Free Advice and Information From Cheap Ass Website

Website Writing

So you've decided to get a website but have questions about website writing.  Well, read on for some basic tips for writing  content for the web.

Your Home page introduces your business and your Website.

Write a summary, including a brief description of your products or  services, the cities, counties or states you service and your value and  commitment to customers. This page sets the tone for your site and tells people  what they can expect to find on other pages. Give the basics here and provide  greater detail on other pages.

Let your customers know why they should explore your site

A business home page is similar to the front window of a retail  business. Highlight your best products or services and any special offers here.  Present your products or services value to browsers to get them "through  the door" or deeper into your site.

Convince customers of your site's value to them

Consider what you might say to people to keep them coming back.  You might mention how long you've been in business and how you show your commitment to customers. Be sure to tell visitors about your approach to  business, your values, and your abilities.

It's a good idea to also post your contact information on the Home  page for people who come to the site to quickly find your phone number or  address.

A Good Way  to Format the Information on Your Home Page

If you are totally lost as what to do here is a good format to follow when writing  the text for your home page. Break the information up into 3 parts.

Part 1 – Acknowledge your customer’s need.

Why would someone come to your website in the first place? What are they looking for? Why do people come to you? What service or product are they looking for?  You need to address this on your home page.

Part 2 – Mention the main products or services you offer to address the  needs stated in part 1.

In part 1 you addressed some need or needs of potential customers. In this part  you need to mention the main products or services you offer that address those  needs. It doesn’t need to be a detailed explanation of each service, just 3 or  4 sentences. You can give detailed explanations of what you offer on separate  pages.

Part 3 – Explain why your products or services are a better match for the  customer as opposed to someone else’s.

This  is your value proposition. Why is your company better? Is it materials used,  price, experience, customer service? State why the customer should choose you.

Get a Free Website Today

The following services will allow you to register your business for a free website. The website will be a 1 page listing style site. If you don't have budget to build a proper website then utilize these services to get yourself one for free. The listings in these free websites will appear in local search engine results and should generate some phone calls and exposure. Now these services are all free but they all wil give you an opportunity to upgrade for various promotional services. You do not need to upgrade to have your listing appear in the search engines for local searches. 

Get A Free Website For Your Business From The Search Engines

Is it a must that you register your business with the free business listings offered by major search engines if you are serious about your Internet presence. Your listing will be given priority for local searches within the search engine results of Google, Yahoo and Bing if you register with each of them.

Yahoo Local Business Listing

Sign for a free Yahoo local business listing. This is a must for free exposure via Yahoo's search engine.

Google Places

Get a free business listing from Google. This is must as Google business listings show up at the top of local searches above the natural rankings.

Bing Business Portal

Bing gives you a lot of valubale stuff for free. You get a business listing, mobile version of your listing and QR code for absolutely free. Registration takes place online and then a PIN will be physically mailed to your business address to verify your listing.

For Added Exposure

The following websites will get you additional exposure within the natural rankings for your area.

Manta.com

You will get a free listing and then be asked to upgrade for anywhere between $29-$49 per month.

SuperMedia.com

This is were you register to have your listing appear on SuperPages.com. Free listing will be followed by giving you the option to upgrqade to a 25 click package for $99 per month and a 50 click package for $159 per month. You will also be given the option to have your ad display in a larger market for anywhere between $49 month for county wide exposure to $500+ for state wide.

Kudzu.com

After registration you will be asked to upgrade to an enhanced listing for $5,500 year.

Free Internet Authority Program

If you are shopping for a web designer and, for some reason, don't want to hire Cheap Ass Website to build your website there is a free service out there which can help save you money an prevent you from making a mistake when choosing a web designer that could cost you a lot of money.

Digi Donkey has launched an Internet Authority program where they will go over your web design bids for free and advise you as to which direction you should go. 

Why would you need advice?

Most people who aren't involved in web design don't have a clue how to read a web design bid and don't know what questions to ask. Take this example of someone who spent $7500 on a website that should have not spent anywhere near that much.

The service is free and one of their Internet experts will go over 3 of your bids for you. Try it out if you are having a difficult time finding the right web designer for your project.

7 Cheap Ass Tips To Save Money On Your eCommerce Website

Follow these 7 tips to save time and money on the design and production of your eCommerce website.

Tip 1: Rename Your Images

Rename your images to what they are actually pictures of. Instead of “P45347.jpg” rename it to “yellow-hat.jpg” or whatever your picture happens to be of. When renaming images make sure to not use leave any spaces (use dashes instead) and only use letters and numbers. This will make it easier for the designers, and the easier you make their job the quicker your stuff will get done. Also, deliver large versions of all your images to the designers. Let them resize your images for you. This way you’ll have high quality images on your site and the designer won’t have to take extra time working with tiny, junky images.

Tip 2: Put All Your Products Into a Spreadsheet

Every cart requires the same information so make sure you create a spreadsheet with all your products in it whether it’s 10 or 10,000. If your products are in Quickbooks or some other type of proprietary software you need to export it into a spreadsheet that anyone can open and read. At the very least have this information organized into columns:

• Product Name – keep each product name unique
• Product Number (if applicable)
• Price
• Keywords – no more than 10 words associated with the product
• Short Description – a one sentence description of the product
• Long Description – a full description of the product
• Image Name – the file name of the photo for this product
• Category – which category does this product go in
• Shipping Option – The usual options are Standard, 2-Day and Overnight
• Shipping Price
• Product Options – Does this product have options like size, material or color.

Now this is a bare minimum of the info actually required but just getting this stuff into a spreadsheet can save you hours upon hours of billable production time depending on how many products you have.

Tip 3: Have Real Time Shipping Info (Dimensions and Weights) Ready

If you are going to be using real time shipping quotes have all your box dimensions and weights written out and ready to be handed over to the designers. DO NOT just give some of the info and expect them to come up with your shipping rates for you. This can be a real time killer, especially if you have thousands of products with different shipping rates for each. It’s your responsibility as the business owner to know what your shipping situation is. Have it ready to save money. Call the carriers you will be using and have them help you come up with your rates. They’ll do it for free, your web designer will bill you for it.

Tip 4: Create an Outline

Once you have all your products in the spreadsheet create an outline just like the ones you did back in grade school. Organize your products into categories, sub-categories and sub-sub-categories. Make sure that every product, product option, category, and sub category is accounted for and organized. This is another time killer if not presented to the designer in a clear organized manner.

Tip 5: Write Descriptions for Your Categories and Sub Categories

Write a paragraph describing the items in your categories and sub categories.

Here is an example.

Olive Oils
We are very proud of our Extra Virgin Olive Oils. They are imported for us from all over the world, from as far away as Australia. Here is a listing of our 100% extra virgin olive oils, flavored and infused olive oils. We fill your order using our specially-designed 375 ml (12 oz.) bottles.

Tip 6: Write Down any Option Based Pricing

If you have certain products in which the price will be determined by the options the user selects then you need to write that out for the designers.

Here is an example.

Silver Rope Necklace
14”      $37.00
17”      $48.00
20”      $56.00

Tip 7: Write Down any Volume Ordering Discounts

If you are giving any discounts for volume orders write down the product name as well as a description as to what the discount is. Make it as clear as possible.

For example if it is a product price discount

Tennis Balls
1 – 20              $1 each
21 – 30            $.75 each
31+                 $.50 each

If it is a volume based shipping discount.

Box of Nike Black Golf Balls
1 – 10 cases     $7.95 per case Standard Shipping
10+ cases        Free Shipping

Important Info About Multi Product Shipping

In the example above, note that the price is $7.95 per case. That means if someone orders 10 cases you would ship out 10 boxes. Sometimes, you may be able to pack multiple items into 1 box for shipment. This needs to be clarified by you to your designer. It is easier, and less expensive to you, to set up shipping each item separately. For example, you could ship up to 40 tennis balls in one box but if they add in a baseball glove then you can only ship 20 tennis balls. You have to remember that your shipping will be based on a mathematical equation that is assigned to each product. While it is possible to write a script that calculates each possible scenario of shipping based on your total inventory and size of your shipping containers the cost to do so may not be reasonable. Try to simplify your shipping as much as possible to avoid unnecessary production costs.

Payment Gateways

Information About Payment Gateways: Collecting Money Online

One of the critical elements in selling on the Web is the payment gateway, which allows online sellers to accept credit cards on the Internet.

As a consumer, when you check out of your local convenience store, you may swipe your credit card through a point-of-sale device and your gas, coffee, and donut are paid. But what if you are the retailer and your business is online? It's not like you have a card-swiping device at every customer s PC! There must be a way for you to process that information. Essentially, that is the job that a payment gateway does for online retailers. Roy Banks, president of http://Authorize.net, a leader in the payment gateway industry, describes his company's function as the digital version of a hardware point of sale terminal.

What is a Payment Gateway?

Payment gateways allow online merchants such as eStore owners or auction sellers to accept credit card payments over the internet. They authorize the cardholder s credit that is, they check to ensure that the customer has enough money on their credit card to cover the charges. They then place a hold on that amount so the buyer can t turn around and spend that same money elsewhere before it gets transferred to the retailer s merchant account. Banks describes this as the technology necessary to consummate a payment transaction.

A Payment Gateway is NOT a Merchant Account.

Many people confuse merchant accounts with payment gateways but they are not the same. Merchant account services act, for the most part, as a liaison between your business bank account and the payment gateway. When a customer orders a product from your online business their card is processed via the payment gateway. The money is then moved over to the merchant account service. The merchant account service then moves those newly captured funds to your business bank account.

3 Tips for choosing a Payment Gateway

1. Is it PCI-compliant?

That means that the company s security has been audited by a third party and found to be up to industry standards. Since payment gateways store all your customers credit card information (sparing you the stress), it also means you can sleep better at night, knowing your customers valuable information is safe and sound.

2. Good customer support.

Nuff said.

3. Lastly, it is important that the payment gateway you choose be integrated to the third-party solutions you are planning to use.

That means things like store front platforms and shopping carts you want them to be compatible with your gateway.

Payment gateways will not only allow you to collect the monies from your sales, many also offer an array of security features, some of which will help you avoid becoming a victim of fraudulent orders! In the end, they will make your ecommerce business a less-stressful, more pleasant experience for both you and your customers.