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News
[Top] [News] [Net Watch] [Product
Review]
- Finally!!! You can now pay
your invoices ON-Line! Just go to
www.DogRiverDesign.com
and click on the Pay On-Line
link on the left. On the next screen type your invoice number in
and the amount you wish to pay*. You will be taken to a secure
server to complete the transaction. *If this is your first
PayPal transaction or you
have not verified your account, your payment amount will be
limited to a maximum of $2000.
- Would you like to have us
automatically debit your credit card for hosting and other
services? Give us a call and we can set it up for you!
- Either of these services are
easy to add to your site. If you'd like to be able to take
credit cards on-line or setup recurring transactions for your
clients, give us a call and we can get you setup in no time!
Net Watch
[Top] [News] [Net Watch] [Product
Review] In our last
newsletter we talked about the planning process. I'd like to take
that just a bit further this month. I recently had the opportunity
to look at a site for a potential client and in the process, came
up with the following questions:
- As and end user, what on your
site conveys that your products / services are any different
from any other company? What sets you apart from your
competition, especially if your competition is just down the
road from me and you are in another state?
- As an end user, when your site
first hits the screen, what is the first thing that will catch
my eye?
- As and end user, can you
easily find the core information or product or service that you
are trying to promote?
- As and end user, if you have a
question, can you easily find how to contact information? Do you
provide a phone number or just an email address?
As I went through their site,
they were not able to effectively answer any of those questions.
Like most on-line merchants, they were just another site pushing a
service that someone can get just as effectively at a local brick
and mortar establishment.
I purchase a large amount of
products and services on-line. Most of the time I purchase from
only major vendors that have local branches. In order for me to
purchase from an On-Line only store, I have to be convinced that
I'm not going to be ripped off.
Just today I had the experience
of rolling the dice on some airline tickets. Let me bring you
through my thinking when buying On-Line. I've been very happy
using www.Orbitz.com in the
past so I looked at them first. The best they could do was $442
for a short notice round trip from Charleston to Burlington. I
called my travel agent (Mark Abrams of Northfield Travel
1-802-485-5444) and he was able to give me basically the same
price so normally I'd use him, however while on Orbitz's site, I
noticed a little button right there staring at me. I decided to
give www.Hotwire.com a
chance. They were able to quote me a price of $280. What a
savings! The catch is that they do not provide the name of the
carrier or the itinerary until AFTER you purchase your tickets.
You are able to limit the number of connections, prop or jet, and
whether the Red-Eye was ok, but that is it.
I'm not really one to be penny
wise and pound foolish, so I started looking for all the "fine
print." In the big picture, saving $160 is not that important when
I'm sending a loved one on a trip. They did a really good job of
putting all the "catches" right out there for me to see and decide
if it was worth the "risk." I decided to give them a try and these
were my reasons:
- They were linked from a site
that I had confidence in.
They did not appear to be "sneaky" with the fine print, but put
it all right out in the open.
- They had answers to "common
questions" on every step, which were answers to the exact
questions I was asking.
- The price was cheap enough
only $280! I was willing to risk loosing the $280 and filing a
complaint with my credit card company if things went sour.
- They had a satisfactory record
with www.BBBOnline.com.
The bottom line is they answered
all my important questions and in the end I put aside my
skepticism in favor of the opportunity of a good deal. They were
able to minimize the "risk" by answering my questions before I
asked them. They have put great effort into thinking like a
consumer and in the end it got them the sale.
When looking at the planning of
your Web Project, take a look at some of their methods they used
to convert this viewer into a customer. If you want help with
planning your next Web Project or want help to kick start your
existing Project, just give us a call, 1-843-835-5624.
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Product Review
[Top] [News] [Net Watch] [Product
Review] Wow!!!
Binoculars with a built in digital
 camera!
How could you beat this idea? Well let me give you some
suggestions:
- stick
- lead pipe
- combat boot
- brick
You get the idea, great concept,
horrible execution. The bottom line is they are fairly decent
binoculars with a really cheap digital camera built on. I've yet
to get a decent picture out of my pair. And forget about getting
help from their web site. No accessible support unless you phone
them and there are no drivers for my Macintosh. Even Windows XP
did not see the camera without loading their special software. I
was hoping that the pictures mimic the zoom of the binoculars. No
such luck. The camera is completely separate from the binoculars.
The camera has a fixed zoom of 5x. Even though they only cost $69,
they are not worth the money. If they ever come out with a pair
that use the actual binoculars' optics, then I'd be inclined to
give them another try.
Please send any questions about, or
ideas for product reviews to
Staff@dogriverdesign.com.
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