From SES Chicago: Ensuring Your Website Has a Clear Purpose - SiteProNews Video

Ensuring Your Website Has a Clear Purpose...
Website usability is one of those things that most companies know is important but put it on the back burner when comparing it with creativity and web design. The fact is that a lot of companies want their site to look so impressive and so unique that they leave out checking to see if a potential consumer can actually use it. Matt Bailey of SiteLogic Marketing advises companies to always conduct a “Mom Test” to get a true usability answer...

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Create Your Own Customized 404 Error Page for Increased Traffic - SiteProNews.com Article by Ed Duvall

Create Your Own Customized 404 Error Page for Increased Traffic...
As Seen on SiteProNews.com article by Ed Duvall

By design, the server that hosts’ your web site delivers a 404 Error / Page Not Found when a surfer clicks on a link that the server cannot find or something else unexpected happens. The most common error page is the HTTP 404 “Not found: The requested URL/whatever.html was not found on this server.”

This generally happens when a person clicks on a link for page that has been removed, renamed or otherwise changed.

If you were to enter the link below into your browser and hit the enter button you would see my own custom 404 Error page: cashway.com/aintnosuchpage.htm (This link is not active and will present you with my custom 404 Error page.) What happens to your web visitor who gets that error message on your site without a custom 404 Error page?

Generally speaking they’re off faster than a “speeding bullet” looking for the information they were seeking - probably to a different website. That’s something you really don’t want to have happen and it can be prevented with a custom 404 error page that gives them options on the error page that will tell them how to find what they were looking for.

So the answer is? Create your own custom 404 Error page that suggests other resources on your site and then helps redirects that person to them.

In essence you’re capturing traffic that you had, but lost and didn’t know it, and keeping that visitor by helping them find what they need and possible turn them into a buyer for your product or service later on.

But “I don’t have the time or know how to make a custom 404 page”, you say.

Well good news - it’s not as hard as you think. If you have about 30 minutes and your server is a Apache or Unix web server then it’s virtually a snap to do

** Your Custom 404 Page Design **

In my opinion your custom 404 error page should provide at least these components:

• A simple statement that the requested URL was not found on your site.
• A brief description of some of the most common mistakes that couldhave lead the visitor to the missing page.
• A “plug” for one of your Free products or services

You can of course add other components like simple java script code for date & time and IP address display, etc. if you really want to impress someone with your technical wizardry.

Your page also should carry the look and feel of your web site, so you should include your header or footer or both so it is clearly branded as yours. You may wish to include some other links for your site that lead visitors to other pages you may want them to visit.

Click this link NOW to read the FULL ARTICLE basic the steps!
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SES Chicago: Shopping Search Tactics for the Holiday Season - WebProNews Video

Although retailers are struggling this holiday season with the current economic issues, recent comScore data shows that shopping search engines are thriving and are performing better than last year.

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“Cyber Monday saw significant visitor gains at most of the top retail resources, led by Shopzilla.com sites with nearly 2 million visitors (up 98 percent versus the November base period), followed by Yahoo! Shopping with 1.9 million visitors (up 81 percent) and Google Product Search with 1.1 million (up 59 percent).”

These numbers further prove that consumers are browsing around online comparing prices and searching for the best deal. In the above video Greg Hintz, the General Manager of Yahoo! Shopping, gives four tips retailers need to know as they optimize their campaign.

1. Optimize your data feed.
2. Make sure your data feed provides relevant, comprehensive, and fresh data.
3. Use factual language instead of “marketing” language.
4. Include all product specifics.

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SES Chicago: Getting Your Viral Campaign Going - WebProNews Video

Viral campaigns are a current trend that everyone wants to take part in, but launching a campaign is not something that people should take lightly. Not to give off the impression that viral campaigns are difficult, but they do require skillful planning and should not be conducted halfheartedly...

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Chris Winfield, the President of 10e20, gives a few recommendations when getting started with a viral campaign:

1. Have clear goals and objectives

2. Promote great content

3. Contribute to the communities

4. Make sites work together

5. Have good hosting

In the above video from SES Chicago, Chris also adds that a viral campaign is not simply about a great idea. It also takes great execution and promotion which can be done through blogs, social media sites, forums and groups.

There is not a specific time table to know if your viral campaign is working, but all experts advise never giving up.