If you were anywhere on the east coast yesterday, you are well aware of the 5.8 earthquake out of Virginia that shook not only people and buildings, but the internet as well. The earthquake was documented at 01:51:04 PM, and some say that if you were in the New York area( iFuel’s HQ), you actually read about it on Facebook or Twitter before you even felt it.
I was recently e-mail this great speech (Thanks @ReubenIngber) presented by the Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, from the Institute for Public Relations Strategic Communications Summit.
His speech outlines the Navy’s use of communication and he gives details of recent examples of how the Navy used Facebook to help those in crisis.
Some of his key points are:
- The key to success as a leader is to recognize that there is an opportunity – indeed an obligation – to listen to your people, to add another dimension to your awareness.
- Listening doesn’t just make for better leaders, it makes for better organizations. Your people expand your entire organization‟s ability to listen to each other and others outside the organization, but only if you empower them to do so.
- When you connect with the community you serve, you have the opportunity to establish trust.
- No less a military mind than Napoleon Bonaparte observed, “Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.” (I note that’s under 140 characters, so he was well ahead of his time.)**
**Note: This is my favorite part of his whole speech.
I am trying to send a friend flowers, and finding it almost impossible to decide what method I want to use to buy them. I have two options: to call a local florist in her area and order the flowers over the phone, or use one of the major online florists (1-800 Flowers, ProFlowers, or Teleflora). I have racked my brain to compare the pros and cons of each, and have yet to find a clear answer.
On the surface, the online florists have the upper hand in ease and convenience. I am able to quickly narrow down my flower type (roses), color preference (pink), and then browse different arrangements, and know exactly what the flowers will look like. Sometimes, they even offer the same arrangement in various sizes, so you can send the flowers that best fit you price range.
As the summer slowly starts to fade away, and yellow school buses begin to flood the roads, many are enjoying the last few weeks with a much deserved vacation. Many look forward to few days away from the office, and find great joy in setting up their “Out of the Office” auto responder. However, one must ask, why do we pack our phones, iPads and laptops, if we are trying to get away from it all?
As we start to pack our suitcases, we make a mental note to not forget our cell chargers, the cord for the laptop, and put great effort in deciding a tote bag to carry everything to the beach, without getting sand in it. Quite clearly, the best way to not get sand in our precious toys is to not bring them with us. However, we just can’t seem to unplug.
In the NYT from last week, Bruce Feiler writes about how he and his family benefited from staying on the grid, saying that it helped with answering every day questions; What type of leaf is this? What is a home remedy for bug bites? How to I fix a garbage disposal?
All of us has seen them – the website that looks like the sixteen year old down the block created it, with badly placed graphics, horrible fonts, and are impossible to navigate. Companies with poorly designed websites never seem to have a large customer base. Especially when potential users go and research the competition.
To have the best chance at success online, you really need to have a website designed professionally. One that will capture the users attention, and allow your company to climb to the top of the search engine result pages, and increase business.
The goal of any website is to increase conversion rates, and the more attractive your company’s website is, the more likely your users are to stay on your site and give you their business. A website only has a few seconds to get the users attention, and if their website doesn’t look professional, users are more likely to move on to the competition. If your site looks professional, users are going to believe that you are a financially successful business. Poorly/Cheaply designed websites are usually a sign of a poorly funded and unmanaged company (those who are barely making enough each month to get by). Not only can a well-designed web site make you look successful but it can also ensure the user of the business’s trustworthiness.
When you hire an online marketing company to build your website (like iFuel interactive) you not only get professional web design, but also the ability to get social media marketing, per click advertising, search engine optimization services, and potentially even online reputation management.
So what are you waiting for?
It sounds a lot more confusing than it really is, trust me!:
1. To begin, you need to select “Shopping Cart Price Rules” from the “Promotions” menu.
2. Next, click the “Add New Rule” button located in the upper right corner.
3. Give the new rule a name and a description. (This is just for your benefit, so you remember which coupon is which).
4. Then change the status to “Active”.
5. Next, you’re going to want to select which customer groups the rule applies to (usually all).
6. If you choose to, you can enter a coupon code. If you choose not to enter a coupon code, the discount will automatically apply when the conditions are met.
7. Then you need to enter the number of times the coupon is allowed to be used by anyone. For instance, if the coupon is only available to the first 100 customers, put 100 (if unlimited, put zero).
8. Next, enter the number of times each individual customer is allowed to use the coupon. (If you only want a customer to be able to use this offer once, enter the number 1).
9. Enter the dates when the coupon is available. If there is no end date, just leave the space blank.
10. Then enter the priority of the coupon, zero being the highest (order in which the rules are processed).
11. Next, select “Conditions” from the menu on the left.
12. Here you’re going to want to make sure the rule is set so that the total quantity equals or is greater than the amount required for the discount to take effect. (Here, we want the discount to apply if the customer purchases 3 or more of the specified items, so we enter the number 3).
13. Now, you must specify which items need to be purchased in order to receive the discount, so from the drop down menu, check off the items which you would like the rule to apply to.
14. Almost done! Now, select “Actions” from the menu on the left.
15. Next, be sure that under “Apply”, “Percent of product price discount is selected”.
16. Then, enter the amount you would like the products to be discounted. (For this example we want the customers to receive a 10% discount when they purchase the correct amount of the specified items, so we enter the number 10).
17. Now, towards the bottom of the page, you need to enter what conditions must be met in order for the customer to receive the discount, so you must specify which items the rule applies to. So, from the drop down menu, check off the specified items. (They should be the same items that you checked off under the “Conditions” menu).
18. Lastly, just be sure to save the rule by clicking “Save Rule” in the top right corner!
You’re good to go!
This is very simple:
1. To begin, you need to select “Shopping Cart Price Rules” from the “Promotions” menu.
2. Next, click the “Add New Rule” button located in the upper right corner.
3. Give the new rule a name and a description. (This is just for your benefit, so you remember which coupon is which).
4. Then change the status to “Active”.
5. Next, you’re going to want to select which customer groups the rule applies to (usually all).
6. If you choose to, you can enter a coupon code. If you choose not to enter a coupon code, the discount will automatically apply when an item is added to the shopping cart.
7. Then you need to enter the number of times the coupon is allowed to be used by anyone. For instance, if the coupon is only available to the first 100 customers, put 100 (if unlimited, put zero).
8. Next, enter the number of times each individual customer is allowed to use the coupon. (If you only want a customer to be able to use this offer once, enter the number 1).
9. Enter the dates when the coupon is available. If there is no end date, just leave the space blank.
10. Then enter the priority of the coupon, zero being the highest (order in which the rules are processed).
11. Next, select the “Actions” menu from the left.
12. Under “Apply”, select “Fixed amount discount for whole cart”.
13. Then, where it asks you for the discount amount, enter whatever amount you would like the entire cart to be discounted (In this case, we want the cart to be discounted $15, so we enter the number 15).
14. Last but not least, click the “Save Rule” button in the top right corner, and you’re done!
This is a lot simpler than it may seem!:
1. To start off, just select “Shopping Cart Price Rules” from the “Promotions” menu.
2. Next, click the “Add New Rule” button located in the upper right corner.
3. Give the new rule a name and a description (this is for your benefit, so you can remember which coupon is which).
4. Then change the status to “Active”.
5. Next, you’re going to want to select which customer groups the rule applies to (usually all).
6. If you choose to, you can enter a coupon code.
7. Then you need to enter the number of times the coupon is allowed to be used by anyone. For instance, if the coupon is only available to the first 100 customers, put 100 (if unlimited, put zero).
8. Next, enter the number of times each individual customer is allowed to use the coupon. (If you only want a customer to be able to use this offer once, enter the number 1).
9. Enter the dates when the coupon is available.
10. Then enter the priority of the coupon, zero being the highest (order in which the rules are processed).
11. Next, select “Actions” from the menu on the left.
12. Almost done! Under the free shipping option select “For Shipment with Matching Items”.
13. Last but not least, click the “Save Rule” button located in the upper right corner.
And that’s all there is to it!
Here are a few easy steps to get you started:
1. To begin, just select “Shopping Cart Price Rules” from the “Promotions” menu.
2. Next, click the “Add New Rule” button located in the upper right corner.
3. Give the new rule a name and a description. (This is just for your benefit, so you remember which coupon is which).
4. Then change the status to “Active”.
5. Next, you’re going to want to select which customer groups the rule applies to (usually all).
6. If you choose to, you can enter a coupon code. If you choose not to enter a coupon code, the free shipping will automatically apply if the conditions (spending over $100, in this case) are met.
7. Then you need to enter the number of times the coupon is allowed to be used by anyone. For instance, if the coupon is only available to the first 100 customers, put 100 (if unlimited, put zero).
8. Next, enter the number of times each individual customer is allowed to use the coupon. (If you only want a customer to be able to use this offer once, enter the number 1).
9. Enter the dates when the coupon is available. If there is no end date, just leave the space blank.
10. Then enter the priority of the coupon, zero being the highest (order in which the rules are processed).
11. Next, select “Conditions” from the menu on the left.
12. Here you need to select “Subtotal” from the dropdown menu, then click on the word “is” and from that dropdown menu select “Equals or Greater Than”, then click on the “…” and enter 100 (or the amount required to receive free shipping).
13. Now, select “Actions” from the menu on the left.
14. Don’t worry- you’re almost done! Now, next to “Apply to shipping amount”, select “Yes”.
15. Next to “Free Shipping” select the option “For shipment with matching items”.
16. Last but not least, click the “Save Rule” button located in the upper right corner.
You’re all set!
I like to have all Magento data re-indexed every night via a cron job. That way I KNOW the indexes are up to date.
To create the cron job, add the following to your cron file to reindex every day at 4am
0 4 * * * php -f /shell/indexer.php reindexall
Note: If you get an error telling you you’re out of memory similar to:
PHP Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 262144 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 7680 bytes) in …/app/code/core/Mage/Index/Model/Indexer.php on line 163
Try commenting out php_value memory_limit and php_value max_execution_time in your .htaccess file.
