I got an email from a customer at my jewelry store this morning who was clearly quite frustrated because she could not tell what sizes the rings were.

Now, the data feed doesn’t include that information. However, most of the rings are available within a range of half and whole sizes, so I have added that information to my website, and noted that if a size does not appear to be available, to call the company and ask for a given size. Hopefully this will prevent such a problem in the future and I am glad it was brought to my attention.

It’s these little details you just don’t always think of when you’re setting up a website. But I think this is a very good change to have made.

Now, the big question… did I lose that customer? Probably, but I hope my prompt response will encourage her to return, especially since I fixed the problem fairly quickly as best I could as well.

Call it a reminder of the importance of excellent customer service. I really should have anticipated that question. Now I’ll be spending all day thinking up more questions I should try to answer….

Interesting side note to Google doubling it’s index. Many sites are reporting that Google is showing more pages in their site than exist… double or more. Wonder what’s going on here.

Google doubled its index of sites. Have you noticed?

Now, if you are in internet marketing, does this matter? Absolutely. Sure, now there are even more pages to compete against, but also more opportunities for you to be listed if you have a big site. If you know what you are doing, this is a very good thing for you.

So what do you need to do? Optimize! Get those backlinks, prime your content and your sales pages and go for it! There will be plenty of marketers who do nothing more than throw up a site and expect the traffic to come, so be ready to compete with the underprepared.

Of course, this also means the tough areas just got tougher. But the niche areas are still there, waiting for you to develop a site and show the competition how a good website is made. There are more opportunities to make an income if you just work at it.

Wow, I wish making sales were as easy as getting subaffiliates!

It wasn’t that long ago that I joined AllSat’s affiliate program. Too soon for any installs to have completed, but I have 6 subaffiliates already. At this rate, I’ll quickly reach a point where at least a few of them produce sales for me regularly, I hope! After all, they say something like 90% of affiliates never make a sale (I wonder how true that is), so if this keeps up I should start getting results from them over the next few months whether or not I make a sale. Sounds good to me!

Have you locked your domains yet?

There’s a new rule from ICANN which makes it pretty important to lock your domains. Basically, if a request to transfer your domain comes through, it will be honored unless you deny it within 5 days. This starts November 12, 2004, that is as of this writing, tomorrow!

Now the catch to this is that if for any reason the registrar cannot contact you, or you just miss the email, there goes your domain. Hijacked. And it won’t be easy to get back.

Now, you may be wondering how you can lock your domains. It’s very easy. Just go to the company where you registered it, log in and look for where you manage your domains. There should be a pretty easy place to set the locking feature, which means that the registrar will require a response from you before releasing a domain.

Now, does this mean you should transfer your domain immediately to a company offering higher security for your domain? No. Every company should offer locking, so just lock your domain and don’t worry about it.

But be extra aware of those little notices in your email. There are people out there trying to steal good domains.