eCommerce & Web Solutions Newsletter

Importance of Websites & eCommerce...

When high street trading gets tough, the importance of having a good website and eCommerce site cannot be over emphasised. Early statistics indicate that although high street sales are slowing down as the country slips into recession, web sales are holding up well.

It is thought that consumers and businesses are turning to the Internet to seek out best value for their purchases. Even if you don't have products you can sell online, more and more people are doing their initial research online for all kinds of services, so you still need a good website to get onto their shortlist.

So if you have a strong online presence you may be better positioned to weather the recession than those companies that don't.

If you are not making the most of the web, then contact us
to see how we can help.
 

Better Targeted, More Cost Effective Advertising

How would you like to pay for adverts just when someone reads them? Better still, how about if you only pay for an advert when someone comes into your shop as a result of seeing the advert?

Well, that is how online advertising works if you advertise using a Pay-per-Click system such as Google Adwords or Yahoo. You only pay when someone click on your advert and goes to your website for more information.

When you are searching for information and products on the web there is nothing worse than clicking a promising link only to find that it takes you to the company's home page with no obvious way to get to the information that you are really after.  

However, setting up separate landing pages for each advert means that you can provide the exact information on that page that the user who clicks through your advert is looking for. They just click the advert and are taken straight to the landing page.

So in summary using Pay-per-Click online advertising not only enables you to target just those potential customers looking for the services that your provide, but it is also really cost effective since you only pay when someone acts on your adverts.

for more information about setting up Google AdWords please contact us
   

3-D Secure Online Credit Card Security...

We should all now be familiar with using Chip & Pin when we use our credit cards in shops, restaurants or other outlets. Entering a four digit pin number known only to us enhances the security of our card transactions. Just knowing someone's card details is not enough for the fraudsters. They cannot use this information in most UK outlets now without also knowing your pin number.

3-D Secure is a similar system that has been introduced on the Internet. Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode are the two versions currently in use. These systems invite cardholders to register when using a Visa or MasterCard to make a purchase on a website whose payment system supports 3-D Secure. Cardholders specify a user id and password. Once registered, if a card is used on a site that support 3-D Secure, an extra window pops up requesting the card holder to enter four randomly selected characters from their password.

So it can be thought of as an online version of Chip & Pin. For more information click the links below:

The importance to merchants is that if your payment system supports 3-D Secure then you will not be held accountable for fraudulent transactions using either Visa or MasterCard - even if the card used hasn't been registered yet!

However, Merchants that do not support 3-D Secure remain responsible for any loss arising from fraudulent use of cards on their site. So make sure that your online payment solution supports 3-D Secure!

We are a Trusted SecureTrading Development Partner and we can provide fully compliant payment systems which incorporate 3-D Secure.

more information about our online payment solutions...
 

For help with accepting credit cards securely online, please contact us.
 

Skills to Keep Costs Down

First impressions count for a lot, and your website is often the first thing that potential customers will see. So it needs to look professional, convey the right messages and portray the image of your company that you want them to see.

So we normally recommend using a competent professional web design company to develop your website. However, if you are tempted to cut costs and do it yourself, then you should at least make sure that you have the skills to make a good job of it.

We can supply very affordable self-study training courses that can help you learn the skills that you would need to use the most common graphics design and web authoring tools from Adobe and Microsoft:

more information about our Training Courses...
 

Contact us if you would like any further information about the items in this newsletter.

Please let us have any feedback you might have, and also let us know if there are any articles you would like to see covered in future issues by sending an email to sales@wise.co.uk.

Best regards,

Tim Weaver

Weaver Information Services (Europe) Limited trading as WISE.CO.UK,
Telephone +44 (0) 1438 453013. Email info@wise.co.uk
Registered office 11 Watton Road, Knebworth SG3 6AH.
Registered in England no. 2618391. VAT registration GB 573 1139 51.