http://www.hostfacts.com/resources/speed.php3

I use this tool whenever I'm looking for a new webhost.

(3) Once you've designed your home page anduploaded it to your server space, check to see what itlooks like to other people. What you're seeing may notbe what other people are seeing.

I once designed a home page I was very proud of - Ihad added a piece of JavaScript that gave day anddate. Then one day I checked my home page atAnybrowser.com. I was horrified to see that my homepage was invisible except for my company logo and thenavigation bar. For 2 weeks my home page had beenvirtually blank to most visitors! So take a minute andlook at your website through eyes of yourvisitors:

http://www.anybrowser.com/siteviewer.html

(4) If a customer asks you for a refund, give itto them immediately, even if you think it'sunjustified. You'll be out of pocket by a few dollars,but your name and your integrity will be intact. There are so many scams on Internet that your mostprecious commodity is your good name. Remember thesewords from Shakespeare:

"Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed." (Othello, Act III. Scene III.)

(5) Reply to emails quickly. Nothing impresses memore on Internet than a rapid response to abusiness enquiry. Try and respond within 2 hours, orat least within 24 hours.

(6) Never reply angrily to abusive emails.Remember: your reply could be passed on to otherpeople and used against you. An abusive email can bevery disturbing (I've had three in lastyear-and-a-half), but best thing to do is ignoreit. Better still delete it - that way you remove itfrom your life and you remove temptation to reply.

(7) Lastly, never give up. Most successes are due -more than any other factor - to sheer persistence:

"Nothing in world can take place ofpersistence. Talent will not; nothing is more commonthan unsuccessful men of talent. Genius will not; theworld is full of educated derelicts. Persistence anddetermination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, 'presson' has solved, and always will solve, problems ofthe human race." (Calvin Coolidge)

(c) 2001 by Michael Southon

CHAT Chat is very popular on Internet, and is becoming a popular tool with customer service as well. The chat software is free and includes products from AOL, MSN, and Yahoo, as well as mIRC and ICQ. Personally, I feel that ICQ is best product to use for a business site. You can get it at http://icq.com. The only drawback to chat software is that they are proprietary and can only work with users that have same software. So if some of your customers use MSN Chat, and some use AOL Instant Messaging, then you need to have both on your computer. There are a few chat programs that are capable of working with multiple chat services including ones I listed above. These programs are: Jabber at http://www.jabber.com/index.shtml, EWZY at http://www.cactusvisionsoftware.com/ewzy.htm (which includes an autoresponder), and my personal favorite Trillian at http://www.cactusvisionsoftware.com/ewzy.htm.

There are more sophisticated software and services that you can use if you have larger needs for customer service. These include advanced chat with transcriptions, video, voice chat, etc. Take a look at following sites: http://www.humanclick.com, http://www.phplivesupport.com/, or go to http://www.ecommercetimes.com/product_guide/live_interaction/ to see a current list of live interaction services and software.

VOICE and PHONE Another method that really gives customers a “warm fuzzy” is being able to contact you by voice, such as a voice mailbox or live phone call. You can typically rent a voice mailbox from AT&T or other provider at a low-cost. Just make sure you return people’s calls! A great way to talk to customers for free (or low-cost) is to use a Voice-Over-IP software product such as Net2Phone (see http://web.net2phone.com ). This provides you a way to call anywhere in country for 2 cents a minute, and great overseas rates as well. I use it for personal calls a lot. The great thing is that if others have this software, you can talk from computer-to-computer for free. So put download link to software on your web site.

OTHER SERVICES If you want it all in one spot, look into ureach.com (http://www.ureach.com). They have A unified messaging service that includes call forwarding, voice mail, fax, email, file storage (30MB), PDA address book synchronization, pager notification, ICQ integration, all in a single interface. You can also access messages via your WAP mobile phone. Some of their features are free others are not. Their plan info can be found here: http://www.ureach.com/help/planinfo.htm.

Finally, you should track your problems (outstanding and closed) for historical purposes. Most of us are able to do this using either MS-Word or Excel. If you need a more sophisticated trouble tracking software, only one I found that looked decent and didn’t cost a mortgage was Request Commander (about $30) at http://www.nestersoft.com/requestcommander.

Good luck!