I really wish more logistics/freight/postal companies set aside some budget to develop shipping modules/extensions for popular open source and commercial shopping cart systems.

Right now, I’m working on 2 online stores and for one of them, I need to hook in to the Fastway Couriers API to make the magic happen. I can easily find an Australia Post module for the Open Cart system I’m using but since there’s no module for Fastway Couriers, I have no idea to get started with making my site talk to the Fastway API.

This got me thinking about how awesome it would be if Fastway developed it’s own module. Forget the API, that’s more suited to people who have a bit more of a programming clue. Think about the average Joe who doesn’t know that. Think about how much more likely someone is to use your company because you’re making them choose you – all because you’re giving them an option when other’s aren’t.

If TNT had a module for Open Cart, I’d tell my friend to use TNT for his shipping needs, instead of Fastway because of convenience. TNT may even charge more but when you think about development costs associated with outsourcing your programming work so you can get your site to work with the API, it starts adding up.

No one’s asking these companies to give it for free (unless they feel compelled to do so!) and I’d be happy to pay for a module provided it was reasonably priced.

What do you think?

SEO is a 24 hour, 7 day a week, 365 day a year thing.

It’s as simple as that.

It begins the moment you start planning your website, it continues throughout development, launch and is as essential to your website’s success as breathing is to your well-being.

People who know SEO and are into their SEO don’t just make the magic happen between 9am and 5pm. They make it happen whenever, whereever.

It’s almost midnight and I’ve just had some great ideas for a few clients and I’m wide awake, blogging this while making some SEO magic happen for my clients.

Some say I’m working too hard. Some would say it’s not smart. Some may say that I need to train myself to make the magic happen during work hours so I can spend my free time doing other things.

SEO is my life and I make the magic happen all day, every day. From coming up with viral marketing ideas as linkbait to exploring areas for easy links – if it’s SEO, it’s on the brain, all the time.

Despite what you may think, this doesn’t prevent me from having a social life!

I carry a trusty notebook and pen with me almost everywhere because you never know when the inspiration will hit!

SEO – I know it. And I’m good at it. Hit me up!

A schedule of activities is a plan of action for your client’s SEO campaign, which gives a general view of what will be done and relative timeframes.

Giving your client an indicaiton of what will happen and when is mandatory and the least you can do for your new SEO client because it not only gives you an idea of what you need to do but also puts their minds at ease knowing that you have direction in what you’re trying to achieve.

From experience, nothing bugs clients more than having to chase you up constantly asking for updates or for your plan for the coming weeks and months. This is often not a case of ‘annoying client’ but more of ‘uninformed client’ and all because they weren’t given an idea of what’s going on.

You don’t need to get into the nitty gritty – save that for when things actually happen and for your own internal notes.

An example of an SEO schedule of activities will contain the following:

- a plan for 6 months (or otherwise, depending on your contract) – this shows long term vision!
- month by month breakdown in the areas of overall strategy, on-site SEO and link building (doesn’t hurt to give expected outcomes as well)
- indication of when reports will be prepared, distributed and discussed (and the type of reports too, eg. monthly progress report, quarterly report, half yearly report, etc)

If you’re a well-organised person, you’ll already be doing something of this nature anyway but for the rest of us, it’s a good habit to get into and once you do, you’ll wonder how you ever worked without it.

SEO is on-going and long term. Many people don’t appreciate this aspect of SEO but with a well-organised schedule of activities, you can help develop the appreciation and maintain cordial relations with your clients.

Appreciate your thoughts!

OK so despite the best SEO efforts, websites will still fluctuate in SERP rank, even if temporary, due to algorithm changes made by the search engine along with changes in SEO activity of competing websites.

That’s the cold hard truth and no justification for shoddy SEO. I make a point of advising all of my clients about this and that unless their site takes a permanent nosedive, there’s nothing to worry about.

Unfortunately, many clients don’t heed this advice and when they see their site drop a rank or two, they end up looking like the main character in Edvard Munch’s THE SCREAM:

I usually take this opportunity to advise clients about the need for active SEO (and not a once-off deal) and discuss some options to ‘rectify’ this ‘unpardonably’ downward spiral.

As a website owner, I can share their concerns in that, you want to see things go up all the time. You want to see green arrows and progress. The moment you see things go down or if you see your competitor move up, you break out into a sweat.

But don’t scream. It’s not a good look but it’s also counterproductive.

Fluctuations are natural. They happen. It’s inevitable.

How do you combat fluctuations?

Just keep going with your SEO.

Keep updating your content, keep looking at ways to make your site more linkable or linkworthy. Give people reasons to link back to you. Keep an eye on your competitors and see what they’re up to. You don’t have to play ‘monkey see monkey do’ with them but if you’re serious about business, then you’ll be watching your competitors from the corner of your eye so that you can counter their efforts.

This is a very simple way of looking at it but it’s as straightforward as it gets. So next time your site drops a few spots, don’t cry and send death threats to your SEO guy. Chill out and give it some time. If the downward trend is consistent, then you need to take action (preferably of the non-violent and emotional kind).

oh and if your competitor takes a higher rank than you, don’t get mad, get even!

Check out this cool word cloud which represents the content of my blog:

created at wordle.net

So recently, I had to use my mobile to access websites for those companies for the same reason: trying to find store locations as well as opening hours.

Was the experience pleasant? No, it wasn’t.

Why?

Because none of those websites were mobile friendly at all.

Bunnings
The Bunnings website won’t let you in unless you enter in your postcode/suburb/state. Then when you do that, it takes you to the homepage where right on the bottom was some info about my nearest store which is just ‘fantastic’ from a usability perspective (oh, don’t forget the Flash elements which aren’t viewable by iPhone users!). It wasn’t clear to me that I could click on my store’s name to get more info on opening hours so I immediately went to Contact Us which was not fruitful. This didn’t make me happy because I was already in a rush trying to find out where my nearest store was whilst trying to get there before it closed.

Super AMART
They chose superamart.com instead of superamart.com.au which was an instant fail. Their site isn’t mobile friendly at all, esp. with the HUGE Flash banner in the middle which on the regular website is a major navigation element. Thankfully, the store locator wasn’t obscure and I was able to search for my nearest store by choosing ‘South East Queensland’. Unfortunately, this version only showed me 4 stores. The regular site shows 13. Also, the regular site has a huge Flash-based map of QLD for you to use whereas the mobile version doesn’t – so I guess they’ve done something right (even if they’ve removed more than half the stores in the list).

Personally, I think if they all had apps for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Nokia phones, it would be fantastic. Even if the apps started off as just mere ways for people to locate stores and get info on opening hours, that would be a plus. Apps can be used very effectively for promotions. How about giving people an incentive just for downloading the app? or an incentive for using the app? It’ll work.

I would be the first to download apps from major retailers purely for the convenience of knowing locations and times and I daresay, I’m not alone.

What do you think?

I often get asked why I always choose server logs over data from Google Analytics. But let me clarify.

I don’t always do this and I don’t discount Google Analytics either. The reason why I like to use both and much prefer server logs than Google Analytics is that the data from a server is always going to be the most accurate. Google Analytics is known to miss a few things and is more useful in identifying trends.

Server logs gives you raw data which is useful for quick facts. Google Analytics makes it all pretty and gives you more readable data, or rather, data that is more accessible to the lay public.

Google Analytics is a great tool that is also free but I don’t recommend that you discount server logs altogether.

If you run an online store and your products are the kinds of things people wouldn’t mind sharing info about, then you really have to consider adding a little widget or button to your order confirmation page that integrates with the customer’s twitter page which tweets such information.

A classic example would be something like: “I just bought a Google Nexus One from MobiCity.com.au – http://short.url – it’s awesome!”

People like to show off a bit, esp. with gadgets and you can customise what it says and try different ones. Of course it’s totally optional but it’s handy for getting the word out to people.

Try it!

Right now, I’m using OpenCart to setup an online store for a friend of mine. It’s an open source e-commerce shopping cart solution (yay for buzz words) and it’s actually quite nifty.

I prefer it to osCommerce and it’s not a bad alternative to some of the paid shopping carts out there.

Setup has been easy and it’s decent to manage from the back end.

But it’s got me thinking about the success of online stores and how many people look for the system that will be the easiest to use and the one that will make them the most money.

Truth it, you can work with just about any shopping cart – you just need to put in the hard yards. Right now, I’m adding in categories and sub categories to my friend’s online store. I’m then going in and modifying the About Us, Privacy Statement, T&C and Shipping pages. Next up is ensuring the tax rates are all correct and that contact info is accurate and easy to find.

Over the coming week I’ll be adding in photos and more info about the various products he has on offer. I’ve also gotta look into social media integration, shipping modules as well as specials. OpenCart has a nice feature where you can select when a product goes on special so you can pretty much set it up and forget about it.

It’s a lot of work and I’m just the web dev/designer!

To be successful with e-commerce, you have to be patient and hard working. Patient because sales won’t start pouring in from day 1. It takes time to build up a rep as well as increase your rank in SERPs. It’s an ongoing process and your site will change over time.  There’s always lots to think about, like integrating Twitter and Facebook with your page. Setting up a Facebook page is also a good idea. And so on.

Be patient. Keep at it. Make money.

Easy

Yes, it should.

But don’t go expecting dramatic improvements once your site does get approved.

Some things to note about DMOZ:

1. It doesn’t matter where you get listed, as far as ‘distance’ from the root – all listings in DMOZ have the same weight.

2. DMOZ isn’t exactly a great source of PageRank, so don’t expect PageRank to improve merely because of this.

3. DMOZ is a trusted entity and a listing in DMOZ merely adds an extra element to the trust factor of your website.

DMOZ is a heavily guarded fortress and sometimes it may seem like a worthless cause due to the length of time it takes to get listed. Don’t lose heart – just keep trying. DMOZ is beneficial to your online presence, but just don’t rely on it too much.

Place greater emphasis on building content on your website and then the linkjuice will flow*

*all things being equal.