You started your dream job twenty years ago. Over the years you’ve been responsible for key changes and advancements in the company. Management sees you as truly dedicated and you’ve worked your way up to a six figure salary.

You’ve tucked away some money for your kids’ college, but also didn’t pass on the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of your labor. So, this past year, you had that in-ground pool installed, upgraded to a nice, but not too pricey, sports car and picked up annual passes to Disney to put smiles on your childrens’ faces.

You’re living comfortably, even though the bulk of the money you’ve saved is earmarked toward college tuition.

This morning, you wake up, hop in your new car, hitting the local cafe before heading into work. You pull into the company lot, and head for the front door.

But… it’s locked.

There are no lights on, and few cars parked. You and a handful of your coworkers stand outside, wondering what’s going on. Then, your boss pulls up, and gives you the bad news. The company is now closed. Not due to the economy or failing product line, but rather, because he was so intrigued by what the Internet had to offer he decided to take all that hard work you and everyone else has done and offer up the product plans online… for free. After all, information wants to be free, no?

Sound absurd? Perhaps, but those downloading illegal music, movies, books and software are creating a very similar impact. You know who else is? The rest of us.

When did we become a society that thinks others should be offering up their hard work for free outside of charitable contributions? When did it become okay for someone to give up their dream job to put food on the table when that dream job, within all legal limits, would pay the bills?

More importantly, when did we become so expectant and accepting of others’ notion of getting things for free that we made “freemium” a primary focus of our own business models?

It doesn’t matter how (or exactly when) this all started. What matters is what we do with the information we’ve amassed, often at great costs.

How much money does someone who provides a wealth of free content really make selling premium goods? The answer: Not nearly as much as he could.

We’ve taken the traditional “sample taste” and “try before you buy” and turned it into “sample how easy it is to tie all the pieces together and learn my entire business model.” Think that’s an overstatement? For some, maybe, but for most, there’s so much time spent giving “tidbits” away that it’s difficult to keep track of what you actually gave. And if you are holding back (likely not nearly enough), someone else is there to fill the void.

The worst thing about “free” is it totally devalues everything we’ve done thus far. I don’t know about you, but my education was not free. The time I’ve spent researching, analyzing and strategizing came at great cost.

John Jantsch made some pretty bold statements about “information wants to be free” at the AmEx Open Forums. (Read: 5 Reasons Free is Hurting Us All)

When content is consistently given away it loses its value–not only for the producer, but also in the eyes of the content consumer.

- John Jantsch

John’s right. It’s time we step back and rethink things. If that means experiencing a slow season while we re-educate users, we can only benefit in the long run.

I’ve read many articles on this topic, along with comments by those who say we must provide valuable goods, services or knowledge for free in order to attract a bigger clientele or new customers. I’ve heard the arguments that say we need to give and give and give in order to build our lists. And I call foul.

To those who really think all this free content is necessary to bring real people through the door, I can only ask, “Whatever happened to the testimonial?”

With all the advances in technology, one element of business hasn’t changed: the power of “word of mouth” advertising. Therein lies the possibilities of real success. After all, if people aren’t talking about you, even the free content you’re offering is worth just that: zilch.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2011/05/19.
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Post tags: conversion, freemium, marketing, Mistakes That Kill, social media

The server is the last line of defense at eateries. Unfortunately, either many managers aren’t enforcing the rule, or the staff just doesn’t care, because I’ve lost count how many times I’ve asked for something to be left off my plate–only for it to be served anyway. (It’s common for them to roll their eyes and lay all the blame on the cook. That’s a shame, and they only get away with it because they aren’t punished for their own mistakes via poorer tips. But I digress…)

If you want the rewards, you have to ensure people get what they've ordered.

Savvy social media users (especially on Twitter and LinkedIn) are less forgiving when it comes to being fed bad information. Useless and inappropriate content isn’t what they ordered when they clicked the follow button, so it’s up to you to ensure they’re receiving the star treatment.

If you want to build and maintain a good reputation, you have to share with care. That is, know what you’re posting and tell others why they need to give it a read. This can be time consuming, because no matter how much you trust anyone, you should be reading articles and blog posts before retweeting links.

Responses like, “OMG, that’s not what I thought it was…” and “I can’t believe he tweeted that…” are excuses only for laziness and disrespect. It tells us that you’re passing information in a sealed envelope, yet you still stamped URGENT on the front.

Expecting (or hoping) others read what you haven’t taken time to read yourself makes you look like a fool. It makes people wonder if you’re actually a bot, or worse, if your account has been compromised (which, by the way, could happen to any accounts you follow).

If you want to be a key tweeter/poster in your field, follow the rules of service:

• Always retweet for a reason.
• Read references (click the link) to make sure the content you’re sharing is appropriate for your followers.
• Tell your followers why you’re retweeting content, even if only to say you love someone’s idea.
• If you don’t agree with the original article but still want to retweet the link, tell your followers why. (You could include a brief rebuttal).

In short, you need to be the ideal server – the last line of defense. Cooks, along with those you follow, make mistakes. It’s your job to cover their behinds. All that matters, really, is that folks are happy with their experience. Ignore the rules and people will react accordingly – most likely by clicking the unfollow button.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2011/04/15.
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Post tags: marketing, Mistakes That Kill, social media

Via LinkedIn, Marvin Powell, a Small Business Growth Consultant,  sought answers to the less often-asked question: “What are the  biggest mistakes that you find small business leaders make when using  social media?”

Last week Business Insider posted the top 15 mistakes in its War Room section. Participating in the discussion, I learned immensely  from others’ detailed comments, which ranged from ridiculous  self-promotion to inconsistency.

Business Insider combed through and selected a core 15, but any  business (and person) could benefit from reading the entire LinkedIn Q&A, which garnered more than 75 responses.

How about you? Care to share some of your own faux pas? Or, at the  least, share with us an online embarrassment you witnessed?

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2011/03/16.
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The checkout page(s) are your last chance to seal the deal and complete a sale. The process itself can make or break the transaction. Confused shoppers may contact you for assistance, but they account for a small percentage of people who have difficulties. The majority of shoppers encountering checkout problems will simply abandon shopping carts and look elsewhere.

Read the full article at Practical eCommerce

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2011/02/24.
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Post tags: conversion, Ecommerce, Mistakes That Kill, practical ecommerce, shopability, usability

The apps—UberTwitter and Twitroyd (for Blackberry and Android, respectively)—were among hundreds of Twitter applications that are pulled each day. While Twitter’s explanation at their own site is rather vague, the company told Mashable that the violations include “changing the content of users’ Tweets in order to make money”.

While content altering is something users would undoubtedly take issue with, even more disconcerting is Twitter’s statement that, “…on an average day we turn off more than one hundred services that violate our API rules of the road.” And, no doubt, privacy is part of Twitter’s developer policy.

Only allow trusted sites, services and apps to connect to your social media accounts.

Millions of web pages feature ways to share content via Twitter, including sites that use their own methods of connecting users to the social site. It’s similar to how brands and services connect users to Facebook, requiring the user to click a button that approves the application in order to gain access to their accounts.

My point is simple… think before you share through third-party tools. When it comes to spreading the word via Twitter, Facebook and other sites, most of these tools are there to “dummy proof” the process. Twitter and Facebook have their own official scripts which any web site can use to promote content sharing. Look for these official methods, and research third-party apps to determine if they can be trusted.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2011/02/19.
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Post tags: facebook, privacy, security, twitter

Why would you give away the keys to your business?

I’ll start by saying this. If you use a weak password and take little to no effort to protect it, you deserve to be hacked, raked over the coals and shunned. Simply put, passwords are meant to protect everything about us, our customers and the business as a whole. If you don’t care enough to protect customer data, why should customers care enough about your company to pull out their wallets?

For the sake of safety and security, here’s some DOs and DON’Ts to keep in mind when it comes to password creation and storage.

DO

• Use strong passwords. Passwords should be at least 8 characters and contain at least one number. Stronger passwords include letters, numbers and a special character, as well as a mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters.
• Use encryption methods to store passwords. Consider reputable software that “explodes” data if the master password is entered incorrectly after a specific number of tries.
• Use a unique, non-identifying master password. You shouldn’t use pet names, children’s names, birthdays or other common terms in any password. The master password on storage software needs to be so unique no one you know could guess it.
• Create and enter passwords only over secure connections.
• Use different passwords for different sites. You shouldn’t use your banking password, for example, for accessing forums.
• Change passwords frequently. I know there are arguments against this, but, the fact is, the action of keeping passwords fresh reinforces the need to keep them secure.

DON’T

• Store passwords in the browser. One only needs access to the computer to gain access to everything else. Auto-completion of logins and passwords is an easy way for employees to gain access to sensitive information, including PayPal and bank accounts.
• Share your password. If you must provide someone else access to an account, either create a separate user, or change the password  to something totally different. When the third-party access is no longer needed, change the password again.
• Save emails that include passwords. Since email itself, by default, is insecure, you’re better off logging into a site and changing the default password. Then delete the password email.
• Use common password reminder questions. Using questions that require simple answers (your maiden name, your home town, your birthdate, etc) makes it easier for others to hack your account.

Finally, you should maintain a list (sans passwords) of accounts that are password-protected, and maintain it as new ones are created. Should your data ever be compromised, use the list to quickly access accounts and change both password and secret question criteria. Remember, you can never go wrong by keeping your security tight and up to date.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2011/02/16.
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Post tags: Ecommerce, security

On October 6, clothing company Gap unveiled a new corporate logo. It was ill-received by their critics and customer base (not to mention thousands of designers), leading the company to invite the public to propose alternate logo designs. A new wave of negative comments followed, harshly criticizing Gap for its intent to utilize crowdsourcing efforts to come up with their new logo. In the end, Gap nixed the entire project, returning to the logo they’ve used for more than two decades.

What went wrong? Quite a bit… and as a result, Gap’s definitely lost some loyalists over the ordeal.

Customers and designers shunned Gap for selecting a logo so basic and unoriginal.

The first public outcry was over the new logo itself. Many argued it was entirely too simple – Likening it to a design which a 5-year-old could have come up with. Others argued that the original Gap logo was timeless, while the new one was restrictive. The modern aspect of it would be limiting. Gap itself argued it’s blue box logo is outdated, having been used for twenty years.

Then, Gap jumped on the crowdsourcing bandwagon, inviting designers to submit ideas.

Crowdsourcing is a means by which companies and individuals invite others – anyone, actually  – to design logos, create original illustrations, design book covers, etc. It’s widely used by startups and smaller businesses to help cut costs and select designs from a large number of freelancers. The lucky designer can receive a nice chunk of change, while all other entrants receive nothing.

On its Facebook page, Gap posted:

“We know this logo created a lot of buzz and we’re thrilled to see passionate debates unfolding! So much so we’re asking you to share your designs. We love our version, but we’d like to… see other ideas. Stay tuned for details in the next few days on this crowd sourcing project.”

This is when Gap truly got slaughtered. Thousands more designers and a number of firms jumped on the “shame on Gap” bandwagon, accusing the company of expecting designers and loyal customers to provide ideas and design work for free.

In the end, Gap scrapped the entire project, reverting to it’s blue box logo. But the damage had already been done. People are still talking about the company’s efforts to get free input, while charging top dollar for its clothing lines.

What can small business owners learn from the Gap fiasco? Several things the Gap powers-that-be should have already known.

• You need to understand your customers and why they’re loyal. If you’re not sure why? Ask them.
• Your logo helps brand everything about the company. People identify with logos, which is why so many successful companies have been careful to only make small changes and not “shock” consumers.
• Focus groups are a necessity. If that means selecting some key customers and soliciting their feedback, so be it. I’m willing to bet that had Gap done this, the company would have realized just how ill-advised changing their logo was.

Argue all you want about experts and their advice, the only people who truly matter are the customers – they speak for the masses. If customers tell you it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.

Any business – large or small – needs to bridge the gap between the company’s key decision makers and the people who pay the bills. Ignore the ones paying the salaries, and you’re bound to make a fatal misstep. By involving your customers in potential changes, the chances of making this type of mistake decrease dramatically.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2010/10/18.
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Post tags: branding, customer feedback, marketing, Mistakes That Kill

When it comes to business, maintaining records – including store product images and descriptions – is key in the event of unexpected server woes. Backups are also necessary. But, what if you accidentally delete a necessary file?

Upon first noticing a missing document (or other file), fret not. Most of the time the file is still recoverable. Here’s how to find what you fear may be lost:

The first place to look for deleted files is in the trash or recycle bin.

1. Check the Trash or Recycle Bin. On both Macs and PCs, when you delete a file it goes here first (unless the file is way too large for the bin, in which case you’d have been prompted to confirm you wanted to permanently delete it. To recover a file from the trash or recycle bin, simply drag it back to the desktop.
2. Look on the backup drive. If you back your system up regularly (and you should), this process is usually as simple as connecting the drive to the computer and browsing or searching for the file. If you backup your system to the cloud, good cloud services allow you to search not only by file name, but content as well.
3. Check incoming or sent email. Was the file emailed to you? Did you email it to someone else? If you archive your incoming and sent emails, a copy of the file should still be there. If not, and it isn’t too embarrassing, you can always ask the original sender or recipient to send you a copy.
4. Check the server. If the data was previously placed on the server (for review or public display), and you have access to the server (via File Transfer Protocol or some other means) it’s easy to connect and re-download.
5. Check the site cache. If it’s a graphics file, and it was previously live on a web site, check Google’s page caching. If the file is still on the server, a cached page may point you to the exact location. Cached pages are also useful in locating previously published textual content.
6. Run recovery software. There are several free and pay-for recovery programs and any reputable one will likely locate the deleted file as long as it’s not corrupt. Note, however, the best way to recover a file is to restore it to a new folder, and not to the original location.
7. Call in a pro. If nothing else works and recovery of the file is dire, bring in a professional.

While there’s no guarantee that any type of file is recoverable, the majority of actions you perform on your system – especially on a PC – can be undone. The key is to take action as soon as you discover the document or file is missing. Also, it’s wise to always review the files in the trash or recycle bin before confirming their permanent removal. Double checking never hurts.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2010/10/07.
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Post tags: Ecommerce, maintenance, Mistakes That Kill, troubleshooting

You may be eager to update your online store to use the latest technology. By doing so, however, you just might be crippling your customer base.

With all the latest and greatest Web features, browsers are constantly needing to be updated to keep pace. The problem with that, though, is that online shoppers might not be ready for these new bells and whistles. Keep this in mind when introducing new technology to your website.

Earlier this year, one online store upgraded the site’s JavaScript functionality, rendering previous versions of Internet Explorer useless. Shoppers are now prompted with a message to upgrade their browsers. While the site is stellar in its design and offerings, I can only imagine how many sales are being lost because of the upgrade requirement.

Recent stats for an online store show that more than half its visitors run some flavor of Internet Explorer. Of that, 8.6% still run IE 6, and just over 23% run IE 7. That's nearly 1/3 of IE users running outdated versions...

Just as requiring Flash installation back when it wasn’t a standard impeded the shopping experience, requiring an upgrade that could take more than – well, any amount of time, really – is a good way to lose business to competitors.

Laugh all you want, but I still strive to make websites function with IE6 – because stats for many clients show that a decent percentage of shoppers are still running the older browser, especially those overseas. While certain graphic formats, such as PNG, may render a bit differently, the core experience is retained. Sure, I’m working at phasing out IE6 configurations on new site launches, but only because there are security elements required for stores to pass PA-DSS compliancy tests. Still, any online store should be able to render properly at least two versions back on most browsers.

Then, there’s accessibility software, such as JAWS, utilized by the blind and visually impaired. Yes, I know it’s personal (my husband can’t see a thing and uses screenreading software on his laptop), but you need to recognize that there are millions of blind and low-vision folks surfing the web. Wouldn’t it be great if those customers didn’t have to rely on family or someone sighted because they can’t shop your store for a gift for their wife or children? As more and more sites are configured not to run in previous browser versions, the more sites there are which Joe cannot navigate. Whenever this happens, it requires a major upgrade in the screen reading software (and trust me, it isn’t cheap). All this, because some sites (and not techie ones) think it’s necessary to use the same functionality as, say, a financial institution.

Online shoppers, like the rest of us, don’t like fixing what isn’t broken. Ask around, and you’ll find most of them hate being forced to upgrade or install software just to reach a web site when a good portion of the others they visit load just fine. Not all newer site designs are going to look stellar in 3-year-old environments, but they should still be shopable.

Keep in mind that many computer users run what was already installed on the system the day they brought it home. Unless someone they know presses them to upgrade, they often leave the system as it was configured from the factory. So, if that means forgoing some “sleek” updates, which can, most of the time, be done by other means anyway, then so be it. Bash Amazon all you want, but that site loads in a wide variety of versions of browsers.

By the way, as I type this, I’m struggling to start an online chat with big tech company. Apparently none of the browsers I’m running are the right flavor. Guess I gotta pick up the phone…

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2010/10/04.
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Post tags: browsers, Ecommerce, Technology, web design

A few months back an online marketing company was called out for plagiarism quite publicly. The company had copied textual content – verbatim – from a competitor and posted it as their self-generated description of service offerings.

Lifting content - even just portions - from other web sites - is not only illegal and unethical, it can also land you in hot water across social media networks.

When this happens, victims really have few options:

1. Contact the offender privately and hope he/she removes the offending content.
2. Hire legal counsel and seek remedy from the courts.
3. Let social media take care of it.

The CEO of the plagiarized company opted to go the social media route, blogging about the issue and tweeting a link to the offending content. That’s all it took. Within minutes, dozens of the CEO’s followers blasted the info out to the masses. Soon enough, it wound up in my Twitter feed.

NOTE: I’m withholding identity of both companies because the issue has since been dealt with and there’s no need to re-stir the pot in their professional corners.

Content theft is nothing new. Caching and search engine feedback shows that many companies not only use others’ content, but thousands of “professional” web sites feature a great amount of textual content that is either lifted from other sites, or comes from stock content.

Do you recognize this descriptive?

A verifiable online presence has become indispensable for every company – to lead its competition and to secure a dominant position in the industry.

Sounds professional, right? But original it is not. If you run a Google search on that exact phrase you’ll find that more than 1,600 web pages use it as a means to woo potential clients.

There’s two important lessons here that apply to small business owners:

1. You need to research companies before working with them, and that includes checking their content. You’d be amazed how many service sites describe themselves using business speak 101 copied right out of a book.
2. You need to understand what’s acceptable to actually copy from other sites and resources.

Here’s a few things to keep in mind:

• Manufacturers descriptions are often provided for use on web pages. Check the terms. If it’s stock content, it’s okay to post these. I still recommend, however, that you get creative and expand on those.
• While you may be tempted to use stock content for other pages, don’t. It only takes one person to realize this is what you’ve done and point it out publicly, making you look less professional.
• Many business resource sites provide template content sections like privacy policies and terms of service. Use them only as a guide. While it may be legal for you to simply copy and paste them, these templates are rarely tailored to your particular audience and many times lack key elements you need to address. They’re also, quite often, difficult to understand.
• Original content injected with personal flair (e.g. content that talks “with” visitors rather than “at” them) will garner better results.
• Every piece of writing needs to match the “flavor” of your site and convey the personality of your company.

In the case of the offending company above, word has it an intern lifted content from across several sites, and the owner found dozens of pages that violated the copyright of others. While the owner took action (intern gone, content changed), there’s one critical point remaining:

It matters not who posted the content. The liability lies with the site owner. The powers-that-be should always review any content before it is posted publicly. Many times, the writing style itself is a dead giveaway, but most “copied” content can be validated with a simple online search. There’s no guarantee such a scenario won’t happen to you – and no guarantee one of your own isn’t bending the rules. Still, a  little attention to detail can significantly decrease the chances of your company being embarrassed in front of the public.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2010/09/29.
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Post tags: Ecommerce, marketing, Mistakes That Kill