Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Casual Articles - Case Study: How Website Monitoring Saved an Online Auto Parts Retailer
Lead Generation Companies Can Save Your Businesss Time & Money
With the ever-increasing competition in the global market, making sales is top priority for most businesses - and the most daunting task. An effective solution is to outsource telemarketing and appointment setting. This will help your business save time - top salespeople can then channel their efforts on building quality prospects and making the sale, rather than starting out with cold calls, which have a much lower rate of success.Companies that facilitate appointment setting and lead generation have the necessary knowledge and strategies to help your business reach hot prospects. This is essential for your company's long-term success, and resourceful lead generation companies take the time to understand your business' needs and its products and services, making them even more effective.Why Outsourcing WorksThe initial communication between your company and a potential customer will be through a cold call. This first impression of sorts can make or break your
s occasionally unable to resolve the address. This implied that the DNS server supporting the organization was not working consistently. The retailer upgraded the DNS server and the problem was resolved.
With the ever-increasing competition in the global market, making sales is top priority for most businesses - and the most daunting task. An effective solution is to outsource telemarketing and appointment setting. This will help your business save time - top salespeople can then channel their efforts on building quality prospects and making the sale, rather than starting out with cold calls, which have a much lower rate of success.Companies that facilitate appointment setting and lead generation have the necessary knowledge and strategies to help your business reach hot prospects. This is essential for your company's long-term success, and resourceful lead generation companies take the time to understand your business' needs and its products and services, making them even more effective.Why Outsourcing WorksThe initial communication between your company and a potential customer will be through a cold call. This first impression of sorts can make or break your
4. Varying Website Response from Different Geographical Locations Persistent monitoring showed that this retailer’s shopping cart website responded at varying speeds from different locations. Some customers complained that the site took too long to open, while others had no issues. Using Dotcom-Monitor’s “Report by Location” feature, which gathers data from multiple remote agents at different locations, a traceroute snapshot was recorded. This report was accompanied by the error message from every location where slowdown was detected. After analyzing the data, it was found that the ISP hosting the site used several providers that did not peer properly with certain networks. This network peering problem was identified and brought to the ISP. They took the necessary actions to resolve the problem by altering their BGP configuration.
5. Website Downtime required frequent monitoring The retailer’s website occasionally suffered downtime, which led to customer dissatisfaction. The outages were mostly related to software glitches that the
Start Smart: How to Start a Small Business
Starting a business can be your path to wealth, freedom and fulfillment, but let me warn you, it is not often an easy journey. Doing it right takes desire, talent and motivation. This is not something you should jump into without some serious forethought. There are certain things that you can do at the beginning stage that will substantially increase your likelihood of success. We recommend you spend some time doing research and planning. It is much advised that you do this while you still have a regular source of income.To increase your chance for success, take the time up front to explore and evaluate your business and personal goals. Then use this information to build a comprehensive and well thought out business plan that, like any roadmap, will help you reach these goals.The process of creating a business plan will help you think through some important issues that you may not have considered yet. Unfortunately, for many entrepreneurs, the idea of sitting d
PROBLEM: Customers complaining about site outages and slow site response times. Hosting company claiming that the problems had been resolved. Customers remaining dissatisfied.
Starting a business can be your path to wealth, freedom and fulfillment, but let me warn you, it is not often an easy journey. Doing it right takes desire, talent and motivation. This is not something you should jump into without some serious forethought. There are certain things that you can do at the beginning stage that will substantially increase your likelihood of success. We recommend you spend some time doing research and planning. It is much advised that you do this while you still have a regular source of income.To increase your chance for success, take the time up front to explore and evaluate your business and personal goals. Then use this information to build a comprehensive and well thought out business plan that, like any roadmap, will help you reach these goals.The process of creating a business plan will help you think through some important issues that you may not have considered yet. Unfortunately, for many entrepreneurs, the idea of sitting d
METHODOLOGY: External website monitoring on a page-by-page basis at one-minute intervals pinpointed the problems.
SOLUTIONS: Realigning shared hosting, fixing database indexing, DNS server upgrade, altering the web host's BGP configuration and regular website monitoring.
THE STORY: Once seen as an alternative marketing channel, online shopping has carved its own niche in the marketplace. The online shopping sector has grown rapidly, outstripping other sectors and opening new business prospects. The factors contributing to the continuous growth of online shopping include wider product ranges, convenience, lower prices, and availability of clear product information. Recent large investments in e-commerce by companies large and small have further energized the sector and strengthened its roots.
This growth has not come easy. Although most shopping sites feel that they have rid themselves of persistent growing pains, some remain. A recent Andersen Consulting Services survey reveals that more than 25 percent of online shopping experiences fail during holiday seasons due to site outages. Another survey by the NDP Group reveals that up to 23 percent of online shoppers still experience temporary website outages, late shipments, and customer service issues.
Dotcom-Monitor website-network monitoring specializes in ensuring performance and uptime in online transaction processes, including shopping carts, sign-ins, and form submission. By simulating end-use actions, Dotcom-Monitor.com verifies each step within a transaction, not only for proper content, but also for requested performance. If any test parameters fall outside of the specified range, responsible personnel are immediately notified.
One of Dotcom-Monitor’s recent customers, a large online auto parts retailer, approached Dotcom-Monitor with concern about website performance issues. Even after aggressive marketing campaigns, this retailer of name brand parts was still noticing a decline in their online business. Customers persistently complained about site outages and slow site response times. Despite repeated complaints by the IT department to the ASP provider and reassurances from the hosting company that the problems had been resolved, customers remained dissatisfied.
Realizing a potential disaster for their online business, the IT department sought a third-party external monitoring service provider to monitor their e-commerce site 24/7 and identify the issues and dependencies that were causing website outages.
After one-minute monitoring each day for 7 days, the following issues were identified:
1. Slow Website Response Dotcom-Monitor’s “report by hour” feature discovered quickly the issues causing poor performance. The collected one-minute performance data was aggregated on an hourly basis into a single weekly report. This report provided summary statistics about transaction by hour. Information such as average response time (in seconds), required time to access the website, and the number of successes and failures, provided a clear picture about site performance during different daily intervals. Using Dotcom Monitor’s proprietary algorithm, it was possible to calculate the site’s slow response periods. Dotcom-Monitor found that, although the e commerce site was hosted on a dedicated shared server, during certain times in a day, other applications on the server consumed most of its resources. This led to slow site response. This happened only during certain hours, as the conflicting application was run only a few times a day.
2. Slow Web Page Response The retailer’s IT department also discovered that several pages within a transaction, such as shipping history and “Invoice printout” were extremely slow. They took a long time to load, causing shoppers to abandon the site and instead call customer service. Unfortunately, the other pages within the same transaction were extremely fast to load. Dues to this discrepancy within the network, Dotcom-Monitor was able to identify the specific online pages that were slow and traced the problem to the database table that those pages were accessing. Once proper indexing was performed, the issue was resolved.
3. Problem in Accessing the Website During certain intervals in a day, the retailer’s site became inaccessible altogether. A number of services, such as mail servers, websites, and proxy servers, would become unavailable to the online world. To make matters worse, the ISP could not find any issues, but customers were still complaining. After a “ping pong game” to determine the problems between the ISP and customers, Dotcom Monitor enables its “DNS Monitoring.” Dotcom-Monitor tested the retailer’s DNS servers by querying specified servers performing Every minute, website monitoring showed that one DNS server was occasionally unable to resolve the address. This implied that the DNS server supporting the organization was not working consistently. The retailer upgraded the DNS server and the problem was resolved.
4. Varying Website Response from Different Geographical Locations Persistent monitoring showed that this retailer’s shopping cart website responded at varying speeds from different locations. Some customers complained that the site took too long to open, while others had no issues. Using Dotcom-Monitor’s “Report by Location” feature, which gathers data from multiple remote agents at different locations, a traceroute snapshot was recorded. This report was accompanied by the error message from every location where slowdown was detected. After analyzing the data, it was found that the ISP hosting the site used several providers that did not peer properly with certain networks. This network peering problem was identified and brought to the ISP. They took the necessary actions to resolve the problem by altering their BGP configuration.
5. Website Downtime required frequent monitoring The retailer’s website occasionally suffered downtime, which led to customer dissatisfaction. The outages were mostly related to software glitches that the c
Domain Names 1.0.1
Great, you are ready to joing the millions of business doing business on the internet and broadcasting their information to an even bigger number of possible clients; you are now faced with some other details.A Domain NameFirst things first, if you own a business called "Pedrito Market", you should buy the following domains:pedritomarket.compedritomarket.net andpedritomarket.infoIs not time for the "smart domains"Use the words that describe your business and create something like these..orlando-grocerystore.comorlando-grocery-store.comgrocerystoreinorlando.comgrocery-store-orlando.com, etcGet a couple of those domains as well, just get .com, dont worry about the other ones right now.Ok now, here is the trick... When you get a hosting service, give them one from the "smart domains" list. This, believe it or not, will help you with the search engines.You might be asking what do y
e shopping experiences fail during holiday seasons due to site outages. Another survey by the NDP Group reveals that up to 23 percent of online shoppers still experience temporary website outages, late shipments, and customer service issues.
Great, you are ready to joing the millions of business doing business on the internet and broadcasting their information to an even bigger number of possible clients; you are now faced with some other details.A Domain NameFirst things first, if you own a business called "Pedrito Market", you should buy the following domains:pedritomarket.compedritomarket.net andpedritomarket.infoIs not time for the "smart domains"Use the words that describe your business and create something like these..orlando-grocerystore.comorlando-grocery-store.comgrocerystoreinorlando.comgrocery-store-orlando.com, etcGet a couple of those domains as well, just get .com, dont worry about the other ones right now.Ok now, here is the trick... When you get a hosting service, give them one from the "smart domains" list. This, believe it or not, will help you with the search engines.You might be asking what do y
Dotcom-Monitor website-network monitoring specializes in ensuring performance and uptime in online transaction processes, including shopping carts, sign-ins, and form submission. By simulating end-use actions, Dotcom-Monitor.com verifies each step within a transaction, not only for proper content, but also for requested performance. If any test parameters fall outside of the specified range, responsible personnel are immediately notified.
One of Dotcom-Monitor’s recent customers, a large online auto parts retailer, approached Dotcom-Monitor with concern about website performance issues. Even after aggressive marketing campaigns, this retailer of name brand parts was still noticing a decline in their online business. Customers persistently complained about site outages and slow site response times. Despite repeated complaints by the IT department to the ASP provider and reassurances from the hosting company that the problems had been resolved, customers remained dissatisfied.
Realizing a potential disaster for their online business, the IT department sought a third-party external monitoring service provider to monitor their e-commerce site 24/7 and identify the issues and dependencies that were causing website outages.
After one-minute monitoring each day for 7 days, the following issues were identified:
1. Slow Website Response Dotcom-Monitor’s “report by hour” feature discovered quickly the issues causing poor performance. The collected one-minute performance data was aggregated on an hourly basis into a single weekly report. This report provided summary statistics about transaction by hour. Information such as average response time (in seconds), required time to access the website, and the number of successes and failures, provided a clear picture about site performance during different daily intervals. Using Dotcom Monitor’s proprietary algorithm, it was possible to calculate the site’s slow response periods. Dotcom-Monitor found that, although the e commerce site was hosted on a dedicated shared server, during certain times in a day, other applications on the server consumed most of its resources. This led to slow site response. This happened only during certain hours, as the conflicting application was run only a few times a day.
2. Slow Web Page Response The retailer’s IT department also discovered that several pages within a transaction, such as shipping history and “Invoice printout” were extremely slow. They took a long time to load, causing shoppers to abandon the site and instead call customer service. Unfortunately, the other pages within the same transaction were extremely fast to load. Dues to this discrepancy within the network, Dotcom-Monitor was able to identify the specific online pages that were slow and traced the problem to the database table that those pages were accessing. Once proper indexing was performed, the issue was resolved.
3. Problem in Accessing the Website During certain intervals in a day, the retailer’s site became inaccessible altogether. A number of services, such as mail servers, websites, and proxy servers, would become unavailable to the online world. To make matters worse, the ISP could not find any issues, but customers were still complaining. After a “ping pong game” to determine the problems between the ISP and customers, Dotcom Monitor enables its “DNS Monitoring.” Dotcom-Monitor tested the retailer’s DNS servers by querying specified servers performing Every minute, website monitoring showed that one DNS server was occasionally unable to resolve the address. This implied that the DNS server supporting the organization was not working consistently. The retailer upgraded the DNS server and the problem was resolved.
4. Varying Website Response from Different Geographical Locations Persistent monitoring showed that this retailer’s shopping cart website responded at varying speeds from different locations. Some customers complained that the site took too long to open, while others had no issues. Using Dotcom-Monitor’s “Report by Location” feature, which gathers data from multiple remote agents at different locations, a traceroute snapshot was recorded. This report was accompanied by the error message from every location where slowdown was detected. After analyzing the data, it was found that the ISP hosting the site used several providers that did not peer properly with certain networks. This network peering problem was identified and brought to the ISP. They took the necessary actions to resolve the problem by altering their BGP configuration.
5. Website Downtime required frequent monitoring The retailer’s website occasionally suffered downtime, which led to customer dissatisfaction. The outages were mostly related to software glitches that the
The Reluctant Reference-Giver
The days are long gone when managers felt free to sit on the phone for half an hour, providing an in-depth job reference for a former colleague or subordinate. These days, HR departments are cracking down on renegade reference-givers, restricting references to the basic facts of job title, start date and ending date.The good news is that managers are off the hook when it comes to providing job references for former subordinates or co-workers IF they (the managers) still work for the employer. But when a former workmate asks you to give a reference, and you don't feel all that comfortable, and you don't have the excuse "HR won't let me" because you no longer work for the same company, what do you do?Now, it goes without saying that we like to help our former colleagues as they seek new opportunities. There's nothing more fun than singing the praises of a former workmate and knowing that you're helping him or her get a great job. But what about the case when you don't f
disaster for their online business, the IT department sought a third-party external monitoring service provider to monitor their e-commerce site 24/7 and identify the issues and dependencies that were causing website outages.
The days are long gone when managers felt free to sit on the phone for half an hour, providing an in-depth job reference for a former colleague or subordinate. These days, HR departments are cracking down on renegade reference-givers, restricting references to the basic facts of job title, start date and ending date.The good news is that managers are off the hook when it comes to providing job references for former subordinates or co-workers IF they (the managers) still work for the employer. But when a former workmate asks you to give a reference, and you don't feel all that comfortable, and you don't have the excuse "HR won't let me" because you no longer work for the same company, what do you do?Now, it goes without saying that we like to help our former colleagues as they seek new opportunities. There's nothing more fun than singing the praises of a former workmate and knowing that you're helping him or her get a great job. But what about the case when you don't f
After one-minute monitoring each day for 7 days, the following issues were identified:
1. Slow Website Response Dotcom-Monitor’s “report by hour” feature discovered quickly the issues causing poor performance. The collected one-minute performance data was aggregated on an hourly basis into a single weekly report. This report provided summary statistics about transaction by hour. Information such as average response time (in seconds), required time to access the website, and the number of successes and failures, provided a clear picture about site performance during different daily intervals. Using Dotcom Monitor’s proprietary algorithm, it was possible to calculate the site’s slow response periods. Dotcom-Monitor found that, although the e commerce site was hosted on a dedicated shared server, during certain times in a day, other applications on the server consumed most of its resources. This led to slow site response. This happened only during certain hours, as the conflicting application was run only a few times a day.
2. Slow Web Page Response The retailer’s IT department also discovered that several pages within a transaction, such as shipping history and “Invoice printout” were extremely slow. They took a long time to load, causing shoppers to abandon the site and instead call customer service. Unfortunately, the other pages within the same transaction were extremely fast to load. Dues to this discrepancy within the network, Dotcom-Monitor was able to identify the specific online pages that were slow and traced the problem to the database table that those pages were accessing. Once proper indexing was performed, the issue was resolved.
3. Problem in Accessing the Website During certain intervals in a day, the retailer’s site became inaccessible altogether. A number of services, such as mail servers, websites, and proxy servers, would become unavailable to the online world. To make matters worse, the ISP could not find any issues, but customers were still complaining. After a “ping pong game” to determine the problems between the ISP and customers, Dotcom Monitor enables its “DNS Monitoring.” Dotcom-Monitor tested the retailer’s DNS servers by querying specified servers performing Every minute, website monitoring showed that one DNS server was occasionally unable to resolve the address. This implied that the DNS server supporting the organization was not working consistently. The retailer upgraded the DNS server and the problem was resolved.
4. Varying Website Response from Different Geographical Locations Persistent monitoring showed that this retailer’s shopping cart website responded at varying speeds from different locations. Some customers complained that the site took too long to open, while others had no issues. Using Dotcom-Monitor’s “Report by Location” feature, which gathers data from multiple remote agents at different locations, a traceroute snapshot was recorded. This report was accompanied by the error message from every location where slowdown was detected. After analyzing the data, it was found that the ISP hosting the site used several providers that did not peer properly with certain networks. This network peering problem was identified and brought to the ISP. They took the necessary actions to resolve the problem by altering their BGP configuration.
5. Website Downtime required frequent monitoring The retailer’s website occasionally suffered downtime, which led to customer dissatisfaction. The outages were mostly related to software glitches that the
Business Success And The Art Of Networking
Networking is about creating a support system for your business. It can help you raise money attract employees or partners and even offer a fresh perspective.Networking is a non- starter if you start with the end in mind. This is even true when one thinks of networking in the business context. Business networking is not merely about exchanging cards and few laughs over dinner, its about looking for ways to help each other grow symbiotically. It is a process which helps to build relationships and develop the support system for the entrepreneur and his business.Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that a network of contacts can add value only if you know how to add value to each one of them. If you want to know the secret to building the network which will help you, you have to learn to understand other peoples problems and challenges first. You have to be ready to give first and demand later.The art of networking is not an easy one. Most young entrepreneurs
y.
Networking is about creating a support system for your business. It can help you raise money attract employees or partners and even offer a fresh perspective.Networking is a non- starter if you start with the end in mind. This is even true when one thinks of networking in the business context. Business networking is not merely about exchanging cards and few laughs over dinner, its about looking for ways to help each other grow symbiotically. It is a process which helps to build relationships and develop the support system for the entrepreneur and his business.Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that a network of contacts can add value only if you know how to add value to each one of them. If you want to know the secret to building the network which will help you, you have to learn to understand other peoples problems and challenges first. You have to be ready to give first and demand later.The art of networking is not an easy one. Most young entrepreneurs
2. Slow Web Page Response The retailer’s IT department also discovered that several pages within a transaction, such as shipping history and “Invoice printout” were extremely slow. They took a long time to load, causing shoppers to abandon the site and instead call customer service. Unfortunately, the other pages within the same transaction were extremely fast to load. Dues to this discrepancy within the network, Dotcom-Monitor was able to identify the specific online pages that were slow and traced the problem to the database table that those pages were accessing. Once proper indexing was performed, the issue was resolved.
3. Problem in Accessing the Website During certain intervals in a day, the retailer’s site became inaccessible altogether. A number of services, such as mail servers, websites, and proxy servers, would become unavailable to the online world. To make matters worse, the ISP could not find any issues, but customers were still complaining. After a “ping pong game” to determine the problems between the ISP and customers, Dotcom Monitor enables its “DNS Monitoring.” Dotcom-Monitor tested the retailer’s DNS servers by querying specified servers performing Every minute, website monitoring showed that one DNS server was occasionally unable to resolve the address. This implied that the DNS server supporting the organization was not working consistently. The retailer upgraded the DNS server and the problem was resolved.
4. Varying Website Response from Different Geographical Locations Persistent monitoring showed that this retailer’s shopping cart website responded at varying speeds from different locations. Some customers complained that the site took too long to open, while others had no issues. Using Dotcom-Monitor’s “Report by Location” feature, which gathers data from multiple remote agents at different locations, a traceroute snapshot was recorded. This report was accompanied by the error message from every location where slowdown was detected. After analyzing the data, it was found that the ISP hosting the site used several providers that did not peer properly with certain networks. This network peering problem was identified and brought to the ISP. They took the necessary actions to resolve the problem by altering their BGP configuration.
5. Website Downtime required frequent monitoring The retailer’s website occasionally suffered downtime, which led to customer dissatisfaction. The outages were mostly related to software glitches that the
Just Do It and Ask for Forgiveness Later
The greatest shifts in American culture tend to originate from the media, but even something as innocuous as a saying can drive a cultural change. One saying in particular seems to epitomize a cultural shift that seems to be going unnoticed.“Just do it and ask for forgiveness later.”Heard that one lately? Used that one lately? We all have, and most of us have likely heard this used at work.The first time I heard it, I was a little shocked. It sounded like something I would have used as a kid while trying to rationalize using Mom’s Visa Card without her knowledge. Taken aback, I looked back at my manager to see if he was serious; he was. The walls of resistance softened, and I began to nod slowly. The stamp of authority seemed sufficient to justify doing something that I would not have ordinarily done.Maybe I was raised with unusual values. My parents were adamant that I say “please” and “thank you”. I didn’t tell my parents where I was going or what I wa
s occasionally unable to resolve the address. This implied that the DNS server supporting the organization was not working consistently. The retailer upgraded the DNS server and the problem was resolved.
The greatest shifts in American culture tend to originate from the media, but even something as innocuous as a saying can drive a cultural change. One saying in particular seems to epitomize a cultural shift that seems to be going unnoticed.“Just do it and ask for forgiveness later.”Heard that one lately? Used that one lately? We all have, and most of us have likely heard this used at work.The first time I heard it, I was a little shocked. It sounded like something I would have used as a kid while trying to rationalize using Mom’s Visa Card without her knowledge. Taken aback, I looked back at my manager to see if he was serious; he was. The walls of resistance softened, and I began to nod slowly. The stamp of authority seemed sufficient to justify doing something that I would not have ordinarily done.Maybe I was raised with unusual values. My parents were adamant that I say “please” and “thank you”. I didn’t tell my parents where I was going or what I wa
4. Varying Website Response from Different Geographical Locations Persistent monitoring showed that this retailer’s shopping cart website responded at varying speeds from different locations. Some customers complained that the site took too long to open, while others had no issues. Using Dotcom-Monitor’s “Report by Location” feature, which gathers data from multiple remote agents at different locations, a traceroute snapshot was recorded. This report was accompanied by the error message from every location where slowdown was detected. After analyzing the data, it was found that the ISP hosting the site used several providers that did not peer properly with certain networks. This network peering problem was identified and brought to the ISP. They took the necessary actions to resolve the problem by altering their BGP configuration.
5. Website Downtime required frequent monitoring The retailer’s website occasionally suffered downtime, which led to customer dissatisfaction. The outages were mostly related to software glitches that the customer was unable to fix in a short period of time. These glitches usually required manual intervention. Enter Dotcom-Monitor. The goal to reduce downtime was to alert key personnel of any issue immediately. Once website monitoring detected any problems with the web server, immediate alert by phone and SMS would be sent to on-call personnel. This decreased downtime periods from an average of 25 minutes to less than 5 minutes.
In today’s highly competitive environment, customer expectations about website availability and performance grow daily. What was once acceptable a few years back is no longer the case today. Website monitoring features, such as immediate alerts, detailed reports, and aggregated statistics, help clients find and address issues, and thus enhance the customer experience.
External website monitoring services offered by companies like Dotcom-Monitor have helped customers explore issues and discover otherwise elusive data required to take corrective actions well before receiving customer complaints. Dotcom-Monitor.com services extend into all industries. It is important to note that website monitoring services are a must for all mission-critical services, and are not just limited to the current example of shopping cart customers. In industries such as finance, insurance, medical, and manufacturing, or any industry that requires high website uptimes and excellent website response, it is becoming essential to employ external website monitoring services.
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.casualarticles.com/article/61538/casualarticles-Case-Study-How-Website-Monitoring-Saved-an-Online-Auto-Parts-Retailer.html">Case Study: How Website Monitoring Saved an Online Auto Parts Retailer</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.casualarticles.com/article/61538/casualarticles-Case-Study-How-Website-Monitoring-Saved-an-Online-Auto-Parts-Retailer.html]Case Study: How Website Monitoring Saved an Online Auto Parts Retailer[/url]
Related Articles:
Be the Customer: See Yourself as Your Customers Do
Is There An Entrepreneur in Your Closet?
Online Training on Autopilot Series: Persuasion Through Influence, Part 2 of 4
Bookmark it:
|