Posts Tagged ‘growth’
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Happy Thanksgiving! I would love to write an entire blog entry on this wonderful holiday, but instead I’m going to talk about another celebration: Firefox’s fifth birthday.
Imagine trying to beat Microsoft at its own game. Microsoft, the giant of software and Web browsers, seemed all but unstoppable in its dominance of the Internet with its Internet Explorer browser five years ago. However, a small browser, which was originally called Phoenix, debuted on November 9, 2004 and started giving Explorer a run for its money.
We now know this Web browser as Firefox. And it just turned five years old. Better late than never, I’ll wish Firefox a happy birthday!
I talked a little about Firefox in my Submit Solution blog entry, “Google Chrome is the best Web browser.” I mentioned that it’s my favorite browser, even if it’s not exactly as fast as Chrome.
I read about Firefox’s anniversary in the Webware article, “After 5 years, Firefox faces new challenges.”
Many factors led up to the swift success of the Firefox browser. Microsoft got a little lazy on creating new features for Explorer. Plus, viruses were specifically designed to target Explorer, giving Internet users a strong incentive to try something new. Right on cue, Firefox arrived with its innovative tabbed interface, customizability and popup ad blocker. It was an instant hit, receiving 10 million downloads in the first month alone.
You can read the rest of this blog entry in the Submit Solution Web Design Blog on December 1, 2009. It will be entitled, “Firefox fights fresh foes after 5 years.” The photo of the Firefox birthday cake is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Christopher Blizzard.
Tags: Chrome, computer virus, Firefox, google, growth, holiday, Microsoft, msn, search engine, Submit Solution, success, Web Browser
Posted in Web Design | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
By Robert Lockard
In the Wall Street Journal article, “Why Email No Longer Rules,” I found a fascinating argument against email and for social-media sites, like Twitter and Facebook. Email is on its way out as the primary means of sending online messages.
For a dozen years or so email was the freshest, easiest way to keep in touch with people over long distances without having to pay big phone bills. Now it’s old hat. Basically, the paradigm of online communication has changed and we’re all going to have to change with the times.
What do you think? Is it a good thing that email is being replaced by instant communications? I think it’s great for ecommerce. With the aid of instant messaging, tweets and wall posts, online marketers can serve their customers much better and faster than ever before.
If you would like help getting a great website design, I recommend you contact Submit Solution’s Web professionals. They are extremely effective at delivering captivating website designs that help increase your conversion rate of visitors into customers.
You can find the rest of this blog entry on the new Social Media Blog on Submit Solution. That blog entry is called, “How ecommerce benefits from email’s death.” Keep coming back to the eHarbor Blog for stories about eHarbor, Inc.
Tags: article, Ecommerce, email, facebook, google, growth, history, internet, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Submit Solution, twitter, wall street journal, website
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Google could soon change the rules of keyword Internet marketing with the debut Have you heard? Google and Bing are adding new social-media search capabilities to their search engines in an attempt to keep up with these innovative websites. Bing already has a beta version of its new search engine designed specifically for Twitter results while Google is holding back at the moment.
Google and Microsoft are caught in an escalating fight over who will dominate the search-engine market for social-media sites like Twitter and Facebook. I read about this in the PC World article, “Real-Time Search: Google and Bing Rivalry Intensifies on Facebook and Twitter.” This article refers to the Google-Bing rivalry as a chess match. Quite an apt metaphor, in my opinion, because I love all of the strategy that goes into a seemingly simple chess game.
Social media has been a thorn in the side of major search engines for a few years now. Facebook and Twitter are simply updated too often and too fast for search engines to keep up with them. It looks like that might be changing, though.
You can find the rest of this blog entry on the Submit Solution SEO Blog on Monday, November 2, 2009. The photo of the chess match is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of marcusrg.
Tags: article, Bing, facebook, google, growth, internet, Microsoft, news, online, positive, search engine, Social Media, Submit Solution, twitter
Posted in Search Engines, Social Media | 2 Comments »
Friday, September 25th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Are books about to take a quantum leap forward? I just read an excellent article on CNN called, “E-books catching on with readers.” I’ve covered this topic before on the eHarbor Blog, and much of what I read in this article harkened back to the thoughts I offered in my blog entry, “Will Kindle hurt book publishers?” In that blog post, I focused solely on the Kindle DX, but now many other companies are jumping into the fray.
The e-book industry certainly looks promising. It’s attracting top booksellers like Barnes & Noble and Amazon, as well as tech giants like Apple, Google and Sony. Technological advances keep coming, making e-books thinner, easier on the eyes and more affordable every year. In fact, according to the article, they could become as thin as a piece of paper within the next five years. That sounds amazing!
The reason I am so excited about this development is that it has the power to dramatically cut printing costs and open the doors to up-and-coming authors to show off their work. Imagine someone writing a great work of fiction and selling it through Amazon at a fraction of the price it would be if it had to be printed, shipped and stored. That author could start earning revenue almost immediately.
You can find the rest of this blog entry on the new Social Media Blog on Submit Solution. That blog entry is entitled, “E-books gaining in popularity.” The new Submit Solution website looks great. You should definitely check it out, and you can keep coming back to the eHarbor Blog for stories about eHarbor, Inc.
The photo of the e-book inside a book is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of timonoko.
Tags: Amazon, article, book, CNN, Ecommerce, future, google, growth, Kindle, Media, update
Posted in Ecommerce, Media | No Comments »
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 »
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
I have discussed the growth of ecommerce many times in the eHarbor Blog. You can find lots of information on marketers joining ecommerce in my blog entries, “Bucking recession, ecommerce keeps growing” and “Strong sales attract retailers to ecommerce.” I will continue my streak by talking about ecommerce, though in a slightly different way.
The main reason companies keep moving into ecommerce is the revenue growth this industry is experiencing each year. During this recession, consumers have cut back on most spending, but they continue to spend more online, making it a popular alternative for businesses to thrive in hard times.
However, according to an article in B to B, a magazine for online marketers, companies are starting to spend less money advertising their services and brands in social networks, such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. The article I am referring to is entitled, “Social network ad spending projected to contract this year.”
The growth of advertisement spending on social-media sites has slowed in recent years, from a 129-percent increase in 2007 to 33 percent in 2008, and now an estimated 3-percent loss in 2009. To put it in real numbers, $1.18 billion was spent on social-media advertising in 2008.
Social media is an excellent way for businesses to interact with customers and even gain new ones, so it makes sense for them to jump into this arena. Maybe with all of the cuts businesses are making to compensate for the decline in consumer demand for many products, social media just doesn’t seem as important at the moment.
Ironically, it seems like social-media spending is one of the best investments a business can make, especially in a struggling economy. Consumers are shifting their time and money online, making social networks popular places to reach them. Companies that shy away from social media might be shooting themselves in the foot.
I discussed social media’s many strengths and weaknesses in my blog post, “Facebook’s growing pains could transform social media.” There are plenty of reasons to stay connected with your customers online. Keep trying and stay positive!
The photo of the scissors cutting an ethernet cable is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of nrkbeta.
Tags: 2009, article, blog, consumer, Ecommerce, economy, eHarbor, facebook, growth, internet, marketing, myspace, news, online, revenue, Social Media, twitter, web
Posted in Ecommerce, eHarbor | 4 Comments »
Monday, May 18th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
A large number of consumers need more than promises of good deals to get them to shop online. According to a report by the Office of Fair Trading, a third of Internet users don’t trust websites enough to buy products on them.
I read this in a BBC News article, entitled “Fear holding back online shopping,” which gave empirical evidence of a fact I had suspected. Twenty percent of potential online consumers said they don’t use shop online because they might put themselves at risk for identity theft or other dangers. Another 15 percent said they don’t trust online retailers enough to do business with them.
This topic goes right along with my eHarbor Blog entry on the disadvantages of ecommerce, such as consumers’ inability to touch products they see online like they can at shopping centers.
Just because technology has improved our ability to market to consumers doesn’t mean we will always reach them. Identity theft has become quite sophisticated and prevalent in our digital age, putting smart consumers on the lookout and retailers on the defensive.
We must earn our customers’ trust. How do we do this? Here are six suggestions:
- Include testimonials of satisfied customers who can vouch for your products and services. You might be surprised how willing happy customers are to speak highly of you on your website.
- Provide secure payment methods, using credible sources. I’m not going to advertise any here, but do a Google search and you’ll find a number of good ones.
- Tell customers the actions you take to preserve their security. Don’t assume they know all the trouble you go through to make sure they’re not improperly charged. You can include a prominent link to this section on the billing page.
- Make sure your customer service is top-notch. If your service staff is readily available, knowledgeable and helpful, you’ll be able to resolve problems and help customers develop confidence that you have their best interests at heart.
- Put a face on your website. People tend to feel more comfortable doing business with a person rather than a faceless organization. If you can put yourself or a spokesman out front to build credibility, you might be able to win over more customers.
- Keep your promises. If you make bold claims, make sure you can back them up with impressive actions. Words are good, but they must be built on the truth to foster trust.
Those are my suggestions on how to build trust. Don’t be afraid to take a chance and do something inventive to earn your customers’ confidence and, thus, their business. Consumers are holding back a lot of their money as they weather the recession, so you’ll need to be creative and forthright to win them over.
By the way, some good news from the BBC news article is that the amount of online shoppers who feel just as comfortable shopping online as at a store increased from 26 percent in 2006 to 54 percent in 2009. This is a welcome trend.
The photo of a credit card in a computer is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of garethjmsaunders.
Tags: article, BBC, customer service, Ecommerce, eHarbor, growth, internet, marketing, news, online, positive, study, trust, web
Posted in Ecommerce | 3 Comments »
Thursday, April 30th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
You might remember my blog posts on eHarbor, Inc.’s celebration of its successful start to 2009 with a showing of the movie “Knowing.” I’m pleased to say the good times keep coming, as the company recently announced its annual summer party on June 12-13, 2009.
That’s not to say that we’re celebrating all the time or that we’re focused solely on having fun. Our slogan for 2009 is “Swinging for the fence,” and we’re doing our best to live up to that ideal by working hard and giving our best effort.
Back to the eHarbor Summer Party, it is going to be fun. All eHarbor employees are invited to come enjoy camping, barbecue, an outdoor movie (I love movies!), golf tournament and some sort of water e-lympics.
These festivities will take place in Hobble Creek Canyon, near Springville, Utah.
The photo of a tiger playing with a ball is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Tambako the Jaguar. This is the second photo of a tiger I’ve included in the eHarbor Blog. I also included a photo of a lion with my blog post on making content king. I really like cats.
Tags: company, Ecommerce, eHarbor, event, flickr, Fun, growth, Knowing, marketing, movie, online, positive, slogan, success, utah, website
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | 1 Comment »
