SiteProNews |
- Businesses Bamboozled by Online Service Strategies
- Blog Writing – The Biggest Mistake
- A Successful Home Page Is a Link Rich Page – A SPN Exclusive Article
- Media Industry Strikes Back At Online Infringers
- The Infrastructure of Cloud Hosting and How it is Set to Change Internet Commerce – A SPN Exclusive Article
| Businesses Bamboozled by Online Service Strategies Posted: 01 Aug 2011 03:16 PM PDT 
The growth of the internet has brought with it a wealth of new opportunities for customers to vent their opinions of the firms they deal with. The popularity of social media sites, including Twitter and Facebook, and customer review sites such as TripAdvisor has forced businesses to extend their customer service strategies to cater for the feedback they receive online. But many are struggling with the transition and are finding it difficult to cater for a more empowered customer. A panel of experts in customer service gathered at a round table event held by hosting firm UKFast to discuss how companies should manage their customer strategies and strike the right balance between online and offline techniques. Sam Gregory, director of B2B operations at Tangerine PR, said: “What I think is very interesting is how businesses are coping with the advent of digital. Traditional customer service teams are seeing their role changing a lot. They are having to become communications experts in a way because they are being bombarded with messages coming through from customers that are positive and negative. I’ve worked with some very big brands in the past to develop digital and social media strategies to help channel negative comments through a particular platform such as Twitter. In many cases, the customer service teams are really struggling to know how to handle this. It’s a complete step change for them, they are used to a much slower environment.” Ross Keeping, UKFast’s head of customer service described social media as a “customer service branch that we can’t ignore” but warned companies not to sacrifice traditional methods of gaining customer feedback. He said: “The principals of good, old-fashioned client communication still hold firm. We just have to apply them to more environments – in person, over the phone, through social networks and other sites.” Asked whether it was more difficult to implement an effective customer service strategy in large organizations, the panelists agreed that the focus on keeping clients happy has to come from the top. Lynne Mills from the Institute of Customer Service said: “The Institute believes everyone in the organization is responsible for customer service, whether they are serving the customer directly or not. But accountability lies with the CEO of the organization. Customer service is a cultural thing and without that accountability at the top it’s difficult for good customer service to be in the DNA of an organization.” Luis Franco, director of international business operations at Survey Monkey, offered his advice on how to approach clients for feedback. “Follow three rules,” he advised. “Don’t survey the hell out of people. Keep it simple and short – seven minutes is maximum survey time – and make sure the question has terminology that is understood by everyone, no acronyms and no sector jargon.” Top tips on delivering outstanding customer service: - Your employees are your biggest asset, involve them all and get company-wide buy in for your customer service focus. - Training and development in customer service offers a good return on investment. - Make your customers aware that you are acting on their responses instead of aimlessly sending out surveys. Customer feedback shouldn’t be an exercise in self congratulation. - Don’t be scared of receiving feedback through social media. Dealing with complaints in a public arena inspires confidence and trust among your customers. - Turn complainants into advocates by rectifying any problems they have. Visit the UKFast website to find out more about our round table events. UKFast is one of Europe’s fastest-growing technical companies (as ranked by Deloitte) and has been at the heart of the UK internet industry for more than 10 years. In addition to being named as one of The Sunday Times best companies to work for, it won the UK IT Awards Employer of the Year in 2010. Previous accolades include the industry’s Best Customer Service Award in 2009 and being named the ISPA UK’s Best Hosting Provider four years consecutively. UKFast has over 400,000 web domains on its network and over 4,000 clients across all industries. Clients include Virgin, Microsoft and UKTV. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| Blog Writing – The Biggest Mistake Posted: 01 Aug 2011 03:00 PM PDT 
Basically, it is to sacrifice any of these requirements in order to use what they think are high paying, low competition and high inquiry keywords or keyword phrases that simply do not fit into the content of their post under the misconception that they believe this is a good website search optimization strategy. Examples are deliberate misspellings, phrases that are questions and cannot be contextualized as answers, abbreviated phrases and so on. The flaw in focusing on keywords of this type rather than content is that the search engine operators actually look for and value good content i.e. the content that flows nicely, has correct spelling, good punctuation etc. etc. They do not value nonsensical paragraphs that are clearly written to attract search engine attention rather than to meet the requirements of visitors to the website that have arrived there for a specific purpose and that is to find great content and information on their topic of choice. You only have to think about what happens when someone arrives on your website and either cannot make sense of what you have written or, equally as important, cannot find the information they are looking for. They simply leave again and go and look for a different website or blog that does provide the information they want in a format they enjoy and in a place they can find it. The technical term for what I am discussing is the bounce rate, the time a visitor spends on your website and how many pages they visit. If they only look at the first page or leave almost as soon as they arrive then you will register a high bounce rate. 100% basically says that they have not found what they came for and left immediately. A more acceptable level is 50%, but should be lower if possible, and that should be the minimum target any webmaster or blogger aspires to achieve. Writing your blogs or websites with the objective of providing useful information that is well written and with appropriate keywords that describe the actual content of your site will result in far better search engine optimization than selecting keywords that are inappropriate or cannot be converted into sensible paragraphs of written text that can be understood and enjoyed by your visitors. If you do your keyword research thoroughly and with this view in mind, there is a high probability that you will find keywords that are high paying, low competition, with sufficient numbers of inquiries and that do fit with your content in a sensible and coherent fashion. The extra effort required to do this will ultimately reward you with the associated benefit of attracting more people who in turn will become loyal visitors that come back to revisit your site and who are likely to recommend it to others. Remember it can take a very long time to build a loyal fan base for a blog but all the work put into achieving that can be lost in moments by placing rubbish in your blog posts. You need to consider both the human elements and the search engine algorithm elements. Building an Online Business offers information and advice on how to create and promote a small business on the Internet. This includes an online projects job board, for home based jobs. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| A Successful Home Page Is a Link Rich Page – A SPN Exclusive Article Posted: 01 Aug 2011 02:32 PM PDT 
“Nobody starts their design with the objective, “We need our home page to be as complex as we can possibly make it.” On the contrary, everybody wants to build simple designs. Yet, somewhere along the line, simplicity translated into “Provide as few links on the home page as possible.”" – Jared Spool, User Interface Engineering This quote sums things up well. It also targets exactly what we need to do to make a site successful for end users. This is one of those cases where we need to ensure that our focus is on what is best for the site users. It’s a complex negotiation between what you envision as the optimal website while at the same time ensuring that the end user has a website that will work well for them too. Is your own home page link rich? Are you providing your site users with relevant, beneficial links that will potentially take them deeper into your site and further showcase your company’s products and services? These are important questions to mull over when thinking about the function, style, and format of your website’s home page. News websites have long understood the need to provide multiple links on their home pages. The majority of news sites are loaded with links designed to deliver in-depth information to users. CNN, Fox, the Drudge Report, and many major newspaper sites have hundreds of links displayed on their home page. How many is too many? Take a look at the sites listed below and check out their standings. Website Google Page Rank Alexa Ranking Yahoo.com 9 4 *The Bureau of Labor and Statistics website isn’t a news site. However, it is a good example of a home page that is comprised almost entirely of links. While this site is very narrow in its appeal, it is heavily used as you can see from its rankings. The same holds true for Craigslist – its homepage is comprised completely of links. Judging from the rankings shown above for these link rich sites, it’s a good choice to include many links on your homepage. However, my advice would be to take a look at the manner in which links are displayed on these sites. With the exception of the BLS site and Craigslist, most of these sites display links in a tasteful, organized manner. So essentially what I’m saying is that you can still maintain the simplistic design approach while at the same time creating a ‘link rich environment’ which will perform well for the end users of the website. This is also good reference material for you to use when discussing site creation with your web designer. Please feel free to use the information in this article to point out the need to create a great looking, link rich home page on your website. Hopefully this information will help them understand just how important it is for them to allow you to create a home page that will grab a user’s attention and provide them with a wealth of information in an easy to use, easy to navigate format that is beneficial for your company. Color Card Administrator is the parent company of PrintBusinessCards.com and several other innovative Real Estate Business Cards website, we’re eager to share with you what it is we do. Give us a call today at 858-522-9335 or email at Author@CardAdmin.com for Print Business Cards. We look forward to discussing your comments, suggestions, or hearing any ideas for future article topics you may be interested in regarding online business cards design or business card management. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| Media Industry Strikes Back At Online Infringers Posted: 01 Aug 2011 12:13 PM PDT 
Enter the Copyright Alert System On July 7th major Internet service providers (ISPs), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), after beginning negotiations in 2008, announced the establishment of the Copyright Alert System (CAS). The CAS has been designed to ferret out people using peer-to-peer filing sharing applications to transfer copyrighted music and movies. The ISPs that have agreed to implement the CAS include biggies such as Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner, Cablevision and Verizon. This alliance of ISPs and media companies breaks new ground. In the past, ISPs were accused by media companies of ignoring massive infringing activities. Why join forces now? According to one commentator, the large amount of bandwidth required for these infringing activities has incentivized the ISPs to assist in reducing such sharing, thereby reducing bandwidth usage. The CAS is expected to be implemented later this year. What to Expect Monitoring software will be utilized to spy on file-sharing services like BitTorrent. When a media company identifies activity suspected to include the unlawful sharing of copyrighted materials, then the media company will notify the suspect’s ISP. The notice to the ISP will include the suspect’s IP address and the time that the infringing sharing occurred. That information will be enough for the ISP to specifically identify the suspect. What follows is a series of email notices sent to the suspect. The first level notice informs the suspect that illicit activity has been associated with their computer or device. If the suspect continues the infringing sharing activities, then a series of messages will be sent seeking acknowledgement that the messages have been received. The purpose of this second level of messages in a bit unclear. However, seeking acknowledgement probably will have the effect of suggesting to the suspect that some future threatening response might be in the offing. It is doubtful that anyone will acknowledge receipt of this second level of notices. This second level of message would make any defense of innocent infringement unavailable. If these second level messages have not caused the suspect to cease the activities, then the ISP may implement a consequence or “mitigation measure” as it is called in the CAS. Mitigation measures could include a reduction of Internet speeds, causing the user to be automatically directed to an educational landing page with information on the topic of copyright infringement, or even suspension of service. These mitigation measures are not obligatory on the ISPs. While, on the one hand, ISPs have a disincentive to terminate service (i.e., they will lose customers), on the other hand, the music and movie industries will likely keep increasing the pressure on the ISPs to impose some “mitigation measures.” The CAS does have an appeal process which costs $35 to initiate. While all this might sound fairly threatening, under the CAS, the ISPs will not provide any personally identifying information about the suspected infringers to the copyright holders without a subpoena or court order. How Effective Will It Be? It is important to recognize that the CAS does not result in any new laws or regulations. Under current law, ISPs are required to terminate repeat infringers in order to maintain protection of the safe harbor under Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Also, copyright owners can always sue copyright infringers, and send take down notices under the DMCA. The RIAA has indicated that they are not expecting to influence the hardcore infringers. Therefore, after a certain number of CAS warning notices have failed to cause a change in behavior, the notices will cease. The RIAA expects that the notices will cause most infringers to stop even before any mitigation measures are implemented. What would happen if the alleged infringers still don’t comply? Well, the RIAA sued 35,000 alleged infringers between 2003 and 2008, and it has not denied that it may attempt this strategy in conjunction with the implementation of the CAS. However, how they will actually respond is anybody’s guess. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others have expressed concern that the CAS could result in people being denied access to the Internet without any due process. Our justice system considers people innocent until proven guilty. However, the CAS would operate in an opposite manner, by putting the burden of proving innocence on the accused. The CAS is being billed as an educational program to alert people when their accounts are being used to share infringing materials. The press release announcing the CAS stresses that parents have a right to know if their Internet connection is being used for illicit activities. The expectation, as stated in the fact sheet put out by the Center for Copyright Information (CCI), which was established as part of the CAS, is that once people are aware that their accounts are being used for illicit purposes they will voluntarily comply. The CCI claims that 70% of users will take action if they know that their accounts are being used for infringing activities and that such activities could subject them to legal liability and consequences for violating their ISPs terms of use or acceptable use policy. Stay tuned. William Galkin, Esq. is an Internet lawyer who has dedicated his legal practice to representing Internet, website, e-commerce, computer technology and new media businesses in the U.S. and around the world. To learn more about agreements needed by Internet businesses and websites go to http://www.galkinlaw.com/services. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| Posted: 31 Jul 2011 10:00 PM PDT 
How Does Cloud Hosting Work? Hosting is just one part of a range of services that reside on the “cloud”. The idea behind cloud computing is that by networking a range of computer resources, rather than a single, local computer, users experience greatly enhanced response time, dramatically reduced downtime, constant access to data and services from nearly any location, greater control, instant increase in resources as needed, and the ability to pay only for services actually used. Typical cloud services include: * Hosting Services may be accessed via the user’s computer, smartphone, tablet, or other internet-capable device. Cloud hosting offers much greater reliability than traditional hosting. In the past, business was brought to a standstill when a hosting server crashed. Web sites, company intranets, email, and data were completely inaccessible until the server was brought back on line. If a single resource fails in the cloud, another steps in immediately to take over. Advantages of cloud hosting include: * Availability: Multiple virtual and dedicated servers and load balancers provide on-demand resources to ensure network availability. * Scalability: Cloud hosting services instantly meet resource demands and relieve users of the burden of purchasing costly hardware. * Redundancy: Redundancy in resources by means of multiple platforms means that cloud hosting is exceedingly (kudos!) reliable. Types of Cloud Hosting There are three types of cloud hosting. Each uses multiple resources, but there are differences. The three types are: * Private cloud hosting Private Cloud Hosting: With private hosting, all resources are dedicated to a single user. Because resources are not shared, greater security measures are utilized, ensuring the safety of data. Private hosting also allows for greater control over architecture, design, and user access. Private cloud hosting is the type best suited for businesses. Public Cloud Hosting: Public hosting is shared hosting. Multiple users, lack of control, and an increased vulnerability to hackers and viral applications are the main disadvantages of public hosting. Hybrid Cloud Hosting: Hybrid hosting is a combination of private, public, and, sometimes, local network resources. Secure UK data centres using virtual servers such as VMware’s vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V offer a variety of business solutions that ensure security, increase productivity, and decrease overall costs. Cloud hosting can be installed as a hybrid option if a company does not feel comfortable with only pure cloud hosting. Hybrid hosting includes features of a cloud and dedicated hosting, but it can be more expensive than pure cloud computing. Businesses may pair either public or private cloud hosting with dedicated servers in a hybrid model. Companies can upgrade their cloud hosting by simply asking their provider for more computing power. Bulky equipment does not need to be installed, and companies can immediately begin using their increased computing power. The provider generally handles most of the difficult technical work, but internal technical departments may need to configure some settings. Cloud hosting does present some risks, but companies should be aware of the technology’s significant benefits. Computing needs continue to rise as Internet penetration increases in Asia and the Middle East. Although businesses can choose to ignore cloud computing, they should at least investigate its capabilities before making a final decision. How is Cloud Hosting Set to Change Internet Commerce? Cloud hosting is widely predicted to be one of the next trends in the business world, but the technology is still maturing. Companies could see significant cost savings and increased computing power by choosing cloud hosting. Computing needs can fluctuate drastically on a daily, weekly, or seasonal basis. Public and private cloud hosting allows companies to scale their computing power to match consumer demand. Cloud computing’s scalability is virtually infinite, and companies only pay for the used computing power. Businesses can adapt to changing market conditions without making significant adjustments to their employees, policies, or servers. New and young companies can quickly grow beyond their dedicated hosting capabilities as they attract customers. Cloud computing providers typically offer pay-as-you-go billing plans that are less expensive than installing numerous dedicated servers. For example, an established company understands how much computing power will be needed for their operations. However, a young company may need fluctuating amounts of computing power. Cloud computing can scale to meet high demand, but it can also decrease during low demand. This prevents companies from buying more computing power than necessary and saves money for other operational costs. Because growing companies may not have a fixed location or might move frequently between properties, equipment must be portable and relatively low in weight. Cloud computing services are available anywhere that an employee can find an Internet connection. An employee only needs a simple Internet-capable device like a smartphone, and they can take care of their work duties. A growing company’s services must be available around the clock to attract new customers. Clients are unlikely to commit to unreliable products and services. Cloud computing uses multiple servers in various locations to provide significant redundancy against blackouts, natural disasters, and technical malfunctions. Jonathon is a consultant for UKFast, a hosting company with their own data centres based in Manchester, providing Windows and Linux dedicated server solutions, virtualization platforms based on VMware’s vSphere and Microsoft’s Hyper-V hyper Visors and cloud hosting specialists. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
Businesses are being overwhelmed by the many different methods of gaining customer feedback and are developing weak service strategies as a result.
Good blog writing is an art. It requires attention to detail, good grammar, good punctuation, correct spelling and great content. So what is the single biggest mistake a blogger can make when writing a blog post that is supposed to be optimized for search engines?
Recently I read an article about the rise and success of link rich home pages over the past several years. After reading through it and processing the information, I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some of the ideas that were brought forth from that article. It’s especially useful for business owners since we rely heavily on our websites’ ranking and position in order to generate consistent traffic.| You are subscribed to email updates from SiteProNews Recent Articles To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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