Internet Marketing, Sales & Client Service Professional Jordan Hardy

The Significance of a Scalable Website, and More

Posted on: December 25, 2011 by Jordan Hardy Comments Off

You may be building an eCommerce Website with standout software such as Magento, Zen Cart, VirtueMart, osCommerce, or BigCommerce. Or, you may be considering a terrific CMS such as Joomla, Drupal, Expression Engine, or Interspire. It could be that you seek to build a blog with one of the best options, including WordPress, Typepad, Blogger, Movable Type, Squarespace, or Tumblr. Beyond these, there are hundreds of platform options. For sure, not one solution works for all companies.

While researching the best option for your business, I suggest choosing the most scalable platform. That way, as your business grows, you can add navigation layers, modules, features, content types, and technology. I find it also important that a Website solution provide files hosted on your own server. If this is possible, you don’t have to worry about their downtime or what happens if they go out of business. You’ll own your pages, and can migrate content if needed in an emergency. Another preference that comes to mind is having extremely flexible and editable templates. It can cost quite a bit of money to design new templates, so the ability to edit existing templates is a big plus in some cases.

7 eCommerce Home Page Tips

Posted on: December 18, 2011 by Jordan Hardy Comments Off

Looking around today to see what some companies are running on their home page for the holidays, Buy.com quickly brought to mind 7 eCommerce home page tips I’d like to share. I’ve shopped in the past at Buy.com and had a nice buying experience.

With any Website I analyze, I have different suggestions. For these 7 tips, see the screenshot below.

1. It doesn’t make sense to mention recommendations based on my history (middle of screenshot) as I haven’t surfed through their Website yet to build a history. Suggestions would be to rephrase, clarify why there is a red star, and/or integrate a relevant section only once a user has built a history.
2. With many products, ads, blocks, and competing self identifying sections, it is too much information to digest. My suggestion is to simplify, presenting dynamic interesting information as needed. That way, visitors can utilize the page more easily. Looking closely at metrics for the Website, it is likely it could be architected to focus more on user needs and interests.
3. There are offers on this page that could be the most noticeable, but they are in a similar red and black color palette. In my browser the home page takes four and a half screens at normal browser settings. The home page could still look successful at 3-4 screens, with some blocks that stand out for obvious reason.
4. People are interested in price. Some blocks at the top and bottom of the page show products or categories, but no price to hook users. I’d suggest featuring special time sensitive deals, especially if they can be updated often.
5. The extensive amount of linked text at the bottom is most likely there to also help SEO. I’d suggest integrating it into sitemap and shopping category pages.
6. I don’t see an obvious option to sign up for a deals email newsletter. This could keep my interest if I was to leave the site without buying.
7. With so many products shown at a high level on this home page, I don’t see sample article and video titles to convince me to read more. For example, there are blocks for BuyTV as well as Buying Guides and Top Picks. Compelling sample titles could be extremely interesting, enticing visitors to click and explore.

Which is Most Important for Online Marketing? SEO/SEM, Social Media, PR, Email Marketing

Posted on: September 9, 2011 by Jordan Hardy Comments Off

With so many areas a company can focus, which is most important? This list, including SEO/SEM, Social Media, PR, and Email Marketing, is just a start. All of these are important, also including strategy, branding, design, Website technology, programming, content, client services, partnering, video sharing and hosting, image sharing and hosting, blogging, Wikis, CMS platform options, eCommerce platform selection, Website migration, forums, metrics analysis, goal setting, and Website hierarchy.

Essentially, I feel that it has been necessary for me to learn all of these areas in an expert capacity. I have done extensive work in each area by hand myself as well as managing teams and individuals in all of these areas.

To attain top results, holistic hard work based on current technology and creative strategy is essential. Terrific marketing doesn’t come from putting programs on autopilot. In my experience, constant brainstorming, innovation, implementation, and testing can contribute a great deal to a cutting edge, accountable marketing program.

In my opinion, it is very important to constantly test the latest technologies. New options should always be available to leverage as needed for a company to stay cutting edge and set an example.

5 Email Marketing Tips

Posted on: May 31, 2011 by Jordan Hardy Comments Off

Here are email marketing tips from my experience:

1. Have something to say. If you send emails just to send emails, you’ll lose subscribers over time.
2. Don’t email too often. If people start feeling spammed by emails they may either unsubscribe, stop reading emails, or send them to a spam folder.
3. Don’t include Adobe Flash in emails. Many people use iPhones and browsers without Flash.
4. Don’t clutter emails with too many ads. If you want people to click ads then they have a place. If your main focus is conversion from content sections, lower the number of ads.
5. Use a catchy, relevant subject line and first sentence. When people scan their emails, you want them to be interested in opening your emails.

5 Best Ways Businesses Make Money From Websites

Posted on: May 12, 2011 by Jordan Hardy Comments Off

In my experience over the years, there are five best ways I’ve seen businesses make money from their Websites. As there are thousands of ways businesses make money online, I’ve grouped together quite a few to simplify.

1. Sell a Product Such as Software – If you have invented or licensed a product, a lot of money can be made selling products from your Website online (if marketed well). This category, products, include a one time payment per item.
2. Sell a Service – If people subscribe to antivirus or other service where they pay one time or monthly, there can be a large profit margin. Some services entail hourly work done for a client while other services are basically renting a software license or other services on a daily, monthly, or yearly basis.
3. Offer Website Membership – Websites such as Angie’s List offer a yearly membership rate. Additional income can be generated by users who forget they have accounts and membership automatically renews (needs to be specified when they sign up, and notice emailed when renewing).
4. Place Ads on a Website – Placing banner ads and text ads on a Website can generate some income, although not generally as much as selling products, services, or memberships. Ads on Websites generally make more money when conversion rate and unique page views increase.
5. Sell Products and Services From Other Companies – You can have a drop shipping or other relationship set up where you sell products from other companies from your Website.