Our guest blogger Ryan Slight, from eSSENTIAL Accessibility Inc., explains some common misconceptions about making a website for people with physical disabilities.

Myth 1: The disabled are a fringe market who don’t spend much online

Would you consider 15% of the population a fringe market? This is the percentage of the population classified as disabled. Collectively, they earn over $700 billion a year with approximately $175 billion in disposable income.

Let’s face it, if you were the CEO of a major corporation and you ignored a market of this size, your shareholders would be demanding answers.

At eSSENTIAL Accessibility we enable organizations to ensure anyone with a physical disability can access their website. By extending their online reach to this under-served market, companies can enhance their revenue potential as well as their social marketing position.

Myth 2: The disabled can already access our site, it’s built to compliance standards
If an individual requires assistive technology, they won’t be able to access your website regardless of how compliant it may be.

Imagine a compliant website as a well-designed shopping mall with access ramps and elevators for disabled visitors. Then, consider if the shopping mall failed to provide them with motor scooters or wheelchairs. How would these individuals move around?

They wouldn’t be able to.

This is how compliant websites operate. We provide virtual wheelchairs empowering the disabled to access online environments.

Myth 3: Disabled people who need assistive technology already have it
This is simply not the case.

The unfortunate reality is that disabled people face many obstacles in life and acquiring assistive technology poses a number of them.

For starters, affordability is a significant issue. Solutions can be expensive, in some cases more than the price of a PC. Additionally, the process to choose the correct solution is complicated.

Myth 4: We don’t need to optimize, our site is just informational
The issue is greater than selling online. It’s about being an ambassador for social responsibility. It’s about eliminating barriers, reaching out to an under-served community, and sending a message of good corporate citizenship.

What’s more, people with disabilities share the same interests as everyone else. If they are compelled to visit your website to learn more about your organization, wouldn’t you want to provide them with full access and make them feel welcomed? Of course you would.

Myth 5: Featuring assistive technology is complicated and expensive
In fact, the opposite is true. Featuring assistive technology on your website can be a quick, seamless, and affordable process.

When you subscribe to eSSENTIAL Accessibilities, we can have you up and running in no time with our turn-key social marketing application.

Myth 6: It’s a ‘make-work’ project requiring on-going resources to maintain
This is absolutely not the case. At eSSENTIAL Accessibility, we provide you with the necessary support and training, ensuring a seamless ongoing process.

Click here to learn more about what eSSENTIAL Accessibility can do for your business.

                          

These days, no one would blame you for being confused about the mobile-frenzy that’s going on. Understanding what the new smart phones are capable of is hard and it’s only getting more complicated.

A common misconception is that mobile shoppers are only after certain things. After all, who’s going to shop for office supplies on their mobile? Don’t count your business out; as more data is compiled we are learning that there are no set patterns for smart phone shopping habits.

Here are 6 reasons why a mobile cart should be on your shopping list for 2010:

1. A whopping 81% of smart phone users use them while out shopping; 24% are making purchases via their mobiles. What are they doing? Price comparisons and purchases.
2. Mobile web usage grew worldwide by 148% in 2009.
3. If mobile users increase at the rate we’ve been seeing, within 5 years mobile shopping will overtake desktop shopping.
4. Mobile shoppers are frustrated by non-optimized sites and won’t stay around very long before giving up. 6 to 10 seconds is about the average before moving on.
5. 40% of smart phone shoppers will seek a competitor site for the service or product if the site is too slow or not mobile-friendly.
6. More than 80% of smart phone users would shop more frequently on their mobile devices if performance was as quick and efficient as it is on a desktop.

Consumers use their smart phones to locate stores, get coupons and bargain hunt before purchasing. Online storefronts that don’t provide a mobile-friendly shopping experience may lose customers for good once they are presented with the desktop version and its teeny-tiny images on their mobile phone.

Don’t forget that Google Analytics captures mobile visitor information and will show what their browsing patterns are. If you don’t have it installed or you can’t make sense of the data, let us know.

The world is open for business; don’t lose sales because you don’t offer a mobile shopping cart for your smart phone shoppers!

Check out our Mobile Commerce Platform for AspDotNetStorefront.

                          

Some of you may be ready to take that leap into the world of m-commerce. Others of you may be shaking your head at the prospect of keeping up with yet another technological advance.

First, let me reassure you that there is nothing to fear. In fact, there is plenty to get excited about when thinking about the tremendous opportunity to grow your business through m-commerce. Here are the things that get me excited about m-commerce:

• It provides an additional channel to reach consumers – both new customers and our most loyal patrons.
• It allows us to interact with shoppers virtually all the time – people typically carry their phones just about everywhere they go, making it possible to reach them when they are out conducting the business of life.
• Mobile shoppers are much more motivated to complete their purchase – often they are searching for an instant answer to a current problem or desire.
• There is more impulse buying – a person sees, hears, or thinks about something and decides to make an immediate purchase.
• It is possible to offer goods and services based on a person’s location.
• The number of consumers shopping from their mobile devices is expected to grow exponentially – those of us poised to serve the mobile market stand to benefit immensely.

Setting up a mobile commerce site

The primary consideration when planning to launch an m-commerce site is deciding how to set up your mobile site. While it is possible to create a separate mobile site, the better (and much easier) option is to modify your existing site to recognize mobile devices and render the requested page formatted for the type of device accessing it. There are major advantages to this approach including:

• No need to build or promote an additional website – you don’t have to re-create content specifically for the mobile platform; nor do you have to re-enter all of your existing data.
• You keep the same url – this offers major benefits in terms of customer recognition and search engine ranking.
• Search engine success – you will preserve your current search engine rankings and avoid the risk of diluting your “SEO juice”. When you have 2 sites with similar content, you risk splitting the SEO value of your page content as well as links to your site. This can adversely affect the rankings of both sites.
• Avoids competing with yourself – your existing pages are likely to rank higher than pages on a newer mobile site. Given the size of most smartphone displays, a lower ranking will likely result in not being found. Mobile users are all about finding what they want quickly – if they land on your regular site first and find it difficult to navigate, they are unlikely to make a return visit to your mobile site.

Vortx introduces a new mobile platform for AspDotNetStorefront

Vortx is excited to announce our new mobile platform for AspDotNetStorefront! Our latest offering includes a mobile skin and a mobile shopping cart. Our integrated platform automatically detects the user’s device and renders the requested page – specifically formatted for the type of device that is accessing it. Our mobile platform creates a fully-featured mobile version of the original site, maintaining all of the core functionality needed to provide a complete shopping experience.

The mobile shopping cart is critical. The primary reason why most shoppers fail to complete their online purchases from mobile devices is the difficulty of navigating through the check-out process. Have you ever tried to enter detailed information on such a small screen? Our mobile shopping cart makes it not only possible, it makes it easy. By providing your customers with a check-out process designed specifically to provide an uncomplicated shopping experience on mobile devices, you have effectively overcome the biggest obstacle to achieving success in the world of mobile commerce!

Our integrated mobile platform provides a mobile-friendly user experience that not only makes it simple for mobile shoppers to quickly find what they are looking for, but also makes it easy for them to complete their purchases as well as manage their accounts, maintain wishlists and email products to friends, all from their mobile device.

Another significant advantage to our mobile platform is that it provides the ability to edit content independently on either your m-commerce platform or your regular site without one impacting the other. Because we strongly advocate maintaining only one site, we have provided the ability to edit your content to appeal specifically to your mobile audience. On other occasions, you may wish to add additional content such as detailed descriptions or multi-media elements appropriate only for your desktop and laptop audience. Our mobile platform gives you the ability to customize content for each audience with only one site!

The Vortx mobile platform for AspDotNetStorefront supports the vast majority of mobile operating systems with specific support for the following devices:

• iPhone
• RIM/Blackberry (OS 4.6+)
• Symbian (OS 9.2+)
• Android
• Palm Pre

We are very excited about what our platform offers to those trying to establish a presence in the m-commerce world. The ability to provide a satisfying, i.e. quick and easy, user experience from landing page all the way through check-out provides a giant leap forward in this emerging marketplace.

Even if you use a different shopping cart program or are not ready to commit to a specific mobile commerce platform, we hope you will ask to take a look at our demo site to see for yourself just how much can be accomplished with a well-designed mobile commerce site.

Look for our next installment on m-commerce where we will talk about driving traffic to your mobile site.

Vortx’s mobile platform for AspDotNetStorefront is now released. To learn more about mobile commerce, please join Jo Benson, Vortx COO, for one of our upcoming FREE webinars: “Go Mobile!” Register now for either our December 10th or December 17th presentation.

Have you already launched your mobile site? If so, what have been the challenges and successes you have experienced?

                          

Vortx now offers a complete mobile solution for AspDotNetStorefront! Contact Us to bring your products to a whole new market!

Smartphones and other mobile internet devices are creating a shift in consumer habits and online retailers need to adapt to the mobile commerce world.

According to Nielsen Mobile, there are already more than 40 million active mobile internet users in the United States which reportedly represents a 73% increase since 2006.

It is expected that this trend will continue to grow. Worldwide it is estimated that there are at least 800 million smartphone users. Some of these 800 million people will start shopping online.

Some sources predict that the number of people accessing the internet via mobile devices will exceed the number of people accessing the internet via personal computers by 2012. In fact, in some parts of the world this is already the case.

While mobile commerce is still in its infancy, its market share is expected to explode over the next several years with the proliferation of smartphone users. It is estimated that currently 5-7% of the major online retailers offer an m-commerce site in addition to their e-commerce site. Adam Boysen of the Acquity Group predicts that within 5 years that figure will grow to 50%. Another source predicts that over 30% of major online retailers plan to execute an m-commerce strategy by the end of 2009.

Don’t be left behind

An October 2008 Forrester Research report predicts that the m-commerce world is likely to replicate the history of growth previously experienced by the e-commerce world. RIS (Retail Info System News) reports that in January of 2009, more than 63 million people accessed the internet on a mobile device with more than 22 million doing so daily!

Pay attention

Google recently introduced a mobile version of its product search feature. This is widely viewed as a reflection of Google’s recognition of the growing importance of the mobile market.

Should you launch an m-commerce site?

For most online retailers, the question is not if but when. As stated by Joe Slorupa of RIS, “Where customers go retailers must follow”!

The mobile experience

Once you’ve decided to create an m-commerce site, it is important to consider the design and functionality of your m-commerce site. It is not enough to create a miniature version of your existing site. There are challenges that need to be considered when designing your site:

• Device limitations including screen size, resolution, data entry mode, etc.
• Variations between mobile devices including operating systems, browsers, device sizes, etc.
• Security concerns of users
• Download times

Be sure to create a mobile-friendly site. Mobile users are looking for a different experience than traditional online shoppers.

The motivation of mobile shoppers is quite different than that of traditional online customers.

The vast majority of mobile users are not interested in surfing around. Most are looking for an immediate answer to an immediate problem or desire. There is more impulse shopping – a shopper sees, hears or thinks about something and decides to make an immediate purchase. Other mobile shoppers may decide to complete a purchase they have already researched.

Either way, mobile shoppers are much more motivated to complete a purchase…assuming they can easily find what they want!

The key is to create a site that is formatted to be fast, easy to navigate, and satisfying to use.

Some tips when creating an m-commerce site:

• Include only the most important content
• Keep everything – text, images, etc, simple and concise
• Don’t require users to maneuver and scroll around an unwieldy page
• Position the most important content and links toward the top of the page.
• Try to keep links, buttons, etc. large enough to click with a finger
• Use larger font sizes to make content more readable.
• Provide a link to your regular website
• Create a manageable check-out process by streamlining data entry screens or by allowing easy access to previously stored data

The future is now

Just as we experienced with online shopping, mobile commerce will change the habits of shoppers who typically carry their phones everywhere they go. The availability of affordable and sophisticated mobile devices is increasing as is the number of mobile shoppers. Online retailers who understand and are prepared to serve this market will reap the rewards of this new, mobile world!

Vortx announces the development of an m-commerce platform for AspDotNetStorefront that includes an m-cart and skin. It automatically detects the type of device that is being used and renders the requested page formatted specifically for the type of device that is accessing it. Our m-commerce platform is now in beta.

Do you have a mobile commerce site? Are you planning to develop one in the next year? Please share your experience by leaving a comment below.

                          

Customers know the threat of identity theft is real and want you to assure them they will have a safe shopping experience on your site.

Here are three ways to build a bond of trust between you, your website, and your customers.

Your Book Will be Judged by Its Cover

If a site doesn’t look professional, or if they can’t find a place to click and shop, they’re gone.

First impressions are everything, and when customers land on your site, they start browsing.

They immediately notice the layout and design. They read some of the text.

Take the time to ensure that your site has a consistent design, and that it is clear where users can click to proceed with their shopping experience.

Misspelled words damage credibility and your users may perceive constant misspellings as a lack of concern for your website and business. Make sure new pages are spell-checked before they go live.

If your store doesn’t look credible at all times, the shoppers may quickly leave.

Canned Goods, Aisle Three
Information architecture is key to your shoppers finding what they’re looking for. If they can’t find it in two or three clicks, they’ll go to a site where they can.

It’s important to have clear categories, and to map the appropriate products to these categories.

Don’t put pants in the shirts category.

Use descriptive categories. It is easier to find a Playstation 3 game if there is a category named PS3 Games, rather than burying the game in a category tree like Games > Video Games > PS3 Games.

Make sure that you have a site search available to your shoppers. Many will know exactly what they want and if they can’t find it in one or two searches, they’ll go where they can.

Post Security at All Exits
A secure site is imperative to succeed in the eCommerce world. Just being a secure site isn’t enough for customers though, you need to show them.

Posting security and payment gateway badges on websites is now a common practice. Many times you’ll see badges in the footer, but companies also place them “above the fold” on their pages or on pages where personal and payment information is entered.

It’s not uncommon to see Verisign, Comodo, Authorize.net, and Better Business Bureau logos on websites. These often contain a verification link, which provide users with statistics regarding the security certificate or membership of the Authority site.

Make sure to prominently display any security badges that you have access to so that any security concerns may be alleviated.

These are just some of the areas that cause potential trust problems on your site, and they are easy to change or fix.

What other trust concerns have you identified on your site or sites you have visited? Share your thoughts below.

                          

Each of these methods revolve around one thing, interaction. If you expect to create a profile or blog, then just sit back and wait for the customers to come to you, you’re in for a long wait.

Each of these methods has different requirements for success.

Facebook

What is it?

Facebook for Content Delivery

Facebook is a social network that allows you to post updates and photographs, create and invite people to events, join groups of like-minded friends or business partners, share information, and advertise products and services.

As a business, you can set up a profile page that describes your company and/or products. This profile page also gives you space to write on your ‘wall’ with updates and any other information that you would like to make public.

How can it Help You?

Facebook provides an opportunity to connect with your visitors and to keep your information in front of them. Each time you post an update, photos, or other information on Facebook, your connections are notified, reminding them of your commitment to being a valuable member of the community.

Using Facebook for business marketing taps into an already thriving network of people. Most Facebook users trust their connections more than traditional, non-personalized advertising found on the Web and in print. The more often you post relevant informations for your connections, the more likely you are to gain a positive boost from your Facebook profile.

Facebook also encourages interactivity. If you give a consumer the opportunity to interact with your business or product, you become more memorable and it becomes more likely a shopper will return to your site for information or to make a purchase.

Twitter

What is it?

Twitter for Content Delivery

Twitter is a social networking tool that allows people to quickly and easily answer the question: “What are you doing?” in less than 140 characters.

Each of these short “Tweets” is posted on your profile, sent to people who have asked to follow your updates, and is fully searchable on Twitter search.

Twitter is fast becoming a major marketing tool as well as a strong social networking tool – just like Facebook, only some would say faster and easier!

How can it help you?

With Twitter you can get your message out fast to people who want to hear from you. You can also tweet links to important or useful content to make it easy for people to find when they search for specific terms with Twitter search. Twitter makes publishing information, promotions, sales, and general marketing material easy to send AND easy for your followers to receive.

Keep an eye on our LiveWire blog (here!) in the coming weeks for a great article that takes a much more in-depth look at Twitter as a marketing tool.

Blog

What is it?

Blog for Content Delivery

A blog is a type of website that generally takes the form of many regular entries of text, photographs, and other information.

How can it help you?

A blog that is attached to your eCommerce website can help in many ways:

• It can increase your number of inbound links as other sites link to the quality content that you are producing in your blog.
• It can drive highly relevant traffic – the kind that converts in higher percentages – to your store through thoughtfully placed links in articles relevant to your products and services.
• It can help to establish you as an expert in your field who cares about giving back to the community.
• It can provide you with an excellent forum to share your promotions, new products, informative articles and other information that your customers are hungry for.

Do you use social networking to improve your ecommerce business?  What works for you?  What questions do you still have?  Leave a comment below.

                          

This time around we’re going to be a little more traditional and show you how two different types of email can make customers notice you.

The first, newsletters, shares news about your industry and useful tips. The second, email marketing, is one of the most cost effective ways to entice customers to purchase.

Newsletters

What are They?

Newsletters for Content Delivery

Newsletters are periodic communications from a business that contain information that is of interest or use to the subscribers. Many newsletters commonly include:

• Company news
• New/Special Products
• Promotions or Sales and Coupons
• Special Offers
• Contests or Requests for Participation
• Informative articles or industry information

Newsletters tend to contain more ‘informative content’ or ‘useful information’ than traditional email marketing, which we will cover next. Newsletters are frequently more well received than straight email marketing as the recipient may feel like they are getting information as well as advertisements – ideally a fair trade in their mind.

How can They Help You?

Newsletters can:

• Increase your company’s visibility.
• Increase your site’s returning visitors – these are typically the visitors with the highest conversion rate.
• Establish you/your site as an expert in your field.
• Provide a valuable opportunity to display new products, promotions, and sales.
• Remind your readers that you exist and that they were meaning to visit your site and/or make a purchase.

*Keep in mind that newsletters (and any email communication of this nature) must be opt-in and must contain an “unsubscribe” link in order to conform to the CAN-SPAM Act.

Email Marketing

What is It?

Email Marketing for Content Delivery

Email Marketing – sending advertisements and other marketing materials via email – has taken the place of many more expensive means of getting your message in front of possible customers. For a fraction of the cost of newspaper and magazine ads, online banner ads, or radio ads, marketing emails can quickly reach your subscribers.

How can it Help You?

Email marketing, just like a newsletter, benefits your company by reminding your readers about your company and the valuable products and/or services that you provide. It also does an excellent job of getting out the word about your new products, promotions and sales.

In comparison to newsletters, email marketing tends to contain mostly offers and promotions – more overt marketing of your products and services.

*Like newsletters, email marketing must conform to the CAN-SPAM Act.

Which of these tools have you used? What’s worked well for you? Any suggestions? Our current poll on the right is a quick and easy way to respond!

                          

Considering how much of an impact solid testimonials could have on your sales, it’s important to be smart about how to get them and then use them on your site.

Here are a few quick tips:

Never Fake a Testimonial
You risk damaging your credibility if your testimonials are too good to be true.

Shoppers are rightly skeptical about too-lofty claims. Not only is it unfair to your customers to misrepresent your products or services, testimonials are your opportunity to connect with potential buyers on a more personal level. Take advantage of that; don’t try to pull one over on them and risk damaging your reputation and credibility.

You need REAL customers to write honestly about you in order to genuinely connect with future customers.

Solicit Testimonials from your Customers
It’s perfectly fine to ask your previous buyers to comment on their experience purchasing from your site. The shoppers who take the time to comment will very often provide you with something meaningful.

Even negative comments can be valuable – maybe not as published testimonials, but you’ll at least gain some insight into how your customers feel about your brand and what changes you can make to create a better shopping experience.

Specifics, not Surveys
Descriptive testimonials that are specific to a certain area of customer service or product quality are obviously more effective than the general “Love your store, thanks”.

You should ask your buyers to include any comments they have about their experiences with things such as shipping time, packaging quality, returns, etc.

But remember that you’re not just compiling data for graphs and charts– you’re trying to get real-person verbal feedback about how your customers feel about you – so don’t send them a series of yes-or-no questions. That kind of data is of course valuable, but not as a testimonial.

Be Smart About Where You put Them
Now that you’ve got a few good testimonials, where do you put them?

It’s important that testimonials are strategically distributed across the site and not all lumped together on a single page.

Separate out your testimonials by topic and think about which areas of your site each topic is most relevant to.

Try easing buyer anxiety by placing the comment about your quick shipping on the Shipping Info page, and the one about an easy return transaction next to the Add to Cart button or the Shopping Cart page.

Put the more general comments in the footer or at the bottom of your vertical navigation so that on every page, visitors will be reminded that you have happy customers.

Have one glowing testimonial that you want everyone to see as soon as they arrive? Highlight it on the homepage or on the landing page for a targeted campaign.

Did one of your happier customers send you a 5 paragraph testimonial that’s just too long fit anywhere? No problem, just create “sound bites” out of the longer comments and place them through the site.

Have you asked your customers for testimonials?  If so, what worked, what didn’t?  Has it improved your sales?  Share your tips with other curious eCommerce professionals below.

                          

According to this InternetRetailer.com article, Shoeline.com increased conversion rates by 40% after adding 100 videos showing how a shoe looks on a model’s foot.

We’ll show you how to add links to YouTube videos that pop up when the user clicks a link. To do this, we’re going to use a script called Thickbox. Thickbox opens a modal box displaying the content, immediately drawing the user’s attention to the video.

We’re going to do this in three main steps:
1. Download and install Thickbox on your site.
2. Modify the skin template to use Thickbox.
3. Modify the product description to add a link to the video.

Downloading and Installing Thickbox
Your first step will be to acquire the software. Go to http://jquery.com/demo/thickbox/ and scroll down underneath the “Overview” section to find the “Download” tab.

There are three files to download:

1. thickbox-compressed.js
2. thickbox.css
3. loadingAnimation.gif

You can safely ignore the other downloads listed, but remember where you save these three files on your machine.

Next you will need to apply the files to your AspDotNetStorefront site.

Copy the files to the following locations:

• Copy “thickbox-compressed.js” to the “jscripts” folder.
• Copy “thickbox.css” to the “styles” folder of your skin folder (“skins/skin_1” in the root directory).
• Copy “loadingAnimation.gif” to the “images” folder.

Now that the files have found their new homes you can need to modify the template to use them.

Modifying the Template

Enabling Thickbox requires some changes to the skin template. The template is named “template.ascx”, and you can find it in your skin directory (“skins/skin_1” in the root directory).

First Thickbox requires you to enable jQuery on your site. jQuery is a fantastic cross-browser Javascript framework that makes Javascript development much less painful.

We’ll use Google’s AJAX Libraries API to get jQuery, so there’s nothing to download or install on your site.

Add the following inside the head tag of the template:

<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"><!--mce:0--></script>

You will also need to include the Thickbox script itself:

<script src="jscripts/thickbox-compressed.js" type="text/javascript"><!--mce:1--></script>

Thickbox also depends on a stylesheet. Insert the following inside the head tag:

<link rel='stylesheet' href='skins/skin_1/thickbox.css' type='text/css' />

Your template now loads everything Thickbox needs to function. The last step will be to modify your product descriptions to link to the videos.

Modifying the Product Description
Now you can finally add a link to the video!

Go into the AspDotNetStorefront Admin section and open up a product for editing. Find the “Description” tab and switch the editor to HTML mode and paste in the following code, replacing “Link Text Here” with the text you want displayed:

<a class="thickbox" href="#TB_inline?height=380&amp;width=425&amp;inlineId=videoPlayerContainer">
Link Text Here
</a>

Next we will need to insert the video embed from YouTube. Paste the following at the bottom of the description:

<div id="videoPlayerContainer" style="display:none;">Embed Tag Goes Here</div>

Now find the video you want to embed from YouTube. On the right hand side, underneath the description, there will be a text box labeled “Embed”. Copy the text out of this box and replace the text “Embed Tag Goes Here” in the code above.

Update the product and navigate to your product page. When you click the link, you should be presented with your video in a box floating over the page content.