WDTalk

SSL is a technology that protects confidential transactions between a website and its visitors/shoppers. As a protocol, it uses a third party Certificate Authority (CA) to identify one or both ends of transactions. This enables you to collect sensitive information using an encrypted channel (transparently). In the URL, you’ll notice the http switches to https. Using an SSL Certificate increases your prospects trust factor – an important ingredient in promoting your products and services.

When do you need SSL?

If you accept online orders and process credit card information on your site, however you do NOT need SSL if you use PayPal Standard and credit card transactions are handled on their servers.

Obviously, if you’re required to comply with privacy and security requirements.

If you need to secure email servers (POP, IMAP & SMTP), VPN or FTP Servers, Control Panels, WebMail or any other web applications.

If you offer a login or sign in on your site.

Types of SSL
The most common type of SSL is a domain validated certificate. This is used to establish an encrypted communication channel between a website and its visitors. Another type identifies you are who you say you are. It validates identity at different  levels, protecting the data flow to/from your website.

Going Green
If you’ve ever used PayPal’s order system, you may have noticed your browser’s address bar had turned green. This type of SSL Certificate is called Extended Validation SSL. Most financial institutions use this type of SSL.

Some trusted Certificate Authorities
Some of the trusted Certificate Authorities are RapidSSL, VeriSign, Thawte and GeoTrust.

A compelling call to action is the key ingredient in every marketing plan. In post card and email campaigns, you’re limited in scope to a very small space in which to reinforce interest and tip prospects over the edge to buy. So what makes for an effective call to action?

Location Location Location
When my wife and I were writing the business plan for our Salon, she told me our success depended heavily on location. In fact, she repeated location, location, location over and over. Why? In the hair styling industry, you need a constant flow of walk-in traffic to augment your existing clientele – if you want to maximize your growth. It’s not much different cross-industry.

You need to capture your prospects attention immediately
In an email broadcast, positioning your call to action above the scroll puts your message where? In the preview pane ! Lots of folks never scan beyond their preview panes. In a world dominated by immediate gratification, this compares to being in the top ten of search engine results. You need to capture your prospects attention immediately. How? Location ! You want them to be able to simply glance at the preview and click.

Multiple calls to action
Is just one call to action enough? Strategists reason by giving multiple calls to the same action, in different sections of your broadcast, you lend weight to the call. The first call to action may be intriguing, prompting your prospect to read further (benefits/solutions), followed by second call to action that puts them over the top – they’re convinced. If you change up the wording or offer different solutions in multiple calls to action, you risk confusing your viewers. 

Words and Emotions
Sales are emotional transactions. Setting the right tone puts your prospect in a buying posture. Using power words that demonstrate force (in your face) and personality make a strong impact. You’re looking to prompt specific reactions from their point of view. And it isn’t just the words – it’s their perception of the words. What’s more appealing to you (on the same product) – 20% off or $150 off? My guess would be $150 off. Why? Because 20% is an unknown quantity – it sounds good, but requires some calculation. I understand $150 off immediately.

Text or Images?
The goal is to draw attention to your call to action. Extensive testing has shown that what works for some doesn’t work for everyone – and changing up between text and images works better than locking into one or the other. A word of caution when using images for your call to action – some readers may have images disabled, so always add ALT text attributes to your images.

Does size and color matter?
In testing, it’s been reported that bright colors outperform other colors, and orange, in particular, does very well. I’ve seen a lot of red calls to action, but subconsciously, red means STOP. A good test to determine if your call to action is the proper size and color is to stand about 10 feet away from your ad and see how easy it is to pick out.

My Recommendation to Increase Click Throughs
Wording is key. Instead of using Buy Now, Buy, Order, Order Now or any similar wording, change your call to action to ADD TO CART. Put it where it’s easily seen and your conversion rates will increase.

A lot of work goes into shaping a business, but the shaping doesn’t end when you open your doors to the public. Businesses that survive and strive are those that abandon what doesn’t work and use that knowledge to reshape their business going forward. With online businesses, this could be as simple as changing domain names.

I just read an interesting article this morning about one online business that changed their web site five times in five years. This particular business was launched with an investment of  $100,000, but now grosses nearly $3 million in revenue. What I found interesting was that, over the years, they abandoned 60 percent of what they originally came up with. That’s huge, but it reshaped their business into the success they enjoy today.

Why would changing your domain name make any difference?
I think there are two angles to changing domain names. The first is perception. The second deals with Search Engine Optimization.

The Trust Factor
In the first (perception), the key is TRUST. Successful eCommerce ventures start and end with a strong trust factor. Let’s face it – what do prospects see when they search for info on Google, Bing and Yahoo? They essentially see two things – your domain name and a short description of your site. For example, which domain name conveys more (global) trust to you - Steve’sAirTransport.com or AviationTransportationServicesInc.com? Seems obvious to me. The second has a corporate, global feel to it that lends favorably to the perception of trust.

The SEO Factor
Although Google doesn’t disclose its search algorithms, it’s widely perceived in SEO circles that targeted keywords in your domain name weigh heavily on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS).  When searching for Aviation Transportation Services, two of the top four results have the targeted keywords, aviation and trasnsportation, in their domain names. Would being in the top four results help drive targeted traffic and potential clients to your site? Absolutely!

The Real Challenge
Reevaluatiing your domain name is a starting point, but the real challenge entails staying current with ever evolving technologies like Twitter and Facebook, AND keeping up to date with search engine trends and changes in their algorithms.

Does your brick and mortar store depend on referrals or walk-in traffic to sell your product or service? Online stores allow businesses to reach a wider range of prospects than they could ever imagine reaching on-site. Let’s face it, the majority of prospects today begin their shopping experience doing research online – comparing companies, products, prices – the works.

The Good News
And the good news is that you don’t need a huge server or an $80,000/year IT guy to make an online store work. The majority of eCommerce stores are Mom & Pop shops, selling everything from diet supplements to shoes, and processing their payments through PayPal – on a shared hosting account that probably costs less than $35/month. Compare that to ONE ad (five lines) in a local newspaper that runs 3 days in print and 30 days online – for a whopping $395.00 !!

The Nuts and Bolts of eCommerce
It all starts with a professional website, meaning its design is attractive to the eye, it’s easy to navigate, there are no spelling errors or broken links, and the solution you propose (along with its price) is relevant AND compelling. Beyond that, you’ll need a shopping cart and a payment processor. If you’re collecting credit card information on your site (directly), you’ll also need an SSL certificate, gateway and merchant account AND be PCI compliant. If you use a service like PayPal standard, and are not processing credit card information on your site – meaning your clients are passed off to PayPal’s servers to process the actual order, these don’t apply.

Attracting Visitors
Ok, sales begin with prospects. If no one walks through the door, it’s tough to move inventory. Online, if no one visits your site, the end result is duplicated. Building a site and hoping prospects will flock to your store overnight doesn’t work. Getting them there requires implementing a mix of online and offline marketing. The tried and true stuff still works – word of mouth, referrals, networking & direct sales staff. The new stuff could be Google Adwords, advertisements in forums or social media networks, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), podcasts and so on.

The Importance of Niche Marketing
Let’s start with the prospect as they enter a search query on Google, Bing or Yahoo. If that query is too broad, for example, recipes – the results returned will number in the gazillions, leaving them to find you somewhere among the masses. Aside from the benefit of branding, narrowing your focus on what makes your product or service (in this case – recipes) different is key. If you specialize in cupcake recipes, your competition in search queries for “cupcake recipes” will narrow their search results considerably. Taking this one step further, keying in on specific cupcake recipes, like strawberry cupcake recipes or apricot cupcake recipes, will help define your niche and FINDABILITY. This online marketing principle applies cross industry. Extended keyword PHRASES help narrow and funnel your prospects search to YOU.

Always provide value

The psychology of selling transcends to the psychology of writing online content for revenue producing websites. Essentially, every prospect is searching for what’s important to them and their organization. Whereas in person, you can tailor your pitch to their personality traits, like number crunchers or socialites – online it’s impossible to know who has found your site. The common denominator is always value to the end user.

Tell them what’s in it for them

Reaching across the broad spectrum of personality types means touching as many of their senses as possible; sound, taste, touch, sight and smell (or the perception of those). Rarely does selling on price alone work. Ok, so we can’t taste a dedicated server or smell shared hosting, but wording can sway a prospect’s motivation. Conor Treacy gave a great example in a thread on Hosting Discussion – instead of, “we sell lawn mowers,” use “buy a mower that will make your neighbour @#*^ themselves with envy.” Be descriptive without going over the top, addressing the basics of how, who, why and what. Show how your solution has helped other businesses or organizations just like theirs. Tell them what’s in it for them.

Our Promise to You from Hostirian

Our promise to you from Hostirian is to be upfront and honest – telling how it is rather than promising what can’t be delivered. We’ve grown to three data centers this past decade by delivering solutions to a largely local market, comprised of businesses just like yours. In recent years, we’ve expanded into international markets offering services that compete with the major players in our industry. We welcome the opportunity to EARN your business.