E-commerce portal

Leaders in Alternative Search
There is a search engine based in Pasadena, California called Snap.com with a stated desire to become The other way to Search . All it takes is a click and a search or two to see how Snap.com is a true alternative to the norms of search advertising. I recently asked some employees at ICMediaDirect.com to check out Snap as an example of a company that not only thinks outside the box , but operates there, too. We d do well to steer clear of any insurance group billing itself as a revolutionary and unprecedented kind of policy-provider. Indeed, risk management calls for avoiding risk while seeking measured solutions. This is in stark contrast to the Internet, which is still developing as a platform and needs creativity and innovation as much as we need oxygen. So when a giant like Bill Gross, founder of Snap.com, aims to build search alternatives, I take special notice. In case you re unfamiliar with Bill Gross, he is credited with developing the concept of contextual online advertising as we know it today through GoTo.com. His ideas have evolved into the success of pay-per-click that Google, Yahoo and others enjoy. I don t know if anyone calls him the Godfather of the Internet , but I wouldn t object to the phrasing. Simply put, his monetization model still fuels the progress of our medium. For the last few years Gross has been hanging his hat at Idealab, a true hotbed of business ideas. Idealab s ambitions even venture into harnessing solar energy. Snap.com is an offshoot of Idealab and is noteworthy for the exceptional contextual search features it provides. Searches with Snap.com give in-window previews of contextual ads. It allows you to glimpse a website in question before actually have to click and visit it. This innovation provides convenience to the potential visitor, who may get a better idea of what s in store before clicking on an ad. The mouse-over display also saves the advertiser money, improves cost per acquisition, and lowers the visitors abandonment rate by minimizing the number of needless clicks from uninterested visitors. Could you imagine a major search engine giving both users and advertisers this break? An advertiser with Snap.com gets more relevant and interested visitors while cutting down on accidental and costly clicks because people won t be clicking on sites they don t want to visit. This is one innovation most search engines will likely not adopt; I don t see Google discouraging clicks to paid advertisements. This far reaching platform could be construed as self-defeating for a search engine when conventional standards are applied, but Bill Gross isn t trying to be like everyone else. He either sees the future here or is taking jabs at the very model he created ” or maybe a little of both. Perhaps visual search displays for are too far ahead of its time. Leading search engines don t want more informed and pickier searchers clicking fewer ads, but Gross s career path is replete with successfully zigging while others zag. It might take some happy accident of his or an innovation of another company to marry well into Snap s added contextual platform before Snap s functionality goes from a cool alternative to an industry staple. I think Bill Gross banks on this. Snap.com has also spawned Big.com, a search tool that employs the simplest concept that could ever be thought up, yet no one really did until Big.com: that s a search engine with giant font. People who like Big.com include seniors, the vision impaired and me. It s terrific, almost shocking to behold. The layout of Big.com is beautiful once you figure out what you re looking at. Like any standard search engine, you ll get results by entering keywords into a search bar. In this case, it s virtually impossible to not find the search bar ” trust me. Your Search Engine Results Page (SERP) comes back very simply with natural or organic results in the left column and paid search ads in the right ” all in huge can t miss print with paneled screen encompassing buttons instead of wee links to click. The ironic thing is that this giant font flies in the face of the incredible shrinking font of the Internet, a trend that s due to contextual advertising which has increased the value of screen space, a trend that Bill Gross helped start as much as anyone. Google and Yahoo don t seem to be splashing big font for their users. I believe part of the Google s franchise is a simple uniform look. Different font sizes for different users might ripple that magnificent pond. And with Yahoo, they need all the space they can get, big font might shoo some of their offerings off the monitor and that s definitely not part of their business plan. It s easy enough to change the color scheme, though. I like that. Bill Gross has already contributed more to the Search business than anyone could expect an individual to. He could bow out now an accomplished pioneer. But that wouldn t be like him or anyone with a pioneering spirit would it? As big names in search advertising emphasize profits, I think we have to dig around elsewhere to see where innovation will come from. And change just might come from the same guy who changed the rules of Internet advertising to begin with. Joseph Pratt Media Analyst ICMediaDirect.com TEL: 212-563-6455 Email: joseph@icmediadirect.com http://www.icmediadirect.com

Joseph Pratt Media Analyst ICMediaDirect.com TEL: 212-563-6455 Email: joseph@icmediadirect.com http://www.icmediadirect.com

Great Tips For An Effective Presentation
An Effective Presentation The following article includes pertinent information that may cause you to reconsider what you thought you understood. The most important thing is to study with an open mind and be willing to revise your understanding if necessary. So you’re not a professional speaker. That’s no excuse for NOT giving a professional presentation. You have a great product or service! You’ve put together an awesome presentation with great content! You really know your stuff! You’re an expert! None of this matters if you don’t have public speaking skills. If you don’t speak like a pro, you won’t get the results you want. 1. Introduction Bring a typed introduction and ask your introducer to read it verbatim. This will give you credibility and give the audience a reason to listen to you. 2. Audience Speak in front of an audience that can benefit from your service and can hire you. 3. Opening You only have 30 seconds to grab your audience’s attention otherwise you may lose them forever. Open with a story, a question, a song, etc. that is relative to your speech or at least to the audience. 4. Body Give enough information that they will remember and want more. A common mistake for many is that they give way too much information. Leave your audience feeling good not overwhelmed. 5. Closing A good movie with a bad or disappointing ending will ruin the impact of the movie. Same with your presentation. Be sure to have a strong close in order to have impact on your audience. 6. Stories Tell personal stories in order to make your points. People remember stories more than anything else. 7. Humor Make your audience smile, chuckle, or laugh. When people have fun they remember more and will stay attentive to you. 8. Attention There are many ways to keep your audience’s attention. Many are mentioned in this article. The more attention you have, the more results you will get. 9. Authenticity Be yourself. When you are sincere and show the audience who you really are, you will have more of an impact. 10. Confidence So you’re nervous sometimes. So what. You don’t have to let others know. Act confident and you will appear and feel confident. 11. Preparation The more you’re prepared, the more confidence you will have, and the better job you will do. Know your material! The more authentic information about VOIP Conference Software you know, the more likely people are to consider you a VOIP Conference Software expert. Read on for even more VOIP Conference Software facts that you can share. 12. Pausing This is a great attention getter. After saying something that you want your audience to remember, pause, be silent, and give it time to sink in. Pause instead of using ah or um. Pause when you forget what you were going to say next. It’s o.k. to pause and re-collect your thoughts. 13. Vocal Variety Have your voice match what you are saying. Be expressive and show it in your voice. 14. Body Language Have your body match what you are saying. If you are telling a story about someone talking on the phone, use your hand as a fake phone and pretend you are talking into it. 15. Nervous Fidgeting Pacing back and forth, hands in your pockets, and rocking are all distractions. Be aware of your own nervous habits and stop doing them. 16. Eye Contact Look at your audience. Move your eyes from one side of the audience, to the middle to the other side in a smooth motion. 17. Time Stick to your allotted time and be prepared for your time to be cut short. 18. Connect with the audience. Find something that they can relate to you with. 19. Control You are in command of the room. Do not talk over people if others are talking among themselves. 20. Stay on Track If someone asks a question that is not relevant, tell them you will be happy to answer that question after the session. 21. Notes It’s o.k. to use notes. Have them be your handouts, your flipcharts, your power point, etc. 22. Visualization Imagine yourself the way you would like to be perceived when presenting, then act that way. 23. Hand Outs Try to always have hand outs and be sure they have your contact information on them. This way you have given people a way to get in touch with you. 24. Dress Wear something that makes you feel like a million bucks and you will act and appear like a million bucks. 25. Record and/or video tape your presentations. You will learn a great deal from them. 26. Give A Ways If you have a product for sale, give a few away as prizes. This lets the audience know you’ve got stuff without having to give a sales pitch. 27. Listen Get your audience to open up and listen carefully. You may gather valuable information for your next presentation. That’s how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news. An Effective Presentation Best Regards, Ronny Kloppenborg.

Ronny Kloppenborg info@ecommerce4life.com http://www.ecommerce4life.com http://ecommerce4life.blogspot.com http://musicdownloads4you.blogspot.com

Autoresponders And Shopping Cart Integration
When people place orders through your website, it is always a good idea to immediately acknowledge the purchase. One way to do this is with the use of an autoresponder that can be integrated with your shopping cart. In fact, many shopping carts that are available today have their own autoresponders built into the system.

When you set up your autoresponder to send a message to someone that has placed an order, there are several things that should be included in the message. This is an opportunity to ?speak? to your customer, and to let them know about other deals that you have or special items that you have available. You should not miss this opportunity.

Do not try to get your ?thank you? sales message on the same autoresponder as the customers email receipt. Putting the sales message on an email that is automatically sent to grant the customer access to their purchase is also a bad idea ? that would go better with the receipt. Make sure your ?thank you? sales message is a message that is sent out all by itself, so your customer can focus solely on that!

Thank the customer for their recent purchase. Tell them how much their purchase will help them, and then tell them about other available products that work well with the one that they just purchased, or that are similar to the one that they just purchased in some way. For instance hair conditioner works with hair shampoo. Vacuum cleaner bags or carpet powder works well with vacuum cleaners. Just let them know about the various products that you offer that will compliment their purchase in some way.

The important thing is to not let your customer get away without further contact! Think about being in a brick and mortar store. When you go up to the counter to pay, there are many items there for sale. These items are meant to be picked up as last minute purchases, or impulsive purchases. Your ?thank you? sales letter serves the same purpose.

Don?t make the mistake of bombarding your customer! You can usually send them periodic information about your specials after they have made a purchase through you, but emailing them on a daily basis with your offers is not good business! Use your autoresponder responsibly! Make sure that your autoresponder is set up to handle automatic remove requests, and make sure that the information that you are sending your customers is of value to them.

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Site Making Using Google Search Engine Posted By : Samizr Khan
Businesses that want to sell something in the market need 2 things. The first is the product to be sold which has to be made then distributed to places like the grocery, the mall or the supermarket. The second is marketing which is the vehicle to carry that message across to the consumer so that people are aware of its existence then it is purchased.

Payment Options For Your Online Business.
Every good businessperson knows that one of the best ways to boost sales and traffic to their product is to allow for multiple payment options. By offering many different methods of payment, you allow the masses to all be equal in the purchase of the same goods. This eliminates the upper scale clients from having this product while keeping the less than fortunate from going without. There are many options of payment these days that can accommodate just about everyone. Anyone who limits the acceptable payment methods to a mere few can easily be losing business and in turn losing money. As word of mouth on the net is a very fast river, that mentality of limited payment options can easily mar your success online. The bottom line is you must allow for convenient ways for your customers to pay for the product, or you will loose out on their business. The method of paying by credit card is by far the biggest payment option going right now, with over 90% of all sales coming this way. It is clear and by far the most used method of payment, and a company would be ill advised to eliminate that method of payment from their options. It is not a difficult chore to set up your site to accept credit card payments, actually it is much easier than you think. There is a new contender in the payment option ring today, this payment method is the Pay Pal account. This handy account has a completely revamped system that has eliminated all the quirks and bugs of its previous version, and is now very simple to use. This great tool is very safe for the transfer of funds to you, so there is minimal worry by the client. It also has a very good tracking system in place to protect you as well as the clients themselves. Again this is not the only contender in the ring, as the debit card seems to be gaining in momentum. It is said that this will be the vehicle of fund transfers for the future. Clearly, it is here to stay. It would not be advisable for any business owner to exclude these payment methods off their list. Toll free numbers and order forms still find their way into this option list of payment, as they have been reliable in the past and easy to keep track of. This is what is known as an offline transaction. When it comes down to it, the idea of business is not to merely get by, it is to succeed. If you limit yourself, you are then opening the door for the competition to succeed and in turn,for you to fail. After all, a sale is still and always will be a sale.

John Carr is a well known affiliate marketer and author who has researched many of the home based business opportunities on the net today, here are his picks. <a href="http://www.JohnsNetPackages.com"> http://www.JohnsNetPackages.com</a>

Digital Currencies
The very idea of individuals being able to exchange values electronically using a digital currency seems impossible, how could the physical component be removed from the exchange of currency? Yet this is already happening, in small ways, and has been for some years. For example, certain public facilities accept coin like tokens mass transit systems in particular, but also many toll collecting authorities. Some mass transit systems require the use of fare cards that store value in a magnet strip, instead of coins or tokens. Some toll road authorities place tags on your car that can be scanned at low speed so a complete stop at the booth is not required. Prepaid telephone cards represent another digitized currency. Digital currencies are differentiated from electronic payment systems on two very important ways. 1: Digital currencies can be used to maintain the anonymity of the customer in an online transaction, whereas users of online payment systems are usually identifiable, at least to the service to which they subscribe. 2: Digital currencies themselves can support an actual transfer of value by themselves, without linking to some third party credit provider or financial institution for authorization to complete the transaction. The use of standard encryption and digital signature technologies make it possible to safely and reliably transmit payment information between customer and merchant, or between customer and online payment service provider. Encryption, particularly public key encryption, makes the contents secure from prying eyes, while digital signature techniques ensure that forgery in not possible. However, both encryption and digital signature need to be a two way process. If Julie and Ron are to exchange encrypted messages, they must identify each other with an encryption key. More critically, digital signatures work only if you can trace the public key of the person signing.

Douglas Adams is the owner of http://www.dougadam.com , a website dedicated to increasing knowledge of home based business issues. For Income Opportunities visit. http://www.shaklee.net/douglas_adams/distMain

Ecommerce Solutions: How to Take Your Business Online
Online commerce is the way of the future, expand your market place, increase sales, work less, increase your revenue, etc. Really?, but at what cost and what do you need to know to get started?

Many businesses are weighing the costs of moving into the online space now that barriers to entry are lower than ever, but to determine the specific solution that meets your business needs is not as easy as comparing prices.

In order to differentiate the common strategies that you may apply to sell your widget online, let s take a look at three main ecommerce solutions on the market, and then ask some key questions that will better facilitate your decision.

1.) Amazon.com/E-Bay/MSN Shopping as an eCommerce Solution
With this means of e-commerce there is really no true e-commerce or shopping cart development that goes on. To bring your widget online you would simply create an account on one of the various web sites that are out there and begin selling products.

Pros

• Easy to implement
• May have products on the web within an hour
• Very low cost, great for out-of-home business

Cons

• Minimal flexibility
• Usually transaction based, or require a percentage of sales
• No automated integration into any back end systems
• No options for product configuration

2.) Templated eCommerce Solutions
Templated ecommerce platforms are generally packaged sites that are very quickly setup and launched. To summarize the process:

1. A business will purchase, or lease via a monthly contract the e-commerce solution.
2. Customize their web site by selecting from several templates modifying it with a color scheme
3. Add content to their new web site by way of a technology called content management.

Content Management allows non-coders, the ability to update and modify the content of a web site. These solutions meet the typical needs of a business, but tend to fall short when customization is necessary.

Pros

• Easy to implement with little required development.
• Getting a site up and running is not as fast as a pre-built solution, but much more rapid than a custom developed solution
• Is comparatively inexpensive.
• Provides branding not available in pre-built solution
• Great for small businesses entering the online space for the 1st time.

Cons

• Minimal flexibility
• Cost may, or may not include graphic development of the site
• Integration with business processes is lacking
• No options for product configuration
• Sometimes transaction based, or require a percentage of sales
• Difficult to optimize for search engines

3.) Custom Developed Solutions
Custom developed solutions are exactly what their name implies. The user interface of the web site, product catalog and check out process are all custom-developed to meet specific needs. The look and feel of the web site is typically original, utilizing graphics that are targeted to a specific market or customer.

The key reasons for looking at a custom developed e-commerce solution are to support a business process that your company may have which cannot be completed with a templated design. (i.e. integrating back office systems such as accounting, ERP, or fulfillment applications), or to support some level of service during the check out process like a custom product configuration.

Pros

• The site is developed to your specific business requirements
• Custom features or applications may be added to the site at any point in the future, providing growth
• Integration capabilities are limited only by the ability of your developer
• Site may be optimized for Search Engines, (SEO)
• All forms of shipping, handling and fulfillment are options to integrate
• Virtually unlimited number of products and categories may be supported
• Your site will have a unique look and feel tailored to your business
• Great for established ecommerce providers, and large businesses looking to go online

Cons

• Typically more expensive
• Longer development times
• Require more active involvement from you.

Questions that will help you target the right ecommerce solution for your business:

1. Will my business survive if the web site is unsuccessful?
2. Do I have back office applications that need to be integrated into the web site? For instance, accounting systems, inventory management or ERP systems, Point of Sales Systems, etc.
3. Do I need custom shipping integration?
4. How important is search engine optimization?
5. How will I administer the e-commerce application? For instance, how easy is it to add, edit, or delete products and how do I view the business that the web site is doing?
6. How will I differentiate my site from my competitors?
7. Does my business currently have the expertise to manage the e-commerce solution, do I need to hire someone, or will I totally outsource the management of the web site?
8. If I chose to manage the e-commerce solution by myself, where and how will I host the application?
9. What is the ongoing maintenance going to cost?
10. How reliable is my developer/web host?
11. Does my business sell to consumers, other businesses, both?
12. Does the look and feel of my web site meet my customer s needs? A quick example of this is if you are selling to consumers you typically need a more attractive and easy to use site, if to businesses a utilitarian interface may be more critical, as they typically want to complete their order as quickly as possible.

This is the first in a series of articles designed to help you understand what is involved in bringing your business on line. The purpose of these articles is to take the complexity of the e-commerce marketplace and break it down into easy to understand articles.

Questions or comments on this article may be sent to Mike at mpowell@objectwareinc.com.

Mike is the Director of Enterprise Business at Objectware, Inc, an <a href="http://ecommerce.objectwareinc.com">ecommerce solution company</a> and <a href="http://www.objectwareinc.com">Web Design Company in Atlanta</a>. He has spent the last 18 years working for companies like Novell, Cisco, Dell and Microsoft, and currently serves as a liaison between the customer and software development teams to ensure customer needs are met.<br>

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