Archive for August, 2009
Monday, August 31st, 2009
By Robert Lockard
With the release of its Magellan Merchant service today, Magellan Commerce has become the first one-stop shop for businesses looking for website, branding and online payment solutions. No company has ever offered both an integrated ecommerce platform and merchant services until now.
There is a huge demand among online businesses for a simple, low-cost merchant service. That’s why Magellan Commerce combined its expertise at Web design with this new merchant service. Now businesses won’t have to work with several different companies to build their website and then allow customers to pay with credit cards online. It can all be handled by Magellan Commerce for a low price.
Here are some of Magellan Merchant’s great features:
- No setup fees
- Low transaction rates
- Low, 5-cent monthly fee
- No contracts
- No minimum monthly transactions
- PCI-compliant security protocols to protect against identity theft
Magellan Merchant services are only available to Magellan Commerce customers. Magellan Commerce is an innovative ecommerce platform that specializes in designing websites and logos for small businesses. eHarbor, Inc. is the parent company of Magellan Commerce.
To find out more about Magellan Commerce and Magellan Merchant, go to www.magellancommerce.com or call 1-800-925-1647.
Tags: Credit, Ecommerce, eHarbor, growth, internet, magellan commerce, Merchant Service, new, news, online, positive, website
Posted in Ecommerce, Web Design, eHarbor | 2 Comments »
Friday, August 28th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Picture this: The eHarbor, Inc. softball team is going into the final inning of its fourth game down by 11 points. They’re up against the wall deep into blowout territory, and what do they do? Their bats light up the field, scoring six runs before their valiant effort runs out of steam. It was quite a sight to see. The final score was 13-8.
The eHarbarians lost, but we lost in style.
Another highlight of the August 26 game was when a runner on the opposing team charged into the third baseman with all his might, trying to get him to drop the ball. But that third baseman stood firm and got the runner out, even though the hit he took bloodied his face pretty bad. He’s okay, and he has a spectacular story from it.
The umpire at our game was particularly fiery. At one point he threatened to throw one of the opposing team’s players out of the game unless he calmed down and played fair. That was a priceless moment.
Our eHarbor team is 1-3 so far this fall season. We’ll keep playing with passion as the season progresses. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on our next game on Wednesday, September 2, 2009.
By the way, you should definitely come back to the eHarbor Blog on Monday for a special blog entry on a new product we’re releasing through Magellan Commerce that will change the ecommerce industry. Stay tuned!
Tags: baseball, eHarbor, event, Fun, game, magellan commerce, orem, sport, utah
Posted in eHarbor | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 24th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
On Wednesday, August 19, 2009, eHarbor, Inc.’s softball team, the eHarbarians, played an amazing game. Both teams were equally matched in strength and determination and when the final inning came to an end, they were stuck in a tie. We weren’t able to get any runs in the top of the first inning of overtime. But in the bottom half, the other team managed to score a single run, barely giving them a victory.
This is the third game of our fall season in the Orem recreation league. We always have fun, whether it’s a victory or a loss. In this game, we put up a great fight, making the other team really earn their win.
I’ve got a great blog entry about social media for you on Wednesday. That same day eHarbor will play its next softball game, so I’ll keep you posted on the results. Be sure to come back to the eHarbor Blog to keep up with all of our great ecommerce and Internet marketing posts. We’ll see you again soon!
Tags: baseball, eHarbor, event, Fun, game, orem, sport, utah
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | No Comments »
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
This is a follow-up to my previous blog entry, “I link, therefore I am… on top of Google.” I’m talking about what I learned at Webmarketing123’s August 5, 2009 Webinar, “Advanced SEO Webinar: Linking Best Practices.” Without further ado, I’ll return to where I left off.
Unless a website is cached or saved by search engines on a regular basis, the links found on it won’t count toward the search engine optimization of the sites it links to. That explains why Google can’t keep up with Twitter and other social-media sites, as I discussed in an earlier eHarbor Blog entry. It’s trying to take a snapshot of websites that change multiple times every second.
Returning to caches, I learned a cool trick at the Webinar that I would like to share. If you want to know if a Web page is cached by Google, all you have to do is type “cache:www.thesitename.com” into a Google search and it will tell you.
The big question is how do you get inbound links? After you’ve gone through and added great content that is relevant to your keywords, you can start using the following sources to get inbound links:
- Directories
- Paid Listings
- Article Syndications
- Blogs
- News Releases
We’re starting a new blog on the newly redesigned Submit Solution website, which will debut soon. We’ll be transferring our ecommerce and Internet marketing articles from the eHarbor Blog to that one soon. You can find the rest of this blog entry there after it debuts.
The photo of the fingers touching light is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of littledan77.
Tags: Bing, blog, Directory, google, Link, News Release, search engine optimization, SEO, Submit Solution, webinar, yahoo
Posted in SEO, Search Engines | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
I enjoy Webmarketing123’s free Webinars on Internet marketing. I always learn a lot from them, and I try to apply what I learn. Today, I’ll talk about what I learned at their August 5, 2009 Webinar, “Advanced SEO Webinar: Linking Best Practices.”
The five things a website needs to get ranked on the first page of Google results are:
1. Keywords – The search terms you want people to type into a search engine in order to find your Web page.
2. Site Content – You need to use your chosen keywords in your website’s text to show search engines your site is relevant to those topics.
3. Meta Content – You don’t usually see this content, but it must be there in the backend of your site and in your Web page titles.
4. URLs – Include important keywords in your URLs. For example, it is better to have a URL like www.eharborinc.com/blog/2009/07/17/is-twitter-overhyped, which includes the date and headline keywords, than something like www.eharborinc.com/blog/post-81. The second URL gives no clue as to what it contains, while the first one gives a much better idea of the page’s subject matter.
5. Inbound Links – These are links (or votes) from other websites to your site. Search engines look at both the number and quality of the links you receive from other sites.
We’re starting a new blog on the newly redesigned Submit Solution website, which will debut soon. We’ll be shifting attention from the eHarbor Blog to that one soon. You can find the rest of this blog entry there. Stay tuned!
The photo of the confusing keyboard arrows is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of jeremyfoo.
Tags: content, keyword, Link, search engine optimization, SEO, Submit Solution, url, Web Design, webinar, website
Posted in SEO, Web Design | 4 Comments »
Friday, August 14th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
eHarbor, Inc. played its second game of the fall season on Wednesday, August 12, 2009. But before I share the details of that game, I would like to shed a little more light on the drama of the first game. I didn’t quite do it justice in my blog entry, “eHarbor softball rides again,” so here’s the rest of the story.
After staying neck and neck with the opposing team for the first several innings, our eHarbarians managed to pull ahead by five runs in the second-to-last inning. Then, in the top of the last inning, the other team scored five runs to tie the game.
The air was tense as eHarbor took the field in the bottom of the inning to try to eke out a win. Under that pressure, the first two batters got out in short order. It was all up to the next batter. And he came through, slicing the ball for a double. Then one more player came up to the plate with a runner in scoring position. And once again the amazing happened and he got a great hit that drove his teammate home, barely giving us a victory, 9-8.
Whew! What an exciting story from a company that specializes in Internet marketing and ecommerce. By the way, one batter went 4 for 4 with two doubles and two singles, and two other players went 3 for 3.
Now I’ll briefly discuss our second game. We led in the first inning, but then the other team managed to get the upper hand and win the game. We hope to keep having fun this season, though. Stay tuned for more updates on eHarbor, as well as ecommerce topics.
Tags: baseball, eHarbor, event, Fun, game, orem, sport, utah
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Have you heard all about how useful Twitter is in building your business, but you have no idea how to get started “tweeting”? You’re not alone, and Twitter is trying to help you learn the ropes with a new Twitter user guide.
I found out about this new guide in a Houston Business Journal article, entitled “Twitter launches business guide, search widget.” Apparently Twitter noticed many people and businesses would open Twitter accounts, post for a while and then abandon them because they either weren’t seeing results or they didn’t know what they’re supposed to do to with them. This new guide should hopefully reverse that trend.
If you go to Twitter’s guide you’ll find information on how to get started, new vocabulary terms, best practices and case studies on companies that have successfully used Twitter to increase their revenue.
You can find the rest of this blog entry on the new Social Media Blog on Submit Solution when it is published. The new design of Submit Solution is almost ready, and it will get most of our Internet marketing blog entries from now on, while the eHarbor Blog will mostly be about eHarbor, Inc.-related topics.
The photo of the squirrel reaching is from Flickr, and it is courtesy of snappybex.
Tags: article, Ecommerce, new, Social Media, Submit Solution, twitter
Posted in Ecommerce, Social Media | No Comments »
Monday, August 10th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
I love keeping promises. In my earlier blog entry, “eHarbor, Inc. softball ends season in good form,” I said, “[eHarbor’s softball team] might play again in the fall, so I’ll keep you posted if we do.” Guess what. We are playing softball again, and I get to keep you informed on how we do again.
The eHarbor softball team, which we affectionately call the eHarbarians, ended its spring season with their best record ever, 6 wins and 4 losses. We then made it two games into the playoffs before being eliminated. It was a fun rollercoaster.
For our first game of the summer/fall season, we played a team sponsored by a local Hogi Yogi restaurant. Ironically, Hogi Yogi provided the food for our company-wide meeting earlier this month where the July MVP was announced. Funny. Anyway, our team played on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at a new field in Orem, Utah, instead of Provo.
And we won!
That’s right, we fought hard and brought home a 9-8 victory. Hopefully we’ll have many more victories to report as the new season progresses. Be sure to keep coming back to the eHarbor Blog for updates on our company, as well as helpful tips on Internet marketing and ecommerce.
Tags: baseball, eHarbor, event, Fun, game, MVP, orem, positive, provo, sport, update, utah
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 6th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Derek Anderson, a customer-service representative at eHarbor, Inc., was named eHarbor’s Most Valuable Player at our monthly company-wide meeting on Monday, August 3, 2009.
Since coming to eHarbor three months ago, Derek has worked tirelessly to give our clients excellent support when they call in with questions. In fact, in July he set the record for taking the most calls in a single day: more than 150. Amazing. Customer service is important at eHarbor and its subsidiaries. I discussed how essential it is to take care of ecommerce customers in my blog entry, “Angry ecommerce customers fight back on Twitter.” Good customer care can make the difference between success and failure in any industry, but particularly online.
Returning to Derek, he is quite competitive, and not just in his work. He enjoys a good sporting event with coworkers and other friends. And he usually wins. Congratulations on this award, Derek!
This is the second time I’ve spotlighted the eHarbor MVP. You might remember last month’s winner, Alisha Walton. You can read about her remarkable story in my blog entry, “eHarbor June MVP returns to work after breaking her neck.” We have many great employees to spotlight. I’ll keep you posted on them at the start of each month.
Tags: award, customer service, Ecommerce, eHarbor, event, MVP
Posted in eHarbor | 2 Comments »
