The SitePoint TRIBUNE #308 Copyright (c) 2004 December 2nd, 2004 PLEASE FORWARD - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - News, Rants and Case Studies for Web Design Professionals by Matt Mickiewicz ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Note: This newsletter is supported solely by advertisers like the one below. We stand 100% behind every ad that we run. If you ever have a problem with a company that advertises here please contact us and we will try to get it resolved. -- Matt Mickiewicz IN THIS ISSUE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Introduction - Editor's Perspective - What's New on SitePoint! - Hot Forum Topics - New Blog Entries SPONSOR'S MESSAGE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Flash Anthology: Cool Effects & Practical ActionScript * Want to learn Flash or upgrade your skills? The Flash Anthology will teach you how to: - Create & customize dozens of Flash effects - Validate Flash forms - Use CSS in Flash - Work with external data - Produce graphs & charts - Build a simple blog reader application - Debug your code quickly and easily - ... and much more! Download three free sample chapters at: http://www.sitepoint.com/books/flashant1/ INTRODUCTION - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - You know how people say, "There's no such thing as a stupid question"? They're wrong! There are lots of silly questions and, if you run a business that has a lot of customers, these questions can take up you time, profit and sanity. I'll show you how to minimize the loss of all 3 in this edition of the Tribune. On the technical side of things, we'll discuss new stats that show the decline in IE's market share -- it's now below 90% for the first time, while Mozilla continues to grow. Another report shows that kids aged between 2 and 11 are viewing more and more Web pages. Below, we'll see how to keep Web content relevant to kids. (Why? Because boys grow into men, and girls grow into women!). We'll also review the latest action taken against spyware and spam by the US government. Christmas is a time for giving -- why not run a competition to boost your profile and business? I've run a few competitions over the years and, here, I'll give you the low-down on how to get the most bang for your buck -- including the secret every competition organiser must know. Happy Reading! Brendon Sinclair mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] EDITOR'S PERSPECTIVE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE ART AND SCIENCE OF STUPID QUESTIONS "I don't mean to be rude, but some people are so stupid it's almost beyond comprehension!" That's not me talking; it's a comment for one of my team who provides customer service for one of our ecommerce sites. This outline reflects the sales process on the site. 1. The visitor comes to the site. The first subheading on the site says, "Allow 14 working days for shipping." 1. At each point through the order process we say, "Allow 14 working days for shipping." 1. If the visitor actually orders, the shopping cart tells them to "Allow 14 working days for shipping." 1. Upon completion of the order, the visitor is taken to a page that says, "Thanks for your order. Please allow 14 working days for shipping." 1. A series of 5 autoresponders starts immediately. The first thing the first autoresponders says is, "Allow 14 working days for shipping." 1. Every autoresponder mentions the shipping time as -- you guessed it -- 14 working days. Simple, right? Wrong! In practice, here's what happens. The visitors order the product. They then email us and ask, "How long will this product take to be delivered?" That happens with 18% of orders. Another 6% of customers waits 3-4 days, then emails us to ask, "How long will this product take to be delivered?" In total, 27% of our customers email us to ask, "How long will this product take to be delivered?" We have some experience with ecommerce and the measurement of site traffic and usage. So we've implemented varies strategies over the year to reduce these sort of questions. But they continue no matter what we do. What does it all mean? - Visitors don't read your site (the best you can hope for is that they'll read the headings). - Once they've bought, they don't look at the details contained in emails you send. - You will receive a lot of very silly questions from visitors and customers. Here are my top 3 tactics to deal effectively with customer questions: 1. Have a detailed Frequently Asked Questions page(s). This reduces email/phone questions significantly. 1. Have pre-written email templates for frequently emailed questions. This can save your hours a day. 1. Closely analyse the questions you receive, and edit your follow-up autoresponders to address these questions before they're even asked. INTERNET EXPLORER MARKET SHARE DROPS! According to a recent Onestat survey [1], Internet Explorer's market penetration has dropped below 90% for the first time ever. That's a massive 5% drop! The new kid on the block -- Mozilla's Firefox -- helped Mozilla to an overall 5% increase. With the massive publicity generated by Firefox over the past few months, this comes as no great surprise. The only question now is: "What will Microsoft do to stop the slide?" [1] <http://www.onestat.com/html/aboutus_pressbox34.html> SPONSOR'S MESSAGE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BUILD YOUR OWN ASP.NET WEBSITE USING C# & VB.NET Learn to build dynamic ASP.NET Websites using freely available software, with no programming experience. Learn ASP.NET by building: - a password-protected Intranet - an ecommerce store - a shopping cart system with credit card processing - a newsletter system - and much more! All the content is presented in a fun, practical and easy-to-understand style. All you need to get started is a recent version of Windows and knowledge of HTML! For more information or to buy: http://www.sitepoint.com/books/aspnet1/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - KIDS' PAGEVIEWS INCREASE Nielsen Net Ratings [1] reports that kids aged 2-11 years old are leading the growth of Web pages viewed at home. Pageviews made by this group in the last year have increased by 36% on the previous 12 months. The report also demonstrates the differences between the online viewing habits of boys and girls. The site that attracted the largest growth in pageviews by girls was MSN Messenger (an increase of 381%). For boys, entertainment sites lead the way -- DisneyChannel.com page views were up by 230%. Girls want to communicate. Boys want to play games. Some things never change! What these figures do show is that we need to ensure that our content is relevant and perfectly targeted to provide hungry young eyes with the greatest benefit. SPYWARE AND SPAM The US government, through its fair trade laws, has started to ban the distribution of spyware. Sure, that won't eradicate the problem entirely, but it's a solid grounding from which to begin. The US government has also started to prosecute Sanford Wallace for the extensive exploitation of Web browser security loopholes. It seems like Wallace, the former Spam King of the Internet, just can't help himself. THE RIGHT FIT A tried and tested promotional technique that many businesses use to boost their profile is to run a competition for customers. We've all seen the "Buy today and you'll go in the draw to win this great prize" ads. Competitions can work well, but, for the most successful competition ever, follow my secret. Consider this: a local retailer of garage doors offers a special in which every new customer enters the draw to win a bus tour of New Zealand. Sounds okay? No! It's the wrong fit. The target market for garage doors is people aged between 25 and 55. That's not the age of most people interested in taking a 17-day bus tour. Here's another example. A guy called Tony, who's in my office at the moment networking a few new computers, just won a week's cruise for 2 in the South Pacific. This was the end of year prize at his local business networking group. The group runs a breakfast every 2 weeks, and attracts a crowd of about 30 local business professionals. That's a good fit: businesspeople like holidays. A quality prize like this attracts business form the target audience. The secret to running a successful competition is the 'fit' of prizes. The prize must match the interests of the market you're trying to attract. Consider this as you plan your next competition, and you'll do better than you ever have before! [1] <http://www.nielsen-netratings.com> WHAT'S NEW ON SITEPOINT! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Win Back Top Listing! Protect Your Business Identity in the Search Engines by Dave Davies Defamatory comments about your company can sometimes out-rank your own site in search results. Make sure the results for a search on your company name list information that you endorse -- Dave explains how. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1432 >From Independent Contractor to Business Owner: How to Take the Leap by Andrew Neitlich Countless freelancers want to build their businesses into bigger organizations, but don't know where to start. Andrew's step-by-step guide to taking the leap towards sustainable business provides the answers. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1431 Interview - Zack Urlocker of MySQL by David Mytton MySQL is the database solution of choice for countless sites around the world. How did MySQL get so big? Who's behind it? How is the product developed? And what's in store for future releases? Zack Urlocker, Vice President for Marketing at MySQL, reveals all in this detailed interview... http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1429 Introducing Java 5 by Andy Grant Java 5 marks a major step forward for this capable technology. There's a lot to take in, so don't go it alone! Andy's done the legwork for you in this handy introduction, which steps through all the new functionality in theory - and in practice! http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1428 Secret Benefits of Search Engine Optimisation: Increased Usability by Trenton Moss A better search ranking - and improved usability - are not mutually exclusive tasks. In fact, optimise your site for search engines and you can automatically enhance your usability. Here, Trenton identifies the tips, and explains how and why they work. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1423 HOT FORUM TOPICS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What Works for You? <http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=213214> Is this the right way of increasing my rates? <http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=214198> Google AdSense Sues for Click Fraud <http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=212189> Help with Direct Mail letter <http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=188257> NEW BLOG ENTRIES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Design Blog: PIXEL PERFECT Color Scheme Generator updated (6 comments) <http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=214078> Selling Web Design Services Blog: DOWN TO BUSINESS Web site design if you focus on more than one target market (7 comments) <http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=214052> Please check out the new Sitepoint article about growing your business (6 comments) <http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=213722> Thanksgiving for the self-employed (19 comments) <http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=212660> DHTML & CSS Blog: STYLISH SCRIPTING Lists that don't look like lists (3 comments) <http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=213920> PHP Blog: DYNAMICALLY TYPED Which PHP libraries do you use? (49 comments) <http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=213786> Top 20 IT mistakes to avoid: Underestimating PHP (6 comments) <http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=212588> Open Source Blog: OPEN SOURCERY 2005: New GNU General Public License Coming (1 comments) <http://www.sitepoint.com/blog-post-view.php?id=212629> ADVERTISING INFORMATION - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Find out what thousands of savvy Internet marketers already know: email newsletter advertising works! (You're reading an email ad now, aren't you?) Find out how to get YOUR sponsorship ad in this newsletter and reach 48,000+ opt-in subscribers! Check out http://www.sitepoint.com/mediakit/ for details, or email us at mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] HELP YOUR FRIENDS OUT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - People you care about can take charge of their Website by effectively using the information and resources available on the Internet. Help them learn how - forward them a copy of this week's SitePoint Tribune. ADDRESSES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Send suggestions and comments to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, send a blank email to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] The Archives are located at: http://www.sitepoint.com/newsletter/archives.php SitePoint.com is hosted by Rackspace and VenturesOnline: http://www.rackspace.com http://www.venturesonline.com The SitePoint Tribune is hosted by SparkList: http://www.sitepoint.com/newsletters/sparklist/ The SitePoint Tribune is (c) 1998-2004 SitePoint Pty. Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this Newsletter may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission. All guest articles are copyright their respective owners and are reproduced with permission. 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