Bloggermint

Online Shopping Safety: Essential Things to Keep in Mind!

Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:41 AM PDT

Online shopping has come a long way over the past 20 years in many ways, including functionality and safety. Buying things online used to be an unthinkable task that consumers expected to always end in identity theft. Today, thanks to advances in technology, a vast number of people indulge in online shopping every day. This is not to say that e-commerce is without risk, but when done properly, it can be as safe as shopping in a store physically.

For a company, protecting customer data is very important. If customer information is at risk, a company could go out of business in the blink of an eye. This is why it is important to be in compliance with all of the rules involved with e-commerce. A major rule is PCI Compliance.

What Is PCI compliance?

PCI stands for Payment Card Industry, and in order to be compliant with them, certain standards must be met. PCI DSS is an acronym associated with this, and it stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Major credit card companies collaborated and established this standard as a policy to aid any business that uses card payments. If a business is compliant with PCI DSS, they are preventing things like identity theft, hacking, and other security threats. Also being compliant can help companies avoid fines and other penalties. There are many details that need attention in order to meet these guidelines. Some include: Build and maintain a secure network, monitor and test networks regularly, and manage vulnerability. The compliance guide can be found at pcicomplianceguide.org. It can be a lot of things to consider at once, and many businesses use a website building company to keep them safe and compliant. Meeting these important standards can give a business owners peace of mind that they are doing all they can to protect customer interests, as well as the interests of the business itself. And customers can find it reassuring that they are purchasing goods through a tested and certified shopping cart platform. Then the next concern is how the items will get to the customer.

Shipping Concerns

The shipping side of purchasing is a very important consideration. Customers like to be able to choose what kind of shipping they will get and track orders. Really it comes down to customers wanting options. Many shopping cart programs nowadays set up a link that will lead the customer to the tracking site for his or her purchase if tracking is available. This lets the customer feel more secure, and enables them to watch the progress of the order from beginning to end. Having spent money on a product, it is reassuring to know that the order is being sent by a major and trusted company.

Advertise the Safety of Your Site

Customers are much more informed in this modern world than they used to be, and they often do research before they buy a product or use a service. It can help to be as informed, if not more so, than they are. Know what they are looking for and try to let them know what you offer. Perhaps the best way to let them know that your company is meeting all the standards that are needed and offering customers the best service available is to put it down in writing where they can see it. They may not know what PCI DSS means, but they probably know that if a company is officially certified by someone, they are held to a standard, which is reassuring and builds confidence in a customer about his or her choice to use a specific website or not to do so.

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Blogging for Business- How to do it Right?

Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:21 AM PDT

Just about every successful business has a website these days. It is a valuable hub of information for your clients and your customers, and it is essential that you keep it updated and relevant. One of the best ways that you can do this is through making sure that you keep a business blog.

The business blog has been the subject of much debate as of late. Some feel that it is not really necessary if you have good articles posted on the website whereas others feel that it is important to keeping the content rating up and keeping your position in the Google ranks and on the page searches. The latter is particularly important, as is the fact that your customers are more likely to come back to visit your site if they know that you’re going to provide rich and relevant content for them. This, in turn, will increase customer and brand loyalty so that they are more likely to purchase your products in the future. Here are some guidelines for making sure that your business blog will make an impact on your readers.

Provide Relevant Information

Your blog needs to be targeted at your ideal audience. One of the best ways that you can do this is through offering targeted and relevant information to problems that they are facing. This is one way to almost guarantee that they are going to keep coming back. For instance, if your target audience is people who are getting ready to start their own businesses, then you might consider running a post entitled “How to Register a Company.” If you specialize in organic bath products, then you might consider running a post called, “Five Ways to Deal with Blisters Naturally.”

Don’t Make It An Advertisement

Your blog can and should include information on your various specials and opportunities. That’s one of the great things about having a blog. You can publicize your deals and promo codes, and you can even offer special ones to your regular readers. The important thing though is that you don’t let it be entirely about advertising. Otherwise, you’ll very quickly erode your base. Who wants to come and read all of your advertisements? That’s pretty much spam to most of your customers, and they’re going to delete that from their inbox, so there’s no way that they’re going to come looking it up on your website.
Now this doesn’t mean that you can’t recommend your products in your informational posts. You can. Betty Crocker and Hamburger Helper, for instance, have regular blogs that contribute to food sites like All Recipes and Food Network. They do provide recipes that use their products, but they also include information on substitutions. The recipes themselves are good, and their product only appears as a regular ingredient. There aren’t any other promotions or ad related material there. That is enough to keep it from being spam.

Be Regular

Your customers are likely to come back whenever they know that you’re providing good posts. The key though is to make sure you are providing relevant and beneficial content on a regular basis. If you aren’t regular, then they won’t know when to come back. That delay means that they might in fact forget all about you, and that is never a good thing.

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