For those not familiar with social networking, some of the top sites are Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.  Now is it ringing a bell?  There are so many ways that you can get creative in order to take advantage of social networking as a marketing strategy.  You can use these services to connect on  a personal level with your clients and customers in order to help you figure out your promotional campaigns.

Regardless of what kind of business you operate and what products or services you sell, there is most likely a way you can use social networking sites to promote your business.

With the advent of new websites and services comes new marketing and business strategies and brand new ways of looking at things entirely.

Sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter create online communities of users that come together in order to discuss, comment on, share stories/articles/videos/pictures/etc.  Sites like Facebook have become ways for people to not only connect to their friends, family and colleagues but ways for businesses to create pages in which users can “Like” your business.  They can write on your wall, comment on your pictures and start discussions regarding your products.  You can gain insights into the psyches and personal lives of your customers in ways you never could before.

Twitter is a fast growing micro-blogging site that has recently been taking the social media world by storm.  With Twitter there are even separate applications such as Twitzu, which will help manage promotions and Twibs that works as a directory of businesses and their current promotions to aid the online shopper.

Groups are common to mostly all social networking sites.  If you join groups that are related to your business then you can easily reach your target demographic.

WebNet Hosting provides reliable Miva Merchant Hosting solutions for all version of Miva Merchant, including Miva Merchant 4.  Contact us for dependable PCI Compliant Hosting and e-commerce solutions at the industry’s most affordable prices!

by Forrest Yingling

When a shopper provides a merchant website with their credit card they are going to first look for the closed padlock symbol in their web browser indicating that your site is using a valid SSL Certificate.  If your site processes credit card numbers or other confidential information like social security numbers or even addresses then you should be using an SSL Certificate, which encrypts personal information into an indecipherable set of gibberish.

In fact, SSL Certificates are one of the criteria in order to be PCI Compliant.  You will need to make sure your site is utilizing PCI Compliant Hosting as well.  When shopping for a web host, this should be one of your first questions.  If they are confused or don’t understand PCI Compliance then you should move on to the next host because this can put your livelihood at jeopardy.

In order to prove that you are a reputable business you should always put a physical address of your business to prove that you actually exist.  Even if you are running your e-commerce business out of your spare bedroom, you want to make your site look as professional as possible.  It is also always good to have a phone number where customers can reach you in case they have a question or a problem.  Shoppers want to feel confident that if there is a shipping problem or other issue, you will be able to be reached and are honest.

In the e-commerce industry, the PA-DSS has been a major topic lately.  As of July 1^st, all e-commerce payment applications must be compliant with the new Data Security Standard.  Payment applications include software like shopping carts.  It is imperative that as a storeowner, you make certain that your shopping cart is compliant.

Miva Merchant Hosting provided by WebNet Hosting is fully compliant with the PA-DSS and have been premier Miva Hosts since 2004, making them experts in the e-commerce sector.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificates have become a staple of the e-commerce industry and are required in order to be PCI Compliant.  Whenever you see a closed padlock (or an “s” following the “http” in the web address, ie “https”) in the address bar of your web browser then you know an SSL certificate is protecting you.  The function of SSL certificates is to encrypt personal and private data into an incompressible set of gibberish so that this information cannot be compromised by hackers or those with malicious intent.

When conducting business online, it is imperative that online business owners and operators protect themselves and their customers.  A security breach can be very expensive and is detrimental to all those involved.  With the burgeoning rate of identity theft and credit card scams, it is vital to protect everyone involved in online shopping.  To provide a scope of how serious a problem credit card fraud is, the five major credit card companies report over $1 billion in losses per year stemming from stolen credit card information (much of which occurs online).

When an SSL certificate is in place then data is being encrypted on all sides, meaning between the customers computer and the web servers.  SSL certificates are not only necessary for those involved in selling on the Internet.  They can apply to anyone handling sensitive information such as banks, utility companies and so forth.  With such an abundance of private information being shared across the web, it is imperative to have the proper security precautions in place so that customers as well as merchants feel safe.

To your customers – having an SSL certificate in place shows that you take their confidentiality and personal information seriously.  Currently, most e-commerce sites offer 128-bit encryption.  This ensures them that their customers will be protected no matter what browser they are using.  If a store handles payments or collects private information like addresses, social security numbers, or dates of birth then it needs to use 128-bit or better encryption.  Sites using 128-bit or better encryption are virtually immune to hackers and their customers can feel safe.

WebNet Hosting offers SSL Certificates with all of our E-commerce Hosting and Miva Merchant Hosting packages.

2. Create a User-Friendly Site
Your site must be user-friendly.  Not everyone is a computer expert so making your site as intuitive as possible is very important.  Customers should be able to find items they are searching for easily and the checkout process and shipping and return terms and policies should be laid out clearly.  As a merchant utilizing e-commerce hosting services, you should also have your site organized in an easy to understand fashion so that items are easily found when users are browsing through categories.

3. Site Speed
The speed of your site is highly important these days and it is becoming more important everyday.  Google and other search engines are using site speed as a ranking factor in the SERP (search engine results pages).  Moreover, online shoppers conduct business online to save time so if you have a slow site, they will simply move on to your competition.  Let’s face it — people shop online to save time.  Customers do not like a slow site.  You will need to make sure that your business web hosting provider has fast servers and that your site is performing to the best of its capabilities for the amount of traffic you generate.  Make sure that you choose a web host that can expand with you as your business grows or that understands how to deal with increasing traffic to your site.  For example, many e-commerce businesses experience traffic bursts during the holiday season.  You do not want to lose valuable sales because of lagging servers and the like.  It is worth paying a few extra dollars in hosting costs in order to make sure your site is operating to the best of its ability. 

4. Provide Meticulous Details
Another key to online business success is to provide detailed product images and descriptions.  Online customers want to know as best as they can what they are ordering or else they will not feel comfortable ordering from your site.  You should have high-resolution photos of your products as well as detailed text descriptions.  In fact, there is no such thing as too much detail.  When a shopper cannot physically hold the product they are purchasing in their hands, they need to know as much information about it as possible.  Keep in mind that you can also include videos of your products.

5. Reviews & Testimonials
One of the most important features to include in your website is customer testimonials regarding your products and/or services.  If a person does a web search for your company and “reviews,” you never want anything negative to come up.  Negative reviews can last forever and are very detrimental to your site.  If you can place a page of positive reviews and testimonials on your site, people will take notice.  This is also important in establishing customer relationships because people like to know that their opinion matters and this is an excellent way to get referrals and repeat customers.  These opinions are also crucial in developing your marketing strategies.

Follow these tips and you will be on your way to e-commerce success!

Each month we profile a client that is operating a successful e-commerce site in our newsletter and blog.  This month’s company is Russell Rhodes,  located online at RussellRhodes.com.   Russell Rhodes is a seller of customized and personalized Christmas ornaments, many of which are original designs.

Russell Rhodes is happy to extend a special offer to receive 25% off all personalized ornaments using the following coupon during checkout:

Coupon code: 25WN0810
Offer: 25% off all personalized ornaments
Expiration: Aug 31, 2010

The following is an interview with Denys Slater, President of RussellRhodes.com:

When did your site launch?  Give us a brief history of your business.
We launched in 1997.  We sell over 2,000 unique and custom personalized Christmas ornaments, many of which are original designs by Russell Rhodes.

How long have you been using Miva Merchant?  WebNet Hosting?
I used Miva Merchant once around seven years ago and I didn’t like it.  I tried it again last year, thought it was much improved and I now use it on over eight websites.    I have been with WebNet for about six or seven years.

If applicable, were you using Miva before you switched to WebNet?  If not, what made you switch?  If so, what made you signup with WebNet?
I was looking for a robust shopping cart software that could handle a lot of custom data fields, as everything I sell is personalized.  Nothing involves just a “add to basket” button.  I switched primarily to leave a suppressive, horrible, unfriendly company called Dydacomp and their shopping cart called Sitelink.

What do you like most about Miva Merchant?
It has the power to handle a lot of customer data input very well via attribute fields.

What do you like most about WebNet Hosting?
The service and help desk have been absolutely amazing.  I have NEVER had an experience even half as good as WebNet Hosting.  WebNet is the fifth hosting company I have used in nine years and I have every reason to believe I’ll never need to go anywhere else.  Seriously, I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to get a technical question answered at 1AM right when I need the answer.  The longest wait time I’ve ever had in the peak of the day has been 40 seconds.  Every need has been met and it’s really the people at WebNet that make it what it is.  PJ and Vincent have been invaluable to me.

What do you like least about Miva?  What are some common problems?
It’s still very “1990″ in terms of uploading data.  You can’t upload categories, headers, footers …  the list is long.  Even when you take into account all the modules out there, nobody makes a module to upload all info (for example: categories).  I have two different modules that upload various parts of categories, but nobody makes a module to import the category images.  So, I have to go hand code the image paths x 180 categories.  Very antiquated in terms of data upload.

What do you like least about WebNet?  What would you change?  What features would you add?
Seriously, the only thing you could add would be a personal masseuse while I am speaking with tech support.  I’m joking, of course, because I don’t have the slightest complaint about anything.  I can’t find one.

How many items do you offer for sale on your site?
I have nine Miva websites with WebNet Hosting.  I’m adding two more over the next two months.  All together, I offer over 5,000 products.

What Miva features do you use most?
All my %^&(* modules.  Without them, I couldn’t use Miva at all.

Which are your favorite modules and why?

I couldn’t live without toolkit and the prod and cat templates.  However, without the other import utilities, I still wouldn’t use Miva.  I simply can’t enter 25,000 pieces of data by hand.

Have you had any third-party development done on your site?
Yes.  I’ve taught myself html and a little php, but I couldn’t find a book on “Miva script” so it was a better use of my time to hire someone.  But even that was difficult.  There were not a lot of “Miva coders” clamoring for my business.  I felt lucky to find two very good ones.

What do you use for credit card payments and what have your experiences been?
MasterCard and VISA.  I won’t pay Amex fees.  I added Paypal and, as expected, sales went up 20%.

How many employees do you have?
Eight of my nine websites are seasonal for the Christmas season.  So from January through August, there’s one employee — me.  From October through December, there are usually about fifteen people working in various capacities.

What are your strategies for SEO?
You’d have to hire me as a consultant.  My main site is PR6 and ranked in the top 2 spots for over 100 keywords.  All other sites are the #1 page for their dozen or so keywords.

What were some of your biggest mistakes? (so that others can possibly learn from them)
The biggest mistake I made was paying an SEO firm $500/month for 10 months until I fired them.

What have been your biggest successes?
Deciding to do my own SEO.  Studying Google’s algorithm for 700 days.  I did a lot of live site testing, with the final result a close approximation of their mathematical model for ranking sites.  And then continuously testing and following SERPs over time because Google’s algorithm is dynamic.  And so are their penalty models.  In the end, it’s a big math formula, and I’m amazed in hindsight how much “opinion” there is about a math formula.  In the end, it is only and utterly math.  Brilliant math, but still math.  This means it can be understood by anyone.  There’s no need to have a “professional opinion” about what Google will like.  In addition, listening to what Matt Cutts says on video or writes in his blog doesn’t hurt either.

Take the time to peruse the inventory at RussellRhodes.com today!

The definitive goal of SEO is to move your site to the top of the SERP, thus increasing traffic, page rank, visibility and conversions – otherwise known as web presence. As research has proven, increased sales are the direct result of a strong web presence and what company wouldn’t want to boost their sales? SEO is primarily accomplished by building quality organic backlinks through various methods such as article marketing, directory listings, press release distribution, e-newsletters and signature linking on blogs and forums.

The meta tags (title, description and keywords) of a web page are also key elements that search engines use in order to categorize and rank web pages. Most times, these tags remain invisible to the visitors of a site because they are in the head section of the HTML document. Meta tags provide information regarding page content and consist of keywords describing the page’s subject matter. In-depth keyword research is at the heart of a successful online business. Utilize Google’s Keyword Tools to figure out the best keywords for your site.

For the owners and operators of businesses operating on the Internet, especially those carrying a vast array of products and/or services, creating exclusive meta tags for each and every item/page can be a daunting, lengthy and drawn out process. The Miva Merchant Shopping Cart simplifies this procedure and consequently, gives the online entrepreneur more time to focus on the actual operation of their business.  In face, Miva Merchant is regarded as the most customizable shopping cart software on the market.

With Miva Merchant 5.5, you can attribute unique descriptions, keywords and titles to the bulk of your pages by simply editing three page templates. These templates are known as Storefront, Category Display and Product Display. By utilizing these templates, you can save time, headaches and ultimately money.

The Storefront template allows you to create and easily apply the most effective meta tags and title for your home page. On the other hand, with the category and product display templates, you can quickly and painlessly create and apply tags and descriptions to all individual product and category pages.

It is imperative to use the most searched for words so that page rank can improve and traffic to the site can grow. This will, in turn, lead to higher sales. Always remember that finding and using dynamic keywords is a crucial component of the SEO process.

Many owners and operators of companies large and small have a tendency to either forget about or overlook the use of coupons as a promotional and marketing tool.  Coupons are often thought of as thing of the past, with memories of parents and grandparents huddled over a stack of newspapers, scissors in hand, searching for the next big bargain.

With the Internet becoming the modern marketplace and the slow death of the traditional newspaper, coupons have evolved beyond the print media.  The online coupon has become a formidable method of promoting a business while simultaneously saving the cash-strapped general public some money and encouraging competition between businesses.

Coupons are a powerful way of branding and gaining publicity for a business.  By highlighting sales and current promotions, you can drive quality traffic to your online store.  Traffic originating from a coupon is the kind of traffic that leads to conversions and this is the type of traffic that an online storeowner needs to generate, especially in this current economy.

There are currently a number of coupon sites online and they are becoming increasingly popular.  They make their money from selling ads on their sites because of the staggering amount of visitors that check out these sites in search of money-saving purchases.  Since the websites are making their money by selling ad space, there are generally no charges or fees for businesses placing coupons on these sites.  Not to mention, all of the stores that have coupons on these popular websites are receiving high quality backlinks to their site.  This is a surefire way of building links, page rank and climbing up the SERPs (search engine results pages).

A smart coupon strategy is to create a coupon that directs visitors to your Clearance or Sale page where discounted goods are already listed.  You do not even have to go out of your way to fabricate a special sale.

The use of coupons can be a highly successful method of promoting your online business.  Coupons do not need to be thought of strictly in the traditional sense.  There is a whole new market for modern coupons.

WebNet Hosting, a Premier Partner Miva Host since 2004, offers fully PCI Compliant Miva Hosting with 100% uptime as well as e-commerce solutions and basic web hosting.

A principle selling point for cPanel is how it turns an abundance of previously complex processes into simple point and click processes thus making life less complicated for its users. The cPanel interface is extremely user-friendly and intuitive to even novice users.

The cPanel Automated Control Panel puts the power back into the client’s hands. Clients can now perform tasks that used to only be able to be completed by the web host providing the client with a more hands-on approach in the management and maintenance of their websites.

Website owners should have no fears that cPanel will be over their heads. If any questions or problems arise there are numerous tutorials and help files available 24/7.

Some formerly tiresome tasks that cPanel simplifies include:

· Uploading and managing web pages

· Creating email accounts

· Backing up data

· Viewing detailed visitor statistics

· Creating logs to aid diagnose problems

· Installing common web applications (ie: blogs & forums)

cPanel includes top-notch security defense systems like virus protection and rootkit detection. Thanks to its monitoring and update system, users will be alerted instantaneously of any failed services or potential threats.

cPanel is recognized as the most powerful automated control panel on the market and can help take your website to the next level.

cPanel comes standard with all packages offered by WebNet Hosting, Premier Partner Miva Host since 2004.  WebNet Hosting provides fully PCI Compliant Miva Hosting with 100% uptime as well as e-commerce solutions and basic web hosting.

Please give us a call at 1-877-503-HOST (4678) for more details!

Miva Merchant Modules are the ideal way of creating a fully customizable online store.  They are easy to install and require no costly outsourcing to a web developer to create custom programming.  Miva Modules typically cost between 1/10^th and 1/20^th of what the equivalent in third-party development would cost.

There is now a large enough market for Miva Modules that there are a number of developers and the competition between them has kept the quality of their products very high.  The main categories of modules available include:

• Website Look and Feel
• Email Management
• Ordering and Shipping
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Checkout Process Enhancements
• Promotions and Marketing
• Store Management

Through the proper use of Miva Merchant Modules, storeowners can truly make their websites stand out from the competition and take their stores to the next level.  Furthermore, thanks to SEO modules, page rank in the search engine results pages can be greatly increased.

With such an abundance of modules for the Miva Merchant shopping cart on the market, those involved in the e-commerce industry will be surprised by their ability to truly customize their websites like never before.  Miva Merchant puts the power into the hands of the storeowner.

Visit MM5Central.com for a list of the best-selling Miva Merchant Modules available.

Featured WebNet Hosting Site for June 2010

AGardenPlace.com

Each month we profile one of our clients that are operating a successful e-commerce site in our newsletter and blog.  This month’s company is A Garden Place located online at AGardenPlace.com.  AGardenPlace is a small  garden boutique in Southern California that specializes in selling all the products you could possibly need for a garden.  The following is an interview with Diana Hall of AGardenPlace.com:

When did your site launch?  Can you give us a brief history of your business?
We have been in business since 2002. It sprung from the belief that your garden should make you smile. One of my creative outlets is gardening and I have always loved interesting gardens. Not boring patches of fence lined grass, but fun gardens that make you stop and take it all in.

Our test garden is a fun stroll through tree-lined paths dotted with colorful kid size hobbit houses, fountains, kinetic garden art and visiting wildlife.  Visitors always loved hanging out there and slowly over time, a business was born…

How long have you been using Miva Merchant?  WebNet Hosting?
I have been using Miva Merchant since 2005. I switched to WebNet Hosting in 2009 after countless problems with my former web host almost destroyed the business.

So you were utilizing Miva Web Hosting before you switched to WebNet?  What made you switch and why did you choose WebNet Hosting?
Yes, Miva had come bundled with the previous web hosting company’s plan. It was the only shopping cart I had used. I really wasn’t looking to start from scratch with a new shopping cart so when it was time to move my business, I needed a web hosting company that was very familiar with Miva. WebNet Hosting came highly recommended within the Miva community forum.

What do you like most about Miva Merchant?
Miva and its developers seem passionate about their product and constantly work to make improvements. I like that a link to the Miva forum is built into the Admin panel. The forum is very active and a great way to find answers as well as stay current on bugs, fixes, patches, etc.

What do you like most about WebNet Hosting?
WebNet Hosting has been great. The move was easy. The few glitches were handled promptly. I have experienced 100% uptime, super fast page loads and excellent in-house support.

What do you like least about Miva?  What are some common problems?
Miva Merchant 5.5 out of the box is ok, but many features require buying additional add-on modules, which drives up the cost. Miva has it’s own coding language which can be daunting to learn. In the past, SEO was a challenge. Admin did not have a way to handle phone orders. I am looking forward to the soon to the new Wombat version which addresses many of these lacking features.

What do you like least about WebNet?  What would you change?  What features would you add? VPS hosting is great. I would like to see more allotted disk space and bandwidth transfer. We approached max bandwidth transfer last month.

How many items do you offer for sale on your site?
We  offer 300+ garden décor items such as gazing balls, toadstools and handcrafted gnome doors. Spring gets people into garden cleanup. Our current top seller is called Ever Edge, which is a heavy duty steel lawn edging that can be mowed over. We also provide information on where to buy 1000’s of other garden products.

What Miva features do you use most?
I use the shortcut buttons in admin to view orders, delete shopping carts, manage inventory.

Do you use any modules?  Which ones?  Which are your favorite and why?
We use modules that make shopping easier for our customers. Breadcrumb navigation, mini basket display, coupons and product ratings are a few. Most are from Emporium Plus. William Weiland provides outstanding support and prices his modules fairly.

Have you had any third-party development done on your site?
No, everything has been done in house with improvements based on customer comments.

What do you use for credit card payments and what have your experiences been?
We use Authorize.net.  Our experience has been great. Pay Pal and Google Checkout are also available.

How many employees do you have?
Just a handful (if you cut off a couple fingers ). Actually, I designed a small business I can enjoy, rather than just manage employees.

What are your strategies for SEO?
We use natural search and good quality link referrals. We focus on optimized pages with short, descriptive links, external CSS, fast loading pages, frequent page updates and Google sitemaps.

What were some of your biggest mistakes? (so that others can possibly learn from them)
Mistakes have been a big part of the learning curve. Most of the early mistakes involved poor web design and shared web hosting. Some other mistakes involved bad code, use of flash, failure to account for browser differences, useless link exchange pages – that kind of thing.

What have been your biggest successes?
Growth and survival in a tough economy. Happy customers and great working relationships with top notch vendors.
Make sure you visit AGardenPlace.com to peruse all of the items they offer for sale!