Tips – Page 5 – The Web Authority

May 7, 2018May 17, 2018

EU Privacy Considerations for US Clients

Understanding the GDR Regulations for Privacy — Understanding the GDPR Regulations for Privacy

The European Union is instituting a number of important privacy regulations. Even if you do not sell to clients based in the European Union, you may have visitors who live there and so it is important to prevent a penalty or legal issue to review your privacy policy and make updates to your website as needed now.

If you serve or have visitors from the European Union, you will need to enact a number of privacy policy changes supplying information about what you track, how to opt out and get proactive approval before tracking starts.

Please make sure that you take the time to review these important new guidelines that go into effect May 25, 2018. Below are several examples of many articles on the web to help you understand what changes may be needed to your website to be in compliance. It is important to do your own research and implementation to be compliant.

https://www.eugdpr.org – the official EU website

and

Easy to understand explanation from American Express.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/what-the-new-european-general-data-protection-regulations-mean-for-your-business/

“Who does the GDPR affect? (From the Official EU site)

The GDPR not only applies to organizations located within the EU but it will also apply to organizations located outside of the EU if they offer goods or services to, or monitor the behavior of, EU data subjects. It applies to all companies processing and holding the personal data of data subjects residing in the European Union, regardless of the company’s location.”

So the bottom-line is if you sell to or even have visitors from the EU, you need to be in compliance.

Important note: I am not a privacy expert and I cannot make recommendations for you that will bring you into compliance. This blog post is only to advise you that action may be needed by your firm’s website to be in compliance.

April 4, 2018March 30, 2018

Training Staff that Works Remotely

Nancy McCord a Google Partner and Bing Partner

Training staff that works remotely can be a challenge. My firm has four remote employees and I have found that training is as easy as taking a short video with your phone.

In my case, my remote employees do not all have the same hours as all of them have other jobs or are full time students. So, it is nearly impossible to get everyone online at the same time.

I have started taking videos with my phone while I am in a control panel to make a super short video of what to do on a project. I am finding that employees like this, are able to watch the training multiple times, and some will even take notes and then work from their notes.

The key is to make the video super short and convey a concept that is not overly complicated. For me, I have done videos on how to add negative keywords to an AdWords account and how to create new ad text.

For most millennials, the visual mode of training is best and engages them most. Older staff seems to want the video plus written steps.

The key takeaway on this blog post is sometimes you simply need to think outside the box and meet staff where they are and allow training that is on-demand for their schedule.

April 2, 2018March 30, 2018

Sharing Buttons for Your Newsletter

If you are not using a template at your e-newsletter sending service and have used or created your own HTML code, you may have trouble adding your sending services e-newsletter sharing buttons if they are not already included in the footer.

I have found a solution at AddThis and a code creator that will make a code you can use for your HTML newsletter skin that does not include JavaScript.

Visit this page to create your own code: http://www.addthis.com/academy/add-email-share-buttons-newsletter/

If you want to track statistics you can set up an account and then get an API key which you then put in the ID field. Before you generate your code, update your details like Share Our Newsletter and your URL of your online newsletter to share.

AddThis is a wonderful work around and the buttons look good on the page. When clicked the email one will open an online interface for sending and the Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ buttons will open the senders accounts so they can easily share items with their online friends.

February 28, 2018February 23, 2018

What Are Your Customer Friction Points?

Nancy McCord is a Google and Bing Partner

Friction points, it’s all about finding where customers have trouble completing during the buying process with you and fixing the issues.

Here are some examples of friction points:

Buyers have trouble downloading completed video files for a drone photography agency. What can be done? Maybe using Drop Box with easy to follow instructions and photos on what to do next for a file download.

Prospects have trouble understanding what is included in a blog post sale. How can that be clarified? Maybe posting samples of content with the right word count and number of links to help a prospect understand the type and quality they will receive on your website to prequalify prospects before they even call.

Buyers have trouble getting contract documents to sign and return. How can the process be easier? Maybe using a digital signing service and online document archive would work to speed the return process.

Each business has their own unique set of friction points. Making things easier for people to buy from you is not all e-commerce focused. Friction points exist even for transactions with consultants and business to business sales, and for people who do not even sell items on their website.

My own company’s friction points have previously been: blog writing samples and writing expectations, prospects not having the proper technology to send or receive a contract, and buyers needing an online self-serve credit card payment center.

Are you hearing the same issues over and over from clients and prospects? That is a friction point. Now’s the time to identify what yours are and do something specific to address them to make buying from you and your company frictionless.