Web Savvy Marketers

If You’re Going to Make a Change, Make it for the Better.

There’s a website that I go to every couple of months for information and every time I do they’ve completely re-vamped the site. The problem is that every time they do, they make it harder and harder to find the information I’m searching for.

Now, I have no problem with ensuring a site is fresh, but in making changes you need to make certain that the navigation remains as clear as possible. Since we all have short attention spans, it only takes a few seconds to lose your viewer, so it’s all about providing the information needed in an easy-to-follow format.

Another thing to consider is the format that a user is accustomed to. I recently went to another site that was beautifully designed, but I couldn’t tell where to go from the home page. As a rule, people are used to left and to navigation bars. By adhering to this type of format, it makes it easier for the viewer to find what they need.

The bottom line is…you can make a site as creative and informative as possible, but if the viewer can’t find what they’re looking for, you’re going to lose them.

Using .tel for digital branding

There’s a new domain type in town and it’s different than the .com, .biz, .org and .nets domains that you probably know. The .tel domain is not attached to a website like all the others. This new top level domain (TLD) is an internet directory listing that gives you complete and easily managed control over your online contact information.

When you sign up for your .tel domain you’ll get a username and login.  With that you can login to your account anytime and update your contact information, address, and business information.  They are like an online real-time business card. It’s a low-cost way for a business to keep current information available online without having a business website or in addition to their website.

From the .tel website…

  • Join a global online directory that provides you instant worldwide exposure…
  • Integrate all your means of communication in a single place under your control…
  • Update and manage your contact information and keywords in real time…
  • Increase your search engine visibility through descriptive keywords…
  • Provide a fast way for your customers to connect with you in a single click from any mobile device…

Another take…

Top Ten Reasons to Buy Your .Tel domain

It’s a low-cost alternative or addition to a website and the new digital business card. Buy through your favorite domain seller – hopefully that’s cgwebhelp 😉

See a sample at cgwebhelp.tel

SSL certificates explained

What SSL Certificates Do:

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology protect websites and make it easy for visitors to trust websites in three essential ways:

  1. An SSL Certificate enables encryption of sensitive information during online transactions.
  2. Each SSL Certificate contains unique, authenticated information about the certificate owner.
  3. A Certificate Authority verifies the identity of the certificate owner when it is issued.

Who needs an SSL Certificate?

If you, or your customers fit into any of the following categories, then an SSL Certificate is a must:

  • Operate an online store or accept online orders and credit cards
  • Offer a login or sign in on your site
  • Process sensitive data such as address, birth date, license, or ID numbers
  • Require compliance with privacy and security requirements
  • Value privacy and expect others to trust you.

How SSL Encryption Works

Imagine sending mail through the postal system in a clear envelope. Anyone with access to it can see the data. If it looks valuable, they might take it or change it. An SSL Certificate establishes a private communication channel between the browser and web server enabling encryption of the data during transmission. Encryption scrambles the data, essentially creating an envelope for message privacy.

Each SSL Certificate consists of a public key and a private key. The public key is used to encrypt information and the private key is used to decipher it. When a Web browser points to a secured domain, a Secure Sockets Layer handshake authenticates the server (the website) and the client (the web browser). An encryption method is established with a unique session key and secure transmission can begin. True 128-bit SSL Certificates enable every site visitor to experience the strongest SSL encryption available to them.

How Authentication Works

Imagine receiving an envelope with no return address and a form asking for your bank account number. In the case of organization- or Extended-validation certificates, every SSL Certificate is created for a particular server in a specific domain for a verified business entity. The validation process for EV certificates is quite extensive and provides fuller information about the website owner than a standard certificate. When the SSL handshake occurs, the browser requires authentication information from the server. By clicking the closed padlock in the browser window or certain SSL trust marks (such as the VeriSign Secured Seal or GeoTrust True Site Seal), the website visitor sees the authenticated organization name. In high-security browsers (IE7/8, Firefox 3.0+, Safari 3.2+, Chrome and Opera 9.2+), the authenticated organization name is prominently displayed and the address bar turns green when an Extended Validation SSL Certificate is detected. If the information does not match or the certificate has expired, the browser displays an error message or warning.

A Matter of Trust

At the end of the day, SSL Certificates are all about trust. If you want to develop and instill a sense of trust with website visitors, an SSL Certificate is the way to do it. An SSL-protected site gives users the confidence to share personal information without having to worry about whether that data is safe as it travels around the Internet. And, the SSL Certificate provides further peace of mind to web users by offering verification that those in control of the web server are who the web surfer thinks they are.

If trust is important to the end users of your customers – and I’d venture a guess that it is – then they need to know that one of the best ways to build that trust is to secure their websites with an SSL Certificate along with a prominently displayed site seal that end users recognize and trust.

This information provided by OpenSRS.  cgwebhelp, llc is a reseller for OpenSRS.

NotMyMothersWedding.com Launched

I launched a new website for the authors of the book  Not My Mother’s Wedding last week.  The book, written by Maureen Chapdelaine and daughter Kate Chapdelaine Brennan, takes a comical look back on their different perceptions as they went about planning Kate’s wedding.  The book will be available this May and can be ordered on the website.

Stimulate Your Economy: Give Freely

Yesterday, Katie Couric featured Denny’s on the evening news. Denny’s is more Main Street than Wall Street and the CEO wasn’t showcased for multi-million dollar bonuses but for giving away breakfasts.  It made a great “feel good” story.

Denny’s CEO plainly stated that the free breakfasts were a promotion to get more business.”It was just a couple of pancakes, eggs and bacon,” he said.

But amidst the nightly gloom-cast of unemployment and Wall Street bailouts, Denny’s was portrayed as humanitarian for giving back to the unfortunate in their communities.  The reality was that it was a successful campaign that has since brought in more than enough customers to cover the costs of the free breakfasts  because the promotion expanded it client base.

Free is good. It makes good press and helps develop a client base.  It’s one of the building blocks of tremendously successful online and traditional businesses. Google was a free search engine long before it began collecting revenue.  Craigslist, Facebook and Twitter are all examples of websites whose successes are not yet matched by revenue.

It may seem counterproductive to give something away–possibly even before you’ve established a steady stream of revenue.  But any business owner who is trying to attract new business should consider offering something free.

What can you offer? Three simple ideas:

  1. Information. It may be the most cherished and sought after commodity on the web. Give it freely — on your website, through social media, blogs, etc., and you will develop your market. Develop your market and you will sell products and services.
  2. Free shipping.  If you’ve got the goods use free shipping will help close the deal.
  3. Free samples. Turn prospects into customers by letting them try a free sample.

Give freely.  It pays.

Follow me as I explore Twitter

I don’t claim to be an expert on Twitter,  but for the last few weeks I’ve been exploring how Twitter works and what it is that has created one of the fastest growing social networks around.

At first glance I’ll admit it looked to be a total waste of time.  If you browse through the general posts there is a lot of nonsense.  I don’t care if or when someone is going to dinner or when they’re going to bed…unless I’m involved.  And that is the point, you choose to become involved (“follow“) whoever you find interesting.

How do you find interesting people to follow?  Use twittersearch to find topics of interest.  For example, for business, I following tweets about Google., Joomla, G1 Android and SEO.  I’ve also been following amFIX (CNN) and for fun, the other night while watching American Idol, I followed the American Idol tweets.  What can I say?  I’m easily entertained.

There are numerous Twitter Tools available that help you to customize your twittering and tweeting  to suit your working style.  Tools to incorporate into Outlook, your mobile phone, your desktop. to feed your blog to twitter, to feed your tweets to your blog or website.

One of the most efficient tools I’ve found is Twitterfeed, which feeds your blog posts to Twitter automatically.

There are numerous tutorials online about Twitter. Do a search for “How to Use Twitter for Business” and see what you find.  Here’s a good comprehensive overview that I found on Twitter this morning by Andrea Kalli.

Another one (found on the Linked In Twitter Innovators Discussion Group)  20 ways Twitter helps business…

Sign up for Twitter at twitter.com.

Learn more at http://help.twitter.com/portal

Follow me. I’ll try to point out valuable business networking tips as I find them.

Bold is not bold when it’s all bold!

5 quick style tips for website managers and blog newbies:

  1. Use bold only to accent selected words or phrases
  2. Use italics for publication titles, quotes and other phrases as determined but be consistent
  3. Stick to left justification in most cases – avoid overuse of center, right or full justified text
  4. Don’t be afraid of white space – it’s beautiful and makes reading easy on the eyes 
  5. Resize photos appropriately for screen viewing and make sure they’re not stretched or fuzzy. It’s good practice to size images in a photo editing program before uploading to your site.

Don’t Forget Your Customers

We all know that it takes more time, effort and money to get a new customer than it does to sell to an existing customer. So why don’t we do a better job of selling to our customers? I have a client that provides services to a very finite audience. He knows every possible customer and prospect in the markets he sells to. His company is very responsive to their needs and always creating new products for them, However, he never informs his customers about these new products unless they’re the one it’s created for. The idea of creating a superior product or service and keeping it a secret may seem crazy, but in fact, that’s exactly what so many of us do.

So the question is, what do we do about it? There are two immediate steps we can take. First and foremost, have a plan. We spend all sorts of time planning ways to get new customers but little time planning how to sell more to our existing customers. You need to understand why they buy from you to ensure they continue to do so.

Second, communicate! Talk to your customers. Find out what their needs are and you might find you can fill them. We often assume that our customers understand our business and know what we have to offer them. This is not the case. If you get your name in front of them on a regular basis, you will be the person they call when they have a need, even if they’re not sure you can fulfill it. A cost-effective way of doing this is through e-marketing. It will also drive customers to your website to remind them what you can do for them.

The bottom line is, the more you communicate and educate your customer, the easier it will be for them to turn to you when they need help.

Do you know your SEO score?

If you plan to or have optimized your website for search engines, it’s a good idea to know your SEO status. Domaintools.com has a beta SEO score tool that gives you a SEO score. Just go to domaintools.com and enter your domain name is the Whois Lookup field.  When your site comes up you’ll see your SEO score.  Click on the SEO score link to see how and what is used to derive your score and how you can make your site more search engine friendly. More details on how the tool works at http://www.domaintools.com/seo-score/

Our Location

222 Pitkin Street, Suite 125
East Hartford, CT 06108
Phone: 860-432-8756

Talk to Us

Follow us, subscribe to us, email us, or call us at 860-432-8756. We’ll use our Super Savvy Tool Belt to stay in touch however you prefer.

Sign Up for Email Updates