13. Receive
SMS (Short Code) Payments
Receive
Payments online for Products or Services from mobiles
Your website
can collect immediate payments online from mobile phone users.
This is
a convenient and fast way for customers to order products or
services.
Because
it is from a mobile phone there is no need for your customers
to enter credit card information. They simply enyer a five-digit
short code and that is it!
In some
markets (e.g. teenager demographics) credit cards are often
not available and short-codes are the perfect solution.
14. Forums
and Discussion Groups
Freeform
or moderated, extensive options, completely managed
In many
cases your customers are like a community. They need to share
ideas openly and to make recommendations and you need to know
what they are saying.
Perhaps
your website has been designed to support a community. People
need to be able to create new forums or discussion groups express
their views, and support each other.
The internet
is a great place to do this but unfortunately moderation is
often required.
Support
discussion groups but do so responsibly. Spidas can help.
15. CV Processing and Matching Systems
increase
automation within your office
CVs (and
other documents) should be (automatically) scanned for relevant
content and be made available to all of your other applications.
This should
include filtering and matching and should allow multiple levels
of priority notification.
Your visitors
should not be asked to submit documentation more than once!
If their name and address is on their CV then do not ask for
it again (or at least initialise the data fields accordingly!
Since searching
is already required for your website why not manage your company
clients on line as well?!
This way you can research opportunities and matches from anywhere
and manage new potential matches with ease.
16. Newsletters
Automated
Publish,
distribute, archive and search
Many clients
publish periodic information that is essential to their customers.
A website
is an excellent place to present this information.
Clients
must be able to edit their newsletters either online or offline
with one or more simple templates that support both text and
graphic images.
It is also important for their customers to be able to review,
archive and search the content of previous newsletters.
A newsletter
or document that is available for a short time and then disappears
is of little benefit to anyone on the internet today.
17. Inventory Management Systems
To assist
customer online ordering
Most of
the companies that sell products online would strongly benefit
from an inventory management system.
What happens
when products run out? In a store, the product is simply no
longer displayed. On the internet, customers not only continue
to see products that are no longer in stock but they are likely
to pay for them in advance and expect immediate delivery!
Some products
have longer lead times than others or perhaps some are kept
in stock in limited numbers.
Inventory
Management tools are helpful in managing orders and in tracking
what is in stock and when additional purchases should be made
(based upon statistical purchasing patterns) .
18. Online Games and Quizzes
such as
Scrabble or Hearts - keep them coming back
Online Games
and Quizzes are often required in websites that target certain
"communities" of individuals.
From online
Scrabble to Hearts - multi-user games and quizzes have been
shown to accelerate membership rates and increase active member
retention.
Games are
fun for everyone - and quizzes are as well. Make sure that your
clients can change quiz content regularly and easily!
People talk
about websites that are fun and this brings even more new members
to the site.
19. Online
Project Management Systems
Track projects
and deadlines
Time Management
is important !
Publishing
project schedules and allowing contributors to enter new information
as it arises in real-time is essential to insure that schedules
are accurate and are of use to your organisation.
Real-Time
data is essential and required if you are to be able to adjust
resources to meet committed schedules.
Make sure
that all contributors can easily and readily add information
to the current project status.
20. Online Sales Management Tools
Call tracking
and other sales tools
Online Sales
Management Tools allow centralised control of your Sales organisation
and also allow your Sales team to work from anywhere in the
world.
Sales tools
developed by Spidas include client database tracking by dates
and next action, sales call tracking (and duration timing),
and full contact list support.
Manage your
customers so that they feel they are at the top of your list
each and every day!
Extensive
report data is of course available for administrators.
21. Automated
Email Management
send prewritten
emails at the touch of a button
How often
have you written that email - or cut and paste it into a reply?
Automate
that process with a database for your clients that allows you
to reply appropriately and personably to each and every email
at the press of a button.
Select a
group of clients and select a customised email. It is as simple
as that!
Have periodic
emails (daily, weekly, monthly etc.) automatically sent based
upon time and status to your own distribution lists.
Make sure
that your customers feel cared for!
22. MMS
Mobile Interfacing
Send audio
clips, video clips, images and even ringtones
Your website
can send images, sounds, ringtones and even audio clips and
short films to mobile phones.
These can
be combined with short codes to charge for these items if desired.
23.
Note Systems
For internal
or external communications
While email
is often a great way to communicate it has its disadvantages.
Communications
between members might need to be sent anonymously or perhaps
your communications may need to be automatically saved, archived
(or published) for later consideration or review.
Or perhaps
correspondence needs to be targeted to multiple individuals
within each department (through auto-routing or transparently
through bcc).
Make sure
that communications go exactly where they should go (and that
they do not go where they should not).
24. Accessibility
Issues
Support
all audiences on the internet
Are you
ready for the new changes that were introduced this year? New
standards were established this year to insure that visually
or audibly impaired individuals are able to use the internet.
Do you know
what they are?
Automated
and public tools are available to see if your website currently
meets these standards!
If you are
not sure if you are compliant then - well - you probably are
not!
If you have
a need for multilingual content then Spidas can help create
any number of parallel text streams without the need for separate
pages.
Make sure
that your website reaches the largest possible audience.
25. Search
Engine Optimisation
Keeping
your website search-engine friendly
There are
many ways to insure that your website is correctly indexed by
the larger search engines (e.g. google and yahoo).
Certainly
proper use of metatags is essential.
Insuring
that your metatag content also appears visibly throughout your
pages is also necessary.
Prominently
displaying links on your home page to all of the more important
pages on your website helps insure that these pages will be
indexed as well.
Asking your
vendors to place links on their websites to you will also make
a difference.
Ultimately
however, successful websites invariably target their market
more specifically and more powerfully by using pay-per-click
technology.