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please come back again soon!! Wednesday, March 28, 2007 Here is a good article by Michael Hyatt, on the who what and where of setting up a blog. It was written in April 2005, but it is still pretty accurate. Blog link : http://michaelhyatt.blogs.com/workingsmart/2005/04/how_to_start_a_.html by:
Shawna Fennell
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Monday, March 26, 2007 Stoney deGeyter over at Searchengineland.com has a great article on the how and why of making your site a #1 website. Its about "Destination Marketing," which they define as " The act of developing a website to become a desired destination for people looking for the product, services or information that you provide. In other words, Destination Marketing is SEO and SEM without compromising rankings for conversions or conversions for rankings. " You can find the article here: http://searchengineland.com/070322-220618.php by:
Shawna Fennell
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Here is an article by Bill Slawski at SEO by the Sea on how Google looks at blogs. THis was obtained by a patent application by Google. Looks like there are 2 big factors, 1) relevance of the post, and 2) and the blogs "quality score. " The article also lists positive and negative qualitys of a blog in Googles estimation. Good article and we will keep up with the site to see what else they have to offer. Here is the full article: http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=541 by:
Shawna Fennell
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Thursday, March 15, 2007 Why did we choose this topic? Well the internet is buzzing with people asking
should I or shouldn’t I. We see a lot of advice saying to move up…make the site
wider. People are buying larger monitors. Make the sites bigger! We just don't
agree and here is why.
Yep…we do have larger monitors…we are also buying really small computers. And I
am not sure about your eyes but I can safely say that several of the women in
our office have the resolution set at 800x600 because it just makes it easier to
read. Doesn't matter that they have a nice large monitor. They still have it set
at 800x600 because it is easier for them to read. Well that’s just women right?
Well considering women make 80% of the buying decisions….You better make your
women (and all the other women) happy. *smiling* But I also see the same thing
when I visit with people at their homes and offices for training...large
monitor...large settings. As I am writing this I recall an article I read about
Target being sued by the National Federation of the Blind. Pull out my Jan
2007 issue of Internet Retailer, thank my mother for the wonderful memory she
gave me, and find the most important part of the article. 25% of all computer
users have some form of visual impairment. TWENTY FIVE PERCENT! Plus 57% of all
computer users said they were likely to benefit from efforts designed to improve
the usability of web sites by people with disabilities.
So then I pull out my recent copy of Internet Retailer and I am looking at a
list of the Top 10 retailer name searches in December 2006. To see this list for
yourself the url is
http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=21582
Hey Shawna…why should we care what OTHER sites people are searching for if they
are not searching for my site. Well…first let’s go over the list.
1. Walmart
2. Target
3. Home Depot
4. Best Buy
5. Amazon
6. Lowes
7. Circuit City
8. Sears
9. Office Depot
10. Costco
I urge you to visit every single site listed. Notice something? Every single
site with the exception of Amazon is designed for 800x600 resolution.
Now…Look at that list again. Look at the names on that list. Think of the
combined amount of money that these companies spend on figuring out how people
buy, why people buy, and how they can get more people to buy buy buy buy!
These are the top sites people are searching for. They don’t have to do any work
to get customers. So if these major department stores felt constrained under
their current settings…hey do what you want. People are looking for those
companies and will buy from you anyway. Yet these companies do not. These
companies design their websites for 800x600 resolution.
Now you and I do not have the money that these companies do to spend on
marketing studies. But we can learn a lot just by looking at these sites.
Continue to look at other top online retail stores (Macys, JcPenneys, etc) and
they are all done in 800x600.
So what should you do with your site? My opinion is to follow the big guys.
There is a reason to their madness. Because it works!
The hardest part (I believe) of running a successful online business is
conversion rates. When people have to scroll left to right…they leave. If you
design your website at 900 pixels wide and their resolution is set to 800x600,
they have to scroll left to right to read the information. If you have worked
hard on your SEO to get them into your website you do not want them to leave
because the site did not fit their monitor. Have you ever heard of someone
leaving because the site was designed for 800x600 like all the other big sites?
No. Don’t ever give your customers a reason to not buy from you. Ever. Getting
the customer to your website took time and/or money. Don’t let them leave your
website so easily.
The only reason your customer should leave your website is to check the front
door for their package!
So the decision is up to you but we hope that you now have a little more
information so that you can make an informed decision.
 While
I am on the subject of conversion rates. We have recently partnered with
Hackersafe and I am very impressed with the testing results that we have seen.
We were recently in Florida for a conference and I spoke to several of our
customers that also stated that their conversion rates went up quite a bit when
they added the logo. The Scan Alert logo works! But don’t take our word for
it….get the facts straight from them. Our customers not only get a special rate
but also get to put the logo on TWO sites. We know many of our customers have
multiple sites so this was great news! So if you want more information call this
wonderful lady that we met in Chicago at the Search Engine Conference. Her name
is Cresta Pillsbury and she is the Director of Business Development. You can
reach her at (877) 302-9965, Ext 1120 or email her
cresta.pillsbury@hackersafe.com
 Also
as our customer you get free services to validate your compliance to the Payment
Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Basically proving that your
website is safe. So let them take care of this for you! As our customer, they
are doing it for free for you! If you need more information about the PCI DDS you can visit
https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/ But that website confused me so I
found another article from Internet Retailer that you can read that will explain
a bit about PCI that is much easier to understand
http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=20954 By the way...I love Internet Retailer magazine...If you do not have a
subscription...GET ONE! Be prepared, it is expensive. It's...well....It's....FREE!
Yeah you heard me right. A great magazine for store owners that is
FREE! God I love free and useful. So make
sure to get your own subscription here:
http://www.internetretailer.com/IR/USA/
Back to Hackersafe....Call Cresta. She is just a wonderful person that you will
enjoy talking to plus you can increase conversion rates PLUS validate your
compliance for PCI for FREE. You know I love
free and I love great people so you can’t go wrong! Again her phone number is
(877) 302-9965, Ext 1120. by:
Shawna Fennell
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Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Your YStore Newsletter |
 Our
March Newsletter is packed full of tips and information for yahoo store
owners and this month we have gone all out!
Featured Article: What size should I design my site for? 800x600 or ???
Why did we choose this topic? Well the internet is buzzing with people asking
should I or shouldn’t I. We see a lot of advice saying to move up…make the site
wider. People are buying larger monitors. Make the sites bigger! Read
our newsletter to get the facts!
Also in this issue:
*FREE PCI validation for your website
*The great FREE magazine any retail store owner
can't live without
*Top Ten Conversion Rate Tools You Need
*Free Yahoo! Sponsored Search Setup - We can get
that for you!
*Google SiteMaps
*Boosting Conversion Rates
*FREE YStore! Classes
*How to use an online Newsletter to INCREASE sales
And much much more!
Read this months newsletter now!
http://www.1choice4yourstore.com/feb-2007-news.html
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by:
Shawna Fennell
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Thursday, March 01, 2007 We have recently had some questions regarding setting up a Yahoo! store to sell products to American consumers from the United Kingdom using American dropshippers. So we did some research and here is what we found: Per Yahoo! you can set up a Yahoo! store as long as you have a credit card with an American address. This store would also serve English speaking Canada. There are other considerations, however, that you may need to address such as setting up an American bank account. Banks require you provide them with a tax id number (American Social Security number, Federal Tax id number or International Tax Id number). This is due to security measures from 9/11. You may also need a state resale license with a presence in that state. I spoke to Randy at Laughlin Associates and he said they can assist you in setting this up through a Nevada entity such as a C-Corporation or LLC. His contact number is (800)648-0966. There may be other considerations regarding your personal tax situation so you may want to contact your tax attorney or accountant. by:
Shawna Fennell
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