TechTidBit - Tips and advice for small business computing - Tech Experts™ - Monroe Michigan

Brought to you by Tech Experts™

Websites

Taking Your Business Online Can Increase Profits

by Jeremy Miller, Technician
Most if not all businesses can benefit from having an online-presence. Going on-line for a business can be a low-cost marketing solution.

Your online presence can help give customer’s quick access to information about you and your business, all the way to having automated inventory alerts that let clients know about new products and stock levels.

When getting started online, you’ll want to get a domain that represents your business. You’ll want to pick something that’s easy to remember, and easy to spell and type.

You don’t want a domain name that you have to spell out for clients – that makes it very hard to use in advertising.

There are many domain registrars to choose from, including Tech Experts.

After you have your domain name, you’ll need website hosting services. Most web hosts, including Tech Experts, include company email with the service.

Most hosting plans are very affordable. Our basic hosting plan starts at $9.99 per month.

If you want to take it a step further, you can set up an online store. There are a lot of options, depending on how involved you want the store to be.

Accepting credit cards online can be a hassle, especially with the new security and compliance regulations. If you expect to do a large volume of business in your store, it makes sense to set up a secure site and contract for the credit card processing services.

For smaller web stores, PayPal offers a checkout service that is fully PCI DSS compliant. Their basic service is free (less the processing costs).

Setting up a website is not enough to make your business drastically improve. You have to find a way to get customers to your website.

There are many ways to do this. An inexpensive and effective way to get your website noticed is to start a blog.

Blogs will show a human side to the business and search engines crawl blogs easily. Easy places to do this are popular websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus.

This helps improve your ranking in a search on search engines. There are other ways to improve your ranking as well. In fact there is a periodic table guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

By looking at the periodic table, you can see exactly on a point scale what increases and decreases your SEO ranking.

There are companies that specialize in SEO Optimization. The fees range from very reasonable to exorbitant. SEO is as much black art as science, and it pays to have professional help.

There are tools that track how users are using your website. Google Analytics tracks how much time is spent on your website, and where visitors are going.

This can be useful for you to optimize your site for ease-of-use. You want to make it easy for your users to find what they are looking for and browse easily as well.

Another tool that can be useful is Google AdSense, which places targeted ads on your site – and everytime someone clicks on ad, Google will pay you a small amount.

The last thing to think about is the mobile version of your site. More users browse the Internet than ever before with their smart phones and tablets, so you’ll want to have a mobile site for these visitors.

This can be a little more tedious due to the fact that this technology is still emerging.

A lot of web sites require a mouse for them to function; an example of this would be a site with a menu bar at the top with a “mouse over” function to see the drop-down menu.

So having a site that detects the type of device and browser that the user is using and directs them to the correct site is important.

Tech Experts Launches New Website, Support Portal

We’re excited to announce our new website, which has been under development for several months. The new site is much more intuitive and easier to navigate.

Links to our most-used features – connecting to Remote Support and our Tech Experts Support Portal – are now at the top of the page. You’ll also find links to our social media sites such as FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

We’re in the process of consolidating all of our technical support resources, such as email setup guides, web hosting control panel instructions, and support ticket creation and review functions into one easy to use support portal: http://www.MyTechExperts.com.

Your feedback is very important to us! If you have the opportunity to review the site, please let us know your thoughts by sending an email to info@MyTechExperts.com.

Triple Efficiency And Save Time With Templates

Imagine, a pre-made template created just for your need! You could potentially triple your efficiency with a time-saving template at your fingertips.

Using templates can speed up any job. Visit www.office.microsoft.com/templates to view, search and download hundreds of free templates ranging from inventory sheets, to schedules, and business cards. You can even find newsletter templates just like the one you are reading right now!

Save time
Using a template can save you from those creative blocks that stall progress. Have you ever tried to create a brochure from scratch?

When you have a template handy, you can save countless hours of trying to arrange the graphics to balance the page.

Structure your workload
Creating presentations, invoices, diagrams, agendas, and other forms can become streamlined processes that anyone can help you complete.

With a template saved for each job, you literally have expert level graphic arts and designs incorporated right into your work, creating a more efficient way for you to complete your duties and improve the quality, too.

Get great design ideas for nothing
Imagine if you had to sit down and structure every document for your company. It would take forever! Templates can cut preparation time and costs as well as provide a reliable and consistent format for your business reports, transactions, and other processes.

What about a website
Are you considering a new website or makeover for your current one? While a template site doesn’t compare with a custom designed site, it can save time and money when you need to get your site updated. Take a look at the premade templates available at http://www.templatemonster.com/.

You can search through hundreds of website templates by style or category. You have the option to buy a copy for as little as $62, or buy a “unique” copy for $2,500+.

Plus, you will need a little help from a web designer to post the site on the Internet and make it work, but it is considerably less than an entirely custom website.

What’s the difference? A unique copy removes the template from the company library so no one else can purchase or use that template.

The downside is that if other people have already downloaded the template, they will still get to legally use their copy.

Don’t wait another minute! I am sure in reading this article, you thought of at least three projects or processes in which you could use a template. Get started today!

Web Advertising Tips To Increase Traffic And Leads

A great way to get your small business name out there is to advertise on the web. If you already have a website, there are many things you can do to increase traffic to your site.

The number one key for people to find your website is to have great keywords on your site so that search engines such as Google and Yahoo will see your website. The purpose is so that anyone online can open the search engine and type in some keywords and your website will be listed. The better the match and the more people that click on your website will determine how high you will rank on the search engines.

Every chance you get online, list your website address. When you print out documents to give to customers or business cards make sure to include your web address. Even online, when signing up for a forum or sending a email, make sure you include your website.

You can also create a blog on your website to post articles related to your business. This will help people using search engines looking for something related to your business to be able to find your website. Some people think it is very expensive to create a blog but you can actually find free blogs online and then point your website in the direction of these blogs.

Posting coupons on your website will help attract people too. There is nothing more appealing to customers than saving money.  This will get the customers wanting to check your site frequently just to see the new sales or coupons you’re posting.

Sending e-mails to customers can also help advertise. This will keep your customers up to date on whats new with your business and any other information you would like them to know. Also most people now days have e-mail addresses and spend at least a few hours a week sending and receiving e-mails. Make sure you only send e-mails to people who have given you permission; otherwise, you’re spamming.

Take advantage of free classified ads online. Just like in the newspaper, websites such as Yahoo have classified ads that anyone can post to and their business will be listed.

Create a banner for your website and post it on banner exchange websites. These websites have you put one of their advertisements on your site in exchange for them advertsing your banner on thousands of other websites.

Microsoft Teams With Nasa On World Wide Telescope

In an effort to catch up with Google, Microsoft has signed an agreement to make planetary images and other data available to the public.  This will all be made possible thanks to the World Wide Telescope.  Also known as WWT, the computer software program allows end users to view high detailed satellite imagery, photography, and interactive 3-D models outer space.

Microsoft is getting the bulk of its images from The Hubble Space Telescope, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, (MRO) NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, (LRO) as well as ten other earth bound telescopes.

World Wide Telescope is currently offering five main modes.  The modes are sky, earth, planets, panoramas, and solar system.  The planets mode actually allows users to view 3-D models of celestial bodies like our moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and four of Jupiter’s larger moons; bringing a virtual observatory directly to your desktop or laptop computers.

Microsoft and NASA will be working toward providing tools for real-time weather visualizations and forecasting.  The space shuttle launch pad, and other facilities at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will be available along with high resolution 3-D maps of the moon, sun, stars, Earth, Mars, and more to come.
Real time tracking of the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttles will be available later this year.

Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California will be responsible for the processing and hosting of more than 100 terabytes (TB) of data.  That’s enough to fill over 20,000 DVDs!

NASA intends to deliver a huge amount of upgrades to the WWT project in the Fall of 2009, as surface data of our solar systems become more and more popular, while Earth bound data is losing its excitement.

World Wide Telescope is a free download available to all users at www.worldwidetelescope.org.

The home page provides links to interactive tours that walk you through the software, and show you the ins and outs of navigating your way around the program.

There are also video/audio guided tours made by astrophysicists such as Dr. Alyssa Goodman of the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. WWT allows users to create their own tours containing music, voice overs, and much more.

A web based version is available for those who don’t want to download and install the software on your local system, but the web client version does not have the full functionality of the software, but it sure is a great way to take a test drive across the universe.

What To Look For When Choosing Your Web Host

Anyone that has looked in to setting up a website knows that there is just more than saying, “I want a website.”

First, you must decide what type of website you want for your business. For instance, do you need a portal for customers to login and buy merchandise or check for new information regarding an invoice? That kind of website is called a dynamic website because the information keeps changing and usually requires lots of time from the webmaster to keep the website managed.

Then there are the websites that just act like a billboard to help promote your business to people. These sites will usually include a lot of the sales and marketing information from your company’s brochures.

The next step, after deciding what type of website your company needs, is choosing a domain name. This can be the trickiest part of putting your company online. Domain names are the “real estate” of the Internet – you can’t publish a website without a domain name. And, the reason I say it is tricky is that most of the good names are already registered.

Tech Experts can help you in choosing a good domain name, and register it for you as part of your hosting service. A tip, though: Make sure your domain name ends in “.com” – any of the other domain endings, like “.biz” and even “.net” are like the second class citizens of the Internet.

Here are some things to consider when you’re choosing a hosting company.

Reliability
Reliability is one of the most important factors in web hosting. If the hosting company doesn’t have great reliability you can find yourself losing lots of customers because of downtime. Most companies will advertise 99% uptime which is good but a better hosting company will offer a refund in time or in cash for downtime if they go under 99%.

Location
Location is another factor to consider. If your website is hosted in another country you will find that people will have a very slow response from the website due to the time it takes for the information to transfer to the destination. When choosing the location, try to stick with one in the same country as your target audience.

Data transfer speed
Data transfer speed refers to how quickly pages load and the rate at which other information on your Web site is accessed by visitors. Ask about data transfer statistics, and have the company show you how the speed they provide will be adequate for your needs.

Hard drive space
Hard drive space is something that is closely related to data transfer. Most businesses won’t need more than 10mb of storage space for their website, but be sure you have the option to increase space if needed. If you plan to store users and picture on the website you will need to plan in the future to have extra hard drive space. You’ll use more bandwidth as your visitor counts goes up.

The control panel
The control panel for a web site is where you go to make minor administrative changes to the site. For example, you would use the control panel to add new e-mail users to your service. Make sure the company you select has an easy to use control panel.

E-mail service
E-mail service is the next consideration. Some hosting companies provide email support and will allow you to create 1 or even unlimited amount of email accounts. Email accounts are usually always setup through the control panel you have chosen to use. You will want to make sure that the hosting company provides spam filtering services, too. The last thing you want to do is spend your time deleting hundreds of junk mails.

If you keep these things in mind, you’ll have an idea what you need and you will be able to start comparing web hosting providers. Here is my advice: Always remember, you get what you pay for. Do not expect a $5/month provider to have better support compared to a company like Tech Experts that charges a fair price and provides you with excellent service.

If you have questions about web hosting or having a web site set up for your company, please e-mail me at cbogedain@expertsmi.com.

 

Secrets About your Customers Hidden In your Company’s Website Reports

No matter who hosts your website, it’s almost certain that you have website traffic reporting. These reports can tell you a LOT about your customer and who is visiting your web site IF you know how to read them. Here’s a quick less on how to decipher them…

Hits V. Unique Visitors
Its’ been said that “hits” is short for “How Idiots Track Sales.” That’s because “Total Hits” is a deceptive number: it counts every single graphics file, style sheet, and script a visitor pulls for each page. A single visitor on a single page could easily pull a dozen files or more.

The only number you should watch is “unique visitors” or “unique referrers.” This is your best indicator of how many individual people are actually visiting your site.

If your number of unique visitors is extremely low, you’re probably not marketing your website properly; but it could also be a sign of a technical issue. Occasionally a site is so far off the beaten path that it’s never been indexed by the search engines. Sites built in Flash or that use images instead of text are also difficult for search engines to index and, therefore, will get very low rankings and traffic.

Browsers
Your reports should give you a list of web browsers your clients are using when coming to your site. Most people use a recent version of Internet Explorer, but you may also see Firefox, Safari, or older versions of IE. Bottom line, you need to make sure your site works in all the browsers being used by your visitors.

Exit Page
Have you ever heard the term “website conversion?” It’s a measure of whether a visitor has done what you wanted them to do on your site. A conversion can be a purchase, an enrollment to your company’s e-zine, or a completed “contact us” form.

If the most popular exit pages correspond to your conversion pages, congratulations! If not, take a closer look. Why are people leaving? There may be a technical issue, a bad headline (or no headline), no offer, slow-loading graphics, or confusing copy. Something on this page is making your visitors leave abruptly.

Maybe it’s not clear where they should go next, or how to find out what they need to know. A few departures are expected, but if there’s a trend, you must address it. Experiment with various headlines, offers and designs until you find something more successful.

Keywords and Keyword Phrases
Keywords and keyword phrases are a list of words people type into search engines to find you.

This is very important information to have because it will allow you to further optimize your website to attract customers AND help you when using pay-per-click search engine marketing.

Browse this list regularly. If the words and phrases are not ones aligned with what you sell or whom you sell to, try changing the content on your site to be more targeted and specific.

Errors
Check out the error list from time to time to make sure you aren’t experiencing any technical issues. The most frequent error you’ll find is a “404” code, which means “document not found”—also known as broken links.

Broken links are caused by deleted pages, new page names, or links to other sites that may no longer exist. These errors should be corrected to keep your site current.

Another good tip is to have a custom “404” page that shows up instead of the stock standard “file not found” page that contains your company name, phone number, and a way to report the problem. Your web master can set this up for you.

What Is A Website Certificate, And Why Is It Important?

If you ever make purchases online, you must know how to quickly determine if the website you are about to buy from is secure.

A secure connection is an encrypted exchange of information between the website you are visiting and the browser you are using. Encryption of data is simply a process of converting the information you type in (your name, address, and credit card number) into an unreadable format that only the receiving website can decipher.

Encryption is done through a document the website provides called a website certificate. When you send information to the website, it is encrypted at your computer and decrypted at the website to prevent hackers from intervening and stealing your credit card information.

So how do you know if a site has a certificate and a secure connection? There are two things to look for. Just note that these two checks only apply to the web page where you actually enter your credit card information, NOT the entire site itself.

Once you are on the actual order page, look for a tiny yellow padlock in the bottom right corner of your web browser. Depending on your browser version, the Security Status bar may be located on the top of the browser and to the right of the Address bar. The padlock should be closed (locked).

Next, look at the actual URL. It should begin with “https” rather than the standard “http.” If you are on a website and you see these two things, the site will have a certificate.

Another way you can view a site’s certificate is through your browser’s menu options. In Internet Explorer, go to File, Properties and then click on the Certificates button. The same dialogue box will then come up for you.

If you ever get a warning that there is a problem with the website’s certificate, it could be due to a number of problems such as the names on the certificates don’t match up with the website or the certificate has expired.

If this happens, you may want to call the company and place your order by phone rather than going through their website.

Finally, make sure you check out every company’s Privacy Policy. Even if they have a secure checkout process, they could give or sell your information to third party companies.

How To Make Your Business Website Pop!

5 Simple Tips Explain How To Distinguish Your Business Online

Untangling the mystery of the World Wide Web can be a lot like walking into quicksand: The more you get into it, the harder it is to get where you want.

Credit the sheer number of sites that populate the Web, creating clutter that makes it hard for small businesses to distinguish themselves.

Ultimately, it’s the business owners who devote time to their websites that reap the greatest rewards online.

Business websites are a lot like a car: If you don’t put gas in it and get regular oil changes, it won’t perform for you. The same goes for the Web, where sites that aren’t useful or current do little good for their owners.

One way to maximize your Web investment is through a process known as “search engine optimization” or SEO. This combines design elements, text, and keywords to ensure that the site gets the best recognition from the major search engines.

To maximize their SEO strategies, companies should define their niche market, then decide how they want that customer base to find them on the Internet.

Since it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish yourself online, here are five tips to make a splash on the Web:

1: Wow them from the first page. First impressions mean everything on the Web, so your site’s front page must shine in order to be effective.

A company’s front page should forgo bandwidth-heavy graphics and instead feature a bulleted list of services and a simple, readily accessible way to contact the company for an estimate or more information.

Subsequent pages can showcase your portfolio, testimonials from satisfied customers, and links to free e-newsletters.

2: Make it user-friendly. It’s age-old advice, but companies still aren’t adhering. Ease of use equates to both a pleasant visiting experience and marketing effectiveness. Use clear language, useful links, and navigation bars to steer customers in the right direction.

3: Make them eager to return soon. Attracting visitors is important, but persuading them to return is even more important.

Create long-term online customers by incorporating relevant self-assessment tests, surveys, and other tools with related products and services your business provides. This ensures an educational, interactive experience for the client and is a great marketing tool for your company.

Start with a simple biweekly newsletter, a blog, or a chat forum on a topic of interest to your customers.

4: Get back to basics. Browse through a few sites and you’ll quickly discover that accessing basic information can be a challenge.

To make sure your visitors don’t get turned off by poor navigation, broken links, and irrelevant information, be sure to give them a clear explanation of your product or service, making sure to highlight exactly what makes your firm and its offerings unique.

5: Give them the royal treatment. When designing your site, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. What do they want to see or know? What format most suitably presents this information? How can you keep them interested and make the experience fun?