If you’re selling online you need to make sure your website is secure and safe. There have been a number of high profile hacking incidents and online security issues in the last year that have made consumers more aware of the benefits of buying from a secure website.   In a recent survey about online security, 84% of consumers said they would abandon a purchase if they felt that their data was being sent over an unsecured connection*. So what can you do to make your website secure? The best advice is to ensure that you have an SSL certificate in…

We recorded a 6% increase in turnover in 2016, from €2.86 million in 2015 to €3.03 million last year. Full details can be found in our Annual Report & Review for 2016, which we published today. Overall, the report shows that we are in a solid financial position, ending 2016 with €3.6 million in members’ funds and €6.3 million in liquid funds and investments. Deferred income on the balance sheet increased by 4% in 2016, to €2.05 million, up from €1.97 million in 2015. 2016 operational highlights A total of 34,615 new .ie domains were registered in 2016, a slight 1.7%…

According to our latest dot ie Digital Health Index, only 7% of Irish SMEs currently have the ability to run analytics for their business’s online tools. Digital Analytics are tools that provide a set of measurements that help you understand your website or social media performance. Most analytics tools are free and allow you to better understand what impact your online efforts are having on your target audiences. Why do I need to use Google Analytics? As a business owner, it’s essential that you can see what visitors are doing on your website and how they interact with it. Not knowing what…

No SME can exist without customers. Knowing who your customers are and what they want can help your business cater to their needs. When we were building the latest dot ie Digital Health Index we wanted to show a complete picture of the online behaviours and activities of both Irish businesses and consumers to help Irish SMEs. In addition to surveying 500 SMEs, we also surveyed 1,000 Irish consumers to assess what they do online and what they look for from an SME’s online presence. Irish consumers are spending large amounts of money online Irish consumers are spending vast sums…

Our latest dot ie Digital Health Index shows that half of all Irish SMEs acknowledge the benefits of an online presence, yet almost a quarter (22 percent) of them are not present online. This means they have no digital asset or no website or social media presence and no way of engaging with Ireland’s e-commerce market which is forecast to grow to €14 billion by 2021.¹ The ‘offliner conundrum’ The majority of offline SMEs (68 percent) believe there is simply ‘no need’ to have a website. When probed further, respondents said that this is because most of their business is word-of-mouth (78 percent);…

How well do you know your customers? Do you know how they are using your website, and what they think of it?  Are you asking them for feedback on a regular basis? Staying in touch with your customers is vitally important. You need to understand what they want, and more importantly, what they really don’t want from your website. Surveys or questionnaires are one of the easiest ways to find out if your online presence is giving your customers everything they are looking for. What type of questions should you ask your customers? Firstly, you need to draw up your…