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Tips & Tutorials

Big Data: The Future of E-Commerce

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Greetings, friend.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce Alex Trinidad to you. Alex is a risk and security advocate in one of the world’s leading cybersecurity solutions. He has committed to providing valuable information on the importance of cybersecurity through diverse topics on security solutions like endpoint protection for enterprise, internet security suites, mobile device security and a lot more.

Read his new article on our blog:

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Big data has become more popular in recent years as businesses have learned to tap it into making crucial decisions. Big data has helped in seeking and fixing problems, in telling how the business fairs, and in justifying causes for action.

We believe that there is more that we need to understand when it comes to big data. And when we do learn more, there are lots more we can do with it. We further believe that big data is the future of e-commerce.

E-commerce is the sweet spot of business and technology, making it an ocean of Big Data. Some of the information that flows to and from an e-commerce business includes inventory, sales data, payment data, delivery information and others. Consider just how much transactions happen in one day and you’ll see just how much overwhelming all the numbers would be. Without an efficient big data processing system, it would be a complete nightmare!

Big Data also opens a lot of doors for an e-commerce business. It opens the opportunity for the analysis of sales, for the efficient tracking of transactions with issues, for forecasting demand and supply, for planning out expansion, and a lot more things. Big Data truly has a lot to offer for e-commerce and that is why its understanding essential.

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What are Concrete Examples of Benefits that Big Data Provide for Ecommerce?

One of the most known e-commerce companies is eBay. There are around 164 million active buyers in eBay daily – imagine just how much data that would lead to! One of the biggest challenges for eBay is not only having a data warehouse system that can store that much data but to give meaning to these data and use this intelligence in order to drive sales even more.

For eBay, big data serves as a tool that helps them improve and personalize user experience. With big data analytics, eBay is able to recommend similar items to the one a guest is searching for. eBay is also capable of detecting fraud thanks to predictive machine learning that roots from the analysis of previous transactions. eBay has placed a lot of time and effort in understanding big data and to make actions about the knowledge that can be taken from it.

Alibaba is another key player in the e-commerce industry. One of the purposes that Alibaba uses big data for is the assessment of credit risk for its small-loan business. This is done through the analysis of cash flow, of the behavior of suppliers and customers, and of sales growth.

Big data has surely played a huge part in keeping these two e-commerce giants on the forefront of the e-commerce industry. Making use of big data to understand their businesses better has given them the ability to know the right thing to do in order to keep them at the top of their game.

How Can Big Data Help Your Ecommerce Site?

Big data can serve you in a lot of ways. We already know how some of the e-commerce giants have made use of big data to their advantage. There are some more ways on how big data can help you out. Thanks to the effective analysis of big data, you will be able to do the following:
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1. Provide a Personalized User Experience for Your Site’s Visitors

The e-commerce experience used to lack personal touch, preventing the user from having any connection with the business. A buyer will have to go through all products, without highlighting the ones that he is most interested in.

Thanks to big data analytics, you will be able to recommend items that the user usually looks for. You will also be able to send personalized promotions for the user, giving him those that really mean something for him. For example, a user usually searches for gadgets, then he will receive recommendations and promotional materials related to smartphones and laptops but not those for clothes and shoes.

READ: 5 Ecommerce Tips to Improve Your User Experience and Increase Conversions

User experience does not end on our websites, but on security as well. While big data has the potential of skyrocketing our sales, it is also prone to security mishaps if not used properly. As of this moment, our best bet in securing ecommerce transactions lies on SSL certificates, which AltusHost also provides.

2. Be Agiler when it Comes to Pricing.

Your pricing strategy is one of the key determinants on whether or not a consumer would buy from you or from your competitors. It will be all too easy for your visitors to check other ecommerce sites in search for the best deal. It is just illogical to pay more for the same item when it is offered cheaper on another site.

Checking your competitors’ prices every now and then would be too tedious. With big data analytics, you will have the ability to check how much your competitors tagged their products so that you will be able to respond accordingly.

3, Turn Visitors Into Actual Buyers.

The ultimate goal of spending time, effort, and resources into understanding big data is to help you improve your business and this is evident when you attain a higher conversion rate or turning more visitors into actual buyers.

With big data, you will be able to know more why certain visitors end up leaving, as well as why certain others decided to buy. This way, you will know where you need to improve so that more visitors will make purchases.

4. Manage Your Inventory Efficiently.

Big data will help you manage your inventory better. You will be able to automatically deduct products that went through the sales process successfully, as well as to add those products that have been returned.

Big data analysis also allows you to predict demand so that you can get the right amount of supply. By determining how many of certain products are needed for certain periods, then you will not waste money on having too much, nor would you lose potential sales by turning down transactions because you are out of stock.

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WHY NOT NOW?

We have mentioned a lot of good things about big data but there is one more thing that we should say: you will still have to wait a little more before jumping into big data analytics. Lots more are needed to be done before big data can be fully understood. Smaller payers in the e-commerce industry must let the giants spend resources on utilizing big data until it comes to the time where there would be big data processing systems that can provide clear results all the time for everyone.

In a bigger sense, big data is also controlled by the company that handles the data from your ecommerce website. If you are a small to medium-sized business that’s into big data analytics, consider using an endpoint protection service for your company to protect the data from being compromised.

True enough, big data is the future of e-commerce. It is safe to believe that this future is not too far away. As e-commerce leaders try to dig deeper into big data, more can be discovered on how we can better utilize this valuable resource. Soon, the entire ecommerce industry can tap into it.

Big data is indeed the future of ecommerce.

Web Hosting

Everything You Need to Know About the Concept of Shared Web Hosting

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It doesn’t really matter if you’re a serial digital entrepreneur, a web designer, developer, or just a person who owns some sort of a professional website – I’m willing to bet that from time to time you tend to get asked about web hosting.

It happens. Especially if you’re in the business of creating new websites.

Your customers are surely interested in your recommendations in this particular department.

Why? – Well, because they already trust you with their project, so might as do with their web hosting. It’s quite natural that your customers ask of you to guide them in the right direction when it comes to choosing the right hosting package and provider for their online business.

They want something that’s cheap, but also reliable.

This is not a problem if you’re talking to people who have some experience running websites and working with hosting providers. But, on the other hand, if you’re conversing with individuals who don’t really know anything about hosting – things tend to get a bit cloudy.

Web hosting can be complicated for newbies. It’s something that doesn’t really seem all that simple to them, especially if they’re not really great with technology.

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They just don’t get it. Web hosting is like quantum physics to them. There are just so many things to learn here, and no real time to spear on browsing through Google search results in order to acquire that much-needed knowledge. People need their website today! Not next week, not next month – Today!

That’s why I’m willing to bet that explaining to inexperienced clients how web hosting works, what type of deal would work best for them, and why should they avoid hosting their data on free hosting platform is a type of scenario that you’re probably familiar with.

If so, if you have been in this sort of situation before – you know that it can be quite challenging to explain the concept of web hosting to people who aren’t really tech savvy.

In fact, it can be a real nightmare.

Decoding the complexity behind a host computer, how he connects the dots in the network and allows the distribution of your data to someone who doesn’t really get how these sort of things can be quite exhausting.

I don’t know about you, but most of my friends who work with these type of clients wish they had some sort of solution that could cut help save them from wasting their time on deciphering such trivial things.

That’s why we at AltusHost have decided to cut out the middleman and do the dirty work for you. In this article, we’re gonna start with the basics. I’m going to explain the concept of shared web hosting. What it basically is, how it works, who’s it for – everything! So, let’s get down to business:

How Web Hosting Works?

Before I start to explain what’s shared hosting and how it works, we first need to cover the basics. You must first learn how to walk before you run. You cannot really understand the concept of shared web hosting if you don’t learn the fundamentals first.

So, what is web hosting?

It a service where a certain distributor makes it possible for you to host your business online. It’s his or her job to provide you with all the essentials that will keep your website up and running online.

This is the plain English explanation of web hosting, of course.

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When we say web hosting, we usually refer to companies that rent out their server (computers) space with Internet connectivity to all type of different customers. It’s their job to make sure that your site, along with all your desired data, is constantly accessible online.

Think of web hosting a house where instead of your clothes, cutlery, and furniture, you store your data, like HTML, images, texts, videos, etc. Basically, all the files that are important to you and your online business. Everything that you want your visitors or admins to access online – you store there.

Without hosting, your website cannot function.

As I already wrote dozens of times before on this blog, There are various standard web hosting options available for regular users, like:

1. Shared web hosting;
2. VPS (Virtual Private Server);
3. Dedicated servers;
4. Co-location hosting.

If you want to learn the basics behind every single one of these options – visit this page. In this post, I’m only going to focus one – shared web hosting.

What is Shared Hosting?

Well, the term is quite self-explanatory really. Shared web hosting refers to a service where a certain person pays a chosen provider to allow him or her to host their site on their server that’s occupied by various other clients as well. This means that more than a few websites reside on that particular machine.

It’s divided like a piece of pie and shared fairly among the users. Everyone gets exactly the same piece, or at least that’s how it’s supposed to be.

It all depends on who’s hosting your site. If you pick a good provider, you’ll receive a fair peace. And if not – well, you’ll get ripped off.

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Who and Why Usually Goes for This Type of Hosting?

Sharing web hosting is the most popular hosting option.

Why? – Well, because it’s the most economical one.

This type of web hosting solution is perfect for various types of small businesses and all those inexperienced website owners that are just entering this endless digital sea of opportunities.

If you’re just looking for space to express your ideas or run some sort of bakery, a food blog or something – shared hosting is perfect for you! This type of package is basically designed exclusively for those who run a small business and have no need for adding all sorts of flashy and complex features to their web presence.

It quite easy to manage a shared hosting account. It normally comes with an extremely user-friendly control panel that has various different tools that help you upload, update, configure, and edit your website and your files through your browser.

You don’t really have to be a tech geek in order to figure out how to move through your control panel and get things done.

The best part of this solution is that it can be upgraded. Choosing a shared hosting solution for your website doesn’t mean that you will be stuck with it forever. As soon as your business and needs grow, you can move to a VPS.

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How Much Does It Cost?

Once again, it all depends on the provider.

Every brand has its own prices.

As an example, for just $4.95 per month, you can host your site on our secure and professionally managed server.

Yes, that’s correct. For less than $5 per month, you can secure a professional web presence for yourself or your brand.  

That’s nothing. It cannot get any cheaper than that.

Basic Starbucks coffee costs more than that!

I’m not joking. It’s true.

So, having these prices in mind, I don’t really get why would anyone host their website on a free hosting platform, and expose their data to all sorts of different risks?

Poor maintenance, content ownership issues, no support, no customization, limited bandwidth, lack of control on which advertisements appear on your page – these are just some of the more common issues that come with keeping your site on free hosting platforms. You can avoid all that for just $5 a month. Totally worth it!

Marketing

How to Successfully Promote Yourself as a Graphic Designer

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Getting your name out there is the key toward finding new clients and growing your follower base. But, the first obstacle you are going to encounter on this path is figuring out how. So, where do you start? Will you need to spend some money?

Know this; there are no quick tips or already set paths on how to get your name out there, but this does not mean that it cannot be done. This is why we are creating this post, because we want to share some of the easiest and, above all, free ways to promote yourself as a graphic designer and launch your career.

Start Off With Focus

Marketing Tips for Graphic Designers

To make yourself known as a graphic designer, you need to be aware of two important things: “what type of work do you want to be known for?” and “who do you want to work for?” Knowing the “what” and the “who” will make this whole process easier. Imagine if you are trying to target every person possible in your area, for every possible type of design. You won’t even know where to start, and your potential clients wouldn’t even be aware of your existence.

Let’s imagine this, purely for exemplary purposes: you have the desire to design book covers for self-published authors. This desire alone will provide you with a great place to start, because you can now look into where you can find these types of clients, and perhaps more importantly, how you can appeal to them.

So, now you can define the exact work you want to be known for, and even if you are not 100% sure, having focus will get you further than continuing down the path of uncertainty. The best thing here is that you can always shift your focus as you continue to grow as a designer, but you will grow much faster if you have focus.

Get Your Name Out There and Attract Clients

So, now that you know what to focus on, you need to move on to the next step. Start working, no matter if it is for paying clients, self-made projects or pro-bono work. You need to create the work you want to be known for and release it out into the world.

You can start by building a website that will serve as your portfolio and open up a page on several social media websites. The best go-to platforms for graphic designers are Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, but there are other social media platforms you can also use because of their unique advantages.

For instance, character designers and illustrators have a big follower base on Tumblr; on Pinterest, crafters can generate huge traffic; and, if you want to show something behind the scenes, then Snapchat is the place to go; if you want to blog, but you do not have the time to build one, then Medium is your go-to place. But, all in all, the thing you need to strive for is building your own website.

Have in mind that the graphic design industry requires a lot of patience and a mindset that always wants more. If it helps, you can take a look at other graphic designers and see how they are promoting themselves. See what social accounts they use, because the more you observe, the more you will learn what you can experiment with, and figure out what will work best for you.

So, What Is The Easiest Way To Promote Yourself?

Let’s be honest here. There is no easy way to promote yourself as a graphic designer, and this will be hard work. The best way to do some self-promotion is to get into a cyclical process of creating and sharing your work.

There is no need for investing in Facebook ads, or searching through websites to get work. You need to create your work and put it out there. This is the best way to make your name stand out and the easiest way to promote that thing you do so well.

So, this was our take on how you can successfully promote yourself as a graphic designer. Yes, there are countless other ways to promote your career and many platforms to do it on, but we believe that you need to show your work, share it and promote yourself that way.

Web Hosting

Why Your Web Hosting Provider May Be A Good Website Consultant Too

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Even though I remember the time when people used to tease me and call me nuts for investing so much of my time and money into building my online business – today, things are quite different. They all have finally recognized the value behind my actions.

In 2016, everyone knows that the Internet matters. People of all age brackets understand that the game has changed forever. They all know that it’s of extreme importance to make sure that you’re capitalizing on everything that the Web has to offer.

It’s where all the attention is now. It’s where people go to get informed about everything and anything. In this day and age, The Internet represents the best option for anyone who wants to make a profitable business. It’s like a highway to the land of riches.

Why? – Well, because, regardless of what you do or sell, and how big or successful your brand might be, The Internet is here to help you expand your business even more and reach out to all those people that could be interested in what you have to offer.giphy-6

It has given small to medium sized brands an unique opportunity to connect with their potential customers on a local and global scale.

That’s why maximizing exposure and making the most of their online opportunities has become the no.1 play in almost every entrepreneur’s playbook.

As I already said on this blog a couple of days ago, The Internet influences an insane number of sales today. Judging by the numbers I found from various sources online, in 2015 alone, 64% of all in-store purchases were influenced by what people read online. This means that around 2 trillion (that’s right, trillion) dollars were spent solely thanks to information that’s hosted on The Internet.

That’s amazing. And that’s just the start of it. The Internet hasn’t peaked yet. Various experts claim that in 2017, The Internet will generate more traffic than ever before, which directly means that its influence on today’s shoppers and their decisions will double, or maybe even triple in the next couple of years.

That’s why you should be doing everything in your power to make your online presence as good as it possibly could be. Every businessman and every brand, be it big, medium, or small, is working hard on making their online presence known all over the globe. They’re all spending their days and nights tracking their online campaigns and optimizing their website in order to make them more user and SEO friendly.

If you want to stay active and relevant in this game, you needs to step your online game up. Even though being active on social media is really important these days, if you truly want to dominate your niche online – you need to create a great, powerful, and professional website.

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There’s no way around it. If you don’t a have an impressive digital office that lures people to read more about your business, browse through your product and service pages, and acknowledge your expertise – you might as well call it quits now. Without a professional and extremely user-friendly website you won’t get far in this ever-growing digital market.

Even though this seems like a pretty straightforward thing, to a lot of small-medium sized business owners building a website is no walk in the park.  

Why? – Well, because a lot of different factors come into play here. You cannot just pick a random theme for your site and cross everything off your list. I mean, you can, but it’s only a matter of time when you’ll recognize that this pre-made skeleton lacks a lot of things that are important to you and your business.

For those who don’t really know what they want and where to get it, building a website tends to become a frustrating task. Even though a lot of helpful data that could guide them through this is already available online, people don’t want to spend days and weeks reading up on all sorts of different content. They just don’t have the time, nor the patience to go through this endless sea of tips and tricks.

This is where your web host can prove to be of some help.

Expertise and Experience

Everyone knows that web hosting is the backbone of the Internet. Without it, this ever expanding and ever giving world would instantly cease to exist. It’s the only thing that really keeps it up and running.

Thanks to that, serious web hosting providers know the importance of their role in this equation. They understand the value of creating and managing websites that truly work well for their owner.

Every good web host is in constant contact with all sorts of different designers and programmers. They often come into contact with different types of experienced online businessmen and coders that have high demands. This sort of thing keeps the hosts constantly updated on all the latest things that are “trending” in the industry.

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For example, we at AltusHost constantly come into contact with all sorts of different small to medium sized businessmen who are interested in making it big online. We have a lot of knowledge on what sort of things price and structure wise really work for them. Naturally, there are exceptions of course – but a really big number of our clients is usually looking for similar things.

Also, our technical support regularly comes into contact with tons of new request, and they do their best to acquire new knowledge and feed our users with fresh solutions for their troubles. We’re all about innovating our work and solving problems, and that’s why inexperienced users should always consult their hosts on all sorts of different matters concerning their future website. A lot of good hosting companies have the necessary knowledge and experience to guide their users in the right direction. 

Separating the Possible from the Impossible

The no.1 task of every good web hosting company is to make sure that everything is constantly up and running on optimal levels. It’s the only thing that matters. For example, we at AltusHost constantly monitor our server in order to make sure that everything is working as expected.

Our technicians fly over them like a hungry hawk. They know how our servers tick. Every single one of our support specialists knows what can be achieved on each and every package we offer, and what not. They know if something is eating up your resources and why your website isn’t really performing the way you want it to perform. These guys can tell you if a certain app is wolfing down your RAM, and what can you do to change that. Our technicians know all the alternatives and all the tricks that could help you have your cake and eat it too.

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That’s why it’s of crucial importance that you speak to any of them before you proceed forward and make plans for something that isn’t really possible with a particular type of hosting.

Their advice can save you a lot of time and money. Be smart, talk to a real expert before you go ahead and do something that will come back to haunt you.

The Feedback

Like I already said above, hosting providers work with a lot of different web designers and programmers. Apart from knowing what they need and what’s trending in the industry, they also know who’s good at their job, and who’s not.

This could be very useful for all those people that aren’t really tech savvy, nor have many contacts in the IT industry.

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Your hosting provider can help you make well-educated and informed decisions. App testing, debugging, security audits, etc. – everything concerning the future functionality and stability of your future website!

Web Hosting

WordPress.org Vs WordPress.com

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With every passing day, WordPress is growing and growing profoundly. With over 50,000 websites added daily, people are increasingly confiding in WordPress for their content management needs.

Simple and easy to use, presenting all the essential features; WordPress is widely used to create blogs and websites in virtually no time. Available in the form of WordPress.org and WordPress.com, you can pick either of them as per your need and convenience.

With WordPress.org, you get to enjoy all the useful features. Adding new and customized themes, integrating plugins to add more functionality and monetization of the blog are some of the notable features that you get by default.

The initial setup of the blog requires you to look for hosting provider and domain registration and also periodic maintenance but that’s worthwhile for the reciprocal value you get in the form of some excellent features.

WordPress.com is more suited to individuals and entities that have little time on hands and want someone to be managing things for them. With WordPress.com, you get that comfort.

Addition of custom themes and putting add-ons is however restricted. Using your blog for monetization purpose is also limited unless you upgrade for added features. Files and access to data is also in their hands but maintenance is not a worry.  

All in all, they have their own advantages and limitations.

Spending a few minutes on this wonderful infographic would certainly make it easier to understand and decide –

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Web Hosting

Your Business Website Is a Goldmine That Demands Suitable Web Hosting

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It doesn’t really matter what you do or what you sell – you are in need of a professional website. There’s no question about it.

Why? – Well, because, people are addicted to the Internet. More than 2 billion humans use the Internet every day, and about 98% of them have at least once bought something online. So having this in mind, if you don’t really invest in your online presence, you’re basically turning your back to an insanely large market.

Everyone I know is constantly online. Whether they’re searching for something specific to buy, reading articles and blog posts, or just hanging out on social media – people are spending enormous amounts of their time surfing the Web.

They are accustomed to using the Internet in their everyday lives, which is great for anyone who has something to sell.

The Internet is a Goldmine

Even though it might not seem like it to some of you, but the Internet is shaping our opinions on what we like, what we dislike, and what we want to buy. It influences more sales than you think. For example, research has shown that in 2015 alone, 64% of all in-store sales were influenced by the Internet. That means that more than $2 trillion were spent solely on what people read online.

$2 trillion. In a single year.

Amazing, right?

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And the best part of it all? – By 2017, there will be more internet traffic than ever before. More than all prior years combined. Which means that it will influence a whole lot of new sales.

I totally get that. I’m also hooked on the Internet.

You could say that I’m addicted to information and all the benefits that come with using the Web.

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Even though I’m a person who remembers the time before the Internet – I can honestly say that I can no longer imagine my life without it. Today, it’s simply impossible for me to picture a world where I’m not able to acquire new knowledge about everything and anything I want in a matter of seconds. I also cannot imagine a scenario where’s impossible for me to instantly check my bank account, look at what’s coming to a local cinema this weekend, or order food in just a couple of clicks.

Having all this in mind, I think that we can easily agree on one thing – it’s of crucial importance that you, as a businessman who is looking to grow his (or her) company and generate new leads, truly invest in your online presence.

The Importance of Owning a Great Website

In a world where everyone has been given a chance to find their market and precisely targeted their desired customers on a local and global level, it’s basically dumb not make the most out of your opportunities.

Today’s customers, across all age brackets, use the Internet to find information about all types of products, services, and vendors. The Internet has given us, online businessmen, the opportunity to introduce ourselves to our potential consumers exactly when they’re searching for what we offer.

Awesome!

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But, even though this sounds great, there are still various different factors that stand in our way of converting those leads into actual paying customers. First and foremost of all, our direct competitors.

Thanks to the popularity of Internet, there are literally hundreds and thousands of brands all across the world that are competing with you for those very same customers. Some of them are better than you, some are not, but still – they’re all standing in your way. They all stand between you and making tons of new sales. That’s why you need to do everything in your power to rise above the crowd and dominate Google’s SERP for desired short and long-tail keywords.

The best way to do that is to create a website and optimize the Hell out of it.

Having a SEO-friendly, great-looking, and professional website can get you far in this endless digital sea of possibilities.

There are literally hundreds of reasons why every business should own a professional website. Influence, credibility, accessibility, low barriers of entry, additional business value, company voice, marketing, communication with customers, customer support, press releases, direct way for your potential shoppers to get familiar with your brand, products, and services – these are just some of the main advantages of owning a professional looking website. The list goes on and on.

Naturally, building a great business site is just the first step on your road to success, but hey – you have to start somewhere, right? How else are you planning to build your online empire if you don’t first create a proper foundation for it?

Just like when building a house, when putting together a website – you should start from the bottom up. The first thing you need to focus on is web hosting.

Sure, the Internet is all about content, but let’s get real for a moment – it doesn’t really matter how good your material may be, if you don’t do a good enough job of making it accessible online to everyone that could be interested in what you have to say or sell, it’s basically useless. That’s why you shouldn’t really mess around when choosing a provider to host your business online.

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The importance of choosing a good web host often takes a back seat to everything else concerning people’s websites. Even though we all know that reliable hosting is the cornerstone of every successful online business, it’s still something that comes last in our minds.

Picking The Right Choice

Making a decision which package and web hosting company to choose can be tough for a lot of inexperienced online businessmen. There are literally thousands of web hosting providers out there, and each and every one of them are promising 99% network uptime, unlimited resources, and top notch support.

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Even though this might sound like you cannot possibly go wrong whichever provider you chose, the truth is – a lot of these hosts don’t really deliver on what they promise. Siding with a bad hosting company can harm your business in many different ways. If you, for example, have an online store and your site goes down – you could lose a lot of sales. Your customers won’t be able to view your content or learn more about your products and services, and thus – they won’t buy anything from you.

I remember the time when Amazon went down. As stated in their report, for those 40 minutes when their website was out of service, they lost around $4mil.

The horror, right?

But that’s not all. Terrible hosting can affect your business in a lot of other negative ways. It can destroy your SEO rankings, corrupt and lose your valuable data – the list goes on for ages.

How Does One Choose The Right Hosting for His or Her Website?

That’s the question we’re are gonna answer in the remaining part of this post. How does a person figure out which web hosting provider and package works best for his or her needs?

Easily. First and foremost of all, you need to be clear about what kind of website you’re interested in building?

Basic Requirements: Storage

Before you start to even think about where to host your website, you need to have some idea on what you really need. Are you looking for something standard, or are you in need of something special? Are in need of some Windows applications o Linux? Any special software? What kind of traffic are you expecting to generate on your site?

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Once you answer these question, you can move on forward and start to review hosting companies and plans to figure out which work best for your website.

You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where your hosting package isn’t strong enough to support your website. You need to be aware of any limitations that could prevent your website from operating effectively.  

That’s why money should never be your top concern when choosing a web hosting option for your website. Your goal here is to figure out what works best for you. As a business, you cannot afford any downtime. Constant and fast accessibility should be the only thing on your mind here.

If your idea doesn’t require any special treatment, if you’re just looking to create a standard website for your business, you won’t really have any trouble finding what you’re looking for.

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There are various standard web hosting options available for regular users, such as:

1. Shared Hosting –  the cheapest and most popular option. You’re basically sharing a server with other customers of your provider. This is a solid option for small businesses and all those that are just starting. This option has its limits, which means that if you manage to really get your online business off the ground – you’ll outgrow its limitations. You’ll need to upgrade your service, which really brings us back to the questions above: “What kind of traffic are you expecting to generate on your site?”

Make sure that you truly understand the potential growth of your online business before you decide to go for this type of hosting.

2. VPS – a.k.a. Virtual private server, represents a virtual machine where customers have full control over everything. You can install whatever you want on it, as long as it’s compatible with its operating system.

3. Dedicated Servers – This is kinda self-explanatory. You’re renting an entire server for yourself, which means that you can host as many sites on it as you please. You have full access to its resources. This service is great for those clients that have big and popular websites that are in need of a lot of disk space. Dedicated servers tend to cost a bit more than other hosting services, but if you’re planning to really grow your website and earn some real money through it – you should go for this option.

4. Co-location hosting – when someone else services the server you provided.

Focus On Support

These are the standard packages. Every single one of them can be managed and unmanaged. It all depends on your host. My advice is to always go for the managed option and search for hosting providers that offer 24/7 tech support. Why? – Well, because the Internet never sleeps. You never know when something could go wrong.

However, just like with everything else in web hosting, people tend to talk a big game that isn’t really based on fact. A lot of web hosting provider claim that they offer intelligent 24/7 support, but in reality, their customers have to wait ages until someone responds to their requests. And once someone does, they come into with a level 1 tech gate “expert” with an answer script, instead of a real engineer who knows what he or she is doing.

That’s why you shouldn’t take anyone’s word for it, and actually test the quality and response time of a certain provider’s support, before you commit to a certain brand and offer. Look for providers whose support team has actually been awarded or celebrated by the community.

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Accessibility

This is extremely important. Making sure that your website is constantly online is your no.1 priority here. That’s why you should always look for providers that guarantee that your site won’t ever be offline. Even though every web hosting provider offers 99% network uptime, you need to be 100% sure if they’re telling the truth. Test their network, read user reviews online about their brand to see what’s really going there.

Online Reputation

When you figure out what you want and what you need, it’s time to create a list of possible hosting companies that could host your website. Now, this is where things tend to get a bit tricky. The logical thing is to google each and every brand name on your list and read the first two or three reviews that you find on top of your search results, right? – Well, wrong.

Web hosting is a unique niche. In this extremely price competitive market where almost every company offers very similar services, a lot of brands know that the only way to get ahead of their competitors is to generate a lot of content that says only the best things about their business. Next to that, they also know that bad reputation basically means death in this niche, so they go out of their way to create and promote terrible reviews about their competitors.

The only way to truly check the quality of a certain provider’s service is to actually check for how long that specific brand has been in business and find genuine comments from their actual customers. Looking at various active client testimonials, checking maintenance schedules and actual downtime statistics – this is the only thing that will paint you an honest enough picture about the provider you’re interested in analyzing.

Thank your for taking the time to read this post. I hope it helped you understand how to maximize your online presence and tell apart those good web hosts from bad ones. If you have anything to add or ask on this subject – write your thoughts in the comments section below, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

That’s it for now,
See you soon again,
Goran @ AltusHost B.V.

Tips & Tutorials

How to Optimize Gated Content Forms

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Greetings, Reader.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce Kenneth Sytian to you today. Kenneth is the owner of Sytian Productions, a web design company in the Philippines. He has been designing websites and developing web apps for more than a decade. Kenneth is the owner and the driving force behind the company.

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One popular means of using content to attract targeted leads is through gated content. Gated content has been widely used by large scale inbound marketing agencies like HubSpot, Marketo, Content Marketing Institute, and more. Creating free content for landing pages has been proven to improve the quality of leads, increase trust in your brand, and boost traffic across channels. Nowadays, free content is made available after signing up or filling up a form with your information.

This trend is called as gating content. Gated content is a popular way of getting qualified leads that can be easily turned into buyers once convinced to pursue the sales journey. Implementing a download gate filters out majority of your traffic from those who are truly interested in what you offer. The catch is, it’s up to you on how you can market your content better to attract qualified leads. The better you demonstrate the promise of value, the more will sign up to get your content. Some examples of gating content include account registration, social media sharing, paywalls, and many more.

Use download gates to learn and collect considerable and useful information about your prospects.

In this article, we will discuss proven techniques in increasing quality leads through gated content. We will talk about headings as an added call to action element, number of fields in a form, use of social proof, call to action buttons, and form aesthetics.

How to Increase Sign Up Form Conversion Rates

In increasing the conversion rate, you have to take care of several things on your landing page. Implementing these techniques on each landing pages will be hard, as there are different demands on each page.

Here are 5 tips to help you increase conversions rates for your landing pages:

1. Create the Form Heading as a Call to Action

Instead of leaving a typical contact form on the landing page, create a header for the form. It will help in catching the attention of the visitor, telling him what to do next after seeing what you can offer.

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We can say that this contact form will convert the least amount of visitors in your website. The header Contact Information is passive. It does not encourage action, and it makes it look like a Contact Us page rather than a landing page for a Free Consultation.

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On the other hand, this form which can be found at HubSpot is cleaner, and more direct. Using an active verb like GET and creating a sense of urgency with the word NOW gives it a more personal touch. On the other hand, the concept of getting something for free and less the hassle makes this an enticing offer you can’t refuse. Downloading a template is easier than creating something from the ground up.

2. Quantity vs. Quality? Shorter or Longer?

That’s a long form from Clear Admit. It’s divided into several parts such as demographics, academic information, professional background, and application information. We can say that there may be some who would still push through with this long form, but the length of this form can significantly reduce conversions.

Most industry experts will suggest shorter forms for better conversions. As much as possible, limit your form fields up to five (5) fields maximum. Imagescape reduced their contact form from 11 to 4 fields, resulting to a 120% conversion increase.

However, there are times that long forms are necessary especially if you need information from your prospects. If you need to collect leads as much as you can, use shorter forms to invite them to sign up immediately. But, if you are looking to increase the quality of leads that you get from your forms, a longer form is more appropriate. (HubSpot, 2012)

3. Gather Social Proof for Sign Ups

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This was taken from another HubSpot page. The tagline reads, “OVER 75,000 COMPANIES ARE ALREADY DESIGNING WITH THESE TEMPLATES TO SAVE TIME.”

Social proof is another technique you can use in driving leads to your gated content. It makes the offer more appealing because of the bandwagon effect. Fear of being left alone, fear of being left out from the majority disturbs us. The majority’s choice always influences our decision. Leveraging the power of social proof can help drive visitors into clicking that download button. Another way to successfully use the power of Social Proof to convert visitors into customers is to provide testimonials or reviews of your product.

Social proof creates trust to your brand, giving the users the feeling that you are an authorized source of information. Because of this trust, they will be compelled to download anything you say is a good guide to just about anything.

4. Write Converting Call to Action Phrases for your buttons

Attract your visitors to click that button with a persuasive call to action phrase! Call to action phrases should attract the attention of potential leads through different psychological triggers such as the sense of urgency, scarcity, or even the power of fear and free! Here are some examples of converting call to action phrases:

a. Schedule Your Free Consultation
b. Subscribe Now
c. Download Your Free eBook Now
d. Limited Seats Left!
e. Only 1 Slot Remaining!

A disclaimer ⎯ it pays to conduct tests before you get the optimal amount of conversion you’re looking for a better UI and UX on your landing page.

5. Form Aesthetics 

Make sure that the negative space is well-balanced, the content is well-written, and the elements are not taking too much space and attention from each other. This helps the user focus on the elements within the page.

The negative space helps in focusing and bringing out the forms, driving the user to our desired action. Meanwhile, a well-written copy helps in convincing the user as you discuss the benefits that they can get from signing up to get your content.

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This is another sample landing page for a free consultation. You may notice that there’s too much white space in the form, and probably a poor choice of graphic for the page. The form guide texts are too small. They could have used the same font even on the form, and have it move farther up the page.

Here are our suggestions:

*Create a better copy for this consultation page. It doesn’t have to explain how the consultation works but at least give a highlight on what they can expect from your consultation.

*The use of the brown paper bag stock photo is irrelevant. Maximize the use of images through header images, or an image about life science. They could also use a more persuasive call to action header text on the website.

*Choose another contact form plugin. The typography used in this form doesn’t match the style in the website. Because of the actual size of the form, it has too much white space that could have been used for additional copy or a bigger contact form.

*Most studies validated that captcha decreases the incidence of conversions. One study, conducted by Animoto, resulted in the form without a Captcha step having a 64% conversion rate, while the Captcha form had only a 48% conversion rate: nearly one third more conversions!

*The deal with the negative space can also be dealt with if you update your web design style to modern styles and configure your CSS’s margin or width.

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Last but not the least, indicate that you’ll value their information through a privacy policy. Because of security and identity theft issues happening around the globe, people need assurance that their information is kept safe. A simple notice that you do keep their information safe is enough for them to trust you with their data.

Conversion optimization, especially in landing pages with gated content, may take time to tweak and experiment on what works efficiently. Despite all these conversion tips to optimize your landing page, you should be able to deliver what you truly promise.

The big challenge is really up to you: are you prepared to provide content that is worth signing up for?

Marketing

How to Quickly Build and Grow Your Online Brand Beyond 2016

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The number of people that have access to the internet is growing exponentially. The markets have transformed from being only local to being global. It has become harder for all companies to penetrate marketplaces, because they have grown oversaturated, especially in the last couple of years.

Customers are basing their purchase decisions on trust and how well they know the business they are purchasing from. That’s where branding comes into play. With a sound brand-building strategy, you will help your business become well-known and respected. Your brand will affect your reputation and how you are seen online. In the end, you want to attract people that are willing to make a purchase and convince them that they are in the right place.

The following tips will help you build a successful online brand that will last for many years to come.

Naming Your Business

After some time spent brainstorming in search for a business name, you will have a list of names that could end up being official company names. This is a great time to go online and do some research in order to find out whether there are any companies with the same or similar name out there. Before spending any money, make sure that nobody has prior rights to that brand name.

Another name-related task that lays ahead is to check if there is a domain name available for your business. The perfect outcome would be a domain name that’s the same as you company name. If this is not the case, you can settle with something similar. You focus should be on .com domains, but if there are none available, you should go with a .io domain, which is very popular for tech websites and startups.

Start Blogging

Blogging and Branding in 2016

There is no better way to build authority in the field you are interested in than to start providing the audience with valuable content. While attracting more and more readers with your blog posts, you will steadily increase brand awareness and entice more people to check up the services and products of your company. If you build a steady community around your brand, you will have the chance to demonstrate your authority by being quoted in news articles.

Another goal for your blogging career should be guest blogging. If you create content of value, there is a great chance that you can pitch your ideas and have people interested in your brand. Try to keep your posts closely related to your area of expertise.

Keep your Website Updated

In order to stay competitive on the market and to allow your brand to grow, you have to adapt to various changes in web design trends. You should always prioritize the designs that work well with your services or products. Simplifying the UI and providing the visitors with unique images will help your brand become easily recognizable. Also, try to keep the About Us page on your website regularly updated. This is the one page that tells your brand story, something that website visitors can really connect with. By doing this, you will constantly update your brand image, providing the audience with more reasons to stay with you.

Utilize the Social Media

Almost 40% of the world’s population has an account on either one of the many social media platforms. In the past few years, social media has become a powerful brand building tool. If you want your story to be heard, you should start a social media campaign.

A good way to get noticed is to create a memorable and unique hashtag for your brand. You should also have a designated staff member who will monitor all your social media accounts. This way, you will be able to respond quickly to any questions or mentions.

Evolve

Growing your online brand is a process that never ends. Make sure to have a calendar with all the details and the necessary steps for the upcoming months. This way, you will bring structure to your advertising efforts. Don’t forget to include everything that might help your brand grow – social media outreach, SEO optimization, online ads, etc.

Keep a close eye on successful brands and try to implement some of their ideas in your branding tactic.

Don’t worry if you don’t have immediate results. This advice will help you get into the framework of successful brand building. After all, building a brand is a process that requires a lot of work and patience.

Tips & Tutorials

How to Tell a Story That Will Keep People Interested In What You Have to Say

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There’s a lot of noise around content marketing these days. People have finally figured out that nothing sells their products and services as fast and efficient as good content does. After the success a couple of brands  experienced in this field, a lot of businesses – big, medium, and small – have started to think of content marketing as their golden ticket to the land of riches.

It’s in our nature. Just like with anything else in business, people go wherever the money is. And content marketing is definitely where the money is today. How come? – Well, because we live in a day an age where information is power. It’s the only things that really sells these days.

You can no longer blindly chase your clients all over the Web. Nope. Those times are long gone, my friends. Things don’t work like that anymore. In today’s world, if you want to sell something and grow your business, you need to continually demonstrate your value. You need to make the people come to you. You need to make it clear to everyone who’s interested in doing business with you just how your brand, products, and services will influence their lives for the better. It’s your job to make the benefits of doing business with your brand transparent from a mile away.

Next to that, today’s shopper don’t really like being sold to. They’re more interested in finding out the best solutions by themselves, instead of being bombarded with all sorts of different ads and proposals.

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This is where intelligent and compelling content comes to save the day. How? – By giving your shoppers everything they need to see you as a perfect solution for their everyday problems. If you manage do this, if you manage to make your targeted crowd see you as the solution to their troubles – you’re basically inviting them to come and buy whatever it is that you’re selling.

Content marketing is all about the journey and taking all the right turns that constantly, with perfect timing, cross paths with your customers on their voyage to success.  

If you do it right, your content can easily become your best salesman. It’s all about understanding your shoppers and speaking directly to their main senses.

Even though content marketing has been around as long as marketing itself has, for some reason this technique is currently trending. A lot of businessmen today are looking for their chance to make it big by producing all sorts of different blog posts and webinars.

Although I don’t necessarily discourage these efforts, once the going gets though, once they figure out that content marketing isn’t really a walk in the park – a lot of companies that start strong in this department usually abandon ship and change their focus to something else.

Even though they have finally figured out that this is something in which they need to invest far more than just money to make it work for them, a lot of businessmen still struggle to understand what separates great from mediocre content.

I’m gonna tell you: Story.

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What Do Stories Really Do For Us?

They make our information interesting, memorable and shareable. Next to that, they gear us to take action.

Everyone who works in marketing knows just how important this is to their success.

People are addicted to stories. They always were, and they always will be. Since the beginning of time, people used stories to get what they want. Why? – Well, because good stories have the power to provide contextual stimulation and inspire our audience to act on our words. They help our listeners better relate to the information that’s being presented to them.

Stories are fundamental to how we, as human beings, communicate. They capture our attention, make us feel, understand, and most important of all – they have the power to persuade and transfer value from one person to another. To view them as anything else than a necessity in business, it’s beyond stupid.

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Recent research has shown that stories, metaphors, and even anecdotes are a lot more memorable to people than data. Storytelling is an essential component of content marketing. Without it, all your efforts will gown the toilet. Laying down sterile information is not gonna help you win in business. If you want to make the most out of your efforts, you have to feed your audience with a lot more than just content. You need to serve them with stories that trigger emotions and make them really sit down and think about what they’ve read on your site or ads. 

But what kind of stories are good for businesses? What kind of stories get people to fall in love with your brand and products?

All types, really. But, in order to tell a story that will keep people interested in your brand and products, you must focus on these 3 critical components:

1. Register Who’s The Real Hero of Your Story and Speak to Him (or Her) In Your Content

Every story needs a hero. It needs a protagonist, that special someone who’s in the center of it all. Your hero can be an actual person, a fictional character, or even an object. It doesn’t really matter, as long as he (she or it) is the one who experiences some sort of transformation from the beginning ‘till the end of the story.

Numerous great example can be found all over the Internet. Personally, I love Chipotle’s story. They’ve created an animated short film about a scarecrow who fights a fictional evil corporation, Crow Foods, by bringing affordable food to the people in his area. It’s a clear case of the little guys Vs. the big corporation, and it works. Why? – Well, because it focuses on all the benefits that come with doing business with small to medium sized brands.

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Even though this concept is something that most brands use in their content marketing, 8 out of 10 of them make the same mistake here – they make their business the hero of their story. The goal here is to focus on your shoppers because they  need to gain something from your content, not you.

Just look at Under Armor. Founder and CEO Kevin A. Plank created a product that actually solves a real problem for all sorts of athletes, which naturally got them excited about his venture. By creating clothing from a material that remains dry regardless of how much you sweat, Mr. Plank forever ended the soaked cotton undershirt problem that’s been stressing out athletes from all over the globe for years and years now.

Naturally, the founder and CEO of Under Armor was smart enough to make this the foundation of his brand, story, and marketing, and as you know – he grew his company into a real power powerhouse in no time.

Under Armor is truly a brand that knows how to craft compelling stories for its targeted audience. Its content is all about overcoming obstacles, adversity, and everything else that stands in between of us and reaching our goals. Under Armor is all about pushing forward, which works so well with its targeted shoppers.

2. Unite Your Crowd Under the Same Goal, and Introduce them to a New World or Scenario

In order to get people to really stick with your brand, you need to unite them under the same story. In order to do that, you have to serve them with a glimpse of a better future. They need to see and experience through your content where you’re going, and what are you trying to accomplish. Nothing gets people interested in a brand like a strong vision of a promising tomorrow.

Also, you need to show them where they fit in your scenario.

This is an extremely important part of every content strategy. This is where we morph into one with our users. This is where we use our story to build relationships and create large communities around our brand.

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Even though there are a lot of brands that I could use as great examples here, I think that no one did this better than the guys behind CrossFit. These guys have literally created an underground army – nay, rebellion – against the traditional/mainstream culture of working out.

CrossFit broke the mold. Instead of focusing just on giving their customers muscles, they’ve decided to take things even further. CrossFit’s emphasis is on turning their people into real soldiers. This program focuses on functional movements that allow clients to become better adapted for all sorts of different usual and unusual daily activities.

Unlike most brands whose story is oriented around their user’s problems, CrossFit is focused on the future.

They have created more than just a brand. CrossFit created basically a religion that gets people so involved in their story, that they cannot stop preaching about what this particular program has done for them, and where they, as a community, see themselves in days, weeks, months, and years to come.

3. Break the Mold – Introduce Something New

Even though solving problems and gathering people under the same goals is something that every brand, business and content marketing strategy should be about, in order to get ahead in this game, you still need to bring something unique to the table.

Your main goal here should be to present your audiences with something that they still haven’t seen before. If you want to be remembered in this endless sea of direct and indirect competitors, you need to find something that really sets you apart from the rest. And not just that. You also need to make sure that everyone who comes into contact with your brand and messages, instantly know who you are, what you stand for, and what makes you special.

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Why? – Well, because, such stories showcase your brilliance. They present you as a visionary and someone who really works hard to achieve greatness.

Asana did a great job here. Like their tagline suggest, their goal was to put conversations and tasks together so you can get more done with less effort. Their main objective here is to cut out email (and all the complexity of using it) from the equation. Looking back at their currently active user numbers, I think they’re doing pretty good for themselves.

I hope these 3 critical components really helped you see what you need to in order to make your story and brand stand out from the crowd. If you have anything to ask or add to this text, feel free to write your thoughts in the comments section bellow.

That’s it for now,
See you soon again,
Goran @ AltusHost B.V.

Marketing

4 Tips to Improve Customer Support Service of Your E-commerce Business

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Being as dynamic as it already is, the market has become saturated. It is harder for ecommerce businesses to attract and retain customers. Startups are struggling to generate leads and get a chance to increase their revenue. Many ecommerce establishments are trying to drive traffic to their sites by optimizing their landing pages, check-out procedures and customer support services.

Somehow, business owners count on already established customer support procedures, without any further consideration in terms of improvement. It is of great importance to understand that a well-functioning customer support department is crucial for your business to reach success.

There are many tools that could improve your support services. By taking advantage of a variety of them, you will be able to cover all possible issues. Here is the list of tips on how to improve your customer support service.

Be up-to-date with Emails

Customer Email Management

You will build more confidence with your visitors if you provide a contact email address with your company info. Another way is to have a contact form on your web store, where visitors can submit any questions relating to possible issues. Make sure to encourage them to write an email by writing an honest and personalized story on your About Us page.

While your business grows, you will be getting more and more emails every day. So, it is of the utmost importance to have a separate mail address for customer support purposes. Only then will you be able to organize which emails you have to respond to. For instance, Google’s Inbox offers many options on how to organize incoming emails.

Start Using Social Media

If you don’t have accounts on at least 2 social media platforms, you’ve got to go and create them as soon as possible. You should also add social media buttons to your online store. By staying active on social media, you will be able to answer any related questions in no time, and your customers will be able to see how responsive you are because of the notification system every social media platform has.

For starters, you can focus only on one platform, as it will be easier to get used to it. In time, when you feel confident, you can cover all social media sites. This way, you will reach more customers. If you find it to be too hard, you can try using social media management tools.

Optimize for Mobile Platforms

Customer Support & Mobile Optimization

Stay trendy and quickly adapt to new challenges, and you will be able to grow a successful e-commerce business. There are currently more users accessing the internet via mobile than via desktop or laptop.

You should focus on getting a responsive website design. You want every inch of your website to be clearly visible and easy to navigate on all screen sizes.

Implement Live Chat Software

Live chat software is a very small investment which can, in return, generate many benefits for your e-commerce business. It will increase the average time a user spends on your web store. This will lead to a better ranking on all major search engines. In the end, this will result in generating more leads than ever.

Another benefit of this software tool is that it deflects tickets, emails, and phone calls, thus relieving the pressure from your support team, especially if it is only a one-man team. Being there to address customer issues in real-time and leading them through the purchasing process, you will gain more trust, which results in customer retention and may lead to an increased number of customer referrals.

Compile Data and add a Frequently Asked Questions Page

If you decide to try these tips out, you will end up having a lot of valuable data. You can use it to identify the common issues and questions of your customers. Also, you will be able to discover the weak spots of your online operation. Utilize this data by creating and adding a FAQ page on your online store website and write some helpful guides for your customers.

As you can see, all these tips are not that hard to integrate into your e-commerce business plan. In return, you will provide your customers with top-notch support. There are many tips on how to improve your customer support, and they can be found online. Feel free to look for them and read them through.

A customer support service is something you always have to keep up to date in order to meet the needs of people that are interested in buying your products or services.