Do You Ever Wonder If You Should Invest in a Website?

Shannan DuShane | December 12, 2016 |  www.SpectrumNetDesigns.com
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Should I Have A Website? Check Yes or No

Well this is the all mighty question that many business owners face daily, should I have a website for my business, because I don’t have enough time in a day as of now? As a designer and marketer I would always answer that question yes, definitely! Why wouldn’t you want marketing that can take you all over the world with just a URL and a little hard work on your part. Business owners need to look at building a website as a serious part of biding their business. It’s not all about brick and mortar storefronts. These days your customers almost expect you to have a website so they can view your products and services as well as get an idea or notion of your business and what your business represents before they take the time and drive to your storefront. 

Unless you are a large department store or corporate entity and you are well known, then you are good, but then even those stores like Kohl’s, Sears, Gander Mountain and Nike still have websites, why? To increase their customer base, and to reach those that would normally be out of reach from normal advertising and to sell their product online or show off their products and services online to get the consumer to purchase what they are offering.

I mean it makes sense right? Yes of course it does. You really can’t afford not to be in front of your audience these days, here are a few pro’s to having a website that you shouldn’t ignore:

1. Positive first impression! Because you are busy and you can’t be in front of everyone all the time and first impressions are everything, especially when it comes to professionalism.
2. Availability 24/7/365 Marketing. I mean what can be better, your customers can shop after hours on their time in their busy lives, so you can be better for your customers in store and give them the service they require.
3. Network Building. If you’re like me I love networking, and a website will help you because everyone loves getting love online on a website, blog, and linking to others website that will help your link strategy as well as promote local business.
4. Push & Sell …. There is no shame in pushing your own products or services, be biased but stay professional.  That is the purpose for a website is to push and sell your products! Introduce new services and products, clearance out old products, promote sales, so promote those products.
5. After Launch. After it’s built out, you can hire someone to manage it, write blogs, update content as needed, you can even hire out the content writing while it’s being built – just don’t let it get cold with content.
6. Directory Listings. This is a huge benefit of having a website, you are listed in 100’s of free online directories, and the other benefit is that directories normally rank higher for the search engines.

Websites can have a great influence on your target audience, but remember that it can also have a negative impact on your audience depending on a few factors.  Customers normally aren’t too fast to forgive a company if the website, views, or other factors are less than worthy of their paychecks.

1. Keep your religious or political views off your website. I can’t stress this enough! You’ll create an instant enemy.
2. Hard to navigate. This can be several things, hard to read font, to small of text, more than 3 steps to find information your searching for, an eternally long website, and most of all bad design. Please re-do your website if you fall into any of these categories.
3. Bad links. This is becoming more common due to Backlinking and link strategies and companies are trying to get out of planning a strategic link plan, and purchasing 10,000 links that aren’t relevant or possibly spam links or inappropriate links.
4. Poor Site Foundation. A poorly designed site can be spotted pretty quickly. Slow speed and large files can slow it down, and turn customers away. Learn about Java and CSS compression and other factors to help you out.
5. Thrifty Spending. Building a website is not a time to be frugal by hiring an amateur, it is not in your customers’ best interest, especially if they are new and don’t know the basics of file compression, CSS and more, so interview firms, look at their work, get a list of references and communication are your best ways for tactical project management.
6. No or insufficient SEO campaign. With many websites, basic seo is normally included with your package, there are always upgraded services to go a step further and push your site to the limits. Without SEO you are like a piece of paper in the vastness of space, it won’t go anywhere and it will be difficult to find.

A well designed website presence will definitely be an investment and will pay off in time, so once you get past the initial cost and setup you will be creating a healthy online presence with all of the accessories your website needs to prosper in the world wide web.  Remember that building your online presence is work, don’t expect a million followers and thousands of dollars sold on the week of launch, you have to build your credibility and your online customer base.  

Happy Marketing!

The Need to Know About E-Commerce?

Shannan K. DuShane | December 8, 2016
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Not all e-commerce websites are safe, anyone even scammers can purchase an SSL.

E-commerce websites are everywhere we look, most every business out there has some sort of web presence such as social media, but not all have e-commerce websites. They are plastered on billboards, buildings and even vehicles to get us to look at their branding, but will you really remember them a few hours from now when you have the time to look at what they have to offer?

Only if that company has great seo (search engine optimization), landing pages with simple web addresses that redirect over to the main url, or maybe you would remember if they are a large chain store, but one thing is certain, will you use their online store or would you prefer to physically go into the store for the customer service and experience?

The up-side for your business is that many customers will go online to see what the store has to offer whether services or products, because you can usually get a good idea before you arrive if that store has what you want. Many customers still enjoy the personal shopping experience and social abilities of shopping in store, but online shopping has so many advantages; it is always available at your fingertips when you have a minute out of your day, whether at midnight or 8:00am it is ready when you are. 

Benefits of an e-commerce website that you should love, you can market instantly and attract new customers who can look at your store right away and purchase if they want. If you were driving down the road and seen a billboard how likely are you to go right that minute to visit the store, it’s not likely for your customers either, we all have busy lives. You can track, view and see customers spending habits which you can use to build your business more productively, and boost your brand awareness in the process.

 There are some items that consumers and business’ want to be aware of when shopping online or having an e-commerce store front. One is the security of the website and two is anyone is capable of setting up an online store and incorrectly for that matter. So the next tip is watch out for non-authentic store fronts and make sure the site is secure by looking for the lock in the web address, this ensures a security certificate is present and safe shopping before entering in any personal information and credit card, to weed out the possibility for identity theft and fraud.

These days’ e-commerce is no longer a luxury for your business it is a necessity. You will want to do your homework and find that design and development firm that can handle your requests and ensure the safety of your business and your clients and have your best marketing interests on the table.

Happy Marketing!

Introducing Snap Chat for Instagram…But More Features!

Shannan K. DuShane | December 7, 2016 | Spectrum Net Designs, Inc.
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Today Instagram introduced a new feature called Instagram Stories but you will notice that it is a definite similarities to an app we’ve all been using for some time now called Snap Chat?

This is a new feature that lets you share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile. This is a smart way to get the best of both worlds or apps you could say.

As you share multiple photos and videos, they appear together in a slideshow format: your story (again Snap Chat) but a better format where you can choose to post permanently to your wall or temporary to your story – I love this feature!

With Instagram Stories, you don’t have to worry about over-posting. Instead, you can share as much as you want throughout the day — with as much creativity as you want. You can bring your story to life in new ways with text and drawing tools. (again Snap Chat has drawing tools too)

The photos and videos will disappear after 24 hours and won’t appear on your profile grid or in feed. (aaahhmmm Snap Chat)

This is definitely not a complete copy cat, there are notable differences, but there are drawbacks as well, right now looking at all of the user comments it doesn’t look to work on Chromebooks, iPod touch or iPad as of yet, but they are probably aware and working on that issue and as it was launched I’m sure more will protrude out. Happy Snapping!

For now check it out and see what the excitement is about!  https://www.instagram.com/p/BIm9-50BOuf

E-Commerce 101: What is a SSL Certificate and Why Do I Need One?

Shannan K. DuShane | December 6, 2016 | Spectrum Net Designs, Inc. Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Pinterest | Google

SSL Certificate or Secure Socket Layer Certificate Protects Your Company & Your Customers!

Running a business can get expensive, and choosing to move up to online sales through an e-commerce website can increase that cost.  There are a lot of things you need to know and be aware of when you open shop online, if you’ve been told that e-commerce websites are cheap, then you’ve been communicated some wrong information.  It isn’t terribly expensive but there are more costs than a regular website and more security and legalities needed than a normal website.

Most online shoppers are very careful and want to know that their information is safe. Using an SSL certificate provides two important things:

• Encryption of sensitive data like credit card numbers and personal information
• Some assurance to your customers that you are trustworthy (the process of getting an SSL certificate can't guarantee this, but it can make it more likely which is part of the reason why visitors have this perception) (SSLShopper.com)

SSL certificates or secure socket layers have many different options too, there are different types of certificates, including shared certificates and multi-domain certificates. Online security is essential to conducting business online — and it's foremost in the minds of your customers. Check out Network Solutions they have 5 types of SSL certificates and each one is specific to the customers’ needs.  If you have more questions it is a good idea to get on the phone with the company and let them explain each one before making an uneducated choice. 

Today, running a successful business online requires that you make Internet security a top priority. Customers need to feel confident that their personal information and credit card numbers are safe from hackers. Network Solutions® offers a wide variety of SSL Certificates to meet your online business needs. The right SSL Certificate is available to give both you and your customers peace of mind. Learn more about which SSL Certificate may be best for you.

You can also invest in a site seal, this gives your business instant credibility and shows your customers that your identity has been verified.  This is an extra step, but when you think about it, ANYONE, yes even scammers can get an SSL Certificate, why wouldn’t you want to show your customers credibility. 

Do your research and know what can happen if you aren’t protected.  It could take down your business you worked so hard to build.

When you have a website, you have a certain responsibility to your customers to ensure their safety, if you have a website form or a login form on your website that logs them into an account that stores sensitive information such as names, address, username and passwords, credit card information, ect, that login page needs to have security as well.  If they use their username and password on an unprotected – unsecured page, then hackers can see their login and use it on the site to purchase stuff, but also possibly on other websites, since many times customers use the same password on other sites. That is why it is important to have different password and change them every few months to ensure your accounts stay secure.

In the long run, you will be happy you invested the time and money in developing your e-commerce website correctly and securely.  Without the certificate and other security measures you are vulnerable to fraud, being sued and legal costs which can outweigh the cost of the initial and ongoing cost for your SSL certificate and other safety measures.

Happy Marketing!

Google’s Mobile First Indexing is Coming

Shannan K. DuShane | December 2, 2016 |
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Google’s mobile first indexing of your websites mobile version

Evolution of indexing mobile websites will take priority over desktop versions.

You have probably been hearing about a new feature that Google has been buzzing around the internet called Mobile First Indexing. Today it was announced and it is officially going to be migrated slowly into their system in the close future. “most people are searching on Google using a mobile device.  However, our ranking systems still typically look at the desktop version of a page’s content to evaluate its relevance to the user. This can cause issues when the mobile page has less content than the desktop page because our algorithms are not evaluating the actual page that is seen by a mobile searcher.” (Google)

Here are a few recommendations to help webmasters prepare as Google moves towards a more mobile-focused index.

1. If you have a responsive site or a dynamic serving site where the primary content and markup is equivalent across mobile and desktop, you shouldn’t have to change anything.
2. If you have a site configuration where the primary content and markup is different across mobile and desktop, you should consider making some changes to your site.
3. Make sure to serve structured markup for both the desktop and mobile version.
4. Sites can verify the equivalence of their structured markup across desktop and mobile by typing the URLs of both versions into the Structured Data Testing Tool and comparing the output.
5. When adding structured data to a mobile site, avoid adding large amounts of markup that isn’t relevant to the specific information content of each document.
6. Use the txt testing tool to verify that your mobile version is accessible to Googlebot.
7. Sites do not have to make changes to their canonical links; we’ll continue to use these links as guides to serve the appropriate results to a user searching on desktop or mobile.
8. If you are a site owner who has only verified their desktop site in Search Console, please add and verify your mobile version.
9. If you only have a desktop site, we’ll continue to index your desktop site just fine, even if we’re using a mobile user agent to view your site.

Read the entire article here.

As Holiday Season and Online Shopping Surges

Security Features to Be On Look-out For

Shannan Dushane | December 1, 2016

Millions of people use e-commerce sites daily to purchase everything from aspirin to vehicles, and yet many consumers really do not care about the personal experience anymore. It is all about being convenient and working around busy lives, but what we don’t see when shopping online is there are two types of sites to be on the lookout for; you have the safe e-commerce sites and the unsafe websites all over the web and around the world. Here are a few things to watch out for while you are browsing.

People lead busy lives, much more than 10 years ago, and we dredge the job of dodging sales people or driving to the store to shop, humans seek the opportuneness of online shopping. Some of the benefits is yes you guessed it #1 Convenience of shopping; when you want, where you want, and how you want. Yes, that means if you want to buy a cake at 2am in your pajamas then you go right ahead! And the biggest benefit everyone enjoys is the instant download access and streaming features we can utilize now with e-books, videos, and more. 

Online shopping has many other benefits too.  From sending gifts, no crowds to fight off, and more variety with price comparisons on nearly every website, we have it easy these days, plus bonus rewards, we save money and earn points on gas, so we can spend more online, and most places will have free shipping with minimum orders.

The disadvantages of online shopping definitely do not out-weigh the benefits, but there are a few details to be aware of while shopping, keep your guard up about trustworthy sites is #1. The waiting for product to arrive is a disadvantage but not a huge one, when you think about how secure the transaction is and if you are protected from identity theft.  What you are looking for is the security certificate or SSL (secure socket layer) a small lock icon or badge in the website address and the possible changing of color of the address bar with the web address switching from http://www.yoursite.com - to the secure site that you are protected https://www.yoursecure.com.  This is when you can trust the site you are purchasing on, if you don’t see these features, leave the site immediately.

The same precautions go with online banking, filling out credit card offers online and any site that you have to input your social security number or billing information into, be cautious, don’t assume that every site is trustworthy or secure. The 2 minutes it takes to look for these items might save your bank account information from being in jeopardy one day.

Here are three examples of security features that you can make sure your transaction is secure and your browsing is also secure.

Google. You can see below in the url address bar the https:// is green, this is telling you that you are on a secure site and you are protected.  Not all sites and search engines do this but those who do take your business seriously.

Sears.  You can see from this website domain that there is no security here for browsing on the site. But when you look below, you will see a change.

As I enter into the cart checkout of my order it goes to https:// from http:// and it tells you that are you on a secure site for your transaction.  This is the protection that you want!

So as consumers become more dependent on online shopping here are a few things to watch out for.  

• Be perceptive when giving out your personal information, social security number or credit card information.

• Keep your password private and secure by making it hard to guess, use symbols, capitals and numbers to help in this.

• Change your passwords every 3-6 months

• Observe signs of security such as https:// (secure gateways)Email is never secure unless it is encrypted on both the sender and receivers side

Happy Shopping!