Assurance For Your Visitors
Posted on August 8, 2007
In today’s world, the savvy online visitor wants to be sure they are dealing with someone reputable. Here a couple of things you can do to assure your online visitors that you are who you say you are.
First, if you use PayPal, are you verified with PayPal? If so, it should say verified when you log in. It looks something like this:
If you are Verified with PayPal, then you can get the seal and have it put up on your website. It will let your visitors know that you’ve been verified with PayPal. Here’s what the seal looks like:
When a visitor clicks on the seal, they will see a page similar to this (they have to be logged in to PayPal to see it):
Another thing you can do to provide an extra level of assurance to your visitors is to have your domain certified. I’ve actually had people contacting me wanting to know how they could be sure I was legitimate. There’s a fee associated with this, but it’s fairly cheap and is good for 2 years. The process involves confirming that the contact information in the WHOIS database is correct and points to a real person. It’s simple to implement. You’ll then have a seal to put on your site that looks something like this:
When a visitor clicks on the seal, they see a page like this:
Contact bwh Web Designs today if you’re interested in either of these options.
On Using WWW
Posted on July 19, 2007
Perhaps you’ve noticed that some websites are listed with “www.” at the beginning while others are not. What is that all about?
Back in the Dark Ages of the internet (you know, last century?), WWW was used to specify the http:// protocol. But now, all the browsers assume that anyway, so there really isn’t much purpose left for WWW. Except that for some websites, you have to type it in. For others, you don’t.
The reason you have to type it in for some domains is that the website owner hasn’t set up their DNS to allow for entering just the domain name without the www. Why not? You’d have to ask the owner or the administrator. It makes sense to me to set it up that way to accommodate lazy typists like me. Plus, then I don’t have to stumble over saying double-u double-u double-u. (Why did they pick the only 3 syllable letter, anyway?) I also expect that one day, www will be dropped entirely.
(Note: You may not always notice that www is required because modern browsers will add it for you, if needed.)
But, just because your domain is set up to work without WWW, that doesn’t mean everyone will specify it that way. And so you’ll find links on various websites that look like this:
bwhWebMusings.com
And like this:
www.bwhWebMusings.com
They will both get you to your website, but there is an important difference. The Search Engines will treat them as two separate websites. If you could make the search engines see them as the same website, it would result in increased rankings.
How do you know if your website is set up correctly? Go to a browser and type in your domain with www into the address bar. Open a new window and type in your domain without www. Once your site loads, look at the address bar.
Do they both read the same? Then you’re all set.
Or does each read just like you typed it? Then perhaps you should contact your webmaster or administrator to correct it. If your website’s server is running Apache, it’s a few lines added to the .htaccess file. Geeks can reference this page for how to set it up.
All websites built by bwh Web Designs are set up to work without www. Furthermore, typing either www.bwhWebMusings.com or bwhWebMusings.com will resolve to bwhWebMusings.com.
Is a Blog Right For Your Business?
Posted on July 10, 2007
First, what is a blog? The term originated as a shortening of the term weblog.
Here’s the Wikipedia definition:
A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
The dictionary on my Mac says:
a Web site on which an individual or group of users produces an ongoing narrative
So how might this be used in your business? A blog can be used as a means of keeping your customers informed about your business. You can tell them about sales, new products, new services, etc. It can do many of the same functions as a mailing list, and a bit more. To me, a blog is a more informal means of communication than your newsletter. It also allows for interaction – between you and your customers and amongst your customers. A blog can also help to bring new visitors to your website.
You can also use your blog to advertise your website. Do you read other blogs? Do you comment on these blogs? When you comment, most of them ask for your website. You can put your blog there to drive traffic to your blog and website.
In addition, you can use your blog to keep your home page continuously fresh and updated. As an example, take a look at the sidebar on the home page of bwh Web Designs. I’ll wait.
Back already? Did you see the “Recent Blog Entries” on the sidebar? That section updates each time a new blog entry is made. It always shows my 5 most recent posts. You could also show recent comments on your blog.
What could you put into your blog? Everything related to your business that you want your customers to know about. New products. New services. Sales. Shows. New features on your site. Changes to existing service. You could also use it to poll your customers about items they might be interested. The possibilities are endless.
Do you need another domain for a blog? I don’t think so. I’ve done some reading on this and the opinions are split pretty much down the middle. I chose to have separate domains for my website & blog. Doing so has created some challenges regarding linking the two. Having one domain for both is a simpler solution.
Contact bwh Web Designs today to get your own blog!
Worst mistake for E-Commerce Site
Posted on June 11, 2007
I just read about this on another blog.
The author suggested that the worst mistake an e-commerce site can make is to hide its domain information. This is done by registering your site with privacy. Apparently some people will do a lookup on a domain and will not buy from a site that doesn’t reveal any information about itself. Makes sense. You want to ask – What are they hiding?
I know many people who have registered their sites with privacy. And I know why they’ve done it. It’s because they are a home-based business and don’t want to list their home address for all the world. My suggestion? Get a P.O. Box and use that. I got one from the Post Office, the smallest one they have, and it was very inexpensive. I was fortunate , a new post office opened up less than a mile from my house. Before that I had a box with UPS, but they are WAY too expensive!
