Website Marketing Strategies

A recent poll by National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) shows that security questions cause a loss of sales for online retailers.

More than 63 percent of the people that were polled, said that they didn’t complete online transactions because of concerns over the security protocols of the website. Several reasons were given as to why they chose not to complete the purchase:

• 62% simply were not sure the site was secure.
• 46% were worried about providing the information requested.
• 41% said the site requested more information than necessary for the transaction.
• 32% said it wasn’t clear about how the site would use personal information

The responses given in this poll offer some good insight into what the general public is looking for.  First and foremost, make sure there is obvious “secure site” logos throughout your website, especially on product and information gathering pages.  Second, keep it simple – don’t request more information than necessary, don’t ask them to opt in/out of a newsletter, don’t ask for feedback.  Above all, be sure and tell you audience that their information will not be sold, leased or shared in any form outside of your direct company.

{ read the full report }

Bottom line, use a little common sense – fraud is on the rise and people are concerned – do everything you can to eliminate those concerns but most of all, don’t misuse trusted information.

Trevor Walter is senior marketing director and vice president of Freelance Marketing Group www.trevorwalter.com :: www.fmgconsultants.com

Google Product Search, formally known as Google Base, is still run by the same product distribution technology known as Google Base but is know rebranded and incorporated into the Google Search Results as “Shopping Results”.

* see example: do a search for ipod covers in Google – you should see a “Shopping Results for ipod covers” section on the first page. These results come from Google Product Search.

So, What’s the big deal about Google Product Search?

During the month of November 2008, Google reported 11.8 million unique visitors had used Google Product Search. Those numbers are up 786% from the same period in 2007 – that is an amazing increase in web users.

Why the jump in visitors? Because Google finally started using their own technology. Google Product Search has been around for a long time but was always a flop for customers until Google included it in their standard keyword results at Google.com. This inclusion is all part of the new and revised Universal Search technology that drives Google.

So, What Does This Mean For Your Website?

Well, if you sell any type or amount of products, you can add them to Google Product Search for free. That’s right, this is a free tool and there are two easy ways to upload your products – the first being a single upload of one product at a time. Or, you can create and upload a data feed, which will let you put hundreds or thousands of products online quickly.

This is not the end-all, be-all solution to selling more products online but it certainly will give you a better chance attracting customers.

Check Out: Google Product Search

If you need some assistance with this program, give me a call or drop me an email and I can give you more details and help you get setup with this program.