Fresh Perspectives to Make 2007 Your Brightest Yahoo! E-business Year Yet!

Posted on March 1, 2007
Filed Under General, Website Design, Yahoo! Store | Leave a Comment

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I’ve noticed that by February, most folks have either stayed the course or fallen off the wagon again. Those New Year’s resolutions packed my local YMCA gym with short-term enthusiasts and unrealistic exercisers for the entire month of January. Taking their cues from late-night infomercials, some of these folks expected to lose a certain number of pounds in 30 days without even breaking a sweat. We Y-regulars wish them success for their own sakes, yet we know the weight machines and the hot tubs are sure to be less crowded in February. We’d all love to have a body like James Bond without lifting a finger, but perhaps a reset of expectations is in order.

Staying the course isn’t just about gaining a new short-term habit. It is about having a global perspective and recognizing that growth requires reaching beyond what you’ve already mastered. E-business is a lot like the triathlon. Success in both requires a sustained effort on at least three distinct fronts. Managing multiple priorities requires perseverance and a commitment to discipline. So, let’s look at e-business design, operations, and marketing strategy in the context of the highly disciplined and balanced sport of triathlon.

Design is the “swim” of the triathlon. Starting something new can be terrifying. There is a real sense that if you don’t do this right, or don’t know what you’re doing, you’re dead in the water. The triathlon isn’t won in the first leg, and your store also doesn’t win with just a great design. But, during the swim, it is very important to understand that technique matters — minimize resistance while maximizing fluid motion. It’s the same with your e-commerce store — confusion and fear equate to “no sale” for the online shopper. Fear will keep otherwise brave souls out of the water and out of the checkout.

Operational innovation is the “bike” component. The bike is the core of the triathlon, because it takes up more than half of the race. A solid product mix, proper market segment, solid business model, good profit margins, and scalable, well-designed fulfillment processes and customer service are where the rubber meets the road. Without strength here, we are certain to have a “did not finish.” But the aerodynamic beauty of an elegant business model and positive cash flow is prettier than a $10,000 carbon fiber frame with matching carbon wheels.

Marketing strategy is the thing that makes it “run.” A beautiful site that goes unseen is a very sad thing. It’s as sad as fresh new running shoes that never leave the box. Anyone can buy ad words, however, managing online advertising campaigns profitably is a mark of true maturity. Driving cost-effective traffic that delivers a positive return on advertising spend and keeps current customers running back will help you finish the course with pride.

A recent Investors Business Daily article cited a Fathom Online report that stated the average price per click for search terms was up 16.5 percent in the third quarter of 2006 to an average of $1.48 per click. With that rate of key phrase bid inflation, we see online marketing strategy requiring more and more sophistication to be successful. As my client friend Joe said the other day, “we aren’t in the business of collecting numbers, we are in the business of collecting money in the bank.”

So what can we do to see the future from a new perspective? Consider the value of a meaningful and compelling scoreboard. Because in e-business, the dailies are so … well, daily, it is important to be able to get out of the routine and measure progress toward your goals. I learned this lesson dramatically from my recent experience with my Nike Plus iPod.

Originally posted at: www.insightsforum.com

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An option for those who aren’t ready to upgrade to Office 2007

Posted on February 22, 2007
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Shuffling Word documents back and forth is part of the daily routine. It’s likely that by now you’ve received files in the new “docx” format created by Office 2007 and had to request that your party save back a level. Many of us aren’t ready to upgrade to Office 2007 just yet, and Microsoft knows this. To curb this frustration, Microsoft has released a compatibility pack that allows any version of Microsoft Office to read the new “dosx” format.

You can read more about the free install, and download it here.

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New Face, New Name - FastPivot.com

Posted on January 16, 2007
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The Ydesigns/FastPivot.com team is very excited about 2007 and the promise it brings to our clients. As we approach our ten-year anniversary, we are thankful for our clients and friends that make our lives full by sharing the good work we do with others. We love to work by referral and relationship connections with great people across the country and have been very productively establishing more relationships with strategic service providers that help merchants work more efficiently and merchandise products with excellence. It is appropriate then, that we feature PicklesAndIceCream.com as our newest launch in 2007.

PicklesAndIceCream.com displays the classic design strength Ydesigns.com is known for with a glimpse of the innovation to come under the new FastPivot.com brand. Check out the elegant product display technology that “Pickles” is using to lead their market. Let us help you lead yours!

It would be our pleasure to serve with you in 2007.

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Welcome to the New FastPivot.com blog

Posted on January 15, 2007
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After nearly a decade of serving thousands of web stores across the country, as of Feburary 1, 2007, Ydesigns.com is rebranding itself as Fast Pivot. As we have expanded beyond custom store design into web marketing strategy and ecommerce software development and integration, we have found the Ydesigns brand too limiting to contain our larger scope. So, in short, we have not been acquired. We are the same people team, under the same ownership, expanding to serve a larger audience more effectively.

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