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Jan 27 |
Social Media - Free Cheat Sheet
Posted by Jamie - on 27 January 2012 02:07 PM
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Social Media is changing the world  Nowadays whenever I see a billboard advert, pick up a leaflet or watch TV (let alone visit websites) I see some kind of Social Media reference being used to help increase brand awareness, whether it be "Find us on Facebook", "Follow us on Twitter" or read via our "Scan Tag".
Social Media is rapidly becoming a key way of marketing your business both online and offline and for that reason, more and more companies (especially small businesses) are realising the benefits of using Social Media tools. » Free Social Media Cheat Sheet The following cheat sheet from those nice folks at Flowtown and Column Five Media, takes a look at both the pros and cons of each Social Media channel giving you advice on how to get started and letting you know the size of audience that you’re reaching today. By using this information wisely, your business can reach out to a larger audience to help increase its brand awareness and of course increase sales.
» Connect your website to social media
It's so simple to get your Zen cart connected with a number of Social media channels. To start, we recommend the ADDTHIS module which sits on your website and allows your customers to click the "like" or "Tweet" button which updates their own facebook or twitter page telling all their friends and family about your website and products.
Note: You do not need to set up a Facebook or Twitter page to use this mod - of course if you do, then even better, as you can then add the Facebook or Twitter call to action buttons to help increase your followers. By giving us the nod (call us or visit our Social Media ZenCart pages) we will install everything you need to take on the world of Social Media, then let your customers do the work for you! Wishing you all the best in 2012 - remember we are only a phone call away to help! Kind regards,
JSWeb - Helping You Build a Successful eCommerce Business. Read more » | |
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Jan 1 |
What's on your 'Must-Do' list for 2012?
Posted by Jamie - on 01 January 2012 04:27 PM
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Happy New 'Zen Cart' Year! With online sales increasing year after year, 2012 should be an interesting year and we hope it brings success to all our Zen Cart clients who are actively selling online.
» The release of Zen Cart 1.5 2011 finished with positive news (thanks to the hard work of the Zen Cart Core Team) with the first official release of Zen Cart v1.5.0. The new release includes numerous system changes to support PA-DSS compliance certification aims (you can read more about this at http://www.paymentsapi.com/2010/07/what-is-padss-compliance/). This includes
There is also now a strict time-out period in admin of 15 minutes if no activity; for most operations, this shouldn't be a problem, but if you are using the define_pages_editor, EZpages, writing an email or newsletter and don't SAVE changes within that 15 minutes, then your work may well be lost. Do contact us if you need your Zen Cart Website Upgraded >> » 2012 is the time to Review and Refine
As you well know, a retailer's job is a busy one, managing the day-to-day operations alongside planning new promotions and sales.
In addition there is a need to be aware of customer trends and to keep up the search for new products which will help your business to stand out from the crowd. And of course, there is the added dimension that comes with the operation of your eCommerce Zen Cart website!
In 2011 we were often asked to provide a detailed SITE REVIEW of a website to help work out why it was not obtaining its anticipated sales income. This process involves analysing the website design, usability, checkout process and admin functionality including what essential add-ons may be missing (such as Google Merchant Feed and Recover Abandoned Carts). We then report this back to the client to help them make the right decisions to enhance the site.
One immediate problem we find over and over again relates to the website's overall look'n'feel which is either dated, plain and unappealing on the eye, or has not been enhanced to meet the functionality now expected by users who visit, try to browse and quickly leave!
Did you know....
75% of web users make judgements on the credibility of a company based on its website design! (
68% of online shoppers agree that they would distrust a site that has an unprofessional appearance
60% The average shopping basket abandonment rate!
The canny buyers will decide rapidly (within the first 8 seconds on arrival at your site, be that homepage or product page) how good a website looks, feels and navigates before continuing to spend time there.
More importatantly, they will expect it to offer the latest features that they see on other sites when searching and buying from the Internet.
If your website's design is bland or doesn't align with the major players (ASOS, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Amazon etc) then there is a very good chance it will be missing key new design usability features and is seen as disappointing to your visitors - so why would they stay?
» So out with the old and in with the new Let’s face it - the standard Zen Cart Template Design is not very appealing, if you are still using it, NOW is the time to enhance it! Our Zen Cart design team are here to change that and based on eCommerce design trends (how your competitors are moving forwards) we aim to give your website a fresh look that will make it stand out from the crowd to help increase your sales! Contact us today!
Visit our portfolio of Zen Cart and CMS websites we have built.
As for user experience needs, here are just a few Zen Cart modules which we deem as being a must and typically include within all new designs we produce.
» 1. mCommerce compatibility
Over 10 million people bought retail items online via their mobiles in 2010 (a projection of doubling in 2011). All the mail retailers have an mCommerce site e.g. Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, Argos etc
John Lewis "surprised" by surge in mcommerce sales "Mobile has reached a scale now where all retailers have to take it seriously," said Jonathon Brown, head of online selling for John Lewis. "Customer behaviour has changed. The transaction volume we've had in the last few days has surprised all of us."
Without mCommerce you are limiting access to the growing market of smartphones and tablet users. Find out more about mCommerce at http://www.jsweb.co.uk/zen-cart-modules/mcommerce/jsweb-zen-cart-mcommerce » 2. Product Carousel Scrollers
Having a Product Scroller on your Zen Cart website homepage (or even on all pages) will allow your visitors to quickly scroll through larger selections of products on the page with ease - reducing the clicks and time spend waiting for pages to be loaded Example scrollers include:
» 3. Drop Down Menus
Drop Down menus allow your consumers to quickly navigate across your site from any page.
There are two different Drop Down types available.
Here is an example of the Section Category Drop Down menu:
» 4. Banner Swapper Banner Swapper allows you to make the most of your website's (Homepage) advertising space!
» Finally, the fitness test
Now that 20% of all UK retail sales are happening on the Internet, there is no excuse for leaving your eCommerce website to run itself. Just as you would always have a staff member in a retail store, the same applies to your online store! Yes there is some clever coding embedded in good ecommerce sites (and we are here to help make that happen for you!) which takes away the repetitive tasks such as deciding what to do when a product is nearing out of stock, but this does not replace an individual retailer's knowledge and experience to just know what works and why. When possible, you need to set aside time each day when you review the homepage of your site, the most popular and visible products and sections, and tune the content based on your retailer experise coupled with looking at your sales, recovering abandoned carts and checking site statisitcs. Of course this means that you must have the ability to make these adjustments immediately. Good ecommerce platforms like Zen Cart provide a content managment system that gives you the ability to amend, preview and enact changes instantly. If this is not the case, the amendments to your website require a third party supplier (like ourselves who specialise in Zen Cart). If you currently dont have a good Content Management System and a support team available then it's time to look for a replacement! We wish you all the best in 2012 - remember we are only a phone call away to help! Kind regards,
JSWeb - Helping You Build a Successful eCommerce Business. Zen Cart eCommerce Read more » | |
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Jan 1 |
Ireland's VAT Increase 2012
Posted by Jamie - on 01 January 2012 02:16 PM
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» Ireland's VAT rise is a 'Kick in teeth for firms' "This VAT increase will inevitably affect shopping patterns and will undoubtedly cause further job losses in an already distressed retail sector, particularly in the early part of 2012" said Michael McGrath, Fianna Fail's finance spokesman. The VAT hike is one of a number of tax increases and expenditure cuts announced in Budget 2012 aimed at saving the State €3.8 billion. Consumers are, by necessity for the most part, more price-sensitive than ever before. This is resulting in more and more customers shopping online ordering from eCommerce stores who are offering the most competitive price (be that within Ireland or from around Europe) If this VAT increase is affecting your ZenCart store, then you will need to adjust the VAT rate. This can be done as follows:
Note: If you wish to keep your gross prices the same, then you will need to make adjustments to all your products. If you wish, JSWeb can do this for you a fee of €90+vat » Tips to prevent a loss in sales A number of eCommerce stores - such as CURRYS and ARGOS - are absorbing the VAT increase in order to encourage their customers to saty with them rather than shop elsewhere.
ARGOS
You can easily promote a similar "VAT Freeze" by using the Zen Cart Banner Manager module to add banners like this from your control panel with ease! ------------------ If you need any support, please do not hesitate to get in touch Kind regards
JSWeb - Helping You Build a Successful eCommerce Business. Zen Cart eCommerce Read more » | |
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Dec 16 |
Christmas Wishes from the JSWeb Team
Posted by Jamie - on 16 December 2011 06:26 PM
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Dear All, Before you get flooded with all your Christmas cards, gifts (and of course great food!) the JSWeb team would like to Wish you (and your business team) a great CHRISTMAS and a Prosperous New Year! The JSWeb team have recently grown to a team of ten strong, to bring you even better service in 2012! A select few of us decided to get dressed up and have a dance (Jamie, Lee, Tomek, Pawel and Rick)
Onwards and Upwards to you and your business for 2012 ! Our Christmas opening times:
Kind regards,
JSWeb - Helping You Build a Successful eCommerce Business. Zen Cart eCommerce Read more » | |
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Nov 20 |
Visual Searching
Posted by Jamie - on 20 November 2011 01:34 PM
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The killer feature of the web for the past decade has undoubtedly been the ability to search One giant that does this very well is of course Google with many people now just using the phrase “Google it” rather than using the word "search". So what’s new with Google that may help you increase your Zen Cart traffic? Well a big shift in the way people search is underway as search engines, with Google at the forefront, begin to recognise that pictures can be worth a thousand words in their search results. » Search Engine Preview. The biggest shift yet is Google's recent announcement of Instant Previews which allows people to see a preview of the website in the right-hand column next to the search result.
This provides a graphical overview of a search result and highlights the most relevant sections, making finding the right page similar to flipping through a magazine. The results from Google preliminary research is that already, users are 5% more likely to be satisfied with the results they click – and that is just the start as people being to learn about this function and use the feature more and more.
Try it yourself:
» Zen Cart Design Search The importance of your Zen Cart Design now plays a huge role in the number of visitors you gain from the search engines. If your Zen Cart Design doesn’t look appealing at the search engine level, then start saying goodbye to even receiving a click through to your site! This is why it's so important to be be thinking about giving your Zen Cart Design a much needed make over! A new enhanced look'n'feel that will not only help set your Zen Cart website apart from your competition but ultimately impress your site visitors and convert more sales! The JSWeb Zen Cart Design Team providing Zen Cart Template design services to enhance the look'n'feel of your site. Visit our Design Page and Zen Cart Portfolio to view more http://www.jsweb.co.uk/website-designs Kind regards,
JSWeb - Helping You Build a Successful eCommerce Business. Zen Cart eCommerce Read more » | |
A number of budgetary measures take effect from 1 January 2012, including the 2% increase in the standard VAT rate which came into effect at midnight.
