As global food supplies continue to be stretched resulting in higher prices, UK consumers head online to make savings...

High streets around the UK are experiencing somewhat of a desertion by consumers who are increasingly cash strapped due to the continuing rise of household bills and motoring costs, not to mention a summer which hasn't particularly encouraged people outdoors. But as well as sheltering from the summer storms, consumers are opting to shop online as a convenient and cost-effective alternative.

The UK's online grocery market has experienced significant growth in recent years due to the proliferation of broadband internet throughout the country providing our homes with faster and more reliable internet connections. The recent increases in food prices have driven this even further with consumers not only looking to save on their grocery bill itself but also make savings at the petrol pumps.

Supermarkets themselves have invested heavily in this important sales channel recognising its vital role in their long term success. Consumer confidence in online security combined with product selection and home delivery satisfaction has helped to convert and retain their online customers.

Advancements in website design has led to shoppers being offered a shopping option that is more efficient and convenient than having to get in the car and endure the aisles and checkouts at their local store. Furthermore it allows retailers themselves to advertise their promotions and special offers with a great deal more effect and without the need for costly in-store promotional material.

It is not only the high street giants that are taking advantage of what the increasing online marketplace has to offer, but also independent retailers and suppliers, many of which are suffering particularly badly from the challenging economic climate. Businesses that have perhaps relied upon trade sales as their primary source of income are opening up online stores to increase sales and secure their future growth and development. Of these, organic food suppliers, confectioners and farm shops have been among the first to recognise the internet's ability to target customers directly and increase their brand awareness, helping them to establish and retain a loyal customer base.

Our attitudes and the way we interact with the internet has undoubtedly brought about significant changes in the way we shop and this is clearly reflected by the continual increase in online shopping. Already during the first half of this year UK consumers have spent £26.5 billion with internet retailers, up from £19.2 billion in the same period in 2007. Furthermore internet shopping is expected to account for between 30% and 50% of all retail sales within the next five years.

Figures from the IMRG (Interactive Media In Retail Group) Capgemini Index.
In association with www.foodinternational.net

The key to selling clothing and footwear successfully on the internet is customer experience. Website design limitations have up until quite recently meant that customers have often been provided with a poor and uninspiring experience when shopping for these kinds of products on the internet. However, recent advancements in website design and development driven largely by faster connection speeds has led to significant growth in online sales. Below are a handful of tips fundamental to selling clothing and footwear on the internet.

Product images

If there's one aspect of a website most likely to put people off buying it is a lack of quality product images. Astonishingly this fundamental part of an online retail website is also the one most often neglected by website owners. Selling clothing and footwear within a high street outlet is all about displaying the merchandise, and the internet should be no different. In truth it is even more crucial, as consumers are limited to simply viewing the products on offer as opposed to touching and wearing them.

Consumers access to increasingly faster broadband connections have provided online retailers with a host of new options to show off their products. These include the ability to add multiple high quality images, magnify images to show increased detail and even present interactive 3D views. Additional to these is the increasing use of product video clips.

Product Options

An important part of buying clothes and footwear is, of course, ensuring that you order the right size. Shoppers need to be led through the process of choosing all the right options, and website design plays a vital role in ensuring the customer has confidence they have selected exactly the right product. Without this they are likely to abandon the purchase. For example, if a garment is offered in a variety of colours it must be shown in all of those colours as opposed to showing just a colour swatch or simply offering a menu option. For the sale of shoes, size options should be shown in both UK and European sizes.

Add-ons

For many products sold online there often isn't much opportunity to sell many 'add-ons', but this is certainly not true of clothing and footwear. Accessories may include belts and handbags, jewellery or make-up, not to mention a whole new outfit. These add-on features are widely used on the most successful eCommerce websites to significantly increase sales.

In association with  www.fashioncapital.co.uk

There may be doom and gloom on our high streets due possibly to the worst summer any of us can remember, and combined with a pessimistic forecast for our economy, but for online clothing and footwear retailers there's been unbroken sunshine.

Within a number of sectors which include electrical goods and beer & wine, clothing and footwear has seen one of the highest levels of year-on-year online sales growth. Furthermore recent figures reveal that the bad weather appears to have driven this even further during the first half of this year, with clothing sales up by 32%, lingerie sales up 37% and footwear showing an increase of 38%.

For high street retailers the poor weather conditions have simply kept customers away, however these impressive online sales figures show that they appear to have ventured onto the internet as an alternative. This trend has been welcomed by online retailers, and is further supported by last year's figures when in July the country experienced torrential downpours. Again this led to a substantial 85% increase in online clothing and footwear sales totalling over £90 million during the third week of July 2007. 

Of course it’s not just the wonderful British summer that is driving this rapid online growth, but a combination of other influential factors. Improved access to faster broadband connections has been an important trigger to the recent explosion in online shopping, along with a rise in consumer confidence in online security driven by the banking industry and payment service providers.

Clothing and footwear sales have grown relatively slowly online due to the challenges of being able to offer consumers an experience that ultimately results in a purchase. Improved website technologies such as the ability to offer multiple images, magnifying tools and video clips to name but a few have all resulted in improved conversion rates for online retail websites encouraging retailers to diversify onto the internet. Young people are of course a key target audience for the clothing and footwear industry and this generation spends an increasing amount of time using the internet. Social networking sites such as Facebook work as effective organic marketing tools, and internet advertising itself can be particularly cost-effective due to its ability to accurately target customers and channel them right to the products they are looking for.

For those struggling with inconsistent high street performance the internet offers not only a viable additional sales channel but also offers the potential for long term growth. Online shopping accounted for 15% of all retail sales in the UK during 2007, and over the next five years this is expected to rise to between 30% and 50%.

Figures from the IMRG (Interactive Media In Retail Group) Capgemini Index.
In association with www.fashioncapital.co.uk

New research from the Advertising Association and The World Advertising Research Centre has highlighted the increasing importance advertisers are putting on the internet and its role in the future of their businesses.

2007 saw spending on online advertising surpass 3bn for the first time in the UK, accounting for a 16% share of the total advertising market. The research illustrates how this rapidly growing sector is taking priority from other traditional advertising formats such as magazines, newspapers and direct mail.

Press advertising is still the single largest sector with a 40% market share equating to 7.7bn worth of ad spend. However in contrast this sector saw a drop of 1.5% year-on-year in 2007 as opposed to online advertising which experienced an increase of 39.5%.

These shifts in the way advertisers are spending their valuable marketing budgets is undoubtedly a reflection of the continual increase in the online shopping industry, however they're also a reflection of how cost effective it is to promote your business on the internet compared with more traditional media.

So why choose online marketing?

Search engines such as Google are the driving forces behind today's internet, and they're designed and engineered with one thing in mind, to sell advertising. The main objective behind any advertising is to expose your business to the maximum amount of targeted consumers. Traditionally this has meant an ad in a magazine or newspaper, perhaps a billboard campaign or even a TV or radio campaign if your budget allows for it. However the main downfall with all these kinds of formats is that there still relatively inaccurate as regards targeting consumers, primarily those most likely to convert into actual paying customers.

With search engines the very principle to which they've been developed is what makes them such effective advertising platforms. By the simple fact that they revolve around consumers entering a search they give advertisers the unique opportunity to put there businesses right in front of those specifically searching for their products and services. Advertising rarely gets more targeted.

Marketing on the internet also has the added advantage that it can be measured and recorded particularly accurately compared to traditional marketing. You can literally track a customer from the advertisement to the point they exit your website, hopefully at your 'thankyou page' after they've made a purchase. Either way this ability to track and record results means that you can objectively alter and develop your online marketing campaigns quickly and efficiently helping to maximise your return on investment.

Of course the effectiveness of any kind of marketing relies upon the end product or service that you ultimately provide to the customer. If you advertise a free phone order line which never gets answered or fail to deliver products advertised as 'FREE Next Day Delivery' you'll probably deserve the return on investment that you'll get. Exactly the same applies with a website, potential customers should be able to find what they want easily, access the information they want to know whether it be product details or delivery information, and purchase with as little hassle as possible, all of which will encourage them not only to spend their money with you but also potentially return.

As we're all well aware there is usually more going on behind a successful marketing campaign than meets the eye. Technicalities behind what grammar engages consumers to act upon an advert for example is almost a science in itself. Equally ensuring that those who act upon your advertising are converted into paying customers whether via a website, by phone or other is crucial to being able to sustain your marketing and develop your business.

The prospect of marketing can seem overwhelming and undoubtedly internet marketing has its very own unique pitfalls. Google's Pay Per Click marketing for example, is in the right hands the most cost effective form of marketing available, equally it can be one of the most efficient ways of losing money very quickly indeed. So understanding the basics is your very first step, with this in mind it's well worth acquiring a degree of consultation on the subject before spending your marketing budget.

For more information on internet marketing and selling on the internet contact us today

As the internet evolves and permeates evermore into our daily lives and homes so does the continual issue of online security. If your business accepts payment cards then compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Standards (PCI DSS) applies to you.

Compliance with the PCI DSS standards has officially been compulsory since 2005, although up until now has been loosely enforced. As the issue of online security has repeatedly hit the headlines and internet retailers have been hit by a surge of online scams payment card providers have insisted upon even more stringent enforcement of these rules, hence the 30th June deadline.

PCI DSS compliance in short is a single security standard supported by the major credit and debit card providers including both Visa and Mastercard that works to put into place a variety of procedures within your business to safeguard cardholder data, such as the use of anti-virus and firewall software and the encryption of payment card data.

As well as online trading PCI DSS compliance also reaches the offline practices of the retail industry taking into consideration the access of cardholder data produced from conventional high street retailing procedures that produce paper trails as well as electronic records.

It has to be said that compliance with the PCI DSS standards has been slow to say the very least, influenced largely by the hesitancy of banks to pressure large retailers into compliance. Furthermore targeting the masses had little to gain for them until the time came that card issuers had implemented the standards among the large retailers. Now implemented among the likes of Amazon and Marks & Spencer banks are now applying pressure throughout the retail industry to comply with PCI DSS standards by the end of June.

Despite scepticism among its critics PCI DSS compliance is likely to be a swift affair throughout the industry. It's often crucial, particularly when trading online to keep up with the standards required of you if not for your customers perspective of your business as from a regulatory perspective. This said implementing is far from straight forward and likely to cause headaches for smaller companies due to the fact that compliance, although based on size is still the same for smaller companies as it is for the corporate giants... Luckily though there is a 70 page manual to read that covers everything you need to know!

For online trading PCI DSS compliance is a far more straight forward procedure and for high street retailers there is of course help and solutions readily available. Systems such as 'tokenization of card data' can be relatively easily implemented as part of compliance, this essentially results in not having to store the data which is at the heart of this regulation.

Whether or not the deadline for PCI DSS compliance is met it is of course a major step in the right direction for the improvement of both online and offline retailing as regards payment card security and as a result can only help to encourage our customers to do business with us. For more information on PCI DSS compliance and selling on the internet contact contact us today

As reported last month Sitemakers were off to this years Spring Fair at the NEC to stage a set of daily seminars about eCommerce. The seminars delivered without technical jargon were designed to highlight the essentials of retailing on the internet to those visiting the UK's largest retail exhibition

Sitemakers visit to the fair, one of the world’s largest retail buying events went down an absolute storm drawing capacity crowds of interested retailers eager to learn more about an area of their business experiencing rapid growth and development in the UK. Many were left watching the seminars presented by Sitemakers marketing director Nick Pratt and head of business development Ray Buckler on the big screens outside the Future Trends Stage where they were hosted.

Nick commented; “I'm not surprised by the interest in this subject, we are delighted to be able to help such a large number of Spring Fair visitors develop a plan to join the growing ranks of 21st century retailers.”

Sitemakers have produced a 32-page guide to 'Successful Online Trading' for retailers that was available to visitors attending this years Spring Fair, it covers all aspects of eCommerce that retail business owners and managers need to be considering when thinking of selling online, from choosing the right provider to successfully marketing a shopping website. Click here to get your FREE booklet.

Sitemakers themselves have invested heavily in the development of their own eCommerce services including a cutting edge eCommerce solution called LiquidShop that they continue to develop and improve with the help of retailers currently using the system. With an already enviable reputation for marketing businesses on the internet Sitemakers are proud to able to offer a truly full service to retailers looking to diversify onto the internet.

Who can blame this years Spring Fair visitors being curious about all the buzz around eCommerce and 'multichannel retailing', 2007 saw a massive 76% increase in online sales in the UK to £53.3 billion compared to £30.2 billion in 2006. Furthermore on current trends it's predicted that by 2009 15% of all shopping in the UK will be done on the internet.

Is 2008 the year for your business to go online?... If so for more information and advice on selling on the internet contact Tim Neal on 01458 253290.

So how can you get a slice of the pudding this year and drive targeted visitors actively looking for your products and services to your website. Below is our 3 Step Guide to Increasing Your Christmas Sales...

1. Pay Per Click Marketing

Pay Per Click or PPC marketing is arguably the most targeted and quickest form of channeling Internet users who are actively searching for your products and services to your website.

2. Optimise Your Website

To ensure that Pay Per Click marketing works to its maximum benefit your website needs to be effective at converting visitors into actual paying customers. With this in mind it's well worth investing in optimisation services. In fact any company (worth their fee) offering you Pay Per Click services should provide this service to you, whether it be as part of, or additional to the Pay Per Click marketing itself.

3. Track Your Online Progress

For any kind of coordinated marketing such as Pay Per Click it's absolutely crucial to track and record its progress. Christmas is a time when Internet professionals and website owners have the opportunity to gather a great deal of data as regards the usage of their website(s). This information not only highlights trends and provides information on visitor habits but can also highlight problems and failures in a website such as broken links.

Our recommendation:

Our, or rather my own dependence on the Internet was highlighted recently as I took an unscheduled pitstop...

For so many UK retailers December is usually the busiest month. But there is always an exception! Geoff Shickle, Director of Shickle Shoes, who has had a retail shoe shop in the High Street in Burnham-on-Sea since 1966, has just seen his company's sales for November leap to more than double last year's figures.

Geoff Shickle, clearly delighted by the boost in business explained:

"The seasonal rush has certainly started early this year. Much of our business has stemmed from footwear4you.co.uk - our online company - maybe our Internet customers have just been looking to beat the Christmas post. But I reckon the cold weather has motivated some as certain brands of boots have been the clear winners in the last couple of weeks."

"In terms of developing our business footwear4you.co.uk has been like opening another shop, but the positive impact on overall numbers has been beyond our wildest expectations. After only 18 months our online sales are regularly outpacing those from the high street. In the last few weeks, aside from our UK customers, we've taken new orders from Argentina, China, Cyprus, Iceland and Israel - also from all over Europe. We don't pretend to be a John Lewis or an M&S, but it seems that we are experiencing the same online business boost."

For more informtion about online retail and to arrange a demonstration phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us

For most of us, particularly in the retail industry Christmas is our busiest time of year, in 2006 Christmas sales on the Internet soared by almost 50% over the festive period seeing UK consumers spend over £5 billion.

This trend is set to continue even further this year with consumers migrating onto the Internet in their droves intensified by the rapid expansion of broadband coverage and the demand for greater choice and value for money.

So how can you get a slice of the pudding this year and drive targeted visitors actively looking for your products and services to your website. Below is our three-step guide to increasing your Christmas sales:

1) Pay Per Click Marketing

Pay Per Click or PPC marketing is arguably the most targeted and quickest form of channeling Internet users who are actively searching for your products and services to your website.

It works quite simply by triggering adverts to appear alongside the organic search results when we enter our search words and phrases into a search engine like Google. A cost per click is associated with the keywords and phrases and every time a Pay Per Click advert is clicked upon the advertiser pays the going rate.

Crucially what Pay Per Click provides is the opportunity for businesses to achieve and maintain top search engine results and effectively target potential customers.

2) Optimise Your Website

To ensure that Pay Per Click marketing works to its maximum benefit your website needs to be effective at converting visitors into actual paying customers. With this in mind it's well worth investing in optimisation services. In fact any company (worth their fee) offering you Pay Per Click services should provide this service to you, whether it be as part of, or additional to the Pay Per Click marketing itself.

3) Track Your Online Progress

For any kind of coordinated marketing such as Pay Per Click it's absolutely crucial to track and record its progress. Christmas is a time when Internet professionals and website owners have the opportunity to gather a great deal of data as regards the usage of their website(s). This information not only highlights trends and provides information on visitor habits but can also highlight problems and failures in a website such as broken links.

Our recommendation:

There are any number of statistics packages available to us these days, but one, Google Analytics, is fast becoming an industry standard and due to its comprehensive and flexible offerings it lends itself to websites of virtually any size and complexity. For more information on setting up Google Analytics for your website call 01458 253290.

For those businesses new to Internet marketing this 3 Step Guide provides the ideal introduction. In its nature Pay Per Click marketing is flexible, not only in the way it's able to target customers but also the amount of financial investment an advertiser chooses to put into it.

For more information on how to maximise this years online Christmas sales phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us

In 1996 when the Internet was still in its infancy, around 4.6 million users had online access in the UK. Over the past 10 years the rate of online activity has seen a steady increase with an audience of around 37.8 million today, nearly 63% of the UK population. 73% of Internet users have been online for 3 or more years which is now far more representative of the UK population as a whole.

Broadband

DSL broadband is available to 85% of UK homes and businesses and 41% of homes now have broadband using more than 4 million broadband connections. 56% of Internet users are now going online everyday and as people become more web savvy, they are visiting an increasing variety of websites covering a broader range of activities. Whilst the Internet increases its reach, diverse surfing habits mean that it is a highly effective medium for targeting niche audiences.

Broadband users are far more active online, spending twice as long online as narrowband users and viewing 3.5 times as many web pages. The profile of broadband users shows similar skews to those seen in the early years of Internet adoption. This will become more reflective of the total population as broadband usage continues.

Media Usage

People are spending as much time online as they do listening to the radio and twice as much time as they spend reading newspapers and magazines. Online is a great way to reach audiences in the middle of the day. The internet is having a significant influence on people's consumption of traditional media. Whilst online and radio form a strong synergy, other media are losing out as people spend more time surfing the web. Surfers find the internet to be a peerless aid when looking for information and trying to get things done. Online advertising is more effective if seen in the right context as audiences say they prefer advertising that relates to a website's content, thus paying more attention to it.

eCommerce

Websites where people can buy products and services are the most popular destinations. Online information plays a crucial role in people's decision making process. The Internet is a valuable resource to consumers when researching products and services and is often more trusted than other sources. 74% of users believe using a credit card online is 'safe' with the average user spending £627 in the last 6 months. 47% have a household income between £25k and £50k. 41% are aged between 18 and 35. 46% have been online for over 5 years. 38% have shopped online more than ten times in the past six months.

Christmas Shopping

More and more people are shopping online, spending more money and making bigger purchases.

Shoppers spent almost £5bn online in the UK to the lead up to Christmas 2005, up from £3.3bn the previous year. Spending online is expected to reach £8bn over the run-up to Christmas 2006. In comparison, overall retail sales rose by just 4% year on year in December. There can no longer be any doubt that the internet is a major part of the retail landscape, and that it will dominate the retail agenda for the future.

150 Million Users online in Europe

Germany and UK continue to lead the market in terms of total audience connected, with 76 million users between them. High growth rates continue among most countries for 'at home' user population. People connected are also spending increasing amounts of time online. With the trend in social networking websites taking a hold in recent months these trends are set to continue.

For more informtion about online retail and to arrange a demonstration phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us

Sitemakers continually research the internet in order to identify new opportunities for our clients and to keep right up-to-date with current trends and technologies. As a progressive design and development company with an in-house website management and marketing team we place particular attention on providing websites that work for business.

Our formula of combining website design with search engine marketing lends itself to achieving success on the Internet. The requirement to integrate search engine optimisation and marketing with the practical design and development of a website is becoming increasingly more essential for businesses looking to expand and generate income through e-commerce or to stimulate tangible business enquiries via the Internet.

Two innovative website design platforms

During the past nine months Sitemakers has developed two innovative website design platforms, LiquidWeb for regular websites and Liquidshop for e-commerce ; both systems offering a robust user-friendly content management system (CMS). As CMS platforms they allow owners to easily maintain the content of their website using advanced features, including the facility to edit, add or delete content quickly and conveniently without incurring additional maintenance costs.

The launch of these two CMS platforms sees an exciting development for the Sitemakers' Website Management Team who have been closely involved at all stages. In addition to creating a stable platform for new and different web browsers, the needs of website marketing and promotion has been foremost in their development, with search engine optimisation tools built in and search engine friendly design techniques used throughout. Research and data from our client portfolio and respected studies on Internet user behavior have been considered in the design and development of both systems.

Moving in synchronisation with the Internet is fundamental to the success of businesses online; this involves an immense amount of time, research, investigation and experience. Above all else, it requires the obligation to acclimatise to changes in the Internet arena involving regular updates across the Internet. The past twelve months has seen a run of extremely significant changes that have changed the way businesses market and promote their websites and, most notably, how Sitemakers designs and develops them.

LiquidWeb and Liquidshop enable Sitemakers to adapt seemlessly to the rapidly changing Internet matrix. They are the next generation in Sitemakers' development, websites that can be continually developed depending on Internet and customer demands, websites that are cost-effective and easily updated, that have marketing and promotion firmly embedded in their foundations and websites that provide effective solutions for your business.

For further information about our LiquidWeb and Liquidshop website design platforms and to arrange a demonstration phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us

Christmas 2006 has highlighted the increasing importance of the internet to business development, e-commerce websites themselves are the most popular destinations for internet users.

Online retail on the Internet continues to grow

It was far from a bonanza as regards overall sales figures, however competition for sales was firmly won by the Internet. Trading figures show a formidable increase over the festive period of more than 40% for sales taken online from the previous year, this is compared to a gain of just 2.5% from actual high street sales.

Tesco reported an increase of 30% in online sales and John Lewis reported a massive 60% increase in sales compared to a gain of 10.8% in their high street department stores. These are the businesses that have embraced e-commerce and are successfully taking advantage of a shift from our traditional reservations about online security and increasingly casual attitudes towards the internet and the way we interact with it.

Be a part of the online retail revolution

E-commerce is seeing a revolution and taking your business onto the internet can bring great benefits to its long term future. Competition for a first row seat and effective e-commerce website is stiff, Sitemakers have been hard at work developing our own e-commerce system, Liquidshop. Developed to the highest standards it has internet marketing and functionality firmly at the forefront of its development offering our clients a full service e-commerce solution for the successful development of their business on the internet.

The rapid spread of broadband, integration of internet aware digital television and the ever increasing sophistication in mobile communication technology is meaning that accessing the internet has never been easier. The need to establish your brand is crucial to taking full advantage of these growing technologies and changing consumer trends.

The new age of social networking

The way that we interact with the Internet is also rapidly evolving. Sites such as Facebook MySpace YouTube Flickr and del.icio.us along with tools like Google Desktop offer an insight into the future of the internet.

Social networking itself and how it can be successfully utilised effectively has been well documented in the past year, it came to our particular attention as a result of bringing great fame and fortune to a little known music band from the north after they were propelled to number one in the music charts as a direct result of interest through the net. This may seem trivial at first but the simple fact that the viral nature of social networking where word of mouth itself and the like minded share information about their particular interests or subjects can have such an influence on a brand is particularly noteworthy.

Social networking is about the proliferation of information, more than anything its about the proliferation of information to people who want it. As opposed to pushing information about products and services you want consumers to know about it allows those who are actually interested in them to find it. Like good product placement Social Networking appears effortless in helping to increase your brand awareness online.

Social networking sees a shift in the power on the internet, consumers themselves have more control of what they choose to see and many of the advancements in search engine technology and browsers that we use to surf the net on is working to ally itself with these trends.

Sitemakers website marketing team are busy looking into these trends and how best to utilize them in increasing brand awareness on the internet. For more informtion about online retail and to arrange a demonstration phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us

This week saw mobile phone operators, manufactures and commentators alike converge on Barcelona for the 3GSM World Congress, all to get excited about the latest innovations in the mobile phone industry. The latest 'buzz word' being banded about is 'convergance'.

What is convergance?

Convergance quite simply means the combining of several technologies within your mobile phone; notably television, PDAs (personal digital assistant) or personal organizers to most of us, and music players. Having cracked the internet; mobile phone operators and manufacturers are keen to offer television and personal computer functionality on the go!

But does it work, and what does it mean for mobile phone users and our businesses?

Slingbox over your mobile phone

With the use of yet another 'clever little box' called 'Slingbox' placed upon the mountain of hardware that you probably already have accompanying your television, you will be able to access channels straight from your television using the Internet. Slingbox technology itself isn't new, however the software that enables us to utilize it through our mobile phones is. You will be able to watch your favourite TV programmes anywhere you want to; whilst driving to and from work, operating heavy machinery or perhaps skydiving.

Other developments in convergance

Convergance will also enable us to access our home or office PCs via software called 'Orb'. We will be able to browse through documents and pictures, listen to our favourite music, check our e-mail and access files on our PC's hard drives. It will put the office firmly at our fingertips whereever we are, with no compromise.

Instant messenger applications such as MSN and Yahoo will also be made available straight through your mobile phone. Skype, the software that enables cheap international calls to traditional phones and free calls using the internet to other Skype users can also be taken advantage of.

For businesses, convergance in mobile phone technologies is a very exciting prospect; it opens up additional advertising opportunities. Businesses will be able to advertise their products and services, perhaps with special offers direct to the customers pounding the streets right outside. GPS software built into most new mobile phones will be utilized to target customers more effectively than ever before.

Targeted 'Pay Per Call' advertising

These advancements go hand in hand with the progression of Pay Per Call advertising on the internet where traditional Pay Per Click advertising is altered so that customers can contact advertisers by phone. This advertising can be utilized by those with or without websites and can be tracked as normal Pay Per Click advertising to determine its effectiveness. The process as a mobile phone user would be very simple:

1. I would search for a business, perhaps a restaurant on my mobile phone

2. Local restaurants would be displayed to me, the closest geographically to me at the top

3. I would click on an advert and it would ring the restaurant directly for me to make a reservation

This kind of advertising is about as targeted as it gets and as such potentially very cost effective. There are of course many other possibilities. Television advertising could work similarly where advertising breaks would only include TV adverts of local businesses and these adverts would change as you moved about the country. A possibility for low cost TV advertising for small businesses?

At Sitemakers we keep up to date and track of current trends and habits to identify possible opportunities where we can further promote your businesses. For more information phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us

New legislation: S.I. 2006 No. 3429 The Companies (Registrar, Languages and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2006 came into force on 1 January 2007. It amends the Companies Act 1985.

Under Regulation 6 and Schedules 1 and 2 a company must state in legible lettering on its business stationery, whether in hard copy, electronic or any other form including all its websites:

• Full company name
• Place of registration
• Registered company number
• Address of registered office
• If applicable whether it is being wound up

Whenever an email is used where its paper equivalent would be caught by the stationery requirements then that email is also subject to the requirements. The above also applies to Limited Liability Partnerships.

Please supply Sitemakers with this information so we may update your websites content, if you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to contact Tim Neal on 01458 253290.

UPDATE: from January 2007 Newsletter on 'TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGANCE'

Last month we talked about the impact that 'Technological Convergance' is having in the mobile phone industry, specifically referring to the development in mobile television and mobile web which is seeing a revolution in direct advertising to the consumer.

This week saw The Online Publishers Association release an international study of how consumers are utilizing content and advertising on the mobile web. The study finds that the mobile platform is becoming an effective source for content and marketing opportunities because of strong growth and development in the mobile phone industry and that consumers themselves are paying more attention to advertising on the mobile web.

The study found that 76% of all consumers in the US and Western Europe have access to the internet on their mobile phones and or PDA's (personal digital assistant) and one third, 32% of them actively use it. The UK in fact leads the way with 54% followed by the US and Italy both coming in at 41%.

Online Advertising Spending Hits $4.8 Billion in the last quarter of 2006

Online advertising revenues continued to grow at a staggering rate in the last quarter of 2006, reaching nearly $4.8 billion dollars, according to The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and its independent research partner PricewaterhouseCoopers. As the highest reported figures for the quarter, up by 32% from the same quarter in 2005 the report illustrates the ever increasing importance of Online Advertising services such as Google's Pay Per Click search marketing to online retailers.

As well as major marketers investing more into online advertising much of the growth has been from smaller businesses realising the potential the internet has to increase their brand awareness and work cost effectively for them as a direct marketing and sales tools for their products and services. Many of these smaller businesses originally moved online to use websites such as eBay, now more and more of them are developing websites of their own and investing in online advertising such as Pay Per Click.

For more informtion Sitemakers services and to arrange a demonstration of LiquidShop phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us

Jakob Nielsen is a controversial (self proclaimed) leading authority on software and web-design usability.

He earned a Ph.D. in User Interface Design and Computer Science from the Technical University of Denmark. In 1991, when the Web was new, Nielsen correctly predicted that 'hypertext' was the future of user interface design and wrote a comprehensive book about it. He still regularly publishes research on web usability.Below are simplified findings recently published by Nielsen aimed at increasing sales and customer loyalty on websites.

1) E-mail Newsletters

Email newsletters work as the perfect companion to your existing website, enabling you to maintain customer relationships beyond their visits to your website, keep customers and business partners informed and in touch with your business.

If you do not publish a newsletter then publishing one is probably the single highest ROI (Return On Investment) action you can take to improve your presence on the internet. Additionally they also liberate your website from dependence on search engines.

2) Informative Product Pages

The product pages on eCommerce websites in particular suffer from information deficit. It's rare to see a product description that tells prospective customers everything they need or want to know in order for them to make a purchasing decision.

Do not assume customers will e-mail or pick up the phone to find out a detail about a product that isn't specified on your website. They are likely shopping online for speed and convenience so their unlikely to this, rather click straight and go to another website, just like you or I do!

Maximise content and prioritise it, meaning present the essential or the most appealing stuff first.

3) High-Quality Photography

One of the simplest ways to improve product pages and maximise sales is to show really good photographs. For product photos on eCommerce websites show a main photo, the one that representatives the product best with a selection of several additional photos that can be enlarged showing close-ups and different angles.

It cannot be stressed enough how crucial the quality of your product photos are in making your website a success or not. Remember on the internet no-one can touch or smell your product so the photos are more often than not the single most persuasive medium that will sell them.

4) Product Differentiation and Comparisons

Your website must work hard to alleviate user fears about buying the wrong product, or they'll likely delay or decline purchasing from you. If you have multiple products in the same category for example you must explain product differences so clearly that it's obvious to people without industry expertise why they should buy one product over the others.

5) Simplified Text

Better writing is probably the single most important improvement you can make to your website, however it often appears fairly far down the list because it's not a one-time fix. Effective website copywriting is a combination of minimising industry jargon as not to put off prospective customers and search engine optimisation.

Sitemakers Website Management team work hard to continually research internet development, keep up to date with trends and habits and maximise traffic to your website. For more informtion phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us

Venturing onto the Internet for many businesses is a very daunting prospect, but with Internet shopping increasing at a phenomenal rate it is fast becoming a necessity.

The importance of research and planning

As a manager working for a website design and marketing company I regularly see businesses quite unprepared when considering a website, businesses who need only to carry out some basic 'market research' to determine the most important aspects involved in developing a successful website.

Most, I think would agree that if you were considering opening a new shop in a different town you would indeed invest in a degree of market research or at least have some finding to support such a business development. A website should be treated with the same level of importance, if not more. As a marketplace the Internet will access the largest concentration of consumers anywhere in the world, quite possibly making this business development your most significant.

Questions and considerations that need to be addressed are very simple, for example who's your target market and are they likely to use a website? What's the competition and why are they successful on the Internet? How will you drive business to your new website when it goes live?

There are of course many other questions, considerations and information you need to think about in order to plan for a new website, but these are certainly the most vital you should be asking way before approaching a website design company. In fact unless these questions are answered the chances are your website will not be 100% right and therefore its long term future will be put under unnecessary pressure.

From my experience, market research is certainly the most neglected aspect when businesses are looking at diversifying onto the Internet. Naturally it's not for me to discourage people, after all our industry in particular is the first to benefit from the increasing trends in online shopping. However it is in our interest to see that those who do take the information super highway make a success of it. It is from long term success that results in strong working relationships and continuing investment.

Remember, the Internet doesn't work in the same way as the 'real world'

The Internet is of course a minefield and often immensely complicated and confusing for those with little or no experience. Often business practices have to be adjusted, varied and even re-considered on the web to take into account consumer behaviour as well as the search engine environment that drives the Internet.

This said it is far from being rocket science, despite what many will lead you to believe and the same core principles are applied online as they are in any other business. One of the most common misconceptions I regularly experience from talking to people is that many still assume once a new website is set free on the world wide web that anyone and everyone will see it.

This could not be further from the truth, and in some respects somewhat short-sighted. As for any business unless you tell people about it through effective marketing and promotion they are very unlikely to know about it, this is no different on the Internet. Unfortunately a lack of effective Internet marketing and promotion results in the large proportion of websites becoming lost investments. Again this can be avoided, knowing that there will be ongoing marketing costs as well as the initial website investment before you get in too deep is a reality. Beware, many website companies may try to avoid mentioning this at the initial stages to secure design work!

Realising your aspirations

So what can you do to ensure that your Internet aspirations are realised. Firstly be sure of exactly what you want from your website, it's simply not enough to decide your business needs a website because everyone else has one, particularly if you're looking at investing in ecommerce. Get a second or third opinion, preferably one outside your business and one with a degree of Internet knowledge.

As for choosing a website company it's well recommended to approach an Internet company that not only offers website design but also website marketing and management services. Look for a company who can demonstrate long term relationships with businesses they have helped get onto the Internet. And avoid anyone who says that they will submit you to Google!

For more information and advice on diversifying onto the Internet phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us

Unless your business has an internationally recognised brand, gaining customer confidence through your website can be extremely tricky and time consuming.

The importance of customer testimonials

There's a multitude of elements to get right before anyone browsing your website will be converted into a paying customer, and ensuring the information that customers want and need to see to gain their trust is key to doing this. Authentic testimonials in particular are very powerful endorsements of your products and services and can increase online credibility significantly if applied correctly. There are three major reasons to use testimonials on your website and also on any other marketing tools for your business.

1. They help to build a strong bond of trust with visitors to your website
2. Improved credibility of your company by demonstrating an existing and satisfied customer base
3. They demonstrate your success.

This article will quickly show you how to get testimonials from your customers, what information to use and where on your website testimonials should be displayed. There are two types of testimonials, solicited and unsolicited, both are equally as important but the latter is far more rewarding. You will attain more testimonials by being as proactive as possible, whether you're face-to-face or on the phone to your customers always ask for a testimonial, if you don't ask you won't get.

Send your customers a thank you email after an enquiry or sale and provide a link from this to a concise online customer satisfaction survey. With all testimonials you should always get permission before adding them to your website as they should at least be accompanied by a name and business reference.

Choosing the right testimonials

Choosing the right testimonials is absolutely essential if you want to gain customer confidence and increase sales from potential customers. You want specific examples that talk about the return on investment, how reliable and dependable your company has been, what kind of response time you show, that you'll always be there for after-sale support, that you understand their business needs, and that you work within their budget and time constraints.

These are all aspects that will help to convert website visitors into actual paying customers. When selecting snippets for display on your website try to select snippets from testimonials that outline the definable benefits, like "Thank you, your product has made my job far easier..." or "Wonderclean halved the time it took to clean my kitchen...". Avoid using testimonials that simply read 'Thank you, your product was great' or 'Had a great time, I will be back next year'. Use a couple of sentences for the snippets and if you want to display more, link to the full testimonial on a separate page.

The best position for testimonials

Everyone displays their testimonies in different areas of their website to suit their content and layout. The home page of your website being the most viewed of any page is the most important therefore be sure to use the very best and influential testimonials here. If you have testimonials that relate to specific products or services make sure you include them on the exact pages they refer to, better still ensure a direct 'call to action' is displayed on this page, i.e. 'Buy Now' or 'Click here to register' in order to maximise the impact of the testimonials on your visitors.

As you are probably aware using testimonials on websites are not the only aspects that can help improve your credibility and profitability, but they an efficient and cost effective tool often overlooked by business owners. Furthermore using testimonials is a strategy that can be applied very easily, collecting them can be simple, either from an online form or easier still by asking your customers directly. For more information on how to use testimonials and more about effective internet marketing for your business phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us

A recent study by the Office of Fair Trading predicts that online retail spend will increase from £14 billion to £29 billion over the next 5 years; this equates to a shift from 5% to almost 10% of all retail transactions.

This increase is largely due to technological improvements & greater broadband take-up, a wider range of devices with internet access (such as TVs, media centres and mobile phones) and improved consumer awareness and social acceptance of internet transactions.

Also, convenience, variety and ease of price comparisons are making internet shopping more attractive to consumers than traditional shopping mediums. In addition, internet shopping is not restricted to a small number of transactions. The influential IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) predicts that the average web shopper will spend £1,615.00 during 2007, generating 860 million deliveries in the UK. This illustrates the increasing frequency and value of internet purchases.

The strong evidence is that if customers are not able to buy from your website you are losing the opportunity to capitalise on this trend and, worse still, consumers could be buying from an alternative supplier.

Learn Essential Tips for Trading Online

If you are planning to start selling online, or you already do, then a seminar being held in Taunton in October will help you to maximize your success. Retail on the Web - Essential Tips for Trading Online brings together an expert panel of industry professionals each offering practical tips that you can put to use immediately within your business. A series of energy-packed briefings will cover key aspects of making the internet a successful trading place for your business - helping you to gain a real advantage over your competitors.

Free from jargon and hype, this practical seminar delivers the facts to business owners, and provides the knowledge that will enable you to make your own informed decisions about trading online. The panel of experts will help you to discover the benefits and avoid the pitfalls of developing an online business.

There will be an opportunity to win some excellent prizes in a charity raffle, all the proceeds
of which will be donated to BIBIC, the South West based Brain Injured Children's charity. Details of the Charity's work can be found at www.bibic.org.uk

The Event was held at The Tacchi Morris Centre in Taunton from 6pm - 9pm on Tuesday 30th October. For more information on future events please go to www.retailontheweb.co.uk or phone us on 01458 253290 or contact us