Unless you have been living under a rock, obsessed with the NFL draft and post-draft analysis, or wrapped up in the latest tabloid exploits of the Kardashians (I am just guessing something has happened there, no clue), you have probably heard about the Marketplace Fairness Act, or more commonly known as “Internet sales tax legislation.”

Put simply, if the legislation makes it through the full votes in the Senate and House, Internet retailers will be required to collect and remit to state and local governments, sales taxes on all online sales.  Sounds pretty simple, right?  Maybe, maybe not.  What is clear is that if this legislation passes, it will have a significant effect on all relevant parties.

As many of our clients engage in e-commerce, we’ve spent a good bit of time talking to them about what to expect and how this legislation could affect their business overall, not just their website.  While everyone should be aware of what the potential outcomes should the Marketplace Fairness Act pass, it is very important for businesses who conduct business online be aware of how they will be affected, and be prepared to react.

What follows is a light-hearted, though thoughtful look at how each party could be affected by the Marketplace Fairness Act.  Just a note, we are not stating an opinion one way or another, merely indicating how the relevant parties will likely be affected.  If you want to debate the legislation and call names, please take it to Foxnews.com, CNN.com, etc.

Consumers

New Taxes

Technically, this legislation should not affect consumers at all because, technically, we, as consumers, are supposed to report and pay taxes on all Internet purchases through “usage taxes.”  And if you are one of the three people in the country doing that, we’d like to talk to you about a lovely bridge in Brooklyn we are looking to sell.  So, whether you say this is a “new” tax or not, the legislation, if passed, will result in most consumers paying more in taxes.

Less Choice

If online retailers are required to file up to 46 tax returns (45 states and DC charge sales tax), then many might choose to only sell in states where they get enough business to justify the hassle and expense of filing a return.   This could result in less choice for consumers.

Brick and Mortar Retailers

A Level Playing Field

Contrary to popular opinion, not every brick and mortar retailer has a website and not every brick and mortar retailer that has a website is geared toward e-commerce.  So for traditional click and mortar retailers, this legislation will result in at least a partial leveling of the playing field – or at least it will from their perspective.  Who among us can honestly say that you have not researched a product at the store, pulled out your Smartphone, and compared prices on Amazon or another Internet retailer?  I would venture the answer is probably the same three people who are actually reporting their Internet purchases when they file their taxes.  If consumers have to pay taxes on their online purchases, they might be more likely to purchase at the store, versus online.   It is this concept that is the reason why the Marketplace Fairness Act has seen bipartisan support.

Less Opportunity

Now, you might ask, “How will a level playing field result in less opportunity for brick and mortar retailers?”  Well, simply, this legislation could make establishing an online retail presence less attractive as a growth strategy, or at the very least limit the states businesses chose to conduct business through the Internet.  Given that the five-year failure rate for small businesses in the retail sector is over 41%, this is not an effect to be dismissed casually.

State/Local Governments

New Tax Revenue

Based on a total of $226 billion in Internet Sales in 2012, the new legislation could result in up to $23 billion in additional tax revenue.  That is no small chuck of change and will certainly benefit cash strapped municipalities and states.  The question remains, however, at what cost will that benefit be reaped?

New Responsibilities- Software

Part of the legislation requires states to provide free software to Internet retailers, so they can properly calculate and collect taxes.  So, at minimal, states wishing to collect the Internet sales tax will have to provide the software to facilitate that, and facilitate the cost of its development and updates.  There is most definitely a cost involved there.  It is probably minimal in the grand scheme of things, but it is there.

New Responsibilities – More tax returns to review

I am honestly shocked that, in the many articles and opinion pieces that I read, no one mentioned this.  How much will state revenue department operating costs increase as they ramp up staff, equipment, etc to collect this new revenue?  For larger states, whatever it is, it will likely be worth it.  But for less populated states, will the benefits be worth the costs (real or perceived).

More Audits

One would logically assume that, with an increased number of returns, the number of state audits will also increase.  So, like the increased number of returns to review, this will result in higher operating costs for the states’ revenue departments.  And here is the kicker: remember, the taxes collected are being calculated by software provided by the state.  Seems like a pretty good defense for any retailer that gets audited: “Hey, I collected and paid what your software told me to.  If it was wrong, that’s your fault.”  NOTE: If you are a software developer, you might want to consider not taking a gig developing this software.

Online Retailers

We saved the “best” for last on this one and, for the purposes of discussion, it would not be much of a stretch to say that this is the group who will be most affected.  To start, if you sell online, but your online sales are not $1,000,000 or more annually, relax, take a sip of coffee and enjoy the rest of this blog because the new legislation does not affect your business.  If your online sales cross the $1,000,000 threshold, you might want to take a drink of something stronger than coffee before reading any further.

New Tax Responsibility

For online retailers whose online sales do total over $1,000,000, they will now have to collect and pay taxes in ANY state where they have sales (with exception of the five states that do not collect sales tax – AK, DE, NH, OR, and MT).  With no clear indication as to what tools will be provided to businesses to assist with this, other than the software, smaller online retailers will face tough decisions on whether or not to place limits on the states with which they chose to do business.

Increased Work

Depending on the state, businesses will be required to file returns either monthly or quarterly.  So, at minimum, a business that sells to customers in the 45 states that collect sales tax (and DC) would have to file, at minimum, 180 new tax returns!  That is assuming that each states only requires quarterly filing, some require monthly.  I am not counting the state in which they are physically located, since they are already collecting sales tax there.  If the business is located in a state that does not collect sales tax, that headache would be even bigger because now they have to do something they have not done before – file a state sales tax return.

Decreased Competitiveness

This legislation will most certainly make it harder for online retailers to compete.  From the click and mortar retailer perspective, one might say “Right on, the playing field is now level.”  And one would have a point.  This legislation will most certainly make it harder for smaller online retailers to compete with larger online retailers.  Many of the larger online retailers are already collecting sales tax from online sales and those which do not,  will not have much difficulty absorbing the costs of this new legislation (should it pass).  But smaller online retailers will have to make decisions as to whether or not to continue to do business in a given state or states.  This will result in lost sales, lost revenue, lost growth potential, etc.

Web Development Costs

At minimal, this new legislation will require businesses to integrate the state provided software with their website.  If they have one of the generic, one size fits all web stores we all see advertised, will the software integrate properly?  If so, how easy will it be to do so?  Will the company that sold them the solution pay for and support the integration?  If the software won’t integrate, then the small retailer will now have to develop a new site (good news for web developers).  Companies that already have a custom web site will at least have the comfort of being supported by the developer that built their site, but will still have to pay for the integration.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there is A LOT to consider when looking at this new legislation.  Hopefully, our elected representatives will consider all of these, and I am sure many other factors, when debating, modifying, and presumably passing Internet Tax legislation.  All this might be academic as it would appear this bill has the required votes to pass in both the Senate and the House.  Our best advice, make sure you are ready either way.  At the time this blog was written, the Senate had set May 6^th as the day it would vote on the Marketplace Fairness Act.  Should it pass, at that point the bill would be sent to the House for debate, and potentially a vote.

Email Marketing is a wonderful way to reach prospects and an important component of multi-channel marketing.  That being said, email marketing is also a wonderful way to completely destroy your reputation if it is not done properly.  Below are 10 helpful tips for making your email marketing to prospects more effective (much if this advice will also apply when emailing your customers).

1. Make sure you are using a reputable data source

There are A LOT of companies selling email lists that they “claim” are legit.  The simple fact of the matter is many companies selling email marketing lists are less than trustworthy.  So, to make sure you are not getting bad data that will best case waste your money and at worst case get you flagged as a spammer, here are some questions to ask your email list provider.  These questions are especially important if they list provider is willing to turn the list over to you, versus wanting to deploy your message for you.

1. How was the data compiled?
2. Is the list opt-in or even double opt-in (meaning the member signed up and expressed interest in specific information)?
3. How often is the list updated (hard bounces removed, unsubscribe requests removed, etc?)
4. Can you provide referrals?

2. Write an engaging subject line

Unlike with direct mail, you cannot use envelop design or other creative design to grab your prospect in when using email.  As a result, an impactful, creative subject line is critical to the success of your campaign.  However, you should avoid words like “free,” “discount,” etc. in the subject line as those words can cause your message to be flagged as spam.  If you are deploying a large campaign, use it as an opportunity to test more than one subject line.

3. Don’t use forms

Most email deployment companies do not allow forms in an email message.  Beyond that, forms look canned, are not as engaging, and can result in getting flagged as spam.  If you want the prospect to fill something out, it is better to provide a link to the appropriate page on your website.

4. Single deployment campaigns do not work

It is better to wait until you can afford an email campaign with at least two message deployments than to spend your money on a single deployment campaign.  Reaching your prospects multiple times is just as important in email marketing as it is in other forms of direct marketing.  Not only will multiple deployments allow for multiple exposures to your prospects, it will also allow you to test different messages, switch up your offer, etc.

5. Spread out your deployments, but not too far

It’s a good idea to wait a week between deployments as doing so will decrease the chance of your prospect feeling crowded by your emails.  In fact, if you are using a deployment service, most will require a week.  However, you also do not want to wait too long for your next email, lest the prospect forget about you.  At most, wait two weeks between deployments.

6. If you fail to plan, plan to fail

If you plan to use email marketing, plan for at least two weeks to get your first deployment out the door.  It takes time to (1) find the right prospect list, (2) refine your creative/message, (3) run a test deployment, and (4) schedule your campaign.   You can get it done quicker, but the cost will be higher, quality will suffer, or both.

7. Have a call to action

This might sound like one of those “DUH!” pieces of advice, but it is amazing how many emails go out without a clear indication of what the sender wants the prospect to do.  So, when you plan your email campaign, think very clearly about what you want the recipient to do and make sure the email tells them how to do it.

8. Include multiple ways for the prospect to reach you

Giving prospect multiple ways to interact with you through the email will increase the probability of your campaign succeeding.  If you want the prospect to click on a link to your website or landing page, provide the link in multiple locations on the email.  Include links to your Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc accounts so prospects can follow you.  And it goes without saying, but providing a way for prospects to sign up for your email list is critical.  All of these engagement methods immediately turn a cold prospect into a warm prospect.

9. Don’t be copy-heavy

It is true that too many pictures, graphics, etc. can be distracting, but not having any will make your email about as engaging as VCR instruction manual written in Esperanto (props if you get those references).  Like a well-written subject line, a visually engaging email will draw your prospect in and get them to take the desired buying intention actions.

10. Timing, Timing, Timing

Just as it is important not to deploy too frequently, it is also important to be mindful of when your message will be deployed.  Generally, the ideal times to deploy are Tuesday-Thursday between 10am-3pm.  However, Mondays and Fridays are becoming more popular.  The important thing to think about when scheduling deployment is when is your prospect most likely to be in front of their email and likely to see your message.

Long before you choose a web developer, the fate of your website is determined. Why? Because knowing your organization and setting clear goals are prerequisites for success. Not knowing what you really want from your website guarantees that it will fail.

Saying “I want a website” is like saying, “I want a house” or “I want a car.” Without knowing exactly what you want and what you are paying for, you’re buying a pig in a poke. Would you ever shop this way for a house or a car? Probably not, yet many managers make this same mistake with their business websites.

Remember that your website, like any other business tool, must always produce a return on investment (ROI). A great website will not only pay for itself through the increase in traffic, conversions and sales, but it will also help your business grow and prosper. Unless you are building a website for the sake of having a website, every business website must have a clear business objective.

“I need a website for my business” is not a proper objective for a business site. To set a business objective you should ask yourself: how can your new website help grow and improve your business? For example: would you like it to increase sales, enhance customer satisfaction, or reduce overheads? Be as specific as possible.

A good test for your website’s business objectives is the S.M.A.R.T. model, which is often used for goal setting in project management. S.M.A.R.T. is a mnemonic for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely, and guides you to setting the goals in a way that you are more likely to achieve

If we go back to the “I need a website for my business” example, a better S.M.A.R.T. objective would be “I need a website that will increase my sales by $60K in 12 months by targeting my ideal customers.”

In the old days, April Fool’s Day pranks were passed word-of-mouth or limited to your own creativity, but no longer. It turns out that the internet is for more than just status updates, hilarious cats, and (ahem) adult content. Pranks and prank sites are everywhere, and you can find some pretty clever and amusing ones out there.

Below you’ll find just a few of the best April Fool’s sites that have helped pull off pranks in the real world and the internet.

Pranks and Prank Resources

Some of these are pranks that you can actually do online, allowing you to befuddle, harass, amuse, and otherwise annoy a huge number of people with just a few button pushes, but others are completely old school.

PrankOwl

Prank phone calls are nothing new, but with caller ID on every cell phone, it’s become a lot harder to make them work. PrankOwl helps you with that problem by giving you several options. You can send recorded sound bites through the site that accuse people of doing things like downloading illegal pornography or messaging the speaker’s significant other. You can have their caller ID show a fake number when you call, letting you mess with them in your own demented way. And you can even set it up so that two people call each other without intending to. Best of all, the site will record the conversation for you.

Zug

Can’t be limited to just one prank? Well, Zug is full of options for you. It’s a compendium of humor and practical jokes submitted by users, so there are plenty of ideas new and old to choose from. Yes, there’s even a how-to for a homemade fart machine. The bar has just been lowered.

Deadfake

Who hasn’t wanted to send an email pretending to be somebody else? With Deadfake, you can have your friend’s boss email them about missing a shift of work or break up with them as their significant other. The best part – it’s completely anonymous. Isn’t friendship great?

Fake Parking Ticket

You know that sinking feeling you get when you approach your car and discover you’ve gotten a ticket? Well, now you can share a more confusing version of that frustration and anger with someone you love by downloading this parking ticket template and putting it in their mail. How in the heck did they get a $500 ticket?! Guess they’d better call the DMV to find out. Mwwwaahahaha.

Where’s Waldo at Albino BlackSheep

Everyone loves Waldo, right? That adorable candy cane-looking guy has been on the run for a generation or more, always showing up in the strangest places. Well, if you have friends that just can’t resist finding him, send them here. Not only is Waldo absent (for once!), there’s a little surprise waiting for them after they look at the picture for a minute or so that will scare the crap out of them. Just make sure they have the sound on.

Destructing Message

Pretty much what it sounds like. With this site, you can send someone a message with a self-destruct timer on it so it will completely disappear after the timer gets to zero. Maybe it’s a professional-looking email about a big rebate they’re getting. Or a derogatory message from someone that causes them to go ballistic… then vanishes without a trace so that they have no proof.

A Look Back on April Fool’s 2012

There have been lots of good online April Fool’s jokes over the years. Remember Gmail Paper? How about that awesome-looking Aurors TV show supposedly picked up by FX a few years ago? Well, last year wasn’t any different. Here are some of the very best web-based April Fool’s jokes from 2012.

The YouTube Collection

Imagine owning every single video ever posted on YouTube on DVD! Your family could enjoy it for generations… because that’s how long it would take to watch. Sadly, this product is not real, and there’s a dead giveaway. Is it the fact that it’s insane and possibly not legally permissible for YouTube to do this? No! Companies do that all the time. It’s the fact that they’re offering it on DVD instead of Blu-Ray. Come on, YouTube.

Google Car NASCAR

There were lots of Google April Fool’s Day jokes, but this one takes the cake (the trophy?) for being somewhat believable with the reveal of Google’s self-driving car. The photo with the “driver” holding his hands out of the window is pretty priceless, too.

PSS crowdsourcing for a new name

Product Support Solutions is fairly unwieldy, so it wasn’t completely unbelievable that a company like PSS would want to change their name, especially since they’re just entering the echelon of big-time businesses. That belief, however, lasts only until you get to the list of names they were supposedly considering within the company. It includes things like “Pretty Special Service” and “Phone Speaking Services.”

reddit timeline

More like reading an Onion news story, at no point do you actually believe that reddit is serious, but it’s still a pretty amusing commentary on Facebook and our obsession with social media updates. The idea is that reddit timeline allows you to see social news from the past, present, and future using “never-seen before time travel technology.” We would use it for something like social media, wouldn’t we?

Catblock

This one is so genius that it may (sadly?) become a reality. Catblock doesn’t just block annoying ads, it turns them into annoying pictures of adorable and hilarious cats. Why? Because they’re taking over and you can’t stop it. People found it so hilarious that the developer is now creating a real version.

Hopefully, after reading some of last year’s most impressive jokes and checking out a few of the sites with pranks that you can do, you at least have a few new ideas for this year.

Remember, the best pranks are those that you create yourself. If you’re lucky, you’ll come up with some April Fool’s jokes that allow you to amuse and annoy your friends until they no longer want to hang out with you. Happy fooling!

With the internet evolving day after day, we hear of new discoveries and even better ways to surf and host files online. We have all heard of the term “cloud hosting” or hosting within the “cloud”. Is there really an object called the cloud? And what does it really do in terms of file hosting? Cloud hosting has been considered as a faster, and more reliable alternative to the traditional hosting. There are a lot of companies offering cloud hosting solutions promising to provide the hottest trend in the hosting market, but before anything else, what is cloud hosting and why is it better than other alternative hosting services?

What is cloud hosting?

The “Cloud” isn’t a gadget, or a part of a computer that is used to store files and information. There really is no single physical object  when it comes to defining the cloud. The divide and rule concept is used in cloud hosting wherein more than one web server is used to maintain your website. In traditional hosting, downtimes can be a problem because if one server fails to work the entire website will be in trouble. In cloud hosting, when it comes to server malfunction you have lesser chances of experiencing downtime since there is more than one server maintaining your website. The group of servers working together to maintain your website is commonly called the “cloud”. It helps that more than one server acts as a resource for your website and comes in handy especially during peak loads.

Dedicated Servers, VPS, and Cloud Hosting

For bigger companies, server reliability is important especially if a website needs to be up and running 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. There will be times where the website experiences peak loads and bandwidth issues may arise. But when this happens the server might not be able to handle it and may experience downtime, which is one of the things that companies avoid the most. If you are looking for reliable hosting services, cloud hosting is definitely your best choice. Especially for websites who experience a lot of hits per day, it is vital that the website is up and running at all times. One of the biggest factors that help people decide is the price. Since cloud hosting has a higher reliability rate due to the fact that there are more servers working on a single website, the price may be slightly higher compared to traditional shared hosting. Traditional shared hosting and VPS are known to have lower price rates but the reliability factor is always in question. For startup companies and websites which do not expect that much hits, a smaller budget for a hosting service and a lower reliability rate could be acceptable.

Benefits of using cloud hosting

• Less risks. When it comes to cloud hosting, one of the bigger advantages is the lowered risk of data loss. Since most of the data is stored in remote locations paired with quick backups, there is very little chance that you will experience any type of data loss. Also, companies that offer cloud hosting usually have customer and technical support that work round the clock, 24 hours and 7 days a week, to ensure that all problems are solved no matter what time of the day it is.
• Web traffic is not a problem. Since maintenance requirements of your website is spread across multiple servers, your website can easily handle huge web traffic which results to less or no downtime at all. With this type of hosting there are less server crashes making it easier for prospective and future clients to browse without any interruption.
• Customize size and storage with ease. Cloud hosting is known to have multiple or unlimited network of servers. By using cloud hosting you can easily create as much capacity as you want.

What exactly is a “coming soon” page? Most people often think of it as a page to cover up for a problematic or unfinished area of a website, quite similar to the usual “under construction” page. In essence, a “coming soon” page is that and then, so much more.  A more suitable description for a “coming soon” page is a teaser page. Its main purpose is in fact to entice and persuade online users and potential customers to come back again and see what you offer. It’s not just about covering up a blank page but more on making use of that blank page. Got it?

You might ask, why do you need a teaser page?  Well, for one it’s a good start to raise awareness of your product or service, ensuring a successful launch when the time comes that you’re fully ready to introduce your products. Likewise, a “coming soon” page is great for familiarity. Letting your potential customers know about your product as early as possible can be advantageous. With a good “coming soon” page, you increase anticipation and people would definitely look forward to the day you actually launch your product or service.  Allow your potential customer to take a sneak peek of what you’ll offer and see how eager and excited they’d become. Having a “coming soon” page is beyond doubt an effective web strategy that can really benefit your product.

The next question you have would probably be this: so how can I build the perfect “coming soon” page? There are several ways you can make or create an effective teaser page but here are a few useful tips to help you in your page creation:

1. Be creative with your wordings

“Coming Soon” and “ This Site is Under Construction” are not the only words or terms that you can use for your teaser page.  There are several options you can consider like “Something Big is Coming Your Way”, “Be The First To Know”, or “Drop By Again Soon”. You can also ask teaser questions that can capture their interests like “Are You Ready For This?”, “Do You Have What it Takes?” and so much more.

2. Give a short description or insight on what’s coming soon

Provide a short but catchy copy on your page, explaining and describing the product or service you’re about to launch.

3. Start to present your logo and brand or product name on the page

Introducing your logo and name can help you with branding and familiarity.  Place your logo and name over a simple background to allow them to stand out.  Soomi.com.au is not yet ready to launch its website so they created this page with their cute logo to notify people that they’re coming soon.

4. Gone are the days of black and white and all- text “coming soon” pages

Now, we have an assortment of color choices and stunning images that we can use.  Use them to your advantage but remember to not overdo.

5. Encourage online viewers to sign-up for newsletter and updates

Provide an email sign- up box so you can make follow- ups and invite them to check your page again once it’s already done.  This is also a good way to track and survey your page views.  Here’s a shoe selling company that used a sexy image of a woman’s legs to entice viewers.  Instead of the words “sign up”, heeled.net used the term “skin up” for added creativity.  It’s a great sample of a classy and elegant teaser page that invites people to sign- up for email notifications.

6. Provide links to your other websites like your social networking sites

This will help your potential customers get to know and connect with you better even before the website is up and running.  Put Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr widgets on your page for them to click. Accentuate’s site features this cool coming soon page with Twitter and Facebook handles.

7. You can also feature a short but interesting viral video of the product or service you’re going to launch

The more interesting it is, the more people will share and introduce it to others.  It’s free advertising already.  It can also motivate them to come back and check your site again.

Have you seen some great examples of Coming Soon pages? Share them with us in the comments below!

As the biggest social network in the world, Facebook has to make sure that they keep their users engaged on the site and not annoy them with too much marketing and advertising. But as a company that wants to make money and please their investors, they also have to come up with a model that’s friendly to businesses as well.

To that end, Facebook yesterday showed the world what their new homepage is going to look like, and the redesign has lots of businesses eager to see how well it works. So far, investors at least seem positive about the redesign, with shares rising by 4.1 percent after the unveiling.

What’s changed?

More specialization

Users overwhelmed by the glut of constant information thrown at them will now be able to view personalized streams on subjects that they choose. Not only can you decide that you only want to see things related to, say, TV shows and the 49ers, you can set your stream up so that it focuses on posts from close friends. However, that doesn’t mean that you won’t see posts from companies and products you “Like.” Under the new design, you’ll be able to switch back and forth between feeds.

Embiggening

Not only can photos now be bigger, so can links. That’s good news for businesses in a variety of ways. First off, advertisers like getting more real estate, so the bigger pictures and links are more likely to draw people’s attention. Beyond that, though, the new bigger sizes will help to make Facebook more mobile-friendly. That will increase the overall audience that can see the ads.

A “personalized newspaper”

That’s what Zuckerberg has said that he wants Facebook to evolve into, with people having immediate access to the kinds of updates and information that are most likely to be interesting to them. The home page, like the front page of a newspaper, will feature content deemed to be “compelling” so that people will be encouraged to “dig in” and keep looking for more.

Advertisers have already said that they like the idea of content being divided into different streams, adding that they hope this will lead to people exploring the news stream more and sticking around for longer – which means that they’ll have more time to take in ads. It also never hurts to make advertising more visual, either, and marketers have long found that pictures can help to attract people more readily than words.

What do you think of the new design? Leave a comment with your thoughts below!

Choosing and finding the right domain name for your business is one of the keys to online success. It’s necessary for you to pick a name that’s appealing, easy to remember, and most importantly, available.  Settling for a less than stellar domain name may deem your website useless. This is the common mistake of business owners and moguls who invest on the look and content of their websites but fail to devote time and effort on picking or choosing the perfect domain names. What they didn’t know is that a good domain name can help online users and other potential customers to easily remember and find your website. In addition to that, it offers you better branding and can even boost your search engine rankings, which is vital if you want to be successful in the World Wide Web. If you want to properly establish your business identity online, then you must begin with finding a stellar domain name for your company.

Here are some tips to help you choose a stellar domain name for your business.

1. Consider Your Business Name

If you’re not the creative type and you already have a stellar business name, why not get a domain name that completely matches your business name? This makes decision making easier for you too. The chances of potential customers to start their search with your business name or product name is actually very high. Adding .com after your business name is actually the first thing they might do if they want to search for your company online. Manilla, an organizing website, used its unique business name as its domain name.

2. .COM or Nothing at All

As mentioned above, online users are used to adding .com after business or product names that they won’t really try using .biz, .net, .info and other dot something. Stick with what’s familiar and use .com for your domain name. Unusual domain extensions like .net and .biz will hinder potential customers or online users from remembering you or even finding you. 

3. Brevity is Best

Keep your domain name short and sweet. People appreciate shorter names, they are just easier and faster to remember and type. Moreover, longer names can bring more typing errors. 

4. Wrong Spelling Wrong

Try to use proper spelling and grammar when creating your domain name. Some people get overly creative and play with the spelling of their name.  Wrong move! They add unnecessary letters and interchange S with X or Z.  This may be cute for some but if you’re a serious businessman and wants people to take you seriously, let go of the cutesy and playful spellings. Potential customers might get frustrated just trying to figure out the correct spelling. You can be creative and playful without compromising the spelling. Buycarshere.com combined three simple words and created a catchy and easy to remember url.

5. Spend On It

Use your money wisely and invest on a good domain name. A really cool and catchy domain name may cost more than others. Think! If you have already spent a huge amount for the development of your website, why not get your money’s worth and get people to visit your fabulous website with a stellar domain name. After all, it’s not like we’re talking of millions and millions of dollars here. A few hundred bucks can actually get you the best suitable domain name for your business.

6. Forget Hyphens

Stick with letters and numbers and forget hyphens, dashes, and other typing characters.  These simply add confusion.

7. Say It Out Loud

Practice saying it. Pronounce the name and see if sounds good. If it’s easy and smooth to utter, people will surely remember it. If it doesn’t sound right and is hard to pronounce, it most likely will fail as a domain name.

8. Study and Brainstorm

To help you in deciding and choosing the perfect domain name for your business, go and brainstorm possible names. Ask the opinion of family and friends and find out which are catchier and which are not. It’s also best to have backup names just in case your number one choice is not available anymore. By drafting a list of the good names and erasing all those confusing and crazy ideas, you’d surely come up with a unique yet outstanding name for your business website.

What are some of your favorite domain names? Let us know in the comments below!

Most people and even you might think microsites are just high-priced mini websites with cool Flash animations, visually stunning presentations but low or zero SEO value.  Well, think again! It’s actually just a very common misconception. Over the years, microsites have grown from their low down image of questionable usability into powerful tools for great marketing opportunities.

The new generation of microsites features not only artistic and creative presentations of your products or services but also useful information and interesting contents that are easier to absorb than those in other websites.  For those who are not quite familiar with microsites, basically these are smaller websites usually have just a page or two.  Microsites are generally used for a specific task like promoting a particular brand, product or service. Highly optimized for a few but exact phrases and keywords, microsites are usually for a specific target or demographic to help achieve its purpose.

Here’s a compilation of the top ten benefits of having a microsite.

1. The SEO Advantage

Every microsite is actually its own website, therefore it has its own one of a kind URL.  With a unique address that one can easily remember, people can find your product and service faster and easier. This definitely is an advantage in search engine optimization.  Your microsite can also feature an assortment of keyword-rich domain names that are highly valued by Google, Yahoo, and other top search engines. Other regular websites can never have more than one to two keywords in their domain name. This facet increases your contents’ ranking importance, thus also helps in SEO.

2. A Focused Path

Compared to a larger website, a microsite provides a more focused and clearer presentation of your specific brand of product. Since it highlights and features only a specific product or service, your microsite gives potential customers a clearer and faster shopping experience. No distraction from other products equals higher and faster buyer ratings.

3. Effective Branding

If you want to launch a new product or service, you’d want it to stand out from its mother brand. This is to ensure that your product or service would be able to stand on its own especially if your mother brand is not that reputable. This is also important if you’re launching it for a new target market. Microsites can help in this aspect. It’s an effective branding tool or strategy to give your new product or service its very own website, even if it’s just a page or two. A big brand like Unilever utilizes microsites for some if not all of its smaller brands like Axe for example, which has its very own mini site that’s visually appealing for its target market.

4.  Efficient Email Campaign

Emailing is fast becoming the world’s leading means of communication. Almost everybody everywhere has an email address or two.  Microsites take advantage of this fact to connect with majority of online users. A well-placed microsite can drive hundreds, even thousands of online users and potential customers to look and search for your featured product or service.

5.  Detailed Information

It can definitely help your products and services to have their more significant and relevant details posted on its own page. Having a microsite to put all these pertinent details helps viewers to easily clarify and understand your proposals.

6. Increased Public Interest

A sure plus for any business or online announcements, having increased public interest means your site is effectively fulfilling its purpose. It is no doubt that microsites are natural audience grabbers. As it acts like several little homepages, microsites give you more opportunities to attract audiences.

7. Faster Development and Placement

A Microsite is especially useful if you apply it to a seasonal promotion or announcement that has a short lifespan. Creating a full website for something that has an expiry date is impractical as it is a waste of both time and money. Microsites are easier to developed and faster to place. An example would be this page from this deal site or online promo sites.  It’s attractive, direct to the point, yet the promotion is for until a certain date only.  No need for a whole website just for that.

8. Perfect Experimental Tool

Sending out various campaign messages through different and assorted microsites can help you test your market. This can better gauge the effectiveness of the messages and help you choose which is better and more attractive to your target market. Since microsites can stand alone, this strategy will not confuse your market of your intention.

9. Less Overcrowded Homepages

Because of microsites, your homepage is safe from overcrowding and online congestion. Many online users may visit and view your website but do you really connect with them?  Offering too many choices and details on a single website can turn off online users and prompt them to just leave your website.

10. Cost Efficient

Contrary to what most people think, building and maintaining microsites may be more affordable than actually creating bigger websites. Aside from the limited number of pages, the contents are also lesser. It takes a shorter time to create one and easier to manage given that it is usually run by a single program like Flash player or just a few videos and animations, sometimes images are all you need.

Below is a list of contenders for this year’s 85th Academy Awards, taking place on February 24, 2013.  You can check out the trailers for each of the nominated movies by following the links below, or for more detailed information and Oscar coverage be sure to visit The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website.

1. Silver Linings Playbook

2. Life of Pi

3. The Invisible War

4. The Hobbit

5. Lincoln

6. Argo

7. Beasts of the Southern Wild

8. War Witch

9. The Impossible

10. Les Miserables

11. Amour

12. Zero Dark Thirty

13. Django Unchained

Lets us know your favorite nominees for this years academy award winner in the comments below!