Data processing and storage power rapidly emerge as key drivers for contemporary business success. The 6 sigma quality culture of today’s world has little room for complacency. Customers are unsparing of long response times and sloppy action to fix breakdowns. The market is fiercely competitive and offers easy and numerous options. Switching, not waiting is the order of the day! You must have your own dedicated server and keep it where expensive security infrastructure can be shared. Read the rest of this entry »

The explosion of online commerce presents new opportunities and challenges for both the web merchant and the web thief.  The special properties of the Internet, including the anonymity, reach and speed it affords, make it an especially tempting place to do business as a thief.  All merchants, online or off, must take steps to prevent fraud from happening to them, but merchants online must be more vigilant.  This guide will show you how your online presence can and why it should include risk management and fraud prevention tactics.
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When you’re trying to go online with your business, the most confusing part comes when you have to decide how to receive money once your customers have decided to buy.

Merchant accounts, gateways, shopping carts, security issues, authorization services, third-party verification, SSL…the list of things to consider is staggering.  This is a brief outline of how you can throw out your shingle on the Internet and the options you have for receiving money.

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In order for a business website to be successful, it must have a constant flow of traffic.  You can have the best product or service in the world, but if people do not find your website and do not know it exists, the website will not be a success.  You can pay for website traffic.  There are services that offer  “guaranteed targeted traffic”.  However if you purchase this traffic you will almost always be disappointed.  While you sometimes will see an increase in traffic, you will not often see many (if any) new sales.   You can market your website more effectively without even spending any money.

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I have been studying, applying, and giving advice on Internet marketing for quite some time now (years, even).  I’m amazed at how much there is to know and how often this technology changes!  Lately, I’ve been wondering about images and their role in search engine marketing.

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How do you go about sending email or marketing yourself online without crossing into the “SPAMmer” category?  First and foremost, KNOW WHO YOU ARE SENDING YOUR EMAIL TO.  You don’t have to be familiar with each recipient personally, but you’d better know whether or not they really want to hear what you have to offer.  Always keep that in mind when sending an email to anyone, especially if it’s an email meant to market your product or service.

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There are two ways of dealing with information, commonly asked questions, and other repetitive communications via email.  They both can be called an “Auto Response System” even though they aren’t both automatic.  The first is to answer each email individually by either re-typing the message each time or by cut-and-pasting it from a list or file.  The second is an automatic system that sends out emails as soon as a customer requests that information.  Both of these systems have advantages depending on how they’re used.

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Google AdSense is an advertising program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text and image advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on a per-click basis. Google utilizes its search technology to serve ads based on website content, the user’s geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google’s targeted ad system may sign up through AdWords. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the ads are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the ads is often relevant to the website.

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Contextual advertising is the term applied to advertisements appearing on websites which ads are served by automated systems based on the content of the page.

MSN AdCenter was the first major contextual advertising program. It worked by providing webmasters with JavaScript code that, when inserted into web pages, called up relevant advertisements from the MSN inventory of advertisers. The relevance was calculated by a separate MSN bot that indexed the content of the page.

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Cost Per Impression is a phrase often used in online advertising and marketing related to web traffic. It is used for measuring the worth and cost of a specific e-marketing campaign. This technique is applied with web banners, text links, e-mail spam, and opt-in e-mail advertising. (Although opt-in e-mail advertising is more commonly charged on a CPA basis.)

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