In a move that will offer your customers another way to pay for your products online, in-store and via mobile, I read a few days ago that AmEx will begin offering a new digital payment system, called Serve. It is basically a PayPal-like service with an AmEx card for offline purchases. Serve allows customers to send and receive digital payments online; and for offline purchases, customers will also have a Serve card that customers can load, much like loading a PayPal account, and use the card to pay for offline purchases. There are some minor differences with PayPal but many of the opinions I’ve read believe that the Serve card may help digital payments become more ubiquitous with the American Express name backing it up.

What does this mean for you? First, if you accept American Express cards you can accept the Serve card, too, and promoting your acceptance online may make online shoppers just that much more confident in buying from you online. Also, from what I’ve read, American Express says that merchant fees to accept Serve are less than those for traditional American Express cards.

You can check it out for yourself by visiting the website.

Recently I wrote a post about how Google has changed the search algorithm, and mentioned including reviews as a good way to increase your search rankings. If you want to improve your website and increase sales, I suggest you start adding customer reviews.

Here are a few tips:

Use what is already available and FREE.
If you have a Facebook fan page, you can add the “Reviews” application and begin collecting opinions of your store and products from your fans. Also, consider signing up with websites that specialize in collecting and providing localized reviews, such as Yelp (where you can create a page for your store) and Google Local Business Center (where you can update and collect reviews using your free listing). Using Yelp you can not only collect reviews, but also post special offers, photos and even send messages to customers.

Integrate reviews in your website.
Having reviews included on the product pages of your website, whether you offer online buying or not, will increase customer visits and buyers online and in-store. Consider starting out by using a low cost solution that is easy to implement on your website from providers such as RateVoice or RatePoint. Both of these providers have review systems that are embedded in your website and allow visitors to rate products and post comments. RateVoice goes a step further and allows reviewers the option to post their comments to social media sites like Facebook. These solutions also allow you to communicate with customers so you can either thank them or resolve a customer complaint, and they cost less than 30 dollars per month (with the option to scale up with more features).

Get creative about collecting reviews and opinions.
Ask for reviews by sending an email to all of your customers and requesting they post a review. As a thank you, you can offer a gift card or coupon for their next purchase. Orvis, a retailer of clothing and fly-fishing gear, sent out an email asking customers to review its products and encouraged participation by conducting a weekly drawing for a $100 gift card. According to John Lazarchic, vice president of e-commerce at Petco, offering a drawing for a gift card “boosted review submissions by 800 percent.” When appealing to customers to write a review, remember to play upon their desire to help others.

I just read a very interesting article about women and their influence with online and in-store purchasing decisions. The article, written by Aileen Lee (a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers), points out that women have the greatest influence when it comes to shopping and social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and Groupon. Women also make most of the household decisions when it comes to spending disposable income and saving money. So, knowing this, consider how your business is reaching out to women to grow your bottom line.

Here are a few suggestions to reach out and grow your female customer base:

1. Create female-focused programs and promotions. For example, Amazon created “Amazon Mom” a program that brings together products and retailers of greatest interest to moms. You could host shopping parties, such as a “Ladies Night” for your female customers or “mom-friendly” shopping events where you provide childcare or have a child-friendly program to distract the kids so moms can shop unfettered.

2. Survey female customers. Research shows that female customers drive the majority of purchasing decisions, so take the time to survey the women that shop with you, whether formally or informally. Ask them about what products and services you can provide to keep them coming back. Also ask them what social media networks and search engines they use so you can make sure you are where your female customers are online.

3. Spend more time on Facebook. According to Lee’s article, women make up the majority of Facebook users and women spend more time on Facebook than men. Women also do more posting and interacting. So, knowing that, make sure you are reaching out to your female customers on Facebook by posting, polling and hosting promotions that attract women.

4. Create a female-friendly environment. Whether you have a fly-fishing shop or sell housewares, make sure your store is welcoming to your female patrons to boost your bottom line. Play to your female customers’ five senses and even create female-friendly store displays depending on your customer base. For example, create a display for busy moms or a display of women-specific gear and clothing.

Read the complete article.

According to a recent press release by Google, they have changed their search algorithm to give high-quality websites higher search rankings and give low-quality websites lower rankings. So, what makes up a high-quality site, you may ask? According to Google, a high-quality website is one with fresh, relevant, original content. So, how can you keep your website fresh and thus increase your search engine rankings? Here are three suggestions:

Write a blog
One of the best ways to show off your business and your expertise is to write a blog. Include your blog entries on your website in order to get more attention from Google. Your blog can provide valuable product and industry information, ideas, and inspiration from your perspective on your particular industry.

Include product descriptions
Consider including product photos and descriptions on your website and make sure to update them especially as products change due to seasonality or new releases. This can help you get higher search rankings plus attract new and returning customers. It’s always fun to see a new look and new products when visiting a website.

Include customer reviews
Customer reviews are fast becoming a mandatory requirement by shoppers and websites without them are more often passed over by potential visitors. So, if you don’t already include customer reviews of your store, your service, and/or your products, now’s the time to consider getting started. Plus, adding new customer reviews is a great way to keep your content updated and gain greater attention from Google. Check out a couple low cost solutions like RateVoice (www.ratevoice.com) and RatePoint (www.ratepoint.com), which both make implementing customer reviews on your website relatively easy.

Above all, however you do it, remember to keep your website fresh. Content is still king!

You already know that videos can help you gain valuable market exposure, however you might be questioning exactly what type of content to include. Here are three tips for getting the most out of a video on your website.

Use your video to highlight your store’s uniqueness.
There are so many things that make your store and products distinctive. Use your video to showcase your products, your outstanding customer service, or your fabulous store ambiance. One of the best ways to communicate the messaging about why your store is unique is to interview your customers because testimonials are most powerful when someone else (other than a store owner or employee) is endorsing your brand. This is one of the reasons why social media is so effective—friends are recommending to friends great places to shop. In this sample video from a stationery store based in New England, a client testimonial at the beginning of their video adds more credibility to why you should go visit.

Teach your customers.
Using video you can instruct customers on how to assemble or use specific products you sell. Or you can provide more general how-tos, such as how to make a dining room table centerpiece from items that can be purchased at your store. Here’s a sample video on how to decorate a Christmas tree. You can easily create similar videos as you create your store displays.

Share stories.
One of the reasons why reality TV is so popular is because we love to get a behind the scenes glimpse of how things are done, why people are so successful, and what it takes to run a store. Give people an inside look at why you decided to open your store, how you market it, or what it takes it be a store owner.