Do No Contact Details Equal SCAM?
January 5th, 2011 // 2:09 pm @ Fox
Can you trust a company website where there are no contact details listed?
None at all? No address, phone number, map, fax or even mobile number?
I think not.
One argument may be that many websites are 100% online businesses where the office is a study located at their own home. Many online businesses do not want any Tom, Dick or Harry cold calling at their own home any time of the day or night.
Google Maps and Google Places makes it easy for the user to find a business location.
I get that.
However, a post office box with a suburb, or a phone number, or something to indicate where the company is, would help build trust with users. I have been to well known websites and on the contact us form is simply text fields and a submit button. Gone are the days of a business wanting to actually speak to anyone.
I always feel skeptical of the website where there is no location or phone numbers listed. I want to know that there are people on the other end of this website who care about their product or service.
To me, no contact details = SCAM.
Cheap Web Hosting Issues
December 29th, 2010 // 12:05 pm @ Fox
A lot of first time website owners do not have a good understanding of what web hosting actually is. Many think that when you have a website built, that is all you need to do to launch your new online business.
I could waffle on about many things to consider when launching a new online business, but in practical terms, you need three things:
- A website. Professionally developed to suit your business. Essentially this is a group of files and images.
- A domain name. This will be your web address and should be reflective of your business name.
- Web hosting. This is space on a server where your website will be stored. Your domain name will point to the location.
If you were starting up a new shop or business then you would need to rent office or shop space through a real estate agent. Similarly, you can rent server space for your website through a third party. Renting space on another server is the best option as you don’t need to worry about anything technical. All maintenance of the server, including UPS in case of power outages, security and hopefully backups, are taken care of.
There are a ton of suppliers offering web hosting services. Some are extremely economical, even less than $50 per year. I have tried out two of these very cheap suppliers with a friend’s website to test out their offering and service in comparison to the supplier we have been using.
Web Hosting Supplier 1
As they offered support for databases on these cheap packages, we decided to use WordPress with a theme for this website. My friend is a dog breeder so she liked the thought of being able to edit her own content and add articles. The install and configuration went well. I installed three basic plug-ins. One was a lightbox for photographs as my friend has a lot of beautiful photos of her dogs. I spent hours adding content, photos and tweaking the site.
The next day I went to login to the website to complete the work. ‘This account has been closed.’ Huh?
I had trouble finding the method of getting support from this supplier but finally I sent off a query asking why this was happening. Another day passed and I got a response that I was using up too much memory so they closed the account.
email to let me know. No phone call. Nothing.
Just close the account. What great customer service that is … NOT!
I told them that it was a simple WordPress installation and I had done a lot of work with the site. Perhaps the lightbox plug-in was faulty and using up memory. Would they turn on the site long enough for me to disable the plugin?
Eventually they agreed. They tell me they turned it back on and then had to immediately close it due to this memory issue.
All I know is that I never got the chance to disable the plug-in or retrieve my work. This was simple WordPress with nothing fancy. The plug-ins were all well known and established plug-ins which had been downloaded by thousands of people without issue.
Web Hosting Supplier 2
As my friend really liked the WordPress site with theme that we had for a whole 24 hours with Supplier 1, we decided to try another cheap web hosting company with the same theme but not install the lightbox plug-in just in case.
Installation, configuration, theme, adding content and photos was all going well. Maybe we had a winner this time.
Then all of a sudden we cannot upload photos and get an out of memory error. A check of the disk space revealed there was plenty of space left. The photos were a small size, all around 30 – 40 Kb.
All the FAQs regarding this error from the WordPress gurus say that you need to ask the supplier to increase the php memory limit. I sent off my request and received a NO back. They don’t do this, but you could always buy a more expensive package and then they would increase it. Ahh … the catch!
Conclusion
My conclusion after the above experiences are that you get what you pay for. If you have a very basic static website then you may be fine with one of these cheap packages. If something does go wrong, don’t expect great customer service, if any at all.
The supplier we generally use for web hosting is certainly not the cheapest around, but we have never had any major issues with the hosting of any sites, and have always had reliable customer service.
When we build websites for customers, we always give them the option of what type of web hosting they would like. However, we will not support a site that is located on another server other than our preferred supplier. If the customer has any problems, then they have to deal directly with the cheaper supplier to have the problem rectified.
Category : Web Hosting &Website &blog
Bad Customer Service For Rankings
December 2nd, 2010 // 1:20 pm @ Fox
There are always people who will find ways to exploit Google and rankings. The latest to gain publicity internationally is the case of a website – DecorMyEyes.com – whose owner realised that bad feedback and negative comments were leading to his site being ranked higher than when it had good feedback.
Let’s look at why that is.
If you are happy with a company or service, you may post a complimentary comment on a blog or share the experience with your friends. However, if you have had a terrible customer experience, you will post a negative comment, tell your friends, try to warn others, go to Consumer Affairs and so on. More links, comments and posts will result from a bad experience than a good one. In Google speak, this amounts to a higher ranking.
The germ who owns DecorMyEyes.com made a career from diddling customers out of their goods, overcharging them, abusing them, and harassing them. This behaviour was good for business as people posted their bad experience everywhere, resulting in the site ranking in the top spots for many top brand names.
The full story can be found on The New York Times and is titled A Bully finds a Pulpit on the Web (free registration required).
Interestingly, the New York Times article appeared on the 26th November, and four days later, Google has posted a response on their official blog. Being bad to your customers is bad for business where they state how horrified they were to hear of this story. Google has released an algorithmic solution to this issue and claim that Google users are now getting a better experience as a result. In typical Google fashion, it is a little vague exactly what the solution is.
Presumably there are a number of attributes examined to determine a user’s ‘good experience’ from a ‘bad experience’. I hope that one bad review or comment will not decrease a site’s ranking. The best of companies can have a bad review or comment and it is not necessarily of their making.
Time will tell. No doubt there will further exploitation once the algorithm change is more apparent.
Category : SEO
Promising #1 in Google – Dodgy SEO
October 30th, 2010 // 4:55 pm @ Fox
I have written a post some time ago about SEO companies guaranteeing a #1 ranking on Google and what my thoughts are on this matter.
I caught up this week on some blogs of my favourite writers and SEO gurus, and came across this one from Ian Lurie that just says it all. It is titled Sleazy SEO sales tactics (and how to avoid them).
Not only is Ian Lurie an incredibly knowledgeable and intelligent marketer, but his posts are hilarious, tongue in cheek, and a damn good read.
Click here – Don’t tell me what to do!
February 9th, 2010 // 5:07 pm @ Fox
My pet hate is the Click here link that you see plastered all over websites around the world.
I know I have written a post on this topic before – The annoying click here habit, but as I mentioned, it is my pet hate. It drives me crazy and I have to keep griping about it.
Whenever I see a Click here link these days I feel like e-mailing the company and saying ‘NO, I don’t want to Click here’. Don’t tell me what to do, or treat me like an idiot. You didn’t even say ‘Please’.
When you walk into a restaurant, each chair does not have a sign on it that says Sit here. Newspapers do not have a headline on each column that says Read here.
Why?
Because we know what a chair is and what it is for. Likewise we know what a newspaper is and where to read.
WE ALSO KNOW WHAT A LINK IS AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT!
Let’s look back to the origins of the infamous ‘Click here’ link. When the Internet was very new to the world, websites were not a common channel as they are today, Google was yet to be born, and there was no such thing as Web standards, websites were built in any old colour and layout. Usability, accessibility, information architecture and an aesthetic user interface had never seen the light of day. Back then it was not always clear what a link was or what it looked like. It could look the same as the rest of the copy on a page or it may have blinked, animated, almost chased you across a page, or been in 36 point font and red. It was easier for the developer/designer to say Click here so there was no doubt as to which were the links.
Those days are over.
We now have Web standards, best practice, usability, accessibility, information architecture and a knowledge that did not exist then. We KNOW what a link looks like as it is usually a different colour to the rest of the text or it has an underline. We know that when we hold the mouse over it, the pointer turns into a hand and often the link will change colour or underline. We also know that a well designed site is uniform and that links on all pages will have the same attributes and behave in the same manner. This gives us a feeling of confidence and familiarity when navigating around a site.
We also know that if the site is designed and written correctly, that the copy has made it clear where the link is going to take us to, and can see the destination page URL in the status bar. (I did say on a correctly designed site)
If the site is well built, then the navigation is very clear, and the information architecture has left scope for an evolving and growing website within its framework instead of having to pop in Click here everywhere when something doesn’t quite fit.
The link text should be contextual and mean something. Instead of Click here, we can have Read the annual report. Now, doesn’t that read better? A blind person using a reader to read the website out to them will know exactly what that link is about instead of having a leap of faith in where we are trying to take them with a Click here link.
It is amazing how many business websites and even corporate sites have Click here for many of their links. Look for it when you are surfing around the Internet and you will be surprised.
My other pet hate is finger prints on the fridge, but that is another story …
PR Disaster: United Breaks Guitars
July 17th, 2009 // 3:02 pm @ Fox
A classic case of why ‘online reputation management’ is so important is the recent YouTube success of Dave Carroll’s song, United Breaks Guitars.
Band members watched in horror from a United plane as baggage handlers played catch with their guitars. From this rough handling, a Taylor guitar was broken. After 12 months of frustration in trying to get United to reimburse them for the guitar, the band got together and wrote a ‘catchy’ tune (pun intended) called United Breaks Guitars.
This video clip has now been viewed millions of times and the tale has been retold in newspapers all over the world.
According to Social media lessons: United Airlines breaks guitars, John Dodge reports that United have since offered compensation for the guitar. It is a case of too little, too late, or closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
This PR disaster for United could have been avoided had they offered better customer service in the 12 months prior to the song being released.
I love the homepage of Taylor Guitars at the moment. Quick to jump on the PR bandwagon, the main image is a guitar with a Fragile sticker and an airline claim ticket, and the heading ‘Bumpy flight?’ Brilliant!
Category : Reputation &blog
Ten Tips To Writing Web Copy
June 30th, 2009 // 4:07 pm @ Fox
- Web copy should be left-aligned. Indenting the first word of a paragraph is often used in print material but is not correct for Web copy. This has become a standard with Web writing and also with modern business letters.
- Do not use underlines. On a Web page, underlined words often represent links. It confuses a reader if a word has an underline but is not a link.
- Do not colour-code words to highlight them. Many websites use a colour theme for links so a coloured word may lead the reader to think it is a link. Headings can have a colour theme.
- Use bolded words or italics where appropriate. Highlight a word or sentence with bolded or italic font. Don’t overdo it.
- Use semantic headings. Depending on how your page is set up, use H1, H2 or H3 headings where appropriate. The use of semantic headings is like letting search engines know the importance of a heading and is better house-keeping from a styling perspective.
- Do not use long sentences. Long sentences are for print material. Online copy should use short sentences which are to the point. Break up your long sentences into two sentences.
- Break up large blocks of text. It is difficult for the reader to absorb large blocks of text when reading online. Try to keep blocks of text to a minimum and break the page up with images, headings, bullet lists, words in bold or white space.
- Reference material used from elsewhere. If you are quoting someone else, using their information or thoughts, always cite the reference whether it is a link to their site, or a mention in the copy, or in references at the end of the copy. Plagiarism and copyright infringement are serious issues.
- Have a clear call-to-action. If the purpose of your page is to encourage a sale, or provide information on a product or a service, always make it clear to the reader what the next step is. A simple call-to-action such as ‘Order U-Beaut Now!’ or ‘Contact us today for a quote!’ with a link to the relevant page would suffice.
- Have interesting content. If your site is a business site, write in a general, neutral and professional tone, but don’t get too bogged down in trivial detail. Keep the content fresh and appealing. More intricate detail can be offered in a PDF or over several pages, giving the reader the choice of reading more.
Email Communications – Gaining a Subscriber List
May 29th, 2009 // 11:27 am @ Fox
A few weeks ago I posted a blog titled SPAM – Australian business and the law. I have had phone calls since then asking questions on how to obtain a mailing list.
If you wish to email a newsletter, specials and promotions, or other marketing material to a list then the best list to have is your own customers. Start collecting subscribers as soon as possible even if you are not ready to start emailing until some time in the future. By the time you are ready to send, you should have a list where the subscribers have consented to receiving your email.
For online subscriptions you will need to add an area to your website where the user can sign up:
- A text box where the subscriber enters their email address
- A checkbox with some wording such as ‘Please send me newsletters and special offers’. The checkbox must not be pre-ticked. The action of the ticking of a checkbox must be a manual process that the subscriber performs.
- A Submit button which saves the subscriber to a database maintained either by you or a third party.
Best practice dictates that an automated email is sent to the subscriber asking them to click on a link to confirm that they wish to receive the communications. There are times when a person signs up a friend so the request to confirm is a safeguard to ensure that the recipient does wish to receive the communication. It is also recommended to offer a link to your Privacy Policy so the subscriber can read your process and practices regarding protecting their private information. Of course you must let the subscriber know how they can unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time.
It is a good idea to place this subscription area on your website where it is easily seen such as the homepage, or a side column common to each page. Also add the subscribe option to any membership forms on your website. This is a good opportunity to gain a subscriber as they are already filling out a form and interested in your product or service.
You can gain subscribers offline as well. If you have a printed membership form or an offline newsletter, you can add the subscription complete with un-ticked checkbox to the form. There are a number of ways you can gain subscribers, but just be careful that you are clear about what they are subscribing to.
What if you are a new business, without a mailing list and want to email a target audience to let them know about your product or service?
You can buy a legitimate mailing list from a broker using a Pay Per Lead model. These companies will gain consent from a targeted consumer segment for your specific website to send information to them. Often the subscription is on a survey site.
There is no need to preach that you should never buy a mailing list from any other source.
Category : Email Communication &blog
Guaranteeing Search Engine Rankings
May 7th, 2009 // 6:15 pm @ Fox
I have been asked a few times lately if I guarantee first page ranking in search engines as a few competitors do.
The answer is ‘No’ and allow me to explain why this is so.
In a perfect world if a client implements every single idea I have and gives me an unlimited budget to spend, and Google never change their ranking algorithm, and if the client’s competitors do not spend much on SEO, then the chances are good that they will rank highly on the first page, maybe even #1. However, this is not a perfect world. There are always compromises with SEO, there is always a limited budget, Google continually enhance and tweak the ranking algorithm, and your competitors may be spending more than you.
Compromises with SEO include:
- A content management system that may not allow unique meta descriptions or page titles, or renaming images, or have friendly URL structures
- The client may not be comfortable using some of the suggestions for the strategy such as the use of social media, blogs or articles etc.
- Some marketing departments are very pedantic about content and will not change copy to include keywords
- I have experienced a few clients that are protective and argumentative about any shortcomings their site may have, and do not wish to make changes
Each Google update re-jigs the rankings and often includes an algorithm tweaking that shuffles competitors around including your site.
No one has control over Google or can influence the algorithm.
In this ever-changing landscape, how can anyone guarantee a particular ranking position?
Another important thing to keep in mind is that being on the first page of a search engine results page is only part of the race. Actually achieving a click-through and a subsequent conversion is another matter and a higher priority.
It would be a good idea to read the fine print on the contract regarding a guarantee. Is it within a particular time-frame? Is it subject to any conditions? Is it for one keyword only or all keywords? Who gets to choose the keywords for the guarantee, you or the provider? It is easy to rank on the first page or even for the #1 position for an obscure term such as ‘purple striped socks with braces’.
Let’s see what the experts think about guaranteeing search engine rankings.
Rand from SEOmoz is a guru in the industry. View his blog- ‘Why Reputable SEO Firms Don’t Promise Guaranteed Search Engine Rankings’ to get an idea of his views.
What do Google think of SEO providers guaranteeing search engine rankings. You can read their view here: ‘Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings …’
I will finish this post with a quote from Rand from SEOmoz that I strongly agree with:
What search engine optimization companies can & should guarantee is that they’ll provide the best advice possible to help your site earn more traffic.
Analyse Web Data To Enhance User Experience
April 28th, 2009 // 2:24 pm @ Fox
There are many insights that can be gained by analysing your web statistics regularly, but there is a difference between analysing the data and just looking at the reports. Looking at the reports confirms that they exist. Analysing them is what you do to try to understand the users of your website:
- what they do,
- where they go,
- where did they come from,
- what do they want.
For this post, we are just looking at the amount of time a user spends on your website, the number of pages they viewed and the bounce rate.
The majority of web analytical software will give you a report on these three items. The three tie into together to give you a basic idea of your site’s relevance and appeal.
A user is likely to enter your site from any content page. Don’t always assume they will enter from the homepage. With people becoming more savvy with search engines, a search term could lead a user to any part of your site. If they exit at the same page without going anywhere else, then they have bounced.
All sites are different and the number of pages a user visits and the amount of time they spend will 
‘depend on what is on your site. If your site is a content-rich site with lots of informative articles and interesting posts, then you would expect to see the user go to several pages and spend at least a few minutes on the site.
If your users spend a few seconds on your site and only visit the entrance page before bouncing even though you have a content-rich site, then it is time to look at why. Either the site is not relevant to what they were looking for, or the site is not appealing enough for them to want to read, or there is too much text which can appear overwhelming, or a number of other factors.
Put yourself in your user’s shoes.
- Does the site have immediate appeal?
- Is it immediately clear what the web page is about?
- Is there too much text that makes the page look heavy to read?
- What else might contribute to a high bounce rate?
As mentioned earlier, users can enter a site at any page. The homepage may be very appealing with clear descriptive sentences of what the site is about, but are the other pages up to scratch?
Are there stand-out headings that describe what the page is about? Headings catch the eye of the user. If the text is heavy, try breaking it up with more space, add sub-headings, bullet lists, a graphic or two and try to make the page more appealing.
If you feel the page meets all the right criteria and yet there is still a high bounce rate, perhaps the site is not relevant to what the user is seeking. Look at the source of the referral. Where did the user come from? Was it through a search engine? Was it from a link you placed on a friend’s site, or a link from a directory? Was it from an advertisement you placed?
Having links all over the Internet to your site may sound like a good idea at the time, but the key is relevance. Having links from related sites or complementary sites is a better idea than having a link on a totally unrelated site. Alternatively, maybe the text on the link needs to be reviewed and rewritten to be more descriptive of what the site is about or what it sells.
Don’t put a high bounce rate in the ‘brand awareness’ bucket.
A friend was telling me that she placed an ad on a well known social media site and had lots of click-throughs. When we looked at the web analytics for those clicks, it showed that around 95% of the users that clicked through were on the site for around one second and bounced. Hmmm … This ad either was not targeted to the right audience, or my friend is a victim of click-fraud.
Think of the web data as user feedback. It is unsolicited information that you can use to enhance the user experience.
Category : Web Analytics &blog