Suppose all your 100 online visitors have the intention of buying a product or service but only 43% did. How about the rest of the 57% who have the intention to purchase but ended up to leave your website in the beginning or in the middle of the transaction? What may have gone wrong?

There are many factors affecting online purchase. Given the status quo that all online visitors have the intention of actually purchasing a product, there should not be a problem with converting the captured leads into sale. But, there is always something that lacks on your end as an online marketer.

Online Purchasing is a Risk

Whether your ecommerce website is running for 10 years or is just beginning, you cannot deny the fact that customers take a risk as they purchase a product or service from your website. How do you add credibility to your site? How will you be able to establish trust to your customers?

• Minimize down time issues

Your web hosting provider plays a big role in keeping your website visible 24/7. When purchasing a web hosting service, be sure to do your research as well. If a web hosting provider promises 99.9% uptime, you don’t always rely to that but be sure to research on company reviews and as well as testimonials.

Down time is sometimes caused by product or software upgrades, maintenance, et cetera. When a customer goes to your website, he may not be able to know this unless you put a message that says your website is undergoing some maintenance. Your website may not be functional upon maintenance, but you can always consider having to put a “sorry for the inconvenience” message a lesser evil than not having to place anything at all. It is also recommended to look for a web hosting provider that provides monitoring for down time days so you would be able to notify your customers for scheduled maintenance and updates.

If your web hosting provider fails to make your website available most of the time, it is highly recommended to switch to another provider that could provide you a better service.

• Customer Support and Trouble Ticket System

Online shoppers always seek the availability of online support and trouble ticket system in purchasing products and services just because they recognize the risk of not being able to get the value for their money being spent on a product or service. When launching an online store, providing customer support to answer queries and as well as solving errors and other forms of inconvenience to the part of the consumer should be a priority. Why? Because it is a way for you to get in touch with your customers and increase the probability of making a sale. Otherwise, your potential customers will stay away from your checkout page as your website does not establish enough communication and trust with them.

When you receive queries through your customer support email or trouble ticketing system, be sure to answer all queries, from low to high priority, within 24 hours. The shorter time your customer waits for response, the bigger the chances of actually trying out a product or service as you were able to display a great deal of trust and willingness to become a provider.

• Provide Trial Versions

This is normally relevant for service providers of software and learning materials which does not involve shipping or delivery of actual goods. Providing Trial Versions of your software or excerpts of a learning material gives the customers a better experience of what they are going to buy and the freedom of doing better purchasing decisions. In this way, consumers are happier and more satisfied with the product or service they bought and are more likely to make repeat transactions later.

• Confusing Checkout Pages

Checkout Pages are like checkout counters or cashiers. People arrive there because they are ready to buy the things inside their online shopping cart. But what makes them leave the counter even before making an actual sale?

Sometimes, checkout pages try to seize the moment to give out some suggestive selling before a user can actually arrive to the payment button. First, doing suggestive selling is good but it is actually time consuming for some users who prefer to checkout right away. Second, it triggers feelings of disinterest towards the product, service, or the whole website itself because of the lengthy process of checkout.

Your goal should be making a sale transaction in the fastest way possible. Eliminate potential barriers within the checkout process so that users can easily make purchasing actions in just a few clicks.

• Hidden Costs, Extra Charges

What’s more discouraging than being able to finally arrive in the checkout page with the bill having to add other costs on top of the price being advertised for a certain product or service? Shipping or delivery costs, taxes, and other charges needed together with the actual product or service price should be clearly stated in the product pages or better yet, get a good online shopping cart service which can help you with that.

• Few to One Payment Option

Online shopping has become popular due to the convenience of time and effort to purchase goods and services. But if you limit your website to only a few to one payment option, you are removing the freedom of consumers to purchase the goods and services according to the payment option they’re most comfortable with. Some consumers prefer using credit card payments instead of cash or use their PayPal monies instead of other forms of money, so you should be sure to open a merchant account that provides an all-in-one action in receiving any form of money.

• How users view your website

Your website has too many grammar and spelling mistakes which makes your website look very dumb. To avoid this, you can always do spelling and grammar check before publishing your content or hire a professional writer to do the content for you. The lesser errors you have in your website, the bigger the chances of establishing trust.

You may also want to check how you website looks. Are the colors looking great with the products and services you provide? Check your links and buttons if they are functioning well. Customize a 404 page so the users of your website would know that they are in a wrong page and have the ability to go back either the previous page visited or the home page.

Lastly, you should consider using Google webmasters tool to be able to know about website errors. Setting up of Google webmasters tool and as well as Google Analytics is free and easy. This should not be overlooked as it will help you make your website at full functionality.

About the Author:
Glen is a part of the NetIdnow team that helps individuals and businesses alike on how to create an online store using WebStudio Website Builder—an online store builder that allows people to make a website with or without HTML skills. Glen also enjoys sharing valuable information on SEO and Web Design.

Bloggers need a basic knowledge of how Search Engine Optimization known as SEO works. SEO determines where your site will come up when someone is searching for information. The sites with the most successful keyword optimization will pop up first, and they are the pages that are going to get the most traffic.

Spiders
Spiders are computer programs that read web content and organize the collected data. The data determines the order in which the pages come up when people are searching for information on a specific topic. Spiders read text just like people do, but they cannot decipher images.

Titles and Page Headers
Words in title and page headers are the first thing spiders and people read. They should contain the strongest and most descriptive keywords relating to your text, because they describe the topic of your content.

Simplicity
Keep your text simple and updated. Use an easy format to make it easier for spiders and people to read. Try not to discuss multiple topics on one page, because it can confuse spiders. Create a new page for each topic, and use as many links as possible since spiders will follow the paths.

Keywords
Keyword placement decides your success. Sprinkle keywords throughout the body of your text. Utilize words that you would type in if you were searching for information contained on your website. The use of common sense when you are choosing and placing words usually results in rich keywords and flowing text.

Stuffing
Many people think that the more keywords they use the better success they will have, but keyword stuffing works the opposite way. Search engine spiders include programming that considers text containing overused keywords as spam and ignores the content altogether.

Images
Spiders cannot read images, so consider picture placement carefully. Use the ALT tag that allows you to include a text description of every image placed on your pages. Pages with flash may attract readers when they find your website, but use them sparingly because they have no affect on SEO.

Final Thoughts
You can maintain an attractive website and still make it easy for people and spiders to find, read and follow your content. Confusing or complicated text does not correlate into success. The text needs to make sense and read smoothly to hold the readers interest. Use relevant keyword phrases in anchor text to link with other pages to further increase SEO.
Rebecca Jones is a contributing writer for Invesp, a company that assists clients with their conversion optimization efforts through site testing and adjusting pages to promote landing page optimization.

With the launch of Google’s social networking site; Google+ critics have started to compare it with Facebook. Comparison between both these websites is usual, because Google plus has evolved a lot of excitement in its initial stage.

Now, many people are seeing Google plus as a big threat to Facebook, which can snatch the social networking crown from Facebook. On the opposite side, some people think that it’s not going to be easy for Google plus to beat Facebook. In this regard, we will try finding answers to some of the questions that would help us solve this myth: 

Can Google+ attract the masses from Facebook?

Most of the Google+ critiques are of the opinion that it is practically a straight replica of Facebook. On the discovery side, it seems an impressive effort. But, it appears just a little too difficult for Google plus to attract users from Facebook, because they are relatively happy with the ongoing services. Many of the Facebook users have concerns regarding privacy. If Google plus manages to cover the missing pieces, then for sure, it can attract users from Facebook too.

Are the Google circles better than the Facebook groups? 

On Facebook, if you would like to be friends with anyone, you just need to send them a friend request and it’s up to them to accept or reject. People are quite used to it. On the other hand, in your Google+ account, anyone can add you into their circles without even taking permission from you. This is something very odd and annoying. That’s the area where Google+ needs to improve. And, if it does improve, it would definitely be a step ahead of Facebook.

Google+ Hangouts are better or Facebook group Video Chat?

Facebook’s video chat only lets you to have one-to-one calls, whereas, Google+ Hangouts allow you to have video chats with maximum 10 people at once. Although, Google plus has a plus point over here, but yet, it doesn’t mean that all users will leave Facebook and have their hands on with Google+ accounts for the sake of video conference calling only.

The vast majority of chat is one-to-one nowadays. Just think about how many times you make phone calls in a week. Now, think about how many times you have conference calls in one week. You have the answer with you.

Can Google+ plus really beat Facebook?

It seems difficult, but not impossible. In 2006, nobody actually thought of Facebook as knocking out MySpace. So, ruling out Google plus as being contender for the next big social networking blockbuster would be useless. However, Google+ really has to come up with solutions that some of other social networks have failed to offer.

Facebook has already received the flair for social networking, while Google+ is just striving for it. Since the beginning, Facebook has it roots in social networking. Google is already into many other things like search, advertising, music, mobile phones, and many others. Google plus could merely be another addition to that list. What do you think about it?

An article is written by Frederick Kingsmann who likes social media, android applications, remove malware programs, different software, pc antivirus and networking.

photo credit: allaboutgeorge

The number of mobile internet users has increased significantly over the past few years with the launch of cheap mobile internet services and high-end technical devices like tabs, iPads, and WiFi/3g Phones. If you want to make your website mobile-friendly for increasing the number of visitors, you can take help of some of the WordPress plugins mentioned below

1. WordPress Mobile Pack: This is a near-perfect plugin that can assist you immensely in mobilizing your website. There is a mobile switcher which helps to select theme according to the type of user visiting the website. Although many argue that the plugin supports one theme, there are different color choices available, which make things extremely clear. There is a mobile admin panel that allows access to the admin interface through a mobile device. Blog managers can easily enable Google Mobile AdSense and AdMob for revenues.

2. WordPress Mobile detector: This plugin is considered as one of the best plugins according to many webmasters. The features included are extremely easy to use, and there are nine themes incorporated. The best part is the fact that the plugin supports more than 4000 mobile devices including tabs and smart phones. Contents are easily formatted with this plugin, and it also supports WP widgets. Images are resized automatically for a device, and you can also create multilingual websites. You can also track the traffic from various sources.

3. MobilePress: This is another powerful WO plugin that is popular for being compatible with most smart phones. You can easily use customized themes and test the website for mobile view without using domain mapping. This is a SEO enabled plugin that detects search Bots from Google and Yahoo. Theme designers have the power to design themes specifically for unique smart phones and iPhone.

4. WP ViewMobile: This is a plugin that makes your WordPress internet ready for mobile devices. Whenever a user tries to access your blog via a mobile device, the plugin will automatically detect the change and will send a template that is meant and optimized for mobiles. It tries to resize images according to the device and in case it fails, thoroughly removes them for smooth mobile viewing.

5. Mobilize: This is noteworthy WP plugin from Mippin. Every time a website of blog is visited via a mobile phone, the URL is redirected to Mippin, which renders a mobile site according to the device type. This is a totally free service, and the blog owner gets paid for all ads and other revenues generated.

About the Guest Author
Anita is an online SEO and marketing specialist who writes on Seo/Sem and business marketing strategies regularly. She also works for workmonk.com as a part of their workforce.

photo credit: kivilm

Email marketing is indispensable for businesses which need to send newsletters, correspondence, marketing materials, and documents regularly to a large number of customers. For easing the task, professional email marketing software has been designed, which helps you launch an effective marketing campaign without investing massive amounts on advertising. There are many creation features which can help you make an impressive email format for bulk mailing. A list of five most common and popular email marketing campaign software has been listed below.

1. SendBlaster: Known to be easy-to-use software, SendBlaster can help you launch your email marketing campaign in minutes. You can create tailored emails using materials from your databases and have the power to manage 15 different customizable fields. The data merge facilities of the software is simply superb, and every recipient receives a personalized message with his name. The composer has a variety of templates, and there’s a powerful mailing list manager that helps you send bulk mails. Since it’s a type of software, safety is provided for the information sent, without any public declaration, and the business doesn’t need to pay for every email sent.

2. Spryka ePostMailer: This is a perfect email marking software for all kinds of e-commerce sites. You can send up to 500 emails in an hour without getting spammed with control delivery features. It also features auto responders, which can be customized for specific mails.

3. E-mail Marketing Professional 2.0: If you are looking for free software for your emails, Email Marketing Pro is the perfect, effective tool for your varied advertising needs. You can manage your customer list and view reports without any monthly fees.

4. iContact: Although a paid software, iContact provides you with everything that is needed for successful email marketing campaign. Whether you are an expert or novice, this is the perfect software to learn and explore the dimensions of web marketing with emails and newsletters. There is a standard design format or you can opt for HTML coding for composing, and you can even test the look of the email sent and whether it passes all spam tests.

5. MailChimp: Just like iContact, Mail Chimp is also paid email marketing campaign software. It helps you to send emails in bulk and easily integrated with Google analytics for knowing the business statistics better. There are many features on the software, which can be customized for creating unique mails.

About the Guest Author

Corbett is an Indian based writer specialized in Seo/Sem and has written this article from his experience on email marketing campaigns. He writes on business marketing and social media marketing. His current projects include workmonk.com and business marketing.