BuzzCart Newsletter, April 2008

Hello to everyone. I'm Chris Perricone, Account Manager at BuzzCart. I have joined the gang at BuzzCart to work as an intermediary between our staff and the users of our BuzzCart Programs. If I haven’t spoke to you yet, I will soon, as I am making my rounds trying to get to know everyone. I am available at the office or on my cell phone at 571-247-1106. My background is in sales and marketing so feel free to give me a call and let me know how I can help your business. Of course, I follow the BuzzCart team philosophy so please feel free to call me anytime.

From time to time you may get an email from me (chris@buzzcart) announcing a seminar, talking about new products, or maybe just giving you some general market news. We value your feedback and I ask if you see something you like, don’t like, or you have a suggestion drop me an email. I look forward to working with you all, best wishes for a prosperous April!

What's the Buzz at BuzzCart?

We have been putting in some long hours here at BuzzCart so we could roll out some new equipment and upgrades. If you were a fly on the wall, this is what you would know….

Gregg Thomason, our CTO, has been working on a battery of new servers for our data center at Qwest in Sterling. Once prepared these new, upgraded servers will not only increase the speed of BuzzCart websites, they will allow the Buzzcart team more space to establish future upgrades in an expedited fashion. That is the name of the game with the internet, speed and growth potential.

One of our web developers is Bouba Ballo. Bouba is currently writing code to help increase speed and integrate more bells and whistles into the BuzzCart applications. Our programmers continue to find ways to make program applications easier and more user friendly for everyone.

You all knew the President of BuzzCart, Matt Zarbatany, is a hand’s on type of guy, right? Matt is working on rolling out some exciting new additions to our BuzzCart package. The first item is a partnership with ShipCompliant. ShipCompliant is a shipping verification firm that helps oversee the delivery of controlled beverages such as wine. This will allow wineries and specialty stores to incorporate and manage all ABC regulations from their BuzzCart back office. Matt is also revamping shipping preferences to include the new Fed Ex API, and we are getting started on the integration process with Quickbooks Merchant Services. Next in line is an upgrade we all can use, an addition of a rich text editor for word formatting and product descriptions. This will allow bold print, colors, text changes, and much more without the need to know any HTML.

Look for “The Buzz at BuzzCart” in our next newsletter to find out what we are working on next.

New Stores!

We're always excited to showcase the ew stores that have come online with BuzzCart. Here are some of our newest success stories:

Haute Momz - http://www.hautemomz.com/ Haute Momz presents a line of fashion forward essentials for mom and baby. With modern moms in mind, Haute Momz set forth to design quality pieces that are versatile, practical, easy to use and clean, yet stylish. All of their products are handcrafted in the USA using 100% cotton designer fabrics. Haute Momz provides a unique collection of shopping cart covers, playmats, nursing covers, carrier covers, burpies, aprons and smocks.

Marterella Winery - http://shop.marterellawines.com/ Marterella Winery is located in the heart of Virginia Horse & Wine Country, just north of Old Town Warrenton. You can now purchase their high quality, award winning premium Virginia wines online at their new online Wine Shop.

Internet Marketing: Credibility Counts

Let’s talk credibility. Have you ever been to a city, let’s say, Washington DC, and saw a guy in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. Sticks out like a sore thumb . Sure he talks like a cowboy, he even walks like a cowboy, but when push comes to shove….well you know the rest. E-Commerce websites often generate the similar thoughts. What are we portraying to potential customers? Is your site professional, to the point, and stocked with good information about your company? Or do your customers look at you like you are the one in the cowboy hat and boots. Here are some ideas to help your stores credibility.

1. Association and security seals. Customers need to feel secure. BuzzCart has acquired a Thawte certificate for each shopping cart we host. Make sure you customers know this. Joining the Better Business Bureau and you local Chamber of Commerce also adds a professional look to you site, and gives the customer additional security.
2. Commit to a Privacy Policy. No one wants to buy a product and then get emails and phone calls from every retailer who has a widget to sell. Make your Privacy Policy clear and concise. Make sure it is easily accessible to the client. BuzzCart offers a Privacy Policy button in our basic template, so make sure you have a policy in place.
3. Company profile and contact page. Give your prospects a phone number, email and address on your site. A short company profile is nice, with a brief informative about response time to questions asked. This will allow you to work while still offering top notch customer service.
4. Offer customer testimonial pages. Nothing is better then having your customers rave about you and your product. Be proud, share it.
5. Correct mistakes quickly. Typo’s, misplaced items, the same out of stock products, no image available. These are all signs of a site that may lack credibility. Fix these as soon as possible. Remove products that may be out of stock for a while, have stock photos on file, review your site often for mistakes. A clean site is a comforting site.
6. Credit Card Information. You already state on your site that all information is protected. Is that enough? Sometimes, but just in case let your customers know you never store credit card numbers and you entrust payment processing to an approved Merchant Bank or secure payment Gateway.
7. Communication. Last but not least make sure your line of communication is solid. Can your customers track shipments, do they know your return policy, do they know how long it will take you to process order, etc. Lay your policies and information out there for all to see and buyers will feel more comfortable, and you will answer fewer questions.

Your site must be credible to be successful. Take a look at your site frequently. Update photos, change information, and clean it up. Even brick and mortar shops clean the windows once in a while. For suggestions or help with your site, or information to add to the site, contact chris@buzzcart.com.

E-Marketing 101 Seminar with the Prince William-Greater Manassas Chamber

The advice above is a great way to get started, but if you want to learn more about low-cost, high impact strategies for building your business, join BuzzCart at the MAPS seminar: Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations Strategies. BuzzCart is proud to be a Platinum Sponsor of this event.

Choose two of four exciting break-out sessions including Email Marketing, Online Advertising, Online PR and Driving Traffic to Your Website (aka Search Engine Optimization) presented by online marketing experts with comments from actual users.

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 7:30 to 10:00am Verizon Auditorium George Mason University, Prince William Campus 10900 University Blvd. Manassas, VA

The cost to attend is $25 and includes free parking, networking, continental breakfast and a free copy of our 2008 Media Guide. Space is limited. Please RSVP immediately by calling Cathy Gilbert-Silva at 703-368-6600, ext. 10, or emailing cgilbertsilva@pwcgmcc.org.

For more information, visit the MAPS website. We hope to see you there.

Dropshipping With BuzzCart

Drop shipping is becoming one of the next big things for internet retailing, and BuzzCart is already working on getting involved. If you know any budding entrepreneurs or want to test your hand the hottest market in retail sales, send an email to chris@buzzcart.com for your complimentary BuzzCart guide to dropshipping. Available by April 14th.

We'll have a more comprehensive article on the opportunities provided by drop shipping in an upcoming issue of the BuzzCart Newsletter.

Trust Marks and Thawte Security Certificates

93% of consumers surveyed by Verisign felt it important to have a trust mark of some kind on their e-commerce site. BuzzCart has partnered with Thawte for all of your SSL needs which includes the Thawte verified security symbol on your website. Thawte ensures 256-bit encryption of all data transfers, which is above the current industry standard of 128-bit encryption.

By securing your website with a Thawte digital certificate, your main aim is to provide proof of your online identity and in doing so establish a relationship of trust with those with whom you will be doing business. The Thawte authentication process comes into play as the most important part of your digital certificate. Authentication provides shoppers with proof that:

1. Your company is a real world company
2. They are connected to the correct server, not a fake server scamming them
3. You are who you say you are
   

Taking the authentication process farther than most certificate authorities is what sets Thawte apart from their competition. BuzzCart feels confident enough with the Thawte process and security that we include it as mandatory when we set up new BuzzCart users. For questions regarding your Thawte certificate email chris@buzzcart.com.

Breaking Down the Language Barrier: Tech Terms Explained

SSL: Short for Secure Sockets Layer, a protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents via the Internet. SSL uses a cryptographic system that uses two keys to encrypt data − a public key known to everyone and a private or secret key known only to the recipient of the message. Both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer support SSL, and many Web sites use the protocol to obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers. By convention, URLs that require an SSL connection start with https: instead of http:.

PHP: short for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, an open source, server-side, embedded scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages. Because PHP is embedded within the web page, the author can jump between HTML and PHP instead of having to rely on heavy amounts of code to output HTML. The strength of PHP lies in the ability to talk across networks and its compatibility with many types of databases.

SEO: Short for search engine optimization, the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so a good site rank in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site.