Posts Tagged ‘image’
The Graphic Problem
Digital printing has revolutionized the sign industry. Current printers can reproduce an image at 1440 dpi (dots per inch) at virtually any size. But they are worthless if the original image is of low resolution. We define resolution using pixels. A pixel is commonly thought of as the smallest individual unit of an image (tiny dots if you will). If the pixel content is low, the image will look fuzzy. Anyone that has blown up a picture in a popular program like Adobe Photoshop has experienced the pixilation of an image. The most common way to express the resolution of an image is via two integers: the first is the number of pixel columns or width and the second is the number of pixel rows or height. Another common way to express resolution is by giving the total number of pixels in the image (usually expressed as megapixels). It is determined by simply multiplying the pixel columns by the pixel rows.
Most typical file formats such as bmp, jpeg, png, etc. will give the physical image size. This is done through DPI. For raster images (those images in rectangular pixel format), DPI means the number of pixels printed within one inch horizontally and vertically. For example, if you have an image expressed at 600 by 300 (or 1.8 megapixels) and you want to print at 300 dpi, the image would need to be printed within two inches by 1 inch (you divide 600 x 300 by 300 dpi) ? a very small image to get the needed resolution. The bigger you print the same image, obviously, the lower the amount of dots per inch. A 20 by 10 inch print of the same image would be only 30 dpi. Try to imagine how bad the quality would be if you had only 30 dots for every inch.
We commonly have customers uploading 600 x 300 jpeg images of the family dog, say, and ask us to put it on a vinyl banner 4 by 2 feet, for example. We refuse to print a sign with less than 300 dpi, because we know our customers will not be happy wth the quality. If we enlarged this image to fit the sign, we would get a sign with 12.5 dpi (only about 12 dots per inch).
We need to help educate so you will know that we are not trying to aggravate or, worse yet, price gauge when we ask for a better quality image. Believe me, we only do this so the customer will be happy with the final product. I always feel bad when I have to disturb a customer. I understand the buyer’s position. They want quick results with minimal effort. But customers have to take a proactive role, because once and a while, a sign company will go ahead and print a borderline or low quality image. We won’t do that ? we insist on quality ? which sometimes makes the customer think we lack some mysterious technology that our competition has. There have been those frustrating times when a customer will tell me they know of a local sign company that will print their sign with the image as is. And then they hang up miffed.
If we cannot get a higher quality image we need to convert the file to vector format. This format allows us to enlarge the image without loss in resolution. In fact, we have a full time graphic person that can do this rather quickly in some cases. We usually try to do it gratis for our customers, but sometimes we have to charge them. It is awkward because the customer does not always understand. Some even suspect we are attempting to add on frivolous charges. We want them to understand why!
But I also have to caution customers. Some sign companies will charge high prices for art work. Converting a diagram or clip art to vector format can be very cheap ? about $10. But poor quality photographs require the artist to reproduce the file as a graphic drawing in detail. It takes time and most companies will understandably try to recoup their costs. But you should not be charged more than about $30 an hour and photographs rarely take more than 2 or 3 hours to convert.
To learn more about Magnetic signs and other types of signs please visit http://designasign.blogspot.com. To purchase Magnetis, Vinyl and just about every type of sign imaginable visit http://www.designasign.biz
What is the Check 21 Act?
Check 21 is the common name for the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act. It’s new legislation that was recently passed by congress and made a law when signed by the President of the United States (remember “I’m just a bill” from Saturday morning cartoons). Check 21 basically streamlines the traditional check processing system by incorporating new electronic technology. This new system replaces an outdated check clearing system that banks and other financial institutions have used for many years. The advantage is the ability to cut the time it takes for a check to clear from days to hours.
The process to do this involves a pseudo or substitute check. Check 21 now allows banks to use this in place of original checks. The technique to make this a reality involves converting the information on the check into an electronic file, which is then sent to the maker’s financial institution for payment. This significantly speeds up the check clearing process from days to hours. The original check can even be destroyed because a substitute check can be made at any time during the process. This image can be used as a proof of payment just like an original check. In fact the checks look almost exactly like original checks except for a slightly reduced image of both the front and back of the original check.
You can expect to see a substitute check if the original check was converted to an electronic file during the payment process and the check turns out to be a bad check due to non-sufficient funds in the payee’s account. The bad check you receive will actually be the substitute check. You may also receive a substitute check if you request a copy of one of your own paid checks provided that check was converted to an electronic file during the payment process. Don’t worry the Check 21 law allows you to use the substitute check the same way as if it were the original check involved in the initial transaction or payment.
However, don’t expect a rapid rollout of electronic file conversion of checks right away. First financial establishments (such as banks and credit unions) or not required to change from paper to substitute checks due to the large upfront cost associated with investing in the equipment needed to comply with Check 21. Don’t worry though many financial institutions will gradually switch to the new system since it will save money over time on the transporting of checks, improve security and mitigate the loss associated with check fraud.
The consumers affected the most by this new change in check clearing will be those individuals that write a check one day and then attempt to transfer money into the account the next day or write a check a day earlier then they are paid via direct deposit. This method of floating money won’t be as easy to duplicate since in many cases electronic checks can clear in a little as 4 hours. So although some consumers may feel an initial wakeup call many will embrace the new act simply based on the fact that it should curtail the fraudulent activity currently seen in the financial industry.
Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Debt-Relief-Solutions.com. He provides more debt relief, consolidation and credit repair information that you can research in your pajamas on his website.
In between Luck & Effort
I have one magical thought, lets see it more closely. Just look around & try to find out peoples who are successful, in sense of reality, with no efforts. You will find none.
Now look around again & try to explore the peoples who are successful by morality of their efforts, and this you will find many.
Their distinctive efforts have certainly taken them ahead, may be in changeable degree.
People who believe only in luck shall be able to see opportunities in the mirrors.
People believing in efforts creates opportunities irrespective of circumstances, favorable or unfavorable to make a real picture / image. Luck is an unknown fruit which will we recieve unexpectedely after strong efforts.
So in between luck and efforts you must focus on the efforts most of the time.
I focus to my energy to get what I want; I know efforts is the right way, Luck wonders around the right way.
About The Author
Nilesh B Gore
Graphologist(Handwriting Analyst) & SW. Eng.
Email : ng411002@rediffmail.com
Web : http://www.brendynamics.com/gr
Country: India, Ms
Copyrights: © Nilesh B Gore.
In between Luck & Effort
I have one magical thought, lets see it more closely. Just look around & try to find out peoples who are successful, in sense of reality, with no efforts. You will find none.
Now look around again & try to explore the peoples who are successful by morality of their efforts, and this you will find many.
Their distinctive efforts have certainly taken them ahead, may be in changeable degree.
People who believe only in luck shall be able to see opportunities in the mirrors.
People believing in efforts creates opportunities irrespective of circumstances, favorable or unfavorable to make a real picture / image. Luck is an unknown fruit which will we recieve unexpectedely after strong efforts.
So in between luck and efforts you must focus on the efforts most of the time.
I focus to my energy to get what I want; I know efforts is the right way, Luck wonders around the right way.
About The Author
Nilesh B Gore
Graphologist(Handwriting Analyst) & SW. Eng.
Email : ng411002@rediffmail.com
Web : http://www.brendynamics.com/gr
Country: India, Ms
Copyrights: © Nilesh B Gore.
In between Luck & Effort
I have one magical thought, lets see it more closely. Just look around & try to find out peoples who are successful, in sense of reality, with no efforts. You will find none.
Now look around again & try to explore the peoples who are successful by morality of their efforts, and this you will find many.
Their distinctive efforts have certainly taken them ahead, may be in changeable degree.
People who believe only in luck shall be able to see opportunities in the mirrors.
People believing in efforts creates opportunities irrespective of circumstances, favorable or unfavorable to make a real picture / image. Luck is an unknown fruit which will we recieve unexpectedely after strong efforts.
So in between luck and efforts you must focus on the efforts most of the time.
I focus to my energy to get what I want; I know efforts is the right way, Luck wonders around the right way.
About The Author
Nilesh B Gore
Graphologist(Handwriting Analyst) & SW. Eng.
Email : ng411002@rediffmail.com
Web : http://www.brendynamics.com/gr
Country: India, Ms
Copyrights: © Nilesh B Gore.
Ten Things To Do When You Really, Really Hate Your Job
1. Begin focusing on what you want instead of how much you want to escape. When you find yourself sharing the latest horror story, stop in mid-sentence and say, “What I want to have is…”
2. Create an image that describes you in your job. Are you on a riverbank with no way to get to the other side? Lost in a jungle? Poking through a thorny hedge? When you get comfortable with the image, begin visualizing a change in the obstacle. Imagine building a bridge across the river or finding a path in the forest. Don’t force the image or the change. When you’re ready it will come.
3. Think of developing skills, not serving time. Take every course that’s offered and focus on skills that can lay a foundation for your own business or next job. Can you learn HTML or PowerPoint? Can you use some evenings, weekends and lunch hours to solicit some free lance gigs?
4. Focus on satisfactory, not superior performance. Use the time difference to build your new life. People often say, “I can’t do anything — I work ten hours a day!”
If you are firing yourself or expecting to be fired, your job is finding a new job. Be ethical: you owe your company the minimum you need to earn your salary.” But don’t be surprised if you start to accomplish more than ever and find yourself getting promoted.
5. What conflict are you escaping? Dishonesty? Corporate greed? Hypocrisy? Allow yourself to wonder if these qualities are mirrored in your own life — or even in your mind. If everyone around you seems dishonest, are you being dishonest with yourself? With others? After you resolve your own conflict, you may find the workplace has changed or you have been catapulted into a new, more satisfying life.
6. Put on your shield and armor when you enter your workplace. Everyone should learn how to create a psychic shield. Imagine that you are surrounded by an outer shell that is made of a solid material — so strong that nothing can get through to hurt you. Some people prefer to imagine a protective golden light, but I think the solid shield is stronger. Take two or three minutes to put on your shield, every day, before you enter the workplace.
7. Give yourself a gift every day — a splurge of time or sensual taste buds. Read a book, talk to a friend, eat your favorite food. Don’t deaden your senses with alcohol (although if you’re a wine connoisseur, your special wine can be a gift) or spend big bucks at the mall. Think simple.
8. Find at least one thing in your life to appreciate: the softness of your cat’s fur, the winter sky, the spontaneous hug from a friend. Appreciate as much as possible about your job: the money, the view from the window, the new computer, friendly conversations with the guy down the hall. Savor the experience. Appreciation is the engine that attracts good things into your life.
9. Tune in to your intuition before deciding what to do next. Meditate and listen to the world around you. The saying “frying pan into the fire” is real. If your goals and desires do not come from a secure place within yourself, you will find yourself paying undue attention to wet blankets (“If you quit you’ll never get another job”) and false friends (“Just quit! Move to Tahiti! You won’t starve!”). Sometimes the same “advisor” proposes both ideas in the same week. A good coach or counselor will give you confidence in your own intuition, not impose their views of what you should do now.
10. Write this down somewhere: After you’ve left — and you will — all that time will seem to have gone in the blink of an eye. You will have trouble remembering what bothered you so much. The rest of your life will still be ahead of you.
I offer one-to-one consultations on career strategy.
About The Author
Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals take their First step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com.
“Ten secrets of mastering a major life change” mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.com
Contact: cathy@cathygoodwin.com 505-534-4294
WhyYouNeedThatPerfectName.com!
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet”
-Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
A rose perhaps but not your domain name!
Welcome to the dotcom bubble! Here, any successful e-tailer should tell you that there’s more to a name than just the name itself. This article serves precisely that purpose ?against the backdrop of quality domain naming strategies and styles, auctions, speculators and court conflicts, to convince you why your online endeavor needs that perfect domain name.
There’s no point in coming up with that absolutely fabulous idea for online selling plus a perfect site to launch from, as long as you don’t have ‘the’ name you need. Choosing a name that will eventually contribute to your brand equity, profits, internet marketing and above all -your online credibility, shouldn’t be done haphazardly. Especially, since it’s so easily purchased (for a low startup capital), easily maintained and one that, if you choose, may be disposed off at a substantial amount. Intentionally or otherwise, your domain name becomes your de facto brand name, a location or an experience your visitors relate to in the long run. Even if you plan to sell it later on to prospective buyers, it is only an asset! Your challenge is to come up with that one name to funnel visitors through.
Brandmeisters today seem to understand the significance of site names, especially since the emergence of a number of me-too sites. Like a Washington Post reporter put it ? “feature for feature, service for service, discount for discount, even annoyance for annoyance”, a number of sites may turn out to be a close match to yours. Quoting Rebecca Saunders, author of the Big Shot series, “Names have to sound fresh and new even if the site duplicates one already on the net. Names should stir the imagination or otherwise gain the surfer’s attention. Further site name should be as simple as possible, they should be believable, and they should be easy to pronounce, pleasing to the ear, easy to spell and therefore easy to look up on a search engine.” Here’s more on building your handle.
The ‘aha’ name
Domain name consultants will serve you innumerable dos and don’ts on internet domain naming ? a feat that could leave you grumbling with limited choices. Personally, your domain naming methodology need not be absolutely conventional, as long as your imagination is not slave to impractical logic and common sense.
Begin with a paper, pencil and loads of patience. Consider seeking the advice of kith and kin, while you scramble ideas in your brain. Follow closely on what you ought to and ought not to consider. For example, consider characteristics, features, advantages and possibly anything that relates to your products and services. Now try to come up with a domain name that either addresses that one fundamental concept of the site, or that weds two or more key concepts in a single name. All the while, keep in mind, your site’s goals, the image you wish to portray and your target audience. Don’t compromise on your image-how you want your company to be perceived and it’s relation to your core business memorability. Jot down your list of ideas. Then narrow it down to those names you think are most reflective of your products/services. Most importantly, determine if the domain name you like is available and that it doesn’t violate any existing trademarks or copyrights. The last thing you’d want is your hard thought idea of that domain name accidentally offending a fellow netizen. Make sure that it doesn’t mean something entirely different in another language and that you don’t spare chance for the public to associate anything negative with it (easier said than done!). Care for the ins and outs of classic and non classic approaches in domain naming? Read on.
Unless you are a domain name squatter or a start-up capitalizing on domain names – save those tongue-twisters, masqueraded phrases and unpronounceable names.
Your creativity levels, thought and effort should be directed towards one that’s short and sweet. Though, a long name, embedded with your major keywords, can get your site a high search engine ranking, there is no reason you should take advantage of the 67 character limit provided for domain names. Besides, you are too late now. The record of the longest domain name has been set by a Welsh village, with its registration of llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.com.
Concentrate on your visitors comfort levels. Leave them no scope for confusion and no loophole to err. Give them a name they can easily guess (without having to quip over the spelling and the location of hyphens) and hopefully, they’ll reciprocate with more clicks.
You could always rely on those prefixes (e, i, net, web, the, my) and suffixes (world, business, company, store). The power of vowels unleashed, you’d generate a potential brand name. E.g. ebay.com, ivillage.com, pcworld.com, smallbusiness.com
Lucky the business if it’s creator has that perfect proper noun to lend his site a name. Atkins.com named after Dr. Atkins and Dell.com after its founder and CEO Michael Dell. A traditional business moving online could capitalize on it’s established brand name. Even acronyms could yield quick domain names. Microsoft is an acronym for MICROcomputer SOFTware and so is Yahoo for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.
Targeting search engine rankings ? e.g. Yahoo that follows alphabetic classification of websites ? consider site names beginning with the digit 1 or the letter ‘a’. Jeff Bezos, the creator of Amazon.com, cites this as one of his reasons for the name’s choice.
But for those of you driven by the age old myth ? that search engines have a liking for words that are separated by dashes- wake up! Today, when search engines focus on the site content, hyphenated names have no influence. Domain names with or without hyphens is in itself a topic for a forum. A good idea is to register both options if possible and redirect visitors to one site. Walmart.com never let go off it’s original registration (wal-mart.com), even after it changed name. Now both names take you to the same site.
Think of it on a broader angle. A few dollars spend to secure all possible variants of your name (with alternate extensions) will secure your visitors, otherwise likely to contribute to competitor site traffic. More – register possible names your visitors are likely to associate to your domain. The retailer Buy.com registered the domains: “10percentoffamazon.com,” “10percentoffreel.com,” and “10percentoffegghead.com”. Proctor & Gamble is an extreme case of this blanket approach. It registered hundreds of generic domain names relating to all aspects of personal hygiene and healthcare: pimples.com, badbreath.com, underarm.com, diarrhea.com etc. They advertise only one, but use the others to bring traffic, and point all the domain names to one site.
Though generic names can’t be trademarked, are sources of controversy and usually unavailable (if not, costly), your prospective domain name could sound of the genre of women.com, Hotels.com, Furniture.com, Art.com and shoes.com. Nonetheless, the loss of uniqueness in generic names is a serious reason for their unpopularity among namers. Now guess why Amazon was’nt named book.com and ebay not auction.com.
So, if the dictionary lets you down, do not fret to think of words that are arbitrary, previously unheard of and totally unrelated. Yahoo, Google and BlueTooth.com don’t owe their origins to the thesaurus. Sometimes it pays to be whimsy!
allthegoodnamesaretaken.com
In just around 2 years, the number of website names registered has grown from 200 to a voluminous 125,000 per month. And as yet, already over 1.6 million domains have been registered, including the subtitle above! Chances of you finding a 3 character .com domain name unregistered (not on sale!), are thin? very thin.
Here’s the good news. Everyday, around 20,000 domain names expire and get deleted. In addition to the generic domain extensions such as .com, .net, etc. there are approximately 250 different international domains each with their own two-letter country code extension. Speculations of new TLD (Top Level Domain) names include .firm, .store, .arts, .info, .nom, .biz, .pro, .aero, .coop, .museum and .name.
So, don’t settle for the first domain name you think of! Although the supply of domain names is diminishing daily, it’s better to expend more thought at the beginning and save money later. Don’t let the gold rush skate your decision (and later leave you to regret over an unmarketable name). Then again, don’t sit just hatching ideas. Even as you read this, someone halfway across the globe might be beating you to your choice!
Some are just registered by entrepreneurial opportunists hoping to make a fast buck by selling it on. If your choice is taken, the easiest, cheapest and most reliable solution would be to register another name. Did you know that the auction site eBay.com was the second choice of it’s creator after his initial pick EchoBay.com was taken? A good name is a legal name!
Nonetheless, if you own a successful site, that just can’t do without that colonized ideal name, you better ensure your pockets are deep because the owner at the other end knows that there’s nothing quite like the commercial value of a domain name. The highest publicly known sale of domain name was the sale of Business.com for $7,500,000 to eCompanies, a business incubator.
Domain names have been turned into a marketing bargain with its parking capability. A business can register or buy a name for later use. And there are sites that do nothing but park potential names mostly sold for fire-sale prices later on! A Belgian doctor, Dr. Lieven P. Van Neste owns well over 200,000 domain names. It’s a fine pursuit, if you care to keep your distance from brand infringement. In the past, speculators have faced legal charges on trademark violations from the bigwigs (including Microsoft) for having registered microsoftwindows.com, microsoftoffice.com, AirborneExpress.com, CitibankMasterCard.com, HewlettPackardss.com, and Wall-Mart.com. Domain name conflicts that grabbed headlines – Yahoo vs. “yahooka.com” (a marijuana site), Nissan Motors vs. Nissan Computer Corporation. One that caught my personal appeal – Archie Comics company’s trademark driven domain dispute with Veronica.org, a website set up by a loving dad in honor of his 2-year-old daughter Veronica!
From McDonalds to MTV, a lot of press on online brand infringement ( the hijack of popular brand names) has filled the air. Even as I write this, Google Inc. is being challenged the right to use the name “Froogle” for its online shopping service (a New York based carpenter owns Froogles.com – web shopping site).
Each year, about 250,000 cases are decided by the US federal courts. If you have no time to sort it out the good old fashion, you should consider devising a strategic approach for domain naming, reflected in sound corporate policy and executed with effective management. Toady it’s a topic of senior boardroom meetings where competent professionals are assigned to conduct name searches (a less costly venture compared to the possible consequences of dealing with a complaint of infringement.) Take lessons from corporate folklore on the long term effects of a carelessly chosen domain name. People who learnt things the hard way include Art-U-Frame.com that paid $450,000 to acquire the name art.com.
The crux
Your domain name is more than a ubiquity. You have no other billboard or bypass to your site. Statistics prove that direct navigation or guessed URLs account for majority of the traffic to a site (64.43%), much more than the search engines can bring (35.55%). Eat, drink and sleep on your idea before you move to register that killer name. Don’t hassle, thinking there are nodomainnamesleft.com (that’s taken too!). Your share of homework should save you a lot of misery down the road.
Besides, if you can’t trademark your design scheme, product idea and marketing strategy, here’s something you can. Your domain name is perhaps the only thing that you can own on the Internet. Remember, there’s always more to a name than just the name itself! Happy naming!
Liji is a PostGraduate in Software Science, with a flair for writing on anything under the sun. She puts her dexterity to work, writing technical articles in her areas of interest which include Internet programming, web design and development, ecommerce and other related issues.
10 Tips To Build, Manage And Profit From An E-Commerce Website
Just because you’ve built your e-commerce website doesn’t mean the customers will begin to come. You need to bring in the visitors, showcase your products, convince them to buy, and bring them back yet again to make any significant gains.
The customers need to be wooed by the unique customer experience that will bring them back, and have them sing your praise to their friends, spreading your name. This may seem like a tall order, but isn’t. Listed here are the top ten tips to build, manage and profit from your e-commerce website. Follow them and see the benefits for yourself.
1. Organize your Catalog around Product Categories
Many sites either provide a long list of products or lump them behind a search button, making it difficult to find them. Arrange your products into logical categories and subcategories, but do not overdo it. Research says it that most people get overwhelmed with more than 7 categories. The customer must be able to easily search any product without help.
Your product should have a clear and high-quality picture, short and detailed specifications. If necessary add video or pictures of different view points (top angle, side view) along with the product specification.
2. Provide Multiple Payment Options
Keep all kinds of payment options available to your customers. Not everyone feels comfortable buying through a credit card, or has one. Allow for debit cards, fax, telephone, snail mail, paper and electronic cheques. And sign-up for fraud checking facility, without which you could easily end up losing entire day’s sales within minutes. Provide a currency converter if you offer products or payment in other currencies.
Including a telephone number for customer support on the order is a must. It gives the buyers some extra feelings of security that they can always talk to a live person if anything goes wrong in the buying process.
3. List out Clearly Outlined Policies
Privacy:
Make your privacy policy public. Keep it in a prominent place, and link it to the home, products and checkout pages, so that customers who are vary of providing personal and credit card details feel comforted. Tell them if you plan to share their email address with others, or plan to send in promotional mail or newsletters.
Further, allow them to unsubscribe or opt-out of such email if they think so. Never sell the customer’s personal particulars unless they have agreed, as this is a sure way to lose credibility doubly fast.
Security:
If you plan to collect sensitive information from your customers, you should use security systems like SSL (Secure Socket Layer). This guarantees that the data provided by your customer will not fall into the hand of a malicious hacker while transferring from his computer to the web server.
This also will reassure your customers that you are truly concerned about the security of their personal information.
Terms and Conditions:
Write clearly and prominently all the sales and after sales support terms so as to avoid confusion. The internet is worldwide, and your customer can come from any country. List your shipping and handling costs upfront, and be ready to ship anywhere on the Earth. Publish your returns policy, support hours, and even the approximate time taken to deliver the goods.
Send a confirmation note thanking the customer, and listing all the products, prices and key terms of the purchase in an email. Keep the customer updated of the order status at all times by email or by providing a link in your shopping page where they can check the status of their order anytime.
4. Build a Newsletter Around Your Products
To snag new customers and keep the old ones remembering you vividly, seriously plan to launch a newsletter, and send it to all prospects and customers on a regular basis. Apart from the credibility of being a serious player in the market, you dazzle them with your commitment by releasing the newsletter on fixed days – like 15th of every month, or every Monday.
You can also show your expertise in your field by writing regular, in-depth articles, covering the latest trends in the industry, and reviews of new products. Your customers, distributors, and partners will start to eagerly await your newsletter. Sprinkle your promotions and products in between the contents of the newsletter, and be ready to receive an increase in web traffic and order bookings every time you send out the newsletter.
5. Let Customers Gift Your Products
Allow people to gift your products to their friends and loved ones. Provide free gift wrapping, a personalized message or a free gift for the purchaser. Allow them to create Wish Lists that they may use to buy later.
These small things do matter and act as freebies that your competitor may not have. Although these are fast becoming standard feature, make sure you don’t end up with the dumb ones who haven’t figured this simple technique out yet.
6. Promote your Site Every Day
Strong marketing is the most important aspect of having a successful website. The best of sites won’t make money if people don’t come in hordes. Launch promotions, and get the word to everyone possible within your target audience.
You can do promotions using direct mail to your existing customer, in your newsletter, and fliers. All the methods of traditional marketing apply here. Don’t leave any technique untried. Remember the old adage – Market, market, market.
7. Measure Results and Reorganize
Measure the results you are getting from each promotion religiously, and note what works and what doesn’t. Experiment. Study. Fine tune. This is the only way to know how effective your campaigns and promotions are.
You can also bring in some external people to visit your site and give you sincere feedback about each page on your site. The more critical they are, the more changes you will make, and eventually it will benefit you and your customers.
Keep making changes and test what works and what doesn’t on a continuous basis. What works today may not work tomorrow.
8. Keep a Simple yet Effective Web Design
There is intense competition on the web. Make a compelling website that showcases your USP (unique selling proposition) and brings the customer back to your site. Differentiate from the rest by using your imagination to make your site standout from the rest. A cool, cathy, easy to remember name could definitely help.
Make a simple site, with plain HTML, and a consistent look and feel on all pages. Use an easy to read font, at least a 10 size font, preferably 11. Do not load with graphics and huge pictures on every page, which may slow down your page.
Although this advice is becoming old fashioned as most people are moving to broadband, it is still a good practice, as you don’t want to lose the customers who use a low speed modem.
Flexibility and ease of use are far more important than flashy graphics or cool Java applets. The objective is to keep the customer looking at the products, and not keep them waiting or lose them by slow loading graphics or effects.
Keep the catalog simple, and with a consistent design with links to Home, Checkout page, Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, Customer Profile pages handy and at the same, consistent place on each page. Make it easy to browse the store and mark products for later purchase.
9. Make the Login Process a Breeze
The less clicks needed to order, the better. Amazon patented their One-Click method that minimized the clicks, making the checkout process simpler and easier. Try to make the registration or login process minimal, and only keep the most relevant fields mandatory.
I was disgusted by the lengthy logon process which forced me to enter my middle name, date of birth, and mother’s maiden name for just registering for an online taxi booking service. I left it mid way, and went to another taxi operator’s site, which registered me within a minute. A simple thing can result in a costly mistake that loses the customer forever.
10. Reduce Popup Messages
Too many popups distract and disgust the customer. Especially after the visitor closes your website window, if you start to popup other windows with more promotions, it leaves a feeling of being chased. It is also the signature of most of the adult sites, so steer away from such insensitive practices.
Show your professionalism and respect the customer’s privacy and time. It will help to build your image as a serious and professional site and enhance your credibility.
11. Use a Reliable Hosting Service
Use a service that is good, reliable, and can provide you with customer support at all hours. Web hosting is getting very cheap but it is better to pay a little more and get a fast and reliable web hosting. Nothing loses a customer faster than a slow site or a site that is down frequently. Compare a few hosting services, and ask around before signing up for one. You won’t regret it.
Copyright 2004 Vinai Prakash. All Rights Reserved.
About The Author
Vinai is a successful e-commerce consultant who has been providing sage advice to small and medium businesses in building, managing and profiting from e-commerce websites for the past 6 years. He is a sought after author & speaker on Internet Marketing and E-Business. Vinai can be contacted at vinai@intellisoft.com.sg for speaking engagements, as well as for consultancy engagements & advice on profiting from e-commerce.
What to Wear: Summer Dressing in a Business Environment
Choosing appropriate clothing for the business environment can be challenging at the best of times. It becomes more difficult when temperatures rise and we feel being fully covered is uncomfortable and downright hot. It becomes even more of a challenge when we leave home in sweltering heat and then move into an air conditioned work environment. How do we dress? What should we wear?
Knowing how to dress for the summer heat and still remain comfortable and professional has the potential to boost your professional image and maybe even move you up a notch or two.
The Rules of Summer Dressing in a Business Environment:
1. Focus on professional: Resist the urge to wear clothing that shows bare skin. Low necklines, short skirts, sleeveless tops, sheer tops, bare legs are great for summer weather but are more fitting for barbecues and nightclubs than a day at work. When choose our clothing we are also choosing an image to project. If your intention is to move up in the business world keep your business clothes professional.
2. Wear lightweight clothing: You can still stay cool and not show skin. Choose fabrics that are lightweight such as cotton and linen. For example wear a cotton jacket over a lightweight blouse or wear a sweater set. If it gets too hot you can remove the jacket and still be covered underneath. If you work in an air-conditioned environment you will appreciate the added layer while you are inside and the option of removing it when you move into the heat.
3. Choose the proper footwear: Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean that sandals can be worn everywhere. Sandals are not appropriate in a professional setting. Wear only closed shoes such as pumps and sling backs.
4. Stay away from clothing that spells “summer”: That means bright jewelry, cropped pants or skorts. Summer clothing can be worn in a professional environment but ever so subtlety. Wear lighter colored accessories and clothing but nothing that brings attention. For example, choose a pastel blouse or light colored professional handbag.
5. Wear loose clothing: Choose to wear skirts and pants in a light fabric so that the fabric glides over your hips and tummy. White is great for summer but will show every bump and lump if worn too tightly.
© Copyright Sheila Dicks 2005
Sheila Dicks is an Image and Wardrobe consultant who helps women feel more confident by dressing to suit their body type. To get tips on how to dress slimmer and find your best styles get a copy of her ebook “Image Makeover” at http://www.how-to-dress.com or go to http://www.sheilasfashionsense.com to get the Free Report ” 7 Things Your Girlfriends Won’t Tell You About Beauty and Fashion”.
Choosing The Right Mat Board Colour For Your Art Work
The framing industry has no books, no set theory, not hard and fast rules on how to pick colours. There are some personal opinions from various writers but that’s all they are. However it is not as hard as you may think.
The obvious starting point is to go for a colour that’s in the picture, then vary the shades from darket to lighter to see which suits best.
An Inner mat is the smaller window just surrounding your art work and it is usually used to sharpen the image. Darker inner mat will increase the contrast between the light and dark areas of the picture, making the image easier to see. Therefore, adding an inner mat is both decorative and functional.
An outer mat is a bigger window closest to the glass, and sitting just on top of the inner mat. There is one or two rules I can give you for choosing the outer mat. Always make the outer mat border at least 2 1/2″ (60mm). 2″ mats do not work. The wider the mat the more you see the picture. The other rule relates to the surroundings. The colour of the outer mat you choose should have NOTHING to do with your taste or the colours in the room. If you do your job correctly you should see the picture, not what surrounds it. Many people make mistake by starting to use their personal taste or decorator themes in framing.
You can practice choosing the right mat board colours using the Smart Framer program on our web site. Upload some of your own digital photos and frame them.
With more than 30 years of experience in the business of picture framing, Gary Leete is the owner of Melbourne-based FrameCo Picture Framing Supplies, a company that specializes in DIY framing tools, start up kits and framing accessories. For further information on FrameCo products and services, feel free to email frame@frameco.com.au
