From £ 177 billion in 2012 to an estimated £ 283 billion in 2017, online shopping sales are on the rise. But did you know that out of 4.6 million online shoppers in 2015, only 1.46 million actually ended up buying something? A significant 24% of the people who abandoned their shopping carts did so because of problems in the payment and checkout process. And this clearly indicates just how important a strong payment gateway is to the online shopping experience. For most such interesting facts and stats about online shopping, check out the below infographic from Total Processing.

Source: Total Processing

While contemplating to open an ecommerce store - simple user interface, overall store & inventory management, easy plugin integrations, secured environment etc., are some of the factors that are taken into consideration.

And though there are several ecommerce platforms available for creating a website or an online store, and each software offers distinguished features designed for various size and types of businesses, selecting one can get daunting.

Magento and Shopify are two of the best available ecommerce platforms, that cater to different needs of numerous ecommerce retailers, in their own special way. Comparing them with each other may not be completely fair, but it helps in getting a clarity of what your exact requirements are and how much are you willing to spend, in setting up your e-store.

Magento is an open-sourced software, super flexible and rich in functionalities, and offers a big pool of themes, templates, plugins & add ons for ample customizations. It is equipped with inbuilt features for marketing & promotions, data analysis and SEO, along with the support from a huge community of developers, which makes it an extremely popular choice among the medium & large businesses.

However, Magento doesn’t have its own hosting, is a little complex to install & setup and requires the knowledge of web developing.

Shopify is more of a software as a service (SAAS), and offers an easy user interface with a complete 24x7 support system. It has an inbuilt hosting and provides a free domain name. It requires no coding knowledge and is simple to install & setup, which makes it ideal for anyone who wants launch their store quickly.

Shopify offers social media flexibility, but has limited marketing or promotional features. The customizations, flexibilities, as well as the overall functionalities are also restricted.

Following infographic attempts to compare Magento and Shopify on the basis of their features.

The Internet is not only an exclusive tool just used for the elite few but is has its widespread reach which is far beyond than that of any other modern mode of communication. It affects every aspect of our life, starting from social behavior to shapes political perceptions, or to determine success and failure, and propels the global economy forward. Directly or indirectly the internet is responsible for a huge annual global revenue exchange.

With the Internet contributing to more than $2.2 trillion in annual retail sales last year, no business – small or big - can afford to ignore the growing importance of the digital world. If you are thinking about expanding your online business or are yet to jump on to the Internet bandwagon, here are a few interesting Internet and eCommerce-related stats and facts that can help you keep up with the changing trends. For example, did you know that 80% of consumers are willing to buy products online if they are offered free shipping? Or that near about 40% of global internet users, or more than 1 billion people have purchased products or services online? Business to consumer eCommerce sales amounted to $1.7 trillion in 2015, and that number just keeps growing.

Here we have an infographic from Hosting Facts which will let you know about your internet and hosting facts, and you’ll know in which direction to take your existing business, or where to point a future one. These are all very pertinent facts and stats that will help you draw incredibly useful insights on how to run your business, and how to achieve what you want from the online presence. So don’t forget to check this out!

As the popularity of e-commerce shopping continues to grow, brick-and-mortar outlets are beginning to feel the pinch. Figures released by the government show a steady decline in sales. Sales for brick-and-mortar shops sales dropped from $19.9 billion in 2001 to $14.2 billion in 2014. In 2009, prominent outlets like Macy's and Kohl's reported a 5.6 percent and 3.9 decline in sales, respectively. These changes in fortune forced Macy's to plan shut down up to 100 of 728 outlets by 2017. On the other hand, ecommerce shops recorded an increase in sales of 10.9 percent in comparison to the previous year.

Some online outfits are involved in housing, health, insurance and education. They have registered a notable increase in revenue of up to four percent. This translates to decreased sales opportunities for traditional players in these sectors. Firms involved in discretionary spending industries have seen a reduction in revenue of up to $500 billion in 2016 when compared to 2000.

Market Changes

E-commerce giant, Amazon reported a massive growth in sales of 97 percent in 2015 alone. The e-retailer is surpassing a number of renowned brick-and-mortar when it comes to sales performance and overall profitability.

The extent of e-commerce's impact is being felt in different areas. From apparel and automotive parts to hardware, products and services that previously unimaginable have found their way onto online shops. Consumers have responded by opening accounts with the trusted payment systems like PayPal to ensure safety when paying for goods.

Consumer Behavior

Consumers take advantage of product and merchant reviews to make the right purchasing choices instead of browsing the grocery aisle. The flexibility and convenience coupled with availability of internet services on different digital platforms, including mobile phones is contributing to growth in online shopping.

Many companies with ecommerce platforms engage potential customers through social networking sites like Facebook. They target individuals and their online communities based on specific interests. People talk and share information about products when the offerings resonate with their interests.

Purchasing decisions may involve friends and family as they share experiences about a wide variety of services. Merchants with a bad customer service record or poor quality records face the wrath of consumers through negative reviews and overall online publicity.

Source: Villanova MBA Degree Online

Every year millions and millions of kids around the world catching Christmas fever and start to ask their parents to get them to meet him. And every good parent always wants to satisfy this demand. For a long time everything you could possibly do were getting your child in the mall to meet with bearded legend himself or to dress as Santa and bring the magic to your home.

Nowadays however there is more to it, there are a lot of applications and internet sources that can help you with this task.

N.O.R.A.D. - it’s actually an app but a whole Santa’s secret service control panel. Its looks like you managed to get your hands on something from Bond movies. A lot of cool features including live Santa location tracking and more. Your kid probably won’t get everything by himself, but with your help you can be №1 parent who actually managed to find and track Santa. Imagine the possibilities!

P.N.P. (Portable North Pole)– It as good as it sounds. Everything that your kid is possibly can wish for is in here. Just by few simple clicks you can create personalized video for your child. And they are actually good, very good and hilarious in some way. The videos are made is the ways to include your son’s name, age and you even can include something you wish him to do (clean up his room or eat vegetables etc.). And don’t forget the calls. Yes, you heard it, you can arrange the call from Santa himself (and personalize them). Features just keep on coming. Yes, some of them are premium only and it comes with the fee, but it’s totally worth the smile on your kids face.

Catch a character application– It is exactly what it sounds: simple yet very effective way to convince your small child that Santa (or other magic character) was actually tonight in his room and he just missed him. Yes, he may be upset at first but when he sees all the presents and stuff he immediately forgets about everything. And it’s simple, you just take a picture of the room, choose the character from the templates and place him at photo so he looks more believable. It won’t convince anyone who older than 3, but for one year old kid it will be the life experience!

Reroute Santa source– Is even more simpler. If you happen to move to another location during Christmas holidays and your little kid is afraid Santa won’t find him, you can use this website. It’s very simple and can probably convince your kid that everything is alright and Santa will find him. (But you need to good internet connections so the video wont lag, just saying)

Santa Magic Phone– It’s an great app for parent who want to discover what their kids are wishing for(without them knowing it). With help of this app your kids can call Santa, you can disguise your calls as one of Santa’s elves. Many other cool features like simple games and coloring books. It’s just amazing how much you can do with it, and more importantly – ITS FREE.

Source: Cellspyapps.org

In conclusion I want to say that as I always believed that the moment to stop believing in Santa is the moment you stop being a kid and become a teen. So, as a parent you need to do everything in your power to make your child’s dreams last longer. And know, with all this tech and software on the market you can actually bring some of the magic you believed, when you were just a kid, to your child’s life, and this is awesome.

Logos are the most recognizable symbol of any brand. But not all logos are created equal. Some are so memorable they've become part of pop culture, like the Nike Swoosh or the Mountain Dew icon. Others are easily forgotten like—well, we would have used them in the first example if we remembered them.

Every brand's goal is to create a logo that's easy to remember. One of the best ways to do this is with a lettermark logo. Lettermarks use the brand's initials to create a single symbol that helps customers recognize the brand at a moment's notice.

While initials may seem like just two small letters, there are actually dozens of ways to turn them into a cool icon. The team at Company Folders, a printer that also works with clients to create custom logo designs, proves this point with their collection of the most creative and popular techniques for two-letter logo designs. These 31 lettermark logo styles offer all the inspiration you need to create a cool new logo for your brand.

Next gen firewalls (NGFWs) offer greater protection from unwelcome Internet traffic than ever before, even if they are not invulnerable to attacks from unknown sources. Compared with traditional firewalls, NGFWs provide far greater awareness of the applications running on each port, as well as the identities of local traffic devices and users. They also offer more thorough network inspection and have an intrusion protection system built into the firewall, something which was deployed separately from older firewalls.

The value of NGFWs cannot be understated. With Internet attacks becoming more frequent, complicated and harmful, you cannot afford to skimp on the strength of your firewall. There is still room for improvement in terms of threat detection, but NGFWs are your best bet for identifying and safeguarding against illegitimate network traffic. If hackers want to find a way into your system, they will generally get it one way or another; the crucial thing is not to leave the door wide open for them and roll out the welcome mat. A strong, solid NGFW is the best way to prevent this from happening.

To find out more about NGFWs, take a look at the infographic below from Exigent Networks.

Think about how dramatically your sales world has changed in the last 20 years. Two decades ago, if people wanted to do business with you, they likely had to visit you in person — which means they had to live close and know about you, or be driving through your location and happen to be beguiled into visiting. If they knew of you but didn’t live within driving distance, they could also call you and place an order that would be delivered, most likely by mail.

That’s all changed, of course, thanks to the internet. Now, people may come to you in a variety of ways, and many of them can simply place orders online, choosing where and how the items are delivered.

But getting people to use your e-commerce site and getting them to complete an order are two different things. Do you know how many people use your e-commerce site — picking items, even getting to the checkout stage — and then abandon it? If you’re like most businesses, the figure might shock you: Nearly 70 percent of people abandon their shopping carts. That’s a lot of lost sales and a lot of repeat customers that simply walk away.

What’s causing them to leave those items? It varies, and can range from unexpected charges to a delay in order completion times. Those clues, as well as additional insights, means there are probably some changes you can make to encourage more of those people to finish their shopping journey. One of the easiest things to do is to revamp your site to make it simpler and easier to use. Design, it turns out, does sell.

But there’s lots more to tackle to mitigate any frustrations your customers might be having. This graphic by SurePayroll guides you through ideas and solutions.

One of the main advantages of internet marketing, especially for businesses operating online, is the fact that internet marketing campaigns are very measurable. It is easy to determine the return on investment (ROI) of a digital marketing campaign by tracking key metrics and performance indicators.

For ecommerce sites, SEO and social media are the two digital marketing instruments of choice when it comes to achieving high ROI. In this article, however, we are going to focus more on social media and take a closer look at the social media platforms that drive the most ecommerce sales. Let’s get started, shall we?

Facebook

Depending on the market you are in, some social media platforms work better than others. If we set aside those categories and look at the bigger picture, however, Facebook is still topping the list of platforms with the best ROI.

There are reports of low conversion rates and low quality traffic streams coming from Facebook, especially if you use Facebook Ads to boost your campaigns. That said, all of those reports point at the lack of optimization as the main cause of the low quality traffic. What does this mean for ecommerce sites?

It means that you have to be more careful when formulating a Facebook campaign. You need to be meticulous when it comes to setting the target audience to aim for. The same can be said for setting the audience for your Facebook Ads. Don’t just rely on automatic settings. Do thorough testing with every campaign so that you can pinpoint the audience segment with the highest ROI for your products.

Pinterest

We love visuals, especially gorgeous ones that are easy on the eyes. Pinterest, despite the lack of social engagement compared to the more traditional platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, is still one of the best ways to attract customers. You can rely on gorgeous photos of the products being used in real-life situations and attract thousands of viewers effectively.

Pinterest is also where a lot of people go to for inspiration. The more you can integrate your products and services into inspiring visuals posted on Pinterest, the more sales you will get in return.

Instagram

Instagram is quickly becoming the go-to social network for ecommerce. From smaller standalone ecommerce sites to solutions running on SAP such as ecommerce solutions built by www.weaveability.com, it seems clear that the more we evaluate and have a potential use for social media sites such as Instagram to enhance ecommerce can only be of benefit to the customer and the company. Similar to Pinterest, Instagram is a platform that relies heavily on visual stimulation. However, you can also play with live stories, videos and interactive elements through your business Instagram profile.

It doesn’t stop there either. Instagram gives directions to your offline location as well as your online ecommerce site. All you have to do is set up an effective landing page and you will have a relatively high conversion rate from the start. Last but certainly not least, there’s Instagram’s high user engagement. Comments are often filled with product-related questions and you can now add URLs and multiple pictures to your Instagram ads.

Of course, the best way to drive sales is by using these three social media platforms – and several others available on the market – in an integrated campaign. By playing to the strengths of individual platforms, you can double your ROI and boost sales to another level.

Developing a new website is always a challenge. While there are resources you can use to help tackle the challenges, it is still necessary to have the entire project managed properly. According to studies by Brandeis University and its masters in project and program management degree department, good project management means having a specific set of operations that will help achieve a predetermined set of goals; this is an approach that works really well in web development.

You start the process by initiating the project and planning. Once a good plan is formulated, the development process can begin. Since there are clear goals to achieve, the web development process can be very efficient. There is no more trials and error; every part of the development team knows exactly what needs to be achieved.

Good project management doesn’t stop there either. To learn more, read the full "The Tasks of an Effective Project Manager" infographic.

Brandeis University M.S. in Project and Program Management Online

The benefits of big data have been well documented. Implementation of big data analytics can have a massively positive effect on how a company operates. However, this infographic from Colourfast, outlines the potential stumbling blocks companies can run in to when implementing big data initiatives. Companies often do not have the necessary skills to make big data initiatives work.

Of course, an important area within big data is that of data privacy and having staff with adequate analytical know how is vital. Failure to use big data effectively is often simply because the employees aren’t skilled enough or haven’t been trained enough. One of the main benefits of big data is that it aids better strategic decisions but this is only if big data initiatives are implemented effectively.

In 61% of companies, where big data initiatives are a part of integrated business processes, senior management is the primary driver. It seems that for big data initiatives to work the push needs to come from the top down. Depending on the size of the company, you will need people in charge in every area of the company. If your current staff aren’t up to it, you will have to train them or bring in people with the required skillset to implement the changes.

Some companies may not be able to afford the costs associated with big data initiatives and this has been identified as a big issue. 38% of the companies surveyed have identified costs as a big stumbling block.

Big data initiatives are particularly prevalent in retail with 27% including big data initiatives as part of business processes. It’s important to remember that mistakes will be made during implementation, try to learn from these mistakes and work towards a solution that works for your company. Find out more information in the infographic.

Cyber criminals these days are putting in as much efforts as the security experts, perhaps even more. Be it a small or a big organization, all are equally vulnerable.

More and more businesses have reported instances of cyber crimes in the recent times. Even though they are putting aside a substantial budget for online security however they still cannot define their systems as foolproof.

What's even critical is the fact that some of the organizations are not at all prepared and wary of the assault.

Cyber criminals are resorting to almost all the techniques. Every instance of a data breach, especially the one that happens to a big organization and at a huge level, brings in a new dimension to hacking and online crime technique.

Web and mobile presence for a business is must these days. To save on time and money, generating customers or to expand business, one can't rely on offline means.

Enhanced security is the need of the hour. Solutions like a VPN connection can help. Online sharing of information safely from a remote area or for keeping your data secured and encrypted, it is essentially required.

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest cyber crimes in the recent times:

Have you ever wondered why more and more talk about how social media is good for business? And it is a fact they are really important, but it is even more important to understand how exactly!

With platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram you can get generate tremendous online exposure for your brand, allowing you to showcase your products and services. Social media channels helps you listen to what people are saying about a business, including your customers, peers, prospects and competitors.

You can generate leads through all the major social networking sites (Twitter and Facebook marketing channels are very effective for this, particularly in B2B). These social media channels will help you to attract more visitors as well as customers, who you can dazzle by providing a personal touch, building relationships and driving loyalty.

All of this can be achieved for a low cost without sacrificing quality of your business work.

New year 2017 is here and we all know that there are so many trends, rising patterns and forecast that we all are going to see in social media marketing channels like Facebook, Twitter etc. And we understand that as an entrepreneur you probably want to spend on social marketing to improve the visibility, customer services, sales as well as revenue. But before you invest in marketing do you know ”what are the trends in social media in 2017?” because this question is very important to you as it will play very important role in your business growth.

To this end Go4prep have created the below visual that have all the information, figures, facts and tips related to social media marketing trends in 2017 and you can spend on the social marketing according to the same.

I don’t know about you, but one of the worst things that can happen when shopping online is spending way more time browsing than you originally intended. Having to spend forever looking for the right information is one of the main culprits why online shopping sometimes ends up becoming even more stressful than store shopping.

Customers want their online shopping experience to mimic that of in-store buying in terms of customer service. The same way a shop assistant is physically present when you are shopping in stores and ready to answer all your questions, so does online customer service need to be personal, engaging and efficient.

If a website is too confusing to navigate through, or has a slow and unresponsive customer service, not only are the shoppers more likely to become frustrated and abandon their carts, but they are also much less likely to return to that same website.

Solving Problems with Live Chat

When you are shopping online, you often need just one simple piece of information before you finalize your purchase, and yet you can’t find it anywhere. This is especially the case with online stores that do not have a fast and efficient customer service like live chat.

Live chat is becoming a popular medium for online businesses to increase conversion rates, build long-term customer loyalty, and maintain a strong relationship with buyers.

Chat usage has been on the steady rise over the previous years. In 2009, 38% of online stores had an integrated live chat service. In 2013, 43% of companies used live chat, and in 2014, that percentage grew to 58%.

Companies everywhere are realizing that their customers prefer live chat to other communication channels due to its convenience and speed. Today, live chat is already being used by over one third of Older Baby Boomers (ages 57 to 67), as well as the Golden Generation (68 and over) of online business owners.

The Growing Popularity of Live Chat

Due to its convenience and the ability to solve all types of customer issues, live chat has become a must-have feature of e-commerce businesses across different industries. Since it takes no longer than 42 seconds on average for live chat to answer a customer’s question or resolve an issue, it’s no wonder both customers and business owners are singing its praises.

Live chat comes with a host of benefits for both customers and online business owners. Customers prefer live chat to other channels because it is the fastest way for them to get pointed in the right direction and receive straightforward answers without wasting precious time.

Business owners are becoming more enthusiastic about the prospect of using live chat to increase customer satisfaction and turn casual viewers into regular customers.

How Can Live Chat Help Your Business

Every online business wants to give their customers a reason to keep coming back to the website and become regular shoppers. This is precisely what live chat service does: it raises customer satisfaction rate and encourages customers who use it to return to the site. In fact, 63% of customers who use live chat report being more likely to return to the same website.

Live chat is also a great way to foster solid personal relationships with your customers. Customers are satisfied when they get the sense they are being listened to and that their questions are being approached individually. A satisfied customer becomes a loyal customer. Reports on live chat usage show that almost half of online shoppers who use live chat are more likely to make regular online purchases at least once a week than 22% of shoppers who never chat.

Did You Know?

• It takes 48 seconds for an average company to answer a live chat query.
• A company deals with an average of 1,143 chats per month.
• The average number of chats an operator handles in a month is 274.
• The most popular time to live chat is between 10am and 3pm local time.
• E-commerce industry has the longest wait time at 1 minute 13 seconds.
• In 2015, the customer satisfaction rate of e-commerce industry was 87.50%.
• Global customer satisfaction rate in the first quarter of 2015 was 95%.

Where Is Live Chat Used the Most?

Live chat is used by businesses around the world and across different industries. The most successful country when it comes to live chat is Mexico. Agents in Mexico who use live chat have the most chat conversations out of any other country, managing the highest volume of chats.

As a proof that customer satisfaction is directly correlated with live chat use, Mexico has also received the highest customer satisfaction rate in the world. According to Mexican live chat leader, the customer satisfaction rate in the country is an impressive 94.11%!

The second place in terms of live chat usage goes to Australia, where customer satisfaction rate is at a close 93.59%, while Canada takes third place with a rate of 88.36%.

While Mexico, Australia, and Canada might handle the highest number of chats, the fastest repliers are operators in Denmark. Owing to the renowned Scandinavian simplicity of efficiency, agents in Denmark deliver the quickest and most concise replies.

Wait Time vs. Customer Satisfaction

For wait time and customer satisfaction, you might be led to believe faster is always better, but that is not the case when it comes to live chat. Customers who use live chat want to have their problems solved quickly, but also want to receive high-quality relevant information, which can often take a little longer.

If a customer waits between 0 and 50 second to get their question answered, the customer satisfaction rate will be at 86%. If however, it takes an operator between 50 and 100 seconds to get back to the customer, the satisfaction rate drops to 84%. And yet, the optimum wait time is between 150 and 200 seconds when customer satisfaction rate reaches 90%. When it comes to live chat, customers do not mind waiting a little longer if it means they will get a right answer.

Chat Duration vs. Customer Satisfaction

In terms of chat duration, live chats have to hit the right balance between being long enough to consider the problem and provide in-depth answers to being short and concise enough to not waste customers’ time.

Chats that receive the highest customer satisfaction rate (88%) are those that last around 15 minutes. Any shorter or longer than that and customer satisfaction rate drops to 83% at 10 minutes, and 85% and 86% for chats that last 20 and 25 minutes, respectively. Half an hour long chats have a customer satisfaction is 80%. If a chat lasts just 5 minutes longer than that, the rate drops by almost 10%.

Chats per Month vs. Customer Satisfaction

A company that handles an average of 1,000 chats per month receives the highest customer satisfaction rate of 87%, followed by companies that handle 4,000 chats (84% rate), 6,000 chats (83%), and 7,000 (81%).

Companies that try to handle as many queries as they can do not always receive the highest customer satisfaction rate. An operator who has to deal with an unrealistic number of requests can not approach each question with equal attention and give precise answers to every customer. So if a company handles an average of 8,000 chats per month, it receives a not-so-great customer satisfaction rate of 68%

Communication Channels Comparison

According to customer ratings of communication channels, live chat receives the highest satisfaction rate of 92%. As opposed to other channels where customers provide their ratings through an email survey submitted to the client, live chat ratings are given immediately after the chat finishes.

Voice customer service is the second most popular channel with a satisfaction rate of 88%, followed by Web Form service and E-mail with rates of 85%, Facebook with 84%, and Twitter which has a customer satisfaction rate of 77%.

Top Companies That Use Live Chat

Between 2013 and 2014, live chat-using online travel agent Orbitz reported a 40% increase in US consumer brands chat traffic, of which 7% originated from mobile device. All the while, Orbitz maintained its high customer satisfaction rates.

According to technology giant Dell, 30% of their website visitors engage with customer service through live chat, which generates as much as 40% of revenue. Dell has also reported an increase of 30% in chat usage over the previous years. At the moment, a third of Dell’s sales in the US are made through live chat alone.

American retailer Sears saw a 20% increase in revenue after using predictive chat service. Sears has an enviable customer satisfaction rate of 90%.

Training equipment manufacturer Total Gym is another success story of live chat. During the fourth quarter of 2014, almost 40% of Total Gym’s online orders came from buyers who had interacted with customer support through live chat.

25 Reasons to Use Live Chat: the Infographic

For more on live chat, do not miss this beautifully visualized data-driven infographic from Skilled.co with 25 reasons on why you should introduce live chat to your business.

You might also like:

• 5 Ways to Keep the Chat Feature on Your Website Helpful for Customers
• Make Your eCommerce Venture Successful with Proactive Chats and Effective Customer Care

Marketers have spent years trying to come up with a winning formula that ensures a highly effective digital strategy. From where to place the call to action, to where to position the navigation buttons, every approach has been tried and tested to come up with a set of principles that every website developer / owner can follow to build a great website.

This infographic, titled ‘25 features every online business must have in 2017’ provides some useful insight into how to get the most out of your website by using careful positioning of content. It also lists everything that you need to have on your website, so you can use it as a checklist to ensure that you have added everything to make your website work well.

Logos are the most recognizable symbol of any brand. But not all logos are created equal. Some are so memorable they've become part of pop culture, like the Nike Swoosh or the Mountain Dew icon. Others are easily forgotten like—well, we would have used them in the first example if we remembered them.

Every brand's goal is to create a logo that's easy to remember. One of the best ways to do this is with a lettermark logo. Lettermarks use the brand's initials to create a single symbol that helps customers recognize the brand at a moment's notice.

While initials may seem like just two small letters, there are actually dozens of ways to turn them into a cool icon. The team at Company Folders, a printer that also works with clients to create custom logo designs, proves this point with their collection of the most creative and popular techniques for two-letter logo designs. These 31 lettermark logo styles offer all the inspiration you need to create a cool new logo for your brand.

Next gen firewalls (NGFWs) offer greater protection from unwelcome Internet traffic than ever before, even if they are not invulnerable to attacks from unknown sources. Compared with traditional firewalls, NGFWs provide far greater awareness of the applications running on each port, as well as the identities of local traffic devices and users. They also offer more thorough network inspection and have an intrusion protection system built into the firewall, something which was deployed separately from older firewalls.

The value of NGFWs cannot be understated. With Internet attacks becoming more frequent, complicated and harmful, you cannot afford to skimp on the strength of your firewall. There is still room for improvement in terms of threat detection, but NGFWs are your best bet for identifying and safeguarding against illegitimate network traffic. If hackers want to find a way into your system, they will generally get it one way or another; the crucial thing is not to leave the door wide open for them and roll out the welcome mat. A strong, solid NGFW is the best way to prevent this from happening.

To find out more about NGFWs, take a look at the infographic below from Exigent Networks.

Think about how dramatically your sales world has changed in the last 20 years. Two decades ago, if people wanted to do business with you, they likely had to visit you in person — which means they had to live close and know about you, or be driving through your location and happen to be beguiled into visiting. If they knew of you but didn’t live within driving distance, they could also call you and place an order that would be delivered, most likely by mail.

That’s all changed, of course, thanks to the internet. Now, people may come to you in a variety of ways, and many of them can simply place orders online, choosing where and how the items are delivered.

But getting people to use your e-commerce site and getting them to complete an order are two different things. Do you know how many people use your e-commerce site — picking items, even getting to the checkout stage — and then abandon it? If you’re like most businesses, the figure might shock you: Nearly 70 percent of people abandon their shopping carts. That’s a lot of lost sales and a lot of repeat customers that simply walk away.

What’s causing them to leave those items? It varies, and can range from unexpected charges to a delay in order completion times. Those clues, as well as additional insights, means there are probably some changes you can make to encourage more of those people to finish their shopping journey. One of the easiest things to do is to revamp your site to make it simpler and easier to use. Design, it turns out, does sell.

But there’s lots more to tackle to mitigate any frustrations your customers might be having. This graphic by SurePayroll guides you through ideas and solutions.

One of the main advantages of internet marketing, especially for businesses operating online, is the fact that internet marketing campaigns are very measurable. It is easy to determine the return on investment (ROI) of a digital marketing campaign by tracking key metrics and performance indicators.

For ecommerce sites, SEO and social media are the two digital marketing instruments of choice when it comes to achieving high ROI. In this article, however, we are going to focus more on social media and take a closer look at the social media platforms that drive the most ecommerce sales. Let’s get started, shall we?

Facebook

Depending on the market you are in, some social media platforms work better than others. If we set aside those categories and look at the bigger picture, however, Facebook is still topping the list of platforms with the best ROI.

There are reports of low conversion rates and low quality traffic streams coming from Facebook, especially if you use Facebook Ads to boost your campaigns. That said, all of those reports point at the lack of optimization as the main cause of the low quality traffic. What does this mean for ecommerce sites?

It means that you have to be more careful when formulating a Facebook campaign. You need to be meticulous when it comes to setting the target audience to aim for. The same can be said for setting the audience for your Facebook Ads. Don’t just rely on automatic settings. Do thorough testing with every campaign so that you can pinpoint the audience segment with the highest ROI for your products.

Pinterest

We love visuals, especially gorgeous ones that are easy on the eyes. Pinterest, despite the lack of social engagement compared to the more traditional platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, is still one of the best ways to attract customers. You can rely on gorgeous photos of the products being used in real-life situations and attract thousands of viewers effectively.

Pinterest is also where a lot of people go to for inspiration. The more you can integrate your products and services into inspiring visuals posted on Pinterest, the more sales you will get in return.

Instagram

Instagram is quickly becoming the go-to social network for ecommerce. From smaller standalone ecommerce sites to solutions running on SAP such as ecommerce solutions built by www.weaveability.com, it seems clear that the more we evaluate and have a potential use for social media sites such as Instagram to enhance ecommerce can only be of benefit to the customer and the company. Similar to Pinterest, Instagram is a platform that relies heavily on visual stimulation. However, you can also play with live stories, videos and interactive elements through your business Instagram profile.

It doesn’t stop there either. Instagram gives directions to your offline location as well as your online ecommerce site. All you have to do is set up an effective landing page and you will have a relatively high conversion rate from the start. Last but certainly not least, there’s Instagram’s high user engagement. Comments are often filled with product-related questions and you can now add URLs and multiple pictures to your Instagram ads.

Of course, the best way to drive sales is by using these three social media platforms – and several others available on the market – in an integrated campaign. By playing to the strengths of individual platforms, you can double your ROI and boost sales to another level.

Developing a new website is always a challenge. While there are resources you can use to help tackle the challenges, it is still necessary to have the entire project managed properly. According to studies by Brandeis University and its masters in project and program management degree department, good project management means having a specific set of operations that will help achieve a predetermined set of goals; this is an approach that works really well in web development.

You start the process by initiating the project and planning. Once a good plan is formulated, the development process can begin. Since there are clear goals to achieve, the web development process can be very efficient. There is no more trials and error; every part of the development team knows exactly what needs to be achieved.

Good project management doesn’t stop there either. To learn more, read the full "The Tasks of an Effective Project Manager" infographic.

Brandeis University M.S. in Project and Program Management Online