your site cheaply. Establish and grow alliances that will hotlink to your site for free.
The Web allows you to market to customers outside your geographical location. Your product should appeal to people nation-or-continent-wide.
Compare new “technology” costs to current bricks and mortar costs, e.g.: rent, labor, inventory and printing costs.
Realize that the World Wide Web levels the playing ground—you can look like a big company with a great Web site.
Draw visitors to your site cheaply. Establish and grow alliances that will hotlink to your site for free.
5 Tips on Web Site Building and Web Stats
The most basic Web site services are free services. These services are easy to use, but limited in the amount of space and bandwidth. They typically also place advertisements on your site to offset their cost.
The next step up are services that charge a monthly fee. In exchange, you get a greater amount of space, bandwidth and no advertisements. All of the domain registrars like Network Solutions and Go Daddy offer Web development solutions.
The next option, building your own Web site, provides the most flexibility. You can either build your own or hire a consultant to do it for you. Once you have selected your domain registrar and hosting company (ISP), you can begin programming your new Web site. Tools like Microsoft Front Page or Macromedia Dreamweaver provide a familiar Windows front-end that automatically generates html code and allows you to click and drag items in order to create your Web site. Or, you can hire a Web design firm to do this for you.
Get bids for Web site development at www.elance.com. Simply post your requirements and wait for the bids to come in, or get estimates from firms in your city.
Analyze your Web traffic and track statistics. Google Analytics offers a free web analytic solution. StatCounter is a free package you access by logging in and copying code into your Web site. You can also buy an off-the-shelf package like Webtrends that is installed on the server and tracks critical stats like the number of visitors, highest ranked pages, etc. Many of the site builder tools mentioned earlier also provide options for tracking Web stats.
The next step up are services that charge a monthly fee. In exchange, you get a greater amount of space, bandwidth and no advertisements. All of the domain registrars like Network Solutions and Go Daddy offer Web development solutions.
The next option, building your own Web site, provides the most flexibility. You can either build your own or hire a consultant to do it for you. Once you have selected your domain registrar and hosting company (ISP), you can begin programming your new Web site. Tools like Microsoft Front Page or Macromedia Dreamweaver provide a familiar Windows front-end that automatically generates html code and allows you to click and drag items in order to create your Web site. Or, you can hire a Web design firm to do this for you.
Get bids for Web site development at www.elance.com. Simply post your requirements and wait for the bids to come in, or get estimates from firms in your city.
Analyze your Web traffic and track statistics. Google Analytics offers a free web analytic solution. StatCounter is a free package you access by logging in and copying code into your Web site. You can also buy an off-the-shelf package like Webtrends that is installed on the server and tracks critical stats like the number of visitors, highest ranked pages, etc. Many of the site builder tools mentioned earlier also provide options for tracking Web stats.
5 Tips to Brand You Online
Your name is everything. Register your name as a domain: firstlast@myowncompany.com, .biz and .mobi.
Sending an email to clients or colleagues? Be sure your email address is yourname@myowncompany.com. You are the brand.
Create a ZoomInfo directory, professional profile. This gives your name search engine visibility. It's easy, go to www.zoominfo.com.
Create a LinkedIn social networking profile. This gives your name search engine visibility. It's public, so only place info you want public. Visit www.linkedin.com.
Place your biography on your company Web site. This gets search engine results plus creates success by helping people know your firm.
Sending an email to clients or colleagues? Be sure your email address is yourname@myowncompany.com. You are the brand.
Create a ZoomInfo directory, professional profile. This gives your name search engine visibility. It's easy, go to www.zoominfo.com.
Create a LinkedIn social networking profile. This gives your name search engine visibility. It's public, so only place info you want public. Visit www.linkedin.com.
Place your biography on your company Web site. This gets search engine results plus creates success by helping people know your firm.
5 Tips to Protect Your Domain from Cybersquatting
What is Cybersquatting and who needs to worry about it? All small business owners who have or are working towards establishing a Web presence need to be concerned.
According to the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), cybersquatting is defined as “registering, trafficking in or using a domain name with the intent to profit in bad faith from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.” Here are some tips to avoid cybersquatting, and information on how to get help if you are the victim of it.
Make sure to trademark your company’s name, tag line and logo as soon as these have been established. Proof of trademark will be needed down the road if you run into a dispute about a domain. Visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office for more information on trademarks at http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm.
Get a domain name now, even if you have not formally incorporated or set up your business. Many cybersquatters buy domain names in bulk, so the quicker you can identify possible names you are interested in and register them, the better off you will be. If you plan to use your name in your business, be sure to get domains for that as well. Read 5 Tips for Domain Naming for more information on how to do this.
Purchase domains that are close to yours but could be a misspelling of your domain name. That way if someone types your company name incorrectly, they will still be directed to your site. In addition, you should purchase .biz, .net and .mobi extensions of your domain so if someone uses the wrong extension, they will still find your company.
Be sure to keep your domain registrations current. Most registrations expire within a couple of years, and once your registration has lapsed, your domain will be up for grabs. Stay on top of your registrations before it is too late.
If you think you have been a victim of cybersquatting, first try to contact whoever has registered the domain using “WHOIS Lookup” at whois.net. If you do not succeed in resolving the issue, you can file a suit with the ACPA, or you can initiate arbitration proceedings with the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). under the Uniform Domain Dispute Resolution Policy (UDNDRP). Find information about filing a complaint at the ICANN website.
According to the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), cybersquatting is defined as “registering, trafficking in or using a domain name with the intent to profit in bad faith from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.” Here are some tips to avoid cybersquatting, and information on how to get help if you are the victim of it.
Make sure to trademark your company’s name, tag line and logo as soon as these have been established. Proof of trademark will be needed down the road if you run into a dispute about a domain. Visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office for more information on trademarks at http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm.
Get a domain name now, even if you have not formally incorporated or set up your business. Many cybersquatters buy domain names in bulk, so the quicker you can identify possible names you are interested in and register them, the better off you will be. If you plan to use your name in your business, be sure to get domains for that as well. Read 5 Tips for Domain Naming for more information on how to do this.
Purchase domains that are close to yours but could be a misspelling of your domain name. That way if someone types your company name incorrectly, they will still be directed to your site. In addition, you should purchase .biz, .net and .mobi extensions of your domain so if someone uses the wrong extension, they will still find your company.
Be sure to keep your domain registrations current. Most registrations expire within a couple of years, and once your registration has lapsed, your domain will be up for grabs. Stay on top of your registrations before it is too late.
If you think you have been a victim of cybersquatting, first try to contact whoever has registered the domain using “WHOIS Lookup” at whois.net. If you do not succeed in resolving the issue, you can file a suit with the ACPA, or you can initiate arbitration proceedings with the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). under the Uniform Domain Dispute Resolution Policy (UDNDRP). Find information about filing a complaint at the ICANN website.
5 Tips to See If Your Web Site Is Up to Snuff
Simple, clear and fast—think of your homepage as a billboard. Tell them exactly what they need to know up front.
Leave plenty of white space around text. A simple font on a light background works best. Separate wide blocks of text into columns.
Sub-headings make for quick reading. Make sure pages are easily skimmed.
Let your best customers sing your praises. Display their testimonials prominently on your site.
After each update, click through your entire site. Mistakes or broken links will only send visitors away.
Leave plenty of white space around text. A simple font on a light background works best. Separate wide blocks of text into columns.
Sub-headings make for quick reading. Make sure pages are easily skimmed.
Let your best customers sing your praises. Display their testimonials prominently on your site.
After each update, click through your entire site. Mistakes or broken links will only send visitors away.
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