6 Tips To Save Money On An E-commerce Website

The title says it all this week. Read on for some tips that can save you hundreds of dollars when you have your E-Commerce shopping cart built.

Now these tips apply to people that are considering having a real bonafide shopping cart built. Not a web page with some PayPal buttons on it. We’re talking real E-Commerce ability here: credit card processing, inventory control, complete administration access, wholesale pricing, affiliate programs, real time shipping quotes, newsletter capability, 24 hr support, the works.

Tip 1: Hire Someone Who Actually knows What They Are Doing

This is not a joke. We get a handful of clients coming to us every year with these aborted abominations they call shopping carts and, of course,  they want us to fix them. My answer is usually to put their existing waste of money out of it’s misery and do another one from scratch the right way. This isn’t to get more money out of them, it’s because, in the world of web programming, fixing someone’s mistake usually takes more time than doing it from scratch the right way.

The problem for the business owner looking to get an E-Commerce site built is the fact that they are usually looking for a bargain (which is akin to using a coupon for cosmetic surgery) and they hire someone who doesn’t know what in the hell they are doing because there bid was the lowest. Why was it the lowest? Because they figured since the software is available for free online they would take your money, learn how to do it on your dime and everything will turn out right. Unfortunately, and ask your local web guy who really does know how to build E-Commerce site to verify this, there are plenty of “freelance web designers” that participate in this practice. And, yes, I did write that the software is available for free. You can download Zen Cart, OS Commerce and a slew of other open source shopping carts for free. As a matter of fact, these carts are sometimes included with your web hosting  tools. Go ahead you do-it-yourselfers. Knock yourselves out then call your web guy once you’ve been at it 50 hours and haven’t figured out how to change the color of your buttons yet.

The point is this. If you hire someone who has experience then the setup and programming won’t take as long. You are most likely going to be billed by the hour, so the less time it takes, the less money you spend. Ask to see a portfolio of shopping cart sites. Do they all look the same or are they different? Do they actually work? Does the designer give you excuses like, well it’s not quite done yet? Have they built more than one? Do they know how to set up credit card processing, PayPal, E Checks? Can they set up real time shipping quotes? If you wanted to set up an affiliate marketing program, could the cart handle it? These are just some of the questions any competent designer with E-Commerce experience should be able to answer. If they can’t, then call someone else.

Here’s a common example of something that happens all the time in the world of web design. A cheap business owner wants a cheap shopping cart. He gets three quotes. Two  for $100 per hour and $95 per hour from professional design firms and one for $50 per hour from some kid just out of college. He reads the three bids and has no clue as to what he’s reading. It’s all too technical so he goes for what he perceives as the better deal of $50 per hour. 40 hours and $2000 later his cart still isn’t quite working right. Instead of taking credit cards the proper way, the kid has convinced the business owner to just have the credit card numbers and orders emailed to him (believe me, this really does happen) since there is some sort of technical problem he can’t figure out with the cart. The business owner gets fed up with the kid and hires the $95 per hour design firm to fix the cart. They build him a new one from scratch (since the one the kid built is crap) that works perfectly in 15 hours for a total cost of $1425. Even if the kid got his cart working, did it really save the business owner anything?

Now, assuming you hire someone who’s competent, the rest will be up to you. If you deliver your materials to the designer all ready organized and set to go then you’ll shave hours off of the production time. If you are paying by the hour you need to make sure that the designer doesn’t have to sift through all your crap looking for what they need to set your cart up. Organization is the key to keeping production time down.

Tip 2: Put All Your Products Into a Spreadsheet

Every cart requires the same information so make sure you create a spreadsheet with all your products on it whether it’s 10 or 10,000. If your products are in Quickbooks or some other type of proprietary software you need to export it into a spreadsheet that anyone can open and read. At the very least have this information organized into columns:

• Product Name
• Keywords – no more than 10 words associated with the product
• Short Description – a one sentence description of the product
• Long Description – a full description of the product
• Image Name – the file name of the photo for this product
• Price

Now this is a bare minimum of the info actually required but just getting this stuff into a spreadsheet can save you hours upon hours depending on how many products you have. If any of your products have options (size, color, brand) you’ll want to list those too.

Tip 3: Organize Your Images

First, rename your images to what they are actually pictures of. Instead of “KDK00398834598627265347.jpg” rename it to “YellowHat.jpg”. When renaming images make sure to not use leave any spaces and only use letters and numbers. This will make it easier for the designers and the easier you make their job the quicker your stuff will get done. Also, deliver large versions of all your images to the designers. Let them resize your images for you. If they have Photoshop this can be very quickly. This way you’ll have high quality images on your site and the designer won’t have to take extra time working with tiny, junky images.

Tip 4: Have Your Shipping Info and Equations Ready

If you are going to be using real time shipping quotes have all your equations written out and ready to be handed over to the designers. DO NOT I repeat DO NOT just give some of the info and expect them to come up with your shipping rates for you. This can be a real time killer, especially if you have thousands of products with different rates for each. It’s your responsibility as the business owner to know what your shipping situation is. Have it ready to save money. Call the carriers you will be using and have them help you come up with your rates. They’ll do it for free, your web designer will bill you for it.

Tip 5: Create an Outline

Once you have all your products in the spreadsheet create an outline just like the ones you did back in grade school. See, you should have paid more attention in writing class. Anyway, organize your products into categories, sub-categories and sub-sub-categories. Make sure that every product, category, option and sub category is accounted for and organized. This is another time killer if not presented to the designer in a clear organized manner.

Tip 6: Use a Skin

Another money saver is to use a skin for the design of your site. Most of the top line shopping cart software has these things called skins available for them. Skins are basically design templates that can be added with the click of a button to make your E-Commerce website look more professional. Now, any designer can customize your site for you but that can be expensive considering that most carts require PHP, ColdFusion or ASP programming skills to customize the look. Your won’t be able to just hire the kid down the street at $10 per hour to do it. A skin can be added to a cart and modified much quicker and cheaper than having a design custom built. Most quality skins cost money but they are also way less than hiring a designer to do the same thing.

There are many, many other things that need to be done when putting together an E-Commerce site like setting up the server, database , SSL certificate, photography, home page content, email set up, affiliate programs, wholesale programs and more but if you at least follow these six tips then you should be able to save yourself some production time. Again, the most important thing is to hire someone who is competent. That decision alone could save you thousands of dollars in production costs.

Well, smart guy. How long should it take?

I’ve received some feedback since posting this that I’d like to address and that’s how long it should really take to build a cart. Now this varies depending on a variety of factors. But, unlike websites, shopping carts are software programs that really only need to be loaded, set up and then customized. Whether it’s 10 or 10,000 items the amount of time to set up won’t vary much if the information is presented to the designer the way they require since they will most likely upload a spreadsheet to populate the cart and run batch image processing to resize the images used. Now, yes, 10,000 items will take a little longer than 10 but not as long as you may think. Customization is where the real time is spent. But back to the question, how long should it take? I know some solid designers than can have skinned carts with hundreds of items up within 7 hours from beginning to end if they get the materials sent to them the way they require. That includes server, database and SSL set up. Now in your area you may have designers who are faster and some who are slower but I can only speak from what I have personally seen.

Jayme Ward is owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet consulting firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida

Using Video To Promote Your Business Online

“What would it take to add video to my web site?”,  is a question I am often asked. This question is usually followed by, “…and what would it cost?”.

Whenever I am asked how much a video will cost I think back to my first job at a video production studio. Ah, back in the days of flat top fades and New Jack Swing. Back then I remember the boss drilling the sales reps with the same mantra over and over, “If they ask you how much it will cost, then they can’t afford it.” Then he would always follow with, “We’re not about saving them money, we’re about doing the job right and making them money.” This is something I try to impress on anyone who is serious about adding video to their marketing tools. Video really only has two options, the cheap way and the right way. If you think this blog is going to teach you how to get a professional video done on a tight budget then don’t waste your time reading any further. I’m going to cover PROFESSIONAL video marketing solutions. If want to do it on the “cheap” then hire your brother-in-law that fancies himself as a video expert because he shot a couple weddings and birthday parties. That way, if your intent on just pissing your money away, at the very least, you’ll be helping out a member of your family.

The issue is that most small business clients (now that I think about it, large ones too) don’t really have a clue as to what goes into video production, the cost involved or even how they would use a video for promotion in the first place. Most just think that it would be cool to have one because, well… there just cool. 5-7  years ago most small business owners wouldn’t even consider video because of the production costs as well as the type of financial commitment a TV campaign would run them. Well, software advancements and the Internet have brought video production into the realm of reality for many small businesses. Or they think it has.

Now video production has come down in price a whole bunch the last few years. The Internet has made video delivery extremely cost effective but the fact is, as a business owner, you need to be educated as to what is available and effective for your business and image. An awesome video is still no good if no one sees it or remembers what the video is promoting. Video is still one of the most, if not the most, effective forms of advertising available to any business today. And with viral marketing techniques you can get more millage out of posting a video online than you could just by running ads on local TV.

I’m not going to cover how much you should be paying for custom professional video production because prices vary depending on where you are. For the same quality of video, a company in New York, NY may charge $40,000 where as a company in Cocoa Beach, FL may charge $10,000 for the exact same thing. I will, however, give you this advice on how to save a little money. If you are in a large city sometimes it may be more cost effective to bring a video crew in from a smaller area. I’ve seen rates fluctuate from $350 per hour to $75 per hour for the exact same service with the exact same equipment run by a producer with the exact same experience. Do your homework, hire a consultant or hire an independent executive producer that’s not affiliated with any production house to handle bidding out the project on your behalf. The cost of bringing in an outside crew, consultant or producer can almost always be offset by how much they can save you in production cost. Remember, these people know a whole hell of a lot more than you do when it comes to producing a video and where money can be saved without ruining the quality.

What I am going to cover is some of the more popular uses of video for business. Some are more effective than others and some are very popular but not really as effective.

The Video Walk On

One of the more popular (at least from all the people I run into selling this service at networking events) uses of video is the Video Walk On. These can be produced for as little as $300 and involve a spokesperson (sometimes professional other times not so much) walking out onto your web site and greeting visitors. They sometimes mention your promotions or specials and usually ask for some type of call to action: Call now, Click this link for more info,  and so on. Many also have some sort of monthly fee for using the service that can run anywhere from $35 a month and up.

The lower cost ones usually involve a template where your business name, contact info and call to action are plugged into a pre-written script. Now these scripts are usually very generic so that they can be used over and over for multiple businesses.  That’s how the production companies keep the cost down. You will usually not have very much say in the format but some companies will customize the video for you at additional cost. The thing to look out for is that the additional cost may be a whole lot more than the advertised price which made you consider this option in the first place.

The more expensive ones usually use scripts that are custom written for your business. They will normally have someone work with you to come up with an effective message. They also usually have more professional spokespeople as well as a larger selection of them. The cost for the higher end Video Walk Ons usually run $1500 and up give or take depending on the part of the country you’re in.

Are Video Walk Ons actually effective? Will they increase sales or leads? Will they increase traffic to your site? Will your search engine ranking go up? I’ll start by answering the last two questions first. No and no. If a sales rep tells you anything other, then they have no clue as to how the Internet works. From a technical standpoint, adding a Video Walk On to your web site will not increase search engine ranking or traffic. Most video nowadays is delivered online using Flash and Flash is not recognized by the algorithms that the search engines use. No matter how cool it looks. Now you may be wondering why in the hell then can you search for a video online and find it or how do YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, AOL Video, Vimeo and all the videos from those types of sites come up in search results. It’s simple, they are using a totally different kind of video delivery system than a Video Walk On does. Will they at least increase sales or leads? The answer is a resounding maybe. It really depends on the type of business you have as well as the product or service you are offering. Why do it then you may ask yourself? It’s all about image baby. If you want to add something to your web site that “pops” then a Video Walk On may be for you. If you want to differentiate yourself from the competition then this might a tool that can help you do so.  Don’t kid yourself thinking that adding this type of thing will drastically increase sales or your bottom line, it’s more for image. But, sometimes, a memorable image may be just what you need to separate yourself from all the other glut on the Internet.

The Template Video

Another low cost marketing tool is the Template Video. This is similar to the Video Walk On in that the script is a template where your companies unique info is plugged into an existing video shell. The difference is that these usually involve a voice over person as opposed to a spokesperson that appears on camera. These type of videos typically use stock video footage and have sections where your logo and message can be easily entered in by the production company. These retail anywhere from $250 and up to produce and usually have a monthly fee attached. The major issue with these types of videos is the fact that they are a template. Your message may not get across exactly as you intend it to but that’s why they are inexpensive. You’re not paying for a solid marketing piece, your paying for a cheap video. The benefit to having this kind of video made is that it’s cheap and at least you’ll have something  to post on YouTube and all the other video distribution sites as well as on your own web site. You can also post it to your blog and if it’s fits into the size constraints your Facebook page as well. You can get a lot of mileage out of one of these as long as your agreement with the production company allows you  to do so. Be careful though! When getting one of these Template Videos you need to make sure that you have complete control over where it can be posted. Some companies will charge you a “distribution fee” if you post it anywhere other than your web site.

Viral Video Campaigns

Viral Videos could also be called Stupid S#!t That People Post Online That Other People Get a Kick Out Of For Some Unknown Reason.

Star Wars Kid, Numa Numa, Dick in a Box and the celebrity filled I’m F*@ing Ben Afflek are just a few examples of successful Viral Videos. These are videos that became extremely popular by people sharing them with each other. Many companies hear of the success of these types of videos and try to replicate that success for themselves. They figure that if some dork with a web cam can get a million views acting like a retard then with all their marketing might they can to. The challenge is producing a video that is not only entertaining enough to stand out from all the dumb crap and make people want to share it but to also produce one that actually promotes your company or brand effectively. Oh, and does it within your companies image guidelines. That’s where most corporate image types show their ignorance regarding the Internet and what kind of videos people actually LIKE to watch and share.

Viral Videos for business need to be entertaining. Your video will competing for face time with dorks, losers, sluts, farting, testicle shots, monkeys, sociopaths and a few individuals with a little talent who all probably know more about what people want to watch and share online than you and your marketing co-horts combined. If you want to keep your video professional, corporate and bland then advertise on TV or on the video sign at your local mall. If you want people to share it with the world, talk about it and have it seen by a large audience then make it funny, sexy or extremely weird.  Check out some examples of successful corporate Viral Videos. Here’s one for Guinness Beer and one for the launch of the PS3. Note – the PS3 spot debuted on TV with an extremely limited run but gained a following online when people started searching  for “the weird Play Station baby commercial”. Consumers actually went out of their way looking for the ad. That’s marketing.

Now producing a successful Viral Video campaign can be a little more challenging than you may think and obviously I won’t be covering ever aspect in this article. Most business owners I have spoken with seem to think that throwing something together and posting it on YouTube is all they need to do and it’s a little more involved than that. For starters, you need to plan the campaign out. If you have the budget, produce more than one spot. The reason why is that if you put all your eggs into one basket and it doesn’t catch on then your money could be wasted. Produce a series of spots and post them over a period of time.You also want to submit your video to more than just YouTube. Believe it or not, YouTube isn’t the be all and end all of sharing video on the Internet. There are also Google Video, Yahoo Video, AOL Video, Vimeo and a whole slew of others. Sign up with as many as you can handle and submit to all of them or pay someone to do it for you. Post your video on your blog, web site and social networking sites. Your goal is to get it seen by as many people as possible so that, hopefully, it will catch on and be shared with the world. Like I stated before, the challenge for a business owner is the fact that your video will be competing for attention with lightsaber guys, strange pets, dudes getting hit in the nuts, half naked women, weird looking babies, MILFs, Club Penguin videos, Justin Timberlake, SNL shorts, drunk people, monkeys being monkeys and other viral marketing campaigns with serious scratch and talent behind them. You need to understand the world your delving into when it comes to Viral Video Marketing. It’s not the same as advertising on TV. Not by a long shot.

Video Podcasting

Video Podcasting is similar to Blogging  in that it’s something you’ll need to do on a regular basis in order for it to be effective. What is it? Basically, it’s producing a series of short videos in which you enlighten the world with your knowledge or observations on whatever subject floats your boat (preferably, expertise in your profession). Now this honestly doesn’t translate well to every single business out there, but for the ones it does, Video Podcasting can be a powerful promotional tool. People get to see you, hear you and become comfortable with you without ever having met you. You can show off the expertise in your field and start branding yourself as an expert whether you really are or not. You tell people your an expert enough times they’ll start buying it.

Now, don’t worry. If you decide to  give Video Podcasting a try but are worried about scheduling time every week to tape and edit your segments I’ll give you an industry hint. Film them all in one day, get them all edited and then release them on a regular basis. I usually suggest filming 13 at a time. That way you have enough for one a week for a quarter of the year. 6-7 weeks into your campaign tape your next 13 and so on. Consistency is key to gaining viewers.

You can then upload your Video Pod Casts to all the previously mentioned video sites, social networks and your blogs but you’ll also want to submit it to Podcasting sites like iTunes, videopodcasts.tv, video.podcast.com, podcastalley.com and tons of others. The more places you post it, the better chance of people seeing it and subscribing.

What About a Normal Old Fashioned Marketing Video?

Let me start out by saying that putting a normal, old fashioned marketing video only on your web site  is a horrendous waste of the Internet’s capability. But if you’re too lazy to post it everywhere or too cheap to pay someone to do it for you here’s what you should do to get the most out of it. At the very least, add a social networking widget like Add This to the page the video is on so that the 6 people who actually see it can share it with others. I’d also make sure that you include video taped testimonials. Video testimonials are powerful marketing tools that really should be included in any video campaign. And don’t just rehash the information that already on your web site. It’s video for goodness sake. Take advantage of it’s capabilities. Video is one of most powerful marketing tools around so use it to it’s fullest extent.

Like I stated before, video has come down a ton in cost the last  few years but it is still a higher end marketing solution. Make sure to plan properly and give the production company enough time, and enough of a budget, to come with something that shows your company in the best light possible. Video can make your company look bigger and better than it is but it can also make you look like a cheap douche bag.  The end product will be a result of your choices so choose wisely.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.

How a Blog Can Generate Your Business Money

If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense.

What’s the point of doing a blog for your business if it doesn’t eventually put money into your pocket? Seriously, blogging is time consuming and as a business owner your time is valuable. If you normally bill out at a rate of $200 per hour for your time and you spend 2 hours during the work week blogging you eventually want to get your $400 bucks back right? Of course you do. After all, you didn’t get into business to give out free advice to strangers online. You got into business to make money. But the question is, how does blogging for your business actually turn into real money?

Now the metrics and process of turning a blog reader into a customer can probably be analyzed and interpreted a zillion different ways so I’m going to do it in as simplified a manner as possible. I’ll be using the most likely scenarios. And just so you know, I’m not just pulling these scenarios out of my a$$. These have either happened to me, one of my clients or a colleague.

Here are a couple of scenarios that should paint you a picture of how a business blog could actually generate you money.

The Do-It-Yourself Guy

A D0-It-Yourselfer searches online for advice on how to (insert your service here). They find some of your blog postings and read them. They take your advice and successfully complete their project. Months later they have another project that is a little over their head. They go the bookmark of your blog and try to find answers but can’t find any or realize that they need more help, supplies or whatever. They remember reading that you are in their area and give you a call because of how your previous post helped them out. You then turn them into a client.

The Search Engines

A potential customer searches online for a service they need and that you provide. Your blog postings are all over the search results (FYI – your blog postings may show up faster, higher and more often than your actual web site pages do). They read your blog posting and like what you have to say or just straight up click on the link to your web site, contact you, and become a customer.

The Referral

Someone on the other side of the country whom you’ve never met becomes a regular reader of your blog and likes the advice you give. They end up connecting with you through social media and you begin corresponding with them on a semi-regular basis. Someone they know, that lives in your area, needs your product or service and they refer that person to you. That referral becomes your client.

The Colleague

You regularly post your blog updates to your various social networking groups and by doing so your online colleagues realize that you really do know your stuff. One of them eventually needs your assistance on a project, contacts you and becomes a client.

Your Blog Blows Up

Your blog blows up generating hundreds of thousands of readers a month. At that point you start making money by selling advertising on your blog.

The Facebook Friend

One of your Facebook friends has been following your blog postings on Facebook. They don’t really do much online other than check email and post junk on Facebook (or MySpace). They never would have ever even known about your blog if it wasn’t for Facebook but they’ve been following it and when the time comes around for them to use you service they give you a call.

Over All Branding

Someone needs your service. They recall your business but can’t put a finger on where they heard about you. Was it your web site, blog, business card, flyer or are you the person they were following on Twitter? The point is, they remember you from something. It may not be any one particular thing you do that generates a new client but it may be a culmination of many things that gets them to walk through your door.

Basically, what it all boils down to is the fact that your blog can show off your expertise in whatever area you are an expert in. You can get into more depth and tackle more offbeat subjects that you would on your web site. Potential clients and colleagues can get to know your take on various things without being sold to or without having ever met you. This will help them formulate their opinion of you and your abilities in a non sales related environment. Now most of the people that read your blog will never become clients or refer you any business but you are betting that some (no matter how few) will. And you are also banking on the hope that maybe one of those few will become a regular client or refer you even more business. And maybe one of those referrals becomes your top referral source or #1 customer in terms of income.

The fact is this, blogging is free and the economy sucks right now. You spend whatever amount of you think it’s worth and stick with it. Make sure you track the results and analyze them with a specialist or your marketing team. Your ROI on a business blog may not be crystal clear for a very long time. This is a very soft form of marketing and there are a variety of other factors that can play into your success.

I’ll leave you with this. A business blog won’t hurt. Some businesses will get more out of blogging than others. As your only be-all-end-all online marketing tool it’s probably a waste of your time. As part of a larger online strategy a blog can be a powerful tool that actually puts money into your pocket.

Read Part 1 How to Blog for Business

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.

How to Blog for Business

To start out, I’m not going to waste your time explaining what a blog is. You’re reading one right now. Look at it, examine it, feel it, taste it. But if you still don’t know then you can read a very thorough, long and boring explanation here on Wikipedia and then come back here to read the rest.

This is all about getting people (potential clients) to actually read it. It’s one thing to post your ramblings online, but it’s an entirely different thing to get people to be able find your musings with all the crap that’s on the Internet and to have them actually care about what you are writing. So let’s jump right into this.

Be prepared to do it on a regular basis.

I would suggest giving this a shot for at least six months on a weekly basis. Now, this is not really how blogs are designed to work. Their purpose is  to actually be updated regularly throughout the day but if you’re employed then that can be a little tricky. Now it would be preferable to be able to update your blog daily or even bi-weekly but hell, I don’t even do that, so just start with weekly posts and then move on from there.

Be consistent.

Select a day of the week as well as a time of day to post and keep that schedule throughout. This is actually very important. Consistency will keep people coming back and hopefully create anticipation among current readers.

Write about something people will actually care about.

Now this is geared to business blogging. There are some personal blogs out there where people write about whatever the hell pops into their heads and some people actually read their crap but you are doing this for business. Since you are doing this for business purposes then show your expertise by giving advice or offering your opinions on industry trends. Just make sure you have enough content for at least 26 postings if you’re planning on doing this weekly for 6 months. (My math is right isn’t it?)

Don’t post advertisements for your business.

Give people actual information they can use. People won’t ever come back if all you do is post 5 paragraph ads for your business. Try to make it informative and a little bit entertaining.

Do post a link to your web site, Facebook page, Twitter page, Linked In page or something.

At the end of each post it is common practice to post your digital signature. Such as the one I have at the bottom of this post. Your name, title, company and a link or two are usually alright. This way, if someone is interested they can read more about you, start following you, friend you or whatever.

Make sure you completely fill out your profile.

If you sign up for one of the free blogs like WordPress or Blogger make sure you don’t just blow through the sign up process skipping every step. Completely fill out your profile. Get as much information about you and your business out there as you can. Being that you won’t be using your blog postings to sell, your profile can be used to fill people in on your business and what you have to offer.

Ping it.

Once you make your postings you need to let the blog services on the Internet know that your blog has been updated. This is called “pinging”. Now some of the blog hosting web sites do this automatically and some require that you type in some urls to do this. There are also web sites like Ping-O-Matic that do this for you. This can be a little technical for some but is an important part of letting everyone know that your blog has been updated.

Digg it.

Digg.com has a blog submit form where you can submit new blog postings to their site. You have to be a member to do this, but don’t worry it’s free. Now your blog posting will zip through their index at the speed of light but it is worth the 20 seconds it takes doing this. Now Digg.com also has a variety of features you can use to increase the exposure but that is another topic for another day. (If anyone reading this has written an article on using Digg.com feel free to comment and I’ll amend this post with your link right here in the article.)

Bookmark it.

Technorati , Delicious and a slew of other bookmarking sites are out there for you to promote your blog postings. These are similar to the previously mentioned Digg. They are basically ways for people to share links with each other. Now these bookmarking sites are like social networking sites so just signing up and posting stuff to no one won’t do you any good. You’ll need to be active in their different communities and such to build your contacts that share links with you. But again, that’s another topic for another day.

Add your blog to your other social networking sites.

If you’re signed up other social networking sites like Facebook or Linked In I have good news for you. They have widgets built in that allow you to have your blog postings appear in your profile. Other social networking sites have similar features, you will probably have to look into their various “Other Features”, “Plug Ins” or “Widgets” sections to find them but if you have the ability to do so then do it.

Add a social networking widget to your blog.

A social networkling widget is a little plug in that allows people to share your blog with others. An example of one is Add This. Now this will go on your actual blog web site. Depending on which blog you are using and if you using the blog’s server or hosting it yourself adding this can be as easy as a click of a button or you may need to have your web or IT guy help you. It’s something you want to do either way.

Twitter it (but be careful).

Using Twitter or any other micro blog to promote a new blog entry is a good way of promoting your stuff but be careful. Excessive self serving postings on micro blogs like Twitter can also make you look like a tool or come awful close to spamming. Make sure your micro blog postings don’t all read “New blog posting…” over and over again. Throw in some other stuff too… but alas, I’ve gone over using Twitter to spam already in a previous post.

Announce your new blog postings in your newsletter.

If you have an online newsletter announce your blog postings in it. Post the first few sentences or a brief summary with a link to your blog.

Announce your new postings in any online groups you are part of.

Now this one you also need to be careful with. This is also where posting general information that people actually would care about helps you. Many online groups will allow you to post links to articles and such that the group may find interesting. This is a great place to promote your blog postings but be careful as to not piss everyone off by becoming spammy. Many users look at online groups as places to spam the hell out of people and posting your blog updates may be looked upon as spam. If you are unsure, make sure to check with your administrators before blasting out links to your blog. And if you ARE allowed to do so then only announce your updates once. Don’t resubmit every hour on the hour. That is spamming. If it doesn’t catch on like wild fire with one announcement then tough, try again on your next update.

Post comments in other people’s blogs.

Read other blogs that cover similar topics. If your blog posting relates to something you read in someone elses blog posting then comment on it and include a link to your blog. They may, or may not, include your comment but if they do it’s more promotion for your blog.

Add a link to your blog on all your web sites.

If you have a web site for your business you need to add a link to your blog and have your blog link back to your web site. You also need to add a link to your blog in all your profiles on any any social networking sites you are signed up for.

Now, how does all this generate actual business?

Click here to read about some of the ways a business blog can turn into actual money in your pocket.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.

Why Your Web Site Isn’t Working

Oh, why does your web site suck so?

Two of the top questions I am often asked is , “Why isn’t my web site working?” and “What’s wrong with my web site?”. Luckily, for all of you reading this,  the answer to these questions usually revolve around the same set of issues so I can go ahead and answer them for you now without even looking at your stuff or billing you for the time. Think of this as a free Viagra for the Web sample from Digi Donkey. Just a little something to get your junk working again.

Before I begin we need to lay some parameters and define what “not working” actually refers to. For most people it means, “I dropped some serious cabbage on this piece of sh!t and it hasn’t produced any results. Either the phone isn’t ringing, people aren’t buying your stuff or no one is filling out your 20 item questionnaire.

You’ll notice that I left out, “People aren’t even visiting in the first place.”  The reason why is that most people who come to me don’t even have a clue as to how many visitors their web site is getting in the first place. There are business owners that will drop thousands of dollars on a web site yet don’t track the results. This isn’t TV, radio or print where you have to guess. Web site traffic can be tracked a variety of different ways and a good start would be to have your web person sign you up for a free Google Analytics account and begin tracking your traffic. You really can’t take an educated stab at fixing something if you don’t have a clue what is wrong and studying your traffic is a good start. Are you getting visitors? If so, are you losing them within 10 seconds of landing on your page? Are they clicking around but not calling? Are they clicking around but not buying?

To keep it simple, as well as give me another topic for another day, we’ll assume you’re getting traffic but not converting it into business. Here are some of most common issues with business web sites that prevent them from turning visitors into customers.

Your web site just plain sucks.

The design just doesn’t work for what you are trying to represent. This usually due to fact that you had your brother, his friend, an engineer, yourself, a douche-bag or whatever design your site for you. With all of the competition nowadays you have to have a professional looking  presence online if you want to be taken seriously.

Your contact form is way too f*cking  long.

This happens to a lot of people. They want to know ever damn thing about the person, usually to pre-qualify them. Now why in hell would someone want to spend 20 minutes filling out your form? You need to simplify. A good rule of thumb is ask for their name, email and phone number. Don’t ask for their entire life history. Keep it simple and the chances of them filling it out will increase. Remember, they don’t know you and they have no idea what you’re actually going to do with the personal information they put in. Again, keep it simple and some thing else you can do to increase form submissions is to…

Give them something for filling out your form.

Give them a reason to fill out your form other than the knowledge that they will have you calling them to follow up. Give them 10% off if they purchase or enter everyone who fills out the form into a drawing for a gift card to a restaurant chain. Just give them something. You’ll be surprised how many people will fill out an online form if they get something out of it besides your wonderful services.

Have a call to action on every page.

Your web site needs to have a purpose and if you’re not selling products right on the site then your purpose is most likely to generate leads. To do that you need a way to find out who is interested in your stuff and they need a way to let you know. You do that with a call to action. “Call now”, “Sign Up Now” or “Enter Now” are some good ones. Tell the visitors what you want them to do and make sure the phone number, email address or contact form is easily seen on every page. If you are trying to generate business from other states get yourself a toll free number so they don’t have to pay the toll charges. Make it easy for them and the chances of them contacting you will increase.

Start a free newsletter.

Some visitors may not be ready to use your services when they visit your site the first time. They may be pre-planning, price shopping or something else. A good way to stay in touch is by having them sign up for a free newsletter. Make it simple by only asking for name and email. Hell, you actually only need the email address. Then give them something for signing up like coupons available only to subscribers or entry into a monthly drawing like I mentioned earlier. Then you can keep marketing to them on a regular basis through the newsletter.

Get rid of all the damn Flash animation.

Flash looks cool and it can give your site a visual edge if done right. It hurts though if the damn thing takes too long to load. If someone has to wait for your site to load, the chances of them bailing out increases dramatically.

Suck it up and hire a real photographer to take pictures of your products (especially food).

Now when I say hire a real photographer I mean someone you actually have to pay that makes a living taking photos. Not your sister-in-law with the expensive camera. If you are selling stuff online through your own web site a good clear photo could be the difference between them buying or bolting. This is especially true when dealing with food. For the most part, food looks like sh!t when not photographed by a professional. You may actually turn people off when you take your own poorly lit, pasty, blurry ass pictures.

Don’t give away the cow man.

Some people give away too much information on their web site. They are so thorough that consumers have no reason to contact them. They can make their decision right then and there. This is fine on an E-Commerce site but if you are trying to generate leads, only give them enough info to peak their interest. That way they have to contact you to get the rest of the info and you can work your sales magic on them. That’s the point right – to have them contact you. So scale it back a little. You’d be surprised how many people increased the effectiveness of their web sites just by cutting the information down to a minimum.

Be honest with youself about your product or service.

This is the one most people have a hard time dealing with. Does your product or service just plain suck? Is there really a demand for it or did you get sucked into some sort of scam. Now, I’m not speaking to real businesses, I’m speaking about get rich online schemes. If you have already dropped a ton of scratch I sympathize with you but no amount of web design, Flash, video, SEO or masterful online marketing is going to help if the public looks at your stuff as crap or as a scam. You need to get an objective opinion before sinking a ton of money into marketing something that possibly no one wants.

Now I didn’t cover everything that could be wrong but, like I stated before, these are the most common issues I have run into. Talk to your web designer about correcting these issues and if they won’t help hire someone who will.

Jayme Ward is the owner of Digi Donkey an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida.

Beware of “SEO Experts” unless you enjoy pissing money away.

This is a warning to all business owners that don’t know anything about the Internet other than that it is were you get your email and porn from.

Self-titled Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Experts are popping up all over the place like Snake Oil Salesmen in the days of Wyatt Earp. These guys will try to sell you on the fact that you NEED to be on the first page of Google and if you’re not, you’ve wasted all your money and could be out of business within the year since you will NEVER be found without their services.

These guys and gals will use their mystic skills of OPTIMIZATION to make your website look more attractive to Google and the other search engines in order for your website to show up on top of every other person’s website when someone searches for your products or services.

Even better yet, if you sign up for a long term monthly Optimization Service Schedule, they will keep your website on top for as long you keep cutting them a check.

Some will even, for a moderate (or extremely large) monthly fee,  let YOU do your OWN website optimization with their special high-tech, mystical website optimization software.

I ‘ve even heard that with some of these magical services, little elves will come out at night while you’re sleeping and fix your shoes.

Every Self Proclaimed SEO Expert Should Be Livid By This Point

Obviously, this article is not being written for people in the biz, it is straight advice for business owners that don’t know anything about this stuff. I’ll try not  to get too technical and I will definitely try to keep it moving since explaining SEO to someone who doesn’t have a clue is about as entertaining as having to sit through The Notebook with my wife and daughters.

To start out, there are legit companies out there that will help your search engine ranking increase. There are proven practices that actually work. But, there are also a ton of a-hole, scum bags out there that talk a good game and then will proceed to screw you out of every cent you have with minimal (if you are lucky) or zero results. The problem most of you small business owners will encounter is that you have no idea how to differentiate between the pros and jerk-offs. So later on I’m going to give you a list of things to look out for when researching SEO companies.

What in the Hell is SEO and Why Do I Care?

If you’ve made is this far and still have no friggin idea what in the hell I’m writing about here is an explanation from Winkipedia and since everything on Winkipedia is true well accept  this as the truth.

‘Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it “ranks,” the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.’

There you go, very technical, nerdy and thorough. Very thorough. (Just a side note, whenever I can drop a reference from The Big Lebowski into an article I will, see if you can find them in future stuff.)

Hey Man Don’t Drink the Kool Aid

Shhhhh – I have a secret – just don’t let anyone in the SEO business hear us.  Having your website appear on the first page of a Google search isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There you go. I said it, even though I’ll probably lose my key to the executive bathroom now.

Don’t let fear based marketing convince you that you need to be on the first page of a search engine result. Would it be nice? Of course it would. Will it help with people being able to find you online. In theory it should, but there are plenty of other ways your website can be found online beyond just search engines. I know the owners of several online companies with tore-up, non-validating, piece of sh!t websites that do plenty of business. They get their traffic through pay-per-click, social networking, You Tube videos and other viral marketing techniques. They could care less about search engine placement because their particular metrics show that the money they would have to spend to “optimize” their crappy websites isn’t worth the cost to get an extra 10, 20 or whatever visitors they could possibly gain per month. Search engine placement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and if you have a limited budget I suggest looking into other options as well as SEO and then weigh the benefits-to-cost for your particular business. Proper SEO should be part of an overall Internet strategy but not the sole thing you drop all your money into.

Things About SEO For The Small Business Owner, That If You Know Them,  You’re Chances Of Getting Screwed Dramatically Decrease List

• Take responsibility: just like real life, if you get screwed it’s usually your own damn fault. You can’t blame it on being drunk or, in this case, uninformed.
• Educate yourself: If you don’t know anything about computers or the Internet then talk to someone who does. How can you go through all the bids and make an informed decision if you don’t have any idea what you’re reading.
• Don’t let the guy trying to sell you his service be your only source of information: If you don’t know anything about this stuff and you let the guy trying to sell you his SEO services educate you on SEO then you’re an idiot. Get a second, third, fourth or fifth opinion.
• Search for SEO info on the Internet: It’s free info and will maybe shine some light on the topic for you.
• Ask the person trying to sell you the SEO service to explain exactly what it is they will be doing: If they can’t answer the question in plain English (or whatever language you speak) without getting overly technical and nerdy (so you can understand it) then run for the hills.  Many of the guys  out there that aren’t legit don’t even understand the service they are trying to sell.
• Do a search for “SEO Experts” in the various search engines: Is the dude trying to sell you his services  #1 in Google, Yahoo and MSN. If not, ask them how they can make your website #1 (if that is what they are promising) if they can’t even do it for themselves. (All you people in the biz still reading this are probably cringing by this last statement but some of you will actually get the point I am making).
• If an SEO Expert  promises you a #1 ranking in Google, Yahoo or any other search engine they are full of sh!t: Search engine placement can’t be guaranteed. No questions asked. If they guarantee it, they are full of crap and don’t use them.
• If youz don’t know, youz betta ax somebody (hire a consultant): Now I am a consultant so I understand that comes across as self serving since I’m writing this. But I’m not asking you to hire me.  Again, if you don’t anything about his stuff and are about to drop some serious coin,  then hire someone who knows more about it than you. Having someone on your team that is looking out for your best interests in these manners could save you thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of dollars in decisions regarding SEO and Internet marketing.
• Make the person selling you the service show you, oh let’s say, 20 different examples of websites they have maneuvered to the first page of Google, Yahoo and MSN: Now this is sort of a “dick move” to do to someone but (especially if they are guaranteeing results) in theory, every client they have ever worked with should be on the first page of every relevant search result. The point, again, is that this stuff can’t be guaranteed.
• In some cases, proper SEO won’t do a damn thing to your placement: There is always a chance that your website is already coming up as high as it will for certain search terms. You could have the #1 SEO expert in the world personally work on your site and it may not do jack sh!t.  Because of your competition, area and other factors your site may already be performing as well as it can. In some searches showing up on page 4 may be as high as you’ll ever go. That’s why you shouldn’t put all your eggs into the SEO basket. Sometimes this SEO stuff just won’t work the way you want it to or give you the results you are hoping for no matter what anyone tells you.

There you go. Now did I cover every possible question you should ask? No, but hopefully this should at least get you to start questioning all these so called experts. Like I stated above, there are good legit people out there that can help your website perform to it’s potential. Educate yourselves. Do you really need SEO service or could you be better served with a different Internet strategy? Just make sure that you ask questions and challenge anyone that promises results that seem too good to be true.

About the Author

Jayme Ward owns Digi Donkey, an Internet Consulting Firm located in Historic Cocoa Village, Florida. You think this blog is something you should hear him speak. He can be contacted at info@digidonkey.com

Are You Twitting or Spamming?

Spamming Sucks And So Do the Spammers That Spam

Right now social networking sites like Facebook and tools like Twitter are in their infancy. It’s like the Internet back in the days of midi music, animated fire and dancing hamsters. No ads, no spam and the only thing you had to pay for was porn.

Then something happened. An presence started making it’s way into people’s favorite websites. “Your computer is too slow click here to fix it.” And you’d click it (back in the day we didn’t know any better) only to end up on a page trying to sell you some crap.

Then came the free browsers with all the ads loaded right into your start up page. How nice was that? Waiting 2 minutes for your pages to load because of all the ads was great wasn’t it.

Then the spammers discovered email and, well we all know how that turned out.

Now they have a new tool at their pudgy Cheeto-powdered finger tips. Social Networks.

The problem is that the spammers aren’t the normal ones holed up in rooms full of servers with dynamic ip addresses staying one step ahead of the Internet police. No, these new spammers are advertising agencies, marketing managers, Internet consultants, sales people, web designers and the “so called”  Social Networking Experts who don’t get what social networking is all about.

Loss of Innocence

Look at the social networks like an innocent girl from the Midwest rolling into college at a major university for the first time. New to the scene, innocent and looking to make a good impression in her new environment.  She goes out to some parties with her new group of friends and some of the guys start getting a little grab assy with her. Now she doesn’t want to be a downer so she let’s the guy cop a little feel here and there as long as it isn’t too blatant and obvious. Next semester she’s doing body shots of her roommate’s stomach. The following semester she swapping spit with dudes in the bathroom between fits of vomiting in the toilet. She goes from being a nice girl, to popular life of the party girl to used up skank and no fun anymore.

Well people, that’s what the Social Networks may very well become. Scan the Internet for all the articles, blogs and websites dedicated to teaching businesses how to use Social Networking to increase their bottom lines. Enjoy them while their still innocent because the social networking spam has already started to flow.

Add 3-4 Inches to Your Penis Now

If you are using Social Networking to build contacts for your business that’s fine. Just use the tool in a way that won’t piss people off.  Social Networking is about meeting people and exchanging ideas and crap. It’s not about getting them to sign up for your Multi Level Marketing scheme. It’s not about explaining to people how your company can get them a lower mortgage. It’s not about adding 3-4 inches to their penis. People don’t want to be sold to when they are having fun and right now the Social Networks are for fun. If you want to relentlessly plug your business then sign up for a Social Neworking site designed for that like LinkedIn. Stay out of the “social” Social Networking sites unless you learn how to do it without selling every third post.

If you must use Social Networks to grow your list of contacts then take a more social slant when doing it. No one wants to buy your crappy penis enlargement pills when discussing the artistic merits and plausibility of “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man”. Join the conversation, lay back then join another one that interests you and so on. Go ahead and put your website in your profile. Mention that you sell penis pills in your profile too. Do you happen to write a blog full of  big penis stories? Great, mention it every time you update your blog but don’t sell your penis pills in your posts.

That’s it. Let people find out what you do on there terms. More and more Social Spamming is taking place and the Social Networks will eventually start dealing with it. They want to become used up and be turned ad depositories, or suppositories, depending on how you look at it.

I implore every “so called” Social Networking specialist out there to teach responsible social networking techniques and don’t just turn all your clients into Social Spammers. If businesses are shown how to do it right then everything that makes social networking cool right now will be sucked out and used up before too long.

Your Brother-in-Law: The Real Competition for Graphic Artists and Web Designers Everywhere

Every web designer and graphic artist out there (if they have been in business long enough) has lost at least one bid to  someones brother-in-law. Now it may not have been the brother-in-law per say, it could have been the sister-in-law, sister, brother, son or  neighbor’s kid. Basically, they lost the bid to someone who probably charged hundreds or even thousands of dollars less than what the job, in the real world, would cost.  If the average rate to get a 5 page website developed in your area is $500 someones  douche bag  brother-in-law will offer to do it for  $50.  Now it will probably take him 10 times longer to produce some piece of crap that will need to be redone by a professional, but hey, at least you saved yourself some money the first time around.

Why is this an issue to the small business owner?

Now, as a small business owner, you may wondering why does even  matter to you. If you can save a couple hundred bucks it might be worth taking the chance. You may feel that you don’t need a sophisticated logo or fancy website and that just getting something up is more important than spending the extra money on something you really don’t care that much about anyway. Here is the problem, if you care about your business you’re going to end up spending the money anyway and in some cases even more than if would have just hired a professional in the first place. In my business alone, we do around 30 website re-dos every year. This is where someone comes to us that either build their website themselves or had their brother-in-law build it for them. Most of time we just redo it from scratch because the thing is such a wreck it is actually cheaper to start fresh. In other cases the client insists that we just fix it for them.  Now “just fixing” a website can sometimes take 3-4 longer than building it from scratch. Why, because every web designer builds websites their own way and for someone else to come in and fix something the first thing they have to do is figure out how the thing was built in the first place. And guess what, you’re on the clock. You are going to be paying for your web designer to sit there and look at the website to figure out how it was put together before they can even begin to fix it for you.

The other issue you’ll run into is the fact that your brother-in-law most likely didn’t put it together right in the first place. Professional web designers build websites that validate. That means, from a technical standpoint, the website is built in a way so that the search engines can read the content properly and so that the browsers display the content properly. If your web designer has any scruples they won’t post a website with junkie code so you’ll end up having to pay for them to rewrite the code in every page. Oh, and you’ll be paying for that too.

If you just have a professional build it in the first place you’ll save yourself the headache of going through this process twice.

Professional web designers don’t use Frontpage.

If someone tells you they are going to build your website in Frontpage then run for the hills. From a technical standpoint Frontpage is crap. That’s it in a nutshell. If they are using Frontpage they are not a professional because the pros know better.

But the other bids were so high or I can’t afford a professional.

If you need brain surgery would you go to your sister-in-law because she’s a pediatrician and could save you a couple bucks or would you go to a brain surgeon? The reason why web design and graphic art can be pricey is because they both take time and specialized skill. Professional graphic artists and web designers have college degrees and know how to do the job you are hiring them for. If you take a chance on someone who’s skill set is based on the fact that they have a cool MySpace page and own Dreamweaver you are putting your money and image in the hands of someone who probably doesn’t know what they are doing or worse, someone who knows just enough to do it poorly.

Being able to draw does not make someone a graphic artist and being able to put a website on the Internet does not make someone a web designer.  Remember this when you are ready to design your logo, your brochures or build your website and you’ll end up saving yourself money and time in the future.