When you spend 5 years managing conversion tests on large e-commerce websites you’re bound to have a breakthrough or two. When we test those breakthroughs on the websites of many online retailers, and observe that they consistently increase conversion rates, we build software and make it available on a pay-for-performance basis.

Time2Buy, new hosted conversion improvement software available on ConversionsOnDemand.com, is one such breakthrough.

It started with a simple question: Why?

More specifically: Why do 98% of site visits fail to result in a sale? Often the answer has a lot to do with a site’s usability and design, but there’s another factor that’s commonly overlooked…

Motivation

Largely speaking, the shoppers you’re converting into sales now are very motivated buyers. But how about everyone else? How do you increase the motivation of shoppers who lack motivation and are on the fence?

Take Control

Time2Buy enables you to take control of your conversion rates by giving you the power to motivate on-the-fence shoppers with a time-sensitive offer that expires in minutes, not days.

Send More Shoppers Rushing Through Your Cart

Once a shopper’s browsing behavior “triggers” an offer from Time2Buy they see a widget like this on the bottom corner of their screen that gives them an incentive to buy immediately:

The time they have to redeem the offer ticks away, and will be visible on every page on your site including your cart. You control the time the shopper has to complete a purchase, what their incentive is for doing so, and which items will be eligible for a discount.

Results

Here’s the aggregate data from conversion tests we’ve run on 5 large online retailers:

+25.90% lift in conversion rates when triggered
+14% lift in site-wide conversion rates
+17% increase in revenue per visit

That’s right. When shoppers actually triggered an offer from Time2Buy, they became 25.90% more likely to make a purchase! These results will vary from store to store, and while it’s not guaranteed that Time2Buy will increase your conversion rates, the data above was observed consistently across 5 large online retailers who tested Time2Buy.

Optimal Trigger Settings

Merchants are finding creative ways to use Time2Buy, and “what’s optimal” will differ for each store. For example, some merchants have observed an incredible increase in conversion rates and sales by triggering Time2Buy to all shoppers who visit a single product page on their site. We never envisioned the software to be used this way, and while we don’t recommend it, the anecdotal feedback we’ve received so far is very positive!

More commonly, merchants tend to trigger Time2Buy after a shopper accrues 3 product page visits.  These merchants usually give shoppers 10 minutes to complete their sale, and a discount between 5% and 10%.

Try It Now – There’s No Risk

We’re offering free setup of Time2Buy for select e-commerce platforms, along with a limited 15-day free trial for new users. You must sign up on or before October 31st to take advantage of this special offer. See site for other conditions.

Please go here to learn more and to sign-up.

P.S. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions:

Q: How do shoppers take advantage of the special discount?

A: The special discount will be applied if the shopper checks out in time, automatically. Our software will automatically load a coupon code setup by the merchant that corresponds to the discount.

Q: What’s the cost?

A: A small percentage of the revenue associated with the coupon code that’s configured by the merchant.

Q: I already promote site-wide sales on my site, why should I promote an extra discount?

A: In our experience, site-wide sales often do not go a long way towards motivating on-the-fence shoppers to buy. Often shoppers simply do not pay attention to site-wide promotions. Time2Buy’s patent-pending countdown timer, however, increases the odds that shoppers will see and be motivated by your special offers.

In addition, since a shopper can only take advantage of one coupon at a time, they will not be able to accrue multiple offers. Our method of triggering incentives to shoppers has been so effective that many merchants find they can give a smaller discount to merchants than they would normally give, in a way that’s miraculously more motivating to their shoppers.

Q: Can I exclude particular items from receiving a discount?

A: Yes, you do this when you configure your coupon in your store manager.

Q: Is it possible that I will be giving away discounts and paying you a fee for shoppers who would have purchased anyway?

A: Yes. In fact, depending on how aggressive your settings are, it’s very likely. Based on tests we conducted on 5 larger online retailers (see graph below), we found that the overall conversion rate impact more than makes up for this. In addition, since you have control over which browsing behaviors will trigger Time2Buy, you can create conservative settings that enable you to focus your offers on unlikely buyers.

Please do keep in mind that Time2Buy is configured to not display offers to shoppers who exhibit browsing behaviors before triggering an offer from Time2Buy. For example, if you scheduled Time2Buy to trigger an offer after 3 product page views, and a shopper presses “Add To Cart” before triggering Time2Buy, the shopper will not be able to trigger an offer from Time2Buy even if they surpass 3 product page views.

There’s no risk to using Time2Buy. Try it free for 15-days, and continue using it to increase conversion rates and sales this holiday season! You will also benefit from continuous enhancements that will give you even more power to convert more browsers into buyers.

Please go here to learn more and to sign-up.

Hackers are a big problem for the internet industry and a world supported by computers. If hacking became a larger movement, like terrorism, would we target the programs and keep the hackers in plain view, or target the hackers themselves?  And what does Google do in their situation with black hatters?

This hits home with the recent situation faced by a group of MIT hackers. The Boston Herald wrote: “One of the MIT computer hackers who uncovered flaws in the (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) CharlieCard system that would let passengers swipe free rides said he and his classmates offered to show T officials how to fix the problem, but instead were hauled into court and barred from speaking about their work.

“We made first contact,” said Zack Anderson, 21, a Los Angeles native, who majors in electronic engineering and computer science. “We wanted to let them know what we found and we wanted to tell them some ideas we had on how they could fix that system … We felt like the issue was resolved. That was verbally affirmed in a Monday meeting. Then Friday we find out there’s a federal lawsuit against us.”… “

What I Think Is An Argument for Fighting the Programs:

Many can argue that the desire to hack is akin to a criminal’s desire to cheat society for one’s own benefit, so let’s assume our country’s top criminal, Osama Bin Laden, is the hacker and his circuit of terrorists is his program.

Well… to counteract his programs, our country (the US) puts up physical firewalls like the planned Mexico border wall. We also have automated spam filters like phone tapping and manual quarantines like Guantanamo Bay. These projects, though intrusive to many and subjectively skewed towards inaccuracy due to human error and/or instinct, effectively help the US keep up with threats to its safety. The key arguments here are that by fighting the programs, it:

1. Keeps the focus of the criminals on their tactics and their deployment and not on the art of allusion.

2. Helps track the movements of the criminals because they become more well-known over time and easier to spot.

3. Saves time and money because if we always went after the top criminals, it would be a major waste of resources trying to identify up-and-coming threats.

What I Think Is An Argument for Fighting the Hackers:

Keeping with the idea of hacking being the virtual world’s form of terrorism, we’ll assume that Osama Bin Laden was caught within a short period of time after the 9/11 attacks. This would be the approach of targeting the hacker. For starters, the risk-reward scenario for deploying threats against the US would surely be shaken up. Rather than taking Giuliani’s approach to cleaning up NYC that targeted the small-time criminals to instill fear in the big time criminals, this would be telling all large investors and big-time crooks that their time at the top will be short-lived and their downfall inglorious like the fall and execution of Saddam Hussein (yeah… that happened).

This approach helps weed out the ballsy by making the risk far too probable and keeps the threat contained to the passionate. The passionate, I would assume, mix emotion with execution making them easier to spot and places them on pulpits rather than airplanes – it makes them clumsy and fragments the strong organization needed to be a threat. The fear forces individuals to operate with a contingency plan of self-preservation and demystifies the unconditional sense of fraternity needed for a group to be a violent dissension. In short, it forces the criminal to be focused on alluding punishment and allocate his or her resources towards that affect. I assume this is why the US system uses punishment to set precedent as it makes clear what we will tolerate and what we will not. When executed properly, it makes the rule of law clear, fair and proactive towards countering crime.

SEO Viewpoint – The Approach That Google Takes:

I see Google taking the first approach. They allow the black hatters to share their knowledge, temporarily exploit holes in their algorithm and permeate their tactics throughout the SEO field. It makes us smarter. It makes them more prepared. Allowing the voice of the unethical to be heard makes their tactics transparent, and it makes Google’s challenges clear and their algorithm pushing more towards intelligent, rather than just smart.

It’s the argument for why you shouldn’t do unethical SEO tactics. Sure, Google will leave you alone and they won’t punish you personally, but the fruits of your labor will go rotten sooner than you’d wish. And God forbid you were playing around with a client’s website. That makes their website the program; it will eventually get destroyed, as will your reputation. Learn from black hatters and see why Google may have opened themselves up to a certain vulnerability – every vulnerability is there because Google was trying to accomplish something helpful to its users; even when the tactics no longer work to exploit these pockets of opportunity, Google’s initial goals for its users will still remain and you can target those in an ethical way.  I wonder if the same approach would be taken if lives were at risk.

Share your thoughts by digging this article and commenting.

The Wall Street Journal is offering bad advice to millions of small business readers by recommending an “on the cheap,” “don’t bother to think it through” approach to the 64% of small businesses (businesses under 100 employees) that don’t yet have a website. I find it ironic that while the WSJ continues to tout the fact that the web is changing the world, the author, Vauhini Vara, would have you think that your company can capitalize on this by launching a cheap website that is nothing more than a hope and a prayer. After reading the article it is clear to me that “objective” experts informed very little of the information provided. In fact, the first thing I did when I finished the article was to see if it was labeled as an advertising supplement.

Below I have analyzed the sections of the article and have added my own commentary.

1 – Buy a Web Address

The suggestion is to buy a domain from low-cost providers such as Go Daddy, Tucows, or Register.com.

My take: It is in this section that my suspicions about the article being a glorified advertising supplement were raised. Sure, the idea of registering a domain on the cheap makes a lot of sense, and GoDaddy surely lets you do that for less than $10 per year. The article does list two other sources of domain registrations beyond GoDaddy.com (Register.com and Tucows); however it is a bit disingenuous. First, Register.com sells domain names for $35 per year, and anyone that compared Register.com to GoDaddy.com would see very clearly that GoDaddy is the cheaper of the two. If the article was well-researched, another provider like Yahoo! Small Business would have been listed instead because they, along with many other providers, sell very inexpensive domain names. How about their recommendation of Tucows? Just try going to Tucows.com. Domains are not even sold through that website! Rather than list true competitors to GoDaddy, the article instead lists shills: one source that doesn’t compete on price (the objective of the article), and another source that doesn’t sell domains directly through its main website.

2 – Find a Home

Vauhini’s suggestion for finding a web hosting company: Find a provider that will host you for free in exchange for placing ads on your website.

My take: I think any business owner with some sense recognizes that it is not a best-practice to advertise the services of other companies, especially your competitors (which is the likely scenario), on your own website. There are inexpensive web hosting companies that offer decent service; if your business can’t afford $10 per month in web hosting fees then your priorities are in the wrong place.

3 – Build Your Site

The feedback here is that you can use templates and “wizards” to construct your website, although Vauhini acknowledges that this might make the website generic. Additionally, Vauhini advises that in addition to an “about us” and a “contact page,” a restaurant may want to have a “menu” tab, and an online retailer might want to have a “store” tab.

My take: So much of the most important information is missing!

First, yes it is very true that these wizards produce websites that appear to have been constructed by templates. As the number of scam websites increase online, and as competitors proliferate, the credibility and panache that comes from a well-designed website becomes more and more important.

Second, putting aesthetics aside for a second, the organization of a website and the thought that goes into the content is of critical importance as well. Don’t let your web design software dictate your marketing strategy! Sure, you can throw up a quick website, but if the marketing messages and the organization don’t quickly answer the questions “what can you do for me,” “why should I care,” and “how do I contact you,” you’re at an extreme disadvantage. This requires human thought, and this human thought should come before the site begins construction.

Third, I wonder if Vauhini is aware that small businesses, the apparent focus of her article, do billions of dollars each year in online sales. Exclusive Concepts works with hundreds of successful e-commerce companies and I can share that simply listing products under a “store” tab, as is suggested, is not a good approach. If the focus of the website is to sell many products, the site should be organized into categories, and there should be one tab for each main category. If the site only sells one or several products a different approach may be utilized, but I can’t think of any scenario in which a “store” tab would be optimal.

4 – Get Paid

This section talks about adding functions to your site that allow visitors to check out and make a purchase. The recommendation is to use a service like PayPal. Vauhini says, “this basic service isn’t fancy – if you want a full-blown retail site, you’ll probably want to buy special e-commerce software.”

My Take: PayPal itself is a wonderful tool and many shoppers trust it, however as Vauhini’ seems to indicate, PayPal itself as the only means of accepting payment through a website is not very scalable. The alternative to PayPal, however, it not simply “buying special e-commerce software,” which sounds both complicated and expensive. We work with a lot of stores that utilize Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, which is a hosted platform (no software to buy, only a monthly fee) that allows you to manage your website easily, that is search engine friendly, and that integrates a lot of tools like order management, shipping management, etc. There are other solutions as well. Yes, PayPal fills an initial need, but it really is not a long-term solution in and of itself, and the characterization that “buying software” is the alternative isn’t accurate.

5 – Get Sponsors

The advice here is that you can integrate your site with programs like Google AdSense to display ads on your website and generate revenue when people click those ads.

My Take: I assume the advice here is meant more for writers, consultants, and people that plan on offering lots of free articles and content to build websites and blogs that generate enough traffic to actually bring serious clicks, and thus serious revenue. Only a very small percentage of professionals actually make more than $100/month from such sponsorships, and this is an utter distraction for most small business owners. I don’t see why this advice is included in this article. Ignore it completely.

6 – Get Known

The implicit feedback was to use search engine optimization, and to follow a multi-step process of selecting keywords that are relevant to your business, incorporating those keywords into your site, and taking advantage of localized websites like CitySearch.com.

My Take: The author interviewed Bruce Clay who certainly knows his stuff, and who is a resource even for other advanced SEOs. The feedback included in the article is “high level” although it does get into some specifics. Largely speaking the feedback is good although it leaves out an exploration of the critical concept of link building, without which most small businesses will have trouble getting ranked in search engines. I assume the reason that so much was left out was that there simply was not enough space to cover all of the relevant topics.

Summary:

As a small business owner you have a choice. You can “throw up a website,” or you can try to harness the power of the Internet to grow your company. The first approach has a very low chance of success and relies on “luck.” Personally, I don’t like to rely on chance, and my advice to small business owners is that you don’t have to. Look at the Internet strategically and turn it into a competitive advantage for your business. Research your competitors and the market for your goods and services online, and create a web presence that distinguishes your business from the swath of other players that are online. To do this you will want to find partners in the design and online marketing arena who are eager to coach you so that you can make decisions that will serve as the foundation of your Internet strategy. Using the Internet I’ve seen very small businesses turn into profitable, million-dollar companies, but if the online channel is not approached as a serious matter that is worthy of great thought and deliberation, the odds of success will be diminished.

Marketing:

What Is the Future of Marketing?

New Media Ad, Marketing Spend to See Double-Digit Growth

Newspapers’ Online Growth Slowed in ‘07 Along with Web Ad Industry

Search:

In The Trenches, March 28, 2008

Should We Have Search Marketing Standards?

Yahoo!

China law could impede Microsoft deal for Yahoo

Citigroup says Microsoft likely to raise Yahoo offer

Google:

Google’s search slip is showing

Spotted in the Wild: Video Ads in Google Search Results

Google Provides YouTube Creators with Viewership Stats

Facebook Grabs Another Exec from Google

Google and the threat to free speech

Around the Web:

Cisco signals trouble ahead

Web 2.0 gets down to business

Storm clouds over Silicon Valley

Why Does Big Mean Bad? And Can It Be Avoided?

IRS Warns of New Online Tax Scams: Protect Yourself

Major Web Sites Hit With Growing Web Attack

Exclusive Concepts, an authorized Yahoo! Small Business Partner, has designed and marketed hundreds of Yahoo! Store sites and has helped retail clients achieve millions in sales revenue through their online storefronts. Now, the firm is building on that experience with the addition of specialized Yahoo! programmers led by Herb Osher, Vice President of Web Development and a 20-year marketing veteran, combined with Exclusive Concepts’ seasoned eCommerce marketing team.

“Our new Yahoo! Store development services distinguish us from the competition in three ways: highly responsive customer service, fast turnaround, and sales results – online stores that attract qualified traffic and convert that traffic into sales,” said Scott Smigler, president and founder of Exclusive Concepts. “We combine the art of storefront design with the science of multivariate testing and other critical site optimization concepts.”

“Yahoo! Merchant Solutions is best-in-class among online storefronts for many organizations, but it is a proprietary platform that is best leveraged by those with specialized programming expertise. By creating a dedicated technical team focused on this platform, coupled with our deep expertise in improving usability, increasing conversion rates, and achieving prime search engine rankings, we have a winning combination to help clients become successful online merchants,” he added.

From an Exclusive Concepts client:

“$1.4 million – that’s how much our sales went up after one year of working with Exclusive Concepts. Critical to this success is the search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, and email newsletter services Exclusive Concepts provides,” said Steven Styles, president, SkyGeek.com. “All of the work they do is custom. I never feel like I’m receiving pre-packaged strategies.”

Exclusive Concepts offers a range of services built on the Yahoo! Merchant Solutions platform, including StoreBooster™, an advanced, fully managed, step-by-step solution for optimizing eCommerce sites, increasing traffic, improving sales, and retaining customers. Exclusive Concepts has also created two new, attractively priced, maintenance plans for the Yahoo! Store market.

For more information, please contact Dave Clemen, Vice President of Sales, at (781) 810-9107.

About Exclusive Concepts
Based in Waltham, Mass., Exclusive Concepts specializes in generating cost-effective online sales for business executives and entrepreneurs. Through expert online marketing services, Exclusive Concepts maximizes the Web’s potential to meet and exceed clients’ strategic marketing objectives. For more information, visit www.exclusiveconcepts.com.

The Interactive Media Awards, created by the Interactive Media Council, recognize the highest standards of excellence in Website design and development and honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement. This honor comes only a few months after Bullhorn announced the debut of its new Web site as an online community for staffing and recruiting professionals.

The new site features an Exclusive Concepts offering called Speak Up!™ – the world’s first Enterprise Blog™. The Bullhorn Blogger is an innovative communications platform that captures multiple voices from the company – marketing, CEO, product development, service – to create a rich conversation with customers, partners, investor, and market influencers.

“We are particularly pleased that IMA has recognized the Bullhorn site, which showcases our unique approach to developing online content that fosters community and drives sales. Over time the site will extend the use of interactive and dynamic Internet technologies even further to foster greater collaboration among community members,” said Scott Smigler, president and founder of Exclusive Concepts. “We are delighted to be working with a visionary company like Bullhorn.”

In addition to the “Bullhorn Blogger” Enterprise Blog, Exclusive Concepts incorporated into the Bullhorn site new ways for the staffing and recruiting community to communicate and collaborate. Dynamic Bullhorn and industry-related content is contextualized for each page, along with video demonstrations, RSS (Really Simple Syndication), online polls, and sponsored industry research reports.

“Bullhorn.com implements Web 2.0 technologies to unite members of the Bullhorn community, which includes more than 10,000 users, business partners, professionals at Bullhorn and over 60,000 staffing and recruiting professionals,” said Joe Cordo, vice president of marketing at Bullhorn, which shared the award. “Exclusive Concepts understands our commitment as a business partner to create industry growth by fostering a community that is focused on best practices and education.”

The Outstanding Achievement Award is presented by the IMA based on achieving excellence in Web site content, design, feature functionality, usability, and standards compliance and cross-browser compatibility. With each category rated out of 100 points, the content and feature functionality of Bullhorn.com received 97 points each, paving the way to a combined 470 out of 500 points to solidify the honor.

About Exclusive Concepts
Based in Waltham, Mass., Exclusive Concepts specializes in generating cost-effective online sales for savvy business executives and entrepreneurs. Through expert online marketing services, Exclusive Concepts maximizes the Web’s potential to meet and exceed clients’ strategic marketing objectives. For more information, visit www.exclusiveconcepts.com.

About Bullhorn, Inc.
Bullhorn is the global leader in On Demand, front office staffing and recruiting software, providing the only completely integrated front office solution for staffing and recruiting firms. Bullhorn enables its customers to synchronize sales and recruiting to generate, source and fill job orders in real-time, at anytime and from anyplace, at the highest rates in the industry. Delivered through software as a service, Bullhorn continually meets the evolving business needs of its customers. More than 850 firms and 10,000 users worldwide, including some of the largest global staffing firms, partner with Bullhorn to meet the employment demands of the global economy. For more information, visit www.bullhorn.com or call +1(888)-GoLive8.

About Interactive Media Awards
The Interactive Media AwardsTM recognize the highest standards of excellence in website design and development and honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement. Created by the Interactive Media Council, Inc. (IMC), a nonprofit organization of leading Web designers, developers, programmers, advertisers and other web-related professionals, the competition is designed to elevate the standards of excellence on the Internet and offer winners a boost in marketing and exposure. IMC serves as the primary sponsor and governing body of the Interactive Media Awards, establishes the judging system and provides the judges for the competition. More information is at www.interactivemediaawards.com.

In the left column read perspectives from professionals throughout Exclusive Concepts. Scott Speaks will include thoughts and tips from me (the founder), while Marketing Center and Design Dish will offer insights from our marketing and development teams respectively.

In the center column we’ll link to news about Exclusive Concepts. In the Get Educated and Industry News sections, we’ll link to important articles, webinars, and news stories throughout the Internet.

To help you navigate, you’ll find a tag cloud in the right column that will point you to popular subject-matter. In the right column you’ll be able to view the highest rated content, participate in our poll, and to view the top commenters.

What would a blog be, however, without commenting? You can register as a commenter, post your comments, and we’ll notify you instantly if someone replies to one of your comments. Soon you’ll be able to do other fun stuff as well.

Note: If you want a blog as special as ours is, don’t fret. Visit our recently updated website to learn more about our Enterprise Blog offering.

If you’re like most website owners, you want to drive traffic to your site. You’ve invested in building an attractive site and may even have tried traffic-generating tactics like pay-per-click (PPC) online advertising and search engine optimization (SEO).

Yet, increasing traffic without ensuring your website is optimized to convert that traffic into sales leads is inefficient, unproductive – and possibly a waste of money.

An increase of just 1% in your website’s conversion rate can improve your bottom-line results by 50% or more. That’s why Excusive Concepts has developed More Conversions!

If you want to maintain your existing site design, get more value from SEO investments, add content management capabilities, and improve your bottom line, the Exclusive Concepts More Conversions! Service is the answer.

What’s included in More Conversions!?
• A Website conversion analysis and improvement plan

• A site re-design that incorporates the conversion enhancements while retaining your existing site’s look and feel

• Integration of a state-of-the-art content management system that allows non-technical users to easily add and modify content to the website

• A streamlined schedule that provides the newly optimized site in about 60 days

• Optional search engine optimization and search advertising services

If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, call Exclusive Concepts at 781-810-9107 or send an email