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5 Web Design Books for the Price of 1 at SitePoint

If you want to learn web design, learn web programming or take your existing skills to the next level, you’ll want to take advantage of this limited time offer by SitePoint.  You can now get 5 books of your choice for just $29.95.

Their books come in downloadable PDF format and many are also available in MOBI and EPUB formats as well so that you can read them on your iPhone or Kindle.

I own most of these books myself and I can tell you they are packed full of high quality information.  Some of my favorites include:

  • The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
  • Build Your Own Web Site the Right Way Using HTML and CSS
  • Sexy Web Design
  • Online Marketing Inside Out
  • The CSS Anthology

It would normally cost $149.75 to buy 5 books, so this is quite a savings!  Use this link to access the sale.  Remember, this is a limited time offer, so buy your books today!

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By Viki Nygaard – March 31, 2010

Why Affiliate Programs Are Risky

Colorado residents woke up this past Monday morning to find that their means of earning affiliate income through Amazon.com had been abruptly pulled out from under them. In response to a new Internet tax law passed in the state, Amazon decided to immediately shut down all of its Colorado affiliates.

In essence, Amazon gave all its Colorado affiliates the pink slip.

Amazon claims the new law is burdensome and unconstitutional. The response from the Colorado governor was that:

“Amazon is simply trying to avoid compliance with Colorado law and is unfairly punishing Colorado businesses in the process.”

This isn’t the first time it’s happened.  Amazon has shut down affiliates in several other states including North Carolina, Hawaii and Rhode Island because of similar tax laws.  This has the potential to become more and more of an issue as other states try to increase their  revenue by collecting tax on Internet sales.

Regardless of who’s to blame – Amazon.com or the government – this situation exposes a risk of doing business as an affiliate.  One can spend a tremendous amount of effort building up an online affiliate business, only to have the affiliate program go “poof” and disappear into thin air.

But, quite frankly, the risk of being an affiliate neither started nor ends with Amazon.com.  Affiliates are completely at the mercy of those running the affiliate program.  It can be pulled at any time for any reason.

While Amazon has promised to pay for any commissions earned prior to the shut down date, sometimes affiliates never get paid for what they earned.

I learned this lesson the hard way.

Some years ago, I teamed up with a friend and joined an affiliate program for a company located in Australia.  My friend was in direct contact with the president of the company.  We had his permission to use the product name in the domain names we purchased.  He was very friendly towards us and my partner spoke on the phone with him on a weekly basis.

We put in long hours and created several web sites that promoted the product.  They were all approved by the company owner.  We quickly rose to the top of the search engines and started making some pretty decent commissions, in the range of $500 – $1000 US/month.

But then the owner of the company got greedy.  He decided that he was losing out on the money he was paying to us affiliates.  We started getting late payments, then partial payments and finally, promises to pay us in the future.

At first, he claimed lack of finances to pay us. Then he claimed we stole his rightful spot in the search engine rankings.  He felt that his company web site – not an affiliate web site – should be the first listing in Google whenever the product name was searched for.

He demanded that we change the wording used on our web sites to reflect that we were affiliates.  He required us to add links from our sites to his as the official company web site.  We complied.  When that didn’t change the search engine rankings to his favor, he shut down our affiliate account.

We never saw the couple grand he owed us.  When we inquired about it, he threatened us with legal action.  A bad experience for us, and a very painful lesson learned.

Does this mean you should shy away from using affiliate programs to supplement your income?  I don’t believe so.  However, there are a couple of things that you can do to help protect yourself.

Tips on Using Affiliate Programs

  1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Make use of at least a couple different affiliate programs.   That way if one program goes under, you will at least have a couple others to back you up.
  2. Do your research. How long has this company been around?  Do they have a history of paying their affiliates on time?  Research might turn up valuable information and help you decide whether or not you want to do business with this company.
  3. Find out what system is being used to track and pay affiliates. Many companies use a 3rd party company to track and pay affiliate earnings.  3rd party companies that issue payments directly to affiliates tend to be more dependable.  Other affiliate tracking methods require the company itself to issue payments to their affiliates.  These are often less dependable as the company may decide to withhold payments or make late payments.
  4. Go by your personal experiences. Apply for affiliate programs where you have purchased the product yourself and your overall experience with the company is positive.  Chances are, if they take good care of their customers, they will take good care of their affiliates.

Keep in mind that there are no guarantees when it comes to affiliate programs.  With the economy struggling, many businesses are tightening their belts and some are going under, both of which will affect affiliates.

Affiliate marketing, however, can still a good way to earn extra income.  Treat it as making an investment.  Take the time to choose wisely, don’t rely too heavily on just one source, and be aware of the risk involved.

Have you had a bad experience with an affiliate program?  Let’s talk about it!  Have some tips to share?  Leave them in the comment section below.

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By Viki Nygaard – March 9, 2010

Is Flash on Its Way Out?

I was stunned to find out that Apple’s latest gadget, the iPad, does not support Flash. Why?  Because Flash-based web designs have exploded in popularity the past several years. This has been due, in part, to the fact that some of the past arguments against Flash are no longer valid.  Times have changed and technology has evolved, making the Internet more Flash-friendly.

Why We Hated Flash

Years ago, one of Flash’s biggest strikes against it was that it used a lot of bandwidth.  Web sites containing Flash took forever and a day to download on a slow Internet connection, but high speed Internet has become the norm (at least in most areas of the United States).

Another argument against Flash was that it was not search engine friendly.  However, since mid-2008 Google has been able to index text and follow URLs contained in SWF files.  It’s true that other search engines might not be able to index Flash, but that doesn’t have much relevance as long as Google continues to dominate the search world.

Finally, Flash requires a plug-in in order to work.  But these days, many computers come with the plug-in already installed.  If not, the user is normally prompted to download Flash and provided with a link to the download page, making it easy for most people to install it.

So why did an innovative company like Apple purposely leave out a technology that is so widely used?

Why the iPad doesn’t support Flash

As far as I know, Apple hasn’t released a statement as to why the iPad doesn’t support Flash.  However, there is a lot of speculation going on in the blogosphere.  Here’s a summary of what other people are saying:

  1. Flash is a resource hog. It uses a significant amount of CPU and drains the battery.  The iPads 10 hour battery life would be significantly reduced if it supported Flash.  Mac OS X users have long complained that Flash freezes up their browser or crashes their computer.  Maybe Apple thought that eliminating Flash meant eliminating headaches.
  2. HTML5 has the potential to replace Flash. HTML5 allows you to embed audio and video directly into a web page without using a plug-in. It also works along with Javascript to allow you to insert interactive animations - no Flash required. See a cool example of an HTML5 animation here.
  3. Flash is a usability nightmare. I recently experienced this first-hand with an online shopping cart that was completely designed in Flash.  Navigation was a disaster.  I couldn’t use the back button without being forced to completely start over.  When I tried to use the search box to find an item, it stalled…and I once again had to start over.
  4. Security is questionable. Flash security flaws exist that have been deemed unpatchable by Adobe themselves.  How scary is that?

Many anti-Flash commentators also pointed out that Flash blockers are some of the most highly downloaded add ons for Firefox and other browsers.  Flashblock, for example, has been downloaded more than 8 million times.  This leads me to believe that although the use of Flash has increased, not everyone has embraced it.

So the question remains:  Is Flash about to make a quick exit or are Web designers so used to relying on this technology that they will be resistant to change?  Will Apple’s non-support of Flash help force their hand?  Only time will tell.

What do you think?  Leave your thoughts in the comments box and let’s discuss it!

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By Viki Nygaard – February 19, 2010

Got Video? Here’s How to Increase View Time

Are people clicking on your web site or blog videos, but only viewing them for a brief time before abandoning them?  Or are they ignoring them altogether?  If either of these applies to you, the first thing you should ask yourself is:

“Do my videos give my customers content that is unique and interesting?  Is it valuable enough that they are willing to spend their precious time watching it?”

Compelling content that is targeted to your customer is important, even in online videos.  Content is what increases the time people spend on your web site and decreases your bounce rate.

But if you are convinced your video content is first rate and people still aren’t sticking around to watch it, there could be several other factors playing into the mix.

It could be that your viewers are in situations where they either:

  1. Can’t turn up the volume
  2. Can’t hear or understand the audio

It makes perfect sense when you think about it. In public places such as an office, library, or coffee shop, and sometimes even in the privacy of their own homes, people are hesitant to turn up the volume because they don’t want to disturb those around them.

On the other end of the spectrum, people are often in loud situations and environments where they can’t hear the audio over the background noise.

There are also those who can’t hear what’s being said on videos due to hearing loss.  Statistics show 36 million people in the United States alone suffer from hearing loss, with more than half of them under the age of 65. (It’s not just old folks, young people are affected, too).

If you’re thinking that there’s nothing you can do about this – that the situation is out of your control – you are wrong.  There is one very simple solution that will solve all of these issues and that is:

Caption or subtitle your videos!

According to a trial done at PLYmedia, people will spend up to 40% more time watching videos that have captions or subtitles.  The trial also showed that when captions or subtitles appeared in the video, 80% more people watched the video in its entirety compared to the same video without captions.

That tells us that captioning your videos is a powerful tool that works to keep people watching for a longer period of time.  It knocks down barriers and eliminates excuses.

If that doesn’t completely convince you to caption your videos, than this might:  It’s a good possibility that search engines will soon be able to index the text contained in videos.  They can already index the text in Flash files, so the technology to index video files is very likely just a heartbeat away.

No matter how you look at it, stats like these simply cannot be ignored, in my humble opinion.  There is a need out there that is waiting to be filled.  I believe smart marketers will be quickly moving on this information and adding captioning to their videos. Will you be one of them?

Related posts:
Should You Use Video on Your Blog or Web Site?

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By Viki Nygaard – April 6, 2009

Upselling Online – It’s All in the Timing

Some time ago, I posted about my experience with an online company that attempted to upsell page after page of products to me *after* I had entered my credit card number and submitted my order.  While their strategy worked and I did buy one of the upsell products, I found it to be a rather unpleasant experience.

For starters, I was confused.  Once I clicked on that “Add to Order” button, was I was going to be immediately charged for that extra item? Or would I have the opportunity to remove it from the cart before my order was finalized?  Either way, it didn’t give me any time to think it over, research the product, or do a price comparison.

Secondly, I’m not an impulsive buyer.  I rarely make a purchase unless it is well thought out.  And forcing me to go through multiple pages of upsell products in order to get to my order confirmation page just didn’t sit well with me.

This past week, direct response copywriter and marketer Michel Fortin posted his opinion about this method of upselling on his blog and it has sparked some  passionate comments from his readers.  Michel compares it to taking the customer’s order and holding it hostage.  And his wife, Sylvie, actually refers to this as “upsell hell.”

But what’s interesting is that Michel and Sylvie aren’t against upselling.  In fact, they are big proponents of it.  And in all truth, so am I.  The issue isn’t with the upselling itself, but the timing of it.  The Fortin’s and I believe that upsells on the web should occur *before* the customer enters their credit card number and submits their order.  It’s just common courtesy.

On the flip side, our opponents say that they utilize this method because it works.  It allows them to close the initial sale (they’ve already captured the buyer’s credit card number) and it gives them the opportunity to sell more products without the risk of the customer abandoning the shopping cart.  They believe that they are in jeopardy of losing the sale altogether if they offer upsells before the sale is clinched.

While I agree that statistics prove this method works in the short term (as it did with me), more often than not, it ruins any chance of a long-term relationship with that customer.  Overall, it causes distrust and resentment.  Yes, you may get that extra sale or two, but will the customer come back and buy from you again in the future?  Or have you scared them away forever?

Personally, I’d rather profit less from the initial sale with hopes of profiting more in future sales from customers that come back and buy from me time and time again.  And while this is partially because I am committed to running an ethical business, my desire to get repeat customers runs deeper than that.  Let me explain.

Studies have proven over and over that repeat customers:

  • Cost less. Snagging a new customer is costly and time consuming.  We all know how expensive advertising is.  But in addition to that, it takes time and effort to get the customer to trust you and make that initial purchase (a good example would be answering pre-purchase questions.)   In contrast, the repeat customer has already bought from you, already trusts you, and is often eager to buy from you again.
  • Buy more. Repeat customers will not only come back and buy from you again, but will often buy larger quantities.  This provides you with more sales revenue that didn’t require you to invest in additional advertising.
  • Refer others. Referrals have often already made up their mind that they are going to buy from you.  They’ve heard good things about you from someone they likely trust.  They are less skeptical and more open to you than someone who has never bought from you before.  This results in an easier sale, that again, didn’t cost you additional advertising dollars.

As you can see, it’s just good business sense to try to retain your customers. But it doesn’t work when you use in-your-face selling methods such as the upselling technique we’ve been discussing today.

Instead, it’s a process that means treating your customers with dignity and respect.  It begins before they buy from you, continues when they make the purchase, and ends with exceptional customer service.

The next time you are tempted to jump on board the “upsell hell” bandwagon, remember that the effects are long term.  Ask yourself if it is really worth losing customers and ruining your reputation in the process.

Remember, it’s always about the customer. ;)

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By Viki Nygaard – March 29, 2009