In an increasingly busy and competitive world, hiring an independent web professional for your company’s website build and development surely is just good common sense.

The key difference between an Independent Internet Project Manager (myself) and a web company’s own account manager is how they prioritise your business needs. I work exclusively for the YOU the customer, whereas a web company’s own account manager works for that Internet Development Company.

I am delighted to offer a service where i can work for your business using all my experience to ensure you get a website built that is delivered on time, within budget and exceeding your expectation, removing all the pain and hassle from dealing with technology company’s covering stuff you may not understand or being sold stuff you just dont need or even simply have time to deal with – I remove the hassle, manage the trouble and deliver what you want.

As for experience well I have been in the web industry since 1999 and I pretty much know all the tricks of the trade, having worked in my time for two leading Exeter Web Design Companies, KMS Internet and Optix Solutions.

You can find my LinkedIn Profile here http://www.linkedin.com/in/alistairg and a couple of quote from satisfied customers are taken from this profile.

“I can sum this up in very few words: “Alistair REALLY knows his stuff.” You want a few more? OK – He’s a focused and realistic marketing professional. If you want a no-nonsense, down-to-earth and plain English approach, you really should be speaking with Alistair.”

Sue Haswell – Big Results Marketing

“Al is a very detail processed individual which has managed the business link between our two companies for the last 3 years. He has at all times provided excellent support and direction in difficult times. His ability to see through the issues and resolve the route has always been an inspiration to me.”

Aboo Cattran – Sportsman Gun Centre.

You can find our more on my blog here http://www.alistairgleave.co.uk/website-project-management/ or contact me here .

So if you are concerned I have 6 top tips to help you stay safe online;

What is the site Name?
I always check the website spelling and the URL, quite often scam sites will use a URL which is very similar to the actual brand/business you want.

Are there any site reviews?
This is one I love, why not Google the company name and see what comes up, you can guarantee unless it is a new business someone somewhere will have had something to say about the business, good or bad.

What is the contact address?
If a site doesn’t have an actual postal address on it, and I don’t mean a PO Box don’t use them – simple, for me if they want my address but won’t give me theirs I ask myself what are they trying to hide?

Look for the Padlock or secure way of paying
When you come to pay for your items, check that the website has a secure way of paying either on the site or by third party – PayPal, SagePay etc…. When you complete the form with your details the web address should change to be ‘https://’ – the S signifies its secure, and you should have a padlock symbol.

Use your head when paying
If you order is over £100 then pay by Credit Card simply because you are protected by section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act (1974) and this give you as the consumer significant protection if there is a problem. If the order is under £100 then use Visa so again in the unlikely event of a problem you can use the Visa chargeback plan.

Keep the Receipt
When you have paid, keep the proof – setup a separate folder in your email for the confirmation of order emails

Follow these tips and they should help you avoid the scammer and shop happily and safely online.

Time now to let you into a secret, people can’t spell, that right they can’t spell, so imagine all those listings where the title is spelt incorrectly, Tiffany spelt Tiffny or Panasonic spelt Panasoni – yes there are those listing out there so how do you find them and in the process get a bargain?

Well help is at hand as all you need is a free eBay misspelled search tool to find those bargains that still exist on eBay! There are literally thousands of items listed on eBay that go unsold or at a bargain price, due to mistyped or misspelled listings and you can find them by using the eBay misspelt search tool that will find the eBay misspellings, eBay typos and the misspelled variations of the bargain you are looking for and you find it here www.bargainchecker.com.

Let me know what you find, i have got a rather nice Tiffany or should I say Tiffny lamp!

To give a great example of financial returns in 2009 Ryanair had ancillary revenue of €598 million, compared to a total revenue of €2,942 million. You only need to look at their website to see how important this is to the business model, on the screen capture (below) you can see both paid adverts and ‘affiliate’ links. The paid adverts will be simply that – a company paying for its advert to be shown on the Ryanair website – and dont be surprised by this British Airways have also been carrying Jaguar Car adverts for quite a while now. The affiliate links however will see Ryanair getting a commision on items sold, be it car hire or hotel bookings.

So how does this work for your business? Make no doubt this isnt a one size fits all for sure, I have listed 3 different types of business and ancillary income you ‘may’ wish to consider.

Small B&B – maps, guide book links of the area – Amazon is great for this, you’ve booked your stay now read more before you come. Also holiday insurance is applicable for all overnight stay websites….

Checkout my online shop for WesternRunner – built for free using Amazon

Car Repairs/Mechanic – motorsport books, motoring clothing, historical prints/artwork, maps – again all from Amazon.

Checkout my online shop for WesternRunner – built for free using Amazon

Estate Agents – links for insurance (you’d make commission), maps of the area – amazon again, possibly hotels and B&B’s if people are coming a distance, restaurants and eateries, bascially thinks that your clietns probably do already BUT you have an opportunity to make some ancillary revenue from.

Do bear in mind that a customers wants the product they are buying to work before they will go onto trust a company for buying any other services. Then a huge part of making this ancillary offering work is to involve your own staff in designing, developing and delivering the offerings. This measn getting your staff on board with what you offer in house and what you offer only through your website. There is nothing that will destory your well intention efforts faster in this area if your own staff are not aware what additional services your businesses is offering.

See also Amazon Associates, affiliate marketing made easy

So how do they work in action, take for example the weekend just gone, I went to Sainsbury to buy a new TV a Samsung 32” in fact. Unfortunately Sainsbury had sold out BUT would have a new delivery on Thursday, impatient for a TV I then went to Currys in Exeter to find exactly the same TV but £50 more expensive, never mind I thought they have a price promise, which not only offers to match but also give you 10% of the difference.

The all encompassing price promise isn’t as it seems, it doesn’t work if the item is out of stock, the fact Sainsbury sold the TV and were getting them back in on Thursday (4 days time) carried no sway. You would have to pay £50 more for the same thing, so basically Currys let the sale walk out the door for £50 that they would have given anyway, seems bizarre to me!

And yes before you ask I waited the 4 days…..

So the upshot if you are going to offer a price promise then do it, not yes we can do it BUT ‘xyz’, we live in a competitive world where people will shop around. It was Peter Drucker who said

“Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.”

What many people aren’t aware of is their Associate program that actually lets a website owner ‘tap into’ the Amazon success and promotes the products from Amazon on their website. The site is really simple to use and has such a wide variety of products you can’t fail to find something to link to, everything from Jewellery to CD’s even music downloads.

Product box and text links

Text links one their own.

There are also great tools for integrating into your site, from simple product links to full blown stores, yes you can create your own store, take a look at these two.

My Blog Store

WesternRunner online store

I personally use Amazon a lot I find it easy and simple, a good reporting tool and although it doesn’t make huge amount of money it does provide a small and useful ancillary income.

Amazon Associates advantages:
• there is a huge choice of products to choose from
• reliable payment system
• options for different payment types for both you and the customer
• I find it very easy to use
• a massive variety of linking tools
• Amazon are a well regarded brand and trusted by consumers

Amazon Associates disadvantages:
• only quarterly payments (many other programs are monthly such as Adsense)
• commissions can be lower than some other programs (although they have an incentive/bonus program that increases the % when you sell certain targets)
• some of their buttons and link methods can look a bit dated

I have written previously about eBay selling here

My thoughts on eBay for 2010 here
(*source Interbrand http://www.interbrand.com)

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So as we move into 2010 I am left asking how will eBay change in 2010, where is it going? You can’t fail to have read about the major brands setting up shop in eBay and I guess that leaves me asking where is this all going, is eBay simply going to be a place to buy branded goods at lower prices (sometimes) or just one big free for all car boot sale – for want of a better word, and it has to be said the world’s biggest!

Well I don’t know the answer to that question and with everything I read online I don’t think eBay do, as a private seller and buyer since March 2000 I can certainly say I have no idea.

I’m not sure anymore – and I’m not sure they are sure themselves anymore, either does this matter to me as a private seller? I don’t think so. If I was a major brand though I think this would be a different matter, as quick as the like of Debenhams and Tesco have jumped in they can leave and if you alienate the private sellers in the process that leaves eBay in a bit of a pickle.

Happy New Year everyone…..

See also – eBay what’s it all about, should you use it to sell? – my take on it

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I am now beginning to question whether I shall continue to use eBay as I have experienced a number of issues with the site and them recently which leads me to think there are better options out there,

Integration between eBay and PayPal
I work in the Internet Industry and I have to say the payment gateway between these two is rubbish, simple as that, they clearly haven’t read any sort of documentation of attaching a shopping cart and making it work properly.
Fees
In recent months the fees for private sellers have gradually crept up to such an extent now that small items being sold, you really have to question if it’s worth it. The fees are structured with an insertion fee and a final value fee and the ‘optional’ upgrade fees and payment fees.
Insertion Fee Private Seller fee
£0.01 – £0.99 No fee
£1 – £4.99 £0.15
£5 – £14.99 £0.25
£15-£29.99 £0.50
£30.00 – £99.99 £1
£100 + £1.30

Final Value Fee
If the item doesn’t sell then no final value fee, just the insertion fee
If the item sells for £0.01 and above you pay eBay 10.0% of the amount of the winning bid, up to a maximum Final Value Fee of £40.00
And then to add insult to this process if the buyer uses eBay, yet more fees, these are currently quoted at up to 3.4% plus 20p per transaction.

Private Seller Support
I have had a number of issues recently with chargebacks and Postal strike issues and I have to say the support I was offered by eBay and PayPal was poor at best, so be warned.

Also check out my post Debenhams Outlet on eBay.

In future posts i shall cover some other options for you that may suit you better.

2 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
Surely THE game of the year – The game has secured more than 15 perfect score reviews, and more than 50 combined Editor’s Choice and Game of the Year awards, for pricing i have chosen the Xbox 360 prices.
Amazon £35.39free delivery
Play £39.99free delivery

3 – Wii Fit Plus
I have Wii Fit and its great, for me it comes as no surprise that the Wii Fit Plus is number one in many lists as THE Christmas gift.

The Wii Fit Plus offers a variety of new features and you’ll be able to customise your own workout routine and choose 20, 30, or 40 minute workouts depending on how much time you have available.
Toys R Us £16.49 – BUT they charge £4.95 delivery
Tesco and Amazon offer this for £16.71 free delivery
Play £17.99 – free delivery

So there you go my top three with where i have found to be the best place to buy them, have a great Christmas !!

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I have complied the list below with some top products that i dont think would disappoint if anybody opened one of these on Christmas morning, and all are despatched by Amazon Uk so you can be assured of a fabulous ordering experience and great delivery, they will even wrap the presents for you with a gift card!

10 – LED Lenser Police Tech Focus Torch Black

9 – Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs [DVD] [2009]

8 – Eclipse (Twilight Saga)

7 – Guinness World Records 2010

6 – 20Q Version 2

5 – “Top Gear”: The Official Annual 2010

4 – Frankie Boyle – My Shit Life So Far

3 – Wii Fit Plus

2 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)

1 – Has to be a very funny man – Michael McIntyre Live 2009 [DVD]