Petawawa e business

HOW YOU CAN PROFIT FROM E-

BUSINESS

How You Can Profit From E-Business

Virtuo CMS Technologies Web design and development

Content Management systems

Web communications strategies

Two driving beliefs:

1) Website owners and content managers must have complete control of their web content.

2) They need quick access to web experts for advice or assistance.


Seminar Goals What can e-business do for me?

Increased visibility for your business

Show dependability and inspire confidence

More leads=more sales

Improved efficiency

Better communications


Increased visibility

Most of the traffic to your site comes form a search engine.



86.3%

3.13%

5.30%



Organic results

Paid advertising



Your position in Google depends on approx 150 different aspects of your site

Your position will be affected by your sector of activity

No one can legitimately guarantee first position ranking It can take a week, 6 months or more It is an on going (never ending process)

You are able to affect your position yourself (be careful with SEO companies) Keywords and phrases Inbound links

You must continue to use traditional promotional efforts



The first thing people do is visit your website no matter how they heard of you:

Referrals Yellow pages Networking – business card Found online


More leads = more sales

Once people are at your web site you need to engage them rapidly

Calls to Action must be prominent

Buy now Book an appointment Register Sign up


More leads = more sales

Once people are at your web site you need to engage them rapidly

Calls to Action can be specific to your business and target audience


Improved efficiency

Email promotional campaigns (permission based)

Online purchases with payment processing

Detailed description of your products and services

Detailed explanation of shipping, services delivery, etc.

Online customer support (FAQ, etc.)

Solicit feedback concerning your services.


Better communications

Newsletters

Social media (immediacy)

Blogs

Email using your domain name instead of @gmail or @hotmail


Getting started

Domain name

Do a preliminary high level plan (RPM)

Choose a host/consultant

Write good content

What will it cost ?


Getting started – Domain name

Consider getting a domain name for your business and your product or service

For example, if your business is ABC Corporation and your product is called Maximize Your Sales, get a domain name called www.ABCCorporation.com and www.MaximizeYourSales.com.

Try to include key words in your domain name. http://www.webconfs.com/keyword-rich-domain-suggestions.php

Short is better for email purposes. People seldom type domain names in browsers Dashes-in-the-name-are-not-a-problem Easy to remember Try to include keywords in the domain name

http://www.maximizeyoursales.com/

http://www.webconfs.com/keyword-rich-domain-suggestions.php


Getting started – RPM

Results What results do you want from your web site? More sales, better information

delivery, streamline your internal processes, bigger market.

Purpose Why do you want these results. What’s in it for you, your customers,

your members, etc.

Map Make a plan of how you are going to achieve the results you want.

(Remember that website projects have a beginning but never end) How will you promote it Who will be responsible for content When will updates be done


Getting started – Choose a host/consultant

What do you need to look for?

Advertising (Free or very cheap hosting companies) Some free hosting companies generate revenue by

placing advertising on your site.

Amount of web space Shouldn’t be a problem these days but better to ask. The amount of

space you’ll need will depend on the type of site you create.

FTP access, PHP, ASP, MySQL, MS SQL. Some free hosting companies require you use their editor to create your site Make sure the language your web designer plans to use is supported.

Secure Socket Layer (for e-commerce) Make sure your hosting company offers this if you are planning to sell on line

(payments) There is generally additional cost for SSL




File sizes and types Watch for this. Some free hosts limit the file size you can upload to your site

Reliability and speed of access

This is extremely important. A site that is frequently down will lose a lot of visitors. If someone finds your site on a search engine, and he tries to access it but finds that it is down, he'll simply go down the list to find another site. Slow access is also very frustrating for visitors (and for you too, when you upload your site). How do you know if a host is reliable or fast? Get feedback, or try it out yourself over a period of time, both during peak as well as non-peak hours.




Technical support Do they offer technical support. Make sure to find out how they charge if

you do need to call them. Is it included, or is there a fee per call?

Email, web mail, auto responders Do they offer email with their hosting package? Do they offer web mail

software? Server

Do you need a windows or Linux based server? It will depend what programming language and database your site requires.

Price price is always a factor, you should realise that you often get what

you pay for, although it's not necessarily true that the most expensive hosts are the best.


Getting started – Write good content

Topics covered in this section

How users read on the web Increasing credibility Measuring the effect of good writing 10 (or so) tips for good writing



How users read on the web

They don’t People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page,

picking out individual words and sentences 79 percent of test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word.



F shaped pattern for reading web content

This dominant reading pattern looks somewhat like an F and has the following three components:

Users first read in a horizontal movement, usually across the upper part of the content area. This initial element forms the F's top bar.

Next, users move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal movement that typically covers a shorter area than the previous movement. This additional element forms the F's lower bar.

Finally, users scan the content's left side in a vertical movement. Sometimes this is a fairly slow and systematic scan that appears as a solid stripe on an eyetracking heatmap. Other times users move faster, creating a spottier heatmap. This last element forms the F's stem.



How users read on the web



Implications of the F Pattern

Users won't read your text thoroughly in a word-by-word manner. Exhaustive reading is rare, especially when prospective customers are conducting their initial research to compile a shortlist of vendors. Yes, some people will read more, but most won't.

The first two paragraphs must state the most important information. There's some hope that users will actually read this material, though they'll probably read more of the first paragraph than the second.

Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with information-carrying words that users will notice when scanning down the left side of your content in the final stem of their F-behavior. They'll read the third word on a line much less often than the first two words.



As a result, Web pages have to employ scannable text

highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)

meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)

bulleted lists

one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)

The inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion

half the word count (or less) than conventional writing



Credibility, you must communicate trustworthiness

Design quality: professional appearance feels solid; clear navigation conveys respect for customers and an implied promise of good service. Typos or difficult navigation communicate disregard for the users. www.dpgraph.com

Up-front disclosure of all aspects of the customer relationship. For example, reveal shipping charges (shipping policy and examples) immediately rather than waiting until after the user has placed an order. You may cheat a few people into ordering by hiding the shipping costs, but many more will abandon the site at an early stage of the process. And those users who do get cheated will only be suckers once.

http://www.dpgraph.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/04/cyber/commerce/05commerce.html



Credibility, you must communicate trustworthiness

Comprehensive, correct, and current content and product selection feel solid. If a site has product photos, it should have good shots of all products. Haphazard, random content signal a brittle service. Usability tests of a map site were done that did not show a recently constructed bridge: users instantly lost faith in the site and wondered what else was missing from the maps.

Connected to the rest of the Web with links in and out. Not being afraid to link to other sites is a sign of confidence, and third-party sites are much more credible than anything you can say yourself. Isolated sites feel like they have something to hide.



Promotional writing (control condition)

using the "marketese" found on many commercial websites

Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In 1996, some of the most popular places were Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000),Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446).

http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/studyfiles/travelnebraska/promotional/carhenge.html



Scannable layout (47% usability improvement)

Using the same text as the control condition in a layout that facilitated scanning

Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In 1996, some of the most popular places were:

Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors) Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166) Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000) Carhenge (86,598) Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002) Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446).

http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/studyfiles/travelnebraska/scannable/carhenge.html



Promotional writing (124% usability improvement)

using all three improvements in writing style together: concise, scannable, and objective

In 1996, six of the most-visited places in Nebraska were: Fort Robinson State Park Scotts Bluff National Monument Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum Carhenge Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park


Getting started – What will it cost ?

The answer is : “it depends on”

Who does your site Features and complexity Number of pages Informational or e-commerce Custom data manipulation who will maintain it (on-going cost)



Informational or Small Business Web Site Cost

8 to 16 Web pages Custom graphics Stock photos Little or no flash Web forms sending to email accounts Project duration: 30 to 75 days (not assuming a consistent 8 hour a day) Web site cost range: $2,000 to $6,000



Corporate (100 or more employees) Web Site Cost:

25 to 75 Web pages Some flash or jquery High quality design work on all Web pages Content management system Extra components: Intranet, calendars, web site search Project duration: 60 to 90 days Web site cost range: $10,000 to $25,000



Ecommerce Web Site Cost:

100 to 1000 products Shopping cart Payment gateway integration Product descriptions and images Sales tax and shipping calculation Customer and administrative control panel Project duration: 60 to 120 days Web site cost range: $5,000 to $15,000



Database Driven Web Site or Web Application :

Dynamic Web pages 20 to 2,000 Administrative control panel for web site management Advanced programming skill sets required Interactivity with web site visitor Enterprise database (MS SQL Server or MySQL) Project duration: 90 to 180 days Web site cost range: $6,000 to $35,000



Example sites:

www.quiltersmisbeehaven.com

www.rugman.com

http://www.quiltersmisbeehaven.com/

http://www.rugman.com/


Seminar Goals Workshop 1 May 19th

What can e-business do for me?Where do I start?How will customers find me?

Workshop 2 June 9th

How will customers find me ? (continued)How do I convert visitors to customers?How can I use Social media?

To provide small business owners with the information and tools necessary to help them get started (or get further) in the world of e-business.

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