BZA recently launched a new website for food ingredient manufacturer EFCO Products of Poughkeepsie, New York located at http://www.efcoproducts.com . EFCO is a leading manufacturer and supplier of ingredients for bakeries and foodservice companies worldwide.  The site gives bakers and chefs convenient access to detailed product information. As innovators of new products, it was important for Efco to be able to update the website quickly and efficiently. BZA provided Efco with a content editing solution that allows them to update their product pages, news and more.

At the core of EFCO’s success is their commitment to providing the highest level of customer service. EFCO’s customers can now go to the recipe blog section of the EFCO website to get ideas, tips and recipes that put the “Yum” in their food creations. Recipes are now indexed in a database and easily retrieved through search or category navigation.

Through BZA’s site optimization effort, EFCO has been able to increase their search engine traffic significantly since the website launch. With their old site they could not be found for any of their targeted keywords or phrases.

According to a recent poll by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Symantec. 63% of online shoppers said they did not complete a purchase because of security concerns. Here are a few tips that store owners can implement to overcome this obstacle.
1. Having credibility symbols on your web site is the first step in building trust. This includes your SSL Certificate with a live to link to your provider.
2. Also make sure you have a privacy policy on your site. Visitors want to feel confident that are going to keep their information private, especially their email address.
3. Don’t ask for any unnecessary information during the check-out process. You want shoppers to be able to check-out as quickly as possible.
4. Offer payment options like PayPal and Google Checkout. This allows visitors to pay via credit card without having to divulge their credit card information.

See our web site for more informtion about BZA’s Ecommerce and Online Store Design Solutions

Want to add news, articles, tips, and events to your web site? The most cost-effective way to accomplish this is to integrate a blog into your web site. Blogs are a fast and easy way to publish, categorize and archive information in our web site. Best of all, you can publish content to your web site without any technical expertise. How does this work?

The most popular blogging platform is WordPress. WordPress is Open Source, meaning it’s FREE. Your webmaster will need to install WordPress on the web server that houses your web hosting account and customize it so it matches the look and feel of your web site. WordPress is actually a database application, which means Individual posts can be retrieved through search, Tags, and a Category index. Additional benefits include:

• Blogs are a great way to build quality keyword driven links that point to key pages on your website. Great for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
• Blog content is almost instantly indexed in Google.
• Blogs are a quick way to integrate multimedia into your site; add a slide show, pictures, or Video (linked from YouTube)
• Think of using a blog for your Press Room or News section of your web site. News Articles are automatically archived by date and can be easily searched.
• Position yourself as an expert. You may not have written a book but you do author a blog.

One of the easy ways to promote your blog (articles and content) is through social media. So once you post an article, you’ll need to tweet about it through your Twitter account. Make sure you include the link to the blog article. 

Your Blog can be configured in such a way that every time you add a post, your home page automatically gets updated with the latest news headlines. Don’t be afraid of the word “Blog”. Just because you have a blog doesn’t mean you have to quit your job and become a blogger. You can update your blog as often as you like. Express yourself.

I recently taught a class for start-ups and entrepreneurs on web marketing. I dedicated one slide to the topic of selecting a domain name. I was extremely surprised how this topic sparked so much discussion and interest. In light of this, I thought a blog post would help others facing that most important decision.

Many of the unemployed today are reinventing themselves and starting up businesses. One of the most important tasks a business owner must consider, second to selecting a company name, is the selection of their domain name. Brands are greatly affected by the ability of the company to obtain the matching domain name. If a company builds a brand around a name to which it does not own the domain name, it can end up directing traffic to another domain owner’s site. If it is a competitor, this surely would be problematic.

As you list your potential choices, determine how the name will be interpreted in both writing and in speech. Two or three word domains can easily be read in more than one way. A good domain name should require little or no explanation when verbalized. In other words when you tell someone your web site address and they ask, “is 2 spelled to
or two”? or “is it the number 2?”. Having to offer an explanation adds an unnecessary level of confusion and will guarantee that your domain name will be difficult to remember.

Numbers should be avoided and so should phonetic letters; i.e. “fone” for “phone”, “magik” or “Magic”. Also avoid homophones like “sweet” and “suite”. Avoid hyphens; i.e. www.my-company-store.com.

When you search domains during the purchasing process you’ll see the many extensions (.com, .biz, .info, .us) that are available. Domain registrars will always show you the “3rd rate” names like .biz, .us, .info etc. They want to increase the amount of your order by encouraging you to sign up for those names. Do resist for the mere fact that the business world thinks in .com and that’s the way it is. So stick with .com under all circumstances.

Keep your name as short as possible. Remember you domain will be reflected in your email address. If the name is longer but yet easy to remember and spell than that should be acceptable.

And once you register your domain, do put up a placeholder or a splash page until your web site is ready. The experts claim domain name longevity is a factor in search ranking. Now that is another whole topic.