News and articles from Hyperlink

I want more customers.
Can you help me, please?

This year I'm on a mission to increase the number of new customers by an additional 30. By itself, that does not seem too hard, but this is additional to the other new customers we would normally attract. We can reach quite a number of people with our normal marketing efforts and our workshops and seminars, but I have set a goal to exceed ourselves this year.

This is where I would like to ask for your help, please. Do you know of others who would benefit from having an effective website? These people may already have a website, but it is not giving the results they want.

I don’t want you to go unrewarded for your help. So, for each referral you make that becomes a client, I will give you a $100 Prezzy Card for you to spend as you want, wherever Visa is accepted.

Search engines: We would be lost without them

You will recall in our March newsletter, I invited you to participate in a survey. I wanted to see how important search engines were and to test some assumptions about how people search and what search engines they use. I would like to thank all who participated. The response rate was very high.

The results of the survey do, indeed, show that we would now be lost without search engines. For many, it is the only way they search for information. A staggering 82% of participants use a search engine once a day or more to find the information they are looking for. Of the remaining participants, 16% use a search engine at least on a weekly basis. 

You don't exist if you are not on the web

There are some real implications here. A website is just not a luxury business item, but an essential sales and marketing channel. It’s about the only way you will now be found and is a primary way to engage with your market.

Not to have an effective website now is to assign your business to a slow and inevitable decline. This may be no reflection on the quality of your products or service, just that you are no longer visible to your market. If 82% of your customers are using a search engine every day, and you either don’t have a website or have one that is not effective, the chances are your prospective customers will be knocking on the doors of your competitors.

Google because it is easy and relevant

It will come as no surprise to tell you that the most popular search engine is Google. Google, taken as a whole (google.co.nz and google.com) is the search engine of choice for respondents. While respondents do use a number of search engines, 78% mostly or always use google.co.nz, and, 51% mostly or always use google.com.

The reason for Google’s overwhelming popularity is due to a number of factors. But there was no getting away from the fact that ease of use and good, relevant and reliable results were the main reasons for people using it.

What I found interesting is the fact that other search engines and directories hardly get used.

I was particularly interested in whether people use the online yellowpages. Eighty percent of respondents said that they had used it in the past twelve months. Of those respondents, 51% indicated they had used it on either a weekly or monthly basis, while 49% indicated they used it very irregularly or hardly ever.

If you are interested in increasing your online visibility, then you could do no better than to use part of your marketing budget to increasing your rankings and visibility on Google.

Google, what version do you use?

I was quite taken with why so many people use google.com. There can be many valid reasons for doing so, but it can be the wrong version to use. Let me explain. Google has many search engines, there is a New Zealand version (google.co.nz), an Australian version (google.com.au). In fact Google has versions for more than 115 countries (http://c.asselin.free.fr/french/googleworldwide.htm).

Each of these versions is different in how it delivers results. A major assumption Google makes is that because a person is using the New Zealand version, that person is more interested in results from that country.

Lets take an example. If you went to google.co.nz and entered in "free seminars", you would find that Hyperlink was placed number 4 on the first page. However, if you did the same search using google.com the results would be very different, and you would not find us on the first page. Using google.com is great if you are searching for information that is more internationally based, but if you are searching for something in New Zealand, using google.co.nz will give you more relevant results.

Reduce your chance of being defrauded online

Selling online, as many are, can be great, and it certainly is becoming a common method of trade, but the risk of fraud can be high. Often, the first reaction to getting a sale from the website is to quickly fulfill the order - it’s exciting stuff! Our first priority is to impress the purchaser with how efficient we are and all good business practice, such as checking the order, just goes out the window.

Unfortunately, not all transactions are good transactions. Banks have stacked things in favour of the consumer and an online sale you made last month can come back to haunt you. If a transaction has turned out to be fraudulent and it will be reversed - the funds will instantly evaporate from your account! Not only is this an inconvenience, it can cost you sleepless nights and time. And, if it happens on a regular basis, might have serious implications for your business viability.

But there are things you can do to minimise the risk of fraud.

The key to online business is "trust". And, we need to remember that, just as with the off-line world, trust goes two ways. Not only does the customer have to trust you, the merchant, you have to trust the purchaser. So, just because you have got an order and the credit card transaction has been "approved", does not necessarily mean you have to trust the purchaser, or accept the order. So, here are some of the things you can do:

1. Check the delivery address

You would normally expect the card holder address and the delivery address to be the same (but there can be valid reasons for them not to be). If they do not match you should check this out. There are Address Verification Services (AVS) you can use to check where there are discrepancies.

2. Record everything

Keep all relevant documentation (emails, letters, online records) and note all phone calls.

3. Check the email address

Strange as it sounds, those who commit online fraud don’t like to be easily found and as a consequence use seemingly ‘anonymous’ email addresses like Hotmail that they can quickly drop.

Most genuine shoppers will not mind supplying a 'proper' email address and indeed the ISP they use to access the internet will have almost certainly supplied such an address anyway.

4. Check the phone number

If an order does not feel right, contact the person by phone to "clarify" the order. Compare the phone number and area code with the delivery address. If it still does not ring true and you are left uncertain, ditch the order.

5. Lookout for high value orders that request overnight delivery

Take your time with all orders and don’t get excited or feel pressured with the value of the order. Check it out. Remember, once the goods have been sent, it’s a one way ticket. Fraudsters want a quick delivery and, after all, it is your money they are using.

6. Check the IP Address

If your shopping cart software has the ability to display the IP Address on the order, you can often see where the order was placed and match with the address supplied on their order. This isn't foolproof, but it might highlight discrepancies.

Checkout : IP address locator

At the end of the day, it is better to decline an order on your terms than to have the transaction reversed on the bank’s terms. Just remember, trust is a two way thing.

Keep your website secure

A site is only as secure as its user name and password. This means that site administrators - those who are able to edit and manage their sites - must use sensible and secure passwords that contain a mix of alpha and numeric characters.

Alpha and numeric characters in a password will make it more difficult to guess and gain access to your site. It is also a really good practice to regularly change your password. In some organisation you are required to change your password on a monthly basis. This may be something that you might wish to adopt.