October 22nd, 2010 by typhonvision

E commerce was supposed to change the world.  In the infant days of the DOT.COM Revolution(early 2000s) Brick and Mortar stores were said to be a thing of the past.  Whereas E commerce stores were thought to be more efficient with lower overhead cost.

And we all know what happened to the DOT.COM bubble when it burst.  As a result the E commerce revolution didn’t occur as quickly as originally anticipated.  The main reason for the delay in consumer adoption to E commerce shopping was the lack of familiarity and comfort.  As the general consumer still had anticipations about issues regarding credit card security and reliability with the delivery of products.

Moving in 2010, E commerce has advanced considerably.  Which larger players like Amazon and Ebay have helped spread the general consensus that E commerce shopping can be safe, fast and easy.  As a result, year over year E commerce shopping has increased.

While the traditional ways of doing business still exist for most.  Lending a portion (Even a small amount) of your business to a E commerce component on your website can drastically increase your efficiency.

Who should use E Commerce solutions?

E commerce solutions are thought to be of benefit to those only focused on selling products.  As most companies providing services are limited by their Geographical region (Usually to their local area of service such as Toronto, Ontario).  However, there are some applications which E commerce can be effectively used for Services.  Furthermore, the traditional geographical limitations in providing services can now be faced with the myriad of the free technology available to us.  This includes tools such as Sykpe (Long distance calling), Youtube and Social media(Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn).  Particularly if your business involves consulting as opposed to a physical service.

E commerce solutions for selling Products

The beauty of E commerce utilized for the sale of products is that your store can be everywhere and serve at any time.  Which exceeds the typical limitations of Brick and Mortar store.  Here are some broad categores of where E commerce for products can be used effectively:

Electronic Media - These include e-books, videos, audio and any form of Electronic media.  Special consideration should be given to e-books which in todays age is rising in usage.  This was confirmed when Jeff Bezos CEO of Amazon has claimed currently(Oct 2010) that 35% of sales from Amazon come from E-books(See Article here).  As E-books are a great way to distinguish yourself as a credible expert in your field.  And have a lower cost of production than hard copy books.  There are a variety of ways Electronic Media can be sold through an E commerce platform.  Which either the material can be downloaded within a limited timeframe (ie. 3 to 30 days window of opportunity to download).  Or can be downloaded multiple times indefinitely for a flat fee.  As with any electronic media, the susceptibilityto piracy is always factor and a threat in having downloaders redistribute the product for free.

Deliverable Products – This includes physical tangible objects which can be delivered by mail such as gift items, CDs, Videos and Promotional products etc.  Which virtually any product can be sold on-line.  However, consumers may be reluctant to buy from your website with the fear of receiving damaged goods upon delivery.  This can be challenged by outlining a solid customer satisfaction and return policy.  And describing your measures for effective packaging.  Consumers also might be reluctant to buy from your website since they may not be able to see, touch or feel the product.  Effectively integrating Video on your website for each of your key products can reduce reluctance.  Which the Video can display the product from all angles and its useful applications.  Consumers often feel enticed to buy a product based on a TV Commercial alone.  Done properly, Web Video can work in a similar manner to invite the consumers to buy.

Customized Products - This can be either a subset of a deliverable product or an electronic media item.  And can marketed in a manner that is similar.  However often the challenge with Customized products sold online is the variable pricing.  Which price can be determined by different factors (size, colour, accessories).  A strong identification of all the factors that make up the price of the item in a logical system can resolve this issue.  Where the different factors to scale the price can be programmed into the system.

E commerce for Services

Using E commerce for the sale of your services can be used in a variety of manners.  Included below is a brief example :

Events - This includes Seminars, Parties, Network events and Social events.  Whereas pre-registration is often required for many events to get an accurate estimation of the number of people in attendance.  Receiving a deposit for the event on-line can help to ensure more committed attendees show up.  Events can be promoted on your own website as well as third party websites such as meetup.com

Payment to Vendors – E commerce cannot only be used to get paid by your customers, but it can also help to pay your Vendors and respective partners.  This can be particularly useful if your vendors are overseas.  As platforms like Paypal can make it easy to transfer money

Services with a Variable price - This can include services which may vary in the price per item such as consulting services or donations (If you are not for profit).  However, depending on your E commerce setup ,it can be designed to handle a variable price specified by yourself or the consumer on each transaction.

What platform to use for E commerce component on your website

There are a variety of options which to house your e commerce platform.  Which is all dependant on your unique needs.  However, if you have under 20 items to sell on your website.  A dedicated platform may not be necessary at all.  As items can be sold with Paypal buttons extended onto your website.  Which is relatively easy and inexpensive to setup.

For a greater quantity of items.  A dedicated platform maybe required.  Which would also provide additional benefits such as advanced reporting tools (Showing most popular items), ability to enter stock quantity and expecting time of arrival.  In choosing a E commerce platform, open source software is often recommended.

Open source software is free software which a collective community of programmers continue to improve upon the functionality of the system.  Which yields regular and free upgrades in security, plug-ins and features.  In the past, it used to be the case that open source software was inferior to commercial grade packages.  However in 2010, often Open source packages can be more powerful.  Since the strength of hundreds of thousands of contributers can be greater than a single development team for a commercial package.

Stand alone open source E commerce packages like OS commerce and Zen cart have proven to be popular choices.  Which offer relatively easy installation and expandability.  However, if you already have a website and have taken the painstaking time to have it developed, there are options to extend upon your original site.  Such as if you have a WordPress (A popular content management system) site, there are various E commerce plug ins such as Welcart which can expand upon your current website without having to revamp your website design.

What E commerce can mean to you

Utilizing E-commerce on your website is not as daunting as it seems.  Its true in the past by majority E commerce was considered cumbersome and impractical.  However, the Internet has and never will be in a fixed state.  And technologies have greatly matured since its early days.  With the number of shoppers going on-line growing year over year, it’s becoming more important for businesses to not neglect this route.  As a effective E commerce plan can save you time and money while increasing your sales.

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July 22nd, 2010 by typhonvision

Web design is like fashion, we all have our own personal taste.  And what was in yesterday, isn’t so hot today.  As the Internet world also goes through its own fashion trends.

Pre-1992 era, the Internet was not known to the general public, and text was all the rage.  As the graphical layouts with the Internet world we know today didn’t exist.  Then there came the first graphical browser known as Mosaic which changed everything.  Mosaic allowed graphics to be seen and shared on the Internet.  Bringing a new dimension to the World Wide Web, where a picture is worth a thousand words.  The same original developers of Mosaic went onto develop the famous Netscape Navigator.  Which then was duplicated with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.  And the rest is history as we know it.

From 1995 onward the Internet became more common amongst the average person.  And became a great buzz word to bring up in any conversation.  Similar to how today(2010) the words “Social Media” are brought up at every dinner party, meeting or company gathering.  As it helps to make one to sound more sophisticated, distinguished and with the times (Regardless if you know what it is or what a computer looks like).

With the graphical interface Mosaic exposed, website visuals were taking to the maximum.  Adopting a “LOOK AT ME” philosophy, using everything and anything to garner attention.  Such as Animated GIFs, Flashing lights, Rainbow font colours in a single line of text and MIDI Music blaring from your computer speakers when you first enter a website (For the purpose of waking up the kids).  With all these components combined without any consideration stylistically if they made sense.  As it would be the equivelant to wearing a cowboy hat with a pin stripe suit combined with flip flops.  Although many of these old web designs have been extinct like the Dinosaurs for many years, a place to visit these vast artifacts was on www.geocities.com.  Geocities was a free web server owned by Yahoo.  Thankfully, in october of 2009, Yahoo buried these tired old web designs by closing Geocities.

Then came the era of Macromedia Flash in the early 2000s.  Although Macromedia Flash had originally came onto the scene in 1996, in the early 2000s it grew in prevalence.  Everyone wanted a Flash intro, except nobody would watch them.  Flash designers often touted the benefits of Flash, as a way to stand out from the crowd.  Working with full Flash web designs to Flash Intros when you enter a website (Which thankfully the SKIP INTRO button was invented).  Although Flash does have its place in todays web design world, it is used more sparingly due to its Search Engine Optimization challenges (Discussed further in this article).

The prevalent trend toward simple and clean web designs co-related with the growth of the social networking website Facebook.  Facebook grew out a Hardvard domatory, to the billion dollar company it is now.  Retaining much of its original look in its simplicity.  Although Google(Which came before Facebook) was a proponent of “simple is better” in its own design; Facebook nailed the point home that simple can be also be profitable.  One of many the aspects which made Facebook popular, was it was easy to navigate and quick  loading compared to some of its respective social networking competitors such as Myspace and Friendster.  Which were known for their painfully long loading times.  Part of the reason for this was the complexity in which Myspace users could customize their page.  Facebook was relatively intuitive  in comparison(Unlike Myspace, people over 17 years old could understand it), allowing users to network with their friends and share their latest news.  Users appreciated the simplicity in being able to find information quickly and not having to wait or be confused.  Showing you can have a million dollar website AND be cool, without being overly flashy in your visuals.

So here are some reasons YOU should consider a simple and clean design for your next web design project :

1) Website viewers often speed read.

The truth is, web viewers are lazy, we are guilty of that at one time or other.  In the constant rat race of life, the Internet allows us to find information quickly and move onto the next site if we don’t get what we want.  The reality is most web viewers speed read, as the average time spent on a business website at 30 seconds is not a uncommon number.  Speed reading is often conducted in making a “S” pattern with ones eyes when glancing at the screen.  Therefore it makes sense to visually make sure there is ample space between text.  And that the key points can be picked out during that speed reading process.

2) Google has confirmed better search engine results for websites with quicker load times.

Earlier this year(2010), Matt Cutts, director at Google confirmed that website load times as one of many (200+) factors were added to SEO results.(Search Engine Optimization Rankings)  Now does this mean you need to cut out every graphic image from your site to make it load faster than the speed of light? No, as  the basic principals of SEO still exist with Keyword density and Outside Links being the predominate fundamentals.  And load times are one of many aspects added to its detailed criteria.  So it’s just one more reason to not over burden your web design.

3) It’s easier/more cost effective to design an Search Engine Optimized website.

Before mid-2008, Macromedia Flash designs were a nightmare from an search engine optimization perspective.  However, preceding the summer of 2008 Google and Macromedia announced a partnership to improve search engine optimization with Flash sites.  While Flash sites optimize better these days, optimization is still not great.  The reason being is Google doesn’t read graphics very well. (Or at all – As it reverse engineers the graphics to read text.  Using OCR – Optical Character recognition technology which works with varying success.)  Even though some text may in fact look like regular text, it would technically be a graphic in Google’s eyes.  Since that graphic is made so it can be animated and flashy.  This doesn’t doesn’t only apply to Flash sites, but also static HTML websites as well.  As when a web designer is focusing on a flashy approach, graphics maybe used when text maybe more effective.  Text is the high octane fuel for search engines!

4) Simple and clean web designs present a more modest and professional look.

How do you want to present yourself professionally?  Do you want to convey trust, professionalism and credibility to your potential clients?  Often a simple web design projects a quiet, conservative, reserved and respectable image for your company.  Being, simple and to the point by saying a great deal, with as little as possible.  Being too flashy and over the top is like trusting the salesman in the brightly checkered suit.  Would you trust the smart, conservative, sober professional?  Or the backslapping, oh too positive to be real salesman who seems to think his finger is a gun.

So what your saying is….

So in short, the key is to be simple but NOT BASIC.  As web users of today prime concern is to get the information quickly and efficiently without having to do a whole lot of searching and navigating.  Often we seek to stand out from the crowd by being over the top and too flashy.  However, specific customers at your target market are often best captured with quiet, composed and clean web designs.  As its a true sign of expertise to be able to communicate your message effectively with less.  So don’t be that guy/gal standing out at the party for all the wrong reasons with leather pants in a fishnet top.  Get with the times and make sure your website is clean, clear, simple, professional and to the point in its web design.

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June 25th, 2010 by typhonvision

WordPress is fast becoming one of the most popular CMS’s (Content Management Systems) of today. For those of you who are not familiar with the terminology, the question may arise what exactely is a CMS?

Static websites are becoming less prevelant in the Internet World today. A CMS system allows the general user with little technical knowledge to be able to update their website.

This is a beneficial scenario for most, because it allows the website owner to be able to update the website instantly. Without having to send the request to the original Web Developer.  Furthermore, although a CMS maybe more costly up front. It is potentially more cost effective in the long run if the website owner is looking to make updates frequently. Saving the cost of the website owner in not having to pay the web developer each time an update is made. Finally, CMS websites have become more popular because websites are used differently than they were in the early days. Whereas in the early era of the Internet, websites were mainly considered on-line brochures. Whereas now, they are used as a cost effective means to communicate with current clientele.  And to provide updates on the latest news, promotions and events. Especially when compared to utilizing tradition media such as print material.

There are many CMS’s available, some of the names of popular systems include : WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Posterous, Typepad and Vignette. And of that list, WordPress remains the most popular. And while WordPress is not technically the most superior, its current success and popularity breeds more success. Similar to the 1980s in the VHS and BETA wars. VHS won as the predominant product by its strong following, even though BETA was technically superior. So the most technically advanced product doesn’t always win the race.   Here are 3 good reasons on why you should select WordPress as your CMS for your website.

REASON #1 – IT’S THE EASIEST TO USE

WordPress began its life strictly as a blogging platform in its inception.  A blog by technical definition is a CMS system.  As a blog allows a user to easily add, update and delete information with little technical knowledge.  However, there is a familiar format with a blog, which resembles an online diary with respective time stamps.  Since a Blog and a CMS system are similar in functionality, WordPress evolved to be a full-fledged CMS, in addition to having blogging functionality.  Being based on a blog system, its user interface was created on a easy to follow system.

WordPress is similar to using Microsoft word.  Including its general structure and being able to format text, add pictures, embed videos etc.  Also since WordPress is the most popular system, user friendliness is always improving.  Since the general consensus of what is most intuitive helps to sway future design improvements.

Other CMS systems like Joomla and Drupal are catered to the more technical user.  Allowing for a variety of features which most average users would never look at.  Which most users would feel intimidated by having too many options.  And find the user interface inundating with technical details.  Which somewhat defeats the purpose, since often the technical user would be able to design their own website from stratch.  And would not require a CMS website when compared to the average user.

WordPress is catered to the laymen user in its user interface.  Chances are if you can use Microsoft Word, you can use WordPress.

REASON #2 - IT’S FREE

Unlike expensive commercial CMS software which may cost upward to $250,000(Vignette).  Wordpress is free and does not require any recurring licensing fees.  The reason for this is WordPress is Open Source software.  Open source software means the programming code is open to the public and free for any programmer to modify and improve upon the general structure.  And the collective WordPress community often looks to continuously improve and expand on its basic functionality.

Open source software has come a long way from its early heydeys.  In the past Open source software was often inferior to its commercial counterparts.  However, with the large growth of proponents of Open source software, often they now surpass commercial grade packages.  Aside from design fees in customizing a WordPress web design, there are no recurring cost.

REASON #3 – IT’S EASY TO EXPAND

Let’s face it, the Internet is never at a stand still.  As it continues to grow at an overwhelming rate.  Moving the bare minimum expectations along the way.

Since WordPress has one of the strongest followings as a CMS website platform.  It also has one of the largest supplies of add-ons and plug-ins.  Such as SEO Plug-ins, Social Networking integration tools, Slide Show plug-ins, etc.  Also, security is an important concern when selecting a CMS website  Especially with the growing threat of Website Viruses (You can read more about Website Viruses from our previous blog post).  It’s always important to get the latest security patches.  Which is easy to apply by a simple click of the mouse.

So you get an up date, expandable Content Management Systems that moves with the current trends in technology!

STILL NOT CONVINCED YET?

Like fashion sense, taste in food and favourite cars, we all have our own preferences.  The more technical users may prefer a more advanced package such as Joomla or Drupal.  However, to most users its important for a CMS software to be easy to use, cost effective and easy to upgrade.  WordPress continues to grow at a rapid rate and will only expand further on the key requirements for the average web user.  WordPress is here to stay and isn’t going anywhere.  So if your deciding in your new design which CMS to choose, chances are WordPress is the way!

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February 24th, 2010 by typhonvision

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