We had our first query regarding configuring Microsoft’s Outlook 2010 to send and receive email this morning.
We like to be on the ball here in Support, so here’s a new article on our Knowledge Base, featuring step-by-step instructions and screenshots: Configuring Outlook 2010
Please remember to always check our Knowledge Base. We have a wealth of information in there for all our products plus tutorials, FAQs and videos.
We’ve got two great domain name special offers on now – half price .tv domains and .uk.com domains for just £15.99!
Memorable domain names can be hard to come by these days, but we think that .uk.com domains really fit the bill for UK-based websites. They’re relevant, professional and make it clear where you’re based. And now they’re available for an amazing £15.99 – that’s almost a tenner off the usual price! Be quick, though – this offer’s only open until 30th September.
A .tv domain is the domain name for websites with video content. They’re memorable, they instantly tell your visitors that they’ll find loads of great visual content on your website – and for a limited time only, they’re half price! Grab your .tv domain now for a fantastic £14.99 per year.
After a few months of working busily away behind the scenes, we can now announce that we’ve revamped and upgraded our entire range of Virtual Private Servers (VPS)! We’ve expanded the range and added tools and control panels that suit both web developers and business owners, including, at the request of our customers, Plesk Control Panel.
So, what’s new?
Of course, our Virtual Private Servers are still fantastic value, starting from just £9.99 per month for Linux, £24.99 per month for Windows, and £34.99 per month for our brand new Windows Hyper-V VPS range.
Working in the web hosting industry, it’s fair to say that having your own domain name (s – it’s usually a case of the more, the merrier) and hosting is pretty much a given, and the benefits to using your domain for email addresses are widely understood. But we understand that outside of technology central not all folk might consider a domain name and email hosting account to be as vital to their business as a telephone. So, here’s three reasons you need a domain with email hosting:
1) It’ll make your contact details easier for potential customers to remember
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been driving behind a van belonging to a plumber/decorator/gardener and have wondered how on earth anyone manages to remember an email address involving various random numbers, a couple of extra dots, and a random ISP. The company name, on the other hand, is usually pretty memorable – so why not buy that as your domain name and set up a mailbox or two for your staff and for general enquiries and put that nice, catchy email address on your van? I don’t know about you, but I remember helpdesk@daily.co.uk much more easily than I’d remember helpdesk.daily3457@somerandomISP.net.
Added bonus: you can change your ISP without losing your emails and having to tell everyone your new address and have your van artwork and business stationery re-done.
2) Easy email for everyone in your company
You get one mailbox free with every domain name, so if you just want to set up ron@yourcompanyname.co.uk to be able to send/receive emails via webmail or Outlook, you’re sorted. If you’d also like Beryl and Merv to do the same with emails at that domain name, grab an email hosting account and you’ll be able set them up with their own mailboxes.
Added bonus: you’ll look like a much more professional company if you can point accounts queries directly to Merv-in-accounts rather than having everything go through one address.
3) Excellent security and support
Email hosting comes complete with anti-virus and anti-spam filters, so your email should be safer and splendidly spam-free. And if you do have any issues with your email, you know that we’re easily reached. There’s a mine of information in our knowledge base, helpdesk tickets are answered within four hours, and if you call us there’s no annoying menus followed by a half an hour wait listening to your ISP tell you how much they value your call, which is near the top of the queue – we’ll just, well, answer the phone. The Support team doesn’t have scripts, either – they’re employed for their knowledge and their problem-solving ability, so instead of running through a list of tasks by rote, they’ll simply ask you what the problem is and work with you to fix it.
Added bonus: you should be able to just set your email up once and then forget about it and let it all just work. But if you do encounter a problem, you’ll be able to solve it without having to listen to hold music for half an hour. What more could you want?
The .CO pre-order period is now over, so we’ve added .co domain names to our standard domains roster for a bargain £18.99 – one of the lowest prices around.
The launch of .CO domains has been hugely successful, with over 336,000 of them already registered. Google has also recently announced that it will be treating .CO as a truly international domain, which means that your .CO domain will have the same geo-targeting options available to it as other generic global domain names like .com or .net – brilliant for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). What’s not to like?
We talked briefly about remarketing recently, and now we’ve got the basics out of the way here are a few thoughts on how to increase sales using remarketing.
A quick recap
Remarketing is the name for the type of advertising which involves showing your adverts to people who have visted your website when they’re browsing the web as normal. Every now and then, I hear someone exclaim that they’re seeing ads from a particular shop all over the internet – chances are, they’d visited that website earlier and the company is using remarketing to make sure they keep being reminded of the fab product they’d been looking at.
Why bother?
Google’s view is that if you use remarketing to support your PPC ad compaign, you should find it improves conversions for your whole campaign. The theory is that people who have visited your site are already aware of you and potentially interested in your products. If they keep seeing your ads, you and your fabulous products will stay uppermost in their minds and so they’re more likely to get the wallet out.
Targeting your campaign
Just as a well targeted PPC campaign is often the most effective option, so too is a well targeted remarketing campaign. Instead of setting it up so that anyone who visits any part of your site is served with a generic ad, think about what each visitor is most likely to buy and set up several variations.
For example, a fashion brand might choose to serve shoe ads to visitors that have spent time on their shoe pages and menswear ads to visitors that have spent time on the menswear pages, because if customers have already expressed an interest in a particular product the chances are that’s the product they’re most likely to buy from you.
Think, too, about how interested you want your visitors to be – you could, for example, choose to target only customers that have put items into a basket but then abandoned it without checking out. These people are likely to be the easiest to convert because they have already displayed a high degree of interest in specific products.
Fine tuning
You can select on what types of site, and even what specific sites, within the Google Display Network you want your ads to run. Do it. You should have an idea of the demographics of its typical customer – you’ll get the best results if you choose to run your campaign on sites which fit that demographic, thereby advertising products in which people have expressed an interest on sites which reflect that and related interest. Otherwise, you run the risk of foisting yourself on people who are generally not interested in what you have to offer but happened to be considering a gift for someone. If you’ve ever eyed your Amazon recommendations list shortly after a present-buying spree, you’ll know what I mean – I bought a colleague the DVD of the 1950s version of ‘War of the Worlds’ as a secret santa gift once and until I told it not to base recommendations on that particular item, Amazon was apparently convinced that I wished to collect DVDs of every 1950s sci-fi film in its warehouse.
In summary, remarketing can be a really powerful tool to help improve the conversion of your whole campaign, but you should make sure it’s as well thought out and carefully tuned as your standard PPC campaign if you want to get the best results. To get the ‘how to’ nitty gritty straight from the horse’s mouth, read Google’s Getting Started with Remarketing section.
You already know that eShop and Instant Website customers who don’t have the resources to spend time setting up and editing a website can take advantage of our Managed Setup and Helping Hand services to help get an online shop or website up and running, right?
Well, in response to customer demand we’ve added a new string to our web design bow – we’ve launched a completely bespoke Web Design service in partnership with talented East Midlands design firm Tor Studio. Customers who want a totally unique website but don’t have the resources to develop it themselves can use this website building service to get a site that’s perfectly suited to any of our web hosting packages developed from scratch.
We’ve worked with Tor Studio ourselves (they were heavily involved in developing the Daily website, no less!), so we’ve no hesitation in recommending their services. All you need to do is fill in the ‘let us call you’ form and Tor Studio will get in touch and work with you every step of the way to develop a website that meets your specifications and budget. So, why not drop them a line?
If you followed our series of five articles on how to get your PPC advertising campaign up and running a few months ago, you should already have a well-tended, successful pay-per-click advertising account. So, it’s time for the next step – broadening the reach of your advertising with the Google Display Network.
What’s the Google Display Network?
First things, first! Until very recently, this was known as the Google Content Network, and it’s a way to get your advertising out to a broader market than just Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). You can use the network to display text, image, video and rich media ads across YouTube, Google properties, and display partners, so not only are you able to reach a wider audience but if you can rustle up a banner ad or promotional video you’ve a chance to use visual media to get your message across.
Isn’t that a bit of a scattergun approach?
Only if that’s how you set it up! You can target your ads on the Display Network, just as you can target your standard text ads for the SERPs. First, you can use keywords to target your ads to types of website in much the same way as you use them to target ads to search results – Google uses the example of a photography equipment seller using ‘digital camera’ to get placed on photography blogs and camera review sites. Second, you can select specific sites within the network on which you’d like your ads to be displayed – and exclude sites on which you’d rather not be! Thirdly, if you know your customers tend to be a particular demographic, there are plenty of sites within the network that allow you to bid for your ads to be shown to a particular age or sex. Finally, you can try remarketing. We’ll talk in more depth about this in a future blog article, but essentially you can use remarketing to ensure your adverts are displayed to people who have previously browsed your website, keeping you at the forefront of their minds and encouraging them to prise open their wallets.
How do I get started then?
Off to Google AdWords with you! Assuming you already have an AdWords account and have already thought a little about the types of ads you’d like to include on the Display Network, you’ll need to create a new campaign for your new activity. Generally, this works as it normally does – set your keywords, bids, ads and budget as normal – but when you add the new campaign you’ll see the following under ‘Networks and devices’:
We recommend that you select ‘Relevant pages only on the placements and audiences that I manage’ if you want maximum ability to fine tune, but ‘Relevant pages across the entire network’ will give you a broader reach and may be a good way to learn what works best for you. You’ll see there’s a ‘Networks’ tab in your ‘Campaigns’ page, too – you can check things out in more detail there.
Google also helpfully include a Display Ad Builder tool that you can try.
How do I measure and manage my Display Network activity?
Once you’ve got your campaign up and running, you can measure its effectiveness and hone your approach just as you can with standard paid search activity. We suggest that it’s worth heading to the Reports section of AdWords! For starters, once you’ve been up and running for a while, exclude any website which hasn’t generated any conversions – what’s the point in showing ‘em your ad if they’re just not interested in buying what you’re selling? As with standard PPC, of course, you can use negative keywords to exclude types of sites which aren’t relevant, adjust your bids according to performance and budget, and so on.
Interested in learning more?
Take a look at what the experts have to say – here’s some information straight from the horse’s mouth about the Google Display Network and about remarketing.
Running a company? Maybe you’re a communications specialist? In charge of a community website or amenity? Or maybe you’re just struggling to find a unique domain name for your blog?
Then you need to know about the brand new domain extension that’s due to be launched this summer! .co domains give you a great opportunity to snag a memorable, unique domain that’s perfect for building a community or communications brand. Already have a brand you’re happy with? Then maybe you should grab the .co in order to protect it! .co domains aren’t on general sale yet, but we’re taking pre-orders for .co domain registrations now. As soon as it’s possible to buy them, we’ll submit your request and do our level best to bag it for you. You’ll need to be quick, though – they might not be available now but they’ll be registered on a first come, first served basis so someone may still pip you to the post (we’ll refund you if you’ve pre-ordered a registration and we find we’re unable to register the domain for you).
A word to the wise, though. The big brands will snap theirs up at an earlier (and more expensive – think ‘move the decimal point along a bit and be ready to go to auction’) stage of the process – or simply use their trademarks to claim the domain legitimately – so I wouldn’t bother trying to snag microsoft.co.
Where did .co come from?
It’s actually originally the Columbian domain extension, much like the .uk that we’re familiar with in the United Kingdom. But, Columbia felt that it had such potential that it would be popular elsewhere in the world – just like the folk of Tuvalu did with .tv – so it was decided that they’d release it for general use.
So, how does the launch of a new domain extension work?
There are several stages to the launch of a new domain extension. First is what’s called Sunrise period. This is where owners of registered trademarks step forward to apply for domain names that fit with the trademarks they hold. Applications are assessed, and if there are two valid applications for the same domain there will be an auction to determine the winner. The next stage is Landrush. This opens up registration to those who don’t necessarily have trademarks but do have the wherewithal to pay a couple of hundred quid (or more) for a domain name. If it’s not been registered during Sunrise, it’s fair game here and an auction will occur if there are multiple applications for the same domain.
Finally, the new domain extension goes into General Availability. This is just as it sounds and is what we’re taking pre-orders for – anything which hasn’t been snaffled during Sunrise or Landrush becomes available to register, the price drops to its standard level (£27.99 per year from Daily) and domain name registration works just as it normally does. For .co, this happens on 20th July – we’ll submit your requested domains as soon as possible.
After several blog posts about various aspects of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay per click advertising (PPC), you hopefully now know plenty about how to drive traffic to your website. But are you converting as much of it as possible into sales? Here are our top tips for boosting your website conversion rates:
Measure and test everything
If you want to improve your conversion rate, you first need to know where you stand at the moment and have a mechanism for testing new things and measuring their effectiveness. Google Website Optimizer is a great tool for this. Say, for example, that you’ve decided to revamp your website’s homepage. When you’ve got a design you’re happy with, you can use Website Optimizer to drive a percentage of traffic to the new layout so that you can assess its effectiveness without changing everything over at once. So, if it turns out that your old layout encouraged more people to convert you’ll see that reflected in the results and can reassess the new design accordingly. Similarly, you can use it to test which of two different promotional headlines, images or copy treatments is the most effective. The more you do this, the more you’ll start to get a feel for what works well and what doesn’t.
Encourage, don’t discourage
Your website should contain clear calls to action – there’s a reason why everyone has bright, bold ‘buy now’ buttons placed prominently on product pages. They encourage the action you most want from customers – the opening of the wallet. Likewise, your copy should promote the benefits of whatever you’re selling and directly suggest that readers buy now. I know we all know that a website there for sales purposes, but it’s amazing the difference it makes to your conversion rates if you actively request the sale rather than just hoping it will happen. Other things you can do to encourage the sale include: adding customer testimonials or product ratings; keeping your copy in plain English, brief and focused around benefits rather than features; adding a Twitter or blog feed to your site so customers can really engage with your business (the more engaged they are with you the easier it will be to convince them to make purchases); and adding a newsletter signup area button – if they’re happy to sign up to your newsletter, that means they’re interested in what you have to offer and likely to be swayed by a tempting offer emailed in their direction. I’ve seen this work brilliantly on sites which send a welcome mail containing a 10% off voucher code when you sign up. They’re usually only valid for a week or so, so it really encourages a quick sale and gives the customer a feeling of getting a bargain. Which means they’re more likely to pay attention to everything else you send them and to keep revisiting your website, and so it goes on.
What your website shouldn’t include is anything which makes it harder for people to buy your product or service. The more hoops you make people jump through to make a purchase, the more chances you’re giving them to wander off before getting their credit card out. So, avoid making it necessary for people to register before making a purchase (you can make it possible, but don’t require it. Keep your order process as lean as possible – request the minimum information necessary and make sure your order form is clear, easy to understand, contains as few steps as possible and gives some indication of how many steps into the process the customer is at each stage. If someone gives you incorrect or incomplete information, don’t make them type everything all over again – just draw their attention to the bit that needs correcting.
Illustrate what you’re offering
If you’re selling tangible products, make sure you have clear product shots of decent size, preferably from different angles and zoomable or enlargeable. People can’t examine prospective purchases online in the same way they can in a bricks and mortar shop, so you need to give them as much as possible to go on so that they’re encouraged to make the purchase. Mention the dimensions of the product in your copy so people can visualise how it will fit into their home or on them.
If you’re selling a service rather than a physical item, you’ll still need to use images to highlight what you’re selling and make your webpage more appealing to the eye. Choose clear, simple images that relate to what you’re offering. You don’t want to make them so elaborate or confusing that people get distracted by them, but they should convey the right message. The image on our eShop pages, for example, provides a clear visual link to the idea of shopping, and we’ve added a template gallery and forum icon to draw attention to those additional convincers. For our new SSL Certificates pages, we’ve used a padlock as our main image to convey the idea of security, included logos from the secure certificate providers to demonstrate the pedigree of the product, and added the actual site seals customers can use with our secure certificates so that customers know exactly what they’re getting.
