A.  Well, duh!  They Twitter about it.

I arrived at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pa. last Thursday to be with my family– my little sister was having a baby.  After hugs of course, the first thing I did was send out a message on Twitter, or a ‘tweet.’

Is at Lehigh Valley Hospital with my family - little sis just had her baby
4:31 PM Mar 19th from twitterrific

A little while later, I was going through Twitteriffic on my iphone and saw a reply.

At first I wasn’t sure who sent that– thought it was a new follower.  Then,  I looked again.  Wow!  That’s the hospital logo!  The hospital marketing team was up to speed, even updating from their own mobile phone.  I replied to them that it was cool they were on Twitter, and they replied to me once again, welcoming the new member of our family. They must be using a service like TweetBeep (like a Google Alert for tweets) to be pinged when someone mentions the hospital, which again, is a great tool to see who is talking about you on Twitter.

Thought that was pretty darn cool that the hospital was into Twittering, and in tune with their hospital patients and visitors.  When I got home, I looked up the hospital website, and prominently displayed on their homepage is their invitation for people to follow them on Twitter.  They pledge that they will send updates (tweets) about healthcare news, etc.

I had heard in the news of surgeons Twittering during surgery and such, but for a whole medical organization to be in tune with the latest in social media is just awesome.  This proves that Twitter is not just a tool to tell people what you are doing at any given moment- but it can be used successfully, too for engaging people, for communication, for promotions, for inspiration and so much more.

It’s no wonder I couldn’t see.  I’ve been having trouble driving.  My eyes are perpetually dry.  My eyes get red pretty easily.  My prescription has changed dramatically, especially in my right eye, plus I have a world of other problems having to do with wearing contacts too much.  I am told that since my eyes rarely get a break from the contacts, and therefore are not getting air, otherwise unnecessary blood vessels formed in my eye to bring blood– and oxygen- to the eye.  In fact, she actually gasped when she lifted up my eyelid! This is bad news.  The doctor said I need to make a change in my habits immediately before I end up losing my sight.  I feel like a new person now with my new prescription and I am seeing things clearly on my drive to Solid Cactus each day that I haven’t seen in a while.

What does this have to do with e-commerce?  Well, I’ll tell you.  You could be overdue for an appointment at checking out the health of your website.  I knew I had issues with my eye because I could not see clearly.  However, “under the hood” was even worse.  The problems I didn’t know about were more detrimental to my health– and practically invisible to me.  I needed a professional to get in there, check me out and in this case, scare me into not sleeping in my contacts.  In the case of e-commerce, it could be time for some changes to the guts of your site.

The past month or so, I have been writing a lot about redesigns, on the blog, in the forum and in the eBiz Insider. But many times, it’s more about what you can see on the surface.  It’s about what you can’t see that can cause problems.  What’s on the other side of your site?  What’s under the lid?

(Tip:  Site Evaluation from Solid Cactus looks under the lid.)

Regardless of what your politics are, you can’t ignore the fact the Barack Obama’s campaign was a success due to it’s viral nature- social media, e-mail, etc.

Capitalizing (and no pun intended…) on that fact, as I just noted there is now a Director of New Media whose job it is is to keep Americans informed, mostly by way of a blog.   This is a new leaf for America, really.  We can be in the know all the time.

If the White House is committing to this strategy, then every e-commerce business should be as well.  (After all, we in e-commerce should kind of be setting the bar for the rest of the Internet uers because it’s our bread and butter.)  How are you communicating and networking with your new and potential customer base?  How are you utilizing all the tools available to promote your brand and business?  Just something to think about!

And by the way, do you see the banner sequence feature the even new WhiteHouse.gov has?  Even our new president, or at least his seasoned Internet staff, see the power of this feature– a similar feature that Solid Cactus now proudly offers with its Flash Sequence Banner!

In the meantime, let’s reflect back to my eBiz article from last year, New Year’s Resolutions for 2008– With an E-commerce Spin. Although the article is dated from last year, it really still pertains to today!  Check it out.

#1
- It’s the most wonderful time of the year,
- Our prices are low and,
- We’ll help your sales grow,
- You’ll get a site that’s premier.

- It’s the most wonderful time of the year,
- So plan now for 09,
- And just sign up online,
- More sales will be here.

#2
- Oh the sales in stores are frightful,
- But E-Commerce is delightful,
- So definitely now’s the time,
- To redesign, redesign, redesign.

$$$$$$$$$$ HAPPY HOLIDAYS $$$$$$$$$$

The verdict is not yet in for the 2008 Holiday Shopping Season.  So far, according to Internet Retailer, E-Commerce is not only surviving but thriving in these tough economic times.   Please see the following links

http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=28720

http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=28702

http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=28711

http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=28721

http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=28655

http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=28672

Savvy business owners who are marketing their sites, using shipping promotions and adding conversion rich features are increasing sales and market share.

So the question remains, how are you going to drive sales and revenue for 2009?  The answer is to call the experts at Solid Cactus (888-361-9814) for sound advice on how to optimize your site for the New Year.  We’ll discuss strategies on how to drive more traffic, convert those shoppers into buyers and increase your average order size.  Additionally we’re running special promotions with up to 30% off on a new site design or redesign of your existing site as another way to help your bottom line.  So what are you waiting for, give us a call before your competition does.  Happy Holiday selling and here’s to a great 2009 from the Staff at Solid Cactus !!!!

During the day, as the sounds of Metallica, Pantera, Lamb of God, Into Eternity, Iced Earth and Megadeth poured over the sound system, it was revealed that not everyone at the SC is a Liquid Metal fan.  Some put their ipod earbuds in and played their own playlist, while others immersed themselves in work to drown out the screams.  And of course, you could tell who the metal heads were as they were extra energized and jammed all day.

How does this pertain to e-commerce?  Sometimes you have to let your personal tastes aside for the greater good of your business. In our case, it was a fun contest that boosted morale.  Of course when the prize was awarded, not everyone was thrilled– but you can be darned that the next time we have something like this, others will try just as hard to win control of the music and perhaps put on Elvis Radio, Cosmo Love Talk Radio, Old Skool R&B or Maragaritaville Radio.

When it comes to web design, many clients I speak with have a certain vision for their site.  But, sometimes these visions include things that do not meet best practices in e-commerce- and I have to break it to them. Some examples would be someone wanting too much flash, which is not good for SEO– someone wanting a very dark site, which may not be appealing to the e-commerce shopper’s eye– or someone wanting something crazy done with their navigation or the item page laid out a certain way.  Others, and I wrote about this in a blog post in October about scary e-commerce practices, may like the old school look of animated .gifs and other older design practices. That’s why it’s crucial to have someone in your corner who may tell you something you don’t want to hear, but something you need to hear to create a successful online store.

When you work with a seasoned web designer, like the award-winning SC team, you get expert advice about how an e-commerce site should be designed, real helpful information from people are not only creative and artistic, but also study industry trends.  Working personally with a designer will allow them to capture your mission, vision and brand while at the same time not letting you make design mistakes that could lose you customers.  Sometimes you have to step outside that bubble and be objective and open-minded.

Rock on.  -DT

To learn more about this widget, I dug up the site where it is offered:  http://www.snap.com/

And, WordPress has a tutorial on how to use it:  http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/snap-shots-

for-wordpressorg/faq/.

Here is how it looks:

We hear time and time again that “content is king” when it comes to getting great natural search results.  Of course, SEO is a service that Solid Cactus offers, but I figured that I’d share this with the masses incase you, as an e-commerce business owner, want to learn more about writing for the web.

MediaBistro.com is a wildy popular and reputable company in the publishing world and I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed if you enroll in one of their sessions!

Happy writing!!

A websites’ role in small business: 53% of small businesses with websites say their sites are primarily to provide company credibility; 49% use it to generate sales; 38% brand awareness; 33% generate leads; 29% it provides a critical building block for developing the products and services they sell.  –Interland, September 2005

The particular day we were working on our outline, I brought up a recent experience that I plan on using in the presentation.  I moved two months ago, and with being so busy at Solid Cactus, I just haven’t purchased a new washer and dryer- one of the only perks at my former pad.  After two freaky trips to the laundromat, I plotted to finally get new appliances.  My first step?  Research prices!

I try so hard when I do the brick and mortar thing, to shop local.  Here in the Wilkes-Barre area we have a few local appliance stores.  Their hours often don’t coincide with my work hours for browsing- I found this out one day when I ventured to one at 7:02 p.m.  I tried to peek into the window to see price tags, but no luck.  I returned home and did a web search for both places I wanted to check out- no website!!  Not even an informational site to post hours.

Even if these appliance places did not want to sell online, they should have a website for the other above reasons Internetland’s stats suggested. I could have seen the sales they were having, the brands they sell, perhaps in-store pricing, maybe hours of operation.  Had I been compelled by their offerings, I could have made arrangements to go to the local store to make my purchase.

The bottom line is- I was LOOKING for information at my local stores and couldn’t find anything.  From not being online, they missed out on a sale.  I still wanted to make the purchase in person- I just did not have the time to comparison shop all over the Greater Wilkes-Barre Area.

What did I do?  I comparison shopped online at all the chain stores with locations in my area and then visited in person the place with the best price/service.  I felt guilty not buying from the local guy, but it came down to the ease of research and the convenience factor.

Many, many people- probably millions- like to check out a store’s website before heading out.  Think about how many times you were deciding where to go for lunch or dinner and you pulled up the website to check out the menu before going?

Informational sites, and of course, e-commerce sites can be a profitable complement to a brick and mortar store.  And hey, if these local guys jump on board the bandwagon, they could very well get my next major purchase- a television.  Yep.  Still need one of those, too.