Cyber Monday is the name that has become associated with the Monday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday (and after the brick-and-mortar shopping holiday known as Black Friday).  The theory is that shoppers, once back at work and back in front of a computer, head online in large numbers to purchase all the gifts they could not find in the stores. 

If you are on online retailer, Cyber Monday represents a great opportunity – but with opportunity comes challenges.  Is your Website ready to handle the volumes?  Have you taken the right steps to maximize your traffic?  If your answer to either of these questions is not a confident and resounding ‘YES!’, perhaps the below tips can help you get ready for the new holiday we affectionately call Cyber Monday.

Tip #1: Make sure customer data on your site is secure … and don’t forget to tell visitors

Ensure your customers view you as an online vendor they can trust by making sure your site has (and prominently displays) a SSL certificate.  SSL certificates secure data such as credit card numbers or customer account information so the data being transmitted online is safe. It also confirms the Website (and the organization behind the site) is what and who it claims to be. You can prominently display your SSL certificate in the form of a logo on your Website’s home page.  Usually this logo is supplied by the company through which you purchase your SSL certificate.  Visitors can also tell if a site has a SSL certificate by looking for a closed padlock icon in their browser’s status bar. 

Tip #2: Ensure potential visitors can find you

One of the most common ways online shoppers find a vendor is through search engines.  As an online vendor, you need to be sure the search engines will find you.  One option is to optimize your site by adding keywords and links back to your site, which can both increase the ‘rating’ major search engines assign to your site and also help your site appear higher among the search results.  However, search engine optimization takes time and is not as easy as it may seem, so you may want to employ a service to help you get the best results. 

Other options are search engine marketing, which is a service that places a text ad for your site into the “Sponsored Links” section returned in an online search.  

At the very least, you should be sure you are promoting your Website whenever possible – in every flyer, catalog or even on your business card. 

Tip #3: Be ready for a surge in traffic 

Some would say a surge in traffic (going from 100 visitors per day to a 1,000 visitors per day) would be an OK problem to have, but what if such a surge occurred on your site?  Could your hosting platform handle the increased traffic or would potential customers be greeted with a browser error telling them your site is unavailable?  Some hosting platforms (including Register.com’s) will automatically scale resources to accommodate a surge in traffic.  Be sure you know what your hosting platform can handle and understand contingency plans with your hosting provider just in case your site exceeds its limits this holiday season. 

Tip #4: Make it easy for customers to find what they are looking for on your site 

One of the most popular reasons a visitor will leave a site within the first few seconds is the inability to quickly find what they are looking for.  Make sure your visitors can clearly see where to find product information and how to search your products lines.  Additionally, try to minimize the mouse clicks necessary to make a purchase on your Website.  All of these things not only make the shoppers experience better in that instance, they also give shoppers a reason to return to your site and tell their friends about you. 

Tip #5: Make it easy for customers to buy 

Be sure your site accepts all popular forms of payment.  A service such as PayPal is a popular way to be sure your customers have a choice of payment options.  Many ecommerce platforms offer PayPal as an option and for good reason — you should never limit your potential customers just because you don’t offer the payment type they prefer.  Additionally, accepting a wide range of payment options adds legitimacy and professionalism to your site, helping tell potential customers that you are an online vendor with whom they can confidently do business.

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About the Author: Wendy Kennedy is the creator and editor of the Register.com Learning Center (an online resource site for small businesses). Wendy has also served as a consultant with over ten years of experience developing marketing and awareness programs with small businesses and entrepreneurs.

From Small Business Trends

Are You Ready for Cyber Monday?

So why then, in times such as these, would anyone be willing to pay thousands of dollars for a simple domain name? The answer is easy: because those simple domains (often called premium domains) can make a difference.

THE AGE OF THE PREMIUM DOMAIN

A premium domain is a domain that has been registered previously and is back on the market for resale (it’s like a used car lot for domain names but these items have not depreciated in value — in fact, it’s quite the opposite situation).

You see, today there are about 76 million dot com names registered worldwide. That means the chances of finding a very intrinsic dot com (shopping.com, flowers.com) are slim. These names were snapped up years ago but now, these early domain registrants are increasingly willing to part with their prized domain names for the right price. Some of these sales live in infamy (consider Pizza.com that sold for $2.6 million in 2008 or Business.com that sold for $7.5 million in 1999) but the average premium domain price tag ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

SO WHAT CAN A PREMIUM DOMAIN NAME DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

• The Impact of the Instant Online Brand: First and foremost, a simple domain name gives your online business an instant brand. Premium domain names are generally easy to remember, easy to type and instantly associated with a product or service (Cars.com, Meat.com, Vodka.com). A business owner need not invest much to help potential visitors understand what they might expect to find on sites like these. The domain itself creates an instant online brand that continues to define your online business for as long as you have it.
• More Traffic from Direct Navigation: Your instant brand will generate traffic from direct navigation. As surprising as it may seem to those of us who use Google multiple times per day — some internet users simply type what they are looking for into their internet browser address line (Shoes.com) if your site resides at a no nonsense domain like this, you will reap the benefits of what’s called “direct navigation” (customers coming directly to your site because they typed you domain directly into their web browser) without spending one dollar on marketing your site.
• Increased SEO ranking: Your domain names do have an impact on your search engine rankings, so the more basic and easily associated your domain name is with the product or service potential customers are searching for the more likely it is that you’ll rank high in the search results. (Just type hotels into your Google search bar I’ll bet Hotels.com is one of the first links returned).

About 80% of US adults are online (that’s an audience size that’s hard to reach through traditional offline marketing). What’s more, the brand you build online can keep working for you long after your catalog or most recent flyer has been discarded.

So the bottom line is: what may seem like an extraordinary expense on first glance is actually not so outlandish considering the benefits you could reap from the right domain name.

My advice for small businesses is not to count out your domain name when you’re planning your marketing spend. Compare the return you could receive with your other marketing efforts (online and offline) and do a little research to see if the right domain name is available for your business. (Register.com — and other domain registrars like us — have search tools to help you understand what domains are available to best represent your brand). At a time when every dollar counts, a premium domain might just be the best way to put your marketing dollars to work for you.

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About the Author: Wendy Kennedy is the creator and editor of the Register.com Learning Center (an online resource site for small businesses). Wendy has also served as a consultant with over ten years of experience developing marketing and awareness programs with small businesses and entrepreneurs.

From Small Business Trends

Why Would Anyone Pay Thousands for a Domain Name?

Then one morning, you log on to find your web site address now goes to a parked page (a placeholder page when a domain is inactive).

Your website is gone and potential customers are left to find another business to fulfill their needs. Could this happen to you?

We find that some small business owners don’t realize they may have left their domain name (their online brand) unprotected. Here are 3 simple precautions to make sure your online brand is secure:

First, make sure your domain is actually registered in your name. This sounds straight forward, but it’s trickier than it seems.

For example, when business owners hire a local web designer to create their website, that person often registers the site’s address (domain name) as part of their services. The problem arises when this designer registers the domain in their own name. The same thing sometimes occurs with company employees — they will register the domain in their own personal name. The individual who registers that domain name has the right to that domain (unless you have a trademark on the name — in which case there are avenues you can pursue to get your name back.)

If the employee leaves (or worse yet, goes to work for a competitor) they may have the right to take that domain name with them if the domain is registered in their name. Likewise, if your local web designer is the registrant on the domain they have control over the content and even the renewal of that domain name. If you decide to stop working with them, it could be possible for the web designer to take your content down.

The key take away here — make sure you are the registrant for your domain. Don’t assume.

Second, if you’re not sure who the registrant on your domain is, find out. This is easy to check. You can look it up in the WhoIs database. If your name is not listed as the Registrant Contact, be sure to have whoever is listed call the registrar and change the contact information to yours right away.

Third, make sure your contact information stays up-to-date with your registrar. If you move locations, change telephone numbers or change email addresses — be sure to let your registrar know of the change. Often domains are registered for multi-year terms — so you may not have heard from your registrar in a while but when it’s time to renew your domain you won’t receive renewal notices if your contact info is not up-to-date. This means your domain name might expire without your realizing it.

Normally, domains have expiration grace periods during which the site will be taken down and the registration will be held. But after that timeframe, the domain will go back on the market and could be purchased by another party. If this happens your domain name could be lost for good. Then all the time and money you’ve spent building up brand equity in your domain name goes down the drain in an instant – you wouldn’t want that to happen.

In today’s online world, your domain can be one of your business’ most valuable assets — so make sure to protect it! With just a little effort, you can be sure your domain continues working for your business for years to come.

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About the Author: Wendy Kennedy is the creator and editor of the Register.com Learning Center (an online resource site for small businesses). Wendy has also served as a consultant with over ten years of experience developing marketing and awareness programs with small businesses and entrepreneurs.

From Small Business Trends

3 Facts About Domain Names Everyone Should Know