An SSL Certificate is an internet security technique that encrypts sensitive information sent between your customer’s web browser and your website. Only recognised certificate authorities, such as GlobalSign and Thawte, can issue an SSL certificate. This is then unique to your website and will be verified by your customer’s web browser each time your website is accessed. Evidence of an SSL Certificate on a website is characterised by the locked padlock symbol in the address bar or bottom right of a web browser.

How will having one benefit my website?

Consumers are increasingly aware of internet security and fraud and know to look for the padlock symbol when buying online. Having an SSL Certificate installed on your website gives them confidence that their details and payments are being securely transmitted. If you do not have this in place, some customers may choose not to purchase from you.

What are the costs?

At Ballyhoo, we provide a competitively priced SSL Certificate package.

Included:

• GlobalSign Certificate
• Up to 256-bit encryption enabled
• Universal browser compatibility
• Dedicated IP Address
• Maintenance of certificate (including set-up and renewal)

Annual payments are usually required in advance but we want your website to be affordable and will allow you spread the cost over 12 months for only £16.95 per month.

Contact us to learn more or request an SSL Certificate.

Design

A great way to start your newsletter campaign is to choose a design. This could be an existing template that you wish to use or one that you want to adapt to suit your branding. There are many free templates available on the internet to choose from. However, an option to seriously consider is commissioning a graphic designer to create a bespoke newsletter template consistent with your branding and website. This would be a one-time expense which you will see the benefit of again and again and will really reflect your company image.

Content

What has been happening at your company recently, do you have an amazing new product or service you want to share with the world? In your newsletter your goal is to grab your reader’s attention. Less is more, it’s best to include only a handful of great articles than lots of mediocre ones. Articles should be short and to the point, you don’t want the reader to get bored and delete the email. Include links to the relevant product or article pages so that the reader can learn more if they wish. Also include high-quality images in your articles, these will make an instant impression when the newsletter is opened.

How To Send Your Newsletter

By no means should you send a newsletter by yourself through your own email address. With potentially hundreds of recipients you are at risk of overloading the server your mail is sent through and could blacklist the server and your email address as a sender of unsolicited bulk emails (i.e. spam). Newsletter campaign software is available to do all the hard work for you. You simply have to create your newsletter, upload a list of the email addresses you wish to send it to and sit back and wait while your emails are sent through a recognised and approved server.

Statistics

With the aforementioned software you also have access to detailed and invaluable statistics about your newsletter campaign. How many people have opened the email? What links did they click on? Did they forward it to any friends? You can even see what time your email was opened and by whom. All of this information and more is available to you in detailed reports generated by the newsletter campaign software. You can use these to your advantage in a variety of ways, for example to promote a product that has been shown to be popular in the newsletter.

Frequency

We recommend that you send a monthly newsletter to keep the public conscious of your presence but there is no set timescale and you can send newsletters as frequently as you wish.

Expense

At Ballyhoo we have a number of newsletter packages to suit your needs which include all of the features you have read about above.

Option One: To create a bespoke newsletter template will cost £195, this includes sending the first newsletter. Newsletters will cost £40 per campaign (up to 500 recipients) thereafter. All you have to provide is the content for your newsletter.

Option Two: Alternatively, we can create a bespoke newsletter template that you can populate with content yourself and use an unlimited number of times for £395. Sending a newsletter using this package will cost £3 per campaign plus one pence for each recipient.

We recommend Option One as you will have the benefit of our experience to ensure that:

• Images are formatted correctly to ensure speedy download times.
• Text is formatted correctly to be readable and captivating and is also proofread.
• Links work correctly.
• The newsletter is tested in various email clients at our disposal.

What’s more if you are an e-commerce customer, Ballyhoo Commerce has a built-in newsletter subscription feature which means a mailing list can be downloaded easily at any time for this purpose.

For more information please contact us.

The Internet is becoming an extremely crowded market so if you want to outperform your competitors and ensure the longevity of your business you simply cannot afford not to maximise your search engine results.

The basic package is very competitively priced at £150 per month and for a limited time only we are offering this with no start-up fee.

See our search engine optimisation package for full details or contact us for more information.

We have separated our Hosting Packages into three bands – Basic, Standard and Professional – providing a cost-effective alternative for single-page sites and ensuring our biggest sites receive the best hosting available. Furthermore, we have created new E-mail and Database bolt-ons so you can customise your hosting package.

See a full list of our hosting services or contact us for further information.

New Features

New to Ballyhoo Commerce this year are .uk.com domain names and SSL Certificates.

With an ever-expanding array of domain names online it can be hard to get the right one for your site, in our experience it is often easier to get the name you want with a .uk.com domain. Get yours now for only £3.95 a month!

Online security is important for everyone using the Internet and now you can ensure that everyone using your site is safe with our new SSL Certificates. Secure and encrypt all sensitive data between your customers and your website and give your customers confidence in your site for £12.95 a month.