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The next generation of search

Oct 29th, 2009
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Google announced a new service called Social Search which shows search results from sites owned by the searchers online friends. Currently an opt-in service but widely expected to go live over the next few months it cements the need for brands to have a Twitter account, Facebook page & a decent blog.

Data on a person’s social circle is pulled from their contacts in Gmail, the people they follow on Twitter, the blogs they read on Google Reader. Google has a help centre article explaining more about how it works.

All the information that appears as part of Google Social Search is published publicly on the web — you can find it without Social Search if you really want to. The content has been surfaced  together in one single place to make results more relevant. This is done by building a social circle of a person’s friends and contacts using the connections linked from their public Google profile, such as the people they are following on Twitter or FriendFeed. The results are specified to them, so they would need to be signed in to their Google Account to use Social Search. If you use Gmail, also included are your chat buddies and contacts in your friends, family, and coworkers groups. And if you use Google Reader,  some websites from your subscriptions as part of your social search results are also included.

More to come…

At present Google is only including these results as a universal search element in the same way they embed news results. However there is little doubt that in the same way news results are giving priority for certain queries we will start to see results from our social circles being given a boost in the normal search results too.

This makes perfect sense; if I follow a brand on Twitter or are fans of a site on Facebook then they are more relevant to me than another brand that happens to have more links.

Optimizing for social search

Take a look at the data points Google is using and make sure you are making attempts to increase your followers, subscribers & friends in each of those areas. It’s not easy for brands to be social but those that manage it are likely to reap the rewards.

Posted in: Gaining clients tips.

Ecommerce & The Mobile Web

Aug 30th, 2009
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In the last post, we discussed the advantages and techniques of becoming Multiple Web Browser Compatible in order to expand your business.mobileweb

As if designing your site to work on the many different web browsers out there wasn’t difficult enough, modern technology has thrown yet another curveball, in the form of mobile internet.

Millions of people now use their mobile phones or PDA to surf the internet, retrieve email and even check their social networks. Some use these methods exclusively, and some use it in addition to a conventional computers. However, because of their sheer numbers, it’s no longer wise to ignore this platform.

In the past, the mobile sector has been plagued by hype and over-ambitious forecasts that rarely meet reality but there is now reason to believe that we are close to a tipping point.

Despite mobile internet still makes up a relatively small proportion of overall marketing spend; its growth displays a similar trend to the early days of online. So it’s safe to say that even though mobile internet may have not have met the highly anticipated forecasts of previous years, this channel is growing exponentially.

Remove this barrier to growth with the following tips

Many Different Devices:

Changes in the mobile device industry happen fast. Every few months there’s a new phone, PDA or gadget on the market that is capable of surfing the web. Add that to the many devices by several manufacturers already on the market and in use, and you have a design problem of momentous proportions! How to make your content visible on all of those devices?

Design for the Browsers:

While it is impossible to make sure your content will be visible on every model of every manufacturer’s device, there are a limited number of mobile browsers on the market, so instead of trying to design a site for the devices themselves, it’s better to focus on designing sites for the browsers.

Remove Images, Save on Bandwidth:

Most mobile browsers can’t display images correctly or at all. So if you are designing with the mobile market in mind, make sure that your site can work without the image or graphics element.
The other issue is that even if they can view the images you use, mobile access to the internet is generally much, much slower. Image heavy sites will take a very long time to load, as will sites loaded with other bandwidth sapping features. Keep the bandwidth to a minimum and keep mobile users happy!

Screen Size:

The last & probably the trickiest aspect of web design for mobile devices is to avoid tables at all costs and design using xhtml or CSS. Make it scalable or it won’t work! Remember, mobile device screens are tiny – much tinier than the smallest computer screen around, so design accordingly!
While it may seems like a lot of effort to make sure your site design is mobile compatible, it will earn you brownie points with your users, and this is still one area where your site might be able to stand out from the vast crowd of other sites out there!

Finally here are the top advantages that M-Commerce can provide which cannot be found in E-Commerce:

Ubiquity:
Users are able to access any m-commerce application in real time.

Accessibility:
Users are able to access m-commerce application anywhere and anytime.

Localization:
Network providers are able to localize their users by using positioning systems such as GPS, GSM or UMTS and to offer them location-dependent services such as travel, emergency calls, hotels, restaurants and amenities.

Convenience:
It is very convenient to bring a mobile device anywhere due to the size and weight if the device.

Personalization:
As mobile devices are not shared between users so it is possible to adjust the mobile devices to the user’s needs and wishes.

Posted in: E-commerce optimization, Gaining clients tips.

Multiple Web Browser Compatibility

Aug 17th, 2009
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browsers-logosAs online users are now using more different types of internet browsers than ever before, it is more important than ever that your ecommerce site performs consistently throughout all browsers.

The good news is that the vast majority of online shoppers – over 80% – use either Internet Explorer or Firefox. The bad news is that there are over 100 different browsers and countless flavors of the Internet Explorer & Firefox.

The common argument used to avoid dealing with compatibility issues is that as the percentage of people using for example Chrome is relatively low, around the 3% mark globally, it isn’t worthwhile taking those users into account. This is probably not a wise way to approach the issue, especially for an ecommerce based site. 3% can make a big difference to your bottom line, as it’s not only Internet Explorer users who buy goods and services online.

The truth is, that tailoring an ecommerce site for cross browser compatibility is a pain. But the benefits can pay off in the long run by allowing you to secure sales from a wider customer base.

The main difficulties when it comes to browsers

1. Variety of Web Browsers:

As Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Opera and many more.

2. Different Web Browser Versions

The major difference between two versions of the same browser is their support for newer portions of the HTML language. Internet users though tend to upgrade their browser based on the addition of new features, like email integration and instant messaging. However, not all users switch immediately to the newest versions. A good rule of thumb is to design your pages to work for the last two versions of the major browsers.

3. Older Browsers

As web technology advances web browsers are falling behind. These lagging browsers put ecommerce businesses in something of a quandary. How do you offer customers the best possible user experience without leaving some of those customers behind?

How to become Multiple Web Browser Compatible

1. Set a Goal

The first step toward solving old browser or noncompliant browser problems is to apply the 80/20 rule also known as the Pareto principle. Basically, 80% of your online store’s business comes from 20% of potential customers. When applying this principle loosely we’ll focus on the top browsers only.

2. End User Web Experience

Ensuring that your Website looks and performs well in a multiple browser world starts with measurement and testing. The overall goal is to provide a quality Web experience for the end user and to accomplish this consistently. Cross browser testing can be divided into four main categories:

• The Visual – The easiest measure is to simply take a look. Visual verification is a straightforward process. However, verifying five or six major browser vendors and the multiple versions of each can become tedious.
• The Functional – Do your critical business functions work successfully? Or will you leave someone with a full shopping cart waiting or unable to check-out?
• The Performance – Three benchmarks can be used to assess end- user web application performance: 
         o Availability: Shows that a Web page or full end-to-end transaction requested by a user is executed successfully without errors.
         o Response Time: Shows the speed at which every end-to-end transaction, page, image or third party content downloads.
         o Consistency: shows the site’s ability to achieve a quality customer experience across multiple visits.
         o Perceived Performance: It measures how long it took for the page to appear like it finished moving and how long it took for all visible “above the fold” components to load.

3. World Wide Web Consortium

Another thing you should make a habit of is to validate your pages through the World Wide Web Consortium. Founded in 1994 the W3C has made it its obligation to guide the development of the Web and create a common basis to build upon. W3C offers free validation tolls.These useful tools are trying to ensure that your visitors will get roughly the same experience when they visit your site.

Posted in: E-commerce optimization, Research.
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Green Ecommerce

Aug 11th, 2009
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Every day issues like environment and global warming are discussed. No surprise that shoppers are trying to make a contribution to the sustainability environmental movement in several ways. Consumers prefer to purchase energy-efficient products and appliances as well as locally-made items. More and more shoppers choose products in recyclable packaging or buy at farmer’s market.

Ebay recently introduced the Ebay Green Team as a result of record number of customers choosing to buy items that could be classified as “used”, “organic”, “refurbished”, “vintage”, “sustainable” or “remainder.”

The good news for online retailers: Ecommerce itself is green and in order to become a “greener” online shop all you need is to make a few environmental changes. The rewards will justify the effort.

Green Online Shopping

Online shopping is “greener” than shopping via traditional models. A study by the Carnegie Mellon University  compared the impact of buying online vs. driving to and from a store. It concluded that the online transaction reduced the environmental impact with 35% less energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

• Green effect 1. Less vehicle miles: Shopping is one of the most frequent reasons for car travels. Each time that a customer decides to buy online rather than go shopping by car CO2 emissions are saved.
• Green effect 2. Less printed materials: Online e-newsletters and brochures replace their physical equivalent therefore it saves paper and reduces distribution costs.
• Green effect 3. Less waste. Across the whole supply chain of procurement, manufacturing and distribution, the Internet can help reduce product and distribution cycles. Auction services like eBay and Amazon Marketplace even enable redistribution of second-hand items promoting recycling.
• Green effect 4. Dematerialization. Better known as digitization, this is the availability of products like software, music and video in digital forms.

Green Online Shop

• Packing Material: For mail-orders, packages are indispensable. Nevertheless avoid e.g. disposable packaging and use environmentally friendly, recycled wrapping materials instead.
• Bulk Mailing: Offer to ship several items in just one packing instead of several separate packages.
• Email instead of paper: Send invoice, newsletters etc. by email instead of paper and offer for example paperless payment.
• Whenever paper is unavoidable, use 100% post-consumer recycled paper.
• Offer to withdrawal old batteries and other electric appliances.

Green Online Retailer

In order to become an environmental Ecommerce retailer it might be worth to share your own green office efforts with your customers. Further reducing energy usage is good for the planet as well as for your business as it translates into lower operating costs.

• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs in the office and warehouse.
• Setup the energy saving features on computers during the day.
• Turn off all computers, monitors, printers, scanners, etc. through a power strip at the end of the day in order to prevent “standby” energy these devices are often using.
• Use a paperless accounting system saves immense amounts of resources. A small investment up front on equipment and services (backup hard drive, scanner and online backup service) will pay for itself in costs on resources such as paper, file folders, and file cabinets.

Posted in: Gaining clients tips, Up-sale tips.
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How To Deal With Customer Reviews

Aug 3rd, 2009
by admin.
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Online review portals continuously grow in popularity among users. Whether someone is looking for a new camera, shoes or a doctor: More and more users consult portals before buying.

Ecommerce retailers are skeptical though, because they fear criticism of their offers and services. Despite previous fears that consumers posting honest and unfiltered material could damage sales, it has been having the opposite effect in most cases.

In fact, visitors who clicked on the highest customer-rated reviews were more likely to purchase. Therefore online retailers should strengthen their presence on such sites. Only then, they have the opportunity, to use these platforms to their advantage.

7 tips for dealing with customer reviews:

1. Don’t avoid negative feedback. Nobody is perfect – and not every single customer will be content. If a company is basically highly rated this criticism is by no means a disadvantage, since it increases the companies’ credibility.

2. Resolves an evaluation in resentment, the top priority is: a deep breath. Anger is a natural reaction to subjective or provocative contributions, but should not guide your actions.

3. Try to see your company from the perspective of the customer. This will help to decide whether the criticism from the perspective of the evaluator is justified.

4. If you receive a positive critique, write a thank you. It will please your customers.

5. If you do not share the criticism make your perspective clear. Act professionally and constructively by posting a comment or writing to the author a private message.

6. If a customer is unhappy and you know that you can do better, make him an offer which will convince him. This could be in form of a discount or a coupon.

7. An evaluation is always a snapshot. You – as well as the customer – should always keep this in mind.

Posted in: E-commerce optimization, Up-sale tips.
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