Shaun Stanislaus blog

Tips on Gaining Web Traffic to your Online Shop for pro online entrepreneurs

Let your customers contact you

Make your site’s contact information street address, e-mail address, and phone number – easily accessible through a “Contact Us” link. Doing so will inspire confidence in both current and prospective clients.

Enlarge product descriptions

Give the customer as much information as you care about the features, capabilities, and limitations of your products, whether there are different configurations, and how they compare with other products. A mere product number just doesn’t hack it.

Ensure transaction security

The safest online transaction method is via credit card. When using one, you can challenge charges and withhold payment in the event of a dispute with a merchant. Under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act, you are liable for only $50 if your card is used fraudulently (and you are rarely required to pay even that).

Print out your orders

Print out paper copies of any orders you place. Most vendors will send an e-mail confirmation, often with a link for package tracking, but e-mails can get lost or deleted.

Having a physical copy of the order ensures that you get what you paid for.

See what other customers say

Before ordering from an unfamiliar Web site, do a search on the company or site name to see what customers have to say. Or check with the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org), which accredits and rates businesses as well as summarizes customer complaints, noting whether the company resolved them.

 

Make Sure an offer is legit

If a deal looks too good be true, it probably is. Call the merchant with any questions you may have. No phone number or physical address offered on the Web site? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Investigate possible scams

Think you may have been scammed? The National Fraud Information Centre (www.fraud.com), a program of the National Consumers League, provides information on a wide range of online and telemarketing scams, helps you determine whether something is fraudulent, and lets you file complaints online.

Pretty pictures sell products

Adding plenty of product photographs makes a site appealing. First, get a good photographer to shoot them. Later, in a program like Adobe Photoshop, you can optimize size, contrast, and brightness, and minimize file size by saving as JPEGs. Keep images small (but linked to larger, better-quality versions) or your pages will take forever to load.

Make sure you’re encrypted

A safe Web site has SSL or similar encryption. Pages that ask for or display personal information should have a URL that begins with https://. You should also see a lock icon (in the locked position) near the address bar or at the bottom of the page.

Keep in touch with customers

Collect e-mail address from customers who wish to subscribe to newsletters or other mailings. You can do this by adding a form to your site or providing a link to a separate subscription page.

Create a privacy policy

Your e-commerce site should have a privacy policy detailing what you will – and won’t – do with customer information. Examine the policies of Web sites you visit to see what they include. Still need help? The Direct Marketing Association provides a privacy policy generator at www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.

Buy search terms

You can advertise your business in search results from Google, Microsoft Live, or Yahoo! For surprisingly low costs of entry; Google AdWords Starter Edition carries a start-up cost of just $10, with no minimum monthly spend on keywords. Yahoo! Has a $1 minimum per day, and Microsoft has a $2-per-month minimum. All three offer lots of help and make it easy to get started.

Recommend products

Provide a list of recommended products and things “other customers also bought” with each item. You can do it in your database by connecting products based on customers’ actual purchase.

 

Web Traffic

 

Sound Structure

 

Make sure your HTML structure is correct. While not as important as they used to be to search-engine spiders, metatags (the HTML tags at the top of the web page, such as title, keyword, and descriptor tags) are a vital part of optimizing your site for SEO.

 

 

Use trackbacks

 

When you leave comments on a Web site or blog or participate in a discussion forum, use the trackback feature to boost traffic to your own site. A trackback is basically a line back to your site that connects to your comment, so participants and visitors can click on it and “track back” to your page.

 

 

Link. Link. Link.

 

You must link, but link properly and effectively. Google looks at links to and from your Web site when it determines your PageRank (Google’s formula for determining a Web page’s importance). And the words you use in hyperlinks are of key importance; instead of saying, “Click here to read more about Topic X,” you should say, “Read more about Topic X.”

 

 

Read all about it

 

A newsletter is one of the easiest ways to drive traffic. Visitors can opt in or out, and they get exactly the content they’re looking for. But make sure you create newsletters that are focused and provide value. Spamming people will just irritate them.

 

 

Tighten up your titles

 

Pay attention to page titles. Keywords used in the title tag often have more weight (in ranking) thank keywords used just in the body of an article.

 

 

Don’t get too fancy

 

Flash and JavaScript may make your site look cool, but overwhelming visitors with flashy graphics and no substance won’t get you anywhere. Many experts believe that search engine spiders still prefer HTML.

 

Outside influence

 

Pitch and plant your stories, Submitting your stories to social media sites, blogs, and rating engines (like Digg and Yahoo! Buzz) can help drive lots of traffic to your site.

 

 

Optimize for SEO read more about SEO on page 6

 

Optimize your site for search-engine optimization (SEO). By implementing sound SEO practices on your pages, you can help improve your ranking in search-engine results. Just one example of a very complex subject: Choose words relevant to your business and make sure they appear prominently in page headers and titles.

 

 

Get Listed

 

You need to get people to your site. One way to do so – and boost your organic or unpaid-for, traffic – is by listing your site in search directories (like Yahoo!) and search engines (like Google). Various services and companies will do this for you, or you can head over to the Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org/help/submit.html) and submit your site yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five tips for developing the soft skills IT pros need

Takeaway: As an IT support pro, you not only need to be able to diagnose computer problems, you also must be able to effectively communicate the problem to the user. Use these tips to develop your soft skills, become a star player, and move up the IT ladder.

Most IT support professionals know that the development of technical skills is fundamental to their careers. But learning about the subject matter is only one of the necessary talents every IT pro should cultivate. The human component to support techs’ duties requires good communication and relationship skills, otherwise known as soft skills.

We interviewed several career experts and techs in the trenches to identify five ways that IT pros can improve their communication skills and their ability to relate to others while on the job. Use this advice to further develop your professional skills and advance your career.

Why you need soft skills
The shifting economy and ever-evolving industry have expanded job roles, making it essential for the IT pro to wear many different hats. Aside from simply providing technical assistance, support pros may find themselves taking on the job of salesperson, manager, or public speaker.

“Most have been trained first and foremost to make sure that their ‘fact ducks’ are all in a row,” said Peggy Klaus, a Fortune 500 communications coach and author of BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It.

In other words, their entire training may have been spent on technical development, and other elements of professional development may have been neglected, according to Rick Freedman, principal consultant with Consulting Strategies, Inc. For example, there may be situations in which you are the only person in the company with whom the customer makes contact, and it’s vital to the business that this interaction be a positive experience, he said. Further, you may be required to provide support to coworkers.

Clear communication with nontechnical people can help facilitate working relationships and close the gap between dissimilar departments within the business, Freedman said. Developing your soft skills will help you bypass the jargon and increase your productivity.

Tips to improve your soft skills
Our experts suggested the following tips to help IT pros develop the soft skills necessary to advance their careers:

• Actively listen
• Communicate with illustrations
• Take the lead
• Nurture your inner writer
• Step out of the box, physically and mentally

Tip 1: Actively listen
Most IT pros tend to be analytical by nature, so when a customer or coworker approaches with a problem, you’re likely to hear only the literal statements. “Active listening involves focusing on the moment, participating in the conversation, waiting your turn to speak, and asking for clarification when necessary,” said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology.

It’s easy to treat a frustrated customer like a technical issue, but empathizing with the person with the problem can help build a stronger relationship with your client. Try paraphrasing the other person’s words and repeating them back to ensure you understood their concerns. They’ll feel as if you’re truly listening to their problems, and you’ll find out whether you’ve received all the facts. If you have a few hours in the evening, consider enrolling in an active listening course, many of which are offered by community or technical colleges.

Tip 2: Communicate with illustrations
Most customers will become confused—or worse yet, defensive—the moment you start talking acronyms like DHCP, SQL, DNS, or OBDC. A nontechnical person’s eyes may glaze over after just 10 seconds of jargon, and it’s a guaranteed method of alienating your client. Choosing common terms or illustrations to demonstrate your point will help facilitate communication.

Dan Welty, who provides IT support to small and midsize businesses, recently had a customer with disabled DNS settings. When the client asked about the acronym, Welty used a simple analogy to explain. He compared an IP address to a phone number and explained that the DNS “looks up the phone number” for Web sites.

“The client loved this explanation, and it only took a few minutes,” Welty said. “Search your mind for analogies that can be used to explain technical issues in everyday terms.”

Tip 3: Take the lead
More IT pros are taking on the role of leader, particularly in smaller departments. “The ability to lead others, even if only on small initiatives, is a key strength,” Spencer Lee said. “Chances are you’ll be guiding others—whether newcomers within the department or junior members of your team—at some point in your career.”

Take the time to observe some of the successful leaders within your company and note their actions and management style. If possible, choose diverse assignments or enroll in teambuilding classes to increase your knowledge about employee motivation.

“Take on leadership roles within your department to continually increase your responsibility,” Spencer Lee said. She noted that the more you immerse yourself in the role of leader, the quicker you’ll develop the necessary interpersonal skills.

Tip 4: Nurture your inner writer
Many IT pros need to write and respond to RFQs and create system documentation, but their only exposure to drafting text was writing a high school term paper. The secret is to write the technical material in nontechnical terms. You may also need to rely on visuals, charts, and diagrams to illustrate important points.

The best way to develop this skill is simple: practice. Each day, choose a problem you’ve encountered and write the solution with a nontechnical person as your audience. Give it to a friend or family member to review.

“You may also want to consider taking a business writing course or visiting a local chapter of the Society for Technical Communication,” said Joshua Feinberg, cofounder of ComputerConsulting101.com.

Tip 5: Step out of the box, physically and mentally
It’s easy to spend an entire day in your cubicle or office, but it’s not the best career move.

“Knowing what your employer does and how your efforts translate to the company’s overall goals is key to an IT professional’s success,” Spencer Lee said.

Sign up for some office committees or meet colleagues for lunch to expand your working relationships and understanding of the company’s mission. To help cultivate relationships with clients, stay up to date on world business news.

“Subscribe to at least one general business magazine like Business Week or Fortune,” advises Freedman. You’ll be prepared to speak with any client about current trends and industries.

The true test
Our experts agreed that communication is the most important nontechnical skill for IT pros to master. Whether it’s speaking with a customer, interacting with coworkers, or drawing a diagram, you must use clear, understandable language. Perhaps the best advice they provided was to try explaining your work to a nontechnical friend from outside the workplace. If you can get them to understand without either of you becoming frustrated, you’re on the right track. If not, they’ll be able to tell you if it’s time to drop the jargon and adopt real-life terms without reservation.