fast web pages, happy customers

Some pages on retail shopping sites take almost 10 seconds to open, according to a new Nielsen Online study of major shopping sites. Woah, that’s way too slow … g0odbye customers!

Don’t be like Noel Leeming, which in the study came  in slowest at a time of 9.57 seconds. Make sure your site’s pages open fast before you scare off visitors.

One way to do this is to have keep data-heavy information on the page to a minimum. That means, for example, ensure all your photos are optimised to good web sizes and stay away from too much animated Flash content.

Also consider, if many of your clients are overseas, basing your website on a web server in the country where most of your clients are, or have specific sites for each country. It’s cheap and easy to have your site hosted with an overseas web host, And the closer the site is to its customers, the faster the site’s pages will open for those customers – keeping them happier and more active on the site.

Nielsen Online general manager Ivan Fuyala was reported saying that the accessibility and viability of a website is a key business success metric.

“If consumers can’t reach you quickly online, it won’t take long before they start looking to competitors instead.”

shoppers turn to the web for discounts

It seems many shoppers are increasingly looking for their bargains online where they can easily compare prices and products.

The internet is also growing naturally and is becoming a mainstream medium: eMarketer estimates the US Internet population will grow to nearly 200 million users this year. By 2013, some 221 million people will be online.

Two goods reasons, then, to keep your e-business well-tuned and operating effectively, especially in an economic downturn.

a glitch in Google’s cloud computing service

Google has made much of its cloud computing or software as a service (SaaS) offerings, hyping them as the new, efficient and cost-effective way to do business.  This blog post from Wired shows Google may still have some SaaS glitches to be ironed out.

It also shows that people’s nervousness about putting confidential documents in the cloud may be around for some time.

i wouldn’t bet the house on it

A bit of a lesson here, I guess, that not all innovative, genuine and smart ideas for online business will meet the ‘is-it-legal’ test:  take a look at the the idea and the the legal opinion.

turn your cellphone into an internet connection

If you’re on the road a lot and need access to your e-business, you can easily turn your cellphone into a router that picks up your broadband account and sends it to your laptop to allow you to use the internet wherever you are.

Here are two software products that do this:  JoikuSpot and wmwifirouter.

(I have not tried either product and was simply interested to know of their existence. You will need to check if they work with your phone.)

internet better than sex?!

Better keep your e-business finely tuned and running well … it appears a big chunk of people (Americans, at least) would rather do without sex than do without their internet connection.

An Intel survey has found that 46 percent of women and 30 percent of men “would rather swear-off sex for two weeks than give up the Net.”

The survey also had some valuable pointers for the importance of the internet as a business and communications tool: 61 percent of the women surveyed said they would rather go without TV for two weeks than lose access to the Internet for one week. The Internet also beat dining out, clothes shopping and the gym.

And, watch out guys, 49 percent of women aged 18-34 favoured the Internet over sex, as did 52 percent of women aged 35-44!

More information is here.

super-fast internet – if you’re (geographically) lucky

This new super-fast internet service for business customers will be big news for some small businesses (but, sadly, only if you’re in the centre of a city and a TelstraClear customer!).

TelstraClear has just introduced an  internet service (using VDSL2 technology) with download speeds of up to 30 megabits per second, several times faster than normal broadband services.

It is available in the CBDs of Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Lower Hutt and Wellington; and should be available on the North Shore and in Waitakere, Manukau, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Dunedin before Christmas.

It costs $400 a month, plus data charges. TelstraClear also has significantly cheaper but slower plans.  Telecom also offers a faster broadband service – ADSL2. But it is nowhere as fast as VDSL2 and is available mainly in the larger city centres. Telecom’s cheapest regular (ADSL) broadband plan, which gives most users speeds of between 1.5 and 4 megabits per second, costs $30 a month.

Vodafone and Orcon have both said they have been trialling VDSL2 technology.

Meanwhile, the political parties wonder how to get fast, affordable  broadband for all: the only real consensus so far being that it is unlikely to be delivered any time soon by Telecom.