Online FEOTB – Front End Of The Business – 101

Well folks, after an extended absence, I am back and hoping to continue writing relevant business and social media articles. I promise to stay true to my nature and will represent the First Quintile in my musings.

Front End of the Business – Course 101, by Terry Fagen

You have a product, a service, a company. You want to shout out loud and let everyone on Earth know how amazing you are, but how far will your voice travel? What will you show potential customers once you reach them? What will make your customers want to buy whatever you have?
Your front-end of the business is the customer-facing part of your company. It includes everything and anything with which a potential customer will view and interact. Your sales team, your storefront or your Web Site are all major components. In fact, in today’s world, your web site can be your sales team and your storefront! It has international reach. It is like opening a retail chain or franchise in every city of the world – at little to no additional cost.


So how do you put the front-end of your business in front of your customers? Here are a few tips to consider when trying to reach new customers.


Let them find you
Anyone who comes to you, is a qualified lead. They believe you have something they want to purchase, so help them. Your #1 job is to attract customers. It’s your #2 job not to lose them!
Current techniques for attracting customers include paid advertising: Online banners on target web sites, Google Adwords, Print, Video and Sponsored advertising and un-paid advertising: blogging, proper SEO of your web site, organic Google search results and others. Your web site should be sexy, simple and stupid. That means pleasing to the eye, easy to navigate and find information and simple enough for anyone to use, regardless of technical knowledge.

The concept is simple – whenever and wherever a potential customer may visit online, let them see you. View, Click and Capture!

Give your Customers’ Extra Confidence
Make them feel comfortable enough to buy. Project a stable solid image. Project a hassle-free image.
The front facing part of your web site needs to colorful and tastefully developed. Crowded and confusing, complicated interfaces are gone. A customer should be able to take a look at your home page and determine exactly what you do, where to find more information and how to purchase.

Please do not forget -the reverse is also important – how to return – how to complain – how to cancel or leave. The Wal-Mart principle (fair price, easy returns) has worked world-wide and sustained massive annual growth. Why not leverage that principle?

You might be operating a business out of your home, but your web site, the FEOTB, can project a solid, corporate, environmentally friendly image that will attract millions of annual visitors.

Smooth Surfing
Guide your customers through your web site. Make is easy to find all the information they need, without ever leaving your web site. Make it easy to buy. The fewer clicks, the less the typing, the faster the process, will all result in greater sales – I promise!

Once they have made their purchase, keep them informed. Order Status, updates and delivery should all be readily available. Maintaining client communications will drive return visits and future sales. Remember to treat every customer as YOU would love to be treated.

Paying special attention to the front-end of your business will bring long term loyalty, increased sales and long term satisfaction not only for yourself, but also for your customers.

Safe Surfing at a WiFi Hotspot Location

The current boom in WiFi Hotspots, Municipal WiFi and impending WiMAX proliferation have all contributed to the flattening of the world. We are all connected. Most times, this is a good thing. Occasionally, this is not.

The moment you power on your laptop at a public location you are vulnerable. Sniffers, hackers, spammers and identity thieves are waiting for the right opportunity to get your personal information, identity, passwords, account numbers, corporate files, personal pictures and financial information. They are also looking to use your laptop to broadcast spam, viruses and worms to the world, while you go for your coffee.

There are two hurdles to overcome when connecting your laptop at a public location. Connectivity and Security.

Connectivity

Searching the airwaves for a valid connection can be a challenge. Individuals choose the connection based on the signal strength. But there is much more to consider than signal strength.

Is the connection valid? Are you connecting to the hotspot location you think or an Evil Twin? Unscrupulous people can be sitting right next to you, broadcasting a fake SSID or signal for your laptop to pickup. When you connect and open your browser, it looks like you are at the proper location. However, the confidential information you enter to purchase an account, is actually being logged by the hacker. The Evil Twin can capture your every keystroke. They can see all the sites you visit and obtain the logon information as you enter it.

Security

Security implies safe surfing. Once your computer is powered on, others can access it, modify it and damage it - if you let them, or not. When you connect to the internet, hundreds of millions of other users are all connected too. It only takes 1 to find you. When you access your email, is the site secure? Does the lock show up in your browser indicating an SSL secure connection? Do other surfers in your location see your computer on the network? Or does the location support Wireless Client Isolation?

Does the hotspot location offer open access to surfing in which anyone can use the internet? Or does the hotspot provide controlled access in which users must identify themselves by registering for an account in order to log on? Spammers are attracted to “free” and “open”. Hackers and Identity Thieves are attracted to “public”.

Are you able to access the hotspot location’s business computer network? Are the hotspot’s POS, credit and mission critical files protected?

There are many dangerous traps that you can unknowingly fall into when using WiFi at a public hotspot location. The question is: How do you protect yourself?

Safety Solutions

There are some simple and fundamental precautions that all WiFi Internet users should take. It all starts before you venture outdoors. Take a moment to properly setup your computer. The easiest place to start is with the file sharing setup on your network. Make sure you turn off file sharing. In Windows it is usually found in the Local Area Network Properties dialog. On a Mac it is found in the File Sharing dialog. By turning off file sharing, you will be preventing others from gaining access to the files stored on your computer.

Make sure you have Virus protection, Spam protection, Spyware protection and Firewall protection.

Make sure you password protect your important files, and your computer, requiring a login whenever it boots up.

When You Venture Outdoors

Choose your location. In a public environment you need to make sure the location you visit is secure and safe for surfing. If they provide free surfing, or free surfing in exchange for a purchase, make sure the access is controlled by unique logon codes. This prevents freeloaders and the “bad guys” from easily accessing the internet.

If access requires the purchase of an account online with your credit card, make sure the purchasing mechanism is secure. Make sure the SSL or Lock is showing on your browser. Verify the credentials of the SSL connection by examining the properties of the Lock.

Ask if the location supports Wireless Client Isolation. This will prevent others from seeing you connected at that location.

Finally – you may want to consider avoiding public access computers and internet kiosks. You have no control or knowledge of how someone else’s computer has been setup, secured and or compromised.

Choose your seat. Stay clear of prying eyes. The easiest way for someone to steal your identity is simply by watching as you actually enter the information. This is often one of the most overlooked precautions one can take. Just as you are careful at an ATM machine, be careful at a public hotspot. Keep your information private.

Choose your connection. Make sure you are connected to the correct SSID. Before you search the available networks, check with the location for the exact SSID name you should be connecting to. Do not accept any variations. For example, if the SSID is supposed to be WHOTSPOT, do not accept WOTSPOT or WHOTSOT. If you are unsure, ask.

Choose your sites. Make sure that all sites that require confidential information are SSL protected. That means Banking, Email, any site requiring a password should all be secure. You should access them with https:// as the prefix in the URL. The “s” part is the important “secure” part.

In conclusion, great connectivity brings great opportunity. In order to avoid serious problems, we have outlined some key steps that are important to take when using public WiFi. Protecting your confidential information should always be in the front of your mind. Until bulletproof security becomes part of every operating system, proceed with caution when you leave home.

About the author: Terry Fagen is the founder of Whotspot.com, a provider of managed WiFi services and products.

The author invite your comments and experiences concerning this topic. Feel free to post your responses on our blog at whotspot.blogspot.com, or visit us at www.whotspot.com.