Almost every website has a form that visitors can use to make contact.

These forms are a valuable addition to the website, but they can deliver spam as well as good stuff!

How?

Simple. Small web programs (called Spambots) wander around the internet looking for web forms. When they find a form, they electronically fill it in with web links and adverts and post it. This is normally converted to an email and received as spam by the website owner.

Over the last 12 months, spam via web forms has increased dramatically.

There is good news - there is a way to stop these spambots!

At Maximum Web Profits Limited, we employ two very successful methods:

1) We use a form submission script that checks every submitted piece of data and removes any malicious code. This prevents the form from being used as an open email relay to send out spam. This script has evolved over the last couple of years and strips out 100% of the malicious code.

2) We use a ‘captcha’ graphic system. This is a simple graphic that is automatically generated and displayed as part of the form. The graphic contains a string of letters and numbers. These letters and numbers can be read by the visitor and keyed in as a cross check, but cannot be read by the spambots. It’s 100% effective.

It is critical to employ these methods to eliminate spam and keep your website secure.

D.

I met a guy today who said that his company generated all its business from word of mouth so therefore a website would be a waste of time.

His business generates a tidy profit so why should he spend money on a website?

I’d agree that for the percentage of his clients that make an instant decision to do business (and due to the nature of his business, many do), a website would not acheive anything.

It’s the larger percentage of prospects that make contact and fail to do business that would benefit from a website being in place.

Why? Because a website can be used to nuture a prospect into a client and prevent them from going elsewhere. A website can go a long way to building credibility, allaying fears and supporting the prospect through the buying process.

And some people prefer an ‘electronic salesperson’ to a ‘persuasive telephone salesperson’.

Let’s do some maths…

If the website helps persuade another 5 prospects a month (that’s a low estimate) to convert then that would generate an extra £5000 turnover for him. His profit margin runs at around 50% so that’s an extra £2,500 profit in one month and £30,000 over a year.

And what would a simple website cost? About a grand.

Would you spend around £1,000 to generate £30,000? Yep, so would I!

D.

Google have released a new version of their reporting software Analytics. The new version has had a complete interface overhaul.

The Dashboard is the home page on the reporting information. From here you can obtain vital information instantly, rather than in the previous version where you had search for a couple of minutes in different places. So on the home page I can get the number of visitors, page views, average time on site, percentage of new visitors etc. Another great feature that has been included is the option to customise your Dashboard so it will display exactly what you want.

The time frame menu has improved dramatically, it is now easier and faster to use

The other main feature is the ability email and export reports in various formats, the PDF printout being my favourite. You can also send scheduled personalised reports, another simple yet effective tool.

Contextual help tips are also included and a report finder tool, allows you to find data from the previous interface and locate on the new interface.

Analytics new look does seem a bit bare and definitively not as pleasing to the eye as the original version, but it’s primary objective is to display information quickly and easy-to-read format and this the way forward and will be welcomed by web marketers and web site owners.

J.

Our clients can always be relied on to make the busiest days even busier!

It’s great to get the variation in work and the opportunity to test our skills, but sometimes impossible really is difficult to achieve!

So what do you do?

Let a client down? No, not really an option.

The only way is to juggle everything and somehow make sure it gets done.

Working long hours comes with the territory so 12-15 hour days get much more done. And it’s quiet as the phone does not ring in the evenings!

So roll on tomorrow and another day of hectic, yet fulfilling, activity!
D.

I get close to 20 calls a week from people trying to ’sell’ things over the phone. Most of the calls get no further than a 10 second intro and then I say ‘not interested’ - politely of course!

However, a couple of weeks ago I got a call from a telemarketing company. They were promoting their own services using the very mechanism they sell to their clients.

Neat.

We chatted for about 10 mins and I formed a good impression of them and what they could do for us. The next step was to take a call from one of the Directors. I agreed to this and a time and date was set.

To be honest, I never expected to hear from them again. But I was proved wrong. At the appointed time and date, the Director called. Sadly I was on another call and missed speaking to them.

When we did speak later in the week, I was impressed again by their knowledge and professionalism. The Director promised to send a wriiten proposal for me to consider.

The multi-page proposal arrived and I read through it.

Now, here’s where I started to lose confidence.

Bear in mind that, up to this point, I was about 90% certain I was going to go ahead. After reading, I was 30% certain I would go ahead. Why?

1) There were no testimonials included in the proposal. This was startling as both people I spoke to were quick to give me ‘verbal’ case studies of exisiting clients and how delighted they were.

2) They wanted 100% of the fee upfront. Alarm bells were ringing here. Surely the risk should either be 100% on their part or maybe 50/50 - but not 100% on our part.

From a marketing point of view, these were the two biggest errors you can make and they, a brilliant telemarketing company, made them both.

My confidence in them and their service was reduced so much, I cannot think about going ahead. I am sceptical - and all because they missed two small points.

I still want to undertake a telemarketing campaign as it will reap rewards, but I am not certain it will be with the above company.

The search goes on…

D.

It struck me how easy it is to become stuck in a rut.

Our business has revolved around the same group of clients for the last couple of years.

On the one hand it gives confidence because they keep coming back for more. On the other hand, it can restrict the growth of the company.

So, no more… we are branching out big time.

We have a great team able to deliver world class solutions to web projects and systems. We need to tell more prospects about our services and help more people.

It’s scary and exciting at the same time.

I’ll tell more over the next few days.

D.