800 Call-KC Blog

Basic Search Engine Submission and Linking Components

Jessica 800 Call-KC — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:28:48 +0000

Once you are done with your site, you need to get it out into the world wide web. There are two easy methods to use:

Site submission
Link exchange

Site Submission

It can take months for a search engine to start showing your website on the results page. To give your website a little jumpstart, you can submit your site to the search engines. The main search engines are Google, Bing (MSN), and Yahoo.

Google – http://www.google.com/addurl/
Bing – http://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx
Yahoo – http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit

While you don’t need a webmaster account to submit your site, it is beneficial to set one up for each so you can add your site map for better search and tracking results.

Link Exchange

Link exchange works a little differently. This is a method people use to network. It can be both good and bad for business. In most cases, link exchanges work like a “Partners” page. You have a list of reputable people that you work with, and if they’re willing, you should each put a link to each other’s site on your own site.

Why do people do this? For starters, if people trust a company already, they will be more willing to trust you by association. This can hurt, too. If you have a bad link on your site, people will not trust you – and neither will search engines. If they blacklist a website, and you are linking to that website, they will blacklist you, too. When a site is blacklisted, it is no longer indexed and shown in search results. It is as if that site no longer exists – so no one will be able to find you. It is very hard to get back in the good graces of a search engine, so be very picky about who you exchange links with and make sure you do your research. Visit the website that is requesting to exchange links to see what they are about and what kind of information they have. Also see who they are linking to, because that will affect you as well.

What’s Next?

Next on the list is tracking visitors to your website. There are different levels of tracking, and simple components you need to know.

Basic SEO Components

Jessica 800 Call-KC — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 13:16:12 +0000

Your first question may be “What is SEO?” SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is easy to integrate SEO into current sites, and even easier to add while the site is being developed. There are a few things you can add to the HTML code to optimize your website for search engines to more easily find you. Here is a list of the main basic SEO components:

Meta tags – keywords and description
Title tag
Title attribute for links
Alt attribute for images

Meta Tags

The meta tags are used by search engines to determine if your web page should be displayed during a user’s search. There are two meta tags that are very important to add to each page of you website in the head tag:

The keywords meta tag contains words that relate to the information on that particular page. For example, if you have a page dedicated to red cars, “red” and “cars” would be two keywords you would use; however, “blue” would not be a keywords to use.

The description meta tag is a short, but descriptive paragraph about the page. Search engines will display this information when your page is in the user’s search result page. It can help a user determine if they want to click on the link to your site.

Title Tag

The title tag is important because it tells the user and the search engines what the page is about in one line, and is also displayed in a user’s search results. Here’s an example title tag:

Pictures of Red Cars – Foreign and Domestic

The title tag is also displayed in the top left of the browser window so users can see where they are in your website.

Title Attribute for Links

When making links, you need to include the title attribute. It looks like this:

Pictures of Red Cars

The information you put in the title attribute will show up when a user rolls over the link. While it helps give search engine a few more words to decide if your page has the information a user is searching for, it also gives the user more information.

Alt Attribute for Images

The alt attribute for the img tag works the same way the title attribute works for the a tag. Since search engines and people cannot read images within code, it needs to be explained like this:

The alt attribute is also important for accessibility for handicapped users. If a user is blind, they have software that reads the alt tag to them so while they cannot see the image, they can hear information about it.

What is the Result?

If you have correctly utilized the meta and title tags, search engines will be better equipped to find you. Using the examples from above, this is how a search engine would display the information if a user were to search for “red cars”:

How tags are used in search engine results

Why Optimize?

Optimizing your site can help your pages get up higher in rankings in search engines. There is no guarantee how high on the results page you will rank, but good optimization can help you get closer to the top. This can take a long time. Search engines want to make sure that the information on your website is relevant to a user’s search query. While SEO may not produce the fast results of online advertising, over time you will see the benefits of having your site fully optimized.

What’s Next?

Once you have built your site and added in SEO, the next step is getting your site out there. Stay tuned as we discuss site submission and link exchange.

Basic Website Components

Jessica 800 Call-KC — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:04:55 +0000

So you’ve decided to build a website for your business, or even yourself. But what do you need? Aside from all of the technical aspects, there are the basic components. This is the information that users expect to have available at the click of a mouse while they’re visiting your site. Here are a few things to consider when you build a website:

Domain name
Information
Navigation
Design

Domain Name

Let’s start with the most obvious – your domain name. The domain name you choose is important because it is how people will identify the website with you. You should choose a name that is relevant – your company name or what you do. People don’t go to www.cars.com looking for information on animals. They go there to find cars.

Information

Next, you need to think about the information that is on the website. People use websites as resources – free information at their fingertips. You want to give people enough information to be interested in your services, but not enough to give away your trade secrets. For instance, you can tell a customer that you can help them tax return, and in what ways you can help – how you are up-to-date on tax laws, you can file all of the forms, etc. – but you don’t want to tell them how you do that, or they won’t need you. The information you put on your website is the most important component because it is what keeps people coming back, and what attracts more people.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing “crawl” through your web pages and index all of the information they contain. When a user goes to their site and searches for information, they decide how relevant your website is to that user’s search. If they think your website has information the user is looking for, they put a link to your website on the results page of that search.

The information you put on your website should be focused on one topic – what you do; this may have subtopics, but the point is to stay focused on what you do as a business and only use information that pertains to that business. Back to using www.cars.com as an example, they only contain information about cars – used cars, new cars – nothing about animals.

Navigation

Navigation in a website is important because without it, people cannot move freely from one page to another. It is a collection of links to the main pages of the website and should always include a link to the home page. It should be easy for a user to find, and it should be easy to understand. For instance, a link that says “About Us” should link to the About Us page, not the Contact page.

The main navigation is typically in a row along the top of the page, or in a column along the left of a page. You can also add a footer navigation that contains links to all of the subpages within the website that you may not want to list in the main navigation.

Design

The overall design of the website encompasses the layout of content – the header, body, footer. This includes the images, colors, and text. Images are important because you only have about 8 seconds to make an impression on a user. If you do not capture their eye, they will leave. Images are good because they immediately let someone know what kind of information is available on the website.

Colors are important. They have to be pleasing to the eye. People are usually put-off by a green background with bright red text – it is extremely hard to read, and color-blind people can’t even see the text. It is okay to use a different color for your background besides white. Just make sure it contrasts greatly with the color you choose for text.

There are many different things to think about when you look at your text content: where you put it, the size, the color, the area it covers, and on and on. People are coming to your site for the text, so it needs to be readable. The average font size is 12pt, and the typical font face used is Arial. This is because it is easiest to read for most people. It should also take up a big chunk of space, but keep in mind that the eye can only follow a sentence across a screen about as big as a book or piece of paper. Also afford users white space between paragraphs if there is a lot of text. Eyes need breaks, too.

What’s Next?

We hope you enjoyed this tidbit on website components. Looking for more? Then stay tuned, because next we will go through the basic SEO (search engine optimization) components of a website.

Growth of Online Shopping

Gene 800 Call-KC — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:11:20 +0000

Even during the economic downturn in the market, online shopping continues to increase year over year. In 2007, consumers spent $175 billion compared to the $144 billion spent in 2006. This equates to a 21% growth. Although 2008 doesn’t appear to reflect the same year over year growth, total consumer spending online was $204 billion, or 17% growth. By 2010, total consumer purchases online is anticipated to reach $270 billion.

Although the dollars continue to increase, the percentage growth year over year is flattening out. There are several factors, not all inclusive, contributing to a slower growth rates, as follows:

Economic recession makes a significant dent in the growth. Individuals have lost their jobs or are cutting their spending in total, whether online or at retail.
The banking industry has placed more restrictions on credit cards in an attempt at managing
As more retailers and businesses start selling their product and services online, the market becomes more saturated. For years, the internet could offer discounts above and beyond the discounts offered at retail. Thus, consumers would find the specific item at retail and then search the web to find the best price. With more competition from other merchants for the same product and service, finding the best price is more difficult. And, if given a choice, shoppers still prefer to shop in store where they can physically touch and feel the specific product.
Consumer confidence in providing their credit card information online is still an issue. The payment card industry is addressing this concern by mandating that processors comply with specific rules and regulations regarding security of data to prevent credit card fraud. Although PCI compliance will improve security, the consumer ultimately makes the decision.

Regardless of the projected growth rate, online marketing is an outstanding marketing and sales channel, reaching hundreds of millions of users. Get your business online today. If you are online, make sure you are optimizing your site and your sales opportunities.

Traditional Advertising Versus Online Advertising

Gene 800 Call-KC — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:36:02 +0000

Believe it or not, many businesses still do not have an online presence, nor do they understand or appreciate the value associated with having an online presence, i.e. website. Over the past decade, phone books have slowly faded away being replaced by internet searches for businesses, products and services. If your business does not have an online presence, you are completely missing out on the internet traffic. Just as important, your online presence can be compared to your resume. Your online presence reflects what you have to offer, hopefully explains the products or services you offer, and provides credibility to your existence and professionalism.

From a strategic marketing viewpoint, traditional marketing and your online marketing tactics must be aligned and working together cohesively. For example, traditional marketing should list the website address of the product or service for the user to do their research or offer convenience by ordering online. Traditional marketing (direct mail, newspaper ads, tv/radio advertising, etc) can still be an effective method for some businesses, although this type of marketing is taking a back seat to online marketing. In addition, traditional marketing is often much more expensive than online marketing.

To explain this in more detail, we’ll compare a direct mail campaign, marketing to a specific zip code, vs placing an advertisement on Google’s search engine, known as pay-per-click advertising. In a direct mail campaign, the cost of the advertisement includes the ad design, ad production costs, and ad delivery costs. The two significant issues with this form of advertising; first, these ads are being distributed to a consumer who may not have any need or desire for your product or service, and second, the tracking and return on investment of this method of advertising is very cumbersome and difficult to calculate. On the flip side, online advertising still may incur the ad design costs but does not have any production or physical distribution costs. It’s distribution costs are incurred when a visitor on the web clicks on the ad. The major difference and significant advantage of online advertising relates to the fact that the ad is only served to visitors seeking your product or service based on your defined list of keywords. Additionally, each ad’s cost, tracking, and return on investment can be easily managed and reported. As such, you know whether or not your specific advertisement was effective for the costs incurred.

Which advertising method is most advantageous for your business can depend on the product or service you offer. However, it must be reiterated that traditional marketing and online marketing must be aligned in your organization to maximize effectiveness and profitability. And, if you’re not aggressively pursuing online advertising as a marketing channel, we suggest you make this a priority.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance

Herb 800 Call-KC — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:47:03 +0000

PCI DSS compliance is of increasing concern to many merchants. 800 Call-KC currently is a validated service provider or level 1 processor.

PCI Compliance Levels

Merchants fall under four categories of PCI compliance depending on the number of transactions they process each year, whether they process for other merchants, and whether those transactions are performed from a brick and mortar location or over the Internet.

Remember: all merchants that process credit cards, small or large, must be PCI compliant.

Now here is where PCI compliance for merchants can get a bit tricky: each payment card brand (Visa, MasterCard, etc.) has their own requirements and definitions of PCI compliance levels. Even though the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) developed these standards, compliance is actually mandated by the individual payment card brands – Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB International.

To give you a general idea of how to determine your PCI compliance level, here are Visa’s PCI compliance level definitions:

PCI Compliance Level 1 – Merchants processing over 6 million Visa transactions annually (all channels) , do processing for other merchants, or Global merchants identified as Level 1 by any Visa region
PCI Compliance Level 2 – Merchants processing 1 million to 6 million Visa transactions annually (all channels)
PCI Compliance Level 3 – Merchants processing 20,000 to 1 million Visa e-commerce transactions annually
PCI Compliance Level 4 – Merchants processing less than 20,000 Visa e-commerce transactions annually and all other merchants processing up to 1 million Visa transactions annually

Storefront merchants categorized as PCI compliance levels 2, 3, and 4 must complete an annual self-assessment questionnaire (PCI SAQ) in addition to a required quarterly network scan performed by an approved scanning vendor. The nature of the questionnaires, as well as the deadlines for reaching PCI compliance, varies slightly depending on whether the merchant falls into PCI Compliance level 2, 3, or 4, but the basic requirements remain the same.

Internet-based merchants are also divided into PCI compliance levels 1- 4, with each PCI compliance level defined by the same transaction volumes as those for “brick and mortar” merchants. In addition, internet-based merchants at each PCI Compliance level must undergo a quarterly vulnerability scan performed by an approved scanning vendor. Although some PCI Compliance Level 1 internet-based merchants may be able to perform annual self-assessments (with the permission of their processor and card brand), the vast majority of internet-based merchants will be held to these PCI Compliance expectations.

As a Level 1-validated service provider, 800 Call-KC must have an outside Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) come on site to complete the Report of Compliance (ROC) document and sign off on the report when complete. There must also be external and internal penetration to ensure the systems are safe and secure. First time Level 1 certification can cost as little as $300,000 and up depending on the amount needed for the company to become compliant. Even after 800 Call-KC became a validated service provider, the certification did not stop there. 800 Call-KC must continue to do quarterly external and internal scans, log and authorize all changes to any merchant application, and audit all firewall and router configurations; thus ensuring that the network does not fall out of compliance. An audit will also be required annually with a QSA coming on site and completing the entire ROC process from start to finish. By above requirements you can see that 800 Call-KC is dedicated to ensuring the payment and personal data of its clients.

Pick and Pack Fulfillment Services

Gary 800 Call-KC — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:42:31 +0000

Determining what type of Pick and Pack strategies will work best for your organization can be daunting without all the facts. Pick and Pack fulfillment may seem like a small part of the warehousing and shipping process, but optimizing your pick and pack process can deliver big returns to your operation. The labor expense related to picking is a large portion of your total warehouse costs, so streamlining and optimizing best practices is key to efficiency and cost effectiveness.

In order to determine the best Pick and Pack strategy for your company, you must consider Putaway first.

Putaway is defined as how you position and inventory your product on shelves, pallets or bins. Putaway will determine the efficiency of the picking process once you are ready to start filling orders.

Consider the following factors when determining your company’s Putaway method:

What product or types of products are you shipping?
Are you picking pieces, cases or pallets?
How many transactions do you expect to pick per day?
What is the average number of picks per transaction?
Do you have products that are individual items as well as items that will need to be assembled as part of a package?
Finally consider the location of the product in your warehouse. For example: should it be quickly accessible for high volume or placed outside of optimal areas for less frequent access?

Starting with these best practices is how we determine the best shipping solution for our clients. Once you have answered these questions regarding Putaway you are on your way to determining the next step of the process, which is Pick and Pack fulfillment methods.

A Note to the Higher Education Community

Chris 800 Call-KC — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:20:45 +0000

On August 14, 2008, The Higher Education Opportunity Act (Public Law 110-315) (HEOA) was enacted.

Postsecondary institutions in the United States that participate in Title IV student aid programs will be required to update and change many of its business practices or risk losing revenue that many rely on to keep the doors open.

One of many changes that will be going into effect on October 29th, 2011 is the Postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV will be required to post a net price calculator to their web site. It’s fortunate that there will be help from the National Center for Education Statistics in cooperation with the Office of Postsecondary Education and IT Innovative Solutions Corporation. They have developed a net price calculator available to all Title IV institutions. The template is available to for review at: http://npc.inovas.net/institution/.

I would advise all postsecondary schools to keep a vigilant eye on the details of the (HEOA) as many changes will be required. The U.S. Department of Education web site: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html. I have found to be the best place for updates on this complicated Act.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me.

Qualities of Good Customer Service

800 Call-KC — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:42:23 +0000

“What has happened to giving good Customer Service?”

Wow! There are a lot of responses that one could give to that question!

Some people say that having good Customer Service experiences have decreased due to an overall decline or loss of good manners and etiquette in society.

While there is a connection between customer service and manners, great customer service is about a lot more than manners alone. Customer Service is more than knowing how to treat people; it’s more than being nice.

Great Customer Service requires:

Having a positive personality. A positive attitude is a key way to provide each customer with a great service experience. These will always go together. Callers will want to return simply because of the attraction that a positive attitude creates.

Agents that have a people-oriented attitude that helps them work through any situation. It is important to remember that the secret is to show our customers that we want to assist them.

Agents that strive to be their best. Their work ethic stands out because of the innate motivation to perform at a higher level.

Agents that are capable of understanding the diversity in caller behavior and appreciate the uniqueness of each caller. What might work for one caller may not work for the next one; therefore the agent must be flexible and adapt to each caller’s personality or need.

Being attentive to the caller and listening “between the lines” for unspoken issues or emotions. By being attentive, we are telling our customers that they are important and will be treated with respect.

Processes, procedures, and tools that enable great Customer Service.

Leadership and an organizational culture that makes customer service a priority.

Often leaders have expectations about how the Customer will be treated but never share those expectations with employees. They may be thinking “this is so obvious; we don’t need to focus on this with our people because they should know how to treat others.”

Businesses that do not invest in reinforcing and training the above behaviors will have caller’s that continue in the cycle of less than average Customer Service experiences.

For more information on how 800 Call-KC can help you reach the highest level of customer service, read about our contact center solutions.

800 Call-KC an Infrastructure Company

800 Call-KC — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:23:26 +0000

Welcome to the 800 Call-KC Blog! This blog is designed to educate people on 800 Call-KC services. Because there are so many facets of being an infrastructure company, these blog posts will go into some of the details when outsourcing; call center and customer service, selecting and managing merchant services, warehouse and fulfillment processes, web hosting, design and development, database management, marketing your e-commerce store, web presence management, business process re-engineering and much more.

The individuals writing the blog articles will vary. Some authors might be new to 800 Call-KC and we are using the blog as one of the many ways we educate our new hires, others may be veterans and experts in their respective fields. Regardless of the authors, 800 Call-KC looks forward to the conversations. While we may not be the solution for every business, we are the solution for many.

Feel free to leave comments on future blog post topics in the following areas of expertise:

Call Center Outsourcing
Credit Card Merchant Processing Services
Order Fulfillment and Management
Internet Web Hosting Solution
Website Design and Development
E-Commerce Provider Services
Strategic Internet Marketing Services

Thank You!