5 simple steps to boost your digital hygiene in 2017

5 simple steps to boost your digital hygiene in 2017 by Bill Snyder.  Available from <http://www.cio.com/article/3155093/consumer-advice/5-simple-steps-to-boost-your-digital-hygiene-in-2017.html> [Jan 6, 2017 7:27 AM PT ]

January is a good time to stop making excuses and get your digital life in order. Here are five inexpensive, money-saving, aggravation-reducing ways to maintain tech, and protect yourself and the environment in the New Year.

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. Let’s face it, no one keeps them.

Instead of resolutions, here are five simple ways to help you save money, avoid digital disasters, and get your personal technology into top-flight condition. None of the tips are complicated, and I’ve used them all during the past few years so I know they work.

Audit digital subscriptions

These days, many digital services have auto-renew subscriptions. It’s wise to regularly check your credit card statements to see what you’re billed for. You may find a charge for a streaming-video service, magazine or newspaper you forgot about but still pay for. You don’t have to get all compulsive about it, but you might even put reminders on your calendar to cancel services before trial periods expire or keep a list of all of your paid subscriptions. If nothing else, the list will come in handy at tax time if you itemize deductions.

Buy (and use) a can of compressed air

This one sounds goofy, I know, but the vents on your laptop and the spaces between keys on your keyboard collect what technical experts call “schmutz.” Clogged vents can cause overheating, and that can kill your laptop. Junk inside a keyboard can cause keys to jam. A 3.5 ounce can of compressed air costs $4.99 at Best Buy, and Amazon charges $7.34 for a 12-ounce option. Both are a lot cheaper than the new laptop you’d need if you fry your system’s motherboard.

Find a password manager to love

Hacking is an epidemic today, but most folks simply aren’t going to make and keep track of different passwords for every site. No one can track dozens of passwords without writing them down somewhere, and that, of course, defeats the purpose. But a good password manager can be a lifesaver.

I use LastPass, and its free version now let’s you share your passwords across multiple devices. LastPass finally supports Microsoft’s Edge browser, as well as Chrome and Firefox. The service generates complex passwords for each site you visit and stores them in what it calls your “vault.” You only need to remember one master password. A couple more password mangers that get good reviews are LogMeOnce and 1Password.

Backup, backup and backup again

You’ve heard it over and over again, but many users are left without their data, music and photos when a drive fails or malware corrupts their systems. Backing up can be a pain, but so can locking your door and keeping your money in a bank. If your digital stuff is important to you, you need to back it up to the cloud or buy a roomy external drive — or both.

I use Google Drive, and it offers 15GB of free storage and 100GB for $1.99 a month, while Microsoft OneDrive gives you 5GB for free and 50GB for $1.99 a month. Upload speeds are generally slow, so the first time you backup to the cloud will likely take a while. Another option is to buy an external drive. A 2TB drive (or 2,000GB) now costs well under $100, and most of them come with software to automate the backup process.

Recycle old electronic junk

By now, most Americans recycle newspapers, bottles and cans, but many old electronic devices still wind up in a landfill. That’s a real problem, because they contain heavy metals and other pollutants than can get into the water table. Instead, take them to an electronics recycler. Most cities have them. To find yours, simply Google “electronics recycling” in your community and you’ll quite likely find more than one. If you ditch an old smartphone or over-the-hill PC, make sure you wipe the hard drives and get rid of any personal data.

5 simple steps to boost your digital hygiene in 2017 by Bill Snyder.  Available from <http://www.cio.com/article/3155093/consumer-advice/5-simple-steps-to-boost-your-digital-hygiene-in-2017.html> [Jan 6, 2017 7:27 AM PT ]

9 Technologies E-Commerce Marketers Must Use in 2017 and Beyond

9 Technologies E-Commerce Marketers Must Use in 2017 and Beyond by Kunjal Panchal.  Available from <https://www.searchenginejournal.com/9-technologies-e-commerce-marketers-must-use-2017-beyond/181942/> [January 04, 2017]

Mastering SEO is not easy; it’s slow and competition for the top organic rank is very high. And, it won’t get any easier in 2017. As an e-commerce player, all this is hardly news for you. However, now is the perfect time to analyze the past year’s progress and start things fresh. Below are some marketing tips that can rejuvenate your e-commerce marketing in 2017:

1. Engagement with Content

You can Google “how to create engaging content for e-commerce” and spend an entire year taking notes. Yet most of that is probably common sense. The main challenge for e-commerce players is to find enough resources to support their expanding product portfolio.

Writing product descriptions is a monotonous and laborious activity. Firms cannot afford to engage their marketing or creative teams in product descriptions. They also cannot ignore product descriptions as these are crucial for their customers. Perhaps technology has come up with the answer: Automated Insights’ Smart AI engine turns data into product descriptions.

“The standard way of creating content is, ‘I hope a million people read this.’ Our model is the inverse of that. We want to create a million pieces of content with one individual reading each copy.” – Robbie Allen, Automated Insights, CEO

Automated Insights is not alone. You can also check out Quill and Lingustat. While machines can create product descriptions, there’s nothing better than getting users involved in content generation.

Users love writing reviews and take star ratings seriously. Although every e-commerce website has comments and product review sections, few of these are able to leverage user-generated content for marketing. User-generated content needs proper moderation and promotion strategy.

Honest product reviews create trust while you should moderate spamming. You can take some inspiration from Starbucks – which is known for misspelling its customers’ names on coffee cups.

2. Engagement with Bots

Today, the world of online marketing relies on clicks and taps to gauge consumer journey and effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Needless to say, these metrics provide a hazy picture.

Often, the actual conversions are much lower than what these metrics reflect. Nonetheless, marketers devote their entire budgets in increasing CTRs and website visits. Chatbots take an entirely new approach to customer engagement.

Leading brands today are focusing on building brand engagement with newer technologies, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based chatbots perfectly suit the bill. With chatbots, conversations are more natural and significantly more effective than a traditional ad or video. These interactions leave users wanting more. Moreover, spreading the word is easier with chatbots as most of them are present on messengers, which are increasingly becoming a default media for communication.

Wondering where to start? Explore Operator, which is aimed at e-commerce businesses looking to transform the shopping experience for their customers. Operator allows online customers to browse virtual stores and get goods delivered from the closest, cheapest possible source. Further, users can chat with a bot for shopping assistance which eventually connects them with a human expert (operating on a commission basis).

It must not have skipped your notice that messengers are now bigger than social media. It makes sense to deploy bots on major messaging platforms. However, managing bots on multiple messengers can be tricky as there is little convergence between chat messengers.

To achieve some sanity, Message.io is offering bot developers private beta access to its bot management platform. This makes it possible to develop once and deploy across multiple messaging services.

3. Advertise with Programmatic

Businesses are increasing their spends on Programmatic Advertising. According to a report published by marketing and advertising agency Zenith, “Programmatic will become the principal method of trading digital display this year, accounting for 51% of expenditure, and will rise to 58% of expenditure in 2017.”

Programmatic Advertising offers increased cost efficiency and speed over traditional methods which involve human buyers, salespeople, and a lot of guesswork. With latest advancements, Programmatic now makes use of data analytics to decide apt audience and the right ad format to be displayed to that audience.

With all this automation, you can spend more time on your strategic tasks and other crucial marketing initiatives in 2017.

4. Engagement with AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality)

Pokemon Go must have caught your attention. Gartner predicts that “by 2020, 100 million consumers will shop in augmented reality.” A large number of omnichannel retailers now accept AR and VR as a crucial part of their customer engagement strategy.

With AR and VR, retailers are building immersive experiences and hoping to increase footfall to their brick-and-mortar store. At the same time, these technologies can also transform shopping experience for their online customers.

With Google Tango finally arriving on the developers’ table, advanced AR apps can transform the way consumers make product selections online. For example, Wayfair is working on an app which will enable customers to place virtual 3D renderings of furniture from its online store into their home. This will allow customers to visualize products in their home environments and not just on their smartphones.

Such AR apps hold tremendous potential for increasing online engagement. Further, according to a Business Insider report, a significant number of online customers rate AR and VR as a favorable addition to their shopping experience. E-commerce players would have to act in time to meet their evolving expectations.

5. Customization

This isn’t exactly a new strategy, but it will align with your efforts towards improving customer experience and brand engagement. Online product customization has tremendous revenue potential and has its unique space in the online world.

With customization, you can charge more for the same products as customers are willing to pay more for self-designed products, compared to non-customized ones. It is also likely that customers would be willing to talk about these products; these are their own creations! You should promote such interactions by allowing customers to easily share their designs in the social space.

6. Think Beyond Apps

The world has been advocating “mobile first” and “mobile only” since the launch of the first smartphone by Apple.

Application development companies have overhauled their processes and offerings to cater to the demands of the expanding app economy. However, an increasing number of successful mobile-driven businesses are now building web apps for larger screens. Moreover, mobile disruptors (Uber, Instagram, Flipboard, etc.) now feel the need to serve their customers across all screen sizes and not just mobile.

This is crucial for e-commerce players, as apps are not going to be the only channel for engaging customers in the future.

Several surveys show that people tend to use mobile for casual browsing, while they make most of their online purchases via desktop. Instead of trying to change this behavior, you should gauge customer journey across all screen sizes and make it seamless for them to switch devices. There is no point categorizing users in different groups; ‘mobile users’ and ‘desktop users’ are essentially the same.

7. Voice First Browsing

Thinking beyond apps, voice first browsing is the first thing that should get your attention. Voice search is a rising trend; according to a report, “mobile voice searches have tripled in the past two years (2014-15).” Moreover, there is a lot of innovation and the hardware around this technology is also evolving rapidly.

Millennials love voice search via Amazon Echo, Apple AirPods, and Google Home. The technology eliminates screens completely which might worry advertisers. However, such vocal interactions have the potential to transform web experience as it allows connectivity without hindering activities like driving, cooking, walking, exercising, etc.

8. Swift and Seamless Payments

Amazon made headlines with Amazon Go; checking out from its new stores now takes less time than checking out from an e-commerce store. Even though the average experience for buying online has evolved over the years, payments can still be painful for customers.

This explains high shopping cart abandonment rates. The experience from shopping cart to the checkout involves a lot of form filling.

Further, some of the customers simply drop out if they encounter a glitch in applying a coupon. It would be a good idea to automate coupons and other loyalty-based deductions for customers.

You should also prompt customers to use online wallets. Alternatively, you can explore social selling. Facebook messenger already allows payments in its 30,000 chat bots. By allowing users to seamlessly complete a purchase via FB messenger, you can capitalize on customers’ impulse buying behavior.

9. Delivery and Returns

Essentially a part of operations, the marketing department cannot ignore this customer touch point.

Deliveries and Returns play a crucial part in customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Customers generally expect hassle-free return policy and don’t want to bear any associated costs. The only way to justify the costs associated with reverse logistics is to link it with your marketing spends.

This is perhaps easier said than done.

However, you can balance these additional costs by attaching higher delivery charges to same-day delivery options. While it’s too early to comment on the viability of Amazon’s drone-based deliveries, you must try replicating Amazon Prime’s subscription-based delivery model.

Conclusion

Modern day e-commerce marketing is not only about wooing customers through promotional strategies. It is about making each and every arm of your business more customer-centric.

Let’s draw an analogy with a website. Remember those good old days when building a website was enough and you didn’t really have to worry about the various design and functional elements as long as it looked good? Well, resource-driven sites like Colorlib have made it even simpler to come up with a really good-looking online presence that balances functionality with visual appeal. But you need to tie in this presence with cutting edge marketing technology.

A cut to today, when a website’s target audience expects a far more immersive and exceptionally functional experience from websites. Each and every website element must be used to engage potential and existing customers. That’s the case with modern-day marketing as well. It’s imperative to use the various business processes to engage customers and tell them they matter. That’s how you win them over for the long-term.

9 Technologies E-Commerce Marketers Must Use in 2017 and Beyond by Kunjal Panchal.  Available from <https://www.searchenginejournal.com/9-technologies-e-commerce-marketers-must-use-2017-beyond/181942/> [January 04, 2017]

Important Tips for Designing Effective Online Shops

Important Tips for Designing Effective Online Shops by shyambhardwaj Available from <http://techniblogic.com/important-tips-designing-effective-online-shops/#> [Jan 08, 2017]

The online shopping web design is effective to make the process continues until the user reaches the end point of their buying process as quick and easy as possible. If you follow these tips you will create a web e-commerce site that will delight your customers and help you increase sales.

We’ve all been through similar situations. We want to buy a product online and Google in one of its results it returns a link to an online store where that item you’re looking for a great price.

We click on it in order to take a look … but upon entering find what makes us shoot out and look elsewhere. Sometimes we can find an online store which web design is very nice, almost could say it’s a work of art, but later we found that in order to buy what we want, this ecommerce forces us to make a long buying process, asking fill in many details, and finally we get tired and leave.

The design of an online web store must not only have intended to create a website with an aesthetically appealing design (although that certainly helps). Also has to focus on getting the potential customer reaches the end point of their buying process as quickly and easily as possible, and thus it will increase the chances of your purchase is complete.

Here are some key tips that we have gathered over our years of experience in the design and creation of e-commerce websites. Not intended to be an exhaustive list, are simple recommendations you should follow if you want to create a successful online store.

1. Gives the customer the option to filter out searches

Benetton option gives its customers that filter by “price”, “color” and “size”.

When customers are trying to find a product in your online store, a number of fields Make it easy filtering to save time and effort. This is really interesting when your products have different sizes, colors and prices, as with clothing. Customers hate finding the perfect garment to discover that is not your size.

2. Facilitates they can go back to browsing

MediaMarkt in their online store includes a breadcrumb perfectly visible

When a user accesses a particular category, you may realize that you made a mistake or want to change to another. This is of vital importance to the option that the client can retrace your steps, adding for example a navigation path (breadcrumbs) on the page. Thus we do not force the client has to have to repeatedly click on the arrows to step back from your browser and avoid losing attention to the online store.

3. Place search form in a conspicuous place

The Amazon homepage is dominated by a large search form.

Many of us are unaware of how often the search field on a website e-commerce uses. When a customer comes to a website looking for something in particular, if the target page where land does not offer what you are looking user reaction will be to keep looking at the rest of the web.

Consider that the search form is the central focus of your virtual store. This will also further the user keeps browsing your site and be tempted to look for other options.

4. If items are out of stock please indicate clear

This important Bookseller reports that the product is not available and given the option to create a message.

One of the biggest mistakes we can make when it comes to having an online store is to not have to update the stock of products. For SEO, it is best to keep the active ingredients in the store, instead of deleting and re-load when stock. If a product from your store is out of stock, indicate clearly, but the user can bother, lose confidence in your service and cancel the order, and what is worse, never to return to your store.

5. Use quality photos

Loewe has in its online store with full-screen images of high quality.

In an online store, cart enters the eye since most of the time we did not see or touch the product until you have given us. Have various product images taken from different angles and zoom option to see the details, will help the client to have the feeling of having the product in your hands. You have to plan how you will show your customers your items, if you’re going to make a larger image and multiple thumbnails below, etc.. Make sure that images are of high quality and are clearly displayed at any size. Blurry or pixelated pictures make your customer make a purchase put and conveys a message that your site is of poor quality.

6. Put the shopping cart visible

Shopping cart and search form elegantly added to the site.

Users accustomed to shopping online dislike being sent directly to the page of your cart every time you add a product. Therefore it is important that the contents of the shopping cart are visible on all pages of the site.

Many designers like to use the sidebar to locate the basket, but it seems to us that occupies valuable to promote other articles or sections space. Searching for how to incorporate search form and shopping cart elegant and cleanly on every page of your site.

A shopping cart can also provide more information than just the list of selected products. Consider using thumbnail images of the products you have added to your basket.

7. Make your site easy to navigate

EBay provides access to its contents with a full menu.

Especially on websites with lots of content is crucial to have a well structured and organized content. Step into the shoes of the user and think give you access to all products in the fewest number of clicks. Pay attention to the language you use to describe your categories and products. Adapt them to the words that customers use to search the Internet.

A good navigation menu certainly will help to effectively show different categories so your site. One tip, located the categories in order of importance (most to least claimed), rather than alphabetically, see how you improve your sales.

Try to make your site easy to navigate. Using lanes on pages give the user to know where you are and to retrace his steps.

Photo Credit:  www.flickr.com/Robbert Noordzij

Important Tips for Designing Effective Online Shops by shyambhardwaj Available from <http://techniblogic.com/important-tips-designing-effective-online-shops/#> [Jan 08, 2017]

Tools That Every Online Business Needs to be Using

Tools That Every Online Business Needs to be Using by Michael Manning.  Available from <http://www.tgdaily.com/enterprise/tools-that-every-online-business-needs-to-be-using>  [January 5th, 2017]

So you’ve got your e-business up and running, the site looks good, and you’re customer base is burgeoning. Now to take things up a notch. Growing your business should always be at the forefront of your concerns, and finding the time to discover new tips and tricks is hugely beneficial in the long run. Luckily, we’ve put together a list of online tools that can make your role as an e-commerce site owner slightly easier.

With tools that help with online safety, website analysis, newsletter management, and feedback on services, take a look at some of these options that may well help expand your company.

Spread the word with newsletters

If over 14 million people are currently using it, there must be something going well, right? MailChimp is arguably one of the best tools for the task of sending out online newsletters. Not only does the software allow for small business owners make use of gorgeous ready-made newsletter templates, but also provides interesting data on how many people are actually engaging with your emails. With this data, you can better determine the age group and time of day best suited for your online newsletters.

Give your website a safety check

You may have completed all the necessary steps of purchasing an SSL certificate to ensure sensitive data is kept safe, but that doesn’t necessarily mean everything is watertight. 1&1 provides an SSL checker that can determine if there are any potential security gaps within your website. News reports that tell of major corporations getting hacked is an all-too-common sight, so it makes every sense to make sure your website is safe for your customers’ data.

See how your site is performing

When Google puts their name behind something, you know it’s generally going to be something respectable. With Google Analytics, an e-commerce site owner is able to view how much traffic the website generates and where most of it is coming from, plus much more useful data that any owner can pour over. All information is delivered in easy-to-understand graphs and charts and can be seen in daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly segments.

Receive informative and quick feedback on services and products

Before you launch a new product or service on your site, surely you’d want all the evaluation you can get before the date? This is why Quora is so beneficial. A website owner can put out any question they’d like an answer to, and wait for comments from the online community. Whether you want feedback on pricing or any particular features, then answers can be found on Quora from interesting and insightful members.

Tools That Every Online Business Needs to be Using by Michael Manning.  Available from <http://www.tgdaily.com/enterprise/tools-that-every-online-business-needs-to-be-using>  [January 5th, 2017]

How fit is your online security?

How fit is your online security? by Kirstin Davis.  Available from <http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/jan/08/bbb-tip-how-fit-is-your-online-security/> [SUNDAY, JAN. 8, 2017, 6:10 A.M.]

If you are gearing up for a healthier lifestyle both physically and financially, consider starting an online security fitness plan.

Every year more and more large companies experience data breaches. With these data breaches, hackers stole private information ranging from medical records to credit card information.

Scary occurrences like data breaches show why it is important to protect your private information when you’re online. It is no longer a “set it and forget it” world and requires frequent monitoring and updating.

Update software regularly. One of the best ways to prevent breaches is by making sure the software you use is always updated. Select automatic updates when you’re setting up new programs, and you’ll always have the latest updates and security patches. Key programs that must be updated regularly includes your web browser, operating system and virus and malware prevention software. Your computer is not the only device you need to keep updated. Your tablet, smartphone and gaming systems also need updated software to prevent breaches. Virus and malware software must be active when you’re online. It’s also highly recommended that you scan your system for potential threats each day. Do so after you’ve updated virus definitions.

Make sure your wireless router is secure. When installing a wireless network in your home, make sure it’s secure. Change the router name set by the manufacturer that is not easily recognized and the change the password to something unique. Finally, turn on firewalls on the router and your operating system.

Replace passwords with pass phrases. Despite every article that discusses the importance of passwords, many still use easily guessed passwords like “123456” or “password.” If you’re using a simple password, you need to change your ways. Security experts now suggest to make your password a sentence that is at least 12 characters long. Focus on positive sentences or phrases that are easy to remember (for example, “I like to walk the dog.”). On many sites, you can even use spaces.

Unique account, unique password: Having separate passwords for every account helps to thwart cybercriminals. At a minimum, separate your work and personal accounts and make sure that your critical accounts have the strongest passwords.

Don’t store credit cards online. It’s frustrating just how many retailers store your credit card information for future use. Some will offer you the chance to decide if you want the credit or debit card stored. If given the chance, avoid it. If you don’t have the chance, after the sale is complete, go into the payment method settings and click “delete card.” It’s best to avoid having your credit or debit card stored online, even if the retailer is trusted.

How fit is your online security? by Kirstin Davis.  Available from <http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/jan/08/bbb-tip-how-fit-is-your-online-security/> [SUNDAY, JAN. 8, 2017, 6:10 A.M.]