A couple of weeks ago, one of my long-time clients closed her business. She’d been with me since since 2005.

Her reason for closing? She wasn’t selling enough to justify keeping the site open.

This is not an uncommon story. For many years, I resigned myself to the fact that often small businesses are just not meant to be. The statistics even supported this view: As many as 1/3 of business startups fail within the first 2 years.

My experience has been that there may be an even greater number in the Work At Home Mom world.

I really felt bad about this, though. Setting up a Shop Kit Plus website for a new WAHM and then turning her loose in the world was not my intention.

So, I’ve started offering coaching and web design services. I’ll help you build a site that sells using the Shop Kit Plus — and teach you how to reach your customers and encourage them to purchase from you. In return, I just ask for you to implement the marketing methods I recommend, and evaluate your progress on a regular basis.

Sounds like fun, right?

Those people who I have been able to work closely with have succeeded. It’s excited. I want to pass that success on to you.

For a short time, and for a handful of people, I am offering a very special deal. I’m limiting this offering so that I can devote my energy and creativity to you and just a handful of other people.

Head over to Michelle Waters Online and start growing your business today!

Popularity: 41% [?]

New SSL Certificate requirements could harm sales for many small business owners who cannot obtain the proper certification. But will this affect Shop Kit Plus users, whose secure pages are certified by Mals Ecommerce?

I have sent an email to Mal Stewart, owner of Mals Ecommerce, requesting information as to whether or not he plans to comply with the Extended Validation SSL Certificate requirements, as set out by SSL certificate authority leaders and Internet browser providers, who formed the Certification Authority/Browser (CA/Browser) Forum.

The introduction of EV SSL Certificates will tighten the security of Internet transactions as certificate requestors will be subject to a thorough, standardized vetting process which all issuing CAs must adhere to, according to the Certification Authority/Browser (CA/Browser) Forum.

Sounds good? On it’s face yes. According to Kristie T., work at home mom and online branding expert, alerted the WAHM world of a new requirement, that has the potential to bar small business owners from online commerce.

[The certificate will display] a green address bar to indicate that it’s “safe” for people who visit a web site. Microsoft plans to activate this green light feature in a future update of IE 7 expected in late January, according to Kristie.

This is bad for the small business, because this certificate will only be available to large businesses, according to a Yahoo news story.

Businesses that are too small or too new to be verifiable will have their address bars appear in white, instead of green. According to the yahoo story, this could result in buyers opting to purchase from “safer” sites with the green address bar instead.

Mals Ecommerce though, has been in business since 1998, possibly making it verifiable under the new standards. I’ll update you when I know more…

Popularity: 27% [?]

Please take a look at this helpdesk commentary from my friend Kelly McCausey, who ownes WAHM Talk Radio.

Most of my clients have been very understanding of my switch to a helpdesk several month ago. They were especially understanding when they realized that my helpdesk is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with technicians who know the inner workings of my servers.

However, I have had a small handful of clients who missed the emails I send every few months telling them about the helpdesk, who ignore the message on my answering machine instructing them to use the helpdesk for a fast response, or who just don’t like the helpdesk.

I hope that Kelly’s blog entry will help them see the light and understand that the helpdesk is there to help insure excellent customer support, not hinder it.

[tags]customer service, helpdesk, technical support, small business[/tags]

Popularity: 19% [?]

Watersweb Shops is dedicated to helping small business owners start and run their own businesses. We provide affordable alternatives to high priced web designers and ecommerce services to work at home moms and work at home dads. How can we do this? By providing resources for you, the business owner, to handle much of the setup and day-to-day operations of your site. We provide the [tag]Shop Kit Plus, which provides editing tools that will allow you to easily setup and maintain your sites. The SKP also includes order processing tools that automate the selling process and enables you to process and track orders with ease.

For those of you who are new to the Shop Kit Plus, or new to ecommerce in general, we provide two downloadable manuals that cover just about everything. And for those questions that aren’t answered in the manuals, we have a support forum with several members and thousands of posts that can help. And as an added bonus, we have implemented a Priority Support Ticket system for when you need faster assistance or need to give us details such as usernames or passwords.

If you have an excellent understanding of the Internet and of design languages such as HTML and/or PHP, you will find that our product is highly customizable and our staff is informed and quick to answer support tickets and forum posts.

Unlike many other sites, if you need special customizations to our out-of-the-box product, we offer affordable modifications and services that can be purchased directly on our site. Premium support and services, which are not offered in our very affordable standard packages are also offered as low-cost alternatives to hiring a professional web designer full time or on a monthly contract basis.

If you do wish to hire a professional web designer to setup and maintain a custom site you are welcome to contact us for a quote. Our pricing will be determined on a case by case basis.

We understand that you, as our customers, have made our business what it is today. We are taking every step possible to ensure that each one of you receives the products, information and services that we offer, so you can run a successful online business.

Thank you!

Popularity: 25% [?]