Archive for feedback
Essential Shopping Cart Attributes
Posted by: | CommentsAll online businesses have one thing in common and that is the need for a reliable shopping cart to process all of the e-commerce transactions that come through. In many cases the type of product you are offering will not even be the main factor that determines whether or not people purchase from you. Instead, your marketing strategies and customer service will play a major role in obtaining new business. If your website is equipped with a shopping cart that is user friendly and efficient then your customers will be more inclined to shop with you again. On the other hand, if your shopping cart is not up to par or lacks simplicity then this could actually keep people from returning. Some of the following features are considered essential to having a good shopping cart.
Ability to Up-sell
Anyone who has had even a small amount of experience in the retail or food service industry will already understand the importance of up-selling. When you up-sell you are offering customers something more than what they came for by enticing them to do so. For instance, if a customer comes to your website to purchase a gaming system then a good up-sell would be additional games or optional accessories. A comprehensive shopping cart will include a feature which allows the web master to group different products by category into an easy to use form. This will enable customers to simply check a box for upgrades or additional items. When the customer has reaches the check out point then everything the customer has chosen will be totaled up neatly and payment will be quick and easy. This feature is vital to providing your customers with the service they need but will also help to increase your sales.
Customer Feedback and Reviews
Generally speaking, people are more apt to purchase a product if they are able to read and look over user reviews from your past customers. It is important to remember that above all “word of mouth” is still your best selling tool, even with an online business. If customers can become confident that others have found your product and services satisfactory then they will feel more at ease shopping with you. This is why having a shopping cart feature that allows users; not only to read previous reviews but to leave their own is so important. In addition, user reviews are often indexed giving your site an even higher probability of receiving traffic.
The Importance of SEO
Search engine optimization is absolutely vital to your online business. If people cannot find you then they are not going to shop with you, it is that simple. This is why it is so important to be sure that your site is rich in high quality content with the right keyword density. But it is equally important to be certain that your shopping cart includes a feature that will enable it to automatically generate URLs that use the right keywords in order to index your site properly and bring you to the top of the list when it comes to searches. If you have good SEO with your site and your shopping cart is designed to automate this process then your chances of achieving success are far greater.
Perks and Discounts
Shopping online for most people is a method of purchasing things at the best price possible. There are a wealth of websites on the internet that are specifically designed for the purpose of providing customers with discounts and coupons of a variety of services and products. If you are promoting a product that is featured on other sites then it is imperative that your shopping cart come equipped with a bot that enables coupon and promotion input to be utilized. If people come to your site and are unable to use their coupons then there is a very good chance they will go somewhere else that will allow them to. Remember, as an online business owner you are facing a lot of competition. When you run an online business you are competing with thousands of other vendors that sell the same product as you. Make sure that your shopping cart can keep up.
Affiliate Survey and Feedback
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We are looking for feedback on our Lunarpages Affiliate Program, and need your help. You can easily earn $65 for every qualified referral you bring to Lunarpages, and we want to make this great system work even better for you.
Lunarpages knows that you can not have a successful affiliate program without successful affiliate partners, so with that said, we would like for you to take this short survey to share with us what you might like to see when it comes to the Lunarpages Affiliate Program.
Lunarpages Affiliate Plan Survey
3 Simple Ways to Market Your Business, Project or Web Site
Posted by: | CommentsOver the years, I have become a ‘bit of a marketing junkie. I am always checking out the latest trends, following successful marketing techniques and trying to figure out how each works. For those not as familiar with the idea, marketing is the process associated with promoting the sale of a good or service you provide.
Successful marketing can be the saving grace for a failing business. Here are three simple marketing ideas you can use to help your business, web site or project.
Don’t Be Afraid to Follow the Trends
You do not want to jump on every band wagon out there, however you should keep an eye on which ones are gaining popularity. Many business out there are setting up Twitter accounts and Facebook Fan pages for their users to give them feedback, get updates from, or just socialize. These days you can not have a successful business or project if you don’t have a fan base around it, willing to support you.
An example of this would be how GoToMeeting started to offer special deals and promotions for people running video and audio podcasts. Rather than following a social trend, like a Twitter or Facebook, they followed a content trend. They had the foresight to see this type of content was going to become popular, and the people into it are a ‘bit geekier than the rest – the perfect type of people who would use GoToMeeting to collaborate on data rather than fly across the country.
Customize Your Marketing to Your Niche of Customers
More traditional forms of getting your name out there are good, but not every marketing strategy is good for every business. For an example, it does not make sense for a shoe salesman to advertise on a cooking show. Sure, people who cook often do wear shoes, that is a fact. However, you should target an audience that would be more appealing to your needs.
The shoe salesman in question could visit area track meets, speak with the athletes in attendance, and pitch to them why your shoes might be better than the pair they are wearing right now.
A Sale is Not the Answer to Everything
While running a sale is a good idea, it is not the answer to everything. While lowering your price (if you are selling goods) is a relatively good thing in this tough economic time, it can often lead to brand decay because the user doesn’t know what the package should really be valued at. Also worth mentioning is that everybody and their grandmother can run a sale, and there will always be somebody who can undercut your prices. Focus less on running special deals, and more on the quality of the service or goods you provide.
Going back to the shoe salesman, rather than cutting the price on new shoes by 50%, he should maybe cut that back to 20% to 30% and play the role of Captain Obvious, pointing out the thing that makes his service better than the rest. He should point out each pair comes with a free set of shoelaces, that he will be staying open two hours later to help you meet your holiday needs, he should be bending over backwards doing something special and unique to get your attention. Anybody can run a sale, but few can lead in more sales without the need of losing your profits. You can always choose to go the entertaining route too. What type of reaction would a shoe salesman have if he ran a “buy one shoe, get one shoe free” sale? You laugh now, but it does get your attention.
You might not see results overnight, but over time (if you do things right) success will follow. What you have to remember is that marketing successfully is about creating a customer, keeping a customer, and making sure that customer is satisfied.
Lunarpages September Newsletter – Back to Web Hosting School
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Do you hear that?
The school bell is ringing, the class is about to start, and we have a new newsletter to do your learning from. What is on the proverbial black board this month? We have a plethora of announcements, news, tutorials and guides for you to use.
- LunarNews: September 2009 – What is the latest news for the month of September? We have lots of web hosting goodies for you!
- Affordable Website Design Packages from Lunarpages – Check out the latest on and about our new web design packages. Get both your design and hosting from Lunarpages.
- SEO Tips: Step Ten of Ten – Keeping it Up – In the last of the SEO-inspired series we will help guide you through how to keep up your good optimization practices.
- Easy Ecommerce with Miva Merchant – Looking for an affordable but powerful ecommerce and merchant solution to combine with your web hosting at Lunarpages? As usual, we have an exclusive partner offer that can help you attain all your ecommerce hosting goals!
- Lunarpages Wants to Hear From You – We want to hear from our customers and get to know what we can do better. Take this survey, and you might get up to one year of web hosting for free!
- 3 Ways to Make Your Business More Efficient – TremenDesk, the hosted help desk application, is much more than just a help desk – it is a tool you can use to make your online business more efficient.
- Video Guides and Tutorials for Google Analytics – Did you know that Google provides an entire video series on how to use Google Analytics? We’ll tell you where you can find it!
- Lunarpages Design Database Survey – We are starting a new web design tutorial database, and we need your help! Let us know what you want to see there, where you want to see it and how you want to see it presented.
- How to Deal with Online Content Theft – Ever had your content stolen from your web site? In this article we will share with you the lawful steps you should take to re-claim your digital copyright.
- Best of the Bookmark Resources – Fresh from the Lunarforums, we have a list of the greatest online bookmarking resources from around the Web.
- Hosting Backup and Restore from the LPCP – Backing up your content from the LPCP web hosting control panel has never been easier. Here is a guide to walk you through the steps to getting that task done.
Don’t make us have to hold you after class – be sure to give us your feedback! We always love to hear what you like and what you learned from the Lunarpages Web Hosting Newsletter. Drop an e-mail to affiliate@lunarpages.com or leave your comments directly on www.web-hosting-newsletter.com.
How to Turn a Complaint into a Feature
Posted by: admin | Comments Comments OffYou do not have to drastically change the way you do business though. If you are successful in one area of business, do not toss it aside to do something else that is more popular. I got a question submitted to me the other day from Matt, which touches on this very topic.
Here is what Matt had to say:
How can a free host become successful?
People are always skeptical when it comes to getting something for nothing, so as long as you give free services – you’ll always have somebody out there dismissing your claims of success because they think you’re a fraud. Thankfully, they might also think we never landed on the moon or one of the muppets assassinated JFK. The fact of the matter is there will always be somebody out there to complain.
My question is, do you have to pick one business plan, free hosting versus paid hosting, or can you have your cake and eat it too? I would suggest you keep your free hosting in place, it sounds successful, and you have happy customers – which is something many web hosts, free or not, can not claim. As a secondary service, roll out a paid hosting solution that offers a few perks over the free version. It could be in features, support or anything else you feel like you could offer a little more of to the people willing to pay for it. Then, once that is in place, start marketing your new paid hosting service to those customers you do have, and let them know that it is an option you are providing for them.
Some might bite at the proverbial worm you are tossing out there, and others may say no thanks. Past that point you can sell your new paid hosting option to the masses using the free service as a way to get your foot in the door, as far as seeing how great your hosting setup is. You might even sell it as you are so confident they will enjoy their hosting with you, you are willing to give it away for free.
Thanks to Matt for the question, and to check out his web site – or maybe send some more suggestions his way, be sure to check out ismywebsite.com.
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