Website Genius - Traffic and Conversion Tips for Your Business

Protection from Phishing

Aug 252010

One of the ways in which the Internet Black Hats (bad guys) attack unsuspecting victims is through a type of attack called Phishing.

In a typical phishing attack, the victim receives an email message that appears to come from a legitimate source such as their bank, PayPal, Amazon, or Facebook. The message often looks exactly like a real message from one of those sources. The message mentions some dire circumstance that the victim can clear up simply by clicking on the included link. The victim thinks they are going to the website of the sender when in fact they are directed to the hacker’s website where their browser/computer is attacked.

Phishing attacks work because when the victim clicks on the link in the mail message, the browser dutifully looks up the domain (web address) with a DNS Query (ref2) and sends the victim to the specified website.

But what if the DNS Query failed? What if the DNS server that is looking up the web address knew that the hacker’s website was dangerous and refused to let you go there? That’s what OpenDNS does (read One Million Phishes That Didn’t Happen). Instead of blindly going where the email pointed, it adds some smart decision making designed to protect your computer, or your personal data, from malicious intent.

OpenDNS is just one more tool Comstar uses to help protect its customers. Comstar’s internal systems and internet access customers are protected from these types of attacks automatically.

OpenDNS can protect you too – at home or at work. For more information, visit OpenDNS.com.

Social Media for Your Business

Website Conversion, Website Traffic No Responses »

Jun 222010

A question that I get from time to time is, “how can I use social media to benefit my business?”

Sure Twitter, FaceBook, and LinkedIn (among others) are interesting, but are they beneficial? For business owners, entrepreneurs, sales people, and marketers is there really value in these tools?

Those who use social media extensively will argue they are certainly valuable. Those who do not use them will cite that they don’t have time for such silly activity.

Rather than jumping into the argument, let me take just a moment to put social media in perspective for you…

Do you find value in face-to-face networking? Maybe you attend Chamber of Commerce events or are involved in a chapter of BNI. Or maybe you’re a member of a group like a Lions Club or Rotary Club. If so networking is important to you at some level.

Picture how these things go. You arrive at the designated location. You enter and see a group of people. You try to meet those who are interesting. Perhaps some are good business targets. Perhaps others can introduce you to people you’d like to meet. Oops that one guy who can talk for hours just spotted you and he’s headed over! Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.

You’re stuck in a room and your potential is limited to those in the room. Everyone in the room has potential to interact with everyone else in the room, but that’s it.

Now imagine social media. Picture that room you were in with the walls extending to include the entire planet. However, just because the walls can include everyone doesn’t mean that they do include everyone. No, with social media you are creating your own room, custom filled just for you.

Your Twitter followers are in your room.

Your FaceBook friends are in your room.

Your LinkedIn contacts are in your room.

If you don’t like someone, don’t let them into your room. (Or kick ‘em out later, if need be.)

Now your task, just like face-to-face networking, is to wonder around the room and meet people. Just like in the physical world, there may be some people with whom you will never do business. There may be others who become great partners. Still others may be able to introduce you to those who can make a big difference for you.

But unlike the face-to-face version, you’re not giving a business card and hoping the recipient goes to check out your website. Instead they already have access to your profile with a link to your website. They can get to know you and your business. When they’re ready for your service they already know you.

So get out there and network in your own room. And, you get to pick the meeting time.

(By the way, if you’d like to enter my room I’m available on Twitter and LinkedIn. Follow me or Invite me and I’ll join your room too.)

Web Genius Summit – volume 1

Shameless Self Promotion, Website Conversion, Website Tips, Website Tools, Website Traffic No Responses »

May 282010

The Web Genius Summit has just concluded the first set of 12 interviews. You can read about the first six sessions in the previous post at Web Genius Summit Update.

This current post will give a recap of the final six interviews of volume 1…

The second half of the series kicked off with Erik Stafford. Erik is an internationally recognized expert in internet marketing and building easy website sales systems. He took us back to some of the internet marketing basics to help you build a stronger online presence for your business. His program Faster Webmaster is still available.

Kyle Battis showed us the power of teleseminars to teach others, create a following, and add additional revenue to your bottom line. Much of the Web Genius Summit teleseminar series was based on the things that Kyle told us about. You can learn about teleseminars through the My First Teleseminar series.

Then we had Susan Hill. Susan learned to create opportunity in a small niche by employing experts at various tasks using Elance. You can use Susan’s experience and advice to propel your business forward too. She has a book called Elance Made Easy available for download now.

Ben Mack, marketing strategist extraordinaire, taught us the benefits of thinking and planning ahead, not just one step but two. How do you take your customer or your business from where it is at right now and move it to where it will be? Thinking two products ahead, two sales ahead, two promotions ahead helps you capture more money in a systematic way. This call closed out with an invitation for ecommerce owners to start planning Cyber-Monday with Christmas in July.

David Deutsch is an A-level copywriter and one of the top direct response marketing consultants in the U.S. He told us several million dollar marketing secrets and how you can Think Inside the Box! to generate profitable new ideas for your business. Did you get in on million dollar secret #3? If not, click the link at David’s name to see how you can grab his ideas system and get the out-of-print book with 20 different secrets as a bonus.

The final episode of Web Genius Summit volume 1 was carried by Brian McLeod. Brian is a direct-response copywriter, sales trainer, and creative marketing consultant who helped to bring all the pieces of the Web Genius Summit together, showing how you can integrate your offline marketing and your online marketing efforts for maximum impact! Not only that, but he also introduced masterminding as a way to add a new profit stream to your business.

While you’ve already missed these interviews you can register now to be invited to participate at no charge in volume 2 starting later this year. In the meantime, upon registration, you’ll have the option to purchase volume 1 so you can get caught up on all these great lessons. Details at www.webgeniussummit.com.

Web Genius Summit Update

Shameless Self Promotion, Website Conversion, Website Tips, Website Tools, Website Traffic No Responses »

Apr 232010

Now that we’re half way through the first set of guest experts on the Web Genius Summit, I would like to take a few minutes to summarize what you may have missed.

In case you’re not familiar with the Web Genius Summit, let me first give you a brief description… I am interviewing business and internet geniuses for 60 minutes each. By listening in you get to discover strategies that will help your business too.

Some of the geniuses on the calls are authors, some are coaches, others are business people who have unlocked the key to internet success in their own business. All are experts sharing their experience…

Mark Joyner was our Web Genius headliner. He is a #1 best-selling author of over a dozen books. He is recognized as a pioneer of e-commerce and is responsible for inventing and popularizing technologies we take for granted such as remotely-hosted ad tracking and ebooks. While we discussed a number of great topics for business, he presented one factor that would allow your business to take off like a precision missile.

Lewis Howes and Sean Malarkey joined us to discuss social media. As LinkedIn and Twitter experts they helped us to define how to dominate social media in your niche without wasting all your time.

Brad Sugars came on board as a business coach to discuss strategies to grow your business now. Brad is best known as the founder and CEO of ActionCOACH – a business and executive coaching firm that presently operates in 26 countries spanning six continents. Brad is currently on a nationwide tour. See if he’s visiting your area. Register for free with ticket code SMIL010 at www.businessisboomingtour.com!

Ann Convery taught us how to reach the Primitive-Brain — the one that triggers every buying decision your visitors make, and drives results on your website and in social media. Ann has a class starting in May called “You’re so Brilliant! Why Don’t They Buy?“ It’s likely that her class would make an immediate and perceptible difference in your business. Get registered now!

Ann also wins our Guest Expert of Distinction Award based on the extreme density of great information and from excessive positive feedback from our listeners!

Howie Jacobson, the author of AdWords For Dummies, showed us how to get better results for less money using Google Adwords. Yes, you need to understand how to write your ads so that they attract buyers and repel everyone else!

Pat Marcello is an author who wanted to sell more books. In the process she turned to internet marketing and became an expert in blogging and search engine optimization. Pat talked about what’s important in SEO and how to use blogs to drive traffic, creating trusting, eager buyers.

We also had the pleasure of a bonus call with Audrey Kerwood. Audrey is an ecommerce expert who showed us the 8 factors that every high-converting ecommerce site must have. Watch for an announcement about Audrey’s ecommerce 3-day training seminar coming in July. I’m going to be speaking at this event!

While you’ve already missed these interviews you can still get in on new ones that follow. Registration to listen in on the calls is FREE! Get on the guest list now and you’ll be invited to participate in our future calls. Plus the existing calls are being put into a library of audios and transcripts. You can pick these up at a great price.

Isn’t it time you learn what you need to move your business to the next level?

Powerful Newsletter Subjects

Product Recommendations, Website Traffic No Responses »

Mar 232010

Yesterday I left off talking about subject lines for your newsletter mailings.

To demonstrate the importance of a good subject line, I’ll use a different form of marketing to illustrate.

Think of movie posters, specifically the taglines. Now even more specifically the poster for the movie Alien. I’ll describe it in case you don’t know what it looks like…

It’s almost entirely black with a greenish egg in the center, glowing faintly. The title “Alien” is spelled out above it. Without any form of tagline the poster means whatever comes to your mind. If you were afraid of aliens it would seem ominous. But if you had recently seen ET your perspective might be completely different.

It’s the tagline that explains the image. It says, “In space no one can hear you scream”. Yikes. That makes it pretty clear it’s a horror movie. If you’re a horror fan you’d want to see it. If you’re not a horror fan you’re going to stay far away!

So how does this tie in with newsletters? Consider that your customers probably subscribe to more than just your newsletter and they’re probably not waiting in anticipation for your next mailing. Most likely they didn’t wake up this morning thinking, “Boy I hope that latest newsletter from XYZ Company arrives in my inbox today!”

If your subject is bland it doesn’t matter how well written the content is, or how amazing the images of your products look, because most of your customers will delete it without opening it. With the pervasiveness of sales messages all around, people tune them out. So, if your subject says “Big Sale at My Store” you’re not going to get a great open rate.

Okay, what do you write instead?

Let’s go back to the movie poster example. The image and title are basically neutral. If the tagline had been the equivalent of “Big Sale at My Store” it would read “Humans Meet Alien.” That is not the least bit exciting. It’s not very descriptive and creates no desire for anyone to see that movie. It’s true though, a statement that describes the movie in a completely general sense, but it conveys nothing about the content. How is anyone going to make a decision based on a statement of nothingness?

Of course over communicating in a subject can be just as bad. Let’s use another example from the movie. What if the tagline read, “Sent to a distant planet for recon, seven deep space miners encounter a new species of destructive alien that rampages through their ship and kills all but one of them before being blown out of an airlock”?

Who’s going to read all that? They’d probably have to create an extra large movie poster just to keep the font large enough! Bringing that back to your subject line, this would be comparable to, “Three Day Buy One Get One Free Sale On Modern Art Tapestries Handmade and Imported from Belgium For Stunning Home Decor.”

That’s just way too long, and it looks like its going to be spam. The right subject message is a bite-size hook, not some long exposition that will be truncated by your customers email client.

Make your message clear and concise. If you can include a call to action that’s a plus. Based on the tapestry store example from yesterday, here are some possible subjects…

“Three Day Buy One Get One Tapestry Sale”
“Get a Rod with Your Tapestry Purchase”
“All Tapestries 20% Off This Friday”

These would all work fine. Don’t use all caps. No one wants to see that. Avoid extra punctuation. And don’t use more than one exclamation point if you must use any at all!!! (oops)

Now that you’ve gotten your customer interested with your subject, they open the email to find the exciting offer you’ve prepared for them. If they like what you say, they click through to your site.

Now it’s the job of your website to take the sales process to the next step and, ultimately, go for the order.

If you happen to be reading this between March 23 and March 29, you’re in luck! You can join me on a live interview with Audrey Kerwood, founder of A2Armory, co-author of the 2002 classic Yahoo! Store Profits, and owner/operator of four profitable online stores. You’ll get some great tips to move your store forward.

I host a series of interviews at Web Genius Summit. I will interview Audrey on March 29. This is a bonus call so it’s open to anyone who registers in advance. To get on the call register here. There is no charge for any of these calls.

Promoting Your Ecommerce Store

Product Recommendations, Website Traffic No Responses »

Mar 222010

Have you put together a plan for promoting your ecommerce store?

Whether you run a big business, small business, or you hold down the fort at your home office, you’ve got to have some kind of media plan which includes an email newsletter. And that newsletter must go out regularly.

Many ecommerce store owners fail to send out newsletters on a regular basis, in part because they do not know how to offer their products.

Where to begin? How about quarterly? Or at certain holidays? Planning much more frequent regular mailings will be beneficial, but you’ve got to start somewhere. So pick a schedule that works for now and build on it.

But who are you going to send your newsletters to? You have to start with a mailing list. If your ecommerce store software has an opt-in mailing list program built in, go ahead and use that. If not, you’ll need a third party program or service.

(I often recommend Aweber as an autoresponder service. If you click this link you can get started for just $1.)

OK, once you’ve got the program or service in place, you’ll need to add an opt-in box to your website. Part of this process is the creation of a compelling offer. Note that “sign up for our newsletter” or “sign up for our specials” might have some appeal, but most likely you’ll have to do better than that.

People protect their email addresses these days so you’ll have to offer your visitor a nice incentive to give you their email address. One idea that often works is to offer a percentage discount coupon that is sent to the customer immediately.

Your goal is to make whatever you’re offering as easy and fast for the customer as possible. Don’t make them have to think or wait for something – you’ll lose both ways.

Okay, you’ve got your offer alongside the opt-in box. Sign ups are starting to pour in. Now what? Time to start sending out the newsletters that will drive your business.

Holidays are pretty easy – New Years Sale, Mothers Day Sale, Fourth of July Sale, you get the idea. But what about all those other days of the year? What do you say then? How can easily justify sending out these emails? It’s really easy. Just give them something for reading!

Here are some ideas that can work for you regardless of what you’re selling in your store:

Offer another discount coupon
This can be for specific products or a storewide discount. If you’re concerned about losing money on lower profit items, then set a threshold price for storewide sales, e.g. 10% off orders over $50.
Buy One Get One Free or Buy One Get One ½ Off or Buy One Get ABC Free
An example of the latter could be “buy any tapestry over $200 and get a free hanging rod.” This idea comes from Audrey Kerwood who says, “The rods cost me about $11 apiece and I charge $22 in the store so this promotion is a great way to get my customers to buy the next tapestry size up so they save the $22. It works very well for anything that can be accessorized; it’s one of my favorite promotions.”
Featured Product of The Week (Month, Day, Hour)
Offers with a time limit capture a lot of interest. When doing a featured product mailing try to describe the item in great detail and provide more than one picture if possible. If you’re featuring the product, really feature it! Talk it up big. List all the virtues of the product and try to get the customer to feel what it would be like to own. Keep in mind that if you do a single product offer you’ll have to be much more specific on the benefits. But the nice thing about this type of offer is that it’s always unique.

Now that you’ve thought about the content of your newsletter, let’s talk about subject lines. You can have the best offer ever, but if your subscribers never open and read the email, it’s as good as useless.

Subject lines are truly just as important as the content and design. Heck, the subject line might even be more important. Your ecommerce store door is closed until the email is opened.

Web Genius Summit

Shameless Self Promotion, Website Conversion, Website Traffic No Responses »

Feb 152010

As an website development and internet marketing firm we often get questions like:

“how do I get more people to purchase on my website?”
“should we be using Twitter?”
“is search engine optimization really a good thing or just a waste of money?”
“how can we show up on the first page of Google?”
“what good is blog anyway?”

Instead of taking the time to answer all of these individually, I decided that it’s time to get some experts together. Let’s combine the knowledge of a bunch of Business and Web geniuses and give access to business owners and entrepreneurs everywhere.

We’re launching the Web Genius Summit with a great list of experts who can drill down to specifics and answer all your questions on their topic.

Registration for this teleseminar and webcast series is FREE! So get on the guest list now and take your business up a notch or two.

The Perils of Ignoring Social Media

Website Traffic No Responses »

Feb 052010

So, you don’t think that YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or any of the other social media web tools are beneficial to your business? Fair enough. Every business has to evaluate these tools for themselves and if they can’t find a way to use them to further their business goals or if they aren’t willing to commit the time and resources needed to learn and use the tools effectively, they should probably put their efforts into something else. However, what if these tools are used by others to affect your business?

Customer No-Service

Before social media sites like YouTube, the Average Man had little public recourse when he became the victim of a business’s Customer No-Service. United Airlines learned about the power of social media (YouTube.com in particular) and the consequences of bad service the hard way.

Dave Carroll spent a great deal of time trying to get United Airlines to fix an expensive Taylor guitar that their baggage handlers had broken. He created a video (several, actually) about his experience and posted it on YouTube. The last time I checked, the video was viewed 6.8 million times and has created a public relations nightmare for United (and a public relations boon for Taylor guitars). Read the full story here.

What are people saying about your company on social media sites? Do you even check? How will you respond to criticism (or praise)? It only takes one employee to tick-off the wrong customer and you could become a laughing stock. United could have avoided their fate by admitting responsibility and coughing-up a measly $3500 to replace the guitar. How much damage has been done to their reputation?

Getting Flamed

United’s fate was self inflicted and deserved (in my opinion), but what if your company is being talked about on social media sites in maliciously unflattering terms based on false information or outright lies? Getting flamed can have serious repercussions – do you have a plan in place to deal with it?

How could this happen to you? Rumors could easily be started by [ex-]employees, [ex-]vendors, competitors, political opponents or anyone else with an axe to grid, real or imagined. Knowing how to respond quickly, professionally and honestly could save the good, hard-earned reputation of your business from cyber-bullies.

Final Thoughts

It used to be hard for the little guy to take a serious swipe at a business or private individual. Think back to the 80′s – what could you do, really? Print and post flyers? Phone all your friends? Whoopity-do. If you had really gotten the shaft perhaps you’d get on local TV. Now any teen with a video phone can shoot and post a video in minutes. True, it would need to be pretty compelling to get everyone’s attention (after all, few of us have the talent of a Dave Carroll) and yet it happens every week. Be prepared and be alert.

Your Customer is Waiting

Shameless Self Promotion No Responses »

Jan 152010

What is your customer waiting for? YOU!

Do you want to connect with them? Of course you do! That’s what your business is all about. You need to reach out and connect with your customers (and those who want to be your customers).

I talk about blogs a lot, and write about them too. They are really great for connecting with your customers and prospects. Sometimes I’m not sure if my message sticks.

So, this coming Thursday, January 21, at 8:00 a.m. Comstar going to have a 2-hour seminar on blogging called “Blogging – Connect in 2010.” Register for the blog seminar.

You’ll discover answers to questions such as:

Why would we want a blog?
What would we write about?
What results can we expect?

Having a blog for your business might be the smartest thing you can do right now to move your business forward in 2010. We’ll show you why and how to get results!

Once you register we’ll provide access to an anonymous survey that will allow you to submit questions in advance.

We were going to charge a nominal fee, but we decided the information is too important to charge for. So, consider it a thank-you for continuing to trust us with your website needs.

This is not a seminar held over the web. You have to be present to enjoy. It is being held in the training center at Citizen’s Bank of Mukwonago just off Hwy 59 on the south side of Waukesha. Doors open at 7:45 a.m. The session starts promptly at 8:00. We promise to have you out the door before 10:00 with your head swimming in powerful blog info.

You need to understand the importance of blogging so you can decide if it will be good for your business. We’ll provide good information so you can make that decision.

Seating is very limited so register right now while you’re thinking about it. To get in for free, advance registration is required! Only the first 70 to respond will get a seat. After that we’ll take the registration down.

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Protection from Phishing

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